IDW - Lost Light #19

Title: Crucible Part 1: A Dance Before Dying

Written by: James Roberts

Art by: E.J. Su

Colours by: Joana LaFuente

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: David Mariotte

Publisher: Greg Goldstein

Plot

Rodimus, his team, and the Scavengers look on in horror as the mutinous crew of the Lost Light rain down on them, now turned into Sparkeaters. Brainstorm approaches the now "zombified" Perceptor and tries to reason with his old friend and lab-mate, but the Sparkeater just sprays acidic vomit from his mouth on the Autobot. Nautica gets him out of the way and the group flee from their old friends.

A shuttle appears above them and drops what they believe to be a bomb, but is revealed to be Grimlock, who proceeds to crush some of the Sparkeaters, and slices up Mainframe. Magnus uses Crankcase as a gun to stop Grimlock, explaining that those are Autobots his is killing. Soon, the shuttle fires lasers at the monsters, causing them to scatter, before it lands, revealing First Aid, Riptide, Thunderclash and Wipe-Out inside.

With this moment of calm, the Scavengers reunite with Grimlock, to Magnus' shock, and First Aid and the others explain what Getaway's been doing on the Lost Light, and how they all met up on Troja Major. All of a sudden, the Lost Light appears in the sky and fires upon Wipe-Out's shuttle, damaging it, and Rodimus is horrified to see the Grand Architect's symbol on the bottom of his ship.

Inside the Lost Light, Getaway is talking to someone over a communicator about how they need to take out Rodimus and the others before they can proceed with the Grand Architect's plans. He denies to the other person that he wants them to get back onto the ship, as he watches the Scraplets in the Oil Reservoir combine into a massive form...

Back on Mederi, the crew watch as the Lost Light flies away, and the weather starts to change to a stormier scene, however before they can do anything about it a second wave of Sparkeaters appear and start attacking Rodimus and his crew. They try their best to disable the monsters, without killing their friends, but due to their bodies being messed up they keep causing them to die.

Rodimus soon realises that this is part of Getaway's plan, to make him murder his own crew, so he does as Whirl suggested earlier...think like Megatron, and gets a plan..

Back aboard the Lost Light, Getaway is being admonished by another person, Tyrest over a communicator, for his plan taking too long, and states that they're sending in some help. Tyrest states that Getaway's mission is pointless since Megatron isn't even with Rodimus and his crew now, and he's the "dangerous one" they're there to take out. Which Getaway just declares that they didn't need Megatron to defeat him last time...

Several of the Mederi team have barricaded themselves into Ward Zero, so they can distract the Sparkeaters from Rodimus and the others, who have repaired Wipe-Out's shuttle and infiltrate the Lost Light. Whilst there, they can use the advanced medical facility to try and cure the Sparkeaters, and return them to their old Autobot states.

Rodimus and his team manage to get onto the Lost Light, as the doors to Shuttle Bay Four are open and they exit to find no guards or crew. As soon as they land, the doors start to close, but Rodimus and Cyclonus manage to escape just in time. The ceiling to the shuttle bay detonates, and the oil reservoir above them floods into the room, leaving them trapped in oil with a massive combined red Scraplet monster!

Rodimus and Cyclonus rush towards the bridge, where Rodimus is certain Getaway will be, also sure that the others can handle anything that comes at them in the shuttle bay. The duo are stopped however when they reach the bridge to find Getaway, flanked by Star Saber and Scorponok....

Characters

Autobot

Rodimus - Car

Ultra Magnus - Vehicle Transport

Drift - Car

Ratchet - Ambulance

Velocity - Race Car

Brainstorm - Jet

Nautica - Submarine

Chromedome - Car

Rewind - Data Slug

Whirl - Osprey Helicopter

Tailgate - Car

Swerve - Van

Rung - Photonic Crystal Generator

Thunderclash - Truck

Grimlock - Tyrannosaurus Rex

First Aid - Ambulance

Riptide - Boat

Getaway - Car

Sparkeater Perceptor - Tank

Sparkeater Blaster - Acoustic Tank

Sparkeater Hound - Jeep

Sparkeater Hoist - Crane

Sparkeater Brawn - Van

Sparkeater Crosscut - Van

Sparkeater Xaaron

Sparkeater Powerflash - Jet

Sparkeater Hosehead - Fire Truck

Sparkeater Siren - Car Crushed by Grimlock

Sparkeater Gears - Van

Sparkeater Huffer - Truck

Sparkeater Mainframe Killed by Grimlock

Sparkeater Slapdash - Race Car Killed by Krok

Sparkeater Bluestreak - Car Killed by Ratchet

Sparkeater Jackpot - Car Killed by Thunderclash

Sparkeater Lost Light Crew

Megatron - Tank (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Krok

Misfire - Jet

Crankcase - Van

Fulcrum - K-Class Bomb

Spinister - Helicopter

Nickel - Rocket Powered Buggy

Scorponok - Scorpion

The First Born (Mentioned)

Other Cybertronian

Cyclonus - Jet

Roller - Truck

Anode - Bi-Plane

Lug - Backpack Equipment

Wipe-Out - Car

Star Saber - Jet

Tyest (Hologram)

Agonizer/The Curator (Mentioned)

Other

Red Scraplets

Alien Telepaths Comatose

The Grand Architect (Mentioned)

