Gauging the Truth: Part One

	{{#if: Why are you here? \|; Why are you here?}}}}
	"Gauging the Truth: Part One" {{#if: \| {{#if: \|; (')}} {{#if:\|; ""}}}}
Publisher	IDW Publishing}}
Published by	}}
Imprint	}}
Published in	}}
First published	July 8, 2020}}
Shipping date	}}
On-sale date	}}
Cover date	March 2020}}
Credits	}}
By	}}
Manga	}}
Manga by	}}
Original story	}}
Story & art by	}}
Story and color art	}}
Story	}}
Story by	}}
Story consultants	}}
Story concept	}}
Screenplay by	}}
Screenplay	}}
Adaptation by	}}
Adapted by	}}
Adaptation	}}
Based on	}}
Writer	}}
Writers	}}
Writing	}}
Written by	Sam Maggs}}
Written & art	}}
Plotter	}}
Plotters	}}
Plot	}}
Plot by	}}
Plot/Script	}}
Scripter	}}
Scripters	}}
Script	}}
Scripting	}}
Script by	}}
Script and art	}}
Sript [sic] consultant	}}
Translation by	}}
Artist	}}
Comic artist	}}
Artists	}}
Art	}}
Art by	Beth McGuire-Smith}}
Additional art by	}}
Flashback art by	}}
Art assistant	}}
Art assist by	}}
Line-art	}}
Line-art by	}}
Line art by	}}
Penciller	}}
Pencillers	}}
Penciler	}}
Pencilers	}}
Pencil art	}}
Pencils	}}
Pencils by	}}
Penciled by	}}
Penciling	}}
Guest penciler	}}
Layouts	}}
Pencil breakdowns	}}
Breakdowns	}}
Breakdowns by	}}
Illustration	}}
Illustrations	}}
Illustrator	}}
Illustrated by	}}
Illustration by	}}
Illustrations by	}}
Finished pencils	}}
Finishes	}}
Finished art	}}
Finishes by	}}
Inker	}}
Guest inker	}}
Inkers	}}
Inks	}}
Inks by	}}
Ink finishes	}}
Ink assist by	}}
Additional inks	}}
Inking	}}
Backgrounds	}}
Backgrounds by	}}
Colorist	}}
Colorists	}}
Colourist	}}
Colourists	}}
Color	}}
Colors	}}
Color art	}}
Colour	}}
Colours	}}
Colored by	}}
Color by	}}
Colors by	Josh Burcham}}
Color art by	}}
Colors assist by	}}
Color assists	}}
Color assistance by	}}
Additional colors	}}
Additional colors by	}}
Color assist by	}}
Colour/Computer FX	}}
Computer coloring/effects	}}
Color Reconstruction	}}
Flats	}}
Flats by	}}
MTMTE Profiles	}}
Letterer	}}
Letterers	}}
Lettering	}}
Letters	}}
Letters by	Jake M. Wood}}
Lettered by	}}
Lettering\|Production	}}
To}}	}}
Collaborators	}}
Contributors	}}
Editor	David Mariotte, Tom Waltz, and Riley Farmer}}
Editors	}}
Editing	}}
Edits by	}}
Compiled and Edited by	}}
Original series editor	}}
Original Edits by	}}
Deputy editor	}}
Assistant editor	}}
s}}	}}
Editorial Assistance; provided by	}}
Senior editor	}}
Associate editor	}}
Story consultant	}}
Project manager	}}
Production by	}}
Designer	}}
Design by	}}
Designed by	}}
Design/editorial	}}
Book design by	}}
Collection designer	}}
Collection editor	}}
Collection Edits by	}}
Graphic design	}}
Graphic design by	}}
Collection Design by	}}
/ Layout}}	}}
Contributing editors	}}
s}}	}}
Managing editor	}}
Editor-in-chief\|Editor in chief}}	}}
Editorial consultant	}}
Dinosaur consultant	}}
Publishing manager	}}
Cover	}}
ist}}{{#if: \| by}}	}}
and Elements }}by	}}
Inside cover	}}
Apologies to	}}
Continuity	2019 IDW continuity}}
Chronology	}}
ISBN	}}
TPB ISBN	ISBN }}
UPC	}}
Page count	}}
Price	}}
Packaged with	}}
Printed in	}}
Animation	}}
Music	}}

{{#if: TFGalaxies 7 cvrA.jpg | {{#if: IDW Publishing | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: July 8, 2020 | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: March 2020 | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: Sam Maggs | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: Beth McGuire-Smith | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: Josh Burcham | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: Jake M. Wood | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: David Mariotte, Tom Waltz, and Riley Farmer | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: 2019 IDW continuity | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: | {{#if: |

{{#switch:{{#sub:xx|2|14}}|dark cybertron=}}

Raised to accept the truth of the Reversionist cause, Gauge's wavering faith leads her to discover a secret that might overturn everything she thinks she knows.

