Trigger Warnings

« Transformers Timelines text story Beast Wars: Uprising
"Trigger Warnings"
Publisher	Transformers Collectors' Club (online exclusive)
First published	September 2, 2016
By	David Bishop & Jim Sorenson
Art	Dan Perico
Cover	Christopher "IKY" Colgin
Continuity	Beast Wars: Uprising
Chronology	late 24th century

MaxCop Wolfang investigates a murder which takes him across Iacon.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Maximals	Predacons	Builders
Lidar (3) Sitrep (4) Blackarachnia ("Venus" / "Elita") (9) Aura (10) Stopgap (14)	Wolfang (1) Fennec (8) Onyx Primal (11) Tarantulas (12)	Twirl (2) Hotwire (5) Lube (6) Monxo (7) Overrun (Surge) (13)

Notes

• A trigger warning is a warning that a work contains content which could act as a trauma trigger.
• The Autobot leader who Overrun was bonded to goes conspicuously unnamed, but the fact that Overrun refers to Hi-Q and Apex – coupled with the fact that he's based on Armada Over-Run – would seem to strongly indicate that said leader was Optimus Prime. Since Optimus Prime is unavailable in this reality, however, Overrun's partner was presumably someone else. Armada Over-Run has also been partnered with Universe Ultra Magnus, and Overrun mentions comrades who are traditionally paired with other 1986 Autobots alongside Generation 1 Ultra Magnus.
• As with characters in previous stories, Wolfang's body is based on an existing toy; his Maximal form is based on the Universe Sunstreaker mold, while his Predacon form is based on that mold's Sideswipe retool, which rotates the upper torso around. This does, however, contradict the Beast Wars: Uprising lithograph sold at BotCon 2016, which instead depicted Wolfang in a body based on Generations Drift. Meanwhile, Lidar and Sitrep are "virtual" redecoes of Armada Thrust, and Tarantulas utilizes the design of his BotCon 2016 toy.
• Much like Blackout and Spaceshot in "Micro-Aggressions" and Dead-End in "Intersectionality", the Uprising version of Hotwire is shown to be a female Transformer despite previous incarnations being male (and organic Nebulons at that!).

Errors

• On page 5, "Ptero" is misspelled as "Petro".

Continuity notes

• The Targetmaster Extirpation was mentioned in passing back in "Burning Bridges", with no elaboration beyond what it meant.
• Similarly, during that story, Wolfang made an appearance where his leg change from the original toy's colour-scheme to that of the other Wolfang, which at the time just looked like a harmless reference.
• "Burning Bridges" also made mention of the Mandala.

Transformers references

• Characters mentioned, but not appearing, are: Ptero's Firestormers, Gnashteeth's (aka Megatron's) Darksyders, Vampire, Strongarm, Soundwave, Megatron, Kaon, Tesarus, Counterpunch, Lio Convoy, Hyperfire, Blurr, Haywire, Offshoot, Thunderwing, Apex, and Hi-Q.
• The former Powermasters, Headmasters and Targetmasters are all referred to as Cyberdroids, a nod to the origins of their counterparts in Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity.
• Monzo the Headmaster's name was first spelled as "Monxo" for his Titans Return toy, whose bio also depicted him as a robotic Cybertronian rather than an organic Nebulon.
• Blackarachnia's first alias, "Venus", references her Beast Wars voice actress Venus Terzo, while her second, "Elita", references the previous identity of her Animated incarnation.
• When Wolfang is converted into his Predacon form, he is forced to use the trigger-phrase "Terrorize".
• Wolfang metaphorically refers to his knowledge of the case being "pretty thin Visco".
• You might think that Tarantulas working with the Mayhem Attack Squad was a pretty obvious nod to Sins of the Wreckers, but shockingly, this was entirely coincidental – at the time of writing, the author hadn't read that series.
• The Mandala, Iacon headquarters of the PSP, has statues dedicated to the Decepticon Justice Division.
• Overrun brainwashes Lidar using the Robo-Smasher.
• Mention is made of Thunderwing being involved with the Grand Mal in this continuity.

Real world references

• Wolfang wasn't initially intended to be a reference to Bigby Wolf of Fables, but once author David Bishop realised the similarity, he "steered into it".
• Large parts of the first half of the story are a reference to every hardboiled cop story ever (Wolfang as the bitter detective, Aura the weary superior, Monxo running a dive-bar where the cop picks up clues, Blackarachnia the dangerous femme fatale, etc, etc...).

External links

• "Trigger Warnings" at The Official Transformers Collectors' Club