Transformers: Lost Light #13 Cover B Posted - Featuring Cover Art by Nick Roche

Wow...a lot of comments on issue 12, and I appreciate the mixed opinions. Some here know my general consensus on MTMTE/LL, I'm not a huge fan. But...I try to support IDW, even tough they disappoint me more often than not. I'd rather have something than nothing at all. Now that being said, I usually don't give my 2 cents each time a new issue of LL comes out because admittedly I'm not a fan, and I don't want to mire fan discussion with just negativity..that's not cool.

But...since we got the early advertisements for this, I was especially looking forward to this issue. Combiners are my favorite aspect of the Transformers lore, and the thought that Getaway might be getting his comeuppance via the Protectabots/Defensor sounded neat...

Then a few pages in...That line from Luke Skywalker in The Last Jedi hit me like a ton of bricks. -"This is not going to go the way you think"...

Oh boy...There really isn't anything that can be summarized that hasn't already been said, but seeing an awesome combiner being taken down like a chump yet again doesn't sit well with me, neither does crazy zealot Star Saber. I thought we had seen the last of him, I had to watch at least 3 episodes of Victory to get me back to where I need to be in my mind with that character.

So yeah, I'm back to square one, not really liking this series. But I know its by far the most popular TF book currently, so I hope fans are enjoying it. I have Optimus Prime to keep me going until we see what havoc Unicron wreaks in mid 2018.

That cover is hysterical I give it a . I have I feeling I just might enjoy this issue.

Covers A & C (the one used in the review) are awesome...I'll say that much Too bad Cover C is one of those *things that never happens* covers...

Well here are the sales numbers courtesy of ComiChron for November 2017:

#268 in units, #255 in sales Optimus Prime #12 sold 5,811 units
#270 in units #256 in sales Transformers Lost Light #11 sold 5,786 units
#271 in units #274 in sales Transformers First Strike #1 sold 5,730 units
#274 in units #262 in sales Optimus Prime #13 sold 5,638 units

So Lost Light is not the most popular Transformers comic, if the downward trend of Optimus Prime is matched by Lost Light. Interesting that Transformers First Strike sold so well!

That is interesting and all, like I said, I've always preferred RID/TF/Prime and TAAO as opposed to MTMTE/LL. But fans constantly rave about MTMTE/LL, and it is always winning awards...so I naturally just thought it was the most popular because its seemingly all what anybody talks about.

Interestingly, in October, First Strike #5 and #6 outsold Optimus Prime and Lost Light. So from that, it seems like people like the shared universe, and they aren't all Transformers fans!

o.supreme wrote:Covers A & C (the one used in the review) are awesome...I'll say that much Too bad Cover C is one of those *things that never happens* covers...

It's false advertising which is disgusting, it's not like that cover with Swerve and Anode that was posted today which we can obviously tell is non canon but that cover you mentioned? That's actual lying to make people buy the comics and they don't care if people get disappointed they were lied to since it's too late IDW got their money.

o.supreme wrote:That is interesting and all, like I said, I've always preferred RID/TF/Prime and TAAO as opposed to MTMTE/LL. But fans constantly rave about MTMTE/LL, and it is always winning awards...so I naturally just thought it was the most popular because its seemingly all what anybody talks about.

to put it in perspective both the OP issues in that chart and LL combined are now selling LESS than when furman was kicked off the book for "low sales"

sommats gonna happen man as this cant go on.

Optimus Prime 13 is one copy away from selling the same as "zombie tramp" FFS.

You know this kinda stuff could be avoided if there was only one or two comics instead of having dozens upon dozens at a time it makes it really confusing for people to understand and/or catch up.

Ive said since the first windblade mini that our fanbase just isnt big enough to support 3 books.

i can see IDW doing a "gi joe " on us.

i.e they'll bring furman back to try and get legacy readers to return (basically the larry hama deal) and put out a single ongoing for the
normal "IDWverse" probably done by barber.

with the odd mini series by roberts.

or something very like that.

its a pity but were not the xmen or the avengers and sooner or later the maths gets ya.

So TF books overall are on the decline then? That makes sense. I posted not too long ago that the local shop I go to (the owner now has 3 shops in the greater Sacramento area, and I've known him for 20+ years...)..isn't even stocking most IDW titles, they are special ordered for myself and a handful of others. Kind of a shame, but I get it.

