IDW - Lost Light #2

Title: Dissolution Part 2: Anomie

Written by: James Roberts

Art by: Jack Lawrence

Colours by: Joana LaFuente

Letters by: Tom B Long

Editor: Carlos Guzman

Publisher: Ted Adams

Plot

Rodimus and the others are confused by where they are, but Rewind manages to figure out for certain that they are in the Functionist Universe, where Megatron was never allowed to be born. The team are soon taken into custody due to Twelve-of-Twelve believing them to be parts of the Anti-Vocationist League. Megatron suggests they go freely, so they can hopefully discuss the situation with the rest of the council. The Functionists however destroy the Time Den, since they see it as pointless, since it wasn't "born".

Back on Necroworld, Lug is hanging out at the Memorial to the Disappeared, having just been repairing relations with the Autobots following Anode's insults to them, when Anode arrives. The two discuss how if Anode wanted to leave, then she would have by now, leading Anode to reveal that she's interested in finding Cyberutopia with the Autobots, she claims to want to settle down there, but Lug believes she just wants to ransack the place. Before the two can really argue though, Fangry suddenly gets thrown between them by Tailgate.

In the Functionist Universe again, the newcomers are paraded through the streets of Cybertron by the Functionists, to act as examples to anyone thinking of rebelling against them. Along the way, the team notice several countdowns on the monitors and begin to wonder what it is counting to. Drift is shocked when he sees a giant statue of Primus, in his warrior persona, with the words "Survive and Thrive" under it. Seeing this, Drift quickly tells Ratchet about the vision he had on Necroworld, and reveals that the world he saw was covered in several old and ominous phrases, just like that one. Before much else can be done though, a grenade is thrown near them by the newly arrived members of the Anti-Vocationist League!

On Necroworld, Tailgate continues his assault on Fangry. Anode tries to stop his attack, but is thrown away by Tailgate before she can, all of which scares off the remaining assembled Decepticons. Cyclonus approaches him, and, upon seeing that Fangry has been knocked out, he asks Tailgate to come with him somewhere...

Nearby, Lug finds Anode skewered on a piece of scrap metal in the field, and calls for help, only to be approached by a certain wheeled individual...

On Cybertron, the AVL are being easily beaten down by the Functionists, so the Lost Lighters decide, after seeing how pathetic they are, to help. Megatron easily frees himself from his cuffs, and begins to coordinate the others.

On Necroworld, Cyclonus takes Tailgate to see all the Decepticons he killed during the battle with the DJD, and tries to make him realize that his new super-strength powers are causing him to lose control, and are also making him run through his Energon reserves too fast. Tailgate denies this, just as he passes out....

At the Medi-bay, Anode wakes up, remembering something from her past, she has been patched up by Kaput, another of the Disappeared, who also happens to be a medic. Before long, Velocity, Nautica and Swerve storm in, with Velocity determined to make a citizen's arrest on Anode for her past actions. Having discovered that more "Disappeared" are appearing, the group realize that more of them could still be waking up from their pods. Swerve goes to check on the pods, just in case, whilst Nautica and Velocity start to interrogate Anode about "The Lighthouse"

On Functionist Cybertron, the Lost Lights are tearing through the Functionists, and rescue their prisoners. Despite his previous bravado and cool demeanour, Twelve-of-Twelve is teleported away in an emergency, the moment one of the Autobots attack him. With his retreat, the remaining Functionaries run off.

The Lost Lighters join forces with the AVL members, and their leader, Clicker, prepares them for transport to their base, Cyberutopia!

Before the group are able to leave though, the countdown reaches zero, and Six-of-Twelve appears on all the screens across Cybertron, announcing that he has identified the use of the "Useless One", the figure-head of the AVL...Rung....

