IDW - Regeneration One #91

Title: Destiny Part One

Writer: Simon Furman

Penciler: Andrew Wildman

Inker: Stephen Baskerville

Colorist: John-Paul Bove

Coloring Assist: James Stayte

Letterer: Chris Mowry

Editor: John Barber

Editor-in-Chief: Chris Ryall

Plot

Bludgeon's new army attacks planet Cresta Superior and slaughters the inhabitants which Bludgeon and Soundwave watch on from on the Warworld with the Thunderwing remains in the background (having used the Matrix energies to build the army). Bludgeon suggests that since it'll take a while for the Warworld to return to Cybertron for their ultimate plan, he should have his own Decepticons on the planet undermine the Autobot's rule some more...

It's the day after Scorponok's dark reign over Cybertron, and everything is still damaged, and the people are distrusting one and another. Several Autobots meet up for a discussion on the situation, which Hot Rod was absent for, since he was learning about the Demons whilst this was all happening. Perceptor and the others tell him that the population are feeling bad after all that happened and some are confused by their feelings during the crisis.

Elsewhere, Ultra Magnus sends out his Civil Defense Force to help protect the innocent in the new violent times when Trailbreaker tells him that the satellite left over Earth is transmitting a message from Earth. Optimus (in his new base there) confirms that he received Magnus' report about the recent events an dis told about Fixit's team being sent to Nebulos to fix the issues there too. Magnus reports that he's worried about Hot Rod's leadership style, but Optimus tells him not to worry, and that his unorthodox methods may be what Cybertron needs now.

On the Ark, Galvtaron remembers when the Unicron of his home universe devoured his Cybertron and then forced him to rule Earth, and be content with it. Galvatron is now determined to rule THIS Cybertron.

Meanwhile, on Cybertron Hot Rod begins his speech to the population about his plans to try and reunite the Demons, and the Transformers on this planet, but the public (goaded by some Decepticons) turn violent and have to be held back by the Autobot guards.

Soon, Hot Rod is taken away by Kup, who tells him that he should concede the leadership to Ultra Magnus, Hot Rod gets Trailbreaker to contact Magnus for him, but before he can be connected the surviving Dinobots turn up and want to help Hot Rod in his search for the Demons and a way to help them, on the condition that they also go to find Grimlock as well, as they believe he's still alive at the bottom of the Sonic Canyons.

Magnus makes contact with Hot Rod, who tells the former to get Iacon repaired and ready for the reunification of the Cybertronians, having changed his plans.

Back on Cresta Superior, Rook arrives and finds the planet destroyed and reports back to his leader, Jhiaxus at the Hub that it appears to have been caused by Cybertronians. Jhiaxus remarks that it seems inevitable now for the past and future to clash at long last.

Worryingly in Zero Space, the crack seems to shatter, and that the future is now...cancelled?

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck

Hot Rod - Car

Ultra Magnus - Car Carrier

Kup - Pick Up Truck

Trailbreaker - Van

Red Hot - Fire Engine

Seawatch - Rescue Boat

Fixit - Ambulance

Stakeout - Police Car

Sky High - Helicopter

Grapple - Crane

Prowl - Police Car

Streetwise - Police Car

Perceptor - Microscope

Jetfire - Jet

Blades - Helicopter

Inferno - Fire Engine

Roadbuster - Jeep

Blurr - Race Car

Red Alert - Emergency Responce Car

Whirl - Helicopter

Sandstorm - Helicopter/Buggy

Rack 'N' Ruin

Slag - Triceratops

Snarl - Stegosaurus

Sludge - Apatosaurus

Swoop - Pteranodon

Civil Defense Force Members 90 Percent Dead

Brainstorm Arrested

Highbrow Arrested

Hardhead Arrested

Grimlock (Flashback) Maybe Dead

Overdrive (Flashback)

Override (Flashback)

Getaway (Flashback)

Road King (Flashback)

Decepticon

Galvatron - Laser Cannon

Bludgeon - Tank

Soundwave - Cassette Player

Spinister - Helicopter
Needlenose - Jet

Thunderwing Matrix Suffused Remains

Blitz Engines

Scorponok (Flashback) Maybe Dead

Alternate Universe Sweeps (Flashback)

Megatron (Mentioned) Dead

Cybertronian Empire

Jhiaxus

Rook - Bird-Like Jet

Other

Maccadam's Bartender

Alternate Universe Unicron - Ringed Planet (Flashback)