Notes

• A small update: Last issue I questioned whether the organic aliens were long living or being cared for on Mederi. I remembered since that issue that there was a massive store of organics in pods under Demus' facility, so that's most likely where they were coming from.
• This issue marks the start of the seven-issue finale to Lost Light, which will also in some way link into the overall finale to the IDW universe along with the Unicron series and finale to Optimus Prime
• This issue features E.J. Su, the artist who did the art for the early IDW series, such as Infiltration, Revelation and others. In this case he is emulating Jack Lawrence's style, which in turn was emulating Alex Milne...this is confusing!
• So...following their leaving the Lost Light, First Aid and the others were heading to Troja Major to repair Thunderclash, along the way they run into Grimlock, who escaped from Scorponok's Worldsweeper, and on the planet they hire Wipe-Out for his ship and hunt down the Lost Light, which First Aid left a tracer on before he left...so that was a whole lot of coincidence just to get all these side characters to arrive on Mederi to save Rodimus and his crew huh?! Who wants to bet that Fort Max and the Luna-1 crew will also turn up before the finale?
• Unshockingly, Getaway has joined forces with the Grand Architect's crew, which also includes the long missing Tyrest and Scorponok.
• Mederi is now beginning to suffer the same weird weather as what was beginning on Troja Major. The two worlds were mentioned to be on the same spiritual ley-lines last issue, indicating that they are linked...who wants to bet they are in some way under attack from Unicron here?
• It's kind of funny that Rodimus refers to First Aid as "loyal" since we learned that he was actually amongst those who agreed to mutineer against Rodimus in an earlier issue.
• Okay, I understand most of the choices for the crew to return to the Lost Light. Rodimus and Cyclonus want first hand revenge on Getaway. Drift, Grimlock, Magnus, Roller, Whirl and Thunderclash are all good fighters and can handle themselves in a crisis, as mentioned in the issue, and Crankcase was needed for his piloting skills...but why are Anode and Lug here? They have no connection with the Lost Light, haven't shown any battle skills and have no connections with any of the other characters. my only guess is they're there for a plot point involving Scorponok or someone else on the ship to be revealed later.
• We learn in this issue that the Oil Reservoir is located above Shuttle Bay Four...what would Getaway have done if they chose to enter the ship in any of the OTHER shuttle bays?
• I'm getting the feeling that the Scraplets, or at least some of them, may be revealed to be the "baby" from the Holiday Special, and they recognize Whirl as their "father" and help him out.
• From how empty the ship is, it can be assumed that the entire crew, minus Getaway and Star Saber, have been turned into Sparkeaters now...I wonder if that includes Sunder and Froid though....

IDW - Lost Light #11

Title: The Plotter's Club Part 2: Filling in the Blanks

Written by: James Roberts

Art by: Jack Lawrence & Alex Milne

Colours by: Joana LaFuente & Priscilla Tramontano

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: Carlos Guzman

Publisher: Ted Adams

Plot

Not long ago, Getaway sees Froid, Rung's psychiatrist rival, and asks for his opinion on what has been happening on the ship for the past few months.

He explains that following their return to Cybertron for Dark Cybertron, he and Atomizer started interviewing the crew to see who they can trust in the case of a mutiny against Megatron and Rodimus, as they believe the quest is getting side-tracked by Megatron on purpose to delay his trial, they manage to get most of the crew on their side, but of course have Rodimus' allies and 25 undecided to contend with. They even manage to convince Thunderclash, who thinks it's a good plan, but admits that things went wrong quite rapidly.

Following his failed attempt to get Megatron to kill Tailgate, he was arrested, which the rest of the crew took as a cue to get Rodimus and the others off ship, release Getaway, and then abandon the "Rod Squad".

Getaway is taken to the bridge, where the ship receives it's call from Rodimus, and Getaway brags about how the crew is sick with them and have put him in charge, however it soon becomes apparent that the crew are not actually fully on his side, and were unaware that Getaway has involved the Galactic Council in this, and sent them after Megatron too, or that he was going to be captain of the ship. Getaway soon states that once they reach Cyberutopia he'll step down as captain, if the crew want him to, and also claims that he told the Galactic Council to leave the other Autobots alone, and to only go after Megatron.

Getaway soon makes his way to Rodimus' former office where he tries to contact the Galactic Council to change the terms of their deal, to indeed keep the other Autobots safe, but they aren't interested and cut him off. Atomizer suggests that he do something big in order to make the crew respect him after the situation on the bridge, and he knows exactly what to do...

A couple weeks later, Getaway visits Perceptor in his lab, where he has been studying something for him that he learned about on Luna-1. He has located a system of tunnels in space that Tyrest was originally planning to use to get to Cyberutopia.

Getaway assembles some of the crew to discuss the Warren and promises that they'll be in Cyberutopia within weeks, but they wonder why Tyrest ever gave up on the tunnels, which Geatway just ignores.

Blaster receives an SOS message from the planet Freyus, who are caught in the crossfire between the Galactic Council and the Black Block Consortia, but Getaway declines their request for help, as he doesn't want to get distracted, this angers the crew as they still want to help others, but the argument is cut short....the message sent three weeks earlier from Necroworld has reached the Lost Light and is automatically playing.

Rodimus uses his segment of the message to expose Getaway as having sold him and the others to the DJD, who are about to kill them. He asks for his innermost energon to be sold, as it is Matrix enriched and for the money to be used to hire a Bounty Hunter to kill Getaway using a gun made from his own body. Before the message can continue though Getaway cuts it off and claims that it is fake, and has the crew leave. Thunderclash stays behind and demands answers. Getaway tries to explain that he had to cut off the call, or the DJD would trace it to them, but Thunderclash points out the contradiction immediately. He states his plans to go back to Necroworld to save Rodimus and the others, and he's sure the rest of the crew will too.

