Rubicon

	; There's always a bigger fish...
	"Rubicon"
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	March 29, 2017
Cover date	February 2017
Written by	Mairghread Scott
Art by	Sara Pitre-Durocher
Colors by	Joana Lafuente
Letters by	Tom B. Long
Editor	Carlos Guzman
Continuity	2005 IDW continuity
Chronology	Current era

Windblade must fight Vigilem to control his body and end the threat of the Titans, but he is not the only ancient evil stirred back to life...

Synopsis

Even with his body lying deactivated on the surface of Cybertron, Metroplex senses the reactivation of Vigilem's mind. He has always known that "Carcer" was a false identity, an alias given to Vigilem by the other Titans when they shut down his mind and cast him out of their ranks, but he hid this truth from Windblade. Though Metroplex does not understand how Vigilem was able to masquerade as Tempo when he first detected him, it does not matter; it would have been better, Metroplex thinks, to kill Vigilem rather than show mercy...

Aboard Vigilem, in the Titan's brain module chamber, Obsidian pleads with Windblade not to allow Vigilem to come back online. Though she recognizes the danger he poses, Windblade cannot comply, as Vigilem is the only chance they have left to defeat Sentinel Prime's undead Titan horde. Unable to shut down the portion of his mind that she has already awoken, Windblade fights to keep any more of Vigilem from reactivating, and instead commits an act unthinkable by any other cityspeaker: through their mind-link, she takes control of Vigilem's body herself, transfoming him into robot mode. Using Vigilem's body, Windblade grabs Devastator and hurls him down to Cybertron ahead of her so that he can join the fighting too, then she brings Vigilem himself down to the surface and engages the Titans in battle. The fight is slow and arduous, made all the more difficult by Windblade having to split her focus to keep Vigilem's mind suppressed—though she cannot keep him silent, as he whispers in her ear and proposes that they work together. Windblade refuses, but Vigilem reveals she has no choice, forcibly overpowering her and retaking control of his body to finish off the remaining Titans... but only, he reveals, so that he can destroy Cybertron himself.

The battle is observed from afar by the Cybertronian populace, still in the process of evacuating. When Chromia gets a little too rowdy, desperate to find out how Windblade is doing, she is tossed in a cell... but her imprisonment turns out to be brief, as Metroplex remotely taps into the cell's systems and lets her out, urging her to get to Windblade and disconnect her from Vigilem before she perishes. Chromia races against the clock, scaling Vigilem's body, entering it, and running through the tunnels to get to her friend in time.

While Obsidian, Moonracer, and Tigatron debate over whether or not to forcibly disconnect Windblade from Vigilem, the evil Titan disposes of the last of his zombified brethren, then turns his attention toward Metroplex himself. Vigilem holds special contempt for him, blaming Metroplex for imprisoning both Vigilem and his master, Liege Maximo, leaving them to drift through space with their own turncoat followers as their jailers, and declares that the last thing Metroplex shall see before he dies is Maximo's return. With that, Vigilem triggers the opening of a chamber somewhere inside his body, around which Strika's forces gather, aiming their weapons in preparation for anything that emerges from it...

Elita One makes her way to Vigilem's brain module chamber and levels her weapon, even as Obsidian pleads with her to hold her fire so they can disconnect Windblade first and save her life. Unfortunately, just then, Windblade is caught off-guard when the last still-functioning Titan grabs onto Vigilem's leg. Though the Titan is crushed beneath Vigilem's heel, the distraction is enough for Windblade to lose her hold on their shared mind, and Vigilem takes full control of both his and Windblade's bodies. The sight of Windblade's eyes glowing red and the sound of Vigilem's voice escaping her lips makes Elita's decision for her; she opens fire on the Titan's brain module, obliterating it just as Chromia bursts into the room. A moment before Elita's blasts make contact, however, the chamber within Vigilem opens with a burst of energy that knocks out Strika's team, and leaves Strika herself conscious just long enough to see the dreaded form of Liege Maximo, betrayer of the Primes who began the war that tore them apart, step out. As Vigilem's body collapses to its knees, Maximo thanks his deceased Titan for his loyal service and teleports away, vowing that both he and Vigilem shall be avenged.

Watching from the Spire, Starscream celebrates their victory, with even the "ghost" of Bumblebee sharing his happiness for once. Unfortunately, neither is aware of the trauma Windblade has suffered, as her unmoving form now lies cradled in Chromia's arms...

Featured characters

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

Autobots

Decepticons

Others

Metroplex (2)
Windblade (3)
Ironhide (14)
Chromia (15)
Bumblebee (hallucination, 20)

Devastator (13)

Multiple Titans (1)
Starscream (4)
Chela (5)
Caminus (6)
Vigilem (7)
Fireshot (8)
Moonracer (9)

Tigatron (10)
Obsidian (11)
Elita One (12)
Strika (16)
Liege Maximo (17)
Knock Out (18)
Airazor (19)

Quotes

"If you would use my body, at least do it well!"

—Vigilem is unimpressed by Windblade's fighting style

"Let me out here, you rust-licking gear-grinder!"

—Language, Chromia!

"I swore an oath, Vigilem, to never let you, or your master, roam free again."
(Windblade's eyes turn red.)
"Then you have failed."

