IDW - Lost Light #17

Title: The Everlasting Voices Part 2: The God War

Written by: James Roberts

Art by: Jack Lawrence

Colours by: Joana LaFuente

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: David Mariotte

Publisher: Greg Goldstein

Plot

On the Afterspark, Ultra Magnus examines the area where Rodimus was struck by Primus' lightning, the group determine it wasn't normal lightning, since there would be remains. Suddenly Magnus is approached by his deceased brother, Dominus Ambus, who tells him that he has been watching over him and is proud of everything he has done. After hearing this, Magnus begins to ascend into the Matrix.

Elsewhere on the planet, Anode and Lug are pillaging the soft Ununtrium from a temple they found, as Anode isn't sure this even is the afterlife, she rations that if they are dead, then it doesn't matter, but if they are still alive, then she can get this rare alloy to set her and Lug up for life. The two thieves fly off to examine the Matrix, as Lug wants some of the blue crystals.

Nightbeat notices some crystals on the floor and starts to follow them, leaving Nautica, Brainstorm and Drift alone...that is until Drift is also struck down by divine lightning too.

Drift soon arrives by Rodimus' side in front of the Guiding Hand, soon followed by Ratchet and Ultra Magnus (who is peeved as he was about to ascend when he was scooped away). Rodimus has called his friends to help him convince the Guiding Hand to revive them, so they can get back to their real lives. At first Rodimus feels that he just wants revenge on Getaway for stealing his ship, but he quickly realizes that he really wants his friends to be happy again, and the Lost Light is where everyone was happy last. The Guiding Hand however reject this notion, since his crew are happy here in the Afterspark, and if they revived them now, they can never return. The Hand sends Rodimus and his team away, back into the Afterspark to await ascension.

Back in the Afterspark, Cyclonus and Tailgate catch up on what happened since they last saw each other. Cyclonus admits that he should never have left Necroworld without Tailgate, and the two promise to never separate again, as they travel towards the Matrix.

Rodimus and the others arrive back outside the temple, where Magnus immediately leaves to go be with Dominus some more, however, Ratchet notices some words over the archway into the temple, words that only he can see announcing "We are all trapped light".

On the other side of the temple, Nautica and Brainstorm are exploring, with Brainstorm convinced that the place is trying to distract everyone from exploring, and seems to be splitting them up. Just then, Brainstorm's crush, Quark appears and announces that he has always loved Brainstorm and wants to be his spark-mate. Brainstorm, despite knowing this is probably a trick drops his Early Early Warning Device and leaves with Quark. Nautica, now left alone notices that the device is now red hot, and also now notices a door reading "Danger. Do not enter" on it. She goes to open it, when Skids suddenly appears behind her, asking her to come walk with him...

Back with Rodimus' group, they follow a tunnel that leads them to a room bearing the markings "W0" on the door, again, with only Ratchet being able to see it. Inside the room, they all see an eclectic group of aliens hooked up to a device generating some light. The aliens all start chanting "Prepare. Confront. Repel" in unison and the group are surrounded from the shadows

Outside, Nightbeat has followed the trail of Crystals back towards the main group under the Matrix. He locates Whirl, who he asks where Rung is, because he wants to tell him his new discovery...the TRUE purpose to his alternate mode, however, upon announcing this, he rises up, and his spark is ripped from his body, re-entering the Matrix.

Inside the temple again, Nautica is unmoved by Skids' appearance, despite his best attempts to get her to come with him, she just dismisses him...causing his form to glitch out and start to distort. Nautica takes this to mean that she is doing the right thing, and opens the dangerous door, and coming face-to-face with the Scavengers, still stuck inside Grimlock's old cell on Garrus-9!!

Characters

Autobot

Rodimus - Car

Drift - Car

Ultra Magnus/Minimus Ambus - Vehicle Transport

Ratchet - Ambulance

Nautica - Submarine

Brainstorm - Jet

Nightbeat - Car Ascended into Matrix

Velocity - Race Car

Whirl - Osprey Helicopter

Swerve - Van

Tailgate - Car (After Spark?)

Pipes - Truck (After Spark)

Trailcutter - Van (After Spark)

Dominus Ambus - Turbo Fox (After Spark)

Quark - Electron Microscope (After Spark)

Skids - Van (After Spark)

Getaway - Car (Mentioned)

Kaput (Mentioned) Dead

Rung - Photonic Crystal Generator? (Mentioned)

Chromedome - Car (Mentioned)

Rewind - Data Slug (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Misfire - Jet

Spinister - Helicopter

Krok

Crankcase - Van

Fulcrum - Bomb

Nickel - Rocket-Powered Buggy

Skip - Space Shuttle (Mentioned) Dead

Other Cybertronian

Primus (After Spark)

Mortilus (After Spark)

Solomus (After Spark)

Adaptus (After Spark)

Epistemus (After Spark)

Cyclonus - Jet

Anode - Bi-Plane

Lug - Backpack Equipment

Ancient Cybertronians (Flashback)

Vector Sigma (Flashback)

Ten (Flashback) Ascended into Matrix

Beta Trion (Mentioned)

Other

Trapped Light Aliens Attached to Strange Device

Verity Carlo (Mentioned)

