Little Victories

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What a guy!
"Little Victories" A film by Rewind of Lower Petrohex
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	October 9, 2013 (iBooks) October 16, 2013 (print)
Cover date	October 2013
Story by	James Roberts
Art by	James Raiz
Colors by	Josh Burcham
Letters by	Tom B. Long
Editor	John Barber
Continuity	2005 IDW continuity
Chronology	Current era (2013)

Rewind's recordings become a movie that charts the crew's adventures, including an intrusion into another robotic civil war, the mystery of Rung's alternate mode, and a visit from one of the greatest Autobots around!

Synopsis

In a series of brief talking-head segments, the crew of the Lost Light introduce themselves to the audience as a set of title cards appear between soundbytes: "Little Victories: A film by Rewind of Lower Petrohex". After everyone has given their names, Rewind turns his camera around to introduce his film, created at Rodimus's request, through a combination of his perpetual recordings of the goings-on on the ship and footage from the many security cameras installed on the vessel by Red Alert. To begin the movie proper, we see Rodimus requesting its filming, followed by a candid clip of Ultra Magnus expressing some concern at potentially looking ridiculous as a result of questionable editing decisions. Rodimus gives him permission to censor the finished product if necessary, and blacked-out sections of the film prove he wasn't shy about it.

While lounging around in the ship's oil reservoir, Rewind, Swerve, and Tailgate talk about the cool alternate modes of their teammates, and the conversation turns to the mystery of what Rung turns into. Swerve wagers a hundred Shanix to the first person to figure it out, and starts trying by "accidentally" clonking him on the head in hopes of automatically triggering a transformation. Talking-head clips of Tailgate and Swerve reflecting on their wager turn to talk of hobbies, a topic that Rewind gets Skids to weigh in on; the theoretician lists "meeting new people", and recalls an encounter on Hedonia...

One day, army-building went too far.

The film shifts to Hedonia, some time beforehand, and shows Skids and Whirl meeting the Ammonites, a race of mechanical beings engaged in a civil war with their enemies the Terradores. Whirl disparages their conflict in comparison with the Transformers' own, but it soon becomes apparent that the Ammonites trump the Cybertronians at every turn: their war has lasted sixteen million years rather than four, they have ten-changing "Decabots" instead of just Six Changers, and while the Transformers are still trying to master Combiner technology, the Ammonites are all interchangeable combiners, and prove it by separating into their diminutive component 'bots. The two 'bots are enjoying a drink with their new rivals when a patron alerts the barman to the arrival of a huge Terradorian cruiser. As the Ammonites panic, Whirl strides outside and, with Skids looking on, quickly and easily murders the Terradore leader Imperius Drax, smugly informing his new "friends" that that is how it's done.

"I'm sorry Mellie, I don't fraternize with the staff."

Another talking-head segment follows, as Rewind asks each crew-member if they are "happy", to a variety of positive, confused, suspicious and veiled answers. A short scene of Tailgate trying and failing to trick Rung into transforming with an "alt-mode party" comes next, after which the movie shows Rodimus arriving in the Lost Light communication suite wearing a makeshift "Megatron" helmet made from a bucket for a theme night as Swerve's. Blaster informs him that they have received a message from Thunderclash, captain of the Vis Vitalis, who is quickly proven by another series of soundbytes from the crew to be one of the most popular, awesome, super-cool and handsome Autobots in the whole entire universe. Rodimus, however, is not a fan, and an extremely passive-aggressive exchange of pleasantries follows as Thunderclash comes aboard with his first officer Paddox. Rodimus tries to show off his crew, but Thunderclash knows them all well: he actually gets a hug from Ultra Magnus when he compliments his writings on "the relationship between typograpy and military justice", he impresses Drift by respecting his religion with an appropriate greeting, and he turns out to be old friends from medical school with Ratchet. Rodimus just about holds himself together through all of this, but explodes when Thunderclash reveals that he is on a quest for the Knights of Cybertron too! He angrily demands to know what Thunderclash wants, and the film cuts away to segments from Ratchet and First Aid that explain that the Vis Vitalis is actually a huge, wireless life support machine that keeps the gravely-wounded Thunderclash alive, and that he has come to the Lost Light hoping for a ship-to-ship jumpstart to replenish his vessel's failing power supply.

Stealing Cyclonus' lines? How fiendish!

A little later, Thunderclash walks Perceptor through how to use the quantum engines to accomplish the power-transfer, but just before the process is activated, Paddox suddenly pulls a gun on Thunderclash, revealing himself to be an Ammonite deep-cover agent! The Ammonites, it turns out, are actually the bad guys in their war, and following Whirl's assassination of the Terradores' leader, all Ammonites have been recalled for a big push back against the extreme tactics of his successor—tactics that potentially include allying with the mysterious "Dark Cyclops". "Paddox" intends to take the Autobots' quantum engines for the Ammonite war effort, but is abruptly taken out in the most unusual way possible: Swerve sneaks up and clobbers him over the head with... Rung in alternate mode. The film cuts away briefly for Rung to explain that even he doesn't know what his odd, cylindrical alternate mode is—he was classified as an "ornament" by the Functionist Council—then cuts back to Thunderclash thanking Rodimus for his efforts, and Rodimus quietly whispering to Rewind that he has begun to regret the candid nature of the movie...

