Editing Transformers: Fate of Cybertron

{{Comicstory
|seriesissue=''Transformers: Fate of Cybertron''
|prev=End of Time
|next=
|caption=“Whatever lies beyond that portal is our best - and last - hope, my friend.”
|image=TFFOC cvrRI.jpg
|title=
|publisher=[[IDW Publishing]]
|date=[[June 29]], 2022
|coverdate=June 2022
|written by=[[Brian Ruckley]]
|art by=[[Andrew Griffith]] (1-11), [[Winston Chan]] (12-19), [[Alex Milne]] (20-26, 34), [[Ed Pirrie]] (27-33, 35), and [[Angel Hernandez]] (36-40)
|colors=[[Josh Burcham]] (1-19), [[Josh Perez]] (20-35), and [[David García Cruz]] (36-40)
|letters by=[[Jake M. Wood]]
|editor=[[David Mariotte]], [[Tom Waltz]] and [[Riley Farmer]]
|continuity=[[2019 IDW continuity]]
|chronology=
}}

'''The Decepticons unleash their most powerful weapons to prevent the Autobots from leaving Cybertron—and as Megatron's forces close in on Darkmount, Optimus Prime and his allies make their final stand.'''

==Synopsis==
On the outskirts of [[Darkmount (Cybertron)|Darkmount]], [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]] and [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] face off one final time. Although Optimus insists that he intends to abide by the terms of their agreement—Megatron can have [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]], Optimus and the [[Autobot]]s who follow him just want to leave peacefully—Megatron snarls that, if he allows Prime passage off Cybertron, then the Autobot leader will remain a threat to him and the [[Decepticon]]s. The war can only end with Optimus suppressed and humiliated, forced to realize that the Decepticon way is the ''only'' way... but Optimus won't yield so easily, and when Optimus refuses to surrender the [[Matrix of Leadership]], Megatron lashes out and tries to physically wrest the artifact from Prime's chest. When [[Ironhide (G1)|Ironhide]] tries to intervene, [[Skywarp (G1)|Skywarp]] warns the Autobots that he's armed the [[imploder]]—if anyone gets too close, he'll take his thumb off the detonator and immediately teleport to safety. On the Decepticon side of things, [[Strika (BM)|Strika]] warns the impulsive [[Jhiaxus (G2)|Jhiaxus]] not to interfere: Optimus has been the target of Megatron's obsession for too long now, and only personally killing the Autobot leader will bring him peace. 

However, neither the Autobots nor the Decepticons bargained on impending reinforcements: not only has [[Sky Lynx (G1)|Sky Lynx]] arrived, he's brought [[Computron (G1)|Computron]] with him! As the titanic [[combiner]] bears down on the Decepticons, [[Pyra Magna]] gives [[Jumpstream]] the go-ahead to disarm Skywarp—in an instant, Jumpstream uses her upgraded [[teleportation]] power to warp in, catch her rival in a bear hug, and send both of them hurtling back into [[unspace]]. Without his trump card, Megatron and his followers suddenly find themselves in a different situation; although the Decepticon leader seemingly allows Prime and his followers to retreat, the Decepticon leader has no intention of letting the Autobots leave the planet alive. Besides, the Decepticon leader isn't  out of tricks yet: when he inquires about his ''other'' ace in the hole, [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]] informs him that the [[Constructicon (G1)|Constructicon]]s are already on their way from the [[Sonic Canyons]]. While [[Scavenger (G1)|Scavenger]] worries they're not built for war, [[Scrapper (G1)|Scrapper]] promises that things will be different this time around: ''this'' time, they'll get to be heroes, and receive the adulation and respect they'd always deserved.

