Editing Your First Mistake

{{Comicstory
|seriesissue=''[[The Transformers: Till All Are One|The Transformers:<br>Till All Are One]]'' #12
|prev=If I Know You
|next=
|image=TAAO12 cvrA.jpg 
|caption=
|title="Your First Mistake"
|publisher=[[IDW Publishing]]
|date=[[August 9]], [[2017]]
|coverdate=July 2017
|written by=[[Mairghread Scott]]
|art by=[[Sara Pitre-Durocher]]
|colors by=[[Joana Lafuente]]
|letters by=[[Tom B. Long]]
|editor=[[Carlos Guzman]]
|continuity=[[IDW Generation 1 continuity|IDW continuity]]
|chronology=[[IDW timeline|Current era]]
}}

'''Starscream joins Windblade's mental battle with Vigilem, but time is running out for all three of them, and only the truth will set them free.'''

==Synopsis==
Within [[Windblade (G1)|Windblade]]'s mind, the [[cityspeaker]] defends her brain against takeover by [[Vigilem]], preferring to die with him than allow him to return to the conscious world. Vigilem splits his mental projection into three in an attempt to overpower Windblade, but her control of her mindscape remains strong, and she is able to hold him off by pinning his three forms with pylons she extrudes from the matter of the "world" around them. Vigilem smashes through the pylons and lunges at her, but is suddenly struck by a blast from behind—[[Starscream (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|Starscream]] has linked his mind to Windblade's and come to aid her in expelling the evil [[Titan (IDW)|Titan]]! Alas, Windblade is not grateful; she does not believe expelling Vigilem is ''possible'', and rather than help her, Starscream's presence only affords Vigilem another avenue of escape. Adopting the form of [[Megatron (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|Megatron]] to overwhelm Starscream with fear, Vigilem smashes through from Windblade's mind into Starscream's own, the landscape of which takes the form of the decaying [[Kaon (polity)|Kaon]]. Vigilem pummels Starscream, stripping layer after layer from his mental projection until his [[spark]] is exposed... but at the last second, just before Vigilem can extinguish it, Windblade swoops in and snatches his spark out of his "body" to safety.

Confident that Starscream is mentally beaten, Vigilem begins to overwrite his mind, in order to take control of his body and return to the waking world. This affords Windblade time to turn her own thoughts inward, peering into Starscream's memories and witnessing the moment of his birth. Starscream was one of the countless Transformers produced via [[reproduction|cold construction]], a process that does not exist on [[Caminus]], the sight of which is horrifying to Windblade; sparks placed into pre-designed bodies, their metal never able to adopt the true shape meant for them by [[Primus]]. Recalling the words of the [[Mistress of Flame]] on the subject of forging a singular truth, Windblade mentally generates a replica of [[Solus Prime]]'s [[Forge of Solus Prime|forging hammer]] and  begins to "forge" Starscream's spark. With each strike of the hammer, the spectral form of a Transformer from Starscream's life manifests before them, until a small army of robots stands between Windblade and Vigilem—all those who left indelible marks on Starscream's memory. Vigilem tries to intervene, but the specters pile atop him, holding him down until Windblade can complete her work—until, with the hammer's final strike, the substance of Starscream's mindscape reforms around his spark, and takes a ''new'' form. Towering over everything, Starscream is born anew in his ''true'' form, the form he would have taken had the circumstances of his birth been different... and with a single stomp of his titanic foot, Starscream forces Vigilem out of his mind and back into Windblade's. There, realizing the secret to defeating Vigilem, Windblade assumes a giant form of her own and picks up the weakened Titan, lifting him into her own spark chamber. Just as the forge of Starscream's spark burned away everything until the singular truth of his being was revealed, Windblade uses her spark as a forge to burn away Vigilem until all that remains is ''his'' single truth... but there is no truth to be found in the heart of the Titan that serves [[Liege Maximo]], Prime of Lies, and he is incinerated in the fires of her soul.

