iTunes Preview for IDW Transformers: Lost Light #18

Always appreciate a Fastball Special .. Still not keen on the colour scheme of Rodimus though. I'm sure there are in-story reasons (and by "coincidence", a new toy) but it's just not him. He was always a character that visually popped, black and purple are far too generic within Transformers.

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:Always appreciate a Fastball Special .. Still not keen on the colour scheme of Rodimus though. I'm sure there are in-story reasons (and by "coincidence", a new toy) but it's just not him. He was always a character that visually popped, black and purple are far too generic within Transformers.

Drift painted him this way to express grief for a fallen friend (Skids) and a promise to kill someone (Getaway).

Nothing at all to do with the promotion an upcoming toyline. Nope, nothing to see here. (/sarcasm)

Actually the only rodimus I've seen in those colours is a third party toy, rodimus unicronus is a different deco that pays far more homage to shattered glass rodimus

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:Always appreciate a Fastball Special .. Still not keen on the colour scheme of Rodimus though. I'm sure there are in-story reasons (and by "coincidence", a new toy) but it's just not him. He was always a character that visually popped, black and purple are far too generic within Transformers.

Nobodies forcing you to ignore the past 30+ years of him being red orange and yellow. It’s one continuity and there is no official toy with that deco.

ZeroWolf wrote:Actually the only rodimus I've seen in those colours is a third party toy, rodimus unicronus is a different deco that pays far more homage to shattered glass rodimus

Agreed. Although both IDW Rodimus and PotP Rodimus have a lot of black and purple, the decos aren't very similar. IDW Rodimus is primarily purple and blue with some black or dark grey highlights. PotP Rodimus takes after the character's Shattered Glass incarnation, and is mostly black and purple with some light grey highlights.

And then there's the Lemmy mustache...

AlphaBass wrote:Drift painted him this way to express grief for a fallen friend (Skids) and a promise to kill someone (Getaway).

Nothing at all to do with the promotion an upcoming toyline. Nope, nothing to see here. (/sarcasm)

Bless your heart, sarcasm only makes you look smart when you're right. Allow me to help.

The inspiration for the toy you didn't name but were alluding to, Rodimus Unicronus, is Shattered Glass Hot Rod as pointed out by many already. He looks like this:


Transformers Convention & Club Exclusives Rodimus Gallery

There is an unofficial toy of this version of Hot Rod. It looks like this:


The same third party made a Lost Light Rodimus. It's an entirely different color scheme:


They're even making an updated version to change the colors to make yet another different version that is, like the first, also not intended to evoke Shattered Glass Hot Rod. That's because they're different things entirely.

Furthermore, the initial look at this dark blue/light blue with purple accents coloration was in July of 2016, so the narrative behind it was likely thought through some time before. While it would have been likely that Hasbro was in initial stages of design work on Leader Rodimus Prime, it's unlikely that redecos had come up by that point.

Is Rodimus' look a possible homage to repaints in general? Very possibly, yes. Was it done to promote a toy that would launch almost two years after the recolor's inception? No, this is implausible and irrational.

Maybe this was overkill, but it struck a nerve. I may have misread your post's tone and you may not have intended for it to be a criticism of the story. If so, my apologies. If it was critical, I'd just say that y'all (the collective in this case and not anyone in particular) are free to not like the book but I'm getting sick of bad hot takes about why you don't.

Don't get disheartened scotty, it's not like their words can actually destroy the legacy of idw continuity.

Randomhero wrote:

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:Always appreciate a Fastball Special .. Still not keen on the colour scheme of Rodimus though. I'm sure there are in-story reasons (and by "coincidence", a new toy) but it's just not him. He was always a character that visually popped, black and purple are far too generic within Transformers.

Nobodies forcing you to ignore the past 30+ years of him being red orange and yellow. It’s one continuity and there is no official toy with that deco.

I'm neither being forced into anything, nor complaining. I simply said I wasn't keen on the colour scheme. Purple, Black, Blue are very predominant colours within Transformers. There is even one of the new characters in LL (name escapes me) that more or less shares the same palette, to the extent they can be visually confused.
The "leader" should usually be visually distinct within most fiction. Whether he is G1 Red/Yellow/Magenta et al in that respect is neither here nor there.

ZeroWolf wrote:Don't get disheartened scotty, it's not like their words can actually destroy the legacy of idw continuity.

Well said! I'm just, phew, my tolerance for BS went out the window at some point this week. This is why Burn, RP, and Cobotron do the modding and I just manage the database and such

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:

Randomhero wrote:

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:Always appreciate a Fastball Special .. Still not keen on the colour scheme of Rodimus though. I'm sure there are in-story reasons (and by "coincidence", a new toy) but it's just not him. He was always a character that visually popped, black and purple are far too generic within Transformers.

