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This series provides examples of:

  • Sacrificial Lamb: Pipes for the Lost Light, and Flywheels for the Scavengers.
  • Sadistic Choice: Rewind is presented with one in issue #53. He ends up having to decide whether or not to let Chromedome repair the mind of his former conjunx endura Dominus Ambus, which will kill Chromedome, or stop Chromedome, in which case Dominus will die from shock. Chromedome is insistent that he save Dominus for Rewind and can't be talked out of stopping, so either way, Rewind is going to lose someone he loves. He ultimately decides that this isn't Chromedome's decision to make and uses one Drift's swords to sever Chromedome's arm, stopping the procedure and saving him, but killing Dominus.
  • San Dimas Time: How Brainstorm's time machine works; one hour in the past equals one hour in the present. It's why they still have time to go after Brainstorm and stop him before his actions in the past cause a new present to completely override the one they live in now.
  • Say Your Prayers: Flywheels, upon learning that the DJD is coming. It's his last words, too.
  • Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale: The Lost Light is described to be 15 miles long. That makes it larger than a Star Wars Executor class starship. Yet it is dwarfed by The Benign Intervention, which would make the latter roughly the length of Connecticut and none of the art in the series comes even close to suggesting it's that big.
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here: In issue 7, Misfire suggests they run away screaming from the crashed vessel they are exploring after discovering a menagerie of horrors inside it.
  • Sealed Evil in a Can:
    • The Sparkeater on the Lost Light was this before the quantum engine malfunction freed it.
    • Overlord, too, until Chromedome lets slip Megatron is alive.
  • Secret-Identity Identity: Minimus Ambus =/= Ultra Magnus.
  • Secret Secret-Keeper: Ratchet was this for Ultra Magnus.
  • Secret Stab Wound: Swerve in the Hoist spotlight. And then again in issue 43.
  • Self-Defense Ruse: When Megatron renounces the Decepticon cause and is allowed to co-captain the Lost Light in its journey to find the Knights of Cybertron, a cabal of Autobots who're against his appointment get the unstable Whirl (who has a grudge against Megatron) to ambush him shortly after the Lost Light gets underway. They hope that Megatron will react violently to the assault, giving them a reason to either kill him or at least kick him off the ship, or even that Whirl will just straight up kill him (though there isn't much chance of that). To their disappointment, Megatron quickly defeats Whirl with only minimal force, and releases him with a stern warning. note 
  • Self-Deprecation: Rung's holo-matter avatar is named "Mary Sue". Rung is also James Roberts' original character.
  • Selfish Good: Rodimus and to a lesser degree Brainstorm. And Whirl.
  • Sell-Out:
    • Skullcruncher has made a mint in the post-War era with an intergalactic comedy act, "The Self-Hating Decepticon." His routine seems to revolve almost entirely around insulting his former comrades and the Decepticon cause. Fulcrum notes that most his revenue comes from merchandising.
    • Demus is a far creepier example. After the war he became a scrap merchant, and seemingly made it big by making and selling cute robotic toys from recycled parts. In reality he became a slave trader, capturing Cybertronians, forcing them into cute beast mode bodies, removing most of their sentience and selling them to... well, anybody who'll buy them, including aliens who have grudges against Cybertronians.
    • Flashbacks show that part of the reason Megatron has a fear of mnemnosurgery (i.e. an operation where the mnemnosurgeon can enter the subject's mind to read it) is that at one point he was almost subjected to it without the proper checks and balances. The mnemnosurgeon Froid was dispatched by the corrupt Council to "correct" his rabble-rousing, and it was only the unwitting interruption by fellow mnemnosurgeon Rung (who'd arrived to inform Froid of a new regulation requiring two signatures instead of one) that saved him.
  • Series Continuity Error: Issue #1 has Chromedome pointing out that Rewind's alt-mode is non-mobile, seeing as it is a giant memory stick. Cue the Annual, where his alt-mode, is not only hovering, but also quite mobile, keeping pace with the likes of Whirl, Cyclonus, Drift and Rodimus. It has been clarified that this was an error on part of the Annual's artist, however.
  • Shell-Shocked Veteran: Fortress Maximus. Also according to Swerve, Cyclonus still has nightmares and flashbacks from back when he was part of the Dead Universe.
  • Sherlock Scan:
    • Ratchet does it several times in issues 4-5.
    • Rung uses this in issue #18 to determine that Minimus Ambus is somehow actually Ultra Magnus.
    • Prowl in issue 10 gets to use his barely-ever utilised ability to scan fifty-thousand moving objects.
  • Shoot the Hostage: Tyrest takes Tailgate hostage after Tailgate stops him from getting into the portal and deactivating the thought weapon on his staff, so Tailgate just tells Rodimus to shoot them both because he's already dying anyways.
  • Shout-Out:
    • The Sparkeater is one to the Alien franchise.
    • The concept of 1984 refers to thought warfare, similar to the Thoughtcrime from the book 1984 (in addition to being a Mythology Gag).
    • There's a model of the guitar shaped spaceship from Interstella 5555 lying around Rung's office in issue 6.
    • Whirl manages to give a Shout-Out to both The Simpsons ("Shortest. Quest. Ever.) and Futurama ("The duly appointed enforcer of the Tyrest Accord can duly appoint my shiny metal-") in the same issue.
    • Drift and Rodimus have a very Red Dwarf sounding conversation, also in the Annual.
    • One of the covers for issue 12 is in homage to the cover of The Beatles album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The cover of the first issue is a reference to 1987's Justice League #1.
    • The title of the three first issues pays homage to the Dexys Midnight Runners song, "Liars, A to E" (with A and D standing for "Autobot" and "Decepticon")
    • Rossum's Trinity is a reference to the 1920 Czech science fiction play Rossum's Universal Robots, which introduced the word "robot" into the English language.
    • According to the TPB Rewind's comment that he has footage of a Sparkeater from the Gimlin Facility is a reference to Robert Gimlin, who with Roger Patterson claimed to have caught Bigfoot on film.
    • Issue 6 is named "Interiors" in reference to the Woody Allen film of the same name. There was supposed to be quotation marks around the title on the title page to complete the reference (most of his film titles have quotation marks) but apparently editorial didn't get the memo.
    • Skids' holo-matter avatar in issue 13 is basically the Eleventh Doctor, complete with bowtie. The fact that his ID is also a blank piece of paper (whil also referencing Skid's amnesia) is probably a reference to the Doctor's psychic paper, a blank piece of paper which shows people whatever ID the Doctor needs them to see.
    • The title of issue 13, "Cybertronian Homesick Blues", is a Shout-Out to the Bob Dylan song ("Subterranean Homesick Blues").
    • One of the covers for issue 13 has a Vorlon drawn into the background.
    • Issue 16 features the Battle of Hell's Point and in the design notes Roberts notes that he wanted the ship to resemble a Star Destroyer from Star Wars. Though he clarified that he didn't want it to be too on the nose and a certain creative freedom was given to the artist.
    • Issue 18, Chromedome's vehicle form is very similar to Batman's Tumbler. What's Chromedome's real name? Tumbler.
    • In issue 18: What's in the Box?
    • The Variant of Issue 21's cover is part of a series of cover's IDW's comics are doing referencing Animated shows. Issue 21's cover is a reference to Samurai Jack.
