Inspired by Deinonychus, I'm gonna take a shot at this using the same format he uses...

WRITER: James "Brad Mick" McDonough, Adam Patyk
PENCILS: Don Figueroa

CAST
AUTOBOTS: Jazz, Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, Bumper, Grimlock (flashback), Bumblebee

DECEPTICONS: Kickback, Bombshell, Shrapnel, Shockwave (monitor)

OTHER: Marissa Faireborn, Dorry, Cruz, Spike Witwicky, Carly Witwicky, Daniel Witwicky

BEST LINES:
JAZZ: "How do you like your eggs: scrambled or sunny-side up?"
SIDESWIPE: "Freak."
SUNSTREAKER: "Loser."

SYNOPSIS: Our story continues from where issue 7 left off: Jazz and his human companions - Marissa Faireborn, Dorry and Cruz - are surrounded by a swarm of Insecticons; with Dorry and Cruz eventually being grabbed by a Shrapnel clone. Outnumbered, Jazz and Faireborn took off before being overwhelmed and decided it would be best to catch up with the Autobot brothers, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker.
Meanwhile, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker are now inside the theater and discovered that the place has become a nest for thousand of Insecticon eggs waiting to hatch. Underneath the nest, Bombshell can be seen talking to a fully functional Shockwave on the monitor about the deprovement of their invasion of Earth and the Insecticons' role in it while being busy with Bumper. Shockwave is obviously not pleased with the way Bombshell has performed his task according to the former's standards. Bombshell ignores Shockwave's pessimistic comments as he continues to implant a cerebro-shell in Bumper's head. Their conversation ends as Kickback and Shrapnel appears (from their eggs?) and all three went off to take care of the Autobot visitors upstairs. Realizing he was finally alone, Bumper breaks free of his bonds.
The story then goes off to Cleveland where we find the the Witwicky family about to enter their house when Spike sees a familiar-looking yellow Volkswagen parked in front of their home. Spike approached Bumblebee and gave him a straight-forward statement that he doesn't want to get involved with the Transformers again. Bumblebee pleads his case and tells Spike that he was the quitting the Autobots.
Back in the ghost town, the Insecticons attacked and easily defeated the Autobot brothers as they were examining the eggs. Jazz and Faireborn eventually outran the swarm of Insecticons and hid inside a auto-repair shop. There they discovered the mutilated bodies of cattle everywhere. The two share information that they have gathered regarding the Insecticons, but was cut short when the swarm finally caught up with them. They went further into an opening in the wall only to discover the same nest found by Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. Realizing there can only be one choice, Jazz started incinerating the eggs.
Below, the Autobot brothers found themselves being prepared as the main course for the three Insecticons. Sensing some internal conflict brewing up, Sideswipe tried to fan the flames, but was cut short when Bombshell stormed into the room and all three Insectons realized that there were trespassers in the nest (now called the brood chamber). They decided to confront the visitors first and then deal with their issues later. The brothers were then surprised to find Bumper inside the same room and helped release them. Bumper also showed them a way to defeat the Insecticons when he brought out one of Bombshell's cerebro-shells with a suspicious Sunstreaker looking on.
In the brood chamber, Jazz and Faireborn are getting outnumbered when the Sideswipe and Sunstreaker came to their aid. They eventually destroyed the nest, but the danger is not yet over...
Outside, the missing Dorry and Cruz are fighting for their lives against some Insecticons when Bumper comes to their rescue, but didn't stay long enough as he was looking for Bombshell.
A few blocks away, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker are busy fighting with Kickback and Shrapnel and eventually defeated them. They then joined Jazz and Faireborn who are still fending off some Insecticon clones when from afar, they saw the townspeople marching towards them. Controlled by Bombshell, the Autobots know that they cannot harm the humans but also need to defend themselves. Bombshell, watching the events from a high building, was unaware of Bumper approaching him from behind. Bumper jams a cerebro-shell and turned it against its master, thus ending the crisis below. Both the Insecticons and human zombies stopped. The story ends with our heroes standing among the wreckage, believing the crisis is finally over.

ONDOHER'S DETAILS:
(Please take note that I read my copy after reading a few spoilers on this thread).
In addition to issue #7, a good 2-part story where truly there is more than meets the eye! We get to see our favorite slimy Insecticons and their clones going down and dirty with some of the toughest Autobots this side of Cybertron. Not to mention Faireborn's badass stance, especially on the last page. Characterizations for Sideswipe and Sunstreaker is great: I thought of in the previous issue that all they're gonna do is peeve each other off, but you can see here that though these two love to jab at each other's egos every second of the day, when it comes to watching each other's backs, they're brothers. Jazz and Faireborn's chemistry seem to reaching new levels, too. Quite the pairing - a smooth and cool special ops Autobot teaming up with a highly disciplined military officer like Faireborn. Bumblebee's sense of inferiority is starting to build up again, and something worth waiting for in the upcoming issues. But definitley worth looking out for (as Black Bumblebee pointed out) is Bumper. He sure is definitely acting weird, and though I've read some crazy profiles in the G1 MTMTE series, i didn't think that it would be an overnight change like Bumper had.
Even the Decepticon end has a lot of nice bits: the internal conflict that is brewing up between Shrapnel and Bombshell is very interesting - probably a reason why Bombshell slacked off in relation to Shockwave's claim that the invasion plan is jeopardized. Shockwave is alive?! Well, we really didn't expect him to be die easily, right? And the flashback as to the Dinobots and Insecticons' encounter is another good bit for TF past geeks like me. I just don't know what the heck "Rules of Extinction" means as pointed out in that page, so if anyone can clear that for me, I'd appreciate it. ;)
Nice little ditties I found and loved are: Crothers Auto-body auto-shop, the RiD-esque rendition of Jazz's face showing up  in his alt mode and Jazz's shoulder missile, Sideswipe's piledrivers and jetpack, Sunstreaker's shoulder missiles, the Insecticon clones' not-so-tough bodies, the Hasbro logo, the Agent Smith-looking FBI agent, and Cullen's Pepsi (Pepsi Prime!)

RATING: A great two-part story that focuses on a small group from both factions, it leaves some bits to be resolved and to look out for in the coming months. It even looks back with Bumblebee's appearance in this issue, hence providing for a more continuous flow of the story that we know will build into something epic in the coming issues. (After all, McDonough already stated that he has laid out the story for the next two years.). Great action, great characterization, great previews. Kinda reminds me of the days when I used to watch the cartoons, too.

and 1/2 out of 5.

This review was written on 07 November 2004.
Image copyright Hasbro 2005.