Atomiser shoots him with an arrow, leading him to turn to attack, but he is shot by Getaway using his Nudge Gun, and even empties the cartridge into the "Greatest Autobot Ever", putting him into a coma. He notices that Riptide has been watching this scene from the door, he runs, but Getaway soon finds him, and shoots him too.

Back in the present, Geatway reveals that all of that has only just happened, and Riptide is under the bench he was laying on. He gets onto his real objective, he wants Sunder, Froid's patient, to use his long-range Mnemosurgery skills to convince the crew that Rodimus and his friends decided to leave the ship on their own terms, and make them forget about the message about the DJD, and also trap Thunderclash into a looped memory.

Sunder agrees to do this, in exchange for 25 crew member's brain modules with life-cords attached, so he can feed on their memories. Getaway isn't sure, but is manipulated by Froid into agreeing. Getaway does, much to Atomizer's ire, but decides to use the first 25 names on the list of undecided mutineers, as he considers them threats to his plans, but also suggests one amendment to their plan, the security team need to believe that the crew members they are set upon are Decepticon spies, so they wont question their orders...

Eventually the Protectobots return to the Lost Light, and learn what happened to Rodimus and the others, and are attacked by security as they try to escape to warn Optimus and the rest of Cybertron. Riptide reveals that he was never mind-wiped from the gun shot, since the gun had been drained from Thunderclash's shots. Riptide starts insulting Getaway for his stupid plan, so he decides to take him for a "swim".

On their way to the Oil Reservoir, Getaway hears from Powerflash that the Protectobots have been captured and placed in cells. Riptide is taken into the Reservoir, where he is shown it is filled with domesticated red Scraplets, which have been trained to eat a Cybertronian, leaving only the life cord and brain module behind. He shoots Riptide with the Nudge Gun again, commanding him to forget how to turn into his boat mode, and knocks him into the oil.....

Characters

Autobot

Getaway - Car

Atomizer - Car

Thunderclash - Truck Trapped in Looped Memory by Sunder

Riptide - Boat Knocked into Oil Reservoir filled with Red Scraplets by Getaway

Sunder

Mainframe

Perceptor - Tank

Hoist - Tow Truck

Blaster - Acoustic Tank

Crosscut - Van

Hound - Jeep

Xaaron

Megatron - Tank

Rodimus - Car

Ultra Magnus - Vehicle Transport

Tailgate - Car

Swerve - Van

Skids - Van

Rewind - Data Slug

Grapple - Crane

Inferno - Fire Truck

Smokescreen - Car

Siren - Car

Bluestreak - Car

Dipstick - Car

Rollout - Bulldozer

Huffer - Truck

Gears - Van

Joyride - Buggy

Slapdash - F1 Race Car

Jackpot - Car

Hosehead - Fire Truck

Sprocket - Aircraft

Pointblank - Car

Boss - Car

Grotusque - Winged Cat Monster

Dogfight - Jet

Strafe - Jet

Rook - SWAT Personnel Carrier

Streetwise - Police Car

Powerflash - Jet (Voice Only)

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab (Mentioned)

Sentinel Prime - Truck/Jet (Mentioned)

Brainstorm - Jet (Mentioned)

Chromedome - Car (Mentioned)

Rung - Photonic Crystal Generator (Mentioned)

Nightbeat - Car

Ratchet - Ambulance (Mentioned)

Highbrow - Helicoper (Mentioned)

Fervor (Mentioned) Possibly Fed to Sunder

Turbine (Mentioned) Possibly Fed to Sunder

25 Undecided Mutineers (Mentioned) Fed to Sunder

Decepticon

Ravage - Cassette

Overlord - Tank and Jet (Mentioned)

Decepticon Justice Division (Mentioned)

Other Cybertronian

Froid - Jet

Cyclonus - Jet

Red Scraplet

Chief Justice Tyrest (Mentioned)

Necrobot (Mentioned)

The Knights of Cybertron (Mentioned)

Other

Galactic Council Agent (On Screen)

Death's Head (Mentioned)

General Neech (Mentioned)

Galactic Council (Mentioned)

Black Block Consortia (Mentioned)

The Fraynians (Mentioned)

