Ten to Midnight

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"Ten to Midnight"
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	August 17, 2016
Cover date	August 2016
Written by	James Roberts
Pencils by	Priscilla Tramontano
Colors by	Joana Lafuente
Letters by	Tom B. Long
Editor	John Barber
Continuity	2005 IDW continuity
Chronology	Current era (2016)

Sentinel Prime arrives on Luna 1 to raise a Titan army.

Synopsis

On Luna 1, Red Alert fills his days mapping out the moon's extinguished hot spot, a job that has become an obsession he revisits even in his dreams, as his naturally paranoid personality causes him to seek out patterns in the points of light. He drives past a herd of Roboids as he returns to base, then finds himself over-analyzing Fortress Maximus's greeting, always looking for hidden meanings in everyone and everything. Red thinks of the last time he could not deal with these pressures, and how he attempted to commit suicide by throwing himself into the oil reservoir on the Lost Light... and as he looks as his reflection in a window, viscous black oil begins to stream from his eyes and mouth...

Red Alert awakes with a start in his quarters, roused from his nightmare by cerebro-surgeon Cerebros. Together, the pair go to the facility's space bridge chamber to join Fortress Maximus in bidding farewell to Bolt, the most recent Roboid that Cerebros has succeeded in restoring to his old self, undoing the domestication process Demus subjected him to. Once Bolt has bridged back to Cybertron, Cerebros makes a controversial proposal: inspired by Rung's mention of an encounter with Sunder, he has developed a brain implant that will allow him to take remote control of the Roboids' mental functions and repair them with much greater speed than the current weeks-long by-hand procedure. Red turns away from staring at the space bridge—where he notices five blots that seem to form a pattern identical to one he mapped in the hot spot in his dream—to voice his objections due to suspicions over Cerebros's past with the mind-meddling Institute. Max takes Red's side, but before any more discussion can be entered into, Prowl suddenly bursts out of the still-open space bridge! Still seething with hate for the strategist over the catastrophic Garrus-9 affair, Fort Max immediately attacks Prowl, but Cerebros calms him down long enough for Prowl to reveal the reason for his visit: something dangerous is about to arrive on Luna 1.

Elsewhere on the moon, Outrigger and his Roboid pal Beak explore the Titan graveyard for Outrigger's video blog series. They discover that one of the Titans' spacebridges is operational, and Outrigger spots what he thinks is a repaired Roboid standing beside it. He realizes his mistake when the tiny robot whirls on him and slices his torso open with its sword—it is, in fact, Sentinel Prime, who then transforms into head mode and reconnects to his larger body, lurking nearby. Sentinel's companion, Sovereign, is appalled, but Sentinel explains that he has not killed Outrigger: that task will fall to Sovereign, who Sentinel instructs to consume Outrigger's spark so that his Titan Master physiology can convert it into energy to power a host body. Outrigger is down but not out, however, and manages to clobber Sentinel with his crane jib before making a run for it and leaping out of the Titan.

Prowl explains Sentinel Prime's recent inexplicable return to life to Red, Max, and Cerebros, along with the shooting spree he embarked on in Iacon earlier that day. Recalling an old plan of Sentinel's from four million years prior, to somehow find and use a Titan to crush the Decepticon uprising, Prowl has assumed Sentinel will head to Luna-1 next to try and make this scheme a reality, and has made it there ahead of him to shut down the facility's spacebridge and prevent his access. Given Prowl's recent treasonous actions, Red Alert is naturally suspicious, and even thinks Prowl and Sentinel might be in cahoots... and when Beak comes flying into the room with Outrigger's data tablet in his mouth, containing a video record of what Outrigger has seen, that's all the evidence Red needs to believe Prowl has been deliberately distracting them. The quartet head out to investigate; along the way, Prowl and Max discuss the disturbing video message recently sent out by the crew of the Lost Light, and how all attempts to contact them have failed. Soon, they come upon Outrigger—damaged from his fall, but still alive—and spot the Titan from which he plummeted, now operational and walking toward the moon's huge, mysterious engines. Max is given pause to wonder—Luna 1 disappeared before the war, so the engines were not Decepticon creations, but if Sentinel knows about them, how old does that mean he is?—but he soon has bigger worries when the Titan unleashes powerful eye beams. Evading the blasts, the foursome enter the giant's cranium through a hole in the back of its head, where they are horrified to discover that Sentinel has integrated the unwilling Sovereign with the Titan's brain module in order to bring it back online. Using this connection, Sentinel can revive the entire graveyard's worth of Titans—but as Sentinel pontificates about the degradation of Cybertronian society, Red Alert is distracted by a few drops of Sovereign's energon that fall onto the back of his hand, forming once again the same pattern from his dream. Suddenly, Red's eyes go dark and he opens fire on Prowl, who collapses to the ground. Red moves to stand by Sentinel's side, and Fortress Maximus and Cerebros are left to face the threat alone!

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"I'm not naive. I know I harbor persecutory delusions. I know I'm paranoid. Contrary to popular belief, that doesn't mean I think everyone's out to get me. It just means I don't know who is and who isn't."

