IDW - Lost Light #16

Title: The Everlasting Voices 1: Metastasis

Written by: James Roberts

Art by: Jack Lawrence

Colours by: Joana LaFuente

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: David Mariotte

Publisher: Greg Goldstein

Plot

Rodimus and Cyclonus wake up in separate rooms and walk outside them, with them looking shocked and happy (respectively) to see a giant Matrix in the sky above them.

Soon afterwards, Rodimus contacts Ultra Magnus, who is also there, to see if he can identify where they are, arranging to meet "under the Matrix", where Rodimus comes across Ten, who thanks Rodimus for taking him in, and says that everyone made him so happy. At the moment of his happiness, Ten is stuck with light from the Matrix, his chest tears open and his spark leaves his body, leaving him dead on the ground. Ratchet arrives just afterwards, now not in his intangible form.

Back in the awakening rooms, Nautica is analysing the glyphs on her own bed when Brainstorm and Nightbeat arrive, Nautica deciphers the glyphs to be the creation story told by the Clavis Aurea, which tells about how Primus split into five individuals to start the Cybertronian race. Soon Drift arrives to tell them to come see what he's found outside...

Ratchet examines Ten's body and determines that he is indeed dead when Magnus arrives, with Whirl, Velocity and Swerve in tow. The assembled crew try to determine where they are, only for Swerve and Cyclonus to explain that they must be in the Afterspark, having been killed when Ten directed them to a portal where they were exposed to compressed space, and killed the entire crew.

The crew, especially Rodimus are distraught over this news, but Ratchet refuses to believe that he and the others are in some after-life, as that goes against everything he believes in. On cue, two of the long dead previous crewmates ppear from nowhere, Trailcutter and Pipes! The crew are shocked, and Cyclonus speeds off to find something...

Back with the other group, Drift explains to them how they died and is now in the Afterspark. Nightbeat is upset since this is yet another one of the great mysteries he has been denied of solving. Suddenly Roller appears with his friend from his days as a cop, Springarm, who was murdered on the job by Senate thugs. Roller rides off with him again after introducing him to his new friends, all whilst Brainstorms warning device freaks out and even burns his hands, showing that they are indeed in danger...

Ratchet examines Pipes to determine if he's actually alive or not, but can't find anything wrong. Trailcutter and Pipes explain that they are in a limbo-like location BEFORE entering the Afterspark, where their minds can be shielded from the intense emotions in the real Afterspark, but will be able to ascend when they "put their affairs in order".

On the note, Cyclonus locates what he was looking for, Tailgate, who was seemingly waiting for Cyclonus to arrive so they could pass on together, and the two embrace upon finding each other again.

The crew don't know what to do, but Whirl manages to get Rodimus out of his funk by asking him what he thinks Megatron would do in this situation. Rodimus immediately sets about to try and get answers, he asks Trailcutter who is in charge, which he just says "god" so Rodimus does the reasonable thing....he yells at the sky, demanding that Primus speak to him directly. The rest of the drew and embarrassed by his actions, until Rodimus gets struck by lightning and vanishes.

Rodimus arrives on a dias, where he is surrounded by the giant figures of the Guiding Hand, Primus, Epistemus, Mortilus, Solumus and Adaptus, and he offers them his hand in greeting!

Characters

Autobot

Rodimus - Car

Ultra Magnus - Vehicle Transport

Drift - Car

Ratchet - Ambulance

Whirl - Osprey Helicopter

Swerve - Van

Velocity - Race Car

Nautica - Submarine

Nightbeat - Car

Brainstorm - Jet

Afterspark Tailgate - Car

Afterspark Trailcutter - Van

Afterspark Pipes - Truck

Rung - Photon Crystal Generator (Flashback Only)

Chromedome - Car (Flashback Only)

Rewind - Data Slug (Flashback Only) Injured by Sword Slash

Megatron - Tank (Mentioned)

Getaway - Car (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Skip - Space Shuttle (Flashback) Dead

Other Cybertronian

Cyclonus - Jet

Roller - Truck

Ten "Ascended" to Afterspark 

Afterspark Springarm - Motorcycle

Afterspark Primus

Afterspark Mortilus

Afterspark Adaptus

Afterspark Epistemus

Afterspark Solomus

Anode - Bi-Plane (Flashback Only)

Lug - Backpack Equipment (Flashback Only)

Wheelarch - Motorcycle (Mentioned) Dead

Kroma (Mentioned)