Nobodies forcing you to ignore the past 30+ years of him being red orange and yellow. It’s one continuity and there is no official toy with that deco.

I'm neither being forced into anything, nor complaining. I simply said I wasn't keen on the colour scheme. Purple, Black, Blue are very predominant colours within Transformers. There is even one of the new characters in LL (name escapes me) that more or less shares the same palette, to the extent they can be visually confused.
The "leader" should usually be visually distinct within most fiction. Whether he is G1 Red/Yellow/Magenta et al in that respect is neither here nor there.

See, this is a well thought out objection!

I don't agree with it, but it's worth a think and that's rad

Anyway I think it's meant to be another device in the story made to show that while Rodimus has a great deal of potential as a leader, he still has a long way to go. Whenever Magnus is in the same room, even outside of the armor he feels like the de facto leader casting a shadow on Rodimus. It wouldn't surprise me to see a return to his red/yellow closer to the end as a tipping point of some part of his arc.

ScottyP wrote:

AlphaBass wrote:Drift painted him this way to express grief for a fallen friend (Skids) and a promise to kill someone (Getaway).

Nothing at all to do with the promotion an upcoming toyline. Nope, nothing to see here. (/sarcasm)

Bless your heart, sarcasm only makes you look smart when you're right. Allow me to help.

This makes you look like a condescending prick.

misfire19d wrote:

ScottyP wrote:

AlphaBass wrote:Drift painted him this way to express grief for a fallen friend (Skids) and a promise to kill someone (Getaway).

Nothing at all to do with the promotion an upcoming toyline. Nope, nothing to see here. (/sarcasm)

Bless your heart, sarcasm only makes you look smart when you're right. Allow me to help.

This makes you look like a condescending prick.

Not necessary. I agree that it was a condescending comment, but it was directed at AlphaBass. If AlphaBass has a problem with it, they can work it out between them. And if you absolutely feel the need to let Scotty know how you feel, either do it without name-calling, or do it in a PM.

Let us not resort to name calling, please. Thanks much for the defense, but I don't want to start any (more) wars on here

Scotty - my point was more business related, in how toylines can sometimes dictate the direction of a story. My flippant comment was more for that
, but I should have made it more clear, and while Rodimus isn't the best example, I will take my re-education of Lauren Hillimus Prime gladly.

As far as LL's story, which seems to touch a nerve on here, I don't feel the same zeal since Dying of the Light. My post wasn't intended to be directly critical of the story, but I will admit to not being a fan of it. Can I believe that Roddy, ever the hotheaded irrational leader would change his color scheme so drastically? It fits with his character, certainly. But it seemed over the top, even for him (to me at least). And I'd been waiting for that one moment to draw me back in, (like Prime's return in DC, which made me go back and read the Shadowplay trilogy, or Megatron's return in DOTL), and stuff like focusing on a handful of the crew (Anode is as likable as a hammer to the face) and the Protectobots taking (seemingly) an L pushed me further away. Or Getaway's transformation after witnessing the horrors of slaughterhouse. JMO.

I know some don't share the same opinion, and that's great. It's what makes these discussions interesting. Just feel like LL is missing something.

We have two new pieces of cover art from IDW Publishing's comic series Transformers: Lost Light to share with you all, thanks to Previews World and their updated listings. For issue #20 (-5 to the end), Jack Lawrence (and unnamed colourist - Come ON) takes on both a regular variant and the retailer incentive covers, and we get to see not one, but two rematches between some of the most passionately thought about characters in the series so far: Rodimus vs Getaway, and Cyclonus vs Star Saber.

Take a look, read the solicit, and let us know what you think in the Energon Pub.

(W) James Roberts (A) Casey Coller (CA) Jack Lawrence
Rodimus vs. Getaway! Finally!
In Shops: Jul 11, 2018

In other Transformers: Lost Light news today, we have directly from IDW Publishing the full preview for this week's issue of the ongoing series, as we enter the final chapter in the Everlasting Voices story arc - ready to dive into its final story arc with the next issue, as the world ends.

Take a look at the opening pages below, and head back to Seibertron.com after its release for our regular comics review and discussion. It's bound to be a long, big one, too. Trust us.

Transformers: Lost Light #18
James Roberts (w) • Jack Lawrence (a)
LIGHTS OUT! The “Everlasting Voices” trilogy concludes with an explosion of hope, a grave betrayal… and more answers than you can handle! Events of the last six years build to a frenzy of revelations, casting everything that’s gone before in a new—and deadly—light. No exaggeration, no hyperbole: there has never been a more important issue of Lost Light.
FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Bullet points:
Leads directly into the biggest story in the history of the Lost Light!
Cover A: Jack Lawrence
Cover B: Alex Milne
Cover RI: Alex Milne Black & White

huh, I wasn't notified about this. Looking forward to the end of this arc and then the finale.