Notes

• Alex Milne and Priscilla Tramontano's art credits in this issue are due to the reuse of the scenes from MTMTE #50
• Thunderclash being up and about whilst Getaway is creeping on Tailgate is technically a mistake since he should be in a coma until the climax of that plot-line. However when questioned about it on Twitter, James Roberts mentions that this happens during a brief relapse of Thunderclash's, which is going to be mentioned in a future "retcon".
• Froid and Sunder are shown to STILL be on the Lost Light, but in the brig until this issue.
• It is confirmed here that my theory that the crew was either mis-informed or brainwashed to be okay with Rodimus and the others being left on Necroworld were BOTH sort of correct. The crew were originally mis-led, but when they found out the truth they were "brainwashed" by Sunder's long-range Mnemosurgery. This also shows us that the strange behaviour last issue was due to the brainwashing, and not a forged dream for the Protectobots.
• In contrast to the assertions last issue, the crew actually do want to help other planets out, rather than ignoring them like Getaway does in order to get to Cyberutopia faster.
• We were shown during the "Dying of the Light" finale of MTMTE we saw Getaway trying to contact Neech to renegotiate the terms of their deal, so we know this part of the story wasn't fabricated at all.
• The Warren was briefly mentioned last issue, here we learn that it's basically a series of subspace tunnels that lead across the galaxy...Think of it sort of like the Borg subspace tunnels seen at the end of Star Trek Voyager.
• As mentioned in this issue, Getaway was held prisoner by Tyrest on Luna-1, which we learn here gave him insight into his theories and plans before ignoring him at some point.
• So...this issue brings up another issue I have with the continuity in IDW right now...we see that Rodimus DID mention in the video-will that Getaway sold them out to the DJD (he didn't know about the DJD being there, but whatever)...SO WHY HAS OPTIMUS NOT SENT A CREW AFTER THEM YET?!?!?!? WE KNOW HE GOT THE MESSAGE, ALONG WITH EVERYONE ON CYBERTRON!!!
• The Bounty Hunter that Rodimus is referring to in his will is Death's Head....I can't see him actually appearing in an IDW comic, but he has been referenced in other IDW material before.
• Sunder is still talking in his regular voice, rather than the Mortilus impression...we know this due to the speech bubble being white instead of black.
• The brain modules with teeth marks from last issue are revealed to be the payment for Sunder brainwashing the crew of the ship, who were chosen due to being undecided on whether to mutiny or not
• The security crew's attitude is also shown to be under the impression that anyone who disagrees with Getaway is a Decepticon spy...this explains their gun-happiness last issue.
• The Scraplets in this issue are designed after the Aligned continuity versions of the species, just coloured red.
• Despite his apparent collusion with him, we see throughout this issue that Atomizer is becoming less sure about this plan, and keeps glaring at Getaway...my guess is he will be in some way responsible for Getaway's inevitable all next issue.
• The Protectobots are mentioned as having been locked in separate cells, does Getaway and the crew know about Defensor yet or not?!?
• Last issue we saw Getaway lead First Aid to the Oil Reservoir before hearing what he had to say...we can assume that he was about to send him to the Scraplets too if he said something he didn't like. 
• Here's a question...just how many shots do the Nudge Guns have? When Brainstorm analysed Skids' one before, he said it had two canisters for two shots...we see Getaway shoot Thunderclash at least half a dozen times here...
• We can assume from this issue that the hidden thrusters on Luna-1 were built to enable the planetoid to travel through the Warren before Tyrest started his Space Bridge plan.
• It's explained that Getaway has an irrational desire to become a Prime, this actually explains a fair few things about his character and even design. He has a mouth plate and general helmet design of a traditional Prime. Also his massive ego and power grabbing personality make sense knowing this...maybe this is also why he hates Rodimus, he's jealous that he has natural Matrix-affinity and even held it for a while, along with Thunderclash who held the Matrix for Optimus for a short while.
• Since it took me a while to get to their issue, I have seen the profiles for issue 12, and see that Riptide does survive his "swim". My guess is that Getaway never recharged his Nudge Gun, and it is still empty when he uses it to make Riptide forget how to transform.

Panini - Armada #7

Cover Date: 5 Nov 2003

Price: £1.75

Main Story

Title: The Two-Edged Blade

Script: Simon Furman

Pencils: Andrew Wildman

Inks: Bambos Georgiou

Colour: Junior Tomlin

Letters: Neil Porter

Plot

Starscream ambushes the Air Defence Team, and manages to take control of them by suppressing their personality chips, and forcing them to combine into the Star Sabre, so he can use it to usurp Megatron.

Elsewhere, the kids and Street Action Team are playing outside, when Starscream attacks them, intent on taking the Mini-Cons to help with his attempt at leadership. The Street Action Team combine into Perceptor and engage Starscream in battle, whilst the kids go for help.

Perceptor is able to hold off Starscream for a while, but is easily outmatched by the Decepticon. Before he can capture them though, the Star Sabre starts to over-load and causes a storm to rage. Optimus appears, having been summoned by the kids, and he explains that only the Air Defence Team can control the power of the sword, and has Starscream re-engage their personality chips, so he can reach them and have them separate.

Starscream retreats, leaving the Mini-Cons behind, and the good guys celebrate their victory, just as an elderly man appears behind them, ready to pass on a message....

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck

Decepticon

Starscream - Fighter Jet

Megatron - Tank (Mentioned)

Mini-Con

Jetstorm - Concorde Jet

Runway - Stealth Jet

Sonar - Space Jet

High Wire - BMX

Sureshock - Scooter

Grindor - Skateboard

Perceptor - Street Action Team Gestalt

Human

Rad White

Carlos Lopez

Alexis

Reverend Amos Hume

Tales of the Mini-Cons...

Title: Sale of the Century!

Script: Simon Furman

Pencils and Inks: Lee Sullivan

Colour: Junior Tomlin

Letters: Neil Porter

Plot

At Area 54, the now closing ERTD are trying to make money from their assets, and are showing off the Land Military Team again, but (of course) they "malfunction" again and attack the humans.

Luckily, the Autobot arrive with the Air Defence Team, and manage to disable the ERTD devices inside the Land Military Team, freeing them from their control.

Shortly afterwards the new Mini-Cons are taken to the Autobot shuttle, where Wreckage is reunited with Amos Hume, who reveals that he kept his promise to give Wreckage''s message to his allies, and learned that it was a locator code, allowing the Autobots to find them.

In the aftermath, the Autobots leave, and the remaining ERTD members are left behind, waiting for the authorities to arrive and deal with them.

