See, I thought it did. My reasoning behind my way of thinking is that the robot looks like the inner robot of doubleheader with two heads.

 

that's what i thought.

love the WFC designs!

 

He doesn't actually need it, Ratchet told him that in MTMTE, it's more of a psychological crutch than anything. Poor Bumblebee's not coping at all well with leadership.

 

Omg, Re-reading it I just spotted the 'No more NAIL's' gag.

Awesome  

 

Read it, loved it! It's not as mindblowingly awesome as MTMTE was, but this was a great issue nonetheless.

So despite the speculation about whether Prowl was aware of the message from the future or not, it appears that no one on Cybertron heard it after all. And honestly I'm glad, because it created the handy plot thread of the NAILs (and possibly the Decepticons?) thinking that Bumblebee and/or Prowl are ruthless enough to blow up their own people for causing trouble. An idea that Bee gave evidence to by buhsploding Horri-Bull's noggin in front of everyone. I'm expecting Bumblebee to have a tough time keeping the peace after this...

...which is probably Ratbat's exact plan. He was wonderfully ruthless and conniving here! It seems that it was his plan to have Needlenose and Horri-Bull push the Autobots to the edge, and Bee played right into his hands. And Ratbat got rid of Horri-Bull, who he was clearly disgusted with for kowtowing to the Autobots. He also lied about Skywarp (who is apparently Ratbat's #1 goon) not having his teleportation abilities. Clever! I wonder what other Decepticon secrets he's hiding. I've never been too fond of the idea of Ratbat being in charge, but Barber is making it very believable that he's smart enough to scheme his way into power.

This issue gives us the first concrete idea about how many NAILs there are. Prowl claimed that 90% of the population didn't give a crap about Rodimus and company (and Prowl isn't the type to make up statistics, so that number is probably an exact count), so assuming that the numbers of bots and cons are about equal, that means that NAILs outnumber the two factions by a LOT. And with more on their way, the numbers are getting more lopsided by the day. Pretty soon the Autobot's greater firepower won't be able to withstand the sheer numbers of NAILs breathing down their necks.

Metalhawk!   What a great character. I love him so much! On one hand he seems slimy and underhanded, but on the other hand he also warned Bee about the dangerous rumors of him sabotaging the Lost Light, so it's hard to put a finger on exactly what ethical direction he's going in. I'm predicting that he'll make a bid for power before too long, as the NAILs increase in number and popular opinion turns against Bumblebee. He's only been around for a few issues and he's already my favorite new character.

Prowl's mysterious friend in the shadows...here's a guessing game we can chew on for a while! I love Mechafire's idea of it being Arcee, and the shape works very well to be her. And I love the idea that Prowl would be in cahoots with an axe-crazy murderer. If it is her, I wonder if she has an inhibitor chip in her head?

A few quibbles about the art... I think Andrew Griffith did a good job here, but I'll still need a bit more convincing for him to rank among my favorites. I like the bodies, but some of the faces weren't that great, especially in closeup. And Metalhawk is missing the cool bird-ness that Roche gave him.   As for coloring, it seemed like a nice job and matched the line art well. The only really bad thing I noticed was this error...trying out the pirate eyepatch look, Bumblebee?



Random tidbits:

Is that slobber flying out of Ratbat's mouth on pg 11? Gotta love robotic drool.

Heh, Bumblebee agreed not to use the word "NAIL", but then he used it again only one scene later. Better work on those politically correct faux pas, Bee!

The planet itself is attacking the TFs, so now we have a convenient story reason for them to be all packed together instead of spreading out and alleviating some of the hostility. Well played, Mr Barber.

I usually hate splash pages, but the opening double splash of the crowd of NAILs is nice. Lots of interesting designs in there.

 

Know what. I think you guessed right. Re-reading it I took a closer look at the arm, and the silhouette matches her's perfectly.

Someone give Mechafire a cookie.  

 

the ones delivered to my local comic show were apprently destroyed by shipping company, so im guessing, could it be Punch/Counterpunch?

 

I don't know, maybe I should read through it again but why didn't I see Starscream?
I know he was in the background surrounded by other Seekers (Fraction-building inside the fraction?) but he wasn't there as shown in this promotional image:
http://i.newsarama.com/images/TRANSFORMERSRIDteaser_02.jpg

 

I was thinking it's Skywarp working with Prowl. How did Skywarp get his teleportation power back if he had an ID inhibitor chip? Perhaps Prowl disabled it so he would work with him? I do like the Arcee idea though. Did Ratbat and the crew find a way to counter act the chip (though would be a shame for the tech to already be hacked)? The decapitation of Horri-bull does set up a nice Headmaster "nod" (pun intended!).