In Search Of: What I Am.

On Luna 1, the Circle of Light boo the movie, which Skids is playing as part of a recruitment drive, hoping to get some of the Circle to join the Lost Light. The Circle mock the movie and the entire ship's crew, accusing them all of being crazies and shirkers who never make any progress in their quest, and all leave, with some thinking of signing up with Thunderclash. Behind Skids, on the screen, the movie continues to roll on...

A final talking-head segment sees Rewind ask each of the crewmembers what they hope is next for them. Some see the end in sight and some think the journey itself and the friends they've made are what it's all about, but Tailgate sums it up best when he says: "Who knows?" For the final scene of the movie, Rewind calls all his friends together for a group shot in Swerve's, not caring who stands where as along as everyone is together.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"It's Whirl, spelled: ker-klick! Choom!"

—Whirl, on his own name

"So you think you're better at war than us? How long were you fighting?"
"Four million years. You?"
"Sixteen."
"Sixteen years."
"Sixteen million."
"Sixteen million years?! Six-teen? That's ridiculous. That's a ridiculous number."

—16444/9 and Skids

"I once went toe-to-toe with a six-changer. Jet! Beast! Tank! Gun! And something else I can't remember!"

—Whirl

(Rodimus enters the communications room with a bucket on his head.)
"I thought you didn't like hats."
"Theme Night at Swerve's: 'People You'd Like to Punch.' I was a lone Megatron in a sea of Whirls."

—Blaster and Rodimus

"What's the problem? Everyone on board the Lost Light is cracked in the head!"
"Yeah, dysfunctional isn't the word! There isn't a normal 'bot among you!"
"And that wouldn't be so bad if you actually made progress—but as far as I can make out, all you do is argue, crack jokes, and get sidetracked doing pointless, silly things that only you find amusing!"

—Various members of the Circle of Light get a bit meta on the comic. Er, the movie.

"In the future, I'd like to see a world without guns. Ha! No. Joking."

—Brainstorm

Notes

Continuity notes

• The fact that Rewind was making a documentary about life on the Lost Light was revealed in issue #15, in which Pipes noted he was about to attend a screening of the rough cut. Obviously, this comic is that rough cut, since Rewind wasn't around to make any changes after that story was over.
• The scenes in the documentary take place over a wide span of time. The earliest takes place during issue #1, while the latest—consisting predominantly of Thunderclash's visit to the ship and a substantial number of the talking-head interview scenes—must occur in-between issues #13 (in which the crew visited Hedonia) and #14. The one present day scene, taking place outside the documentary, occurs between scenes in the previous issue, after Tyrest's defeat but before the Lost Light departs Luna-1.
• Ultra Magnus notes that he has received the Novic Medal, presumably named in reference to the legendary Nova Prime (Tailgate, still lying about his history, claims to have earned seven). It was previously mentioned in Rotorstorm's bio in Last Stand of the Wreckers.
• Rewind asks Magnus if he's received the Rodimus Star, an accolade that hasn't appeared in the main More than Meets the Eye series itself, but which was introduced in Spotlight: Trailcutter.
• A number of moments from this issue were hinted at or even seen in previous issues, which took place later chronologically.
  • Two of the panels in Rewind's farewell montage in issue #16 have their source in the events depicted this issue: Perceptor running out of his smoking lab (page 2, panel 5), from which dialogue was lifted directly, and Rung counting his model collection (page 5, panel 7). Back in #16, the scene of the former had camera read-out text when none of the others did. Now we know why.
  • In issue #19, Tyrest brings up Ultra Magnus hugging someone.
  • In issue #21, Magnus talks about Rodimus's immature reaction to a "Thunder--."
• Swerve claims to have been playing hand-grenade tag with Waverider, a pastime for which the latter was put in the brig just prior to issue #13.
• The Raging Prism was mentioned back in #13, where some of the characters talked about visiting its "Temple" on Hedonia. It makes sense, then, that a Hedonian resident would make reference to it.
• One of the Ammonites exclaims, "By the Great Shattering." According to the Annual, something called the Shattering caused the formation of the Galactic Council. And since we learn this issue that the Council formed in response to the Ammonite-Terradore war... Ta-da, it all adds up!
• The six-changer Whirl is referring is clearly Sixshot. He lists Sixshot's alternate modes, excluding the armored car mode that's never seen used in the IDW continuity.
• When asked if he's happy, Brainstorm rather ominously replies "Soon. Not yet. Soon." This would be expanded on in issue #38.
• For the first time, we have in-story acknowledgment that Tailgate and Rung are from the same era, confirming that the former's reference to Rungian analysis in issue #1 was no error.
• Tailgate's altmode appears for the first time, indicating that his t-cog had not yet succumbed to cybercrosis. Interestingly, it is a Cybertronic version of his original toy (including T-tops!), rather than his upcoming Generations release.
• Upon seeing Rodimus's "Megatron" costume (a bucket on his head), Blaster remarks on his captain's dislike for hats, which was introduced in the 2012 annual.
• Tailgate's statement that he wants to hate Thunderclash is a reference to his tendency to resent 'bots of greatness, previously seen in his attitudes toward Dominus Ambus and pre-insanity Tyrest.
• Back in issue #16, Chromedome pointed out a constellation he and Rewind had dubbed the "Vis Vitalis". Given that this term refers to something decided non-physical (see real-life references, below), we can probably assume that the stars made a picture of Thunderclash's ship.
• Continuing the running joke of people getting his name wrong, Rung's old ID card spells his name R-O-N-G.
• Chromedome finally learns to make the sound "pfft", having struggled to do so for four million years across issues #9 and #11.

