Beast Hunters issue 6

Beast Hunters issue 6 is the sixth installment in the Transformers Prime: Beast Hunters comic series.

Plot: The divided Dinobots continue their struggle to make it to safety in the wake of Cybertron's rejuvenation.

Synopsis
In the Dinobots' home city, Snarl realizes that the recent cataclysm was the result not of an enemy attack, but some enigmatic planet-wide event. Meanwhile, in the tunnels near Last Spark, Sludge meets back up with Slug, who has the wounded Blackout in tow. Sludge cauterizes the prisoner's missing leg and the group continues on their way to reach refuge.

In New Kalis, Grimlock and Swoop help Chromia evacuate her people, with the Dinobot leader providing "encouragement" in the form of fire-breath. To Chromia's dismay, a combination of Grimlock's fires and the rising energon levels leave the city destroyed.

Snarl's attempts to start his own evacuation are stymied both by the people's lack of faith in his leadership and their unwillingness to leave their homes. As the beginnings of a riot form, the Dinobot is forced to fire warning shots at the main instigator, a display of power which snaps the crowd out of its fury, allowing an orderly flight from the city to begin.

Whilst discussing the moralities of the war, Sludge's party reaches a chasm spanned by a thin path. Slug, carrying Blackout on his back, is forced to cross in alt-mode, and when he loses his footing the Forged winds up falling. Slug jumps to grab him, and the pair are retrieved by Sludge in his long-necked dinosaur form. With Slug injured by the fall, Sludge goes on to Last Spark alone, promising to return with help for the two wounded robots. Nearly there, he finds Firestar and Zoom, who reveal that Last Spark has been destroyed, with them as its only survivors!

Meanwhile, Grimlock's party is following a tunnel found by Swoop, but it soon becomes apparently that the path was created by an enormous razor snake. The creature nearly swallows the Dinobot leader whole, but he is able to blow his way out of the snake's mouth, killing it. As they reach the surface, Swoop suggests that the monster's carcass could be proof enough of Grimlock's power to give him dominion over the entire planet, but the Dinobot leader declines, claiming that a fresh start is needed. The two Dinobots watch the people of New Kalis wade into the fresh energon flowing across the planet's surface, as elsewhere, Snarl's group also arrives on the surface.

Continuity notes

 * The Forged soldier who went unnamed last time is indeed identified as Blackout this issue. This Aligned-verse version of the live-action movie character first appeared in the Exodus novel.
 * The serpentine creatures that have intermittently appeared in the series up till now being hunted by the Dinobots get named at last as "razor snakes".

Real-life references

 * As Chromia leads the evacuation from New Kalis, one of the generics whose head can be glimpsed on page 5 is a dead ringer for Iron Man, specifically his classic 1970s/1980s look.