Overall I am thrilled with the two new story lines. And the Regeneration One interview and preview art is icing on an already sweet ass cake!

P.S. Anyone spot the "Boba Fett" transformer in the crowd on page 3 (bottom center)! Perhaps an Easter egg for Star Wars Crossovers? ;-)

 

Wow, nice observation Mechafire. After you pointed that out, it does make a lot of sense, especially since they have portrayed her as being pretty ruthless in the IDW-verse.

Regarding the 'Cons, it would certainly be interesting if Skywarp was working for Prowl, but I think the story established that Prowl detests the Decepticons, and that he would not betray the Autobots despite his opinions and it's interesting to note that his analysis of the situation came true with the 'Cons pulling something during the ceremony. I actually suspect that it might be Arcee or whoever that figure in shadow is. He/she did imply that he/she could do things Prowl wasn't willing to do to preserve peace and order. Perhaps this "riot" that this hidden mastermind set up for the 'Cons will enable the Autobots to set up stricter regime on the NAILS, while at the same time, give the Autobots the chance to eliminate the Decepticons instead of co-existing with them.

 

Robots In Disguise #1 is a very good comic book. Yes the story is not as strong as More Than Meets The Eye #1, but it's still leagues beyond anything Mike Costa has ever written or will ever write. There's an '80s Budiansky/Furman feel to the title's focus on characters not from the core US G1 cartoon cast - Needlenose, Horri-Bull, Broadside, Ratbat and Metalhawk all get speaking roles, while Soundwave, Shockwave, Bombshell et al are eerily-silent window dressing. (On page nine, I chuckled at the fact that superfluous Decepticons stand around on platforms like they're on toy collection shelves.) Ratbat doesn't do too much this issue other than use reverse psychology, but we know he has a plan. Back with the Autobots, Regular IDW readers will recognise Prowl's partner in ruthlessness and their interaction does an amusing job of lampshading and retconning Costa's limp characterisation of everyone's favourite love-to-hate Autobot police car. This is not a decompressed comic - stuff actually happens, but it's still clearly building up to something in the next issues. It feels a lot like Marvel US #76 - Optimus Prime is gone, the Autobots and Decepticons are in a precarious truce of sorts, Cybertron is angry, a Decepticon Headmaster Junior is picking fights and Prowl is trying (and failing) to control everything. (Being like #76 is a good thing - those final five issues of the US Marvel comic are amongst the best Transformers issues ever produced.)

Andrew Griffith's art is fantastic - it's clear and crisp, and characters are identifiably themselves. Artwise, this title is set to be the stronger of the two ongoings since Alex Milne is taking over art duties on More Than Meets The Eye and his Transformers tend to look like constipated Gundam mecha (see his cover for #2 of MTMTE where it looks like he's trying to crap on Rollout). The only thing I'm pissed off about regarding the art in RID is that in the issue immediately before this one (The Death Of Optimus Prime), Sideswipe was in his G2 colours (and with his trademark bandolier of bullets.) They've already gone back to Sideswipe's Geewun colours, which is disappointing, but not Griffith's fault. Sadly IDW editorial is as strong as ever - there's already a typo by page 8 ("Autobot's" should be "Autobots'") and the preview for next issue reads "CYVBERTRON WILL RISE AGAIN!"

So now with two main ongoings per month and Autocracy in the gaps we're pretty much back to weekly G1 Transformers comics. It feels like the eighties again.  

 

It can't be an accident that Horri-bull was the one to get his head taken off. Obviously he wouldn't have sacrificed himself, so either he was stupid enough to be manipulated into that situation or he's got a backup head. Or something. Or maybe I'm just reading too much into it. It's so hard to tell after all of the loose ends Costa left.

 

I hope it is Arcee. We haven't seen her since her and Hardhead crashed that ship into Galvatron in Chaos.

 

Lets not forget that the G1 toy of Horri-bull was a headmaster. So who knows what may be up in the future.

 

I wondered that myself   but then Skywarp also confirmed his death so who knows  

 

It's like you guys didn't even read my post  

 

My interpretation is that Horri-Bull and Needlenose were instructed to start trouble, but to back off when it got too far. Needlenose's line "Come on, we pushed this far enough" and the fact that Skywarp was watching and ready to report suggests that the whole scenario was planned. Horri-Bull is just a dumbass who doesn't know when to stop, and ended up paying the price. (Hopefully FOREVER...I'll puke if we have to suffer through that headmaster shit AGAIN.  )