IDW - Unicron #2

Main Story

Title: Stranger Eons

Written by: John Barber

Art by: Alex Milne

Colours by: Sebastian Cheng

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: David Mariotte

Publisher: Greg Goldstein

Side Story

Title: Last Stand

Written by: David Rodriguez

Art by: Nelson Daniel

Lettered by: Tom B. Long

Edited by: David Mariotte

Main Story Plot

Starscream has redeclared himself as the "Chosen One" and decides to speak on behalf of all the now displaced Colonists, causing them to lose faith in Optimus and the Council, even claiming that they will try and turn people against him with some damning reasoning.

Starscream reveals that during his last days in power he sent out Bludgeon and others to recruit some Decepticons who were still in hiding, and has now sent them to attack Unicron, or rather, to contain him.

Aileron and Arcee are talking about the destruction of Caminus, when Bumblebee approaches them to ask Arcee why she was disturbed to see the dead Omega Sentinel inside Unicron. Arcee explains that the Sentinels were a part of the Expansion, and one must have found Unicron, or was even sent to him by Shockwave in the past, but she doesn't trust HIM to tell the truth.

Bumblebee takes her hint, and heads off to ask someone who may know more, joined by Aileron, who doesn't want to be left idle, and they soon arrive at the hangar where Omega Supreme is being treated. Bee thinks they should get Soundwave to read his mind to get answers, and touches his face...however Omega's head starts to turn black, along with Bee's eyes....

Pyra stands on top of a building alone with the Mistress of Flame's Forgehammer, unsure of why she gave it to her, but believes it was to show that she will always be part of her life. Pyra stabs the hammer into the surface and walks away from it.

Starscream is brought into the Council's new War Room, where his former co-workers are not happy to see him, especially when he mocks them for not changing the name of their council, due to the destruction of almost all of the colonies now!

Starscream explains that his plan is to use Bludgeon's findings on Unicron using faster than light travel rather than teleportation, so his fleet is there to contain Unicron, before they can unleash the full firepower on it. He refuses to add Optimus' fleet to his, saying that there's enough firepower already.

Before anything else can happen though, the meeting is interrupted by a message from Chromia on her ship, the Sabre in G Nebula 89, who can see the conflict between the Decepticons and Unicron.

Bee is shown a vision of a scientist using a device to seemingly create Unicron, resulting in the star system to be destroyed, leaving only a dying planet and black star behind, and creating the magic of Prysmos and the Dire Wraiths...As Bee comes out of his trance, Omega Supreme dies, succumbing to his long term injuries.

The Decepticons open fire on Unicron, who unleashes the Maximals to attack them, however, despite obstructing him, Unicron still teleports away, with Bludgeon revealing himself to be a follower of Unicron!

Three Maximals break into Bludgeon's Worldsweeper, revealing their true, demonic forms in front of him.

Unicron arrives in orbit of Cybertron, and transforms into a robot mode. Bee and Aileron leave the hangar to look for Optimus or Windblade, as Bee understands now what Unicron is, and how to destroy him...unfortunately, the method is to destroy everyone...

Side Story Plot

On the Lemuria, the Joes are pinned down by the invading Maximal army, with almost the entire team injured or worse. Scarlett has all but given up, knowing their odds of survival are almost nil. They have refugees on the ship, but no way to get it to activate to escape. 

Roadblock manages to motivate Scarlett into remembering who they are, and that Joes never give up. She agrees and plans to make a last stand, just as Skywarp, Helix and Snake Eyes arrive, having taken down the Maximals in the base, and are ready to help with the rest...

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab

Windblade - VTOL Fighter Jet

Bumblebee - Hatchback

Arcee - Sports Car

Aileron - Space Shuttle

Chromia - Speed Bike

Omega Supreme - Rocket Base Dies from Injuries

Pyra Magna - Fire Truck

Rust Dust - Motorcycle

Dust Up - Sports Car

Skyburst - Helicopter

Stormclash - Helicopter

Decepticon

Starscream - Fighter Jet

Soundwave - Cassette Player

Bludgeon - Tank

Sledge - Backhoe-Payloader

Wideload - Dump Truck

Broadside - Tank

Shockwave - Flying Artillery (Mentioned)

Megatron - Tank (Mentioned)

Galvatron - Tank (Mentioned)

Maximal

Optimus Primal - Gorilla

Beast Megatron - Tyrannosaurus Rex

Inferno - Ant

Depth Charge - Manta Ray (Side Story Only)

