Lively Pursuit

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The legend exists.
"Lively Pursuit"
Publisher	Transformers Collectors' Club (online exclusive)
First published	October 4, 2016
By	Jesse Wittenrich
Illustrations	AK Cyrway
Colors	Erika L. Galán
Continuity	Of Masters and Mayhem
Page count	32pp

Wreckage gets a second lease on life after Impactor discovers an unexpected survivor.

Synopsis

Amid the ruins of Cybertron, six figures sitting in the darkness listen to one of their number tell a scintillating tale of a time he helped out the famous Princess Adronitia of Kaon. His story is cut short, however, by the arrival of a spacecraft—the Wreckers have returned to the planet they once called home.

In the aftermath of Alpha Bravo's betrayal and the deaths of him and Offroad, the Wreckers debate whether to return to Cybertron in hopes of recruiting a newly detected survivor to join their ranks. Impactor feels the trip would be pointless, believing that Alpha Bravo was right and Wreckage would simply become an even more devastating menace once they have defeated Thunder Mayhem. Counterpunch, however, refuses to allow their leader to give up so easily, angrily stating that Impactor has no right to give up now after so many sacrifices have been made, by 'bots both living and dead. After a moment of tension, Impactor silently activates their ship's engines before storming off, while Counterpunch admits to Fractyl that his passion was faked; his false memories of life before the war, as Punch, have made him an excellent actor.

Impactor heads down into the ship's cargo hold to inform Toxitron of the crew's new destination. The Toxic Transformer finds it amusing that Thunder Mayhem left two Cybertronians alive, claiming it's something he wouldn't have done. Though Impactor claims that his goal upon meeting the new survivor will be to work to build a better future for what is left of their species, Toxitron ominously reminds him that his only reason for joining the Wreckers was to battle the Mayhem Attack Squad... and that no one will stand in his way.

The Wreckers arrive at what's left of Cybertron, greeted by the one who sent the message they received: Bluestreak.

Fun Publications is going out with a bang,
SO WE'RE GONNA WRECK AND RULE!

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons/Predacons	Others
Bluestreak (1) Impactor (3)	Counterpunch (2) Fractyl (4) Toxitron (5)	Cergo (6) Wreckage (7)

Notes

• "Foundation and Wreckage Part 2" was accidentally left off of the title page.
• Characters name-dropped in the story but not seen include *dramatic inhale*: Sonder, Adronitia, Anecdoche, Exulancus, a bot named Wrecker Hook or Tow-Line, Pipes, Alpha Bravo, Offroad, Thunder Mayhem, Optimus Prime, Hound, Mirage, Hoist, Brawn, Gears, Starscream, Boltax/Cybaxx, Megatron, Sideswipe, Thundercracker, Sunstorm, Grimlock, Noumenon, Aporia, Consumma Compersia, Master Aware, Fisitron, Fatale, Blurr, Fabulcon, Ironclad, Rook, Afterburner, Strafe, Scrounge, Computron, Lightspeed, Ratchet, Inferno, Superion, Defensor, Victorion, Medix, Cliffjumper, and Bludgeon.
• Impactor describes, what would be in an out-of-universe sense, an earlier Hasbro plan for a Combiner Wars Computron. "Ironclad" (a trademark-friendly alternate name for Ironfist) is described as a "mustard tan and gray" redeco of Rook, using the alternate Brawl head we previously glimpsed in Another Light with a red faceplate. It combines with an "energy-efficient" Afterburner for arm mode, presumably the Legends Class Groove mold.
• This story also posits a hypothetical "Project: Firestormer" combiner comprising Bluestreak, Ratchet, Hoist, Sideswipe, and Inferno. Given the nature of the "prototype Computron" description, this is tacit confirmation that the Combiner Wars Hot Spot toy's alternate head is Inferno (who would eventually be released in Power of the Primes. Meanwhile, the hypothetical Hoist would obviously be the alternate head for Trailbreaker seen in Another Light. Finally Fun Publications staff would later confirm that Sideswipe would be a straight redeco of Breakdown (something their Animated counterparts previously shared).

Errors

• On Page 3, "The Wrecker commander strode over to blue and black robot who had just unleashed the scathing rant," is missing a "the" between "to" and "blue".
• On Page 11, the word "Fractyl's" is at one point misspelled as "Fracty’ls".
• On Page 28, "if" should be "it" in the line "in his deep bellow if came across as nothing other than threatening."

Continuity notes

• The Wreckers picked up Bluestreak's distress signal in the previous prose story, "Deadly Aim".
• Thunder Mayhem arrived on Earth in the magazine comic story "Divination".

Transformers references

• Bluestreak states that Adronitia had a 65356-9292-346 body-type, at least in her vehicle mode.
• Bluestreak makes mention of Corrodia Gravis, the Reverse Evolution virus, and the Rust Plague as diseases which could possibly be brought back by the Teklaans.

Real world references

• Cergo name-drops two planets called Eska and Desna, named after the creepy twins from The Legend of Korra.
• The Teklaans are an alternate version of Marvel's Mekkans, a race of servant robots used to terraform the planet Maarin (referred to by name in this story) before their creators perished from a virus. Additionally, Cergo seems to be based upon Torgo, the first Mekkan, although decidedly more evil. Jesse Wittenrich would later reveal that he was meant to be a successor to Torgo, as there was no Fantastic Four to free him from the Skrull gladiator pits.

External links

• "Lively Pursuit" at The Official Transformers Collectors' Club