An Axe to Break the Ice

« The Transformers: Lost Light #8 »
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"An Axe to Break the Ice"
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	July 26, 2017
Cover date	July 2017
Written by	James Roberts
Art by	Priscilla Tramontano
Colors by	Joana Lafuente
Letters by	Tom B. Long
Editor	Carlos Guzman
Story consultant	Rachel Stevens
Continuity	2005 IDW continuity
Chronology	Current era

Amid the markets of Troja Major, Nautica pursues a secret objective, while the past comes back to haunt Anode and Lug.

Synopsis

Years ago, on the planet Caminus, Firestar chews out Nautica for her disinterest in the performing arts, slowly growing angrier and angrier as Nautica ignores her criticisms, until another 'bot soaks her with a jet of water from a nearby fountain and sends her stomping off in a huff. The 'bot introduces herself to Nautica as Velocity, and with that, a fast friendship is born. Velocity gets Nautica interested in quantum mechanics, while Nautica helps her study for the latest in a series of medical exam resits. Velocity eventually has to leave to study off-planet at a Mederi Center, but she and Nautica are reunited years later aboard the Lost Light, and become Amica Endurae.

In the present day, Nautica (still wearing her protective eyepatch), Velocity, Anode, and Lug trawl the markets of Troja Major. They have been dropped off by the rest of the crew at Nautica's suggestion, to investigate the possibility of acquiring a map to Cyberutopia from Nautica's old contact, the ex-Decepticon antiquarian Agonizer—but the two Camiens are growing impatient with Anode and Lug holding them up as they browse the stalls. Having no money of her own, Anode tries to wheedle some out of Nautica, but when she refuses, Anode simply steals the mood pipes she wants, which brings the Rust Giant stall owner she pilfers them from chasing after the group. After they manage to shake him, Anode laughs the whole experience off, while Lug remarks on how much the markets have changed since their old days on the planet, running jobs there for their client "Techy." Velocity explains that the settlement was discovered to rest on a spiritual ley line, turning it into a popular funeral plot, so its commerce was reshaped to focus around grief and bereavement. Punctuating this, a sinister cloaked figure suddenly appears, who attempts to buy Lug's grief, but Nautica forcefully shoos him away. Anode hasn't noticed any of this, though: she is distracted by a strange smell in the air, and when she decides she can't ignore it any longer, Nautica and Velocity are only too happy to let her and Lug go off in search of its source, so they can actually get to their meeting.

The smell—"like sentio metallico, but wrong"—leads Anode and Lug to a compound full of coffins, and once they have snipped their way through the wire fence surrounding it, Anode quickly opens one, over Lug's protestations. She is puzzled to find it empty, having expected that the smell was coming from a body... only for the coffin to suddenly transform into the robot who is the source of the odor! It briefly lashes out, but when it collapses from exhaustion, the pair realize it is terrified, and barely a week old. Before they can puzzle out the situation, a laser blast wings Lug's shoulder, as armed troops of the Black Block Consortia appear to demand the robot be turned over to them. Anode refuses their order to get out of the way, and Lug is only just able to tackle her to safety as the Consortia troops open fire, killing the robot where it stands. Anode and Lug are horrified by the sight, but their attention is caught by a shout from nearby; the pair turn to see a familiar face, that of fellow blacksmith Wipe-Out, who beckons for them to follow him to safety.

Nautica and Velocity meet Agonizer (aka "The Curator") at his Museum of Curios and Rumored Objects, where Velocity quickly realizes that Nautica has not been entirely honest about her motives in coming to the planet. Nautica already knows Agonizer does not have a map to Cyberutopia; she is seeking something else associated with the knights. As she searches Agonizer's archives, Velocity takes in a symbology display, which includes the mysterious gear-like hieroglyph that has repeatedly reoccurred throughout the Lost Light crew's adventures. Agonizer has deduced that it, and the other symbols in the display, each represent one of five clans that the Knights divided up into on their journey across the galaxy. Finally, Nautica asks Agonizer outright about the "Resus Cradle," which she had heard he had obtained. Agonizer corrects her; it is not he who holds the cradle, but a Catharsian merchant on the other side of town. Nautica drags Velocity off in that direction, ignoring Agonizer's warnings...

