Review of IDW Transformers: Lost Light #16 #NCBD
Wednesday, March 14th, 2018 6:29am CDT
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A Review of Transformers: Lost Light #16
Free of any explicit spoilers, but some may be unintentionally implied.

Rolling out and into your Wednesday
Lost Light 16 rejoins the goings on with Team Rodimus, last seen in issue #13 in some form of perilous peril. Mystery, danger, and lines that will be quoted for years await as the latest effort from writer James Roberts, artist Jack Lawrence, colorist Joana Lafuente, and letterer Tom B. Long arrives just in time to keep up a satisfyingly aggressive release schedule. Read on to find out whether or not Lost Light puts those pieces together into something you should pick up.
This has never been a book to shy away from difficult topics, and the main question posed by this issue for me is, "if you suddenly find yourself in purgatory what will you do?" This is handled with the characteristic wit and charm that only this crew of Transformers could get away with - no pun intended, seriously! Surreal moments are balanced by grounded ones while emotional moments are bound on each side by humorous dialogue, though sometimes it comes through more as a relief valve for nervous tension especially in the case of Brainstorm. While the thought of funny, quippy dialogue will make some readers roll their eyes, it's nothing new for or unique to this issue and unless this winds up being your first ever reading within the series you already know whether or not that's a positive development.
Put another way, I find the dialogue well balanced and incredibly charming, but recent reminders from some others on site staff lead me to believe that some readers will, for whatever reason, find something not to like in it.
The surrealism is a significant part of this first chapter of a three part story. As demonstrated in part by the image above, the world that the team has found itself on is part Cybertron, part dreamscape, and all mystery. The creation myth teased in earlier stories is expanded and even debated upon by some characters in what could be pre-emptive meta-humor. Is what occurs really happening, or is it some thoroughly crafted illusion? Does the answer to that matter when you're having fun just following the story wherever it may lead? Your own answers will frame how you feel about this installment. It works for me, but fellow staffer Counterpunch found a lack of feeling delivered by the uncertainty, stating "I don't think anything was bad, but there's nothing to do with the information. Every bit of it is as likely to be false as it is true."
The pacing is brisk but always feels natural, with even a two-page break for an exposition dump framed in a way that both pokes fun at itself for being an exposition dump and for still leaving related questions unanswered. While that could have been an unnecessary chunk of story best left to the imagination or a couple referential lines of dialogue, it's helpful here given the abrupt nature of the opening pages. Additionally, it serves as a reminder of a conspicuously absent character, though that absence will only remain conspicuous if it continues for the remaining two chapters of this story arc.
After three issues away, Jack Lawrence returns to line art duties for "The Everlasting Voices" and provides excellent, consistent mechanical designs for each Transformer while also making sure to playfully use alternate modes where possible and appropriate. Joana Lafuente's colors give superb visual continuity making the changes to and fro in lineart from issue to issue as seamless as possible. Overall it's a great effort and execution, with even the silent (and close to silent) pages managing to ooze story.
Tom B. Long does a couple things with "letters" that are so clever they need their own call-out in this section. Large, outlined reds stand out at one point to convey the tone of the words in a way that makes them distinctly Rodimus' words, and another moment with Whirl is wacky fun that only Whirl could get away with. A less skilled letterer could have tried the same thing and failed miserably, but these examples added to the experience in an unexpected, visually advantageous way.
Lawrence and Lafuente team up for the "A" cover, while Alex Milne provides the "B" cover featuring colors by Josh Perez as seen in this review's news post thumbnail. A colorless version of the same cover is also available as the 10-copy retailer incentive for this issue. As always, you can find images of all of those covers and full credits for the issue in our Vector Sigma Database page for Transformers: Lost Light #16, but please note it contains a character appearance list and in this case that will mean huge spoilers!
Lost Light #16 feels like the start of a part of this story that will put all the pieces in place for a confluence of huge events as both the plot and geographic scope of the series begins to narrow in on a tipping point. The last page contains what is a very big, long awaited development and should allay concerns some readers have had about the pace of the series. While some of the character moments needed a bit more space to breathe, that doesn't take away from what they were and I think the experience of reading a physical, printed copy of the book will address some of that. For an opening act, this is about as good as it gets for me but some of the other staff feedback makes me wary enough to not bump this a notch higher on the numerical score front. Very good and potentially the start of a truly great arc.










