IDW - Unicron #0

Title: Our Darkest

Written by: John Barber

Art by: Alex Milne

Colours by: Sebastian Cheng

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: David Mariotte

Publisher: Greg Goldstein

Plot

It's a beautiful, peaceful and happy morning on Elonia, the capital planet of the Solstar Order, one of the three great powers in the galaxy. Everyone is happy, as the planet is a peaceful, happy paradise... That is until a giant planet-sized creature appears in the sky above them, and begins harvesting the planet, dragging Elonians and the ground up into his gaping maw.

Optimus and his team, joined by Rom of the Solstar Order arrive to try and help the Elonians, having learned of the Unicron anomaly approaching the planet recently. The Transformers plan to set up a global space bridge on the planet's surface to transport the population to Cybertron, and to safety.

Rom hopes this isn't needed, and points out the approaching phalanx of Solstar Knights approaching the planet eater , whom Rom joins in battle. The majority of the team approach Unicron's maw to attack him from inside, whilst Rom and Livia skim the surface of the anomaly, where they discover the destroyed remains of several planets, as well as the dead Velocitronian population, including their planet's leader, Override, and the Autobot Cliffjumper, who was set with his team to help the colony out when they were under attack.

Unicron, detecting the Knights, unleashes a blast on them, killing all who entered his maw, and sending Rom and Livia hurting back to the planet's surface.

Seeing they are running out of time, the Cybertronians orbital jump to the planet's surface and proceed to set up the space bridge relays, however when they activate the system, it fails. There is a disrupting signal on the planet, which Optimus and Arcee head out to investigate. They find Rom having crashed at the Thrail Mineral Mines, where he found the Solstar Order's ore, and they are all shocked to find a partially unearthed Titan, having been buried under the surface for millions of years.

The trio enter the Titan's open mouth where they discover that the ore is actually one Shockwave's Regenesis Ores and also identify the Titan as Emissary, the Titan of Prima of the Thirteen Primes, and he is sending out the disrupting signal as he doesn't understand what the space bridge is being used for. Optimus wants to try and explain to him, but there isn't any time. Arcee draws her swords, and despite Rom's protests (since he knows Titans are like gods to Cybertronians) she skewers Emissary's brain module, finally killing him.

The Titan screams and the disruption signal is stopped, however the scream has overloaded the remote function of the space bridge. Wheeljack notices this and says his goodbyes to Bumblebee, before transporting the planet's remaining population and the Cybertronian helpers back to Cybertron, but remains behind as the planet is fully destroyed.

The remaining Solstar Knights managed to get off the planet in shuttles, with Livia even being rescued by Sata, as Optimus, Arcee and Rom Orbital Jump back to the Ark-Zero, where they learn the death toll of the third of the planet.

Having finished devouring the planet, Unicron teleports away, ready for his next meal, in his wake, the stars begin to vanish...

In the aftermath, Rom is informed by Windblade, through a holo-communication that Elonia is the fifth known planet to be devoured by Unicron, and they now know that he is going after the Colony/Regenesis Ore planets, which means he will eventually arrive at Earth, which they are now more determine to keep safe.

Unknown to the team however, Unicron teleports into the skies of Eukaris, and begins feeding on the planet, finally speaking aloud..."I hungerrr..."

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab

Arcee - Sports Car

Bumblebee - Sports Car

Wheeljack - Race Car Killed with Elonia

Pyra Magna - Fire Truck

Skyburst - Helicopter

Stormclash - Helicopter

Slug - Triceratops

Aileron - Space Shuttle

Sunstreaker - Sports Car

Windblade - VTOL Fighter Jet (Over Holo-Communicator Only)

Cliffjumper - Sports Car Dead

Ironhide - Van (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Soundwave - Cassette Player

Swift - Helicopter

Other Cybertronian/Colonist

Bob, the Insecticon

Strafe - Two Headed Dragon/Car

Emissary - Space Ship Euthanized by Arcee

Override - Race Car Dead

Energon Hot Shot - Sports Car Dead

Velocitronian Civilians Dead

Cheetor - Cheetah

Manta Ray - Stingray

Prowl II - Owl Killed by Unicron

Various Eukarians Killed by Unicron

Primus (Mentioned)

The Primes (Mentioned)