I loved most of IDW's Godzilla run from 2012-216, but low sales ultimately killed it as well, but I do have to admit IDW stuck with it longer than any other publisher, I'm sure the last issues were selling less than 2000 each, and they still all got TPB after the fact... maybe Unicron really will be THE END

i will give IDW that.

theyve taken more chances with this franchise than Marvel EVER wouldve.

and theres no way in hell they'd be launching new books through it (like visionares etc)

they'dve cancelled ALL the books at this level. hell we woudlntve got a second book at all.

The level of negativity based on some really partial and clearly not entirely attuned readings of the IDW situation, comics in general, and just dislike of certain narrative choices is really dampening my mood.

I'll come back in a couple of days to defend the comic again.

Is it maybe possible that all the Protectobots are on the ship and First Aid will save them all along with Thunderclash?

Va'al wrote:The level of negativity based on some really partial and clearly not entirely attuned readings of the IDW situation, comics in general, and just dislike of certain narrative choices is really dampening my mood.

I'll come back in a couple of days to defend the comic again.

Or, and stay with me here on this one, you could ... I dunno, accept that some people don't love these comics as much as you do.

Now that we are almost at the end of the year, let's look how much the TRansformer Comic Book Sales have decreased over this year, not counting December yet:

JANUARY
200 181 Optimus Prime 2* $3.99 IDW 9,258
207 192 Optimus Prime 3* $3.99 IDW 8,274

FEBRUARY
211 194 Optimus Prime 4* $3.99 IDW 7,600
214 197 Transformers Lost Light 2* $3.99 IDW 7,534
231 207 Transformers Lost Light 3* $3.99 IDW 6,770
242 223 Transformers Till All Are One 7 $3.99 IDW 6,426

MARCH (Rom #7 outsold all Transformers titles this month!)
234 226 Optimus Prime 5* $3.99 IDW 7,274
248 237 Transformers Lost Light 4* $3.99 IDW 6,702
251 163 Transformers Annual 2017 1 $7.99 IDW 6,396
257 260 Transformers Till All Are One 8 $3.99 IDW 6,253

MAY
267 249 Optimus Prime 7* $3.99 IDW 6,605
268 248 Transformers Lost Light 5* $3.99 IDW 6,594
276 273 Transformers Till All Are One 9 $3.99 IDW 6,147
279 276 Transformers Till All Are One 10 $3.99 IDW 6,081

JUNE
256 243 Optimus Prime 8* $3.99 IDW 6,799
264 253 Transformers Lost Light 6* $3.99 IDW 6,502
270 255 Transformers Lost Light 7* $3.99 IDW 6,298
289 204 Transformers Salvation 1 $7.99 IDW 5,128

JULY
214 200 Rom Vs. Transformers Shining Armor 1 $3.99 IDW 8,624
240 229 Optimus Prime 9* $3.99 IDW 7,231
244 237 Transformers Lost Light 8* $3.99 IDW 6,950
263 257 Transformers Till All Are One 11 $3.99 IDW 6,060

AUGUST
195 175 First Strike 1 $3.99 IDW 10,611
222 203 First Strike 2 $3.99 IDW 9,105
281 252 Optimus Prime 10* $3.99 IDW 6,117
287 278 Transformers Till All Are One 12 $3.99 IDW 5,912 <-- CANCELLED HERE!
296 261 Rom Vs. Transformers Shining Armor 2* $3.99 IDW 5,769

SEPTEMBER
228 230 First Strike 3 $3.99 IDW 6,949
232 235 First Strike 4 $3.99 IDW 6,706
239 234 Transformers Lost Light 9* $3.99 IDW 6,112
262 244 Rom Vs. Transformers Shining Armor 3* $3.99 IDW 5,351
268 272 G.I. Joe First Strike 1 $3.99 IDW 5,196

OCTOBER
244 253 First Strike 5 $3.99 IDW 6,237
251 258 First Strike 6 $3.99 IDW 6,054
254 239 Transformers Lost Light 10* $3.99 IDW 5,977

285 274 Rom Vs. Transformers Shining Armor 4* $3.99 IDW 4,857
253 238 Optimus Prime 11* $3.99 IDW 6,010
265 261 Optimus Prime First Strike 1* $3.99 IDW 5,384
298 305 Rom First Strike 1 $3.99 IDW 4,376

NOVEMBER <-- ALL TITLES BELOW SELLING LESS THAN TAAO WHEN IT WAS CANCELLED!
268 255 Optimus Prime 12 $3.99 IDW 5,811
270 256 Transformers Lost Light 11 $3.99 IDW 5,786
271 274 Transformers First Strike 1 $3.99 IDW 5,730
274 262 Optimus Prime 13 $3.99 IDW 5,638

We've gone from 9,*** people buying these books down to 5,***, losing almost 4,*** readers. If they wanted to soft reboot or cancel TAAO when it was below 6,000, OP & LL must be ending soon or being soft rebooted.

