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Crucible (Part 1): A Dance Before Dying

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« The Transformers:
Lost Light#19 		»
LL19 cvrA.jpg
Shut up and dance with me.
"Crucible (Part 1):
A Dance Before Dying "
Publisher IDW Publishing
First published July 4,2018
Cover date Early June, 2018
Written by James Roberts
Art by E. J. Su
Colors by Joana Lafuente
Letters by Tom B. Long
Editor David Mariotte
Continuity 2005 IDW continuity
Chronology Current era

Team Rodimus and the Scavengers reunite with former friends just in time to deal with a sparkeater attack orchestrated by Getaway.

Contents

Synopsis

Team Rodimusand theScavengerswatch as the mutinous crew of theLost Light—now somehow converted intosparkeaters—land on the surface ofMederiand start lumbering towards them. The group is unsure of the extent of the threat they pose, but quickly find out whenBrainstormapproaches the sparkeater-Perceptorand attempts to talk to him, only to be scorched by a stream of acid vomit from his former lab partner.Nauticatackles the wounded Brainstorm to safety, and the whole group transforms and beats retreat. As the sparkeaters give chase,a small shipappears in the distance, heading right for the group; something drops from its underside, whichRollerinitially thinks is a bomb... only for it to turn out to beGrimlock,who lands in the midst of the sparkeaters, stomping several of them flat. The formerDinobotleader hacks the sparkeater-Mainframeto bits with his sword, promptingUltra Magnusto grabCrankcaseand zap Grimlock with the Decepticon's guns, just enough to get his attention and stop him from killing any more of their afflicted fellow Autobots. A blast from the ship overhead scatters the remaining sparkeaters, and the craft sets down, revealing who else is on board:First Aid,Riptide,Thunderclash,andWipe-Out.Explanations come thick and fast: after being separated from the Scavengers, Grimlock fought his way out ofScorponok'sWorldsweeperand ended up adrift in space, where his distress signal was picked up by First Aid, Riptide, and the injured Thunderclash after they escaped theLost Light.The group proceeded to travel toTroja Major,where they repaired Thunderclash, left theFirstbornin the care ofthe Curator,chartered a smallquantum-jump-capable ship from Wipe-Out, and set out in search of theLost Lightby following a homing beacon they hid on it. AsMisfireandSwervebond over a love of puns, First Aid relates the atrocitiesGetawayhas wrought inRodimus's absence. Suddenly, just as Rodimus is making plans to search for theLost Light,aproton missileimpacts nearby. Looking up to the source of the missile, the group sees that theLost Lighthas arrived, now decorated with a huge symbol on its underside: the gear-like coat of arms of theKnights of Cybertron!

Aboard theLost Light,Getaway ordersStar Saberto fire on the 'bots below again, but it turns out they've run out of missiles, having used up the rest recently battling thePhantom Fleet.As indicated by the symbol that has been added to the ship, Getaway has joined forces with the mysteriousGrand Architect,and worse yet, he is not the only familiar face on the Architect's side: so is Getaway's former captor, Chief JusticeTyrest!Communicating via hologram, Tyrest accuses Getaway of playing with the Autobots and urges him to finish things quickly so the final stage of the Architect's plan can begin. Getaway denies it, but as he surveys the oil reservoir full ofscraplets,it's obvious that he has plans of his own...

Down below, the group watches as theLost Lightpulls back, disappearing into clouds that are rapidly darkening the sky. But there is no respite for our heroes, as a second wave of sparkeaters suddenly appears;Kroksaves the surprised Rodimus by blasting the sparkeater-Slapdashto pieces, which angersRewind,but Krok won't apologize for saving Rodimus. Magnus instructs everyone to shoot to wound rather than kill, but sparkeater physiology makes it a tricky prospect—Ratchetdoes some heavy damage toBluestreak;Thunderclash has to shootJackpotafter he takes off one of Rung's arms with his acid vomit; but Grimlock has no angst to spare for mutineers and traitors. Realizing that Getawaywantshim to get angry and lash out, Rodimus—inspired byWhirl's recent attempt to goad him into action, and much to his own chagrin—decides to calm down and think likeMegatron,assembling a rational plan of action. He instructs most of the group to barricade themselves inside Ward Zero, luring the sparkeaters after them, while he, Magnus, Thunderclash, Roller, Grimlock, Whirl,Drift,Cyclonus,Anode,andLugwedge into Wipe-Out's ship, with Crankcase at the helm, and take off after theLost Light.Cyclonus, in particular, relishes a reunion with Getaway, intending to kill himslowly.