Bonus! James Roberts' soundtrack suggestions for this issue:
- Queen - "Let Me Live"
- Air - "Kelly Watch The Stars" (ed. - I second this, fantastic song from a fantastic band off a fantastic album!)
- Lou Reed - "Perfect Day"
- Wilco - "Jesus, Etc."
This article was last modified on Wednesday, March 14th, 2018 6:36am CDT
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Posted by Big Grim on March 14th, 2018 @ 6:54am CDT
Randomhero wrote:Can’t deny the passed 2 years has been people ranting “I don’t want this I don’t want this!l” and when it happened it’s been “I don’t like this! I don’t like this!”
Oh sure. I have no problem with most of it existing in the same universe. G.I Joe works, ROM works and MASK SHOULD have worked. I admit, I've not read Micronauts but I really don't like the idea of Visionaries. If they existed by themselves, they would probably be fine.
Posted by ZeroWolf on March 14th, 2018 @ 7:02am CDT

Just remember, there is always someone who'll find a reason to not like it, regardless of content
Posted by Randomhero on March 14th, 2018 @ 7:02am CDT
Ten has a spark, they acknowledge his voice is different, only dead people that are closely associated with the crew turn up, the stupid Warren makes another appearance out of nowhere, rodimus demands to see the guiding hand and VWOP! There they are.
It’s all an illusion to distract them from what’s actually going on.
Posted by Randomhero on March 14th, 2018 @ 7:05am CDT
Big Grim wrote:Randomhero wrote:Can’t deny the passed 2 years has been people ranting “I don’t want this I don’t want this!l” and when it happened it’s been “I don’t like this! I don’t like this!”
Oh sure. I have no problem with most of it existing in the same universe. G.I Joe works, ROM works and MASK SHOULD have worked. I admit, I've not read Micronauts but I really don't like the idea of Visionaries. If they existed by themselves, they would probably be fine.
That’s the point of them being in a crossover book with transformers. Nobody knows or cares about visionaries. It was a failed toyline and cartoon. To even have its own comic would have no one reading it except the one nerd who was the one visionaries fan.
Posted by Ironhidensh on March 14th, 2018 @ 7:33am CDT
WreckerJack wrote:I think that is a big thing for me too. I don't like politics much. I pay attention because I have to and the issues effect our lives so we should be informed. It's kind of like having constant focus and anxiety over things that we are already dealing with in real life. I watch the news, I am aware of these issues. I want to take a break from them and have a little fun with comics. I want action, adventure, favorite characters and fun! I don't mind some heavy themes, stories that make us ask the hard questions or a little bit of politics now and again. But as a constant recurring theme, it's not for me.
Spot. Fucking. On.
When the message fits to the story, it's cool and works. In recent years, it feels that creators are fitting stories to their message, and that doesn't work. Even when I agree with the message, I don't want to see it as the focus. Escapism is a needed outlet to retain sanity in this world, and more often than not, it feels like it's being tossed aside so people can give themselves a soapbox to stand on.
Nothing drags me out of a story faster than being preached at.
Posted by Crosscheck on March 14th, 2018 @ 8:15am CDT
Posted by AllNewSuperRobot on March 14th, 2018 @ 8:51am CDT
Posted by Galactic Prime on March 14th, 2018 @ 10:55am CDT
Burn wrote:Galactic Prime wrote:[list=]Z3ROhour wrote:Rodimus Prime wrote:Really? Now you're going to pick a fight with an administrator? I can only give you a warning, but hopefully he bans you. You contribute nothing to the discussion and are just trolling.Galactic Prime wrote:Burn wrote:Fact = fact when it's garbage.Galactic Prime wrote:Not upset at all man. I'm just right.
Fixed it for you
arguing is wrong now?
God forbid.
