IDW - Lost Light #4

Title: Dissolution Part 4: Bad Moon Rising

Written by: James Roberts

Art by: Jack Lawrence

Colours by: Joana LaFuente

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: Carlos Guzman

Publisher: Ted Adams

Plot

The AVL are shocked about the return of Luna-2, and are concerned for what this could mean, especially since it appears to be approaching the city. Megatron, Terminus and Ratchet approach Rodimus and reveal that they think Rung is being forced into this much larger alternate mode, and is nearly being torn apart. They consider going to rescue him, and to also try and stop the Council's mission to Vector Sigma as a side mission. Before anything can be decided though, Luna-2 starts to change shape...revealing a strange circular device on the surface..

On Necroworld, Whirl and Cyclonus continue their battle with Killmaster, but it is short lived, when Cyclonus tells Whirl to use the wand on Killmaster, making him disappear like it did to Swerve and Ten. Cyclonus plans to take the wand to Brainstorm to try and figure out where they were sent, but Whirl needs to talk to Cyclonus before he allows him to leave...

Back on Functionist Cybertron, Nine-of-Twelve explains that the rest of the Council must have actually continued with a previously cancelled plan to turn the moon into a harvester, which they must be planning to use on Adaptica, to take down the AVL and their allies. Rodimus realizes that the harvester must have some sort of mass transporter on it to send the harvested materials on, but Megatron gets annoyed, since he thinks Rodimus is obsessing with his vendetta against Getaway and wants to get back to their universe for that rather than helping these people. Rodimus takes that to mean that Megatron doesn't want to leave this universe so he can avoid his upcoming trial. The two argue, but are forced to work together to solve the immediate danger. Rodimus heads off to rescue Rung and take down the Council with his team, whilst Megatron stays behind with his crew to help protect Adaptica from the attacking moon.

On Necroworld again, Anode locates Lug at the memorial for the disappeared, and explains to her that she lied about why she left Caminus because she was ashamed. She was goaded into attempting to shape a weakened protoform before she had the proper training, and the protoform ended up dying as a result. She felt so bad, that she did everything possible to leave her profession and planet, even falsifying a robbery. Lug is still angry, since Anode let her believe that she left for HER, and leaves her along again

Under the planet's surface Whirl asks Cyclonus about his violent injuries, and manages to deduce that Tailgate has been hurting him. Cyclonus confirms that Tailgate has been thrashing in his sleep, and seems to be trying to tear out his spark, forcing him to restrain him, causing his injuries. Cyclonus requests that Whirl not discuss this with Tailgate however, and he wants this to be hidden from him.

Back on Cybertron, Rodimus' team manages to fight their way to a short distance matter transporter outside Iacon, and head to the centre of the planet, where they find the seal around Vector Sigma's chamber has already been broken into, and also locate Rung left abandoned in vehicle mode OUTSIDE the chamber.

The harvester has begun sucking up refugees in Adaptica, whilst Megatron and the others set out to use any weapons that have in the city as well as any aerial-based alternate modes to be turned against the harvester. After this decision, Minimus Ambus tells Megatron that he doesn't think he's trying to avoid his trial, leading to the former Decepticon smiling.

Back outside the Primal Chamber, the team discover that most of Rung's alternate mode is false, and Ratchet sets about looking for Rung's transformation cog, so he can force him to transform and free him from his pain.

Six-of-Twelve appears from the chamber to taunt the team, but Rodimus simply talks at him to distract him, and sends him flying back into the chamber. The rest of the team, sans Ratchet enter the chamber too, but are shocked by what they find...

Outside the chamber again, Ratchet manages to free Rung, transforming him back to his smaller robot mode, and he orders Ratchet to do exactly what he says...

On Necroworld, Tailgate completes his recharge cycle, and finds Whirl waiting for him, who wants to tell him about a love story without a happy ending......