Maximal Army

Other Cybertronian/Colonist

Elita One - Car

Obsidian - Helicopter

Strika - Battle Tank

Moonracer - Car

Knock Out - Car

Fireshot - Part of Jet

Vanquish - Part of Jet

Tigatron - Tiger

Airazor - Eagle

Lancer

Greenlight

Vigilem - Carcer Ship Corpse used as Ship

Two Data Slugs

RID 2015 Scorponok - Scorpion

Cybertronian Crowds/Colony Refugees

Devisen Survivors (Mentioned)

Veloctitronian Survivors (Mentioned)

Skywarp - Fighter Jet (Side Story Only)

Mistress of Flame (Mentioned) Dead

Omega Sentinels (Mentioned)

Eukarians (Mentioned)

Liege Maximo (Mentioned) Dead

Solus Prime (Mentioned) Dead

Human

Marissa Faireborn

Scarlett (Side Story Only)

Roadblock (Side Story Only)

Shipwreck (Side Story Only)

Lady Jaye (Side Story Only)

Doc (Side Story Only)

Agent Helix (Side Story Only)

Snake Eyes (Side Story Only)

Human Refugees (Side Story Only)

Joe Colton (Mentioned)

Cobra (Mentioned)

Other

Unicron - Ringed Planet

Rom, the Space Knight

Prysmosians (Vision)

Dire Wraiths (Vision)

Alien Scientist (Vision)

Elonians (Mentioned)

Notes

• Very quickly, Firestar appears on the over with the Council members and Starscream...why? She isn't even in this issue (Don't get me wrong, she looks good, but she's just out of place)
• There are some human sized characters amongst the Transformers in the opening pages, we can't see much of them, but from their outfits I would guess they are Prysmosian (Though we know there are Humans and Elonians also on Cybertron now too)
• Gee, Cybertron sure looks like it has been developed a lot in the past few issues huh? We can't see any barren wastelands or shanty towns anywhere!
• The three Decepticons that Bludgeon recruits are the Mini-Con Demolition Team from the Classics toyline, albeit now upgraded to full-sized Transformers. Though in one panel Wideload is misnamed as Sledge (another member's name)
• When we last saw Bludgeon, he was commenting on how his "Master" was arriving soon. At the time, we believed this to be Onyx Prime, especially after it was revealed that he was Shockwave in disguise, but here we learn that he was referring to Unicron.
• The Decepticon fleet is made up of Worldsweepers, Warworlds and something called "Worldburners". This latter term is likely referring to the Nemesis and Revenge duplicates in the armada.
• We learn here that, unsurprisingly, Arcee was a part of the Cybertronian Expansion in the past. This is unsurprising since her twin, Galvatron, was known to also be a part of it.
• Similarly, we learn that the Omega Sentinels were a part of the Expansion too, and not just defenders of the planet.
• We learn here that less than a hundred Devisens survived their colony's destruction. We aren't given a number of Velocitronians, but since it was the first populated world to be devoured it is likely that only those who were based on Cybertron/Earth would have survived.
• Two Data Slug "Disposables" are seen working on computers in the council's "war room" I'd like to say one of those is Eject, but they look like generics and have similar colour schemes.
• Chromia and her team are revealed to be alive, having been missing for some time now. It was assumed by some that they were killed off-panel by Liege Maximo or his allies, as they were sent to hunt him down.
• It's unclear if Omega Supreme's vision is showing Unicron's "birth" or his "rebirth" after stasis. If it is his birth, then how would Omega have these memories, he wasn't around back then.
• It's implied from the flashback, that the planet Antilla, often shown orbiting a dead, black star is actually Unicron's physical form, but was originally a normal planet with life that was killed when a scientist did something to spread energy around.
• A side effect of Unicron's "birth" and the energy being shot off was the creation of the Dire Wraiths, having mutated from some alien species, and apparently the original advent of magic on Prysmos.
• So, after being on life-support for a few years now, Omega Supreme just dies after giving information to Bumblebee...YEESH!!
• Instead of turning grey when he died, Omega Supreme starts to turn black and cracks start to appear.
• The Maximals are revealed to actually be some demonic looking robots under their animal "shells", which somewhat resemble Liege Maximo. This also somewhat explains why we keep seeing multiples of these Maximals, even though they sometimes die in one issue, before reappearing (Like Inferno last issue reappearing here)
• Bludgeon refers to the Maximals as Liege Maximo's. Does this mean that the Maximals are not related to Onyx Prime's beasts?
• Unicron's transformation sequence is very reminiscent of the same scene in the Transformers Movie.
• I am actually surprised that Unicron IS going to Cybertron already. He still has two or three colonies to eat before going after Primus right? It's possible that he's just there to eat Caminus, and then teleport away to Earth or the thirteenth colony. Just seems a little off to me.
• The side story acts as a coda of sorts for the cancelled Scarlett's Strike Force, but is actually set earlier in the timeline than the main story, since the Maximals are attacking Earth here. It's possible they are just a second group, attacking the Colonies to make them easier to destroy. However it's more likely that it's because this was meant to go up in a later issue, since it was mentioned in solicits that Micronauts would have had a comic in this issue instead.
• This issue does not feature Aubrey Sitterson, the writer of GI Joe and Scarlett's Strike Force, most likely due to the controversy revolving around him last year.
• Roadblock mentions that "this isn't even the most trouble we've been in this year". Whilst in continuity it is likely referring to the actions of Cobra, that were supposed to happen in the unreleased issues of the comic, however in a real world context it could be referring to their comic's sudden cancellation at only three issues, in the middle of a storyline.
• Skywarp, Snake Eyes and Helix all were about to escape from the Lemuria and join Duke's project when the series ended. They must have decided to return here!
• The behind the scenes section includes interviews with Nick Roche and Shane McCarthy.

