Invasion (issue): Difference between revisions
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===Transformers references=== | ===Transformers references=== | ||
* Ultra Magnus kills Ironhide in a | * Ultra Magnus kills Ironhide in a manner similar to Ironhide's death in ''[[The Transformers: The Movie]].'' "Such pitiful nonsense!" | ||
* Ultra Magnus and the Terminus Blade were mentioned briefly in earlier stories, and both are only now being given center stage. The Stellar Spanner was also introduced earlier, but had a much larger role. | * Ultra Magnus and the Terminus Blade were mentioned briefly in earlier stories, and both are only now being given center stage. The Stellar Spanner was also introduced earlier, but had a much larger role. | ||
* Ratchet is still in the new body he acquired in "[[At Fight's End]]," but now it's colored like the North American release versus the Japanese release. | * Ratchet is still in the new body he acquired in "[[At Fight's End]]," but now it's colored like the North American release versus the Japanese release. | ||
Revision as of 13:36, 24 October 2012
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 Prepare for mood whiplash. | |||||||||||||
| "Invasion" | |||||||||||||
| Publisher | Fun Publications | ||||||||||||
| First published | April 26, 2012 (BotCon 2012) October 10, 2012 (retail ed.) | ||||||||||||
| Writer | Benson Yee and Pete Sinclair | ||||||||||||
| Pencils | Dan Khanna | ||||||||||||
| Inks | Jake Isenberg | ||||||||||||
| Colors | Josh Perez, Jesse Wittenrich, and Thomas Deer | ||||||||||||
| Letters | Jesse Wittenrich | ||||||||||||
| Editor | Pete Sinclair | ||||||||||||
| Continuity | Shattered Glass continuity | ||||||||||||
An evil Ultra Magnus and his army invade an unwitting alternate universe, threatening all existence.
Synopsis
In the Shattered Glass universe, Ultra Magnus has just succeeded in removing himself from his dirty prison cell on Paradron, in addition to Wreck-Gar and his Junkions, thanks to the efforts of Wheeljack and Tracks. He's raised his brother Optimus on the monitors so he can gloat and tease his ultimate plan, which will involve destruction on a cosmic scale. As Optimus seethes in fury, Ultra Magnus kills the last remaining guard, Ironhide, who was Optimus's most trusted soldier. Wheeljack has opened a portal with his new hand-held Stellar Spanner, and through it the escapees and traitors step. Magnus reminds his brother that he was always father's favorite, and soon Optimus would realize why.
After they disappear through the portal, Optimus Prime remotely activates Paradron's distress beacon, knowing that a certain someone would follow Magnus's trail anywhere.
Meanwhile, in the Classicverse, Autobots in Oregon are cleaning up their Ironworks headquarters following a Decepticon attack led by Gigatron. The attack had been repelled successfully, leaving the Rarified Energon Ironworks guarded intact. Inside Ironworks, Commander Rad and visiting Pretender Commander Metalhawk telecommunicate with Autobots in other areas of the world, informing them of Gigatron's recent attack. But the report is interrupted by an alert from outside. Kick-Off tells Rad that a portal in the sky was opening, possibly foretelling another invasion. Metalhawk offers his assistance outside, but Rad insists he and his troops have this covered.
But Rad has greatly underestimated the forces at work, and by the time he arrives outside, Sandstorm, Slapdash, and Broadside have been corrupted and reformatted into evil Junkions. Once converted, these Junkions quickly turn on their former comrades Mainframe, Outback, and Roll-Out. Above, the evil Ultra Magnus, Wheeljack, Tracks, and the original Junkions burst through the portal and join the battle below. As more Autobots are reformatted into evil Junkions, Rad and Kick-Off have no choice but try to make it back inside Ironworks. Rad is tackled by a Junkion at the last moment, and he activates the door after Kick-Off runs through it, sacrificing himself so that Kick-Off may live.
The closed door doesn't stop Ultra Magnus for long, and his Terminus Blade slices through it easily. He's met by Metalhawk and other Autobot reinforcements. However, Magnus strikes down Warpath, Wheeljack, Tracks, and Jazz, leaving only Scoop and Metalhawk alive. Before they share the fate of the fallen, another portal opens up, through which heroic Decepticons arrive: Treadshot, Soundwave, Octopunch, and Straxus. With a blinding flash from the Terminus Blade, Magnus and his evil Autobots disappear.
Sir Soundwave explains his universe to the heroic Autobots, but Kick-Off isn't interested in the details. He just wants justice. Octopunch and Scoop are sent after Wheeljack, Treadshot puts himself in charge of finding Ultra Magnus, and the rest are responsible for the Junkion hive.
Meanwhile, outside of Ironworks, Gigatron and his Decepticons have been keeping watch since their defeat. Spinister reports that the Autobots have teamed up with strange visitors. Gigatron concludes that this distraction is perfect for another attempt on the Rarified Energon.
Underneath Ironworks, Wheeljack sets up machinery that will send the Rarified Energon up into Ironworks, plus a force field that will prevent the machinery's destruction. After Wheeljack leaves, evil Octopunch and Skullgrin converge on the protected machinery at the same time as heroic Octopunch and Scoop. Both factions battle, and Skullgrin is quickly defeated.
Aboveground, inside Ironworks, Wheeljack and Ultra Magnus are working the computers when Treadshot approaches. Quickly, Magnus inserts the Terminus Blade into a computer port, and a rift of space time opens in the sky. Cataclysms occur worldwide as Autobots in Japan, Canada, and South America help evacuate civilians from problem areas.