With a start, Windblade and Starscream awaken back in the real world. Attending physician [[Airachnid (G1)|Airachnid]] gives them both the all-clear, but Starscream quickly orders her out of the room so he and Windblade can speak privately. Starscream insists the experience they have just shared changes nothing between them, but Windblade entreats him not to be so foolish; Starscream has literally just glimpsed the perfect truth of his own being, the life he was meant to have, and ''that'' should change ''everything''. But that is for Starscream to decide: Windblade has been changed by the experience too, and has come to a decision. No longer will she just serve as a mouthpiece for others, holding back her own thoughts: she has found her own truth as well, and now all of Cybertron is going to hear what she has to say.

==Featured characters==
Characters in ''italic text'' appear only in flashbacks, and mental illusions and images.<br>
{{Featuredcharacters
|c1=
*[[Windblade (G1)|Windblade]] (1)
*''[[Bumblebee (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|Bumblebee]]'' (7)
*''[[Ironhide (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|Ironhide]]'' (11)
*''[[Optimus Prime (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|Optimus Prime]]'' (13)
*''[[Wheeljack (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|Wheeljack]]'' (14)
*''[[Jetfire (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|Jetfire]]'' (16)
*''[[Chromia (G1)|Chromia]]'' (18)

|c2=
*''[[Megatron (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|Megatron]] (4)
*''[[Shockwave (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|Shockwave]]'' (10)
*''[[Ravage (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|Ravage]]'' (15)
*''[[Soundwave (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|Soundwave]]'' (17)

|c4=
*[[Vigilem]] (2)
*[[Starscream (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|Starscream]] (3)
*''[[Mistress of Flame]]'' (5)
*''[[Solus Prime]]'' (6)
*''[[Elita One]]'' (8)
*''[[Metalhawk (Masterforce)|Metalhawk]]'' (9)
*''[[Rattrap (BW)|Rattrap]]'' (12)
*[[Airachnid (G1)|Airachnid]] (19)

}}

==Quotes==
"You're not real. You can't hurt me. I know that."<br>
"Are you sure, Starscream? After all, there are so many kinds of pain."
:—Fear overcomes '''Starscream''' as '''Vigilem''' takes on the form of Megatron


"So vain, Starscream. Wrapping yourself in all these facades. Maximo always said to beware of 'bots who changed their skin too often. They're always trying to hide a rotten core."
:—'''Vigilem'''


"The act of creation is sacred above all things, but no task is most costly than the building of something new. Every new alliance, new weapon, new world is forged and reforged in the burning heart of truth until all slag falls away. It is only the purest servant of Solus Prime who can keep forging until they reach the real miracle... the creation of a single true thing."
:—'''Mistress of Flame'''


"A spark is shaped by all who touch it, but the first hand meant to is Primus'; sparks are meant to be forged in the design of his divine choosing... but not for you. What is this horror? This cold construction? 'Bots not born, but built. Never allowed to find their true shape. Instead forged and formed to the specifications of another's greed. Is that what you were truly seeking, Starscream? Escape from a foreign skin? The belonging you thought was lost forever? Did you forget that it was here all along?"
:—'''Windblade''' views Starscream's birth


"I'm going to do what I came here to do. I'm going to build a better future. And I'm not going to let you or anyone else stop me. (...) I'm done hiding. I'm done holding back. And I'm done speaking for the Mistress of Flame, or Metroplex, or you, or anyone else. Solus and Primus gave me truth, too, and I'm going to speak it with my own voice from now on. I hope you agree with what I have to say."
:—'''Windblade''' finds her own truth 

