Cosmic Rust (disease)

This article is about . For other uses of "Cosmic Rust", see Cosmic Rust (disambiguation)|The name or term "Cosmic Rust" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Cosmic Rust (disambiguation).}}

Ewwww...

Cosmic Rust (also Plague of Rust and Rust Plague) is a microorganism that devours Cybertronian metals. An infected Transformer starts growing a rust-like substance all over their body. Eventually, the corrosion causes the Transformer to waste away to nothing.

It's not exactly harmless to humans either; Cosmic Rust can be weaponized and used to quickly dispose of metallic or organic entities alike.

If Cybertron be your home, far away never roam. Hear my message, listen and fear. Danger comes, the end is near! Just like us, you soon will rust. All shall be turned to dust.{{#if:|{{{quote2}}}}}{{#if:Warning hologram"Cosmic Rust"|Warning hologram{{#if:"Cosmic Rust"|, "Cosmic Rust"|}}|}}

Fiction

Generation 1 continuity family

Generation 1 cartoon continuity

The Transformers cartoon

I hope this is dirt...

Rumors existed in Cybertronian society about a rust plague that had consumed whole civilizations of robotic lifeforms. The Cybertronians first discovered Cosmic Rust when on the colony world of Antilla. Many years prior to 1985, Antilla was struck by asteroids carrying the disease. With the germs feeding off the heat of the colony's Lightning Bug weapon, the disease quickly destroyed the entire colony.

In 1985, a group of Decepticons found Antilla and claimed the Lightning Bug, only for Megatron to be infected by a meteor containing Cosmic Rust. By the time they returned to Earth, the disease was rapidly spreading through Megatron and he ordered the Coneheads to abduct Perceptor to help devise a cure. After analyzing some of the germs and their reaction to the Lightning Bug, Perceptor concluded that corrostop could cure the disease. After the Decepticons claimed the chemical for themselves, they infected Perceptor with Cosmic Rust and left him for the Autobots to rescue, infecting their foes.

After fixing the Autobots' matter duplicator, Perceptor noted that all the Autobots would need to do is harvest some corrostop from the Statue of Liberty to be cured. Despite the Decepticons' interference, the uninfected Superion managed to hold them off and destroy the Lightning Bug. Defeated, the Decepticons retreated, allowing the Autobots to harvest the corrostop and end the threat of Cosmic Rust. Cosmic Rust

Story of Binaltech

A new and improved 'Cosmic Rust' disease once again surfaced in the year 2003, thanks to Swindle's tampering. The Decepticons flooded the Earth with it, destroying the original bodies of most of the Autobot garrison stationed there—before it apparently backfired on the Decepticons once again. The bulk of both forces was unaffected as the majority of the war's fighting had shifted to the Cybertronian-Theater. The Rust itself was never cured, but thanks to a fusion of Cybertronian technology and human car manufacturers, new temporary bodies were built for the damaged Autobots. Binaltech Is... The Decepticons had to resort to mind control in order to trick the human engineers into building them bodies of their own. Arise! Evil Binaltechs

Wings Universe

The Star Seeker Ferak had some Cosmic Rust Nanites in stock and proposed to use it as a weapon for the Tidal Wave. Tornado - Decepticon Saboteur

Of Masters and Mayhem

When Bluestreak commissioned the Teklaans to recreate Cybertron's biosphere, the Rust Plague was among the viruses Cergo developed for reintroduction into the metallic environment. Lively Pursuit

Shattered Glass

Nightbeat, head of the Autobot Secret Police, suffered from a chronic case of Cosmic Rust due to a failed assassination attempt. Though usually kept in check by an unspecified treatment, it could flare up and cause him to malfunction and become contagious if not monitored continually. BotCon 2008 Nightbeat toy bio

Animated cartoon

Perhaps they will disassemble him to make bronze medals...

Events from IDW Publishing comics are in italics

During the War, Cosmic Rust (technically called "Cyber-Oxidant") was created by Oil Slick to infect both Autobots and Decepticons alike. Unfortunately for him, when he tried it out at the Hydrax Plateau, he unintentionally infected himself. He was found by the medical officer Ratchet, who helped him create an antidote for the Cosmic Rust, unaware Oil Slick was the disease's creator. This ignorance was remedied when Oil Slick showed gratitude the Decepticon way—by trying to kill him slowly with an infection of Cosmic Rust. Ratchet survived and managed to steal a sample of the cure for his faction. 'Bots of Science

As Rodimus Prime stood as the last line of defense between Team Chaar and the Autobot's space bridge, Oil Slick nonchalantly tossed a vial of Cosmic Rust at Rodimus' feet, infecting him. TransWarped

Dark of the Moon film

You should've paid for that sealant.

Sentinel Prime carried a cannon capable of delivering a payload of Cosmic Rust, and used it to slay Ironhide, whose body was reduced to oxidized dust. Sentinel also turned the cannon on Bumblebee, but he proved agile enough to evade the shots, which corroded away various metallic structures behind him. Sentinel then used the cannon on several NEST soldiers and the outside structure and later reused it on Optimus, but the Autobot leader was able to avoid his hits until Sentinel held Optimus at gun point and threatened to kill him with it if he interfered again. Sentinel then used the gun one last time against Bumblebee and Sideswipe with the scout avoiding the hits, but Sideswipe was caught in one blast but appeared to be able to resist getting hit just once. Dark of the Moon

The original script of the film called for Skids and Mudflap to also meet their ends courtesy of Sentinel's Cosmic Rust cannon. Their scenes remain in the novelization and comic book adaptation of the film. As well, Optimus would have turned the tables on Sentinel by killing him with his own cannon, as opposed to using Megatron's Fusion shotgun in the actual film.

