The Possible Light
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{{#if: Combiner Wars Part 4|»}} | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| {{#if: The Sum and Its Parts|«}} | Combiner Wars Part 2 |
{{#if: Combiner Wars Part 3|»}} | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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|colspan="2" style="font-size: 14px; background-color:#e7d492; color:black;font-weight:bold;" align="center" | "The Possible Light" {{#if: |
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|}{{#switch:{{#sub:combiner wars
part 2|2|14}}|dark cybertron=}}
As Optimus Prime plays political games with Starscream during the clean-up on Caminus, word of recent events reaches Prowl on Earth... and he is not happy...
Synopsis
The shuttle O Fortuna is on its way back to Cybertron from the Lost Light, carrying the ship's chosen ambassador, Mirage, and his doctor First Aid, along with Hot Spot, Groove, Streetwise and Blades on security detail. Unfortunately, Mirage is currently suffering from a resurgence of an old ailment: a build-up of gamma-Cybrobuteric acid in his brain, causing him to experience hallucinations. His unconscious mumblings about a vision of "Cybertron burning" are the reason Rodimus chose him to return to their homeworld... a vision he sees again even now, a vision that expands to encompass the Earth and Caminus... a vision in which Ironhide rushes to his side, as giant figures of fire tower over the landscape...
Ironhide awakes with a start in his quarters on Cybertron, having experienced the same dream as his distant comrade. He refrains from telling Optimus Prime this, as he knows his old friend has much bigger things to worry about today—chiefly, the press conference to formally announce the alliance with Caminus to the Cybertronian populace, which the pair head out to attend alongside Wheeljack and Windblade. With Circuit broadcasting live, Starscream opens the conference by showing off both his new body and Superion, but the Camien representatives quickly make clear that it is Optimus Prime they are looking to for guidance and aid. Biting his tongue, Starscream suggests Circuit and Longtooth accompany Prime and Windblade to Caminus; there, they are met by the Mistress of Flame, who expresses some concern over Starscream's leadership and Prime's willingness to accept it, thereby essentially denigrating his own title in the Camiens' eyes, which she see as borderline-blasphemy.
Aboard the Ark-7, orbiting Earth, Prowl reveals the space bridge he and the Constructicons obtained from Onyx to a confused Jetfire. They begin discussing ways to use it, but are interrupted when someone contacts Prowl over his secure comms channel, and the news he receives causes him to storm off in anger.
On Caminus, the clean-up operation is under way, with a few Decepticons even pitching in as a show of good faith; Ironhide is a bit condescending to them, making them somewhat grumpy, so they are surprised when the Camiens warmly receive them. Meanwhile, Superion and Optimus Prime discuss the wisdom of trusting Starscream, a talk which segues into Superion struggling to explain to Prime what the sensations of being a combiner are really like. Their conversation is interrupted when Optimus receives a call from a furious Prowl, who has learned through "sources" of what has been going on on Cybertron and is appalled that Prime has allowed combiner and space bridge technology to fall into Starscream's hands. Prowl accuses Prime of once again refusing to take the big picture into account—the danger Starscream poses to the entire galaxy, not just Cybertron—but Prime has no time for his questioning attitude, and brusquely terminates the call. Windblade observes that Prime has made a lie of omission, refraining from telling Prowl anything about the Enigma of Combination... but Prowl knows all about it already, recognizes Prime's lie, and seething with rage, resolves to deal with the situation himself.
At a secret detention facility on Cybertron, Starscream, Scoop and Rattrap watch as Swindle is locked up to keep the truth behind Menasor's attack on Caminus hidden. Rattrap reminds his leader that the delegates from Caminus will be arriving soon; not wanting to leave them alone with Prime, Starscream heads off with Scoop to greet them as they, Prime, Windblade and the news team return through the space bridge. With the eyes of two worlds on him, Prime beats Starscream at his own game by announcing the formation of a council of representatives from the colonies, crediting Starscream with the idea and giving the Seeker no recourse but to agree.
Sometime later, after the space bridge has been deactivated, Rattrap sneaks into the chamber and reactivates it, allowing Prowl and the Constructicons to use their captured bridge to travel through. Rattrap, it turns out, is Prowl's "source"; he is unwilling to see Starscream turn the colony worlds into a new empire, but grows concerned when it becomes apparent that Prowl intends to prevent contact with the other colonies from ever happening. Rattrap is concerned what that will mean for the future of Cybertron, but Prowl—eyes now glowing red—smiles and informs his stool pigeon that, if it means the galaxy will be saved, he has no problems with Cybertron being destroyed...
