Abduction

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I don't know, but I'll tell you where we're not.
"Abduction"
Publisher	3H Productions
First published	August 23, 2003
Story	Glen Hallit, Dan Khanna
Script	Simon Furman
Pencils	Dan Khanna
Inks	Serge LaPointe, Chuck Gibson, Terry Pallot
Colors	Hi-Fi Design, Blond, Dan Khanna
Lettering	Richard Starkings & Comicraft
Continuity	3H Beast Wars continuity

A group of Maximals and Autobots are abducted by Unicron into a multiverse-spanning conflict.

Synopsis

Somewhere in the depths of space, seven balls of glowing energy streak out of a void...

On the reformatted technorganic Cybertron, Rook reports on the return to Cybertron of some long-lost travelers. After some banter from Cheetor and Rattrap, the ship lands, and its passengers disembark: the long-absent Autobots Trailbreaker, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Shadow Striker, and Roulette. Sideswipe is shocked by the changes to Cybertron while Sunstreaker just basks in the adulation.

Without warning, what appear to be fireworks strike the five Autobots, as well as Blackarachnia and Silverbolt, and whisk them away, leaving a bewildered Rook behind. The seven abductees materialize in an unknown location. Blackarachnia notes that the place is crawling with evil...and a booming voice welcomes them to the Pit!

Within Cybertron, Primus and Alpha Trion confer on the Enemy's rising plans.

Back in the Pit, Silverbolt is painfully rebuilt into his original Fuzor body. Soon he is reunited with the others and sees that Sideswipe and Sunstreaker have likewise been recreated into new forms. The group travels across a thin bridge over a bubbling cauldron...from which emerge hordes of fiery demon-like creatures. Though the Transformers fight well, they are soon captured by the weight of numbers and brought into a nearby arena.

As the group is led into cages, Blackarachnia resists—and is promptly bashed into place by Tankor. The other watching generals explain: Obsidian is from an alternate Cybertron where he seized power. As for the Tigerhawk lookalike, know that he is Razorclaw, that his reality is not yours, and while he shares Tigerhawk's dual spark and Vok heritage...he is not he! Er, him. That is, he's not Tigerhawk.

Obsidian explains that they are here simply to fight and die. As an example, two Autobots who have already succumbed to the madness are turned loose on each other. After a fierce battle, Smokescreen is destroyed by Smokescreen, his Spark consumed by Unicron.

On Cybertron, Primus feels a part of himself devoured. He and Alpha Trion call forth their champion...the revived Optimus Primal!

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots/Maximals	Decepticons	Others
Rook (2) Cheetor (3) Rattrap (4) Buzz Saw (5) Silverbolt (6) Stampy (7) Quickstrike (8) Trailbreaker (9) Shadow Striker (10) Roulette (11) Sideswipe (12) Sunstreaker (13) Blackarachnia (14) Rockbuster (15) Drill Nuts (16) Tap-Out (18) Brawn (20) Grimlock (21) Alpha Trion (24) Snarl (25) Striker (29) Smokescreen (31) Smokescreen (32) Optimus Primal (33)	Megatron (19) Megatron (22) Razorclaw (26) Reptillion (27) Tankor (28) Obsidian (30)	Unicron (1) Primus (17) Star Saber (23)

Notes

• Characters mentioned but not seen include: Megatron and Tigerhawk.
• Characters mentioned in the profiles section but not seen include: Tigatron, Airazor, Perceptor, Optimus Prime, Megatron, and Sureshot.