Notes

• We rejoin Team Rodimus following the events of issue 13
• I know all the crew are mentioned as being killed before this issue, but I don't believe it happened, so I wont be putting it in the character list section.
• So....Rodimus' communicator/phone works in the afterlife? hmm....
• Here's a weird thing...where are Anode, Lug, Chromedome, Rewind and Rung in the Afterspark? I could understand the former four as they would be "happy" and could instantly move on, but we know Rung has massive issues and worries in his life...so where is he?
• The characters in the Afterspark don't all remember what happened following Ten's big announcement...perhaps this is because they are false memories, planted by whoever placed them here?
• So...why is Pipes one of the guys summoned to show the crew the way to the real Afterspark? I mean I like seeing him again, but why is he there? His main joke was that no-one really cared about him. Wouldn't Skids have been a better choice, given the people assembled?
• Trailcutter being summoned and being of interest to Rodimus is a nice nod to how broken up he was over his death. He even tried to re-write history to make Trailcutter not die!
• Drift refers to Primus as the "Celestial Architect"...wonder if that is somehow connected to the "Grand Architect"? Perhaps he was called that before being split into five, and having the name inherited by one of his components? 
• It's confirmed here that the disappearances of Luna-1, Ark-1 and the purpose of Rung's alternate mode are the "Big Three" mysteries that Nightbeat has been investigating in his spare time since the start of IDW's Transformers line!
• Trailcutter's projection of what the Afterspark looks like seems VERY similar to what was believed to be Cyberutopia in issue 12 huh?
• If they are all in the Afterspark, then why are some of their belonging (Rodimus' phone and  Brainstorm's early warning device) with them?
• Pipes knows both who Velocity is, and what Nautica's nickname for her is....why? Pipes doesn't know who either of them are, having died well before either joined the crew. Maybe he can watch the Lost Light from the Afterspark? (or something more sinister!)
• Can I just say how perfect it is that the egotistical Rodimus is so confident in himself that upon meeting his creator Gods, he just asks for a handshake with a grin!
• Of note, the only four dead Cybertronians we see in this issue all died violent ways, Springarm was decapitated, Pipes was stomped to death, Trailcutter was torn apart and crushed against his own forcefield and Tailgate was (supposedly) killed by a spark explosion. Even if we count the Guiding Hand, they all were mentioned as dying or being turned into a new item during a war.
• Okay, it seems painfully obvious that the "Afterspark" isn't what it appears to be. There are so many things wrong there that it hurts. I've mentioned a few throughout these notes, but one major thing I haven't mentioned is that Brainstorm's Early Early Warning Device has been going off, and overheating throughout the issue, it even gets too hot to touch right after Roller rides off with Springarm.
• Here's my theory on what happened. At the end of issue 13, Ten told the crew what to do to save themselves and they wound up in the Warren and arrived at Cyberutopia, where they were knocked out and left to wake up in this scenario. The dead characters are facsimiles made from reading their memories, possibly including Ten himself who is noted as sounding different throughout the story. The crew are being tested to see if they can be used in whatever the Cyberutopians want to do to the Universe and that is what will be revealed over the next couple issues.
• Following the usual adverts, the back page features a funeral/memorial announcement for Kup, acting as an advert for Transformers vs Visionaries, where he died (and giving a small announcement about the "road to Unicron"underneath)

IDW - Scarlett's Strike Force #3

Written by: Aubrey Sitterson

Art by: Nelson Daniel

Colours by: Ryan Hill

Letters by: Taylor Esposito

Editors: Tom Waltz & Chase Marotz

Publisher: Greg Goldstein

Plot

The Joes in the jungle-overgrown Arctic ride around, following a smaller team led by Spirit, trying to find the Cobra Temple, ultimately locating it, and finding a massive army of Vipers surrounding it.

The Joes attack the Vipers, but Quick Kick remains behind, with "Friday", when the former discovers Storm Shadow following him, and the two start to fight.

Quick kick appears to be winning the fight, until another ninja joins in, the female, former Storm Shadow, who has joined up with Storm Shadow as his sidekick, Tempest. The two escape with a ninja smoke ball, allowing them to escape, promising to fight him again later.

In the temple, Crystal Ball is putting the final touches on his master-plan, all whilst the Joes outside and tearing through the Vipers outside. Salvo and Spitfire defy orders and enter the temple, gunning down a bunch of Vipers performing some sort of ritual. Unfortunately this was part of their plan, as they bleed out, powering up an engraved mural of Golobulus, which lights up.

The temple starts to shake, as the Joes just manage to escape, the members of Cobra rise up on a meteor and plan to resurrect Golobulus from the stars, hoping for it to devour the planet below....

Back on the Lemuria, Helix and Snake Eyes are still in the brig, beginning a plan to start a game of D&D when the power goes out, forcing their energy-bar powered cells to go out, allowing the prisoners to escape.

Scarlett soon screams at Shipwreck for his new power source failing, and has him and Gung-Ho work on repairing it now.

The escapees soon come across Skywarp, who explains that he is the one who disabled the power grid, as a way to allow them to escape and join forces with Duke. The two are sent off to grab a vehicle to escape with...

