Broken Windshields

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"Broken Windshields"
Publisher	Transformers Collectors' Club (online exclusive)
First published	February 19, 2015
Written by	Jim Sorenson
Illustrations by	Jesse Wittenrich
Continuity	Beast Wars: Uprising
Chronology	circa 2384
Page count	25pp

Lio Convoy sets an uprising in motion.

Synopsis

As Quickstrike and Stinkbomb compete in the Mebius Arena, Lio Convoy watches them from the shadows but does not intervene as Quickstrike manages to win, simply through the fact that Stinkbomb's weapon is too damaged to fire. Lio Convoy returns to the Gladiatorial Administration Bureau in Thetacon, and though the two Builders on guard hassle him for his papers, they let him through and he heads up to see The Administrator, Eject. Discussing how they'd gotten the idea of the Games from the humans, Eject tells Lio Convoy that it has been decided that the Game after next is to be a "Cull" of prior champions, and that he wants Lio Convoy to ensure that the Maximal side wins by a landslide in the remaining Game beforehand, so as to create a more level—and so more exciting—playing field.

Lio Convoy heads home to the Maximal ghettos in Glibax by ground, but on the way spots what appears to be a shooting star and makes the unconventional decision to investigate. He encountered a strange newcomer, whom he takes to the Nyon Coliseum in order to conceal her from the authorities. Her ire is raised when he mentions he is the balancer in the Games and she rails at the unjustness of the system that makes the Maximals and Predacons fight for the amusement of the Builders.

Lio Convoy spends some time ruminating on her words, and several days later when he comes across two MCSF officers, Polar Claw and Snarl arresting someone, he intercedes and assaults both of them. Heading to Nyon while listening to underground broadcasts, he looks for the bot whom he had left there, but fails to find her. Driving into the wastes of Cybertron, he is instead found by her—a conversation with her and the two bots she's teamed up with, Scylla and B'Boom, reveals she is named Blackarachnia. Blackarachnia shatters Lio Convoy's windshield, revealing the energon matrix inside, and announces he is the key to freeing the planet.

With the next of the Games drawing close, Eject worries about the unusual absence of Lio Convoy, however the Maximal makes contact from the Dodecahex Arena where the Game is due to take place and Eject again instructs him to make sure the Maximals win this round. As the Game begins, the Builder Supersonic commentates for the audience, introducing the Game's contestants before signalling Game start. Even as the first Maximal and Predacon move in to fight, Lio Convoy uses an Angolmois Blaster obtained from the rebels to assassinate Supersonic. Blackarachnia and her team meanwhile invade the broadcast center and take control, training the cameras on Lio Convoy so he can give a speech. He reveals that the Games are rigged, even as he is attacked by the Builders Sunrunner and Tailwind, and plays a recording of Eject giving the order to fix the match. He shows off the energon matrix he carries, hidden inside him after it was used to create the Maximals and Predacons, calling on his brethren to rise up against the Builders. As a result of the event, civil war breaks out over the next few days, with the Builders finding themselves turned on by their own creations.

However, Eject, appealing his death sentence to the Builder Assembly, reveals that he has thought of a way out of this: a sample of Lio Convoy's CNA, which could be used to create a clone infused with the power of the energon matrix, giving them the ability to make a whole new army. Ratbat is intrigued at the idea, and tells Eject the "ball is in his court".

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Maximals	Predacons	Builders
Lio Convoy (1) Stinkbomb (3) Blackarachnia (9) Noctorro (11) Polar Claw (12) Snarl (13) B'Boom (16) Binary (18) Sonar (19) Manta (20) Crystal Widow (21) Air Hammer (22) Skywarp (23) CatSCAN (24) Dinotron (25) Panther (26) Tasmania Kid (27) Rhino (28) Optimus Minor (29) Break (42) Longhorn (45)	Quickstrike (2) Scylla (15) Insecticon (30) Megalligator (31) Scourge (32) Night Viper (33) Transquito (34) Autostinger (35) Scavenger (36) Creepy (37) Reptix (38) Terragator (39) Queen Rage (40) Rot Gut (41) Retrax (44)	Autobots Barrage (4) Eject (8) Longtooth (10) Override (43) Sunrunner (47) Decepticons Half-Track (5) Zoom Out (6) Slog (7) Black Omen (14) Tailwind (46) Octus (48) Ratbat (49) Others Supersonic (17)

