« Transformers #37 »
"Darkness, Once Gazed Upon: Part One"
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	November 24, 2021
Cover date	November 2021
Written by	Brian Ruckley
Art by	Winston Chan (pg. 1-2, 4, 11-20), Guido Guidi (pg. 3, 7-10)
Colors	John-Paul Bove
Letters by	Jake M. Wood
Editor	David Mariotte, Tom Waltz and Riley Farmer
Continuity	2019 IDW continuity

The looming threat of Exarchon forces Optimus Prime and Cyclonus to confront their pasts in search of answers.

Synopsis

In the badlands beyond Iacon, Rumble hauls himself free from the ground and puts in a call to Shockwave to report that his long, boring stakeout has finally paid off: after cycles of waiting, Optimus Prime has finally returned to the outskirts of the city on a very specific mission. As Ironhide and three additional members of the Prime Guard establish a defensive perimeter, Optimus and Ultra Magnus head deeper into the valley of immersant Cybertronians, pass through a pair of familiar double doors, and soon find themselves before the 'bot Optimus wants to speak to: his old mentor, Codexa.

Two megacycles ago, with the War of the Threefold Spark raging, Cyclonus and his lover Paragon hold the line at the Tagan Heights with the rest of their squad: Grudge, Gridlock, Provoke, and Highfire. Although Paragon's already planning his future with Cyclonus on Neutronia, Provoke reveals that Neutronia is no more, as Turmoil destroyed the planet on his way back to Cybertron. Time passes, the war drags on, and as Cyclonus's squad continues to dwindle, the spectre of Turmoil looms ever larger—a battle on the Hydrax Plateau against a swarm of Skywarp drones ends with Paragon captured and imprisoned aboard Turmoil's starship. As Turmoil's ship disappears into space, Gridlock assures him that they'll find a way to get Paragon back... moments before an unseen sniper blasts Gridlock in the head and instantly kills him.

Ultra Magnus is impressed by the fact that they can still speak with Codexa at all after many kilocycles of immersion, but Optimus isn't quite sure that this really is Codexa. Perhaps, he wonders, they're communicating with the afterlife itself, an amalgamation of all of the many sparks who choose to abandon the material world and return to the place where all are one. Regardless of who's really controlling her body, the entity does recognize the Matrix of Leadership in his chest, but Optimus has more important problems to discuss: not only has the Sea of Rust's recent collapse released ravenous rust worms into the planet's strata, Exarchon is alive, hiding out somewhere on Cybertron as he rebuilds his power. Codexa recognizes the name—after all, she was present the last time Exarchon threatened Cybertron, and there when the people of Cybertron learned the truth about what he'd become...

With victory against Exarchon on the horizon, Highbrow presents his final report on the enemy to Nominus Prime and the Great Generals. Highbrow's conclusions are disturbing, however: although he wears a Transformer body, Exarchon has become another kind of life entirely, a kind of living virus capable of infecting other Transformers with a fragment of his own spark and assimilating them into his being. Worse yet, all evidence suggests that his metamorphosis was not accidental—someone or something made him this way, armed him with the exotic weapons and cloning technologies required to effectively wage war, and unleashed him on Cybertron. Fortunately, Exarchon has an upper limit: he can only occupy three bodies at a time, but this isn't much consolation for Nominus, who growls that their impending victory has come at too high a cost.

In the final battle, Provoke and Cyclonus—the last two remaining members of their original squad—join the fight to end the war for good. Provoke urges a reluctant Cyclonus into action one last time, promising him he'll soon be reunited with Paragon... but seconds after the pair charge into battle, a stray cannon blast rips a hole through Provoke's body and sends her flying. A second explosion knocks Cyclonus away from her body; damaged but still alive, Cyclonus rises to his feet, swearing to kill them all, but as Exarchon's remaining forces advance he's forcibly dragged to safety by Shadow Striker and Brawn. Mentally and physically exhausted, Cyclonus weakly struggles against his comrades, even as the ghosts of his fallen comrades, urge him to finish what they started together and end the war for good.

As Codexa mourns the many sparks who were usurped and evicted from their bodies by Exarchon, Optimus asks an important question: have new sparks returned to the whole because of Exarchon? Confused and weakened by her efforts to stay tethered in the here and now, it takes a few moments for Codexa to give a coherent answer, but she eventually manages to tell him that Exarchon has snuffed out another Spark: a Spark that belonged to a 'bot named Ruckus.

