Coalescence

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I hope you like this, you had to wait five years for it!
"Coalescence"
Publisher	Transformers Collectors' Club (online exclusive)
First published	December 28, 2016
By	Jesse Wittenrich
Illustrations	Josh Perez
Editor	Luke Thompson
Continuity	Shattered Glass
Chronology	2009, 2011, 2016
Page count	84pp

Worlds collide when the Underbase and its attendants threaten the multiverse, as an ancient evil seeks new worlds to conquer...

Synopsis

Universes away, the Fallen is on the cusp of victory, ready to unleash his ultimate weapon. Unfortunately for him, the one being who can stop the god-like Transformer arrives to stop him. As the last descendant of his brothers tears through him, the Fallen finds a fold in space-time and, desperate to escape, plunges himself into it. He soon realizes he's made a miscalculation, however; tumbling through the multiverse, he falls to the edges far beyond where his brothers and sisters in the Thirteen reign, and the normally fiery fallen Prime finds himself shivering as the polarity of the universe inverts around him...

Two years later, Sephie Beller, now the superhero Emulator, confronts two thieves at the New Energy Resource Research and Development Laboratory in the middle of their attempt to steal a piece of machinery. Noticing the thieves—going by the aliases of Grindor and Sureshock—appear to have mechanical parts, Emulator radios in Rick, serving as her eyes in the sky, and lets him know that she's about to confront some more Transhumans the Autobots have created. Hanging up, Emulator readies her sonic pulses, but an unintimidated Sureshock lets loose her own special power, shocking Emulator with her electrical attack. Rick tries to advise Sephie, but when Sureshock prepares a second volley, Emulator reflexively fires off a sonic pulse. Sureshock collapses in pain, promoting Grindor to drop the machine and rush to her. Emulator tries to tell the furious Grindor that Sureshock will be fine, before noticing the blood dripping from the injured thief's ear. Before she can say anything more, an energy field blasts her back, as a third thief joins the others. With the field dampening her sonic powers, Emulator pushes away the stolen device and attempts to confront the newcomer—whose name Emulator mishears as "Highwire"—but he and the others escape, as the barrier begins to warp, preventing both Emulator's eyes and Rick's camera-drones from following them. Walking over to the ruined device, Rick tries to reassure Sephie, pointing out that she kept it out of the thieves' hands, but the Pyrrhic victory sits ill with her.

At Autobot headquarters, Rodimus Prime tries to find Huffer, who was supposed to take over comm duties after Hubcap, only to never show up. With several Autobots having gone missing in the past few months, Rodimus worries that his troops will begin to question his leadership. Prowl suggests that they ask Inferno about Huffer, since the childlike Autobot enjoys having playdates with the Minicars. Calling in the middle of Inferno's playdate with Tailgate, Rodimus interrupts the pair to ask about the missing Huffer. Inferno notes that he last saw him talking with Side Burn, and that for the first time, the cheery Minicar seemed to have a frown on his face. Satisfied, Rodimus sends Brawn off to Side Burn's lab.

Meanwhile, Starscream is attempting to write a speech commemorating the opening of a new Decepticon base on Earth. Struggling with his writers' block and with dubious help from Ravage, Starscream welcomes a distraction when Blitzwing comes to tell him that the Annex has arrived. Cyclonus, the ship's captain, arrives with Cliffjumper following his every move, extremely distrustful of the bot who assassinated Megatron, only to be pardoned by the Decepticon leader when he was revived as Galvatron. Starscream tries his best to mask his distrust of the gruff Decepticon, promising him that no one will bother him, but Cyclonus simply states that he'll wait onboard while supplies are being traded off. As Cyclonus heads off, followed by Cliffjumper, Blitzwing tries to let Starscream know that the Americans want to know about their decision on making further Transhumans, but the exasperated Decepticon sends him off, as Ravage tries to comfort his commander. Meanwhile, maintenance expert Darkwing struggles to recalibrate the current Decepticon base's sensors to pick up the Transhumans the Autobots have been creating. Crasher tries to assist him, but she's far more interested in flirting with Darkwing. Unfortunately for her, the clueless Darkwing doesn't pick up her meaning. Annoyed, she fixes the problem by plugging in the power conduit Darkwing forgot about.

Sephie and Rick meet up after their failed attempt to stop the Transhuman trio. As Sephie applies salves to her electrical burns, Rick finds that the three have no results in Professor Arkeville's facial recognition software or the government's files. With no leads to go on, and not confident in her current abilities, Sephie decides to go see Jetstorm for upgrades, despite Rick's protest. Flying out to his secret base hidden in a mountain range in the desert, Emulator steels herself, and enters the base. Inside, Jetstorm sarcastically greets her, and when she asks for upgrades, he makes a show of refusing, having secretly goaded her into coming back by cooperating with Side Burn and his Transhumans. Furious, Emulator takes the bait, and demands that she have the rest of her human parts taken out. Satisfied, Jetstorm begins drawing up designs with his computer NAVI, as Sephie holds back her tears. Meanwhile, having followed Sephie to Jetstorm's hide out, Rick watches from the van, knowing that he can't let her do this to herself, but unsure of how to stop her.

Out in the desert, Demolishor is on patrol duty, along with his small partners, Squeezeplay and Fangry. Demolishor loudly complains about Starscream's unwillingness to produce Decepticon Transhumans, ignoring his small companions' protests about him dragging them out past the perimeter. As Demolishor heads for the mountains, Fangry and Squeezeplay realize that their GPS is being jammed. The two attempt to escape, but Demolishor quickly transforms and lies to them, claiming that he came across a secret base, and that he's jammed the GPS so they won't be detected. Fangry is unsure, but the loyal Squeezeplay convinces him, and so Demolishor leads them into the trap.

At Autobot headquarters, Side Burn works on replacing Sureshock's destroyed ear drums with new auditory sensors, while Grindor throws a temper tantrum in the lab. Highwire, suspicious after Side Burn reveals that he didn't even know what he sent them to steal was, begins questioning why he's the one providing them with upgrades instead of the other Autobot scientists. Before he can give a satisfactory answer, Side Burn is interrupted when Brawn comes to confront him about Huffer. When his weak excuses don't work, Side Burn drops the facade, shifting his shape into a monstrous form, scaring Brawn off. The three terrified Transhumans watch as Side Burn reverts to normal, promising to take them to his real lab.

Out in space, the Fallen sits on his frozen throne, the flames of his body being suffocated by ice. His servant, Sunstorm, reports that Side Burn, Demolishor, and Jetstorm are all reporting that their work is going well, but with an accelerated pace due to unforeseen events. Nevertheless, the results should be the same. Satisfied, the Fallen orders Sunstorm to begin heating him once more. Sunstorm reluctantly wills the radioactive energies within his form outward, and strains as he attempts to melt the ice covering his idol...

On board the Annex, Cyclonus sits alone, reflecting on his past. He has realized how Alpha Trion manipulated him and his other followers, promising them a reunited Cybertron, only for the old Transformer to betray them. And yet, despite his allegiance to Alpha Trion and his assassination attempt on Megatron, Galvatron has forgiven him; something he still cannot do for himself. His thoughts are interrupted when Darkwing and Crasher approach him; assuming they're here to get revenge for killing Megatron, Cyclonus prepares himself for the pain, only for the two to announce they were sent by Starscream for maintenance repairs. Relaxing, Cyclonus explains that when the ship was built, Stonecruncher and Excavator played a bunch of pranks, causing the ship to malfunction. When Darkwing finds a plaque with the Constructor Squad's signature in place of the ship's operations panel, he informs Cyclonus that it's going to take a while before he and Crasher can fix everything.

Back at the Autobot's base, Rodimus prepares to storm Side Burn's lab, but his nervousness allows the arrogant Jetfire, gunning for his position as Autobot leader, to push past him with the others. Inside, Side Burn and his three Transhuman experiments are long gone, and Rodimus attempts to take charge once more. As he and Jetfire bicker, Bluestreak finds a hidden passage behind one of the shelves. Jetfire pushes Rodimus back once more and enters the passage...only to be met by laser fire when he sets off a booby trap. Rodimus sends Prowl ahead to disable any other traps, and laughs at the corpse of his would-be usurper, before having Inferno put him out. Soon, Rodimus, Brawn, Prowl, Jetfire, and Inferno find the bodies of Saber, Fallback, Windcharger, Pipes, and Huffer dangling from the ceiling, having been used by Side Burn to reconstruct the Transhumans; Inferno falls to his knees in anguish, crying over the loss of his Minicar friends.

