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 #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)

IDW - Lost Light #2

Title: Dissolution Part 2: Anomie

Written by: James Roberts

Art by: Jack Lawrence

Colours by: Joana LaFuente

Letters by: Tom B Long

Editor: Carlos Guzman

Publisher: Ted Adams

Plot

Rodimus and the others are confused by where they are, but Rewind manages to figure out for certain that they are in the Functionist Universe, where Megatron was never allowed to be born. The team are soon taken into custody due to Twelve-of-Twelve believing them to be parts of the Anti-Vocationist League. Megatron suggests they go freely, so they can hopefully discuss the situation with the rest of the council. The Functionists however destroy the Time Den, since they see it as pointless, since it wasn't "born".

Back on Necroworld, Lug is hanging out at the Memorial to the Disappeared, having just been repairing relations with the Autobots following Anode's insults to them, when Anode arrives. The two discuss how if Anode wanted to leave, then she would have by now, leading Anode to reveal that she's interested in finding Cyberutopia with the Autobots, she claims to want to settle down there, but Lug believes she just wants to ransack the place. Before the two can really argue though, Fangry suddenly gets thrown between them by Tailgate.

In the Functionist Universe again, the newcomers are paraded through the streets of Cybertron by the Functionists, to act as examples to anyone thinking of rebelling against them. Along the way, the team notice several countdowns on the monitors and begin to wonder what it is counting to. Drift is shocked when he sees a giant statue of Primus, in his warrior persona, with the words "Survive and Thrive" under it. Seeing this, Drift quickly tells Ratchet about the vision he had on Necroworld, and reveals that the world he saw was covered in several old and ominous phrases, just like that one. Before much else can be done though, a grenade is thrown near them by the newly arrived members of the Anti-Vocationist League!

On Necroworld, Tailgate continues his assault on Fangry. Anode tries to stop his attack, but is thrown away by Tailgate before she can, all of which scares off the remaining assembled Decepticons. Cyclonus approaches him, and, upon seeing that Fangry has been knocked out, he asks Tailgate to come with him somewhere...

Nearby, Lug finds Anode skewered on a piece of scrap metal in the field, and calls for help, only to be approached by a certain wheeled individual...

On Cybertron, the AVL are being easily beaten down by the Functionists, so the Lost Lighters decide, after seeing how pathetic they are, to help. Megatron easily frees himself from his cuffs, and begins to coordinate the others.

On Necroworld, Cyclonus takes Tailgate to see all the Decepticons he killed during the battle with the DJD, and tries to make him realize that his new super-strength powers are causing him to lose control, and are also making him run through his Energon reserves too fast. Tailgate denies this, just as he passes out....

At the Medi-bay, Anode wakes up, remembering something from her past, she has been patched up by Kaput, another of the Disappeared, who also happens to be a medic. Before long, Velocity, Nautica and Swerve storm in, with Velocity determined to make a citizen's arrest on Anode for her past actions. Having discovered that more "Disappeared" are appearing, the group realize that more of them could still be waking up from their pods. Swerve goes to check on the pods, just in case, whilst Nautica and Velocity start to interrogate Anode about "The Lighthouse"

On Functionist Cybertron, the Lost Lights are tearing through the Functionists, and rescue their prisoners. Despite his previous bravado and cool demeanour, Twelve-of-Twelve is teleported away in an emergency, the moment one of the Autobots attack him. With his retreat, the remaining Functionaries run off.

The Lost Lighters join forces with the AVL members, and their leader, Clicker, prepares them for transport to their base, Cyberutopia!

Before the group are able to leave though, the countdown reaches zero, and Six-of-Twelve appears on all the screens across Cybertron, announcing that he has identified the use of the "Useless One", the figure-head of the AVL...Rung....

