Remain in Light 3 of 5: The Divided Self

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"Remain in Light 3 of 5:
The Divided Self"
Publisher IDW Publishing
First published July 31, 2013
Cover date July 2013
Story by James Roberts
Pencils by Alex Milne
Inks by Brian Shearer
Colors by Josh Burcham
Letters by Tom B. Long
Editor John Barber
Editorial assistant Kevin Smead
Continuity IDW continuity
Chronology Current era (2013)

Answers come thick and fast as the history of Ultra Magnus is revealed, Tyrest's plan is laid bare, Ratchet gets in over his head, and Cyclonus and Whirl get ready to stage a daring rescue.

Synopsis

Carried to Luna 1 by his stolen shuttle, the comatose Ultra Magnus's body is recovered by Tyrest and brought to Pharma, who is able to save his shrinking spark. Awakening, Magnus is immediately punched in the face by Tyrest; the Chief Justice is angry over Magnus's slide from fearsome lawman to public joke, which he considers the product of a nervous breakdown caused by Magnus applying the weight of the rules of war to those of everyday life in order to cope with the onset of peacetime. Tyrest deactivates Magnus's armor, which falls away from his body and reveals his true form, Minimus Ambus, within. When Ambus mistakes the Legislators for his replacement, Tyrest corrects him by introducing his new enforcer: Star Saber.

Ambus explains the history of the Ultra Magnus identity to a confused Rodimus, which originated with a no-nonsense law enforcer whose reputation inspired Tyrest to keep his legend alive after his passing with a suit of armor cast in his likeness. Tyrest selected multiple 'bots to wear the armor, take the name, and serve as his enforcer, each one's body returned to Tyrest after they died by a recall trigger in the armor so the identity could be passed on to the next. Ambus was particularly suited to the job, as he is a kind of Point One Percenter known as a "load bearer", possessing a spark with a particularly strong animating force that allows his body to integrate the Magnus armor where a normal 'bot could not. This talk of the strength of Ambus's spark prompts Tailgate to ask how he can still be alive, given his fatal condition when last they saw him, and seems to find hope for his own worsening Cybercrosis in Ambus's explanation of Tyrest's miracle-working doctor. At Rodimus's further inquiry, Ambus continues to explain that the Lost Lighters are to be put to death for "harboring a criminal suspect", and that he had himself placed in the cell so he could record their conversation and prove to Tyrest that they were ignorant of the criminal: Skids. Having been unaware of Tyrest's alliance with Lockdown or the presence of the Metrotitans, and baffled by their supposed crimes against creation, Ambus lets himself out to investigate. A moment after he leaves, the unconscious Skids and Swerve appear in the cell in a flash of light.

Meanwhile, just outside the prison—revealed to be suspended over a giant smelting pool—Cyclonus and Whirl concoct a strategy to rescue their teammates. Though Cyclonus is reluctant to bring their time on Luna 1 to an end yet, he nevertheless follows Whirl to a nearby armory, where the cyclopean Autobot rambles about his worldview and coping strategies while struggling with some door handles. Cyclonus opens the door for him, but as he steps back, a Legislator suddenly impales him from behind. Whirl springs into action, chopping the Legislator to bits with one of the many swords in the armory, blaming his own reflexes for saving Cyclonus's life. The pair investigate further, and soon discover the swords' captive owners, the Circle of Light. The Circle are quickly freed, and they all tool up for an attack on the wall of Legislators guarding the prison.

In Tyrest's medibay, the unhinged Pharma espouses the virtues of facility's bleeding-edge tech, with which he professes he can perform supposedly impossible medical procedures. Observing that Pharma has not taken back his original hands, Ratchet tries taunting him, accusing him of not being able to remove them from his body. Ratchet proposes a contest: the pair will work on two patients with the same injury, and the first to complete the surgery wins the hands. Pharma agrees and reattaches Ratchet's head and spark to his body, but Ratchet awakens to see with horror that his deranged counterpart has selected Ambulon and First Aid to be their patients. Pharma ignores his attempts to beg off the contest, and announces he will be cutting them in half. Ratchet assures them that bisection from the waist is an easy fix... until Pharma buries his chainsaw in Ambulon lengthways, splitting him from head to crotch!

Back in the prison, Swerve has come around and explained to Rodimus and the others about the capture of the Lost Light, and that he and Skids were taken by Star Saber, who they know as a holy warrior from Cybertron's past who tried to orchestrate the genocide of unbelievers. Theorizing on Skids's possible crime, Chromedome recalls his "invisible gun", believing he must have stolen it. Jut as Skids starts to awaken, Star Saber himself arrives outside their cell with another prisoner in tow, and Chromedome realizes something: when he read Skids's memories months ago and detected only a "need to escape", he had actually been sensing a name. The name of Skids's old partner, who stands before them in chains now: Getaway!

