Released: September 12th, 2012 note
It's a busy day on the Lost Light. Several of the crew are trying to save Ultra Magnus from a Nanocon infection, from the inside, having been miniaturised by Brainstorm's Mass Displacement Gun. However, despite their skills, there are a lot of the little 'cons, so Ratchet suggests Magnus do the unthinkable: Smile.It works, and the Nanocons are all successfully killed, but Magnus's reputation is shot.
Afterward, Chromedome has flashbacks to other people's deaths, a side-effect of his surgery skills, Tailgate tries to convince Cyclonus to attend his Auto-Branding Ceremony, and Swerve looks for the still-missing Red Alert, only to find something else: Ore, still totally mashed into the Quantum Generator, is alive again.
In Rodimus' office, the captain and Drift talk about his plans for the ceremony, along with Rodimus's over-use of the phrase "'till all are one", and their impending arrival at the Crystal City. Drift is ecstatic at the thought of team up with them, with the Circle of Light's knowledge, manpower and insight, and the Lost Light with... with their map. Ultra Magnus enters at that point, complaining about his treatment by the crew, being mocked, something that goes against everything he's meant to stand for as Duly Appointed Enforcer of the Tyrest Accord. Drift guesses there's something else causing Magnus's dour mood, like the radio silence from the Crystal City, for example. Ultra Magnus thinks something's happened, but Drift states from experience that the Circle can look after themselves.
Ten minutes away from Theophany, and Tailgate's Auto-branding ceremony begins without Swerve, and Ambulon, who's tending to the patients from Delphi, who've all been acting up for some reason. Rodimus tries to give an inspiring speech, without having bothered beforehand, and then begins... only instead of an Autobot symbol, he's inscribed ancient Cybertronian. Specficially "Let Me Out". Drift thinks it's a sign of possession, Ratchet quickly states it's obviously just a long-delayed reaction. Skids pipes up when Swerve calls him about Ore's sudden resurrection, something Ratchet accuses him of saying on purpose. And because things just weren't dramatic enough, Jackpot's spotted a visitor out the window. Something large, ugly, and taxpayer funded. It's a Galactic Council ship.
Rodimus tries to take charge of the situation, but his attitude and dismissiveness doesn't help at all. Fortunately the alien commander recognises Ultra Magnus, and even reveres him, the Duly Appointed Enforcer of the Tyrest Accord being well known among the galactic community. According to him, the Autobots are trespassing, and Theophany is deserted. With some quick legal wrangling, Magnus convinces the Council commander that the planet is a religious site, and the Autobots should be allowed to visit, if only for an hour. As Rodimus explains the Council's general history and dislike of Cybertronians to Tailgate, half the people on the bridge vanish in a teleport flare.
Down in the engine room, Swerve and Ore talk, though things quickly go wrong when Ore assumes he's Pipes and starts bad-mouthing Swerve. Dejected, Swerve brings up his recent accidental shooting of Rung. His explanation that he only did it so that Rodimus wouldn't take his bar away makes him, in Ore's words, sound like a scumbag, something Swerve dejectedly agrees with.
Down on the surface, the teleported crew-members, absent Ultra Magnus, find the Crystal City... and it's been ransacked.
Swerve and Ore continue talking, Swerve stating that despite the war being over, he doesn't feel at peace. Ore suggests that he just hasn't gotten used to the war being over yet, and asks what he planned to do once the quest was over. Swerve admits he hadn't thought that far ahead, but that he should be doing something important, like curing Cybercrosis, rather than pranking Red Alert. Ore opines that peace means he has the freedom to do what he wants, provide he's not talking about inner peace, since in the Duobot's opinion, none of them are ever likely to have that again.
Back on Theophany, the gang examine what happened. Cyclonus determines there was a battle, but no sign of any bodies. Rewind asks if Drift can't use some manner of telepathy to communicate with Dai Atlas, which Drift responds to with hostile sarcasm, before quickly apologising. All those remarks from Ratchet have been taking their toll on him, though it's not helped by Whirl choosing that moment to be Whirl. Annoyed by the massive anti-climax, Drift rants at the heavens, before striking the ground with his sword.The ground almost immediately gives way.