This is just me but I have never seen Transformer comics books where I live besides a couple volumes at chapters/indigo here in Canada.

Transformer's comics are not small by any means but their not a huge thing either.

I've read IDW stuff since the All hail Megatron stuff and I've gone back and tried to read most of the older stuff, I loved IDW but it's just not getting my attention anymore, for example MTMTE/Lost Light has too many unanswered mysteries and most of the ones that get answered have awful conclusions, it also has a lot of wasted potential in characters, we don't see other members of the ship that often and any new characters that get made tend to be bland Oc's that could have been filled by an established character and not necessarily a g1 guy either like I would love to see an IDW Nu-Rid character or IDW movie Blackout.


I'm just waiting for Nitro Zeus personally since he's my fave Decepticon in the franchise but that's just me. (Although he'll probably get a couple panels and then die and be forgotten)

Black Bumblebee wrote:Is it possible that all of this is just a dream in Getaway's head that Sunder is using on him, while slowly killing him?

I can totally see this happening, and I hope that is what will happen. It also totally fits as something Roberts would do

I'm kinda with Va'all. There is not liking the direction (me, dmax) then there is just being hateful and mean (many others). I want to share more thoughts and discuss, but the digital atmosphere here feels a bit toxic.



One thing I just can't get over, is when did Starsaber become phase sixer on Super roids powerful?

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:

Black Bumblebee wrote:Is it possible that all of this is just a dream in Getaway's head that Sunder is using on him, while slowly killing him?

I can totally see this happening, and I hope that is what will happen. It also totally fits as something Roberts would do

Especially with them already finding Cyber-Utopia. It could be a false news memory loop?

Hot Sprang Kup Blurr wrote:

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:

Black Bumblebee wrote:Is it possible that all of this is just a dream in Getaway's head that Sunder is using on him, while slowly killing him?

I can totally see this happening, and I hope that is what will happen. It also totally fits as something Roberts would do

Especially with them already finding Cyber-Utopia. It could be a false news memory loop?

ESPECIALLY considering how the Cyberutopia we see in the end of this comic looks NOTHING like the Cyberutopia Skids found through Tyrest’s portal. Here, it’s one planet, covered in large solid continental masses, while the Cyberutopia that Skids saw had a bunch of rings across the surface. Not to mention there were 5 whole planets, while in LL12 there’s the just the one.

Of course, one of the two could be Cyberutopia while the other isn’t, but I don’t think this discrepancy is unintentional. Hopefully.

Burn wrote:

Va'al wrote:The level of negativity based on some really partial and clearly not entirely attuned readings of the IDW situation, comics in general, and just dislike of certain narrative choices is really dampening my mood.

I'll come back in a couple of days to defend the comic again.

Or, and stay with me here on this one, you could ... I dunno, accept that some people don't love these comics as much as you do.

I said I didn't like it!

But some of the accusations just feel spiteful and unfounded to me, is all.

I just made an account (finally, after months of lurking) to comment on this, because one really important bit told in this issue has not been adressed as of yet.
Meaning, all this talking about who´s dead and how the wrong guy won, but nobody ever mentioned that Getaway is right now stuck in a time loop?

Can I back up this theory?

It is all there: simply look at page three, second panel. See what he´s dong there. Now go to page 21, panel three.

Not sure what this means about most of the other things happening in the book, but this makes one thing clear: what we see in the end is not Cyberutopia. Rather, it is what Getaway expects Cyberutopia to look like. Or even what Sunder thinks that Getaway expects Cyberutopia to look like. Even that one is mentioned in the form of Froid (almost) criticising Getaway. Not even Froid and (probably) Sunder do no longer condone what Getaway is doing at this point.

Not sure I like this better then the alternative of everyone being dead and Getaway having won, though.

Hot Sprang Kup Blurr wrote:

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:

Black Bumblebee wrote:Is it possible that all of this is just a dream in Getaway's head that Sunder is using on him, while slowly killing him?

I can totally see this happening, and I hope that is what will happen. It also totally fits as something Roberts would do

Especially with them already finding Cyber-Utopia. It could be a false news memory loop?

It's probably not Cyber-Utopia. That would be too easy, and Roberts likes playing with expectations too much.