Quotes

"PROOF? You want my, what was it, Personal Registration Of something or other? I threw that away decades ago when I left this scrap pile of planet behind for what I thought was the last time. I've spent years, YEARS fighting against tin-plated tyrants and those who would stand on the backs of others. And do you know what I learned? I learned that the worst of the worst were those who perpetuated the so-called minor injustices of the present for the 'greater good,' better tomorrows that never seem to materialize. So don’t sell me your smog about how noble it is that you're compromising your principles because you don’t want to upset the scrapplet cart."

—Blackarachnia

"Stand down right now or you'll face a charge of resisting, and you don't want that. And you, move along or you're next."
"Then, tool of the Builders, it would appear that I am next."

—Snarl and Lio Convoy

Notes

• The following Transformers are mentioned or referenced to, but do not appear in the story proper: Cyclonus, Scissor Boy, Killer Punch, Ultra Mammoth, Megatron, Primus, Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Prowl, Blaster, Starscream, Shockwave, Soundwave, Kudon, Riker, Traachon, Cross-Cut, and Sigil.
• Further mentioned in the Cybertronix text are: Zapmaster, Six-Speed, Free Wheeler, Hyperdrive, Flat-Out, Holi, Ironlunge, Road Police, Battle Unicorn, Lug, Minimum Ambus, Dante, Caliburn, Ironworks, and Star Upper.

Continuity notes

• This story is the first piece of Beast Wars: Uprising fiction to place actual emphasis on the titular revolution. Originally mentioned back in 2009 in the profile for TransTech Blackarachnia in issue #25 of the Transformers Collectors' Club magazine, the universe would be mentioned on and off in the intervening years, before finally appearing for the first time in the 2014 Collectors' Club magazine storyline, "Alone Together". Over the intervening years, the circumstances and history of the universe have changed; while originally presented as a version of the Maximal/Predacon era where the war still raged, the universe as presented in this story (and indeed, for the rest of the series), is one where the Maximal and Predacons are second-class citizens under the former Autobot and Decepticon elite, now known as the Builder's. Lio Convoy's role in the Games, meanwhile, was set up in his profile in issue #61 of the Collectors' Club Magazine, which also introduced his weapons and inbuilt Matrix.
• Eject's role as the Administrator of the Games was set up in his tech specs for his Timelines toy, released as part of the second Transformers Figure Subscription Service.
• Blackarachnia's profile in issue #25 had explained that she, along with a few other Maximals and Predacons, had used transwarp to escape Cybertron, ending up in the multi-dimensional hub city of Axiom Nexus, where they aligned with the evil Shattered Glass version of Alpha Trion. Alpha Trion's assistant, Topspin, transplanted her and the others sparks into their Transcendent Technomorphs counterparts. Eventually escaping from the TransTech universe, she last appeared in the "Reunification" storyline, back on Alpha Trion's Cybertron. She's still in her TransTech counterpart's body for the first half of the story, but switches back to her original form about halfway through.
  • Notably, Blackarachnia's backstory is never explicitly laid out this, nor in any future stories. Her dimension jumping is only briefly mentioned in passing, and her TransTech body is merely described as "alien" in nature, never given much attention.
• Eject notes that the Cybertronians are still stealing humanity's best ideas "four centuries on"; having made first contact with them back in 1984, this places the modern point of the Beast Wars: Uprising timeline in the late 24th century C.E.

