Crucible (Part 6): A Spark Among Embers

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"Crucible (Part 6): A Spark Among Embers"
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	September 26, 2018
Cover date	September 2018
Written by	James Roberts
Art by	Brendan Cahill
Colors by	Joana Lafuente
Letters by	Tom B. Long
Editor	David Mariotte
Continuity	2005 IDW continuity
Chronology	Current era

With twelve Matrices in hand, our heroes must embrace the best parts of themselves if they want to use them to stop the Functionist Council once and for all in the penultimate chapter of their adventure.

Synopsis

CONK

As the Lost Light makes straight for the Functionists' effigy of Primus, darting between the giant robot's fingers, Tailgate hesitantly raises a question: they're planning to attack Vector Sigma by simultaneously unleashing the energies of twelve Matrices through the planet's twelve hot spots... but aren't the connections between the hot spots and Vector Sigma severed thanks to the Functionist Council changing Cybertron into a robot mode? Rodimus realizes too late that they have made a huge mistake—but fortunately, a solution to their problem arrives a moment later when the Warren opens, and Luna 1 comes flying out. At Fortress Maximus's instruction, Red Alert flies the moon straight into the back of "Primus's" neck, triggering an involuntary transformation back to planet mode.

So all shall stand, one shall fall.

Concurrently, elsewhere on the Lost Light, Chromedome and Rewind accompany Rung to his quarters. Rung bids them to wait outside—wistfully remarking that the couple are lucky to have each other, and that they must learn to forgive themselves—then enters his room and shuts the door. Aware of the consequences of what he is about to do, Rung deletes all his patient files, and take a moment to think back on his first meeting with the departed Skids one last time. Finally, he transforms into his alternate mode, the true function of which is finally revealed as it flares to life: it is a Matrix maker. A little later, Rodimus opens the door to Rung's quarters to discover twelve Matrices... lying amidst the dust that is the remains of Rung's body, dissolved into inert sentio metallico, the exertion having killed him.

Rodimus presents the Matrices to the rest of the crew, with some bad news: like the original, they are all sealed by the "morality lock" that means only those who are "pure of spirit" can open them. Even the spiritual Drift is at a bit of loss to explain exactly what that means, and the crew all start chiming in with their views on the relativity of "goodness." But there's no time for a debate; Rodimus distributes the Matrices, and each carrier is quickly flown to a hot spot on the surface of Functionist Cybertron by the Infinites, along with some muscle to cover them. Tailgate goes to Rivets Field with Cyclonus; Ratchet to Vespertine Blue with Drift, where they confess they both feel the same way about each other; Thunderclash to Automica with Spinister; First Aid to the Pious Pools with Crankcase; Nautica to Vauvaire with Brainstorm, who joins hands with her; Lug to Sansaw Sanserre with Anode (with whom she shares a kiss and a declaration of love) and Wipe-Out; Swerve to Warrior's Gate with Misfire and Grimlock; Roller to Port Residua with Chromedome and Rewind; Velocity to Eugenesis with Krok; Riptide to Alyon with Nickel and Fulcrum; Ultra Magnus to Mesmerica with Whirl; and lastly, Rodimus to Nova Point with Megatron.

He's got The Tooth.

Unfortunately, as the Functionary armies of the Functionist Council descend and chaos erupts, none of the Matrix-carriers are able to open their Matrix. Rodimus is at a loss; he knows his crew are good people, but Megatron explains that the crew themselves don't truly believe that, and urges Rodimus to tell them so over their shared comm-line. Rodimus begins a final speech, extolling the virtues of the wonderful, screwed-up family that the crew have become, and assuring them that they are good enough, but it seems it may be too late. All across Functionist Cybertron, our heroes are worn down; Minimus Ambus is blasted out of the Magnus Armor... Swerve loses an arm, requiring Misfire to hold his Matrix with him... Whirl's legs are blown off... but little by little, as Rodimus's words hit home, the Matrices begin to glow in their hands and slowly start to open. Just then, however, Rodimus is hit with a blast that takes off his left hand, requiring Megatron to take over opening his Matrix—but for all the great changes Megatron has made in his life, still the Matrix will not open for him. Out of time and options, Rodimus uses his remaining hand and his teeth to pull the Matrix open, and its energies join those of the other eleven, flooding through Cybertron, straight into Vector Sigma, obliterating the Functionist Council for good. The blast of life-energy radiates back outward from Vector Sigma, striking Luna 1 and igniting the long-dormant hot spot on its surface. Rodimus looks up at the moon, and sees, written among the light of the newborn sparks, a final message from the departed Rung: "DON'T FORGET ME."

