And what is more important than the purity of my own spark?
…right?
After three months, (since the last issue, though it’s been almost four months since we saw this particular character) we’re picking up where we left off. Sort of. Keep reading for a review of Transformers: Galaxies #7.
(Warning, spoilers below.)
This was a quiet issue, about a young bot living on the Reversionists’ ship, living a life of service and meditation (translation: drudgery and unthinking repetition.) (No I’m not saying a life of service and meditation is bad, it just seems like this particular incarnation of it is bad.)
She’s trying to do what her mentor Accelerator tells her to do (…Accelerator? Where’s Arcee?) and follow the rules of the ship, especially since this is the only life she’s ever known (…wait, what about her life on Cybertron?) and YES I admit it took at least a page longer than it should have for me to figure out what was going on, especially since I got a look at the beautiful variant cover by Alex Milne, which is essentially a giant spoiler for the ending of the issue. (Not that I minded: it’s a great cover.)
Gauge is trying to live according to the Reversionists’ teachings, with absolutely no doubts, which is hard because 1) a mysterious code keeps popping up around the ship and she can almost understand it, and 2) it’s an exercise in futility to never have any doubts about anything, especially when you’re young and recently brainwashed.
Also the god-leader of the Reversionists is supposed to care only about the well being of his people, but he’s clearly a jerk who likes to push around kids and it’s hard to reconcile those two things.
I really liked the greeting Gauge got at the end of the issue, which wasn’t a panicked “there you are thank god!!!” it was more of a “hey there. So here’s what’s going on.” That seems very true to character.
Even though on the surface the story is about the youngest Cybertronian in the days right before the Great War, it’s also a sideways look at religion and indoctrination and how some people think peace is only possible through mindless loyalty. I don’t think the author has any problem with faith, it’s more a problem with anyone who tells you that the system only works if you never ask questions.
The quiet progression of the story ends up being a wonderful showcase for Beth McGuire-Smith’s art and Josh Burcham’s colors. There’s a lot of panels that are very dreamlike: Gauge looking through a window with a reflection of stars; a huge room with the god-leader Heretech presiding over a sea of worshippers; a view of the ship from the outside with what looks like a captured star providing the power. There’s a limited color palette that drives home the idea of living on a ship where every day’s the same, and it makes Gauge’s blue-green colors really stand out as being outside the system. Plus the faces are great, from the sneering Heretech to stressed-out (but sometimes hopeful) Gauge.