Sub-Atlantica

Love to explore that shore up above. Out of the sea, wish I could be part of that world.

Sub-Atlantica is an undersea kingdom in "the deepest part of the Atlantic", populated by telepathic, human-sized mermen. Its origins are unknown, and in spite of—or perhaps because of—its very high technology, the humans seem unaware of its existence outside of the traditional Atlantis myth.

Its ambitious king, Nergill, seeks to conquer the surface world, but all of his technology is powered by geothermal vents, and leaving them would render his weapons useless. However, when a partnership with the Decepticons gives him energon cube technology, his goals are at last within reach.

Fiction

The Transformers cartoon

"You CANNOT marry the surface-Prince, and that's the end of it!"

When Laserbeak and Buzzsaw detected an underwater city giving off massive energy readings, Megatron immediately investigated, discovering Sub-Atlantica. When the Decepticons moved closer, they were met by the mermen who wielding weapons comparable to their own. Realizing the stalemate, Megatron and Nergill, rule of the Sub-Atlanticans, negotiated, both seeing the benefit in an alliance. Nergill would provide the Decepticons with energy from the geothermal vents that powered Sub-Atlantica in exchange for energon cubes, a portable energy source that would allow the Sub-Atlanticans to escape the ocean floor and conquer the surface world.

Actual line: "Enjoy our hospitality... permanently!"

When the Autobots picked up the movements relating to this alliance, they went to investigate, with the Sub-Atlanticans managing to capture Wheeljack, intending to reverse engineer his biology and develop a line of anti-Cybertronian weapons. Powered by the energon cubes, Sub-Atlantica's hydro thrusters carried it to the coast of Washington, D.C. where it surfaced, Optimus Prime sending Bumblebee and Spike Witwicky to rescue Wheeljack.

Do not tap glass.

Having distrusted the telepathically communicating Sub-Atlanticans from the start, Starscream had Soundwave decipher the amphibians' language, exposing their traitorous ambitions. When Starscream went to confront Nergill he found himself attacked by the first of Sub-Atlantica's anti-Cybertronian weapons, the magnetic dysfunction ray but managed to resist its full effects. When Nergill later sought to use the ray on the grappling Megatron and [Grimlock (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Grimlock]], Starscream used the opportunity to brand the king as a traitor. The chaos of this however cost the alliance their tactical advantage in Washington, Grimlock managing to destroy the dysfunction ray and freeing all Autobots enthralled by it, forcing them to fall back to Sub-Atlantica.

Well, that problem solved itself.

The Autobots soon invaded Sub-Atlantica, the city becoming the latest battlefield of the Great War. With destruction mounting, Nergill declared that "Before I let those monsters destroy my city, I'll use the energy stockpiles and blow Sub-Atlantica and everyone on it to nothingness!" Spike, Bumblebee, and Wheeljack, for some reason, tried to stop the mad king but they failed.

But even as Sub-Atlantica was self-destructing, Wheeljack carried the apparently unconscious Nergill out. Then, as the Autobots watched the exploding city sink from afar, Spike noted that Nergill had disappeared. His fate remains unknown, as does the answer to the pivotal question: The hell? Mermen? Atlantis, Arise!

Ask Vector Prime

In Primax 1185.04 Alpha, Megatron and the Decepticons allied with the Sub-Atlanticans in a last-ditch effort to conquer the Cobra-dominated Earth. Incredibly however, Cobra had anticipated such an alliance and prepared specialized aquatic soldiers with genetically-engineered gills. Faced with an invasion of their home, the Sub-Atlanticans betrayed Megatron, trapped him in his gun alternate mode, and turned him over to Cobra Commander rather than risk destruction. Ask Vector Prime, 2015/06/13

In those universes were the Thirteen Primes had visited Ancient Greece, Adaptus had a fondness for Earth's oceans and became known to the humans as Poseidon. Vector Prime would later wonder if Sub-Atlantica was how Adaptus' memory had lived on. Ask Vector Prime, 2015/08/08

Notes

• The Sub-Atlanticans bear some physical resemblance to H.P. Lovecraft's "Deep Ones", fish-frog-people who live in huge cities in the Atlantic ocean. It's unknown if this parallel was intentional.
• Concept art by Floro Dery reveals that Sub-Atlantica was originally planned to be Atlantis itself, perhaps explaining the episode title and the Japanese naming. Dery's notes also elaborate that the city was a spaceship, a concept that would later be explored with a different version of Atlantis.
• The Japanese dub for this episode changed Sub-Atlantic to "Atlantis", intending it to be the sunken city of legend. This alteration would later create some discontinuity in the Japanese-exclusive shows Super-God Masterforce and Victory, where the more classical interpretation of Atlantis would appear with no reference to the Sub-Atlantica incarnation from The Transformers.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Atlantis (アトランティス Atorantisu)