The Hot Rod
| The name or term "Hot Rod" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Hot Rod (disambiguation). |
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| "The Hot Rod" | |||||||||
| Original presentation | April 8, 2016 (BotCon) | ||||||||
| Continuity | IDW Beast Wars continuity | ||||||||
As Megatron begins his invasion of the planet, the Maximal leaders left review events from the end of the Great War recorded by Hot Rod, hoping that the former Autobot leader's records will help them find something to stop Megatron.
Synopsis
On Cybertron, the threat of Shokaract and the Blendtrons has been dealt with...but now, the planet faces invasion from Megatron, using his transformation virus to take out the both civilians and peacekeepers. Big Convoy and Lio Convoy meet with Legend Convoy, reporting that Megatron has completely taken over Quadrant Epsilon, and that Lio Convoy's special ops team, the Pack, have confirmed that Megatron is extracting the sparks of those affected, melting their bodies down and rebuilding them into his Vehicon army. The three try to figure out a plan to stop Megatron; Lio Convoy remembers Megatron's role in the final days of the war, and suddenly, is reminded of something. Order the computer to pull up Soundbyte's files from the onset of the armistice, and has it play the last entry: an investigation by Hot Rod.
300 years ago, Soundbyte records Hot Rod's spoken testimony on an incident at the Advance Plasma Energy Reactor project, and the fate of Dinobot commander Grimlock, and explains that the following footage is his interviews with those participants that still survive. Hot Rod briefly muses on the changeover from Autobots to Maximals, commenting on how he's changed his name and job titles all too often throughout the war, and then proceeds on with his recordings. The first interviewee, the dry and sarcastic Maximal history professor White Propionica, who is unimpressed with the former Autobot leader's interview skills, and will almost certainly never become evil on day when her protoform is found by Predacons, tells of her role in the events. Working at the projects in the days leading up to Armistice Day, she was there when Megatron, then a ambitious Decepticon, fought with the remaining Dinobots as he attempted to break into the project. Throwing Sludge through White Propionica's office, as Megatron enters behind him, mocking his foes archaic form. White Proponica, unfazed by Megatron, tells him that she won't be threatened into helping the Decepticon. Megatron, however, doesn't need her help; recording her voice sample, he has his onboard computer synthesize it so he can access her secure terminal, and uploads a cyber-virus to the system. White Propionica is distraught; if the reactor collapses, the chain reaction will blow a hole into Cybertron, killing thousands! Megatron is unfazed, knowing that it will wipe out some secret Autobot bases and figuring the majority of the victims with be Autobots anyway. But before he can finish his speech, he is attacked by Grimlock. As the two fight, White Propionica is knocked into stasis lock, awakening to find that while her lab was destroyed, the reactor control systems were repaired, now with an advanced artificial intelligence in control of it. She has no idea who to thank for saving thousands of lives, and Hot Rod is curious about the mystery. Hot Rod's second interview is with a young Predacon who witnessed the battle between Megatron and Grimlock. Hot Rod asks if he saw anyone else enter the facility while they fought, but the Predacon hadn't, and prosaically describes the honor of both Megatron and Grimlock. Predaking then arrived, dragging off Megatron for their latter plans, and crushes Grimlock. The Dinobot enters stasis lock as he proclaims he will not die, and the young Predacon muses on how honorable a name Dinobot is. However, Hot Rod is severely frustrated on gaining virtually no information from the interview. Later, Hot Rod preforms his third interview with Megatron, imprisoned after his failed bid to take down the Primal Council. Megatron tells the events recounted by White Propionica, exaggerating the details to make him look more ruthless and powerful, and defeated Grimlock, declaring him an old relic. Hot Rod, however, is unimpressed, pointing out that his supposed "flawless plan" failed. Megatron ignores the Autobot's attempts to get a rise out of him, and monologues about how this chaotic world's inhabitants are the cause of the shortages and suffering, unorganized and sloppy. Hot Rod ignores his rant, and leaves Megatron to his fate.
Later, Hot Rod is surprised when White Propionica calls him back, having found something else: a recording from Grimlock himself buried within the code of the A.I., left for Grimlock! The recording reveals that he made it when he was briefly granted super intelligence, and that while he cannot keep this intelligence, needing it to perfect the Technobots, he can see trends and probability that will lead to disastrous outcomes. Unwilling to let these events come to past, he leaves behind a small fragment of himself deep with Grimlock's brain module, and provides him with the resources he'll need to stop the events of either a Plasma Energy Reactor meltdown, worldwide nucleonic disintegration, or a transmatter event, and bids himself farewell. Hot Rod realizes Grimlock must have uploaded the A.I. into the systems of the reactor, saving thousands of lives. White Propionica solemnly reflects that Grimlock died saving everyone, but Hot Rod reveals the old Dinobot is still alive: unfortunately, he was in stasis lock when the transmatter bomb hit, and was reduced into protoform stage, his memory wiped. Hot Rod wonders if they could use the A.I. to restore Grimlock, and while White Propionica is unsure if the incomplete A.I. can fully restore Grimlock, Hot Rod orders her to try, getting a feeling that Grimlock won't be down for long. After compiling his interviews, Hot Rod begins to sign off, prepared to head off and undergo downsizing, becoming a Maximal...but stops, realizing that there will be Predacons who will want to finish what the Decepticons started. Hot Rod leaves a message for Prowl, telling him not to come look for him; if the peace falls through, he promises to be back with the big guns. Ending his message, Hot Rod warns Prowl to keep an eye on Megatron's cell...
