Under Cold Blue Stars

« The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye #15 »
I knew in all the world that there existed no can large enough for us to ever cram them all back in.
"Under Cold Blue Stars"
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	March 20, 2013
Cover date	March 2013
Story by	James Roberts
Pencils by	Alex Milne
Inks by	Alex Milne, Marc Deering, Brian Shearer and Phyllis Novin
Colors by	Josh Burcham with Josh Perez and Joana Lafuente
Letters by	Tom B. Long
Editor	John Barber
Assistant editor	Mariel Romero-Ocaranza
Continuity	2005 IDW continuity
Chronology	Current era (2013)

Chromedome must face the consequences of his actions as Overlord runs wild on the Lost Light, and not everyone survives...

Synopsis

They see the face of the tiger.

Mere seconds pass as Chromedome overcomes his brief paralysis and races to open the slow cell Overlord left him in. But thirty minutes have passed outside the cell, and Chromedome steps out into a warzone!

Thirty minutes earlier...

As the Lost Light is currently passing through an asteroid belt, Blaster has been charged with cutting a path for the ship through the space-rocks, but lets Whirl vent a little of his frustration by allowing him to blow up one of the asteroids with the ship's targeting system. The pair are then joined on the bridge by Pipes, who is inquiring if Blaster has made contact with Cybertron yet; he has not, and is unlikely to, but Pipes leaves him with a message to send to Hubcap on the offchance that contact is made while he is attending movie night. Puttering down the ship's corridors in vehicle mode, Pipes rounds a corridor and bumps into someone's foot, and briefly starts to apologise before looking up to see the sole of Overlord's gigantic boot coming down toward him. Stomped repeatedly by the Decepticon until his body is utterly shattered beyond repair, Pipes's spark extinguishes, but not before he is able to trigger the alarm system.

Across the Lost Light, life is proceeding as normal. Rewind visits Brainstorm in his lab, concerned from recent nightmares of Chromedome's that his partner and the scientist are up to something, and is accompanied by Swerve, who accidentally subjects himself to the effects of Brainstorm's metafictional bomb, which makes him think he is a fictional character; Perceptor tells Rodimus that the map within the Matrix of Leadership cannot be copied; Rung visits Fortress Maximus in the brig and forgives him for his actions; and Tailgate works on an unseen project in Hoist's workshop, until Skids rushes in to warn him that Cyclonus is furious, having discovered that movie night is to be held in the pair's quarters. All of these domestic scenes are loudly interrupted by the sounding of the alarm, which also prompts Ratchet, down in the medibay, to radio up to Rodimus for information. The medibay is also chosen by Overlord as his first port of call, but Ratchet is able to detect his presence and hold him off long enough for Drift to arrive and join him in squaring off against the Decepticon titan.

Rodimus and the vast majority of the rest of the crew arrive to the sight of a legless Drift and a badly beaten Ratchet, and Ultra Magnus is the first to charge into action, still carrying guilt over the fates of the Wreckers he left to face Overlord on Garrus-9. After a brief beating, Overlord seizes Magnus's fist with ease and begins to laugh: he has realised that Ultra Magnus has not been holding back, while he himself has. Overlord stabs Magnus through the spark with Drift's Great Sword, and is then set upon by the rest of the crew; First Aid rushes to the fallen Magnus's aid, but regretfully confirms that while he may be able to slow the rate of his spark's shrinkage, he will not be able to save him.