Onboard the Council Ship, the Benign Intervention, the Captain talks to Ultra Magnus, telling him about just how much the 'bot's reputation proceeds him, and how he's wasted associating with someone as petulant as Rodimus. That's why on behalf of the Council, he's asking Ultra Magnus to join them.
Down on the planet, and the crew find an amazing discovery beneath the city. A Metrotitan, supposedly the transports of the Knights of Cybertron themselves. Rodimus declares then and there they'll go on a quest to find it's brain.Six minutes later, they find it, Cyclonus expressing amazement (and startling Rewind at the same time), given he used to pray in the Metrotitan's shadows. Given where they are, Rewind asks him to recite the Primal Sacrement.
In the beginning, there was Primus, and from him came the Guiding Hand, the first five Cybertronians: Primus, Adaptus, Epistemus, Solumnus and Mortilus, and from them came Cybertronian civilisation, and the ability to transform. However, in time Mortilus turned against his brethren, wanting to control the entire universe. A war followed, in which Cybertron's second moon was destroyed. Eventually, Mortilus fell, and with death destroyed Cybertronians would live forever. But this victory came at a grave cost, as Adaptus, Epistemus and Solumnus were all slain, and Primus forced to slumber within the planet's core as Vector Sigma. But they left behind the means to continue civilisation onward, and the survivors eventually became known at the Knights of Cybertron.
Ratchet's immediate response is sarcasm, and he and Drift bicker about Ratchet's lack of faith, the medic quickly pushing Drift too far when he suggests that it's not enlightenment the former Decepticon is looking for, but absolution. Rodimus breaks them up, and tells Chromedome to get to work on the Titan's brain to see if he can find out anything about the Knights, and what happened to the Circle of Light (and while he's at it, find a way to make the Council look stupid). As Rodimus and Drift talk, Chromedome readies to study the Titan, despite Rewind's continuing disapproval. He injects into the massive brain, and screams as he meets with a barrage of images of the same mechanoids that attacked Skids a while back. The Titan screams as well, beams shooting from it's eyes and striking the Benign Intervention, provoking an attack from the Council, who teleport Magnus back to the Lost Light.
Planetside, and Chromedome reveals the Titan has been screaming for a while, they just couldn't hear it. It's why the Delphi patients were acting up, and why Rodimus wrote on Tailgate's chest, and why the Nanocons suddenly reactivated. When Cybertron was restored, it sent out a signal to return home, but the Titan is so weak from being used as a power-source by the Circle, it doesn't have the energy to move itself, not with its mass. But it's still trying, and the exertion is killing it. Chromedome moves closer to the Titan, believing he can look back far enough to find information on the Knights, but Rewind and Drift stop him. Rodimus sends Skids and Whirl to fend off the council attack, while Rewind asks about the Titan. But there's nothing the crew can do... except maybe use Brainstorm's Mass Displacement Gun. Rodimus hesitates. On the one hand, there's the dying Titan, on the other, it's their only source on the Knights.
And because things weren't bad enough, Magnus calls in with news. The Council ship is going to burn up the Lost Light. Rodimus orders him to jump away, but they can't. The incineration shell is draining their energy. Magnus is just making a last phonecall. Before he can hang up, Rodimus tells him to call Swerve, who's talking with Ore about the meaning of life. The conversation turns back to Swerve shooting Rung. As Ore points out, if he felt bad about it, then he can be that much of a scumbag. At which point Rodimus calls, telling Swerve to shock Ore. If he's connected to the Quantum Engines, it might kickstart a jump, allowing the ship to get away. But Swerve refuses to endanger another Autobot's life just because he was told to, and hangs up. Out of options, Rodimus tells Brainstorm to set the Titan free. Brainstorm warns everyone there's a good chance they're all about to die, and fires, and the Lost Light crew vanish in a flash of light...
Later, Swerve recounts the day's events to a comatose Rung. Turns out the Metrotitan, on being shrunk, was able to return everyone to the ship in the process of teleporting away, as a "thank you". And as a bonus, Ore's body is gone, which Swerve takes to mean he was sent to the Afterspark, a happy ending all around.