Weaving through bolts of lightning, Crankcase pilots Wipe-Out's ship after theLost Light,and the group is able to enter the larger vessel via shuttle bay four, finding that there are no guards or shields up. It is, of course, all part of Getaway's plan; no sooner have they landed and disembarked than all the shields and blast doors in the bay start descending. Rodimus and Cyclonus are able to dart under one before it shuts, but the rest of the group is sealed in. Strategically placed charges in the ceiling detonate, bringing the contents of the room above—the oil reservoir—flooding down into the bay. Anode, in particular, is gripped with terror as the team find themselves facing the menace of the metal-munching scraplets, who have combined into a massive, tentacled monstrosity!

Rodimus and Cyclonus, meanwhile, make for the bridge of the ship, certain that Getaway is waiting for them. And he is... but what Rodimus hasnotexpected is for Getaway to be flanked by Star Saber... and Scorponok!

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots Decepticons Others

Quotes

"Perceptor? Percy? It's Brainstorm—remember me? Your lab partner? Your one-time lab partner? 'Watch out you fool, the ceiling can't support your weight!' That guy."

—Brainstormtries to reach the sparkeater'd Perceptor


"Run,people! Threat level five! Emergency protocol five! Escape procedure fi— "
"Five?"
"Six,actually! "
"Pretty sure you were gonna say—"
"Don't pretend you know the system!"

—Ultra MagnusandMisfire


Misfire:Grimsy! You'realive!
Ultra Magnus:Best to keep your distance, Decepticon. Grimlock has a tendency to—
(Misfire embraces Grimlock)
Ultra Magnus:—hug people?
Rodimus:Now that we've found Cyberutopia, we should go on a quest to explainthis.
Ultra Magnus:...Grimlock's been missing for years. They probably found him, saved him—by accident, no doubt—and he feels protective towards them. You see? There's an explanation for everything.
Misfire:What did you do with the baby?
Ultra Magnus:...Nothing makes sense anymore.

—The Scavengers' weirdness officially tops Team Rodimus's weirdness.


"That's how I like my explanations. Hard, fast, and confusing."
"Yeah, I used to be in [the] recap business, and that précis didnottake any prisoners. "
"It was like being beaten to death with aStory So Far."
"A 'summary execution.'"
"How come we've never met?"
"The universe hates winners."

—MisfireandSwervebond


"What was it you said yesterday?"
"You expect me to remember back that far? I can't even remember how this sentence started."

—RodimusandWhirl


"I don't care about Getaway. I care aboutyou."