Anode and Lug disappear into the market crowds with Wipe-Out, who tells them that he was summoned to Troja Major by Techy—or as he is properly known, the "Grand Architect." Upon arrival, Wipe-Out found two other blacksmiths, Rocket and Scammer, dead, and has concluded that someone is killing practitioners of their shared art. The trio takes refuge in a bar, where Wipe-Out gets corrected on Anode and Lug's pronouns; he knew them as male in the past, but the pair explain that they've "reclassified" as female after encountering other races and gaining a broader understanding of gender that did not exist on the insulated Cybertron in their time, dubbing it a "better fit" for them. With that out of the way, and drinks downed to calm their nerves, the group unpacks the grisly sight they have just witnessed, and realizes that, despite first appearances, it can't be the Black Block Consortia who is killing blacksmiths, since the 'bot they killed wasn't one, and they had offered Anode the chance to step aside before they fired. Wipe-Out realizes that only one 'bot knew they were all even on the planet—the Grand Architect himself—and though Anode initially dismisses the allegation, the appearance in the sky over the bar of a Worldsweeper (an outdated mode of travel the Architect is famously known for still using), seems to put the lie into her words. A moment later, a squad of the Architect's men beam down into the bar, right in front of the trio—a squad led by Flame, who all wear the mysterious gear-symbol on their chests...

Nautica and Velocity find the Catharsian merchant's shop, where Velocity slowly becomes horrifyingly aware of what Nautica is planning. The Resus Cradle in the Catharsian's possession is said to be able to revive a dead Cybertronian, even without a spark, so long as there are some remains to work with. Nautica lifts her eyepatch to reveal that there is no "injury" beneath it... and instead, inside her optic cavity, she has been hiding Skids's salvaged brain module!

Featured characters

Characters in italic text appear only in flashback.
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Others
Nautica (1) Velocity (3) Skids (4)	Firestar (2) Lug (5) Anode (6) Rust Giant (7) Catharsian pedlar (8) Coffin-robot (9) Black Block Consortia troops (10) Agonizer/"The Curator" (11) Wipe-Out (12) Rocket (13) Scammer (14) Flame (15) Grand Architect's troops (16) Mengel (17)

Quotes

"Well? Aren't you going to say anything?"
"Effervescent hedges bestow cosmic secretions upon my granular milk wives."
"What?"
"Random words in a random order. Why make an effort to make sense when nothing I say is going to change your opinion of me one iota?"

—Firestar and Nautica

"Tell me your name. I want to worship you like a god."
"I'm Velocity. And I'll settle for the occasional sacrifice."

—Nautica and Velocity

"Ten thousand shanix?! Who do you think I am, Cyclonus?"

—Nautica is taken aback by Anode's request for money

Anode: "Well, that was exhilarating!"
Nautica: "When did 'exhilarating' become a byword for ''unexpected and traumatic?'"
Lug: "Welcome to life with Anode. I defy anyone to spend an afternoon with her and not end up dead. Believe me, I speak from experience."
Nautica:"I got nicked! He nicked me!"
Anode: "Treasure it. Every wound tells a story."
Nautica:"Not every story's worth telling."

—Nautica and Anode

"I've decided I'm going to warn you against doing things less often, in the hope that when I do protest, it has more of an impact."

—Lug, to Anode

"Lug's a she now. Me too. It's just a better fit. The further you get from Cybertron—the more people you meet—the more you realize that as a race we've been limiting ourselves unnecessarily. You know before the war, when the Primal Vanguard used to come home between campaigns? There'd always be a few who had reclassified themselves—a few 'she's' amongst the 'he's'. They tended to stick together. He to she. I didn't understand the significance. What difference did it make? But after we left Cybertron and started to meet so many other races... yeah. Then it made sense. It made perfect sense."

