Beast Hunters issue 5

Beast Hunters issue 5 is the fifth installment in the Transformers Prime: Beast Hunters comic series.

Plot: When a mysterious tremor shakes all of Cybertron, bringing destruction and recreation in equal measure, the Dinobots stand divided in the chaos that follows.

Synopsis
While Grimlock and Swoop are visiting New Kalis and Slug and Sludge are out hunting for energon, Snarl is left in charge of dealing with the assorted politics of Grimlock's leadership. Distracted with worry, he proves little more even-tempered in the role than Grimlock ever did, as petty arguments and an evident lack of respect for him from the disputers frustrate him to no end. Just as he is dealing with the rambling Scrounge, however, a sudden world-shaking tremor is felt by all five Dinobots all across Cybertron. But this is no mere earthquake: Cybertron is changing, inside and out...

The result of the tremor in New Kalis is at once obvious, startling and uplifting. Crippled Kalisians with missing limbs suddenly find that their absent appendages have regenerated, and as Grimlock, Swoop, and city leader Chromia look on, a trickle of fresh energon comes flowing in through a crack in the wall. Everyone begins to drink of the fuel, but in distressingly quick fashion, the entire room begins to fill up, reminding Chromia that New Kalis is located within a cavern that was once an energon reservoir. Realizing that the cavern is going to fill up once more, destroying the city, Grimlock, Swoop and Chromia try to evacuate the populace, but their thirst for energon overwhelms their reason, forcing Grimlock to transform to dinosaur mode and terrify them into withdrawing. A downcast Swoop and Chromia speed off to round up the scattered masses while Grimlock, lost in his prehistoric mania, merely drinks from the reservoir, declaring himself king.

Out on their own in the planet's subterranean tunnels, Slug and Sludge find that they feel energized by the tremor, but that it has completely reshaped Cybertron around them, and that the tunnel they came through has vanished. Slug advocates just smashing their way through until they get home, but Sludge convinces him to take the still-present tunnel to Last Spark and get help there. On the way, they hear a distant voice calling out for help; Sludge is about to go to the caller's aid, but Slug insists that he go instead, since Sludge knows the way to Last Spark better and he doesn't want to risk him getting lost. Slug soon discovers that the distressed party is a Forged soldier, and is about to leave him behind until he discovers that the unfortunate warrior is the lone survivor of his unit, destroyed in the quake. Refusing to beg, the Forged tells Slug to leave him, pushing the Dinobot just enough that he lifts the rubble off the wounded Decepticon, but only so he can arrest him and bring him in.

The worst of the tremor is felt in the Dinobots' home, where Snarl pushes his way out of the rubble to find that the building's collapse has killed all but six of those present, including the unfortunate Scrounge. Motivating and mobilizing the survivors as best he can, Snarl leads them outside, where they discover their entire city in flames. A populace in disarray turns to Snarl to lead them...

Continuity notes

 * This issue occurs concurrently with the final episode of the Prime cartoon, "Deadlock", in which Cybertron is revived through the power of the Omega Lock.
 * The right arm of Grimlock's throne is still crushed where he squeezed it back in issue #1.

Transformers references

 * Scrounge is, of course, based on his Generation 1 counterpart. He's missing an arm, in a cute allusion to Generation 1 Scrounge's "special arm", which he lost in the course of his original storyline; likewise, his dialogue about a gasket that looked ordinary but apparently was not seems intended to evoke this as well.
 * While she's got a different alternate mode (a rather snazzy six-wheeled Cybertronian sports car), Chromia's robot mode is basically just Arcee with a few more spikes and no pink bits.
 * Though unnamed in this issue, the Forged soldier Slug rescues appears to be based on Blackout from the live-action film series, albeit with a more human-looking face. The next issue would confirm this.

Real-life references

 * One of the generics appealing to Snarl really looks like Cobra Commander, wearing blue armor with a red insignia, and a featureless silver chrome faceplate.

Errors

 * An Autobot in New Kalis first appears with a missing hand, wryly observing that he can't properly salute Grimlock because of his missing appendage. After the tremor, however, the same Autobot is heard joyously celebrating the return of his leg.
 * Grimlock's dinosaur head is mis-colored yellow as he transforms and drives people away from the energon pool.