Mission City

Mission City is a city in the Movie continuity family

City motto? Life is pain.

Mission City is a city in the United States of America, possibly in either Nevada or Arizona. It may rival San Francisco as "worst place to live", because it's the kind of place where Mountain Dew machines thirst for human blood, Xbox 360s play with the lives of their owners, and steering wheels tend to kiss their drivers. It also had the poor fortune to be the location where the Autobots and the Decepticons threw down for control of the All Spark.

It's located 22 miles north of the Hoover Dam. Its downtown has lots of Classically-detailed buildings from the early 20th Century which tend to shatter spectacularly when giant robots smash into them.

Fiction

Transformers (2007) movie

As Megatron began to thaw, Captain Lennox suggested that they move the All Spark to Mission City, where it would be easier to contact and rendezvous with military airlift to take it to safety. Defense Secretary John Keller agreed with him, despite the risk of attack from pursuing Decepticons. Bumblebee converted the All Spark to a more portable form, and he and a military escort, soon augmented by the Autobots, left for the city.

En route, Optimus Prime left the escort to battle Bonecrusher, while the other Autobots continued into downtown Mission City. Their human allies, meanwhile, had summoned F-22 Air Force fighters to provide aerial support.

Ironhide is the first person in some twenty years to consider Starscream a serious threat... with good reason for once.

Captain Lennox procured several short-wave radios to contact the hoped-for aerial support, intending to summon Blackhawk helicopters to extract the All Spark. They soon sighted a lone F-22 overhead and called for support, marking their location with green smoke. Too late, the Autobots realized that the incoming fighter was in fact Starscream. Ironhide ordered the humans and other Autobots to fall back, as he and Bumblebee lifted a truck to shield them from Starscream's attack. The resulting explosion crippled Bumblebee, severing his legs below the knees.

As the humans realized the deception, they finally heard back from actual incoming Blackhawks, but they then came under attack from Devastator. Ratchet, Jazz and Ironhide all rushed to attack as the human soldiers fell back. Mikaela spotted a tow truck nearby and ran to procure it, while the crippled Bumblebee handed the All Spark off to Sam.

Yeah, let's triple-team the guy who is suffering an identity crisis. That's fair.

Ironhide rushed Devastator head-on, transforming and vaulting over an extremely hot woman with a huge mouth, all the while dodging two of the Decepticon's missiles. Jazz attacked from another direction, yanking the Decepticon's main gun aside. Devastator transformed and tossed Jazz into a building. Ironhide fired on Devastator, while Ratchet and Jazz attacked from both sides, Ratchet using a saw blade to slice off one of Devastator's arms. The humans joined the Autobots in blasting Devastator, until a series of shots from Ratchet knocked the Decepticon to the ground.

While Mikaela worked to hotwire the tow truck, Megatron landed in the city streets, prompting the Autobots to call a retreat. Jazz stayed behind and engaged the much larger Decepticon, getting blasted aside for his efforts.

Mikaela drove the tow truck over to Sam and Bumblebee. Megatron, meanwhile, carried Jazz through the air, crushing him under his feet atop a building, then pulling him out. Jazz fired on Megatron, but the massive Decepticon tore him in half.

Wow. Ironhide was never this agile in the cartoon...or the comics...

On the ground, Captain Lennox's troops observed Devastator getting back to his feet, as well as the arrival of Blackout, who transformed and landed atop a building behind them. Under sporadic hostile fire, Lennox led his troops back to Bumblebee's position as Sam and Mikaela worked to hook Bumblebee to the tow truck. Lennox handed a flare to Sam and ordered him to take the All Spark to a nearby rooftop, while Sergeant Epps summoned their Blackhawk support to pick him up. Ratchet and Ironhide promised Sam that they would protect him as he carried out the mission. After a quick farewell to Mikaela, Sam fled.

