Wastelands

TheWastelandsis an uninhabited area on Cybertron. The ravages of war have left it a power-depleted dead zone, where unexploded mines and other leftover dangers await their unfinished business. Still, its unappealing nature has made it a popular hideout for various groups of Cybertronians that have an interest in staying far away from the conventions of society.

Fiction

DreamwaveGeneration Onecontinuity

After a falling-out withguzzlercommandover the death ofCrunch,theHot Rod Patrolrevoked their membership of theAutobotarmy and angrily leftIaconto forget about the war inLittle Iacon.At the same time, theRace Track Patrolhad a falling-out withtheir guzzler commandat Decepticon HQ, also revoked their allegiance and also left for Little Iacon. The trip forced both groups through the Wastelands, andGround Hogvoiced his dislike of the situation—recalling stories ofMicromastersthat had gone missing in the area—just as the two groups bumped into each other. They regarded each other in a friendly manner, but their conversation got brutally interrupted byFalcon,Flanker,and the"Deluxe" Insecticonsthat were trying to eat them all.Destined for NothingFalcon was killed, and the same fate would have befalllen the Hot Rod Patrol, who had forgotten to bring along weapons, if not for the defense provided by the Race Track Patrol.Groundshakerthen came by in hisATVand chased the Insecticons off. Though he offered all of them a ride out of the dangerous area, the "Decepticon" Micromasters refused. When the "Autobot" Micromasters were gone, suddenlyShockwaveapproached the Race Track Patrol to apologize for his behaviour earlier. They rightly didn't buy it, but did follow his advice for the quickest route out of the Wastelands. Flanker, on the other hand, gladfully took Shockwave's offer to return with him to Decepticon HQ, but when the Race Track Patrol was out of sight, Shockwave fed him to the Insecticons so they'd have the energy to complete their new mission.

Groundshaker brought the Hot Rod Patrol toCountdown,who had set up theRocket Basein the Wastelands at a few kliks from Little Iacon. Countdown tried to acquire their assistance forhis cause,but they refused and he let them continue their travel,The Gray Raceafter which he and Groundshaker had a talk about what to do next.Recipe for HateMeanwhile, the Decepticon MicromastersSkystalkerandSkyhopperreturned to Cybertron and tried to get rid of all itsguzzlers.To accomplish this, they set up a battle between the two armies in the Wastelands, so that they would destroy and weaken each other. When this was found out by the other Micromasters though, Countdown altered the plan so that the Micromasters could gain power but the guzzlers wouldn't have to die for it. Rallying all the Micromasters present, he took the head of Shockwave, whom Skystalker haddecapitatedearlier, and entered the Wastelands' battlezone. There, the Micromasters ordered the weakened parties to cease their fight or face them, at which point they threw them Shockwave's head to prove that wasn't an empty threat. It was effective: The Decepticons fled, the Autobots walked off and the Micromasters were left to celebrate and ponder their accomplishments.Victims of the Revolution

Ceci n'est pas un Vide.

Roughly3.5 million years later,Shockwave had gotten better and taken over Cybertron, uniting Autobot and Decepticon under the Cybertronian banner. But not all believed in Shockwave's seemingly benevolent reign. The few of them formed a rebellion force that took up residence in the Wastelands and used theOld Slave Trailsas a means to travel around unseen. During their time planning to freeOptimus Primeand the other Autobots that had been accused of treason and were locked away in Iacon's prison, they were witness to a Decepticon shuttle—with theDinobotsonboard—crashing in another part of the Wastelands. Shockwave too noticed the ship and hadOctanesent out from the nearby zeta sector to investigate. TheTriple Changerfound the Dinobots, but as he wisely poked them, they woke up, then beheaded him, stole his tank to get to Iacon and violently challenged his boss's reign. At this time, the rebels freed Optimus and the othersCold Warand brought the most important among them to the hideout in the Wastelands,Passive Aggressionwhere their united teams quickly devised a workable strategy to deal with the escalating events in Iacon.Countdown to Extinction

Shockwave again recovered from his wounds and occupied a makeshift base in the Wastelands with theConeheadsand Triple Changers as his troops. One day,BlitzwingandAstrotrainspotted an intruder outside and assumed him to be anEmptythey could shoot from afar and be done with. Shockwave disagreed and sent them outside to deal with the intruder personally. It turned out to be one ofMegatron's oldAir Warriors.Destroying it, the two Triple Changers were attacked byRazorclawas the rest of thePredaconstook over Shockwave's base. All of Shockwave's troops were then forced into servitude of Megatron, with the exception of Blitzwing who refused and was killed.Lost and FoundAs Megatron chose to relocate toEarthto further his plans, Shockwave's base was left abandoned but forhis newest creation,Sixshot,who recovered the remains of Blitzwing.The Route of All Evil

DreamwaveArmadacomic

TheMini-ConZapmasterhad been living in the Wastelands on the southern hemisphere of Cybertron for most of his life and the daily struggle for survival he experienced there had formed him into a fearless and merciless fighter. So when once he stumbled upon a loneBulkdwelling aimlessly through the Wastelands, he tried to rob him. This Bulk, however, wasThundercracker,who had recently deserted from theDecepticonranks. He took Zapmaster out with ease, but chose not to kill him out of respect for his courage and subsequently teamed up with him.Zapmaster'sMore Than Meets The EyeprofileThundercracker set up base with his new companion in the Wastelands for a time, then returned with him toCyber City.Thundercracker'sMore Than Meets The Eyeprofile

Notes

• Due to its war-related origins, the Wastelands were not detailed inTransformers: The Ultimate Guide.Therefore, the exact location of the area inGeneration 1is not clear cut, but for all intents and purposes seems to be in the northern hemisphere. It is possible that forArmadaThundercracker's and Zapmaster'sMore Than Meets The Eyeentries, the Wastelands were mistaken for theBadlands,an areaThe Ultimate Guideindicated to be located in the southern hemisphere.