Dissolution Part 2: Anomie

« The Transformers: Lost Light #2 »
"Dissolution Part 2: Anomie"
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	February 1, 2017
Cover date	January 2017
Written by	James Roberts
Art by	Jack Lawrence
Colors by	Joana Lafuente
Letters by	Tom B. Long
Editor	Carlos Guzman
Continuity	2005 IDW continuity
Chronology	Current era

While Rodimus's team gets to grips with the Functionist Universe, Tailgate's increasingly aggressive behavior lands Anode in hot water.

Synopsis

Confronted by Twelve-of-Twelve and his Functionaries, Rodimus and company realize they have wound up in the alternate universe previously glimpsed by Rewind—a world ruled by the Functionist Council, where Megatron never lived to start the war. Believing them to be members of the Anti-Vocationist League, like the other prisoners currently in his clutches, Twelve-of-Twelve has them arrested; Megatron instructs everyone to go along peacefully, hoping the rest of the council can be reasoned with. After a Functionary destroys their "teleport den," the group is paraded through the streets, where Megatron observes in disgust as the populace fawns over Twelve-of-Twelve. Rodimus is naturally in a bad mood about the whole situation, and Minimus Ambus only succeeds in annoying him more when he tries to sympathize. Drift and Ratchet observe several large screens around the city displaying countdown clocks and wonder how they are connected to the "Day of Revelation" mentioned by their captor, but Drift's attention is soon diverted to a colossal, building-sized statue of Primus, bearing the inscription "Survive and Thrive" at its base. Haunted by the phrase, Drift tells Ratchet about the vision he experienced just before they left: a vision that included Pharma, Grimlock, sparkeaters, the legendary "Phantom Fleet" of lost Worldsweepers... and those words, and many others, scrawled in multiple ancient dialects. Drift also begins to describe the "rain" in his vision, but before he can finish, a grenade clatters into the street and blows up in the faces of the Functionaries leading the group. The Anti-Vocationist League has arrived to save its captive members!

On Necroworld, Anode finds Lug lounging by the Memorial to the Disappeared, relaxing after the difficult business of apologizing to everyone for Anode's lack of a social filter. Anode claims not to care what any of them think, but Lug knows she's lying, as she hid her original function from Swerve when asked. After a bit of poking, Anode admits that she's interested in the quest for Cyberutopia, thinking it might be nice to settle down there; Lug retorts with a laugh that Anode isn't interested in "settling down," but in plundering its treasures. Just then, the body of Fangry comes flying through the air and crashes into the memorial, followed swiftly by a furious Tailgate, who has beaten Fangry to a pulp for his attack on Cyclonus. Anode attempts to intervene, but Tailgate backhands her away, inadvertently hurling her against a chunk of debris that impales her through the torso. As Fangry's fellow Decepticons beat a hasty retreat when Tailgate snarls at them, Cyclonus arrives on the scene and reproaches the little 'bot for his actions. In an attempt to make Tailgate understand the enormity and severity of the change his new powers represent, Cyclonus takes him to the site of the group's battle with the Decepticon Justice Division, still littered with the bodies of the many, many Decepticons Tailgate killed. Tailgate thinks he is merely attempting to make him feel guilty for causing so much death, and argues that it was kill-or-be-killed; Cyclonus tries to make him understand that it is evidence of how much his strength is growing, potentially to a point beyond his control, and how fast his increasing powers are burning through his energon. Tailgate tries to argue otherwise... at which point, his energon reserves deplete and he collapses.

Back in the Necrobot's fortress, Anode awakes with a start in the med-bay, roused by nightmarish recollections of her old life. Her wounds have been patched by another of the "Disappeared," Kaput, who responded to Lug's calls for help. But no sooner has the medic introduced himself than Velocity storms into the med-bay and pins Anode down, announcing that she is making a citizen's arrest. Just as Anode had feared, Velocity remembers her—as a thief. While Swerve goes to check the life-support pods and make sure there aren't any other late-to-revive stragglers like Anode and Lug in them (with a strange remark to Nautica on the way out, tapping his neck and saying he "needs another" something when he gets back because he is "starting to feel it again"), Velocity produces the "snowflake" treasure previously found by Anode and demands they talk about "the Lighthouse..."

The Anti-Vocationist League, it turns out, are a bunch of total wimps who can't put up any kind of fight against the Functionaries. At Rodimus's urging, Megatron breaks his bonds, frees the rest of the team, then takes command of the situation, directing everyone in a brief, dramatic, one-sided battle that sees them emerge victorious. Twelve-of-Twelve boasts that they still cannot stop the broadcast that is about to begin, but when Chromedome snags him around the throat with a chain, all his bravado disappears and he puts in a distress call to be teleported out. As he vanishes, Terminus marvels over Megatron's leadership skills, while Rodimus asks the AVL leader Clicker what the next step of his plan is. Clicker explains they will be using a concealed matter transporter nearby to relocate to the AVL's base of operations: Cyberutopia. Rodimus stares gape-mouthed at Clicker, but before he can ask any questions, the countdown timers all reach zero, and are replaced on the screens with an image of Functionist Council member Six-of-Twelve. The Day of Revelation has come, Six-of-Twelve tells everyone watching: the day on which the Functionists reveal to the world what the alternate mode of "The Useless One"–their prisoner, the rebel icon Rung–is for!