Characters

Autobot

Rodimus - Sports Car

Megatron - Tank

Minimus Ambus - Minesweeper

Drift - Car

Ratchet - Ambulance

Rewind - Data Slug

Chromedome - Car

Velocity - Race Car

Nautica - Submarine

Swerve - Van

Tailgate - Car

Kaput

Pharma - Jet (Mentioned)

Grimlock - Tyrannosaurus Rex (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Fangry Beaten Unconscious by Tailgate

Rapidfire - SUV

"Energon Divebomb" - Eagle

"Cybertron Hardtop" - Dune Buggy

Jack-Knife Dead, Killed by Tailgate

Several of Deathsaurus' Troops Dead, Killed by Tailgate

Decepticon Justice Division (Mentioned) Dead

Anti-Vocationist League

Clicker - Laser Pointer

Green Data Slug - Data Slug

Two Lunabots - Space Shuttles

Blue Rung Lookalike

Green Rung Lookalike Eyes Gouged Out by Functionits

White Rung Lookalike Eyes Gouged Out by Functionits

Functionist

Six-of Twelve

Twelve-of-Twelve

Functionary Enforcers

Monitor-Head Functionary Killed by Roller

Sky-Spies

Other Functionist Council Members (Mentioned)

Other Cybertronian

Roller - Truck

Terminus - Mining Vehicle

Cyclonus - Jet

Anode - Jet

Lug - Backpack Equipment

Functionist Universe Rung

Functionist Universe Civilians

Primus (Statue)

Epistemus (Mentioned)

The Old Senate (Mentioned)

Knights of Cybertron (Mentioned)

The Guiding Hand (Mentioned)

Sparkeater Swarm (Mentioned)

Other

Black Box Consortia (Mentioned)

Flash-Flame (Mentioned)

Notes

• Twelve-of-Twelve's levitation is still not commented on really...maybe that's just an ability he always had?
• The Functionists destroy the time den due to it not being a Transformer, and therefore not really having a purpose is a bit confusing....especially since they are using some non-Transformer handcuffs in the same scene...
• Amongst the names on the Memorial for the Disappeared is someone named Shock, at first you may believe it to be the Duobot of the same name, but it is a different character with the same name according to James Roberts on Twitter (Here)
• On the same topic, none of the named "Disappeared" are shown on the memorial...Maybe the list updates itself when they are located? Kaput makes an appearance just after it appears though...
• Lug is revealed to be a female Transformer.
• Amongst the crowd in the Functionist Universe are more cameos from past Transformers franchises like Robots in Disguise and the Unicron Trilogy.
• The image of Primus being a warrior god is revealed to be an older version of his representation in continuity, as he is now seen as a benevolent god.
• Drift reveals that the previous vision he had, that was mentioned last issue was what brought him and Ratchet to Necroworld. He also reveals that the fleet of Worldsweeper ships in the new vision was the "Phantom Fleet" which went missing the Dark Nebula.
• The Dark Nebula was previously mentioned in the Revolution tie-in issue for More Than Meets The Eye, as being where the Dire Wraiths were, and the reason Megatron steered clear of the place.
• It's not confirmed here, but Clicker's appearance makes me think he turns into a laser pointer, like the previously mentioned Shimmerstick
• Megatron proves just how string he is by tearing apart his cuffs without any real effort.
• Velocity and Nautica both know who Anode is, so she and Lug are likely Camiens who just happened to get to Cybertron to excavate that snowflake thing from last issue.
• Swerve's lack of emotion last issue, along with possibly Nautica's lack of sadness appears to be due to Nautica performing some sort of medical treatment, possibly some sort of Mnemosurgery.
• As mentioned by Chromedome, Six-of-Twelve now has a Matrix-styled head, probably to further show his authority. Since this is a universe where war never broke out, it is likely that the actual Matrix is still hidden on the Undergrid...Maybe the Lost Lighters can recover this new Matrix to use it's map to Cyberutopia?
• Clicker claims that his base of operations is on Cyberutopia, it's likely not THE Cyberutopia, but a place named after the idea of it.
• So, turns out the Functionists didn't kill Rung last time we saw them after all!

IDW - Transformers Holiday Special

"Choose Me"

Written by: Mairghread Scott

Art by: Corin Howell

Colours by: Thomas Deer

"Silent Light"

Written by: James Roberts

Art by: Kotteri

Colours by: Joanna LaFuente

"The Thirteenth Day of Christmas"

Written by: John Barber

Art by: Josh Burcham

Edited by: John Barber and Carlos Guzman

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Choose Me

On Cybertron, the Cybertronians and returning colonists are getting along great, but Starscream starts to get jealous, as he is still alone, except for the ghost of Bumblebee. However Bumblebee suggests that if he was kinder then others would like him.

Starscream takes this idea the wrong way, and decides to declare a new holiday for Cybertronians called "Chosen One Day" in which everyone has to give him a present to show they care about him. He has Rattrap deliver the message-video to Circuit and Longtooth to communicate to everyone, but they make a mistake, and cut off part of the message, and implies that "Chosen One Day" is where you give presents to ANYONE you want to show you care.