Characters

GI Joe

Scarlett

Roadblock

Skywarp - Fighter Jet

Quick Kick

Salvo

Spitfire

Spirit

Cover Girl

Dial Tone

Shipwreck

Polly the Parrot

Gung-Ho

Snake-Eyes

Helix

Rock 'n Roll (Mentioned)

Cobra

Cobra Commander

Storm Shadow

Lady Storm Shadow/Tempest

Destro

Crystal Ball

Dr. Mindbender

Vipers Most Killed by GI Joe

Golobulus (Mural Only)

Other

"Friday"

Notes

• YAY! It's the last issue! And without failing to disappoint, it ends on a cliffhanger. Oddly this issue doesn't include any "The end" or "letter from the writer" section, as you would normally find in a final issue of a series. I guess IDW didn't want Sitterson to write something stupid again, like he did about 9/11 last year....
• Um....how did the Joes not notice the giant temple surrounded with snake monsters with a giant red sky around it? Did they really need to bring Spirit with them to find it?
• In case it wasn't clear, Helix is getting Snake Eyes to play Dungeons and Dragons (another Hasbro product) whilst in the brig.
• So...my only guess for why the hydrothermal generator scene was added last issue was so they had a reasonable method for Skywarp to disable it in this issue
• Quick Kick brings up how Storm Shadow owes him some teeth....then shows that his mouth has no missing teeth (certainly not the ones he was missing before anyway!)
• So...Lady Storm Shadow, a powerful warrior, who was upgraded with Dire Wraith technology, and was strong enough to disable a Eukarian, Antagony, all by herself, was apparently defeated by the Male Storm Shadow, and forced to be his sidekick....yeah I don't accept that!
• My guess last issue turns out to be wrong, Skywarp's assets to be given over to Duke were Helix and Snake Eyes, not the captive Dire Wraiths.
• Last issue, Crystal Ball appeared to be talking about using Rock 'n Roll's blood to power up the resurrection of Golobulu, but here they just use some of the Vipers instead....is this bad writing, or did Sitterson just change his mind?
• Cobra Commander screaming "Cobra-lalalalalala!" is a reference to the 80's GI Joe Movie.
• So....I know everyone has already brought this up, but why are Lady Storm Shadow, Destro and Dr Mindbender on Earth? They were all major parts of the Iron Ring's attack on Cybertron, and are all being held in cells on Cybertron. We know this issue is relatively contemporary to Optimus Prime, as both SSF#2 and Optimus Prime #15 mentioned/showed the newly opened Ore-13 mine in Kentucky, and we know from the latter that Colton, and his cohorts are still imprisoned at that time...so why are they here?!?!
• And in a scene that was cut from this issue, following the final page, the Solstar Order send a team to Earth to kill all the Dire Wraiths impersonating the Joes and Cobra members, freeing their captive real counterparts, allowing for this series to just be forgotten about in a later reboot :)

IDW - Rom and the Micronauts #3

Title: Entropy

Writer: Christos Gage

Artist: Paolo Villanelli

Colourist: Alessandra Alexakis

Letterer: Shawn Lee

Editor: David Mariotte

Publisher: Greg Goldstein

Plot

Rom and the Micronauts are attacked by the now Wraith infected Acroyear, but after a long fight, Phen manages to stall her would-be lover for a second, allowing Rom to use his Neutralizer on him, purging the Wraith-taint from his body.

At the Entropy-Cloud processing facility, Membros is showing the Absence his work, by using a combination of Wraith magic and Ministry of War technology to contain the cloud, allowing it to be transported to the Presence, allowing her to turn Earth into a new Wraith homeworld. 

Outside, the Ampzilla and Terraphant guards are attacked by Rom, but don't realize that a Hornetroid unit following him is a Trojan horse, just as the Micronauts blast themselves out of it and tear through the guards.

With the guards dead, the Micronauts attack the barrier around the facility, but cannot break it down...that is until Microtron bashes their ship into the wall, causing it to create a hole for the others to go through.

Inside the facility, Microtron scans the area and transmits his findings to Biotron, just as the Absence attacks him, phasing through his body and disabling the robot. The others arrive and start attacking the Absence, he begins to panic as he is needed for the conduit to send the cloud to Earth, but is rescued when Membros returns with an Antron and Lobros, upgraded with wraith-matter, who attack the Micronauts and Rom.

Biotron recovers Microtron's injured body and tells Rom to go after the machine collecting the cloud, since Microtron's data shows that he can destroy it, allowing the other Micronauts to fight their new enemies.