Prion's Titan (Mentioned) Dead

The Necrotitan (Mentioned) Dead

Solstar Order/Elonian

Rom

Livia

Sata

Guar

Butin

Nikomi Killed by Unicron

Q'b Killed by Unicron

Prim Killed by Unicron

The Bat Knight Killed by Unicron

Elonian Girl

Elonian Girl's Pet

Elonian Civilians One Third Killed by Unicron

Elonian Animals

Other

Unicron - Ringed Planet

The Iron Ring

Notes

• So...this issue kind of spoiled that Bumblebee is coming back from the dead in an upcoming Optimus Prime issue huh?
• Cliffjumper hasn't been seen too much in recent years, so he was pretty expendable and could be killed off quite easily...seems a bit weird that they gave him a new Evergreen style body just before killing him though.
• Amongst the dead Cybertronians on Unicron's surface is the Energon version of Hot Shot. Whilst this is possibly just an Easter Egg, it's also possible that this is the already established Camien version of Hot Shot. We know that some Cityspeakers were sent to Velocitron to help repair Navitas, and Hot Shot is a Cityspeaker, so maybe he was sent there and just changed his body to better fit in with the locals.
• Something to note, as of this issue, with Override's death, we see the first confirmed permanent named female Cybertronina death (Praesidia and Magrada aren't confirmed as Shockwave probably did some experiments on them, and Lug was only confirmed dead for one issue before being brought back to life with the power of love)
• In case you don't read the Rom comics, the read beams in Elonia's sky is a forcefield designed to keep the planet free of Dire Wraiths.
• This issue confirms that both the planet Emissary crashed on was Elonia, and that the strange ore used by the Solstar Order for their suits is one of Shockwave's Regenesis Ores, which has been a long-standing fan theory.
• Optimus identifies the Solstar Ore as "Ore-12". It's not explained how he knows this, but most likely he either finds a dossier on the Ores in the Crystal City, or Shockwave gave him the knowledge before this issue.
• The ship used by Optimus is named the Ark-Zero, and is apparently the fastest Cybertronian ship available to them. Again, we don't know where this ship has come from or who built it. Maybe Wheeljack or someone has been building it in secret for the past couple of years just in case of the war restarting?
• Optimus can apparently read the thought patterns of Titans now! Again, we don't know how or why, but my guess is that he IS in fact "The Arisen" and this is just an innate talent he has, that was just never really shown before (other than him raising three different Titans in the past)
• So...we know that Emissary was carrying Prima's body on him, but Optimus says that he was travelling to try and spread the word of the Primes, and is claimed to be one of the Colony Titans...does that mean he had a Hotspot inside him that has just been eaten by Unicron too?
• Soundwave confirms that they managed to rescue two thirds of the life on Elonia (including animals) and Optimus states that three billion Elonians died in Unicron's attack. So we can guess that there was approximately nine billion Elonians on the planet (I'd assume that Optimus isn't counting the animals) meaning that Elonia is likely about the same size as Earth.
• This issue makes a potential soft retcon that the Colony Worlds, and the planets seeded with Shockwave's Regenesis Ores are the same worlds. It's unclear if this was always the plan, but it doesn't really contradict anything stated earlier. We just haven't seen the Ores of Velocitron, Caminus or the other colonies yet.
• It is confirmed in this issue that LV-117 was indeed destroyed by Unicron, and the red light in the sky etc we saw when Optimus was sent there during it's time-displacement was due to him.
• It is mentioned that Gorlam Prime was also devoured by Unicron...didn't that planet get destroyed by the portal to the Dead Universe? Maybe there was a husk remaining that he devoured or something?
• We learn here that along with LV-117 and Gorlam Prime that Prion and Velocitron have been recently devoured too, so I'm guessing this stuff will happen in the upcoming Optimus Prime issues.
• This issue ends with Eukaris being attacked by Unicron. Whilst we don't see it fully devoured like Elonia, we can assume that he does destroy another planet here.
• One of the Eukarians is based on the Transmetal Prowl II character, who was previously seen as part of the Chimeracons under Tarantulas' command. It's possible that he's the same guy who just relocated to Eukaris following the events of the upcoming "Requiem of the Wreckers"
• The "Allies" Windblade mentions, who have been monitoring Unicron and his actions for some time is likely Prowl's group, who we saw had a mass of weapons and even artefacts depicting Unicron.
• The winged Solstar Knight isn't named here but since he has a fairly big role this issue, I have decided to name him "The Bat Knight"...because he looks like a bat to me....that is all...
• Windblade reveals that the second Talisman pulse (Galadria's healing wave from the end of Transformers vs Visionaries) also sent out another message into space, the name "Unicron".
• Adding to my long-standing belief that Unicron is actually Mortilus of the Guiding Hand, Cybertron's messages to space refer to Unicron as "Death", which was the aspect that Mortilus is the "God" of. Considering it's been stated recently that Primus placed his consciousness into Vector Sigma, the core of Cybertron, thus meaning it was him, another of the Guiding Hand, who called out
• So...here's my twisted theory of the day. Unicron devouring planets and rebuilding himself with the remains is basically the IDW version of the concept of "till all are one" with all the Cybertronian colonies being fused into one (whether they survive it or not)

