« Transformers: Robots in Disguise #2 »
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	August 26, 2015
Cover date	August 2015
Written by	Georgia Ball
Art by	Priscilla Tramontano
Colors by	Priscilla Tramontano, Josh Perez & Josh Burcham
Letters by	Tom B. Long
Editor	John Barber
Continuity	Aligned continuity family

Team Prime reveals their presence on Earth, and join forces with the Bee Team to capture a major Decepticon crime boss.

Synopsis

In downtown Crown City, the Decepticon Transit, disguised as a city bus, takes several unsuspecting commuters captive. Russell poses as a intern to keep people out of the area while Grimlock and Sideswipe try to take Transit down, but the Decepticon starts flinging cars and kiosks at them to keep them occupied while he makes his escape. Fortunately, Fixit takes control of the city's electronic traffic signs and uses them to steer Transit into a traffic jam. Strongarm forces Transit to disgorge his unwilling passengers, who are placated by a disguised Denny and his cover story about "self-driving buses". Transit tries to escape, but winds up falling off the road bridge, and is taken into custody by the Autobots.

While the others celebrate their (largely) successful mission, Bumblebee inquires if Fixit has managed to track down the members of Team Prime who he recently discovered were on Earth. Fixit hasn't, but that soon becomes a moot point when Ultra Magnus, Arcee, and Bulkhead simply walk into the scrapyard. While Strongarm fangirls over Arcee, Ultra Magnus explains that they have arrived to question Transit, Flamefeather, and Spinhead, hoping that the three Decepticons' ties to the Cybercomrade Sect will be of use in tracking down another Alchemor escapee, the sect's leader Clipshade, a crime boss that Bumblebee himself was responsible for arresting. Transit, hoping to get time off his sentence, tells them that he last saw Clipshade near a human aerospace testing facility in the Agave Canyon.

Despite Magnus's concerns that Bumblebee may be too close to the case, and that his judgement of late is questionable giving the "criminal" company he is keeping in Sideswipe and Grimlock, Team Prime and the Bee Team join forces to capture Clipshade. Strongarm is disguised as Retrofit, another member of the Cybercomrade Sect, and sent to meet with Clipshade on the pretense that she has been sent to exfiltrate him, even taking a "captive" Fixit along with her as proof of her supposed goodwill. The canine Clipshade smells a rat, and proposes that they need to find another 'Con named Afterburner; when Strongarm agrees, Clipshade reveals that Afterburner is a member of a rival organization, and that she has just blown her cover. Team Prime and the Bee Team leap into action, herding Clipshade into the nearby testing facility building. Courtesy of some expert co-ordination from Arcee, the two teams cut off the crimelord's escape route and clobber him as one, knocking him unconscious. Bumblebee prepares to take him back to the command center for imprisonment, but Magnus refuses; Team Prime takes Clipshade and departs via GroundBridge, refusing to give Bumblebee any more information.

Returning to the junkyard, the team celebrates another victory, though Strongarm is given pause when she realizes that, for some reason, Clipshade never used his shoulder cannon. The uneasy 'Bee, meanwhile, wanders among the junk with his thoughts, coming upon a collection of funhouse mirrors. One mirror does not reflect his image, however: instead, the spectral form of Optimus Prime appears, cautioning him that while he may want to trust his old friends, he is also right to trust his instincts that something else is going on. After Optimus's image fades away, Bumblebee instructs Fixit to compile a dossier on Clipshade—because if Magnus won't tell them what's going on, then the Bee Team is taking the investigation into their own hands!

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"This planet's news media is fascinating. Did you know every report on serious world events has to be followed by footage of either hugs or kittens?"

—Fixit

Bumblebee: "Good work, team! Top-notch performance. You brought back the perpetrator while only nearly blowing our cover."
Strongarm: "Woo-hoo!"
Grimlock: "Yeah!"
Sideswipe: "We're mostly great!"

"ARCEE!! This is such an honor. I've followed all of your missions."
"My first fan! That's why I spend all of my time lately tracking down criminals—the fame and the glamour."

—Strongarm and Arcee

Notes

Continuity notes

• Ultra Magnus continues to wield the Forge of Solus Prime as he did during the "Beast Hunters" portion of the Prime cartoon. The Forge has been repaired following the shattering of its handle in the episode "Evolution".
• Flamefeather was captured in the Free Comic Book Day issue #0; Spinhead was apprehended last issue.
• When discussing masquerading as a Decepticon, Sideswipe mentions that he can't ad-lib very well, which is likely a reference to his bungling attempts to pass himself off as "Grimbee" in episode 2 of the animated series.

Transformers references

• Among the crowd of confused commuters who Russell prevents from entering the bus depot are Spike Witwicky and Carly.
  • The person that failed to get into Transit before he left somewhat resembles Mayor Luskey.
• Bumblebee's distorted reflection in one of the carnival mirrors takes on the general shape and proportions of his Animated counterpart.

Other notes

• Wheeljack, Smokescreen, and Ratchet appear on the cover but not in the issue itself.
• Speaking of which, the regular cover underwent significant changes between the issue's solicitation and release. The originally solicited art featured Optimus holding the Star Saber with his mouthplate deployed, whilst Bumblebee sported his Prime body (redesigned in the Robots in Disguise aesthetic). Several of the other characters also underwent minor color and line edits for the released version.

Covers (2)

• Regular cover: Team Prime, torn asunder! By Priscilla Tramontano.
• Subscription cover: The Bee Team, with spectral Optimus looking on, by Josh Burcham

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• IDW Transformers graphic novel library
• Uncle Scrooge Vol. 1 TPB (back cover)

External links

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