Continuity notes

• This story takes place a year after end of Beast Machines. However, see Continuity Errors below for more.
• The Brawn who is abducted by Unicron is the Marvel Comics version, abducted during his fight with Megatron in G.I. Joe issue #142. Years later, the Facebook version of Ask Vector Prime would confirm this to be the case. Additionally, Tap-Out and Snarl appear, and their abduction would be later shown in "Wreckers: Finale Part II". Though, the profile for Snarl included at the end of this comic issue would state otherwise, describing Snarl's life on Cybertron during the year-long period set between the end of Beast Machines and this story. Meanwhile, Armada Megatron appears to be from some early point in the series, and would later confirmed to be from a version of the cartoon universe in Ask Vector Prime. Grimlock, meanwhile, is from some point in Dreamwave's War Within series.
• Striker's appearance here comes after his appearance in "Betrayal", where he and the other Dinobots were attacked by the Dweller. His abduction would be pseudo-canonically depicted in the unreleased full version of "The Wreckers: Finale Part 1".
• Alpha Trion is back in his body in this issue, after appearing only as a spirit in visions in 3H's The Wreckers comics.

Continuity errors

• The recap of the Beast Wars and Beast Machines cartoons' events on the inside-cover declares this story to take place a year after the conclusion of Beast Machines. Four pages later, it is stated by Rook that this story's events take place "one mega-cycle on from Primal's death and the reformatting." The thing is, one mega-cycle is approximately one hour, not a year. Rook ought to have said "one stellar cycle" instead.

Transformers references

• The ship that brings Trailbreaker and crew home is based off one of the Ark shuttlecraft, which was based off the Klingon "Bird of Prey"-type shuttles.
• Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, and Trailbreaker sport forms that blend their character models and original toys together, with elements like Sideswipe's jetpack and Trailbreaker's mouth mixed with the threes' actual toy weapons, decals, and Trailbreaker's red visor. Both Sunstreaker and Trailbreaker are capable of switching out their hands for their weapons, like their original toys.
• Among the crowd appears Beast Machines characters Buzzsaw and Quickstrike, Beast Wars II Drill Nuts, and Beast Wars Neo Rockbuster and Stampy.
• Rattrap mentions Maccadam's Old Oil House, introduced in the Marvel UK The Transformers comic.
• Rattrap now has the legs of his Beast Machines toy.
• All the members of the main cast that get abducted in this issue are reformmated into their Universe toy bodies, which the Heralds already possess.
• Optimus Primal's body has been made pre-downsizing Autobot sized, and next issue would have him gain his Ultra-class Universe coloration, presumably being the real-world reason behind his size upgrade.
• Roulette's bio makes reference to the IntraFormers Sharpshooting Competition, originally mentioned in Sureshot's full bio from the Marvel Comics The Transformers Universe series of profiles.

Real-world references

• Trailbreaker quips Unicron's interior was designed by Dante and Blake.

Other trivia

• This issue was originally set for release at OTFCC 2003, but was delayed instead. As a result, a short preview of this comic was included in the convention's program guide, while the full comic itself was not released until about a month later (see the release date above) via the OTFCC Online Store.
• Though an Autobot-sized, retro-colored Ultra ape Optimus Primal is brought out of the Matrix by Primus and Alpha Trion, the "foul radiation" of the Pit later changes him, leaving him "forever stamped 'unclean'"—and also in his Universe colors.
• Trailbreaker is the only one of the seven featured abductees to not gain a new body or color scheme. This is because there was originally meant to be a Universe redeco of Robots in Disguise X-Brawn to go with the redecos of Side Burn as Roulette and Shadow Striker and Prowl as Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. However, those plans fell through, and the X-Brawn redeco ended up being Ratchet. So Trailbreaker gets to keep his configuration. After all, why mess with success?
• It's not super noticeable at first glance, but much like Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, Roulette and Shadow Striker have different designs prior to being reformatted by Unicron; both have different details on their torsos and shoulders, and most prominently, Roulette has the panels forming the hood of her car mode on her back, while Shadow Striker has her car mode's windshield as back kibble. See the images at right for comparison.

Covers (4)

• Regular cover: Dan Khanna's wrap-around cover in final, corrected colors.
• Variant cover: Decrepit Unicron, by James Raiz.
• Second printing cover: The original regular cover in preliminary, uncorrected colors.
• FX Show 2004 exclusive cover: The second printing cover with the Transformers: Universe and FX Show logos in red foil.

• 
  I'm brown, red, and green like I'm supposed to be!
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  My ring placement is awkward for eating.
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  Finally, less correct!
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  Red foil will not scan.