Transformers references

• Gladiatorial combat has long been a part of the Transformers franchise, extending back to the Marvel UK The Transformers prose story "State Games", published in the Transformers Annual 1986.
• Scylla's pre-beast body is based on fellow aquatic femme, Cybertron Thunderblast.
• B'Boom's pre-beast body is based on Revenge of the Fallen Brawn.
• Blackarachnia's new body in this story is not visually depicted, but a lithograph sold at BotCon 2016 showed it to be a "virtual retool" of Generations Chromia.
• Supersonic has both an Autobot insignia and a Decepticon insignia, referencing how his original Japanese cartoon continuity counterpart was both at different points in his life.
• Each of the members of the Maximal team in the games shown is intended to be a counterpart to a Maximal from the Beast Wars and Beast Machines cartoons, appearing in reverse order to their counterparts' appearances in the show.
• Night Viper debuts as a Predacon in this story though his previous appearances were always as a Maximal. This is because Hasbro originally planned to make Night Viper a Predacon who joined Optimus Primal's anti-Megatron Maximals but for unspecified reasons, possibly that a "heroic" Predacon in Beast Machines would have been too complicated for a toy bio, the Predacon background was dropped and Night Viper was made solely a Maximal. Over a decade later, this Predacon origin was picked up and used by the authors of this story.
• Override is a G1-continuity import of the Cybertron Autobot while Rot Gut is a G1-continuity import of the Prime Predacon. Zapmaster, Six-Speed, and Flat-Out are imports of the Unicron Trilogy Mini-Cons of the same names.
• Dante is a Cybertronian version of Abraham Dante, the IDW human, a development of a trend established in IDW of recasting micro-scale human characters as Cybertronians (or vice versa).

Real world references

• The story's title is a play on the broken windows theory of criminology.
• The Hunger Games films are what inspired current Cybertronian civilization to host the death matches between Maximals and Predacons. Eject acknowledges picking up Catching Fire for the first time in this story, but implies the first and third/fourth films reached Cybertron long ago.

Notes

• The first section of the story was printed as a preview in issue #61 of the Collectors' Club magazine.
• Most cities on Cybertron have almost completely fallen into ruin, becoming synonymous with the arenas that now dominate them.
• Throughout the story, mention is made of a class system organized by the English alphabet, which goes from class A to at least a class J. This system isn't mentioned again until "Not All Megatrons".
• Although not an error at the time, Lio Convoy demonstrates a mystifying lack of knowledge about humanity, considering future revelations about the Uprising universe. He doesn't even recognize the word "Earth" when Blackarachnia says it, and apparently has no idea why Cybertron doesn't travel to other stars anymore, like the Builders use to. Compare that to later stories, where the Cybertronian Navy regularly patrols the limits of the Allowed Zone under the watchful eye of the Human Confederacy ("Intersectionality"), the average proto-former knows the arrogance of humanity ("Cultural Appropriation"), and Galvatron is widely know as "History's greatest monster" because he challenged humanity and lost, and Cybertron paid the price ("Micro-Aggressions").
• A more minor retroactive "error" is the description of Glibax here as having equatorial climate, whereas the map of Cybertron presented in "Safe Spaces" shows the city-state is among the northern most polities, with only the polar city of Iacon being further north.
• Beginning with this story, Jim Sorenson starts a trend of alternate name spellings in Beast Wars: Uprising for the many Cybertronians who share a name. Thus in this story, Crosscut the Japanese-original Autobot gets "Cross-Cut" while offscreen, Crosscut the UK-original Decepticon presumably keeps his original name rendering. However, due to being added in at the last minute, Beast Wars Scavenger does not have a different name in line with Uprising convention despite Beast Machines Scavenger already having that name rendering.
• This story also establishes another Uprising trend developed by Sorenson: when a character has different and distinct secondary toy and/or body concept, that concept is characterized as a distinct individual. Thus, Megalligator in Uprising is neither the original Megatron nor the Predacon Megatron and Ultra Mammoth is a separate individual from Ultra Magnus.

Errors

• Gladiatorial is misspelled as "Gladitorial" in reference to the Gladiatorial Administration Bureau.
• Micromaster is spelled "Micro Master".
• Glibax is misspelled as "Gilbax" on three occasions.
• The Maximal Command Security Force is variably spelled "Forces" or "Force".
• Technically, Blackarachnia should be more than twice the size of Lio Convoy in her TransTech body, but is described as being only slightly taller than him at most.
• Scraplet is misspelled as "scrapplet", though this could be a pun on the phrase "upset the apple cart".
• Terragator is misspelled as "Terrorgator" twice.

External links

• "Broken Windshields" at The Official Transformers Collectors' Club
• Annotations for Broken Windshields on Google Sites, by Jennifer Alexis Carlo