No one was picking a fight, except it seems him with me. Apparently you're only allowed to agree with the majority here.
How is telling you that your opinion does NOT equal fact picking a fight? Reading into too much there mate.
You're more than welcome to disagree with peoples opinions, but do it without resorting to insults as you've been doing.
misfire19d wrote:I’m not interested in reading about Transformers that resemble you because you are not interesting.
I'm just over the whole socio-political statements they sneak in.
Comics are supposed to be an escape from reality, not a platform for an individuals opinion.
Wait ... did a staff member just say something negative about IDW? Yeah, sorry but your first statement is in fact incorrect. Staff are divided on these books as much as members.
All opinions are welcome, be it for or against, just accept and respect the opinions of those that don't agree with you. We can disagree in a civilised manner.
I said I wasn't picking a fight, I was accused of it, did you read the whole thing? Second, I haven't slung one insult at anyone, but I have been insulted. So maybe you should be speaking to someone else regarding behaviour around here, because there is nothing wrong with mine.
Facts are Facts and the facts state the IDW books are garbage, if they were the shining jewels some of you claim them to be they wouldn't be selling so poorly.
Posted by ScottyP on March 14th, 2018 @ 11:08am CDT
Anode and Lug I figure was just page space. We'll see.
I think Chromedome and Rewind are being saved for something where they run into Chromedome's seven evil exes former conjunx and bad things happen.
Rung I can't figure out. However, I bet it will be resolution to the part during the beginning of S2 where the quantum duplicate LL was stated to have "lost" him during the initial explosion on launch day.
Posted by Va'al on March 14th, 2018 @ 11:40am CDT
- Ten legitimately upset me. A somewhat 'positive' shock value death.
- Some of the humour used throughout felt like it didn't always land, or at least gave the feeling of jittery giggles to cover everything not being good.
- Probably one of the better Rodimus issues so far.
- Whirl is still great.
- Following both points above, probably also one of Lawrence's strongest work, also thanks to silent opener , Rodimus and Whirl moments (Ratchet too)
But mostly:
- Very innnnnteresting lettering work on dead and death - may or may not be of significance that it can't really be repeated in same way too often. I actually went through and looked at it, and between bold, italics, regular, fancy lettering and highlights, there is only one actual repetition of the word dead or died. Visual font humour has been used this prominently sparingly before, such as The Scavengers, so this stood out to me!
Posted by Stormshot_Prime on March 14th, 2018 @ 12:04pm CDT
Va'al wrote:Points I raised too late with Scotty, that I was thinking about pre-review:
- Ten legitimately upset me. A somewhat 'positive' shock value death.
- Some of the humour used throughout felt like it didn't always land, or at least gave the feeling of jittery giggles to cover everything not being good.
- Probably one of the better Rodimus issues so far.
- Whirl is still great.
- Following both points above, probably also one of Lawrence's strongest work, also thanks to silent opener , Rodimus and Whirl moments (Ratchet too)
But mostly:
- Very innnnnteresting lettering work on dead and death - may or may not be of significance that it can't really be repeated in same way too often. I actually went through and looked at it, and between bold, italics, regular, fancy lettering and highlights, there is only one actual repetition of the word dead or died. Visual font humour has been used this prominently sparingly before, such as The Scavengers, so this stood out to me!
That humor really is a little jarring. Not that it’s bad per se, but’s it’s almost like it’s covering the story’s tracks or making up for a couple empty moments. But that’s just a small complaint of mine, there’s so much good happening now in LL, finally.
Truthfully, I don’t think anything is what it seems. Not Getaway finding “Cyberuoptia” (lookin way different than its supposed appearance with skids in issue 21 I think), not anything happening in Skip. And now we have even more mystery in the Grand Architect/Scorponok/Knight House stuff.
Not to mention, the Worldsweeper crashes into the White House in OP’s vision in All Hail Optimus. Even with all this potential IDW-ending stuff coming up maybe, I think ultimately Lost Light is going to come back around to significant importance and tie everything off.
Part of the reason why I started not liking the later MTMTE and LL is because the impact on the overall TF universe felt so much less, like everything else is almost happening in a totally different universe.