Synopsis

Curate Gauge has done her best to become a productive member of the starship Exodus and its Reversionist crew. Under the tutelage of her mentor Accelerator, Gauge privately meditates, takes part in communal chores, and attends mass devotions to honor their leader, Plenary Heretech. But although this is the only life she knows, Gauge struggles to fit in with her pious shipmates, and not just because of her young age: her mind wanders during daily rites of toil and worship, and Gauge's own feelings of unease leads her to privately question her place in Reversionist society. Accelerator takes pains to quash these doubts whenever Gauge gets distracted, and Gauge has, in turn, come to accept the central truth—the only truth she's ever known—of Reversionism: "Heretech is the truth, and the truth is Heretech." After the latest devotion, Accelerator lets her pupil return to her quarters, but not before dispensing some friendly advice: if you're troubled, it's sometimes better to pause where you are instead of rushing on.

Accelerator interprets Gauge's absent-mindedness as a sign that she's a slow learner, but this couldn't be farther from the truth: Gauge has already studied and memorized all of Heretech's teachings, and mulls over them in her quarters as she contemplates an image of Cybertron on her private terminal. Heretech has taught them that Cybertron is the physical manifestation of their creator Primus; when Heretech and his followers fled the planet, the Senate collapsed without his benevolent guidance, plunging the planet and its sinful inhabitants into anarchy and death. Only the Exodus escaped, and as Primus's representative, his presence aboard the Exodus brings Gauge and every other Reversionist aboard that much closer to their god, while their rites of toil and worship purify their sparks and help them become everything Primus wants them to be. Gauge has accepted these lofty sermons as truth, and tries to live up to them, but a flicker on her private computer terminal reminds her of another, secular problem, one that she's deliberately kept secret from everyone, even Accelerator. Every so often, a strange transmission flashes across the screen; Gauge can't understand what it means, and trying to decipher it has led her to neglect duties, miss devotions, and frustrate her mentor.

Gauge tries to put the strange transmissions out of mind and focuses on her duties, rationalizing that this must be a deliberate temptation planted to corrupt her spark by leading her away from the righteous path. But while attending one of Heretech's many devotions, Gauge is astonished when she sees the mystery code flicker on the monitor above Heretech's throne! When the ceremony ends and the other worshipers disperse, Gauge pushes through the crowd to get closer... but runs into an unhappy Heretech instead. Although Gauge immediately genuflects in her plenary's presence, a furious Heretech grabs the little Transformer, lifts her to his face, and scolds her for daring to even approach his throne before he throws her to the ground. Terrified and embarrassed, Gauge flees the room and locks herself in her quarters, even as she begins to analyze Heretech's many supposed "truths": can a 'bot as cold and uncaring as Heretech really be an emissary of a loving god? Does Primus really want her to live a life of mindless deep-space drudgery? Can she trust anyone aboard the ship, even her mentor? Gauge tries to compose herself and meditate, the way Accelerator taught her to; the process calms her down just long enough for the mystery code to flash on her screen again. With nothing to lose now, Gauge thinks and thinks, remembering all the previous times when she'd doubted the Reversionists, remembering their faith in the process, in repetition... and then finally comes to a revelation. It isn't just a random code, she realizes—it's a message, one intended for her and her alone. What's more, Gauge knows exactly where it wants her to go...