==Notes==
===Continuity notes===
*The three forms Vigilem takes in this issue are his original form (seen in flashbacks in [[Rubicon|issue #8]]), his present-day appearance, altered by years of his inhabitants replacing parts of his body (first seen when he transformed, also in #8), and the corrupted form of Windblade herself, portending his takeover of her body, which he used last issue.
*Windblade pins Vigilem's three forms to the wall with pylons she extrudes from the floor of her mental arena, mirroring when she had [[Metroplex (G1)|Metroplex]] do the same thing to Starscream back in [[Windblade issue 4|''Windblade'' #4]].
*When Vigilem takes the form of Megatron, he appears with the body-design used by the Decepticon leader circa ''[[The Transformers: All Hail Megatron|All Hail Megatron]]''. Of course, it's no surprise that this would be the form that Starscream would most fear, but we did get an overt reminder of his relationship with Megatron last issue when he noted he would "beat the truth back into him" on the reg.
*Windblade remarks that the real-life Kaon looks only marginally better off than Starscream's mental projection of it; the abandoned Kaon was rediscovered in the [[The Last Autobot|''Titans Return'' one-shot]] and is still awaiting repopulation.
*As Vigilem strips layers off of Starscream, the ex-Decepticon is reduced to a previous body-design each time, including his recently-discarded "Combiner Wars" look (adopted in [[The Possible Light|''The Transformers'' #40]], based on the 2015 ''[[Combiner Wars (toyline)|Combiner Wars]]'' Leader-class figure), his "Armada" design (introduced in [[Dark Dawn: Dark Cybertron Chapter 1|''Dark Cybertron'']], based on the 2014 [[Transformers: Generations|''Generations'']] Deluxe-class figure), and finally his original, classic F-15 form (which Starscream used in this continuity during ''All Hail Megatron'').
*Starscream's status as a cold-constructed Transformer was established in [[Remain in Light 4 of 5: Arm the Lonely|''More than Meets the Eye'' #20]].

===Transformers references===
*Jetfire is one of the spectral figures who emerges during Windblade's forging of Starscream's spark, in an allusion to the characters' history as friends and colleagues in a lot of Transformers media, which began with the [[The Transformers (cartoon)|Generation 1 cartoon]] episode "[[Fire in the Sky]]". However, this relationship has not yet been shown to exist between the two characters in IDW continuity.
*An unnamed Transformer is seen inserting Starscream's spark into one of a series of identical cold-constructed [[Seeker (body-type)|Seeker]] bodies. This is inherently a reference to the ubiquity of the bodyform in Transformers, so frequently redecoed and retooled as it is, and it's entirely reasonable that his wingmates [[Thundercracker (G1)|Thundercracker]] and [[Skywarp (G1)|Skywarp]] might be among the other bodies seen in this issue, not yet brought to life. Quite how that would square with Skywarp's attestation in [[All Hail Megatron issue 6|''All Hail Megatron'' #6]] that Seekers are identical because they take the form of their commander in homage and respect to him, though, is harder to say.

===Other trivia===
*This issue's name doesn't appear in the issue, but was [https://twitter.com/MairghreadScott/status/895320165302247424 provided] by Mairghread Scott on Twitter.
*Solicited for release in July, this issue arrives just a little late, early in August.
*Windblade's speculation that Starscream changes bodies so often because he's subconsciously rejecting them due to them not being his "true" body may at least partially explain why some characters suddenly change bodies for no apparent reason.

===Covers (3)===
*'''Cover A:''' Starscream and Windblade, by [[Sara Pitre-Durocher]]; fourth and final in a series of themed two-character covers for this arc by Pitre-Durocher.
*'''Cover B''' The specter of Windblade haunts Starscream, by [[Priscilla Tramontano]]
*'''Retailer incentive cover:''' Windblade by [[Zerob]]

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===Advertisements===
*[[Shining Armor issue 1|''Rom vs. Transformers: Shining Armor'' #1]]
*"The Hasbro Tribune" editorial page promoting July's [[Hasbro Universe]] titles, including this issue, [[G.I. Joe vol. 5 issue 8|''G.I. Joe'' #8]], [[Hasbro Heroes Sourcebook issue 3|''Hasbro Heroes Sourcebook'' #3]], [[The Life of Sideswipe|''Optimus Prime'' #9]], ''Revolutionaries'' #8, ''Rom vs. Transformers: Shining Armor'' #1, and [[An Axe to Break the Ice|''Lost Light'' #8]].
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*''Diablo House''
*''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Usagi Yojimbo''

==External links==
*[http://www.comicosity.com/preview-transformers-till-all-are-one-12/ Preview]

[[Category:Till All Are One issues]]