Crucible (Part 3): Farsickness

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Polished Surprise!
"Crucible (Part 3): Farsickness"
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	July 25, 2018
Cover date	Early July, 2018
Written by	James Roberts
Art by	Jack Lawrence
Colors by	Joana Lafuente
Letters by	Tom B. Long
Editor	David Mariotte
Continuity	2005 IDW continuity
Chronology	Current era

Back aboard the Lost Light, our heroes are caught up in the Grand Architect's mad plan to save the universe.

Synopsis

As space itself above Mederi splits open into a crackling rift, Rodimus takes the recaptured Lost Light down to the planet to collect the rest of his crew and the Scavengers so they can all make a quick escape. As the convalescing former mutineers, now cured of their sparkeater mutation, are loaded aboard, Perceptor apologizes to Rodimus for everything that has happened, and Rodimus happily forgives them all. Even Mederi's alien telepaths are brought onto the ship, but as they are being removed from Ward Zero, a geobomb is suddenly teleported into the midst of the room, inspiring everyone to pick up the pace. Once everyone is aboard, the Lost Light blasts off, but it doesn't get far before pilot Crankcase finds that, even with the engines at full force, the ship cannot escape the pull of the rift...

Alright, everyone remember where we parked.

On the other side of the rift, the Worldsweeper fleet of the Grand Architect hovers in formation. Aboard the flagship, Flame works upon the unseen Architect's body, reconstructing it and offering to adjust his vocal synthesizer. Scorponok cuts into the conversation via radio, alerting the Architect to the impending detonation of the geobomb, which will shunt Mederi through the rift. The Architect's curt response, and the fact that Tyrest's scanner sweeps have as yet detected no signs of the mysterious enemy whose coming the Architect is preparing for, only encourage Scorponok to question his loyalties...

The Lost Light emerges from the rift into what the ship's navigation computer identifies as the Benzene Cluster. But instead of the planets that normally occupy the cluster, there are five multi-coloured duplicates of Cybertron itself, which Nautica recognizes as the same sight Skids saw years before, when he stepped through Tyrest's portal on Luna 1. With the ship's engines drained by the transit through the rift, Crankcase sets the Lost Light down on one of the Cybertrons, which Cyclonus is able to identify as a perfect replica of the ancient Cybertron of his time, even though Anode and Swerve's metallurgical skills confirm it to be a recent creation. The team barely has time to take in this strange new situation they find themselves in before a fleet of Black Block Consortia ships land nearby, and thousands of Consortia troopers surround them. The situation only keeps escalating as the Grand Architect's flagship appears overhead, shining a spotlight on them. Over a speaker, the Architect introduces himself to the group, and, believing what Getaway told him about Rodimus coming to stop his plans, order the Consortia to kill them. Nautica is able to give him pause by speaking aloud the symbol of the Knights of Cybertron that the Architect uses as his insignia; intrigued, the Architect invites Rodimus to choose a small delegation to come aboard his ship and talk. Suddenly, the long-silent Magnificence pipes up, listing Rodimus, Rung, Ratchet, and Tailgate as the necessary choices...but Rodimus isn't having it; in an impassioned speech that sees him list of all the incredible achievements the crew have made on their quest, he refuses to break his team up ever again, and vows to defeat the Architect if he turns things into a fight. After a moment's pause, the Architect invites the whole team aboard.

Scorponok is furious that the Architect has allowed the Lost Lighters to live, which proves to be the last straw. Having only ever stayed with the Architect make use of his resources for his now-failed Project: Firstborn, he is tired of all the secrets and mystery. The Architect's identity, it transpires, is unknown even to Scorponok and Tyrest—but while Tyrest is happy to go along with his plans, now his loyal follower after the Architect saved his life following his escape on Luna 1, Scorponok isn't so trusting. He contacts two of the Architect's other recruits, Froid and Sunder, and instructs them to go ahead with a plan they have prearranged: to have Sunder use his remote mnemosurgery powers to read the Architect's mind and discover his true identity.

