IDW - More Than Meets the Eye #19

Title: Remain in Light 3 of 5: The Divided Self

Written by: James Roberts

Pencils by: Alex Milne

Inks by: Brian Shearer

Colours by: Josh Burcham

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editorial Assistant: Kevin Smead

Editor: John Barber

Plot

Earlier, Ultra Magnus arrives on Luna-1 in his shuttle and is recovered by Tyrest who has Pharma repair him. Once Magnus wakes up he screams about Overlord, before realizing that Tyrest is there, then he's punched by the Chief Justic, who considers it fully deserved.

Later, in the cell, Rodimus is confused by Ambus' claim that he IS Ultra Magnus, but the smaller Autobot goes on to explain that there is no real Ultra Magnus, he's just a symbol, and he was the most recent one. He then goes on to explain that Tyrest is unhappy with his work over the past 18 months, and has just relinquished the armour from him, planning to retire it, and replace him with the Legislators and Star Saber.

Ambus explains to his fellow prisoners that there was once a real Ultra Magnus, but he died in battle, however his reputation was so great that Tyrest decided to create an immortal lawman, using his name and appearance, and that all the times Magnus has almost died in the past, have in fact been real deaths, and he's just been recalled each time and had a new inner robot placed inside. He also explains that only a Point One Percenter and a Load Bearer (someone who can keep adapting his body, with his spark not giving up on him) can use the armour. He also gives Tailgate some hope in his own situation, by claiming that the doctors here are miracle workers, and fully repaired him, despite only having 10 days left to live.

Ambus begins to wonder about what Tyrest's real plans are, as he had no idea about the dead Titans, Lockdown or any of the other weird things on Luna-1, so instead of continuing his mission to get evidence that the crew had no idea about Skids' crimes, he goes to investigate his boss. As soon as he leaves though Skids and Swerve are teleported into the cell, unconscious.

Nearby, Whirl and Cyclonus have found a massive smelting pool with a cell perched above it (which is surmised to be Rodimus' cell, ready to be dropped when they are ready to be executed. The two frenemies know there's an armory nearby (as Whirl can smell it) and head off for weapons to help in the jailbreak...however Cyclonus is unwilling to do so yet, as he needs to find something on the moon first.

In the Medibay Pharma is taunting the bodyless Ratchet, who in turn taunts him by claiming that Pharma has left Ratchet's hands connected to his body because he can't remove them with his lack of skills. Pharma however refutes the claims as Tyrest has supplied him with all sorts of weird toys on Luna-1, and agrees to a contest where they perform the same surgery on 2 patients, and the winner get's Pharma's old hands.

Whirl and Cyclonus manage to break into the armory, but Cyclonus gets skewered by a sword. Meanwhile, back in the Medibay, Pharma has reattached Ratchet to his body, and has had the Legislators bring First Aid and Ambulon from the Lost Light, Ratchet tries to cancel the contest, but Pharma won't allow it, he makes the contest to repair them after being slices in half...lengthwise! And he slices Ambulon in half, from head to groin!!! (WHATS?!??!!?!?). 

Back at the armory, Whirl has killed the Legislator who skewered Cyclonus with a Great Sword, who just slides out the sword. Cyclonus asks where Whirl got the sword, and he says he found hundreds there, leading them to find a large prison, with the survivors of the Circle of Light imprisoned!

In the cell, Perceptor examines Skids, and comments on how stab wounds are so rarely fatal, and tend to miss the sparks, and Swerve reveals that Star Saber, aka the crazy religious nut who wanted to perform an Atheist holocaust, was the one who attacked them, and also reveals that the whole ship was under attack, last he heard. Skids wakes up and apologizes for whatever crime he did, when Star Saber turns up with Skids' partner in crime in tow, Getaway.

In the Control Room, Ambus approaches Tyrest, and learns from him about how Nova Prime realized that the energy pulses that powered new sparks on the moons around Cybertron were weakening, so he had Tyrest tap into the Matrix to create artifical sparks (ie those Constructed Cold). After a while however someone in his inner circle found out about all this and stole the Matrix, hiding it in the Undergrid (until Orion Pax finds it later). He also revealed that he discovered that all of the guilty parties in the Aequitas Trials were Constructed Cold, thus meaning, to him anyway, that their bastardizing the Matrix had created Cybertronians more likely to sin, than others. After his discovery for atonement Tyrest started drilling into his own body, and one day drilled into his own brain, and had an epiphany, that Primus, and all the other religious myths in the Cybertronian race are true, and is now convinced that the space bridge portal he has set up, will lead him to Cyberutopia itself!

Outside, Whirl and Cyclonus are armed with Great Swords and are joined by the Circle of Light, and begin to take on the Legislators en masse!

Tyrest explains that he cannot go to Cyberutopia yet, as he is filled with sin, and only the pure can go there, he plans to remove his greatest sin however by triggering an energy wave that will kill all Cold Constructed Cybertronians (as they all have a similar energy source inside them too). Magnus goes to stop him from starting the process, but Tyrest reveals that he set up a new rule 90 (16) Pre-emptive execution, meaning that if the Chief Justice believes himself to be in danger then the Legislators will protect him. As such, one of them crushed Ambus' head, which Tyrest feels was fully deserved as well.....

