IDW - Regeneration One #81

Staff

Title: "Loose Ends" Part 1

Writer: Simon Furman

Pencils: Andrew Wildman

Inker: Stephen Baskerville

Colorist: John-Paul Bove

Letterer: Chris Mowry

Editor: John Barber

Editor-In-Chief: Chris Ryall

Storyline

In the Wrecker's base, Debris, Kup is going through a battle simulation to train against tying up all the loose ends of the Decepticons, when Springer walks in and says there's a ransom situation in Kalis involving Decepticons and warheads , and they're going to see if Magnus will let the Wreckers deal with the Decepticons, Wrecker-style. Magnus says no, and Kup storms off. Elsewhere Soundwave releases the Deluxe Insecticons from his chest cavity and sends them to turn the Decepticons staging this issue into Martyrs to make things look bad for the Autobots.

Inside the depot the Skyscorchers are preparing to make a deal with Magnus, as they never really intended to cause major damage, but wanted attention and the ransom too, when they are attacked and disabled by the Insecticons, who plan to activate the warhead properly and cause massive damage. Suddenly the wall explodes and the Wreckers break in and detain the Insecticons inside a Detention Sphere, and disarm the warhead with Perceptor's help.

Later Magnus goes to visit Optimus at Nova Point to decide what to do with Kup disobeying orders, whilst Optimus is acting distant, but agreeing that Magnus is right to be angry, and he ends up having a vision of Unicron telling him he will kill him, which disturbs Prime somewhat. Outside, Kup is waiting with Optimus' protege Hot Rod, and explains that he hates all the waiting around whilst there's still loose ends out there and they should be doing things about it, like Grimlock is, so he leaves Nova Point just as Magnus exits the chambers to deal with him.

Kup returns to Debris and rounds up the Wreckers, who agree to follow him on his plan to visit the worlds who were affected by the Civil War and try and fix things. Elsewhere, Soundwave is unexpectedly contacted by Bludgeon, who needs him to collect something for him for a plan to wipe out the Autobots once and for all.

The Cosmic Carnival arrives in the Sol System and drops off the Wrecker's ship near Earth, with plans to return in 10 Cycles for them. The Wreckers enter orbit and power down, so they don't attract unneeded attention, and send down probes to see what's happening, but are startled to see the planet in ruins, rivers dried, other areas flooded or just destroyed. One of the probes is hacked and sent to DC (I think?) where the Wreckers are shocked to see Megatron alive and sitting in the ruins happy that someone finally came. Megatron sets off some nuclear warheads which destroys the Wrecker's ship in orbit before they can power their systems up again, all as Megatron laughs maniacally...

Characters

Autobot
Optimus Prime
Hot Rod
Ultra Magnus
Kup On Ship that blew up
Springer On Ship that blew up
Whirl On Ship that blew up
Roadbuster On Ship that blew up
Sandstorm On Ship that blew up
Broadside On Ship that blew up
Topspin On Ship that blew up
Rack 'N' Ruin On Ship that blew up
Leadfoot On Ship that blew up
Perceptor
Grimlock (Flashback)
The Last Autobot (Mentioned) Dead
Security Forces
CCD Cadets (Mentioned)
Those Affected by Nucleon (Mentioned)

Decepticon
Megatron
Soundwave
Bludgeon
Chop Shop - Stag Beetle Captured by Wreckers
Ransack - Locust Captured by Wreckers
Venom - Cicada Captured by Wreckers
Terradive Killed/Incapacitated by Venom
Afterburner Killed/Incapacitated by Chop Shop
Eagle Eye Killed/Incapacitated by Venom
Windrazor Killed/Incapacitated by Chop Shop
Thunderwing (Mold Only)
Galvatron - Laser Cannon (Hologram)

Human
Berko
Other
Unicron - Ringed Planet (Vision)
Cybertronian Civilians 

Notes

• Still not too fond of the artwork being in the old style....colours are nice though!
• The Wreckers and Deluxe Insecticons make their US Marvel continuity debut here
• The intro of a Wrecker killing some fake Decepticons is just like their intro in Marvel UK
• Twin Twist has been replaced in the visible Wrecker ranks by Leadfoot, making the roster resemble the DOTM Wreckers a bit more now
• Soundwave can hold Insecticons in his chest
• It's not clear if the Skyscorchers are killed in this issue or not...
• Grimlock is mentioned to be elsewhere right now
• Hot Rod being mentored by Optimus seems to have calmed him down somewhat....this I do not enjoy
• Bludgeon has a mold in the shape of Thunderwing's pretender shell, which implies that he's planning to rebuild him some how
• The Cosmic Carnival seems to go near Earth nowadays
• It seems like Earth has been conquered by Megatron in this continuity now, much like it was in All Hail Megatron, however as noted in the story this must have happened some time ago
• There's a random guy amongst the Wreckers on page 21, he looks like a Headmaster in design, but doesn't match up with any I can think of - After asking Andrew Wildman at Auto Assembly, he told me it's supposed to be Broadside with his face plate up!
• Megatron still has a black bucket head!
• Springer's chest changes like every panel in this comic