Soon, all of Cybertron and the colony worlds are taking part in the new holiday, except for Starscream who was given NOTHING. Starscream gets angry and plans his revenge when suddenly Wheeljack and several others arrive and surprises him with a party to say thanks for the great new holiday, and they gift him their friendship, until the morning anyway.

This pleases Starscream, and he decides to not kill anyone...at least not yet.

Characters

Autobot

Windblade - VTOL Fighter Jet

Chromia - Speedbike

Wheeljack - Race Car

Ironhide - Van

Blurr - Race Car

Slug - Triceratops

Bumblebee (Ghost)

Decepticon

Waspinator - Wasp

Tall Tankor - Cargo Plane/Oil Tanker

Fat Tankor - Tank

Sparkstalker - Insect Monster

Onslaught - Anti-Aircraft Truck

Brawl - Tank

Vortex - Helicopter

Blast Off - Space Shuttle

United Cybertron

Starscream - Fighter Jet

Rattrap - Mole-Rat

Circuit

Longtooth

Vehicon

The Badgeless

Colonists

Lightbright

Moonracer - Sports Car

Knock Out - Sports Car

"Aligned" Breakdown - Armoured Truck

Vanquish - Part of Jet

Fireshot - Part of Jet

Airazor - Falcon

Cheetor - Cheetah

Dinobot - Raptor

Elita One - Car

Strika - Battle Tank

Obsidian - Helicopter

Carcer Crew

Other Colonists

Silent Light

Rodimus returns to the Lost Light after a three-day trip for a "Meteorfest" to find Megatron and Ultra Magnus setting up some strange devices around the ship, whilst complaining about how Brainstorm is busy messing with his conceptual devices (which has incidentally turned the devices in the ship into things resembling traditional Christmas decorations from Earth.

Magnus and Megatron tell Rodimus that the entire ship needs to be put to sleep so they can travel through some hostile space without being attacked, which is the reason for the signal dampeners/decorations.

At Swerve's bar Swerve, Nautica and Whirl are drunk, and ignoring the lock-in for the trip through hostile space. Suddenly they hear a knock on the door, panicking them that Magnus has come for them, however Whirl instead just finds some crates at the door, with a newborn Cybertronian protoform inside. The trio decide to send the Protoform to Luna-1 for it to be looked after properly through the Subspace Hatch, but they find it locked up in Magnus' office.

Before long, Magnus appears without his armour and asks why the trio aren't in their protective pods, they panic and Nautica hides the Protoform inside the Magnus armour, which suddenly activates and tries to hug Magnus, who is soon knocked out by Nautica with her spanner. They lose track of the Protoform and start to panic again, whilst also dragging Magnus to safety.

The Protoform, still inside the armour finds his way to Megatron, and proceeds to try and hug him, causing Megatron to freak out over his sudden touchy-feeliness, until he's saved by Nautica and the others claiming that he's just drunk.

Nautica and Swerve get into their protective pods, and Whirl says he'll take care of the Protoform, he plans to send it out the air-lock, so that the crew will be saved (since if it's detected by the Maulers the entire ship will be put in danger and there's no extra pods for it to go into) However when he sees that the baby has taken on features similar to his, he feels a strong connection, and lets it sleep in the pod with him.

Later, Whirl wakes up in the Medibay where Velocity reveals that the Protoform was in fact just the combined form of a swarm of Scraplets, who took the young Cybertronian form to trick the Lost Lighters into thinking it wasn't a threat before killing them all. Whirl reveals that he deprived energy to his own spark so that only the baby would be detected, keeping everyone safe.

If he was out for any longer then he would have died. Learning how he risked everything for a swarm of sentient pathogens, as it tricked him, he says that he's proud of his little friends...

Characters

Autobot

Rodimus - Car

Megatron - Tank

Ultra Magnus/Minimus Ambus - Vehicle Transport/Minesweeper

Whirl - Osprey Helicopter

Nautica - Submarine

Swerve - Van

Velocity - Race Car

Brainstorm - Jet (Mentioned)

Rewind - Data Slug (Mentioned)

Other

Protoform/Scraplets

Cerebros (Mentioned)

Primus (Mentioned)

Maulers (Mentioned)

Galactic Council (Mentioned)

The Thirteenth Day of Christmas

On the Twelfth day of Christmas, Director Anna Log is sleeping in her house with her pet Turbofoxes nearby when suddenly Megatron blasts his way into her house, in a Santa-suit, and kills her and her pets.

