IDW - Lost Light #22

Title: Crucible Part 4: The Return of the King

Written by: James Roberts

Art by: Brendan Cahill

Colours by: Joana LaFuente

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: David Mariotte

Publisher: Greg Goldstein

Plot

Rodimus and Ultra Magnus react with anger about Megatron's return from the Functionist Universe, having believed that he stayed behind on purpose, however Megatron points out that THEY abandoned him there, and he is not trying to invade his home universe again, and is in fact escaping from another attack. 

Behind him, from the portal a fleet of Functionist ships and the transformed Functionist Cybertron break through as well. The captured Lost Lighters are in awe of the sight of apparently Primus attacking their universe and Megatron prepares to rendezvous with them at the Architect's Worldsweeper.

"Primus" sees Mederi and crushes it in his hand, devouring the energies sparking out of it. The Architect and his remaining Lieutenants watch on, as the Architect explains that he saw this when he was younger, before he fled to the past to prepare for this very moment. Tyrest is distracted however, not understanding why The Architect looks like Pharma, however before he can explain, Flame reminds them that they need to fight off the monster , so they send the Infinites, Black Block Consortia and Worldsweeper fleet against "Primus" and his Functionist allies, planning to use the "God Gun" to push them back into their own universe again.

"Primus notices and starts destroying the replica Cybertrons at this point, but the Architect is distracted and wants to go see the prisoners immediately, focusing on Ratchet.

Inside "Primus", the Functionist Council's remaining members have merged with Vector Sigma and are controlling the monster, and see this new universe as a sign from Primus that they should purify this universe, but they are disturbed by how Megatron and his crew have also followed them, as they believed them to be long dead by this point.

Megatron locates the Lost Lighters and shoots at the windows of their cell to break them free, however, before he is successful the Architect and his troops arrive for their meeting, and Drift is shoot through the chest. The majority of the crew are blasted through the now destroyed window, and are recovered by Megatron's ship, but Rodimus, Ratchet, Rung, Whirl and Nautica are trapped inside the cell by an emergency forcefield.

Rodimus and his group are approached by the Architect, who just wants to talk, and asks how they know his language, and it is revealed that the Architect is just using Pharma's previously dead body as his own, and that the Autobot is starting to come to the surface every now and again. However he soon reveals his true name to the Autobots...the god Adaptus...

In Shuttle Bay Four of Megatron's ship, the Last Light, Megatron greets his old crewmates, and reacts happily to seeing some "real" Decepticons with the Scavengers. Their reunion is soon disrupted though, when the medics of the group begin to panic that Drift is dying from his injury and has entered a Zero Point. First Aid wants to use the medibay, but Megatron takes over and heals Drift of his near-death state, much to the shock of the other medics.

Soon, the group are brought to the bridge where they learn that the Functionist Council built thrusters on the back of Cybertron and used it to travel through the Warren to attack and wipe out all organic life in the universe, but eventually they realizes that the Anti-Vocationist League were ahead of them and were getting people to escape in time, leading them to create the fast and more intimating form of "Primus".

The team decide that the best idea is to destroy "Primus", which the Magnificence agrees is their "destiny", however Megatron reveals that that cannot be their only option, since "Primus" is populated by the civilians of Cybertron, if they destroy it, then the people of Cybertron will die too!

Back in their jail, everyone, even his followers question the claims that The Architect is Adaptus, but he still asks how he knows his language, with them just playing themselves off as "everyday heroes" who just wanted to find the Knights of Cybertron, whom Adaptus reiterates didn't really exist, but does point out that they DID succeed in some way, as they found the Guiding Hand, as Getaway explained to him through stories of their adventures. Rodimus is confused, so Adaptus explains...

Censere, the Necrobot, is revealed to be Mortilus, Tyrest is Solomus and the Magnificence is what remains of Epistemus, whilst a member of their crew, Rung, is the modern form of Primus himself, with all of them having forgotten their true identities due to information creep....

Characters

Autobot

Rodimus - Car

Ultra Magnus - Vehicle Transport

Megatron - Tank

Thunderclash - Truck

Grimlock - Tyrannosaurus Rex

Drift - Car

Ratchet - Ambulance

First Aid - Ambulance

Velocity - Race Car

Rung/Primus

Brainstorm - Jet

Whirl - Osprey Helicopter

Chromedome - Car

Rewind - Data Slug

Riptide - Boat

Nautica - Submarine

Swerve - Van

Tailgate - Car

Sunder - Van

Pharma - Jet Body Being Used by Adaptus

Skids - Van (Mentioned) Dead

Getaway - Car (Mentioned) Dead

Decepticon

Krok

Misfire - Jet

Crankcase - Van

Spinister - Helicopter

Fulcrum - K-Class Bomb

Nickel - Rocket Powered Buggy

Anti-Vocationist League

Nine-of-Twelve

Clicker - Laser Pointer

Decibel - Cassettes

Flame - Car

Lightspeed - Car

Terminus - Mining Vehicle (Mentioned) Dead

Orion Pax - Truck (Mentioned) Dead

Impactor - Mining Vehicle (Mentioned) Dead

Nightstalker - Cassette (Mentioned) Dead

Rung (Mentioned) Dead

Functionist Council

Twelve-of-Twelve

Eleven-of-Twelve

Six-of-Twelve

Five-of-Twelve

Three-of-Twelve

Two-of-Twelve

One-of-Twelve

"Primus" - Functionist Universe Cybertron

Population of Functionist Cybertron (Mentioned) Trapped inside "Primus"

