IDW - More Than Meets the Eye #22

Title: "Little Victories": A film by Rewind of Lower Petrohex

Written by: James Roberts

Art by: James Raiz

Colours by: Josh Burcham

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: John Barber

Plot

A film, made by Rewind starts, and the crew of the Lost Light introduce themselves to the audience. The scene flashes back to just before the launch and Rodimus asks Rewind to record his every movement so they can document the journey and use it as a travelogue of sorts. Magnus is a bit wary, but Rodimus allows him to have final editorial cut if he wants.

The scene flashes forward some time to Rewind, Swerve and Tailgate hanging out at the Oil Reservoir, discussing alternate modes, then get the idea to hold a contest to find out Rung's alternate mode, as Rewind reveals that his wheel is just an ornament and actually becomes a trolley for him to use. Swerve tries making him transform by force by throwing hand grenades at the back of his head, which just annoys the therapist more than anything.

Rewind asks Skids if he has any hobbies for the film, he says he likes meeting new people, like the Stentarians on Hedonia. The scene shifts back to Hedonia, where Skids, Whirl and Rewind are face to face with several other robotic lifeforms, and they start comparing whose species and war is better. (The Ammonites are at war with the Terradores, and they all combine with eachother, have 10 alt modes and other amazing things. But their war has lasted sixteen million years.)

Soon they sit down to drink with the Autobots and realize how futile the war is, before long though some Terradores arrive on the planet. Whirl gets annoyed, goes outside, and kills their leader. Apparently ending that long conflict in one move.

Rewind asks the crew if they are happy for the film, and gets a varied response. Later, Rung is walking around with his trolley and is called into the bar by Tailgate, who is in his alternate mode with several others, and calls it an "Alt-Mode Party!". Rung points out however that they can't reach their drinks in those modes, stumping the poor little guy.

Later, Blaster calls Rodimus up to the bridge as he's gotten a message from another Autobot ship, captained by the famous and wonderful Thunderclash. Rodimus gets a bit jealous of Thudnerclash and keeps trying the one-up him, only to fail at every turn, and gets really annoyed when Thunderclash reveals that HE'S on a quest to find the Knights of Cybertron as well.

It's revealed that Thudnerclash wants to use the Lost Light's Quantum engines to repower his ship, the Vis Vitalis, which is also what keeps him alive. Perceptor says that it can work, but suddenly Thunderclash's second officer Paddox is revealed to be an evil Ammonite spy who has been leaking Autobot secrets and tech to the Ammonites to defeat the peacful Terradores. However since the Terradore leader was killed a short time ago the new leader has become quite dangerous. He planned to take the Lost Light and defeat the Terradores with it, but if Thunderclash uses the engines like he wants to, the ship will be useless to them. So he threatens to kill the famous Autobot.

Swerve and Rung are wandering towards the engine room, as Swerve has lied and said he personally knows Thunderclash and can get Rung his autograph in exchange for him showing him that his Transformation Cog still works, when they come across the hostage situation. The two manage to save the day however when Rung turns into a make-shift bat mode and Swerve knocks out Paddox with it.

Rung reveals to Rewind that he doesn't know what his alternate mode is, and no-one ever has, during the functionist days he was given a wheel to make him look "normal" and his ID card identifies him as being an "ornament".

After the incident, the Vis Vitalis is repaired and Thudnerclash goe soff on his way again, with Rodimus finally respecting him (though he hints that if Rewind wasn't recording then he may have reacted differently)

Back in the present, Skids is showing the film to the the surviving members of the Circle of Light on Luna-1 in the hopes that they'll join the quest. They agree, but decide to try and find Thunderclash to join his crew instead of Rodimus'.

Back in the film, the crew give their hopes for the future of the quest,and Rewinds finishes it off with a group-shot of the main-crew members who appeared in his film.

The End. (now roll credits!)

Characters

Autobot

Rodimus "Prime" - Car

Ultra Magnus - Vehicle Transport

Drift - Car

Skids - Van

Swerve - Van

Rung - Unknown Alternate Mode

Rewind - Giant Memory Stick

Chromedome - Car

Trailcutter - Van

Blaster

Whirl - Osprey Helicopter

Brainstorm - Jet

Perceptor

Ratchet - Ambulance

First Aid - Ambulance

Other Lost Lighters

Optimus Prime (Mentioned)

Red Alert (Mentioned)

Waverider (Mentioned)

Stentarians

Paddox - Omni-Combinational (Ammonite)

16444/9 - Omni-Combinational (Ammonite)

Imperius Drax (Mentioned - Terradore) Killed by Whirl

Drax's Successor (Mentioned - Terradore)

Terradore Imperial Guard (Mentioned)

Other Ammonites

Terradores (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Megatron (Mentioned)

Other

Tailgate - Car

Cyclonus - Jet

Hedonians

Mondo the Bartender

Circle of Light Outside of Film Only

Chief Justice Tyrest (Mentioned)

Nominus Prime (Mentioned)

Knights of Cybertron (Mentioned)

Galactic Council (Mentioned)

Functionists (Mentioned)

Notes

• This story uses footage from the start of the Lost Light's journey up until just before Rewind's death, with the non-movie parts being set during the end of the last issue.
• This story reveals that Rung's alternate mode is a mystery, even to him. Meaning that the maintenance buggy mode shown in his design pages was just there for the sake of it.
• Rung talking about his spaceships to Rewind in the film seems to be part of one of the clips shown in Rewind's "goodbye message"
• The Ammonites and Terradores are clearly a parallel to the Autobots and Decepticons (though with the nicer sounding Ammonites being evil it seems). They also all seem to be based on Micromaster Gestalt teams to an extent.
• Tailgate in his vehicle mode has an Autobot insignia, this is either a mistake, or it's another attempt on his temporary one.
• Tailgate reveals here that Rung was indeed around during his era as well. (This was only hinted at before when he spoke about Rungian theories
• Ultra Magnus is shown hugging Thunderclash in the movie, this is where Tyrest got that piece of silliness from!
• Also, it's a bit odd that Magnus censored the earlier bits of humiliation, but not this one.
• Thunderclash is revealed to have been on a Knight Quest of his own for some time now...wonder if we'll see him again in the future?
• Apparently the Ammonites are similar enough to Autobots that Paddox could go undetected for ages.
• The Functionists got Rung's name wrong on his ID card...oh dear!
• It's shown here that the Circle of Light (or at least the majority) didn't go with Rodimus and the others, but were interested in joining Thunderclash's crew
• It's not shown how Paddox was dealt with after his betrayal. Most likely he went to the brig of one of the two ships
• The whole last few pages of this comic appear to be the crew and audience reactions to the series in general.Just read them and you'll see what I mean!