    • Variant cover of Issue 32 is a homage to a promotional photo of the X-Files.
    • There are even a few to this very wiki! Three of Swerve's drinks are called Nightmare Fuel, Mood Whiplash and Berserker Buttons. invoked
    • Nautica's wrench, after being given numerous upgrades by Brainstorm, has essentially become her very own sonic screwdriver.
    • The Officer that verifies Minimus's badge in Issue 35 is a cybertronian version of Judge Dredd.
    • Issue 43 has Skids switch out his holomatter avatar of Matt Smith's Doctor for one of Christopher Eccleston's Ninth. Rodimus' avatar looks like a cross between Judd Nelson's (his voice-actor in the movie and in Transformers: Animated) character John Bender from The Breakfast Club and Marty McFly. Nightbeat's avatar, meanwhile, looks suspiciously like Idris Elba on Luther.
    • The three wacky neighbours, meanwhile, are all shout-outs to various sitcoms. Ted the priest is a reference to the main character of Father Ted, whereas Sheldon the "kind-of" scientist/dermatological surgeon is a reference to Sheldon the actual scientist from The Big Bang Theory. Jerry the stand-up comedian is more of a reference to Jerry Seinfeld, and also happens to be wearing a Greendale t-shirt.
    • The plot of Dying of the Light is based on Zulu, with the small band of protagonists facing imminent death from a much larger army in an isolated place. A direct reference is given when Swerve makes the claim that Velocity has "patients, thousands of 'em" partway through the story.
    • Meanwhile, the beginning of issue 50 has multiple characters from throughout the series and it's sibling title seeing the crew's last wills and testaments, which Roberts admitted is an homage to the opening scene of Doctor Who's own "The Pandorica Opens".
    • In issue 52, there's a possible one when Megatron tells Tarn to take off his mask so he can see Tarn's real face. Tarn replies that this is his real face, and what's underneath is the mask.
    • One of the unflattering variety appears in Lost Light Issue 11, when Getaway describes the message from Rodimus as "fake news".
  • Shrink Ray: Brainstorm's mass-displacement gun.
  • Silence Is Golden: There's no dialogue for two pages of Issue 33, when Chromedome and Rewind are reunited.
  • Single-Issue Psychology: Averted. Fortress Maximus's mutilation by Overlord was the cause of his emotional issues, but it was simply the catalyst that brought those issues about. He's got plenty of other problems and though fighting Overlord helps him immensely, it's doubtful it cleared up all of his issues. It's essentially a transition from being insane and dangerous to emotionally damaged but functional.
  • Situational Sword: The Great Swords wielded by Drift and other members of the Circle of Light. They draw power from the wielder's spark, only the devout (or the new-born) can bring out the weapons' full potential. Cyclonus can use the blades very skillfully, and Whirl is also shown putting them to good use.
  • Skewed Priorities:
    • The daring rescue of Misfire from the Galactic Counsel's Death Row (with the agents right on their tail) ran into a snag when Misfire got hungry and took a detour for a snack.
    • Skids calls out Nightbeat for being interested in the various disappearing objects on the ship when Chromedome has suffered a massive mood downswing and is staying in his room all day. Subverted in that those disappearing objects are actually pretty important...
  • Slasher Smile:
    • Overlord gives one on the cover to Issue 14. In the next issue Ambulon gives one after ramming a transport into the previous character's back.
    • Pharma is sporting a pretty psychotic grin at the end of issue 17.
    • Tyrest on the cover of issue 20.
  • Slave Race: "The Disposable Classes", Cybertronians with alt-modes so common that the Functionist Council deemed them lesser lifeforms, and therefore disposable. They were given lower-quality energon and have barely any rights whatsoever. By the modern day, there's barely any of them left, meaning someone like Rewind is considered too valuable to risk in combat.
  • Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: Leans further to the idealistic side, though it's clear that the writer is a realist. Good wins out over evil but things aren't perfect.
  • Sliding Scale of Plot Versus Characters: Tends to be more Character driven than plot driven, specially compared to its sister series, Robots in Disguise.
  • Sliding Scale of Silliness vs. Seriousness: Pretty much smack dab in the middle. Expect to see snarky dialogue and whacky moments like Whirl stacking drinks on Ultra Magnus right next to heart-rending drama and graphic depictions of things like torture.
  • Small Name, Big Ego: Brainstorm constantly behaves like he's a celebrity and Primus's gift to scientists, but nobody else treats him as anything other than the average Autobot egghead. Issue 14 implies that he acts like this out of jealousy towards Perceptor.
  • Snark-to-Snark Combat: Constant between Ratchet and Drift. Later Rodimus and Megatron start engaging in this; unfortunately for Rodimus, Megatron is a lot more quick-witted.
  • Socially Unacceptable Collection: Decepticon Justice Division leader Tarn has a collection of first edition writings of Megatron's treatise Towards Peace mounted on his wall. The thing is, those first writings were smuggled out of the mines Megatron was effectively trapped in by being written on the insides of deceased miners, meaning Tarn has a room with corpses hanging on the walls. When he proudly shows Deathsaurus the room, the latter is equal parts amused (by the audacity displayed by the method of smuggling out the writings) and disgusted (because, you know, corpses pinned to the wall).
  • Sociopathic Hero: Despite all his comedic actions, Whirl is seriously disturbed, from mutilating Sweep corpses, to trying to start a fight with Cyclonus. This is very clear in Issue 12, where he combines this trope and Heroic Comedic Sociopath in battle, telling Rewind to accompany him "and film [him] killing people for the greater good." When he faces off against Nautilator, Whirl easily has him pinned, and then makes fun of his Megatron sounding voice when the Decepticon begs for his life. Whirl then tries to do an impression of Optimus Prime, before giving up and murdering him.
  • So What Do We Do Now?:
    • Swerve says to Ore that with the war over, he can't do the peace any justice, he feels like he's wasting his life, and not doing something grand now that the war's over. He states that he expected something big at the end of the war, for the peace to be all about the good times. Ore's response is that when the war ended he wanted to get a new alt-mode and befriend a Decepticon. He tells Swerve that peace is what you make of it, and to enjoy what you have.
    • The Scavengers have a similar talk when the war is over and the status quo is gone. They conclude that they should get to Cybertron and go from there. That doesn't work out, so they settle for wandering around aimlessly. When that doesn't work out either, Krok decides to try and reach out to lost Decepticons.
  • Space Opera
  • Speculative Fiction LGBT: To the extent Cybertronians even have gender, all female Transformers are transfeminine. Cybertronians are all masculine on creation, but don't have an understanding of gender as the biological races see it. Exposure to the rest of the galaxy leads many of them to change their minds about how to they wish to be seen and present themselves. Anode confirms during a conversation with Wipe-Out that she originally used male pronouns, as did Lug, but they both changed because "it just felt made more sense."
  • Spotting the Thread:
    • Rung starts to pick apart who Minimus Ambus really is.
    • Brainstorm figures Rung is the Rung from the future because he sees him tinkering with a "Lost Light" toy model.
    • Played for Laughs with Nightbeat and Swerve's 'crewditions'. The fact that Swerve is doing it to mess with peoples' heads is pretty obvious.
  • The Spymaster: Issue 20 reveals that Prowl is/was this for the Diplomatic Corps.
