Ricky Church reviews Transformers: Lost Light #25…
After a long journey, Transformers: Lost Light, and by extension, Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye, has come to an end. Transformers: Lost Light #25 marks the grand finale to IDW and James Robert’s series that blended together great character development, deep emotions, an engrossing story and new elements to the Transformers mythology. All in all, the final issue was a great send off for a series that will go down as one of the best Transformers story in any medium.
Right from the opening pages, which spoiled just a tiny bit about the upcoming conclusion to Transformers: Unicorn, the emotion began hitting all the right notes. Roberts didn’t leave much open by the issue’s conclusion as he allowed every character to have some form of closure, whether it was a happy or tragic one. There’s an awful lot of room to cover with such a huge cast of characters, but their endings were very nicely balanced with no one really feeling pushed to the side at all. There was a great sense of bittersweetness to the whole affair as Roberts the crew of the Lost Light went their separate ways with some to do good things while other fates were a bit less kind.
Much of the focus still laid on Rodimus as his quest finally came to an end. Lost Light #25 reinforced just how much he changed since the very first issue, especially in regard to his relationship with and Ultra Magnus and Megatron. Whenever someone thinks of the Decepticon leader, his rivalry with Optimus Prime is the first that comes to mind. Thanks to Roberts’ handling of Megatron though, his relationship with Rodimus will go down as one of the most memorable aspects of not just this series, but most unique additions to the Transformers mythology. Their final interaction, complete with their own revelations to each other, was quite powerful and showed just how Megatron had changed. The friendship he made with Rodimus and Magnus had some great pay offs here, particularly with Magnus, and highlighted the tragedy of his implied fate.
Roberts’ writing wasn’t the only thing that was hitting the emotional points. Jack Lawrence’s artwork makes readers connect with the characters through his facial expressions and body language. The sorrow on Ultra Magnus or Megatron’s face during their conversations was palpable, as was Rodimus’ emptiness at life he now leads without his closest friends. Joanna Lafuente’s colours complimented Lawrence’s work well as she utilized both light and dark colours throughout the issue. Her darks just added to the sorrowfulness of the finale. Both Lawrence and Lafuente also do a great job differentiating the time periods in subtle ways, whether its a character’s colour or scratches on their armour. You’d think with a group of robots the passage of time might be difficult to convey, but Lawrence and Lafuente pull of beautifully.
Transformers: Lost Light #25 has all the hallmarks of a series finale and it goes out in style. Roberts nails the emotions behind the characters goodbyes and bringing several of their arcs full circle. His writing is matched by Lawrence and Lafuente’s combined artwork whose character work really bleeds everything the Lost Light crew are feeling. It’d be tough for readers not to connect in a small way thanks to the art and writing. It offers a bittersweet conclusion to Lost Light with both sad and happy endings, but it will no doubt go down as one of the best Transformers stories told because of the series longform planning, relatable characters and emotive art.
Rating: 10/10
Ricky Church
