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The Crucible

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The name or term "Crucible" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Crucible (disambiguation).
« The Transformers: Robots in Disguise #34 »
Combiner Wars #10
RID34 regcvr.jpg
"The Crucible"
Publisher IDW Publishing
First published October 22, 2014
Cover date October 2014
Written by John Barber
Art by Livio Ramondelli
Letters by Tom B. Long
Editor Carlos Guzman
Continuity 2005 IDW continuity
Chronology Current era (2014)

Alpha Trion reveals the story of Cybertron's past—the fall of the Thirteen Primes, the rise of Nova, and the quest to unlock the Enigma of Combination...

Contents

Synopsis

Aboard the Ark-7, in orbit around Earth's moon, Arcee and Jetfire race to the hangar bay in response to an alarm signalling that the airlock has been opened. Upon entering, they are met by Sky Lynx, who rather grumpily explains that Optimus Prime and Alpha Trion have just departed in the Skyroller without so much as a by-your-leave. Sideswipe tracks the shuttle's trajectory to the far side of the moon, where Prime and Trion have withdraw to prevent the other Autobots from potentially eavesdropping on the story Trion has to tell Optimus. It was Regenesis ore that led the Transformers to Earth, Trion explains, but Shockwave did not pick Earth as a home for one of his ores at random...

TheCrucible NovaMajorEucryphia.jpg

Ten million years ago, during the First Cybertronian Civil War between the Thirteen Tribes, the bestial forces of Onyx Prime lay siege to Prima's Citadel of Light. But Prima has fled, and all but two of his soldiers have fallen: Nova Major and Eucryphia. The latter soon perishes, and Nova prepares to meet his own end, until he is suddenly joined by Galvatron the barbarian. Recognizing his new ally as the one who bested Nexus Prime's Headmasters, Nova hopes that Galvatron has solved Nexus's Enigma of Combination and brings combiners to aid them, but Galvatron informs him that Nexus has disappeared and taken those secrets with him. With no secret weapons and no other warriors to aid them, the two fight on... and, in a battle that would be spoken of down the ages as the epitome of Cybertronian heroism, triumph against Onyx's beast army. Amid the wreckage of the battlefield, the two are approached by the 'bot who brought them together; Nova is surprised by Galvatron's belief that he is a servant of this cloaked figure, and angrily demands that their mysterious benefactor reveal his identity. The stranger complies, revealing himself to be Alpha Trion, the last of the Thirteen Primes left on Cybertron.

Optimus interrupts Trion's story, shocked to discover his old friend is one of the original Primes. Trion jokes about his deception, hoping that it does not mean he and Optimus are going to have to fight, and explains that he did not conceal his identity—rather, the fall of the Primes brought to an end his role as the chronicler of Cybertronian history, and he allowed himself to be forgotten as time and tide wore away the memories of the world's population.

TheCrucible RhinoxofMournsong.jpg

The disbelieving Nova soon comes to accept the truth when he attacks Alpha Trion, and finds himself pummelled into submission by the power of a true Prime. Galvatron jokes that Nova could never have beaten him, as it is said that a Prime can only be defeated by another Prime, but Trion corrects him—a Prime can only be killed by another Prime, but there are no other Primes left. Seeking proof of Trion's claim, Nova proposes that they visit Onyx Prime's castle in Kalis, to see if he really has disappeared. The trip there takes months, but upon arrival at the castle, the trio find their way barred by the gatekeeper, Rhinox of the Mournsong. Galvatron quickly intimidates the beast into letting them pass, but Rhinox does so knowing they will find nothing within, as Onyx truly has vanished. As Rhinox wonders aloud what the future holds for him, Nova announces his intent to build a new consolidated civilization, with no tribes, in which there shall be a place for everyone.

Alpha Trion breaks from his story a moment to sadly reflect on the truth of Nova's words, and how they represented the birth of Functionism. Optimus, on the other hand, is growing angrier, as he realizes that Alpha Trion allowed Nova to take the title of Prime, and to bring his so-called "Golden Age" into being. Trion brushes off the recriminations: he takes no pride in it now, but at the time, he felt he was doing what was best for Cybertron. Optimus rejects the notion of peace through tyranny that Nova embodied, but Alpha merely declares that to be the difference between them both and resumes his tale...

With Cybertron now united and ruled over by Nova Prime, attentions turn back to solving the mysteries of the lost Primes—chiefly, Nexus's secret combiner technology. Galvatron, on the other hand, would rather see the old ways stay buried, and decries the "magicks" of Nova's newest scientific ally, Jhiaxus. Jhiaxus insists that solving the riddle of the Enigma of Combination will lay bare all the secrets of the Cybertronian race, but Galvatron insists that the Enigma is gone, vanished with Nexus. His words make Alpha Trion curious; all present have been working on the assumption that the "Enigma" is merely a concept, but Galvatron speaks of it as though it were a physical object. Looking into Galvatron's eyes, Trion suddenly knows the truth...