  • Starfish Language:
    • The strange spark being that Skids encounters on the other side of Tyrest's portal seems to communicate through vague sensations and noises instead of any actual language.
    • In issue 31 we learn that some Cybertronians don't speak verbally but are "Chirolingual", meaning they speak by stimulating nerves in each other's hands. Riptide and Nautica know a little bit of the language, while Drift is fairly fluent. Megatron and Ravage are also somewhat fluent in it as well.
  • Stable Time Loop: Time travel is not an exact science in the IDW universe, as while there is certainly theoretical ideas on how it works, it's not entirely accurate to how it really works. The Elegant Chaos arc in particular would explore the idea of closed loops via Brainstorm's attempt to avert the Great War, and the others attempting to stop him.:
    • It's hinted that one of the sparks Rodimus helps save is his own; Rodimus indirectly ensured his own birth would take place, thus allowing him to travel back in time four million years later to save his unborn self.
    • Brainstorm attempted to stop the Great War by travelling to various points in Megatron's timeline, hoping to dissuade him from taking up the position of leader of the Decepticons. First he tried going to the mine Megatron was stationed at, hoping to stop him from being transferred, only his arrival to cause the evacuation of said mine and ensure the transfer. He then tried using an imprint of Megatron's spark he got from one of Rung's therapy sessions to find him before he first took a life, only to realize he accidentally took an imprint of Rung's spark and miss his opportunity. He then tried preventing the bar brawl that led to Megatron being arrested by knocking out past!Rung, as it was Rung being assaulted that prompted Impactor to come to his defense and start the brawl, unaware that it was always present!Rung who accidentally started the brawl upon spilling someone's drink while getting Tailgate a curly straw. Reaching the Godzilla Threshold, he goes back to the day Megatron was constructed and tries to offline him before he's completed, but can't bring himself to do it. Rewind however can, and extinguishes the Spark originally intended for Megatron, only for Whirl to take out the Point One Percenter Spark Brainstorm pocketed at Luna-1 and implant it into Megatron, that Spark having always been Megatron's actual Spark.
    • Chromedome and Whirl accidentally give the Heavies information that would later be used to capture Senator Shockwave.
    • And finally Rodimus and Cyclonus indirectly create the Lost Light and send it forward in time, where it will eventually be found and make it's way to the crew.
  • The Starscream: Aparrently phase-sixers as a whole. According to Tarn they have a rather nasty tendency to rebel against or betray their allies, something that's made quite clear to the reader (Black Shadow was willing to throw away his career and betray the Decepticons over a couple thousand bucks). We've already seen two of them go rogue before, in the form of Overlord and Sixshot. Unless there's some others we haven't seen, that makes them three for three.
  • Start of Darkness:
    • The Shadowplay arc is one for Shockwave. From his time as a senator, to the lobotomy and mutilation he received, becoming the Decepticon he is at present. The arc is even named after the mental procedure.
    • Issue 14 is one for Overlord, though it's shown that he was already a sociopath long before he became a Decepticon phase-sixer.
  • Stat-O-Vision: Ultra Magnus has a variation on all the time. Listing names, skills, and likelihood to be a threat, Drift's mentions that Magnus has to resist dragging him off to prison.
  • Status Quo Is God: Discussed by the Scavengers in issue 7. Krok and most of the group explain to Fulcrum that the war is over. Fulcrum can't believe it because of this trope.
    Fulcrum: But there's always been a war! That's like saying there's no more blue or—or the weather's stopped!
  • Stealth Pun:
    • The Data Slug looks like a flash drive, and Red Alert placed it in the cavity where Rung's thumb used to be. Another name for a flash drive? A Thumb drive.
    • Swerve mentions that Whirl overdosed on Berserker Buttons and flipped out when someone asked him the time. Whirl was a watchmaker, a job he excelled at and enjoyed before being subjected to Empurata, and now his claw hands can't make the watches anymore. It would seem that the subject is his Berserk Button.
    • No one comments on the fact that Rodimus shows up in Lost Light#25 in another pod-type craft bearing an uncanny resemblance to a human eyeball.
  • Stepford Smiler: Swerve, and to a lesser extent Drift. Both of their masks crack during the 2012 annual, and again in issue #22.
  • The Stoic: Cyclonus usually doesn't talk to anyone, is fairly standoffish, and dislikes talking in general. We later learn that this is in part due to just not being good socializing in the first place.
  • The Stoner: Misfire, though he's more hyper than most examples. Drift used to be one before the war.
  • Straight Gay: Neither Chromedome or Rewind show any gay stereotypes. Of course since Transformers are technically a One-Gender Race homosexuality is the norm.
  • Sudden Name Change: Trailbreaker is referred to as Trailcutter starting with the Annual issue. An in-universe explanation is given in his Spotlight issue.
  • Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Cyclonus. And when it comes to Tailgate, he's outright Tsundere.
  • Suicidal Overconfidence: Fulcrum's opinion of the plan to fight the DJD.
    Fulcrum: 'Fighting the DJD' is just 'certain death' with more letters! It's- It's suicide with delusions of survival!
  • Suicide Attack: The only function of K-Class Decepticons. If they jump, they automatically transform into a very powerful bomb, one that's even capable of killing Ultra Magnus.
  • Superpower Lottery: Point One Percenters, incredibly rare Cybertronians born with green sparks that have unique properties that have not been fully explained. They can survive body modification processes that normal sparks cannot.
  • Super-Soldier: Phase Sixers (aka Super Warriors).
  • Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
    • The Scavenger arc features the scrappy underdogs vs. the professional killers. It ends very badly. Chekhov's Skill, Big Damn Heroes, and Heroic Sacrifice are all subverted, and the underdogs get their skidplates handed to them. Flywheels gets killed, Misfire gets mauled, Krok gets maimed, Crankcase gets electrocuted, and Fulcrum injures himself after his failed Heroic Sacrifice.
    • Issue 28 features two really dark examples:
      • Even though he's done a Heel–Face Turn, Megatron still goes on trial for his actions and nobody hides the fact that they want him dead. As it turns out amongst the general public, taking a level in kindness doesn't make everyone not want to see you lynched.
      • Chromedome slips back into his depression and starts to spend all day sitting in his room listening to Rewind's farewell message, refusing to talk to his friends. Rewind's message, while important, wasn't able to cure his emotional problems as initially thought. This sort of thing is sadly common amongst sufferers of depression who don't receive genuine treatment or aid.
    • Issue 50 has Rodimus' childish behavior come back to bite him in the ass, and hard, when everyone except the main cast has finally had it with his crap, and mutiny.
  • Surrounded by Idiots: Cyclonus pretty much goes like this when the others try to send a message from the past to the near present (Issue 1) as he points out that if the Lost Light were to follow their warnings, half of the remaining cybertronians would be dead, at the very least.
    Cyclonus: You're all idiots! In fact, everything you told Rodimus to avoid has a net positive income!
  • Synthetic Plague: Red Rust.
  • Take Up My Sword:
    • Ratchet wishes to have First Aid do this, since he's getting too old to be Chief Medical Officer anymore. He eventually gets around to it, but shortly afterwards First Aid leaves the ship. Newcomer Velocity takes over in his stead.
    • Ultra Magnus hands the duties of being the Enforcer of the Tyrest Accord to Fortress Maximus at the end of issue 21.
  • Taking the Bullet: Cyclonus shielding Rewind from a bomb.