The newly released cover images finally made it click in my head that the issue with Rodimus vs Getaway and (hopefully) Cyclonus vs Star Saber round 2, yes this issue, is being done by Casey Coller.

I like 95% of IDW's artists a lot, they do a great job. Coller may be on the top of the heap for me, easily up there with Milne as someone I know isn't going to disappoint. Can't wait to see his version of Star Saber!

O love Nautica. I love her as much as I love the ways Lost Light finds rediculous things to say in context But god is she terrifying sometimes. Primus help anyone if dhe decided to go Evil.

And they were just talkimg about laser fingers on the Podcast too...

There's no time for her to go evil now

ZeroWolf wrote:There's no time for her to go evil now

Not saying she even smwould, just saying she managed to bluff a half dozen (admittedly stupid) Decepticons with the old finger gun trick. What could she do if she really wanted to?

Become the true emperor of destruction...I mean...empress of destruction. I do hope all these new characters appear in the new continuity

Wingblade, given the unnatural push HasTak is making to push her into all media, is practically a certainty in the new continuity. I doubt any other new character, other than Drift maybe, will survive the leap.

Don't be too sure, nautica got a toy afterall.

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:Wingblade, given the unnatural push HasTak is making to push her into all media, is practically a certainty in the new continuity. I doubt any other new character, other than Drift maybe, will survive the leap.

Oh BS. If it’s a popular character they’ll return. It’s a new continuity of G1 and that roster just grows and grows thanks to IDW and new toys coming out. Characters like Xaaron, rack and ruin, Impactor all made their transition from the UK made their way into the current ara of transformers and characters like Nautica, Rung, Tarn, Roller, Tappet, Turmoil and Mistress of Flame will make their way too.

Not right away but eventually the fan favorite characters IDW created will show up.

This new continuity will be two things:

Radically different or a soft reboot to G1 with the 84 toyline being the focus like everything these days. Crash landing on earth, a small group of humans discovering them and making friends and fighting the Decepticons who are evil because they’re written to be evil.

It’s the thing now. Reboot it to the status quo because it’s safe

Actually it happened with DW as well as characters like the Fallen, who jumped into other media.

If they have a toy, they have a better chance of survival.

Randomhero wrote: a soft reboot to G1 with the 84 toyline being the focus like everything these days. Crash landing on earth, a small group of humans discovering them and making friends and fighting the Decepticons who are evil because they’re written to be evil.

Addressing the Elephant in the room, but when has this actually happened, post-1984???

Dream Wave, perhaps? Outside of that, which I haven't read so wouldn't know, No cartoon or comic I've seen has ever reused the 1984 framework. IDW certainly didn't, nor did Beast Wars/Machines and the cartoons that followed them. I see a lot of chatter decrying this as a certainty, but I don't know where the basis for it stems from?

Transformers isn't really in the same boat as say, He-Man. Wherein the 2002 cartoon & toys predominantly relied on appealing to the nostalgia of it's original fanbase. Mattel realised too late, that to exclusively fixate on the old fans is a liability to your future success IE The show and toyline were soon cancelled and other than a single comic, He-Man hasn't been onscreen and/or relevant to pop culture in 15/16 years.

I didn't think the recent DC heman series was that bad. Also didn't Animated start with the bits crash landing on earth, befriending humans and fighting evil cons? And the same with Prime?

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:If they have a toy, they have a better chance of survival.

Randomhero wrote: a soft reboot to G1 with the 84 toyline being the focus like everything these days. Crash landing on earth, a small group of humans discovering them and making friends and fighting the Decepticons who are evil because they’re written to be evil.

Addressing the Elephant in the room, but when has this actually happened, post-1984???

Dream Wave, perhaps? Outside of that, which I haven't read so wouldn't know, No cartoon or comic I've seen has ever reused the 1984 framework. IDW certainly didn't, nor did Beast Wars/Machines and the cartoons that followed them. I see a lot of chatter decrying this as a certainty, but I don't know where the basis for it stems from?

Transformers isn't really in the same boat as say, He-Man. Wherein the 2002 cartoon & toys predominantly relied on appealing to the nostalgia of it's original fanbase. Mattel realised too late, that to exclusively fixate on the old fans is a liability to your future success IE The show and toyline were soon cancelled and other than a single comic, He-Man hasn't been onscreen and/or relevant to pop culture in 15/16 years.

IDW did do it though. Just last year with retconning hearts of steel. Transformers crashing on earth and fighting. Granted it was all the machinations if shockwave but it’s still happened

Armada did it too. The cartoon and comics had the minicons crash on earth and starting the war there.