Characters

Autobot

Hot Shot - Sports Car

Mini-Con

Wreckage - Twin Rocket Mounted Personnel Carrier

Bonecrusher - SCUD Missile Truck

Knock Out - Rocket Mounted Personnel Carrier

Jetstorm - Concorde Jet

Runway - Stealth Jet

Sonar - Space Jet

Human

Reverend Amos Hume

Rad White

Carlos Lopez

Alexis

Doctor Quint

Hathaway

ERTD Personnel

Military Buyers

Notes

• Again, despite this issue's cover, Megatron is no where to be seen...it is Starscream who goes after the Star Sabre.
• The Air Defence Team's combined mode has a colour scheme similar to the Dark Star Sabre, this also happened in Dreamwave too!
• When Starscream attacks the kids and their Mini-Cons, the Star Sabre is nowhere to be seen....was it hidden behind his back?
• Unlike in Dreamwave, the Street Action Team actually combine into Perceptor here! The team DO combine during the Dreamwave Energon comics, but that's using their Energon toy models of course.
• In the Land Military article, we see the team linked up to Megatron, this never happens in the comic, but they do join with them in the cartoon.
• The ERTD guys failed in controlling the Mini-Cons in 1959, and without any visible modifications they try it again in 2003.....
• The Air Defence Team appear to have joined the Autobots in the side story.
• Hot Shot is the Autobot who pilots the Mini-Cons to the others, he is also the Autobot who is allied to the Star Sabre in the cartoon
• This issue concludes both the Land Military and Air Defence Team storylines....we see neither group again!

Other Features

Various Contests and Adverts

Cyber Space! - Article on upcoming episodes and showcasing a website

Data File #13: Cyclonus

Red Alert's Clinic! - Learn what sort of a person you are...I'm type B according to this...

Star Sabre: The Ultimate Weapon! - Pull-out poster

Meet: The Land Military Team! - Article on the Mini-Con team

Data File #14: Crumplezone

Robo Dreams! - Decipher what character the Mini-Cons are thinking of.

Starscream's Hate Mail! - More mail!

IDW - GI Joe vs Transformers #10

Title: Earth: R.I.P.

Written by: Tom Scioli and John Barber

Art, Colours and Lettering by: Tom Scioli

Production by: Chris Mowry

Edits by: Carlos Guzman

Plot

Following the destruction of Earth, the Oktober Guard plant a flag to claim Cybertron as "New Transylvania" and the Joes wonder if they should do the same.

Elsewhere, inside Trypticon the Cobras are started a meal in celebration of their victory (in blowing up their own planet I guess...) when Megatron enters the room, and disturbs everyone when he eats one of the GI Joe prisoners alive. In the aftermath the Cobras lose their appetites, except for Torch, who eats a chicken leg and immediately vomits up blood, and dies, having fallen victim to Roadblock's, their captured chef, poisoning of the food.

The Cobras attack Roadblock, but he manages to escape with Tunnel Rat's help, and enters the vents of the giant Decepticon. After a short crawl, Tunnel Rat leads Roadblock to Perceptor, who is revealed to have only been pretending to be a Decepticon, he places the two humans inside his refrigerated chest cavity, along with another body bag. Perecptor leaves, but is noticed by the Decepticons, and is chased for a while.

Soon, Perceptor and the two Joes arrive at the Joe's new HQ on Cybertron, the new Pit where they regroup. Once there, Perceptor reveals that Wild Bill was killed some time ago, despite his attempts to revive him at Trypticon. The imposter Wild Bill, Zartan, attacks some of the other Joes outside in a helicopter, but is stopped when Stalker kills him with a sniper rifle. In the aftermath Hawk has the Joes take Bill for a "real" autopsy. Using their combined knowledge following their separate times inside Trypticon, Tunnel Rat, Perceptor and Roadblock believe that they know how to disable his forcefield, allowing the Joes and Autobots to attack.

Elsewhere, Stormshadow and Snake-Eyes fight on one of Cybertron's mountainhorns when suddenly Stormshadow abandons the fight so he can rescue the still living Billy from inside Koh-Buru-Lah.

Inside Cybertron, Rodimus, his Autobots and their Joe allies approach the physical head of Primus, and head down inside the planet, where the Keeper teaches them about the origins of Cybertron, and many other planets by the Quintessons, at the bottom of the tunnel they find Optimus Prime being ferried across a river by Ultra Magnus....

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck Dead?

Ultra Magnus - Vehicle Transport

Rodimus - Car

Metroplex - Slug Thing

Perceptor - Tank

Brawn - Van

Mirage - Race Car

Grimlock - Tyrannosaurus Rex Dead, Corpse on Megatron's arm

Decepticon

Megatron

Trypticon - Battle Platform

Bonecrusher - Bulldozer

Scavenger - Excavator

Long Haul - Dump Truck (Mentioned) Dead

Devastator - Gestalt (Mentioned)

Confektor (Mentioned)

Random Decepticons

GI Joe

General Flagg

Hawk

Duke

Roadblock

Tunnel Rat

Wild Bill Dead

Skidmark Eaten by Megatron

Stretcher

Lifeline

Lady Jaye

Gung-Ho

Stalker

Psyche-Out

Bazooka

Cover Girl

Tripwire

Blowtorch

Steeler

Rock 'n Roll

Sandstorm

Dusty

Airtight

Lightfoot

Deep Six

Ozone

Wetsuit

Repeater

Beachhead

Leatherneck

Snow Job

Hit and Run

Freefall

Airwave

Scoop

Cold Front

Ambush

Quick Kick

Grunt

Torpedo

Recoil Killed by Zartan

Cross Country Killed by Zartan

Red Spot Killed by Zartan

Wreckage Killed by Zartan

Other Joes

Cobra

Destro

Serpentress

Zartan Killed by Stalker

Raptor

Road Pig

Ripper

Torch Poisoned by Roadblock

Zandar

Zanzibar

Copperhead

Cobra Commander

Nemesis Enforcer

Major Bludd

Storm Shadow

B.A.T.