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Anti-Vocationist League	Functionists	Others
Drift (2) Rodimus (4) Megatron (5) Rewind (6) Ratchet (9) Chromedome (13) Minimus Ambus (14) Tailgate (18) Kaput (23) Velocity (25) Swerve (26) Nautica (27)	Fangry (12) Rapidfire (20) Two other "Disappeared" (19, 21) Jack-Knife's corpse (24)	Two Lunabots (15) Various AVL members (16) Clicker (17)	Twelve-of-Twelve (7) Multiple Functionaries (8) Six-of-Twelve (28)	Main universe Roller (1) Terminus (3) Anode (10) Lug (11) Cyclonus (22) Functionist Universe Rung (30)

Quotes

"Be careful. When you lie to me, you lie to God."

—Twelve-of-Twelve threatens our heroes.

""No one likes us," she says...and your evidence...?"
"Well, you insulted Ultra Magnus, you offended Swerve, and you made the pretty one with the sword collapse in front of his conjunx endura."

—Anode and Lug discuss the former's lack of social skills.

"The Lost Light's been stolen; we're once again without a map to Cyberutopia; and now, to top it all, we're trapped in entirely the wrong universe. We've never been further from our goal. Ever. In fact, it's hard to escape the conclusion that we'd be closer to finding the Knights of Cybertron if we hadn't started looking for them in the first place."
"What was that? What was that supposed to be? The opposite of a pep talk, that's what that was. God! I was angry, now I'm angry and depressed. Can I be chained to someone else, please?"

—Minimus Ambus gets on Rodimus's nerves.

"Ah. Okay. Oooh-kay. I get it. Bad guy or not, he was a person. Point taken. Lesson learned. Except no. Because it was him or me, Cyclonus, I didn't kill him for fun! And if I'm honest? I don't think you get to play that card. I mean, how many people have you killed? Innocent people. How often do you think about them?"
"Every day."

—Tailgate and Cyclonus

"I'm making a citizen's arrest."
(beat)
"Who knows how to make a citizen's arrest?"

—Velocity

"The A.V.L. would have you believe that not everyone has a purpose; that Primus built some of us - one of us - without a specific function in mind. 'All Hail The Useless One'. No more. Because today...today we tell you what the Useless One is for."

—Six-of-Twelve chews the scenery.

Notes

Continuity notes

• First appearances: Clicker, Jack-Knife
• Rewind references the "Black Box Consortia", the Functionist Universe version of the Black Block Consortia who were previously mentioned in More than Meets the Eye #35. This finally confirms that wasn't just a typo!
• Oddly enough, Tailgate and Cyclonus's current relationship parallels their dynamic from the beginning of the comic. But this time, it's Tailgate who's the violent and powerful bot that needs to calm down.
• Primus's statue renders the character as he appeared in the More than Meets the Eye 2012 annual.
• Drift mentioned having another vision recently last issue; we here learn that he was not referring to his original vision, which inspired him to join the Lost Light crew, but rather to a new premonition that guided him and Ratchet to Necroworld, which took place off-panel prior to More than Meets the Eye #51.
• The Worldsweepers seen in Drift's vision last issue are identified by him as the Phantom Fleet, which disappeared in the Dark Nebula. The Nebula was previously mentioned in the More than Meets the Eye: Revolution one-shot as the home of the Dire Wraiths.
• In addition to the ominous "Prepare, Confront, Repel," (which we translated in our notes for last issue), Drift mentions another phrase he saw in his vision: "trapped light." These words were heard before way back in The Death of Optimus Prime, when Rewind offered it as a potential translation for some of the Old Cybertronian text found within the Matrix.
• The Anti-Vocationist League members seen in this issue include two Lunabots, as seen before in issue #35. Also present is a memory stick Transformer—they were ordered by the Council to be exterminated in a mass recall at the very end of issue #35. Clearly, at least one survived...
• Kaput previously appeared in Spotlight: Orion Pax. His inclusion among the "Disappeared" tells us that the Necrobot didn't keep his list in chronological order, because Kaput was known to be active until just a few years ago, having helped to repair Springer following the events of Last Stand of the Wreckers, according to "Zero Point."
• Swerve's remarks to Nautica as he leaves indicate he is undergoing a process that temporarily keeps him from "feeling" something. The next issue would clarify that he is referring to "mood suppressants".
• When Six-of-Twelve previously appeared in issue #35, he had a normal-shaped head, but as Chromedome notes, it has since been redesigned to resemble the Matrix of Leadership. The fate of the Matrix is unknown in the Functionist Universe; without the war to bring Orion Pax to prominence, it presumably must still reside in the Underworld where it was concealed millennia ago, per More than Meets the Eye #19.