IDW - Rom and the Micronauts

Title: Gods and Monsters

Writer: Christos Gage

Artist: Paolo Villanelli

Colourist: Alessandra Alexakis

Letterer: Shawn Lee

Editor: David Mariotte

Publisher: Greg Goldstein

Plot

Rom and the Micronauts confront Karza and D'rge, whilst the Absence is incubating both the Presence and the Entropy Cloud within himself, speeding up her rebirth. Rom takes on Karza alone, whilst the Micronauts attack D'rge. Using the Presence's power, D'rge sends energy to all the Wraiths on Earth, allowing them to reveal themselves and begin conquering the planet.

Nearby, Orphion and Livia detect the massive Wraith readings, so they decide to join Rom in his battle, leaving the Wraith guards at the facility to Camilla and Darby.

During Rom's fight with Karza, he attempts to retake his energy from the Baron using an Enerchange, shocking Karza, and the two fight over the Enerchanging process and are slowly fusing.

Livia and Orphion arrive, with Livia joining the Micronauts in attacking D'rge, whilst Orphion goes straight for the Absence, shooting into him to hit the Presence...however when he fired into him, he became exposed to the Entropy Cloud inside, corrupting his body. Knowing he is dying from the exposure, he grapples with D'rge and strangles him to death, just as his body fails too, and he dies...

The Micronauts and the Knights begin their attacks on the Presence when Karza appears behind them, having fully merged with Rom, seemingly in charge of the body, however Rom manages to show he has some sway too, and forces him to blast a hole into the Absence, opening a hole, and beginning to seep out the Entropy Cloud forcing him to help them. The group focus all their weapons fire on the hole, and force the Presence to remain inside the decaying body of the Absence, forcing her to also become over-exposed to the Entropy Cloud, killing her with explosive effect.

The group make it outside where Karza ejects Rom from his body, giving him back all his own energy. The Knights and Micronauts prepare to battle their enemy, when he suddenly displaces himself back to Microspace, declaring victory.

The team soon learn that the Wraiths across the planet are being subdued and killed due to their extra energy being removed with the Presence's death.

A while later, Orphion is buried on Earth with full Solstar honours. Rom bids goodbye to his tiny allies, who have learned that when Karza returned to Microspace he took full credit for getting rid of the Entropy Cloud, and is now being hailed as a god. The Micronauts are heading back home to reunited with Oz and the Time Travelers to try and stop Karza and his new regime...

Characters

Solstar Order

Rom

Livia

Orphion Killed by Entropy Cloud Exposure

Micronaut

Larissa

Phenolo-Phi

Acroyear

Biotron

Microtron

Oziron Rael (Mentioned)

Dire Wraith

The Presence Killed by Entropy Cloud Exposure

The Absence Killed with The Presence

D'rge Killed by Orphion

UN President Wraith Defeated

NORAD Wraiths Defeated

Parisian Wraiths Defeated

Other Earth Wraiths Defeated

Other Microspace

Baron Karza

Microspacian Citizens (Footage)

Acroyear III Units (Footage)

Time Travelers (Mentioned)

