Conquerors Part 2: Lagrange

« The Transformers vol. 2 #47 »
"Conquerors Part 2: Lagrange"
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	November 18, 2015
Cover date	November 2015
Written by	John Barber
Art by	Sara Pitre-Durocher
Colors by	Josh Perez
Letters by	Tom B. Long
Editor	Carlos Guzman
Continuity	IDW continuity
Chronology	Current era

While Optimus Prime encounters the Torchbearers, the Decepticons make their play for control of the space bridge.

Synopsis

Soundwave welcomes Cosmos aboard the Jupiter commune, but can do little to comfort the distraught Autobot, since even his super-senses prove unable to detect any trace of the lost Autobots. He assures Cosmos that the Decepticons are not responsible for the attack on the Ark-27, but Cosmos is given cause to think he is lying when Galvatron contacts the commune with orders to prepare to take the Ark and its space bridge. Soundwave insists that the Decepticons are not the guilty party, but that they would be foolish not to seize an opportunity placed before them...

On Earth, Blackrock regales Spike with a story of his youth, sounding nuttier by the second as he claims that a "black angel" visited him as a child and set him on his current path. Blackrock marvels at the destructive capability of a single Ark, wondering what it could do to Earth now that the Transformers are not distracted by being at war with one another; Spike points out that the existence of such a threat is exactly the reason he should release him and put him in charge, but Blackrock sees through the ruse, and continues to insist that Spike must help him figure out who or what he really is.

On Cybertron, Optimus Prime and Aileron visit the Sea of Rust, where they observe the miniature singularity that consumed the area. Emerging from the cave in which the singularity rests, they are confronted by the Torchbearers, who, unlike most Camiens, actually seem affronted by Optimus's claim to the Prime title. Optimus, for his part, is curious as to why the Torchbearers have left their planet and the Mistress of Flame behind, but when they question his right to even ask such a question, a fight breaks out between Prime and the six-strong team. After a brief scuffle, however, Prime realizes that the Torchbearers are not trying to kill him; instead, they then combine into Victorion, who immobilizes Prime with her gravity-control powers. At the combiner's request, Optimus recounts the supposed history of the Matrix of Leadership—from its legendary origins as the crystal prison of Solomus, to its time in the hands of the Knights of Cybertron, to forging of the Star Saber around it by Solus Prime—but stresses that he does not believe any of it, considering the talisman to be a piece of technology, not magic. Victorion scoffs at the fact that the holder of the holiest item on Cybertron does not believe in it, and spins a tale of the thirteen Primes. The name of thirteenth and final member of the group, she says, is unknown, a 'bot referred to only as "The Arisen"; the Mistress of Flame professed to know who The Arisen was, and it was this sacrilegious claim that drove the Torchbearers to remove themselves from her command. As a disciple of Solus Prime, Victorion claims the Matrix belongs to her... but for now, she intends only to use her skills as a creator to build up Optimus himself.

At the spaceport in Iacon, Zetca grows concerned when he spots a large group of Decepticons moving through the area. To his credit, Tracks puts old prejudices aside and thinks nothing of it...until Zetca realizes that the Decepticons are headed for the space bridge chamber, and that Tracks's brother Needlenose is leading them. When Starscream brushes off Tracks's concerns, Tracks heads down to confront his little brother on his own. Needlenose tries to bury the hatchet and invites Tracks to join them, but Tracks refuses and is about to contact Optimus Prime... until Brawl blasts him! Tracks collapses, Needlenose kicks his brother's fallen body, and the Decepticons move out... all just a little too late for Starscream to finally have an attack of conscience brought on by another discussion with the imaginary Bumblebee, leading him to inform Windblade of what is going on.

Aboard the Ark-7, Arcee, Sideswipe, and Alpha Trion have finally succeeded in fighting their way through the vessel's commandeered defenses to the space bridge chamber. Unfortunately, just as Arcee pries the doors open, Needlenose and the Decepticons come pouring through the space bridge, intending to capture the ship and the bridge so they can use it to transport Decepticons straight from Cybertron to the commune. On the commune itself, when Cosmos expresses his horror upon learning their plan, he finds himself surrounded by Decepticon weapons—but Soundwave quickly orders the 'Cons to lower their guns, intent that their victory shall be won by their ideals, not their firepower. The dismayed Cosmos slumps to his knees, and wishes he had just stayed with the one true friend he has, his little buddy D.0.C....