Characters

Autobot

Rodimus - Sports Car

Megatron - Tank

Minimus Ambus - Minesweeper

Drift - Race Car

Chromedome - Sports Car

Rewind - Data Slug

Ratchet - Ambulance

Whirl - Osprey Helicopter

Tailgate - Sports Car

Brainstorm - Jet (Mentioned)

Swerve - Van (Mentioned) Missing via "Zapping"

Decepticon

Killmaster/Murderking"Zapped" by Whirl

Anti-Vocationist League

Nine-of-Twelve - Part of Key to Vector Sigma

Anode - Bi-Plane

Clicker - Laser Pointer

Obsolete Refugees Some "Harvested" into Luna-2

Functionist Council

Six-of-Twelve - Part of Key to Vector Sigma

Other Councillors - Parts of Key to Vector Sigma

Functionaries Some Defeated by Drift

Other Cybertronian

Roller - Truck

Terminus - Mining Vehicle

Cyclonus - Jet

Anode - Bi=Plane

Lug - Backpack Equipment

Functionist Rung - Super Fake Mining Drill

Lighthouse Employee - Van (Flashback)

Polyhedral New Born (Flashback) Dead

Adaptus (Statue Only)

Ten (Mentioned) Missing via "Zapping"

Vector Sigma (Mentioned)

Primus (Mentioned)

Knights of Cybertron (Mentioned)

Lighthouse Staff (Mentioned)

The Necrobot (Mentioned) Dead

Other

Black Box Consortia (Mentioned)

Notes

• The concept of Nominative Determinism is likely a reference to Transformers having names that happen to match their personality/job. Such as Ratchet being a doctor. The example given in this issue, Killmaster originally being called Murderking, is seen as going against that principle as both names mean the same thing.
• Just going to call it here again, Killmaster's wand being able to transport things, and the past knowledge that he had a hand in making the Geobomb design is likely going to end up resolving this universal-displacement problem.
• It's revealed that Luna-2 was never really given to the Black Box Consortia, and was instead converted into a harvester unit, since the council couldn't explain an otherwise useless moon being created by Primus without it messing up their whole ideology
• Rodimus outright points out that Megatron plans to remain in the Functionist Universe after they've resolved the current situation. He believes it is to avoid the conclusion of his trial, but it's more likely because he simply can't stand seeing an oppressed people like he has seen in this universe so far.
• The Lighthouse facility worker seen in Anode's flashback appears to be based on Robots in Disguise Strongarm, but with a more generic alternate mode, and a new head.
• It's confirmed here that Cyclonus' injuries were caused by Tailgate, but rather than it being something unexplainable, it is just that he's been hurting him whilst he is recharging, without any knowledge of it. This is includes the injuries that Tailgate assumed were caused by Fangry and pummelled him for.
• It's revealed that the Functionist Council are combiners, and form the Key to Vector Sigma....that was what I thought Rung would be revealed to be :(
• As shouldn't be a shock to anyone, it's confirmed that the tank was not Rung's real alternate mode, with most of it being faked, and Rung artificially mass shifted.
• Considering their back-story and his mention of a "love story" I'm going to wager that Whirl and Killmaster were once either a couple, or had a one-sided relationship.

IDW - Lost Light #3

Title: Dissolution Part 3: A World Misplaced

Written by: James Roberts

Art by: Jack Lawrence

Colours by: Joana LaFuente

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: Carlos Guzman

Publisher: Ted Adams

Plot

Swerve, Ten and Whirl are investigating the life support pods, to make sure there are no more unaccounted for patients. They find one extra large pod locked, so Whirl decides to open it up, only for them to come face-to-face with someone holding a wand....

Elsewhere on Necroworld, Nightbeat is examining one of the death flowers and finds out that he can determine who's sparks were used to power the flowers, but Brainstorm is unimpressed since Kaput already determined that earlier, and even found a detailed record kept by the Necrobot, meaning Nightbeat has just wasted a lot of time.

Brainstorm manages to get in contact with Rodimus, who tells him that they've wound up on Cybertron, but not the one from THEIR universe. This news excites both Nightbeat and Brainstorm, as this means that THEY must be in this alternate universe too for the communications to work like this. They decide that the team on Cybertron needs to find a shuttle to get back to Necroworld, and not to get too involved in the lives of the people on this world.

The Cybertron team are introduced to the city of Adaptica, where they are able to seek sanctuary from the murders of the Functionist Council, since this is a sacred city, and cannot be attacked by the Council, so long as one of them allows it...which Nine-of-Twelve does....The city is also shielded by a jamming field blocking the genocide chips used by the council.

Back on Necroworld, Swerve starts to panic about Killmaster, Whirl's long-time nemesis, coming out of the pod, and the group hide behind one of the other pods. Whirl admires Killmaster for his destructive manners, but Swerve just keeps freaking out. Ten decides to try and save the day by confronting the Decepticon, but is blasted by his wand, leaving just a smoking set of footprints behind.