Of course, as Magnus points out to Rodimus, this doesn't explain where the Circle of Light are, and Chromedome's borrowed memories have already faded. Suspecting Decepticons, Rodimus has decided to set a course for the nearest sight of suspected Decepticon activity.Meanwhile, the Benign Intervention's captain reports to his superior about what happened, and the news of Cybertron being at peace, and Ultra Magnus's reaction to the council's offer.
Apparently, he just smiled.
Tropes:
- And I Must Scream: The Metrotitan was used as a powersource by the Circle of Light, kept beneath their city, apparently against its will, so much so it nearly died.
- Art Shift: Cyclonus's story changes the artist to Guido Guidi.
- Back from the Dead: Ore, if only briefly.
- Beneath the Mask: All those insults and jibes Ratchet's been throwing at Drift haven't exactly been bouncing off. He threatens to cut off Rewind's head for what he thought was another sarcastic remark. Then he draws one of his katanas on Ratchet for pushing him too far.
- Call-Back:
- Ore's corpse.
- Swerve brings up messing with Red Alert as something he shouldn't really be doing.
- The patients Ratchet brought along from Delphi.
- Drift recounts the Circle of Light going into battle when he first met them, as happened in his miniseries.
- The Legislators from issue 2, while unidentified by the characters, are the ones who took the Circle of Light.
- Catchphrase: Parodied with Rodimus's "'Till all are one", which he keeps saying, even for mundane things like winning a game of Fullstasis. At Tailgate's initiation ceremony, Jackpot holds bets on how long it'll be before he says it. Brainstorm bets on eight seconds, and wins on a technicality (it took Rodimus five).
- Chekhov's Gun: Literally, with Brainstorm's Mass Displacement Gun.
- Continuity Nod:
- Ultra Magnus finds Atomizer holding a crossbow, and confiscates it. Way back in the first issue, Magnus had advised against letting an unknown 'bot who's name began with "A" hold a crossbow.
- Chromedome has a flashback to Skyfall's death. In a fitting form of irony, it turns out Skyfall's death wasn't as quick as he'd hoped.
- Drift mentions Rodimus's attempt to reclaim The Magnificence while on Theophany.
- Cryptic Background Reference:
- Optimus Prime's fight with shards of living hatred, and his exorcizing the Demonicons.
- Whatever "The Shattering" is, it caused the formation of the Galactic Council.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Chromedome mentions he had one, nearly having been driven to suicide before he met Rewind.
- Fantastic Racism: Captain K'Gard doesn't like Cybertronians. Rodimus returns the favour, insulting him, and his hat.
- "Just So" Story: The origin myth Cyclonus gives. Cybertronians can live forever because they killed death at the beginning of time, and the gods created civilisation with a wave of their hand.
- Large and in Charge: Ultra Magnus is by no means a small 'bot, but the Captain of the Benign Intervention towers over him.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Rewind's comment that he's never heard Cyclonus' telling of the origin of Primus can serve as one for the viewer, who also haven't heard it before.
- Once Done, Never Forgotten: Only a few hours after his smile saves the ship, Ultra Magnus is getting mocked for it by the other crewmembers.
- The Quiet One: Cyclonus, which gets a scream out of Rewind, who'd forgotten he spoke at all.
- Retraux: The flashback sequence deliberately resembles the drawing style of the original 80s Transformers series.
- Shout-Out:
- Whirl apparently left graffiti in Ultra Magnus proclaiming "The Duly Appointed Enforcer of the Tyrest Accord can bite my shiny metal ass"
- The quotation from Megatron's writing is from Karl Marx, continuing the theme of Megatron being associated with communism by James Roberts.
- Drift and Rodimus' discussion on the benefits the Circle of Light would bring, compared to the Lost Light's nothing, is a riff on a conversation from the Red Dwarf episode "Legion".
- The design of the Guiding Hand in the flashbacks deliberately looks Kirby-esque
- The Unreveal: Just as Cyclonus is about to mention Primus' opposite number, he gets distracted by Rewind recording him, and whoever they are goes unmentioned for the rest of the story.
- The Unsmile: Ultra Magnus's second smile... isn't.
- Your Princess Is in Another Castle!: The Lost Light reaches Theophany! ... only to find the Circle of Light missing, taken by Legislators.