Devils due did it too with their Transformers VS G.I. Joe series

And don’t forget about animated. That was the start too. Crashing on earth

Also you should probably go back and watch beast wars. It opens with the maximals and predacons fighting in orbit and crashing on earth lol

Also beast machines revealed they also crashed when they came home

Edit: oh! Don’t forget RID that also dealt with a ship crash landing on earth releasing a bunch of Decepticons

ZeroWolf wrote:I didn't think the recent DC heman series was that bad. Also didn't Animated start with the bits crash landing on earth, befriending humans and fighting evil cons? And the same with Prime?

The DC Helman series was a wonderful mess that I enjoyed until I got so confused by stuff happening I gave up.

Randomhero wrote:

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:If they have a toy, they have a better chance of survival.

Randomhero wrote: a soft reboot to G1 with the 84 toyline being the focus like everything these days. Crash landing on earth, a small group of humans discovering them and making friends and fighting the Decepticons who are evil because they’re written to be evil.

Addressing the Elephant in the room, but when has this actually happened, post-1984???

Dream Wave, perhaps? Outside of that, which I haven't read so wouldn't know, No cartoon or comic I've seen has ever reused the 1984 framework. IDW certainly didn't, nor did Beast Wars/Machines and the cartoons that followed them. I see a lot of chatter decrying this as a certainty, but I don't know where the basis for it stems from?

Transformers isn't really in the same boat as say, He-Man. Wherein the 2002 cartoon & toys predominantly relied on appealing to the nostalgia of it's original fanbase. Mattel realised too late, that to exclusively fixate on the old fans is a liability to your future success IE The show and toyline were soon cancelled and other than a single comic, He-Man hasn't been onscreen and/or relevant to pop culture in 15/16 years.

IDW did do it though. Just last year with retconning hearts of steel. Transformers crashing on earth and fighting. Granted it was all the machinations if shockwave but it’s still happened

Armada did it too. The cartoon and comics had the minicons crash on earth and starting the war there.

Devils due did it too with their Transformers VS G.I. Joe series

And don’t forget about animated. That was the start too. Crashing on earth

Also you should probably go back and watch beast wars. It opens with the maximals and predacons fighting in orbit and crashing on earth lol

Also beast machines revealed they also crashed when they came home

Edit: oh! Don’t forget RID that also dealt with a ship crash landing on earth releasing a bunch of Decepticons

Moral of this story: Cybertronians are TERRIBLE Pilots.

Flashwave wrote:

Randomhero wrote:

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:If they have a toy, they have a better chance of survival.

Randomhero wrote: a soft reboot to G1 with the 84 toyline being the focus like everything these days. Crash landing on earth, a small group of humans discovering them and making friends and fighting the Decepticons who are evil because they’re written to be evil.

Addressing the Elephant in the room, but when has this actually happened, post-1984???

Dream Wave, perhaps? Outside of that, which I haven't read so wouldn't know, No cartoon or comic I've seen has ever reused the 1984 framework. IDW certainly didn't, nor did Beast Wars/Machines and the cartoons that followed them. I see a lot of chatter decrying this as a certainty, but I don't know where the basis for it stems from?

Transformers isn't really in the same boat as say, He-Man. Wherein the 2002 cartoon & toys predominantly relied on appealing to the nostalgia of it's original fanbase. Mattel realised too late, that to exclusively fixate on the old fans is a liability to your future success IE The show and toyline were soon cancelled and other than a single comic, He-Man hasn't been onscreen and/or relevant to pop culture in 15/16 years.

IDW did do it though. Just last year with retconning hearts of steel. Transformers crashing on earth and fighting. Granted it was all the machinations if shockwave but it’s still happened

Armada did it too. The cartoon and comics had the minicons crash on earth and starting the war there.

Devils due did it too with their Transformers VS G.I. Joe series

And don’t forget about animated. That was the start too. Crashing on earth

Also you should probably go back and watch beast wars. It opens with the maximals and predacons fighting in orbit and crashing on earth lol

Also beast machines revealed they also crashed when they came home

Edit: oh! Don’t forget RID that also dealt with a ship crash landing on earth releasing a bunch of Decepticons

Moral of this story: Cybertronians are TERRIBLE Pilots.

Movies too! The ark crashed on the moon in dark of the moon!

And megatron crashed on earth in the first movie. Only series where I think no one crashed was the first rid and prime.

ZeroWolf wrote:And megatron crashed on earth in the first movie. Only series where I think no one crashed was the first rid and prime.

Scourges commando crew in RID I think and Wheeljack in prime. Though those arnt things that kicked off the series as a theme

So how about issue 18, eh? Loved it and without giving anything away, it delivered on a big twist in a smart way that's way cooler and more sinister than anything I'd speculated.

ScottyP wrote:So how about issue 18, eh? Loved it and without giving anything away, it delivered on a big twist in a smart way that's way cooler and more sinister than anything I'd speculated.

I dunno yet...... it could be (and I hope and believe it is) brilliant, or it could be a horrible cop out.


