Detroit

I'm gonna take the HIGHWAY to... the DANGER ZONE!!!

Detroit, Michigan is a city in the United States of America. It is located near Lake Erie.

Fiction

Animated cartoon

Detroit was once the "Motor City", the automobile manufacturing capital of the world. By the 22nd Century, Detroit had once again become a leading manufacturing hub—for robots. As for what happened to the city between those two periods, well, who knows?

The city's robotics industry was led by (and may have consisted solely of) the Sumdac Systems corporation. Most of the competition proved less than inspiring. This reliance on a single, monolithic industry is certain to provide economic stability for all time.

The city had a newly unveiled mass transit system, sponsored by Sumdac Systems, the Fully Automated Rapid Transit System, or FARTS. Real mature, Isaac, real mature.

The city then became home to a team of five robotic superheroes, the Autobots. Having crashed aboard their ship some fifty years earlier in Lake Erie, they awoke and appointed themselves guardians and defenders of the city's Humanity. When one of their old foes showed up in town, they ended up trashing a fair bit of the city. Not to be deterred, they worked hard to help rebuild it. Naturally, this involved hitting things with an ax. The Autobots made their home in an abandoned, early 20th-century factory. Transform and Roll Out!

Just an average day in Detroit. That's the price you pay for letting Transformers live there.

Poor Detroit continued to suffer a great deal of robot-inflicted calamities after that. Among their troubles were robots flinging flaming fuel tanks into the air Home Is Where the Spark Is, robots smashing an entire parking lot full of cars Blast from the Past, robots getting thrown through the roof of the local sports arena Total Meltdown, robots inducing rolling electrical blackouts across the city Thrill of the Hunt, robots disguised as rocket-powered cars crashing into things Nanosec, robots sucking the life force from the city's population Along Came a Spider, robots sparking a massive automaton rebellion Sound and Fury, robots obliterating construction sites while flat-out trying to kill one another Lost and Found, robots kidnapping young children from their homes Survival of the Fittest, robots unable to stop the destruction of the city without destroying half of it Headmaster, robots blasting holes in major downtown skyscrapers Megatron Rising - Part I, robots destroying downtown buildings and bridges while trying to kill each other Megatron Rising - Part II, good robots driving over cars in the street The Elite Guard Return of the Headmaster, evil robots threatening to bomb passenger trains Mission Accomplished, robots dumping garbage all over the city before threatening to destroy it with super-powered nanobots, Garbage In, Garbage Out, robots destroying overpasses and stealing construction materials Rise of the Constructicons, robots shutting down every other mechanical device in the city SUV: Society of Ultimate Villainy, robots rampaging through the city while trying to find devices Black Friday, and robots raiding motor supply stores and destroying cars stuck in traffic jams Sari, No One's Home.

To be fair, Detroit has also suffered at the hands of its own human population. These include humans with fancy weapons attempting to rob armored cars Home Is Where the Spark Is Garbage In, Garbage Out, humans going on steroid-induced rampages Total Meltdown, humans risking city-destroying explosions by stealing incredibly volatile substances Nanosec, humans waging violent crusades against war toys Sound and Fury, humans attempting to detonate nuclear reactors in blatant attempts to destroy the city Headmaster, humans organizing illegal street races without regard for the safety of other drivers and pedestrians Velocity, and human crime syndicates stealing various pieces of equipment for nefarious purposes SUV: Society of Ultimate Villainy.

You wouldn't want to be its mayor.

Notable locations

"Tonight's skies are fairly cloudy, with a 50% chance of falling spacecraft..."

Actual Detroit landmarks featured in Transformers Animated include:

• Hazen S. Pingree (where Prowl gets birdpooped on) Transform and Roll Out!

• Wayne County Building -- Optimus and Sentinel hold a press conference in front of this prominent downtown landmark. Return of the Headmaster

• GM Renaissance Center -- briefly visible as the Autobots start their press conference. Return of the Headmaster

• Michigan Central Station (where Isaac Sumdac reveals his new train) Transform and Roll Out!

• Though the details don't match any exact building, the abandoned factory used by the Autobots resembles such early automobile manufacturing plants as the Highland Park Ford Plant (where the assembly line was first implemented) and the abandoned Packard Plant. Transform and Roll Out!

• Interstate 94 -- the main US Interstate highway westbound from Detroit to Chicago. One of its marker signs adorns the interior of the Autobots' headquarters. Total Meltdown

• Lake Erie -- one of the Great Lakes; its northwest shore lies just south of the city.

• Comerica Tower -- briefly seen in sweeps of the city Transform and Roll Out! SUV: Society of Ultimate Villainy

Fictional Detroit landmarks featured in Transformers Animated include:

• Burger Bot, home of the Big Bot Burger Transform and Roll Out!

• Sumdac Systems robot manufacturing plant, located in the real-life southern suburb of Monroe. Transform and Roll Out! Nanosec

• Sumdac Tower, a skyscraper somewhere in the central city. Nanosec

• The Dino Drive theme park Blast from the Past

• The Detroit Solar Fusion Power Plant, whose reactor contains enough power to wipe out the entire state of Michigan. Comforting! Headmaster (episode)

• Wyatt Toys, a toy store.

• Izzo National Bank, one of the city's many financial institutions.

• Detroit Military Base, containing bomber planes, fighter jets, and twin barrel assault tanks.

IDW Generation 1 comics

Detroit was home to an operations base for the Machination. Dante returned there after he and Scorponok failed to convince Grimlock to join up with them. Spotlight: Grimlock

Trivia

• Part of the final battle in the live-action Transformers film, set in the fictional location of Mission City, was filmed in the real-life Detroit: the empty building that Sam runs into with the All Spark is actually Detroit's long-abandoned Michigan Central Station.

External links

• Detroit at Wikipedia