At Darkmount, the Autobots and their allies prepare for full-scale evacuation: while [[Lightbright (G1)|Lightbright]] and [[Hoist (G1)|Hoist]] supervise repairs on [[Lodestar (Titan)|Lodestar]], [[Wheeljack (G1)|Wheeljack]] and [[Termagax]] use the city's dwindling resources to prepare their one remaining ''[[Ark (G1)|Ark]]'' while [[Nautica (G1)|Nautica]] and [[Road Rage (G1)|Road Rage]] help refugees and noncombatants aboard. Even the ever-taciturn [[Cyclonus (G1)|Cyclonus]] has decided to throw his lot in with the Autobot evacuation fleet; with [[Exarchon]] dead, the old warrior has finally surrendered his weapons. Although his phantom compatriots bicker amongst themselves as usual, Cyclonus, who's found some sense of closure, allows himself to finally put his past to rest—one by one, [[Highfire]], [[Grudge]], [[Gridlock]], and [[Provoke]] all disappear, leaving only [[Paragon]], whom Cyclonus encourages to stay for just a little longer. When Paragon wonders if Cyclonus would really leave his home, Cyclonus smiles that "home" was wherever Paragon and his friends were.

As Optimus and his followers finally reach Darkmount's walls, [[Highbrow (G1)|Highbrow]] reports that they're almost ready to launch. However, the Autobots are down a warrior; Jumpstream still hasn't returned, and Pyra wonders what's become of her. Unbeknownst to the Autobots, Jumpstream's accomplished her mission flawlessly: not only has she vented all of Skywarp's [[energon]], she's also melded the treacherous flier with his imploder at the atomic level. ''If'' Skywarp ever escapes unspace again, the imploder will instantly activate and kill him... and with that, Jumpstream disappears, consigning Skywarp to another eternity trapped beyond space and time.

In Darkmount, Highbrow and Lightbright bring Optimus up to speed on their plan: using whatever scraps of energon and resources they've managed to scrounge together, they've patched up Lodestar as best they could and cobbled together a replacement engine to launch their ''Ark'', but their limited fuel supplies won't put any significant distance between them and Cybertron. Although Prime promises that they won't have to go far, he's got more important problems to deal with: no matter what Megatron might promise, he ''knows'' the Decepticons won't let them leave. Sure enough, Megatron and his army, now joined by the towering [[Devastator (G1)|Devastator]], crest the nearby hill...

With a renewed Decepticon assault underway, Optimus and the Autobots gear up to keep the Decepticons at bay for as long as possible: while Prime, Ironhide, and [[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]] take point, [[Arcee (G1)|Arcee]] says goodbye to [[Greenlight]] and [[Gauge]], and Wheeljack uses their final reserves of energon to supercharge [[Scattershot (G1)|Scattershot]]. Although the Autobots do their best to hold the line, the Decepticons slowly push them back, inch by inch, and eventually Ironhide orders Computron and [[Leviathan (G1)|Leviathan]] to take the field. This time, however, the Decepticons have a countermeasure armed and ready—Devastator easily meets their charge, takes out Leviathan with a headbutt and a well-thrown punch, then hits Computron so hard that he knocks the Autobot combiner back into his separate components.

While Prime encourages his troops to slowly give ground and buy as much time as they can to get their ships operational, Scattershot refuses to give up so easily. The energies of [[Airachnid (G1)|Airachnid]]'s [[Combination Core]] still suffuse his body; as members of the [[Senate Guard|Prime Guard]] drag the wounded [[Technobot (G1)|Technobot]]s to safety, that same energy suddenly envelops [[Pipes (G1)|Pipes]], [[Flareup (G1)|Flareup]], [[Backstreet (G1)|Backstreet]], [[Javelin]], and [[Groove (G1)|Groove]]... and, suddenly, Computron lives again, now an astounding ''ten''-bot combiner! While Prime and the other Autobots take advantage of the confusion and retreat, this new Computron easily trounces Devastator, then turns his attention on the other Decepticons... but not even the giant combiner can withstand a massed artillery barrage for long, and eventually comes apart under the strain. A triumphant Megatron points his [[fusion cannon]] at the defeated Autobots, while Strika congratulates Megatron on his victory. [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]], on the other hands, touches down just in time to point out that they're too late... moments before the roar of rocket engines catch everyone's attention. As Megatron and the other Decepticons watch in shock, Lodestar rumbles into the air—followed by Sky Lynx and the Autobot ''Ark''. Megatron snarls that Scattershot has lost, but the Technobot leader just smirks: it doesn't look like a loss to ''him''. As the Decepticons round up their new prisoners, Shockwave congratulates his leader on capturing Cybertron... but when [[Flamewar (G1)|Flamewar]] excitedly asks if they've won, the silence is as deafening as it is pointed.

