Transformers' Final Turn Will Break Every '90s Kid's Heart

The Autobots have sworn to protect the universe from the Decepticons, but the ultimate cost of their endless war is more than meets the eye.

Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Transformers: Last Bot Standing #2

When it comes to IDW Publishing's Transformers, fans everywhere know that the Autobots have been fighting to destroy the evil forces of the Decepticons. Time and time again, disguised robots have saved the universe from Megatron and his ilk. But while Optimus Prime and his fellow Autobots may have the noblest intentions of doing so, even a just war has a price.

The War for Cybertron has been going on for as long as any Transformers fan can remember. But just because something has always been that way, doesn't mean it should always be. Transformers: The Last Robot #2 proves that in their endless war against the Decepticons, the Autobots finally destroyed the universe — at least according to Hot Rod.

The Transformers’ War Cost More Than Meets the Eye

Transformers: Last Bot Standing #2 by Nick Roche and E.J. Sue Picking up where the previous installment left off, a disoriented and aging Hot Rod finds himself stranded on the planet Donnokt and explains to the Nebula family Shib he has served for generations the truth of his origin. As Rodimus Prime explains his history -- and the Cybertronian war he was born to fight -- he makes it clear that it's the same war That has been destroying the universe. In explaining to Shib the lost stars known as Lost Lights, Rodimus describes how endless wars with endless rebuilding and resurrected soldiers eventually drained the universe of its necessary resources.

Rodimus even says to Shib: "There's no more place to scramble or consume or resources. Nobody can put us back together. There's nothing to put us back together. We can be over." Although this portrays the Autobots A bleak picture of the future, but it casts a darker shadow over their past victories. After all, the interaction undoubtedly draws on the iconic death and resurrection of heroes like Optimus Prime, but it puts the cost of those same victories into dire perspective.

The Autobots Are Destroying the Universe

On this issue, Hot Rod himself admits that since Transformers can be rebuilt and resurrected while the rest of the universe cannot, their very existence is a drain on natural resources. Its resources are limited, and their obsession with protecting the same universe from the Decepticons, Optimus Prime, Hot Rod, and other Autobots helps ensure that there are hardly any A universe left to the Decepticons to conquer. At one point, they start fighting over it without really realizing the cost their actions will take on life across the universe.

Transformers: Last Bot Standing is a series that contains plenty of eye-opening revelations about Transformers lore, but this tragic reveal has to take the cake. Their history of endless battles is made all the more heartbreaking as the Autobots insist that they are the true heroes of Cybertron. Hopefully, IDW Publishing's Transformers will find some way to avoid this dark fate before it's too late -- if it hasn't already.

Next post: Transformers Names an Autobot More Legendary Than Optimus Prime