The Last Autobot

	"The Last Autobot"
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	July 27, 2016
Written by	Mairghread Scott, James Roberts, and John Barber
Art by	Livio Ramondelli
Letters by	Tom B. Long
Editor	John Barber and Carlos Guzman
Continuity	IDW Generation 1 continuity
Chronology	Current era

This article is about the IDW issue. For the Marvel issue, see The Last Autobot?.

A face from the past returns to Cybertron, and does not like what the planet has become.

Synopsis

Somewhere underground, beneath the wilderness of Cybertron, a figure stirs. Awakened from a slumber of unknown length by a burst of information sent out by a Titan, the mysterious 'bot learns from the Titan of the Cybertron of today, full of Autobots now working with strange colonists, and most deplorably of all, the Decepticons who killed him. Explosively emerging from his subterranean resting place, the figure makes for Iacon, where he beholds first-hand the changed face of his planet. Consumed with disgust, he raises his weapons and prepares to undo it all.

Weeks earlier, aboard the Lost Light, Megatron and Ravage respond to an invitation to attend the ship's running "movie night," now being held in a newly-converted exhibition hall. Megatron soon suspects Whirl has only invited him to make him uncomfortable, as it turns out the movie being shown is a documentary by Rewind about the beginning of the war, including footage of Megatron killing Sentinel Prime during battle in Kaon. Megatron accuses the archivist of producing a biased work, which elicits an affronted response, while Cyclonus despairs as Chromedome and Brainstorm ponder aloud the similarities between Megatron and Sentinel, both power-hungry ideaologues who built armies to serve their goals. Tailgate is a little puzzled, having always heard Sentinel spoken of as a hero; Rewind explains that dying at Megatron's hands posthumously redeemed his reputation, to the point that he was given a state funeral, as the documentary now shows. This part of the film contains a surprise for Megatron, as it relates how Sentinel's body was mutilated by the Decepticons while it lay in state in the Primal Basilica, its head stolen and never recovered. Megatron denies the allegation outright, insisting the Decepticons were not responsible, and Swerve tries placating his huffy captain with an energon nibble.

On Earth, Optimus Prime, Arcee, and Soundwave return to the Autobot bivouac in Monument Valley, where now stands Metrotitan, the gigantic Titan raised from beneath the Earth's surface by Optimus. The sight of the giant robot seems sure to send an unintentionally threatening message to humanity; Optimus wishes the Titan did not appear so imposing, and in silent response, Metrotitan converts to city mode—a form Prime dubs "Autobot City," the Autobots' new embassy on Earth. Prime seeks a way to address to all of Earth and Cybertron again, and Metrotitan speaks, declaring that it will send knowledge of Optimus's deeds out into the universe. A brilliant beam of light shoots from Metrotitan up into space—a beacon, Soundwave and Optimus fear, that portends things going "very, very wrong"...

Investigating a massive energy discharge in the wilderness of Cybertron, Starscream and Windblade discover that something has blasted its way out of the city of Kaon, which are surprised to find is somehow still intact beneath the planet's surface. As they fly through the city, a distress call from Ironhide back in Cybertron soon has them speeding back to the city: someone is cutting a swathe of destruction through the Decepticon ghetto... Sentinel Prime himself, very much alive, having been awakened from beneath Kaon by Metrotitan's beacon! Revolted to see Autobots, Decepticon, and "malformed colonists" fighting alongside one another, Sentinel refuses to heed Windblade's order to lay down his arms, and instead hurls a spark disruptor at Starscream, seeking to eliminate the leader of what he sees as a perverted version of his homeworld. The weapon adheres to Starscream's chest, and Sentinel leaves him to face his impending demise when it detonates. Windblade is unable to remove the disruptor by hand, but seems willing to make a sacrifice play herself when she opens up her chest armor to reveal her own spark, causing the weapon to leap from Starscream's body and adhere to her instead. She takes off into the sky and moments later the disruptor detonates—but Windblade survives because the disrupter's frequency was set for Cybertronian sparks, while her Camien spark operates at a lower frequency and was thus unaffected. Windblade pulls herself together, and she and Starscream pursue Sentinel to the space bridge chmaber, where the maniacal Prime blasts his way through Ironhide, the Tankors, and the Badgeless, and enters the bridge to Earth. Fat Tankor tries to track him, but discovers that Sentinel has already deactivated the bridge on the other side...