  • Taking the Heat: Drift takes all the blame for Overlord being on the ship in order to keep Chromedome, Brainstorm and Rodimus from getting in trouble.
  • Talking in Your Sleep: Chromedome doing this gives Rewind a hint that something's wrong...
  • Talking the Monster to Death: Decepticon Justice Division leader Tarn can modulate his voice to extinguish sparks. He can destroy Transformer souls just by talking to them.
  • Talking to the Dead: Shock to Ore in issue 3
  • Tap on the Head: Star Saber to Swerve.
  • Team Dad: Ultra Magnus for the crew of the Lost Light. Krok for the Scavengers.
  • Team Mom: Rung for the Lost Lighters.
  • Team Pet: The Autobots have Bob the Insecticon, a holdover from the previous ongoing, whereas the Decepticon Justice Division has "The Pet", a partially-domesticated Turbofox Sparkeater. Except it's actually Dominus Ambus, who they "domesticated" after his cover was blown.
  • Tears of Blood:
    • The plague in Delphi gives this impression, although it's liquefied optics instead of blood.
    • Kaon, Prowl, Starscream and Krok cry black oil after having recovered from the Killswitch.
  • Technology Marches On: Meta. In G1, transformers like Rewind (and Rumble and Frenzy in Robots In Disguise) turned into Cassette Tapes for storing data. 30 years later and now they turn into giant memory sticks.
  • Tele-Frag: Why it's a bad idea to stand near an operational quantum generator. Ore and the Sparkeater find this out the hard way, as well as the Quantum Duplicate Rodimus.
  • Teleporter Accident: Remember that explosion on issue 1 when they Lost Light took off? The Quantum engines accidentally created two equally as real Lost Lights. We've followed one of them from Issue 1 onward, while the other was massacred off-screen later on by the DJD.
  • Tempting Fate: In issue 18, Skids easily dispatches a couple of Legislators and taunts them while doing so. Cue more legislators appearing from the Oil Reservoir. Then, when he's defeated all of those and proclaimed his victory, Star Saber teleports in behind him...
  • That Makes Me Feel Angry: Tailgate, after the events with Overlord. Part Survivor Guilt, part Stress Disorder. Understandable considering he's a garbage bot and not a member of the Primal Vanguard, as he told the guys.
    Tailgate: I'm upset! Doesn't anyone do upset anymore? What's wrong with you people? Is this a war thing?
  • That Man Is Dead: Megatron the Autobot thinks that this is true of Megatron the Decepticon. Ravage thinks this is not the case and that Megatron the Decepticon is still in there, just resting, an idea that upsets Megatron deeply.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
    • Fulcrum to Tarn and the DJD.
    Fulcrum: We'd overthrown our oppressors, we'd torn down a system that served only those at the top, and w'd turned outwards —refining the galaxy by cleansing it of organic races too backward to recognize their inferior nature. And you know what went wrong? People like you. The thugs and the sadists and the psychos —people for whome the war was a convenient excuse to inflict pain.
    • Cyclonus gives one to Rodimus, about the autobots post-war.
    Cyclonus: I met Red Alert twice. I found him paranoid, jittery, delusional and appalling at his job. I liked him. I liked him for his flaws. The rest of you, you're so damn pleased with yourselves. You've won a war and you think that elevates you.
    • Megatron gives Nightbeat one for solving the mystery in issue 31, but only after all but several members of the crew disappear. Soon after he gets one in return from Skids for not trying right away to save Ofsted XVII.
  • There Are No Therapists: Averted. Not only is a therapist a main character, but it's explicitly said that he's not the only therapist around. He makes a valiant attempt at trying to help his crewmates, but you'd probably need a legion of therapists to get the Lost Light's crew somewhere back to normal. Still he makes a difference and his sessions are a good way to get information to the audience.
  • The Tape Knew You Would Say That: Played with in a Meta-Example. Issue 33 recap page has Swerve, while breaking the fourth wall, remark on the reader not buying Rewind's death in the first place.
    Swerve: They found Rewind! And he was alive! (beat) Again with the shrug. I'm sorry, you what? You never believed he was dead in the first place? Ok then, know-it-all...
  • Third Line, Some Waiting: There is the major overall arc dealing with the Knights of Cybertron, the smaller arc to arc stories, and The Scavenger storyline.
  • This Is a Drill: Ore's main weapon is a drill in place of his left hand. After his death, Red Alert uses it to open up the slow cell. In the days before the war, miners used drill hands. Frak's dialogue implies that you earn it after working for so long. Impactor's appearance in prison notably has his right hand missing likely to remove any concealable weapon for his incarceration. Vos utilizes this trope in smaller amounts, having many small drills on the inside of his face, and Overlord has drills on his fingers for mnemosurgery. He wanted needles, but he can mess people up better with these.
  • This Is Gonna Suck: Rung's reaction to discovering the wormhole that leads to Luna-1 seems like this, considering of all the reactions shown, his was not one of excitement, like Rodimus and Swerve, but trepidation.
    Rung: Is anyone else getting a sense of deja vu?
  • This Is Wrong on So Many Levels!:
    Chromedome: Ratchet, could you put his brain back in his head? With corpses, I prefer to go through the eye sockets.
    Drift: I cannot begin to tell you what's wrong with that sentence.
    • Drift's general view on the "Death Clock", which he calls an "affront to nature".
  • Time Machine: Brainstorm's briefcase is actually a control unit for one, hence why it's quantum duplicate distorted space and time when Nightbeat and Nautica opened it in issue 33.
  • Time Skip: The story skips six months between season 1 and 2, with a few flashbacks filling in the intermittent time.
  • To Be Lawful or Good:
    • Despite his position as Duly Appointed Enforcer of the Tyrest Accord, Ultra Magnus opposes Tyrest the second he learns of the Chief Justice's plan to exterminate everyone Constructed Cold.
    • The stranded Team Rodimus have a choice between running, and apparently leaving dozens of organics at the non-existent mercy of the DJD, or staying and almost assuredly dying horrible deaths. They choose to stay.
  • Token Evil Teammate: Whirl best exemplifies this trope in this series. Even Megatron doesn't fill the trope as well as he does.
  • Token Good Teammate: Subverted. Nickel seems like this for the DJD, but it's noted that she's just as guilty of horrible crimes as the rest of the team, as she gladly enables them to do horrible things.
  • Token Minority: Whirl invokes this for laughs, when being recruited for the mission to Luna-1.
    Whirl: So what am I, the Token Empurata Victim? Bit of positive discrimination?
  • Took a Level in Badass:
    • Swerve, previously known for accidentally shooting himself and Rung in the face, knocks out Paddox with a transformed Rung. Later, he dispatches a Legislator. This is shortly followed by completely failing to shoot the much larger Star Saber while the guy was standing right in front of him.
    • Downplayed with Cyclonus. His undead self has always been a powerful force, but having come back to life he suffered from Badass Decay, especially in Heart of Darkness, and his importance diminished. He's back to form here, given more chance to show his battle prowess.
    • Megatron is trying to invoke this on the crew. They weren't really weak before, but the crew as a whole is rather immature and uncontrolled. Deconstructed in that the crew is rather annoyed by how he's trying to make them act a certain way.
    • Everyone in issue 55 takes a brief level, courtesy of Skids giving them a power-up. For example, Chromedome becomes able to knock Overlord flat on his ass. But it wears off when Skids dies.