IDW - Lost Light #21

Title: Crucible Part 3: Farsickness

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 sets the Lost Light onto the surface of Mederi, allowing the rest of his team to load up the now cured, but injured, former Sparkeater crew members, so they can escape the strange rift now splitting across the sky. In the ship, Rodimus forgives Perceptor and the rest of the mutineers for what they did and allows them to recover.

Before the ship leaves, Rewind finds a Geobomb that has just teleported onto the surface, which Rung warns him against touching. The ship tries to escape, but the gravitational pull of the rift is too strong and they are pulled through it...

On the other side of the rift, the Grand Architect is waiting with his fleet of Worldsweepers, being repaired by Flame, and having his crew wait for an incoming danger, that the Architect knows is coming here, to this point in time and space.

The Lost Light is flung out of the rift, only to find five multicoloured Cybertrons. Rodimus has the ship land on one of the Cybertrons, so they can investigate, there, Cyclonus recognizes the layout as Ancient Cybertron, from his time there, however, Anode and Swerve use their skills to determine that the metal on the world is very new, so it can't be Ancient Cybertron. Nautica and Rung recognize the location as where Skids described to them as visiting when he went through Tyrest's portal.

The group are soon encountered by a fleet of Black Block consortia ships, and a large Worldsweeper. They are soon surrounded, and the Architect gives the order to kill them, but are quickly stopped when Nautica speaks the word for the symbol of the Knights of Cybertron. The Architect is intrigued and allows Rodimus to bring a small team to the ship, whilst the rest will be killed, however Rodimus refuses, saying that everyone will come with him, which the Architect agrees to, despite complaints from the rest of his team.

Annoyed by the Architect's actions, and Tyrest's complacency in letting him do anything, out of a sense of loyalty to him for saving his life. He contacts his new allies, Sunder and Froid to attack the Architect to try and find out his identity in his mind.

The Lost Light parks into one of the docking bays, where the active crew departs from the ship amd wait for their "host" to join them. Whilst they have a moment of peace, Rung and Rodimus as Nickel about the Magnificence and she remarks that they found it, and it's been quiet for a while now, however when Rung examines it, following hearing it whisper his name, he is forced into his alternate mode, shocking everyone, especially since he spoke the transformation sound as he did it...

Out of the window, they notice Mederi is flung through the rift, and it starts to close. The crew start to wonder why this has happened when Froid and Sunder are brought into the room, revealed to be a large jail cell. There, the two new arrivals reveal that they tried to read the Architect's mind to find his name, but only saw his recent memories before being kicked out, and Sunder losing his Mnemosurgery skills.

Froid explains that from what they learned, the Architect created these worlds using a hollow world with a mould of Ancient Cybertron within it and used the Warren to bring them here, and had the Consortia, which is under his control, and use it to create the "God Gun" to use it to punch a hole in the universe to the next one over, to send a great evil he has been expecting though there, and trap it.