The next day, December 38th, Thundercracker, a great detective and his assistant Buster receive word of the death of the Director and goes to investigate. Once there, they find some video footage of the murderer, and identify it as Santa Claus.

Thundercracker heads to the North Pole, passing some surfing penguins and Polar Bears drinking Coca-Cola and locates Santa's base of operations, but Buster's nose starts glowing red, which can mean only one thing...danger!

Suddenly Santa's mechanical reindeer fly up to attack the brave detective, but he easily defeats them, making his way to Santa's base, and engages the jolly, muscular human in a fist-fight. Suddenly Thundercracker learns that Megatron framed Santa, and all because Santa left him a lump of coal for being a naughty boy. Thundercracker punches Megatron and knocks him out, saving Christmas. Afterwards, Santa and Thundercracker fly off, using Megatron in tank-mode as a sleigh, led by the reindeer and Buster, and become the best of friends! The End.

Thundercracker finishes telling Faireborn and Jones his idea for a children's story book, but Faireborn is completely annoyed by all his mistakes and just how bad the plot was. Jones leaves with Buster, in her reindeer antlers, and leaves the other two to argue about it's worth.

Characters

Cybertronian

Thundercracker - Fighter Jet

Autobot

Beat Cop Arcee - Sports Car (Fictional Only)

Decepticon

Megatron - Tank (Fictional Only) Defeated by Thundercracker

Cameraman Laserbeak - Cassette (Fictional Only)

Human

Marissa Faireborn

Ayana Jones

Director Anna Log (Fictional Only) Killed by Megatron

Fictional Cop (Fictional Only)

Other

Buster

Reindeer Robots (Fictional Only)

Two Pet Turbofoxes (Fictional Only) Killed by Megatron

Notes

• The front cover shows that Ravage has gotten Megatron a new fusion cannon...could this be a glimpse into his future?
• The art style and theme for "Choose Me" is based on Doctor Seuss' "How the Grinch Stole Christmas"
• One of the colonists coming through the Space Bridge is based on the My Little Pony brand, I'd assume that she (he?) comes from Eukaris.
• Bumblebee's ghost is redesigned here to be more cartoony, with him also having Energon Cubes chained to himself, like Jacob Marley from "A Christmas Carol"
• "Choose Me" seems to be set before "Redemption", but after the conclusion of the "Windblade" series as Slug is still welcome in the city, and Elita One and the others are around.
• The Combaticons gift Onslaught with a new grenade...wonder if that will come up again with their plans to make Starscream pay for covering up Swindle's death?
• Despite the other representatives being shown at the party, neither Carcerian representative is at Starscream's party.
• A lot of the contrived Christmas imagery in "Silent Light" are based on mostly British Christmas traditions, like crackers, paper crowns etc.
• Rodimus has been to a "Meteorfest" a reference to his introduction to the IDW continuity on a flaming meteor during his Spotlight issue.
• The events of this issue takes place after the events of MTMTE 48, released the same day, based on how Magnus has moved the Subspace Hatch to his officer from the Medi-bay. This somewhat spoils a few character's survival from the upcoming part 2 for that storyline, which has been noted to include deaths.
• The Scraplets are capable of controlling the Magnus Armour...this is not explained...
• So the plot in this issue is that the crew all have to get to their "B.E.D.S" and sleep so they don't get noticed by someone on Christmas Eve...
• "The Thirteenth Day of Christmas" is Thundercracker's attempt at writing a children's Christmas story book....as this is the case it is a mis-match of many themes and mistakes.
• Strangely, this story is the only one of the three stories included here that is undeniably set at Christmas.
• I would say that Thundercracker added his understanding of Buster's language in for the story, but Transformers #48 actually DOES show that he understands the sweet doggy!
• Arcee wearing a police uniform really reminds me of the Transformers in human clothes from the Transformers Legends tie-in comics.
• Buster's glowing nose is a reference to Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer. She is also shown wearing reindeer horns when the story shifts to reality....N'AWWWWW!!!!
• Megatron being evil and using his fusion cannon in this story implies that he's a Decepticon in this "continuity"
• In case you missed it, Megatron is used as Santa's sleigh in the final panel of the "story book"

IDW - More Than Meets the Eye #43

Title: The One Where They go to Earth

Written by: James Roberts

Pencils by: Ale Milne

Inks by: Alex Milne and Brian Shearer

Colours by: Joana LaFuente

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: John Barber

Plot

Megatron calls for Swerve over the ship's intercom, but can't get through to him, he informs Rodimus that Earth appears to be chasing the Lost Light, and any attempts at communications with the planet results in a "theme tune" about Swerve's bar playing on repeat.