The Lost Light sets down in the flagship's docking bay, and as the crew waits, the Magnificence around Nickel's neck becomes a topic of conversation. Though nobody else hears anything, Rung believes that he hears the Magnificence speak his name—and when he leans into to look the device in its eyeball, he suddenly, involuntarily transforms, even "speaking" the transformation noise as he does so! Looking down at Rung's still-mysterious alternate mode, Swerve and Rewind muse how it makes them feel "young"... but that longstanding puzzle suddenly takes a back seat when everyone's attention is drawn away by the sight of Mederi bursting through the rift, which seals up behind it. A moment later, Froid and Sunder are trooped into the hangar in handcuffs, leading Rodimus to realize they're all in a giant cell. Still, it gives them an opportunity to interrogate the two villains, and Froid is happy to tell them everything he knows. The Architect, Froid relates, created biomechanical constructs to secretly infiltrate and take over the Black Block Consortia, pitting them against the Galactic Council to sweep the Benzene Cluster clean of much of its population and planets, making room for the replicas of Cybertron, which he created using a giant planet-sized mould, and which together form a weapon known as the "God Gun". Rewind chimes in to explain how Cybertron legend claims that the planet itself could be used as a weapon, redirecting starlight into an energy beam, but that the war did too much damage to the real thing for the theory to ever be confirmed, hence the Architect's need for copies of ancient Cybertron—and five Cybertrons combined can create a beam powerful enough to drill into another universe. But both the threat the Architect has created this weapon to fight, and the identity of the Architect himself, remain mysteries; the Architect is so powerful that he was able to expel the probing Sunder from his mind before he could learn them, stripping him of his mnemosurgical powers in the process.

"That's no moon... that's five copies of the same planet!"

Scorponok activates the God Gun, opening a portal to a neighboring universe, but there's still no sign of the mystery threat. Via radio, the Architect reassures Scorponok their enemy will appear soon; millions of years ago, the Architect was sent through time, through the Warren, to this moment, where he saw the enemy, before fleeing back into the past to prepare for his coming. The Architect intends to banish the enemy through the portal, into another universe, thereby saving this one... but when Tyrest detects a sudden massive flare of energy on the other side of the portal, Scorponok realizes with horror what has happened: the enemy was in the next universe the whole time, and the Architect's portal has only provided him with the means to cross over into this one! Scorponok is in the middle of roaring into his radio in outrage when the door behind him bursts open; the Grand Architect has not taken kindly to Scorponok's plotting with Froid and Sunder, and stabs him through the back with a very familiar chainsaw-hand. Scorponok falls dead at the feet of the Architect... a.k.a. Pharma!

As Rodimus and the others watch, a huge fleet of ships comes flying through the portal with a replica of the Lost Light at its head. Rodimus and Ultra Magnus's communicators chime simultaneously, and a transmission from the bridge of the duplicate ship comes through. A transmission... from Megatron!!

Featured characters

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

Autobots	Decepticons	Others
Swerve (1) Velocity (2) Brainstorm (5) Rodimus (6) Perceptor (7) Riptide (8) Hound (9) Ratchet (10) First Aid (12) Rewind (15) Rung (16) Drift (18) Nautica (20) Tailgate (22) Grimlock (23) Whirl (25) Thunderclash (26) Chromedome (28) Ultra Magnus (32) Sunder (38) Megatron (40)	Misfire (3) Spinister (14) Crankcase (17) Krok (24) Fulcrum (29) Nickel (30) Scorponok (35)	Wipe-Out (4) Alien telepaths (11) Roller (13) Anode (19) Cyclonus (21) Lug (27) Magnificence (31) Flame (33) Grand Architect/Pharma (34) Tyrest (36) Black Block Consortia troops (37) Froid (39)

Quotes

"Our navicomp doesn't know its ass from its elbow. It's not been the same since Whirl spilt... god, what was it? Magnus! What did Whirl spill on the navicomp?"
"Tailgate."

—Rodimus and Ultra Magnus

"A new place, a new mystery, random fragments of information... in thirty seconds' time, we'll be fighting for our lives."
"What makes you say that?"
"S'what always happens!"

—Misfire and Chromedome

"Getaway was right."
"So not the best way to start a conversation."