  • Took a Level in Jerkass: As with The Transformers (IDW), Sentinel Prime. Initially portrayed as a Hero Antagonist whose brutal tactics were justified by Megatron's far greater ferocity, in Megatron: Origin, he thought of the senate as a bunch of whining idiots unfit to lead. Now he's a "seemingly" loyal tool of the Senate who embraces their dark practices, including Empurata and Shadowplay, having both done to Shockwave out of spite. He never appears in the Shadowplay arc, but his actions are communicated through the other characters. Interestingly enough, Megatron: Origin chronologically took place after this series and The Transformers (IDW), but came out before it.
  • Took a Level in Kindness: Cyclonus and Ultra Magnus eventually do. Sunstreaker and Megatron are trying.
  • Torture Technician: The Decepticon Justice Division. Three of its members (Helex, Tesarus, and Kaon) turn into torture devices, and the two that don't (Vos and Tarn) posses robot-mode skills that enhance their torture capabilities (Vos's Nightmare Face and Tarn's ability to talk his foes to death).
  • To Serve Organics: In issue 12 the crew discovers that Snap Trap and his troops on Temptoria have been doing this with the native Temptorians. Unlike most examples, this involves Snap Trap using a process called Pink Alchemy because they have to process the Temptorians into a form that's edible for themselves.
  • Toxic Friend Influence: Getaway for Tailgate. He appears to be trying to drive a wedge between Tailgate and Cyclonus. It turns out it's much worse. He's grooming Tailgate so the little guy will be willing to go along with a plan to frame Megatron, which would result in Tailgate's demise, just to get Megs either killed or imprisoned. In fact, just Getaway in general. Since he'd been planning to get rid of Rodimus from day one, slowly going through the crew and marking those who wouldn't mutiny out, then shooting them with the Nudge Gun so they wouldn't remember.
  • Tragic Villain:
    • Chief Justice Tyrest. Driven to madness by guilt over his involvement in draining the Matrix and self-mutilation, he's fully convinced that he's doing the right thing.
    • Tarn can give this impression. He claims to be secretly filled with remorse, self-loathing, and disgust, and thinks he's only doing his job because he thinks it's absolutely necessary. ... except that's just his justification for hurting and killing people in incredibly violent ways. Knowing that he was an empurata victim, mutilated by the Senate for being different helps put some of his actions in perspective.
    • The Pet, who is actually a beast-mode Transformer who has been mode-locked thanks to having his T-Cog harvested and then being lobotimized after his real identity was discovered. He's actually Agent 113, the Autobot's former mole in the group, and also Dominus Ambus, Rewind's former conjunx endura.
  • Trailers Always Spoil: Issue 15 features Overlord punching a hole through Ultra Magnus.
    • The Dark Cybertron solicitations spoil that Starscream survives the killswitch activated during the Remain in Light arc.
    • The cover for Volume 5 spoils Pharma surviving the events of Delphi, after his apparent Disney Death.
    • Readers found out about the aftermath of The Transformers: Dark Cybertron — most notably Megatron becoming and Autobot and joining the MTMTE cast—before those events happened in the crossover.
  • Training from Hell: Made To Order Cybertronians go through this as part of the MTO process. It's left some rather deep mental scars on Riptide.
  • Transformation Exhilaration: The ability to transform is normally just another fact of Cybertronian biology, but Tarn, leader of the Decepticon Justice Division, is straight-up addicted to it, and switches to tank mode or back every chance he gets. Why he enjoys it so much is never described, but he does it so excessively he burned out his original transformation cog (the organ that allows Cybertronians to transform), driving him to replace it with transformation cogs harvested from the people he executes - which he also burns out in short order.
  • Tranquil Fury: Rewind falls into this when he realizes that Chromedome knew all along Overlord was onboard the ship and that his rampage is basically Chromedome's fault. He very calmly tells him he's not sure he can ever forgive him for this.
  • Translation Convention: Most of the characters are speaking "Neocybex" rather than English, it's simply translated for our benefit. Vos and Cyclonus can speak a basically dead language known as "Old Cybertronian" which appropriately sounds like random gibberish to everyone else.
  • Treasure Chest Cavity: Rung admits that his body is about 90% secret compartments.
  • Trigger Phrase: Chromedome turned "Til All Are One" into this for Overlord using a technique called Trepan's Trigger so that it would send him into a temporary, one-use Villainous Breakdown.
  • Tron Lines: Since the changeover of colorists from Josh Burcham to Joana Lafuente, almost every character is absolutely covered in these. The backgrounds too, sometimes.
  • Troubled Fetal Position: Chromedome at the end in Issue 15.
  • True Companions: The crew seems to be on their way to becoming this, as do the Scavengers to a lesser degree.
  • Truth in Television: The concept of Death Clock is real. Recent studies in Estonia and Finland have shown that 4 biomarkers can tell the likelihood of a person to die within 5 years.
  • Try to Fit That on a Business Card:
    • Ultra Magnus, Duly Appointed Enforcer of the Tyrest Accord and Director of Security. He's also the Second in Command. Even lampshaded by Hound.
      Hound: One, two, three, four, five... ten, eleven. You realize that gives him the longest job title ever.
    • As of Issue 21, he resigns as the enforcer and passes the title to Fortress Maximus. He keeps the Director of Security title, though.
  • Two Lines, No Waiting: The events of Spotlight:Trailcutter and Spotlight:Hoist happen almost concurrently.
  • Two Scenes, One Dialogue: Often used for dramatic purposes.
    • Issue 40 features a double-page spread of Ratchet carrying on one conversation while speaking individually with Rodimus, Ultra Magnus, Rung, Swerve, Hoist and Nautica during their own private inspections.
    • Special mention goes to Rewind's message to Chromedome, that also mirrors the scene between Ratchet and Drift. Also, a dialogue between First Aid to Ratchet, asking Ratchet whether Ambulon can be saved, but showing us the headless body of Minimus, and a slowly dying Tailgate.
  • Unexplained Accent: From time to time the bots use notably British English speech ("I've not", "You've been ages", "Sod. Off.") instead of the standard American English which they normally use. This comes from the fact that the writer, James Roberts, is British. note 
  • Unexplained Recovery: Apparently Thunderwing's destruction of the Nebulos infiltration unit wasn't as thorough as he'd intended. Crankcase got stomped on, but Twin Twist survived the same thing, so why not him, Skullcruncher may have been vaporized, but we never saw a body, so he's back as well.
  • Ungrateful Bastard: Vos and Kaon murder Trailcutter just after he saves their lives.
  • Unlimited Wardrobe: The mysterious senator in the Shadowplay story arc changes his color scheme constantly, this highlights his unconventional personality and helps obscure his identity.
  • Unknown Rival: Thunderclash is clearly oblivious to Rodimus's seething hatred of him.
  • Unreliable Narrator:
    • Justified and Lampshaded with Cyclonus. He was absent from the war, and not privy to many of the details. His brief retelling of the war to Tailgate paints the Decepticons in a positive light, because the old Autobot regime (which he was familiar with) was corrupt. When Tailgate is set straight with the details, he confronts Cyclonus, who says that he gave the briefest version of a war he was absent for, and never told Tailgate to pick a side.