Aligned continuity family

The Covenant of Primus

"I have spent my life studying these things. So please listen carefully. There is no medicine. There is no vaccine... Start bombing. Bomb the city... and everyone in it."

Alpha Trion wrote that, at first, the Rust Plague seemed almost trivial compared to warnings that energon was running low due to supplying Cybertronian colonies and the worrying news that the Well of All Sparks was generating new life at a mere tenth of its former output.

Then came the news of a deep space transport that had been affected by a terrible disease that corroded any metal it came in touch with, including Transformers. Worse, this mysterious disease was incredibly virulent, spreading across entire worlds with terrifying swiftness. Alpha Trion called it the Rust Plague, as all that was left in its wake was rusting ruin. To the horror of the Transformers, who'd begun to think themselves a powerful race on the rise, the Space Bridges that connected their colonies helped the disease's spread.

Attempts to find a cure came to naught, as not only were any medical personnel killed quickly by the Plague, but medical facilities themselves rusted away and became useless. Cybertron was soon bombarded with cries for help and relief, angry claims that Cybertron had abandoned them and desperately hopeful assurances that a cure would be found.

The Council, led by Sentinel Prime even viewed a recording made by an investigator, who calmly walked them through an affected ship and pointing out the extent of the decay. He pointed them out to lumps of rust that he believed were once the crew, before presenting the corpse of his partner, who had been hale and hearty only a few hours ago when they'd boarded. Now, his partner's body rotted, his Spark chamber empty, his remains disintegrating at the slightest touch. The investigator then turned the camera on himself to show he had been infected as well and was doomed to die. He grimly advised the Council that any ship even suspected of being infected should be completely obliterated, and even then that might not be enough to stop the spread.

Sentinel Prime came to the heartbreaking conclusion that the only way to stop the Rust Plague before it hit Cybertron itself was to destroy the Space Bridges. Simply shutting them down wasn't an option, as it was not impossible that desperate souls might reactivate them in an attempt to flee, only to continue spreading the Plague. The Prime gave orders to all colonies and to all Space Bridge operators to self-destruct the Space Bridges. Any attempt to bring anyone through would be an act of treason punishable by death. Prowl was one of the operators, and fruitlessly tried to get his friend Bluestreak to return home before going through with his orders.

The plan worked, and after a long period of vigilance, Alpha Trion concluded that the Rust Plague had been stopped from reaching Cybertron. However, the price was terrible. All contact with the colonies were lost, and the Cybertronian population was a mere fraction of that of the Golden Age. Worse, he observed that the experience had seemed to drain the life out of virtually all the surviving Cybertronians, noting that in Sentinel's case, it was as though the Rust Plague had affected his Spark rather than his body, robbing him of much of his former fire. The subsequent age would be dubbed the "Age of Rust". The Covenant of Primus

Aligned novels

Upon arriving on the planet Junkion, Optimus Prime was worried about an infection of Cosmic Rust. However, his fears did not come to pass. Exiles

Timeless

Oilslick was known to experiment with Cosmic Rust weapons, and may have been behind an attack which wiped out Outpost Thetarus. Timeless

Ask Sideways

Known liar Sideways claims to have used Cosmic Rust to destroy The Fallen's collection of priceless antique weapons hidden away in the Realm of the Primes. Ask Sideways, 2015/07/02

Cyberverse cartoon

[snap]

The Plague of Rust was a concern within the Cybertronians' sphere of influence in the early stages of the Great War, although it was believed to be contained in the outer territories. Unfortunately, some bots were able to transit the space bridge while infected, with one unleashing the plague on the main city of Velocitron and infecting the racing world's track maintenance drones to spread it further, a fact discovered by native Blurr and the visiting Hot Rod and Bumblebee as it destroyed the main hub city and slaughtered the Velocitronian population. Hot Rod and Bumblebee were able to reach the space bridge and escape with a warning as an infected Blurr sacrificed himself to shut down Velocitron's space bridge node, preventing the Plague from spreading to other worlds. Terminal Velocity

Games

Transformers Legends

Megatron and his men inadvertently became infected with Cosmic Rust on an old Autobot colony world. After curing themselves with stolen corrostop, they inflicted the disease on the Autobots, who had to scrape some of the compound off the Statue of Liberty. Cosmic Rust

Transformers Universe

Drive-By's Payload Laser Rifle could slow Autobots by infecting their articulation systems with Cosmic Rust, though the condition was only temporary. Drive-By's Transformers Universe profile

Transformers: Earth Wars

Brainstorm explained to Streetwise that his mind was of such sophistication that he could simultaneously conduct theoretical research on dark matter, work on a nanite antibody to Cosmic Rust, and develop a metafictional bomb. Brainstorm arrival

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Notes

• The Rust Plague is a clear Cybertronian analogue to the infamous [[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}Black Death|{{#if:||Black Death}}]], which killed a massive portion of the European population. Both were seemingly unstoppable, with increasingly desperate means (burning the dead for the Black Death, blowing up the Space Bridges for the Rust Plague) needed to stem the spread.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Uchū Sabi (宇宙サビ, "Cosmic Rust"), Cosmic Rust (コズミックルスト Kozumikku Rusuto), Sabi-byō (サビ病, "Rust Disease")
• Mandarin: Yǔzhòu Xiùbìng (宇宙锈病, "Cosmic Rust")
• Italian: Ruggine cosmica ("Cosmic Rust")
• Russian: Cosmicheskaya rzhavchina (Космическая ржавчина, "Cosmic Rust")
• French: Rouille cosmique (G1, "Cosmic Rust"), Rouille organique (Animated, "Organic Rust")