Meanwhile, in the Medi-bay, First Aid is given a going away present from Tailgate of photos of the crew and his friends so he wont forget them, despite his trip only being a short one back to Cybertron for the celebrations for Caminus and Cybertron. First Aid and Velocity are both worried since she's never been left in charge before, and she's only just arrived on the ship. Before anything else can happen though, Skids runs in with Swerve in his arms, in a terrible condition.

Soon, they determine that Swerve is alive, but only just, as he has massive systems failures, but his brain is working in overtime. Before long they determine that the Swerve they've been seeing around, acting happy and his usual self has been just a holo-avatar projected by the real one. However they can't treat him, as his condition is so frail that it could kill him.

Shortly afterwards, they find out that the Earth following them is a hologram too, and Swerve has been projecting that too, as well as several holographic humans as well.

Rodimus calls together a team made of Cyclonus, Tailgate, Skids, Bluestreak and Rung to send their own holo-avatars down to the fake Earth (Swearth) and find Swerve's own avatar, so he can tell them what is wrong with his real body. The team are sent down with some basic lessons in humanity.

On Swearth, Cyclonus and Tailgate wait in the apartment whilst the others are scouting the city, looking for Swerve's avatar, where Tailgate finds a comic series, "More Than Meets the Eye", depicting their adventures on the Lost Light, and starts reading it. Skids and the others return to the apartment empty handed, and they start replanning their strategies, when Rung accidentally shoots Cyclonus in the face with a paint ball gun....ROLL CREDITS!

After a while, Tailgate finds out in issue 21 of MTMTE that Swerve opened the time case when no-one was looking, which no-one else knew about. Bluestreak returns to the apartment again with their wacky neighbours Ted, Sheldon and Jerry, who immediately start arguing and insulting each other, as they don't get along.

Bluestreak receives a phone call from Rodimus, who has arrived on the planet with the rest of the crew to speed up the search. Bluestreak quickly summarizes the planet up for Rodimus as "Sitcom world" where there are laughter tracks, clapping audiences from nowhere, and nothing really makes sense in the large scheme. Megatron joins up with the others, and he finds it strange being a human for the moment.

Back at the apartment, Bluestreak is helping the neighbours get their locked door open, when Skids talks to Rung about how no-one had been to visit Swerve for months, allowing him to get into this bad condition. Suddenly Tailgate chimes in that his comic has reached this point in the series, where they are looking for Swerve. In the "previously" page Swerve explains what happened to him with the Meta-Bomb and the Time Case, and calls into question his own reality. Rung deduces that this is Swerve actually talking to them, and realizes something else, that the three neighbours are all aspects of Swerve's personality, so he tricks them into responding to the name "Swerve" causing them to remember their true self, and merge into Swerve's avatar.

At a bar, Megatron is tickled by Nautica, as she wants to see if he was ticklish, but in the process Megatron cuts his hand on a glass, and finds the fragility of humans interesting. Rodimus comes back in and reports that Bluestreak and the others found Swerve, but he refuses to tell them where he is injured.

At the apartment, Swerve says he can't remember where he is injured, as he's feeling no pain, then explains that he hid away because he felt as though he wasn't a "main character" any more, not since the beginning of "season two". He fell in love with sitcoms as he could relate to them as he's a misfit like them.

Cyclonus berates him for giving up, and points out that the entire crew is on this planet to find him, and that in the process they are risking their own lives to help him out, showing him that he is indeed loved and cared about, as a "main character". Suddenly Swerve's shoulder begins to bleed in an Autobot insignia shape, and he remembers where he was injured.