    • Drift narrates that pre-war, he had overdosed on a drug and was taken to the clinic, when he says that the medic (Ratchet) was praying before the operation. Ratchet (in the present) calls him out on it.
    • Arguably, the whole Shadowplay arc is this. It is even lampshaded in the title of issue 9 (“A Totally Epic Story Based On Real Events That Definitely Happened”).
    • In the first annual, Cyclonus tells the Creation Myth of the Cybertronian race which seems to be true. The fact that Tailgate is dying of old age, something that the story says can't happen to Cybertronians, it seems that Cyclonus has got at least some of the details wrong. Later on, another detail of the story, the destruction of Cybertron's first moon, also turns out not to be true.
    • Swerve every time he's talking about Blurr.
  • The Unreveal:
    • Roberts acknowledges that he deliberately concealed Chromedome's original name ( Tumbler) as one of these. His original name, Roberts notes, is just a standard name - it's "Chromedome" that's important, because it shows he worked at the Institute.
    • When asked which leg Ambulon turned into, Roberts gave us this quote.
    "You know how sometimes, a seemingly innocuous, tongue‐in‐cheek and throwaway question, if answered sincerely, can give away absolutely massive spoilers? This isn’t one of those times. He turns into a right leg."
    • The dramatic unmasking of Tarn as Glitch is this, because it's a face we would not recognize anyways. Even the reveal that he's Glitch is anti-climatic, because everyone had put all their emotional investment on Roller due to all the fauxshadowing.
    • Issue #3 of Lost Light ends with Whirl sitting Tailgate down to tell him a "love story", and warns him that love stories "never have" happy endings when Tailgate asks. The next issue has Tailgate walk up to Cyclonus who Tailgate has unknowingly been mauling during his recharge cycles since Cyclonus has to restrain Tailgate from trying to tear his own Spark out when he recharges, which Whirl knew about but had been forbidden by Cyclonus to tell Tailgate about, taking his arm and just saying "Hey." to him. We do not, as of yet, know what the "love story" Whirl told him was, but it appeared to have an effect on the little guy.
  • The Unsmile: Ultra Magnus has to make one in the annual to save the day. It was meant to be a regular smile, but given how little experience Magnus has with smiling...
  • Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Tailgate asks for a Curly Straw, which Rung tries to reach for over the counter, accidentally spilling a drink, which starts a series of events that end in a war that lasts 6 million years. Of course, as history shows, this was supposed to happen.
  • Use Your Head: How Cyclonus gets the upper hand during his duel with Star Saber. Remember that Cyclonus has a large, sharp horn on his head.
  • Vacation Episode: Issue 13.
  • Values Dissonance: In-Universe example. The Autobots and Decepticons have very different views of what is right or wrong. The Autobots believe in Socrates-style democracy and self-determination while the Decepticons believe in Marxist communist-style government and complete, unquestioning loyalty to your leader. Krok kills a downed opponent and neither him nor the other Scavengers make any sort of big deal about it, while First Aid practically collapses in regret when he premptively executes Pharma.
    • Also there's the value of organic life. Fulcrum is easily one of the least evil of the Scavengers and pretty grounded, but even in his speech before jumping, he casually mentions that he approves of clearing out "backwater organics." Tailgate also mentions that the Primal Vanguard would kill organics even though he wasn't on it, Tailgate, and others of his time period headed by Nova Prime, thought very little of them. This is contrasted with the modern Autobots who think of organic life as just as precious as mechanical life and constantly fight to protect it (well, most of them. Whirl displays some reluctance to save organics in issue 51).
    • In issue 13, the crew has to make sure a bar permits mechanical lifeforms before they can go in, suggesting that racial segregation is not only allowed in the galactic community, but enforced. None of the crew members complain about this or talk about it as if it's unusual or unreasonable. Granted, the two known mechanical lifeforms of the galaxy (Cybertronians and Stetnarians) are both embroiled in unimaginably destructive wars...
  • Verbal Tic: "BOMP!"
  • Vertical Mecha Fins:
    • Ultra Magnus has large Girder-shoulders as usual, though in this series, the tips appear to be laser weapons. Nick Roche's original concept art shows they would have combined into a BFG in vehicle mode.
    • Chromedome and Rodimus sport these as well.
    • Shockwave sported a pair of grey fins as a Senator.
  • Vile Villain, Saccharine Show:
    • The comic is a fun adventurous romp starring a variety of goofy and likable characters. Its main villains are the Decepticon Justice Division, a group of Knight Templar sadists who torture and murder anyone who dares to so much as question Megatron's philosophy. Then there's Overlord, a sadistic lunatic who kills and manipulates people for fun.
    • "Remain In Light" introduces Star Saber and Tyrest. Tyrest is a self-mutilating lunatic who has become obsessed with laws and wants to perform a Total Party Kill on all cold constructed Cybertronians. Star Saber is a horrible, fascistic, and overly-religious Knight Templar who once tried to commit genocide on anyone who didn't believe in Primus and brutalizes people who have crossed Tyrest.
    • "A Custom-Made Now" shows the oft-mentioned Functionist Council, who routinely had people mutilated by removing their hands and face, and shows an alternate universe where they rule Cybertron, and routinely commit genocide and Mind Rape.
    • Issues 47 and 50 bring Getaway to the table, with his horrific lack of regard for anyone who doesn't meet his standards, not to mention psychologically manipulating Tailgate in an attempt to get Megatron killed or arrested. And then there's him handing Rodimus and the gang over to the DJD...
    • Issues 48 and 49 have Sunder, a mnemosurgeon who's gone completely insane, and has the ability to get inside peoples' minds and make them tear themselves inside-out.
  • Villain Issue: Every Scavenger-focused issue, for given value of "villain"
    • Issue 39 is a spotlight issue for the DJD, focusing on them going on a hunt and learning about Megatron's side-change.
  • Villain: Exit, Stage Left:
    • Tyrest and Star Saber in the finale of "Remain In Light".
    • In issue 55 Overlord decides Megatron's no longer worth killing, and leaves the battlefield. In the same issue, Nickel and Deathsaurus pull out and leave the DJD to their fate.
  • Villainous Cheekbones: Cyclonus, even though he's a good guy now.
  • Villain Protagonist: The Scavengers, to the point that Fulcrum acts more heroic than some of the Autobots. That doesn't necessarily mean they're nice, though.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: Ratchet and Drift. Even if Drift's beliefs and attitude constantly gets under Ratchet's nerves, he still considers Drift a friend when it counts like when Overlord attacks them, or Drift is exiled from the ship; by the end of the series, they become conjunx endura.
    • The events of "Remain in Light" seem to be pushing Whirl and Cyclonus into becoming this.
    • The Lost Light relaunch features wannabe Intrepid Explorer Anode and her assistant/backpack Lug, who seem to have this relationship, since Anode almost gets both of them killed trying to recover an artifact from Luna-2 and is saved only by the intervention of the Necrobot. Though it's somewhat debatable if they actually are friends. False alarm, everyone; it's Belligerent Sexual Tension.
    Lug: I hate you. As in, I actively hate you. I am in hate with you.
  • Wagon Train to the Stars: The general plot.
  • Walking Spoiler: Overlord, Pharma after his return, and Tyrest.