Notes

• Hey look, we finally see Dominus Ambus in his "true" robot mode body, we briefly saw him in a schematic file at the end of MTMTE, but this is his first proper appearance
• Okay if anyone still thinks that this is the Cybertronian afterlife, when we have non-Cybertronians being held there, the dead characters appear to be glitching out or acting out of character amongst all the other issues, then they really need to read more comics...
• Rodimus' choice of Magnus, Ratchet and Drift to help him talking with the Guiding Hand is a light mirror to what Tyrest did with himself, Pharma and Star Saber, representing the three pillars of most societies, law, science and religion. Funnily enough, according to James Roberts on Twitter, he originally planned to have Rodimus refer to them as "Rodimus' Trinity", a further reference to "Rossum's Trinity" (aka the connection of the brain, spark and T-Cog in Transformers)
• Drift's story of the Guiding Hand is a little different to the one told by Cyclonus back in the MTMTE Annual, further implying that it was just a story, or not the complete truth. 
• If you pay attention, you'll notice that the Guiding Hand do not confirm or deny Drift's story of their conflict. This makes me think that they may be, at least partially, the real deal. Perhaps they are trying to keep Cybertronians safe here to preserve them following Unicron's oncoming attack.
• Also, one of the members paraphrases Unicron from the 1986 movie, when he warns Magnus that they will "proceed directly into oblivion". We previously saw that the mysterious "Grand Architect" did the same thing with Scorponok and Flame when he rescued them and conscripted them into his faction. Also the aliens in this issue repeat the phrase "Prepare. Confront. Repel." which is known to be related to that same group. Looks like my theory on Adaptus being the Architect may be true after all!
• I also want to believe that Tailgate is the real one here, having been transported to the "Afterspark" from his isolation cage on Necroworld, neither he nor Cyclonus appear to be acting off, so it doesn't match up with Pipes and the others. (Also given the logic of this world, wouldn't Cyclonus and/or Tailgate have ascended right after they reunited)
• Nightbeat realizes in this issue that because Rung creates his photonic crystals whilst in robot mode, that means his alternate mode's purpose has not been revealed after all. Well Nightbeat claims that he knows what it is, but he ascends right as he's about to mention it. Personally I believe his purpose is my original idea from all the way back at the start of MTMTE, he's a key of some sort.
• Rung is mentioned as being with Rewind and Chromedome. None of them have appeared in this storyline (at least not outside of flashbacks) This seems a little suspect. Also, wouldn't Rewind and Chromedome have ascended straight away, they have no known unfinished business, and they are known for being happiest when together.
• In case you forgot, the reason Nautica doesn't remember why she and Skids are best friends is because she had her emotions linked to him removed earlier in the series. It left her memories and experiences with him, but none of the emotions attached.
• Huh...that ending sure asks me two questions. Were Team Rodimus sent to Garrus-9 somehow, or were the Scavengers sent to the "Afterspark". I personally believe it would be the latter, since the Magnificence gave the Scavengers the coordinates to Garrus-9, and if my theory on that being Epistemus turns out to be true as well.

IDW - Lost Light #13

Title: Sardines

Written by: James Roberts

Art by: Alex Milne

Colours by: Joana LaFuente

Letters by Tom B. Long

Editor: David Mariotte with Carlos Guzman

Publisher: Greg Goldstein

Plot

Fort Max and the rest of the Luna-1 crew arrive on Necroworld and find the Decepticons there having overrun the place, killing most of the Autobot residents and ransacking the planet. Outrigger is chased by Fangry whilst he is doing his travel blog, but the blogger is saved by Fort Max, whilst Cerebros and Red Alert kill the other Decepticons, rescuing some Autobots, like Scrounge, along the way.

After a while they locate Kaput's work station and find out that Tailgate was locked inside an isolation chamber under the ground, they hook Beak up to the monitors to use his x-ray optics to see inside, and they are horrified...

Far away from there, Team Rodimus are starting to get stir-crazy from the cramped conditions inside the dead Decepticon, Skip, with Swerve and Anode passing the time by having a prank war.

Swerve manages to convince Velocity to tell Anode that she has a vestigial sentient head in her ass, only for Swerve to laugh at her panic.

Meanwhile in the midsection of the shuttle, the Autobots are relaxing and having some down time, whilst Drift annoys Ratchet by staring at his "aura" again, but Drift just explains that Ratchet looks off today, as Ratchet's hands begin to shake again...

In the recharge suite, Swerve is resting when he wakes up and catches Anode trying to spray him with magnetizing spray, so he'll stick to the recharge slot. Suddenly however the slab overheats and the sprinklers are set off, drenching the both of them. Ten enters the suite, looking disappointed in his boss, but Swerve suddenly feels very weak and starts collapsing.

Swerve is taken to see Ratchet, where he discovers a bomb in Swerve's head, which is connected to his vocal synthesizer, and is counting down to zero every time he speaks, leaving him with just 400 words left. Swerve starts to panic however when Ratchet turns totally grey, as if he had just died!

Back in the midsection, Ultra Magnus comes to sit next to Cyclonus, who has been sitting by the window since they set off, as Magnus wants to work on planning his paperwork for when they reach Cyberutopia, and also plans to work on a book he is writing on the terms of peace so another war doesn't happen. Cyclonus begins to open up with Magnus about how he is unsure what to do on Cyberutopia as he always wanted to be there with Tailgate, but their relationship has been ended by Tailgate. Magnus leaves, since he doesn't do well with emotions, and heads somewhere else to continue his work.