Back in the desert, Rick notices Demolishor, tailed by a black sedan and an Autobot sports car with the thieves from earlier within. Initially believing that Demolishor is in trouble, Rick gets ready to move, but when he sees the three enter the hangar door of Jetstorm's base, he realizes something is up. Rick runs out the van as the door closes; noticing the touch screen panel, he follows Sephie's fingerprints from earlier, and successfully sneaks inside after inputting the password. Jetstorm's lab is empty, allowing Rick to quickly find Sephie strapped to a surgical pod, unconscious and ready for surgery. Hearing the voices of Jetstorm and the others, Rick quickly gets to work getting Sephie free. Meanwhile, Jetstorm meets up with Demolishor and Side Burn. The fake Decepticon demands to use Jetstorm's lab, as he's not made much progress with his Transhumans due to Starscream's unwillingness to experiment on humans, having been lying about his project progress. Side Burn, having nearly perfected his Transhumans, insists that he should go instead, and bickers with Demolishor. Jetstorm shuts the two up, telling them they'll both get a chance...but only after he's finished with his components. Elsehwhere in the complex, the imprisoned Squeezeplay and Fangry fume over Demolishor's betrayal. One of the two humans from the black sedan, Donnie, wonder why the Decepticons aren't excited for what's about to happen, but his friend, Nestor, points out that they seem to be here unwillingly. When Fangry angrily demands to know what's about to happen, the two reveal that they are going to become the masters of the small Decepticons. Back in Jetstorm's lab, Rick successfully frees Sephie, and drags the groggy superhero behind a server bank, as the strange Cybertronian returns. Finding Emulator's pod empty, Jetstorm accuses Demolishor and Side Burn of having hidden her to sabotage Jetstorm. The two point out that they've been with him the whole time, but the untrusting Jetstorm locks all the ports and hatches, refusing to let anyone out. As Sephie returns to consciousness, she confusedly asks Rick what he's doing, and her friend explains that Jetstorm's tricked her, planning to use her as a "component", unsure of what that entails. Their conversation is cut short when Side Burn begins crying out in pain. The others, realizing what's happening, hold hands with Side Burn, as the three partially convert into a communications device. In the center of their circle, a holographic purple head forms: their master, Cybaxx, sovereign of the Underbase. The annoyed, impatient hologram informs them that the Fallen is impatient, and that they need to hurry up with their components. Demolishor meekly asks for some more time, but Cybaxx, having read Demolishor's false report, tells them that they'll have plenty of time to finish their components on the way back, and hangs up. The three separate, and with no other options, Jetstorm reluctantly orders NAVI to activate the engines, revealing his base to be a ship. Rick tries to find a way out, but with Sephie too groggy to properly use her sound pulses, she decides to use another power she obtained from Soundwave: telepathy.

On board the Annex, Crasher doubles over in pain. Darkwing and Cyclonus rush to her, the latter recognizing that Crasher's brain is "special". Before he can explain to the confused Darkwing, Crasher yells about Sephie, whose "words" are slicing into her brain. Realizing she's getting a message from their human friend, Darkwing persuades her to listen to the message, and Crasher slowly explains Sephie and Rick's situation. Cyclonus realizes they'll need a ship and, wanting to help the first Decepticons to trust him in a long time, decides to pursue the ship the humans are trapped in with the Annex. Having recovered, Crasher joins Cyclonus and Darkwing in taking up their stations, and as the ship flies off, the Decepticons watch in confusion, as a furious Cliffjumper shouts at the "traitorous" Decepticons. Meanwhile, at Autobot headquarters, Skids picks up two ship signals heading into space. Realizing that one of them is Side Burn, and figuring that the other is from the Decepticons, Rodimus ignores Inferno's demands for revenge. After all, with the Decepticons preoccupied with chasing down Side Burn, now's the perfect time for an attack on the new Decepticon base...

Inside the Underbase, Sunstorm strains to keep the Fallen warm, begging his idol to let him rest for a second. The Fallen ignores his pleas, but the hologram of Cybaxx rezzes into the room, advising him to stop before Sunstorm depletes all of his energy. Cybaxx then tells the powerful old Transformer that the array is almost ready, with Jetstorm and the others on their way to complete it and open the gateway, retrieving the "All-Knowledge" of the multiverse. The Fallen, unconcerned with knowledge, simply states that he's more interested in other negative universes, and again has Sunstorm warm him. Meanwhile, onboard Jetstorm's ship, Demolishor rebuilds Nestor and Donny with mechanical joints and armor. Side Burn urges him to hurry up, having allowed the fake Decepticon to work while his three Transhumans search for Emulator, and the two begin bickering once more. An annoyed Jetstorm tells them to shut up, trying to concentrate on finding his wayward experiment. Unbeknownst to him, she and Rick are still in the same room, having hidden themselves inside one of NAVI's floating monitors. As the three of Side Burn's Transhumans return from their search effort, Sephie tells Rick they should start moving to avoid being caught, but is interrupted when Jetstorm suddenly grabs the monitor. The two are worried they've been caught, but as it turns out, they're not what's caught Jetstorm's interest, as the monitor warns him of the approaching Annex.

On board the Annex, Cyclonus and Darkwing bicker, the latter having accidentally gotten too close to Jetstorm's ship as a result of his inexperience with piloting. Crasher breaks the two up, and with the Annex under-crewed, she's forced to drive back and forth between weapons and operations stations. Suddenly, the three see their _target's destination: a large golden cube made up of lattices, glowing in space...the Underbase. Onboard Jetstorm's ship, Jetstorm tells Side Burn and Demolishor to begin coming up with excuses for their unfinished components. However, Demolishor proudly announces that he's finished his components; instead of replacing human tissue with Cybertronian components, he's simply rebuilt Donny and Nestor with metal joints and armor and binary bonded them to their new Decepticon slaves. Side Burn sheepishly goes to put the finishing touches on his three Transhumans, while Jetstorm miserably wonders about what he's going to do.

Crasher struggles to interpret the Annex's readouts on the Underbase, which tell her that the light emitting from the cube is registering as mass—something that should be impossible. Cyclonus orders Darkwing to reverse, but before they can, part of the aura stretches out into a beam, and grabs hold of the ship, stopping it and tilting it 40 degrees. Unwilling to tear the ship apart, Cyclonus has Darkwing charge the ship enough to make it look like they're escaping, before heading to the back of the ship so they can transform and fly out to the structure. Crasher points out that she has a ground vehicle alt-mode, and Cyclonus offers to carry her, but a jealous Darkwing, having finally caught on to Crasher's flirtations, quickly steps in and offers to carry her instead. Meanwhile, as Jetstorm and the others land in the Underbase, they hear a massive thud. Worried that they're under attack, Jetstorm opens the cargo bay doors...only to find massive icy legs walking towards them...

Out in space, Crasher comments on the beauty of the Underbase, only for Darkwing to remind her that she needs to use her radio in space. After a bit of playful bickering, Cyclonus leads the two into the Underbase's hangar, though not without some confusion from the inexperienced Darkwing. Entering, they quickly spot the Jetstorm, Demolishor, and Side Burn with the Transhumans. Their attention, however, is quickly drawn to a massive robot covered in ice: the Fallen! The massive Prime orders the three to take the components to the gateway while he deals with the Decepticons. Gathering their wits, the Decepticons begin firing on the Fallen. Unfazed, the Fallen prepares to rip into them...but his enhanced godlike senses vector in on Crasher, sensing that she's "unique". Concentrating his mystical powers, reversed by the negative polarity of this dimension, he generates a storm of cold, unleashing beams that trap the Decepticons in blocks of ice. Onboard Jetstorm's ship, Sephie and Rick listen as the fighting stops. Sephie feels guilty for letting the ones who came to rescue her get captured, but Rick points out the same would have happened to them. Besides, he points out, as far as Jetstorm and the others are aware, they're still back on Earth, and that nobody's looking for them. Reinvigorated by Rick's words, Sephie heads off with him to go rescue the Decepticons. Meanwhile, Jetstorm, Demolishor, and Side Burn meet up with their three fellow attendants at the gateway: gamer girlfriends Strongarm and Windblade and the lazy Hot Shot. The six quickly catch up with one another before putting their Transhumans in their compartments, but all eyes turn to Jetstorm, who has no component to give...

The Fallen orders Cybaxx to have Cyclonus and Darkwing imprisoned somewhere, as he drags Crasher off to the gateway. Sephie and Rick watch as Cybaxx has the other two dragged to the prison of the "former sovereign", using a large, metal lion. The two humans decide to free Cyclonus and Darkwing so they can all free Crasher together. Following Cybaxx and the lion through the labyrinthine hallways of the Underbase, they eventually reach their destination: a former library turned into a cell block containing malfunctioning Mini-Cons. The two hide as Cybaxx puts the Decepticons in the cell, but one of the Mini-Cons notices them, and tries to "assist" them, catching Cybaxx's attention. Thankfully, Cybaxx only yells at the Mini-Con, not noticing the humans, and heads off, leaving the two alone. Heading over to the Decepticons, Sephie tries to free them by disabling the electro-bars with her sonic pulses. Unfortunately, this causes all the cells to deactivate, and the Mini-Cons nearly swarm them...until a commanding voice orders them to return to their cells. As they head back, a small purple and red robot steps forward, and introduces himself to the humans as the former sovereign of the Underbase: Beta Maxx. Rick and Sephie ask for his help with freeing the Decepticons, and Beta Maxx heads off, promising to be back soon...