TheCrucible IBelieveInNoPrime.jpg

Years before, at the Battle of Aegiax, Galvatron stands before Nexus Prime's castle and calls for the Prime to show himself. Nexus appears on a balcony above, and blames the leader of Galvatron's tribe, Megatronus, for beginning the war when he conspired with Liege Maximo and betrayed Solus Prime and Prima. Seething with fury, Galvatron retorts that he serves no master, and bounds to the balcony, cleaving his way through the beast-bot combinations Nexus's Engima has created. Nexus stands in front of the Enigma—a tangible object—and vows that Galvatron will never have it, since he is not a Prime, and thus will be unable to kill him. With a defiant cry, Galvatron proclaims that he does not believe in Primes, thrusts his cannon into Nexus's chest, and sets him ablaze from within. Stepping over the Prime's smouldering corpse, Galvatron takes the Enigma.

Optimus is puzzled; why would Galvatron take the Enigma if he hates combiners? More troubling is the mention of "Megatronus", whose name is undeniably similar to Megatron's, yet as far as Optimus knows, Megatron did not choose his name from any other source, be it legend or fact. Trion ponders the notion of a pattern repeating through history, but has a more concrete answer regarding Galvatron's theft of the Enigma: he took it in order to put it beyond the reach of other Cybertronians, firing it into space when Trion became suspicious. It crashed on Earth seven million years ago, and when Shockwave chose the worlds that would become home to his Regenesis ores, the thirteen he selected were the resting places of the Enigma and the other twelve surviving Primes. Trion does not know if the Enigma landed on Earth by coincidence or design, nor does he know if Galvatron is aware it is on Earth, but is concerned of what it can do in anyone's hands, Autobot or Decepticon. Trion inquires whether Prime will share what he has told him with Prowl, given that he is in control of the only successful combiner that has been created; Prime doesn't know why he wouldn't tell his friend. Unbeknownst to the pair, however, Prowl already knows everything, as a stealth-painted Cosmos has been beaming their whole conversation back to him over a secure line...

Featured characters

Characters in italic text appear only in the extended flashback portion of the story.
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots Others

Quotes

"Hands up if you want to live!"
"I don't have any hands! But I most certainly do not wish to die!"

—Arcee bursts into the hangar and alarms Sky Lynx


"They hopped in Prime's personal shuttle and opened the hatch—nary with a 'good evening, Sky Lynx, you're looking fine today and may we refill your Engex bowl, kind sir'—and off they went, blowing what was left in my bowl out into the vaccuum of—"

—Sky Lynx


"Must we fight, Optimus? In my weakened state, I'm not sure I could keep up with you."
"Alpha—we've known each other for millions of years. At your best, you wouldn't stand a chance."

—Alpha Trion and Optimus Prime

Notes

Continuity notes

  • The Battle of Aegiax and Galvatron's first encounter with Alpha Trion were originally shown as a flashback in issue #30.
  • Arcee remarks that she has "been stuck" with the Constructicons before; she's had a couple of run-ins with the team in the past, battling them in issues #4 and #18.
  • Optimus mentions "information creep", the neurological condition that causes robotic brains to reinterpret old data, introduced in More than Meets the Eye #31. Here, it is explicitly used as an explanation for why Transformers who existed in the distant past seem to lack detailed memories of that time, and why notions such as the Guiding Hand are considered only myths, compared to the way that other continuities treat mystical figures like Primus as provable fact. Though probably not a direct reference, the idea of Cybertronians losing their memories of older eras as the brain compartmentalizes and suppresses old data was also a plot point in the novel Transformers: Retribution.
  • Galvatron mentions having killed Nexus Prime's forces "across all of known space". This calls back to Heart of Darkness #3, where Thinkbox, whose inexplicable appearance would inspire the concept of ancient Headmasters, was found offline on the planet Spindrift.
  • Nova requests that Jhiaxus not refer to him as a superior. This alludes to events in the 2012 Robots in Disguise Annual, where Nova will make the same request. In keeping with the annual, it seems likely that Alpha Trion was the old one Nova referred to and that he wanted Galvatron to stop Monstructor due to his previous experience in fighting combiners. This issue also shows the six "volunteers" who will form the monster. In keeping with that issue, it is very likely that Alpha Trion is the "Ancient One" Nova alludes to who told them where to find Crystal City and that Alpha gave Nova the Matrix.
  • Rhinox is right to wonder about a place for the beast Transformers: previous issues showed that beasts were treated as second-class and considered barely sentient up to the start of the Decepticon revolt.
  • The later Revolutionaries #1's in-comic timeline established that the First Cybertronian Civil War in fact took place 8 million years ago, not 10 million.