At Swindle's, Cyclonus pushes his way past Roughstuff to speak with "Ruckus" and get some straight answers regarding Provoke's situation. His unhelpful answers and vague assurances that everything is fine allow "Ruckus" to evade the questions long enough for Swindle to drag him away, but Cyclonus is not convinced: something's very wrong.

As Optimus Prime and Ultra Magnus leave Codexa's chamber, Optimus mourns the fact that Codexa has almost entirely slipped away from the material world, and will soon entirely rejoin the Allspark. Magnus puts through a call to Ironhide on his communicator; when he gets no response, however, Magnus transforms into his vehicle mode, rams his way through the doors... and finds a Decepticon ambush spearheaded by Soundblaster and the other members of Team Stream! Magnus promptly charges into battle to rescue his fellow Autobots, but doesn't get far before the equally massive Astrotrain wrestles him to the ground. Prime's altruism gets the better of him as he shrugs off Flamewar and Shadow Striker's electrical harpoons to rescue Groove, but Magnus shouts for Prime and the others to get to safety—he'll hold off the remaining Decepticons. In the eight-on-one melee, Magnus manages to take out Frenzy... but leaves himself open for a second harpoon from Flamewar, which paralyzes him just long enough for Astrotrain to get his second wind and bash Magnus unconscious. But when Slipstream contacts Shockwave to tell him that they've captured a Great General, a disappointed Shockwave gives the team their orders: Flamewar and Slipstream are to escort Ultra Magnus to Megatron in Iacon, while Soundblaster and Rumble seal Codexa's chamber away. Shockwave reminds them that he has no use for other Autobots: he needs the Matrix of Leadership if he's to accomplish what he's planning...

Featured characters

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

Quotes

"Would you two please stop planning your post-war life? You're asking for bad luck."
"You're just suffering a chronic shortage of affection in your life, Grudge. You're jealous of me and Cyc."
"I'm suffering a chronic shortage of peace and quiet is what I'm suffering."

—Grudge and Paragon

"Always so frail. All things are frail now... all the scattered fragments of the Allspark turn against one another. Cybertron aches. Breaks. And is consumed."

—Codexa

"Positive? There is nothing in any of this... we have ruined half of Cybertron. We are winning, yes. Out there the last battle is being fought, and it will be won. But the cost! The dead are numberless. The burden unbearable."

—Nominus Prime

"No Titans here though, are there? Just us fools."

—Cyclonus

"I guess if we've got to take this lump to Iacon, we've got to. But I am not talking to Sixshot, just so you know. Maybe not anyone else, either. I hear they're all crazy there."

