Fire & Ice

	; You won't believe the things I can do now!
	"Fire & Ice"
Publisher	Dreamwave Productions
First published	June 11, 2003
Script	Simon Furman
Pencils	Guido Guidi
Inks	Elaine To
Colors	David Cheung
Lettering	Dreamer Design
Editor	Roger Lee
Continuity	Dreamwave Armada continuity

The Autobots attempt to rescue a Mini-Con escape pod in Alaska. Meanwhile, the Destruction Team grants Cyclonus unimaginable power.

Synopsis

A Mini-Con pod containing Inferno, Comettor, and the Street Speed Mini-Con Team crashes into Alaska, 93 miles west of Barrow.

"It's coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere."

Meanwhile, Scavenger and Smokescreen are stationed in Death Valley, watching a group of Decepticons preparing a large shuttle for launch. At Autobase, Red Alert and Optimus Prime receive the alert. Prime tells him to assemble all personnel to strike at Death Valley, but Sparkplug intervenes: There are twenty Mini-Cons who aren't sure they should be here, and he doesn't want Prime to give them a reason to walk. Prime agrees and tells the Mini-Cons that they have the full resources of Autobase to rescue their comrades.

At the Decepticon base in Silver Ridge, Megatron has powerlinxed to all three members of the Destruction Mini-Con Team. While they are giving him massive amounts of power, they also send painful feedback into his system. Dualor explains that it's a little failsafe he thought to install in their systems a few years ago, and that in exchange for their full power, he wants a say in how things are run. Megatron begrudgingly agrees and "volunteers" Cyclonus to do a test run.

In Alaska, the Adventure Mini-Con Team is preparing to extract the escape pod, when Thrust sneaks up and attempts to capture them, along with the pod. He is soon interrupted by Cyclonus, who is ecstatic about the power that the Destruction Team has bestowed upon him. Thrust is eager to get back to extracting the Mini-Cons, but the Destruction Team randomly overloads Cyclonus and causes him to attack Thrust.

Back in Death Valley, Laserbeak arrives and tells Scavenger and Smokescreen that Optimus Prime is otherwise tied up and to take whatever measures they feel are appropriate. Smokescreen grumbles that it would have been useful information twenty minutes ago, when the shuttle launched. In the Decepticon base, Megatron gloats about the orbital laser that has just been deployed and prepares to fire it at Alaska...

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Mini-Cons
Smokescreen (6) Scavenger (7) Red Alert (11) Optimus Prime (12) Laserbeak (35)	Skywarp (8) Sideways (9) Wheeljack (10) Cyclonus (15) Megatron (16) Starscream (17) Thrust (24)	Inferno (1) Backtrack (2) Spiral (3) Oval (4) Comettor (5) Sparkplug (13) Astroscope (14) Buzzsaw (18) Dualor (19) Drill Bit (20) Dune Runner (21) Ransack (22) Iceberg (23) Rook (25) Sky Blast (26) Dirt Boss (27) Payload (28) Incinerator (29) Mirage (30) Grindor (31) Jolt (32) High Wire (33) Sureshock (34)

Quotes

"Cyclonus, I require a volunteer."
"Er, well..."
"Excellent."

—Megatron values his troops' input

"These aren't the kind of "dunes" I was built for!"
"Heh. All that time on the moon, idly upgrading our vehicle modes...and our first mission on terra firma brings us out here. How about that?"
"Yeah, how about that...Iceberg!"

—Dune Runner and Iceberg in Alaska

"That was just a small demonstration. You won't believe the things I can do now!"

— The Destruction Team gives Cyclonus the power... of Furmanisms!

Notes

Continuity notes

Scavenger and Smokescreen reappear after last being seen back in Armada #5, with the explanation for their abrupt absence after that story being that Optimus Prime had secretly sent them on the reconnaissance mission we see here.
Between the last issue and this, the Autobots have taken in "about twenty" Mini-Cons.
Rook is an outspoken critic of the Autobots, despite being saved and sheltered by them. When Optimus Prime interrupts his speech to the other Mini-Cons with an offer of further aid, Rook shoots Prime a nasty glare. While the plot point would never come to fruition in this actual comic series, we know through the cartoon and Rook's write-up in the Armada profile books that his true allegiance is to Unicron. Fracturing the Mini-Cons' collective faith in the Autobots would seem to serve his master's goals.

Transformers references

Thrust uses the phrase "What in tarnation was that?" Furman's been writing him with a cowboy-like demeanor since Thrust first appeared back in Armada #9, and it seems likely he's doing so with Thrust's cartoon voice actor Colin Murdoch in mind. Colin Murdoch also memorably voiced Beast Wars Quickstrike with the same speech pattern, and used the same phrase on multiple occasions.
Scavenger wields a rifle that's identical to G1 Devastator's gun, in homage to his Japanese name. This isn't the only instance where he's done this.

Errors

Optimus orders Red Alert to assemble all "avaialable" personnel on page 5.
Sparkplug's head has, you guessed it, swapped designs again.
In what will become a common mistake, Comettor's name is misspelled as "Commetor".
Dualor's design has changed again- this time it's back to the "blue chestplate, Powerlinx port and toes facing front" look.
The side of Dune Runner's head is mis-colored like it's supposed to be his optical visor as he turns to see Thrust looming over him.

Other trivia

The title, "Fire & Ice", is not found anywhere in this issue. Rather, it is from the previous issue, informing readers to come back next month for "Fire & Ice". Transformers Wiki uses it for the title because, hey, it's better than "Dreamwave Armada issue 12".
The cover for this issue is a reworked and expanded panel of art from the second page of the next issue. Guido Guidi had drawn an original, different cover but it went unused for unknown reasons, possibly because it wasn't quite as reflective of the events of this issue. ^[1]
The Wavelengths page contains an article about Necrowar (alongside a four-page sneak peek) and fan art.

Reprints

Transformers Armada: Volume 3: Worlds Collide (April 28, 2004) ISBN 0973381744 / ISBN 978-0973381740

Collects issues #12–18.
Bonus material includes a cover gallery and a preview of the Energon comic.

Transformers Armada Vol. 3 (Japan ed.) (December, 2004) ISBN 4861760631 / ISBN 978-4861760631

Same content as Dreamwave's volume 3, translated to Japanese.

Transformers Armada Vol. 5 (Spain ed.) (May, 2007) ISBN 978-8498149609

Reprints issues 11–12, translated to Spanish.

Transformers Armada: Volume 3 (IDW reprint) (April 15, 2009) ISBN 1600104029 / ISBN 978-1600104022

Straight reprint of the Dreamwave trade with same contents.

Transformers Armada: Omnibus (August 18, 2010) ISBN 160010715X / ISBN 978-1600107153

Contains issues 1–18.
Bonus material includes the Armada Preview issue.
Reissued in 2016 with a new cover.

Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection Volume 27: Worlds Collide Part 1 (November 13, 2019)

Collects issues #8–13 and select material from Dreamwave's Transformers: More than Meets the Eye: Armada
Includes a cover gallery and an intro by Simon Furman.