Demons (Vision)

People of Cresta Superior Killed by Decepticons

Nebulons Still Disorientated

Cybertronian Civilians

Primus (Mentioned)

Notes

• The soldiers on Cresta Superior are dressed in blue and red armour, and have a snake emblem on their fortress? Anyone else think of Cobra then?
• Scorponok's method to reverse the Nucleon effects seem to have been implemented on the victims since the last issue (yeah...the morning AFTER!)
• Thunderwing's corpse seems to be being repaired on the Warworld...uh oh!
• It turns out that since the Gene-Key was reversed some Transformers have violent tendencies still, in the wake of living out their chaotic sides for a few days (or however long it was)
• Fixit and his team have been dispatched to Nebulos (at some point) to try and fix what Scorponok did to the planet
• Magnus seems to think that Hot Rod made himself go underground during Scorponok's short-lived reign on purpose...
• Galvatron's flashback shows the alternate universe Unicron devouring Galvatron's original Cybertron and leading to the events of Rhythms of Darkness, where he was introduced too
• Hot Rod seems to be shocked when Slag is seen out of Quarantine, but didn't seem to care about Inferno being out...
• Oh my gosh! Jhiaxus is here! Who could have forseen that? (other than everyone as he was shown in the spoilery scenes in issue 80.5)
• Speaking of the spoilery scenes, the crack in Zero Space seems to be shattering now...ominous!
• Optimus seems to know who Glavatron is....maybe they found out some point in the last 20 years?

IDW - Spotlight Hoist

Title: The Waiting Game

Story by: James Roberts

Art by: Agustin Padilla

Colours by: Joanna Lafuente

Letters by: Shawn Lee

Editorial Assistant: Thomas Boeing

Editor: John Barber

Plot

On the planet Deimus Hoist is driving away from an unexpectedly present Tarn, but he manages to stall him, and returns to his crashed ship, inside he turns on the ship's cloaking device and explains to Swerve, Sunstreaker, Bob, and a half-melted to the ceiling/floor Perceptor. Swerve keeps talking, and drives everyone a bit mad, especially Sunstreaker who is blamed for crashing the ship (as he was distracted by his reflection), Sunstreaker also explains to Swerve where Bob came from (the Insecticon Swarm that Metroplex killed), and Swerve babbles on about his top five fears after Tarn, Megatron, Overlord, Sixshot, Shockwave, and a combination of those 4.

Later, with only 2 hours of power on the ship left Swerve is driving everyone even madder, and accidentally insults Hoist by saying he's just "green with a tow line". Later still, with just one hour of power left Sunstreaker talks about how he was left for dead on Cybertron, which Swerve jokes about, then forces Hoist to tell the story about his near-death experience too, when his ship crashed in the Rust Spot, and he was left alone, just trying to find his way back home. After story time, Hoist notices that Swerve's badly injured, his spark casing is damaged, and he's been babbling to distract everyone from it. Sunstreaker and Hoist decide they have to go outside, take down the DJD and take their ship to get Swerve to a medibay.

Outside, Sunstreaker and Hoist drive off, and Sunstreaker is quickly taken down by Tarn, Hoist goes to find him, and then sees Megatron, Sixshot, Shockwave and Overlord, who combine! He tries to fight them, but gets knocked down, however before he's crushed by the gestalt he disappears.

He drives back to the ship, where Perceptor says he got in contact with the Lost Light, and they're sending a rescue crew for them. Hoist explains what happened, and Perceptor realizes there's a Phobia Shield on the planet, which basically taps into a Cybertronian's mind and makes their fears come true and kill them, it was hacking into Swerve's mind, but he'd just recently passed out, suddenly the ship shakes, and Hoist knows whose mind is being hacked now...Bob's, as Metroplex has now appeared and stomps on the ship, crushing it, just as Hoist gets himself and the crew out.

Now outside, Hoist quickly knocks out Perceptor and Bob, leaving just him still conscious, Metroplex vanishes, and is replaced with the Red Spot, and Hoist is alone, which is his fear...