Sentinel emerges in Autobot City and immediately blasts Aileron, then blows up the bridge behind him. He surveys the city and feels a twinge of admiration for what Optimus Prime has accomplished by bringing a symbol of Cybertron to an alien world so boldly. Suddenly, Sentinel's head disconnects and transforms into a smaller robot, as he relishes the thought of destroying everything Optimus has built...

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots

Decepticons

Others

Sentinel Prime (1)
Windblade (3)
Wheeljack (4)
Chromia (5)
Ironhide (6)
Megatron (9)
Rewind (11)
Chromedome (12)
Tailgate (13)

Whirl (15)
Swerve (16)
Brainstorm (17)
Slamdance (18)
Prowl (19)
Arcee (20)
Optimus Prime (22)
Alpha Trion (27)
Drift (29)

Fat Tankor (7)
Tall Tankor (8)
Ravage (10)
Soundwave (21)

Starscream (2)
Cyclonus (14)
Metrotitan (23)
Bob (24)
Buster (25)
D.0.C. (26)
Aileron (28)
Various Badgeless (30)

Quotes

"I apologize for being late. I spent too long trying to think of reasons not to come."
"No worries. We passed the time by starting without you."

—Megatron and Whirl

"This theater wasn't here a week ago."
(...)
"It was an exhibition hall. "The Quest for the Knights of Cybertron: A Visual Travelogue." Rodimus wanted a dedicate space for all the souvenirs and trinkets that we collected en route to Cyberutopia."
"Where did you move the exhibits?"
"I put them both over there."

—Megatron and Brainstorm

"Everywhere—still—this obsession with badges and factions and "brands." Autobots and Decepticons. Red or purple. It's so limiting. Have we not learned to move beyond the binary?"

—That's easy for Cyclonus to say, but he's not the one who has to create a character table for a wiki article every issue.

"The dilution of the Cybertronian race... pathetic, truly pathetic. But this... this, I almost admire. Perhaps there is something to this would-be Prime. Stamping a Cybertronian footprint—a Titan, no less—on an alien world, casting the Autobot light upon the wretched and inferior... admirable. I can't wait to burn it all down."

