Shattered Time

Two ships, flung through time and space, crash on prehistoric Earth.

Synopsis

The mad warrior Ultra Magnus has succeeded. Using the Terminus Blade, he has sent the Earth of Primax 207.0 Epsilon into his home mirrorverse, destroying everything left in the former "Classicsverse". Now, his actions have spread across the multiverse, causing chaos across tine and space. And now, from the remains of the "Classicsverse", two ships are propelled into the deep past of this mirror world, on a course that could decide the fate of the multiverse...

In space, a portal disgorges the Autobot ship the Graviton, followed closely behind by the Decepticon warship the Talon, blasting the Autobot ship apart. On board the Graviton, Ultra Magnus receives status reports from Grimlock, Prowl, Ironhide, and Silverbolt; with their ship too heavily damaged to prevent a crash, Magnus orders them to take out the Decepticon's guns and engines. On board the Talon, Megatron, along with Dirge and the Seacons, push forward their assault, but the gravitational pull of the planet below proves too much for their damaged ship as well, and the two ship begin re-entry, crashing into the primitive world.

On board the Graviton, Prowl reports that the engines are destroyed, but they still have their guns, sensors, and shields. Picking up a strange radiation reading, Prowl advises everyone to stay put, but the impatient Grimlock refuses, wanting to stop the Decepticons. As soon as he steps foot outside, however, Grimlock's systems are overloaded with the energon radiation Prowl detected, sending him offline. Meanwhile, at the Talon, an angered Megatron orders Nautilator and Tentakil to scout the perimeter. Outside, the two find a small herd of buffaloes, and decided to let off a bit of steam by ripping them apart. Before they can do so, however, the energon radiation overtakes them as well, and the immobilized pair can do nothing as the buffaloes tear them apart.

Placing Grimlock in the CR chamber, Prowl explains to Magnus that the energon on this planet is raw, and that exposure for more than two breems will send anyone into stasis lock. Although their shields protect them inside the ship, Magnus is unwilling to wait for the Decepticons to attack, and Prowl, ever resourceful, has come up with a plan. Combining Pretender and Powermaster technology, the Autobots can scan the local lifeforms, reformatting to take on beast modes with organic skins to protect themselves from the radiation. And soon enough, the reformatted Autobots transform and move out!

Back at the Talon, Megatron has come up with an alternative plan, disgusted by Dirge's idea to place themselves in organic skins. Using energon armor, Megatron has reformatted himself into a powerful, energon-resistant new form. As his troops undergo the same process, he declares that this primitive world will know the true meaning of war!

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"If I were him, I'd wanna blast the closest thing I could find... Those would do in a pinch. Organics make the most wonderful popping noises!"
"A delightful idea! Let's have at-"

—Tentakil and Nautilator shortly before getting their comeuppance.

"So, let us wipe across this untamed planet, and tear it asunder to its very screaming molecules. Their seas will run red, their mountains crumble, their forests burn, and all will know, beast or Autobot, the true meaning of war!"

—Megatron has a few ideas for improving the environment.

Notes

Continuity notes

• Beginning with this installment, the magazine's storyline shifts from the previous 3 year's Wings Universe storyline, focusing on the fallout of the previous year's BotCon comic, "Invasion". Several panels from that issue (including Shattered Glass Ultra Magnus using the power of the Terminus Blade, and the destruction of the "Classicsverse") are reprinted from that story (pencils by Dan Khanna, inks by Jake Isenberg, and colors by Josh Perez, Jesse Wittenrich, and Thomas Deer). We learned about the two ships seen in this story in "Invasion: Epilogue", which set up this year's storyline.
• Ultra Magnus and Grimlock were last seen leaving Earth on board the Graviton in BotCon 2007's "Games of Deception". Ironhide was last seen with the Earthbound Autobots in "At Fight's End", while Prowl and Silverbolt were last seen with the Autobots on Cybertron at the tail end of the Marvel series. Megatron, Dirge, and Seacons were all last seen in "At Fight's End", regaining Decepticon leadership from Bludgeon.
• The Graviton is drawn to the specifications of the ship seen in issue #79, with her Decepticon logo replaced with an Autobot insigina, and the light yellow color scheme replaced with an orange one. However, see "errors" below.
• Prowl uses breems, a unit of time measurement introduced in issue #17 of the Marvel comic.
• Prowl uses Powermaster and Pretender technology in the construction of the Autobot's new alt-modes; aside from the obvious references (Powermasters, like the Maximals and Predacons, were an upgrade designed for fuel efficiency, and Pretender's organic shells link to the alt-modes of the Beast Era Transformers), members of these subgroups were shown to be able to survive the energies of the Underbase, as seen in #50.

Transformers references

• Much of the events in this issue mirror the opening of the first Beast Wars episode, along with various other elements from the show:
  • The comic opens with a transwarp portal disgorging the two ships, as did "Beast Wars (Part 1)". The difference here is that the Autobot ship is the one that emerges first, with the Decepticons pursuing—in "(Part 1)", the Predacon ship emerged first, with the Maximal's Axalon pursuing. The Talon brings down the Graviton by shooting her starboard side, as the Darksyde did to the Axalon.
  • After the crash, Magnus requests a damage report, as did Optimus Primal in "Part 1".
  • The energon radiation and the Autobots solution to it is pretty much verbatim from the Beast Wars cartoon.
  • Grimlock's HUD shows two moons, as Earth had in the first season of Beast Wars.
• Energon armor was previously seen in BotCon 1997's "Ground Zero", possessed by Maximal Packrat and Predacon Fractyl. Evidently, Megatron's version is much more stable.
• The reformatting drone on board the Talon is based on NAVI from Beast Wars II, the Maximal A.I. seen on board the Yukikaze.
• Ultra Magnus' new body is that of his Transformers Figure Subscription Service toy, Ultra Mammoth, released the same year. Grimlock, Prowl, Ironhide, and Silverbolt are all based on their Beast Wars toys. Megatron has been upgraded to his Generation 2 Hero Megatron toy body, while Dirge has been repurposed from Beast Wars II Dirge, and Snaptrap, Overbite, Skalor, and Seawing repurposed from their Beast Wars II Seacon counterparts Halfshell, Sea Phantom, Coelagon, and Terrormander, respectively.
• The idea that all of the Autobots have organic animal alt-modes, while the Decepticons (minus the Seacons) keep their vehicular forms is probably inspired by Beast Wars II, which had a similar dichotomy with its Maximal and Predacons.

Real-world references

• Grimlock is depicted with a layer of feathers on his head, obviously due the new discoveries in Dinosaurs in 16 years since his original Beast Wars toy was released. It's not fully accurate, but it's a start!

Errors

• The Graviton looks different from her depiction in "Games of Deception", which gave her more protrusions, engines, along with blue and silver highlights.
• While it's a bit odd, Prowl and Silverbolt being in their original bodies is hardly an error; many Autobots showed up in the same way in "Invasion". Ironhide's use of his former body, however, is an error; his one panel appearance in the preview comic for "At Fight's End" showed he had upgraded to his Universe toy body.