IDW - Regeneration One #96

Title: The War to End All Wars: Part 1

Writer: Simon Furman

Penciler: Guidi Guido

Inker/Finisher (Pages 17-22): Stephen Baskerville

Colourist: John-Paul Bove

Letterer: Chris Mowry

Editor: John Barber

Editor-in-Chief: Chris Ryall

Plot

At some point in time, an older looking Rodimus Prime is standing in a fiery and melted room, reflecting on his massive past mistakes....

In the present day, Rodimus leads the Autobots in a rescue mission in Iacon, which has been devastated in the recent war with the Decepticcons, which leads to some guys like Kup wondering if it would have been better if they'd lost instead. Amongst the carnage they find a barely living Bludgeon, who begs Rodimus to finish him off so he can have his honourable death, but Rodimus declines and orders a medic, when available to heal him up, as a punishment.

Rodimus begins plans to do as Primus wished, and fix the remaining mistakes he was shown in his journey through time, beginning with Galvatron. He has Ultra Magnus take a team to apprehend him, as he's gone missing from where Magnus left him following the battle. After that, he barely acknowledges the Dinobots and Demons, and rolls off, leaving the Dinobots feeling a bit annoyed.

On Earth, Optimus is building a Space Bridge, since the humans have agreed to relocate to Nebulos for their survival, but Circuit Smasher isn't happy, and is tempted to "accidentally" destroy the bridge. Optimus touches on a sore subject by mentioning Buster's death, which really pisses off Circuit Smasher.

Optimus receives a message from Cybertron, and is greeted by Rodimus Prime, whom he agrees to pass off leadership to. Rodimus discusses with the assembled Autobots and Optimus about the loose threads Primus showed him, but Optimus isn't sure how Circuit Smasher can be a major problem.

Elsewhere, in Kalis, Ultra Magnus and his team have located Galvatron and engage him in a battle, the battle seems to be going well until the Acolytes of Unicron appear and abduct Galvatron, as they see him as a herald of Unicron and see his return as a sign of his return.

Nightbeat and Bumblebee are looking into the old archives, and manage to find an obscure image of Jhiaxus, but realize that Jhiaxus only wiped out the data on himself from Cybertron''s databanks, not other planets, so they send out a message to all Cybertron's past trade partners for any information, and start waiting.

On Nebulos, the Autobots there are building their side of the pace Bridge for the transfer, whilst the Nebulons are working on rebuilding bodies for the remaining Autobot heads kept in their labs, including Fortress Maximus. However unknown to them, the dark spawn of the corrupted Matrix is on Nebulos and enters the tank that hold's Fortress Maximus' original head.

Back on Cybertron, Nightbeat and Bumblebee are concerned about how there are absolutely no responses of any type from any of Cybertron's past traders, so they send out a probe to find out more.

On the Ark in an asteroid field Starscream is getting fed up of waiting still, when he suddenly gets scared of "him" being there.

All of a sudden Cybertron's sky is filled with strange ships, and Rodimus is greeted on a communications screen by the face of Jhiaxus, who claims to come in peace.

Characters

Autobot

Rodimus Prime - Caravan

Optimus Prime - Truck

Ultra Magnus - Car Carrier

Gunrunner - Jet Shot by Acolytes of Unicron

Skram - Race Car Shot by Galvatron

Rapido - Race Car

Blurr - Race Car

Nightbeat - Sports Car

Bumblebee - VW Beetle

Prowl - Police Car

Perceptor - Microscope

Jetfire - Jet

Kup - Pick Up Truck

Grimlock - Tyrannosaurus Rex

Swoop - Pteranodon

Slag - Triceratops

Sludge - Apatosaurus

Snarl - Stegosaurus

Quickmix - Mixing Truck

Erector - Truck Cab

Groundpounder - Front End Loader

Takedown - Mixing Truck

Neutro - Bulldozer

Crumble - Crane

Hot Spot - Fire Engine

Hosehead - Fire Engine

Streetwise - Police Car

Blades - Rescue Helicopter

Siren - Emergency Car

Drench - Race Car Injured in Iacon attack

Fixit - Ambulance

Powerglide - Jet

Wheeljack - Race Car

First Aid - Ambulance

Grapple - Crane

Hoist - Tow Truck

Mirage - F1 Race Car

Fortress Maximus - Battle Station Being Rebuilt - Head infected by Dark Matrix creature

Chromedome - Car (Flashback)

Hot Rod - Sports Car (Mentioned) Became Rodimus Prime

Decepticon

Shockwave - Ray Gun Hooked to Ark

Starscream - Fighter Jet

Galvatron - Laser Canon Kidnapped by Acolytes of Unicron

Bludgeon Dying - Being fixed

Krok Arrested

Blitz Engines Destroyed

Megatron (Mentioned)

Soundwave (Mentioned) Arrested

Decepticon Heads in Captivity (Mentioned)

Cybertronian

Jhiaxus

Cybertronian Empire

Demons

Acolytes of Unicron

Dead Guys in Iacon

Boltax (Flashback)

Past Senators (Image)

Spannerbots (Mentioned)

Other

Spike Witwicky/Circuit Smasher

Nebulon Senior Scientist

Dark Matrix Creature

Stylor - Chromedome's Head (Flashback)

Unicron (Image)

Deathbringer (Image)

Primus (Mentioned)

Buster Witwicky (Mentioned)

Witwicky Family (Mentioned)

Little America Collective (Mentioned)

Notes

• Bludgeon somehow survived his plummet to Cybertron, albeit only JUST.
• What caused the massive damage shown in the opening scenes? The Warwold exploded too high up to cause massive ground damage, it could have been from the damage caused by the Warworld shooting the planet, but that damage didn't look like this before.
• Rodimus totally snubs off Grimlock and his Demon army, possibly as a reference to Primus doing the same in the past
• How have the Autobots organized the space bridge project so fast? This story seems to have taken place minutes after the end of the battle, but Optimus and Quickmix's team have almost set up new space bridges on Earth and Nebulos already!
• Rodimus Prime is officially made Autobot leader in this issue.
• Is it just a coincidence that Nightbeat makes his first appearance in Regeneration One at the same time he makes his reappearance in IDW's main continuity? Hmmmm....
• The Acolytes of Unicron have been in hiding since their last appearance just before the Unicron war.
• Erector makes a full, completely unmistakeable appearance here! YAY!
• The Nebulons seem to be fully recovered now as well...how long has it been since the end of the Scorponok sctoryline?
• Chromedome and Stylor are revealed to have both survived the wars in the past, but are now separate and reunited with their original head/reintegrated to society (respectively)
• The Decepticons who went to Nebulos' original heads are being kept detained until further notice.
• The dark Matrix creature has somehow made its way to Nebulos.
• The lack of responses from Cybertron's past traders most likely means they've been destroyed by the Cybertronian Empire (Jhiaxus' guys)
• Rooks alternate mode shown a few issues ago is revealed here to be a mass produced body type.
• Starscream is implied to know who Jhiaxus is, possibly as a reference to Jhiaxus being a bulked out Sekker body-type, maybe.