Transformers references

  • Before taking the title of Prime, Nova is revealed to have been "Nova Major". The "Major" title was used in the Animated continuity, denoting an individual below the Prime rank, but above Minor.
  • As was implied by the mention of "Nexus" back in issue #30, the Thirteen Tribes of Cybertron are here revealed to be led by this universe's version of the original thirteen Transformers. Seven of the Thirteen are name-checked, and described as having qualities and life-experiences similar to those laid out for the Aligned continuity family versions of the characters by the Covenant of Primus: Nexus Prime, owner of the Enigma of Combination which creates combiners; Onyx Prime, master of beasts; Prima, "greatest of all Primes"; Megatronus and the Liege Maximo, who conspired together; Solus Prime, betrayed by Megatronus; and of course Alpha Trion himself, who is here described as being the chronicler of Cybertronian history—not something that has been part of his backstory in IDW before, but the primary role of the character in Aligned fiction. The notion that Shockwave selected the planets for his Regenesis program based on the fact that they were the locations of the departed Primes, though, would seem to suggest that the Aligned continuity's Optimus Prime being one of the Thirteen is not true for IDW Optimus. Also, Nexus claims that Galvatron's master (Megatronus) has fallen.
    • It is not explained, though, why Shockwave launched a 13th ore off-planet while Alpha Trion was still on Cybertron.
    • The next issue would go on to name Alchemist Prime as another one of the Thirteen Primes in the IDW continuity.
  • The idea that only a Prime can kill a Prime originated with Revenge of the Fallen.
  • "Rhinox of the Mournsong" seemingly takes his full name from the Covenant of Primus (specifically the Aligned book version) for Mournsong was one of the three faces of Onyx Prime's artefact, the Triptych Mask, along with Farsight and Predator.
  • The Aligned version of Megatron did take his name from Megatronus, as did a different Megatron entirely.

Real-life references

  • Eucryphia's name derives from the Greek for "well-hidden".
  • The image of the Enigma landing on Earth depicts a group of bone-wielding apes along with the caption "The Dawn of Man". This is likely a nod to the opening of 2001: A Space Odyssey, which used the same title for its opening prologue and featured very similar hominids. We would later learn that the Enigma had an intelligence-boosting effect on early humans, not unlike the famous alien Monoliths from the movie.

Errors

  • At the beginning of the issue, Arcee is drawn in her Cybertronian body instead of the Earth-based form in which she appears in.
  • In a common mistake, the lunar lander near Optimus Prime and Alpha Trion is drawn with its ascent module still attached when it should have been used to bring the astronauts back into orbit. Additionally, without the protection of an atmosphere, the U.S. flag planted on the moon would have been bleached white by now.
  • Alpha Trion claims he left Cybertron on his quest "four million years ago"—per issue #28, which was in accordance with Spotlight: Shockwave, it was only half-a-million years ago. The trade changes Alpha Trion's line to "millions of years ago."

Edits

Similar to the pack-in versions of various other existing IDW comics, the version of this issue available with the Generations Combiner Wars Deluxe Class Rook toy was also subject to some changes:

  • On page 2 (not counting the "Previously" page that's missing in the trade paperback collection and the pack-in version), Sky Lynx's second speech bubble in panel 1 is changed from "But I most certainly do not wish to die!" to "But I most certainly do not wish to be harmed!", with the speech bubble itself resized accordingly.
  • Three or four edits on page 5, depending on how one counts: The first speech bubble in panel 1 is changed from "Kill the servants of light!" to "Destroy the servants of light!", with the speech bubble itself resized accordingly; Nova Major's speech bubble in panel 3 is changed from "We hold the line or civilization dies!" to "We hold the line or civilization ends!"; and his second speech bubble in panel 5 is changed from "…if I am fated to die, let history know I died for Cybertron." to "…if I am fated for destruction, let history know it was for Cybertron."
  • Two edits on page 8: Galvatron's second speech bubble in panel 2 has "Where was your master through all this carnage?" shortened to "Where was your master through all this?", with the speech bubble itself resized accordingly; and Nova Major's second speech bubble in panel 4 has "my dream would have died." changed to "my dream would have ended."
  • On page 11, Alpha Trion's first speech bubble in panel 3 has "only a Prime can kill a Prime" changed to "only a Prime can destroy a Prime", with the speech bubble itself resized accordingly.
  • On page 16, Galvatron's speech bubble in panel 2 has "And I have killed your Headmasters" changed to "And I have destroyed your Headmasters".
  • On page 17, Nexus Prime's second speech bubble in panel 5 has "None but a Prime can kill a Prime" changed to "None but a Prime can destroy a Prime", with the speech bubble itself resized accordingly.

On the other hand, Galvatron's speech bubble in panel 2 on page 12, "Let us pass or die, beast—", remains unchanged.

Foreign Localization

Swedish

  • Title: "Smältdegeln" ("The Crucible")

Covers (4)

  • (thumbnail)

    Honor and fear were heaped upon his name and, in time, he became a king by his own hand. And this story shall also be told.

  • (thumbnail)

    No energy flail? Balderdash!

  • (thumbnail)

    We've seen this before, no?

  • (thumbnail)

    Hasbro exclusive comic included with Rook toy.

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Reprints

  • The Transformers Volume 7: Combiner Wars First Strike (April 8, 2015) ISBN 1631402854 / ISBN 978-1631402852
    • Collects The Transformers (2012) issues #33–38.
    • Bonus material includes covers from each issue.
    • Trade paperback format.
  • Transformers: Optimus Prime - Tillbaka till jorden (February 15, 2023)
    • Collects Robots in Disguise issues #28–32 & #34–38, and Punishment issues #1–5.
    • Swedish reprint. Hardcover format.

External links

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