Timestorm

Well, that's one way to wipe the slate clean.

A timestorm can trigger when a universe’s chronology is disrupted or otherwise altered by time travel. Those who are directly affected negatively by the changes in time within a timestorm experience agonizing pain and shifting physical appearances as they phase in and out of existence, as a result of different outcomes in the timeline shifting.

Visually, a timestorm appears as bright, blue and white light patterns moving erratically in the air, accompanied by lightning, to those within it. When viewed from outside, it begins as a cyclone-like shape, widest from its point of origin and stretching upwards. When it has reached a substantial size, a large energy "whirlpool" erupts from the point of origin, spreading quickly throughout the cosmos. It is possible to avert a timestorm by taking the correct steps to force history back onto its pre-ordained course; left unchecked, however, a timestorm can cause drastic alterations to the fabric of reality, or simply rip the universe apart.

Fiction

Beast Wars cartoon

When Megatron attempted to terminate the stasis-locked Optimus Prime in a gambit to change history in favor of the Decepticons and their descendants, the Predacons, a timestorm was formed. With Prime's severely damaged head as its origin point, the storm spread exponentially, spreading all the way to Jupiter and beyond. The Agenda (Part III) However, Megatron's plans were thwarted by the combined efforts of the Maximals and Blackarachnia, and when Optimus Prime was put on auxiliary life support, the timestorm stabilized. Although no longer a roaring vortex of doom, reality was nonetheless in flux, and the Maximals faded in and out of existence while the course of the future was still uncertain. Once Optimus Prime was fully repaired and returned to stasis lock, the timestorm finally dissipated. Optimal Situation However, the Vok took notice of the storm's occurrence and sent Tigerhawk to eliminate Megatron's interference in the past once and for all. Upon hearing Tarantulas' plan to destroy the Ark, Tigerhawk warned him that the subsequent timestorm would wipe out the entire Cybertronian race. Other Victories

3H comics

The effects of Megatron's timestorm were felt across the ages, alerting the mighty Chronarchitect to an impending doom that he relayed to Primus's original creations, the Covenant. The Covenant searched the timeline for a temporal event of such magnitude, unaware of its origins, but suspicious of its possible ties to a forthcoming fated battle called Point Omega. Covenant In the far future of an alternate timeline wherein the timestorm never happened, the storm's effects were also felt by Predacon warlord named Shokaract, who sensed that a great unraveling had begun to threaten his very existence. Herald Schism

Not long after Megatron's upgrade into his dragon form, it was discovered that the Dark Essence of Unicron had been displaced from his destruction in 2005 and landed in a cavern on prehistoric Earth. However, Megatron's previous attempt to kill Optimus Prime had torn open a time rift above the Dark Essence which threatened to pull it back into the timestream. This created a time paradox which was the very thing that threatened to erase Shokaract's future. To ensure his own existence, Shokaract took action and eventually came to prehistoric Earth himself. Paradox But the rift hanging over the Dark Essence had become so unstable that it created a second timestorm, heralding the onset of Point Omega.

As the battle raged on, the timestorm brought in more Beast Warriors from other realities to do battle with Shokaract. Megatron, meanwhile, ventured into the very heart of the storm, where he found the Dark Essence and used its vulnerability to bargain with Shokaract. The future tyrant was no fool, however, and used the future Dark Essence within himself to anchor the past Dark Essence to its resting place, so that his younger self in the future would later come to find it and become Shokaract. However, Shokaract was ultimately felled by the Covenant entering his Matrix of Conquest to sever the connection between the two Dark Essences, allowing the Dark Essence of the past to be pulled into the time rift and removed from history, Terminus bringing Point Omega, and its timestorm, to an end.

In the aftermath, Shokaract was destroyed and his alternate timeline was erased from existence. As all time-displaced warriors returned from whence they came, those left behind at the epicenter of the storm's finishing timequake (e.g. - Optimus Primal, Megatron, and their respective teammates) lost their memories of the whole ordeal. Departure

Ask Vector Prime

The Minion of Unicron general Razorclaw originated in a splinter timeline of Primax 496.22 Alpha where Predacon leader Megatron absorbed his namesake's spark into his own, causing a timestorm that ultimately erased the past, present, and future of that reality. Ask Vector Prime, 2015/08/07

Vector Prime referred to the time rift of Primax 984.20 Gamma as a timestorm. Ask Vector Prime, 2015/06/01

Unite Warriors

When the Commandos served Unicron in 2021, the initial success of their plan on Cybertron threatened to erase the Commandos in a mild version of the timestorm effect (as Unicron's actions afterward would have erased the future that produced the Commandos). Mega-Octane resolved to not allow that to happen and the team combined into Ruination to fight against the evil god. To pacify his supposed underling, Unicron brought in Grand Scourge to pretend to be Scourge. Ruination Chapter, Part One Grand Scourge convinced Ruination to return to Unicron's side, restarting the small timestorm around the combiner. Ruination got wise to the fact that it wasn't affecting "Scourge" as well, giving the real Scourge an opportunity to blast his imposter and end the timestorm. Ruination Chapter, Part Two

See also

• Time rift