Chromedome arrives on the scene just as Overlord seizes Rodimus and prepares to turn his finger-drills on him, asking the Autobot leader for any last words. When Rodimus replies "'Til all are one", however, the result is most unexpected: Overlord goes wide-eyed, drops him, and begins panicking. As the liberated Fortress Maximus appears on the scene to take up the fight, eager for revenge against Overlord, Chromedome explains to Drift that while in Overlord's mind, he carried out a process known as "Trepan's Trigger", altering the Decepticon's memories so that the phrase was associated with all his past defeats; thus, when Rodimus inevitably said it, it would trigger Overlord's pathological fear of defeat. Hurt and confused by what he hears of the conversation, Rewind tries to talk to his partner, but greater matters take priority: Chromedome assures him they will talk later as he has Maximus force the shell-shocked Overlord back into the slow cell, intending to jettison it from the ship. But another of Drift's stolen swords sticks in the doors and prevents them from closing all the way, so Rewind bravely squeezes through the small gap between the doors and pulls it free, even as Chromedome reaches out to stop him. The doors slam shut, severing Chromedome's arm and trapping Rewind in the cell, and the ejection countdown begins. Chromedome tries to tell Rewind something, but his words go unheard through the door's glass, while Rewind, equally unheard, apologises to his partner for things not working out. As the cell falls away from the ship, Rewind turns to see Overlord looming over him...

Chromedome races to the ship's bridge, and locks onto the cell with the targeting system. Intent on sparing Rewind the horror of being trapped with Overlord, he fires upon the cell in an act of mercy. As it explodes, Chromedome collapses in anguish.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Others
Chromedome (2) Powerflash (3) Aquafend (4) Rodimus (5) Jackpot (6) Trailbreaker (7) Blades (8) Dogfight (9) Ambulon (10) Boss (11) Powerglide (12) Skids (13) Rung (14) Cosmos (15) Highbrow (16) Hound (17) Gears (18) Brawn (19) Smokescreen (20) Hoist (21) Whirl (22) Inferno (23) Blaster (24) Pipes (25) Brainstorm (26) Rewind (27) Swerve (28) Perceptor (29) Fortress Maximus (35) Ratchet (38) Drift (39) First Aid (40) Xaaron (41) Atomizer (42) Ultra Magnus (43) Sunstreaker (44) Crosshairs (45) Pointblank (46)	Overlord (1) Tentakil (30) Snapdragon (31) Three other prisoners (32-34)	Tailgate (36) Cyclonus (37)

Quotes

"What makes you think I've even seen Chromedome?"
"Because you're friends with him, and because... because..."
"Come on, Rewind, 'because...'"
"Because he's been saying your name in his sleep."
"Whoa! Who's more embarrassed, you or me? Clue: IT'S YOU."

—Brainstorm and Rewind

"Oi—ship's genius—what happens if I press this button?"
"Don't press it. Did you press it? Swerve? Tell me you didn't press it."
"Course I didn't press it... but what if I had pressed it?"

—Swerve and Brainstorm, pre meta-bomb

"Guess what? I pressed it. Nothing happened."
"I didn't see you press it..."
"Yeah, it must have happened off-panel."

—Swerve and Rewind, post meta-bomb

"Rodimus? Tool up and get down to the medibay. Bring EVERYONE. And if anything happens to me, tell First Aid he's ready, tell Whirl he can have my hands, and tell all my patients... that they'll have to make new appointments."

—Ratchet, badass.

"Everyone can die. Trust me, I know about these things."

—Cyclonus, also badass.

"You're angry."
"No, I'm past that. It's—what I feel is worse than anger. In fact I don't know—"
"What?"
"I really don't know if I can forgive you for this."
"We'll finish this conversation later. We will. I promise."

—Chromedome and Rewind

"I'm sorry, Domey. I'm sorry things didn't work out."