Either way, I didn't see it coming.

Randomhero wrote:

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:If they have a toy, they have a better chance of survival.

Randomhero wrote: a soft reboot to G1 with the 84 toyline being the focus like everything these days. Crash landing on earth, a small group of humans discovering them and making friends and fighting the Decepticons who are evil because they’re written to be evil.

Addressing the Elephant in the room, but when has this actually happened, post-1984???

Dream Wave, perhaps? Outside of that, which I haven't read so wouldn't know, No cartoon or comic I've seen has ever reused the 1984 framework. IDW certainly didn't, nor did Beast Wars/Machines and the cartoons that followed them. I see a lot of chatter decrying this as a certainty, but I don't know where the basis for it stems from?

Transformers isn't really in the same boat as say, He-Man. Wherein the 2002 cartoon & toys predominantly relied on appealing to the nostalgia of it's original fanbase. Mattel realised too late, that to exclusively fixate on the old fans is a liability to your future success IE The show and toyline were soon cancelled and other than a single comic, He-Man hasn't been onscreen and/or relevant to pop culture in 15/16 years.

IDW did do it though. Just last year with retconning hearts of steel. Transformers crashing on earth and fighting. Granted it was all the machinations if shockwave but it’s still happened

Armada did it too. The cartoon and comics had the minicons crash on earth and starting the war there.

Devils due did it too with their Transformers VS G.I. Joe series

And don’t forget about animated. That was the start too. Crashing on earth

Also you should probably go back and watch beast wars. It opens with the maximals and predacons fighting in orbit and crashing on earth lol

Also beast machines revealed they also crashed when they came home

Edit: oh! Don’t forget RID that also dealt with a ship crash landing on earth releasing a bunch of Decepticons

Let's break this down.

Crash landing on earth,

Oh I see, so just by using this single trope, it means they are replicating G1 origins?

Really??? It just makes them all lousy pilots.

G1 with the 84 toyline being the focus like everything these days.

How many of them did this exactly? Think hard...

Beast Wars/Machines?

RiD/Car Robots?

Unicron Trilogy?

Animated?

Prime?

a small group of humans discovering them and making friends and fighting the Decepticons who are evil because they’re written to be evil.

As I do know what I'm talking about with Beast Wars, none of that applies. There were no humans (thankfully) and Megatron bribed a crew to fulfill a secret mission.

The other series perhaps but it was done with a contemporary setting. No One went back to 1984, it's human characters or even Autobot City (only recently has IDW even picked up this concept)etc .

There was no retread of any of the Sunbow/Marvel story beats either, given the rosters all varied wildly, only references and homages.

Rid/Car Robots: the Autobots were already heavily entrenched on Earth.

Unicron Trilogy: they all went to Earth in search of Minicons

Animated: they were cadets

Prime: was animated Bayformers/aligned continuity

None of these were Sunbow/Marvel/Takara Reboots, other than superficial similarities and with good reason. Those writers and artists that grew up with it don't want to repeat it, they want to put their own ideas into the setting they know.


Lastly, it may be a point of contention for some, but I still see Megatron:Origin and Infiltration as the beginning of IDWverse. Not some lazy retcon after thought. In print, as per the IDW HC Collection, those two stories are the first of book one, so that is all I need to know.

Ironhidensh wrote:

ScottyP wrote:So how about issue 18, eh? Loved it and without giving anything away, it delivered on a big twist in a smart way that's way cooler and more sinister than anything I'd speculated.

I dunno yet...... it could be (and I hope and believe it is) brilliant, or it could be a horrible cop out.


Either way, I didn't see it coming.

I think there's still more to it that's unresolved, to the point where it can't be a cop-out. The namedrop of Troja Major may help to serve as a reminder that Agonizer pointed out five crests to Velocity and Nautica, yet the flashback to the Knights of Cybertron arriving to Mederi only shows one on the banners.

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:

Randomhero wrote:

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:If they have a toy, they have a better chance of survival.

Randomhero wrote: a soft reboot to G1 with the 84 toyline being the focus like everything these days. Crash landing on earth, a small group of humans discovering them and making friends and fighting the Decepticons who are evil because they’re written to be evil.

Addressing the Elephant in the room, but when has this actually happened, post-1984???

Dream Wave, perhaps? Outside of that, which I haven't read so wouldn't know, No cartoon or comic I've seen has ever reused the 1984 framework. IDW certainly didn't, nor did Beast Wars/Machines and the cartoons that followed them. I see a lot of chatter decrying this as a certainty, but I don't know where the basis for it stems from?

Transformers isn't really in the same boat as say, He-Man. Wherein the 2002 cartoon & toys predominantly relied on appealing to the nostalgia of it's original fanbase. Mattel realised too late, that to exclusively fixate on the old fans is a liability to your future success IE The show and toyline were soon cancelled and other than a single comic, He-Man hasn't been onscreen and/or relevant to pop culture in 15/16 years.