—The Grand Architect and Rodimus

"This is not the time to try and split us up. Do you have any idea what we've been through together? What we've achieved? We've seen off a Phase Sixer, cured an army of sparkeaters, survived a mutiny, traveled in time, gatecrashed a universe, and saved half our race. (...) We've liberated planets, defeated the D.J.D., found Luna 1 and the Necrobot, rescued two Metrotitans, been erased from existence, and stolen a moon... and a few hours ago, we died and broke heaven. The key word is we. This isn't about Team Rodimus. This is about Team Magnus. It's about Team Nautica. Team Anode. Team Skids. Team Nightbeat. Hell, it's even about Team Whirl. So if 'the Grand Architect' turns out to be nothing more than the latest in a long line of nobodies trying to prove a point—another sad little trumped-up tyrant who throws a hissy fit whenever the world won't listen—then maybe, just maybe, Getaway was right. Because if you're stupid enough to turn this into us versus you, then guess what? We'll win. We've got form."

—Rodimus addresses the Grand Architect

"Exaggeration is a form of conversational fraud. A colleague of mine used to exaggerate frequently. Between our first meeting and his request for an urgent transfer, he must have exaggerated... well... it must have been four or five times."

—Ultra Magnus

"Were you expecting someone else?"

—Megatron makes his big return

Notes

Continuity notes

• First Aid refers to Misfire as "Flyhigh", which we learned was his previous name back in issue #15.
• Rewind doesn't know what the geobomb is when it appears, but Rung is able to recognize it, because he saw one up close back in More than Meets the Eye #55.
• Rodimus refers to the group as the "Crusadercons", a name Swerve proposed for the Lost Light crew waaaaay back in More than Meets the Eye #2.
• The Benzene Cluster, it turns out, is the end of a spiritual leyline that the Lost Light crew have been travelling along for the whole of their journey. Drift lists the planets positioned along it as including Deimus (visited very early on the quest, back in Spotlight: Hoist), Theophany (the 2012 More than Meets the Eye annual), Troja Major (issue #8-9), and Mederi.
• Drift also notes that space "frays" at the end of the leyline; perhaps that's why one species of aliens native to Benzene, first mentioned in issue #11, are called the Fraynians, from the planet Frayus. As Tyrest did last issue, Drift refers to this frayed space as "threadbare"; "threadbare space" was one of the key phrases Drift saw in his vision in issue #1.
• As Nautica (and a footnote) remind us, the five multi-colored Cybertrons were first glimpsed by Skids back in More than Meets the Eye #21. Cyclonus recognizes them as copies of the ancient Cybertron of his time, which Froid explains were created using a "hollow planet—a giant mold". That mold is obviously Necroworld, which Rung and Nightbeat discovered matched the shape of ancient Cybertron back in More than Meets the Eye #55. The implication, then, is that Necroworld was created using Cybertron as a base, rather than Cybertron having been created from it, as Rung assumed at the time.
• Rodimus lists of the crew's accomplishments as:
  • "Seen off a Phase Sixer" (Overlord, in More than Meets the Eye #15)
  • "Cured an army of sparkeaters" (last issue)
  • "Survived a mutiny" (More than Meets the Eye #50-55)
  • "Traveled in time" (More than Meets the Eye #36-38)
  • "Gatecrashed a universe" (Lost Light #1-6)
  • "Saved half our race" (More than Meets the Eye #17-21)
  • "Liberated planets" (More than Meets the Eye #50, for example)
  • "Defeated the DJD" (More than Meets the Eye #55)
  • "Found Luna 1 and the Necrobot" (More than Meets the Eye #17 and #44)
  • "Rescued two Metrotitans" (Metrotitan in the 2012 annual, and Metroplex in More than Meets the Eye #26, but see "Errors")
  • "Been erased from existence" (More than Meets the Eye #31)
  • "Stolen a moon" (Lost Light #5)
  • "Died and broke heaven" (Lost Light #16-18)
• Implied in issue #15, Scorponok now confirms outright that the Firstborn project was something he pursued on his own initiative, independent of the Grand Architect's ambitions.
• Tyrest relates his escape from incarceration via teleporter, which occurred in the More than Meets the Eye #21 backup story.
  • Also, Tyrest notes he wound up near Luna-1's engines, the same ones built around a giant version of the Knight symbol. Wonder what that's all about.
• The Grand Architect repaired Tyrest's mind, and so the self-inflicted drill-hole on his forehead that made him go funny is now gone. (For some reason, his projected image still sported it in issue #19.)
• The Grand Architect's infiltrators are biomechs, which Froid describes as "soft on the outside, machine on the inside". Presumably, these would be the result of all those mysterious experiments on mixing organics and technology that have been showing up since allll the way back in More Than Meets The Eye #7.
• The Grand Architect is... Pharma?? This turncoat Autobot was last seen (chronologically speaking) in More than Meets the Eye #21, in which he died, but had his corpse pulled through Tyrest's portal. His return was foreshadowed by an appearance in Drift's vision in Lost Light #1, but ssssomething doesn't add up here. Pharma was just a regular, loyal Autobot until only about a decade ago, when he fell under the DJD's thumb while on Messatine, but the Grand Architect has been operating in the galaxy for centuries. Now, this and various other discrepancies (Pharma recovering from his apparent death quickly enough to find and repair Tyrest not long after; his lack of familiarity with Luna 1's technology back in "Remain in Light" despite the moon bearing the Architect's insignia; Pharma's previously displayed fear and hatred of Decepticons compared to the gleeful ease with which he takes out Scorponok) can be reconciled by the fact that time travel is explicitly involved here, given Pharma's claims about the Warren sending him through time (is that what happened when he was pulled through the portal?)...but we're pretty sure there's another shoe waiting to drop here...
• Megatron was last seen in Lost Light #6, when he was left stranded in the Functionist Universe thanks to Terminus misleading him. Is he the monster the Grand Architect fears? He's wearing his fusion cannon again... and his hand is just ever-so-strategically positioned to cover his chest, so we can't see if he's still wearing his Autobot insignia...