With Cybertron behind them, the remaining Autobots aboard the ''Ark'' take a moment to relax. While [[Subsea]] befriends [[Geomotus]], Cyclonus considers a vacation on whatever's left on [[Neutronia]], [[Bumper (G1)|Bumper]] convinces his friends [[Sideswipe (G1)|Sideswipe]] and [[Strongarm (G1)|Strongarm]] to join the Prime Guard, and [[Perceptor (G1)|Perceptor]] reunites with Jumpstream as she catches up with the Autobot starship. As the remaining Cybertronians file onto the ship's bridge, they're just in time to hear Optimus give a speech: Megatron might hold Cybertron for now, but there will come a day when they will return home and liberate their homeworld. For now, however, they'll need a place to stay...

Many cycles ago, [[Gears (G1)|Gears]] and the other members of Wheeljack's engineering team abandoned the damaged [[Winged Moon]] as it floated out beyond Cybertron's solar system—all of them, that is, except [[Cosmos (G1)|Cosmos]]. With [[Blast Off (G1)|Blast Off]]'s help, he has slowly brought the moon's systems back online; as he completes another relay, Blast Off grumbles at the prospect of having to share "their" moon with the newcomers... but, as Lodestar, Sky Lynx, and the ''Ark'' crest the horizon, he nevertheless joins Cosmos as they welcome the Autobots to their new home.

==Featured characters==
Characters in ''italic text'' appear only in hallucinatory form.<br>
{{featuredcharacters
|c1=
{{{!}}border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="background:transparent"
{{!}}-
{{!}}style="background:transparent;border:0px" valign="top"{{!}}
* [[Grotusque]] (1)
* [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]] (2)
* [[Chromia (G1)|Chromia]] (3)
* [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]] (4)
* [[Ironhide (G1)|Ironhide]] (5)
* [[Sky Lynx (G1)|Sky Lynx]] (12)
* [[Computron (G1)|Computron]] (13)
* [[Jumpstream]] (14)
* [[Pyra Magna]] (15)
* [[Hound (G1)|Hound]] (32)
* [[Hoist (G1)|Hoist]] (34)
* [[Road Rage (G1)|Road Rage]] (36)
* [[Nautica (G1)|Nautica]] (37)
* [[Glyph (Universe)|Glyph]] (44)
* [[Highbrow (G1)|Highbrow]] (45)
* [[Wheeljack (G1)|Wheeljack]] (46)
* [[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]] (47)
* [[Javelin]] (50)
* [[Greenlight]] (51)
* [[Gauge]] (52)
* [[Arcee (G1)|Arcee]] (53)
* [[Sureshot (G1)|Sureshot]] (54)
* [[Scattershot (G1)|Scattershot]] (55)
* [[Bumper (G1)|Bumper]] (56)
* [[Sideswipe (G1)|Sideswipe]] (57)
{{!}}style="background:transparent;border:0px" valign="top"{{!}}
* [[Strongarm (G1)|Strongarm]] (58)
* [[Vibes]] (68)
* [[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]] (69)
* [[Sunstreaker (G1)|Sunstreaker]] (78)
* [[Kup (G1)|Kup]] (81)
* [[Groove (G1)|Groove]] (84)
* [[Brawn (G1)|Brawn]] (85)
* [[Subsea]] (86)
* [[Lightspeed (G1 Technobot)|Lightspeed]] (87)
* [[Afterburner (G1)|Afterburner]] (88)
* [[Flareup (G1)|Flareup]] (89)
* [[Pipes (G1)|Pipes]] (90)
* [[Backstreet (G1)|Backstreet]] (91)
* [[Nosecone (G1)|Nosecone]] (92)
* [[Strafe (G1)|Strafe]] (93)
* [[Slapdash (G1)|Slapdash]] (102)
* [[Streetwise (G1)|Streetwise]] (103)
* [[Geomotus]] (108)
* [[Perceptor (G1)|Perceptor]] (109)
* [[Windblade (G1)|Windblade]] (110)
* [[Gears (G1)|Gears]] (111)
* [[Landmine (G1)|Landmine]] (112)
* [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]] (113)
* [[Blades (G1)|Blades]] (114)
* [[Huffer (G1)|Huffer]] (115)