Grand Architect

The Grand Architect/Adaptus

Tyest/Solomus

Flame - Car

Scorponok - Scorpion Dead

Grand Architect's Troops

The Infinites

Black Block Consortia (Mentioned)

Other Cybertronian

Cyclonus - Jet

Roller - Truck

Wipe-Out - Car

Froid - UAV Jet

Anode - Bi-Plane

Lug - Backpack Equipment

The Magnificence/Epistemus

Censere/Mortilus (Flashback) Dead

The Knights of Cybertron (Mentioned) Dead

Notes

• I CALLED IT!!! The Grand Architect is Adaptus, and the Magnificence is Epistemus! I may have been wrong about Solomus being the Matrix Crystal and Mortilus being Unicron, as well as possibly Primus being Vector Sigma, but this is still good for my investigative skills :D
• Though, if you remember, it WAS Tyrest/Solomus who used the Matrix to create the Cold Construction process, so maybe he does have a connection to it?
• Mortilus being Censere/The Necrobot makes perfect sense, as he would naturally want to keep a record of deaths as the god of death.
• So...Rung is Primus? Hmmm....I know there have been many mysteries surrounding Rung and his alternate mode, but him being Primus seems a bit odd. The only real foreshadowing for this would be the crystals he generates being used for holding sparks, his unique alternate mode and him having the brightest spark on the Lost Light.
• Most likely, Rung, and the rest of the Guiding Hand are able to combine into the original form of Primus, and his alternate mode is just a part of that greater alternate form.
• Functionist Cybertron/Primus is based on the Cybertron Primus toy, as well as including details from the existing IDW design of Primus.
• Amongst the AVL members are the Motorvator characters Flame and Lightspeed, which are very confusing, since one of them shares a name with a major character in this very story!
• Evidentally, the only reason why The Grand Architect had Mederi brought to the Benzene Cluster was just so Primus could crush it, for his past self to witness
• Since we last saw them, the Functionist Council have been reduced to just seven members, implying that the four unaccounted for members were killed in the mean-time 
• It's explained now that when Skids went through the Space Bridge to "Cyberutopia" he actually went into the mind of Adaptus, and merely showed his plans for the current multiple Cybertron filled Benzene Cluster. Adaptus then reached out from the bridge to get Skids, but found Pharma's recently dead body instead, so he took it for his own. However Pharma's spark is still in there, allowing him to have some pull over Adaptus' actions, explaining his apparent dislike of Decepticons from last issue.
• It's revealed that 200 years have passed for Megatron since he was trapped in the Functionist Universe, and since that time Temrinus, as well as the alternate reality versions of Orion Pax, Impactor and Nightstalker joined forces with him, and were killed.
• Megatron knows the names of the Scavengers (minus Nickel) by name, this likely is because he had a database of all his followers at some time and was looking forward to seeing some again one day
• Megatron has now learned how to be a medic, after mentioning back in Dark Cybertron that he originally wanted to train to be one. Why does his medical kit look like his fusion cannon? Misdirection of course!
• Megatron mentions that he found the "Last Light" in the same place that the Lost Light was originally found, but that it's quantum engines aren't as strong, this is because the Lost Lighters never altered the engines in the past in the Functionist timeline.
• So...this issue features a bit of a continuity headache...Magnus and Chromedome announce that they only returned from the Functionist Universe about a month ago (making this story apparently set in about early 2016) Now I wouldn't question this normally, but the Scavenger's involvement makes this harder, since they were a part of the Revolution event, set at the approximate end of 2016, and have since had some adventures after that point. So...maybe the use of the Warren to get to Mederi made the Lost Lighters time travel a bit?
• Also, since this is set so much earlier than the rest of IDW, and we haven't seen Rodimus or the rest of the crew involved in the Unicron event, or even mentioned in any way, seems to imply that the Lost Light, or the crew never return to Cybertron for some reason...maybe they go to the Functionist Universe to restart their lives?
• The Magnificence repeats the need for Rung, Rodimus, Ratchet and Tailgate to save the day. Rung's status as Primus and Rodimus' Matrix affinity make their choices make sense, but I'm not sure about Tailgate and Ratchet.