Ratchet returns to the midsection where Drift tells him that his aura is no longer there, further implying that he is indeed somehow dead!

In the cockpit of the shuttle, Roller is reporting Chromedome and Rewind to Rodimus for "canoodling" inside his truck mode. Rodimus however doesn't care since the tracker they had on the Lost Light has vanished. Suddenly a voice comes from nowhere, which Rodimus at first believes is Skip speaking to them, but it is instead Fort Max, reporting his findings from Necroworld to him...much to Rodimus' distress...

Back in the Midsection, Swerve sparingly tells Anode to go speak to Magnus, when suddenly she is magnetically attracted to the larger robot. Swerve explains, sacrificing most of his remaining words in the process, that he left the spray can for her to find AFTER he filled the sprinklers with the magnetizing spray and coated himself in the repellent for the spray.

In the cockpit, Cyclonus is informed by Rodimus that Tailgate seems to have died in a spontaneous spark combustion explosion, vaporizing him in the process. He tries to console him by assuring him that it would have been a quick and painless death, but Cyclonus angrily screams in pain, for the entire shuttle to hear.

Cyclonus stalks out of the cockpit in anger, just as Lug manages to fling Anode off of Magnus, sending her flying into Cyclonus, causing him to try and kill her with his sword out of rage. Swerve shouts for her to move, despite him using the last of his words, and Rewind is accidentally slashed in the fuel line instead. Velocity immediately starts working on him, as Chromedome goes after Cyclonus, claiming that he did it on purpose because he is jealous of him and Rewind, unaware of what just happened with Tailgate. Ratchet tries to get between the two fighters, but Chromedome is able to punch right through him, as he is now intangible.

Nearby, Anodes thanks Swerve for warning her about the sword, despite it costing him his last few words of life. Swerve acknowledges the thanks, but suddenly realizes that Anode knows about the bomb somehow, to which she admits to having had Whirl plant the FAKE bomb and timer in his head when he was asleep, and only pretended to fall for his other pranks. The evil genius!

Whirl breaks up the fight and asks Cyclonus if something happened to Tailgate, to which the hardened warrior is reduced to collapsing in his frenemy's arms in grief.

Suddenly Ratchet notices that he is sinking through the floor of the ship, as Roller notices that the ship is getting smaller. Rodimus realises that the Mass Displacement Override is failing, and everyone starts to panic as they are about to be crushed. Drift is trying to keep Ratchet from falling out of the shuttle, and Chromedome is further panicking that Rewind's wound isn't getting any better, all whilst Swerve is furious with Anode for messing with his head.

All of this stops however when Ten starts talking and tells them that they need to do exactly what he tells them to do so they can save themselves and the universe itself!

Characters

Autobot

Rodimus - Car

Ultra Magnus - Vehicle Transport

Drift - Car

Ratchet - Ambulance Turned Grey and Intangible 

Velocity - Race Car

Swerve - Van

Whirl - Osprey Helicopter

Chromedome - Car

Rewind - Data Slug Accidentally Slashed by Cyclonus' Sword

Brainstorm - Jet

Nautica - Submarine

Rung - Photonic Crystal Generator

Nightbeat - Car

Fortress Maximus - Tank

Cerebros - Truck

Red Alert - Emergency Vehicle

Scrounge - Wheel

Kaput Dead

Megatron - Tank (Voice Recording)

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab (Voice Recording)

Skids - Van (Name on Statue) Dead

Tailgate - Car (Mentioned) Seemingly died from Spontaneous Spark Combustion

Pyro - Truck (Mentioned) Dead

Getaway - Car (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Skip - Space Shuttle Dead, Body used by Team Rodimus

Fangry - Winged Wolf Knocked Out by Fortress Maximus

Rapidfire - SUV Killed by Red Alert

Disappeared Decepticons Killed by Red Alert and Cerebros 

Deathsaurus' Troops Several Dead on Necroworld Battlefield

Zooka (Mentioned) Dead

Guncons (Mentioned) Dead

Decepticon Justice Division (Mentioned) Dead

Killmaster (Mentioned) Trapped in Pocket Dimension

Nautilator - Lobster (Mentioned)

Other Cybertronian

Anode - Bi-Plane

Lug - Backpack Equipment

Roller - Truck

Cyclonus - Jet

Ten

Outrigger - Crane

Beak - Bird

Primus (Mentioned)

Knights of Cybertron (Mentioned)

Necrobot (Mentioned) Dead

Other

Galactic Council (Mentioned)

Black Block Consortia (Mentioned)