Characters

Autobot

Hoist - Tow Truck

Swerve - Van

Sunstreaker - Car

Perceptor

Metroplex - City/Ship (Flashback and Illusion)

Blurr (Mentioned)

Lost Light Crew (Mentioned)

Optimus Prime (Fantasy)

Prowl (Fantasy)

Autobots in Fantasies

Decepticon

Tarn (Illusion)

Megatron (Illusion)

Overlord (Illusion)

Sixshot (Illusion)

Shockwave (Illusion)

Overmegasixwave/Ugly (Illusion)

D.J.D. (Mentioned)

Decepticons in Fantasies

Other

Bob

Insecticon Swarm (Mentioned) Dead

Hoist's old Crew Mates (Mentioned) Dead

Notes

• For some reason Hoist has taken on his upcoming Generations toy's character model rather than his usual one...maybe he decided this planet needed a different alternate mode?
• Similarly Perceptor is in his old non-sniper body.
• Hey have you guys noticed that Metroplex has appeared/been mentioned in some way in all of these Spotlight stories? Almost like they're being used to promote some giant new toy or something!
• Sixshot is shown coloured like Black Shadow in his couple of Appearances, this could be an art mistake, or maybe Swerve just doesn't know what Sixshot's colours are?
• The ship shown to be hit by Orion Pax's ship back in his Spotlight is shown to have held Hoist and his crew on it. That's a nice way to keep this series circular!
• The bridge Sunstreaker tried to kill himself on during All Hail Megatron is named here as the Juda'S Bridge, obviously named after Judas from the bible
• Swerve references the Decepticon's obsession with combining, which has also been a major factor in this Spotlight series, and seemed to culminate in Robots in Disguise with the perfected Devastator.
• I wonder if Swerve finally won his Rodimus Star as he'd probably have been silent until he gets repaired on the Lost Light?
• The scene in Swerve's fantasy set just after Sunstreaker's "death" in AHM seems to be full of mistakes too, Optimus and Prowl are in completely the wrong bodies for one thing!

IDW - More Than Meets The Eye #16

Title: The Gloaming

Written by: James Roberts

Art by: Agustin Padilla

Inks by: Jose Aviles

Colours by: Josh Burcham

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editorial Assistants: Toni Korde and Mariel Romero

Editor: John Barber

Plot

Ultra Magnus lies dying with Ratchet working on him to slow the process, whilst Magnus is reliving his past failures in his mind. Swerve and Tailgate annoy him by playing music to him and cleaning him up (respectively) According to the Death Clock used by Ratchet, Magnus has just over 10 days left to live, which Tailgate is horrified by the notion of.

Rodimus sends out a message across the ship saying he's going to launch and inquiry into how Overlord got onto the ship, and that he will find out why he was there. Chromedone is outside looking towards the stars, when Skids comes out to see if he was okay, and he seems to be...in fact he seems to be too fine...despite Rewind's death.

Inside the ship Rung goes to see Rodimus and finds him having just trashed his office in anger of what just happened. Rung suggests that the reason he's so angry is because he wasn't the one to defeat Overlord, it was Chromedome, Rewind and Fort Max, Rodimus tells him to leave, quickly. As he does so, Drift comes in for a chat.

Later, the Autobots hold a funeral for all the victims of Overlord's rampage in the Act of transition, where the crew say their last goodbyes to the dead and launch them into space, during Rewind's memorial though Chromedome seems very distant, which makes Brainstorm worried.

Brainstorm goes to see Chromedome later and finds him getting ready to dispose of all Rewind's things, when Brainstorm reminds him of his past loves that he's made himself forget using his needles, so he wouldn't be hurt by the pain. Brainstorm gives Chromedome a data slug that Rewind slipped through the doors of the slow cell before they closed, saying Fort Max found it, but didn't feel up to giving it to Chromedome in his current state.

Later on, Rodimus calls a meeting and reveals that Drift has admitted to him that he brought Overlord on board the ship to try and build their own Phase-Sixers (though omitting Brainstorm and Chromedome's involvement) he's stripped of his Autobot insignia and banished from the ship. Meanwhile Chromedome plays the dataslug from Rewind and finds a message quickly edited together from his database with a last goodbye message to him, telling him not to inject anymore and that he loves him. The message seems to get through to him, as he retracts his needles before he injects himself.

In the medibay, Ratchet and Tailgate find Ultra Magnus missing and try to find him, Tailgate goes under the Death Clock to see if he's fallen off or something and sees that he only has just over 3 days left to live, and starts freaking out!!