Megatron (from somewhere) ordered the Decepticons to attack, prompting Devastator to fire. Ratchet and Ironhide provided cover fire as Sam ran. Blackout attacked from the other side, and Ironhide engaged him. Blackout bashed aside the car that Ironhide tossed at him, then transformed and flew away. Mikaela finished securing Bumblebee and drove him off, as Devastator continued his lumbering advance.

This is the only time Prime and Megs got to use their signature weapons. You fail us yet again, Michael Bay.

Optimus Prime arrived after his delay on the freeway, transforming and challenging Megatron. Still perched atop his building, Megatron tossed away the remains of Jazz and transformed. He scooped up Prime and took him for a dizzying ride through the streets and buildings of the city, smashing through an entire office building at one point before crashing to the street. The two exchanged their respective views on humanity and fisticuffs. Prime managed to get in a shot at Megatron, but a blast from Megatron's main gun hurled Prime down the street and into the side of another building, prompting viewers to wonder why Michael Bay hates architecture so much. Prime then fell to the street amid a small crowd of panicked humans, some of whom may or may not have been crushed.

With Ratchet and Ironhide alongside him, Sam continued sprinting for the building. Blackout landed in the street and sliced at Sam with his rotor weapon, but did not attempt to capture him. Starscream also landed nearby and engaged Ratchet and Ironhide, blasting them both. Starscream then transformed and launched again as the two Autobots collapsed. Sam continued onwards.

Megatron flew down from the sky and transformed, demanding that Sam give up the All Spark. As Sam darted through traffic, a near-collision with an SUV made him drop the cube, unleashing a pulse of its power. The pulse brought several machines to life, including part of the SUV and a Mountain Dew vending machine.

Gah! Heartburn!

Meanwhile, in Detroit... Sam sprinted into the abandoned building, pursued by Megatron, who smashed through a floor practically on Sam's heels but failed to stop him from entering a fire stairwell.

Mikaela and Bumblebee stopped in an alley, while Sam continued climbing and Lennox's troops continued fighting against Devastator. Mikaela was crying, hitting the wheel in frustration, then turned to look at Bumblebee, who nodded. After a moment of preparation, Mikaela backed the tow truck into the street so that Bumblebee was facing forwards, then drove it full speed in reverse into the battle scene. Under heavy attack from two directions, Devastator suffered heavy damage, before a final shot from Bumblebee hit him in the chest, bringing him down for good. He collapsed into the building where Lennox's troops had taken shelter.

It depends...how well do you take care of your pets?

As the Blackhawks closed in, Sam reached the rooftop and activated his flare. Starscream transformed and landed on a nearby building as the helicopters pulled up to the rooftop. Sam was inches away from handing off the All Spark when Starscream shot the waiting Blackhawk out of the sky. Optimus Prime sprinted toward the building, determined to save Sam. Starscream continued watching from nearby while Megatron bashed his way onto the rooftop. Cornering Sam, Megatron demanded the All Spark, then unsheathed a barbed mace and bashed the building out from under Sam's feet when he refused. Optimus Prime, suspended most of the way up the building, caught the falling human. Prime then vaulted/fell down to street level, with Megatron close behind. The two metal titans smashed into the street, scattering still more panicked humans, one of whom got himself flicked aside by Megatron.

Prime ordered Sam to take shelter behind him and to push the All Spark into his chest if he was unable to defeat Megatron. As the two leaders laid into one another a second time, Lennox's troops moved in on their position. They stopped and observed as Blackout transformed, landed, and moved in to assist his leader. Epps called in their air support, advising that the targets would be marked. The troops then marked Blackout with green laser light as the F-22s closed in. Meanwhile, Lennox secured a fallen motorcycle.

WWWWHHHHEEEEEEEE!!!

Blackout was about to fire when he noticed the lasers lighting him up, so he instead turned to engage the soldiers, opening fire. Lennox raced at him on his motorcycle, evading Blackout's blasts and purposefully going into a long skid/slide along the ground. As Blackout was hit by fire from the F-22s, Lennox slid past and under him, firing several rounds directly up into the Decepticon's chest and crotch. (Ow!!) The Decepticon fell dead to the pavement. Lennox urged his troops onward as Megatron appeared to be getting the upper hand over Optimus.