Cobra Troopers

Oktober Guard

Colonel Breakoff

SHRIEK

Munchnik

Dragun

Denia

Horrorshow

Other Human

Snake-Eyes

Billy

Other

Koh-Buru-Lah

The Keeper

Primus
"The Makers"/Quintessons (Monuments)

Daiakuron (Mentioned) Split into multiple worlds

Unicron (Mentioned)

Notes

• So the Cobra guys actually trusted Roadblock NOT to poison their food?! REALLY?
• Speaking of which...what kind of poison makes you instantly spray blood from your mouth?
• Why does Megatron need to eat Humans?
• Wow Roadblock's kitchen inside Trypticon sure is well furnished....WHY?!?!
• Perceptor gives some Nazi-style salutes and marches when sneaking out of Trypticon.
• Somehow Flagg got off Earth before it was destroyed....oh yay, the crazy murderer guy is safe...
• It's very inconsistent on if the human characters need breathing apparatus on Cybertron.
• Cobra Commander and his off-shoot Cobra group were absorbed into Koh-Buru-Lah before the planet was destroyed.
• Billy is revealed to be codenamed as "Stormshadow II" and was trained by Stormshadow himself.
• Ultra Magnus' appearance here is in homage to Charon from Greek mythology, who rode the dead down to Hades.
• Ultra Magnus has a hammer here, much like his Animated and Aligned counterparts
• This comic includes a text story named Black Cybertron following Snake-Eyes and the Cassettes rescuing Soundwave from his "death"

IDW - More Than Meets The Eye #38

Title: Elegant Chaos Part 3: Predestination: A Beginner's Guide

Written by: James Roberts

Art by: Alex Milne

Colours by: Joanna LaFuente 

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: John Barber

Plot

Megatron starts to panic about Brainstorm trying to kill him at his creation, but Perceptor refuses to send him back in time to stop him, and sends Rodimus and his team along instead.

Back in the past, Brainstorm is still pointing his gun at Megatron's spark, when a grenade is thrown at him, and sends him flying, knocking him out, revealing Rodimus and his team to have arrived just in time.

The group figure out that this is during the Silver Harvest, and that Megatron was Constructed Cold. The start trying to fix the beginnings of Brainstorm's tampering, when Rewind reveals that his records haven't been changed yet, which means they've still failed the mission.

Rodimus calls Perceptor to see what's going on, whilst Perceptor starts to mes with the time locks to try and fix the problem. Rodimus realizes that Brainstorm's plans must be still going on, just as he stands up and points his gun back at Megatron.

Rung manages to get Brainstorm to put the gun down, when he works out that Brainstorm's been waiting for 10 minutes to shoot him, without getting the nerve to actually doing it. He reveals that he did all of this to try and steer Megatron away from evil, but it's all failed. Brainstorm collapses from his grenade injuries just as Rewind grabs his gun and shoots Megatron's spark, destroying it!

Rodimus reports this back to the future, and Megatron is of course unnerved, and rewind reveals that his database revealed to him that even though Cybertron is ruined from it's Functionist future without Megatron, the rest of the universe is happy, and none of them can fault his logic on the matter. Following this Rewind and Chromedome finally reconcile, and get back together.

Suddenly Tailgate notices that Megatron's body has gone missing, which Cyclonus notes is with Whirl in a locked room. Whirl has stolen the Luna-1 spark from Brainstorm's chest cavity and is implanting it into Megatron's body using his watch repair skills because he refuses to allow the Functionists to win after what they did to him.

In the future, Magnus reports to Rodimus that time has started moving outside of the ship again, meaning they've succeeded, but they're unable to return them to the present since the Quantum engines are out of power, and recharging them will cause them to lose their connection to the away team....Rodimus hangs up after swearing at him

In the past again, Tailgate borrows the time phone and makes a call to Cybertron to try and stop the Lost Light from taking off in the first place (the one seen in issue 1) and the team add in several points they want to add too, but he is cut off towards the end by Perceptor calling Rodimus back. Cyclonus tells them they are idiots for doing that, since most of the things the Lost Light have done have been good, and needed in general (such as finding the Cybercrosis cure, stopping Tyrest etc).

Perceptor has told Rodimus that there is an experimental Quantum engine on Cybertron at the time, so they can get there and use it to charge up the time case's abilities. Once there, he goes off to fix make the edits to the engine and case, whilst Cyclonus fights with the security guard.

Back at the Con Facility, Brainstorm reveals that he originally built the time cases to try and save Quark from dying in prison, but then after the original Rewind died, he decided to try and save everyone from the war instead.

At the secret facility again, Cyclonus is overwhelmed by the guard and his Turbofoxes, and shoots him into a small room, and locks it.

Rodimus finishes his edits, and Cyclonus returns to him when suddenly the ship around them, revealed to be the Lost Light, is flung into the future with advanced engines, having reacted with the time case. The crew are then all teleported back to the present day.

Brainstorm is placed in the brig, Chromedome and Rewind are sharing a hab-suite again, and the crew are in Swerve's bar for a Movie Night, including Rodimus and Ultra Magnus. Megatron sits quietly in his own hab-suite, with Ravage watching silently.