Characters

Autobot

Rodimus - Sports Car

Minimus Ambus - Truck Cab Head crushed by Legislator

Ratchet - Ambulance

Pharma - Jet

Ambulon - Leg Sliced in Half by Pharma

First Aid - Ambulance

Skids - Van

Swerve - Van

Rung - Maintenance Buggy

Perceptor

Brainstorm - Jet

Chromedome - Car

Getaway

Whirl - Osprey Helicopter

Fortress Maximus - Tank

Mainframe

Highbrow - Helicopter

Blaster Badly Injured

Ultra Magnus Armour - Vehicle Transport (Flashback)Retired

Orion Pax (Flashback)

Original Ultra Magnus (Flashback)Dead

Delta Magnus (Flashback)

Drift - Car (Mentioned) Exiled

Suture (Mentioned) Died as Ultra Magnus

Datum (Mentioned) Died as Ultra Magnus by Megatron

Rewind - Giant Memory Stick (Mentioned) Dead

Impactor (Mentioned)

Roller (Mentioned)

Atomizer (Mentioned)

Ammo (Mentioned)

Lancet (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Snake Monster (Flashback)

Megatron (Mentioned)

Overlord (Mentioned) Believed to be Dead

Lockdown (Mentioned)

D.J.D. (Mentioned)

Circle of Light

Dai Atlas

Other Members

Other

Tailgate Dying of Cybercrosis

Cyclonus - Space Jet

Chief Justice Tyrest

Star Saber

Legislators

Nova Prime (Flashback)

Vector Sigma (Flashback)

Matrix Thief/Tigatron? (Flashback)

Nanocons (Mentioned)

Titans (Mentioend) Dead

Primus (Mentioned)

Sparkeaters (Mentioned)

Guiding Hand (Mentioned)

Knights of Cybertron (Mentioned)

Notes

• Ambus' spark is green, like Overlord's, further showing how he's a point one percenter
• Ultra Magnus being just an armour suit is of course a reference to his G1 toy, which was basically a suit for his inner robot
• If you look at Ambus' back kibble, you can sort of see parts that resemble his truck mode's cab, so technically he's been seen since Spotlight: Ultra Magnus, just not named!
• Delta Magnus seems to be based on the Powered Convoy version of the Ultra Magnus mold
• Rather than being the nice fella we all knew from Victory, Star Saber seems to be a religious nut here (and not an Autobot from the looks of it)
• The Magnus armour is covered in Attention Deflectors, which explains why no one's ever noticed the inner robot
• This story implies that Impactor and Roller are Point One Percenters as well
• Skids has been disarmed, from the looks of his shoulder cannons
• Cyclonus seems to want to find something or someone on Luna-1, perhaps a cure for Tailgate, or Scourge?
• Pharma's turned into the crazy ex-girlfriend from hell here....seriously!
• Cyclonus asks why Whirl hasn't had his Empurata reversed over the years, but WHirl claims it's because the world is messed-up. Cyclonus is resistant to talk about why he scratched up his face (after hearing of Tailgate's condition)
• The Circle of Light were revealed to be captured by the Legislators back in the 2012 Annual
• 17 (21), which the Legislators were screaming about the past 2 issues is revealed here to be "harbouring a criminal suspect", revealed here to be Skids
• Skids' overwhelming desire and single thoughts to escape that Chromedome read in his mind, was actually someone's name - Getaway!
• It's revealed here that Nova Prime DID have the Matrix at one point, but it was stolen from him by a thief as he was abusing it to Cold Construct new Cybertronians
• The Matrixes thief looks a bit like Tigatron
• Tyrest's holes are revealed to be because after the Aequitas Trials, he started self-harming, which led to him drilling into his brain, and making him "see the light" (and decide to cause genocide, you know, it happens!
• Star Saber going to Dai Atlas for aid in his quest and him being laughed away is sort of a reversal of what happened int Transformers Zone, where Star Saber asks Atlas to be the new Autobot Commander, and he happily accepts!
• Tyrest killing Transformers and using their dead bodies as raw material to build his Legislators is similar to what Megatron does in Beast Machines to build his Vehicon armies.

Speculation

• I think that Tyrest's computer that allows him to alter the Tyrest Accord will eventually be his downfall, as someone else could alter it, to make Tyrest seem to break the law, and the Legislators will take him out...ie someone else names themselves as Chief Justice, or says his actions are unlawful etc.
• Due to his instability, it's possible that Star Saber is Cold Constructed, and will turn on Tyrest before he tries to kill them all
• As implied here Luna-1 was meant to receive those energy pulses from Robots in Disguise 3, which would have revitalized the sparks here. So theoretically, shouldn't Luna-2, still in orbit of the planet, and receiving the energy, be producing sparks again now?