IDW did do it though. Just last year with retconning hearts of steel. Transformers crashing on earth and fighting. Granted it was all the machinations if shockwave but it’s still happened

Armada did it too. The cartoon and comics had the minicons crash on earth and starting the war there.

Devils due did it too with their Transformers VS G.I. Joe series

And don’t forget about animated. That was the start too. Crashing on earth

Also you should probably go back and watch beast wars. It opens with the maximals and predacons fighting in orbit and crashing on earth lol

Also beast machines revealed they also crashed when they came home

Edit: oh! Don’t forget RID that also dealt with a ship crash landing on earth releasing a bunch of Decepticons

Let's break this down.

Crash landing on earth,

Oh I see, so just by using this single trope, it means they are replicating G1 origins?

Really??? It just makes them all lousy pilots.

G1 with the 84 toyline being the focus like everything these days.

How many of them did this exactly? Think hard...

Beast Wars/Machines?

RiD/Car Robots?

Unicron Trilogy?

Animated?

Prime?

a small group of humans discovering them and making friends and fighting the Decepticons who are evil because they’re written to be evil.

As I do know what I'm talking about with Beast Wars, none of that applies. There were no humans (thankfully) and Megatron bribed a crew to fulfill a secret mission.

The other series perhaps but it was done with a contemporary setting. No One went back to 1984, it's human characters or even Autobot City (only recently has IDW even picked up this concept)etc .

There was no retread of any of the Sunbow/Marvel story beats either, given the rosters all varied wildly, only references and homages.

Rid/Car Robots: the Autobots were already heavily entrenched on Earth.

Unicron Trilogy: they all went to Earth in search of Minicons

Animated: they were cadets

Prime: was animated Bayformers/aligned continuity

None of these were Sunbow/Marvel/Takara Reboots, other than superficial similarities and with good reason. Those writers and artists that grew up with it don't want to repeat it, they want to put their own ideas into the setting they know.


Lastly, it may be a point of contention for some, but I still see Megatron:Origin and Infiltration as the beginning of IDWverse. Not some lazy retcon after thought. In print, as per the IDW HC Collection, those two stories are the first of book one, so that is all I need to know.

The minicons still woke up and a signal was sent to cybertron which brought the autobots to earth.

Beast wars still counts because by season three they maximal did end up betting protohumans and making friends with them.

You can only count megatron origins as much as you want and not care for retcon but you’re hitting personal fanon then. It can’t be ignored. It happened.

Ironhidensh wrote:

ScottyP wrote:So how about issue 18, eh? Loved it and without giving anything away, it delivered on a big twist in a smart way that's way cooler and more sinister than anything I'd speculated.

I dunno yet...... it could be (and I hope and believe it is) brilliant, or it could be a horrible cop out.


Either way, I didn't see it coming.

I did. I called it two months ago and mentioned that the sparkeater army is gonna be the crew of the lost light that mutinied.

There’s only one way to make a spark eater. Brainstorms gun. Brainstorm built it to mimick the effects of the one they ran into and thanks to time travel it created the myth of them and created the one who was on the lost light.

That very gun was still on the ship that made it Cyberutopia. Drifts flashback showed the army, pharma and the lost light. We know pharmas body was dragged through the portal, the lost light followed the map.

If I had to make a guess again. The lost light was captured. The grand architect which his faction of people who’s goal is experimenting on cybertronians captured the crew, getaway makes a deal because he has knowledge to help them because he never reveals all he knows. Sells out the crew for whatever reason benefited himself. Pharma finds the gun, uses it as revenge against them foiling Tyrest’s plans back in MTMTE.


Oh and tyrests is back and is the Architects right hand which brings back all the loose ends from the series.

Randomhero wrote:
The minicons still woke up and a signal was sent to cybertron which brought the autobots to earth.

Yes and how is that related to G1?

Beast wars still counts because by season three they maximal did end up betting protohumans and making friends with them.

They "made friends" is a kind appraisal. They were virtually Neanderthals, they had no real perception of anything going on around them. They were hardly Miko, Sari or the Witwicky's.

You can only count megatron origins as much as you want and not care for retcon but you’re hitting personal fanon then. It can’t be ignored. It happened.

It's not about what I "want", Fanon or any of that meaningless stuff. It's what IDW states in print.



Show me in this book, where it says otherwise?

Randomhero wrote:

Ironhidensh wrote:

ScottyP wrote:So how about issue 18, eh? Loved it and without giving anything away, it delivered on a big twist in a smart way that's way cooler and more sinister than anything I'd speculated.

I dunno yet...... it could be (and I hope and believe it is) brilliant, or it could be a horrible cop out.


Either way, I didn't see it coming.

