It’s not often in comics that you get to see the journey’s end. Series are canceled unceremoniously and maybe you’ll get a sad letter in the back of the last issue about how the creators had more planned and wish they had been given just a little more time.

Lost Light is the rare gem that not only got a healthy seven-year run but also got to end things on its own terms. It helps that it’s based on one of the most beloved pop culture properties of all time. But that’s not the secret to its success.

But First, Backstory

Lost Light began, appropriately, given how much the series is about change, as a different comic. From 2012-2016, it was Transformers: More than Meets the Eye. While its more serious sibling series, Transformers: Robots in Disguise, didn’t fare as well when it switched to a new series (the disappointing Optimus Prime), Lost Light maintained all the heart of the original series and continued on with barely a blip.

It shouldn’t have been surprising. After all, this is the comic that enraged certain fans with the inclusion of a same-sex couple…and then doubled down…and then tripled down…and then said, y’know what, everyone pair up with everyone, because Cybertronians are a million-year-old race that’s just looking for love.

The creative team (writer James Roberts, artists Alex Milne, Jack Lawrence, Priscilla Tramontano, Sara Pitre-Durocher, Brendan Cahill, and E. J. Su) have doggedly done exactly what they wanted to do. Heck, they’ve done what everyone wants to do. They’ve picked up their toys and bashed them together, creating thrilling stories and horrific (and often horrifically graphic) tragedies that you can’t not look away from.

They have done more than anyone else working in the brand to move the story of Transformers not just into modern culture, but make it actually relevant.

Which Brings Us To the End

That’s why it’s bittersweet to see the crew of the Lost Light finally reach its destination.

Transformers: Lost Light, Volume 4 wastes no time, picking up where Volume 3 left off, with Rodimus and company facing off against a zombified horde. After a death or two (because, y’know, this freakin’ series can’t blink without scrapping a bot), it’s on to the next big reveal, this time involving the entire Transformers mythology in a satisfyingly simple way (that RiD and Optimus Prime never seemed to be able to achieve).

It’s definitely rushed in spots. But even this turned to the comic’s advantage. There’s an entire sequence given to recount stories that I at first swore I’d forgotten reading but quickly realized were scrapped or additional storylines for some alternate universe’s Lost Light. Not to mention an exposition sequence analysis between Misfire and Swerve that’s so meta, it hurts (but in a good way). Every corner cut or explanation given is so satisfyingly woven into the warp and weave of the story that even when you know you’re being led, you still enjoy yourself.

After the cruel tease in Volume 3 (poor Nightbeat), the resolution of the series’ biggest mystery – just who, or what, the heck is Rung – threatens to and nearly does overshadow the entire last act. It’s difficult not to when you introduce a literal deus ex machina (or in this case a god that actually is the machine). At the same time, it’s deeply satisfying.

It sets up the biggest “Light our darkest hour” moment in all of Transformers history. As carnage-filled as the sequence is (as is typical with Lost Light), I found myself carefully noting who was able to open their Matrix and who wasn’t. Ultra Magnus’s difficulty with his Matrix couldn’t have been more perfect than if he’d been yelling “Open, damnit. Open!” Roberts has always had a knack for revealing (sometimes literal) mind-blowing revelations about his characters under the most extreme conditions, and he delivers.

Volume 4 is filled with moments like that as Roberts rushes to tie up loose ends (including finally finding out what’s in Brainwave’s case), introducing even more as he goes, practically unable to help himself. The series ends in the only way it could, simultaneously with a future reality that’s grim in its logical conclusions (not every adventurer lives, some aren’t ready to give up the quest, even the happiest ending can be tragic) and one in which the Lost Light‘s adventures never ended.

Saying Goodbye is Never Easy

Lost Light (and More Than Meets the Eye before it) has meant more to me than any Transformers comic since the original series. It’s been funny, fun, tragic, thrilling, heartbreaking, maddening, and oh, so satisfying all at the same time. The artists have rendered these characters that I thought I knew so well with fresh looks and art that hasn’t just redefined the comics but the entire Transformers property.

Together, the creative team crafted a series that simultaneously recaptured the joy of playing with your toys on Saturday morning and redefined what kinds of stories could be told. I can only hope future Transformers creators take the lesson to heart.

It’s been a grand adventure, and I’m sorry to see it end.