It's interesting to me that everyone assumes all the other Protectobots are dead. I might have missed some confirmation of that; I only read the issue once. As far as I could tell, the panel where Defensor gets taken out just looks like any other forcible de-combination. Which is still crappy, but at least there's precedent that all combiners usually have some kind of eject button on them where the whole thing falls apart.

Also, about Mirage. It occurred to me this morning that I think this might have been a really fitting end for a different Mirage. Specifically other, more original-bio-centric Mirages for whom coming from wealth and aristocracy is their central character flaw. That could have been a really cool moment where Mirage (a bot of wealth and influence) tries to throw his weight up against Star Saber (a bot of power and influence) and finds out that his perceived importance isn't nearly as great as he hoped at the end of a sword. And this Star Saber is perfect for that role. Where every Star Saber has a ton of power and influence, this one let it go to his head and is basically playing the part of like a corrupt arch-bishop strolling in to fix the town and force it to adhere to his vision.

The problem is with Mirage. His wealthy background is not really a problem (or even all that apparent) in IDW. The closest we get is that his bar is snobby and he sides with the "bad guys" at first, but neither of those are a direct product of an aristocratic mindset, and one isn't even a bad thing. and he only sides with the Lost Light at first because he assumes that all of his friends can't be wrong. If anything, that's the opposite of the mindset they're trying to play with here. So, the end result looks like a guy getting butchered while trying to save his friends rather than an arrogant jerk finally getting what's coming to him.

Basically, I don't know if I see actual continuity problems in this issue. I think what I see is pieces of continuity being deliberately chosen or ignored in favor of what seems coolest or most fitting for this story and the end product not meshing together very well. I also don't see writer's fatigue or an angry child spitefully smashing toys so we can't play with them. I see the opposite. I think Roberts got over-excited on this (and most of his arcs) and tried to put the awesome-huge-explosions-space-battle-it's-so-awesome-you-guys-don't-even-know that he saw in his head on paper and the end result is really confusing and tough to enjoy.

Or they could use the very obvious opening Roberts left them. The quantum jump left them arriving five minutes before they left, now they jump back and arrive ten minutes before they leave and stop Getaway.

I just want to clarify based on some reactions to opinions....I do not hate MTMTE/LL...its just not *my cup of tea*. It mostly focuses on characters I don't have a desire to follow (though I do appreciate that it has given personality to several characters that weren't developed in the original marvel Comic or Sunbow animated series..) However, *some* well established characters either in Hasbro or Takara continuity have been reimagined in ways I'm just not a fan of. Just because *we* in North America did not have these series 30 years ago, doesn't (IMHO) give license to recreate them from scratch. As for the others, the well established ones that are so radically different in this series, I have no comment. If you want to create a whole new universe (i.e. shattered glass), then go for it, then you have carte blanche to do whatever you want. Have Megatron be an Autobot, have Star Saber be a crazy zealot. That's fine, but, for me at least, such egregious personality deviations in an *established* original continuity is not something I can get on board with. Now I know the counter to this is...I am being to rigid, and characters in my view are not allowed to grow and change, and to that I say that's not true.....I am ok with change, but it has to make sense.

With that being said, do I expect IDW to all of a sudden change and conform to be a *true* follow up to the Marvel series, or Sunbow animated? No...I expect things to continue as they are. I've always considered IDW overall to be like JJ Abrams Star Trek. Sure you have all the original characters, but its just *updated* (for good or ill) for modern readers, and some enjoy that, I happen to fall on the other side. Just know that when fans such as myself ask for a *true* comic, or animated series set in the original series continuity (or G1 as most refer to), and we get all this backlash, fans stating- "NO there is too much G1 already, we want BW, Armada etc..." I have 2 questions/statements

1.Are all these things REALLY G1?...no
2. At least BW and the Unicron Trilogy were complete stories, other than for the sake of new toys (which I want also btw...), do you REALLY want these stories that had satisfactory endings to be reimagined?...think about it...

an angry child spitefully smashing toys so we can't play with them.

Honestly, this is how all the gratuitous character deaths have been leaving me feeling lately. I applaud a story that isn't afraid to kill a character just because they're important, but it seems to become more excessive over time with these comics. Definitely feels like someone just came and smashed my Defensor and left my Optimus Maximus short one arm or leg.

o.supreme wrote:do I expect IDW to all of a sudden change and conform to be a *true* follow up to the Marvel series,

But...they did.

not_a_bot wrote:I just made an account (finally, after months of lurking) to comment on this, because one really important bit told in this issue has not been adressed as of yet.
Meaning, all this talking about who´s dead and how the wrong guy won, but nobody ever mentioned that Getaway is right now stuck in a time loop?

