IDW - Lost Light #10

Title: The Plotters' Club, Part 1: Full Circle

Written by: James Roberts

Art by: Jack Lawrence 

Colours by: Joana LaFuente

Letters by: Tom B Long

Editor: Carlos Guzman

Publisher: Ted Adams

Plot

The Protectobots and Mirage finally return to the Lost Light, which appears to be under radio silence, but their shuttle is damaged and they are running on fumes, they wind up crashing into the shuttle bay, only to find a heavily armed security team greeting them, instead of a welcoming party. Getaway soon appears and greets them as friends, but he is cagey about the whereabouts of Rodimus, Megatron and the others, and suggests that First Aid take Blade to the medibay, as he was injured in the crash.

At the medibay, First Aid talks with Blades as he repairs him, and they find it odd how they STILL haven't seen their captains, and start reminiscing over Rodimus' antics. First Aid thinks something is happening, which makes Blades panic that there's a virus on the ship that's going to kill everyone. First Aid ignores this suggestion, but finds that the medibay's computer is now password protected to keep him out. First Aid uses another machine to perform a spark scan of the ship, and is shocked that there is less crew than there was before they left, but also finds that one of the sparks is in a locked room in the medibay.

Blades leaves to find some help, whilst First Aid takes out a blowtorch and tries to break into the room, only to be stopped by a newly arrived Getaway, who claims the door isn't actually opened, and shows him Thunderclash, who is back in a coma again. He claims that Hoist has tried everything, but cannot wake him up.

First Aid asks him about the missing crew members and the passwords on the computer. He says that he'll fix the password, but lies that Rodimus and the others left the ship to look for the Knights of Cybertron with the Necrobot without dealing with the antics of the rest of the crew. Getaway suggests that he go see Hoist about Thunderclash's situation, directing him to "Visages" which has taken "Swerve's'" as the go-to bar on the ship.

First Aid soon arrives at the bar, where he does indeed find most of the crew. He locates Hoist after a few awkward stares from Atomizer and the security crew. He learns from Hoist and a few others the names of the crew who "left" with Rodimus, and also that they are apparently only a couple of weeks away from Cyberutopia now, but First Aid begins to become further worried and leaves the bar...

First Aid finds his way to the locked-up "Swerve's" where he finds the power turned off, and he summons the rest of the Protectobots and Mirage for a talk. He expresses his concerns to them about the crew lying to them about what happened to Rodimus, and recalls a conversation about a possible mutiny with Getaway before they left Cybertron following the Dark Cybertron event, which the other Protectobots claim to have never been spoken to about. Mirage is unwilling to even discuss this as he trusts his friends, but Riptide soon appears in the bar and confirms the theory, but also adds that he believes that the DJD were summoned by Getaway to kill Rodimus, Megatron and the others, as well as him putting Thunderclash into a coma for also having second thoughts of the mutiny.

Getaway appears and dismisses the claims that he attacked Thudnerclash, but explains that he placed him into a looped memory coma, keeping him trapped inside his memories, reliving his decision to leave the ship. Streetwise finds the light switch and turns it on, revealing that the Engex distilleries are holding several severed brain modules inside them, revealing the location of the missing crew members.

Mirage turns invisible and attacks Getaway with a glass, and the returned Autobots are soo attacked by the security team. Riptide stays behind to buy the Protectobots time to escape, as they run off to the shuttle bay, intending to return to Cybertron to tell Optimus and everyone else what has happened on the ship. Blades' arm is injured in their escape, in the same way it was when he was patched up by First Aid at the start of this adventure....

The Protectobots find their own ship, fully repaired in record time, and take off within it. They are shot by a proton missile from the Lost Light, which damages their shuttle, and they are caught in a tractor beam, and forced back towards the Lost Light...and the events from the start of the issue start again...ending with First Aid being suggested to repair Blades again, with apparently no memory of what just happened....

Characters

Autobot

First Aid - Ambulance Trapped in Looped Memory Coma

Hot Spot - Fire Truck Trapped in Looped Memory Coma

Streetwise - Police Car Trapped in Looped Memory Coma

Groove - Police Motorcycle Trapped in Looped Memory Coma

Blades - Rescue Helicopter Trapped in Looped Memory Coma

Rook - Armoured SWAT Van Trapped in Looped Memory Coma

Mirage - F1 Race Car Trapped in Looped Memory Coma

Riptide - Boat

Thunderclash - Truck Trapped in Looped Memory Coma

Getaway - Car

Atomizer - Car

Hoist - Tow Truck

Hound - Jeep

Xaaron

Bluestreak - Car

Jackpot - Car

Crosscut - Van

Mainframe

Powerflash - Jet

Strafe - Jet

Boss - Car

Doublecross - Two Headed Dragon

Repugnus - Insect Monster

Grotusque - Winged Cat Monster

Sureshot - Baja Buggy

Pointblank - Car

Waverider - Submarine

Highbrow - Helicopter

Rad - Car

Dipstick - Car

Rollout - Bulldozer

Grapple - Crane

Siren - Car

Gears - Van

Smokescreen - Car

Inferno - Fire Truck

Brawn - Van

Huffer - Truck

Ammo

Aquabat - Hovercraft/Bat

Rodimus - Car (Mentioned) "Exiled"