In the aftermath of the victory, our heroes regroup, and Rodimus asks Fortress Maximus how his team even knew to come to the Benzene Cluster to aid them. Max explains that they were following instructions from Rodimus himself; they have actually come from the near-future, following instructions that Rodimus is going to send to them shortly that directed them to use the Warren to travel back in time using the Necrobot's cloak as a map, and crash Luna 1 into Primus's neck. Rodimus is a little confused, but happy it all worked out—whereupon Tailgate asks another question. Now that it has all worked out... now that they've finished their quest, recovered the Lost Light, defeated the baddies, and saved the universe... is this the end?

"Nah," Swerve pipes up. "Not quite."

Featured characters

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

Autobots	Decepticons	Functionists	Others
Ratchet (1) Drift (2) Whirl (4) Ultra Magnus/Minimus Ambus (5) Rodimus (6) Tailgate (7) Megatron (8) Brainstorm (9) Swerve (10) Chromedome (11) Rewind (12) Rung/Primus (13) First Aid (14) Fortress Maximus (19) Red Alert (20) Cerebros (21) Riptide (22) Grimlock (23) Skids (31) Velocity (33) Thunderclash (36) Nautica (39)	Crankcase (15) Krok (34) Misfire (35) Spinister (38) Nickel (42) Fulcrum (43)	Five-of-Twelve (27) Twelve-of-Twelve (28) Three-of-Twelve (29) One-of-Twelve (30) Multiple Functionaries (40) Six-of-Twelve (44) Eleven-of-Twelve (45) Two-of-Twelve (46)	Cyclonus (3) Beak (17) Outrigger (18) Anode (24) Lug (25) Wipe-Out (26) Flame (32) Multiple Infinites (37) Roller (41) Anti-Vocationist League Clicker (16)

Quotes

"Faster, Crankcase! Get us clear!"
"If 'get us clear' is a heroic way of saying 'let's run away,' can I just say I am all for that?"

—Rodimus and Brainstorm

"I've done good things."
"You done bad things, too."
"Oh, God, loads."

—Misfire and Krok discuss the former's potential for opening the Matrix

"We're Autobots. Being good's what we do. It's what sets us apart."
"I don't know if it's as simple as that any more—I don't know if it ever was."

—Thunderclash and Rodimus

"This is your co-captain speaking—and I've got a question. Have you ever wondered how we made it this far? I mean—we're not the smartest or the strongest or the bravest or the best. We don't have the most firepower or the largest army or the fastest ships. And God knows we're not natural bedfellows. I mean think about it—an archivist, a retired mnemosurgeon, a gunsmith, an archaeologist, a waste disposal expert, a quantum mechanic, a poet, a watchmaker, a barkeep... it shouldn't work—but it does. And it works because we've got one thing in common. Each other. Think of who's listening to this message and I bet you'll think of someone you respect. Someone whose judgement you trust. Someone who makes you laugh. Someone who makes you happy. Someone who makes you feel its okay to be exactly who you are. And I promise—in fact, I guarantee—that someone listening to this is thinking about you in exactly the same way. Okay, so you've made some bad decisions. You've hurt people. You've hurt yourself. You've stumbled through life from one self-inflicted disaster to the next without anything even approaching a plan. To which I say—welcome aboard. Maybe you're not good... but you're sure as hell good enough."

—Rodimus's final speech to the crew

"Even… Team… Whirl."

—Whirl

Notes

Continuity notes

Fore…glowing?