Later on, First Aid and the others have left the Lost Light for Cybertron, and Velocity reports to him that Swerve is recovering from the infection in his shoulder, and he should make a full recovery soon. However First Aid makes a shocking discovery when he flicks through Tailgate's photos, as an old picture of Swerve with Ironfist reveals that he used to have an insignia in that same arm. He tells Velocity to operate carefully on the shoulder, as Agent 113, the Autobot mole within the DJD probably shot a message into his insignia in the past, which is still there. And sure enough...Velocity soon finds a bullet within the wound...a bullet that not only caused an infection inside Swerve, but carries a message from Agent 113.....

Characters

Autobot

Rodimus - Car

Megatron - Tank

Ultra Magnus/Minimus Ambus - Vehicle Transport/Minesweeper

Swerve - Van

Tailgate - Car

Skids - Van

Rung

Bluestreak - Car

Nautica - Submarine

Blaster - Acoustic Tank

First Aid - Ambulance

Velocity - Race Car

Nightbeat - Car

Brainstorm - Jet

Chromedome - Car

Rewind - Data Slug

Groove - Motorcycle

Mirage - Race Car

Ratchet - Ambulance (In Opening Credits Footage)

Whirl - Osprey Helicopter (Issue #1 Cover Only)

Drift - Race Car (Issue #1 Cover Only)

Red Alert - Emergency Car (Issue #1 Cover Only)

Ambulon - Leg (Photo)

Ironfist - Van (Photo)

Fortress Maximus - Tank (Mentioned)

Agent 113 (Mentioned)

Mainframe (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Decepticon Justice Division (Mentioned)

Blot (Mentioned)

Blip (Mentioned)

Cybertronian

Cyclonus - Jet

Ten (In Opening Credits Footage)

Diagnostic Drone (Photo)

New Medi-Drone

Bob - Insecticon (Mentioned)

Knights of Cybertron (Mentioned)

Chief Justice Tyrest (Mentioned)

Other

Verity Carlo (Acts as Ultra Magnus' Avatar)

Jerry Merged into Swerve

Ted Merged into Swerve 

Sheldon Merged into Swerve

Nanobots (Mentioned)

Notes

• The issue title, and the apartment the Autobot Holo-avatars use is based on the "Friends" TV series from the 90's
• Tailgate's holo-avatar appears to have aged a little bit since the last time we saw it.
• Tailgate says that the comic is the only thing there is to read in their apartment...despite some books being clearly visible in the table/cabinet under the tissues next to Cyclonus.
• Skids was last shown with a Holo-avatar based on Matt Smith's Doctor Who, here he looks like Chris Ecclestone's version of the character.
• A couple of the scenes shown in the "opening credits" are actually from covers, rather than actual comic interiors (ie the one with Nautica dancing, and Rodimus handing the ship's keys to Megatron)
• The "Swerve's" theme tune is based on the "Cheers" theme tune.
• First Aid and the others leave for their role in the Combiner Wars crossover storyline in this issue.
• Apparently it takes a lot of energy and concentration to create Holo-avatars, which may be another reason why they aren't used so much nowadays.
• It's revealed here that Swerve in fact opened the Time Case just after Tyrest was shot in issue 21, but off-screen, and with the time-waves from it, combined with the Meta-Bomb he was affected with during Overlord's attack caused him to become more conscious of his life as a fictional character, and the time-waves giving him infinite spark energy to create his elaborate holograms etc.
• The Swerve that we've seen since (probably) the end of Dark Cybertron  has been a holo-avatar of the real Swerve, who locked himself away to hide from reality. This explains how he's been able to absorb all of Earth's culture in such a seemingly short period of time
• Ted the Priest is based on Father Ted, Sheldon the Scientist is based on Sheldon Cooper from Big Bang Theory, and Jerry the Comedian is based on Jerry Seinfeld (though none look like their "real" counterparts.
• Bluestreak mentions that Rodimus' voice sounds different in his human form, implying that the characters change their voices (so the male-persona Cyclonus probably sounds female in his holo-avatar form for example)
• The "reflective" avatar programs used for the new holo-avatars gave Megatron a walking stick, possibly showing that he's been crippled from the special fuel he has to take.
• Swerve's hab-suite number is 43, which is also this issue's number. Fun!
• Since Swerve appeared to get the message bullet before the Chaos storyline (he was shown with a covered up shoulder there) you have to wonder if Agent 113's message is actually important still, I mean it must have been in there for like 3+ years by now...
• It's shown here that the "previously" pages we've had in the past with Swerve talking to the readers have actually been happening in continuity as well!