The Transformers: Lost Light
From Transformers Wiki
This article is about the comic series. For the title starship, see Lost Light. |
The Transformers: Lost Light is a finished comic series, a rebranded version of and sequel to The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye. Debuting in December 2016, it ran alongside sister titles Optimus Prime and Till All Are One. The story is basically 'Season 3' of More Than Meets The Eye and leads up to "the grand finale" over two years.[1] Lost Light concluded with issue #25 in November 2018 as part of the ending of the IDW Universe.
« | The Transformers: Lost Light issues | ||
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Contents |
Overview
In the wake of the confrontation with the Decepticon Justice Division on Necroworld, the marooned Team Rodimus attempts to return to the Lost Light with the help of the "Disappeared"—the various time travelling Transformers plucked from across time and space. Among them are runaway blacksmith-turned adventurer Anode and her partner Lug, who struggle to adjust to the present day as they deal with demons from their past.
Before Team Rodimus can get offworld, a rogue geobomb, courtesy of the Galactic Council shunts the planet into an entirely different universe. When Rodimus and a small crew of Autobots attempt to return to Cybertron, they find themselves in the middle of an alternate Cybertron, where Megatron was never born and Functionism reigns supreme. The Lost Light crew find themselves embroiled in the Council's plot to consolidate their power by crushing the heroic Anti-Vocationist League and their supporters. With the help of the native universe's Rung — his true function finally revealed — the Autobots manage to foil their plan and return home... but accidentally leave Megatron behind. Taking command of the AVL, Megatron and his old friend Terminus start their revolution anew.
The crew of the Lost Light finally get offworld in a mass displaced Decepticon, but Tailgate, his mutating outlier powers growing increasingly destructive and erratic, volunteers to stay behind in the hopes that a cure can be found for his condition. Fangry, his pride wounded by an earlier encounter with the super-powered Autobot, takes advantage of the situation to bury him alive for another six million years.
With Team Rodimus back to their search, Nautica leads a small group in an excursion to Troja Major under the pretense of investigating a map to Cyberutopia she believes a Decepticon contact of hers might have. Nautica's true motive however is a Resus piece of Knight's technology she believed to be in the markets, with the aim of using it to resurrect Skids, whose brain module she has kept hidden behind her eyepatch. Meanwhile, Lug and Anode find a strange Transformer who is quickly killed by the Black Block Consortia, before running into a Blacksmith friend, Wipe-Out. Right behind them are soldiers of the Grand Architect, here to kill their former blacksmith associates. The blacksmiths and Lug escape as the troops deem them less important than reobtaining the Consortia's victim as well as confront its creator, another associate of the architect and the very merchant The price for Skid's life is high, and Nautica sells her emotions towards Skids to pay the cost, almost losing her emotions towards best friend Lotty too, before finally hearing her upset friend's words and accepting that Skids had chosen to give his life to save them. This decision narrowly saves both of their lives as they escape the Architect's troops here to forcefully claim the device, returning it to the Grand Architect, Scorponok!. Returning to the ship, disaster strikes the team as the mass-displaced Skip starts reverting to smaller size, Ratchet starts disappearing and Ten starts speaking! About the fate of the universe depending on the imminently dead crew doing what he says, too!
Back on the Lost Light, Getaway finds the deceptive foundations of his new captaincy fragile, and so makes a deal with some devils, Froid and Sunder, using their skills to keep things in control in exchange for feeding members of the crew to the latter. The Protectobots return to a suspicious welcome, and just as quickly leave with the addition of a rescued Thunderclash and some casualties thanks to another deadly ally of Getaway's. Despite the carnage, Getaway is happy; thanks to spacetime portals known as The Warren, he has lead the quest to victory, Cyberutopia awaits...
Somewhere else, The Scavengers make a new friend who is not happy to be there but unable to reach her commander on her communicator. They all get captured by Scorponok, reuniting Grimlock with his old foe. They discover Scorponok has created an organic Decepticon complete with spark, the goal to exploit organic procreation of this genetically engineered species and harvest the sparks for mechanical bodies to restore the dwindling number of Decepticons. The Scavengers get the upper hand however, rescuing the Firstborn and obtaining The Magnificence from him before fighting their way off the ship. However, they learn from the Magnificence that the transmat would kill the Firstborn, so Grimlock takes her and forces his friends into the Transmat. Grimlock is left singlehandedly fighting off Scorponok's troops, while the Scavengers are surprised to find themselves in the abandoned prison cell of Grimlock within the abandoned Garrus-9 facility with no way out, trapped forever...