—Tailgate,to Cyclonus

Notes

Continuity notes

  • The "story so far" segment on the inside front cover is presented as a conversation between Swerve and Misfire, hearkening back to the old "Swerve recap" pages used inMore than Meets the Eyebetweenissue #29and#43.
  • Brainstorm's line (quoted above) about the ceiling not being able to hold his weight alludes to an unseen follow-up to a scene from way back inMore than Meets the Eye#7,in which Brainstorm did science while suspending himself from the ceiling in an attempt to impress Perceptor.
  • Brainstorm attempts to tell Perceptor that they are "simpatico", which he did before inMore than Meets the Eye#24.
  • Grimlock and Scorponok were both last seen inissue #15.
  • Grimlock is less than happy to see Ultra Magnus; unsurprising, since Magnus was the one who arrested him way back inMaximum Dinobots#5.
  • First Aid, Riptide, and Thunderclash were last seen escaping theLost Lightinissue #12.
  • Wipe-Out previously appeared inissues #8-9.
  • Star Saber references an off-panel encounter theLost Lighthas had between issue #12 and this one with the "Phantom Fleet".This fleet was first mentioned inissue #2,explained to be a group ofWorldsweeper-class ships that were lost in theDark Nebulamillions of years ago. The Grand Architect's use of Worldsweepers has been flagged up as anachronistic several times, always suggesting there was a connection...
  • When the crew observes the change in weather, as the sky darkens and clouds roll in, First Aid notes that conditions were the same on Troja Major. We saw this weather in action there in issue #14, where it was said to be due to the "warping" of the "spiritual ley line" the planet sits on; it was noted last issue that Mederi sits on the same ley line.
  • Whirl needled Rodimus into action by asking him "What Would Megatron Do?" back inissue #16.
  • Tyrest was last seen inMore than Meets the Eye#21,when his attempt to reach Cyberutopia by killing everycold-constructedTransformer in the universe was stopped by the crew. Theprose storypublished as a back-up in that issue revealed he went on to escape captivity via a teleporter.
  • Tyrest notes that "Benzene has been cleared" as part of the Grand Architect's plans. TheBenzene Clusterhas been mentioned several times betweenissues #10-13;in particular, issue #12 mentioned a mysterious party operating out of the cluster.
  • Tyrest also says "the pathway has been sterilized", somethingFlamenoted preparations were being made for back in issue #9.
  • As we observed back in our notes forissue #11,the red scraplets have been on theLost Lightfrom the start, as alluded to byMore than Meets the Eye#16.This issue finally reveals why; Drift explains that Brainstorm brought them on board, hoping he could train them to "eat temporal energy" to prevent his time-travel experiments being discovered. Though based on the Scraplets fromTransformers: Prime,the Red Scraplets are here shown to possess the ability to combine into larger forms, like the Scraplets from the Marvel comic, and the different species previously seen in IDW continuity in the2015Holiday Special,an ability thePrimeScraplets never displayed.

Errors

LL19 vehicle modes.jpg
  • Well, doesn't look like anyone provided E. J. Su with reference material for the crew's vehicle mode looks from past issues of the comic,[1]because Chromedome turns into hisTitans Returntoy(itself based on hisShadowplay "-era body,in contrast with his modern body), Ratchet turns into hisTransformers: Primetoy,and...sigh... Rodimus and Drift turn into the vehicle modes ofunofficial "third party" toysbased on their comic book designs.
  • In his part of the "story so far", Misfire mentions "andarmy "rather than" an army ".
  • Not necessarily an error, but on page 6 when First Aid says "Funeral towns are greatforspare parts ", it seems odd to emphasise the word" for ".
  • On the same page, the medic symbol on First Aid's shoulder is drawn the wrong way, the right horizontal piece of the cross should be flipped upside-down.
  • On page 7, Swerve says "I used to be in recap business", which should probably be "I used to be intherecap business ". This was corrected for the trade paperback.
  • There are two typos on page 9: "mobilze" instead of "mobilize" in the first panel and "make is" instead of "make it" in the third panel. Both were corrected for the trade paperback.
  • It might not strictly be an error, but the timings really don't match up between the Scavengers and Grimlock and their different journeys after splitting on the Worldsweeper. Grimlock has managed to fight his way out of the Worldsweeper; get picked up; fly to Troja Major; meet and hire Wipe-Out; tool up with a massive arsenal and fly to Mederi. In the same amount of time, the Scavengers only managed to arrive (instantaneously) at Mederi, spend a few minutes bickering in a cell, and run into Nautica. Huh.

Other trivia

  • Originally solicited for release in early June 2018, as the first oftwoissues ofLost Lightthat were supposed to be released that month, this issue arrived late, in the first week of July.

Soundtrack

TBC

Covers (3)

  • Cover A:Whirl, Magnus, Rodimus, Brainstorm, Anode, and Lug aim their weapons, byNick RocheandJosh Burcham
  • Cover B:Inferno, Blaster, Bluestreak, Hound, Brawn, and Huffer aim their weapons, byNick RocheandJosh Burcham;a companion piece to Cover A
  • Retailer incentive cover:Roche's black and white lineart from Cover A
  • (thumbnail)

    Team Rodimus

  • (thumbnail)

    vs. the Mutineers

  • (thumbnail)

    and the loser is the colors

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Reprints

References

  1. ↑"I apologize for inconsistencies with alternate modes. Truth be told I havent kept up with TF over the years, there are 20 some characters in the book I had to research on, only one that I have drawn in past. Not a good excuse, but I did the best I can." —E. J. Su, Twitter, 2018/06/17

External links

Retrieved from "https://tfwiki.net/mediawiki/index.php?title=Crucible_(Part_1):_A_Dance_Before_Dying&oldid=1794489"
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