—Anode

Notes

Continuity notes

• Nautica's troubled friendship with Firestar, and her lack of acumen in the performing arts, were previously established in More than Meets the Eye #41-42. Among the montage that begins this issue is the scene of Nautica and Velocity's reunion from the former issue.
• Also part of the montage is Nautica conducting the Amica Endura ceremony from More than Meets the Eye #53.
• Troja Major and its "Howling Town" were first referenced in More than Meets the Eye #28, in which Nautica's acquisition of the copy of Towards Peace she mentions here was detailed. Agonizer and his museum were later mentioned in issue #45, and (as we surmised at the time) are here revealed to have indeed been where Nautica obtained it from. The "Howling Town" nomenclature is explained to be derived from the fact that "public outpourings of grief" are a specialty of the local commerce.
• When Anode asks her for money, Nautica retorts (as quoted above) that the exorbitant sum is the kind of cash only Cyclonus would have. The idea that Cyclonus is filthy rich (thanks to "Tetrahexian real estate") was originally introduced in More than Meets the Eye #13, but it was Tailgate who said it, and he was in the middle of his "lying to everyone" phase, so Cyclonus might not be as moneyed as everyone else thinks he is.
• The merchant Anode steals from is a Rust Giant, previously seen in More than Meets the Eye #50. The physical similarities between him and creatures seen in the issue are loose enough that you might not be convinced, but the nickname Anode gives him—"Rusty"—clinches the deal.
• Several references are made this issue to something called the "Old Order," a long-gone kind of clan or organization with spiritual overtones. This was first mentioned in More than Meets the Eye #50, in which Nautica noted (and here restates) that it is Agonizer's specialized field of study.
• Members of the Black Block Consortia, first mentioned in More than Meets the Eye #24, finally appear on panel for the first time. They are revealed to be an offshoot of the Galactic Council, who are engaged in a turf war with them; the conflict between the Consortia and the Council was previously evidenced in More than Meets the Eye #39.
• Agonizer offers Nautica a map to the birthplace of the Omega Guardians, mysterious creatures originally seen allll the way back in Spotlight: Hot Rod, and the uncensored draft of the Autobot Code, first described as "censored" in Last Stand of the Wreckers #4.
• We don't need to run down the history of the mysterious gear-like hieroglyph again; suffice to say, it keeps cropping up on our heroes' adventure. It was acknowledged and deduced to be a crest associated with one of the Knights' clans in More than Meets the Eye #50, a conclusion reached partially based on information Nautica acquired from Agonizer. In that same issue, Thunderclash observed that he had seen other, similar symbols in his visions of Cyberutopia; here we learn that there are five symbols in all, representing five clans.
• Anode and Lug are revealed to be the first explicitly self-defined transgender Cybertronians in mainstream Transformers fiction; Anode is noted to have changed her appearance in concert with her self-realization ("new shape, new me"), while it is implied that Lug has not felt the need to make any physical changes. This resolves the question of their planet of origin, which their gender initially meant was in question. Anode also notes that there were a handful of other male-assigned Cybertronians whose off-world encounters with other races while serving in the Primal Vanguard led them to do the same before her; a sweeping remark that cleverly tidies up the few incongruous crowd-scene appearances of female-presenting Transformers on the planet that have occurred throughout IDW history, and which have stood out as continuity errors until now, like those seen in Megatron Origin or most recently, the 2017 Transformers annual.
• Anode and Lug's contact, "Techy," was first mentioned in issue #1. The name is here revealed to be a nickname, short for "the Grand Architect," and this is where everything starts coming together. The "Grand Architect" was previously referenced by a pair of mysterious robots seen in More than Meets the Eye #46, who wore the gear-hieroglyph and traveled via Worldsweeper—and both those robots reappear at the end of this issue, part of the squad of the Grand Architect's troops. This sinister group's fingerprints have been all over the More than Meets the Eye/Lost Light mytharc from very early on; there can be no doubt at this point that the Worldsweeper found in More than Meets the Eye #7 is connected to them (not least of all because it contained Grimlock, and Grimlock was then shown drawing the gear-symbol in More than Meets the Eye #46). The Worldsweeper in #7 contained aborted protoforms, and #46 made clear the group are doing some kind of experiments on living beings, which begins to explain why they have an interest in life-shaping blacksmiths, and further, why Techy would have sent Anode and Lug to obtain sentio metallico (the stuff protoforms are made of) for him in the first place, as seen in Lost Light #1.
• Leading the Grand Architect's troops is the ex-Autobot scientist Flame. Originally a character from the Marvel UK comic book, he previously appeared in IDW continuity (with this specific body design) in Last Stand of the Wreckers #5.
• Nautica donned her eyepatch last issue, which seemed suspicious from the off; the injury she sustained to her eye in More than Meets the Eye #50 had been repaired prior to the start of Lost Light.

Transformers references

• Nautica quizzes Velocity on the disease Corrodia Gravis, an ailment from the Generation 1 Marvel comic, with which Snarl was stricken. It's received a few namechecks in Roberts-penned IDW stories; in particular, Ammo was noted to suffer from "early onset" Corrodia Gravis in More than Meets the Eye #31, which Nautica here specifically notes is a controllable condition.
• Agonizer is based on the body-design of Generation 1 Sixshot, with a green and blue color scheme.
• Wipe-Out is an original character from the Marvel comic. There, he functioned as Trypticon's gofer, a sort of stand-in for the big guy's traditional partner Full-Tilt, and looked like Tailgate as a result of some kind of art-and-or-toy mix-up. In this issue, Wipe-Out is modeled mainly on his Titans Return "Necro" toy, which recently saw retail release.