Ultra Magnus/Minimus Ambus - Vehicle Transport/Minesweeper (Mentioned) "Exiled"

Megatron - Tank (Mentioned) "Exiled"

Whirl - Osprey Helicopter (Mentioned) "Exiled"

Nightbeat - Car (Mentioned) "Exiled"

Skids - Van (Mentioned) "Exiled"

Velocity - Race Car (Mentioned) "Exiled"

Nautica - Submarine (Mentioned) "Exiled"

Chromedome - Car (Mentioned) "Exiled"

Rewind - Data Slug (Mentioned) "Exiled"

Rung - Photon Crystal Generator (Mentioned) "Exiled"

Swerve - Van (Mentioned) "Exiled"

Tailgate - Car (Mentioned) "Exiled"

Brainstorm - Jet (Mentioned) "Exiled"

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab (Mentioned)

Prowl - Police Car (Mentioned)

Perceptor - Tank (Mentioned)

Blaster - Acoustic Tank (Mentioned)

Hosehead - Fire Truck (Mentioned)

Tiretread - Race Car (Mentioned)

25 Lost Light Crew Members (Mentioned) Missing

Decepticon

Decepticon Justice Division (Mentioned)

Ravage - Cassette (Mentioned) "Exiled"

Other Cybertronian

The Knights of Cybertron (Mentioned)

The Necrobot (Mentioned)

Ten (Mentioned)

Cyclonus - Jet (Mentioned)

Other

The Black Block Consortia (Mentioned)

The Galactic Council (Mentioned)

Notes

• This is the first part of the "Mutineers Trilogy", following the return of both the Lost Light, it's mutinous crew and the Protectobots.
• It's mentioned that the Protectobots have been gone for "months". It has been over two years in real world time since they left for "Combiner Wars". I know time doesn't pass exactly the same in the comics as it does in the real world, but this seems a bit strange. However since they are stuck in a looping memory, it's possible that they actually returned a few months ago and have just been trapped for a while now.
• Similarly to the above note, how did the Protectobots never receive the message from the trapped Lost Lighters on Necroworld...also now I think about it, did that message ever mention the mutiny or Getaway betraying them? You'd think one of them would want that information to reach Optimus or the other authorities right?
• It's mentioned in the "Story so far" that Rook was just a random Autobot who just happened to be standing near the Protectobots when they were merged into Defensor...oops?
• Hoist being the interim medical officer on the Lost Light makes some...kind of sense...he was shown to have some medical knowledge when he worked on Tripodeca during Overlord's assault on the ship, though his patient did end up dying....
• First Aid asks Mirage for a "pint" of Engex. I would say this was a mistake, since a "pint" would be a relatively small drink for a Transformer, but after asking James Roberts on Twitter, this is just a Cybertronian equivalent to a pint (like it's short for a "mega-pint" or something)
• It's mentioned that Perceptor was shocked when he learned that Brainstorm left with Rodimus, considering that he is known for being the subject of Brainstorm's stalking, and him being absent from the bridge during the issue the crew were exiled, it's possible that he wasn't aware of what was happening with them. In fact, his absence in this issue could be due to him being one of the "missing" crew members.
• On the other hand, Mirage's assertion that Bluestreak would never do anything deceptive like mutiny is somewhat wrong, as he WAS amongst the bridge crew who was present during Getaway's talk with them.
• From the dialogue, it seems clear that Mirage and First Aid originally agreed to a mutiny with Getaway, but the latter has since changed his mind, the rest of the Protectobots rejected the plan and got their minds wiped. This is somewhat confirmed at the start and end scenes where Getaway only really talks to or addresses Mirage, First Aid and Rook, the latter of which wasn't a part of the crew before now.
• The teethmarks on the spinal columns of the detached brain modules are likely an attempt by Getaway to make it look like Helex of the DJD attacked these crew members, as that was his main method of torture.
• Mainframe was the one who suggested that Whirl leave with Rodimus back in Issue 50 of MTMTE, his glee at him having left here really shows what a jerk he is!
• Considering this issue is set within what is essentially a shared dream, it's possible, and likely that the events depicted were either modified by Getaway to make the crew seem happier, or to alter some facts.
• I'm going to assume that since Defensor is never brought up in this issue that the Protectobots will be freed from their looped memory coma by combining, since getaway doesn't know about him yet.
• My guess as to the main back story here, is that the Lost Light picked up the distress signal from Necroworld, which led the bridge crew at least to know that their exiled crew members were seemingly given to the DJD by Getaway, leading to Riptide's suspicions, Thunderclash's attempted escape and the fates of the missing 25 crew members. I'm also going to guess that most of the crew either weren't told about the exiled crew not actually leaving on their own, or have been lied to since the beginning by Getaway.
• The four pages at the end of the comic are a reprinting of the first four, with only the title being added at the end, and the final panel's dialogue having a single difference...First Aid saying "Ah", instead of "Oh". Also Getaway's dialogue is completed on this panel, instead of continuing to the next, non-existent page.
• For some reason, First Aid keeps proclaiming "God" rather than the usual "Primus" or another Transformers-related explicit.