After heroic and evil Octopunches realize they are counterparts, heroic Octopunch finally defeats his opposite number, just as Scoop realizes there's nothing the two can do to reverse Wheeljack's handiwork. They return to the surface.
Aboveground, Treadshot and Kick-Off tackle Ultra Magnus while Soundwave decides he should try to reconfigure Wheeljack's machinery himself. On his way, he encounters and is overcome by the Junkion Hive, and is spared only by the timely arrival of Gigatron's evil Decepticons. Gigatron doesn't like these evil Autobots who threaten to destroy everything before he can conquer it himself, and so he joins the fray and lets Soundwave go. Gigatron and Metalhawk team up against Ultra Magnus, causing him severe damage. Soundwave returns from his work below and announces that Ultra Magnus's plan is foiled! Soundwave totally jacked up the forcefield below to cover the entire planet! Earth is saved!
Ultra Magnus laughs, noting that he wasn't trying to blow up Earth. Sure, it would probably be destroyed, but only as a side effect of his larger aim, which was moving this Earth to his own universe, into the orbit of his own Cybertron. Ultra Magnus and his evil Autobots flee, victorious.
After Earth arrives safely in the Shattered Glass universe, protected by the forcefield, their old universe self-destructs behind them, destroyed forever. Heroic Autobot, evil Decepticon, and heroic Decepticon all stare up into the sky in horror and wonder, into this new universe, mourning the countless dead. Straxus stands before them, glowing, and bids them to not despair. He recites for them words from one of their great progenitors, and suggests that not all is lost and there is still much left to do.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| SG Decepticons | SG Autobots | Classicsverse Autobots | Classicsverse Decepticons | Humans | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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|
|
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Quotes
"Every one of them will pay for how they laughed at our plans! Or how they would have laughed had they known. Either way... BOOM!"
- — SG Wheeljack
"Oh, dear Treadshot, you delightful Decepticon scum! I can't tell you how much I missed you trying to kill me."
- — Ultra Magnus has a special relationship with Treadshot
"Magnus! You coward! Like a small, herbivorous shrew, you are nothing! I will hunt you to the ends of time! I will burn your empire to the ground I... I... I fraggin' hate that guy."
- — Treadshot has a special relationship with Ultra Magnus
Notes
- At the end of this story, it seems that anyone in the Classicsverse who wasn't on Earth was destroyed. As Megatron had left Earth in "At Fight's End" with a ship full of Decepticons, that likely suggests their demise, as well as Ultra Magnus's group which left Earth at the end of "Games of Deception." And let's not forget Nightbeat's detective agency on Azure. Comments made at BotCon 2012 imply that Optimus Prime was also off-planet at the time. However, other statements suggest that anyone not on Earth is not necessarily dead, hinting at the club magazine storyline for 2013. [1]
- The convention edition cover came about because someone linked the organizers to a ComicsAlliance article about Dave Perillo's work via Twitter. [2]
Errors
- Lotsa missing commas and some comma splices. Example: "I am one of Gigatron's personal guards, you have no hope of defeating Octopunch!"
- On page 13, SG Octopunch has purple Decepticon symbols.
- Fortress Maximus is said to be stationed in South America, but the civilians he rescue speak in Yucatec Maya, which is a language spoken on the Yucatan Peninsula and in Belize, which are in North America.
Continuity errors
- Depending on the canonicity of 2007's Classicverse Lithograph, Perceptor should probably be in his Classics Legends Class body, not his original body.
Real-world references
- As storms threaten Earth's existence, modern-day South Americans worry their ancestors were right about 2012.
- Ultra Magnus and Tracks quip that the Classicsverse Autobots' resistance is "clearly futile", referencing the Borg from Star Trek (on whom the Junkions are based).
Transformers references
- Ultra Magnus kills Ironhide in a manner similar to Ironhide's death in The Transformers: The Movie. "Such pitiful nonsense!"
- Ultra Magnus and the Terminus Blade were mentioned briefly in earlier stories, and both are only now being given center stage. The Stellar Spanner was also introduced earlier, but had a much larger role.
- Ratchet is still in the new body he acquired in "At Fight's End," but now it's colored like the North American release versus the Japanese release.
- The "Canada" panel on page 16 is full of tiny Marvel Superhero cameos. And Simon Furman. Also ... Robot-Master? ...and Rescue Roy???
- Octopunch mentions that he survived the Unicron War.
- There are three inverted Furmanisms. First is Wheeljack's "Sow the edy!", second is Magnus's "My time is about to start! Begin!" and the third is Treadshot's "Like a small, herbivorous shrew, you are nothing!"
- Shattered Straxus's speech at the end mirrors Optimus Prime's reassurance at the end of "All Fall Down."
- Many visual details throughout the story cement the main setting as a Marvel-style universe, such as Blaster, Wheeljack, and Octopunch's colors and Broadside's character model. Slapdash's head is based on the round, helmeted face seen in his Transformers: Universe profile, not the square-ish helmet seen in the comics themselves.
Covers
- BotCon Edition: Way-out pop art cover depicting the four alignments featured in the issue; art by Dave Perillo.
- Retail Edition: Optimus Prime stares at his enemies through a shattered glass; art by Dan Khanna, colors by Thomas Deer.