At the gateway chamber, the Fallen arrives with the frozen Crasher. Jetstorm goes up and attempts to apologize for losing his component, but the massive Prime simply asks why he's apologizing for having deliberately led the final component to them. Realizing that Crasher is this final component the Fallen speaks of, Jetstorm quickly agrees that was his intention, and has the others push the frozen Decepticon into position. Crasher tries to get Jetstorm to reveal Sephie's location, but when she realizes he has no idea, she silently hopes that she's alright. Meanwhile, back in the makeshift cell block, Beta Maxx has returned with the mechanical lion from earlier. The ancient robot explains that the "lion" is actually a loyal friend and follower hiding in alt-mode, where Cybaxx would least expect to look for him. The robotic feline then turns his attention to the Decepticons and uses his inbuilt weaponry to melt the ice. Beta Maxx prepares to head for the gate room to stop the others, but Cyclonus and Darkwing, suspicious of the little robot, begin asking him questions. The small robot happily obliges; he explains that he was once the sovereign of the Underbase, commissioning the database to store the knowledge of four galaxies on Cybertron. However, when his students Cybaxx and Boltax went over the data, they both came to the same conclusion: that there is no trend in the universe aside from entropy, and as such, gathering any further information is pointless. Beta Maxx resisted them, but they imprisoned him, and when Boltax died, Cybaxx took over the Underbase fully. The Decepticons and their human allies question them about Jetstorm and the others, and what the massive ice-covered robot wants...

At the gateway chamber, Sunstorm continues to strain his energies towards melting the ice off the Fallen. Jetstorm asks the Fallen if he has anything he wants to say, but the ancient Prime shuts him up and has him start the process. Flicking the switch, Crasher, the Transhumans, and all the other experiments cry in pain as energy surges through them, collecting power from Cybertronian metal and organic flesh and powering up the gateway, opening a portal to another world. The Fallen orders Hot Shot to head through, and he complies, feeling as his entire being is stretched across the multiverse. Arriving in the new world, Hot Shot begins reporting that he's appeared to arrive on a Cybertron, and spots two Autobots...with red symbols. Annoyed, The Fallen has the gate shutdown; the others want to retrieve Hot Shot, but Jetstorm tells them they knew it was a one way trip and prepares the next trial.

Beta Maxx explains to the Decepticons and humans that the Fallen is one of the Thirteen original Transformers created by Primus, a demigod with power beyond belief. He arrived in this dimension a little two years ago, and though he could easily return to the positive universes, he wanted to stay, as his brothers and sisters are reluctant to follow him. Finding the Underbase, he convinced Cybaxx to follow him, and Jetstorm and the others—sentient probes made from living metal that Beta Maxx created to interact with other lifeforms—set out to recruit and create Cybertronian-organic hybrids in order to make a gateway. Caught up to speed, Beta Maxx gets on his mechanical lion and leads the others to the gate, ready for battle. Meanwhile, at the gateway, the captive Transhumans slowly recover from the energy, having figured out that they're being used as batteries. Unable to do anything, they watch as the others prep the gate again. The Fallen orders Windblade to go next; Strongarm tearfully begs her master to let her stay, but Windblade tries to reassure her partner, promising she'll always be with her. Demolishor, moved by the pair's embrace, decides that while he might have been only pretending to be a Decepticon, the badge still means something to him, and offers to take Windblade's place. Heading through the gate, he arrives in a Crystal City on Cybertron...one under siege from an evil female version of Devastator. Demolishor regards the beauty of the city's crystals, and his radio goes dead as the massive combiner fires off a shot of her solar energy beam rifle. Unperturbed, the Fallen orders for the gate to be powered up again.

Close to the gate room, Beta Maxx tells everyone to be prepared. Cyclonus and Darkwing point out that they don't have any weapons, and so, Beta Maxx has them reach into the lion's mane, arming them with a sword and a gun, respectively. Before the small robot can say anything else, Crasher's scream galvanizes the others into the action, rushing into the room. The lion takes the Fallen head on, ripping through the icy robot as Sunstorm tries to melt his covering, though in the ensuing chaos Beta Maxx is knocked away from his loyal steed. Darkwing takes on Side Burn, while Sephie knocks Jetstorm across the room with a sonic pulse. Cyclonus is forced to go up against Windblade and Strongarm; his foe's superior swordsmanship forces him to fight dirty, converting his hand into a jet thruster and burning her face. Windblade rushes to her wounded love, and Side Burn, distracted by his friends' cry, breaks off is fight with Darkwing to attend to them, allowing him and Cyclonus to go to Crasher. Meanwhile, Sephie pours all of her energy into her sonic pulses, destabilizing the living metal that makes up Jetstorm's body and rendering it inert. Jetstorm tries to goad her into killing him, and she initially is all too happy to oblige...but her conscience prevents her from feeling any catharsis, and so she turns her attention to the Fallen instead. Darkwing is unable to free Crasher from the gate way, as the resulting energy surge will fry them all. Cyclonus explains to Crasher that her ability to create quakes is because of a cyberoscillation in her brain, allowing her control vibrational frequencies—meaning that she is the only one who can save the day...

Sephie is unable to get in-between Beta Maxx's steed and the Fallen, knowing that if the ancient Transformer's attention is drawn to her, she will be unable to defend herself for long. Noticing Sunstorm, she takes the opportunity to knock out the Fallen's radioactive attendant, giving the lion the edge he needs in his battle with the old robot. The Decepticons tell her to keep Sunstorm down, as Cyclonus guides Crasher through mentally picturing the circuitry of the gateway. Eventually, she is able to take control, and begins activating the gate. Meanwhile, Side Burn attends to Strongarm and Windblade, eager to get revenge on Cyclonus. However, Side Burn is no longer sure of his cause, tired of being evil in service of the ancient Transformer, and convinces them to help the others. The mechanical beast edges the Fallen closer and closer to the gate, but when the ancient Transformer realizes what he's about to do, he uses his mystical powers to create a lance of ice, puncturing the lion and allowing him to get up. The Decepticons can only watch as the massive Cybertronian rises; he laughs when he realizes none of them know who he is, proclaiming that he will have millions of negative universes, and lurches forward to attack. However, the lion pounces once more, and Crasher seizes the opportunity, reactivating the portal. The Fallen tumbles through, sending him off into the multiverse. Unfortunately, the portal then threatens to suck them all through as well. The lion is nearly the first, but Side Burn, Windblade, and Strongarm stretch their arms and try to hold him back. Crasher is unable to shut off the machine, and the monitors are unresponsive. The situation looks grim...but then, Darkwing remembering the disconnected power cord from earlier, grabs the sword from Cyclonus and slashes through the conduits powering the gateway, shutting it offline.

Finding himself in a void of nothingness, the Fallen watches as the ice melts off of him, stuck once more in the remains of a positive universe. He plans to regain his strength and start over...but finds that he is not alone, as Unicron awakens to feast on the intruder to his domain...

Cyclonus and Darkwing free Crasher and the captive cyborgs from the gateway. Sephie realizes that there's still Cybaxx to deal with, but Beta Maxx, having slinked off during the battle, returns with a memory drive containing Cybaxx, having long ago abandoned his physical body to upload himself into the Underbase. Beta Maxx snaps the stick in two, bidding his former student farewell. Crasher realizes that someone will have to return the stolen aliens to their homeworlds, and Side Burn, feeling penitent, offers to do so, taking Jetstorm and Sunstorm with him. Sureshock, Grindor, and Highwire—or rather, Joe, Derek, and Shawn—offer to go along as well, wanting to make up for their actions, as does Nestor, who wants to see the universe, freeing Sqeezeplay and Fangry. Donnie decides to return to Earth with his suit for study, while Windblade and Strongarm, eager to see Earth for the first time, decide to go with the Decepticons. Beta Maxx reels the Annex in and explains that he will remain behind on the Underbase, taking his duties up as sovereign once more. Having developed a kinship with Darkwing and Crasher, Cyclonus offers them a spot on their crew, and before long, everyone has left. The lion, having healed from the battle, watches the monitor alongside his master as the ships head towards their new destination. Beta Maxx's steed then turns to his master, telling him that Cybaxx and Boltax were right; when he was in Axiom Nexus, the data he stole showed that entropy and chaos are the natural order of the multiverse. Beta Maxx concedes that they might have been right, but for now, he'd like to read, and accesses the hidden All-Knowledge inside the Underbase. Alpha Trion returns to robot mode, and sits on the Fallen's throne, obliging his mentor's wish.

On Earth, the Decepticons survey over their damaged headquarters as the Autobots retreat, having saved the base but losing their petroleum for Cybertron. Blitzwing tells Starscream that the Annex has returned, and the Decepticon commander orders him to give the ship clearance for landing. Starscream has Ravage accompany him, as he prepares to message Galvatron the bad news.

On Cybertron, Drift sneaks his way underground, finding Optimus Prime's hidden library. The Autobot Emperor welcomes the hunter, telling him that he was about to call him down anyway. Looking over recent reports of the former attendants of the Underbase, Prime muses that there may be more dimensional intruders than he originally thought...and then turns to Drift, asking him if he knows why he created the Autobots. Drift attempts to crack jokes, but Prime ignores him, explaining that he used to be a librarian before the war, hoping to find the true meaning of life. He searched for centuries, until he found something already on that path: the All-Knowledge of the Underbase. After this encounter, he believed that he had found the ultimate truth: that there is none, and that they merely exist to be added to historical documents and ledges. Unwilling to be forgotten, Optronix the librarian become Optimus Prime the conqueror, ensuring his place in history. Prime turns once more to Drift and tells him that something is coming that will affect the multiverse forever, and he wishes to be prepared. Drift is unsure of what his leader means, but Prime ignores him once more, and asks him if he knows about Prime's brother...