Rom quickly destroys the machine, but as a result, the collected cloud is unable to be stored anymore, and he is forced to fly away. Rom is willing to fight the remaining wraiths and Ministry members, since his armour should protect him from aging from the cloud's energies, however Membros just tells them to leave, as he plans to, since he is now planning to go into hiding since he has failed Karza, and now fears for his life.

The Micronauts escape, just as the cloud erupts, causing everything around it to age and decay. Larissa decides to take this opportunity to return to Earth, so they can take down Karza and his allies before they can rebuild their facility.

However, on Earth, Karza is informed of the facility's destruction by the Absence, but admits that he expected this to happen, so he built another device, ready to be sent back to Microspace, this time more heavily protected, despite this leaving their Earth forces limited.

Karza intends for the Micronauts to attack, seeing him as being open to attack, but he already hasd a plan to take them out once and for all...

Characters

Micronaut

Larissa

Phenolo-Phi

Acroyear Cured of Wraith-Taint by Rom

Biotron

Microtron Disabled by The Absence

Ministry of War

Baron Karza

Membros

Dire Wraith/Wraith Infected

The Absence

Lobros

Antron

Ampzilla Killed by Rom

Terraphant Three Killed by Acroyear

Hornetroid (Corpse Only) Dead

Wraith Creatures

Wraith Warriors

Wraith Sorcerers (Mentioned)

The Presence (Mentioned)

Other

Rom

Aged Corpses Dead

Notes

• As mentioned in the comic itself, Solstar Knights are able to burn out a Wraith infection using their weapons, as Orphion did to Camilla Byers in the Rom solo series. However in that case, a taint remained and gave her the biology of a Wraith still, despite remaining human...wonder if Acroyear will show any changes from this too?
• Following the removal of the Wraith taint, Acroyear never deploys his wings, which he normally does...coincidence?
• Is it just me, or does the picture above of the Micronaut's ship look like the armoured version of Voyager from Star Trek?
• It appears that the Lobros and Antron shown in this issue are not the same ones from Wrath of Karza, since he refers to the older ones as "the last versions".
• Okay, Karza is definitely one of the smartest villains out there. He figured there was a chance that the heroes could destroy his weapon, so he had another one (potentially more) built just in case.

IDW - Optimus Prime #16

Title: The Falling Chapter 2: Another Mine

Written by: John Barber

Art by: Kei Zama

Colours by: Josh Burcham

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: David Mariotte

Publisher: Greg Goldstein

Plot

Soundwave, acting as the foreman of the Ore-13 mine on Earth has a daydream to his past as a supervisor on Luna-2, and how even then he was looked down on by the Prime of the time, Sentinel. He then thinks back to when Optimus blackmailed him into helping him on Earth when he threatened to reveal his involvement in Horri-Bull's death a few years earlier, but he justified that as Optimus looking for freedom for everyone.

Back in the present, Soundwave is called by Autobot City, saying that Optimus needs him on Cybertron, leading him to leave the President and her Joe guards behind. Soundwave soon heads through the space bridge to Cybertron, leaving Pyra and her team behind for backup if needed, and arrives to find a giant eye in the sky above Iacon, and everyone in a bit of a panic.

Onyx Prime delivers Liege Maximo to the Council of Worlds and Optimus, explaining that he wants Maximo to be tried for his crimes against Cybertron, and also wants to help out the new social order by repairing the tainted Energon on the planet, and break up alliances with Earth and any other organic world, much to the distaste of the councillors and Optimus.

The Primes, including Alpha Trion, and the Council head to the Spire to discuss these matters in private, rather than in public.

Scoop watches the events from a rooftop, and is now convinced again that Starscream is the Chosen One, since he knew about the arrival of Onyx Prime, despite being in a windowless cell, unaware that Bumblebee's "ghost" was the one to inform him of the events.

Soundwave goes to meet with some of his fellow Decepticons at a shooting range, and they decide to go to the Spire themselves to find out what is happening with the Primes themselves.

They soon arrive at the Spire, where Soundwave manipulates Beachcomber into letting him speak to the imprisoned Liege Maximo briefly, to which Soundwave is horrified to discover that he cannot read his mind, unlike everyone else, and leaves to see the Council next.

Things get heated in the Council chambers with no one really trusting Onyx and his goals, thanks to the warnings of Galvatron in the past. Mistress of Flame brings up Onyx killing Praesidia and Magrada in the past, event invading Caminus in the past, shocking Windblade, who knew nothing about this. Optimus tries to calm the situation, and concedes that Galvatron was a terrible person and they should probably not trust his word on Onyx being evil before they hear his side on the matter.

At this point, Soundwave enters the Council chamber and accuses Optimus of betraying them and trying to bring back the rule of the Primes, thanks to him siding with the other Prime.

Optimus tries to explain his meaning, whilst Windblade yells at Mistress of Flame for keeping secrets and Alpha Trion realizes something, something important about Onyx Prime....