Notes

• Oh hey! Alex Milne is back for this issue. That was a nice surprise!
• Hey...didn't Outrigger and Beak leave for (presumably) Cybertron at the end of the Titans Return tie-ins? Why are they a part of the Luna-1 crew here?
• Red Alert was trying to locate the origin point of the Last Will message from Rodimus and his crew back in the Titans Return tie-in. Looks like he did it at last!!
• So...apparently after Rodimus and his group left Necroworld, Fangry and the other Decepticons went wild and killed most of the Autobots/Neutrals on the planet...good to know the Necrobots hard work of rescuing all those missing people will end up being pointless now!
• OMG! Scrounge!! He was last seen plunged into a viewscreen in Spotlight: Metroplex, seemingly killed by Sixshot, looks like he was rescued instead. Now we can have him join the main cast of the comic huzzah!!
• The Necrobot's cap is shown to be an actual live feed of sorts to the Benzene Cluster rather than just a printing. I think with all the mentions lately we'll be getting out season finale there before long...
• Fort Max now has Rodimus' contact information and knowledge on who has survived in his group...will he pass this information on to Optimus and the others who haven't even mentioned the seemingly betrayed and dead crew of his friends since they seemingly died....
• The prank war that is going on as the main plot for this issue began when Swerve made Anode complete a survey after waking up from stasis in issue 1...this issue goes to show us how petty she is...
• Lug seems to get annoyed when the imaginary second head on Anode is referred to as male...why? Pretty much every natural born Cybertronian from Cybertron are male, including Anode originally before her transition, so a conjoined twin would likely have been male too.
• Skip is shown to have at least four main compartments in his vehicle mode, the engine room (being doubled up as a med-bay), a midsection (doubled as a mess hall), the dead locker (fitted with a recharge slab) and the cockpit (doubled up as Rodimus' quarters). This goes to show us that Transformers do become fully functional and fitted vehicles in their alternate modes, which when scaled up (through mass displacement for example) can be used as a full-on vehicle
• Rung and Roller are shown resting in their alternate modes in the midsection. Rung makes sense since he turns into a very slender object that can be stored pretty much anywhere, but Roller turns into a giant truck...does he just want to take up all the space in the ship?!
• Brainstorm is shown to have rebuilt his Early Early Warning Device, this time with famous voices doing quotes, though Nautica mis-attributes them to others who just sound like the actually famous Cybertronians.
• It's subtle, but Ratchet is shown getting a bit fainter in colour in each of his scenes before the full-on depigmentation.
• Cyclonus is shown with the same scratch markings he was making on himself at the end of issue 7, when he was upset with Tailgate "dumping" him
• Lug appears to be reporting something to Rung in a background shot in this issue...is she going to be his assistant or something?
• Swerve tells Ten to get either Velocity or Ratchet to help him, he goes straight to Ratchet. This is a nice little nod to Ratchet being shown as one of his "favourites" in the past.
• The process of Cybertronians turning grey when they die is named as "Aggressive Depigmentation" here.
• Yes...this is the issue where the "canoodling" meme began. In case you aren't familiar with the term, canoodling refers to sexualized touching or even making love...I'm assuming this is just referring to touching here, since robots do not have sexual organs. That...or they were building canoes in his trailer? I dunno....
• Also...EW!!! You were messing around INSIDE ROLLER'S BODY!!! You sick fucks!!
• Rodimus is concerned that the Lost Light's signal has vanished. This likely is due to them being in the "Warren" network of space-tunnels
• So apparently Tailgate died when his spark exploded inside the isolation chamber. I'm just going to say this now...I do not for a moment believe he is actually dead. He's going to return in the finale or with the Scavengers next issue.
• Ten...can....talk? Swerve had better hope he doesn't tell anyone his secrets!!!

IDW - Lost Light #9

Title: Chasing the Infinite 

Written by: James Roberts

Art by: Priscilla Tramontano

Colours by: Joana LaFuente 

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: Carlos Guzman

Story Consultant: Rachel Stevens

Publisher: Ted Adams

Plot

In Mengel's workshop on Troja Major, Nautica is shocked by how much the Catharsian merchant is charging for use of her Resus Cradle to revive Skids, and tries to barter anything she can to get him revived. Mengel is uninterested in most of her offers, but suggests that Nautica give her the grief felt over Skids' death, so she can sell it on to a third party. Velocity is wary of this, and think it's some sort of scam, since this doesn't seem very realistic in her opinion as a doctor, especially the part about reviving Skids by just his brain module, though Nautica dismisses this as Velocity not being a real doctor, due to her failing her exams nine times before passing. Mengel then claims that Skids' brain is almost too cold to revive, so she needs to up the price, and suggests that she takes away Nautica's feelings of friendship for Velocity for the price too....

Across town, in the bar, Anode tries talking away and assumes that Flame is the Grand Architect, as she has never met him before. Wipe-Out points out that he is actually just Flame, and cannot be the Architect. Flame reveals that he has been tasked with taking out all of the Architect's former employees, the Blacksmiths, since they no longer need them for his experiments. Anode begins to try and bribe for their escape, but ends up punching at her enemy instead. Anode transforms to her aerial mode and carries Lug and Wipe-out away, escaping from their attackers.

Flame is a bit confounded over this escape, but is soon distracted by news of their other target, "the Infinite", the coffin-bot from last issue, has been located and was killed by the Black Block Consortia. They decide to head off to see their local contact, unaware that the Infinite is starting to twitch from his hiding location.

Back at Mengel's place, Nautica is prepared for the procedure to remove her grief over Skids, and her friendship with Skids, the two Autobots talk this over, and they realize that Nautica blames Velocity for Skids' death, since it was her idea to use a spark spasm to supercharge the group for the battle with the DJD, leading to their friend's death. Velocity isn't happy, but agrees to allow Nautica to do this, since it's her choice and her life.

