The Energon Pub

Breakdown of “Transformers Timelines TCC Special #1 - Cheap Shots”

Inside cover – Bio for Timelines Nightbeat. – He was on the Graviton with Grimlock before breaking out on his own to work as a Detective, with several human and Nebulan partners (Muzzle, Lug, Minerva), along with 2 Dinobots (Slag and Sludge) and Siren/Quig.

Story

Nightbeat is in a bar on a planet where their ship crashed. They are approached by some muscle to go talk to their boss, fight breaks out with the Dinobots mopping up the floor, but it seems the invite was legitimate. They meet the “boss”, a sentient Starship named Amory, who wants her captain back after he was kidnapped. She wants to hire Nightbeat and crew. They go to Purgatory, the last place the pilot was seen. Nightbeat investigates; the Dinobots beat people up, but no leads. The ship tells them of a transmission she had detected before her pilot was kidnapped, and they go to its source. Once there they are ambushed by the new Mayhem Attack Squad (Octopunch, Stranglehold, Needlenose), lead by Ruckus, who wants revenge for something or other that most of the others have long forgotten. The other Decepticons are only there because Ruckus is paying them. Much fighting and we learn the Decepticons kidnapped the pilot to force the ship to lead them there. Ruckus reveals he has the hostage on him, holds him out and Slag merely slices Ruckus’s arm off to take the pilot back. The ship helps them out, and during the fight Nightbeat’s head is damaged. Amory pays Nightbeat’s crews fee and gets him a new head (now matching the Timelines toy), leaving them on a planet looking for their next job.

Thanks for that Scaleface, nice short read, and I was wondering about the comic referencing Nightbeat's head being antennae less for a reason explained in the story.