"Prime, could we maybe discuss this some time when you're not holding a corpse?"

As a second wave of F-22s approached the city, Starscream appeared in their midst, destroying three of them before the pilots realized what was happening. The surviving pilots attempted to engage the Decepticon. Several of the F-22s survived to make an attack run on Megatron, firing on him while Lennox's troops also attacked him, damaging his chest. Megatron advanced on Sam, and Prime urged him to push the cube into Prime's chest. Instead, Sam opted to push it into Megatron, killing him.

Ratchet and Ironhide arrived then, carrying the remains of Jazz, and Mikaela and Bumblebee reached the scene soon afterward. Prime thanked the humans for their effort and sacrifice. Bumblebee requested to stay with Sam. Prime granted the request, then extracted a sliver of the All Spark from Megatron's body. Transformers (2007)

Transformers film novelization

For unknown reasons, in Titan comics continuity the Battle of Mission City was moved to Las Vegas.

Transformers (novel)

Titan Magazines Transformers movie comics

Wow, it sure is lucky for Mission City that all of the above didn't happen there but happened in Los Angeles instead! Starscream's Militia

Two years on, and Starscream is still unclear about why Optimus lured the Decepticons to this heavily populated city when he claims to like humans. #22's Star Screams

IDW Revenge of the Fallen movie prequel comics

In the aftermath of the battle, Lennox's soldiers became acquainted with the Autobots whilst they hunted mutated transformers created by the released All Spark energies. Optimus Prime requested Lennox's help in allowing the Autobots to transport Jazz's remains out of Mission City whilst evading untrustworthy humans such as those from Sector Seven. When a suitable abandoned truck trailer found, the assembled soldiers had a moment of silence as Ironhide placed Jazz's body inside. Soon after the Autobots left, Agent Simmons and Sector Seven arrived to take away the dead Decepticons. Alliance issue 1

The Real Effing Deal

The official story is "several biomechanical prototypes by Mendelson Robotics" went haywire by accident; the government cleared Mendelson of any wrongdoing. The leaked Department of Defence reports also said that the tales of giant robots fightings are completely unfounded, even though their official story is it was big robots. No wonder certain bloggers worked out the cover story was crap. The Real Effing Deal

Revenge of the Fallen

See above, except replace "Mendelson" with McClaren Robotics.

Except when it's Massive Dynamics. Revenge of the Fallen (novel)

Some of which claimed the battle took place in Los Angeles. Revenge of the Fallen (film)

The terrifying thing is that this half-arsed cover-up actually worked.

Related characters

Kid on freeway

This young man was riding on the freeway though Mission City when two robots suddenly fell off the overpass and landed in their lane. His mother barely skidding their car to a halt, the kid watched in shock as one of the robots was struck so hard one of its eyes popped out and it was knocked off the overpass on which they were sitting. As the other robot jumped after it, the kid said that the whole thing was cool.

SUV driver

This young woman and two of her friends were driving around in her SUV when some kid nearly ran into her car. Failing to noticed the panicked bystanders running in the opposite direction, the woman asked if "that jerk" had dented her car. This was quickly forgotten as she noticed her steering wheel had come to life. It proceeded to wrap itself around her face. Her fate is unknown, but things are not looking good.

Woman in blue

This woman had the unfortunate circumstance of being caught in the middle of a tank firing shells at a truck. As the truck changed into a giant robot, it proceeded to do some questionably useful (but fun to see) somersaults over the missiles being shot at it, landing right near the woman and totally scaring the crap out of her. Of course, this raises another question: If a tank was shelling something, why did she stop right in its line of fire?