Rung goes to see Perceptor, who is analysing the time cases, and says that he thinks the other timeline is still around, but in an alternate universe to them now, thanks to him tampering with the time locks before.

Meanwhile, in the Functionist Universe, Quark has called One-of-Twelve about a discovery that one of the janitor's made about their prisoner Rung. One-of-Twelve points his gun at Rung's spark and plans to kill him to hide the secrets about his unusual alternate mode,..

Characters

Autobot

Rodimus - Car

Megatron - Tank

Chromedome - Car

Rewind - Data Slug

Whirl - Osprey Helicopter

Riptide - Boat

Rung

Tailgate - Car

Perceptor - Microscope

Ultra Magnus - Vehicle Transport

Hound - Jeep

Highbrow - Helicopter

Bluestreak - Car

Swerve - Van

Optimus Prime/Orion Pax (Mentioned)

Crosscut - Van (Mentioned)

Skids - Van (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Brainstorm - Jet Imprisoned

Ravage - Cassette

Decepticon Justice Division (Mentioned)

Cybertronian

Cyclonus - Jet

Swerve's Serving Droid

Security Guard Turned into Sparkeater by Cyclonus

Turbofoxes Defeated by Cyclonus

Megatron's Body's Original Spark Killed by Rewind

Cold Constructed Guys

Quark - Proton Microscope (Flashback) Died in Grindcore Prison Camp

Functionist Council (Mentioned)

Senate (Mentioned)

Chief Justice Tyrest (Mentioned)

Functionist Cybertronian

One-of-Twelve

Quark - Proton Microscope

Sweep

Rung About to be killed by One-of-Twelve

Notes

• Both Ultra Magnus and Perceptor were revealed to have earned Rodimus Stars in this issue
• This issue confirms that everything that has happened in this storyline was always MEANT to happen, from Megatron's batch number being missing, Megatron's evacuation from Messatine etc, and was caused by these events.
• Brainstorm reveals that he planned originally just to steer Megatron away from his evil ways, but decided only near the end to just kill him in the beginning and spare everyone his regime.
• The scanning scene at the start of season 2 in Rung's office is revealed to have been Brainstorm trying to scan Megatron for his timeline, but instead got Rung instead.
• Rewind reveals that even though the Cybertronians have a pretty lousy life in the Functionist future, the rest of the universe is great, and hasn't been damaged by the Civil War.
• As predicted by pretty much everyone, the spark implanted into Megatron here is the one that Brainstorm harvested on Luna-1 and placed into his chest.
• Ironically, Whirl, the guy who would later show Megatron the use of violence is also the guy who saved his life in the first place!
• Tailgate is revealed to be the one to send the message back to Cybertron in 2012, with the added comments from the rest of the team, bar Rewind (who never experienced these events) and Cyclonus (who points out what a stupid plan this was).
• The weapon Whirl took from Brainstorm's weapons lab is revealed to be a "Sparkeater Gun" which turns the victims into Sparkeaters. This means that the guy he attacked last issue turned into one, and probably started the legends of the Sparkeaters. The one turned by Cyclonus in this issue though is revealed to be the one found on the Lost Light in 2012, along with Turbofoxes!
• Brainstorm is revealed to have been observing Quark, his long lost love, when he spotted the time-travelling Rung at the bar.
• Brainstorm's obsession with Perceptor makes a little more sense now, his former love Quark was a scientist, who turned into a Microscope, and was designed to resemble Animated Perceptor.
• Perceptor mentions in this issue that he didn't know anything about Quantum Engines before joining the Lost Light, when it is shown here that he and Rodimus ended up INVENTING it in this issue, whilst sending the now super advanced Lost Light into the future for the NAIL's to find and bring back to Cybertron for Drift to buy!
• The film they play at Swerve's bar is Back to the Future 2.
• Following the revelation that Whirl was the only reason he still lives (and how the universe is better off without him) Megatron goes very quiet in his following appearances this issue.
• Perceptor's current alternate mode is revealed to be a Microscope now (it was a tank for a while as shown in LSOTW)
• Perceptor theorizes that his meddling with the time case's paradox lock may have created the possibility for alternate universes, despite him being the one who claimed it was impossible at the start of the story.
• In the postscript it's confirmed that Rung's mystery alternate mode is something very important, as we have all guessed already from the flurry of clues.
• Tailgate asks whether his message was a little too cryptic..a reference to how the real world audience has been deciphering it since that issue
• Ravage is revealed to be still on the Lost Light.

IDW - More Than Meets The Eye #37

Title: Elegant Chaos Part 2: Stet

Written by: James Roberts

Art by: Alex Milne

Colours by: Joana LaFuente

Lettters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: John Barber

Plot

Rodimus' team are staking out around Rodion in the past, looking for Brainstorm and trying to keep an eye out for Orion Pax to keep him safe. Meanwhile, in the present Perceptor and the others try to figure out Brainstorm's method to time travel, and figure out that he may still be trying to reach his actually desired location, and has to land on temporal hotspots to do so along the way.

After a short while of staking out the city, Brainstorm figures out that he's in a useless time frame for him, and flies off, Rewind notices and reports him in. Cyclonus follows, but he time jumps before he can be shot down.

The team regroup and are taken back in time by a year where the team split up with half staying at Maccadam's bar, and the other half staking out the police station. Meanwhile, Brainstorm ambushes the Rung of the past, and knocks him out, trying to prevent him from being involved in the events.