Suddenly, the building explodes, everyone panics, the Councillors go into defensive mode, protecting the weaker members, and Soundwave rushes to Alpha Trion, who took the brunt of the blast, but finds him already dead and faded to grey.

In the aftermath, Onyx declares that Soundwave, and his Decepticons are responsible for this, either by action or reputation, and they must be tried along with Maximo, if he survived the blast, for their mutual crimes....

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime/"The Arisen" - Truck Cab

Alpha Trion - Space Shuttle Killed in Explosion 

Windblade - VTOL Fighter Jet

Arcee - Sports Car

Pyra Magna - Fire Truck

Jumpstream - Sports Car

Dustup - Sports Car

Rust Dust - Motorcycle

Skyburst - Helicopter

Stormclash - Helicopter

Jetfire - Fighter Jet

Tracks - Muscle Car

Aileron - Space Shuttle

Beachcomber - Dune Buggy

Seaspray - Hovercraft 

Metrotitan - Autobot City

Powerglide - A-10 Jet

Silverbolt - Passenger Jet

Alpha Bravo - Helicopter

Skydive - Fighter Jet

Fireflight - Fighter Jet

Air Raid - Fighter Jet

Bumblebee - Car ("Ghost")

Sentinel Prime - Truck (Flashback Only) Dead

Prowl - Police Vehicle (Flashback Only)

Chromia - Speedbike (Mentioned)

Zeta Prime - Truck (Mentioned) Dead

Dinobots (Mentioned)

Wreckers (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Soundwave - Cassette Player

Dreadwing - Stealth Bomber

Needlenose - Fighter Jet

Swift - Helicopter

Laserbeak - Cassette

Buzzsaw - Cassette 

Ravage - Cassette (Flashback Only)

Sky-Byte - Shark (Flashback Only)

Slugslinger - Two Nosed Jet (Flashback Only)

Scrapper - Front End Loader (Mentioned) Dead

Galvatron - Tank (Mentioned) Dead

Horri-Bull - Bull (Mentioned) Dead

Other Cybertronian/Colonist

Onyx Prime

Liege Maximo In Custody

Mistress of Flame

Elita One

Airazor - Falcon

Tigatron - Tiger

Knock Out - Sports Car

Moonracer - Sports Car

Fireshot - Part of Jet

Vanquish - Part of Jet

Starscream - Fighter Jet In Custody

Scoop - Front End Loader

Bonecrusher - Bulldozer

Hook - Crane

Long Haul - Dump Truck

Mixmaster - Mixing Truck

Scavenger - Excavator

Ramulus - Ibex

"Beast Megatron" - Tyrannosaurus Rex

Sharkticons - Sharks

Junkions

Thundercracker - Fighter Jet (Flashback Only)

Luna-2 Miners (Flashback Only)

Teletraan (Voice)

Primus (Mentioned)

The Other Primes (Mentioned)

Chromia's Team (Mentioned)

Ironhide's Security Team (Mentioned)

Praesidia (Mentioned) Dead

Magrada (Mentioned) Dead

Human

Marissa Faireborn

Madame President

Flint

Chameleon

Human Miners

The Iron Ring (Mentioned) In Custody

Other

Buster the Dog (Flashback Only)

Notes

• Interesting...unless it's just an artistic difference, it looks like Needlenose was eavesdropping when Optimus blackmails Soundwave over his involvement in Horri-Bull's death...I wonder if this will be a plot point later?
• Despite how it sounded last issue, the Colonists do not go to visit Soundwave at the Ore-13 mine this issue. They don't even appear in this issue in fact!
• Another interesting thing....Alpha Trion apologizes to Soundwave for stabbing him during the Titans Return event...why does he remember that? Sovereign/Blackrock was controlling his body and replaced his head during those events.
• Onyx Prime refers to his Beast army as "Maximals", the name of the heroic faction from Beast Wars.
• It may just be a nick-name or something here, but one of the Constructicons calls Scoop "Scooper" in one instance, possibly to refer to him being a replacement for the dead Scrapper.
• Bumblebee brings up the good point that Starscream obsessing over what his "true self" should have been is a bit stupid, since he can just get his body changed to match it, since he did that multiple times over the past few years anyway.
• Beachcomber's guilt from helping Starscream is a reference to his actions in the Optimus Prime Annual, where he almost got Thundercracker killed by essentially putting a hit on him for Starscream.
• Beachcomber and fellow guard, Seaspray are drawn to match their recent Power of the Primes and Titans Return toys.
• For some reason Moonracer is shown with a new sigil on her shoulder, showing a crescent moon and two stars...I like it, don't get me wrong, but where did it come from? It doesn't appear to be part of her new toy, and I don't remember her having it before now, just weird!
• Liege Maximo is referred to as the Prime of Lies here...the same title given to Quintessa in "The Last Knight", further adding to my theory that she is actually Liege Maximo in disguise.
• Okay, here's my crazed conspiracy theory for the day! Onyx Prime is an imposter, and so is the imprisoned Liege Maximo, they are just illusions created by the real Maximo, who has been hiding on Cybertron or something ever since the end of the Titan invasion. Soundwave not being able to read the minds of either Maximo or Onyx is very damning, since he's never had a problem reading minds in the past. It's also very likely that Maximo caused the explosion, when he realized that Alpha Trion figured it all out, just to get rid of him and pass the blame onto Soundwave and his crew. It even looks like someone is shoving Trion into a wall during the explosion, if you look closely to his cape, or rather under it.

