Crucible (Part 1): A Dance Before Dying

« The Transformers: Lost Light #19 »
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.

Synopsis

Team Rodimus and the Scavengers watch as the mutinous crew of the Lost Light—now somehow converted into sparkeaters—land on the surface of Mederi and start lumbering towards them. The group is unsure of the extent of the threat they pose, but quickly find out when Brainstorm approaches the sparkeater-Perceptor and attempts to talk to him, only to be scorched by a stream of acid vomit from his former lab partner. Nautica tackles the wounded Brainstorm to safety, and the whole group transforms and beats retreat. As the sparkeaters give chase, a small ship appears in the distance, heading right for the group; something drops from its underside, which Roller initially thinks is a bomb... only for it to turn out to be Grimlock, who lands in the midst of the sparkeaters, stomping several of them flat. The former Dinobot leader hacks the sparkeater-Mainframe to bits with his sword, prompting Ultra Magnus to grab Crankcase and 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, and Wipe-Out. Explanations come thick and fast: after being separated from the Scavengers, Grimlock fought his way out of Scorponok's Worldsweeper and ended up adrift in space, where his distress signal was picked up by First Aid, Riptide, and the injured Thunderclash after they escaped the Lost Light. The group proceeded to travel to Troja Major, where they repaired Thunderclash, left the Firstborn in the care of the Curator, chartered a small quantum-jump-capable ship from Wipe-Out, and set out in search of the Lost Light by following a homing beacon they hid on it. As Misfire and Swerve bond over a love of puns, First Aid relates the atrocities Getaway has wrought in Rodimus's absence. Suddenly, just as Rodimus is making plans to search for the Lost Light, a proton missile impacts nearby. Looking up to the source of the missile, the group sees that the Lost Light has arrived, now decorated with a huge symbol on its underside: the gear-like coat of arms of the Knights of Cybertron!

Aboard the Lost Light, Getaway orders Star Saber to fire on the 'bots below again, but it turns out they've run out of missiles, having used up the rest recently battling the Phantom Fleet. As indicated by the symbol that has been added to the ship, Getaway has joined forces with the mysterious Grand Architect, and worse yet, he is not the only familiar face on the Architect's side: so is Getaway's former captor, Chief Justice Tyrest! 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 of scraplets, it's obvious that he has plans of his own...

Down below, the group watches as the Lost Light pulls 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; Krok saves the surprised Rodimus by blasting the sparkeater-Slapdash to pieces, which angers Rewind, 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—Ratchet does some heavy damage to Bluestreak; Thunderclash has to shoot Jackpot after 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 Getaway wants him to get angry and lash out, Rodimus—inspired by Whirl's recent attempt to goad him into action, and much to his own chagrin—decides to calm down and think like Megatron, 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, and Lug wedge into Wipe-Out's ship, with Crankcase at the helm, and take off after the Lost Light. Cyclonus, in particular, relishes a reunion with Getaway, intending to kill him slowly.

Weaving through bolts of lightning, Crankcase pilots Wipe-Out's ship after the Lost 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 has not expected is for Getaway to be flanked by Star Saber... and Scorponok!

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Others
Velocity (4) Ratchet (5) Brainstorm (6) Chromedome (7) Nautica (9) Drift (10) Tailgate (11) Whirl (12) Ultra Magnus (13) Rung (16) Swerve (17) Rodimus (21) Rewind (24) Perceptor (25) Blaster (26) Hoist (27) Hound (28) Mainframe (29) Grimlock (30) First Aid (31) Riptide (32) Thunderclash (33) Getaway (35) Slapdash (36) Brawn (37) Bluestreak (38) Jackpot (39) Crosscut (40) Xaaron (41) Powerflash (43)	Misfire (2) Krok (3) Crankcase (8) Spinister (14) Fulcrum (15) Nickel (19) Scorponok (46)	Roller (1) Anode (18) Magnificence (20) Lug (22) Cyclonus (23) Wipe-Out (34) Tyrest (42) Alien telepaths (44) Star Saber (45)

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."

—Brainstorm tries 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 Magnus and Misfire

Misfire: Grimsy! You're alive!
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 explain this.
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 did not take any prisoners."
"It was like being beaten to death with a Story So Far."
"A 'summary execution.'"
"How come we've never met?"
"The universe hates winners."

—Misfire and Swerve bond

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

—Rodimus and Whirl

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

—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 in More than Meets the Eye between issue #29 and #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 in More 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 in More than Meets the Eye #24.
• Grimlock and Scorponok were both last seen in issue #15.
• Grimlock is less than happy to see Ultra Magnus; unsurprising, since Magnus was the one who arrested him way back in Maximum Dinobots #5.
• First Aid, Riptide, and Thunderclash were last seen escaping the Lost Light in issue #12.
• Wipe-Out previously appeared in issues #8-9.
• Star Saber references an off-panel encounter the Lost Light has had between issue #12 and this one with the "Phantom Fleet". This fleet was first mentioned in issue #2, explained to be a group of Worldsweeper-class ships that were lost in the Dark Nebula millions 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 in issue #16.
• Tyrest was last seen in More than Meets the Eye #21, when his attempt to reach Cyberutopia by killing every cold-constructed Transformer in the universe was stopped by the crew. The prose story published 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. The Benzene Cluster has been mentioned several times between issues #10-13; in particular, issue #12 mentioned a mysterious party operating out of the cluster.
• Tyrest also says "the pathway has been sterilized", something Flame noted preparations were being made for back in issue #9.
• As we observed back in our notes for issue #11, the red scraplets have been on the Lost Light from the start, as alluded to by More 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 from Transformers: 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 the 2015 Holiday Special, an ability the Prime Scraplets never displayed.

Errors

• 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, because Chromedome turns into his Titans Return toy (itself based on his "Shadowplay"-era body, in contrast with his modern body), Ratchet turns into his Transformers: Prime toy, and... sigh... Rodimus and Drift turn into the vehicle modes of unofficial "third party" toys based on their comic book designs.
• In his part of the "story so far", Misfire mentions "and army" rather than "an army".
• Not necessarily an error, but on page 6 when First Aid says "Funeral towns are great for spare 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 in the recap 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 of two issues of Lost Light that 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, by Nick Roche and Josh Burcham
• Cover B: Inferno, Blaster, Bluestreak, Hound, Brawn, and Huffer aim their weapons, by Nick Roche and Josh Burcham; a companion piece to Cover A
• Retailer incentive cover: Roche's black and white lineart from Cover A

• 
  Team Rodimus
• 
  vs. the Mutineers
• 
  and the loser is the colors

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Reprints

• Transformers: Lost Light Volume 4 (January 30, 2019) ISBN 1684054109 / ISBN 978-1684054107
  • Collects Lost Light issues #19–25.
  • Bonus material includes a cover gallery.
  • Trade paperback format.

• Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection Volume 87: Crucible (July 29, 2020)
  • Collects Lost Light issues #19–24.
  • Bonus material includes the second half of Transformers: Historia, including the Optimus Prime profile, a cover gallery and an intro by Simon Furman.
  • Hardcover format.

• 
  Lost Light Volume 4 – cover art by Nick Roche and Josh Burcham
• 
  The Definitive G1 Collection Volume 87: Crucible – cover art by Dreamwave, Casey Coller and Tom B. Long

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