Five years later, after the end of the war, the Acolytes of Unicron promise the united Cybertronian leaders that they will transmit their requests to their master, residing on his planet form. Heatwave, now a lowly janitor with no memories of his time as Nexus Prime, overhears the Acolytes, believing they have some kind of quest. The Acolytes dismiss him, and a bitter Heatwave heads off back to his crew: Skytop, Landfall, Quakebreak, and Spinaway. The five robots bemoan that, even though they apparently used to be some kind of Prime, they're still some of the lowest ranking Decepticons around, unable to participate in finding the remaining evil Autobots and Decepticons. Skytop points out that the Buoyancy, a Decepticon ship from New Cybertron, is still in the hangar, and the five decide to steal it and find Rodimus, Megatron and any other remaining bad guys. As they fly into space, the Acolytes question why Unicron allowed them to do so; the benevolent god tells his children that resistance can be a good source of determination, and that they'll need that for their mission ahead, knowing what they will encounter...

Out in space, the five celebrate their seemingly successful escape, only to pick up two Cybertronian signatures—small ones. Heatwave orders the others to open the hangar and let them in and has Spinaway and Landfall accompany him to meet their guests. There, they find the heroic Predacon Waspinator and the dimensionally-displaced Maximal Depth Charge. Waspinator explains that he and his fellow Predacons were lost in time on prehistoric Earth, and after winning the Beast Wars, the other Predacons headed off to home with the Maximal prisoners in tow. Unfortunately, he and Depth Charge were captured by the planet's native inhabitants, and had to take the long way home. Heatwave fills them in on everything he can think of, and Depth Charge offers to help them hunt down Megatron and the others, having faced him once before. Waspinator, tired of fighting, wishes to meet Starscream and help him out, but when Spinaway informs him it'll take three days to get there, the tired Predacon groans.

After all, it's never the end.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"Stuck? No, no, no. You misunderstand. He can go back to any positive universe he wants. But that is exactly what he doesn’t want. You see there is balance in those universes, in the form of his brothers and sisters. He is alone here though since they’re reluctant to come this far… And he wants to go even further. You see he theorizes that there are more negative universes. And, well, I do believe he wants them."

— Beta Maxx

"The ultimate truth, the real truth is… that there is no truth. None whatsoever. Our existence is merely to have our names added to the historical ledgers. And as Optronix, my name wasn’t even a footnote. But as Optimus Prime, ruler of the Autobots and conqueror of worlds, I think I’ve done better."

"Why does this universe hate me so?"

— Doesn't matter what universe he's in, the universe will always hate Waspinator.

Notes

• Characters mentioned but not seen include: the Thirteen, the one thing that can stop the Fallen, Dr. Arkeville, the Witwickies, Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Soundwave, Blurr, "MegaPapytonLuvr0147725331", Triggerhappy, Slugslinger, Misfire, Blast Off, Walter Barnett, Ratchet, Hoist, Krunix, the Mayhem Suppression Squad, Stonecruncher, Excavator, Darkwind, Darkwind's brother, Boltax, Outback, Fastback, Gears, Brahms, a small-minded alien, the Constructicons, Primus, Ultra Magnus, Teletraan-14, Nexus Prime, Aquarius, Classics Megatron, the Sweeps, Megatron, Scorponok, Tarantulas, Scavenger, Quickstrike, Optimus Primal, Cheetor, Rattrap, Rhinox, Omega Terminus, the Mutants, Solarbot, the G1 GoBots, Takahasi-hakase, Rewind, Chromedome, Classics Prowl, Classics Silverbolt, Classics Ironhide, Shattered Glass Primus, Gaea, and Depth Charge's Megatron.