{{!}}}

|c2=
{{{!}}border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="background:transparent"
{{!}}-
{{!}}style="background:transparent;border:0px" valign="top"{{!}}
* [[Skywarp (G1)|Skywarp]] (6)
* [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] (7)
* [[Runamuck (G1)|Runamuck]] (8)
* [[Apeface]] (9)
* [[Jhiaxus (G2)|Jhiaxus]] (10)
* [[Strika (BM)|Strika]] (11)
* [[Heavywait]] (16)
* [[Obsidian (BM)|Obsidian]] (17)
* [[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]] (18)
* [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]] (19)
* [[Mixmaster (G1)|Mixmaster]] (20)
* [[Bonecrusher (G1)|Bonecrusher]] (21)
* [[Shadow Striker (G1)|Shadow Striker]] (22)
* [[Slipstream (G1)|Slipstream]] (23)
* [[Scavenger (G1)|Scavenger]] (24)
* [[Hook (G1)|Hook]] (25)
* [[Sixshot (G1)|Sixshot]] (26)
* [[Flamewar (G1)|Flamewar]] (27)
* [[Long Haul (G1)|Long Haul]] (28)
* [[Scrapper (G1)|Scrapper]] (29)
* [[Devastator (G1)|Devastator]] (48)
* [[Blitzwing (G1)|Blitzwing]] (49)
* [[Hotlink (G1)|Hotlink]] (59)
* [[Red Wing]] (60)
* [[Leozack]] (61)
* [[Bitstream (G1)|Bitstream]] (62)
* [[Whisper (G1)|Visper]] (63)
{{!}}style="background:transparent;border:0px" valign="top"{{!}}
* [[Nova Storm  (G1)|Nova Storm]] (64)
* [[Ion Storm]] (65)
* [[Acid Storm (G1)|Acid Storm]] (66)
* [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]] (67)
* [[Laserbeak (G1)|Laserbeak]] (70)
* [[Gutcruncher (G1)|Gutcruncher]] (71)
* [[Barricade (IDW)|Barricade]] (72)
* [[Crasher (G1)|Crasher]] (73)
* [[Buzzsaw (G1)|Buzzsaw]] (74)
* [[Battleslash]] (75)
* [[Roadtrap (POTP)|Roadtrap]] (76)
* [[Tentakil (G1)|Tentakil]] (77)
* [[Octus (G1)|Octus]] (79)
* [[Weirdwolf (G1)|Weirdwolf]] (80)
* [[Nautilator]] (82)
* [[Jolt (G2)|Jolt]] (83)
* [[Airwave (facility)|Airwave]] (94)
* [[Flamefeather (G1)|Flamefeather]] (95)
* [[Blackjack (G1)|Blackjack]] (96)
* [[Twirl (G1)|Twirl]] (97)
* [[Swift (G1)|Swift]] (98)
* [[Soundblaster (G1)|Soundblaster]] (99)
* [[Hyperdrive (Micromaster)|Hyperdrive]] (100)
* [[Rage (G1)|Rage]] (101)
* [[Snaptrap (G1)|Snaptrap]] (104)
* [[Offroad (CW)|Offroad]] (105)
* [[Runabout (G1)|Runabout]] (106)
* [[Lugnut (TF 2010)|Lugnut]] (107)

{{!}}}

|c4=
* [[Lodestar (Titan)|Lodestar]] (30)
* [[Leviathan (G1)|Leviathan]] (31)
* [[Lightbright (G1)|Lightbright]] (33)
* [[Termagax]] (35)
* [[Cyclonus (G1)|Cyclonus]] (38)
* ''[[Highfire]]'' (39)
* ''[[Grudge]]'' (40)
* ''[[Paragon]]'' (41)
* ''[[Gridlock]]'' (42)
* ''[[Provoke]]'' (43)
* [[Blast Off (G1)|Blast Off]] (116)
* [[Cosmos (G1)|Cosmos]] (117)