• The idea that a blow to the back of the neck can trigger an involuntary transformation was introduced in More than Meets the Eye #22, when Swerve tried to do it to Rung (the real Primus, rather than the fake Primus it's used on here!).
• Rung remembers his first meeting with Skids, when the theoretician hauled him into the ceiling vents to escape the sparkeater back in More than Meets the Eye #3.
• Rung's alternate mode, which has been a long-running mystery since More than Meets the Eye #22, is at last revealed: a Matrix maker. This was subtly hinted at in Lost Light #17 when Nightbeat was trying to solve the mystery for himself; notice how he's gazing up at the giant Matrix in the Afterspark right when he finally deduces it.
• Whirl calls Ultra Magnus "Chunky" again, a nickname he coined for him in issue #18.
• In addition to previously established hot spots Rivets Field (first seen in More than Meets the Eye #1, first named in More than Meets the Eye #21), Vespertine Blue, Port Residua (both first named in Robots in Disguise #27) and Alyon (visited in More than Meets the Eye #36), Cybertron's other eight hot spots are established to be: the Pious Pools, Warrior's Gate, Mesmerica (three ancient features of Cybertron first mentioned in More than Meets the Eye #1), Nova Point (in the mines of which Megatron once worked, mentioned many times), and the never-previously heard-of Automica, Vauvaire, Sansaw Sanserre, and Eugenesis (see "Transformers references," below).
• In More than Meets the Eye #40, Ten decorates Tailgate's hoverboard with an image of Tailgate opening the Matrix. When he opens his Matrix here, he's standing in the same position.
• Whirl's use of "Team Whirl" comes from Rodimus's other big speech in Lost Light #21.
• Luna 1's hot spot has been dormant since briefly flaring to life back in More than Meets the Eye #17. At the time, the characters presumed that the flare-up was due to Rodimus (carrying half the Matrix within him) touching the moon's surface, but many eagle-eyed readers spotted that Rung touched down at the same moment Rodimus did, and though it is not directly addressed, it seems safe to conclude it was Rung's presence, rather than Rodimus's, that caused the hot spot to light up.
• Fortress Maximus and Red Alert recovered the Necrobot's cloak and discovered that its starmap-surface showed the Benzene Cluster back in issue #13.
• Luna 1 emerging and hitting Primus is a causal loop; it only happened because Rodimus saw it happen, and then caused it to happen via time travel shenanigans. This isn't the first time this has happened in the series. Back in More than Meets the Eye #38, the Lost Light's quantum engines were upgraded in the past based on their specifications in the future.
• James Roberts confirmed that thanks to being exposed to Brainstorm's meta-bomb back in More than Meets the Eye #15, Swerve could 'see' the words "To Be Concluded" in the final panel.
• In the More than Meets the Eye 2012 Annual, Drift says to Rodimus: "You're important, Rodimus. More important than even you realize. One day, everything will depend on you." This comes true here, when Rodimus opens the final Matrix to shut down the false Primus.

Transformers references

• The hot spot "Eugenesis" shares its name with James Roberts's unofficial 2001 Transformers novel.
• Either just a coincidence or an actual reference, Ultra Magnus was also surrounded by enemies when he tried to open the Matrix in the movie. His attempts to open it are about as successful.
• When naming qualities that his crew does not embody, Rodimus uses terms referencing, respectively, intelligence, strength, courage, skill, firepower, rank, speed, and teamwork & cooperation.

Real-world references

• "We've made a planet-sized mistake," murmurs Rodimus, which might be a reference to G.O.B.'s catchphrase from Arrested Development.
• An AT-ST walker from Star Wars appears amongst the models in Rung's office.

Soundtrack

Unlike past issue soundtracks, Roberts sent this track to the rest of the creative team during production to help give them a sense of the mood he was trying to convey.

• "The Shepherd's Boy" from the Doctor Who series 9 OST.

Covers (3)

• Cover A: Minimus Ambus bursts out of the Magnus armor, by Nick Roche and Josh Burcham
• Cover B: Rung is going to give someone such a finger-wagging, by Geoff Senior and Josh Burcham; an homage to Senior's cover for Marvel UK issue #113, which was famously the issue that got James Roberts hooked on the series, and to which he has made many references over the last seven years.
• Retailer incentive cover: Roche's black and white lineart from Cover A

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• G.I. Joe: Silent Option #1
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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

External links

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