Swerve is distraught over the apparent death of his employee, and goes after Killmaster himself, however the Decepticon just flicks him away. Whirl joins in the fight, but asks Swerve to get hold of Cyclonus and Tailgate to help them fight off Killmaster, since Whirl has NEVER actually defeated him before, and doesn't believe he can!

Back on Cybertron, Nine-of-Twelve meets with the newcomers inside his headquarters, and hopes that they can help him, and the Anti-Vocationist League to stop the Council's plans. His second-in-command, Anode, joins the meeting, and talks about a UFO that has been detected in the airspace of Cybertron.

It's revealed that Cybertron has no space shuttles any more, and no means of long distance transportation, and that everyone is stuck on the planet, as part of the council's plans to keep everyone in fear, and get them ready for some war they think is coming.

Nine-of-Twelve explains that in this universe the Senate started to use the stockpile of sparks created by Nova Prime to bolster the population of the planet, but the Functionist Council saw this as blasphemy and led a revolution against them, killing them in the process. However after some time, Six-of-Twelve, the new Matrix bearer, has grown to believe that Primus is speaking to him, and is sanctioning him to create new life, which is why he defected to form the AVL. It is also revealed that the Senate sealed off Vector Sigma's chamber from the world in an Ununtrium case, which is impenetrable.

Back on Necroworld, Nautica and Velocity are interrogating Anode about her true intents. Velocity leaves to administer some more Mood Suppressants to the crew, to help ease the pain of Skids' death, and Anode opens up to Nautica that she is a blacksmith, and the snowflake she found is the remains of an expired protoform's spark, and so it is extremely rare and valuable. Velocity returns, and tries to expose Anode as a thief who stole a load of sentio metallico from her workplace, the Lighthouse, but Anode reveals that she falsified reports to make it just LOOK like she stole it, as she wanted to leave the planet, for unexplained reasons, reasons that she's never told anyone, not even Lug, who runs off upset about this revelation. Anode chases after her, abandoning the withered metal with Nautica and Velocity.

Downstairs, Whirl is having a hard time fighting against Killmaster, but he and Swerve are glad to see Cyclonus arrive, however they soon discover that he is alone, and also badly injured. The two Autobots try to find out what happened to him, when Swerve is suddenly hit by Killmaster's wand, and also disappears, leaving Whirl regretting that he opened up the pod...

On Cybertron, the citizens of Cybertron are gathered, waiting for Six-of-Twelve's announcement of Rung's alternate mode. Back in Adaptica, Rodimus wonders what the point of this is, so they explain that due to Rung's alternate mode seemingly having no purpose, it goes against their beliefs that everyone is created for a purpose, which is why the AVL was formed, to prove that same point. If they manage to reveal a purpose however, this negates the entire point of the AVL, and will delegitimize them.

Soon, Rung is revealed in a giant tank mode, and is identified as a mining machine designed specifically by Primus to break the case around Vector Sigma. The AVL and Rodimus' crew try to understand how that could be Rung, as he doesn't have any tank or drill parts in their universe, when Anode turns up, and reports to Nine-of-Twelve that she's located the UFO she detected earlier...Luna 2 has returned to orbit!

Characters

Autobot

Rodimus - Sports Car

Megatron - Tank

Ratchet - Ambulance

Drift - Race Car

Minimus Ambus - Minesweeper

Chromedome - Car

Rewind - Data Slug

Whirl - Osprey Helicopter

Swerve - Van Vanished by Killmaster's Wand

Nautica - Submarine

Velocity - Race Car

Nightbeat - Sports Car

Brainstorm - Jet

Kaput

Perceptor - Tank (Mentioned)

Tailgate - Car (Mentioned)

Skids - Van (Mentioned) Dead

Decepticon

Killmaster

Turmoil - Tank (Mentioned) Dead

Anti-Vocationist League

Nine-of-Twelve

Functionist Universe Anode - Jet

Clicker - Laser Pointer

Troops and Civilians in Adaptica

Functionist Council

Six-of-Twelve

Functionary Enforcers

Twelve-of-Twelve (Flashback Only)

The Rest of the Functionist Council (Mentioned)

Other Cybertronian

Cyclonus - Space Jet Badly Injured

Ten Vanished by Killmaster's Wand

Anode - Jet

Lug - Backpack Equipment

Roller - Truck

Terminus - Mining Vehicle

Functionist Universe Rung - Super Ununtrium Drill Tank?