They couldn't use the real Cybertron for this, as it needs to be a pristine Cybertron, and thanks to the wars, the planet has been damaged too much over the years.

After the explanation, the Architect has the God Gun activated, and it starts poking a hole into the universe. Scorponok is contacted by the Architect, who explains that he didn't have a vision of this evil coming here, he saw it when he time travelled using the Warren millions of years ago, and has been preparing ever since. Scorponok however detects a powerful signal through the portal and declares that the Architect is wrong, and that by doing this, he has just summoned the evil here, since it was on the other side all along.

The Grand Architect, revealed to be Pharma, enters the room and kills Scorponok for his rudeness, and sending Sunder after him earlier.

Outside, the portal opens, and a fleet of ships, led by what appears to be another Lost Light exit, just as both Rodimus and Magnus receive a call at the same time...Megatron has returned from the Functionist Universe!

Characters

Autobot

Rodimus - Car

Ultra Magnus - Vehicle Transport

Drift - Car

Megatron - Tank

Thunderclash - Truck

Grimlock - Tyrannosaurus Rex

Ratchet - Ambulance

First Aid - Ambulance

Velocity - Race Car

Swerve - Van

Riptide - Boat

Brainstorm - Jet

Chromedome - Car

Rewind - Data Slug

Whirl - Osprey helicopter

Nautica - Submarine

Tailgate - Car

Rung - Photonic Crystal Generator? Forced into Alternate Mode by Magnificence

Sunder - Van

Perceptor - Tank In Recovery

Hound - Jeep In Recovery 

Skids - Van (Mentioned) Dead

Getaway - Car (Mentioned) Dead

Nightbeat - Car (Mentioned) Dead

Metrotitan - City/Ship (Mentioned) Dead

Metroplex - City/Ship (Mentioned)

Rest of the Lost Light Crew (Mentioned) In Recovery

Decepticon

Misfire - Jet

Spinister - Helicopter

Crankcase - Van

Krok

Fulcrum - K-Class Bomb

Nickel - Rocket Powered Buggy

Overlord - Jet and Tank (Mentioned)

The Decepticon Justice Division (Mentioned) Dead

The Firstborn (Mentioned)

Other Cybertronian

Cyclonus - Jet

Roller - Truck

Anode - Bi-Plane

Lug - Backpack Equipment

Wipe-out - Car

Froid - UAV

Primus - Cybertron (Mentioned)

The Necrobot (Mentioned) Dead

Proto-Functionists (Mentioned)

Grand Architect's Forces

The Grand Architect/Pharma - Jet

Tyrest

Scorponok - Scorpion Killed by The Grand Architect

Flame

Black Block Consortia Biomech Soldiers

Grand Architect's Troops

Other

Telepathic Aliens Comatose

Scraplets Quarantined in Lost Light Medibay

Galactic Council (Mentioned)

The Grand Architect's Enemy (Mentioned)

Notes

• First Aid refers to Misfire as "Flyhigh". This was his original name, implying that First Aid knew him before this encounter. He also refers to him as "red"...he's more of a pink....
• Nickel can be seen looking at Roller, seemingly interested. This is likely a reference to the long-standing theory that he was Tarn's identity under his mask, before it was revealed to be Damus/Glitch.
• Crankcase declares "we're being sucked into it!" a clear nod to the Transformers Movie, when Spike and Bumblebee were eaten by Unicron.
• Before the end of this issue, Flame was seemingly the only one to have seen the Grand Architect, considering Pharma's known hatred of Decepticons, this makes sense, since Pharma was originally an Autobot.
• The world Skids was sent to through Tyrest's spacebridge led him to one of these new Cybertrons, and that they were made using the hollow Necroworld in the past, which was a mould created of Ancient Cybertron, and was located in the Benzene Cluster, a part of space mentioned many times in this series.
• It's finally revealed that the Black Block Consortia were infiltrated by some of the Grand Architect's biomech troops to cause them to go to war with the Galactic Council
• It's revealed that when Tyrest was transported away after his capture on Luna-1, he only reached the planet's thrusters, where The Grand Architect was for some reason located at the time.
• Rung reacted to the Magnificence by involuntarily transforming...I'm gunna guess that they are connected in some way.
• Cybertron originally being a weapon or being converted into one has been a plot point explored a few times in the past of Transformers media.
• It's likely that Primus' intended target for the God Gun would have been Unicron.
• Scorponok is killed in a similar manner to Ambulon...I guess this means we can guess he is indeed dead now.
• It's implied at the end of this issue that the monster the Grand Architect was fearing was Megatron, but this seems unlikely since he's only been in the Functionist Universe for about a year now (maybe less in-universe). It's more likely, due to the big event this year, that it's Unicron he was fearing. Honestly, the Architect's plan to shunt Unicron to the next universe over is a good idea...so long as he doesn't have the ability to cross universes here...
• Pharma being the Grand Architect is quite unexpected...he was a loyal Autobot until he was coerced into harvesting his patients for their T-Cogs by the DJD, so how is he the "big bad" here? He was even active when Anode was first "killed" and when Scorponok and Flame were released from Garrus-9. The last time we saw Pharma, his headless, seemingly dead body was being dragged into the portal by some tentacles into what is now revealed to be one of these worlds. More than likely, the Grand Architect is actually the identity of that giant spark that Skids interacted with, and he is simply controlling the dead body of Pharma now.