—Flamewar

Notes

Continuity notes

• Optimus Prime last made the pilgrimage to Codexa's chamber back in issue #3, passing rows of other immersant Transformers along the way. Codexa herself made a cameo in the previous issue, in which the tectonic disturbance responsible for collapsing the Sea of Rust jolted her from her slumber.
• Optimus has come to Codexa to share his concerns about Exarchon's possible return—although the "Mediator" within the Matrix of Leadership told him as much in #25, Jumpstream recently visited an alternate timeline in which Exarchon ruled over a dystopian future Cybertron in issues #31 and #32. Presumably, at some point during the time skip between the last issue and the next, news of her misadventure has made it all the way up the chain of command, and Optimus has put two and two together.
• The flashbacks in this issue all take place at different points during the War of the Threefold Spark, with the first depicting a hitherto-unseen campaign in the Tagan Heights, a region previously glimpsed in issue #20, at some point relatively early in the war. In a conversation before the battle, Cyclonus and Paragon discuss a postwar vacation on Neutronia, only to learn that Turmoil ravaged the planet while en route to Cybertron—an atrocity recounted by Pyra Magna in issue #30.
• The second battle ends with Paragon getting captured by the Threefold Spark and loaded onto Turmoil's ship; although Provoke insists that they'll get him back, we know that this optimism won't last; as per #30, the ship exploded and killed everyone aboard after Pyra Magna defied orders and went rogue in an attempt to bring Turmoil to justice after the end of the war.
• The final flashback is set during the last battle of the war, in the location that will one day become the Memorial Crater that lies just outside of Iacon. In her conversation with Cyclonus, Provoke mentions Croaton, who was euthanized by fellow Titan Citadel after Exarchon infected him. Though it's not entirely clear when Exarchon infected Provoke, the details of her "death" more or less line up with what Cyclonus told Flatline in issue #31. Although Cyclonus told Flatline that he simply lost track of the body after the enemy drove him back, this is a bit of a face-saving half-truth: in reality, Provoke's death drove him into a grief-stricken frenzy that forced Shadow Striker and Brawn to physically drag him to safety.
• Way back in issue #8, Cyclonus and Shadow Striker recognized each other personally. This issue reveals they fought side-by-side in the final battle of the war, where they would eventually fight against each other, no less.
• An exchange between Nominus Prime and Highbrow reveals a disturbing truth: someone changed Exarchon into his present form, and armed him with the advanced weapons and cloning technology he required to wage war against the people of Cybertron. A narration box in issue #34 had previously alluded to a conspiracy theory that he'd been deliberately modified and unleashed upon Cybertron to end their colonial expansion, although by who or what is still not clear.
• Ultra Magnus alludes to his last face-off with Soundblaster in the "Storm Horizon" arc of Galaxies, when he and the crew of the Fist of Iacon ventured into the Black Sphere to save Alpha Trion from Soundblaster's clutches.
• Frenzy attacks Magnus with a set of hand-mounted drill weapons—the same ones he used to murder Brainstorm offscreen shortly before the events of issue #1.
• Flamewar grouses about having to interact with Sixshot again; her intense dislike of her former boss has been a bit of a running gag since she cut ties, and she was last seen venting her spleen in issue #31.

Transformers references

• In addition to Iacon and the Tagan Heights, which have both appeared elsewhere in this continuity, the second wartime flashback is set on the Hydrax Plateau, a region of Cybertron first alluded to in the Dreamwave-era Ultimate Guide reference book.
• Solicits for this issue mention that the end of the War of the Threefold Spark cleared the way for a "bold new era" of Cybertronian history—between issues #1 and #18 and the first four issues of Galaxies, "A Bold New Era" was the tagline associated with the 2019 IDW continuity.
• Exarchon's original form, as revealed here, is based on a recolored version of the 1981 Diaclone Dia-Attacker toy, albeit with some artistic license taken — most notably the chestplate, which is considerably simpler and less impressive on Exarchon than it was on Dia-Attacker.

Real-world references

• This arc takes its name from a famous John Milton quote: "Innocence, once lost, can never be regained. Darkness, once gazed upon, can never be lost."

Errors

• During the flashback on page six, Ultra Magnus is shown identical to his present-day self, wearing a blocky body based on his concurrent Siege toy. However, Galaxies #10 previously established that Magnus used a taller body based on the Magnus Armor (and, by extension, his 2015 Combiner Wars toy) from More than Meets the Eye.
• On page ten, Shadow Striker is drawn without the extra "eyes" on her helmet she sports in the present day.
• Roughstuff is depicted with a Decepticon badge this issue, but he (and Swindle's operation) are still technically independents at this time. The badge disappears after this and, in issue #39, Roughstuff joins up with Sixshot and says he's ready to get a badge now.

Other trivia

• Originally solicited for a November 17th release, this issue drops just one week late.
• This issue was originally solicited as "War Stories"—perhaps an attempt to maintain the ongoing "multi-part arc separated by individual spotlight issues" format of the series up till this point—but this must've been changed relatively late in development. The same solicit also mentions Pyra Magna playing a role in the story, who does not appear in the issue.

Covers (3)

• Cover A: Gridlock's corpse, by Aline Herzspalter Baumgartner
• Cover B: Optimus Prime, by Sebastian Piriz
• Retailer incentive cover: Optimus, by Freddie E. Williams II and Jeremy Colwell

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Reprints

• Transformers Volume 6: War's End (November 16, 2022) ISBN 1684059410 / ISBN 978-1684059416
  • Collects Transformers (2019) issues #37–43, War's End issues #1–4, and Fate of Cybertron.
  • Bonus material currently unknown, most likely alternate covers.
  • Hardcover format.

• 

  Volume 6: War's End – cover art by Cryssy Cheung

External links

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