Nautica is soon strapped to the machine and Mengel starts the process of syphoning off her grief, but is called away by another visitor, leaving the Autobots alone.

Inside another room, Mengel meets with her new visitor, Flame, whom she assumes is there to congratulate her, or even pay her extra for successfully creating an Infinite, but Flame instead explains that they are there to recover the Resus Cradle from her, since they have reason to believe that she used it to falsify her method of creating the Infinite. Mengel denies that she has the device, but Flame doesn't believe her, and orders his troops to search the facility for it, and to destroy anything else they find, unaware that Velocity has been watching this through a security feed all along.

Anode lands at the site where the coffin-bot was murdered by the Black Block Consortia, where she locates some of his remains and gives it to Wipe-Out to examine, the other Blacksmith is shocked when he discovers that the fragment has information within it for an infinite number of alternate modes. Anode receives a call from Velocity, who has locked herself and Nautica inside the emotion syphon machine's room, and gives her their coordinates for help.

The Architect's troops break into the room and prepare to kill the two Autobots, but are soon stopped when Nautica breaks free from the machine, shoots them, then escapes with Velocity.

Outside, Anode and the others are looking for a way into the facility to help the Autobots, but soon don't need to bother when Nautica, in her mass-displaced alternate mode, smashes through the doors and they are told to run.

Later, having evaded their chasers, the group prepare to leave the planet, but Wipe-Out decides to remain behind, since he works better alone, but is willing to team up with them again in the future. Velocity is shocked when Nautica expresses no interest in recovering Skids' brain from Mengel's workshop, and seems to finally accept his death as his own choice. Wipe-Out explains the situation though, Mengel's machine removes all feelings or connections with the target of the grief, so Nautica no longer feels anything strongly about her former best friend Skids....

Later, Flame returns to The Grand Architect's Worldsweeper on a M.A.R.B. which he soon reveals is the Infinite, which has demonstrated the ability to restore itself from the dead by itself, which greatly impresses his employer. Flame then hands over the recovered Resus Cradle, which he has acquired from Mengel, which had a hand in creating the Inifite. The Architect, revealing himself as Scorponok, is impressed, but also finds the name stupid, and much prefers the name he remembers for it...the Magnificence....

Characters

Autobot

Nautica - Submarine Feelings for Skids removed

Velocity - Race Car

Skids - Van (Mentioned) Dead, Brain Module abandoned on Troja Major

Kaput (Mentioned)

Other Cybertronian

Anode - Bi-Plane

Lug - Backpack Equipment

Wipe-Out - Car

Grand Architect's Forces

Scorponok/The Grand Architect - Scorpion Tank

Flame

The Infinite - Any Alternate Mode

Grand Architect's Troops

Other

Mengel Probably Killed by Flame and his Troops

Black Block Consortia Troops Probably Killed by Flame and his Troops

Notes

• It's mentioned here that none of the Grand Architect's troops are recognized by Anode and the others (except Flame). This likely means that they are either colonists (as hypothesized in this issue) or they were created by Blacksmiths in secret
• Though unmentioned here, it is likely that Flame was released from Garrus-9 by Scorponok when he left, and presumably also took Grimlock, whom we know was tortured by someone using the group's symbol since he vanished from Garrus-9 himself.
• It's revealed that Blacksmiths, and likely others, have the ability to perform "Close Readings" which allows them to identify an alternate mode by analysing a body part. Chromedome showed a similar ability in the past, where he could identify a person by how their transformation sounded.
• Nautica is shown to be capable of Mass-Shifting, at least a little bit, as she allows Velocity to ride inside her in vehicle mode.
• Wipe-Out decides to stay behind rather than join Anode and the others...why? Wouldn't it be safer for him to be with a ship full of other Transformers, given that he knows The Grand Architect is going after Blacksmiths now? I may be being prejudiced due to him usually being a Decepticon, but I think he's up to something....
• The Grand Architect is revealed to be Scorponok, having escaped from Garrus-9, presumably during Last Stand of the Wreckers
• The Resus Cradle is also revealed to be in fact the Magnificence, a McGuffin from the Furman days of the IDW continuity, which hasn't been seen since before All Hail Megatron. Not sure why Scorponok knows about it though, I'm pretty sure he was apart from the main plot involving the device when it was active.
• So presumably Hot Rod hid the Magnificence again after he used it during Revelations, and eventually it wound up in Mengel's hands...why didn't  Hot Rod either hide it in a more secure location or on his person to keep it safer? The latter would even make sense story-wise since it was his mission to locate the Magnificence in the first place that killed his original team, and this would be his self-imposed punishment for that mistake.
• Seriously? We have Flame, and a dead Skids, AND  a dead Transformer reviving machine, and yet NO ZOMBIE STORY?!?! You had better fix that in the future Roberts!!

IDW - Lost Light #8

Title: An Axe to Break the Ice

Written by: James Roberts

Art by: Priscilla Tramontano

Colours by: Joana LaFuente

Letters by: Tom B Long

Editor: Carlos Guzman

Story Consultant: Rachel Stevens

Publisher: Ted Adams

Plot

Years ago, on Caminus, Firestar admonishes Nautica for not being able to find a performing art to specialize in, as is tradition on Caminus, and even starts to flare up in annoyance. At least until Velocity appears and douses her in water, putting out her flame and making Nautica instantly like her.