Transformers references

• Continuing a trend of recent issues to use Unicron-related dialogue cribbed from The Transformers: The Movie, Crankcase cries out "We're being sucked into it!" as the Lost Light is pulled through the rift, a line spoken by Bumblebee in the film when he and Spike were consumed by the monster planet.
• Megatron's fusion cannon design is very similar to the one belonging to the Animated version of the character. The reason for its angular appearance is revealed in the next issue.

Real world references

• The title of this issue, "Farsickness", is a condition that is the opposite of homesickness, a longing for far-off places.
• During his speech (quoted above), Rodimus drops the phrase "the world won't listen", an allusion to The Smiths' album of the same name.

Errors

• While listing off the crew's accomplishments on page 10, Rodimus refers to "two Metrotitans". This was the name by which the giant cityformers were introduced in the 2012 More than Meets the Eye annual, but ever since then, every single other IDW story (and all Transformers fiction and merchandise since) has referred to them only as "Titans", with "Metrotitan" being repositioned as the name of the individual Titan the crew rescued in that story. This is corrected in the trade paperback.
• On page 11, panel 7, Scorponok uses the phrase "tow the line". That ought to be "toe the line". This is also corrected in the trade paperback.
• On page 16, panel 3, there's a thin orange circle behind "cosmic Pathblaster"-Cybertron. It looks like this was supposed to be a star (based on the text about positioning Cybertron a certain distance from it, and by the star behind the five-Cybertron God Gun at the bottom of the page) but it hasn't been colored in, leaving only an outline.
• On the final page, Megatron's fusion cannon is drawn as a squared 4 sided cannon. In subsequent issues it is instead drawn as a triangular 3 sided cannon.
• The handcuffs that Froid is wearing as he first enters the cell - noted by Rodimus - disappear completely after the first panel.

Other trivia

• Originally solicited for release in early July 2018, as the first of two issues of Lost Light that were supposed to be released that month, this issue arrived a bit late, only coming out in the last week of July, bumping the second July issue into August. But on the plus side, it's only two weeks after issue #20, and only three weeks after #19, making a total of three issues of Lost Light released in July—even if they were all late!

Soundtrack

• "The Scientist" by Coldplay
• "Sons and Daughters" by The Decemberists

Covers (3)

• Cover A: Everyone's very shocked, by Jack Lawrence and Joana Lafuente
• Cover B: Our heroes, by Geoff Senior and Josh Burcham
• Retailer incentive cover: Lawrence's black and white lineart from Cover A

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• Lost Light #22
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• Sonic the Hedgehog #7
• The Comic Book History of Comics: Comics For All TPB
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• Transformers: Unicron #1

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

External links

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