IDW - Unicron #3

Main Story

Title: Our Finest

Written by: John Barber

Art by: Alex Milne

Colours by: Sebastian Cheng & David Garcia Cruz

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: David Mariotte

Publisher: Greg Goldstein

Side Story

Title: Reunion

Written by: Brandon Easton

Art by: Juan Samu

Colours by: David Garcia Cruz

Lettered by: Curtis Fandango

Edited by: David Mariotte

Main Story Plot

Cybertron begins to counterattack against Unicron, with all available fliers and all shuttles going into orbit to fight. Elita recruits the Torchbearers to join her on Carcer to directly attack Unicron. Chromia returns to Cybertron in her shuttle, but is also joined by the Decepticon fleet, having been corrupted by Unicron.

Inside Metroplex's brain chamber Windblade and the others are discussing what to do about Unicron, with Starscream advocating for evacuation to Earth, but due to the colonists being outside of the city, they wont be teleported away with the city.

Chromia contacts Carcer to see why they are going directly to Unicron, with Elita explaining that Victorion is going to infiltrate Unicron's body and kill him from inside, and Carcer will give her backup.

Bumblebee arrives at the brain chamber with Aileron, and declares that Unicron was a doomsday device created by an alien race that also created the Dire Wraiths with Visionary magic, which Rom is disbelieving of. Aileron herself doesn't believe this, until Arcee arrives and explains what happened, as she was there...

When Cybertronians led by Onyx Prime invaded the planet Antilla, Onyx manipulated things to make the Antillans to attack them first, making Alpha Trion believe them to be the aggressors. A scientist used a device to kill everyone on the planet, and also turn it into Unicron, in order for him to get revenge against their attackers, and gets stronger with every world it devours.

The battle in orbit is going badly for the Cybertronians, and Victorion is fed up of watching people die. She attacks the lead Worldsweeper and slashed through the corrupted Decepticons inside, however, when she confronts Bludgeon he summons Monstructor to fight the powerful combiner. The two fight, but Monstructor defeats her by tearing off one of her legs and knocking her down.

Shockwave confirms Arcee's story about Antilla, but also explains that after he left Cybertron following the wars between the Primes, he and his loyalists wound up on Antilla, where Shockwave learned about Unicron and finds the Talisman, the device used to create it. He has the Talisman shipped away towards Earth, for it to be used to later poison Cybertron.

Optimus relays this story to Windblade, who isn't shocked now by all this nonsense. Starscream starts again about letting most of Cybertron and the colonists die, if it means Unicron will be deathly wounded, which drives Windblade to screaming that this is all Cybertron's fault and not the colonists, yet it is them who are being hurt.

Arcee points out that despite it being a terrible thing to happen, without Antilla, NONE of the other colonies would have been created, and none of the colonists would have been born in the first place. Windblade heads off, with Arcee grabbing hold of her, not allowing her to run away. However Windblade isn't trying to escape, but rather has a plan, and just needs some time to enact it.

In orbit, Carcer is under heavy fire, so Elita, in a last ditch attempt to protect Cybertron orders for the ship to ram into Unicron, only for the Chaos Bringer to shoot the ship with his eye beams and obliterates the dead Titan and everyone aboard along with him.

Back at Metroplex, Soundwave returns with the Enigma of Combination, intending to use to combine the entire population of the planet into a giant force to stop Unicron, however Jetfire reveals that even if they did that, they would only be at about a third of the size of Unicron. Soundwave realizes that the others are starting to consider using the space bridge and leave the people outside of the city to die, so he alerts the Decepticons outside, and they begin to riot, and storm the city, as Soundwave has given them a chance now.

Arcee returns and says that Windblade has a plan to save them, but she needs time, which Starscream agrees they have to allow her, as she has allowed them all to try before now.

All across Cybertron, the displaced colonists and Cybertronians watch and Unicron starts digging his claws into Unicron's surface...

Side Story Plot

On Earth, the MASK team have reunited and save some people from the natural disasters and destruction in the city. The team eventually arrive at one of their team, Julio Lopez's emergency medical centre where they learn that they have inspired the normal people of the city and the world to help each other and fight back, so they'll continue to do so, up to the end...