Human

Camilla Byers

Darby Mason

UN Members

NORAD Workers

Parisian Citizens

Notes

• It turns out, despite his theory that he would survive exposure to the Entropy Cloud, due to his armour, that Rom would have died if he had of back in Microspace.
• So...for basically the main villain of the Rom series, D'rge dies from being strangled....I'm surprisingly okay with that!
• Orphion's death was sort of spoiled in the earlier released (not reviewed here yet) Unicron #0, where he was missing from the Solstar Order's ranks
• So...I was sort of right in my theory...Karza did end up betraying the Wraiths and helped to kill their Goddess, but he was forced to do so by Rom. So I sort of got it right I guess?
• AHHHH!!! Microtron zombie!!! I mean he clearly seemed to die before, so what other explanation is there to him coming back to the story?
• It can be assumed that Livia leaves Earth after the events of this story to return to Elonia for the events of Unicron #0. This is likely due to the Wraith infection on Earth being so minimal now.
• Oz gets a name-drop in this issue! Now if only he would have appeared...
• Aww what a happy ending (minus the Orphion dying part) it sure would be a pity is some evil demon planet was to come along and ruin it...
• Despite this being the ending of the Rom and Micronauts series', this really feels like an opening to another series for the Micronauts back in Microspace being set up.

IDW - Transformers vs Visionaries #5

Title: The Curtain

Written by: Magdelene Visaggio

Art by: Fico Ossio

Colours by: David Garcia Cruz

Lettered by: Shawn Lee

Edited by: Sarah Gaydos & David Mariotte

Publisher: Greg Goldstein

Plot

Leoric makes it to the outskirts of New Prysmos, where he is met by Cryotek, and is snuck into the city, when inside, they make it to Witterquick and Mortdred's torture chamber, where they free the former, and leave the latter to die (I guess?). Leoric soon amasses the other Spectral Knights and brings them under his command again, leading them against the Darkling Lords.

Leoric quickly reaches Virulina's throne room, and the two fight it out, but it ends when Virulina uses a corruption spell on Leoric to try and kill him. However it turns out that Merklynn has betrayed her, and the spell she uses also affects her too. The two leaders slowly die as Merklynn announces his plans to use Arzon as his proxy and take over the planet.

Outside, Arzon slashes the Counter-wave bomb, but only damages the case, allowing the Autobots to still use it, assuming they can get to Vector Sigma in time to unleash it.

The group fights, with Ironhide taking the bomb into his chest to act as the casing. Galadria rushes to him and uses a healing spell on the Autobot, which spreads into the bomb, and further into the Talisman. The city is covered in a green light which soon spreads to the planet's surface.

One week later, Leoric and Virulina are recovering in a hospital, when Galadria comes to them, and explains that her spell reacted well with the bomb and Talisman, sending New Prysmos to the planet's surface, creating new plants and animal life, and even healing the corruption of Cybertron's Energon.

At Wheeljack's lab, Waspinator has been healed from his magic-induced wounds, along with Ironhide, and everything is starting to go back to normal. Tankor informs Ironhide about the patch of land taken over by the Prysmosians, which Ironhide says is fine, they can live together after all they've been through. Tankor suggests that he should learn how to do magic, which drives Ironhide to laughter.

In New Prysmos, Leoric finds Arzon and forgives him for his betrayal, and they begins planning to rebuild hey society anew.

In the dungeons of the city, Cindarr delivers some food for Merklynn in his jail cell, and promises to get him released. However Merklynn has seen the future and knows there is no point in trying to rebuild again...the end of the world is coming....

Characters

Autobot

Ironhide - Van

Wheeljack - Car

Kup - Pick Up Truck (Mentioned) Dead

Decepticon

Fat Tankor - Tank

Waspinator - Wasp Cured of Magic Poisoning

Other Cybertronian/Colonist

Breakdown - Armoured Van

Vector Sigma (Mentioned)

Spectral Knight

Leoric

Galadria

Ectar

Witterquick

Cryotek

Arzon 

Craggor

Ramak

Hydron

Other Spectral Knights

Feryl (Mentioned)

Darkling Lord

Virulina

Mortdred

Lexor

Cravex

Cindarr

Darkstorm (Mentioned)

Other Prysmosian

Merklynn Imprisoned by Prysmosians

Valorak Warlocks (Mentioned)

Other

Unicron - Ringed Planet (In Scrying Pool)