Continuity notes

• The very beginning of this story takes place at the end of the 2009 live-action movie, Revenge of the Fallen (or at least a version of it, according to author Jesse Wittenrich). The Fallen has "the most vile Decepticons at his command" (Megatron and his Decepticons) and "his hands were all but clasped on unlimited power" (from the Star Harvester in Egypt) However, the "one thing that could stop him" arrives (that being Optimus Prime, who was killed earlier in the film, because as the last descendant of the Dynasty of Primes, he was the only one who could kill the Fallen) and fought him, forcing the Fallen's spear through his skull and causing the Fallen to flee that realm—indicating that, as Prime ripped through the Fallen's body, the Fallen fled to another reality, leaving his old body behind to die.
• The majority of this story takes place in 2011, two years after the previous prose story, "Transhuman" (with Sephie now working as the Transhuman superhero Emulator) and the "Reunification" storyline (the Decepticons having made contact once more with the Decepticons on Cybertron, Megatron having been reborn as Galvatron, Alpha Trion having been defeated).
• Sephie split ways with the Decepticons in "Transhuman" to set out as a superhero on her own. Rick has joined her since then, serving as her sidekick. She was established to be the teaching assistant of Professor Arkeville in "Eye in the Sky".
• Sephie notes the Witwicky brothers refused to become Transhumans; they were seen as the Autobot's human allies in "Eye in the Sky" and "Transhuman".
• Sephie remembers how, before the Transformers came, the weirdest things on Earth were the giant monsters hidden beneath the Earth. These monsters, briefly mentioned in "Eye in the Sky", "Blitzwing Bop", and "Transhuman", are the Inhumanoids, the titular characters of a Hasbro toyline and a Sunbow cartoon adaptation.
• Emulator copied Soundwave's powers back in "Transhuman".
• Jetstorm, Side Burn, and Demolishor were all shown to be secretly working for the Underbase in the cliffhanger ending of "Transhuman".
• Huffer (not counting an appearance on Cybertron in "Reunification: Part 3", where several other characters like Big Daddy showed up, despite being on Earth) last appeared in "Dungeons & Dinobots". Prowl and Inferno both first made their debuts in fiction in "Familiar Reflections", which takes place after this story.
• Star Saber discovered Side Burn's true nature in "Transhuman". The story ended with Side Burn simply detaining Saber, but by the time of this story he's been killed.
• Tailgate last appeared in "Transhuman"; Brawn mentions how the Autobots finally managed to cut his habit of treating humans like pets, which he was shown to do with the Witwicky brothers in that story.
• Cyclonus assassinated Megatron in "Reunification: Part 4" at Alpha Trion's direction, only for the Decepticon leader to be revived by Nexus Prime as Galvatron in "Reunification: Part 6". The sixteenth installment of Transformers I.Q. noted that Galvatron would quickly pardon Cyclonus after being resurrected, and this story fills in-between his initial attempts to rededicate himself to the Decepticon cause (as mentioned in his 2010 toy's tech specs) and his later appearances as one of Galvatron's trusted lieutenants (as seen in "Solar Requiem" and "Another Light"). Cyclonus' profile in issue #29 of the Collectors' Club Magazine described how he didn't feel like he had any real purpose in the Decepticons, and how Alpha Trion's false promises lured him in, as this story recounts.
• The Annex makes its chronological debut here, after showing up in "Another Light", where it was mentioned that Blast Off was one of the ship's pilots.
• Starscream is reluctant to make more Transhumans, having previously been shown to disapprove of Sephie's "reckless actions" in "Transhuman".
• Sephie had been estranged by Jetstorm by the time of this story, after they were last seen preparing for another upgrade in "Transhuman". He's taken up residence in a desert now, as opposed to an abandoned automotive plant.
• Ratchet has been repaired since his head was nearly destroyed in "Transhuman". Hoist, meanwhile, was last mentioned in "Dungeons & Dinobots".
• Krunix has taken up counseling for Cyclonus, as mentioned in Cyclonus' toy's tech specs.
• Crasher's position as leader of the Mayhem Suppression Squad is mentioned several times in the story, as seen in "Dungeons & Dinobots".
• Stonecruncher and Excavator are credited with building the Annex; the two were seen as a pair in "Another Light". It's noted that they like to change their body designs frequently, explaining Stonecruncher's change in appearance from "Do Over" to "Another Light".
• Darkwind and Dreadwing, Decepticon comedian brothers, died back in the fifth installment of Around Cybertron, being executed in the Autobot's smelting pool.
• Jetfire makes his first appearance in the modern day setting of Shattered Glass, after appearing in flashback in "Invasion".
• Rodimus was shown to be coordinating with Alpha Trion in "Reunification: Part 3" and "Transhuman", the latter of which revealed that Side Burn had manipulated the Earth-based Autobot leader to join with the old Autobot.
• Boltax, the sovereign of the Underbase before Cybaxx, was mentioned back in "Do Over", having died after the Underbase "disappeared". Megatron was shown to be familiar with him in that story; Darkwing and Cyclonus both know of him, suggesting that the Decepticons in general had some sort of relation with him.
• Alpha Trion was last seen being blasted by Omega Doom in "Reunification: Part 5", but the next chapter noted that the Decepticons had reports indicating the old robot survived, and as such, he shows up here, having healed and been rebuilt in the intervening two years.
• Beta Maxx feels as though Cliffjumper should have explained to the Decepticons who the Fallen and the other members of the Thirteen were; Cliffjumper was surprised that he had to explain to them who Primus and Unicron were all the way back in the original "Shattered Glass" comic.
• Beta Maxx notes that the other members of the Thirteen are reluctant to go to negative polarity universes, something that Vector Prime previously expressed in the Facebook edition of Ask Vector Prime.
• Alpha Trion mentions how he absconded data from numerous universes while in Axiom Nexus; he was seen stranded there in the "Transcendent" storyline.
• The second epilogue serves to bridge the gap between the end of the prose story era of Shattered Glass with the latter material from "Invasion" and all that followed, with Prime revealing that he's seen that something is coming that will damage the multiverse, something he feels is connected to Ultra Magnus, his brother. He also mentions wanting an upgrade, which would eventually happen after being damaged in Sector 17 of the Mirtonian Quadrant, as revealed in his BotCon 2012 toy's tech specs.
• Drift's tech specs card (released with his toy in 2012) mentioned how he had been assigned by Prime to hunt down inter-dimensional intruders.
• The story of Optimus Prime's early days as Optronix the librarian were told in his BotCon 2008 toy's tech specs and the original "Shattered Glass" comic, where it was mentioned that an unknown event drove him mad, revealed here to be an encounter with the All-Knowledge.
• The final epilogue takes place after the events of "Another Light", with Optimus Prime reformatted by the benevolent Unicron into Nova Prime, the Shattered Glass Decepticons and Classics presiding over New Cybertron, which is the body of Primus and Unicron's long-lost sister Gaea, and the end of the war, with Rodimus and Megatron's forces still hiding out in space.
• The Shattered Glass Acolytes of Unicron first appeared in "The Future Buried...".
• Due to the effects of the Shroud (caused by Nexus Prime with the Star Saber and the Terminus Blade in "Out of the One, Many"), Nexus has been separated into his individual components once more in the Shattered Glass universe, with them being unable to remember their former lives beyond a vague feeling. Heatwave remains mostly the same, though he is now a lowly janitor, while the others have become Decepticons: Skyfall has become Skytop, Landquake has become Landfall, Breakaway has become Quakebreak, and Topspin has become Spinaway. They're are still capable of physically merging, but their minds apparently do not, causing them to argue with one another while in "combined" form. Aquarius, the Quintesson who traveled with Nexus across the multiverse to find the Star Saber components, has tried to inform them about their past, but mostly to no avail, though he did inform Heatwave of everything the Decepticon passed on to Depth Charge and Waspinator at the end.
• Depth Charge and Waspinator were last seen in the final "Beast Wars Shattered Glass", "Shattered Destiny", with a lot having happened to them since that story.
• Misinterpreting Depth Charge's activation code of "maximize" as a surname, Heatwave ask if it's related to the surname of Maximus. After explaining, Depth Charge notes how the activation code is related only in some universe. In the Beast Wars: Uprising prose story "Head Games", it was revealed the Maximals were descended from Fortress Maximus, Uprising being the (nominal) home universe of Depth Charge.
• The Predacons built a shuttle to return to Cybertron from the Graviton and the Talon, an Autobot and a Decepticon ship from the Classics universe which crash landed on prehistoric Shattered Glass Earth in "Shattered Time".
• Hoo-boy. The events, people, places, things, and more listed off by Heatwave to Waspinator and Depth Charge include:
  • The arrival of Cliffjumper into the Shattered Glass universe, and how the Decepticons thwarted the first launch attempt of the Ark in "Shattered Glass".
  • The Omega Terminus and its Mutant servants, from "Dungeons & Dinobots".
  • A battle in space between the Ark and the Nemesis, and how the Nemesis was shot down by the United States of America with a nuclear missile, from "Do Over".
  • Rodimus many betrayals of Optimus Prime, seen in "Do Over", "Restoration", and "Familiar Reflections".
  • O-Pods, first seen in "Eye in the Sky".
  • Sonic battles, presumably the one between Soundwave and Blaster seen in "Blitzwing Bop".
  • Sephie Beller and the Transhumans, from both "Transhuman" and this story.
  • Cyclonus' assassination of Megatron, from "Reunification: Part 4".
  • The reunification of the "original" Nexus Prime, from "Reunification: Part 5".
  • Megatron's revival as Galvatron, from "Reunification: Part 6".
  • Starscream becoming the commander of Decepticon City, hinted at in this story.
  • The Underbase, featured most prominently in this story.
  • Optimus Prime's upgrade, as mentioned in his BotCon 2012 toy's tech specs.
  • Ultra Magnus' invasion of the Classics Earth, the "Classicsverse" destruction, and Classics Earth being transported to the Shattered Glass universe, seen in "Invasion".
  • The arrival of Solarbot, seen in "Solar Requiem".
  • The attempt by the G1 GoBots to save their world, from the Spatiotemporal Challengers series of prose stories (which hadn't finished by the time this story was published).
  • Donnie's advancement of Robot Master technology with "Takahashi-hakase" This is Dr. Chifumi Takahashi ("hakase" is Japanese for doctor), a pilot from Diaclone who showed up in the sixth installment of Transformers I.Q., helping Aquarius out in Axiom Nexus. She wasn't named until Ask Vector Prime.
  • Rewind's theft of the Robot Master technology to revive Chromedome. Chromedome was mentioned as having been killed by Optimus Prime in "Dungeons & Dinobots", only to show up with Rewind in "Another Light".
  • Ultra Mammoth and his Maximals' fight with Megatron and his Predacons on the prehistoric Earth of Shattered Glass, from "Beast Wars Shattered Glass".
  • And many of elements from "Another Light", including the return of Nexus Prime, the end of multiversal singularities, the emergence of the heroic Unicron and the evil Primus, the awakening of Gaea, the Acolytes of Unicron, and Nova Prime's creation. It also mentions the return of Classics Megatron, who showed up on the final page of "The Future Buried...", and was mentioned as having set up operations in New Kaon in the "Of Masters and Mayhem" storyline's fourth chapter, "Divination", which he has since taken over.
• Depth Charge mentions how his universe's version of Megatron was offlined on the Ark, referring to the...unpopular origin of the Beast Wars: Uprising universe from the comic "A Change to the Agenda".