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab

Windblade - VTOL Fighter Jet

Arcee - Sports Car

Aileron - Space Shuttle

Bumblebee - Hatchback

Jetfire - Fighter Jet

Chromia - Speedbike

Pyra Magna - Fire Truck

Rust Dust - Motorcycle

Skyburst - Helicopter

Stormclash - Helicopter Seemingly Killed by Monstructor

Dust Up - Sports Car

Jumpstream - Sports Car

Victorion - Torchbearer Gestalt

Tracks - Muscle Car

Sizzle - Car

Silverbolt - Concorde Jet

Skydive - Fighter Jet

Fireflight - Fighter Jet

Not-Slingshot - Fighter Jet

Scattershot - Jet Killed by a Worldsweeper

Cloudraker - Jet Killed by a Worldsweeper

Fastlane - Car Killed by a Worldsweeper

Firestar

Metroplex - Iacon City (Voice and Interior Only)

Prowl - Police Vehicle (Mentioned)

Kup - Pic k Up Truck (Mentioned) Dead

Decepticon

Starscream - Fighter Jet

Soundwave - Cassette Player

Shockwave/Onyx Prime - Flying Artillery

Bludgeon - Tank

Monstructor - Monster Gestalt

Wideload - Dump Truck Killed by Victorion

Sledge - Backhoe-Payloader Killed by Victorion

Needlenose - Fighter Jet

Fat Tankor - Tank

Tall Tankor - Oil Tanker/Cargo Plane

Decepticon Ghetto Denizens

Decepticon Vengeance Division Mutated into Unicron's Minions

Maximal

Domitius Major - Sauropod (Flashback Only)

Centurion - Beetle (Flashback Only)

"HOS Prowl" (Flashback Only)

Maximal Troops (Flashback Only)

Other Cybertronian/Colonist

Elita One - Car Sent Adrift in orbit by Unicron's Attack

Obsidian - Osprey Helicopter Crushed by debris in ship

Vigilem - Carcer Ship Destroyed by Unicron

Swift - Helicopter

Zetca

Greenlight

Lancer

D.O.C.

Cybertronian Fleet

Colony Survivors

Carcerian Warriors Most Killed in Unicron's Attack

Alpha Trion - Tumbler (Flashback Only)

Galvatron - Tank (Flashback Only)

Omega Supreme - Rocket Base (Flashback Only)

Omega Sentinels - Rocket Bases (Flashback Only)

The Thirteen Primes (Mentioned)

Solus Prime (Mentioned)

Human

Matt Trakker/Spectrum (Side Story Only)

Gloria Baker/Aura (Side Story Only)

Brad Turner/Eclipse (Side Story Only)

Julio Lopez/Gulliver (Side Story Only)

Human Survivors (Side Story Only)

Med Centre Staff (Side Story Only)

MASK Fanboy (Side Story Only)

Miles Mayhem (Mentioned)

Solstar Order

Rom

Imperator Carax

Elonian Survivors

Other

Unicron - Ringed Planet

Antillans (Flashback Only) Dead

Unicron's Creator (Mentioned)

Dire Wraiths (Mentioned)

Visionaries (Mentioned)

Notes

• Slingshot is amongst the Aerialbots going into battle (albeit slightly miscoloured) he's supposed to be dead...but then again everyone else will be dead soon, so no long term harm!
• Swift appears to be amongst the Decepticons again...please make up your mind on your faction Decepticons!!
• Just like we saw a mass of Decepticon ships in the last issue, we get an Autobot fleet here with several existing ship types, like the different Arks, shuttles and a few generics.
• This issue reveals that the world we saw Onyx Prime and his group attack in a flashback was Antilla, which was also the world we saw turn into Unicron last issue, confirming that the planet orbiting the dark star was Antilla/Unicron, and is thirteenth colony world (implying that Unicron may have his own natural Ore too)
• Considering some Omega Sentinels were on Antilla when the Unicron device activated, it's likely that the one we saw inside Unicron in issue 1 was one of the attackers, rather than one that just found Unicron.
• Along with their ships, the Decepticon crew inside them are turned into Maximal-esque monsters. This is likely a reference to an old Unicron concept where he could corrupt individuals and turn them into his servants.
• Bludgeon is shown with an aura around him and what looks like his Void Spectre again, this is likely why he seems to have his mind intact rather than being mindless like the other Decepticons.
• Bludgeon reveals that Victorion's gravity powers are caused by her exposure to Ore-4 on Caminus.
• Shockwave's flashback reveals that the Talisman IS the device that created Unicron, which he found on Antilla after arriving there and sending it away to Earth with some of his followers (the guys who would later become the Hearts of Steel Transformers)
• It keeps getting mentioned how Metroplex can only spacebridge the people within his city mode away
• I still think there's another world out there with an Ore on it, since Liege Maximo's "world" is just a Titan ship, and not a planet, also Unicron just blows up Carcer, and doesn't devour it.
• Elita appears to survive her ship's destruction, as she is seen floating in space (why would they bother giving us a close-up if she was just dead?)
• The back-up strip is a MASK one of all things! It doesn't give us any real future spoilers, and just shows that Earth is under attack in the near future and that the MASK team are performing rescue missions to save the day.
• Since we last saw them, it looks like Brad Turner has been recovered, after being captured and replaced by Zartan.
• Also Matt Trakker is not a part of GI Joe anymore it seems...good for him!