}}

==Quotes==
"If they escape us now, we will never be able to rest easy in our triumph. Our every step, out there in the galaxy, will be contested. Obstructed. No one is leaving this planet. Not a single one of them will remain free."
:—'''Megatron'''


"We get to win the war. '''End''' it. Then we'll be the '''heroes'''. No one'll fear us. No one'll turn their back on us. Then we'll '''really''' be home."
:—'''Scrapper'''


"You really going to leave Cybertron, Cyc?" <br>
"It's just a place. Just memories. You—all of you—were what mattered. '''You''' were '''home'''. I'm just about ready to let the future happen now."
:—'''Paragon''' and '''Cyclonus'''


"Don't look at me like that, Skywarp. You enjoy the company of that imploder so much this way you get to spend... I don't know, maybe '''forever''' with it."
:—'''Jumpstream'''


"Whatever Megatron says, he will '''not''' let us leave without a fight. After all, he's right... if he lets me go, I will '''never''' stop opposing him."
:—'''Optimus Prime'''


"You are new. And slow. I am '''POWER'''!"
:—'''Devastator''' takes out Computron


"Decepticons '''SHALL NOT PASS.'''" <br>
"I beg to differ."
:—'''Computron''' versus '''Megatron'''


"We're going to make '''terrible''' prisoners, you know. Really terrible."
:—'''Flareup''' threatens Megatron


"Congratulations, lord Megatron. Cybertron is yours." <br>
"We '''did''' win, didn't we? Hey, everyone! We won, right?"
:—'''Shockwave''' and '''Flamewar'''


"You cannot forge love out of violence and death. Fear. Submission, perhaps. But not love. Nothing that will last. The '''best''' of what Cybertron is, and can be, remains '''vigorously''' alive. It is in '''us''', and all those of good intent who could not come with us. In our minds. In our sparks. We '''are''' Cybertron. Every one of us. We are of it, and it is of us. We are called to the great task of '''remembering''' that. '''Embodying''' that. Preserving the story and the hope. Because I '''promise''' you there will come a time when we return to Cybertron. When we save it and '''renew''' it." 
:—'''Optimus Prime''''s closing monologue


"Come on. They're almost here. Do you think they'll like what we've done with the place?"
:—'''Cosmos''' signs us off