—Red Alert on himself

"No Outrigger?"
"He's orienteering. Sorry, "Titaneering"."
"A word that rightly comes with its own apology."

—Cerebros and Fortress Maximus

Fortress Maximus: "Ask him what he did."
Cerebros: "Well? What did you do?"
Prowl: "Bear with me a second."
...
Prowl: "I've hacked off so many people it's hard to keep track."
...
Prowl: "Whatever I did, I know for a fact it was necessary, proportionate, and staggeringly far-sighted, and I'm confident that history will prove me—OH! Garrus 9! There we go."

Fortress Maximus: "He waited three years before sending help."
Cerebros: "He probably thought you were dead."
Prowl: "That's it. That's what it was. I probably thought you were dead."
Fortress Maximus: "So that's it? No "sorry"?"
Prowl: "You can apologize later."

"SQUAWK!"
"What is it? Trouble?"
"SQUAWK!"
"Not trouble...?"
"SQUAWK!"
"This isn't getting any easier, you know."

—Beak and Outrigger

"Our world's become a cesspool. Autobots and Decepticons fraternizing. A terrorist in charge of the capital. And the streets...! The streets are swarming with mongrel Cybertronians—colonists, cog-snatchers, half-breeds... Conjunx Endurae swap fuel in public. Monoformers parade their deformity. The planet reeks of concession. It's time to wipe the slate clean. Tear down, so that we might rebuild."

—Sentinel Prime wants to Make Cybertron Great Again

Notes

Continuity notes

• Though published in the same month as The Transformers #56, this issue chronologically occurs after the two-part Titans Return tie-in in issues #56 and next month's #57 of that series. Presumably you're supposed to be able to safely read this issue after The Transformers #56 without spoiling #57—but due to a scheduling error, it actually wound up coming out before The Transformers #56, and wound up dropping a puh-retty huge spoiler about that issue, namely Sentinel Prime's mission on Earth and Sovereign's true identity.
• We check back in with Red Alert and Fortress Maximus, who took up residence on Luna 1 back in issue #21. Since then, we saw the pair in issue #46, in which Max rescued the Roboids and brought them back to the moon, and then in a cameo in issue #50.
• Red maps the hot spot seen in issue #17, which died out before any more than one spark could be harvested.
• Cerebros was previously namechecked in issue #46 and the Holiday Special. Historically, he is Fortress Maximus's Headmaster partner, so that's a big hint as to where this whole story's going...
• Red Alert tried to commit suicide by throwing himself in the Lost Light oil reservoir shortly before issue #9, in which his body was found.
• Outrigger was previously mentioned in the prose story from issue #21; he is one of the former members of the Circle of Light who decided to stay on Luna-1. He is exploring the moon's Titan graveyard, which originally appeared in issue #18; Tyrest used pieces of the Titans to build his space bridge, which Fort Max's team now have control of.
• We previously saw that Fortress Maximus had been keeping in touch with Rung in issue #46. According to Cerebros, their most recent conversation involved Sunder's rampage, as seen in issues #48 and #49. Cerebros says this took place "the other day," though he must be speaking very generally, as issue #50 told us the events of "Remain in Light" took place three weeks before the crew's "video will" was received by Max and the others, meaning it must have been at least that long ago.
• Like fellow once-and-former Headmasters Chromedome, Brainstorm, and Highbrow, Cerebros used to work at the New Institute. That'd imply "Cerebros" wasn't his birth name, as Spotlight: Trailcutter told us was the case for the others.
• Any sensible 'bot would regard the Institute and those connected to it with skepticism, but Red Alert has more cause than most since—though he probably doesn't know it—he was actually one of its victims, as seen in issue #10—as part of a plan by Sentinel, to boot.
• Prowl was last seen in The Transformers #50, watching Optimus Prime's annexation speech. Chronologically, it hasn't been long since he was freed from the clutches of Tarantulas over in Sins of the Wreckers, and he's still missing the eye he lost in Windblade #2.
• The sacking of Garrus-9, the fate Max suffered during it, and Prowl's belated response were all chronicled in Last Stand of the Wreckers. Max's anger at Prowl first exploded in issue #6.
• As spoiled in the "story so far" segment on the inside front cover, Sovereign is the true Cybertronian identity of Garrison Blackrock, the seemingly-human tech mogul who has been a supporting-character-slash-antagonist over the last two years in The Transformers. Blackrock did not know he was a Cybertronian until Galvatron made him aware of the truth, revealing that he was a creation of Onyx Prime who had been sent to Earth with false memories.
• Mention is made of how Sentinel and Prowl used to work together, as seen in Megatron Origin.
• Prowl notes that "his old friend" had changed his personal frequency, referring to Chromedome and their acrimonious parting of the ways, as detailed in various past issues.
• Sentinel mistakes Fortress Maximus for Pious Maximus, a 'bot from the olden days who previously appeared in issue #10. Sentinel notes he "didn't recognize his authority"; no surprise to hear he didn't like him, as issue #10 showed us that Pious was an opponent of the Senate who was "disappeared" thanks to the Institute.
• The pattern that Red observes in the hot spot, the space bridge blots, and in Sovereign's spilled energon—five spots arranged in a rough "W" shape—is the same as the five-fingered pinprick pattern left by a mnemosurgeon, as seen embedded in Red's own neck in issue #10.

