The Gloaming

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« The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye #16
"The Gloaming"
Publisher IDW Publishing
First published April 24, 2013
Cover date April 2013
Story by James Roberts
Pencils by Agustin Padilla
Inks by Jose Aviles
Colors by Josh Burcham
Letters by Tom B. Long
Editor John Barber
Assistant editor Toni Korde and Mariel Romero
Continuity IDW continuity
Chronology Current era (2013)

Rodimus and Chromedome wrestle with their emotions in the wake of Overlord's rampage, as Ultra Magnus hovers at death's door and Drift makes a fateful decision.

Synopsis

Fatally wounded by Overlord, Ultra Magnus lies on Ratchet's operating table aboard the Lost Light, his life flashing before his eyes—from the time he tried to bluff the Warriors Elite during the Battle for Hell's Point and was shot by Megatron himself, to his explosive encounter with a K-Class Decepticon on the planet Clemency amidst the struggle over the Nightmare Engine, to his battle with a Cybernought on Simanzi. All the while, Swerve sits by his bedside and plays his favorite song for him, and Tailgate cleans his body. Neither of the little bots' efforts are particularly appreciated by Ratchet, nor is Drift's disgust at his use of what he calls a "death clock": a medical scanning field that monitors the rate of contraction of Magnus's shrinking spark to calculate a time of death. With the clock giving Magnus only ten more days, Tailgate grows increasingly distraught, partially at the clinical approach the others are taking to the situation. Punctuating this sentiment, Swerve shushes him so they can hear an announcement over the tannoy by Rodimus, who vows to discover who is responsible for Overlord's being on the ship.

Worried about Chromedome's emotional state following Rewind's death, Skids goes looking for him, and finds him outside the ship, on the hull, watching the stars as he used to do with Rewind. Discovering him to be quite calm and collected—eerily so—Skids leaves. Someone who is not so calm and collected, however, is Rodimus, who has just finished trashing his office in a rage when Rung enters. The pair talk about Magnus and the source of Rodimus's fury; Rung opines that his anger is not over his failure to protect his crew, but rather, over the fact that he himself was not responsible for defeating Overlord. The psychiatrist's words evidently strike too close to home, and Rodimus menacingly invites Rung to vacate his office, which he does with all due haste.

Presently, a group funeral is held for those who died during Overlord's rampage, and as everyone settles into place for the speeches, Swerve resolves to distract himself from Rewind's death by finding out what's inside Brainstorm's briefcase. Proceedings soon get underway; Rodimus delivers a eulogy for popular crew member Tripodeca, then invites Chromedome to say a few words for Rewind, noting—after a stern glare from Rung—the little archivist's central role in saving the ship. Chromedome delivers a brief, unemotional farewell for his partner and returns to his seat, peaking Brainstorm's attention. After the deceased's bodies are given a space burial, the scientist follows Chromedome back to his quarters, where he finds him sorting through Rewind's belongings and disposing of them. It turns out Brainstorm has seen Chromedome like this before: the surgeon has had several Conjux Endurae in his life, and after the deaths of each one, the intensity of the emotional connections he forged with them repeatedly led him to use his mnemosurgery skills on himself, removing his memories of them in order to escape the hurt. Chromedome has been so disconnected because he has been planning to do this to himself; this, Brainstorm explains, is why he does not have any innermost energon—not because he was born without it, but because he has loved and lost so many that he has given it all up as deathbed offerings. Chromedome half-heartedly promises Brainstorm he won't go through with it, but Brainstorm knows better, having had this conversation with him before. The scientist sadly leaves the room after giving him one final gift: a data slug thrown through the doors of the slow cell by Rewind before they closed. Left alone, Chromedome plays the slug to discover a farewell message from Rewind, edited together from his database of video and audio clips in the final moments of this life, which entreats Chromedome to be strong, to go on without Rewind, and to allow himself to be happy. Rewind signs off by telling Chromedome he loves him, and Chromedome, after a moment, retracts his mnemosurgery needles back into his fingers.

As Chromedome is playing the message, much of the rest of the crew gathers in the shuttle bay, where Rodimus addresses them. An investigation into the culprit behind Overlord's presence was not necessary, as Drift has admitted responsibility and explained everything. With barely restrained fury, Rodimus strips him of his Autobot symbol and exiles him from the ship. As he walks towards the shuttle prepared for him, Drift is knocked down by a piece of debris hurled by an angry crew member; Ratchet helps him up, and Drift departs on his little ship.

Down in the medical bay, as Rodimus's announcement plays over the tannoy, Ultra Magnus's arm moves, and his hand clenches into a fist. A little later, Ratchet and Tailgate return to find that he has disappeared! Half-jokingly suggesting they look under the table, Tailgate leans forward, into the path of the scanning field... then looks up to see that the "death clock" is giving him just under three-and-a-half days to live!

