The Gofar transform fault study, published in Science, used ocean-bottom seismometers deployed across two campaigns (2008 and 2019-2022) to record tens of thousands of microearthquakes before and after M6 events, revealing consistent barrier zones with 100-400 m offsets where dilatancy strengthening halts propagation via seawater infiltration. This mechanism explains the fault's five-to-six-year repeat cycle far better than prior geometric models alone. What coverage missed is the direct link to subduction-zone hazards: similar fluid-trapping structures appear in the 2010 Maule and 2011 Tohoku aftershock sequences, suggesting barriers could cap megathrust magnitudes in ways current USGS and GEM models underweight. Limitations include the single-fault focus and fast 140 mm/yr slip rate, which may not generalize to slower continental transforms like the San Andreas; the work is fully peer-reviewed, not preprint. Synthesizing with prior East Pacific Rise OBS data and dilatancy experiments from the 1990s shows these brakes emerge only when permeability allows rapid fluid diffusion, offering a testable parameter for next-generation physics-based forecasts.