Functionist Universe Civilians

Functionist Universe News Crew

Nova Prime - Truck (Flashback Only)

Nominus Prime - Jet (Flashback Only) Killed by Twelve-of-Twelve

Adaptus (Statue Only)

Necrobot (Mentioned) Dead

Hydronaut (Mentioned) Dead

Lodestar (Mentioned) Dead

Flexor (Mentioned) Dead

Adjudicus (Mentioned) Dead

Marauder (Mentioned) Dead

Darkstar (Mentioned) Dead

Questex (Mentioned) Dead

Jab (Mentioned) Dead

Swivel (Mentioned) Dead

Piston (Mentioned) Dead

Poleaxe (Mentioned) Dead

Primus (Mentioned)

The Guiding Hand (Mentioned)

The Primal Vanguard (Mentioned)

The Old Senate (Mentioned) Killed by Functionist Council

Vector Sigma (Mentioned)

Other

Black Box Consortia (Mentioned)

Notes

• Killmaster's character model appears to be based on the Prime Insecticon model
• Amongst the names of the sparks that are trained to the death flower is Turmoil, who was killed by Starscream during the Decepticon riots before Dark Cybertron. This implies that the flower is form's Starscream's statue.
• Amongst the other names on the flower is Adjudicus, which was an early working name for Tyrest.
• AND! Since Starscream was responsible for the deaths of the Senate, it's likely that at least some of those names are from the Senate!
• Nightbeat's interest in being able to connect the sparks to the flowers, and thus their killer's is likely so he can solve some long unsolved deaths.
• It's revealed that the Geobomb actually did work at the end of MTMTE, but instead of blowing up the planet, it transported the planet to the neighbouring Functionist Universe (likely due to a malfunction, rather than design)
• Huh, it was mentioned in the past that Killmaster designed the Geobomb taken by the Galactic Council, and here he is on Necroworld right after they were subjected to one? I think he may be used to solve this solution.
• The Cyberutopia mentioned in the last issue is revealed to just be a nickname for Adaptica, which is the local version of Kalis from the main IDW universe.
• Turns out Whirl MAY HAVE exaggerated when he told everyone about how he killed Killmaster in his sleep...
• I seriously doubt that Swerve and Ten are actually dead, the wording from Whirl implies that they may just be invisible or some other sci-fi thing.
• Anode is revealed to have been a blacksmith as her birth-profession, which means she can help protoforms take on their true shape if they have issues. It's also confirmed that she is Camien, as she was in a sorority with Velocity, but she tried to leave at some point for currently unexplained reasons.
• The snowflake is revealed to be "withered metal" which is the remains of an unharvested spark and it's natural sentio metallico.
• It's shown that Nominus Prime stayed in power for a while longer in the Functionist Universe, likely due to the Decepticon causes never even getting it's early wind, since Megatron's writings were never published to inspire them, so Nominus and the others were never pushed to action. He later gets killed along with the Senate though
• Regarding Nova Prime, in the main universe he went "missing" when he was sent to the Dead Universe with his crew. In the main universe he also resurfaced a few times afterwards for his Expansionism projects. Since time didn't branch off in different directions until after Megatron was aborted, which was after Nova's disappearance, the Dead Universe he ended up in from the Functionist Universe is the same one as the one he went to in the main universe...time travel is confusing....
• The Matrix taken by Six-of-Twelve is likely the fake one that Nominus Prime held, since the real one was hidden long before Megatron was born, and likely is still hidden in this timeframe. The "new" sparks he has been creating though, are likely just leftovers from the ones from the silver harvest
• It's likely that Cyclonus' ill-condition is in some way connected to Tailgate's abuse of his powers, and possibly means that he wasn't attacked by the Decepticons earlier, but was simply injured somehow when Tailgate was recharging after showing off his power.
• I don't think I have to tell you that the one shown here is not Rung's actual alternate mode, it's a fake made to look like it could be. However, when we last saw this universe, we learned that his alternate mode's purpose was discovered. From what we've seen of it so far, it's likely a key, perhaps to Vector Sigma, which is where the Functionist Council is planning to take his "tank form"
• The reason for the cast seeming to not care about Skids' death is revealed here to be because they are taking Mood Suppressants to supress their grief (Though Nautica doesn't agree with this practise)