Dissolution Part 3: A World Misplaced

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"Dissolution Part 3: A World Misplaced"
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	February 22, 2017
Cover date	February 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

Rodimus and company learn more about the history of the Functionist Universe, and Whirl comes up against an old nemesis.

Synopsis

In the depths of the Necrobot's fortress, Swerve, Whirl, and Ten discover one last stasis pod, threateningly oversized and ominously locked. Swerve attempts to contact Cyclonus for advice on how to proceed, but Whirl, being Whirl, decides to just open it. From within, a massive hand clutching a glowing wand emerges...

Elsewhere in the fortress, Nightbeat is spending his time analyzing the planet's spark-flowers (which turns out to be a massive waste of time, since the Necrobot kept detailed records on them) while an increasingly worried Brainstorm tries to make contact with Rodimus. When Rodimus's voice finally crackles over the comm, Brainstorm and Nightbeat are both thrilled to hear the news that they have wound up in a parallel universe—not, Brainstorm deduces, as a result of the teleport den, but thanks to the geobomb which went off inside Necroworld, transplanting the entire planet and all of them into the other universe. Rodimus's team have now relocated with the Anti-Vocationist League to their base in the sacred city of Adaptica, nicknamed "Cyberutopia", a lawful haven for those deemed obsolete by the Functionist Council - a haven overseen by an estranged, sympathetic Council member, Nine-of-Twelve!

Back in the stasis pod chamber, Swerve, Whirl, and Ten scatter as Whirl's old nemesis, the monstrous, wand-wielding Killmaster, bursts out of his pod and immediately begins attacking them. Whirl admits to lying when he claimed to have slain Killmaster, but his dishonesty is the farthest concern from Swerve's mind when the hulking Decepticon blasts Ten with his wand, leaving only a pair of smoldering footprints where once the Legislator stood. Blind with rage at the seeming death of his friend, Swerve charges at Killmaster and is effortlessly backhanded. Whirl leaps in, urging Swerve to contact Cyclonus and have the super-strong Tailgate come to help... because, Whirl reluctantly admits, he's never actually beaten Killmaster in a fight...

While Megatron and Ratchet become more acquainted with the foot soldiers of the AVL, Rodimus and the others attend a briefing with Nine-of-Twelve and his second-in-command, the parallel-universe version of Anode. They learn that a mysterious UFO has recently appeared just outside Cybertron's orbit, but that the planet no longer has any spaceships or teleporters that will allow them to investigate it, or which Rodimus's team can use to return to Necroworld. To help the tired and confused travelers, Nine-of-Twelve provides them with more information on the history of their universe, in which the Senate and the Council came into conflict over the Senate's use of Nova Prime's spark stockpile to increase the planet's population. The Council deemed the trapping of spark energy in artificial containers to be heretical, and in response, the Senate sealed Vector Sigma behind a wall of ununtrium, leading the Council to raise an army of followers and execute the Senate for blasphemy. Nine-of-Twelve ultimately defected when Six-of-Twelve, who took the Matrix of Leadership from Nominus Prime and came to believe that Primus spoke to him through it, began committing such blasphemy himself, transplanting existing 'bots sparks into new bodies in an effort to "fortify" Cybertron against a war "Primus" tells him is coming.

Back on Necroworld, after completing her checkup of Anode and deeming her physically fine, Velocity briefly excuses herself to administer a "mood suppressant" to Nightbeat—a means the various 'bots are using to block out their grief over Skids's death. While she is out of the room, Nautica insists that Anode tell her more and hers and Velocity's shared past. The pair, it turns out, knew one another on Caminus, where Anode trained as a "blacksmith"—a Cybertronian obstetrician, who helps struggling protoforms find their shape. The snowflake-like treasure she recovered from Luna 2 is a piece of sentio metallico, a rare example of a bloom left over from an unharvested spark. Velocity returns to the room in the middle of the story and reveals how Anode threw her career away when she fled Caminus with a batch of sentio metallico stolen from the Lighthouse medical facility, but Anode explains that she is innocent: she actually just modified records to make it look like she'd committed the theft. The deed was a pretext to force herself to leave the planet, as the existing reasons she had were not enough—reasons she has never told another soul. Realizing that her friend has kept this secret from her all this time, the emotional Lug runs from the room, and Anode chases after her.

Whirl's battle with Killmaster goes poorly, and Cyclonus's arrival, sans Tailgate, does not portend an improvement in matters... since Cyclonus has somehow become horrifically injured since last seen, with half his face and his left arm torn off his body! Distracted by the horrible sight, Swerve is hit by a blast from Killmaster's wand and reduced to a smoking spot on the ground, just like Ten!

