Quest for the AllSpark

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"Quest for the AllSpark"
Publisher	HarperCollins Publishers
Imprint	HarperCollins Children's Books
Published in	United Kingdom
First published	January 5,2009
Written by	Colin Brake
Continuity	Transformers Animatedcartoon
ISBN	0007298919 978-0007298914
Page count	128
Price	£4.99

When Megatron takes control of the machinery in the Autobot base, the Autobots hatch a plan to keep the AllSpark safe.

Synopsis

Walking off the field after baseball practice,younoticeSari Sumdac,sitting looking upset. She tells you that theAutobotshave gone missing without telling her, and decides to go check theirsecret factory base.The pair of you reach the factory and slip inside via a side door, but within the lights fail to automatically switch on. In the main factory area, you're attacked by a cleaning bot which attempts to vacuum you up. Luckily you're saved byBumblebee.'Bee explains thatMegatronhas taken control of the city's 'bot workforce and attacked the Autobots. To keep theAllSparksafe,Optimus PrimeandRatchetcame up with a plan — send the Autobots out with boxes containing the AllSpark and four convincing fakes to be hidden. The others have failed to return to the base.

Using the communications gear, you contact Ratchet, who says he was attacked as soon as he set foot inParis,and that you should go and findBulkheadinLos Angeles.Bumblebee gets you there in no time, but the city is huge, and you don't know where to look for Bulkhead, until Bumblebee points out the massive plume of smoke rising from a rapidly burning building. Bulkhead charges out, attacking Bumblebee and claiming his teammate is a fake. This is apparently confirmed byProfessor Heinz Von Furstwartzwho has a machine that analyses the origin of machine components, and that says Bumblebee was manufactured in Detroit rather than somewhere in outer space. Sari is skeptical, and it's quickly established that the device is not what it seems. Once it's destroyed, Bulkhead calms down. The Professor attempts to flee, but is caught by Bumblebee and reveals that he built the device with the help ofsomeone he met online.

Bulkhead checks his box and realises he's been carrying a fake AllSpark.Prowlrendezvous with you, having concealed his box. Sari is contacted by Prime, who can't divulge where he and Ratchet are over an open comms channel, but gives you the riddle "what's black and white and read all over?" This leads you to theCentral Library.Though the library's closed for the night, you break in and find Optimus... and a site clearance 'bot namedCrush-Awho promptly attacks him. A fight ensues over Prime's AllSpark box, during which you realise that Crush-A is being remote controlled. In a glass-walled room overlooking the library, Bumblebee catchesDoctor Cornelius Lighthouse.Though he gloats that he almost got hold of the AllSpark for his research, Prime reveals that all five of the boxes contained fake AllSparks — the real thing is quite safe. Once the police take Doctor Lighthouse away, Bumblebee takes you and Sari home.

Featured characters

Quotes

"Wheee! This is fun!" [hits tree] "Apart from that bit."

—Bumblebee

"I knew all those hours playing pool would pay off!"

—Bumblebee

"Some woman named Tron. Meg A. Tron."

—Professor Heinz Von Furstwartzexplains the identity of the woman he met online.

Notes

Multipath

• In this book, you have recently moved to Detroit, and joined a baseball club. You've been meaning to make friends with Sari on the off chance you'll get to meet the Autobots. Wow, you should be ashamed of yourself!
• Alternate paths:
  • Rather than Professor Von Furstwartz, Bulkhead is duped by a gardening 'bot with a special rod which makes it appear to be Prime.
  • Bulkhead's box has the real AllSpark in it, in which case your adventure ends then and there with the arrival of Optimus and Ratchet, who reveal they've upgraded the base's defences.
  • Prime and Ratchet are at theJam Jar Clubin downtown Detroit. The riddle you get is "When is a door not a door?"
  • Crush-A isn't being remote controlled and is genuinely in Megatron's thrall. Bumblebee overloads him when you realise he's absorbing the Autobots' firepower.
  • Bumblebee catches you before you enter the Autobot factory base. He's hidden his box at theRace Trackand is looking for Bulkhead, who is either at theCity Art Galleryor theDetroit Sculpture Park.
    • In the art gallery, you encounter Crush-A, who's defeated after a brief battle with Bumblebee and Bulkhead, and disappears in a flash of light. After Prowl arrives, the path leads you to either the Jam Jar Club or library.
    • In the Sculpture Park, you find Prowl and a massive forcefield. When you break through, you find Bulkhead, who has the real AllSpark.

Continuity notes

• Bulkhead likes to hang out at the City Art Gallery or Detroit Sculpture Park, as per his interest in artwork, established in "Headmaster".
• Megatron previously attacked the Autobots using controlled devices in "Home Is Where the Spark Is".

Trivia

• Sari'sAllSpark Keyvibrates and/or glows when a Cybertronian is near.
• The AllSpark can protect itself by creating a large dome-shaped force field.
• AllSpark is spelled with a lower-case S throughout.
• Ratchet says he has "deadlocked the bases systems", a reference toDoctor Who,in which, if something is "deadlocked", thetitle character's sonic screwdriver won't work on it.