Real-life references

• The title of this issue is taken from the lyrics to David Bowie's "Ashes to Ashes," making this the second Transformers title to reference the dearly departed Bowie this month.
• The "Mederi" medical center derives its name from Latin; "mederi" is the present infinitive of "medeor," meaning "I heal." No need to explain the relevance, obviously!
• The Catharsians, meanwhile, take their name from the word "catharsis," meaning a release of (and consequent relief from) strong or repressed emotions. No need to explain that one either!
• And the "Resus" in "Resus Cradle" is from "resuscitation," obvious-like.
• A goggle-wearing Gromflomite from Rick and Morty can be spotted in the background of page 5.
• We can't really explain "milk wives" except to tell you it was an injoke between Roberts and some of the organizers of UK convention TFNation.
• Among Agonizer's collection is the head of a Cryog from IDW's Godzilla: Rulers of Earth comic series.

Errors

• Firestar is drawn with an Autobot insignia during a flashback that takes place on Caminus, long before she met up with Thunderclash's crew and joined the Autobots.
• As in the original release of More than Meets the Eye #53, flashback Nautica uses the singular "amica endura" instead of the correct plural "amica endurae." This is corrected in the trade paperback release.
• In Agonizer's speech bubble in page 15 panel 4, the UK spelling "organised" slips through counter to IDW's U.S. spelling policy. In page 18, panel 2, Wipe-Out simlarly says "civilisations".

Other trivia

• Though most readers had probably sped ahead to the conclusion already, this issue's "previously in" recap page explicitly states that Anode and Lug are Conjunx Endurae.
• It can easily be No-Prized, but the portrayal of Caminus as idyllic and in possession of multiple off-world medical colonies is a bit jarring when taken with its portrayal in Till All Are One and Optimus Prime as a theocratic, energy-starved and isolated world on the brink of collapse. Indeed, this isn't the first time this series' portrayal of Caminus has been at odds with the rest of IDW continuity; the planet's obsession with the performing arts and societally-enforced Amica Endurae (as related in More than Meets the Eye #42) have never come up in other comics' portrayals of the colony, and the Cybertron-born Anode and Lug visiting the planet during the war is hard to reconcile with Caminus's complete isolation prior to the events of Dark Cybertron.

Soundtrack

• "Mahal Kita" by Emmy the Great
• "Get Up" by The Blow
• "I Know a Place" by MUNA
• "Sad Stories" by Would-Be-Goods

Covers (4)

• Cover A: Our heroes amid the crowds of Troja Major, by Jack Lawrence and Joana Lafuente
• Cover B: Nautica looks pensive among the markets, by Nick Roche and Josh Burcham
• Cover C: Megatron by Tom Whalen; one of several "art deco" covers produced by Whalen for various IDW July titles
• Retailer incentive cover: Nautica tearfully recalls the memory of Skids, by Alex Milne and Josh Perez

• 
  "We're off to see the wizard..."
• 
  She left her wallet in El Segundo.
• 
  Oh yeah, him!
• 
  Nautica misses her dance partner.

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• Lost Light #9
• "The Hasbro Tribune" editorial page promoting July's Hasbro Universe titles, including this issue, G.I. Joe #8, Hasbro Heroes Sourcebook #3, Revolutionaries #8, Rom vs. Transformers: Shining Armor #1, Optimus Prime #9, and Till All Are One #12.
• Hero Initiative exclusive Rob Liefeld variant cover for The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide #47
• 4-page preview of First Strike #1 (previously seen in First Strike #0)
• National Prostate Cancer Awareness Month
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Usagi Yojimbo one-shot

Reprints

• Transformers: Lost Light Volume 2 (February 14, 2018) ISBN 1684051487 / ISBN 978-1684051489
  • Collects Lost Light issues #7–12.
  • Bonus material includes a cover gallery.
  • Trade paperback format.

• Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection Volume 77: Dissolution (September 4, 2019)
  • Collects Lost Light issues #1–8.
  • Bonus material includes a sketch gallery by Jack Lawrence, a cover gallery and an intro by Simon Furman.
  • Hardcover format.

• The Transformers: The IDW Collection Phase Three: Volume 3 (September 27, 2022) ISBN 1684059070 / ISBN 978-1684059072
  • Collects Revolutionaries issues #5–8, Hasbro Heroes Sourcebook #2: "Upgrade", Lost Light issues issues #8–9 & #10–12, Optimus Prime issues #7–8 & #9–10, Transformers Annual 2017, and Salvation.
  • Hardcover format.

• 
  Lost Light Volume 2 – cover art by Alex Milne and Josh Perez
• 
  The Definitive G1 Collection Volume 77: Dissolution – cover art by Dreamwave (Swerve) and Jack Lawrence
• 
  The IDW Collection Phase Three: Volume 3 – cover art by Sara Pitre-Durocher

External links

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