Orbital jump

DOWN TO EARTH—LITERALLY!

An orbital jump is a type of teleportation, typically used by Transformers to travel from an orbiting starship to a planet's surface and back. A variant, the orbital bounce, sends the traveler from one point on the planet's surface to another, presumably "bouncing" off the orbiting starship in transit. Orbital bounces over short distances aren't entirely accurate.

The teleporting subject typically appears in a blaze of light, accompanied by a beam of light descending from the sky and retracting once the teleport is complete. It also sometimes appears as an energy portal. Nightbeat says of this mode of travel: "not the nicest way to travel... but it gets you down fast, slips you past any kind of local sensor network." Despite its name, the technology still works when the transporting starship is on the planet's surface, even if it is buried under hundreds of feet of water or ice.

The subject Transformer arrives in primary mode, even when doing so risks breaking cover or exposure to dangerous radiation, perhaps indicating that the technology has certain limitations. The process is highly traumatic and potentially lethal to humans, and possibly to facsimile constructs as well. Super-powered humans just get shaken up a bit.

Fiction

2005 IDW continuity

Thousands of years ago, the Dynobots tracked Shockwave to prehistoric Earth as he worked on his Regenesis project. The team adapted their forms to have beast modes with a protective outer coating to defend against the planet's raw energon radiation. However, despite the need for this protection, when the newly created Dinobots jumped to Earth's surface to face off against Shockwave, they arrived in robot mode. Spotlight: Shockwave

Megatron travelled from an abandoned Decepticon bunker in Nebraska to Starscream's Siege Mode base in Oregon via orbital bounce. Prior to his arrival, Bumblebee detected "a buildup of charged anti-protons" presaging the bounce. Infiltration #6

Nightbeat "jumped" from his orbiting spaceship to the surface of Gorlam Prime. Despite the need for stealth, he arrived in robot mode. Spotlight: Nightbeat

When the Autobots on Earth deployed to Brasnya, they traveled via orbital bounce. Of note, the teleporting ship, Ark-19, was parked at the bottom of Lake Michigan at the time. The Autobots arrived in robot mode, but immediately transformed to their Earthly disguises. Infiltration #4

they're right behind me aren't they

Jazz, Bumblebee, and Wolverine used an orbital bounce to sneak in to the Decepticons' base in Latveria. Since it was a short bounce, it got them close to the target, but they still had to find their way. Prowl, Ratchet, and Spider-Man later used it to bounce out of the base and into the battle outside. Later, having their evil scheme thwarted, the Decepticons escaped using an emergency warp-out. Man and Machine, Part Four

An orbital jump may have been responsible for the Autobots' loss of the Georgi Koska facsimile construct shortly thereafter; Hot Rod transported the captured facsimile to the Ark-32 via orbital bounce, but the clone, wounded by shrapnel, expired by the time it reached the ship. Escalation #6

An orbital jump saved Earth's Autobots from the wrath of Sixshot. Setting up a remote control link to Ark-32, Nightbeat transported all of the team away via orbital jump, leaving only Optimus Prime behind to battle Sixshot to the finish. When Sixshot withdrew to deal with other problems, Prime ordered Nightbeat to clear him out via orbital jump, seconds before the Air Force carpet-bombed the battle site. Though Verity Carlo and Jimmy Pink did not survive the jump, Ratchet was able to successfully revive them shortly thereafter. Devastation #4

An orbital bounce allowed the recently revived Grimlock to escape from the (literal) clutches of Scorponok; the damaged and weaponless Dinobot leader teleported away from a losing battle to have a chance at finding his lost teammates. This jump was of particular note since Grimlock had no clue if his ship, the Skyfire, even still existed. Despite being buried in ice below the planet's surface, the technology still worked, transporting him to the vessel. Unusually, he was able to make the jump while in his alternate mode.Spotlight: Grimlock

Yet again, the orbital jump technology saved the crew of the Autobot vessel Mirror-Manifold; the Technobots teleported four Autobots out of the damaged ship mere seconds before it was obliterated by Cyclonus. Spotlight: Sideswipe

The Autobots eventually developed technology to prevent orbital jumps taking them out of the War with the deflectors becoming a standard on all Autobot missions. Full Fathom Five

During Megatron's trial, the Seacons attempted to evacuate their leader via orbital bounce. Predestination: A Beginner's Guide

Even after the War's end, the deflectors were still utilized leading the crew of the Ark-7 to conclude that Galvatron had found some way of applying Skywarp's powers to his whole crew. Full Fathom Five

After seeing the M.A.S.S. Device in action, Optimus compared it to the orbital jumps and commented that humans having such technology did not bode well. Sgt. Savage agreed. Ghost in the Machine

The Ark-Zero was equipped with orbital jump technology which continued to function in spite of the space bridge counter-frequency that Emissary was broadcasting, though Optimus Prime noted that they were insufficient to evacuate billions of Elonians. Our Darkest When Unicron arrived at Cybertron, Elita One had Obsidian orbital bounce her and the Torchbearers up to Carcer. Our Finest

TransTech

The TransTechs picked up orbital bounce technology from an Offworlder via Swindle, Swindle and Swindle for the final leg of Vector Prime's journey to Nebulos as Nebulan society was hostile to Cybertronians. Ask Vector Prime, 2015/11/09

Games

Transformers: Earth Wars

Prowl stated that Wheeljack would outfit Kup with an Orbital Bounce relay for the mission to the Decepticon Moonbase. Moonbase

See also

• Space bridge