Team Rodimus wake up, unsure of how they survived their predicament. The first answer they find, they are all dead and this is the Afterspark. The last thing any of them can remember is Ten attempting to direct the ship to Mederi to save them before the mass-displacement completely gave out, leaving the crew to desperately bail out into space. Some believe and make peace, while others remain skeptical. Rodimus, of course, demands to speak to the people in charge, the Guiding Hand.
Creative team
James Roberts returns as the writer. Due to IDW editorial wanting a fresh artistic start, UK artist Jack Lawrence replaces previous More than Meets the Eye mainstay Alex Milne, with Milne providing alternate covers for issues.[2] Milne later provided art for issue #13 of the series. Joana Lafuente continues to provide colours for most issues, continuing from More than Meets the Eye #29.
Priscilla Tramontano provided art for #8-#9, while Andrew Griffith covered the four-page interlude of issue #12. The 'Scavengers' arc from #14-15 had its art duties shared by Sara Pitre-Durocher and Brendan Cahill. E. J. Su returned to the Transformers series for the beginning of the series final arc, issue #19. Scheduled for bi-monthly release until its end, Cahill will return for #22 and #24, with Casey Coller working on #20.[3]
Soundtrack
Continuing the tradition started in More than Meets the Eye, Roberts posted songs on his Twitter as an unofficial soundtrack for each issue leading up to their release. As its predecessor's third "season", it gets its own theme song. Additionally, in October 2018, leading up to the release of issue #25, Roberts built up a playlist for the series including a mixture of new and old songs; the new ones are listed here.
- "Graycoated Morning" by David & the Citizens[4]
- "Still Fighting it" by Ben Folds — theme song for Rung[5]
- "Small World" by Roddy Frame[6]
- "Wild Roses" by Bill Ryder-Jones[7]
- ""Nobody Does it Better" by Carly Simon — theme song for Skids[8]
Collections
- Transformers: Lost Light Volume 1 (October 25, 2017) ISBN 1631409921 / ISBN 978-1631409929
- Collects Lost Light issues #1–6.
- Bonus material includes a cover gallery.
- Trade paperback format.
- Transformers: Lost Light Volume 2 (February 14, 2018) ISBN 1684051487 / ISBN 978-1684051489
- Collects Lost Light issues #7–12.
- Bonus material includes a cover gallery.
- Trade paperback format.
- Transformers: Lost Light Volume 3 (August 15, 2018) ISBN 1684053315 / ISBN 978-1684053315
- Collects Lost Light issues #13–18.
- Bonus material includes a cover gallery.
- Trade paperback format.
- Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection Volume 79: Primeless (November 14, 2018)
- Collects Optimus Prime issues #9–12, and Lost Light issues #9–12.
- Bonus material includes information about the end of the IDW Universe, a cover gallery and an intro by Simon Furman.
- Hardcover format.
- Transformers: Lost Light Volume 4 (January 30, 2019) ISBN 1684054109 / ISBN 978-1684054107
- Collects Lost Light issues #19–25.
- Bonus material includes a cover gallery.
- Trade paperback format.
- Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection Volume 77: Dissolution (September 4, 2019)
- Collects Lost Light issues #1–8.
- Bonus material includes a sketch gallery by Jack Lawrence, a cover gallery and an intro by Simon Furman.
- Hardcover format.
Lost Light Volume 1 – cover art by Jack Lawrence and Joana Lafuente
Lost Light Volume 2 – cover art by Alex Milne and Josh Perez
The Definitive G1 Collection Volume 79: Primeless – cover art by Don Figueroa and Livio Ramondelli
Lost Light Volume 4 – cover art by Nick Roche and Josh Burcham
The Definitive G1 Collection Volume 77: Dissolution – cover art by Dreamwave and Jack Lawrence
- Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection Volume 86: The Everlasting Voices (July 1, 2020)
- Collects Lost Light issues #13–18.
- Bonus material includes the first half of Transformers: Historia (up to Last Stand of the Wreckers), including the Windblade profile, a cover gallery and an intro by Simon Furman.
- Hardcover format.
- Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection Volume 87: Crucible (July 29, 2020)
- Collects Lost Light issues #19–24.
- Bonus material includes the second half of Transformers: Historia, including the Optimus Prime profile, a cover gallery and an intro by Simon Furman.