IDW - Optimus Prime #22

Title: Unstopped and Unstoppable

Written by: John Barber

Art by: Sara Pitre-Durocher

Colours by: Josh Burcham

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: David Mariotte

Publisher: Greg Goldstein

Plot

Optimus awakens from a dream about the Dark Cybertron prophecy in a new body, having been removed from Pyra Magna's body by Wheeljack, he is soon reunited by the similarly revived Bumblebee, however before Optimus can talk with Bee, Windblade needs to speak to him.

Cliffjumper and a recon team were sent to Velocitron, after communications with them were lost, but when they arrived they were caught up in the attack of a giant monster planet, that Windblade has found out the name of is Unicron.

On Earth, Rom is involved in a fight with some humans that he has been tracing in relation to a Dire Wraith, when he is helped by Jazz, who has been following these humans for using stolen Cybertronian tech for a while, whilst the two are reuniting, Rom suddenly gets a pain in his head, telling him that Elonia is in dire danger, but he's too far away to help them. Jazz knows a way to get him there though...

On Cybertron, Shockwave is paraded through the streets of Iacon to his jail cell, where he is explaining how after he left Cybertron he made a home for him and his loyalists on Antilla, where they discovered that their new world was not just their's. Beachcomber, one of his guards tells him to give up, since no one is listening to him, however, someone in the crowd is listening, and understands...Rhinox…

In space, Starscdrive receives the same pain as Rom, and she wants to return to help Elonia, but Prowl convinces her to stay on their current mission, to follow the Maximals to their next target...

Back on Earth, the US President is angry with Trypticon's new placement on Earth, and wants Marissa to take him back to Cybertron, however before they can really get into it, Jazz appears with Rom, and offers to give himself up to the authorities of Earth for his murder charges in exchange for letting Rom use the spacebridge to get help from Cybertron.

At New Cybertron, on Bikini Atoll, Wreck-Gar tells the Autobot colonist about Jazz's arrest and Rom's trip to Cybertron. The Colonists are worrying about what is happening that could make Jazz give himself up, but are sure that Optimus will save the day. However Slide doesn't agree and even tries to turn Roulette against Optimus by bringing up how they've lost contact with Velocitron.

Later, Unicron has devoured the planet Elonia, leaving Rom with Optimus and his team of Autobots to mourn it's destruction. During this time, Pyra reveals that she is in contact with Prowl and that he has been following the Maximals, but elaborates that neither she or Prowl knew they were attacking Cybertron.

Pyra opens up a channel to Prowl, who is in the middle of a fight with the Maximals above Devisiun, there Prowl witnesses the planet being devoured and suggests to Optimus that their best bet is to use his attacks on the worlds to find out what it is and how to destroy it, much to Stardrive's disgust at the callousness of the plan.

On Cybertron, Starscream is trying to rally the Decepticons to follow his lead again, when he is approached by Rhinox, who summons him to see Shockwave in his cell, which he agrees to.

Elsewhere, Optimus begins the mission to defend Caminus from Unicron, and explains his and Prowl's plan to allow Unicron to devour Caminus so he can enter him and find a weakness.

On Earth, word of Unicron's attacks has reached New Cybertron, with the Colonists devastated that their homeworlds are gone. Midnight Express still has hope, but Slide reveals that Pyra told her about Optimus' plan to allow Caminus to die too, and rallies her fellow Colonists against their leader....

