Transformers: Shattered Glass (franchise)

Shattered Glass Toyline Fiction

The mirrorverse is roughly 50% blue cannons by volume.

Transformers: Shattered Glass is the fictional multiverse and associated toys and storylines that sprung from BotCon 2008's initial exclusive toyset and comic. It is a Transformers take on the old sci-fi warhorse of an evil alternate universe, (akin to Star Trek's Mirror Universe and DC comics' Earth-Three) where the bad guys are good, the good guys are bad, and (mostly) everyone has different paint schemes. It comes complete with facial hair for the evil versions of certain good guys.

This year's chronicle shatters everything you thought you knew about Transformers! Here is a universe you never expected...

On a world known as Cybertron, a ruthless and cruel tyrant prepares his army for an all-out attack. Their destination: a planet rich in resources, known as Earth! Only a small band of rebels stands between this evil warlord and his plans for universal conquest. If these brave soldiers are unable to stop the attack, then there will be nothing to prevent this shattered universe from falling victim to the maniacal Optimus Prime and his evil legion of... Autobots?

This is a truly malformed universe, where the Decepticons are heroic and the Autobots are evil!

Coming this spring, the battle lines will be drawn and a new champion will emerge. A young and noble Decepticon will stand up and fight for freedom, the freedom which is the right of all Transformers! Advising him will be his trusted lieutenant Starscream and his fellow virtuous Decepticons. They will fight to the very last to stop the spread of Optimus Prime's tyranny!Introductory blurb at BotCon.com

Continuities

So far, there is one major continuity and four micro-continuities:

• The main one is a Classics mirror designated Primax -408.24 Epsilon. It is the only Shattered Glass to feature a displaced character from "our" world.
• "Shattered Expectations", an April Fools' Day gag.
• Quadwal -3760.925 Theta, the universe the Allspark Almanac authors hail from.
• Recordicons, a series of comedy strips starring the Decepticon and Autobot cassettes.
• A Transformers Animated mirrorverse, depicted in a BotCon 2011 lithograph. It introduces us to the quite scary Shattered Sari...

In-universe, continuities related to this franchise are considered to be "Negative Polarity Universes".

Franchise components

• A "virtual toyline" consisting of a combination of officially-released toys made especially for the line, repurposed toys, and potential redecos of other toys.
• A series of comics and text stories, most of which form a single storyline.
• A lithograph from BotCon 2011.
• A lineup of dozens of good and evil doubles of characters from other storylines—currently mostly from various continuities of Generation 1, with a few individuals from Robots in Disguise and the Unicron Trilogy.

Notes

• The title is similar to the Deep Space Nine episode "Shattered Mirror" and Marvel's "Fragile Glass", both stories about the Mirror universe from the Star Trek franchise mentioned above.
• The Shattered Glass poster (as seen above) bears a strong resemblance to one of the first Transformers posters, right down to the characters' positions and actions: Megatron in Optimus Prime's place, and the evil second-in-commands (Starscream and Rodimus) more in front of the battle than their respective evil leaders (Megatron and Optimus Prime).
• In a review with the fansite TFW2005, Derrick Wyatt said that he'd have loved to have Shattered Glass material in the Transformers Animated cartoon, if only "to have Fanzone say "This is why I love machines!"