On Functionist Cybertron, the populace gathers in readiness for Six-of-Twelve's promised revelation: the purpose of Rung's alternate mode, which will validate everything about their theology. Even Rodimus's team is curious about the answer to this longstanding mystery... but they are all immediately skeptical when the transformed Rung is revealed to be an absolutely colossal mining tank, complete with a massive crystalline drill bit that seems distinctly out of place. Six-of-Twelve professes that Rung's purpose is to drill through the ununtrium wall that still surrounds Vector Sigma, his "alternate mode" a predestined choice by Primus for this precise moment in history. Alarming as the moment is, however, Anode is forced to tear Nine-of-Twelve away from the viewscreen with even more shocking news: it turns out the UFO is Luna 2, given to the Black Box Consortia by the Council years ago, but now back in Cybertron's orbit once more!

Featured characters

Characters in italic text appear only in flashback.
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Anti-Vocationist League	Functionists	Others
Swerve (1) Whirl (2) Nightbeat (4) Brainstorm (5) Chromedome (7) Drift (8) Rodimus (11) Megatron (12) Ratchet (13) Rewind (14) Minimus Ambus (15) Nautica (25) Velocity (27) Kaput (29)	Killmaster (17)	Clicker (9) Nine-of-Twelve (16) Two Lunabots (18) Various AVL members (19) Anode (20)	Twelve-of-Twelve (23) Six-of-Twelve (24) Multiple Functionaries (32)	Main universe Ten (3) Roller (6) Terminus (10) Anode (26) Lug (28) Cyclonus (30) Functionist Universe Nova Prime (21) Nominus Prime (22) Rung (31)

Quotes

"I just performed a forensic operation on a petal, Brainstorm, you could at least try to sound impressed."
"Old news. Kaput was in here earlier, stealing your thunder."
"He was decoding the flowers?"
"He was going to... 'til he found out that the Necrobot's archive already matches sparks to flowers."
"So I just wasted two hours of my life?"
"Massively."
"Why didn't you say something earlier?"
"Because, like me, you're much better company when you're occupied."

—Nightbeat and Brainstorm

"I haven't been this ramped since Perceptor asked me to be his lab partner."

—Brainstorm

"Look at him. No banter, no set up, no discernible motive beyond wanting to kill as many people as possible. Such a pro..."

—Whirl on Killmaster

"So it's a form of protest."
"A very crude one."
"The best kind."

—Megatron and Ratchet on the AVL's eye-removal

"Avoidance is addictive."

—Nautica worries about the mood suppressants

"I can't believe both of you literally refer to the other one as your nemesis. It's the best worst thing ever."

—Swerve analyzes Whirl and Killmaster

"Faith is not faith until it is tested."

—Six-of-Twelve

Notes

Continuity notes

• Nightbeat lists Turmoil as one of the sparks whose echoes make up the flower he is studying. As Turmoil was killed by Starscream in Robots in Disguise #16, the rules of how the flowers work would mean that all the 'bots named here are Starscream's kills. That, in turn, would mean that the "Piston" also included in the list is the mechanic seen back in Spotlight: Blurr, who died at the hands of a Decepticon unit led by Starscream.
• Kaput's time on Kimia is mentioned by Brainstorm, as previously featured in "Zero Point." He is a "spark specialist," which fits with the work he did on Springer in that story, diagnosing his titular condition.
• The revelation that the geobomb was of a different kind, intended to displace Necroworld rather than destroy it (a "different flavour," Brainstorm calls it), explains why the bomb appeared blue in More than Meets the Eye #55 when it had previously been stated that the world-destroying variety was red in issue #46.
• Whirl talked about his rivalry with Killmaster, and professed to have killed him, back in More than Meets the Eye #13.
• As we surmised, the lack of optics on the AVLers seen in the previous two issues is indeed a reaction to the implantation of cameras in the eyes of the populace, as detailed in More than Meets the Eye #35. Other aspects of society introduced in that story which reoccur here include the idea that 'bots had been "deported" (to Adaptica, we now realize), the sale of Luna 2 to the Black Box Consortia and the isolation of Cybertron, and the explosive obsolescence chips used to kill those deemed no longer useful (against the effects of which the inhabitants of Adaptica are protected by a jamming signal).
• Nova Prime's creation of new sparks from the Matrix was originally detailed in More than Meets the Eye #19. The fact that the sparks were stored in photonic crystals was covered in issue #47. The Senate putting all those sparks into bodies is called the Silver Harvest in the main timeline, established in #38 as being roughly five million years ago, which is roughly the same timespan as the Functionist takeover here. It seems that in the Functionist Universe, the Harvest kicked off a civil war.
  • All the new sparks were said to have been destroyed. A large number of 'constructed cold' characters were thus killed before they could be 'born', though only Nightbeat is confirmed as from the Harvest.
• Swerve hinted at the existence of the mood suppressants (or "grief shots" as Nautica calls them) last issue, with Anode having drawn attention to his apparent lack of sadness in issue #1.
• The mechanics of the birth of a Cybertronian have been covered in various More than Meets the Eye stories. We saw the ignition and subsequent fading out of a hot spot, unharvested, in issue #17, while the workings of sentio metallico were explained in The Transformers Holiday Special.
• Minimus is suspicious of Six-of-Twelve's "revelation", and he's got every right to be. The readers have already seen Rung's alt-mode, all the way back in "Little Victories", and it sure didn't look like no frakking huge drill-tank back then. It therefore probably isn't a coincidence that Swerve and Nightbeat, both of whom have definitely seen Rung's alt-mode with their own eyes—Swerve in the aforementioned story, and Nightbeat had been shown studying it briefly in issue #29—are not present, since they would be able to cry foul on whatever the Council's game is.