Over time, Velocity and Nautica help each other with their respective careers, and become the closest of friends, ultimately culminating in her being involved in Nautica's Amica Endurae ceremony on Necroworld before their battle with the DJD.

Today, the two friends are on Troja Major with Anode and Lug, where Nautica is planning to meet with her friend and see if he has a copy of the Map to Cyberutopia, as he has several old and rare Cybertronian relics in his museum. Whilst there, Anode steals some mood pipes for Lug as a present, causing the group to have to run away. Once safe, Anode and Lug reveal that they used to come to this planet all the time before they were "rescued", and they are informed of a few changes to the planet, such as how the Catharsians, the prominent power on the planet, now like to trade in emotions as well as currency. Anode keeps smelling something strange, and drags Lug off to investigate, whilst Nautica and Velocity head off to meet with Agonizer, Nautica's friend.

Anode and Lug arrive at a storage facility where they find a large supply of coffins inside, Anode explains that she can smell some strange sentio metallico there, and they assume that there is a body hidden in there (as the coffins there are not in use). They don't find any bodies, but are shocked when one of the coffins transforms into a robot, one that the duo identify as being a newborn, but before Anode can find anything else, they are met by the Black Block Consortia, who order her to get out of the way of the coffin-bot.

The Consortia troops are confronted by Anode, who wants to know why they want to kill the newborn, but they ignore her and immediately execute the protoforms. Anode begins to protest, but is stopped by a hidden figure, an old colleague of her's Wipe-Out, who ushers the two to follow him.

Soon, the trio are mingling in with the crowd in the street, where Wipe-out explains that two of their other friends, Scammer and Rocket, were found dead by him, having been murdered by someone, who appears to be hunting for Blacksmiths....

The trio hide out in a bar, where Wipe-Out learns that Lug and Anode have transitioned into being females since the last time they met, before quickly switching the conversation to their current issue, who was hunting them down? Wipe-Out assumes it is the Black Block Consortia, since they killed the coffin-bot, however Lug points out that it is unlikely. The Consortia didn't just kill Anode on sight, and the coffin couldn't have been a Blacksmith, so it must be someone else. Wipe-Out quickly catches on, and realizes that it must be their employer, The Grand Architect, who has been calling Blacksmiths to the planet for jobs lately. The group begin to wonder what this is all about, when they notice a Worldsweeper above the bar, the same type of ship that the Architect liked to use.

Anode suggests that they escape before they encounter him, but a group from the vessel teleports into the bar, and seem to be happy with their being TWO blacksmiths for them to cash in on instead of just one!

Meanwhile, Nautica and Velocity arrive at Agnozier's Museum of Curios and Rumoured Objects, where he tries to sell some old texts to Nautica, but Nautica already states that she knows he doesn't have a map, and asks to see what he has on the Knight's artefacts, confusing Velocity as to why they are really there.

In the Knight's room, the two friends are shown around, where Velocity seems impressed with the assembled artefacts and the inclusion of a group of sigils for the Knights on the wall, but Nautica isn't interested and just wants to have access to the Resus Cradle that she had heard he had received lately. But he corrects her that it is a Catharsian on the other side of town who has it. Nautica immediately heads out to see her, but Agonizer warns her to be careful, as her species can't be trusted...

The two friends arrive at the Catharsian's shop, where it is revealed that the Resus Cradle was an artefact of the Knights, used to revive Cybertronians even if their sparks have extinguished, so long as some part of their body can be used to restore the body and life. Nautica explains that she wants to revive Skids, and has his brain module in her possession!

Characters

Autobot

Nautica - Submarine

Velocity - Race Car

Skids - Van (Flashback) Dead

Windblade - VTOL Fighter Jet (Mentioned)

Rodimus - Car (Mentioned)

Getaway - Car (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Starscream - Fighter Jet (Mentioned)

Decepticon Justice Division (Mentioned)

Other Cybertronian/Colonist

Anode - Bi-Plane

Lug - Backpack Equipment

Wipe-Out

Agonizer/The Curator

Flame

The Grand Architect's Troops

Coffin-Bot - Coffin Killed by Black Block Consortia

Firestar (Flashback)

Rocket (Flashback) Dead

Scammer (Flashback) Dead

Cyclonus - Jet (Mentioned)

Necrobot (Mentioned) Dead

Circle of Light (Mentioned)

Primal Vanguard (Mentioned)

The Knights of Cybertron (Mentioned)

The Old Order (Mentioned)

Other

Catharsian Merchant

Black Robed Pedlar

Rusty, the Rust Giant

Black Block Consortia Troops

Troja Major Shoppers and Merchants

The Galactic Council (Mentioned)

The Grand Architect (Mentioned)

The Omega Guardians (Mentioned)

