Armada Free Comic Book Day

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Free Comic Book Day
Publisher	Dreamwave Productions
First published	May 3, 2003
Cover date	May 2003
Writer	Brandon Easton
Penciler	Don Figueroa
Inker	Elaine To
Colorist	Sigmund Torre (flats,) Alan Wang, Rob Ruffolo, David Cheung, Stuart Ng, Susan Luo, Felipe Smith
Letterer	Paul Villafuerte
Graphic design	Matt Moylan
Editor in chief
Continuity	Dreamwave Armada continuity

The Mini-Con Swindle has his name for a reason.

Synopsis

Rad and Carlos are riding their bikes in the woods when they run into the Mini-Con Swindle, who asks the two kids to take him to the Autobots. Carlos agrees to help him (in exchange for a ride on his race car mode), and while Rad isn't so sure about the Mini-Con's trustworthiness, he is eventually convinced. However, the kids are attacked by Starscream, Cyclonus, and Demolishor, who are out to recapture Swindle. Hot Shot, Red Alert and Smokescreen come to their aid and defeat the three Decepticons, but are in turn beaten down by the newly arrived Megatron.

Megatron orders Swindle to bring Rad and Carlos to him, and the Mini-Con complies. The two humans accuse him of betraying their friendship, but Swindle explains that the Decepticons had promised to free him if he captured some humans for them. He quickly learns that he has been deceived, however, as the Decepticons laugh at him for thinking that they would honor their part of the bargain. Megatron takes the two humans and reveals that he plans to merge them with Cybertronian technology to create a new power source, but is interrupted by the arrival of Optimus Prime.

Optimus Prime rescues Rad and Carlos and puts up a good fight against Megatron, but is taken down and captured after Starscream shoots him in the back. As the kids hide nearby, Swindle approaches them and tells them that he knows he did something wrong, but he just wanted to be free. After thanking the two humans for being his friends, Swindle frees Optimus Prime, who in turn rescues the other Autobots and resumes the battle with the Decepticons. They retreat, but Starscream makes sure to take Swindle with him. As Rad and Carlos reflect on what a liar the Mini-Con was, Optimus Prime tells them that everyone deserves a second chance.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"Dude! His name is Swindle! How can you trust a guy with a name like that?"

—Rad

Notes

• This issue was released as a Free Comic Book Day issue by Dreamwave Productions on May 3, 2003.
• Only Don Figueroa is credited for pencils, but all of his art of the human children was replaced by art from somebody else.

Errors

• In the opening recap, Blackout is shown boarding the Mini-Con ship to leave Cybertron, but he was actually one of the few Mini-Cons that the Decepticons managed to hold onto after the rest departed the planet.
• Demolishor's name is misspelled "Demolisher", which is a fairly common mistake.