Notes

• Um....why are people acting like Mortdred did actually betray the Spectral Knights? He was captured and tortured along with Witterquick...
• This is really stupidly hypocritical when you remember that Leoric instantly forgives both Cryotek and Arzon, who DID literally betray him!
• Turns out the Visionary armour is able to change colour by tapping on the armour's shield...maybe it requires a spell from the faction's leader (we only see them being tapped) but wouldn't this make treachery an easy task for them?
• It isn't shown on screen, but due to the colour of his trousers, I'd guess that Arzon rejoined the Spectral Knights after his betrayal failed
• Just a small nit-pick, but the Leoric background on page 7 is really awkwardly stretched out..if you removed the panels his face would be way too long.
• Apparently Virulina and Galadria's spells are actually based on the ones featured in the Marvel comic series.
• Oh, turns out Merklynn was planning to betray Virulina all along...in order to put Arzon in charge? Did he plan this all along? That seems like a dumb plan.
• We don't know it yet (technically) but in Unicron #0 we learn that the pulse of energy that transported New Prysmos to Cybertron's surface sent out another message into space, saying "Unicron"
• Okay, my question remains. Why does New Prysmos have an atmosphere that they can breath, and seemingly has a nice breeze (based on Leoric's flowing hair). They only terraformed a couple hundred square miles of Cybertron....
• So...I wonder if Leoric decided to punish any of the Prysmosians who overthrew him and his team earlier in the series?
• Oh cool, Waspinator is okay after being turned into a chariot for Virulina...I bet he'll survive the events of the Unicron series.....
• Oh there's Fat Tankor! Last time we saw him he was guarding New Prysmos, and then we were told all the Cybertronians in the city were killed....I guess he ran away?
• Ahh what a happy ending. I bet nothing horrible will happen to New Prysmos or Cybertron in the Unicron series!
• So yep! My worry that the day would be saved by a deus ex machine turned out to be right! Galadria used a never established before spell to send healing energy into the counter wave bomb, so as to heal Cybertron and make everything okay again.
• I am actually shocked that they didn't bring back Kup with the power of love or something in this story!
• So...what was the point of Ectar exactly? I think he only said one line in this entire series!

IDW - Optimus Prime #18

Title: The Falling Interlude: The First Who Was Named

Written by: John Barber

Art by: Sara Pitre-Durocher and Livio Ramondelli

Colours by: Josh Burcham

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: David Mariotte

Publisher: Greg Goldstein

Plot

Optimus, now chained up by Shockwave asks what happened to his old friend, and how he is posing as Onyx Prime. Shockwave happily explains it all to his friend...

After he was drawn into the singularity in Crystal City, he was launched twelve million years into the past, badly injured, but still alive. He is soon found by a roaming shepherd, the original Onyx, who asks if he can help him. Without hesitating Shockwave kills Onyx, sending his beasts running to safety. One of the "beasts", a biped remains, who Shockwave named Megatronus.

Soon, Shockwave manages to gather the beasts again, and becomes known as Onyx Prime. Along with Megatronus, he teaches them to fight, creating an army of his own. Before long, he sends Megatronus out to create his Darklander army and begin his siege on other territories. Shockwave dons his full disguise as Onyx and sets out to unite the Thirteen Primes to create their new society.

Following their founding of society, Shockwave manages to convince the others to attempt Expansionism, and spread their message to the stars, however on the first world they encounter Shockwave manipulates things so the Cybertronians attack the natives, slaughtering them, and traumatising Alpha Trion, who was there to document the mission.

When they returned to Cybertron, Prima had a screaming match with Megatronus, blaming him for the slaughter on the unnamed planet. This eventually leads to Shockwave manipulating Liege Maximo into, in turn, manipulating Megatronus into attempting to kill Prima. During their battle, Solus rushes to help Prima, but she ends up being run through by her own Star Saber, Megatronus escapes, taking the sword with him, and the other Primes renounce him as "The Fallen".

Liege Maximo is captured for his manipulation of Megatronus, imprisoned inside his own Titan, Vigilem, with his people charged to be his wardens and keep him away forever. After Vigilem is sent away, Prima leads a mission with "Onyx" and Trion to hunt down Megatronus aboard his own Titan, Emissary.