Transformers references

• The Rung toy Swerve is trying to figure out on this issue's B cover comes with a set of Generation 1-style instructions. It has articulated eyebrows and a "listening mode"!
• Swerve tries to make Rung reflexively transform by striking his neural cluster, a weak spot on Transformers mentioned in the Marvel UK story "Fire on High!".
• The Ammonites and Terradores are designated "Evil" and "Heroic", just like the "Heroic Autobots" and "Evil Decepticons" in classic Transformers marketing.
• Rodimus wearing a bucket as Megatron is a reference to Megatron's in- and out of-universe nickname "Buckethead".

Real-life references

• The title of this issue appears in white Windsor typeface on a plain black background, in homage to the title cards of many Woody Allen films. It also uses Allen's trademark quotation marks.
• The panels "censored" by Ultra Magnus, meanwhile, use a font for their captions based on that used in the TV series Arrested Development, of which James Roberts is an avowed fan.
• The "Vis Vitalis" is a classical alchemical principle that proposes the existence of "life force" possessed by living creatures.
• On page 8, an insectoid alien calls the bartender "Mondo", a reference to mondo films. Roberts thought we wouldn't get it, but we did!
• Probably hardly worth mentioning by this point, but one of the cameras is numbered 113.

Trivia

• Because this issue was written to be packed in with the Generations Deluxe Class Autobot Skids toy, it had to be written well in advance, before even #16 was penned, hence its standalone, not-too-continuity-heavy nature.
• The digital version of this issue was inadvertently released a week early through iBooks. It wasn't taken down, but nobody really noticed until a few days before its print release.
• This issue is labelled as a "Dark Cybertron" prelude, and has a redesigned inside front cover to go along with this branding.
• This issue's visiting guest Autobot has his named spelled "Thunder Clash" on the cover, as it was on his original toy, but as "Thunderclash" in the story itself, as pretty much every other use of the name is.
• According to Roberts's annotated script, an earlier concept for this issue would have visited the Vis Vitalis, where it would have been revealed that the entire crew was perfect and every Lost Light crew member would have had a direct and idealized counterpart.
• No "Meet the Crew" feature is included this issue, but then, the first two pages of the story cover that all pretty well themselves!
• A deleted scene from this issue featured Ratchet pulling a prank on Drift by claiming that Pharma's hands were haunted, punching people of their own accord. The scene was later illustrated by Josh Burcham.

Edits

• The version of this comic available with the Generations Deluxe Class Autobot Skids toy is identified as "The Transformers: Skids" on the inside cover, rather than "The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye #22".
• In addition, there are several differences between the original release of this issue (which remained unchanged for the trade paperback reprint except for one change noted under "errors") and the version packaged with Deluxe Skids:
  • On page 1, several minor alterations to the dialogue, such as the removal of quotation marks around Skids's name, changing Rewind's line in panel 7 from "What is it, nerves?" (emphasis on "nerves") to "What is it? Nerves?" and merging Chromedome's lines "--calls me Chromedome." and "Even you." into a single speech bubble.
  • On page 3, the first panel has the location and date "Cybertron, 18 months ago" added.
  • On page 6, 16444/9's "accursed Terradores" gets changed to "hated Terradores", and inexplicably, "take your pick" gets changed to "... what he said." Furthermore, Whirl's list of "vehicles, machinery, and weapons" loses the second comma.
  • On page 18, Swerve's line "Wait. Look over there..." isn't immediately followed by Rung saying "We have to do something." Rather, Rung explicitly completes Swerve's ellipsis with "... is that Thunderclash with a gun to his head?"
  • Brainstorm's dialogue on page 21 is completely altered, from "In the future, I'd like to see a world without guns. Ha! No. Joking." to "The future? No. No. No. You're looking in the wrong direction." Issue 35 provides an explanation for this initially rather odd-seeming line.
  • Also on page 21, Rewind's dialogue is changed from "Group shot, everyone! Group shot! Everyone over here! Come on, chop chop! You too, Cyclonus... I don't care where everyone stands..." to "Group shot, group shot! Come on, come on! Everyone over here! And you, Cyclonus... I don't care where people stand..."