(Characters in italic text appear only in flashbacks and/or Rewind's video clips.)
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots Decepticons Others

Quotes

"At the risk of sparking an ontological argument, certain machines—machines like that—are an affront to nature."

—Drift, on the "death clock"


"Look, I know you want me to tell you it's going to be okay, but—"
"Yes! Yes, I do! Because it's not okay! I know 'okay'—I specialize in 'okay'—and I can tell you pretty emphatically that none of this—none of this business with Overlord and Magnus and Rewind—none of this even approaches my definition of 'okay'!"
"Maybe you should see Rung. You could be suffering from some kind of stress-related disorder..."
"I'm upset! Doesn't anyone do upset anymore? What's wrong with you people? Is this a war thing?"

—Ratchet and Tailgate


"Rewind and I used to come out here a lot. Mapping the constellations... Heh—that makes it sound too grand. We used to make pictures with stars. Over there—look—we have the Vis Vitalis. And there's Prowl being hit over the head by a fusion cannon. Whack!"
"I'm struggling to see that one."
"Yeah, I just made that one up for old time's sake. Prowl being battered was a Rewind special."

—Chromedome and Skids


"Sir, I don't think you did this to your office because of Ultra Magnus. You're angry, but not about that."
"I'm angry because I failed the crew."
"Or maybe... maybe what's really making you angry is the fact that you didn't defeat Overlord yourself. Fortress Maximus and Chromdome and Rewind—dear Rewind—they got him off the ship. They saved everyone; not you. And you hate it, and you hate that you hate it."
"I think you'd better leave now."
"But my point is that you shouldn't hate yourself for feeling—"
"Quickly."

—Rung gets a little too close to the truth with Rodimus


Skids: "I can't believe Brainstorm brought his briefcase to a funeral. Ever wonder what's in—"
Swerve: "Absolutely all the time."
Whirl: "It'll be exquisite, whatever it is. Brainstorm's a frikkin' artist."
Swerve: "Okay, that's it, new mission: open the briefcase. It'll distract me from Rewind."
Skids: "Great. I look forward to the crippling anticlimax."


"It always ends the same way. I'll leave the room and you'll stick your fingers in your neck; and later, when I ask you how you're feeling, you'll give me that blank look. The worst look. Because then Rewind really will be dead."

—Brainstorm, to Chromedome


"Your attention for a moment. This is Rewind, showing you edited footage from my database. I've probably got 0.8 seconds before game over, so hear me out. I've always been terrified that you'd die before I did, because you and me apart strikes me as intensely wrong. So promise me something. Be brave. And be strong. And keep going without me. And another thing: no more injecting. It will kill you. And remember: you deserve to be happy. The New Institute was the old you. You're a better person now—stubborn and frustrating, but wonderful. And to think, I will never see you again. One more thing—one last thing—because I don't say it enough: I love you."

-Rewind's final message (edited together for readability)