IDW - Bumblebee #2

Title: The Living Headlights

Written by: John Barber

Art by: Andrew Griffith

Colours by: Priscilla Tramontano

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: David Mariotte

Publisher: Greg Goldstein

Plot

Having been given the intel from the EGGHEADS that one of the group is potentially a Decepticon allied spy, David returns to Bumblebee, unaware that Diana had hacked into his call and heard everything. David loads his gun, and the other two believe he is going to kill them, but then Diabla and Runabout appear from the river to attack them.

Bee makes a run for it with Diana, with David grabbing onto the rear of his vehicle mode, and the Decepticons chase after them. David tries to explain that he was going to attack the Decepticons, not them, but they aren't so sure.

The Decepticons catch up with the spies on Tower Bridge where Diabla fights Bee, and the humans are left with Runabout, who they fend off with David's "special round" bullet firing gun. The humans manage to escape using a hot-wired scooter and head towards a hidden safe house Diana knows about. Bee is attack by both Decepticons alone, but he also manages to escape by diving into the Thames.

The group meet up in the safe house, where they determine that due to another agent being sent to America to try and root out spies from Russia, which is how Bee came to the UK, perhaps that was the reason for him coming here too.

They decide that, due to the Decepticon interference during the mission in Berlin, and that Gotell was known to be linked to the Soviets too, they should stake out a known agent named Vladimir Vladek.

The agents disguise as a photographer and a model, with Bee as their car, and stake out Vladek's base of operations, where David notices Diabla around the area, so has Bee go "out of control" and knock into her. Using the distraction, the humans storm the base, which has a clothing store as a front.

The two agents break into the back room and fight the Russians, or rather David fights the goons, but Diana talks to Vladek, and explains that the Decepticons, or someone allied to them killed Gotell and will probably go after him next. In exchange they want information on their alliance, which Vladek seems happy to provide, as revenge on his former allies...

Bee and Diabla fight in the streets, but Bee asks to just talk again, which she agrees to. The duo go onto the roof and Bee asks why she's working for a human, but she claims that they are just using the humans to their own ends

Vladek is taken to his car and begins to leave, when the car starts to transform and reveals itself to be the Decepticon, Dead End, who crushed Vladek and his driver inside.

Diabla jumps away, claiming to have just agreed to talk to Bee so he would be distracted, leaving him shocked...unaware of a group of missiles heading right for him...

Characters

Autobot

Bumblebee - Aston Martin

Decepticon

Diabla - Lamborghini Islero

Runabout - Rolls Royce Limo

Dead End - Porsche 365

Human

Agent David Reeve

Agent Diana Lux

Vladimir Vladek Killed by Dead End

Vladek's Driver Killed by Dead End

Vladek's Goon

Londoners

EGGHEAD operative (Voice Only)

Konrad Gotell (Mentioned) Dead

Agent Ian Byrde (Mentioned)

Director Pelham (Mentioned) Dead

Sector Seven (Mentioned)

Notes

• ...how did Agent Reeve see the Decepticons, and yet Bumblebee and Lux (who were facing where they were coming from) didn't?
• Bee claims that he "never trusted humans"...I guess he got over that over time huh?
• Apparently Bumblebee was brought into PROGRAMME as part of an exchange with Sector Seven to root out spies...so why doesn't S7 know who Bee is later?
• Also, the mentioned soviet spy in Sector Seven storyline is shown in the S7 comics
• Dead End appears for the first time in IDW's continuity here, and he is based seemingly on his scout class toy, rather than his deluxe one. When he appeared in Titan's series, it was the reverse.
• So...were there humans inside that car that Diabla threw onto the roof? It had it's headlights on, and was in front of her on the road....did she kill them?