  • War Is Glorious and War Is Hell: Issue 12 displays both, with a narrative that shows the before and after of the battle, as well as a few scenes from it. The fight starts out with a bunch of Autobots going to liberate some prisoners from the Decepticons, all happily preparing for war, and shouting a Badass Boast. While the Decepticons have a funny conversation where they say Nautilator sounds like Megatron. Then the fight breaks out, with the battle being pretty epic, Drift slicing through two cons, and impaling a third through the head, and Ultra Magnus dominating three others, and it even gets kind of funny, with Chromedome riding Overkill like a pony, and Steeljaw biting his tail. Then it cuts to after the war, where Cyclonus and Rewind are seriously injured, with the latter on the brink of death. The cons' defeat is a lot more graphic than one would imagine, with Nautilator on the ground begging not to be murdered, before he is, and Whirl being responsible for putting Cyclonus and Rewind in their conditions.
  • Warrior Poet:
    • Drift spends a lot of time spouting various flowery philosophical statements, and apparently writes all of Rodimus's grandiose speeches.
    • Megatron used to be this before the war. He's trying to recapture this now that he's captain, though with more emphasis on the poet than the warrior.
  • We Will Have Euthanasia in the Future:
    • Relinquishment Clinics became this during the Great War. Chromedome met Rewind at one, during a bout of depression.
    • It is also implied that Future Whirl entered and shot up a Relinquishment Clinic during his time travel into the past, unwittingly stirring up discontent about how just any lunatic might be equipped with integrated weapons.
  • Weaksauce Weakness: Due to his empurata, complicated door handles are this for Whirl.
  • We Will Spend Credits in the Future: Averted. The currency that Transformers use is called shanix and it's far from the only galactic currency. There's been other currencies mentioned over in The Transformers: Robots in Disguise, such as quadrocheques, sputle-progs, and even mention of a barter system.
  • Wham Issue:
    • Issue 6: Fortress Maximus goes insane, Rung is accidentally shot by Swerve (which puts him out of commission for several issues), Whirl reveals why he was kicked out of the Wreckers, Red Alert is going off the deep end, and the being in the basement is Overlord.
    • Issue 14: Drift and Brainstorm are working for Prowl and are responsible for Overlord being on the ship. Overlord escapes his containment.
    • Issues 15-16: Overlord kills Pipes and Rewind and fatally wounds Ultra Magnus. Drift is exiled and Tailgate has three days to live.
    • Issues 17-21: The crew finds Luna-1 which is filled with sparks and all of the villains the crew has encountered so far, all lead by the now-insane Chief Justice Tyrest. They discover that Ultra Magnus is actually Minimus Ambus, Ambulon and Dai Atlas die on Luna 1, and the Lost Light gets attacked by Legislators who behead Deftwing.
    • Issues 32-33: The crew arrives in Sector 113 and find an alternate Lost Light where the DJD slaughtered everyone but Rewind. While there they discover that Brainstorm is a Decepticon agent and he proceeds to use his briefcase to knock out the crew and make his getaway.
    • Issue 34: Vos and Kaon kill Trailcutter and escape. Meanwhile it's revealed that Brainstorm is not only a Decepticon agent, but also a time-traveler.
    • Issue 47: Getaway turns out to have been manipulating Tailgate to get himself killed, just so he can get rid of Megatron.
    • Issue 49: We learn what it is that Skids forgot so long ago: During his time in Grindcore, Tarn had tricked him into fixing the camp's melting chambers, before forcing him to watch as fifty Autobot prisoners of war were melted alive.
    • Issue 50: Getaway is freed by the rest of the crew, who are fed up with Rodimus' leadership and Megatron's presence. They lure the main characters to the Necrobot's planet, where the DJD are waiting to kill them.
    • Issue 53: The Pet turns out to actually be Dominus Ambus. Chromedome tries restoring him, only for Rewind to cut him off, killing the guy.
    • Lost Light issue 8: The truth about the 'bots with the gear symbol comes out. They were one of the clans of the Knights of Cybertron.
  • Wham Line:
    • Overlord while fighting Ultra Magnus.
    Overlord: I'm laughing, Magnus, because you've not been holding back... and I have.
    • Cue Overlord mortally wounding Magnus by punching through his chest.
    • Minimus Ambus revealing his secret identity at the end of issue 18.
    Minimus Ambus: I was born Minimus Ambus. I am Minimus Ambus. But you all know me-you've always known me-as ULTRA MAGNUS.
    • Issue 19 gives us these:
    Pharma:Lengthways. (cue Pharma slicing Ambulon from crown to crotch with his chainsaw hands)
    Legislator: Ninety-Sixteen. (cue a gigantic Legislator crushing Ambus' head)
    Tyrest:Fully deserved.
    • Issue 21:
      Rodimus: "I brought Overlord onboard."
    • Issue 28: "Given the size and shape and the absence of any means of propulsion, we think it's a coffin."
      • Earlier on, we have this:
    Rewind: "One more thing - One last thing - because I don't say it enough: AAAARRRRGH!!"
    • Magnus' final line of issue #30 when he interjects in the middle of Megatron and Rodimus bickering.
    Ultra Magnus: Rodimus? Look outside. Look outside now. Our ship-our home-is gone.
    • Issue 33: Brainstorm's final line of the issue: as he opens his briefcase: "I'll let you in on a little secret. I can do whatever the hell I want".
    • Issue 46: Misfire is talking with Grimlock and we get this line, although it's not significant so much as for what's said as it is for who says it.
    Misfire: We'll get this fixed, don't worry. And no locks on the door this time - not on the outside, anyway.
    • In-universe, the words Chromedome speaks to Skids, to bring back his memories of Grindcore.
    Chromedome: Grindcore. Mouth flower. The Commandant. Quark.
    • Lost Light issue 8: "People assume that when the Knights left Cybertron to civilise the universe, they traveled as one: A single crusading force. I believe the Knights organised themselves into clans and split up to better spread their influence. They may have reunited to create Cyberutopia, but in the interim..." "Five symbols. Five clans."
    • Issue 9 has the Grand Architect (the reveal of whom is a Wham Shot in and of itself) describe the true nature of Mengel's so-called "Resus Cradle".
    Grand Architect: You know, I don't think Mengel realized what she had in her possession. Using something so powerful to find out how to bring the dead back to life - such a startling lack of ambition. And "The Resus Cradle". What a ridiculous name. To me, it will always be... The Magnificence.
    • Lost Light issue 15's last line:
    Grand Architect: (speaking to Flame and Scorponok): I am the Grand Architect. And you belong to me now.
    • Lost Light issue 18 reveals that what everybody thought was the Afterspark was actually the moon of Mederi, which utilized telepaths to create an artificial environment. But then Drift discovers something awful:
    "Mederi isn't a hospice...it's a euthanasia clinic."
  • Wham Shot:
    • In Issue 11, the final page: The unnamed senator who befriended Orion Pax in previous issues, Senator Shockwave, has his personality inverted and is rebuilt into a more familiar form.
    • Earlier than that, issue 6 ends with the revealing shot of Overlord imprisoned in the cellar of the Lost Light.
    • Issue 8 ends with the Necrobot appearing over Flywheel's corpse eighteen months after he died, a datapad in hand. We get a look at what's on it: A list of the deceased, which contain among its most recent entries Dipstick, Hound, Ultra Magnus, Drift, and Chromedome.