Transformers references

• Continuing with the standard set by issue #35 the crowd scenes set within the Functionist Universe feature Easter egg appearances by lots of characters from the Unicron Trilogy, including Energon Inferno, Armada Smokescreen, Energon Strongarm, Cybertron Metroplex, Armada Scavenger, Cybertron Quickmix, Cybertron Menasor (with a proper face), Cybertron Landmine, and Armada Hoist (again from #35), as well as Robots in Disguise characters Grimlock and Hightower. The two Lunabots seen among the Anti-Vocationist League remain based on Energon Jetfire, just as the one seen in issue #35 was.
• The two nameless Decepticons who flee Tailgate's wrath alongside Rapidfire are based on the Energon Divebomb and Cybertron Hardtop molds, with new color schemes. As a dune buggy, "Hardtop" seems to be in Beachcomber-blues-and-greys.

Real life references

• The title of this issue, "Anomie," is a word meaning the "lack of the usual social or ethical standards in an individual or group."

Errors

• On the regular cover, Cyclonus's Great Sword is way too short. He's not holding it an angle that would induce foreshortening.
• Twelve-of-Twelve gives the date as "1st Cycle 3041" in order to be consistent with last issue, but as noted in last issue's article, that's way off what has most recently been provided as the date for the present day.
• On page 5, panel 1, there's a little 'bot standing on the rooftop with a crane-arm on his back. His crane arm ought to extend out past the edge of the roof and over the crowd below, but is instead is cut off where it meets the edge of the roof.
• On page 13, panel 2, the edge of Tailgate's first speech balloon isn't properly aligned with the edge of the panel.

Other trivia

• Originally solicited for release in January 2017, this issue arrived a little late, slipping into the first week of February.
• Shock's name is visible on the Necrobot's memorial, but he didn't disappear; he was killed by a sparkeater and his body was found in More than Meets the Eye #2. It was his fellow Duobot, Ore, who mysteriously disappeared in the 2012 annual. Rather than consider this a mistake, we'll assume it's a subtle extension of the joke that nobody could tell the two Duobots apart—not even the Necrobot!
  • Additionally, in "No Guns, No Swords, No Briefcases" Shock signed his name as 'Shock of Bitrex' and not Polyhex as it is here, so if the Necrobot wasn't getting his Duobots confused, he may have been referring to a different Shock entirely.

Soundtrack

For this issue alone:

• "It Ended on an Oily Stage" by British Sea Power
• "Optimo" by Liquid Liquid
• "Lille" by Lisa Hannigan

For this issue, but also for all of "Dissolution":

• "Neither Here Nor There" by Lost in the Trees

Covers (4)

• Regular cover: Cyclonus defends Swerve, Tailgate, and Whirl, by Jack Lawrence and Joana Lafuente
• Subscription cover A: Our heroes at the wrong ends of an array of blasters, by Alex Milne; one of a series of black-and-white "Artist's Edition" covers on IDW's January titles.
• Subscription cover B: Megatron reaches for Cybertron, by Nick Roche and Josh Burcham
• Retailer incentive cover: Rodimus stares out at an alien world, by Joana Lafuente; one of a series of retailer incentive variants by Lafuente on January's Transformers titles.

• 
  "You shall not hurt my friends! Wait, why's Whirl over here?"
• 
  "Rodimus?" "Yeah?" "I just soiled myself."
• 
  One day he'll get it!
• 
  Spock's not really dead, as long as we remember him.

Advertisements

• Lost Light #3
• "The Hasbro Tribune" editorial page promoting January's Hasbro Universe Reconstruction titles, including G.I. Joe #2, M.A.S.K. #3, this issue, Optimus Prime #3, Till All Are One #7, Revolutionaries #2, Micronauts #9, Micronauts Annual 2017, ROM Annual 2017, and ROM #7.
• 2017 IDW Annuals
• Action Man trade paperback
• Revolution trade paperback
• IDW on Comixology Unlimited

Reprints

• 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: 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.

• 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.

• 
  Lost Light Volume 1 – cover art by Jack Lawrence and Joana Lafuente
• 
  The Definitive G1 Collection Volume 77: Dissolution – cover art by Dreamwave (Swerve) and Jack Lawrence
• 
  The IDW Collection Phase Three: Volume 2 – cover art by Sara Pitre-Durocher

External links

• Preview