IDW - Optimus Prime #21

Title: The Falling Part 6: Unforgivable

Written by: John Barber

Art by: Kei Zama, Sara Pitre-Durocher, & Livio Ramondelli

Colours by: Josh Burcham

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: David Mariotte

Publisher: Greg Goldstein

Plot

Devastator and Victorion continue their fight, with Victorion concerned about how Devastator is able to withstand her gravitational powers.

Elsewhere, Aileron and Jetfire have been brought to the Crystal City Singularity, which is now shrouded in Matrix energies and Shockwave declares that he needs their help with something, and explains that Optimus has been deduced to data inside the Singularity, with his physical body, including the Matrix being destroyed.

Arcee, having been captured by Liege Maximo and his Maximals is being taken into the Nemesis, thanks to the use of Ore-4, which creates a gravitational field. Arcee manages to break free and grabs her sword from Maximo, in turn throwing it at the Ore, shattering it, and causing the field to vanish. The Maximals, Maximo and Arcee all fall down, with Maximo being impaled on Devastator's crane and the other Maximals falling to their deaths too. Arcee is rescued by Aileron before she meets a similar fate.

Vicorion now realizes why her powers weren't affecting Devastator, the Ore was causing a second gravitational field, disrupting her own one. Now that she is unhindered, she shreds Devastator apart, killing him. In the aftermath, Arcee grabs Aileron for a kiss, to say thanks for the rescue.

Following their victory, the Torchbearers decombine and rush to Jetfire's aid, where Shockwave is revealed to Pyra to be Onyx Prime's true form. She attacks him, but he waves off the attacks, explaining that he needs HER, and was just using Jetfire as bait to draw her in. He wants to have her combiner-receptive mind to store Optimus' digital consciousness into her head to rescue him from Infraspace.

Shockwave used some of the tainted energon from Cybertron and places it into the Singularity, drawing Optimus and Bumblebee into Pyra's mind. Following this, Pyra attacks Shockwave and rips off his arm cannon, preparing to kill him for all he's done, without any contesting voices from Optimus or Bee...

Elsewhere, Soundwave prepares to assassinate Starscream, who is gaining followers for a new Decepticon movement, but Needlenose stops him, saying that this is all he knows to do. Kill people who get in his way...

Starscream notices the Nemesis, with the remaining Maximals aboard leaving, leading him to believe that Shockwave has been defeated. He then agrees to lead the new Decepticons and takes them with him to plan..

Left behind, Swift is disillusioned by all this, and questions her allegiance, whist the nearby Needlenose finds his brother Tracks, and decides to go with him, deciding to stick with people who care for him. Soundwave, now left alone is approached by Windblade, who invites him to join them at the council to start planning their next moves. Soundwave however is worried if he made a mistake by allowing Starscream to live.

The Nemesis leaves orbit, without any attacks from Carcer, on orders of Windblade. On the surface, Elita demands to know why they couldn't destroy them, and also why Shockwave is still alive, Mistress of Flame agrees since she still hates him for killing her friends in the past.

Pyra explains that they will have Shockwave brought before the council for judgement, so he can be punished properly, and so they truth about the Primes being just mortal beings be broadcasted to the people.

Upon hearing this, Shockwave declares that she is ready and implants some of the tainted energon into her head, giving her, Optimus and Bumblebee a shared vision of the upcoming threat....Unicron, and to deal with him, they had to accept that their religion was false and would hurt them in the long run...

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab Mind Displaced into Pyra Magna's Head

Bumblebee - Muscle Car Mind Displaced into Pyra Magna's Head

Windblade - VTOL Fighter Jet

Arcee - Sports Car

Jetfire - Fighter Jet

Aileron - Space Shuttle

Tracks - Muscle Car

Victorion - Torchbearer Gestalt

Pyra Magna - Fire Truck

Rust Dust - Motorcycle

Skyburst - Helicopter

Stormclash - Helicopter

Jumpstream - Sports Car

Dust Up - Sports Car

Superion - Aerialbot Gestalt (Flashback)

Optimus Maximus - Autobot Gestalt (Mentioned)

Chromia - Speed Bike (Mentioned)