I did. I called it two months ago and mentioned that the sparkeater army is gonna be the crew of the lost light that mutinied.

I was referring to the revelation about the Knights of Cybertron, or at least that one 'clan' of then. Regardless, full marks indeed for calling it on the Mutineers!

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:

Randomhero wrote:
The minicons still woke up and a signal was sent to cybertron which brought the autobots to earth.

Yes and how is that related to G1?

Beast wars still counts because by season three they maximal did end up betting protohumans and making friends with them.

They "made friends" is a kind appraisal. They were virtually Neanderthals, they had no real perception of anything going on around them. They were hardly Miko, Sari or the Witwicky's.

You can only count megatron origins as much as you want and not care for retcon but you’re hitting personal fanon then. It can’t be ignored. It happened.

It's not about what I "want", Fanon or any of that meaningless stuff. It's what IDW states in print.



Show me in this book, where it says otherwise?

It’s a retelling if the classic story. Crash landing on earth the bringing the war there.

Look you started it saying you don’t know anywhere post G1 that told the crash landing on and starting the war and making human friends. Myself and others have pointed out it’s happened all over the franchise in the spans of post G1

The point is people have been saying "oh the reboot will mean going back to 1984 all over again" and my point was that no one has. They may have taken influences from it, but that's all. No writer/artist wants to retell Sunbow/Marvel/Takara. It was of it's time and as the years go by, only the character designs retain their relevance.

Crashing a spaceship and using Earth as a backdrop isn't exclusive to G1 either.

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:The point is people have been saying "oh the reboot will mean going back to 1984 all over again" and my point was that no one has. They may have taken influences from it, but that's all. No writer/artist wants to retell Sunbow/Marvel/Takara. It was of it's time and as the years go by, only the character designs retain their relevance.

Crashing a spaceship and using Earth as a backdrop isn't exclusive to G1 either.

Animated did! Armada did! Beast wars did it! The writers full on admit that was their aim. Animated even full on opened with footage from wardawn as archive footage. Beast wars did the same, two enemy’s ships fighting in earth orbits and they shoot each other down.

Crashing on earth is a trope in transformers. The wiki even makes jokes on the works page about being designs to crash!

Yes but, in closing as this is going on too long, not one iteration did it to the same effect. Everyone who crashed got up more or less instantly and carried on their lives. No other series crashed into a dormant volcano and "slept" for millions of years.

The Animated "footage" is also a bit of a hot potato within the community, I have discovered elsewhere.

The bottom line is it is Homage and nothing more. The aim of the writers and series above is only that. Acknowledge it, as easter eggs, for the ever diminishing fans of yesterday and then move on to the New thing. No one wants to go backwards.

Synopsis
LIGHTS OUT! The “Everlasting Voices” trilogy concludes with an explosion of hope, a grave betrayal… and more answers than you can handle! Events of the last six years build to a frenzy of revelations, casting everything that’s gone before in a new—and deadly—light. No exaggeration, no hyperbole: there has never been a more important issue of Lost Light.



Story
We reach the final stages of the penultimate arc in this ongoing series and saga, as will be the case for its parallel series Optimus Prime, and the Lost Light comics take a shape that will be familiar to many, unexpected to several, called on by a couple of speculators, and still managing quite a punch - with some cautionary reserves - as it steps onto the next level of the Space Opera with Sad Gay Robots.



I also feel the need to begin here with an initial disclaimer: on my first read, I was not overly impressed at some of the turns that James Roberts' script had taken, though I recognised the craft in the narrative and having several threads actually run through since the very beginning. And I mean the VERY Beginning of beginnings.



And in the vein of moving back to roots and develop story cappings, fans of the More Than Meets the Eye initial, new, fresh feeling, with all of its urgency and ambition is captured almost entirely in this one issue - by retreading some of the ground that was laid back then, in The Quest, in the characters' dynamics, in the acceptance of some sort of end, and some



So if I started the first notes on this issue by being annoyed (to myself) about the sheer amount of denouement that this trilogy cap brings to the readers' table, narrative- and emotion-wise, I was able to come round to how the issue approaches those answers, what it leaves yet to explore, and how finely Roberts balances the pacing for the entirety of it.


Art
Jack Lawrence is the artist of the Lost Light series. I know there is a direct continuation between MTMTE and LL, but Lost Light is a different (not better, not worse) book in its tone at least, and Lawrence is a big part of what makes it all click. If to all of that you add some seriously masterful layouts, some excruciating reaction scenes, and one touch of smirk-inducing parallelism with MTMTE, you have one of the strongest displays yet in the whole run.



A display that is only made fully possible by the colour combinations of Lawrence's partner in art Joana Lafuente, and her skills at bringing some of the harder hitting moments home with the muting or heightening of the shading and lighting are exactly what the book needed in some of the more crucial moments in the second half.