Notes

• The opening pages flashbacks show us what Nautica and Firestar's friendship was like on Caminus, as well as how the former met Velocity, and how they helped each other with their prospective future careers, leading to their reunion seen in MTMTE.
• The guy Anode stole the mood pipes from seems to be a Rust Giant, last seen towards the end of MTMTE.
• Anode's gift of mood pipes for Lug is likely due to her enjoying playing them before her original death (seen when she played them in Anode's hallucinations) and her not having them anymore following her revival.
• We finally get to see the Black Block Consortia in person! And they are revealed to be an offshoot of the Galactic Council that have since broken off. Though they appear to be less "kill all robots" than their former-parent group.
• Agonizer appears to use a character model based on Sixshot, though seems to be recoloured to be more neutral than traditional Decepticon colours, with pale colours and yellow eyes. This is likely a new colour-scheme for him to help distance him from his Decepticon past.
• The "Techy" mentioned in issue one is revealed here to be a regular employer of Anode under the title of "The Grand Architect", who has an interest in protoforms and blacksmiths in general, also explaining why he sent her to Luna 2 in the first place to get the sentio metallico that ended up being used for Lug's new body. It's also shown that he likes to use Worldsweepers, like the one found by the Scavengers filled with mutated protoforms and strange experiments at the start of MTMTE....hmmm.....
• Amongst Agonizer's items are an original copy of the Autobot Code, a previous version of the DJD's list, some of Megatron's old poetry and a series of glyphs that denote the five clans of the Knights of Cybertron, one of which being the same one that has been repeatedly seen throughout MTMTE. He is also the guy who gave Nautica her original print of "Towards Peace"
• It's revealed that Anode and Lug are both Cybertronian, and not Camien as formerly believed. Anode simply ended up on Caminus at some point to help work on her blacksmithing skills.
• It is also revealed that Anode and Lug were once considered male, but chose to transition into females whilst off-world, which apparently was a fairly common practice with Cybertronians who went off-world and encountered gendered species. Explaining the appearance of a few female characters in the flashbacks of Cybertron seen over the years.
• So....I guess Flame was let out of Garrus-9 before Overlord's attack, as I'd guess an Autobot prisoner would have been killed off by Overlord's troops.
• Also, Flame being involved in this story, where Skids appears to be about to be revived in a strange way...are we about to get a zombie invasion thing again?
• Nautica is revealed to have had her left eye removed and replaced with Skids' brain module for safety, explaining her new random eyepatch.
• My expectations: Either Wipe-Out is responsible for the murders, or he will join the crew as Tailgate's replacement...I mean he is a recolour of him!

IDW - Lost Light #7

Title: After Megatron (A Dissolution Epilogue)

Written by: James Roberts

Art by: Jack Lawrence

Inks by: John Wycough

Colours by: Joana LaFuente

Letters by: Tom B Long

Editor: Carlos Guzman

Publisher: Ted Adams

Plot

Following their return from the Functionist Universe, the Transformers on Necroworld are recovering from their recent adventures and hardships. Rung is told about how his counterpart was a figurehead, Anode reveals her secrets to the newly reborn Lug, and Nightbeat questions how Brainstorm managed to move the entire world to another universe.

Before long, Rodimus calls for a meeting at Megatron's now inactive statue plinth and announces that one of the dead Decepticons is able to turn into a space ship, so they're going to force him into vehicle mode, mass displace him, and pilot him to a space port, before heading off in a new ship to go after the Lost Light. Everyone seems okay with the plan, despite it involving the mutilation of a corpse. Following the meeting, Drift and Ratchet notice that the crew seem a little more relaxed now that Megatron is gone.

Minimus Ambus visits the medibay, where he learns that Kaput has taken on Fangry, now recovered from his Tailgate-inflicted injuries, and reveals to the spark doctor that the Ultra Magnus armour isn't working any more.

Outside, Tailgate is using his super strength to reconfigure the dead Decepticon, Skip, into his ship mode, when Cyclonus appears and wants to talk to him, however, to Cyclonus' surprise, Tailgate doesn't want to spend time with him, citing his experience with Getaway manipulating him as the reason...

Kaput spends a while examining Ambus, who says that he can wear the suit, but it won't move any more, which he believes was caused during the trip to Cybertron. Kaput cannot find anything noticeably wrong with Ambus, but is interrupted by Rodimus calling him, reminding him that he's late for the ship inspection, leading the Autobot to run off.

At the ship-site, Roller is throwing Lug into the air for fun, with Anode and Nautica watching, both happy to see the newly revived Lug seeming to have her old memories, up to her time of death. Anode inquires about Nautica's new eye patch, but Nautica dismisses it as Kaput having already looked at it.

Rodimus calls out to the crew that they are planning to leave within minutes...

Cyclonus finds Tailgate and tells him that it's time to head off, but Tailgate states that he wants to remain behind, and wants Cyclonus to leave without him. Cyclonus protests this decision, but Tailgate tries to ignore him, and even tries to return the phial of innermost energon that Cyclonus gave him when he was near-death, which Cyclonus refuses to take, allowing it to fall to the floor...#

Rodimus drags an immobile Ultra Magnus inside the Skip ship, where he learns that Ambus attempted to use the suit again, and is now trapped inside it, unable to do anything. Magnus gives a half-assed inspection of the ship, and Rodimus recognizes that Magnus misses Megatron, so he admits to the larger Autobot that Megatron was a good guy, who just made some bad life decisions. On hearing this, Magnus snaps and denounces Megatron as a monster who used them, and left the second he had the chance to, never realizing that the suit has started to work for him again.