Can I back up this theory?

It is all there: simply look at page three, second panel. See what he´s dong there. Now go to page 21, panel three.

Not sure what this means about most of the other things happening in the book, but this makes one thing clear: what we see in the end is not Cyberutopia. Rather, it is what Getaway expects Cyberutopia to look like. Or even what Sunder thinks that Getaway expects Cyberutopia to look like. Even that one is mentioned in the form of Froid (almost) criticising Getaway. Not even Froid and (probably) Sunder do no longer condone what Getaway is doing at this point.

Not to be too dramatic, as this could totally be a swing and a miss, but I did stop and internally scream after reading this comment because oh my gosh, I think you are 100% on the money.
Combine this with my previous comment:

ArmadaPrime wrote:Speaking of things seeming out of place: Chekhov's time jump? The only reason I can figure for the whole "left the rabbithole before we arrived" is that maybe it somehow explains Riptide surviving 5 minutes in the pool. I figured he just outran the scraplets in boat form.

and we might have a bit more fleshed out of a theory. Getaway is in a different form of memory loop than the ones which we've seen- his allows for a consistend narrative, hence why the two panels are very similar but in different settings. However, for this to still work as a loop rather than just a linear dream, they need the backwards-in-time jump, to allow things to actually repeat.
This could, at a stretch, also explain the use of Ambulon, rather than Mirage.
It's possible that when setting the loop, none of Froid/Sunder/Getaway himself knew that Mirage had been a combiner, and so it wouldn't have even occured that dream-Defensor could use him as a leg- hence using Ambulon despite him being long dead and largely forgotten.

Of course, this could be total nonsense and overthinking on my part.

Also, just to quell some fears: Roberts seems to have confirmed multiple times now on his twitter that the Protectobots didn't die in the shuttle bay fight. If that is so then I feel either the art or the script (not sure wherein the issue lies, Roberts tends to be quite specific about what to put in each panel ) could be much clearer on that, personally!

Burn wrote:

o.supreme wrote:do I expect IDW to all of a sudden change and conform to be a *true* follow up to the Marvel series,

But...they did.

yeah but that was something completely separate meant to serve as a proper ending to the Marvel Comic. I meant take the current IDW mainline universe and turn IT into the G1 of 30 years ago. I especially want a follow up to the animated series (What happened Post Rebirth? or in the 20 year gap between S2 and TFTM...) . I know we will never get it, but I can at least take solace in knowing that I'm not the only one who continues to ask for it.

I'll say that shit really hit the fan in this one, I got them feels man. Even though it was painful I will say that it was a lot better of a read than the filler we have been getting. I feel like the story is finally picking up and things are actually happening. I want the next issue dangit!

Lore Keeper wrote:

an angry child spitefully smashing toys so we can't play with them.

Honestly, this is how all the gratuitous character deaths have been leaving me feeling lately. I applaud a story that isn't afraid to kill a character just because they're important, but it seems to become more excessive over time with these comics. Definitely feels like someone just came and smashed my Defensor and left my Optimus Maximus short one arm or leg.

Oh, come on! You're skipping my whole post and just going for the bit you've already said! I know that's how this story feels. I even kind of agree with you. I'm just trying to see if there's a way to re-frame this story where we don't have to talk about Roberts as some world-weary crap writer while still acknowledging the flaws in the story. Basically, is there a way to criticize the work without needing to insult the man? And for the record, I didn't like this issue all that much either, and I've been cooling quite a bit on LL as well. I've just been putting a lot of thought into why that is and trying to come up with, if not a more hopeful interpretation, at least a more positive one.

Oh, and about this all being Getaway's memory loop, that could actually be pretty bad news depending on what did and did not happen. It could be that when we next see the Lost Light it's going to be run by Star Saber. So I guess the question there is: how man brutal sociopaths do you want all your favorite background crew members to suffer under?

8.5/10

Not sure what others were reading but I enjoyed this issue!

Sure, it would be nice to see Getaway get his due but more build up won't hurt.

CaptainMagic wrote:

Lore Keeper wrote:

an angry child spitefully smashing toys so we can't play with them.

Honestly, this is how all the gratuitous character deaths have been leaving me feeling lately. I applaud a story that isn't afraid to kill a character just because they're important, but it seems to become more excessive over time with these comics. Definitely feels like someone just came and smashed my Defensor and left my Optimus Maximus short one arm or leg.

