Shattered Glass (issue)

The name or term "Shattered Glass" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Shattered Glass (disambiguation).

« Transformers Timelines Vol.2 #3 » « Shattered Glass »
Transformers stand and point a lot in the mirrorverse, too.
"Shattered Glass"
Publisher	Fun Publications
First published	April 24, 2008 (BotCon 2008)
Cover date	Spring 2008
Story	Pete Sinclair and Benson Yee
Writer	Benson Yee
Pencils	Don Figueroa
Inks	Don Figueroa
Colors	Espen Grundetjern
Letters	Jesse Wittenrich
Managing editor	Pete Sinclair
Editor-in-chief	Brian Savage
Continuity	Shattered Glass
Chronology	Current era (2008)

Decepticons wage their battle to destroy the evil forces of... the Autobots?

Synopsis

Cliffjumper is spat forth from a portal, separated from the party he was traveling with. When he regains his senses, he is surprised to find himself below the surface level Cybertron. Suddenly, a Decepticon jumps onto Cliffjumper, apologizing profusely and promising not to say anything until several blasts rip though his chest, killing the Decepticon. Rodimus, Cliffjumper's "savior", greets Cliffjumper, having thought the small Autobot had been killed three stellar cycles ago. Cliffjumper is confused, having only just seen him a few hours ago, along with the sportscar's new paint job and facial hair. Rodimus ignores Cliffjumper's confusion, and escorts him back to topside. Back at Iacon, Optimus Prime is elated to see his old friend, and takes him to show the new additions he's made to the headquarters. Cliffjumper is shocked when he sees Decepticon corpses decorating the hallways, but is even more horrified when Prime leads him to the smelting pool. There, Goldbug holds a mock trial for Rumble, but is interrupted by Cliffjumper. Prime assumes that his "friend" is angry that he has not been given the honor of executing prisoners, and gives Cliffjumper control. Cliffjumper, however, proceeds to protest that while he may hate Decepticons, he believes that they should not be killed for entertainment, as it stands against Autobot morals. Prime quickly turns around and blasts the diminutive Autobot. Prime orders the still living Cliffjumper to be dropped into the Rad Zone, stating that if he comes back in one piece, then maybe he will be worthy to wear the Autobot symbol.

In the Rad Zone, Cliffjumper's damaged body is found by the Constructicons. Cliffjumper listens Megatron orders them to bring him back to base, and falls unconscious as the Constructicons put him in stasis lock. After being repaired, Cliffjumper awakens. Assuming that he's been brought to a Decepticon death-camp, Cliffjumper pushes the medics out of the way and tries to escape, running straight into Megatron's leg. Looking up, Cliffjumper recognizes the Decepticon with Megatron as Sideswipe, and demands for an explanation. Megatron wants to have Shockwave check on Cliffjumper's memory circuits, but Sideswipe requests some time with the Autobot alone. Megatron grants this, and goes off to plan for an attack on the Autobot ship, the Ark. Sideswipe explains to the Autobot that he knows he is not Cliffjumper everyone knew, having witnessed Cliffjumper's death himself. Additionally, while the Constructicons were repairing him, the scans they took indicated that radiation readings indicated from the portal were backwards, and that his ember was composed of positrons instead of electrons. Coming to the conclusion that Cliffjumper is from an alternate universe, Sideswipe proceeds to give Cliffjumper a history lesson. Cybertron was once at peace, populated by a race that sought peace and harmony. However, one librarian by the name of Optronix was unsatisfied with his position. Backstabbing his way to the top, he began to preach violence and conquest, gaining a loyal following in the process. Optronix had his army, now named the Autobots, upgraded with weapons and enhancements, and proceeded to conquer city after city. Optronix, having renamed himself Optimus Prime, began to desire more and more knowledge, until one day he learned something that made him snap, turning him from cool and calculating to vicious and erratic. Meanwhile, resistance pockets had sprung up across the planet, but were mostly ineffectual until they united as the Decepticons under Megatron. Megatron utilized technology to allow for Cybertronians to transform into vehicles, using their new found powers to take several strongholds back from the Autobots. Prime, however, soon copied the technology for the Autobot's use as well, and without the advantage of transformation, the Decepticons began to falter. Cliffjumper is still unsure, but after the last week of dimension hoppers and alternate realities, he sees that their is at least some truth to the story. Cliffjumper then asks Sideswipe why he's on the side of the Decepticon's, even with the giant scarred Autobot symbol on his chest. Sideswipe explains that when he saw Prime's concern was only for himself, he was ambushed and left for dead by the Autobots. Joining up with the Decepticons for revenge, he know wears the Autobot symbol as a badge of honor. Cliffjumper still isn't sure who to trust, but decides that being here is better than the alternative.