Real life references

• "First the council targeted the intellectuals, then they came for the experts," remarks Nine-of-Twelve, paraphrasing the famous statement by Martin Niemöller regarding the rise of the Nazi party in Germany ("First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out, because I was not a Socialist..."). Nine's speech, and later comments made by Clicker that also focus on the political tactic of speaking to "fears over facts," are intended to allude not merely to that period in history, but to the surge in right-wing populism that took place in the western political landscape in 2016. The use of the word "experts," in particular, evokes the language used by British politician Michael Gove during the United Kingdom's 2016 referendum on the country's membership in the European Union when he dismissed predictions of negative economic fallout in the event that the "Leave" vote won by infamously saying "the people in this country have had enough of experts."

Errors

• In his single-panel appearance, Nova Prime has his inverted "Nemesis Prime" color scheme, which he wouldn't take on until going to the Dead Universe.
• Nautica is misspelled as "Nautical" on the recap page.

Other trivia

• In addition to Turmoil and Piston, the 'bots who make up the flower Nightbeat studies are named Lodestar, Flexor, Adjudicus, Marauder, Darkstar, Questex, Jab, Swivel, Hydronaut, and Poleaxe. "Adjudicus" was a name originally conceived by Roberts and Nick Roche for the character who would become Tyrest.
• Nine-of-Twelve looks very different to how he previously appeared in issue #35; he's gone from green to red, and has a different head shape. The only specific design element he seems to share with his earlier appearance is a pair of circular protrusions on each of his forearms. We'd call it an error, but we've been burned once too often by jumping to that conclusion. Tricksy Robertses.
• Brainstorm's theory that there are different "flavors" of geobombs may be a reference to the quantum mechanics theories regarding the different flavors of quarks. Yes, quarks. As in, that guy Brainstorm was in love with.

Soundtrack

For all of "Dissolution":

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

For this issue alone:

• "Those Kind of Songs" by Anthony Reynolds
• "A Stone" by Okkervil River
• "The Summer of Speed" by Andreas Mattsson

Covers (4)

• Regular cover: Whirl skids along the ground, by Jack Lawrence and Joana Lafuente
• Subscription cover A: Nautica reaches for a coffin, by Nick Roche and Josh Burcham
• Subscription cover B: Nautica, Cyclonus, Brainstorm, Swerve, and Tailgate, by Alex Milne and Josh Perez
• Retailer incentive cover: Megatron and Rodimus by Nelson Dániel; one of a series of robot mode/alt mode covers by Daniel for February's Transformers titles.

• 
  "These skis are useless!"
• 
  "Coffin? I thought you said I'd be getting coffee!"
• 
  Ready to kick skidplate and chew energum. And they're all out of energum!
• 
  Fastest tank in the west!

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• Lost Light #4
• "The Hasbro Tribune" editorial page promoting February's Hasbro Universe titles, including G.I. Joe #3, M.A.S.K. #4], this issue, Optimus Prime #4, Till All Are One #8, Transformers Annual 2017, M.A.S.K. Annual 2017, Revolutionaries #3, Micronauts #10, and ROM #8.
• Aw Yeah Revolution!
• Transformers 2017 Annual
• Revolution deluxe hardcover
• Cosmic Scoundrels
• IDW at the NC Comicon

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

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