As shown above, there are also plenty of moments for letterer Tom B Long to shine, with some font work that fits the work we've seen on the Scavengers issues, and the perfect placement of dialogue that is - this time, and very nicely so - essential and kept close to the heart of the story and its characters.

If you were looking for any of the variant covers, you can always find them in our database entry for the issue, including both Alex Milne and Josh Perez versions of the Cast Doing Things - be it be shocked or ..a different kind of shocked, as shown in the thumbnail for this review.

Thoughts
Spoilerish ahead

If I started questioning the negatives of the issue's storyline, I ended appreciating what it did - and wonderfully so in its visual (re)presentation from the team - and it was ScottyP who phrased it best in staff discussions: it did a great job of giving you an answer while leaving the answer ambiguous enough. Not only that, it never lost its core while exploring all of the corollaries.



And so, we reach the end, as we start The End in the final pages and following weeks. A lot of what was propelling, under the surface, some of the driving narratives have been somewhat dealt with right now - but there is more, so much more to come in one monster of an arc - and they have received what is possibly the best ending to that story that could've been set out. That is no mean feat.

Actually while it wasn’t millions of years, the autobots in animated were asleep long enough for sari's dad to age from a kid to an adult.

Edit: didn't realise that the review appeared when I quick posted good review but if threads are being brought together here, what's that mean for the final arc? Will any of it link to unicron?

Oh AllNewSuperRobot, regarding about what random hero said about hearts of steel predating infiltration (I.e. tfs on earth) that is a very, very recent development that happened after that hardback collection started. So he is technically right.

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:Yes but, in closing as this is going on too long, not one iteration did it to the same effect. Everyone who crashed got up more or less instantly and carried on their lives. No other series crashed into a dormant volcano and "slept" for millions of years.

The Animated "footage" is also a bit of a hot potato within the community, I have discovered elsewhere.

The bottom line is it is Homage and nothing more. The aim of the writers and series above is only that. Acknowledge it, as easter eggs, for the ever diminishing fans of yesterday and then move on to the New thing. No one wants to go backwards.

Beast wars did as an homeage but everything after decided to use it an introducer for the universe

But they were still using it as an introduction point. It wasn’t until IDW and Simon Furman decided they want to essentially make Ultimate Transformers like marvel had done with their ultimate comics. Modernize them.

My point is if IDW decides to play it safe, they’ll probably do a soft reboot and start the new continuity with them crashing on earth. It’s something that by now is really familiar and a story that will not only attract the fans but hopefully attract the new readers or the ones that didn’t like the IDW-verse.

You start with the autobots crashing on earth you’re gonna get the fans that haven’t read the comics saying “I recognize that! I’m gonna check this out.”

That’s what Dreamwave did, that’s what beast wars did. And animated and armada and so on. It’s something people remembered from the original and can find something to attach to.

Randomhero wrote:

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:Yes but, in closing as this is going on too long, not one iteration did it to the same effect. Everyone who crashed got up more or less instantly and carried on their lives. No other series crashed into a dormant volcano and "slept" for millions of years.

The Animated "footage" is also a bit of a hot potato within the community, I have discovered elsewhere.

The bottom line is it is Homage and nothing more. The aim of the writers and series above is only that. Acknowledge it, as easter eggs, for the ever diminishing fans of yesterday and then move on to the New thing. No one wants to go backwards.

Beast wars did as an homeage but everything after decided to use it an introducer for the universe

But they were still using it as an introduction point. It wasn’t until IDW and Simon Furman decided they want to essentially make Ultimate Transformers like marvel had done with their ultimate comics. Modernize them.

My point is if IDW decides to play it safe, they’ll probably do a soft reboot and start the new continuity with them crashing on earth. It’s something that by now is really familiar and a story that will not only attract the fans but hopefully attract the new readers or the ones that didn’t like the IDW-verse.

You start with the autobots crashing on earth you’re gonna get the fans that haven’t read the comics saying “I recognize that! I’m gonna check this out.”

That’s what Dreamwave did, that’s what beast wars did. And animated and armada and so on. It’s something people remembered from the original and can find something to attach to.

But out of all the fans who didn't check out the comics, how many of them wouldn't be familiar with something that did take a different route? Like the people who jumped on during the aligned continuity or something?

Either way, my preference would be to keep the comics off earth for a while. In basically every continuity, Earth is the end of the war, a turning point. I'd like to see them start sometime before they get to Earth.

Exposition-heavy nonsense. I'm not complaining about the choices, such as the end of the quest and where they are etc etc, but as a read that was atrocious.

Characters were stood around explaining the plot to each other for page after page after page. It didn't read as revelatory, nor as a logical conclusion. Ha, certainly not. It was a huge narrative leap, and it was like listening to characters read aloud from a wiki entry.

Awful IMO.