FUCK! DAT ENDING! I literally jumped off the sofa shouting "what the fuck?!". Awesome, just really fucking awesome. Bravo, Roberts. Bravo.
I don't even know what to say, I mean, mutha-fucking

Spoiler

Shockwave!

I was racking my brain for ages last night trying to think of what could possibly make that last page-turn super-mega-ultra shocking, then... him! I can safely say I'm incredibly satisfied with that. I'm still sat here thinking "WHAT?!", haha.

Anyways, yet another brilliant issue and I think a great conclusion to this arc.
I'd love if one day we got to see the stories from the other two groups, I wonder if Siren went to Rung for speech therapy that ended up working too well? Rewind's comment about Rung being "like a historical constant" just makes me wonder even more about how long he's been around. Also, Whirl making Rung "cross", I love that his eyebrows are such a big deal to everyone, haha.
Was glorious (eh? eh?) to see Ironfist again, and his pre-Wreckers obsession.
Man, it's kind of a bummer about Red, those two pages discussing what happened and what they were going to do with him made me a little sad.
The heist! Loved how it played out like a heist movie as well. And just a little thing (among many), some of the Triorion Guards have the same body-type as Flywheels, guess we know what he did before the war.
And then it almost goes horribly wrong thanks to Glitch, haha.
Oh, Pax, he sure did love jumping off things. And driving through people (fuck yeah!). I hope next time we see Optimus he jumps off something, for old times sake.
Yay! Rung's back!
I've not read Autocracy yet, but in that wasn't Zeta Prime a colossal, murdering dick? I wonder how long before that this is set?
And then the little build up to the trouser-devastating reveal, with the little hints I did briefly think "could it be...? Na, surely not" then... well, I already said my reaction. Still can't get over it, it's just perfect, I can't stop looking at the page.

God damn. Well, time to go see if RID #11's ending is quite as mind-blowing, although I honestly don't know what could top that.

 

I'm starting to think that Magnus knows about Overlord and may even be directly responsible for him. He was involved with the mess on Garrus 9, along with Prowl. We still don't really have a reason for why he's even on the Lost Light. He is still an enforcer of galactic law. He was very specific on what they had to do with Red Alert. He's definitely in a position where he can make modifications to the ship, or load secret cargo onboard. Why would he go through all that trouble, though? I think that he's acting as Overlord's warden, using a ship on a most likely pointless quest to keep him hidden from the rest of the galaxy, until he can dispose of him somewhere safe (like the heart of a black hole or a cell in the core of a white dwarf).

Though I don't think he's the one who decapitated Red Alert. I don't think he'd go quite that far, to actively harm another Autobot. Ditto for not being responsible for the Sparkeater. So that leaves the question who is behind all of that...

Oh, as to who tipped off the senate: What if it was Prowl? He DID say that he would tell the authorities if Optimus didn't keep Chromedome out of it.

 

I had to sit down. I'd been walking around reading it and was floored. Just floored. I mean, I never thought that....he was....oh god.

 

Duplicitous as Prowl is, he still keeps his word. He's just careful about his word.

All the same, Prowl would have known NOTHING about the Academy bots being involved in the plot.

 

I don't believe the Red Alert plot is wrapped up at all.

And I have to say, I get the feeling the throw away line by Rewind about Rung's ubiquity will be important later.

 

Well done, Mr. Roberts, sir. Another in a long line of superb issues. The final page reveal will stay with me for some time. Did not see that one coming.

Grindcore noted that one of the Triorion guards looked like Flywheels. While I agree, I also think he looks like Blitzwing too. He has Blitzwing's color scheme and assault rifle. It made me realize how similar Blitzwing and Flywheels are, design-wise. On the same topic, does anyone else feel the other guard on page 10 strongly resembles a MTMTE take on Prime Skyquake / Dreadwing? He's somewhat in Dreadwing colors, but holding a weapon that looks very similar to Skyquake's minigun.

 

I'll do you one better, lets make Whirl their leader and make him into Megatron 2.0.

 

My response to the big reveal was "FUCK ME!". I'm glad I only had time to read RID #11 on the train home, otherwise that could have been embarrassing on a packed 15:55 from Middlesbrough...

 

Mr. Roberts...

 

Signed up on the forums just to share some observations:

In retrospect the whole blurb from Roller:
"He has had multiple people modified to fit the Matrix"
"Big proponent of off-world exploration"
etc.etc. were massive clues.

But what I loooove is the way it makes the relevant Spotlight seem different:

Spoiler

Page 8: Grimlock is talking to the Dinobots:
"Back in Autobot-held territory, the energon cache was ours. But no, that clockwork processor of his ticked over and spat out its conclusion. If he couldn't have it... neither would we!"

Next panel: Optimus and Grimlock arguing. Grimlock narrates:
And Prime, he just said to 'forget it'. But I can't..."

Pages 16 to 20 are the fight with the Dinobots where Shockwave shuts down his logic processors. In the denouement, Shockwave narrates:
"With some considerable effort...I restore my neural cortex to its operational status quo. But even as my rational functions reinitialise, I experience a momentary rush of sensation - liberation, intoxication, even...satisfaction.

Brilliant, briliant reveal on all levels. Far beyond most shocking of the week, it's probably the biggest twist in any IDW Transformers comic ever.

-J

 

The Overlord reveal - which was major "OMG, NO WAY" at the time - doesn't hold a candle to this ending. He has set the bar for mind blowing endings pretty high. Now how is he going to top this ending in future issues?

If he succeeds, there's a good chance my head might literally explode. I swear, my room is going to look like the set of a Quentin Tarantino movie. I might have to write my will before reading future issues, 'cos' I'll never know which issue is going to be the one that turns my body into a blood fountain.

Sorry for being a little "graphic" y'all.

 

Welcome, brother!

And yes, THAT is the wording I was looking for. Just... wow. Hits you right where you live. (And makes the line go from stoically badass to just mournfully tragic...)

 

This is making me want to revisit past appearances from Shockwave, just to re-evaluate everything he's ever done or said.

I still haven't managed to take it in yet!

 

Time isn't changeable in iDW's TFs. All the time travel events that happened were meant to happen.

 

Did you know that empurata is an anagram for the latin word amputare which means "to cut away" which was actuslly a punishment for criminals in old times.

God damn the level od detail Roberts puts in these things is fucking amazing!

 

Saw the reveal pages.

God-damn, get these guys writing a show!

 

Seems pretty clear cut that's the answer.

My God, I don't even know what to say. This issue was just so... expertly crafted.

 

F**k a show get them a movie!

 

I must be getting old or tired of this book but I don't get the level of excitement you guys did for this book.

 

For the record, the 'relevant' spotlight is 100% free on comixology.

Both these issues today, rid and mtmte left me dumb. No words.