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"Age of Eggstinction!"
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	December 10, 2014
Cover date	December 2014
Written by	John Barber
Art by	Marcelo Ferreira
Colors by	Nikos Koutsis, Mike Toris (flats)
Letters by	Chris Mowry
Editor	David Hedgecock

The rest of the Flock are transformed into Autobirds by the EggSpark, but when they track down the Deceptihogs, a new threat suddenly appears in the form of the Eggbots!

Synopsis

Grimlock's a rake and I'm a warm milkshake/There's a small chance that we've made a very tiny mistake

Arriving at the EggSpark's landing site, the rest of the Flock are shocked to behold the transformations that the mysterious object has brought upon Chuck and Hal, who no longer seem to remember the birds they once were, and now call themselves "Bumblebee Bird" and "Grimlock Bird". The once and former Hal is intent on pursuing the similarly-transformed "Deceptihogs" and recovering the birds' stolen eggs, but when Bumblebee Bird wants to make a plan, Grimlock Bird loses his patience, deeming the other birds useless in the fight unless they can transform too. To prove his point, he shifts modes... but doesn't get it quite right, turning into a gardener pushing a wheelbarrow, rather than a motorcycle. Angry and embarrassed, Grimlock Bird speeds off after the villains alone. The uncharacteristic cautiousness Chuck has acquired is particularly disarming to Red, but he cannot disagree with his more measured expression of Grimlock Bird's argument: in order to stop the Deceptihogs, the birds will all need to let the EggSpark transform them, too. Much exposition and references to oneself in the third-person ensue as the Flock are transmogrified into the "Autobirds": Bubbles becomes the smooth-groovin' "Jazz Bird", Bomb is turned into the honor-driven "Drift Bird", Terence is reborn as the still-mute "Heatwave Bird", Stella changes into the masterfully patient "Arcee Bird", and the Blues are merged into "Bluestreak Bird". Red is he last to touch the EggSpark, becoming "Optimus Prime Bird", who delivers a stirring speech to his troops and orders them to roll out.

Elswhere on Piggy Island, Megatron Pig and Starscream Pig are arguing over who should lead the Deceptihogs when suddenly, a metallic fort spontaneously erupts from the ground beneath their feet. Starscream Pig is able to fly to safety, but the rest of the Piggies are left stuck on its roof as it rises higher into the air—a situation that doesn't last long, as the bonkers Galvatron Pig blasts the roof, which then collapses out from under them and sends them all falling to the floor inside the fort below. Lockdown Pig—still stuck in the form of a toilet—deduces that the fort is a product of the EggSpark, transforming the matter of the island just as it transformed everyone else that touched it. Looking at the eggs in his arms, Soundwave Pig has a thought, but before he can vocalize it, Grimlock Bird comes crashing in through the hole in the roof, having tracked the Deceptihogs down. Megatron Pig transforms to tank mode and tries to blast the dino-bird, but only succeeds in blowing a hole open in the fort wall; it is Lockdown Pig, finally getting his parts in the right order and transforming to robot mode, who secures victory by knocking out Grimlock Bird, but Soundwave Pig is wary of his loyalties.

Moments later, the rest of the Autobirds arrive through the hole in the wall, but their carefully-prepared strategy goes out the window when Chuck's old, reckless personality begins to reassert itself, and Bumblebee Bird charges into action alone. The yellow bird-bot is felled by Lockdown Pig, and Megatron Pig then stomps on him, crushing his vocal processor and leaving him able to communicate only through bleeps and squeaks. Battle breaks out, but it is proven brief when Soundwave Pig's suspicions are verified: the stolen eggs have also been transformed by the EggSpark, and reconfigure themselves into tiny, rapidly-multiplying "Eggbots". The ever-growing swarm of robotic eggs speeds out of the fort, but the Autobirds decide to let them go for now, preferring instead to deal with the threat of the Deceptihogs first. Before they can resume fighting, however, Megatron Pig receives a call from Starscream Pig, who delivers a worrying report from his vantage point in the skies above: the Eggbots are armed, and more and more forts and weapons are appearing all over the besieged Piggy Island!

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"Chuck! Have you gone crazy?! You've never planned for anything in your life! You literally do not know how to spell "plan"! I've seen you try!"

—Red, on Chuck's newfound caution

"Honor and clarity of purpose are the only courses of action for me, Drift Bird. Within each of us lies the potential for greatness—the metaphor of the egg manifested in the physical plane. Also, I can blow up."

—Drift Bird introduces himself.

Megatron Pig: "No one has ever dared to question my authority, Starscream Pig!"
Starscream Pig: "Well, I'm not like every other pig! In fact—maybe I should be ordering you around! I mean, who put you in charge of the Deceptihogs in the first place?!"
Minion Pig: "It's—it's like he's saying everything I feel!"

"BREEEP! FLEEP! TUH-WEEP WEEP!"
"Poor Bumblebee Bird!"
"He can't talk!"
"Poor us—that squeaking's gonna get old, fast!"

—Bumblebee Bird's plight doesn't inspire that much sympathy from the Blues

"Stop my lunch from escaping, you fools!"
"We'll track them down after we've finished you, Megatron Pig! They're safer in the wild than in your hands!"
"But... I'm hungry...!"
"I'm hungry too—for justice."

—Megatron Pig and Optimus Prime Bird

Notes

Angry Birds references

• Stella notes they have "left normal back home with Matilda". Matilda is the "White Bird" from the Angry Birds games, the only member of the Flock who was originally not included in the Angry Birds Transformers game. She's missing from the comic as a result, and this is an explanation for her absence.

Transformers references

• The title of the issue is, of course, a riff on Age of Extinction.
• Upon his transformation, Red quotes Optimus Prime from Revenge of the Fallen when he announces that "Fate rarely calls upon us at a moment of our own choosing." He also paraphrases Optimus Prime from War for Cybertron, saying that "We accept this burden with all that we are." Aside from those, he also utters the far more ubiquitous Prime quotes, "Freedom is the right of all sentient beings", and "One shall stand, one shall fall."
• Galvatron Pig repeatedly refers to "voices in his head"; apparently, he's just as crazy as Generation 1 Galvatron was!
• Bumblebee Bird losing his voice to injuries inflicted by Megatron Pig parallels the fates of live-action Bumblebee and Prime Bumblebee at the hands of their respective Megatrons.
• The next issue caption says the story is continued in "Revenge of the Fowlin'!"

Errors

• On Page 18, Soundwave Pig's "...they are changed, like us! Operation: Mobilization!" is instead said by Megatron Pig.

Covers (2)

• Regular cover: The Eggbots loom over the Autobirds and Deceptihogs, by Marcelo Ferreira and Nikos Koutsis
• Subscription cover: The Autobirds and Deceptihogs in battle, by Casey Coller and John-Paul Bove

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