Out of the One, Many

« Another Light, Part Five » Shattered Glass
"Out of the One, Many"
Publisher	Fun Publications
Published in	Hasbro Transformers Collectors' Club #65
Writers	Jesse Wittenrich & Pete Sinclair
Pencils	Eryck Webb
Inks	Eryck Webb
Colors	Evan Gauntt
Letters	Jesse Wittenrich
Managing editor	Pete Sinclair
Continuity	Shattered Glass

The rules change.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

SG Autobots	Others
Ultra Magnus (2) Optimus Prime / Nova Prime (3) Brawn / X-Brawn (22) Prowl / Checkpoint (23) Inferno / Autotrooper (24) Ratchet / Autotrooper (25) Fortress Maximus (26) Rodimus (27) Rewind (28) Drift (29) Blaster (30)	The Fallen (1) Vector Prime (4) Nexus Prime (5) Unicron (6) Skyfall (7) Landquake (8) Heatwave (9) Breakaway (10) Topspin (11) Solus Prime (12) The remaining Multiversal Singularity Thirteen (13-21) Primus (31)

Notes

Continuity notes

• And so, the Multiversal singularity versions of the Thirteen, Primus, and Unicron (and any other singularities elsewhere) come to an end. These events were foreshadowed for several months prior to this issue in Ask Vector Prime, as the Guardian of Space and Time felt his memories changing, and ultimately left his position as an Axiom Nexus News columnist to attend to Nexus Prime's calling.
• The Thirteen of the multiverse appear together for arguably the first and the last time. Although thirteen figures are present when Nexus Prime brings the Star Saber and Terminus Blade together, not all are immediately recognizable. (Presumably the Thirteen present coincide with Ask Vector Prime's list of the multiversal Thirteen, also released by Fun Publications.) From left to right:
  • A pair of legs resembling SoundBlaster, i.e. Logos Prime.
  • Orange and blue robot with a face resembling the Autobot insignia. Autonomous Maximus, also known as the Last Autobot.
  • Vector Prime.
  • The bartender at Maccadam's, who might be Maccadam, who might be Alchemist Prime. Maybe.
  • A purple and feminine robot. Coloring is comparable to the hands of Solus Prime holding the Forge two panels above.
  • A winged, vaguely bird-like figure.
  • Nexus Prime.
  • A yellow and blue robot.
  • A gray robot reminiscent of the live-action movie version of Prima.
  • A blue-purple lion. The most beast-like of the Thirteen present, so arguably Onyx Prime.
  • A green and spiky robot with a Generation 1 Megatron-style helmet. Possibly Liege Maximo.
  • A yellow and black robot, with a spiked helmet.
  • The Fallen.

Transformers references

• The scene of Shattered Glass Optimus Prime and his troops being healed and reformatted by Unicron is a mirrorverse version of the scene of Generation 1 Megatron and his troops in The Transformers: The Movie. Instead of bad guys being healed to do more bad, though, this time it's bad guys being turned into good guys.
• Checkpoint is based on Energon Checkpoint, and X-Brawn on Robots in Disguise X-Brawn. Autotroopers have appeared in several franchises, but have their roots in the Kiss Players Autoroopers.

Real-world references

• The chapter's title is probably a reference to the Latin phrase "E pluribus unum", a motto of the United States of America which is traditionally translated as "out of many, one".

Other trivia

• So, turns out the 2015 Timelines Nova Prime figure is actually Shattered Glass Optimus Prime! Or is also Shattered Glass Optimus Prime, depending on how you want to look at it.
• Nova Prime's new companions, meanwhile, have designs based on Combiner Wars figures. Checkpoint uses the Offroad mold, with what looks to be the head of the upcoming Trailbreaker release. His Autotroopers share that mold, and sport what is very clearly a Hoist head. Given Hasbro's M.O. of late, it seems reasonable to assume that this might be a "pretooled" alternate head associated with the new Trailbreaker parts. X-Brawn sports the Rook mold, with a mouthplated head bearing some resemblance to Brawl. Another pretooled alternate head? Maybe!