Alpha Trion - Shuttle (Mentioned) Dead

Metrotitan - Autobot City (Mentioned) Dead

Decepticon

Shockwave/Onyx Prime - Flying Artillery Captured by Pyra Magna

Soundwave - Cassette Player

Devastator - Construction Gestalt Killed by Victorion

Needlenose - Fighter Jet

Swift - Helicopter

Fat Tankor - Tank

Tall Tankor - Oil Tanker/Cargo Plane

Acid Storm - Fighter Jet

Squeezeplay - Crab Monster

Flip Sides - Cassette

"Armada Thrust" - Fighter Jet

Menasor - Stunticon Gestalt (Mentioned)

Maximal

Optimus Primal - Gorilla

Beast Megatron - Tyrannosaurus Rex

Skywarp - Eagle Killed by Arcee

Bigmos - Mosquito Killed by Arcee

Insecticon - Beetle Killed on Impact with Devastator

Rartorata - Lionfish-Hornet Killed on Impact with Devastator

Nightglider - Flying Squirrel Killed on Impact with Devastator

Razorclaw - Fiddler Crab Killed on Impact with Devastator

Rhino - Rhino Killed on Impact with Devastator

Scorponok - Scorpion Killed on Impact with Devastator

Randy - Wild Boar Killed on Impact with Devastator

Retrax - Pill Bug Killed on Impact with Devastator

Scarem - Scarab Beetle Killed on Impact with Devastator

CatSCAN - Big Cat Killed on Impact with Devastator

Apelinq - Gorilla Killed on Impact with Devastator

Scissor Boy - Earwig Killed on Impact with Devastator

Rav - Raven Killed on Impact with Devastator

Mol - Mole Killed on Impact with Devastator

Dillo - Armadillo Killed on Impact with Devastator

Other Maximals Several Killed on Impact with Devastator

Other Cybertronian/Colonist

Starscream - Fighter Jet

Mistress of Flame

Elita One - Car

Liege Maximo Killed on Impact with Devastator

Vigilem - Carcer Ship Dead, Corpse used as ship

Civilians

The Fallen/Megatronus (Mentioned) Dead

The Thirteen Primes (Mentioned)

Scoop - Front End Loader (Mentioned) Died with Devastator

Praesidia Magna (Mentioned) Dead

Fastbreak (Mentioned) Dead

Magrada (Mentioned) Dead

Human

Marissa Faireborn

The Iron Ring (Mentioned)

Other

Unicron - Ringed Planet (Vision)

Primus (Mentioned)

Notes

• This issue fully explains that the Torchbearers left their position on Caminus due to the Mistress of Flame trusting a Prime (Optimus) despite her, and the Torchbearers knowing that a Prime (Onyx) was evil and killed their friends.
• It's revealed here what Shockwave was looking for when he was on Caminus, and killed Magrada and the earlier version of the Torchbearers, one of his Regensis Ores. In this case, it is Ore-4, Gravity.
• Even though some of the Maximals could have survived their fall from the Nemesis, it's likely that Victorion's gravity crushing attack would have killed them regardless
• This issue marks the first on-panel, on the lips kiss between two Transformers...the question is though...why was is Arcee and Aileron? Why not an established couple like the Torchbearer cars or Anode and Lug? This feels like it's just been shoe-horned in for some reason.
• We learn here that the area inside the mind of a combiner where the component parts can communicate is called Antespace.
• Optimus' brief stint as the torso of a combiner in Combiner Wars gets lip-service here. I thought IDW had forgotten about that!
• Windblade says "he found someone named Bumblebee?" as if she doesn't know who he is...she has mentioned him various times, and even screamed at Starscream for him being crazy for talking to his "ghost"
• Fat Tankor is mentioned as a Decepticon again in this issue, despite just last issue being identified as "unaligned"...MAKE UP YOUR MIND!!!
• Likewise, Devastator is also shown in multiple views (even his components) with Decepticon insignias, so I guess he has re-joined them too?!
• So, Shockwave's ultimate plot has been to create the Primes, just so in the future he could reveal that they were a fiction and were not gods, giving the Cybertronian people the strength to deal with the upcoming Unicron, since they cannot rely on gods to save them, only themselves. This is a good idea, except one small thing....how did Shockwave know when Unicron was going to return?
• Shockwave mentions that the Maximals are going to join Unicron now, whilst we know this is true from Unicron #1, this doesn't explain how he knows this. Was he allied with Unicron in some way before his "defeat"?