IDW - Optimus Prime Annual 2018

Title: Thundercracker in "Starscream: the Movie"

Written by: John Barber

Art by: Priscilla Tramontano and Andrew Griffith

Colours by: John-Paul Bove and Josh Burcham

Letters by: Shawn Lee

Editor: David Mariotte

Publisher: Greg Goldstein

Plot

Annoyed by seeing Optimus being revered by the colonists in Iacon, Starscream gets an idea to create a propaganda film to make the colonists, and even the humans love him. To do this he visits Thundercracker inside Trypticon, still acting as the Earth's Embassy to Cybertron. Despite working on a new screen-play on Chuckles saving Earth from Cobra, he happily takes on the new role, since Starscream will be funding the entire project.

Starscream soon tries telling Thundercracker about how awesome and heroic he was in the past, leading to Thundercracker questioning the validity of his story. During the script writing process, Thundercracker has hired Proxima to deal with the camera work, Tankor to do the make-up, and Acid Storm to play the title role of Starscream.

After being told more lies about what he did during the Earth Invasion, Thundercracker decides to go see other people involved in the events for their accounts of Starscream's actual history.

Dirge explains how Starscream convinced him and Deluge to go with the Autobots back to Cybertron when they were defeated before the Earth Invasion, because he trusted him, but he believes that Starscream actually sent him because he could tell they would probably be killed on Cybertron, which Deluge was...and then Dirge was abandoned on Cybertron until after the planet was reborn.

Thundercracker heads to the GI Joe Lemuria base, where he meets up with Skywarp, and the two reminisce on their days at the Jhiaxian Academy for being Outliers, and how Starscream recruited them for his own needs, and wanted to exploit their gifts.

Soon, he returns to Cybertron and meets with Starscream to ask him what being a Decepticon really meant for him, which  he states that he always wanted to point people in the right direction, but he was never really listened to until after the war, when Metrotitan named him the Chosen One. Thundercracker leaves Starscream to continue mumbling about how everyone listens to him now...seemingly ignoring his office being in massive disrepair.

Thundercracker decides to visit Alpha Trion, who explains to him that he believes the Titan that named Starscream the Chosen One, to not be the one who appeared on Earth later, but just a random dying one. He goes on to explain that stories can be used to spread a narrative, which Starscream understands how to do, which is why he's so successful, but warns that Thundercracker should try to use truths, rather than just making an entertaining story for Starscream to spin.

Soon, Thundercracker is having problems on the set, with the paint being used to make Acid Storm look like Starscream not working right, and Flamewar, now cast as Rodimus, moaning that they never really met before the war, having only been put in the story because he's a popular "character".

Thundercracker hides with Marissa back in Trypticon, who decides to help him by getting the phone number for a famous human actor and former hero, Richard Ruby, to help with the film.

Before long, Thundercracker screens some scenes for Ruby, but he's unimpressed since it is just historical and is too wordy, human audiences will be bored, since they want to see action from the alien robots, not talking heads.

Taking his advice, Thundercracker decides to use his movie to try and inspire people, much like how the Nurse Whitney show inspired him to be a writer when he was stuck on Earth following the invasion. Acid Storm gets annoyed by the new script and the constant horrible paint work, leading him to quit the film. Thundercracker soon takes up the role of Starscream for himself, just as Swift walks in, announcing that Starscream has admitted to all his crimes, and has been arrested. The crew are upset since this means their film is doomed, but Thundercracker just states that this gives their film an ending now.

Thundercracker completes the film, indeed ending it with Starscream's imprisonment, and screens it for Starscream inside his cell. Starscream is unimpressed, but points out that there's no point in showing the film now, since he doesn't need to impress anyone anymore, but Thundercracker is determined to show it still.

As he leaves, Starscream manages to bribe his guard, Beachcomber, to deliver a message to a "friend" of his for a reward, which he agrees to.

At the wrap party, Thundercracker gifts his crew some goodies, including a plushie of Buster and a copy of his Chuckles movie script, before leaving to drop off the film to Earth (leaving Proxima to wonder if she'll actually get paid still). 