Soon, Prima and Onyx encounter Megatronus on planet Tsiehshi, where Megatronus manages to cleave Prima in half with ease, however "Onyx" betrays Megatronus and decapitates him, and brings their bodies back to Emissary, where he tells Trion that they died fighting each other. Trion believes his story and they are interred back on Cybertron.

Emissary takes Prima's body into space, however "Onyx" sabotages Emissary, causing him to eventually crash onto the prehistoric world of Elonia, bringing about the end of the era of the Primes...

Back in the present, Shockwave explains that all he has done has been to spear-head the progress of Cybertron, even these dark days he has brought about by attacking the planet. Optimus disagrees, which Shockwave always knew he would. 

He decides to give Optimus the chance to change his mind, by sending him into the Singularity too...as he pushes him right into it....

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab Thrown into Crystal City Singularity by Shockwave

Windblade - VTOL Fighter Jet

Metrotitan - Autobot City Seemingly Dead

Decepticon

Soundwave - Cassette Player

Needlenose - Fighter Jet

The Primes

Onyx Prime/Shockwave

Liege Maximo

Megatronus/The Fallen (Flashback Only) Killed by Shockwave

Prima (Flashback Only) Killed by Megatronus

Solus Prime (Flashback Only) Killed by Megatronus

Alpha Trion (Flashback Only)

Alchemist Prime (Flashback Only)

Amalgamous Prime (Flashback Only)

Nexus Prime (Flashback Only)

Quintus Prime (Flashback Only)

Vector Prime (Flashback Only)

Micronus Prime (Flashback Only)

"The Arisen" (Flashback Only)

Maximal

Iguanus - Iguana

Snarl - Lion

Backstop - Rhino

Ramulus - Ibex

Other Maximals/Herd Members (Flashback Only)

Other Cybertronian/Colonist

Mistress of Flame

Starscream - Fighter Jet

Devastator - Constructicon Combiner

Original Onyx (Flashback Only) Killed by Shockwave

Vigilem - Space Ship (Flashback Only) Lobotomized by The Primes

Emissary - Space Ship (Flashback Only) Crashed into Elonia by Shockwave

Arcee - Cannon (Flashback Only)

Galvatron - Cannon (Flashback Only)

Omega Supreme - Space Shuttle (Flashback Only)

Omega Sentinel Army - Space Shuttles (Flashback Only)

Darklander Army (Flashback Only)

Knights of Cybertron (Mentioned)

Ancient Headmasters (Mentioned)

Other

Primitive Elonian (Flashback Only)

Cybertron's First Victims (Flashback Only) Dead

Notes

• Wow sometimes being behind schedule on these things does have it's benefits! The planet that Emissary is shown crashing on has been confirmed as being Elonia in Unicron #0
• So...turns out Shockwave is pretty much responsible for everything that happened in Cybertronian history, even the seemingly coincidental stuff, such as the Eukarian ship that would end up doing the Hearts of Steel re-enactment being filled with a crew that just happened to look like the main G1 cast of Transformers. We know that "Onyx" sent them towards Earth, where he knew his younger self was going to experiment on them...YIKES!
• Shockwave has immense knowledge of what happened on Cybertron in the early years of the Primes because he listened to the stories told by Alpha Trion.
• It's revealed here that Shockwave was launched twelve million years into the past when he was drawn into the Crystal City singularity. We learned a while ago that Bumblebee was somehow alive inside the Singularity, and thanks to the Unicron #0 preview, we knew he was going to be returning to the "real world" soon anyway. So at least this isn't out of the blue I guess?
• In an astonishing amount of detail, the original Onyx, whom Shockwave killed and replaced is shown to be a quadruped, where the Shockwave version of him has been mostly bipedal...and people just thought that was an art error!
• It's revealed here that Shockwave named Megatronus here, explaining why his name is similar to Megatron's, given that in this continuity Megatronus' name was unknown until recently.
• This issue explains that Shockwave, knowing of their doomed futures, managed to manipulate the Primes to doing as he pleased, especially when manipulating Megatronus and Liege Maximo
• It's revealed here that, despite what was shown in earlier stories, Solus Prime was killed by Megatronus stabbing her with her own Star Saber.
• This issue confirms that the Matrix was indeed originally the hilt to the Star Saber
• Briefly during the flashback we see a heavily silhouetted figure of "The Arisen". We should presumably discover who he really is, and his supposed connection with Optimus soon