Xbox owner

This man was proudly carrying his newly purchased Xbox down the street (as you do) when some sort of energy surged from some object that a kid was carrying. He heard the Xbox activate, he saw that it had sprouted arms that were trying to attack him. Despite the fact that it probably cost a great deal of money, the owner threw the Xbox away, deciding that it wasn't worth his life.

Remember that, people: Gaming is not worth your life!

Items of Note

• At BotCon 2007, at one of the movie's writers' panels, they explained that the original intent behind taking the All Spark to the city was not to "hide" it there, but simply to use the city as a rendezvous point—someplace relatively near the dam that might have a working radio they could use to call for help.
• It's not entirely clear where some of the Decepticons go during the battle, or why. Starscream defeats Ratchet and Ironhide, but then flies away instead of making a grab for Sam and the All Spark. Blackout is nearby at this point and would also seem to have an opportunity to secure the human, but he disappears after slicing up the street outside the diner, not reappearing until Megatron and Optimus begin their final fight.
• There's a long period where Jazz is not doing anything. He's standing around in vehicle mode when Ironhide notices that the F-22 flying above the city is Starscream, stays in vehicle mode when Ironhide and Bumblebee pick up a Furby delivery truck for cover, still remains in vehicle mode when Starscream blasts them, and after Sam discovers that Bumblebee has lost his legs, all Jazz does is pull back for a few feet to give Bumblebee space to crawl. In the end, Jazz doesn't really join the battle at all until Brawl shows up.
• For that matter, the fact that Starscream completely incapacitates Ironhide and Ratchet (they're absent from the last eleven minutes of the fight) is not made clear. When we last see them, they are falling down, but Ironhide is still talking and moving.
• Barricade, meanwhile, never shows up at all. Presumably he was fighting Optimus Prime off-screen, accounting for the Autobot leader's late arrival; Prime's delay seems too long to be accounted for solely by his very short fight with Bonecrusher.
• Why didn't Bumblebee use the All Spark to restore himself as Frenzy had done?
• Also unclear is why the military thought they could smuggle the All Spark out of town on a slow-moving helicopter, when fast-flying guys like Starscream and Megatron were around and well aware of the cube's location.
• Fans have speculated that Starscream actually participated in the F-22 attack run on Megatron. While there's no concrete evidence either way, it doesn't make much sense for him to be destroying the jets beforehand if he's just going to turn around and help them in their mission a few seconds later. When asked about it, screenwriter Roberto Orci explicitly refused to address this theory since it would pose a plot thread for the sequel. Meanwhile, IDW's The Reign of Starscream issue 1 has Starscream consider this an option, but soon has the decision taken from his hands.
• Epps emphatically states that F-22 pilots would never fly between buildings, as they'd just observed Starscream doing. Yet a few minutes later, that's exactly what the real F-22s do.
• Transformers: The Junior Novel set the final battle in the ostensibly nonfictional city of Las Vegas instead of Mission City.
• Incidentally, most of the city skyline shots clearly show Los Angeles. The downtown street scenes were primarily filmed there as well. No wonder Fassbinder was confused.
• The abandoned building that Sam runs into, however, is actually the Michigan central depot, located in Detroit.
• And because things weren't muddled enough, the Mission City diorama backdrop in the Final Stand Screen Battles set is actually a Photoshopped version of Scranton, Pennsylvania.
• At the end of the Jazz/Megatron battle, Megatron rips Jazz in half. After several minutes, Optimus Prime walks up to Megatron, who is still holding Jazz's corpse. Why he was holding said corpse for such a long period of time is unknown.
• The denizens of Mission City are remarkably well-composed considering that global communications networks have been shut down. You'd think there'd be a bit more "panic in the streets."
  • Not to mention all the audible explosions, and people fleeing from previous battlegrounds... yet nobody ever panics until those freaking giant robots come literally crashing into the next nearby building. You'd think the girl whose steering wheel is brought to life by the Allspark would have bigger problems than Sam denting her car... such as those giant robots fighting everywhere. Weirdness censor doesn't even begin to describe this.