Oh, come on! You're skipping my whole post and just going for the bit you've already said! I know that's how this story feels. I even kind of agree with you. I'm just trying to see if there's a way to re-frame this story where we don't have to talk about Roberts as some world-weary crap writer while still acknowledging the flaws in the story. Basically, is there a way to criticize the work without needing to insult the man? And for the record, I didn't like this issue all that much either, and I've been cooling quite a bit on LL as well. I've just been putting a lot of thought into why that is and trying to come up with, if not a more hopeful interpretation, at least a more positive one.

Yes. Thank you.

CaptainMagic wrote:

Lore Keeper wrote:

an angry child spitefully smashing toys so we can't play with them.

Honestly, this is how all the gratuitous character deaths have been leaving me feeling lately. I applaud a story that isn't afraid to kill a character just because they're important, but it seems to become more excessive over time with these comics. Definitely feels like someone just came and smashed my Defensor and left my Optimus Maximus short one arm or leg.

Oh, come on! You're skipping my whole post and just going for the bit you've already said! I know that's how this story feels. I even kind of agree with you. I'm just trying to see if there's a way to re-frame this story where we don't have to talk about Roberts as some world-weary crap writer while still acknowledging the flaws in the story. Basically, is there a way to criticize the work without needing to insult the man? And for the record, I didn't like this issue all that much either, and I've been cooling quite a bit on LL as well. I've just been putting a lot of thought into why that is and trying to come up with, if not a more hopeful interpretation, at least a more positive one.

Oh, and about this all being Getaway's memory loop, that could actually be pretty bad news depending on what did and did not happen. It could be that when we next see the Lost Light it's going to be run by Star Saber. So I guess the question there is: how man brutal sociopaths do you want all your favorite background crew members to suffer under?

I didn't mean to brush off the rest if your post; I just really like the way you worded that. I do agree with you that while this issue is getting a lot of hate, it doesn't mean the writer is past his prime or just not good in general. In fact, I get the distinct feeling not everything is as it seems in the issue. I think the strange flow of events and the pacing may indicate that there is indeed a glitch in the Matrix. That, or I'm just having trouble coming to terms with all the good characters that just died.

Now that I am done mulling over this issue I ponder the following : How was Ambulon allowed to be the leg if he was dead? Either there is something they are not telling us or thats a bit of a plot hole. How can a leg be a leg if it can't move? Also, I feel bad Atomizer bit the dust. I was starting to have hope that he was coming to his senses and have a redemption arc maybe somehow helping the others defeat Getaway.

Lore Keeper wrote:

CaptainMagic wrote:

Lore Keeper wrote:

an angry child spitefully smashing toys so we can't play with them.

Honestly, this is how all the gratuitous character deaths have been leaving me feeling lately. I applaud a story that isn't afraid to kill a character just because they're important, but it seems to become more excessive over time with these comics. Definitely feels like someone just came and smashed my Defensor and left my Optimus Maximus short one arm or leg.

Oh, come on! You're skipping my whole post and just going for the bit you've already said! I know that's how this story feels. I even kind of agree with you. I'm just trying to see if there's a way to re-frame this story where we don't have to talk about Roberts as some world-weary crap writer while still acknowledging the flaws in the story. Basically, is there a way to criticize the work without needing to insult the man? And for the record, I didn't like this issue all that much either, and I've been cooling quite a bit on LL as well. I've just been putting a lot of thought into why that is and trying to come up with, if not a more hopeful interpretation, at least a more positive one.

Oh, and about this all being Getaway's memory loop, that could actually be pretty bad news depending on what did and did not happen. It could be that when we next see the Lost Light it's going to be run by Star Saber. So I guess the question there is: how man brutal sociopaths do you want all your favorite background crew members to suffer under?

I didn't mean to brush off the rest if your post; I just really like the way you worded that. I do agree with you that while this issue is getting a lot of hate, it doesn't mean the writer is past his prime or just not good in general. In fact, I get the distinct feeling not everything is as it seems in the issue. I think the strange flow of events and the pacing may indicate that there is indeed a glitch in the Matrix. That, or I'm just having trouble coming to terms with all the good characters that just died.

See, this is one of the big problems I have with Roberts' writing: the whole "nothing is as it seems" thing. Especially recently, he introduces so many plot threads that won't have a payoff or conclusion until some point in the very far future. This is exhausting and makes each individual issue feel empty.

Instead of interesting situations that yield compelling character interactions, in the mutineers trilogy, we're left with an over complicated plot where the only thing we've learned is that Getaway is an uninteresting monster with a god complex. We can't have interesting internal conflict with the rest of the crew because they've all been brainwashed or killed off to justify the plot.