==Notes==
===Continuity notes===
* Optimus Prime references [[Exarchon]]'s recent defeat, which occurred in the [[War's End Part Four|final issue]] of the ''[[Transformers: War's End|War's End]]'' miniseries. In Darkmount, [[Road Rage (G1)|Road Rage]] notes that [[Landmine (G1)|Landmine]] and the others have just returned from the [[Sonic Canyons]] where most of the series took place, and brought [[Cyclonus (G1)|Cyclonus]] with them—although Cyclonus expressed a desire to stay in the Sonic Canyons and relish Exarchon's final death, it seems he must've changed his mind pretty quickly.
* Optimus and Megatron's final conversation, in which Megatron announces his intent to force Prime to stay and witness the success of a Decepticon-ruled Cybertron, echoes their argument in ''[[Transformers (2019 comic)|Transformers]]'' [[Orion Pax: Free Fall|issue #6]]: while Orion went to tour Cybertron's various colony worlds, Megatron announced that he'd stay behind and work to change Cybertron to suit his vision.
* Back in [[Lord of Misrule: Test Flight I|''Transformers'' #31]], an experimental [[teleport harness]] intended to enhance Jumpstream's natural [[teleportation]] power malfunctioned and accidentally launched her into [[unspace]]. In [[War's End Part Two|''War's End'' issue #2]], she noted that the experience somehow enhanced her teleportation powers, and as of the finale she can now access unspace without any kind of external augmentation by repeating the same kind of rapid-fire teleport-skipping that she used in ''Transformers'' #31.
* Highbrow notes that, due to their jury-rigged engines, their ''Ark'' won't get much farther than the [[Black Hub]] or the [[Hexagon]] asteroid colony, locations that prominently featured in [[Light/Star|the 2021 ''Transformers'' annual]].
* After he and some of his soldiers briefly deserted the Decepticons to serve Exarchon in the pages of ''War's End'', Shockwave's rejoined the winning team, but Megatron reminds him that he has a long way to go before he's back in his good books. [[Soundblaster (G1)|Soundblaster]]'s also returned for the finale, having evidently survived his underground encounter with the Autobots  in the final issue of ''War's End''; it's not clear what happened to [[Onslaught (G1)|Onslaught]] and [[Vortex (G1)|Vortex]], but it's possible, like [[Brawl (G1)|Brawl]], that the Autobots took them into custody.
* While encouraging his teammates, Scrapper notes that, when they win the war for the Decepticons, they'll be hailed as heroes instead of feared, tying back to their [[Constructicons Rising, Part 1|debut arc]] in ''[[Transformers: Galaxies]]'' in which they grew to resent [[Nominus Prime]] and the Autobots for exiling them from Cybertron. 
* After helping to turn the siege of Crystal City in favor of the Autobots in [[Radical Time|''Transformers'' #41]], Lodestar and Computron were evacuated to Darkmount for medical care. Notably, Lodestar's missing the Titan-killing weaponry she picked up during the 2021 annual, although it's possible that she deliberately shed the extra armor and weapons as part of her emergency refit.
* Also present is [[Leviathan (G1)|Leviathan]], who hasn't shown up on-panel since the [[Escape Part Five|conclusion]] of the ''[[Transformers: Escape]]'' miniseries. She's recovered from the injuries she sustained during the first battle of Darkmount, where she was mobbed and nearly killed by a swarm of [[Insecticon clone|Insecticlones]].
* A family of the four-armed aliens who've appeared sporadically throughout the ''Escape'' and later issues of the ''Transformers'' ongoing appear as some of the many refugees boarding the ''Ark''.
* A brief two-panel scene shows a [[skitter]] scavenging a dead Insecticlone in the badlands, only for Megatron to nearly run it over—seemingly paralleling a similar scene from [[The Cracks Beneath Your Feet Part Four|''Transformers'' #10]].
* Scattershot notes that, unlike the Constructicons, he and the other four members of his team do not draw his powers from the [[Enigma of Combination]]—rather, they obtained their powers from [[Airachnid (G1)|Airachnid]]'s [[Combination Core]], and Scattershot noted in the 2021 annual that he'd somehow absorbed its power. As seen here, this means that he's become a living Enigma capable of spontaneously reformatting other Cybertronians into [[combiner]] components.
* After their defeat, Scattershot and his combiner teammates are imprisoned using the same manacles [[Security Operations]] used to restrain [[Quake (G1)|Quake]] in [[Rise of the Decepticons: Prisoners|''Transformers'' #24]].
* Subsea recognizes Geomotus as one of the 'bots who helped defeat Exarchon, as seen in ''War's End''.
* Before finally putting his memory to rest, Cyclonus insists on finally taking a vacation on [[Neutronia]] with Paragon, making good on an old promise he made during the first flashback in [[Darkness, Once Gazed Upon: Part One|issue #37]]. As per their conversation in that issue, Paragon remembers that [[Turmoil]] destroyed Neutronia during the [[War of the Threefold Spark]], but Cyclonus insists that some parts of the planet are still inhabitable.
* The [[Winged Moon]] last appeared in [[War World: Moon|''Transformers'' #27]], where [[Lancer]] and the rest of the moon's engineering team made the decision to detonate the planet's artificial-gravity system to keep the planetoid from falling into Decepticon hands. When the Autobots arrived to rescue the stranded workers, Cosmos opted to stay behind and asked Lancer to send a message back to Cybertron summoning [[Blast Off (G1)|Blast Off]], who left Cybertron at some point before the events of [[War's End Part One|''War's End'' issue #1]], to join him. This issue reveals that they've spent the last few cycles slowly working to bring the moon back online, although they've still got a ways to go.
* Upon first seeing the damaged Winged Moon, Bumblebee remembers [[Rubble]]'s words in [[The World In Your Eyes Part Two|issue #2]] as they watched the Winged Moon engage its harvesting cycle: "it's the most amazing thing I've ever seen".