Drift enquires as to what happened, and Rodimus explains that Magnus' suit uses a neural signature interface, so with Ambus being so conflicted over his "friend" Megatron "betraying" them, it messed with him, so Rodimus pushed him over the edge by making him snap over the betrayal, admitting that he doesn't really forgive Megatron after all.

As the ship begins to take off (following another proper inspection by Magnus), Cyclonus sits alone, and begins to self-harm again, only to be stopped by Whirl, who sits silently with him..

Outside, Tailgate and  Kaput watch the ship take off, when Kaput reveals to Tailgate that Cyclonus came to see him before take off, and asked him to treat Tailgate's self-inflicted wounds for him. Kaput then suggests that he could try some procedures to power down Tailgate, allowing him to be safe again.

After a few days of tests, Kaput has set up an isolation chamber deep into the planet's surface, and plans to have Tailgate placed in there for six months and hit with Neutronic Radiation, which is normally fatal, but due to his abnormal spark, he COULD be fine.

Tailgate enters the chamber, and prepares to be locked in, but before the chamber is sealed off, he hears Fangry's voice over the intercom into the chamber. He has killed Kaput, and has reset the lock-down settings, changing the time period from six months to SIX MILLION YEARS, all as revenge for Tailgate humiliating him before. Fangry buries the chamber, and enough time passes for grass and flowers to grow over the chamber.....

Characters

Autobot

Rodimus - Car

Minimus Ambus/Ultra Magnus - Minesweeper/Vehicle Transport

Drift - Car

Ratchet - Ambulance

Velocity - Race Car

Nautica - Submarine

Kaput Killed by Fangry

Tailgate - Car Trapped in Isolation Chamber by Fangry

Rung - Photonic Crystal Generator

Chromedome - Car

Rewind - Data Slug

Swerve - Van

Brainstorm - Jet

Nightbeat - Car

Whirl - Osprey Helicopter

Megatron - Tank (Mentioned) Left in Functionist Universe

Getaway - Car (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Fangry - Winged Wolf

Rapidfire - Off Road Vehicle

Skip - Spaceship Dead, body used as ship for Team Rodimus

Deathsaurus - Dragon (Mentioned)

Decepticon Justice Division (Mentioned) Dead

Other Cybertronian

Cyclonus - Jet

Anode - Bi-Plane

Lug - Backpack Equipment

Roller - Truck

Ten

Censere (Mentioned) Dead

The Functionists (Mentioned)

Functionist Rung - Photonic Crystal Generator (Mentioned) Dead

Notes

• Considering how they haven't mentioned contacting Cybertron again so far, I'm starting to wonder if Brainstorm's teleporting trick actually worked, or if Necroworld was sent to some other universe?
• Rung was shown to be feeling a bit worthless whilst Rodimus and his crew were on Cybertron, so Rewind and Chromedome telling him how he was an idol on that version of their planet will certainly reinvigorate his feelings again.
• So...Lug grew up really fast huh? Considering the crew are said to have been there for seven days now, they arrived there, stayed overnight before the battle with the DJD, then had the last storyline take place over about 2 days, so I guess Lug took three or four days to fully develop...that's quick!!
• Megatron's statue being "turned off" is likely due to him being in another universe, and thus the Necrobot's computer's cannot pick him up any more.
• Kaput's comments on Estriol Positive being a discredited spark type is a joke regarding how Nautica was originally mentioned as having that same spark type, before it was changed in the trade version (and canon in general) as potentially being offensive.
• Tailgate's question on how difficult it is to turn a hand into a thruster seems to be addressed to the toy collecting audience...I can't tell you how many times I have screamed at Mach Kick and other awkward figures for being too hard to transform.
• Nautica's eye was damaged when the Rodpod was destroyed, she spent the last few issues of MTMTE with half of her face missing in fact, though she says it's okay, and why would she lie about that?
• Amongst the Transformers who have left Necroworld on Rodimus' new mission are Anode, Ultra Magnus, Cyclonus, Rewind, Chromedome, Drift, Ratchet and Whirl. I'd assume that Lug would tag along with Anode too, and the "next issue" teaser shows us Nautica as well. So given Rodimus' estimate of about 20 bots fitting inside the shuttle there are still nine unidentified crew members.
• Cyclonus is shown scratching himself seemingly out of grief for his "fight" with Tailgate, he was shown doing something similar when he learned that Tailgate was dying at the end of MTMTE season one.
• It's implied that Whirl's unseen conversation with Tailgate from earlier in the series was him telling him about him hurting Cyclonus when he was recharging, which is also why Tailgate has been avoiding Cyclonus recently, out of fear for hurting him further.
• Tailgate's fate at the end of this issue brings his story full circle so far, where he is trapped under the surface of a planet for (seemingly) six million years...lets hope he causes an explosion and half kills Whirl again soon, or he'll be missed!
• So...Kaput lasted a long time didn't he?! What's it been? 2-4 issues?
• I wonder if Kaput's body has been hidden by Fangry? Is he smart enough to know to hide the body, or would he just assume no-one would notice he was dead...or missing....isn't he one of the main doctors on the planet now!?