Transformers: Super Cross

In2002,HasbroandTakarabegan laying the groundwork for a sequel series that would continue the story of the extremely successfulTransformers: Armadafranchise. Before developingEnergon,however, Hasbro originally pitchedTransformers: Super Cross(also stylized asTransformers: Super-X), an ambitious sequel that would've taken the nascentUnicron Trilogyin a radically different direction.

Fiction

Set three to four years after the events ofArmada,Super Crosswould've begun with a damagedUnicronsearching for "All-Sparks", the purest and most powerfulsparks,by abducting Cybertronians from across space and time and forcing them to fight within his body. Long-term exposure to Unicron's essence mutates the captiveAutobots,Decepticons,andMini-Constrapped with in his body in unpredictable ways; while larger Transformers gain new bodies and the ability tocombine,the Mini-Cons evolve into the larger, more aggressiveOmnicons.Megatronbelieves that he can harness Unicron's spark to become more powerful, but touching his spark slowly begins mutating him into a monstrous new form.

Subsequent seasons of the proposed television show featured a return toEarthand a reunion withArmadaprotagonists,Rad,Alexis,andCarlos.Using the All-Spark knowledge stolen from Unicron, both sides summon Transformers from across themultiversewith the purest and most powerful sparks: new arrivals would've includedGrimlock,Soundwave,Cheetor,Rattrap,and the members ofTeam Bullet Train.Eventually, the conflict would've moved back into space, and culminated in a final battle on Cybertron in which the ghostly sparks of "hundreds of classic Transformer characters" would've sacrificed themselves to defeat Unicron.

Cancellation and legacy

According toAaron Archer,who brainstormed and wrote the original pitch,Super Crossdidn't get far due to its over-complicated plot and the inability to trademark the name. No original designs are known to have been made for the pitch, which instead used leftover Optimus Prime concept art fromArmadaas a placeholder.^[1]However, the ideas and concepts it introduced did not gocompletelyunused: both the Omnicons and the idea of using combination as a line-wide gimmick found their way into the finalizedEnergonfranchise. Although due to a confluence of factors theEnergoncartoon established its own origin story for the Omnicons, a vestige of Archer's original concept appears to have persisted intoDreamwave'sEnergoncomic, in whichOver-Rundescribes the Omnicons as the product of an "evolutionary step".

Large swathes of the proposedSuper Crosspremise, which involved Unicron kidnapping Transformers from across space and time, inspired 2003'sTransformers: Universefranchise, which used the basic concept to tell a story set in theGeneration 1 continuity familyat some point after the end of theBeast Machinescartoon.In 2006, the "Balancing Act"series would then link the story of this"Universe War"back to the Unicron Trilogy by explaining its effects on theCybertroncartoon.

References

External links

• Super Crosspitch binder