—Elita One and Vigilem, communicating through Windblade

"You...will not- winnn- urgh."
"I'm sorry, I didn't quite make that out."

— Strika collapses before she gets a taste of Liege Maximo's sass.

Notes

Continuity notes

Metroplex recounts how Windblade saw the name "Carcer" inside his mind when the two bonded, which happened in Windblade vol. 1 #4, but which we didn't hear about until Windblade vol. 2 #7. Additional flashbacks in this issue reveal that she had never heard the name before that point because "Carcer" was only ever an alias created by Metroplex and the other Titans for their imprisoned sibling to hide his identity. It has not yet been explained how Carcer/Vigilem was able to masquerade as Tempo, the philosopher Titan, when contact was first made, but the answer probably has to do with how the evil Titan's body has been patched up and rebuilt using copious parts from other sources, as Windblade notes when she takes control of him. This also explains why his original physical form, shown in flashbacks, looks completely different than the robot mode shown in the current time.
In his background processes, Metroplex has been stating "Observation: Unchanged" ever since #3. Now we know what it was: he was constantly, obsessively monitoring Vigilem's brain module for any signs of life and/or escape.
As Windblade prepares to take control of Vigilem's body, she notes that she's about to do something no other Cityspeaker would even dare to think of. This is the second time she's taken physical control of a Titan, the first being in Windblade vol. 2 #5 when she took control of Navitas's body on Velocitron to manipulate parts of the racetrack within him in order to help Blurr win the race he'd entered.
Additionally, the idea that the Carcerians (Vigilemians?) pride truth above all else, as exhibited in Windblade vol. 2 #7, takes on new meaning with the revelation that they are the descendants of a society founded by the repentant members of Liege Maximo's tribe. Though it hasn't been exhibited in IDW yet, Maximo is a famous liar in other continuities, to the point that the design used for him here is based on Marvel's interpretation of the Norse god of lies, Loki.
Only a few droplets of info about Liege Maximo have been revealed in IDW continuity up to this point. Robots in Disguise #34 told us that, as in the Aligned continuity family, he was responsible for starting the war among the Primes by conspiring with Megatronus, and according to Sentinel Prime in The Transformers #57, he was subsequently "betrayed" by Micronus Prime. Perhaps that "betrayal" had something to do with how he came to be imprisoned.
This four-part story in its entirety takes place prior to the opening arc of the new Optimus Prime series. Cybertron is shown to still be recovering from the events of the Titan attack in Optimus Prime #3, which also established prior to the publication of this issue that Windblade would not make it through the story without suffering some trauma she needed to temporarily step down from the Council of Worlds to recuperate from.
As noted, Vigilem spoke through Windblade just before Elita blasted his brain module to scrap. This couldn't possibly be important later...

Transformers references

As with the majority of other members of the Thirteen who have appeared in IDW continuity up to this point, Liege Maximo appears in his "Aligned" design, as seen in The Covenant of Primus.

Real-world references

The title of this issue refers to the famous idiom "crossing the Rubicon", meaning to pass a point of no return. The saying itself (also used as the title of a Beast Wars episode) originated when Julius Caesar's army crossed the river and effectively declared war on the Roman Republic in 49 BC.
"Carcer" is Latin for "prison", which always seemed to raise questions about Elita and the rest of her crew. As it turns out, the name was a reference to how the "Carcer" identity itself was a prison for Vigilem, and how he held the Liege Maximo prisoner within his own body.

Other trivia

Originally solicited for release in February 2017, this issue arrived noticeably late, only turning up in the final week of March. No new issue of Till All Are One was scheduled for March, however, so there's no knock-on effect to the next issue.

Covers (3)

Regular cover: Vigilem looms, by Sara Pitre-Durocher
Subscription cover: Windblade trapped in the silhouette of Liege Maximo, by Priscilla Tramontano
Retailer incentive cover: Starscream and Windblade by Nelson Dániel; one of a series of robot mode/alt mode covers by Daniel for February's Transformers titles.

Reprints

The Transformers: Till All Are One, Volume 2 (July 19, 2017) ISBN 1631409247 / ISBN 978-1631409240
- Collects Till All Are One: Revolution #1 and issues #5–8.
- Bonus material includes art from most covers.
- Trade paperback format.

Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 76: Titans Return, Part 2 (July 25, 2018)
- Collects Till All Are One issues #5–11.
- Bonus material includes an article on Revolution.
- Hardcover format.

The Transformers: The IDW Collection Phase Three: Volume 1 (November 17, 2021) ISBN 1684058422 / ISBN 978-1684058426
- Collects Revolution issues #0–5, Till All Are One: Revolution #1 & issues #5–8, The Transformers (2012): Revolution #1, Action Man: Revolution #1, More than Meets the Eye: Revolution #1, and Revolutionaries issues #1–4.
- Hardcover format.

Till All Are One, Volume 2 – cover art by Sara Pitre-Durocher
The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 76: Titans Return, Part 2 – cover art by Don Figueroa (Metroplex) and Sara Pitre-Durocher (retro)
The IDW Collection Phase Three: Volume 1 – cover art by Sara Pitre-Durocher