—Rewind

Notes

Continuity notes

• The weapons systems that are oh-so-key to the opening and closing scenes of this issue are evidently the new proton missile launchers that the Autobots picked up while on Hedonia in issue #13, as noted in the "Signal to Noise" story.
• All the Autobots appearing in the issue's opening double-page spread are ones who have been seen among the ship's crew of 200-ish already, save one—Blades, who, true to form, is looking a bit too excited about the possibility of a bloody good scrap.
• Also in the double-page spread, Ambulon is crashing a M.A.R.B. into Overlord's back. The arrows in Overlord's torso, meanwhile, indicate that bow-fancier Atomizer got a few good shots in.
• The subspace communicator's failure to work was noted in issue #13's "Signal to Noise".
• Pipes refers to when he "got a bit sick"—with Red Rust, back in issue #5—and "a bit shot"—by Fortress Maximus (#6), Decepticons (#12), and Brainstorm (mentioned in #13). His streak of bad luck culminates in the ultimate in misfortune that befalls him this issue, as he is the first of the crew to die by Overlord's hand. Er, foot.
• The Decepticons in the brig have been prisoners there since their capture in issue #12. Their identities are hard to discern as they are all cast in blue light, but the one with the squid tentacles is assuredly Tentakil, not least of all because the Seacons were among those involved in that adventure.
• Ultra Magnus left the Wreckers off at Garrus-9 in Last Stand of the Wreckers #2, before going off to join the proceedings in the ongoing series. A bad decision on many levels.
• First Aid uses exactly the same sentence to describe Magnus's diminishing spark—"His spark is shrinking by the second"—as he used to summarize the wounded Rewind's condition in issue #12. Foreshadowing the events of this issue, he remarked in #12 that "A bigger 'bot—a Magnus—would bounce back." Oooooh, guess not.
• Speaking of foreshadowing for Magnus's fate, it's really been painted all over the series from the outset. Magnus's original promotional image for the series promised that "Ultra Magnus won't make it", and his looming expiry has even been thematically alluded to with such visuals as his name written on the side of a bomb in issue #8. That, and, uh, Overlord is punching straight through his stomach on the cover of this very issue. Not to mention the fact that the Necrobot was seen in an earlier issue with a data pad that listed a number of characters as dead, including Magnus. Marked for death, indeed.
• All of this said? Magnus is not actually seen to die on-panel.
• Overlord has finger-drills as part of his rudimentary training in mnemosurgery; he notes that he wanted to have needles, like the other practitioners of the science we have seen, such as Chromedome and Trepan, for whom "Trepan's Trigger" is named. Probably not good for anybody that Chromedome's arm got sliced off and ended up in Overlord's cell, then.
• "'Til all are one" appeared amongst Overlord's memories a few times last issue, and most readers noticed it, since it was added into one scene we had seen before where it was not originally spoken.
• As he squeezes through the door to remove the sword, Rewind remarks that "Every shape serves a purpose", a slogan we have heard a few times during More than Meets the Eye, which originated back in the days of Functionism. Specifically, though, we first heard it waaay back in the very first issue... when Rewind uttered it in response to being teased over his alternate mode. We can't handle this much foreshadowing, you guys.
• We don't know what Chromedome is trying to tell Rewind; of course he could be trying to say "I love you", but a possible dark slant is suggested by last issue's revelation that Chromedome has kept a horrible secret about his past from Rewind.
• As a contingent in case he is killed by Overlord, Ratchet says Whirl can have his hands. Following Ratchet's eventual death in the far future, Drift does in fact try to give Whirl Ratchet's appropriated hands.

Transformers references

I prefer to CAPSMAK, myself. Others enjoy a good DETHTRPPP. But Max is just a THWOK sorta guy.

• The schematic on the screen behind Brainstorm is of a spaceship-mode Fortress Maximus. Note that this isn't Max's alternate mode in IDW continuity; we get our first fleeting glimpse of his vehicle form on page 17 of this issue (right).
• Two very small Perceptor-like scientific instruments were among those on Brainstorm's desk last issue; between then and now, he has clearly abandoned all pretense, as a huge Perceptor-like microscope is sitting on view in his lab.

Compensating for something?

Real-life references

• This issue is named after the indie folk album Under Cold Blue Stars by Josh Rouse.
• We hardly need to explain the real-life concept of the fourth wall to you, do we?

Trivia

• When Swerve starts speechifying during the battle ("Death in the ranks!" etc.), he is actually quoting IDW's original catalogue solicitation for this issue, under the influence of the meta-bomb.
• This issue's "Meet the Cast" pages is modified to add large red X's over Ultra Magnus, Rewind and Pipes.
• All the letters in this issue's letters page are from women. That's pretty awesome.