Featured characters
{{#if: ||(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)}}
|
!! style="background:#ffdddd;" | Autobots }}{{#if:*Menasor (17)
- Waspinator (33)
- Fat Tankor (34)
- Tall Tankor (35)
- Sparkstalker (36)|
!! style="background:#ededff" | Decepticons }}{{#if:| !! style="background:#fbefde;" | Humans }}{{#if:{|border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="background:transparent" |- |style="background:transparent; border-right: 0px" valign="top"|
- Rook (10)
- Lightbright (11)
- Hot Shot (12)
- Starscream (15)
- Circuit (16)
- Rattrap (21)
- "Yellow leader" (22)
- "Red leader" (23)
- Longtooth (24)
|style="background:transparent; border-right: 0px" valign="top"|
- Mistress of Flame (25)
- Long Haul (26)
- Scavenger (29)
- Hook (30)
- Bonecrusher (31)
- Mixmaster (32)
- Swindle (37)
- Badgeless officer (38)
- Scoop (39)
|}| !! style="background:#ffeeb8;" | Others }}{{#if:| !! style="background:#d5e6d5;" | Misc }}{{#if:| !! style="background:#fedeb5;" | Misc }} |- {{#if:{|border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="background:transparent" |- |style="background:transparent; border-right: 0px" valign="top"|
- Hot Spot (1)
- Groove (2)
- Streetwise (3, see "Errors")
- Blades (4, see "Errors")
- First Aid (5)
- Mirage (6)
- Megatron (7)
- Rodimus (8)
- Ironhide (9)
|style="background:transparent; border-right: 0px" valign="top"|
- Optimus Prime (13)
- Windblade (14)
- Devastator (18)
- Wheeljack (19)
- Superion (20)
- Prowl (27)
- Jetfire (28)
|}|| style="background:#ffdddd;" valign="top" |
|
- Waspinator (33)
- Fat Tankor (34)
- Tall Tankor (35)
- Sparkstalker (36)|
| style="background:#ededff;" valign="top" |
- Menasor (17)
- Waspinator (33)
- Fat Tankor (34)
- Tall Tankor (35)
- Sparkstalker (36) }}{{#if:|
| style="background:#fbefde;" valign="top" |
}}{{#if:{|border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="background:transparent"
|- |style="background:transparent; border-right: 0px" valign="top"|
- Rook (10)
- Lightbright (11)
- Hot Shot (12)
- Starscream (15)
- Circuit (16)
- Rattrap (21)
- "Yellow leader" (22)
- "Red leader" (23)
- Longtooth (24)
|style="background:transparent; border-right: 0px" valign="top"|
- Mistress of Flame (25)
- Long Haul (26)
- Scavenger (29)
- Hook (30)
- Bonecrusher (31)
- Mixmaster (32)
- Swindle (37)
- Badgeless officer (38)
- Scoop (39)
|}| | style="background:#ffeeb8;" valign="top" |
|
|
| style="background:#d5e6d5;" valign="top" |
}}{{#if:|
| style="background:#fedeb5;" valign="top" |
}}|}
Quotes
Starscream: "Eons ago, we lost millions of our Cybertronian brothers and sisters to the winds of space."
Wheeljack: "Space ain't got—"
Rattrap: "Shhh!"
Starscream: "Windblade was the first representative of these lost colonies to wash up on our shores..."
Wheeljack: "Water either, plus that's a mixed—"
Rattrap: "SHHHH!!"
"Enough talk. I came here because I have hands to lend."
"Wait—this is a task for your Cybertronian giant. Surely The Prime cannot risk his own life without a great cause."
"The opportunity to save a life is the greatest cause, Mistress."
- —Optimus Prime and the Mistress of Flame
"Disgusting."
"Oh, you love it, Scoop. It's what your Chosen One chooses."
"It's worse than the cell you kept me in."
"Well, yeah. It's a secret prison. You don't make those nicer than the not-secret ones."
- —Scoop and Starscream on Swindle's imprisonment
"You're Prowl. You prob'ly got an elaborate plan with a gazillion movin' parts and Starscream won't ever see it comin'."
[The Constructicons emerge through the space bridge]
"Six moving parts is all I need."