Transformers references

• As usual with Shattered Glass stories, nearly all of the new characters introduced are based on other toys, color schemes of other characters, or more esoteric choices.
  • Grindor, Sureshock, and Highwire are based on the version of the Street Action Mini-Con Team (Grindor, Sureshock, and High Wire) from Armada included with Sunstorm in the 2003 Universe toyline. Here, they're human criminals (Derek, Joe, and Shawn) who are turned into cyborg Transhumans by Side Burn. They start off as mostly organic, but are turned almost fully robotic by Side Burn over the course of the story. They head off with Side Burn at the end of the story, along with Sunstorm, obviously homaging the original toys they're based on.
  • Hubcap is directly repurposed from the Hunt for the Decepticons Hubcap toy. He's completely miserable and alienates everyone around him, unlike his charming positive-universe counterpart.
  • Triggerhappy and Misfire, mentioned by Starscream, join Slugslinger to complete the Shattered Glass counterparts of the 1987 Decepticon _targetmasters. According to Wittenrich, Triggerhappy is directly based on his positive-universe counterpart in the colors of Autobot _targetmaster Sureshot, while Misfire is based on his positive-universe counterpart in the colors of Kre-O Micro-Changer Misfire, who, for some reason, was given an Autobot insignia. Starscream mentions that Misfire is "modular" in construction, also in reference to the Kreon.
  • Blitzwing mentions that Walter Barnett (presumably as part of the United States government) wants the Decepticons to build their own Transhumans. Barnett's positive-universe counterpart appeared in the Marvel The Transformers counterpart, one of the agents of the Intelligence and Information Institute who supervised the Rapid Anti-robot Assault Team in fighting the Transformers.
  • As described in the story, Darkwing is a straight repurposing of Stormshot from the 2015 Robots in Disguise toyline. On the cover, however, Perez depicts him as having his positive-universe counterpart's body with Stormshot's colors.
  • Crasher has been upgraded from her appearance in the previous stories, now being based on Robots in Disguise Strongarm, with her head and face being depicted one the cover as being a recolored version of her GoBots counterpart's cartoon head—recognizable from both her alt-mode's description (a heavy cruiser) and the fact that Shattered Glass Strongarm is noted to have a similar body-form. Like her previous body, she is colored in white, the color in which GoBots Crasher's toy was originally released in, before the black and orange color scheme used by the cartoon was released.
  • Fangry and Squeezeplay are both based on Titan Master drones from the Generations Titans Return toyline. Fangry is based on the drone partner of Decepticon Fangry (his positive-universe counterpart) in the colors of Autobot Monsterbot Grotusque. Squeezeplay, meanwhile, is repurposed from Overboard's drone partner (redecoed from Crashbash, Squeezeplay's positive-universe counterpart).
  • Witternrich envisioned Hoist as a repurposing of BotCon 2015's Lift-Ticket, who was redecoed from Hoist's positive-universe counterpart's Generations Thrilling 30 toy in the colors of the Diaclone toy that became Hoist.
  • Bluestreak is repurposed from his positive-universe counterpart's Transformers Figure Subscription Service 5.0 toy, based on the coloration of the Diaclone toy that became Bluestreak.
  • Aside from Huffer and Star Saber, Side Burn's victims include: Pipes (repurposed from the IGA all-blue release of his positive-universe counterpart in Mexico, still using the original Huffer mold without the retools made for Pipes), Windcharger (repurposed from the purple/lavender Malignus Camaro from the Brazilian version of the original toyline, which was redecoed from Windcharger's positive-universe counterpart), and Fallback (the trademark friendly name for Outback that started seeing use with his BotCon 2005 toy, repurposed from the IGA version of Outback which, like Pipes, was a straight redeco of Brawn rather than a dedicated remolding). None of them are explicitly described in the story, but were confirmed after the fact by Wittenrich.
  • Donnie and Nestor are based on two characters from the Marvel The Transformers comic. Donnie is based on Donny Finkleberg, AKA the Robot-Master, a failed comics writer who was used by the government to hide the origin of the Transformers, by having him pretend to be the creator and controller of the robots. Nestor, meanwhile, is based on the Mechanic, AKA Nestor Forbes, who appeared in issues #26 and #28 of the comic, a small time car thief turned big time criminal when he stole tools from Ratchet. Their armored forms, meanwhile, follow the same pattern as Fangry and Squeezeplay, but are based on the Titan Masters instead of the drone partners: Fangry is linked with Donnie, and Nestor is linked with Squeezeplay.
  • Cybaxx is based on the Generations Combiner Wars Cybaxx toy, who was the small partner of Scrounge and with whom combined to form a shield for Computron; him serving with Boltax alongside Beta Maxx is, aside from the similarity of their names, a reference to how Cybaxx was designed as a toy for Boltax. He's based on the Movie Advanced Series Astrotrain toy which, like Cybaxx, was a redeco of Generations Thrilling 30 Payload. The translucent nature of the toy inspired this story's depiction of him as a hologram projected from the Underbase itself. This also references the positive-universe Boltax, who uploaded his mind to his Temple of Knowledge to store the Underbase within it.
  • Skids is repurposed from BotCon 2015's Burn Out, who was redecoed from Skids' positive-universe counterpart in the colors of the Diaclone toy that became Skids.
  • Aside from Fallback, there's two other Shattered Glass characters inspired by Outback. The first, named Outback, is repurposed from one of the Peruvian releases of the original Brawn toy in cream and green, by the Argentinian company Lynsa, according to Witternrich. The second, Fastback, is based on a character who died in IDW Publishing's Megatron Origin mini-series, seemingly having been drawn to be Outback, only to have apparently been changed at the last minute due to Outback showing up alive in events after the mini-series in Spotlight: Kup. According to Wittenrich, he's repurposed from the 2007 live-action movie toyline's Walmart-exclusive Crosshairs toy.
  • Gears, according to Wittenrich, is repurposed from the dark-wine-and-purple released of the Malignus Pick-Up in the Brazilian toyline, who was redecoed from Gears' positive-universe counterpart.
  • Several characters who appeared in the comedic SD SG comic strip published in the Collectors' Club magazine make the jump here as fellow minions of the Underbase. Windblade and Strongarm first appeared in the second installment, while Hot Shot made his debut in the third. Windblade is based on her positive-universe counterpart in the colors of Stocking, one of the protagonists from the 2010 anime Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt; Strongarm is based on her positive-universe counterpart in the colors of GoBots Crasher; and Hot Shot is repurposed from the cancelled 2004 Universe Smokescreen toy, which was redecoed from Hot Shot's positive-universe counterpart.
  • Alpha Trion has been upgraded into his positive-universe counterpart's Titans Return toy, spending most of the story in alternate mode. Unlike Titans Return Trion, he appears to have his own head in this story.
  • Skytop mentions how several Sweeps are working on prepping the Buoyancy for its return flight to New Cybertron; according to Witternich, since Shattered Glass Scourge is based on the BotCon 2009 Sweep toys, the Shattered Glass Sweeps would be based on the BotCon 2009 Scourge toy.
  • Rhinox, Cheetor, and Rattrap previously appeared in the sixth installment of SD SG; Rhinox was based on his positive-universe counterpart's Transmetal toy, in the colors of the infamously terrible promotional toy of Rhinox from Rally's and Checkers, based on said Transmetal toy; Cheetor was colored like the prototype version of Beast Wars Tigatron, seen at Toy Fair 1996, altered to be patterned after a cheetah rather than a tiger; and Rattrap was based on his positive-universe counterpart's Japanese exclusive redeco of his Transmetal toy, sold with a 500-piece Beast Wars Metals puzzle at Central Hobby. According to Wittenrich, Optimus Primal is repurposed from his positive-universe counterpart's Universe toy; Scavenger is directly repurposed from the Beast Wars Transmetal Scavenger toy, his positive-universe counterpart, taking the place of Inferno; and Quickstrike is based on Beast Wars Neo Colada in the colors of Quickstrike's counterpart.
• The New Energy Resource Research and Development Laboratory appeared in the Victory episode "The New Warrior - Hellbat". Its use in this story was inspired by the plots of several episodes of the original Sunbow The Transformers cartoon, where the Decepticon would raid human science labs for often ill-defined technology.
• Highwire originally used "Haywire" as his supervillain name (a name previously used by the _targetmaster partner of Generation 1 Blurr), until Emulator misheard it through his force shield as "Highwire", which stuck.
• Tailgate is given a makeover by Inferno, turning him into a repurposing of the 2015 Transformers Figure Subscription Service 3.0 Nightracer toy, which was itself redecoed from his positve universe counterpart's Generations Thrilling 30 toy.
• The description of Jetstorm's science lab is inspired by Megatron's throne room in Beast Machines.
• Upgrades Jetstorm lists off that he could give to Emulator all come from the Power Plans printed on the packaging of the original toyline's Action Masters. These include cranium regulation units (seen on the both Krok and the European-exclusive Action Master Charger's Power Plans), neuro-sync stabilizers (again from Charger), transonic beam sensors (Charger once more), positron relay fluxuators (from Sprocket's Power Plans), phototronic info gatherers (from Wheeljack and Rad's Power Plans), and cybordefinition translators (seen on multiple Power Plans, including those of Grimlock, Jazz, Rad, Rollout, Soundwave, and Treadshot).
• Jetstorm's ship is equipped with an artificial intelligence known as NAVI, the name of the Maximal and Predacon computers from the Japanese Beast Wars series.
• Fangry tries to point out to Demolishor that they passed the perimeter some mechanometers back while they are out on "patrol"; mechanometers are a unit of measurement, first used in the Sunbow The Transformers cartoon episode "City of Steel".
• Squeezeplay swears by the Pit, the Cybertronian version of Hell first mentioned in the Beast Wars cartoon.
• The Fallen's attendant, Sunstorm, is the Universe version of the character, released exclusively at Walmart in 2004. While he's not given an origin in this story, Wittenrich notes that he intended for him to be from a positive-universe, perhaps taken during a previous attempt to go out into the multiverse.