Elsewhere, Ambus confronts Tyrest and demands answers, which Tyrest flatly supplies. He was one of those appointed by Nova Prime to develop the means by which Transformers were "constructed cold", in response to Nova's (correct) fear that the pulsewaves that generated new "forged" sparks would eventually stop. But contrary to what the public believes, constructed Transformers were not brought to life using the energy of other sparks: their sparks were, in fact, generated from the Matrix of Leadership by Tyrest and his team's manipulations of the talisman, before a team member had an attack of conscience and hid it away. Years later, during the Aequitas trials, Tyrest realized that every single Autobot prosecuted had been constructed cold, and came to believe that he had perverted the forces of creation and was responsible for spawning a tainted, evil subspecies. Wracked with guilt, he began drilling holes in his armor in a form of self-flagellation, eventually drilling one into his own brain that caused an "epiphany". Tyrest believed he had found the location of the Knights of Cybertron and their Cyberutopia, and now plans to use his space bridge to join them there after atoning for his sins: destroying every Matrixed spark through the activation of a universal killswitch. Ambus refuses to allow Tyrest to complete his plan, so Tyrest implements the newest amendment to his self-titled accord—pre-emptive execution—and has a Legislator crush Ambus's head to powder.

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

Autobots Others

Quotes

"How many Decepticons did you kill back there? Y'know, overall."
"I wasn't keeping count.
...
Six. You?"
"Dunno. More than six."

—Whirl and Cyclonus


"This medibay, Ratchet—it's an embarrassment of riches. Every piece of avant garde Cybertronian technology that Magnus has ever repossessed... it's all here. Stuff I've never even seen before."
"You always did like your instruments."
"Ah, but it's not just the instruments—it's the way they're played. A skilled musician can make sounds no one's ever heard before."

—Pharma shows off to Ratchet


"You think—wait. You think I wired your hands—the ones I attached to my body—you think I wired them to explode?"
"I... think it's a possibility, yes."
"Or maybe... maybe you're scared of failure. Maybe you're afraid you won't be able to pick the lock or loosen the wiring, so you want help. I get it, Pharma. It took me a while, but—it makes sense now. I'm better than you."
"A better doctor? Please. I overtook you years ago. I don't need my hands back to slap you down."

—Ratchet goads Pharma


"I don't understand why you don't get yourself fixed. If not the face, then the claws."
"You wanna know a secret, hornhead? Life's messed up. I'm messed up. I've done bad things and I continue to do bad things, because the voice telling me not to...? He's not said much for a while. And y'know what keeps me going? ANGER. Anger's an insulator. Stops life getting too close. If I got myself "fixed," maybe the anger would leave me—and then I really would be screwed."

—Cyclonus gets the inside scoop on Whirl's worldview


"So here's the plan: I'll watch your back and you watch mine. And if we make it out of this alive, then all scores are settled, okay? No more trying to kill me. What do you say?"
"I say focus on the fight."