Errors

• In the Story So Far section, Decepticon is misspelt Deceoticon.
• During his talk with Rewind, Brainstorm's eyes are colored blue instead of his characteristic yellow-orange.
• Page 14, Panel 1: Crosshairs is miscolored as Trailcutter. This is not corrected in the TPB.
• Page 17, Panel 3: "Mmnemonic" is misspelled as "Mneumonic". This was corrected for the TPB.
• Seems like the letters page included in this issue was originally intended to see print in issue #14, given the reply to Catherine's letter, which remarks on several features of that issue's story, and not this one's.

Crew manifest

• Pipes is killed and Ultra Magnus is fatally wounded by Overlord; Chromedome kills Rewind in an act of mercy.
• 7 deaths, 1 fatal wounding, 5 new arrivals (plus 20 or so Faders), and 1 boxed since the launch.

Soundtrack

• "The First of the Gang to Die" by Morrissey
• "The Mercy Seat" by Johnny Cash
• "Brothers and Sisters" by Duels

Foreign localization

Japanese

• Title: "Tsumetaku Aoi Hoshiboshi no Shita" (冷たく蒼い星々の下, "Under Cold Blue Stars")

Swedish

• Title: "Under kalla blå stjärnor" ("Under Cold Blue Stars")

Covers (3)

• Cover A: Overlord on the rampage and the Autobots suffering the consequences, by Alex Milne and Joana Lafuente
• Cover B: An abstract image of Rodimus floating in space as Overlord's sumptuous lips close in around him, by Nick Roche and Josh Burcham
• Cover RI: Monochrome green bust shot of Overlord, by Marcelo Matere, continuing the previous two months' "bust" theme for the RI covers, paralleling the RI cover to Robots in Disguise #15.

• 
  SPOILER ALERT!
• 
  La la la laaaaaaaa!
• 
  Turns out that frog lied. It's VERY easy being green.

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Reprints

• The Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye Volume 4 (July 17, 2013) ISBN 1613776918 / ISBN 978-1613776919
  • Collects More than Meets the Eye issues #12–16.
  • Bonus material includes art from most covers, and the prose story "Signal to Noise".
  • Trade paperback format.

• Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye Box Set (December 2, 2015) ISBN 1631404741 / ISBN 978-1631404740
  • Collects More Than Meets the Eye volumes 1–5.
  • Bonus material unknown at this time.

• The Transformers: The IDW Collection Phase Two: Volume 4 (October 12, 2016) ISBN 1631407155 / ISBN 978-1631407154
  • Collects Monstrosity issues #1–12, Robots in Disguise issues #12–16 & #17–18, and More than Meets the Eye issues #14–16.
  • Hardcover format.

• Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 57: Remain in Light (August 21, 2019)
  • Collects More than Meets the Eye issues #14–21, and "Signal to Noise" & "The Sound of Breaking Glass".
  • Bonus material includes a cover gallery and a forward by Simon Furman.
  • Hardcover format.

• Transformers: Krig och hågkomst (July, 2021)
  • Collects More than Meets the Eye issues #14–22, a special illustrated version of "The Sound of Breaking Glass", and Spotlight: Orion Pax.
  • Swedish reprint. Hardcover format.

• 
  More than Meets the Eye Volume 4 – cover art by Alex Milne and Joana Lafuente
• 
  More Than Meets the Eye Box Set – cover art by Marcelo Matere
• 
  The IDW Collection Phase Two: Volume 4 – cover art by Marcelo Matere and Tom B. Long
• 
  The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 57: Remain in Light – cover art by Don Figueroa (Skids) and Alex Milne (Overlord)
• 
  Krig och hågkomst – cover art by Alex Milne and Josh Perez.

External links

• Preview
• Creator Commentary with James Roberts