• The Fallen is constantly freezing, ice rapidly growing over him as a result of the negative polarity of the Shattered Glass universe, with limited mystical control over it. In the story he was originally introduced in, Dreamwave Productions' mini-series The Dark Ages, he was constantly on fire. The description of his form in the prose, noting his blue and purple coloration, seems to suggest that he was inspired by the Hunt for the Decepticons toy of the Fallen, although the illustration of him in the story is just that of his Revenge of the Fallen body in ice.
• Cyclonus remembers how Alpha Trion falsely claimed to be one of the original Transformers who inhabited Cybertron; starting with the "Aligned" incarnation of Alpha Trion, the character has been depicted as one of the Thirteen.
• Cyclonus has a "rigid grill structure" on his chest. This is a reference to a semi-popular meme back in the early days of the online fandom, where a strangely-rendered signature for the user "Dinobot" on alt.toys.transformers looked like it was crediting a quote from Tom Servo on the comedy series Mystery Science Theater 3000 to Beast Wars Dinobot ("Dinobot has Spoken. My rigid grill structure is bearing down on your unprotected cargo door."). This eventually got shortened to just the first seven words, and became an ongoing gag in the "World's Worst Fanfic" series of comedic stories.
• Stonecruncher and Excavator refer to themselves as the "Constructor Squad"; their positive-universe counterparts were members of the 6-bot Constructor Squad. They have written "Constructor Squad Rules!" on a plaque in Cybertronix, the written language with both Maximal and Predacon variants from the Beast Wars cartoon.
• Side Burn has energon pumps in his lab's stock of spare parts; energon pumps are a piece of Cybertronian anatomy mentioned in the original The Transformers cartoon episode "Sea Change".
• Side Burn has strung up his victims from the ceiling, much like Shockwave did to the Autobots in issue #5 of the Marvel The Transformers comics.
• Rick jokes that, were he to be turned into a cyborg, he could be called "Circuitsmasher". Circuit-Smasher was the identity taken up by Spike Witwicky after being revive by G.B. Blackrock in Regeneration One. His new powers and abilities were inspired by Emulator's positive-universe counterpart, the robot-hating superhuman Circuit Breaker.
• Jetstorm orders NAVI to start the ship with the command: "Voice code: Jetstorm. Afterburn"; "afterburn" is the activation code of Jetstorm's Beast Machines counterpart.
• Soundwave's positive-universe counterpart has always had the special ability of telepathy, but this is the first time the Shattered Glass incarnation of the character has been shown to have the power.
• Skids describes Jetstorm's ship as leaving Earth like "a petrorabbit forced from its vacu-chamber"; petro-rabbits were creatures originally mentioned in The Transformers: The Movie.
• Appearing physically for the first time, the Underbase is identical in appearance to that of the Marvel The Transformers version of the database: a massive gold structure in a lattice-based shape.
• Demolishor's modifications to his Transhuman components are referred to as "Robot Master technology", referencing both the alias of Donnie's positive-universe counterpart, and Headmasters, Transformers whose heads are formed by smaller partners, even bringing up the concept of binary bonding, which is how Headmasters are created in Western fiction. Donnie took his suit back to Earth with him to study it, again connecting it to the positive-universe Donny Finkleberg/Robot-Master. Rewind stole it to revive Chromedome, whose positive-universe counterpart was a Headmaster.
• The idea that the unique Transhuman fusion of organic and Cybertronian biomechanics is key to opening a portal to other dimensions appears to be derived from Regeneration One, IDW Publishing's continuation of the Marvel comic, in which Spike Witwicky was used by the Dark Matrix to achieve the same effect.
• While flying towards the Underbase, Cyclonus notes that Jetstorm's ship landed only a few megameters away. Since the real-life unit of measurement of megameters can span across countries, this is more likely in reference to megamiles, a unit of measurement briefly used in the first episode of the Sunbow The Transformers cartoon, "More than Meets the Eye, Part 1".
• Beta Maxx was the redeco of Cybertron Safeguard that came with the Timelines Alpha Trion toy (itself a redeco of Safeguard's larger partner, Vector Prime) sold at BotCon 2007, unnamed until an online profile was released later that year.. Versions of him from alternative universes have shown up in previous profiles and stories, but this is the first time the Shattered Glass incarnation of the character has shown up, not making any show in any of Alpha Trion's previous appearances. His personality in this story—the true sovereign of the Underbase, a seeker of knowledge—follows the personality ascribed to him in the aforementioned profile. His position as the sovereign of the Underbase is likely a nod to the Titan Master partner of Titans Return Alpha Trion, Sovereign, whose robot mode design was based on Beta Maxx.
• The Underbase's makeshift prison cell, a former library, is populated with Mini-Con custodian drones, wandering aimlessly about with nothing to catalog. Their description in this story matches that of the 2015 Robots in Disguise Mini-Con Fixit, and like him, they're scatterbrained, except moreso.
• One of the Mini-Cons, upon noticing Sephie and Rick, extends tubes in an attempt to directly interface with them, with the story describing how they slithered towards them like "pyrite-pythons locked onto a vapor-rat"; vapor-rats were originally mentioned in a post on the Club's Facebook page promoting BotCon 2014, Tornado - Decepticon Saboteur.
• As a cute nod, Beta Maxx refers to the Underbase as "marvelous", obviously after Marvel Comics, since it first appeared in the Marvel The Transformers comic.
• Strongarm compliments Crasher's paint job while pushing her to the gateway, referencing both how Crasher is based on Robots in Disguise Strongarm's body type, and how Strongarm is colored like GoBots Crasher.
• Hot Shot ends up in a version of the "Unicron Trilogy" continuity, spotting Armada Blurr (a silver and blue race car with red windows) and Jetfire (a space-based vehicle colored white, gray, and red).
• Beta Maxx tells the Decepticons and humans that the Thirteen are very important "lore" in positive universes, a little meta-joke about their role in-fiction, especially in the "Aligned" continuity, as super-important backstory characters who often aren't really seeing doing much as a group.
• Beta Maxx explains that Jetstorm, Demolishor, Hot Shot, Windblade, Strongarm, and Side Burn are in fact sentient probes, designed to mimic the lifeforms they study, only to wind up stuck in Cybertronian form. Their enhanced shapeshifting and healing abilities are due to their construction: they're made from "Transformium", the term given to the living metal that the Transformers bodies are composed of by Joshua Joyce (who Beta Maxx mentions as a "small-minded alien") and KSI in the 2014 live-action movie Age of Extinction.
• Some of the alien components include Shattered Glass versions of Beastformers characters; Beastformers was, in Japan, a spin off of The Headmasters, about cyborg humanoid animals, marketed in America as Battle Beasts by Hasbro, and unrelated to The Transformers. The first to appear is a Shattered Glass version of Snakebomb, recognizable from her description as a humanoid snake in armor. Shattered Glass Snakebomb is female, unlike her Decepticon-aligned positive-universe counterpart. Her uncle, Daburu, is a bit more involved. He is a Shattered Glass version of White Leo, the Autobot-aligned Beastformer leader, a humanoid white lion with a missing eye; his main difference is that he has black armor, rather than blue. His name, meanwhile, comes from the Titan Master partner of Titans Return Autobot Twinferno, who was designed as a homage to White Leo. Snakebomb notes she and her uncle hail from the planet Beest; the original Beastformers fiction identified the Beastformers home planet as "Beast", but it was spelled Beest as the result of a typo in the Dreamwave Productions 20th Anniversary Transformers Summer Special story, "Welcome to the Jungle". It's noted that they were the components made by Hot Shot.
• Demolishor lands in an alternate version of the Sunbow The Transformers cartoon episode "The Secret of Omega Supreme", where Crystal City (introduced in that episode) is attacked by a female incarnation of Devastator. While there, he encounters a small robot without much armor or a faction symbol; this is "Doc", a generic Cybertronian seen giving Omega Supreme an examination. When Devastator attacks, he reports that he's stuck in the middle of a "Combiner War", obviously in reference to the Combiner Wars toyline.
• The three-barreled rifle and energo-sword pulled out of the "lion's" mane by Cyclonus and Darkwing are the weapons of Titans Return Alpha Trion.
• Cyclonus wanting to switch weapons with Darkwing to get the energo-sword is probably in reference to his counterpart in IDW Publishing's then-current comic continuity, who was a swordsman.
• While describing himself to the Decepticons, the Fallen refers to himself as "the Undbinder" and as the "manipulator of the Well of All Sparks", referring to the Unbinding ritual from Dreamwave Productions mini-series The Dark Ages, which would open the Well of All Sparks and guide Unicron to Cybertron. He also brings up his desire to sow entropy throughout the multiverse; his function as a member of the Thirteen, according to various materials from Hasbro and the Collectors' Club, was to oversee the forces of entropy.
• The Fallen is transported to the Void, the nothingness left behind when Unicron consumes a universe, first seen in issue #74 of the Marvel The Transformers comic.
• Heatwave mentions how a roundup from Cheyne is backing up space traffic; Cheyne was a wild west based planet seen in issue #63 of the Marvel The Transformers comic.
• Among other duties, Heatwave's crew has been assigned to install the server racks for Teletraan-14, obviously following on from the idea of the Teletraan I computer from the Sunbow The Transformers cartoon.
• Breakaway's post-Shrouding name is Quakebreak, one of the options for names from the 2015 Fan Built Combiner poll for the Combiner Wars toyline, which lost to Victorion.
• Waspinator mentions how he took on his name after scanning his beast mode; most of the Maximals and Predacons in the Beast Wars cartoon renamed themselves after gaining their beast modes.
• Waspinator mentions how he and Depth Charge were captured by "native inhabitants" while the other Predacons left; his positive-universe counterpart stayed behind on Earth as the rest of the Maximals and Predacons headed off for Cybertron in the finale episode of the Beast Wars cartoon, "Nemesis Part 2".
• Rewind and Chromedome's relationship mirrors that of their counterparts from IDW Publishing's then-current comic continuity, who were conjunx endurae (essentially, married).
• New Kaon is named after both the polity introduced in the Dreamwave Productions The War Within mini-series, and the new home planet of the Decepticons seen in the IDW Publishing Animated comic, The Arrival.
• Waspinator's final line, as quoted above, is paraphrased from his positive-universe counterpart's lament in "Deep Metal": "Why universe hate Waspinator?"