    • Issue 16: Ultra Magnus has gone missing from the med-bay, and the Death Clock has reset. Then Tailgate sticks his arm in front of it. It tells him he has three and a half days left to live.
    • Issue 19: See Wham Line.
    • Issue 29: Megatron and Trailcutter open the coffin and find Rodimus's corpse.
    • In issue 33 the Decepticon badge hidden in Brainstorm's faceplate.
    • At the end of issue 46, we see Grimlock's drawn something on the door of his room: The Gear Symbol, with the words "Prepare - Confront - Repel" underneath it.
    • Issue 52 has Overlord once again, making his return to the comic by striding across the field of flowers surrounding Megatron's statue on Necroworld to settle his score with Megatron, interrupting his "discussion" with Tarn.
    • Issue 55 has Velocity ask who Tarn really is. Cue Roller stepping into the room and asking what's going on.
    • The first issue of the Lost Light relaunch ends with some of Team Rodimus (plus the recently returned Roller and Terminus) arriving back on Cybertron after being teleported there by Brainstorm and discovering they've actually crossed dimensions into the Functionist Universe.
    • Lost Light issue 5 finally reveals what Rung's purpose actually is. He generates photonic crystals, the same crystals used to store Sparks.
    • Issue 9 drops two big reveals on the last page; one is the reveal of the new mysterious Big Bad, the Grand Architect, or "Techy", if you're Anode. We know him better as Scorponok.
    • Lost Light Issue 18: After discovering they're actually on a planet called Mederi, Rodimus, on a whim, asks Drift to plot a course from Cybertron to Mederi. The result? A perfect match for the map to Cyberutopia.
    • Lost Light Issue 17: After Nautica opens a door on Cyberutopia after dismissing a hologram of Skids, She finds The Scavengers and Nickel last seen two issues ago having been transported to Grimlock's cell on Garrus-9!
    Nautica and Misfire: Who the 'hell' are you?!
    • Lost Light Issue 22: After the Crew learns of which bots were the reincarnations of the Guiding Hand, Whirl assumes the Robot Mode bearing Functionalist Cybertron to be Primus before Adaptus corrects him.
    Adaptus: "Ha! No, no, no. That's not Primus...(Next Page reveals none other then Rung, busy examine his glasses more with Primus' symbol next to him) that's Primus."
  • What Measure Is a Non-Human?: There's actually a test done to determine this in the galactic community, called The Ambus Test. It's used to determine if a mechanical being is truly sentient (like Cybertronians or Stentarians) or if they're just mindless, albeit very advanced, drones.
    • Brought up in issue 33 when Skids calls out Megatron for not caring about a bunch of innocent people on Ofsted XVII because they're not Cybertronian, causing Megatron to realize that he needs to make more of an effort to change.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: Megatron calls the Autobots out for their side of the war, in the middle of his trial, publicly, VERY PUBLICLY. Prowl is none too pleased.
    • Skids is very angry when Megatron suggests not saving Ofsted XVII from the alternate Lost Light.
    Megatron: You've forgotten something else: I am your prisoner. I've been granted conditional bail while we look for the Knights of Cybertron. Where in my bail terms does it say—where precisely does it say—that I have to risk my life to save a handful of strangers? Where does it say that?
    Skids: (tapping Megatron's new Autobrand) Right. There. What does that badge even mean to you? How has wearing it forced you to modify your behaviour? I'm serious! How has being an Autobot in any way prevented you from doing exactly what you want? Because if the answer is "it hasn't"—then nothing you've said or done in the last six months counts for anything.
    • Getaway is absolutely livid at Rodimus and anyone who wasn't willing to kill Megatron.
  • What Would X Do?: Subverted. When Whirl asks Rodimus "What would Megatron do?", neither he nor Rodimus gives a shit what Megatron would do - but because Megatron is something of a Berserk Button for Rodimus by that point, Whirl knows full well that bringing him up will snap Rodimus out of his Heroic BSoD. It works.
  • Who Dares?: Star Saber asks this. Cyclonus answers the call.
    Star Saber: If God were on your side, you'd have stopped me by now. Will anybody pit their faith against mine?
    Cyclonus: I will.
  • Wolverine Claws: Cyclonus has the sharp finger variety. While initially it looked like it was for show (ala Femme Fatalons) he has shown to use them in battle, like giving Blip a neck-jab.
  • Wolverine Publicity: Parodied. On Variant Cover A of Issue #34, Ultra Magnus addresses the reader to explain how purchasing a comic book that does this is literally illegal.
    Ultra Magnus: Under sub-section 11 (3) of the Autobot Code (Appendix D: Entertainment), it is an offense to feature on the cover of a publication a character who does not appear therein. In purchasing this book you are complicit in an act of lawbreaking and shall be punished accordingly.
  • The Worf Effect: Black Shadow gets killed by the DJD to show how powerful they are. In his commentary, Roberts said this was intentional.
  • Worldbuilding: Loads and loads of it. James Roberts has even said going into the series that he wanted to craft a more definitive setting and strong continuity/mythos.
  • Worth Living For:
    • Rewind is this for Chromedome. He needs a little reminder at the end of issue 16. When Rewind supposedly dies, Chromedome retreats inside himself.
    • Villainous example: Overlord finding out that Megatron is alive is all that is needed to give him back his fighting spirit.
    Overlord: Breaking free of these paper chains was never the problem — I just lacked the motivation. But if Megatron's alive, then there's everything to play for.
    • Megatron, thanks to Starscream's speech. He appears now determined to come ahead in his trial and live, just to spite Starscream.
    • Another villainous example is Nickel for Tarn, as she caused him to regain faith in the Decepticon cause.
  • Wrench Wench: Nautica. Hilariously, her Companion Cube of choice actually is a wrench.
  • Wrong Genre Savvy: Tailgate seems convinced that he's a straightforward adventure tale with Black-and-White Morality. He is actually in a adventure Dramedy with Gray-and-Gray Morality.
    • Getaway is convinced that he's living through an early chapter of The Legend of Getaway Prime. It doesn't work out for him.
  • Wrong Side of the Tracks: The Dead End on antebellum Cybertron.
  • Year Inside, Hour Outside: How slow cells work.
  • Yes-Man: Pretty much everyone except Rodimus seems to think that Drift is only third in command because he tells Rodimus exactly what he wants to hear.
  • You Already Changed the Past: Turns out Rodimus and his crew are not changing the past, they are accidentally enabling pivotal events in history to happen as expected to.
  • You Are Too Late: Pharma asks Ratchet how he plans to fight him back given that he's dying. Ratchet simply points out that Pharma's monologue was so long-winded that Ratchet fought back simply by bleeding until the puddle spread to where Pharma was standing.
  • You Can't Fight Fate: While in the past Rodimus tries to give Trailcutter information that will let him survive his later encounter with Vos and Kaon, only for Trailcutter to inadvertently wipe the info from his mind.
  • You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: While on shore leave, the group needs to get an unconscious Ultra Magnus back to their shuttle before it leaves. They decide to use their holomatter avatars to try forcing Magnus to transform to vehicle mode and drive him through a shortcut. While jumping on him works, Ultra Magnus ends up upside down, prompting Swerve to let out a frustrated "Oh, you have got to be kidding me!"
  • Your Days Are Numbered: Ultimately subverted with Ultra Magnus and Tailgate, who both survive traditionally terminal afflictions during "Remain in Light."

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