Characters

Autobot

Rodimus - Car

Drift - Car Exiled from Lost Light

Ultra Magnus - Vehicle Transport 10 Days to Live, Missing

Xaaron

Swerve - Van

Ratchet - Ambulance

Chromedome - Car

Brainstorm - Jet

Skids - Van

Rung - Communications Maintenance Buggy

Whirl - Osprey Helicopter

Atomizer

Rewind - Memory Stick (Footage Only) Dead

Tripodeca  Dead

Grimlock (Flashback Only)

Swoop - Jet (Flashback Only)

Impactor (Flashback Only)

Cliffjumper (Flashback Only)

Rotorstorm - Helicopter (Flashback Only)

Ore (Flashback Only)

Shock (Flashback Only)

Cromar - Jet (Flashback Only)

Zetar - Drill Tank (Flashback Only)

Other Powerdashers (Mentioned)

Prowl (Footage Only)

Slamdance (Footage Only)

Perceptor (Footage Only)

Mainframe (Footage Only)

Nightbeat (Footage Only)

Red Alert (Footage Only)

Bumblebee (Footage Only)

Kick-Off (Footage Only)

Skyfall (Footage Only)

Ambulon (Footage Only)

Trailcutter - Van (Footage Only)

Optimus Prime (Footage Only)

Springer (Footage Only)

Bluestreak (Footage Only)

Fortress Maximus (Mentioned)

Spoke (Mentioned) Injured

Lockstock (Mentioned) Injured

Other 4 Coffin Dwellers Dead (Including Pipes)

Other Lost Light Crew Members

Decepticon

Overlord - Jet and Tank Floating as Debris in Deep Space

Megatron - Gun (Flashback/Footage)

Sixshot (Flashback Only)

Heretech (Flashback Only)

Black Shadow (Flashback Only)

Killmaster (Flashback Only)

Torque - Bomb (Flashback Only) Dead

K-Classes - Bombs (Flashback Only) Dead

Cybernaught (Flashback Only)

Snaptrap (Footage Only) In Prison on Lost Light

Other Decepticons

Other

Tailgate - Car 3 Days left to Live

Cyclonus - Jet

Red Empurata Victim (Footage Only)

Nova Prime (Footage Only)

Pivot (Mentioned) Dead

Mach (Mentioned) Dead

Scattergun (Mentioned) Dead

Notes

• With the new artist on this issue, there are some art mistakes, like Magnus being in the wrong body, smaller characters like Swerve and Tailgate being the wrong height etc, but all in all it looks fine still :)
• The Meet the Crew page has been overhauled to remove Rewind and Pipes and added Fort Max and Perceptor as main characters. Interestingly it still shows Magnus and Drift in their current roles, despite being dying and exiled (respectively)
• Magnus' OCD tendencies seem to be explained in the flashbacks as he gets so badly messed up, has his badge crooked, makes jokes, smiles. All things he doesn't condone in the present. (and then he gets hurt after doing all of those)
• DON'T CRY! But you can see Rewind's shattered camera in the debris around the Lost Light
• Ultra Magnus' favourite song is the Empyrean Suite, the same song going around in Skids' head...hmmm...
• Looks like six guys were killed during Overlord's attack, as 5 coffins were shown at the funeral (and Rewind was killed off the ship, so he doesn't get one)
• Swerve doesn't seem to be affected by the Meta-Bomb now...though he does say the ominous "even if it kills me" when referring to Brainstorm's evil, evil briefcase of death and destruction.
• Drift leaving the ship, Magnus being gone, and him being shown clenching his fist during Drift's dismissal could imply that Magnus is going after poor ol' Drift.
• Rewind's final message is made up of clips from his database, some of which are scenes from MTMTE itself (of course, this message when actually heard must have been pretty messed up, as some of the scenes are pretty placid, others are fight scenes!)
• Rewind storing his data on data slugs is mentioned during the prose story set on Hedonia
• Ratchet's feelings for Drift appear to have come completely around now, from him being irritated by him at the start of the journey, to being the only one who helps him up when he falls here.
• This story finally shows Rewind and Chromedome's relationship as actually being loving,until now it was just implied technically.
• Chromedome sports a black Autobot badge during the funeral scene, and afterwards
• Rodimus wears a ceremonial cape during the funeral, which is a bit similar to Starscream's cape in the G1 movie...
• Chromedome doesn't have any innermost Energon because he's given it all away on his past lover's deathbeds.
• Tailgate seems to be holding a cup of innermost Energon when he goes to see Magnus at the end. (maybe that's why he's going to die soon? Because he's using the wrong stuff as his innermost Energon, and he's actually leaking his life or something...it is green after all!)