At Autobot headquarters, Optimus Prime engages with holographc auto-combatants while Blurr gives him updates on the Ark. With more plasma blasters installed, and 20 Autobots already onboard, Prime wants even more troops onboard. Blurr is concerned about the platform's structural integrity, the extra weight of the weapons increasing the load. Prime shrugs off his concerns, telling him that they only need the platform up until they launch, and that even if Megatron comes, the Decepticons won't have enough numbers to stop him. Goldbug tells prime that the "Old One" would have never approved of this plan. Prime scolds Goldbug, telling him that his former teach is no longer relevant and that victory is soon at hand. In the Decepticon's war room, Starscream reports on the additions to the Ark. Megatron is frustrated, since their original plan of head on attack will no longer work. When Cliffjumper walks

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Decepticons	Autobots	Others
Ruckus (2) Clench (corpse, 6) Skyquake (corpse, 7) Krok (corpse, 8) Black Shadow (corpse, 9) Rumble (10) Long Haul (16) Scrapper (17) Hook (18) Diagnostic Drone (19) Sideswipe (20) Megatron (21) Soundwave (23) Razorclaw (24) Rampage (25) Reflector (26) Starscream (27) Cyclonus (28) Divebomb (29) Whisper (33) Heatwave (34) Laserbeak (35) Slugslinger (36) Buzzsaw (37) Quake (38) Frenzy (39)	Rodimus (3) Perceptor (4) Optimus Prime (5) Grimlock (11) Goldbug (12) Ricochet (13) Blurr (14) Jazz (15) Sunstreaker (22) Dropshot (30) Leader-1 (31) Fitor (32) Nightbeat (40)	Cliffjumper (1)

Quotes

"Oh, so unwise..."

—Optimus Prime emulating Megatron.

Sideswipe: "You're not him. You look just like him, except for the colors. It's like seeing a ghost."
Cliffjumper: "Look, Sideswipe, or whoever you are, I'm tired of being shocked, confused, and generally angry here. Tell me what you are talking about or so help me I will beat it out of you!"
Sideswipe: "Heh, you even talk like him."

—Even mirrorverse Cliffjumper shares a mold with a Bumblebee.

Cliffjumper: "So, you're telling me that Megatron's a good guy and Optimus Prime is loonier than Straxus? Last week, I'd have told ya that you had a cracked cylinder. But... I've seen some crazy things lately. Dimension hopping, time travel, alternate realities... what I wouldn't give for a simple war with good guys and bad guys!"
Sideswipe: "Straxus is insane where you come from? Pity, I always liked his poetry..."

—Poetry? Hate to see what their Sky-Byte is like.

Optimus Prime: "Seekers, Transform and Roll out!"
Rodimus: "15 points for the tapes, 25 points for the rest, loser buys the fuel! Game on!"

—Even when everything's the opposite, some things remain constant.

Notes

• This was Figueroa's first Transformers work since his hiatus.

Errors

• Cliffjumper, though portrayed as such in the story immediately prior, is not in his actual Classics color scheme. The silver highlights of his car deco was dropped by the colorist for no reason.

Transformers references

• Iacon is modeled after its appearance in the The Transformers cartoon. There's even a line of Soundwave-lampposts in front of the dome!
• Speaking of Soundwave, though most of the crowd-fillers were redecoed versions of previous characters, "Shattered Glass" Soundwave exists as a toy—the "Sonic White" version of MP3 Soundwave. Quite a few of those got sold on that BotCon weekend.
• "Shattered Glass" Perceptor exists as a toy, too—Generation 1 Perceptor in his original pre-Transformers Microman colors. The repurposing trend these two characters started would be merrily carried on in subsequent fiction.
• There's a Diagnostic Drone helping Hook and Scrapper fix Cliffjumper. Amusingly, it's wearing a little nurse's cap.
• Sideswipe's history of "Shattered" Cybertron closely mirrors (so to speak) the version told in the very first Transformers story, and even Optimus Prime's initial rallying cry to his troops is an homage to Generation 1 Megatron's in that issue. However, Optimus Prime's early name, Optronix, and his profession as an archivist, are references to Dreamwave's The War Within.
• Reflector's character model is based on Spy Shot 6. Both of them transform into cameras.
• Shattered Glass Shockwave is mentioned, as a mental health professional.
• Shattered Glass Nightbeat, BotCon 2008's customization class figure, appears briefly at the Ark launch.
• Sideswipe's reasons for changing sides are the same as Armada Wheeljack, whose toy mold he shares.

Real-world references

• Cliffjumper mutters "Ponderous, slaggin' ponderous" after Sideswipe tells his tale is part of a semi-elaborate convention callback. There is an infamous set of outtakes of Casey Kasem (the original voice actor for Cliffjumper) having... well, violent meltdowns while recording American Top 40 ("Ponderous, f***in' ponderous, man."). Clips of these outtakes were edited with footage of Cliffjumper attempting to sniper-shot Megatron from "More than Meets the Eye, Part 1" for the closing credits of MSTF at OTFCC 2004.

Shouldn't Fitor be colored like Path Finder or something?

• Artist Don Figueroa started a trend in his early Dreamwave days by killing off cameos of GoBots Cy-Kill. Suitably enough, in this mirrorverse tale, an evil Leader-1 (in Cy-Kill colors) is cannon fodder. Oddly enough, though, a fist looking like that of Cy-Kill's is one of those raised in support of Optimus Prime's revolution.
• Jazz blurts out "I ain't gettin' bombed by no plane!", a reference to the oft-repeated mantra of B.A. Baracus (played by Mr. T) from The A-Team; "I ain't gettin' on no plane!".

Diamond Edition extras

• More than Meets the Eye-style bios of Rodimus and Starscream.
• A reprint of "Shattered Expectations".

Covers (2)

• BotCon Convention cover: Evil Autobots Goldbug, Rodimus, and Blurr by Dan Khanna (pencils).
• Wide release cover: Megatron leads the heroic Decepticons in an attack against Optimus.

• 
  Exclusive cover
• 
  Retail cover

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