===Transformers references===
* Decepticon casualties at Darkmount include [[Octus (G1)|Octus]], a six-armed Decepticon from the [[The Transformers (Marvel comic)|UK Marvel comic]] with an unusual [[Dalek]] alternate mode.
* A [[Seeker (body-type)|Seeker]] with a white upper body and teal legs makes a few cameos this issue—it's likely that this is meant to be ''[[Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers: Victory (cartoon)|Victory]]'' [[Leozack]], using a body based on his [[Leozack#Toys|2009 BotCon toy]].
* Scattershot's new ability to forcibly turn other 'bots into combiners evokes the powerful "Earth-Enigma" that appeared in IDW's [[The Transformers: Robots in Disguise|''The Transformers'' vol. 2]], a duplicate of the original Enigma of Combination which [[Galvatron (G1)/2005 IDW continuity|Galvatron]] used to merge Autobots and Decepticons alike into loyal combiners. It also harkens back to his "[[Betatron (CW)|Betatron]]" ability to free-form combiners from ''[[Combiner Wars (franchise)|Combiner Wars]]''.
* The series, and by extension IDW's entire rebooted ''Transformers'' universe, wraps up by establishing a status quo akin to the opening act of [[The Transformers: The Movie|the 1986 animated film]], with the Decepticons in control of Cybertron and the defeated Autobots exiled to one of the planet's moons, building up their forces in the hopes of one day retaking their homeworld. The prologue to the entire series in [[The World In Your Eyes Part One|''Transformers'' #1]] implied that the citizens of [[Earth]] would, as per usual, eventually come into contact with the Transformer race, but this didn't occur before IDW's time on the ''Transformers'' brand came to an end.

===Errors===
* After her run-in with [[Vigilem]] in the 2021 annual, Lodestar's been consistently drawn without her left arm. However, on page 16, the computer readout shows her missing her ''right'' arm instead. 
* Continuing an ongoing error from the [[End of Time|final ''Transformers'' issue]], Bumper's drawn with two symmetrical arms, rather than the spindly replacement he received after the events of [[War World: Prime|''Transformers'' #25]]. 
* In the big battle scene, Jolt's been miscolored as [[Roughstuff]] when Pyra Magna bashes him with her pickaxe.
* In the assembly of Autobots listening to Optimus Prime's speech at the end, Huffer is miscolored as Pipes.

===Other trivia===
* Backmatter for this bonus-sized issue includes a brief farewell note from IDW's editorial team thanking readers for seventeen years of support. Although IDW's ''Transformers'' output will continue in a reduced form through the rest of 2022—the remaining two issues of ''[[Transformers: Last Bot Standing|Last Bot Standing]]'', the [[Transformers: Shattered Glass II|second installment]] of IDW's ''[[Transformers: Shattered Glass (IDW)|Shattered Glass]]'' reboot, and a number of one-shot compilations—this comic marks the end of the [[2019 IDW continuity]], and, by extension, the last issue of IDW's final ''Transformers'' ongoing.

===Covers (3)===
* '''Cover A:''' Optimus channels his inner Moses, by [[Nick Brokenshire]]
* '''Cover B:''' Slaves of Skywarp, by [[Angel Hernandez]] and [[David García Cruz]]
* '''Retailer incentive cover:''' It's all led up to this, by [[Alex Milne]]

<gallery>
File:TFFOC cvrA.jpg|''Angel, Angel, what have I done? <br/> I’ve faced the quakes, the winds, the fires…''
File:TFFOC cvrB.jpg|''I’ve conquered country, crown and throne <br/> Why can’t I cross the river?''
File:TFFOC cvrRI.jpg|''The hands of the many must join as one <br/> And together we’ll cross the river…''
</gallery>

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==External links==
* [https://majorspoilers.com/2022/06/28/preview-transformers-fate-of-cybertron/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=preview-transformers-fate-of-cybertron Preview]

[[Category:IDW (2019) issues]]