...who has, at that very moment, infiltrated the Earth Defense Command's Bikini Atoll base and come face-to-face with Buster!

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Humans	Others
Cosmos (1) Optimus Prime (7) Sizzle (23) Tracks (24) Omega Supreme (31) Bumblebee (hallucination, 32) Windblade (33) Sideswipe (35) Alpha Trion (36) Arcee (37)	Soundwave (2) Sparkstalker (15) Cindersaur (16) Sinnertwin (17) Acid Storm (18) Dreadwing (19) Needlenose (20) Brawl (21) Flamefeather (22) Galvatron (27) Onslaught (28) Dauros (29) Submarauder (30) Squeezeplay (39) Slugslinger (40) Sky-Byte (41) Laserbeak (42) Buzzsaw (43)	Garrison Blackrock (5) Spike Witwicky (6)	Thundercracker (3) Buster (4) Aileron (8) Jumpstream (9) Dustup (10) Pyra Magna (11) Skyburst (12) Stormclash (13) Rust Dust (14) Zetca (25) Starscream (26) Victorion (34) Swift (38) D.0.C. (44)

Quotes

"When I was a child, a black angel appeared before me. It spoke in a language I had never heard, but I understood. It showed me a world of rust deserts and infinite darkness. So I got that going for me. Which is nice."

—Blackrock

"Not everything is about you, He-Who-Would-Be-Prime. We turn our backs on nothing. We came here to face our history and change our future. Who are you to question our path?"
"I am Optimus Prime."

—Pyra Magna and Optimus Prime

Optimus Prime: "I don't even know your name."
Pyra Magna: "Pyra Magna. Pleased to meet you."
(Magna kicks Optimus in the chest.)
Optimus Prime:"You, too. You aren't trying to kill me."
Pyra Magna: "Certainly not. You are a Prime.
(The Torchbearers combine.)
Victorion: "And it's our duty to protect relics."

Victorion: "Tell me what you know of the Matrix of Light."
Optimus Prime: "Can't....move...."
Aileron: "I'd answer her."

"You're my brother. I care about you. You're making a mistake again."
"Loving Horri-Bull wasn't a mistake."

—Tracks and Needlenose

Notes

Continuity notes

• Optimus reveals that the Sea of Rust is simply the modern name for what was once called the Rust Spot, a location he visited in Spotlight: Orion Pax.
• Juuust peeping in on the left-hand side of the second panel on page 6 is Sizzle. He hasn't been seen in ages, but he's helping to run the spaceport—a job he's quietly been working since the very first issue.
• Tracks makes a passing mention of a ship that's gone missing, evidently referring to the one the Decepticons used to get to the commune last issue, which they rechristened the Peace Without Tyranny.
• Skyburst and Stormclash make a vague reference to the events of The Transformers: Redemption, when the former note that "nobody's come this way since..." and the latter cuts in "...nobody's come this way for a while."
• Last seen in issue #33, Omega Supreme is still offline and undergoing repair following the injuries he sustained in issue #11. Starscream goes through a quick rundown of the complex chain of conspirators responsible for his condition (Prowl, controlled by Bombshell, working for Megatron, to frame Shockwave, in order to trick Starscream and remove Omega Supreme as an obstacle).
• Optimus recalls how the Matrix glowed when he first visited Caminus in Windblade #1—something that was almost certainly a goof at the time, but which is here repositioned as a mysterious event in-universe.
• Optimus recounts the mythic story of the Matrix's supposed creation, as detailed in the 2012 More than Meets the Eye annual. He also mentions that it was once called the "Creation Matrix" (see "Transformers references", below), which we first learned in "Chaos Theory Part 2".
• Swift is amongst the Decepticons when they take the space bridge. This goes uncommented on in-story, but is doubtlessly related to her recently-formed relationship with Barricade, seen in Redemption.