Ordinarily, the doors to the Exodus's engine room are sealed tight and forbidden to curates, but Gauge uses her small size to bypass security, squeeze into the ship's ventilation system, and wriggle through the ducts until a wrong move sends her dropping through another ventilation shaft onto the deck, right next to an angry guard! Gauge first tries to outrun the guard, but then remembers Accelerator's advice: "if you're troubled, stop where you are." Gauge does so; the sudden feint trips up the guard long enough for Gauge to punch him unconscious and escape. Gauge travels further and further into the bowels of the ship; monitors in the walls light up with the message as she travels, telling her which way to go. Finally, Gauge discovers an improvised brig hidden deep within the ship, and a force field that separates Gauge from the two prisoners within. One of them introduces herself as Arcee, her compatriot as Greenlight... and informs Gauge that they want to tell her the truth!

Featured characters

{{#if:| {{#if:|| style="background:#ffdddd;" valign="top" | }}{{#if:|

Autobots }}{{#if:|

Decepticons }}{{#if:|

Humans }}{{#if:* Accelerator (1)

Gauge (2)
Heretech (3)
Guard (4)|

Reversionists }}{{#if:* Greenlight (5)

Arcee (6)|

Others }}{{#if:|

Misc }}

}}{{#if:|

}}{{#if:* Accelerator (1)

Gauge (2)
Heretech (3)
Guard (4)|

Accelerator (1)
Gauge (2)
Heretech (3)
Guard (4) }}{{#if:* Greenlight (5)
Arcee (6)|

Greenlight (5)
Arcee (6) }}{{#if:|

}}

Quotes

"I am the voice of Primus and you are a corrupted curate. You do nothing for me, and I do everything for you."
"Plenary, I--"
"Never. Approach my throne. Again."

—Heretech and Gauge

"I was so sure I knew who I was. Just days ago. Curate Gauge. Reversionist. Now, I'm lost. And I think I have to create myself."

—Gauge

Notes

Continuity notes

This issue picks up an indeterminate point after the events of Transformers #18, in which Arcee, Greenlight, and Gauge fled Cybertron aboard the Exodus after Vigilem collapsed the Tether. But something's definitely gone wrong in the interim, because Gauge doesn't seem to recall her old life on Cybertron, nor does she recognize Arcee and Greenlight! What's going on here?
Heretech previously played a major role in Transformers #16, where he first announced his plan to leave Cybertron aboard the Exodus. While that issue presented him as a seemingly reasonable individual with legitimate grievances, this story casts him in a far more sinister light, revealing that he's set himself up as a divine figure within his religion and imprisoned Arcee and Greenlight after separating them from Gauge.
Although she wasn't named at the time, Accelerator last appeared in Transformers #4 as the Reversionist leading Brainstorm's funeral.
Gauge can't remember a time when she's ever had to run before, but notes that it feels "familiar"; presumably, she's unconsciously remembering the events leading up to her family's last-minute escape from Cybertron in issue #18.

Transformers references

The message that Gauge keeps receiving is written in Jim Sorenson's "Ancient Autobot" font, a substitution cypher based off the hieroglyphs from the Generation 1 cartoon episode "Cosmic Rust". When translated, the message spells out "ENGINE", presumably a reference to the engine room where Arcee and Greenlight are imprisoned.

Real-life references

Gauge and Accelerator are both referred to as "curates," a [[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}curate|{{#if:real-world religious rank|real-world religious rank|curate}}]] that differs from one branch of Christianity to the next; its usage here, however, suggests something closest to the Catholic term as an assistant to a high-ranking parish priest. Similarly, Heretech is referred to as a "plenary", an obscure Catholic term.

Other trivia

Originally solicited for March 4th, this issue slipped all the way to May... at which point IDW Publishing announced its intention to temporarily suspend operations due to the [[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}COVID-19 pandemic|{{#if:||COVID-19 pandemic}}]]. The comic was finally released in July.
Umi Miyao was originally solicited to provide interiors for the issue, but was later replaced by Beth McGuire-Smith.

Covers (3)

Cover A: Look out behind you, Gauge! by Umi Miyao
Cover B: Arcee and Greenlight in chains, by Alex Milne and Josh Perez
Retailer incentive cover: Heretech and Gauge, by Anna Malkova

Reprints

Transformers Volume 3: All Fall Down (February 24, 2021) ISBN 1684057396 / ISBN 978-1684057399
- Collects Transformers (2019) issues #19–24 and Galaxies issues #7–12.
- Bonus material includes alternate covers.
- Hardcover format.

Volume 3: All Fall Down – cover art by Cryssy Cheung

External links

Preview

Search