IDW - More Than Meets the Eye #15

Written by: James Roberts

Pencils by: Alex Milne

Inks by: Alex Milne, Marc Deering, Brian Shearer and Phyllis Novin

Colors by: Josh Burcham and Josh Perez and Joana Lafuente

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editorial Assistant: Mariel Romero-Ocaranza

Editor: John Barber

Plot

Overlord escapes from his cell and locks the door behind him, 5 seconds later Chromedome manages to escape as well, however 5 seconds for inside the cell is 30 minutes to everyone else, so when he reaches the top of the stairs he finds the entire crew fighting Overlord.

30 Minutes earlier, Blaster lets Whirl blast some asteroids using the bridge's cannons, when Pipes walks in to check if the communications systems are back up yet so he can get a message to his friend Hubcap, Blaster says it won't be ready for some time, but takes Pipes' message for when it is. Pipes goes off on his happy way, heading towards one of Rewind's movie nights, when he literally bumps into Overlord, who stomps on the poor little Autobot twice, before walking off. Pipes recites his message to Hubcap in his mind to keep himself conscious as he crawls to the alarm button and sets it off, just as he dies.

Elsewhere at Brainstorm's workshop, Rewind is confronting him about what he's been doing with Chromedome lately when Swerve asks what a weapon he found is, Brainstorm worries that Swerve's activated it, but reveals that it's a Metafiction bomb, which makes the enemy think he's in someone else's narrative, Swerve then says to Rewind that it doesn't work as he did use it...Off Panel!! Then the alarms go off.

Elsewhere, Perceptor explains to Rodimus about how the Matrox map is copy-proof, Rung goes to visit and forgive Fort Max for his actions, and Tailgate is making something in Hoist's workshop, when he's warned by Skids that Cyclonus is mad that he volunteered their quarters for Movie Night. The alarm sounds for them too.

Ratchet complains to Rodimus over the communicators about the alarms as he has patients trying to relax when Overlord enters the medibay, Ratchet somehow notices him and attacks the Decepticon with his gun, Drift appears and helps Rtachet against the giant Decepticon, and Ratchet informs Rodimus of the situation and gives a short will.

Soon, Rodimus appears at the medibay with most of the crew to find Overlord having beaten the two Autobots. Magnus attacks Overlord first, for revenge against what happened at Garrus-9 with the Wreckers, however Overlord easily pierces his hand through Magnus' chest and severs his spark. Rodimus orders everyone to attack at once, whilst First Aid tries to save Magnus, but just manages to slow down his spark from shrinking, to the horror of Tailgate. Nearby, the legless Drift asks Swerve (who's shouting out the solicits to this issue thanks to the Meta-Bomb) so he can call for some help.

Rodimus leaps at Overlord, who grabs him, just as Chromedome enters the area and is reunited with his love, Rewind. Overlord asks Rodimus if he has any last words, which of course, are "Til all are one", which fills Overlord with fear and paralyzes him. Fort Max appears (the guy who Drift called for) and pummels into the Decepticon.

Chromedome reveals that he planted the phrase into Overlord's memories to make his basically useless when he hears the phrase, which reveals to Rewind that he's been plugging in, even though he promised not to. Chromedome has Fort Max drag Overlord back to the slow cell, with the intent of detaching it from the ship, however upon closing, the doors are jammed in one of Drift's missing swords, so Rewind enters the chamber to dislodge it, and gets trapped inside as the cell gets detached from the ship, with Chromedome's arm being sliced off in the process too, they wordlessly say goodbye and Overlord recovers.

Chromedome runs up to the bridge, and shoots the cell to spare Rewind the pain of being trapped in there with Overlord, and then breaks down on the floor of the bridge.

Characters

Autobot

Rodimus - Car

Ultra Magnus - Vehicle Transport Spark Severed by Overlord

Drift - Car Legs chopped off by Overlord

Chromedome - Car Arm sliced off by Slow Cell

Rewind - Memory Stick In Slow Cell when Exploded

Fortress Maximus - Tank

Pipes - Truck Killed by Overlord

Blaster

Whirl - Osprey Helicopter Used as a mace by Overlord

Ratchet - Ambulance Injured by Overlord

First Aid - Ambulance

Ambulon - Leg

Cosmos Injured by Overlord

Brawn Injured by Overlord

Gears Injured by Overlord

Inferno

Hound - Jeep

Hoist - Crane

Smokescreen - Car

Dogfight - Jet

Trailbreaker - Van

Skids - Van

Powerglide - Jet

Rung - Communications Maintenance Buggy

Highbrow - Helicopter

Powerflash

Aquafend

Jackpot

Blades - Helicopter

Boss

Brainstorm - Jet

Swerve - Van

Perceptor

Xaaron

Atomizer

Sunstreaker - Car

Pointblank

Backstreet (maybe?)

Hubcap (Mentioned)

Wreckers (Mentioned)

Trepan (Mentioned)

Prowl (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Overlord - Tank/Jet In Slow Cell when Exploded

Tentakil In Lost Light Brig

Snapdragon In Lost Light Brig

3 More Prisoners In Lost Light Brig

Megatron (Mentioned)

Other

Tailgate - Car

Cyclonus - Jet

Notes

• Oh wow, Overlord uses Whirl (or another blue Osprey Helicopter Autobot) as a mace in the 2 page spread!
• Some of the characters in the background are shown in heavy shadow, but one looks a bit like Backstreet...maybe he's gotten better?
• Overlord killing Pipes is sort of like a bad guy stomping on a puppy, the worst part of it is that he actually stomps on him TWICE!
• Swerve is now able to break the fourth wall...that;s right, at the moment at least, he's like Deadpool!
• The map to the Knights of Cybertron inside the Matrix is mentioned here as being unable to be copied, even onto your own mind..me thinks magic may be involved!
• I have to ask, since he's seen here a few times...why has Cyclonus not just had Ratchet make him a new head horn?
• Drift appears to have a hover-car mode (this could just be a between-modes thing though)
• Whirl seems to be after new hands still, as Ratchet  offers them to him in his message to Rodimus
• Magnus has felt guilty about leaving the Wreckers to go to Garrus-9 alone, and wanted to atone for that here (just to get easily pummeled by Overlord of course).
• Tailgate seems to feel quite close to Magnus, most likely because he's been his teacher lately.
• The overusage of the phrase "Til all are one" in the memories last issue are shown here to have been implanted there by Chromedome, so that Overlord would be crippled with his fear of losing when he hears that phrase (which Rodimus is famously known to over-use) through a process called Trepan's trigger
• Overlord's finger tools are drills rather than needles like Chromedome and Trepan have.
• It's unknown what Chromdome's last words to Rewind are, it could be anything from a sweet "I love you" to "I killed Deminus" and anything in between
• Yeah...I don't think that being shot and exploded in the Slow Cell will kill Overlord...Rewind maybe, but not Overlord, he'll be back!
• I wonder, with Magnus' apparent death here, and his admitting to Swerve about his friendship with Verity, could this mean a trip to Earth so she can be told about his death?