—Sentinel Prime

Notes

Continuity notes

Sentinel Prime originally appeared all the way back in the Megatron Origin mini-series. Scenes of his battle with Megatron from the final issue of the mini are part of the documentary the Lost Lighters watch, including cribbed dialogue. The outcome of that battle was always vague: the story did not explicitly state if Sentinel was alive or dead when Megatron dumped his body in front of his men, but he never appeared again in any stories set chronologically after his defeat, and a new Prime soon took up the title, leaving us all to assume he had expired.
The name "Autobot" was never used in Megatron Origin, but the famous insignia was worn by Sentinel's security forces. Years after its publication, James Roberts's "Chaos Theory" would introduce the idea that "Autobot" was pejorative slang used by aliens to refer to Cybertronians, and that Optimus proceeded to "take it back" by using it to refer to himself and those like him, later employing it as a name for the restructured security forces he led under Zeta Prime. Spotlight: Orion Pax then offered an explanatory retcon for the use of the Autobot insignia by Sentinel's forces, noting it was an ancient Cybertronian symbol that had had many uses throughout history. This issue, however, features Sentinel's security forces referred to as Autobots, with language so deliberate it appears to be another retcon, rather than an error. Sentinel was present when Optimus announced his intent in "Chaos Theory," so perhaps the idea here is that Sentinel co-opted the idea.
The Lost Light segment of this story takes place some time before the rest of the issue, falling in the months-long gap between More than Meets the Eye issues #49 and #50.
Lost Light movie night has been a reoccurring concept, usually held in Rewind and Chromedome's quarters, originally introduced in More than Meets the Eye #8.
The exhibition hall is easily turned into a movie theater because there are only two exhibits: a Galactic Council captain's hat (purchased by Whirl as a joking gift for Rodimus in issue #13) and a spark-flower from the Necrobot's planet (visited in issue #44).
Swerve notes how Sentinel "faked signs of affinity" to get his hands on the Matrix of Leadership. As we know, of course—and, in fact, as Sentinel knew by that stage—it wasn't even the real Matrix, but a phoney carried by his predecessor Nominus Prime after the real one was stolen during Nova Prime's reign, as detailed in issue #19. This is nodded towards by Slamdance's news report, which describes how the Senate just so happen to be refusing public access to the Primal Basilica while the "act of transition" (the transfer of the Matrix) takes place.
As the Senate were all killed by Starscream and Soundwave in Megatron Origin #4, this mention of the organization must refer to the "New Senate" that replaced it, though up till now the implication has been that that body was established by Zeta Prime. The story of how Zeta became Prime (given the absence of the Matrix, and even the destruction of its phoney replacement in More than Meets the Eye #11) has never been told; perhaps this is intended to be a hint toward that, as he and the prototypical version of his "New Senate," working together before he actually assume the Prime title, establish a functional cover story for his ascendancy.
Speaking of the Primal Basilica, this holy structure, where the bodies of deceased Primes lay in state, was introduced in More than Meets the Eye #11.
Prowl was shown as Sentinel's second in command in Megatron Origin, hence his role as "acting head" of the security forces following its events.
Optimus, Soundwave, and Arcee return to Monument Valley—and Metrotitan—following their meeting with the President in the final pages of The Transformers #55. The way that issue presented events in a montage, it seemed as if Metrotitan was transforming while Prime was in Washington, but here we see it occurs as Prime returns.
Aileron notes "those two reporters" have returned to Cybertron, referring to Circuit and Longtooth, who came to Earth to report on recent events in the last few issues of The Transformers.
The images the Titan beams into space include, rather randomly, a picture of Drift. Presumably, this is because Metrotitan encountered Drift in the 2012 More than Meets the Eye annual.
Camiens have been shown to bleed blue energon, in contrast to the regular purple stuff, since the first Windblade mini-series. In reality, it was just an artistic choice by Sarah Stone prompted by her fondness for Transformers: Prime, in which energon is blue, but this issue offers an explanatory retcon that makes it an in-universe distinction that results from Camiens having evolved lower-frequency sparks as means of energy conservation.

Transformers references

This comic is the first part of IDW's multi-series tie-in to the Titans Return toyline. Its story continues in August and September in separate two-part stories published in the final issues of The Transformers and More than Meets the Eye; a tie-in with Till All Are One follows later in the year, held back by that book's delayed launch.
This story's title is a nod to the character of the same name from the Marvel Generation 1 comic.
Despite being a tie-in to a toyline featuring a new Sentinel Prime figure, Sentinel's appearance isn't based on this new toy; rather, he appears to be wearing modular, black armor over his toy design. This thematically incorporates the "funeral black" color scheme he adopted in Megatron Origin #3 (rather than the orange from issues #1-2 and the toy), and the concept of his Apex Armor from issue #4.
Sentinel's separating, transforming head is, of course, part of the toyline tie-in, duh. The fiction of the toyline presents it as a separate little Transformer named Infinitus, but it remains to be seen if that's going to be the case in the comic, or if Sentinel's rocking the Japanese version of Headmaster tech, in which the little 'bot merely controls a lifeless larger body.

Other notes

This issue is a 40-page perfect-bound one-shot with a cardstock cover. The main story is 24 pages, and the issue also contains the complete eight-page "Road to Revolution" back-up strip, which is being serialized in two parts in the revelation July and August IDW titles.

Covers (4)

Regular cover: Sentinel Prime emerges before Optimus Prime and Windblade, by Livio Ramondelli
Subscription cover: Sentinel Prime and Metrotitan, by Priscilla Tramontano
Convention exclusive cover: Optimus and Windblade alongside Snake-Eyes, Action Man, Rom, Acroyear, Matt Trakker's Thunderhawk and Miles Mayhem's Switchblade, by Livio Ramondelli; offered exclusively by IDW at conventions.
Acme Comics exclusive cover: The Autobots and Decepticons meet in battle outside Acme Comics, by Chris Giarusso; available exclusive from Acme Comics.