—Whirl and Cyclonus prepare for battle

Notes

Continuity notes

  • The screen in Tyrest's "Repository" reads "Tyrest Accord Section 19 (80) 4: Thought Warfare". This clause was mentioned back in issue #5, at which time it was obvious Tailgate had drawn the connection with the chants of "1984" (here revealed to be more like "nineteen, eighty, four") uttered by the Legislators as they hunted Skids in issue #2. It's obvious at this point that this is the crime Skids is guilty of.
  • Delta Magnus is shown as a former comrade of the original Ultra Magnus; he was previously mentioned in issue #11. He's only called "Delta" here, but his similarity to Ultra Magnus (see Transformers references, below) makes his identity evident, and indicates that they are both related and members of the "House of Magnus" Tyrest mentions in this issue.
  • Minimus Ambus's description of how people perceived the original Ultra Magnus ("People loved and feared him in equal measure.") strongly resembles Whirl's own feelings about him, as expressed in Spotlight: Trailcutter.
  • In retrospective, there have been a number of hints in past IDW comics as to Ultra Magnus's true nature:
    • He was mentioned to have miraculously recovered from a zero point in the prose story, uh, "Zero Point". We can now surmise the truth behind that.
    • In issue #6, Skids mentions that he used to be more prone to wisecracks.
    • In the MTMTE annual, he prescriptively describes himself using the third person, twice.
    • The fatal damage done to Magnus in #15, the damage First Aid says can't be fixed, is the same type of damage First Aid says Magnus survived once before in #12.
    • Issue #16: See below.
  • The series of flashbacks shown in issue #16 are revealed not to be the past experiences of Minimus Ambus, but the deaths of the multiple previous holders of the Ultra Magnus name. In addition to the three scenes from that issue (Clemency, Simanzi and the Battle for Hell's Point), another Magnus's death is mentioned in connection with something called "the Fast-Folding Sun". It is now clear that Magnus displaying traits he was actively known for not possessing in these scenes was not intended to chart the evolution of his personality, but were actually hints that the 'bots within the armor were not the same as the present-day Magnus. Only two of them are named: Suture and Datum, the latter being the Magnus who fell from Hell's Point.
  • It is revealed that the Magnus armor has a trigger that returns it to Tyrest upon the wearer's death; the comatose Magnus clenching his fist in the final moments of issue #16 is now revealed to be the activation of that trigger, rather than an expression of rage at the announcement of Drift's betrayal, as the visual juxtaposition of the scene intimated at the time. Similarly, the slow clenching of Magnus's fist across the flashback sequence in #16 was not a metaphorical representation of his fading life, but each of the past Magnuses (Magni?) tripping the trigger themselves.
  • The Ultra Magnus armor is revealed to contain attention deflectors to prevent anyone from discovering the 'bot inside; these devices were just introduced last issue.
  • Tailgate is able to recall that "harboring a criminal suspect" violates section 17 (21) of the Tyrest Accord, thanks to the education Magnus gave him in the code starting back in issue #5. This was the number the Legislators were chanting as they attacked the Lost Light across the last two issues.
  • When Rodimus is speculating on the identity of the criminal aboard the Lost Light, he lists off known unstable crew members Whirl and Atomizer. Two new names are revealed: Lancet and Ammo; given that his name starts with A, Ammo is more than likely one of the undesirables listed off by Magnus way back in issue #1.
  • Though the cast themselves never seemed to quite become aware of it, a flash of images revealed to the audience that the Circle of Light had been captured by the Legislators in the 2012 More than Meets the Eye annual.
  • Skids's mysterious "invisible gun" hasn't been mentioned in a good long time; here, Chromedome recounts its debut from issue #2.
  • Chromedome read Skids's memories back in issue #8.
  • Getaway's only appearances in IDW continuity before now was a brief crowd-filling cameo in Spotlight: Blaster.
  • The mysterious history of the Matrix of Leadership is finally explained in full, after issue #9 revealed that it was replaced at some point with a fake. Here we learn that Nova Prime did indeed hold the real thing, after some doubt had been cast on that matter. The identity of the robot who steals the Matrix is unknown, but it is noted that he hid the talisman in the Undergrid, where it would then be found by Orion Pax in Autocracy #9.
  • Tyrest lists off some of Ultra Magnus's experiences that led to the enforcer no longer being respected, including Nanocons, which forced him to smile in the annual, Hedonia, which he got drunk on in issue #13, doorframe audits, which were mentioned by Rung in issue #16, and his constant obsession with badges. "Hugging" would not be explained until later, in the flashback from issue #22.
  • On the letters page, Roberts establishes that the G1 version of Railspike is a crew member of the Lost Light ("sure, why not") and he turns into the Cybertronian equivalent of a train.

Transformers references

  • Delta Magnus is visually based on the Diaclone "Powered Convoy" toy, the figure which would be recolored to become the original Generation 1 Ultra Magnus toy.
  • Tyrest's fears that Matrixed sparks are predisposed to sin is reminiscent of the Cybertronian Empire of the Marvel G2 comics, who actually were amoral and ruthless because the method of their creation had led to the dilution of Primus' essence within them.
  • The Legislators being mindless drones created from the recycled bodies of their victims is reminiscent of Beast Machines Megatron's Vehicon forces being created in a similar manner.

Real-life references

  • This issue's subtitle is taken from R. D. Laing's The Divided Self, a seminal work on understanding madness. On the surface, the title's usage can obviously simply refer to the dual identity of Minimus Ambus/Ultra Magnus, but on a deeper level, aspects of the work's examination of insanity (broadly, the manifestation of an alternate self to cope with doubt in the place one's real self has in the world) are also incorporated into the story. Plus, in a more literal sense, Ratchet's condition and the fate of poor Ambulon.
  • Pharma's claim of being "a doctor, not a bomb-disposal expert" is reminiscent of Dr. McCoy of Star Trek fame.
  • The decision to present the normally squeaky-clean hero of heroes, Star Saber, as a hideous fascist is pretty clearly drawn from Roberts's days as part of the Transmasters UK fanfic group, which depicted the character in this way.

Errors

  • Pages 4-5, panel 8: "Soldier" is misspelled "solider", this was corrected in the TPB.
  • Page 18, panel 4: Tyrest says, "Only us higher beings are troubled..." which technically should be "Only we higher beings..." While plenty of people disregard this rule in casual conversation, the high-falutin' Chief Justice really doesn't seem the type. Apparently IDW editorial agree and this was also corrected in the TPB.

Crew manifest

  • Contrary to Rodimus's claim of 300 "give or take" last issue, on the letter's page James Roberts says the crew has about 230, including Delphi's Faders.
  • Tailgate's cybercrosis continues to advance, as he can now barely move.
  • Minimus Ambus and Ambulon both suffer arguably fatal injuries, but are not yet confirmed deceased. (You're not fooling us again, Red Alert!)
  • 12 deaths, three in terminal condition, 5 new arrivals (plus 20 or so Faders), one boxed, and one banishment since the launch.

Soundtrack

For all of "Remain in Light":

Covers (3)

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