« The Transformers: Regeneration One #82 »
"Loose Ends" Part 2
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	August 1, 2012
Cover date	August 2012
Writer	Simon Furman
Penciler	Andrew Wildman
Inker	Stephen Baskerville
Colorist	John-Paul Bove
Letterer	Chris Mowry
Editor	John Barber
Continuity	Marvel Comics continuity

The Wreckers face Megatron on Earth, while Grimlock has troubles on Nebulos.

Synopsis

As Megatron fires upon their ship, Kup and the Wreckers are able to bail out in escape pods at the last minute, and crash-land on the ruined Earth in the middle of the Mojave Desert. They quickly depart their landing site, but with Topspin injured and Broadside's neural circuits scrambled by the crash, things are already off to a bad start, and they only get worse when Whirl reports back from recon that Megatron is hot on their tail with a pack of Decepticons. What the Wreckers do not realize is that these Decepticons are virtual zombies, brought back from death and lobotomized by Megatron into loyal, brain-wiped servants, with only two allowed to retain a fragment of consciousness: Starscream, as punishment for his legacy of treachery, and Ratchet, whose decapitated but still-living head now adorns Megatron's battle sled!

Across the galaxy, Grimlock arrives in the vicinity of Nebulos on his quest to find a cure for the effects of Nucleon. On approach to the planet, he reviews a science log on "Project Lazarus", an attempt by Nebulan senior scientist Borx to reconnect the Autobot Headmasters' original heads to their bodies following the deaths of their Nebulan partners during the Unicron war. After some initial difficulties, the process is coming along, and Grimlock figures that his head—and those of the other Nucleon-afflicted Transformers—could thus be transplanted onto new, transforming bodies. Given that he has broken so many rules already, Grimlock is unconcerned with the fact that the planet has been declared out of bounds by Optimus Prime, but upon setting down in Koraja, he finds the city deserted. When he is attacked by mesmerized Nebulans in jet fighters, he cannot bring himself to cross that final line and fire back on the organics, and so he is defeated and knocked out. As he falls, he is approached by something that walks on rows of spindly green legs.

On Cybertron, Trailbreaker informs Ultra Magnus that Kup and the Wreckers are missing, having stolen a shuttle. Assigning Trailbreaker the task of finding out who helped them in getting away from the planet, Magnus waits until he is gone before exploding with fury, punching out a monitor screen and howling that he wants to join Kup in his efforts, but that he has to obey the rules of their new society if they want it to work.

Back on Earth, the Wreckers target the Deep Space Network in Goldstone, intending to use its dish to broadcast a message to Cybertron. While Sandstorm, Leadfoot and Roadbuster draw off most of the pursuing zombie-cons, Kup, Whirl and Springer make for the dish. When more pursuers appear, Kup peels off to deal with them, urging Springer and Whirl to get the message through. Although he is able to take down Tentakil, Kup is felled when Skywarp teleports out of the path of his blasts and appears behind him to gun him down. Kup is brought before Megatron, who explains with maniacal glee that his destruction of Earth is not in the name of conquest: he simply did it to get some attention! He wants the Wreckers' message to get through to Cybertron, so that Optimus Prime will finally come and face him!

Back in the relative safety of the desert, where Rack 'n' Ruin watch over the injured Topspin and Broadside, a small group of humans passes by, and immediately flee at the sight of the robots. Attempting to talk to the humans, Rack 'n' Ruin are forced back by a bolt of energy... a bolt fired by the humans' protector — the cybernetic superhuman Circuit Smasher!

Featured characters

(Characters in italic text appear only in flashbacks/recaps.)
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"Ah, instant, unquestioning obedience! I should have lobotomised the lot of you centuries ago!"

—Megatron believes individuality is overrated.

"Like me care! Already broken more than my fair share of rules and regulations. One more can't hurt!"

—Grimlock never learns.

"So? Kup? What do you think of all I have wrought on planet Earth?"
"Yeah. Well done with that. You're the absolute ruler of a dead world. Rah-rah!"
"You think all this... is about conquest? Oh no... no, no, no! I was bored. I had time to kill, literally, Cy-chiatrists would probably call it a cry for attention."

—Kup fails to appreciate Megatron's vision.

Notes

Artwork and technical errors

Continuity errors

• While the narration in "Counterpoint" made reference to protective stasis aboard the Ark maintaining each Transformer's "spark of life", here Megatron unequivocally talks about snuffing out the Autobots' sparks, retroactively inserting the concept into a continuity that includes the Generation 1 Marvel comics. However, the Marvel comics already went into a good bit of detail regarding the construction of Transformers. "The Next Best Thing to Being There" describes the brain module as the critical component that pulsated with Matrix-infused life even before being installed into a newly constructed body of a Constructicon. In "Toy Soldiers", the Throttlebots were reduced to brain modules while the rest of their bodies were scrapped. They remained alive and well until new bodies were constructed for them. In G.I. Joe and the Transformers, Bumblebee survived as a pile of parts on Mainframe's workbench, none of which stood out as anything exotic like a spark chamber. Other Transformers survived even without a brain module as long as their mind remained intact in a storage device such as a crystalline containment vessel or a floppy disk.

Continuity notes

• Megatron's zombified troops are casualties of the Underbase Saga, having been felled by Starscream while he was high on Underbase power (save Ratbat who was destroyed by Scorponok). Precisely where they came from would be clarified next issue.
• When last seen at the close of the original Marvel series, Megatron and Ratchet were mentally linked in a way that required both to live, or neither would. This, then, is why Megatron is keeping Ratchet alive.
• The fate of the Autobot Headmasters' original heads was one of the great dangling plot threads of the Headmasters mini-series, with it being repeatedly stated that unlike other depictions of the Headmaster process, the heads were kept intact and alive and in remote contact with their bodies. Resolution at last!
• The Grax Communications Facility on the Plains of Thok puts in a brief appearance.
• Grimlock specifically singles out Slag as an especially badly-afflicted victim of Nucleon. Back during the writing of the original series, it was Furman's intention that Slag would be driven insane by the Nucleon, and it sounds like we're still heading in that direction.
• Grimlock refers back to the period when Transformers were not welcome on Nebulos, seen in "People Power!"

Real-life references

Other trivia

Transformers references

• Skywarp's teleporting makes a "VVOP" sound effect—previously used by Furman in IDW's -ations series.

Furminated

• No actual casualties, but most of the '84-'86 Decepticons are revealed to be part of Megatron's zombie army.

Covers (3)

• 

  Cover A: Me, Grimlock am kinder, gentler Grimlock and look what happens.

• 

  Cover B: Me, Grimlock go all Jurassic Park on you!

• 

  Cover RI: Me, Grimlock!
  No! ME, GRIMLOCK!

• Cover A: Grimlock being attacked by Nebulans, by Andrew Wildman and Jason Cardy.
• Cover B: Grimlock in dinosaur mode, by Guido Guidi.
• Cover RI: Dinosaur mode Grimlock crushing robot mode Grimlock, by Geoff Senior and Josh Burcham.

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External links

• Simon Furman's Script (W)rap

References