Characters

Autobot

Optimus Prime - Truck Cab

Windblade - VTOL Fighter Jet

Bumblebee - Hatchback

Pyra Magna - Fire Truck

Wheeljack - Race Car

Arcee - Sports Car

Aileron - Space Shuttle

Jazz - Sports Car

Tracks - Muscle Car

Prowl - Police Car

Goldbug - Sports Car

Beachcomber - Dune Buggy

Seaspray - Hovercraft

Slug - Triceratops

Slide - Front of Oil Tanker

Gimlet - Lobster

Bump - Armadillo

Roulette - Muscle Car

Midnight Express - Bullet Train

Metrotitan - Autobot City Dead

Cliffjumper - Car (Footage Only) Devoured by Unicron

Rest-Q - Car (Footage Only) Devoured by Unicron

Subsea - Submarine (Footage Only) Devoured by Unicron

Dinobots (Mentioned)

Victorion - Torchbearer Gestalt (Mentioned)

Decepticon

Starscream - Fighter Jet

Shockwave/Onyx Prime - Flying Artillery

Soundwave - Cassette Player

Needlenose - Fighter Jet

Acid Storm - Fighter Jet

Tall Tankor - Oil Tanker/Cargo Plane

Fat Tankor - Tank

Galvatron - Tank (Head Only, in Dream) Dead

Bludgeon - Tank (Mentioned)

Junkion

Wreck- Gar (Head Only)

Detritus - Jeep

Maximal

Rhinox - Rhino

Archadis - Archaeopteryx

Maximal Army

Optimus Primal - Gorilla (Flashback Only)

Beast Megatron - Tyrannosaurus Rex (Flashback Only)

Other Cybertronian/Colonist

Stardrive - Car/Jet

Trypticon - Earth Embassy

Circuit

Swift - Helicopter

Cybertronian Crowds

Velocitronian Civilians (Footage Only) Devoured by Unicron

Navitas - Delta City (Mentioned) Devoured by Unicron

Primus (Mentioned)

Liege Maximo (Mentioned) Dead

Megatronus (Mentioned) Dead

Conctructicons (Mentioned) Dead

Council of Worlds (Mentioned)

Eukarian Survivors (Mentioned)

Devisiun Survivors (Mentioned)

Human

Madame President

Marissa Faireborn

Spike Witwicky

Talon

Anti-Cybertronian Activists

Earth Defense Command (Mentioned)

The NSA (Mentioned)

The Lakota Tribe (Mentioned)

Other

Unicron - Ringed Planet

Rom, the Space Knight

Garnak

Visionaries (Mentioned)

Dire Wraiths (Mentioned)

Elonian Survivors (Mentioned)

Notes

• The FCBD Unicron #0 issue is set in the middle of this issue
• The Dark Cybertron prophecy appears again, this time apparently referring to the oncoming Unicron. Considering this prophecy has been  long known to have been created by Shockwave, could he have been using it to warn about Unicron?
• Optimus' new body is pretty much the same as he had before being killed by the Crystal City Signularity, however Bumblebee is now in his Evergreen design, as we have seen from the previously released Unicron issues.
• Cliffjumper's team is made up of Subsea, a hi and die character from the Marvel days, and the other member is Rest-Q, a character from Fun Publications, based on the prototype version of Hubcap, and named after the Gobot of the same name.
• Windblade assumes here that "Unicron" is the "uncreator" and the opposite of Primus from legend, but later issues of Unicron will reveal this to not be quite the case.
• Jazz has been chasing down illegally traded Cybertronian weapons and technology since he was last seen during the First Strike event
• Rhinox is seen again, we saw back in his last appearance, back in Robots in Disguise, that he was a follower of Onyx Prime, and here it's revealed that he's still around, but wasn't a part of his Maximal army
• Both Rom and Stardrive have a mental reaction to the incoming attack on Elonia. Maybe the Solstar Order put chips in the brains of their operatives to tell them about attackers?
• New Cybertron on Bikini Atoll sure has developed into a real Cybertronian looking city in the past few months since it was built huh?
• Quick question...why didn't any of the Velocitronians just run into the open space bridge when Cliffjumper exited it to escape Unicron's attack? Apparently some Eukarians and Devisiuns managed to do so before their worlds were eaten....
• Needlenose is amongst the Decepticons inside the Metrotitan...didn't he leave the faction to be with Tracks last issue?
• The events of Transformers vs Visionaries has occurred between the previous issue and this one.
• At the end of this issue Slide acts like it's Optimus' fault that Unicron has attacked and destroyed the colony worlds.....HOW?!?!