Thundercracker goes through the space bridge, aiming for Earth, but is redirected to the dead world of Prion instead, forcing him to rush Buster into his cockpit so she can breathe. Two Badgeless officers follow him into the portal, where they attempt to kill him, having been hired by Starscream to do so, so his film cannot be shown. Fortunately, Thundercracker still has his fighting skills and kills the Badgeless.

Thundercracker soon arrives on Earth, confusing Aileron as to why he was on the dead world of Prion, but she tells him that Ruby wants to see him.

Richard Ruby tells Thundercracker that Rumble and Frenzy also made a movie, that got released two weeks earlier, and it failed terribly, leaving human audiences to not care about Cybertronian cinema anymore. He has managed to sell the movie to a subscription service, but isn't sure how to watch it even himself.

Thundercracker returns to Cybertron, where he contemplates giving up on his writing dreams, but is pulled through by a call from J.J. Hackensack, a major director on Earth, who saw his movie and wants to work with him on a new one, if he is interested...which of course he is.

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab

Proxima 

Alpha Trion - Space Shuttle

Metrotitan - Autobot City

Aileron - Space Shuttle

Beachcomber - Dune Buggy

Ratchet - Ambulance (Flashback Only)

Prowl - Police Car (Flashback Only)

Jazz - Sports Car (Flashback Only)

Cliffjumper - Sports Car (Flashback Only)

Mirage - F1 Race Car (Flashback Only)

Hound - Military Jeep (Flashback Only)

Tracks - Muscle Car (Flashback Only)

Bumblebee - VW Beetle (Flashback Only)

Wheeljack - Race Car (Flashback Only)

Impactor - Tank (Fantasy Only)

Ironhide - Van (Fantasy Only)

Ultra Magnus - Vehicle Transport (Fantasy Only)

Scrounge - Wheel (Fantasy Only)

Windcharger - Sports Car (Mentioned)

Windblade - VTOL Fighter Jet (Mentioned)

Rodimus - Sports Car (Mentioned)

Seaspray - Hovercraft (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Acid Storm - Fighter Jet

Fat Tankor - Tank

Swift - Helicopter

Waspinator - Wasp (Footage Only)

Sky-Byte - Shark (Footage Only)

Laserbeak - Cassette (Footage Only)

Slugslinger - Twin Nosed Jet (Footage Only)

Rumble - Motorcycle (Footage Only)

Frenzy - Motorcycle (Footage Only)

Thrust - Fighter Jet (Flashback Only)

Astrotrain - Space Shuttle/Train (Flashback Only)

Viewfinder (Flashback Only)

Deluge - Sports Car (Flashback Only) Killed by Insecticon Swarm

Apeface - Ape (Flashback Only)

Dead End - Sports Car (Flashback Only)

Battletrap - Helicopter/Van (Flashback Only)

Motormaster - Truck (Flashback Only)

Brawl - Tank (Flashback Only)

Needlenose - Fighter Jet (Flashback Only)

Shrapnel - Stag Beetle (Flashback Only)

Megatron - Gun (Fantasy Only)

Seekers - Jets (Mentioned) Defunct

Ramjet - Fighter Jet (Mentioned)

Blitzwing - Tank/Jet (Mentioned)

Other Cybertronian/Colonist

Thundercracker - Fighter Jet

Starscream - Fighter Jet

Skywarp - Fighter Jet

Dirge - Fighter Jet

Flamewar - Motorcycle

Rattrap - Mole Rat

Trypticon - Earth Embassy Building

G2 Sideswipe - Car

Other Newborn Cybertronians

Two Badgeless Officers Killed by Thundercracker

Cybertronian/Colonist Crowdfillers

Extras in Movie (Footage Only)

Onyx Prime Actor (Footage Only)

Prima Actor (Footage Only)

Insecticon Swarm (Flashback Only)

Teletraan (Voice)

Primus (Mentioned)

Solus Prime (Mentioned)

Metalhawk - Fighter Jet (Mentioned)

Human

Marissa Faireborn

Rashid Nasir

Baker

Richard Ruby

J.J. Hackensack

Hi-Tech/Sanjay Bharwaney

Rumble and Frenzy's Human Actors (Footage Only)

Chuckles (Fantasy Only)

Cobra Commander (Fantasy Only)

Earth Invasion Era US President (Mentioned) Dead

Ayana Jones (Mentioned)

Jem (Mentioned)

Karen Fishook (Mentioned)

Orson Welles (Mentioned)

Nurse Whitney (Mentioned, Fictional Character)

Karen Fishnet (Mentioned, Fictional Character)

Susan Journeyer (Mentioned, Fictional Character)

