| No.
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Title
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Release date
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ISBN
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| 19 | Crucible (Part 1): A Dance Before Dying | July 4, 2018 | — |
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Artist: E.J. Su
Team Rodimus and the Scavengers retreat from the transformed Lost Lighters as Grimlock suddenly drops from the sky and begins ripping the monsters to shreds. Grimlock reunites with the Scavengers as they are joined by First Aid, Thunderclash, and Riptide, who picked up Grimlock while searching for Rodimus. The Lost Light, now adorned with the gear-like sigil of the Grand Architect, retreats into the clouds, Getaway having joined the Architect's forces alongside his old captor Chief Justice Tyrest and sacrificed the crew to save himself. Most of Rodimus' group barricades themselves inside Mederi's main lab while Crankcase flies Rodimus, Magnus, Thunderclash, Roller, Grimlock, Cyclonus, Whirl, Drift, Anode, and Lug up to the Lost Light. Inside the docking bay, the doors suddenly shut as the ceiling above them explodes; only Rodimus and Cyclonus escape as the rest of the team finds themselves drenched by the oil reservoir infested with scraplets, which combine into a monstrous form to devour them. Rodimus and Cyclonus make for the ship's bridge to find Getaway flanked by Star Saber and Scorponok. |
| 20 | Crucible (Part 2): Lūstrāre | July 11, 2018 | — |
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Artist: Casey Coller
Rung takes an interest in Mederi's alien telepaths as the others devise a cure for the transformed Lost Lighters. Star Saber pursues Cyclonus through the ship's hallways while Scorponok pummels Rodimus across the bridge but is teleported away by the Grand Architect before he can deliver a killing blow. Rodimus chases after Getaway as the scraplets unexpectedly spare Whirl and Cyclonus slices Star Saber in half. The Mederi telepaths begin counting down from one thousand as Rodimus and Getaway duel in the ship's engine room; Getaway reveals that "Cyberutopia" appeared empty to them since the Mederi telepaths could not derive a clear picture from the crew's different visions of Cyberutopia. The Grand Architect's Worldsweeper fleet attacked, and Getaway allowed Scorponok to transform the others into Sparkeaters to save himself and ensure Team Rodimus' demise. Cyclonus arrives and severs Getaway's arm, but Rodimus saves him to prove how different he is, losing his paint job from Drift in the process. Getaway reawakens and attempts to stab Rodimus but is suddenly devoured by the scraplets, controlled by Whirl. Whirl explains that he had domesticated a group of scraplets some time prior, which had taken command of the horde and killed Getaway based on his greatest desire – validation from Primus. However, all is not over yet, as the telepaths' countdown reaches zero and the space outside Mederi rips open into a giant wormhole. |
| 21 | Crucible (Part 3): Farsickness | July 25, 2018 | — |
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Artist: Jack Lawrence
Rodimus brings the Lost Light down to Mederi's surface and picks up everyone to make a quick escape; however, Crankcase is unable to escape the wormhole's gravitational pull, and both the ship and Mederi are sucked through. On the other side, the Grand Architect's Worldsweeper fleet awaits an unseen enemy as Flame makes some last-minute adjustments to the Architect's body. The Lost Light finds itself in what should be the Benzene Cluster but is instead occupied by five newly manufactured replicas of ancient Cybertron. As the ship sets down to investigate, the Black Block Consortia's forces surround them; the Grand Architect attempts to kill them, but Nautica phonetically speaks the gear sigil aloud, catching his interest. The Architect allows Rodimus to choose a small delegation to speak with him, but an impassioned speech from Rodimus convinces him to invite the whole crew aboard. A furious Scorponok, fed up with being kept in the dark, instructs Froid and Sunder to mnemosurgically invade the Architect's mind and learn his secrets, which fails. While waiting in a cell, the Magnificence forces Rung to transform while Froid and Sunder are imprisoned with them and provide context; the Grand Architect infiltrated the Black Block Consortia with disguised robots and had them clear the Benzene Cluster of life to make room for the five Cybertrons, which together form a God Gun that drills a hole into another universe. Scorponok activates the God Gun while the Architect reaffirms the mysterious enemy's validity, having traveled through time to witness its appearance long ago. As Scorponok realizes that the enemy was in the neighboring universe the whole time, the Architect kills him for his insubordination, revealed to be Pharma! Meanwhile, a fleet of ships fly through the portal, and Rodimus and Magnus receive a transmission from Megatron! |
| 22 | Crucible (Part 4): The Return of the King | August 8, 2018 | — |
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Artist: Brendan Cahill
Megatron's ship, the Last Light, flees through the portal as the Grand Architect's mysterious enemy finally emerges: Functionist Cybertron itself, transformed into a massive replica of Primus! Pharma commands his army of Worldsweepers, Infinites, and the Black Block Consortia to attack while Tyrest recharges the God Gun, but is suddenly distracted by the sight of Ratchet inside the cell and demands to see the prisoners. The Last Light blows the cell apart just as Pharma enters; most of the prisoners are sucked into space, leaving only Rodimus, Ratchet, Rung, Whirl, and Nautica behind. Megatron works to save the injured Drift while briefing the crew on the Functionist Council's plans, revealing that "Primus" is still populated by Functionist Cybertron's population, as Ratchet learns that the Architect is someone else who has taken over Pharma's body: Adaptus of the Guiding Hand. Adaptus tells the disbelieving crew that they did indeed find the Guiding Hand on their quest for the Knights of Cybertron, although the other members forgot their identities long ago and took up new ones. Mortilus became Censere the Necrobot, Solomus became Tyrest, Epistemus became the Magnificence, and Primus...became Rung! |
| 23 | Crucible (Part 5): The Unremembering | September 5, 2018 | — |