IDW - Lost Light #22

Title: Crucible Part 4: The Return of the King

Written by: James Roberts

Art by: Brendan Cahill

Colours by: Joana LaFuente

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: David Mariotte

Publisher: Greg Goldstein

Plot

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Characters

Autobot

Rodimus - Car

Ultra Magnus - Vehicle Transport

Megatron - Tank

Thunderclash - Truck

Grimlock - Tyrannosaurus Rex

Drift - Car

Ratchet - Ambulance

First Aid - Ambulance

Velocity - Race Car

Rung/Primus

Brainstorm - Jet

Whirl - Osprey Helicopter

Chromedome - Car

Rewind - Data Slug

Riptide - Boat

Nautica - Submarine

Swerve - Van

Tailgate - Car

Sunder - Van

Pharma - Jet Body Being Used by Adaptus

Skids - Van (Mentioned) Dead

Getaway - Car (Mentioned) Dead

Decepticon

Krok

Misfire - Jet

Crankcase - Van

Spinister - Helicopter

Fulcrum - K-Class Bomb

Nickel - Rocket Powered Buggy

Anti-Vocationist League

Nine-of-Twelve

Clicker - Laser Pointer

Decibel - Cassettes

Flame - Car

Lightspeed - Car

Terminus - Mining Vehicle (Mentioned) Dead

Orion Pax - Truck (Mentioned) Dead

Impactor - Mining Vehicle (Mentioned) Dead

Nightstalker - Cassette (Mentioned) Dead

Rung (Mentioned) Dead

Functionist Council

Twelve-of-Twelve

Eleven-of-Twelve

Six-of-Twelve

Five-of-Twelve

Three-of-Twelve

Two-of-Twelve

One-of-Twelve

"Primus" - Functionist Universe Cybertron

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

Grand Architect

The Grand Architect/Adaptus

Tyest/Solomus

Flame - Car

Scorponok - Scorpion Dead

Grand Architect's Troops

The Infinites

Black Block Consortia (Mentioned)

Other Cybertronian

Cyclonus - Jet

Roller - Truck

Wipe-Out - Car

Froid - UAV Jet

Anode - Bi-Plane

Lug - Backpack Equipment

The Magnificence/Epistemus

Censere/Mortilus (Flashback) Dead

The Knights of Cybertron (Mentioned) Dead

Notes

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

Sig Pub - Robots in Disguise #34

Notes

• This month's screencap comic is "Enemy of my Enemy", the penultimate episode of Robots in Disguise
• The sudden jump to the end of the series with this month's magazine seems to imply a Bumblebee Movie reboot is being planned to be released soon :)
• The comic implies that the Cybertronians invading Earth are Decepticons, when actually they are brainwashed, and are either non-aligned or Autobots
• The post section gives me two things this time! First, one of the pictures is identified as the "Decepticon" Crosshairs...whom is an Autobot (you can tell it's the Movie character from the guns, colours and kibble) ...secondly...THAT IS A FREAKING CREEPY PICTURE!!!!

Features

Menasor Pursuit! - Play as Menasor and Sideswipe racing to the Scrapyard

Give it up for Grimlock- Do some Grimlock themed puzzles

Battle of the Bots - Optimus vs Steeljaw profiles

Bring on Bumblebee! - Count the different Bumblebees in a picture

History Lesson - Test your Transformers knowledge! (I got full marks)

Mini-cons at the Museum! - Locate the ten Mini-cons in a picture

Pull Out Poster - Pull out a poster of Optimus and Team Bee (minus Mini-cons and Humans)

Find Fixit! - Help Strongarm locate Fixit in a maze!

Comic Investigator - Answer questions about the comic this month

Draw Bumblebee- Draw a picture of Bee's head using a squaring method

Competitions - Enter a contest to win some simple toys!

Mega Colouring! - Colour in a picture of Steeljaw and Sideswipe on Cybertron!

Transformers  Post! - Send Fixit your scary pictures to give me nightmares!

Decepticon Disguises! - Identify the Decepticons in the fog!