At the police station, Rewind starts wondering if they can use the Time Case to find out what happened to Dominus Ambus, but isn't sure that he's be able to stop himself from saving him, even if it would ruin the time stream again.

Whirl notices his own past self arriving at the station, and recognizes his prisoner as the last one to come in before Megatron....

At Maccadam's New Oil House, Megatron is sitting with Imapctor whilst Rodimus' crew observe his pre-war self. Shortly, Rung accidentally spills a drink over a cadet, and gets thrown across the room onto Megatron's table, resulting in Impactor starting a bar brawl. Roidmus and the team recover Rung and escape the bar before getting further involved. Outside Brainstorm is incredulous that his plan to stop Rung from "starting" the brawl failed as the police arrive to start arresting people.

Back in the present, Megatron has figured out what is happening, and that they've been working on th wrong assumption all along...

In Rodion again, the Senate's thugs are killing Wheelarch and Springarm whilst Chromedome and the others are forced to watch and not interfere, unless Brainstorm makes an appearance and tries to kill Orion Pax when he arrives shortly.

Shortly the Heavies arrive to join the fight, and Whirl goes into a frenzy, knowing them as the ones who destroyed his watch making business and starts beating them down. Chromedome stops him from killing them though as they are supposed to be there to attack Shockwave and the others in a year's time, so this would ruin the future again.

Whirl learns from them that the Functionist Council were the ones who ordered his Empurata, as a punishment for leaving his asigned position in the Aerial Corps. He gets angry, so he kills the third member of the Heavies group to vent his frustrations.

In the present once more, Megatron recounts all of the time points Brainstorm has travelled to, and points out that all of them are important points in HIS life, not Optimus'. This means that Brainstorm is trying to stop Megatron from forming the Decepticons. Perceptor announces that Brainstorm has made another time jump, and Megatron predicts that it is to the day he was created.

Brainstorm arrives in the factory where Megatron is being created, and points a gun at his exposed chest.....

Characters

Autobot

Rodimus - Car

Megatron - Tank

Ultra Magnus - Vehicle Transport

Perceptor

Chromedome - Car

Rewind - Data Slug

Riptide - Boat

Tailgate - Car

Whirl - Osprey Helicopter

Rung

Prowl (Mentioned)

Wreckers (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Brainstorm - Jet

Cybertronian

Cylonus - Jet

(Past) Nightbeat - Car

Quark - Proton Microscope

Scrounge

Rattrap

"Streaker"

"Fallout"

Crossbar

Impactor - Mining Vehicle

Hammer

Anvil

Senate Crony Killed by Whirl

Bar Brawl Cadets

Roller - Paddy Wagon

Police Officers - Speed Bikes

Senate Thugs

Wheelarch - Speed Bike Killed by Senate Thugs

Springarm - Speed Bike Killed by Senate Thugs

Senator Sherma Dead

Pre-War Cybertronians

Senator Proteus (On Billboard)

Orion Pax (Mentioned)

Nominus Prime (Mentioned)

Alpha Trion (Mentioned)

Dominus Ambus (Mentioned)

Senator Shockwave (Mentioned)

Senator Decimus (Mentioned)

Primal Vanguard (Mentioned)

Senate (Mentioned)

Functionist Council (Mentioned)

Knights of Cybertron (Mentioned)

Primus (Mentioned)

Notes

• This issue features re-prints of 2 pages from Chaos Theory Part 1, and Shadowplay Part 1, and adds more details and context to the events in those scenes.
• The train that Chromedome is riding on is on a set of rails with C-131 on them. C-131 was the Japanese product code for Raiden, who was the combined form of the Trainbots
• We get to see that Cybertron used to be a very watery planet, especially near Rodion.
• Cyclonus apologises to Tailgate for beating him back in issue 4
• Brainstorm finally gets what he's always wanted, Perceptor to be impressed by his genius.
• It's revealed here that Rung's appearances in Shadowplay and Chaos Theory were actually of his future self time travelling, explaining why the Rung of the past has a model of the Lost Light during these scenes
• The broken window in Maccadam's is said to be broken for more than a year here....dahell?
• Tailgate can fit inside Cyclonus' cockpit
• Brainstorm takes off from hi hiding spot on the Interstate Bridge, just as Sherma's body is being planted there by his murderers.
• Rung's fake kibble in the past can convert into a scooter for him to ride on
• The music that Rung and Brainstorm both whistle in this issue is from the Empyrean Suite
• The reason that Rung knocked a drink into the cadet, and caused the bar fight in Chaos Theory is revealed to be because he was grabbing a curly straw for Tailgate (so Tailgate is at least partially responsible for the war!)
• It was mentioned that Impactor caused a lot of damage to one of the cadets back in Chaos Theory...here we see that he did it by drilling out the front of the body....YIKES!
• Rewind and Tailgate start calling the briefcase a "Time Case" in this issue, confusing both Chromedome and Riptide as to why
• The two generic cops coming out of Roller for the brawl are using Wheelarch and Springarm's character models.
• The Functionist council is revealed to have created Empurata (and most likely Shadowplay too)
• Whirl's original face and hands are shown in this issue (see above)
• It was implied that someone gave away Shockwave's location at the end of Shadowplay, here it is hinted that it may have been Chromedome here and now to have done that.
• The events of issue one with the spark radiation is revealed to have taken place during the start of Megatron: Origin, as Proteus was having the mine closed down for automation.
• Megatron is shown with a blue spark at the end of this issue, despite being claimed to be a point one percenter....wonder if this will have anything to do with the green spark Brainstorm harvested in Remain in Light?