Posted by Burn on March 14th, 2018 @ 4:13pm CDT
This was a good, balanced issue.
It had a nice balance between the good and the bad that have divided fans over this series.
Whirl ... we really need more Whirl. His brutal honesty really shines in this issue. As does Rodimus' hot headedness, for once I actually didn't hate Rodimus.
There wasn't any connection back to some plot point from X years ago, something this book is notorious for, something I truly detest about this book. It's a straight up "here and now".
Admittedly the book doesn't really answer any questions (in fact I was left disappointed with the "OMG! TEN CAN SPEAK!" arc), but it does end in a way that leaves me looking forward to the next issue.
It's not the sort of issue that would win back fans who have given up on the comic, but for those of us who are holding on, many of you should enjoy it.
But seriously, we need more Whirl.
Posted by ZeroWolf on March 14th, 2018 @ 4:55pm CDT
Stormshot_Prime wrote:Va'al wrote:Points I raised too late with Scotty, that I was thinking about pre-review:
- Ten legitimately upset me. A somewhat 'positive' shock value death.
- Some of the humour used throughout felt like it didn't always land, or at least gave the feeling of jittery giggles to cover everything not being good.
- Probably one of the better Rodimus issues so far.
- Whirl is still great.
- Following both points above, probably also one of Lawrence's strongest work, also thanks to silent opener , Rodimus and Whirl moments (Ratchet too)
But mostly:
- Very innnnnteresting lettering work on dead and death - may or may not be of significance that it can't really be repeated in same way too often. I actually went through and looked at it, and between bold, italics, regular, fancy lettering and highlights, there is only one actual repetition of the word dead or died. Visual font humour has been used this prominently sparingly before, such as The Scavengers, so this stood out to me!
That humor really is a little jarring. Not that it’s bad per se, but’s it’s almost like it’s covering the story’s tracks or making up for a couple empty moments. But that’s just a small complaint of mine, there’s so much good happening now in LL, finally.
Truthfully, I don’t think anything is what it seems. Not Getaway finding “Cyberuoptia” (lookin way different than its supposed appearance with skids in issue 21 I think), not anything happening in Skip. And now we have even more mystery in the Grand Architect/Scorponok/Knight House stuff.
Not to mention, the Worldsweeper crashes into the White House in OP’s vision in All Hail Optimus. Even with all this potential IDW-ending stuff coming up maybe, I think ultimately Lost Light is going to come back around to significant importance and tie everything off.
Part of the reason why I started not liking the later MTMTE and LL is because the impact on the overall TF universe felt so much less, like everything else is almost happening in a totally different universe.
Given its very plot, I don't think there's much that ll could do that would affect the overall state of the universe. Unless they pulled a "Q Who/best of both worlds" scenario wherein the ll encountered a threat (let's say the swarm for example) and managed to get away while the swarm, now having a taste for cybertonian, travelled and attack prime and Co.
While it can feel like different universes, I picture it more like the avengers and guardians of the galaxy, you know that they are connected but the threats they face rarely matter to the other (talking comics here)
Posted by Ironhidensh on March 14th, 2018 @ 8:13pm CDT
Posted by ZeroWolf on March 15th, 2018 @ 2:53am CDT
Posted by Sagitta on March 15th, 2018 @ 3:09am CDT
Posted by Big Grim on March 15th, 2018 @ 11:02am CDT
Agree that we need more Whirl. He was a joy in this issue. Rodimus amused me rather a lot too.
Posted by AllNewSuperRobot on March 15th, 2018 @ 1:40pm CDT
Posted by Va'al on March 15th, 2018 @ 3:47pm CDT
Transformers: Lost Light #17
(W) James Roberts (A/CA) Jack Lawrence
"The Everlasting Voices," Part 2! Hot Rod and company are dead. The Allspark is real. And Hot Rod is about to meet his maker(s)! Oh, Primus! Somebody stop him!
In Shops: Apr 25, 2018
SRP: $3.99
Posted by Rodimus Prime on March 15th, 2018 @ 6:07pm CDT