Notes

Continuity notes

  • Magnus's first flashback is to the Battle for Hell's Point, a conflict previously mentioned in "Chaos Theory," Part 1 and Impactor's Autopedia profile in Last Stand of the Wreckers #5.
  • The Warriors Elite were the subgroup from which the later Phase Sixers would be chosen; they were first mentioned by name back in issue #2 and had their origins properly explained in issue #14. This issue gives us our first look at Heretech, only previously mentioned in #14, and reveals that the wand-wielding Killmaster (intermittently mentioned through Roberts's works starting with issue #5) is also a member of the group. He was not listed among them in #14, indicating he was brought in after Overlord as the fifth (and final?) member.
  • Magnus's second flashback is to the battle on the planet Clemency which we saw the Decepticon side of in issue #8. Clemency is revealed to be the location of the Nightmare Engine, a mysterious Decepticon weapon mentioned in Last Stand of the Wreckers #4.
  • Among Magnus's team on Clemency are the Powerdashers, of whom the drill and jet types appear on-panel (but more are indicated to be present). Magnus issues orders to a character named "Cromar"—while this name is not explicitly attached to a character on-page, it was the name given to the jet Powerdasher when it was released by GiG and Joustra in Europe.
  • Magnus's team is on Clemency to save Pious Maximus, a religious figure who appeared in issue #10.
  • The K-Class Decepticon with Magnus's name written on his side is Torque, who appeared in issue #8 with Magnus's name on display even then.
  • The third flashback takes us to Simanzi, home to the Crucible and site of a famous masscare first mentioned in Rotorstorm's Autopedia proile from Last Stand of the Wreckers #1.
  • Magnus's team falls foul of a Cybernought on Simanzi; one of these gigantic battle mechs previously appeared in issue #8.
  • Magnus's flashbacks offer us some insight into a few of his foibles that have come to light during the More than Meets the Eye series. With each successive flashback, the quirk displayed in the previous one disappears, as Magnus progressively cuts them out of his life after each failure. When he believes he has the upper hand on the Warriors Elite, he smiles—an action that he has been famously known for not doing, which was played for comedy most prominently in the 2012 annual. This, obviously, is the "one time" that he smiled referred to in his short bio on the "Meet the Cast" page. During the Clemency battle, his smile has disappeared, but his Autobot symbol is crooked, something he lambasted Swerve for in issue #13. And on Simanzi, his badge is straight as an arrow, but he's waist-deep in filth, evidently giving him the neat-freak dirt-hating quirk he's displayed many times.
  • Rotorstorm remarks that "lighthearted banter" should be left up to Magnus—this isn't something that IDW's Magnus has ever been known for, but at the same time, it's hard to know if Rotorstorm is being serious or making a sarcastic joke (as he was known for being a joker in Last Stand of the Wreckers). There's still fodder for analysis in Magnus's manner of speaking here, though; issue #13's "Signal to Noise" dissected Magnus's particular usage of language, and the Clemency flashback shows him using some figurative language that "Signal to Noise" saw him insist he had abandoned.
  • Swerve is playing the The Empyrean Suite for Magnus, a piece of music that we learned was running through Skids's head back in issue #8. There, we learned the music has a sinister connotation that we are not yet aware of, but which, per Swerve's dialogue, is evidently common knowledge.
  • Skids refers to Trailbreaker's change of name (to Trailcutter), referred to previously in-dialogue in More than Meets the Eye in issue #6, which was explained the same month this issue was published in Spotlight: Trailcutter.
  • Unseen Autobots Spoke and Lockstock get another mention, having first been spoken of in issue #12. The running gag is that they're clearly a big noise on the ship, but we never get to see or hear from them; here, they're established to be friends with the super-popular Tripodeca.
  • Chromedome's lack of innermost energon was mentioned in issue #12.
  • Chromedome history of self-injecting to wipe his memories of his past lovers is presumably the secret he was keeping from Rewind that Prowl mentioned in issue #14.
  • At least one familiar scene can be spotted among Rewind's collage of video clips: Trailbreaker holding Shock's extracted brain module from issue #3.

Transformers references

  • Brainstorm names three of Chromedome's past lovers as Pivot, Scattergun and Mach. The first two are new names, while Mach was the name of a member of the Multiforce from Victory. Same dude? Why not!

Real-life references

  • "Gloaming" is an old Scottish word meaning "twilight".
  • The name Chromedome gives a constellation, the "Vis Vitalis", is the name of a classical alchemical principle of a "life force" possessed by living creatures. Not sure how you make a picture of that.

Other notes

  • When it was initially released through digital retailer Comixology, buyers of this issue found they received a copy of Robots in Disguise #16 instead. The comic was fortunately updated to the correct one within just over an hour.
  • Rewind's shattered head-camera is among the drifting debris at the top of page 5.
  • Chromedome is wearing a black Autobot insignia in mourning.
  • We get one shot of Overlord's smashed body drifting in space, on page 7. He's... preeeetty clearly making a fist, with a handy piece of space debris floating past in the foreground obscuring what may or may not be in that fist. Worrisome.
  • The "Meet the Crew" page is completely overhauled this issue, with new mini-bios for everyone. The red "x" implying his death last issue is removed from Ultra Magnus's entry, while the dispatched Pipes and Rewind are replaced with Fortress Maximus and Perceptor. Chromedome's position is listed as "lamentatorem", Latin for "mourner".

Errors

  • In both past and present sequences, Ultra Magnus is consistently drawn with his original Generation 1 body, a look he's never worn in IDW G1 continuity.
  • The name of the Decepticons' giant battle mechs is spelled "Cybernaught" here, but was spelled "Cybernought" back in issue #8.
  • Swerve and Tailgate are both drawn at around the same height as Ratchet, when they should be much shorter.
  • The five coffins at the funeral are each marked by a colored flame. On page 11, they are red, green, white, and two are blue. On page 12, however, Tripodeca's flame is none of these colors, appearing yellow instead.

Crew manifest

  • Tripodeca is revealed to have been among those killed in Overlord's rampage. Four other caskets are jettisoned along with his; assuming one contains Pipes, and that Rewind didn't get one since he left no remains to jettison, that would mean three other unnamed crewmembers were victims of Overlord too.
  • Ultra Magnus has ten days of life remaining.
  • Tailgate's only got three! Wha-huh?
  • 11 deaths, one fatal wounding and 5 new arrivals (plus 20 or so Faders) since the launch.

Soundtrack

Covers (3)

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