Errors

• Rewind is consistently drawn without the little red light on the side of his head.
• First Aid is drawn with two separate, bug-like optics instead of his conventional visor.
• Skids' "Take your pick" in the conversation with the Ammonites is missing punctuation.
• What little can be seen of Trailcutter's vehicle mode is noticeably off-model on page 11, resembling his traditional Earth pickup truck mode far more than it ought to.
• On page 17, panel 5, "actually" is misspelled "actaually"; this remained uncorrected in the TPB and the version packaged with the Generations Deluxe Class Autobot Skids figure.
• Back in issue 13, as the Autobots were departing Hedonia, Whirl remarked that they hadn't killed anybody, which this issue proves to be incorrect. The error was caught well in advance of the publication of this issue (since it was written so far ahead of time), and the offending line was removed from the trade paperback reprinting of issue #13.
• Tailgate's alt mode has an Autobrand, despite his never having undergone a true initiation.
• In one of the little "censored" panels, Ultra Magnus is referred to as the Duly Elected Enforcer of the Tyrest Accord, instead of the usual Duly Appointed.

Crew manifest

• No updates!

Soundtrack

• "End Credits" by Laptop^[1]
• "I Knew Prufrock Before He Got Famous" by Frank Turner^[2]
• "Goodnight Kiss" by Black Box Recorder^[3]

Foreign localization

Japanese

• Title: "Sasayakana Shōri" (ささやかな勝利, "Little Victories")

Swedish

• Title: "De små sakerna" ("The Little Things")
• Rung's name on his ID card is spelled correctly, missing the original gag.
• The Pious Pools have been given their third and final Swedish name, "Gudsfruktiga dammarna," translating out to the same as the English name, although the word "Gudfruktig" is misspelled.

Covers (4)

• Cover A: Rung holds a datapad bearing Thunder Clash's image, signed by the 'bot himself, by Alex Milne and Josh Burcham
• Cover B: Swerve tries to puzzle out the transformation of a Rung toy, by Nick Roche and Josh Burcham.
• Cover RI: Skids, by Phil Jimenez and Romulo Fajardo Jr.
• Hasbro exclusive cover: Cropped-in version of cover RI, exclusively available with Generations Deluxe Class Autobot Skids.

• 

  The totally modest Thunderclash.

• 

  Swerve feels our pain.

• 

  Guess which cover comes with the Skids toy?

• 

  And the winner is...

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• The Transformers: Dark Cybertron #1
• More than Meets the Eye #23
• Robots in Disguise #23
• Robots in Disguise #22
• Regeneration One #95
• IDW Samurai Jack comic
• My Little Pony Annual 2013
• Star Trek: Khan (back cover)

Reprints

• The Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye Volume 5 (November 13, 2013) ISBN 1613778023 / ISBN 978-1613778029
  • Collects More than Meets the Eye issues #17–22.
  • Bonus material includes art from most covers, and the prose story "The Sound of Breaking Glass".
  • Trade paperback format.

• Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye Box Set (December 2, 2015) ISBN 1631404741 / ISBN 978-1631404740
  • Collects More Than Meets the Eye volumes 1–5.
  • Bonus material unknown at this time.

• The Transformers: The IDW Collection Phase Two: Volume 5 (February 22, 2017) ISBN 1631408445 / ISBN 978-1631408441
  • Collects Primacy issues #1–4, Robots in Disguise issues #19–20 & #21–22, and More than Meets the Eye issues #17–21, #22 & "The Sound of Breaking Glass".
  • Hardcover format.

• Transformers: Krig och hågkomst (July, 2021)
  • Collects More than Meets the Eye issues #14–22, a special illustrated version of "The Sound of Breaking Glass", and Spotlight: Orion Pax.
  • Swedish reprint. Hardcover format.

• 

  More Than Meets the Eye Volume 5 – cover art by Alex Milne and Josh Perez

• 

  More Than Meets the Eye Box Set – cover art by Marcelo Matere

• 

  The IDW Collection Phase Two: Volume 5 – cover art by Marcelo Matere and Tom B. Long

• 

  Krig och hågkomst – cover art by Alex Milne and Josh Perez.

References

External links

• Preview
• James Roberts reflects on the creative process of this issue on the IDW forums