Other

Buster the Dog

Notes

• This special issue is set during the Till All Are One Annual, and also between issues 14 and 15 of Optimus Prime. It begins with Starscream in charge of Cybertron, later showing his office in a wreck, clearly set after the scene where Windblade confronts him over his crimes, and ends with Starscream arrested for his crimes.
• As mentioned earlier in the series, the old film "The Birth of Cybertron" is based on the real world film "Birth of a Nation", and like the fictional one is mentioned to be, it was a very racist and revisionist history type of film.
• Since it was mentioned that the film is "Nominist propaganda" earlier in the series, and here we see that the original Primes are involved in some way, we can probably assume that a part of the film was to show that Nominus Prime was directly descended from them and was a "true Prime"
• Despite him being the title character of this series, Optimus only actually appears in one panel in the entire book....why didn't they just name this "Transformers Annual" like they did last year??
• Rashid Nasir was one of the survivors from the attack on the White House during the Revolution event, clearly he must feel safer with Marissa after what happened then.
• We learned back in All Hail Megatron that the Seekers changed their bodies to resemble their commander (Starscream) out of respect. Here we learn that they were manipulated into looking like him so he could hide amongst them from angry tax-payers that he defrauded during his senate days
• Starscream's false history tells us that Megatron was the one who destroyed Air Force One during All Hail Megatron, and that Starscream tried to stop him. What actually happened was that Starscream shot down he plane!
• When is the scene set on the Lemuria set? Is it before the current Scarlett's Strike Force series, or after? I ask because Skywarp seems happy there, but we learned in issue 2 of the series that he plans to betray the team to Duke.
• Alpha Trion believes that the Titan that named Starscream as the "Chosen One" was not Metrotitan, despite everyone believing it to be, and was just a random dying one, since Alpha is certain that Metrotitan was always under earth's surface sleeping. To be fair, I'm pretty sure Metrotitan hasn't said it was him, just everyone assumes it is...huh...
• Proxima being amongst Thundercracker's crew likely means that the Vis Vitalis did end up reaching Caminus, and the crew have since gone their separate ways, with Proxima heading to Cybertron.
• FLAMEWAR IS HERE?!?! We don't see an insignia, so we can assume she's a colonist. She is also based on her second Botcon toy which turns into a motorcycle, so I'll assume that's her alternate mode here too.
• However, Flamewar knows quite a bit of Starscream and Rodimus' shared history, so maybe she's a former Decepticons who just ditched her insignia at some point, or maybe they teach the personal histories of key Cybertronian figures on the colonies now?
• The Protoform that was dubbed Sideswipe by Arcee has now started looking more like his namesake, but in his G2 toy colours...I wonder if he'll get a bandolier in the future?
• Ayana Jones met with, and got the number for Richard Ruby during the Revolutionaries series
• I'm actually quite surprised that Trypticon has remained in his dinosaur mode, and not changed to city-mode for the Earth Embassy job. It's a cool sight though, so no matter!
• During the scene in the film where Starscream recruits Skywarp and Thundercracker, we can see a slight bit of colour bleeding around the Seekers, I guess Proxima's colour filter edits aren't so perfect after all huh?
• Beachcomber passing off a message for Starscream sets up why Beachcomber feels guilty in Optimus Prime #16, released the same day as this issue.
• So....how does Starscream have the power to convince two Badgeless to try and kill Thundercracker? He's in jail and no one trusts him any more...is he just still rich from his days as a money-extorting senator?
• Aww no Buster! Don't suffocate on Prion! I swear this series wants to make me paranoid about Buster dying in every issue she appears in! (PS, to the team of Transformers vs Visionaries, this is due to Prion not having an atmosphere for organic life, much like what Cybertron has outside of Iacon!)
• Rumble and Frenzy's movie is clearly supposed to be a joke about how Transformers movies are seen in the real world, with violence, bikini clad women, explosions, lots of military, more explosions, and nonsense.
• Rumble and Frenzy refer to themselves as the "Tape Bros"....they don't turn into tapes at this point in time, they are motorcycles.
• J.J. Hackensack is based on both J.J. Abrams (for the films shown of his, and the name) and George Lucas (for the general look)
• Karen Fishook is a nod to Carrie Fisher, who is mentioned as reprising her role as Queen Spacela in the new Space Battle movie, directly referring to her role in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The Fishook character also appeared in a similar role back in the G1 cartoon days.
• The lighting is credited to being done by Flash Bang, the name of a torch sold for the Movie lines.
• The main story is followed by a credit screen, starting with in-universe credits, but ending with thanks to all the creative teams for the works referenced in this special, ending with a "no humans were harmed in the making of this film" parody credit from most films that feature animal characters in the real world, and a promise that "Starscream will return". A credit mostly made popular with superhero movies.