Transformers references

• Blackrock claims that a more accurate translation of the Cybertronian word for the "Ark" spacecraft is "Vanguard", a reference to the ship's classification as a Vanguard-class Deep Space Interceptor from Transformers: The Ultimate Guide.
• Tracks mentions a ship coming in from Athenia, a world from the Headmasters anime previously mentioned in IDW continuity in issue #45.
• The Torchbearers call the Matrix "The Matrix of Light", an obscure name for the talisman from the original 1986 The Transformers: The Movie sticker album. Prime himself also claims that legend called it the "Creation Matrix" because it was supposed to be able to grant life, referencing the handling of the Matrix in the Marvel Comics series.
• Victorion rattles off a near-complete list of the Thirteen Primes: Prima, Solus Prime, Alpha Trion, Nexus Prime, Onyx Prime, Alchemist Prime, the Liege Maximo, and The Fallen were already confirmed to be part of the group in IDW continuity, but her list adds Vector Prime, Micronus Prime, Amalgamous Prime, and Quintus Prime, proving that this incarnation of the group unsurprisingly matches that seen in the Aligned continuity family. The thirteenth member is known only as "The Arisen" (a counterpart to "The Fallen"), and his identity is a mystery—an allusion to the fact that, in the Aligned continuity family, the thirteenth Prime was a past incarnation of Optimus Prime himself.

Real-world references

• As with the previous issue, this story's title is a piece of real-world celestial mechanics terminology. A "lagrange" point is a location at which the gravitational forces of two large celestial bodies equal the centrifugal force on a smaller body between them.

Errors

• Soundwave says that the "black egg" surrounding the Ark-7, established last issue to be from the time of Galvatron's youth, is technology from "Sentinel's era". Unless that's a seed being planted for something (Sentinel Prime will be returning for the "Titans Return" storyline in 2016), he should presumably be referring to "Nova's era", since Nova Prime was the one who lived at the same time as Galvatron and the Thirteen Primes.

Other trivia

• This issue marks the first time that any of the individual Torchbearers are named in-story, though only Pyra Magna gets the honor, when she introduces herself to Optimus.
• Victorion's appearance has been modified from her debut in the Combiner Hunters one-shot, with Dustup and Jumpstream now forming her arms, instead of Stormclash and Skyburst. It's not clear if this is a goof or an in-universe choice; as a combiner, she is, of course, perfectly capable of putting her limbs on whatever way she wants. Solicitations for future issue, though, all show her with the 'copters as arms, as in her original appearance.
• Additionally, Rust Dust is now visible as Victorion's chest armor when there was no sign of her before—but she's attached upside down. It's not the comic's fault, though, since that's how the toy is attached in Victorion's stock photography, and indeed, how Groove is attached to Defensor in his stock photography (and instructicons!), even though it's wrong.
• Victorion makes the first use of the gravity powers chosen for her by fans as part of the poll that resulted in her creation.
• Although she does occasionally switch back and forth from using "we" and "I" as she talks, Victorion seems much more stable than the other Combiners in the IDW continuity. Though fairly zealous in her beliefs, she can speak in complete sentences, speak in the first-person, show emotions, make a reasoned course of action, and isn't prone to fits of rage.

Covers (3)

• Regular cover: Optimus Prime in the palm of Victorion's hand, by Andrew Griffith and Josh Perez
• Subscription cover: Soundwave, Laserbeak, and Sky-Byte look out a window on the commune, by Casey Coller and Joana Lafuente
• Retailer incentive cover: Springer's torn-off face in Overlord's hand; part of November's series of Sins of the Wreckers tie-in incentive covers.

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• The Transformers #48
• More than Meets the Eye #46
• The Transformers: Redemption
• Robots in Disguise #4
• Transformers vs. G.I. Joe #10
• Sins of the Wreckers #1
• IDW Transformers graphic novel library
• Uncle Scrooge: The Grand Canyon Quest (back cover)

External links

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