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Artist: Jack Lawrence
To everyone's shock, Rung confirms Adaptus' claims – he was once Primus. The Guiding Hand were not gods, but they were the first five Cybertronians and did indeed fight in a God War – started by Adaptus, not Mortilus; wanting the Cybertronian race to evolve in combat, Adaptus sparked a war with Cybertron's neighbors and wiped the planet's memories of himself and his brothers using Luna 1 when he lost the subsequent civil war. Primus took the brunt of the attack and became the always-forgettable Rung as the Guiding Hand faded into mythology, while Adaptus piloted Luna 1 into the Warren, emerging in the present day to see Functionist Primus and vowing to stop it under the alias of the Grand Architect. Before Adaptus can rally his faltering armies against Functionist Cybertron, Tyrest, furious over having his memories of Solomus taken from him, attacks and kills them both. Rodimus's group reunites with everyone else aboard the Lost Light, where Epistemus instructs Rung to use his true function – creating Matrices of Leadership – to allow Rodimus, Ratchet, and Tailgate to destroy Functionist Primus (which would kill them and all the innocent Functionist Cybertronians). However, the crew instead decides to open twelve Matrices of Leadership over Functionist Cybertron's twelve hot spots, overloading Vector Sigma and destroying the Functionist Council inside. Epistemus, now possessed by the Omega Guardians, flies into a rage and kills Froid, Sunder, and Nine-of-Twelve; the Guardians reveal that they caused Team Rodimus to crash on Mederi and teleported Tailgate to the planet as part of their plan to return to the regular plane of existence and devour it, but Nickel crushes the artifact and silences them. The Lost Light takes off and swings toward Functionist Cybertron as the crew gets ready to save the universe! |
| 24 | Crucible (Part 6): A Spark Among Embers | September 26, 2018 | — |
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Artist: Brendan Cahill
The Lost Lighters realize too late that they have made a huge mistake: since Functionist Cybertron is in robot mode, they are unable to access the hot spots. However, salvation comes in the form of Fortress Maximus' team piloting Luna 1, which emerges from the Warren and forces Functionist Cybertron to transform back into planet mode. Meanwhile, Chromedome and Rewind accompany Rung back to his quarters, where the exertion of making twelve Matrices kills him. Since only a "pure of spirit" bot can open a Matrix, the crew selects the best amongst them: Rodimus, Tailgate, Ratchet, Thunderclash, First Aid, Nautica, Lug, Swerve, Roller, Velocity, Riptide, and Ultra Magnus receive a Matrix and head down to their assigned hot spots with backup. As final declarations of love and friendship are made amongst the crew, the Matrix-bearers attempt to open their artifacts...but nothing happens. The crew begins to fall to the Functionist Council's forces, but Rodimus gives an impassioned speech imploring them to trust themselves based on the family they have become and that they are good enough. His words hit home as the Matrices activate, but Rodimus' arm is blown off before he can open his; Megatron attempts to open the Matrix instead, but it refuses to yield despite all the good he has done. Rodimus manages to open the Matrix at the last second, and the Functionist Council is destroyed as Luna 1's population of sparks lights up to reveal one last message from Rung: "don't forget me." In the aftermath, Fortress Maximus reveals that Rodimus gave them instructions to come in the future, having time-traveled through the Warren, and the reality sinks in that the Lost Light’s quest is finally over: so now what? |
| 25 | How To Say Goodbye And Mean It: Part 2 | November 7, 2018 | — |
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Artist: Jack Lawrence
(Note: the events in this issue are originally presented in a non-chronological order; this summary rearranges them for clarity.)
Sometime after the Functionist Council's defeat, Prowl arrives on Functionist Cybertron to report that Megatron must stand trial once again and that the Lost Light is being decommissioned. Rodimus convinces Prowl to allow the ship one last day of traveling, and the crew reminisces and parties in Swerve's bar one last time, having already forgotten about Rung, while Rewind records the ship for posterity. Nautica, Brainstorm, and Perceptor inform Rodimus that they may be able to pull one last stunt: recreating the initial quantum duplication of the ship while also shunting the duplicate into another universe to prevent another cancellation, so they can keep adventuring forever. Although the crew agrees, they have no way to know if the idea worked, so they return to Functionist Cybertron and end their farewell tour; the crew splits up as the Lost Light is scrapped and Megatron is taken into custody once again, and although Rodimus lies on the stand and claims Megatron did indeed open the final Matrix, the ex-warlord's fate is left ambiguous between execution and eternal imprisonment.
Life moves on for the crew, who pursue a variety of paths and careers; Ratchet and Drift become conjunx endura, Minimus Ambus destroys the Magnus Armor and supervises the harvest of the Luna 1 sparks (unaware that every single Lunarian brought to life looks like Rung), Rewind forgets how to transform but continues to live and love with Chromedome, Swerve franchises his bar and loses all but one location, Nautica writes a memoir, Brainstorm injures himself in a lab accident, Cyclonus and Tailgate move off planet, Whirl returns to his old troublemaking ways and drifts in and out of prison, and Rodimus joins Thunderclash's new crew. Eventually, Ratchet dies peacefully of old age, and the crew reunites at his funeral. Cyclonus offers Whirl a place with him and Tailgate once he is released from prison; Whirl is so moved that he turns down Drift's gift of Ratchet's hands, promised to him long ago, having finally found worth in himself again. Once the other mourners leave, Rodimus and Drift speculate whether the duplication worked; Rodimus believes that they will never know for sure but likes to pretend it did.
And many years ago, the Lost Light quantum jumps back to Functionist Cybertron but finds itself in an entirely new region of space: the crew have successfully traveled into a new universe. As everyone celebrates, Rodimus and Megatron set course for an adventure that will never truly end. |