Real-world references

• When Grindor mocks Emulator's "superhero costume", she makes a quip asking him if she should have worn black and silver pleather instead. The 1995 superhero film Batman Forever and its 1997 sequel, the critically and commercially unsuccessful Batman & Robin, were mainly responsible for the colorful costumes of superheroes as seen in comics being considered too "goofy" by the public. Following this, superhero films like 1998's Blade, and especially 2000's X-Men and 2005's Batman Begins, used more "realistic" outfits, often consisting of black leather. This would remain the case for most of the superhero films of the 2000s, with a few exceptions.
• Sephie remembers watching British and Australian science fiction television shows back in her freshmen year of college, referring to the likes of Britain's Doctor Who and Australia's Farscape; the former was (and still is) massively popular among teenage circles online.
• Sephie feels like her life has become an Arthur C. Clarke or Isaac Asimov novel. The English Clarke and the American Asimov were two of the "Big Three" of science fiction writers of the 20th century, along with Robert A. Heinlein.
• Emulator jokes that after practicing for a while with using her sound blasts to levitate watermelons, she didn't "Gallagher" a single one, in reference to American comedian Gallagher, whose act mostly consists of...him smashing watermelons. Yeah.
• Highwire's strange ability to create walls of force that can distort images on the other side was inspired by the technically limited effects of science-fiction shows from the 1960s, like Star Trek.
• In keeping with the story taking place in 2011, it's noted that touchscreens are a somewhat recent development, one that Sephie has embraced, while Rick is slow to come around to.
• Inferno's characterization in this story is, for some reason, inspired by comedy films in which adults who are taking care of young children begin acting like them; Wittenrich specifically mentioned 2003's Daddy Day Care, 1983's Mr. Mom, and 2005's The Pacifier as sources of inspiration. Bit of an odd one, that.
• Rodimus insultingly refers to Hubcap as "Dreary Delahaye", in reference to Delahaye, a former French car company which made luxury vehicles, similar to Hubcap's alternate mode. Transformers fans may be most familiar with them from a scene in 2011's Dark of the Moon, in which the film's human antagonist Dylan Gould is shown to have one in his car collection.
• Rodimus refers to Inferno as the Autobots' "favorite blaze buster"; the Blaze Buster was a fire engine from the Matchbox line of toy cars.
• Ravage argues with a user on Yatter named "MegaPapytonLuvr0147725331" (named for the fandom "ship name" between Undertale characters Papyrus and Mettaton; several of the numbers come from the zip code 14777, referring to relatives of Wittenrich's who lived in Randolph, New York) about the alternate dimension known as the "Upside Down" and the monster that lives there (the Demogorgon) from the popular 2016 Netflix sci-fi television show Stranger Things.
• When Crasher points randomly during her attempt to flirt with Darkwing, he flatly states that she's pointing at an EPS output; EPS stands for "electro-plasma system", a term from Star Trek that is used for the systems regulating energy distribution on spaceships.
• In this story, like his positive-universe Beast Machines counterpart, Jetstorm makes many references to pop culture. The first is uttered upon Emulator returning to him, exclaiming that "the prodigal babe returns!", referring to the parable of the Prodigal Son from the Bible. He also refers to her as "the bionic girl with the attitude" (referring to the 1970s science fiction television series The Bionic Woman) and as a "bitty botty Betty" (apparently in reference to the song "Itty Bitty Betty" by American rock and roll musician Eddie Cochran).
• While following Sephie in his van, Rick listens to the song "Nothing's Gonna Change My Clothes" by American alternative band They Might Be Giants, released on their debut album in 1986, seemingly as a nod to previous Shattered Glass writer Greg Sepelak, who is a fan of the band.
• While reflecting, Cyclonus notes how Alpha Trion had no desire to "make Cybertron great again". This is in reference to "Make America Great Again", the rabble-rousing presidential campaign slogan of Donald Trump who, at the time this story was written, was running for president. A bit harsher in hindsight.
• Darkwing jokes about having to intrude on Cyclonus's Fortress of Solitude while repairing the Annex, the Arctic headquarters of DC Comics' Superman.
• Jetstorm refers to Fangry and Squeezeplay as Demolishor's "pocket Monstercons", a combined reference to both Pokémon (which is short for "Pocket Monsters") and the Generation 1 Monsterbots.
• Crasher's cyberoscillation isn't properly revealed until later in the story. When it's first brought up, Cyclonus notes that she has something special with her brain, but is only able to get out the first syllable: "cy-". This, combined with being used as a component alongside the Transhuman cyborgs, makes it seem at first that she is a cyborg. Crasher's GoBots counterpart, like all GoBots, was a cyborg, an organic brain controlling a mechanical body.
• Nestor wishes to be a "super-human samurai cyborg", which is in reference to Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad, the Americanized version of the 1993 tokusatsu series Gridman the Hyper Agent. Funnily enough, a few years after this story, the 2018 Studio Trigger anime SSSS.Gridman (which was based on the original Gridman with elements of the Americanized version) would have much of the main cast's designs inspired by characters from Shattered Glass.
• The Constructor Squad replaced the warning klaxons on the Annex with lullabies from Earth. When struck by the solid light from the Underbase, a piece by 19th century German composer Johannes Brahms plays.
• When Cyclonus begins falling in the tilted Annex, Crasher puts out one of her "mighty arms" to catch him; one of the taglines for the GoBots toyline was "Mighty Robots, Mighty Vehicles".
• Windblade got Strongarm to collect her components by inventing a fake game, based on the popular mobile game Pokémon Go, involving catching small creatures, gyms and refresh spots, combat training, and stats.
• As the "lion" is about to melt the ice imprisoning the Decepticons, Sephie groans, hoping it doesn't roar to do so; in the 2005 fantasy film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (based on the novel by British writer C. S. Lewis), the heroic lion Aslan used his roar to free the prisoners of the White Witch, trapped in ice (as opposed to the book, where they were stuck in stone).
• Rick refers to the Fallen as an "abominable snow monster" in reference to the yeti-like monster from the 1964 Christmas television special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
• When Beta Maxx likens the Fallen to a god, Sephie jokes that the Norsemen would agree, presumably referring to the frost giants of Norse mythology.
• When Windblade is nearly forced to say goodbye to Strongarm, she compares herself to Hanzo and Strongarm to McCree, only for Strongarm to reveal that she's been playing as Zenyatta, and so Windblade compares herself to Genji. These are all characters from the then popular online multiplayer game Overwatch; additionally, concepts mentioned from the game include comp challenges and silver eliminations.
• The "lion's" mane stores weapons in some sort of pocket dimension. This is in homage to the character of Lion from the 2013 animated television series Steven Universe, a pet of the titular character who was a pink lion (naturally) and had a pocket dimension in his mane.
• The files accessed by Optimus Prime in his old library are labelled from file 91083MR to 2897G, referencing GoBots once more, which lasted from 1983 to 1987; the MR is in reference to Machine Robo, the Japanese Bandai toyline from which Tonka licensed most of the toys for GoBots.
• After making a crack about his motherboard lying to him about being special, the story states "Drift held his pose as if expecting some unseen audience to burst into laughter"; Shattered Glass Drift was based on Marvel Comics' Deadpool, who often breaks the fourth wall.
• Drift feels that Prime's story might be a bunch of "gnarlyhogwash", referencing the Narliehogs from the GoBots spin-off Rock Lords.
• When trying to think of alternatives of their janitorial duties, Landfall suggests that they could hunt Magiswords, referencing the 2015 online animated series Mighty Magiswords.
• The Buoyancy is located in Hanger 1653. 1653 is the year that the Taj Mahal, a mausoleum in India, is believed to have been completed, much like how this is the last Shattered Glass story published by Fun Publications.

Errors

• There's some inconsistencies in this story compared to the earlier Shattered Glass prose stories, to be expected with a different author. However, one that is an outright error is early on in the story, where the prose notes that Sephie and Rick are in San Diego. However, previous stories showed that California was destroyed in World War III. The story also uses the Californian colloquialism "May Gray" to describe the weather.
• Crasher notes that she has a seismic stomp, like her GoBots counterpart, but in previous stories, her seismic powers were depicted as being centered in her fists.

Other trivia

• According to a post by Jesse Wittenrich on the Allspark Forums, the story's original outline was different, with the Underbase sending out agents who would attract Unicron's attention. This was scrapped since the events of "Another Light" brought Unicron into Shattered Glass via other means. Likewise, the original ending would have had the post-Shroud Nexus Prime components meeting the Shattered Glass version of the Fallen, but Wittenrich felt it better to resolve Depth Charge's story.^[1]
• Wittenrich also stated the time skip was done to "smooth over" some of the inconsistencies without having to devote time on them.
• Early on in the story, Sephie recalls how Cliffjumper once said that the Earth of the Shattered Glass universe seemed five years ahead of his home universe's Earth, justifying some of the references to post-2011 technology and pop culture.
• Not strictly an error, but the Shattered Glass version of Arkeville is referred to as "Dr. Arkeville" like his positive-universe counterpart, whereas previous stories have referred to him as "Professor Arkeville" to distinguish him.
• Star Saber is consistently referred to simply as "Saber" in this story, the name of the smaller form of his positive-universe counterpart.
• Jetstorm is depicted in this story as being essentially the same character as his Beast Machines counterpart, whereas in "Transhuman", he was depicted as monotonous and emotionless. While this may seem like an error, author Jesse Wittenrich noted that he deliberately changed his personality, and had wanted to include a scene where Sephie noticed his change in behavior, but couldn't figure out a way to incorporate it organically.
• The "old friend" that Beta Maxx mentions as the inspiration behind hiding Alpha Trion as a mechanical lion, while never explicitly stated, was intended to be Optimus Prime, according to Wittenrich. This was meant as a connection between Prime taking faces as trophies (as seen in "Invasion", when he takes Ultra Magnus' face) and Alpha Trion's new form, based on a Titans Return toy whose head (and thus face) is formed by another.

References

External links

• "Coalescence" at The Official Transformers Collectors' Club