Transformers references

• In Red's dream, he analyzes some of Fortress Maximus's dialogue. It's largely a run of jokes about the eccentricities of comic book dialogue (sentence structure, bold emphasis, introdumping), but it also flags up how Max uses the phrase "head off"—a winking reference to the head-removing Headmasters, and possibly to the activation code they use in Japanese media, "Head On!" Poor Red probably thinks Max is referring to the time Red tore his own head off.
• As Bolt departs, Max tells him: "May your wires never cross and your luster never dull." This Cybertronian saying of good fortune was first heard during the Rite of the Autobrand in issue #14 of the original Marvel comic book, and has been heard in IDW continuity in Last Stand of the Wreckers #2.
• Sovereign is the name used by Alpha Trion's Titan Master partner from the Titans Return toyline.
  • While the previous issue saw artist Livio Ramondelli color Sovereign in his toy's purple/pink/gray pallete, his appearance here gives him a red face, gold accents on his chest, and white shoulders akin to Beta Maxx, upon whom the toy's sculpt was based.
• The final page finishes with "Next Issue: End of the Road", which was the title Simon Furman gave to the last issue of both the Marvel US and UK comics. The next issue will be the last issue of More than Meets the Eye, although as Furman has also been known to remind us, it never ends.

Real life references

• This story's title, a figurative allusion to the issue's status as the penultimate installment of the series, is a dual reference to the Doomsday Clock, on which "midnight" represents global catastrophe, and the song "Ten Seconds to Midnight" by The Divine Comedy because James Roberts.

Errors

• Outrigger states that the story is occurring on the "first anniversary" of Tyrest activating his killswitch, but that's not possible. This story takes place after "The Dying of the Light," in which it was explicitly stated that it had been a year since the start of "season 2," which was itself set six months after "Dark Cybertron", meaning Tyrest's killswitch was activated over 18 months ago. Maybe Outrigger's using a different measurement for years based on Luna-1's own rotation...?
  • It's especially odd that this error would occur in this issue, as just a few pages earlier, Cerebros mentions how he moved to Luna-1 between a year and 18 months ago, which obviously couldn't have happened until after Tyrest's defeat.
• On page 11, panel 2, the leg of Sentinel Prime's larger robot form has been colored purple, as if it were supposed to be Sovereign's.
• When Prowl describes Sentinel Prime's attack on the Decepticon ghetto to Fort Max, the accompanying visual inaccurately depicts Sentinel with his normal robot mode appearance, sans the additional black armor he was wearing during it.

Other trivia

• Other Roboids mentioned by name include Brace, Buck, Sprint, and Clutch.
• This issue also contains the second part of the Revolution Prelude back-up strip, a four-page prequel laying the groundwork for next month's "Revolution" crossover which appears in several of IDW's August titles.

Soundtrack

• "Rosemary Davis' World of Sound" by The Jazz Butcher^[1]
• "It's Not Alright" by Lambchop^[2]
• "Out To Get You" by James^[3]

Covers (3)

• Regular cover: Fort Max and Red Alert survey the Titan graveyard, by Priscilla Tramontano
• Subscription cover: Max and Prowl have a stare-down, by Nick Roche and Josh Burcham
• Retailer incentive cover: Rodimus and Ultra Magnus, by Carlos Valenzuela

• 

  A bit morose, don'tcha think?

• 

  "Made you blink!"

• 

  Colored by Crayola.

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• More than Meets the Eye #57
• Titans Return one-shot
• Revolution

Reprints

• The Transformers: Titans Return (January 14, 2017) ISBN 1631408216 / ISBN 978-1631408212
  • Collects Titans Return #1, The Transformers (2012) issues #56–57, and More than Meets the Eye issues #56–57.
  • Bonus material unknown at this time.
  • Trade paperback format.

• Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 75: Titans Return, Part 1 (February 7, 2018)
  • Collects Till All Are One issues #1–4, Titans Return #1, The Transformers (2012) issues #56–57, and More than Meets the Eye issues #56–57.
  • Bonus material includes a cover gallery and a forward by Simon Furman.
  • Hardcover format.

• The Transformers: The IDW Collection Phase Two: Volume 12 (February 10, 2021) ISBN 1684057469 / ISBN 978-1684057467
  • Collects The Transformers (2012) issues #51–55 & #56–57, Till All Are One issues #1–4, Titans Return #1, and More than Meets the Eye issues #56–57.
  • Hardcover format.

• 

  Titans Return – cover art by Priscilla Tramontano

• 

  The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 75: Titans Return, Part 1 – cover art by Don Figueroa (Arcee) and Livio Ramondelli (retro)

• 

  The IDW Collection Phase Two: Volume 12 – cover art by Marcelo Matere

References

External links

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