- Hardcover format.
- Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection Volume 88: Unicron (August 26, 2020)
- The Transformers: The IDW Collection Phase Three: Volume 2 (April 6, 2022) ISBN 1684058775 / ISBN 978-1684058778
- Collects Till All Are One issues #9–12, Optimus Prime issues #1–6, and Lost Light issues #1–7.
- Hardcover format.
- Transformers: Best of Hot Rod (May 4, 2022)
- Collects Autocracy #10: "Rise", Spotlight: Hot Rod, The Transformers (1984) #254: "White Fire", Lost Light #20: "Crucible (Part 2): Lūstrāre", Regeneration One #100: "The War to End All Wars, Part 5", and Transformers Annual 1989: "Peace".
- Bonus material includes an art gallery.
- One-shot format.
- The Transformers: The IDW Collection Phase Three: Volume 3 (September 27, 2022) ISBN 1684059070 / ISBN 978-1684059072
- Collects Revolutionaries issues #5–8, Hasbro Heroes Sourcebook #2: "Upgrade", Lost Light issues issues #8–9 & #10–12, Optimus Prime issues #7–8 & #9–10, Transformers Annual 2017, and Salvation.
- Hardcover format.
The Definitive G1 Collection Volume 87: Crucible – cover art by Dreamwave, Casey Coller and Tom B. Long
The Definitive G1 Collection Volume 88: Unicron – cover art by Dreamwave and Alex Milne
The IDW Collection Phase Three: Volume 2 – cover art by Sara Pitre-Durocher
Best of Hot Rod – cover art by James Biggie
- Transformers: Best of Grimlock (October 19, 2022)
- Collects Secrets & Lies #4, Transformers Annual 1986: "Victory!", Generation 2 #4: "Devices and Desires!", King Grimlock #1: "Grimlock the Rebel!", and Lost Light #15: "Kill All 'Cons!".
- Bonus material includes an art gallery.
- One-shot format.
Notes
- Roberts had always planned the series would end with them running into the Knights in some way and facing a vague threat, such as Unicron or Quintessons, linked to them, but it was around the time of Lost Light he'd decided on that final threat being the Functionists.[9]
- As with the previous series, bear in mind that James Roberts writes the series with the characters in general all having his English accent.[10]
- Several planned ideas were cut due to the series premature ending[11]. Among them:
- A different version of the Scavengers two parter. Lasting five issues, it would have told an extended version of the story, including the group defending and weaponizing a floating oil rig.
- Multiple stories set on the Lost Light after the mutineers seize control of the ship.
References
- ↑ Interview with Boroughcon
- ↑ SDCC – IDW Announces Post-Revolution Debuts!
- ↑ "Casey for 20, Jack for 21, 23, 25, Brendan for 22, 24. https://t.co/pxBOnkyCfu"—James Roberts, Twitter, 2018/07/04
- ↑ "Oh, alright then. Here's your first musical taste of Transformers: Lost Light. Play loud. No, no - louder. https://t.co/M1WV4Hu23D"—James Roberts, Twitter, 2016/09/19
- ↑ "And while we’re sharing songs - and given what happened in issues 22 and 23 - now seems like a good time to finally unveil Rung’s theme: https://t.co/DENYB11CrC via @YouTube"—James Roberts, Twitter, 2018/09/05
- ↑ "First up, something from Roddy Frame. Lyrically, it captures the last 7 years very well. https://t.co/UdO1vWvzJA"—James Roberts, Twitter, 2018/10/01
- ↑ "Here’s today’s Last Lost Light song, and it’s another new one - included more for the feel than the the lyrics, although they chime with the characters to an extent. Bill Ryder-Jones - Wild Roses (Official Video) https://t.co/OQo4VgEvNl via @YouTube"—James Roberts, Twitter, 2018/10/05
- ↑ "Did I ever tell you Skids’ theme? Nobody Does it Better -1977 - Carly Simon https://t.co/h1ISIZA9oG via @YouTube"—James Roberts, Twitter, 2019/10/11
- ↑ Guernsey GeekOut interview with James Roberts, 1:22:30 to 1:27:00
- ↑ "@E_McDevitt I should have been more specific: they all sound, blandly, like me. No rich regional accents I’m afraid, but feel free to go headcannon crazy"—James Roberts, Twitter, 2018/08/01
- ↑ James Roberts AMA: MTMTE/LL Questions Answered Transcript