- —Rattrap and Prowl
Notes
Continuity notes
- The Protectobots are the only one of the "big four" Scramble City combiner teams who have never actually been a unit in IDW continuity before now. They were finally all together on the Lost Light as of More than Meets the Eye #28 in what was pretty obviously preparation for the Combiner Wars storyline, and here gain their team name for the first time. Hot Spot and Groove appear with the new body designs Alex Milne created for them for More than Meets the Eye, but the others... well, see "Errors", below.
- First Aid refers to Hot Spot, Groove and Streetwise's time spent serving on Earth together, which took place during the "Police Action" storyline at the climax of the 2009-2011 ongoing series.
- In a moment on continuity nobody saw coming, we are referred back to the seven-year-old Spotlight: Mirage—a story never mentioned again anywhere else after it was published—as part of Mirage's medical history of hallucinations.
- The connection is not specifically drawn on-page, but like Mirage, this is not the first time that Ironhide has seen a vision either: he was revealed to have had one back in issue #5.
- Prowl appropriated the space bridge from Onyx in issue #38.
- Sparkstalker appears without his fellow Firecons because they got pretty badly beat up (and stabbed, and impaled, and gored...) by the Dinobots in Punishment, which chronologically took place only days before the events of this story.
- Waspinator, Sparkstalker and the Tankors are collectively referred to as "Decepticon helpers"; that's nothing new for Sparkstalker, but the others were unaffiliated last we saw them, with Waspinator and Tall Tankor having discarded their factions to live in the unaligned Iacon, and Fat Tankor having always been an unaffiliated NAIL. It might just be Circuit generalizing, but Tall Tankor apparently confirms that they have all taken the name.
- Windblade remembers when Optimus told her that he never lies, in the final pages of Punishment.
- Scoop recalls that time Starscream kept him in a cell, back in More than Meets the Eye #23.
Transformers references
- As Mirage's vision moves to Caminus, Rook, the newest addition to the ranks of the upcoming Combiner Wars Protectobot toys, appears among the fleeing crowd. He's rather off-model and lacking in any kibble, but then he wouldn't have an Earth alternate mode here.
- Starscream's new body is, as previously mentioned in our notes for last issue, his upcoming Leader-class Combiner Wars toy.
- The Ark-7 is revealed to have a Teletraan computer, the first reference in IDW continuity to the quintessential Autobot computer series from across the Transformers multiverse.
Real-life references
- The Autobot shuttle O Fortuna is named after the [[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}O Fortuna|{{#if:medieval Latin poem of the same name|medieval Latin poem of the same name|O Fortuna}}]], a lament against the vagaries of fate, famous in popular culture for denoting "dramatic or cataclysmic situations".
- "Gamma-Cybrobutyric acid" is a Transformery version of the mammalian neurotransmitter, [[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}gamma-Aminobutyric acid|{{#if:||gamma-Aminobutyric acid}}]].
Errors
- On the opening page, Groove and Hot Spot's captions are swapped.
- On the same page, where Streetwise and Blades are supposed to appear during the Protectobot roll call, Grotusque and Mainframe have been drawn in their places, even in the panel that specifically pulls in tight on Streetwise to talk about how he's named the team. Grotusque appeared standing next to Hot Spot in More than Meets the Eye #29; that's about the only explanation we've got for this goof.
- On page 8, "Cybertron" is misspelled "Cyberton," and on page 14, "Cybertronian" is misspelled "Cybertonian." Darnit!
- Hot Spot is accidentally drawn in place of Hot Shot on Caminus on page 16—and in his new Combiner Wars toy design, to boot!
Other notes
- While More than Meet the Eye and Transformers vs. G.I. Joe are reduced from 22 pages of story to 20 from this month onward, this issue of The Transformers still clocks in at 22, probably because it was produced some time ago as part of the Combiner Wars toyline tie-in.
Covers (3)
- Regular cover: Ironhide holds up Devastator's foot to prevent him crushing Circuit and Longtooth, by Casey Coller and Joana Lafuente
- Subscription cover: Defensor by Livio Ramondelli; combines with subscription cover to Windblade #2 to form a complete image
- Retailer incentive cover: Menasor, "courtesy of Hasbro"
Advertisements
- Windblade #2 - Combiner Wars, Part 3
- The Transformers #41 - Combiner Wars, Part 4
- More than Meets the Eye #40
- Transformers vs. G.I. Joe #6
- My Little Pony: FIENDship is Magic comic book event
- Disney comics are back! (back cover)