The big problem with LL is the same problem that Sherlock succumbed to. More and more complicated misdirection and nonsensical things continued to happen with the promise of an amazing payoff that never happened. Meanwhile, people justified it by saying that future episodes would tie it all together. That show was so preoccupied with being clever that it forgot to be smart. I see the same thing happening here.

The introduction of memory loops and time travel promises some clever way to salvage the story line, itself filled with cleverness to justify its own plot. If given the choice, I'd take a much smarter, tighter story.

Thanks to online retailer Amazon.com, we have a listing for the issues of IDW Publishing's Transformers: Lost Light that follow the Mutineers Trilogy, collected as a trade paperback in volume 3 of the ongoing series!

The release date is currently set at September 18, 2018, and the current price for the pre-order is $13.07. This will go up to regular 19.99 later, so if you're in for the trade, take advantage of the discount. The book has the cover for issue #13, and as a bonus, you can also take a look at the Cyclonus-centric art by Jack Lawrence before it got coloured below!

A witty, smart, emotional take on fan-favorite Transformers characters in a sci-fi world unlike any other!

Winner of the Comixology Award for Best Ongoing Comic Series of 2017, as well as Best Writer for James Roberts!

Crammed into a dead Decepticon astropod that's ten sizes too small, the displaced crew of the Lost Light face their most serious threat yet: each other. No worries though, Rodimus can save the day! Plus, the Scavengers have never had it so good. The war is a receding memory, their patchy service records have been forgotten, and the five of them can roam the galaxy as they please. All's well that ends well? Not quite.

Collects issues #13-18.

My GF pointed out Drift and Ratchet's pose looks like they are going to kiss. CANNOT UNSEE!

WreckerJack wrote:My GF pointed out Drift and Ratchet's pose looks like they are going to kiss. CANNOT UNSEE!

Well - Markerguru actually drew that once, too, so it happened.

I want to make it clear my issues are not with Robert's, but with the story. After getting over the initial shock, the issue isn't as bad as I first felt.


Basically, as much as I hated combiner Wars, they happened. They also established Combiner as a big freaking deal. No single Transformers, aside from a titan or Omega, should be able to handle them. The Stars Saber part really wrecked things for me. It should not have happened that he could take out Defensor so easily. It pulled me out if the story, and ruined the flow of an otherwise fast paced, action packed issue.

Lore Keeper wrote:

an angry child spitefully smashing toys so we can't play with them.

Honestly, this is how all the gratuitous character deaths have been leaving me feeling lately. I applaud a story that isn't afraid to kill a character just because they're important, but it seems to become more excessive over time with these comics. Definitely feels like someone just came and smashed my Defensor and left my Optimus Maximus short one arm or leg.

im a little perturbed by that too.

roberts isnt going to be on these books forever, thats just the nature of the industry, so what state is he going to leave the IDWverse in for his sucessor ?

ive been hoping he'd be like a warren ellis- who can do some stellar stuff but still leave the main "universe" in a decent state.

more and more im starting to get the feel of a grant morison. who fuked up the x books for ages by leaving them in a right state and led to a complete reboot by joss whedon (who basically just ignored whole swathes of it and restarted from scratch).

the illusion of change is one of the hardest tricks to pull off in comics. theres a reason why the chris claremonts of the world held out on killing characters that often. sometimes its better for the book to just have someone taken out of the story in a different way.

WreckerJack wrote:...How was Ambulon allowed to be the leg if he was dead? Either there is something they are not telling us or thats a bit of a plot hole. How can a leg be a leg if it can't move?

Well, in a back issue of one of the ongoing series (before Lost Light) they told Orion Pax's backstory. It was when the thugs sent by the Council murdered two of his officers and had Pax cornered. To aid himself Pax took the remains of one of his officers and prompted it to form into it's alt mode: a cycle.

More recently in "Lost Light" Rodimus and the others are riding around in the transformed spacecraft mode of a deceased Decepticon.

It's not out of the possible Amblulon's remains would be used in much the same way. He was designed to be a "leg" of a Decepticon combiner. Why he left the Decepticons originally.

So, Roberts is going by something established.

not to mention they already did this already with "dead leg scrapper" during the chaos event.

so there is not only precedent, its prob an outright call back.