Characters

Autobot

Rodimus - Sports Car

Megatron - Tank

Minimus Ambus - Minesweeper

Drift - Car

Ratchet - Ambulance

Rewind - Data Slug

Chromedome - Car

Velocity - Race Car

Nautica - Submarine

Swerve - Van

Tailgate - Car

Kaput

Pharma - Jet (Mentioned)

Grimlock - Tyrannosaurus Rex (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Fangry Beaten Unconscious by Tailgate

Rapidfire - SUV

"Energon Divebomb" - Eagle

"Cybertron Hardtop" - Dune Buggy

Jack-Knife Dead, Killed by Tailgate

Several of Deathsaurus' Troops Dead, Killed by Tailgate

Decepticon Justice Division (Mentioned) Dead

Anti-Vocationist League

Clicker - Laser Pointer

Green Data Slug - Data Slug

Two Lunabots - Space Shuttles

Blue Rung Lookalike

Green Rung Lookalike Eyes Gouged Out by Functionits

White Rung Lookalike Eyes Gouged Out by Functionits

Functionist

Six-of Twelve

Twelve-of-Twelve

Functionary Enforcers

Monitor-Head Functionary Killed by Roller

Sky-Spies

Other Functionist Council Members (Mentioned)

Other Cybertronian

Roller - Truck

Terminus - Mining Vehicle

Cyclonus - Jet

Anode - Jet

Lug - Backpack Equipment

Functionist Universe Rung

Functionist Universe Civilians

Primus (Statue)

Epistemus (Mentioned)

The Old Senate (Mentioned)

Knights of Cybertron (Mentioned)

The Guiding Hand (Mentioned)

Sparkeater Swarm (Mentioned)

Other

Black Box Consortia (Mentioned)

Flash-Flame (Mentioned)

Notes

• Twelve-of-Twelve's levitation is still not commented on really...maybe that's just an ability he always had?
• The Functionists destroy the time den due to it not being a Transformer, and therefore not really having a purpose is a bit confusing....especially since they are using some non-Transformer handcuffs in the same scene...
• Amongst the names on the Memorial for the Disappeared is someone named Shock, at first you may believe it to be the Duobot of the same name, but it is a different character with the same name according to James Roberts on Twitter (Here)
• On the same topic, none of the named "Disappeared" are shown on the memorial...Maybe the list updates itself when they are located? Kaput makes an appearance just after it appears though...
• Lug is revealed to be a female Transformer.
• Amongst the crowd in the Functionist Universe are more cameos from past Transformers franchises like Robots in Disguise and the Unicron Trilogy.
• The image of Primus being a warrior god is revealed to be an older version of his representation in continuity, as he is now seen as a benevolent god.
• Drift reveals that the previous vision he had, that was mentioned last issue was what brought him and Ratchet to Necroworld. He also reveals that the fleet of Worldsweeper ships in the new vision was the "Phantom Fleet" which went missing the Dark Nebula.
• The Dark Nebula was previously mentioned in the Revolution tie-in issue for More Than Meets The Eye, as being where the Dire Wraiths were, and the reason Megatron steered clear of the place.
• It's not confirmed here, but Clicker's appearance makes me think he turns into a laser pointer, like the previously mentioned Shimmerstick
• Megatron proves just how string he is by tearing apart his cuffs without any real effort.
• Velocity and Nautica both know who Anode is, so she and Lug are likely Camiens who just happened to get to Cybertron to excavate that snowflake thing from last issue.
• Swerve's lack of emotion last issue, along with possibly Nautica's lack of sadness appears to be due to Nautica performing some sort of medical treatment, possibly some sort of Mnemosurgery.
• As mentioned by Chromedome, Six-of-Twelve now has a Matrix-styled head, probably to further show his authority. Since this is a universe where war never broke out, it is likely that the actual Matrix is still hidden on the Undergrid...Maybe the Lost Lighters can recover this new Matrix to use it's map to Cyberutopia?
• Clicker claims that his base of operations is on Cyberutopia, it's likely not THE Cyberutopia, but a place named after the idea of it.
• So, turns out the Functionists didn't kill Rung last time we saw them after all!