^It's a similar situation with Bruticus in TAAO. Swindle was a comatose/dead bot (forget exactly which), but they still combined. I can understand how from a physical perspective. But now mentally, you are only starting out at 80% at best, plus we know that Combiners have to put in intense effort to meld mentally in the first place, having one out of commission makes it all the worse I would think.

o.supreme wrote:^It's a similar situation with Bruticus in TAAO. Swindle was a comatose/dead bot (forget exactly which), but they still combined. I can understand how from a physical perspective. But now mentally, you are only starting out at 80% at best, plus we know that Combiners have to put in intense effort to meld mentally in the first place, having one out of commission makes it all the worse I would think.

True. But with the one being being out of commission does that make the easier for the over-all combiner to control the "dead-metal"...or harder without the additional "mental push"?

I know there was a G1 'toon episode on this: "B.O.T." but that doesn't exactly work into the equation. A different beast so to speak. Bruticus couldn't even stay connected together for any amount of time when Brawl's brain went A.W.O.L.

Ok, I really do like the evidence and the theories about how Getaway is in his own Timeloop. They seem to fit, and it would be the giant twist that would bring it all back together.

But, I thought about this all weekend while thinking about the protectobots, and I have come up with another theory to pose:

All of this did in fact happen. And they did in fact find "cyberutopia". But here's the thing: LL9 showed that Scorponok is in this story, and he is in deep, like he is involved in the Knights stuff. Among the other things that he is involved with is the creation of new artificial cybertronians who can transform into anything and heal themselves from the dead. He also now has the magnificance, something Hot Rod/Rodimus had a starring role in back in its original storyline, and the magnificance can be used to help bring Cybertronians back from the dead.

So, Getaway finds Cyberutopia, they crew gets taken over by Scoroponok and his cronies, the dead are brought back to life, all of them. And then, when the crew of the LL that were thrown off the ship find Cyberutopia, it is defended and manned by their controlled crewmates, some of whom are back from the dead and include a Defensor using Rook again but with Ambulon replacing First Aid.

Along the way to freeing their revived dead friends and stopping Scorponok, Getaway gets hi comeuppance, finds out Skids died, and has a moment with Nautica over how Skids was her best friend but now she can't remember/care because of LL 8 and 9.

Speaking of which, that was an interesting moment when Getaway saw he wasn't Skids' best friend anymore

Sagitta wrote:

o.supreme wrote:^It's a similar situation with Bruticus in TAAO. Swindle was a comatose/dead bot (forget exactly which), but they still combined. I can understand how from a physical perspective. But now mentally, you are only starting out at 80% at best, plus we know that Combiners have to put in intense effort to meld mentally in the first place, having one out of commission makes it all the worse I would think.

True. But with the one being being out of commission does that make the easier for the over-all combiner to control the "dead-metal"...or harder without the additional "mental push"?

I know there was a G1 'toon episode on this: "B.O.T." but that doesn't exactly work into the equation. A different beast so to speak. Bruticus couldn't even stay connected together for any amount of time when Brawl's brain went A.W.O.L.

I actually prefer the original animated continuity, but I consider its explanation of things completely separate from any comic-book universe. Defensor was able to form without First Aid at all in "The Ultimate Weapon", although without and arm he was hindered quite a bit. In the original animated series, I consider Combiners to have their own distinct personality when together, a new personality. Whereas in most comics, the *personality* that emerges from the combiner seems to be a melding of its various components, thus making it much more of a liability if one of them is missing, or dead, unconscious etc... I also like the idea established in Scramble City that a Decepticon (and presumably an Autobot as well), can sabotage a combiners ability to function by disrupting a combination sequence and forcing its way it. . Although if a new component was a willing participant (i.e. Scoop with Devastator) this would allow the combiner to resume optimum functionality. Just my two cents. I can talk about combiners all day

There is a major trend in IDW TF comics where many Autobots are revealed as corrupt in some way, e.g. Getaway, Sandstorm, Prowl, Grimlock, etc. This was one of the problems that caused the civil war in the first place. I'm not surprised but it is depressing to see other Autobots betrayed, injured and killed by their turncoat friends.

Edit: What's the deal with Star Saber turning fanatic? I don't know much about him but he's supposed to be one of the central heroes of the franchise, especially in Japan. He's gone down a very different path in IDW. It's a very big leap. He seems to pop up only to ruin things for others.

If the Autobots can turn evil, we should see more Decepticons turning good. We've already had Megatron, Soundwave, Starscream and Thundercracker (maybe others: I forget). Shockwave did it too, just before he died. The Combaticons got a bit lovey-dovey. I'm waiting for the Stunticons to have a peaceful garden party with cucumber sandwiches for their many human guests!