After the computer finishes playback, the gathered Convoys realize that Megatron has tried to use viruses before. Legend Convoy, recalling that Lio Convoy had returned from Earth with Grimlock, asks if he's still available, wondering if what's left of the A.I. program can come up with something to stop it. Unfortunately, Lio Convoy has bad news: he was one of the many struck by the transformation virus last week. Legend Convoy then has Big Convoy message Hot Rod, still at Autobot size, with the Wrecker frequency, hoping for his help along with any others with him. And elsewhere, Megatron laughs, as his empire grows...
Featured characters
Italics indicates characters who appear only in flashback.
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots / Maximals | Decepticons / Predacons | Others |
|---|---|---|
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Notes
- The cast:
- Characters mentioned but not seen include: Shokaract, the Blendrons, the Vehicons, the Pack, Blaster, Prowl, Daniel, Hun-Grrr, Sinnertwin, Doublecross, Cutthroat, Bristleback, Predaking, Unicron, Galvatron, Megatron, the Technobots, Primus, and the Wreckers.
Continuity notes
- The framing device used for the script is set sometime after the events of the IDW Publishing Beast Wars mini-series, The Ascending, following on from the cliffhanger of the fourth issue, where Megatron arrived on Cybertron before Optimus Primal and his Maximals as seen in "Revelations Part II: Descent", setting the stage for the events of Beast Machines. Mention is made of the defeat of Shokaract and the Blendtrons, from the same issue of The Ascending, and both Lio Convoy and Big Convoy's role in the story follow on somewhat from their roles in The Ascending. It's also noted that, until recently, Megatron's spark extraction and creation of the Vehicons were just rumors. Hot Rod's interviews, meanwhile, take place shortly after the events of "Dawn of the Predacus", with the Advanced Plasma Energy Reactor incident and Megatron's battle with Grimlock taking shortly before it.
- The Pack, Lio Convoy's elite special ops group of Maximals, were first mentioned in IDW Publishing's The Gathering, where Pack member Razorbeast was sent undercover into Magmatron's Predacons, before appearing in full in The Ascending.
- Both Lio Convoy and Big Convoy are reminded of Megatron's past when they see him as being red and a dragon; they were members of the Primal Council in "Dawn of the Predacus", where Megatron (in his "TM3" form) tried to kill them while the Autobots were still recovering from Optimus Prime's death.
- Hot Rod notes he misses Blaster; this seems to indicate he's among the many dead Autobots listed in "Dawn of the Predacus".
- Hot Rod is reporting to Prowl; he was seen as one of the most important leaders of the Primal Council in "Dawn of the Predacus".
- Hot Rod jokes he changes "job titles" a little too often, referring to his tenure as Autobot commander Rodimus Prime in the third season of the original The Transformers cartoon.
- The Advance Plasma Energy Reactor is, presumably, related in some way to the Plasma Energy Chamber, seen in the original three-part finale of The Transformers, "The Rebirth", and Beast Machines, where it nearly did cause Cybertron to be destroyed.
Transformers references
- Quadrant Epsilon was a location in Iacon seen in the second and third volumes of Dreamwave Productions Generation 1 comic.
- Soundbyte takes her name from a pre-production name of the live-action movie incarnation of Frenzy.
- Hot Rod jokes that he has no idea what he was thinking when he called himself "Rodimus Major" in the late 2000s; "Rodimus Major" was the name used by Hasbro for their Commemorative Series reissue of Hot Rod's original toy, unable to use "Hot Rod" due to trademark issues.
- Among the sarcastic responses White Propionica makes to Hot Rod's question of "what happened" includes "what happened at Maximus City," presumably named for the Generation 1 city Transformer, Fortress Maximus.
- Megatron claims no one would ever catch him with a "lumbering form" like that of the Dinobots; of course, he would later turn into a Tyrannosaurus when he came to Earth. He also makes sure to say that his beast mode is complete mechanical, and that it doesn't contradict any later hatred of a beast mode he might have; Megatron's loathing of his beast mode's organic components was a major part of his characterization in Beast Machines.
- White Propionica claims that no one will ever hear her use the activaction code of "terrorize" after Megatron shouts it while transforming, after which the Decepticon looks to the audience knowingly. She does, of course, get reprogrammed into a Predacon in Beast Wars.
- White Propionica calls her computer "Navi", after the name given to both Maximal and Predacon computers in the Japanese Beast Wars cartoons.
- Hot Rod consistently interrupts anytime he feels that Grimlock isn't being portrayed right, objecting over using "too many" words. The IDW Beast Wars comic version of Grimlock was, as usual under Simon Furman's pen, ever so slightly more eloquent than his cartoon counterpart.
Real-world references
- Blackarachnia's original Maximal name, White Propionica, is an inverted form of her usual name. "White" obviously is the opposite of "black," but "Propionica" has a more obscure source; the bacteria Propionibacterium propionicus was previously known under the species and genus of Arachia propionica. Hot Rod jokes that it's a terrible name, and dreads what her name as a Predacon would be.
Script errors
- Shokaract's name is misspelt as "Shokoract".
Other trivia
- As with virtually all BotCon script readings, this story makes many fourth-wall breaking gags.
- The script used for the reading had an additional, alternative title: "The Three Dinosaurs".
- Specific stage notes from the script include:
- Gregg Berger directions were to use "an echoing voice" for the "thunderous Maximal warrior," comparing it to his role as Skyfire on the original The Transformers cartoon.
- David Kaye's directions for Lio Convoy tells him to reference his time as the Animated incarnation of Animated, heroic and noble with "an animal (lion) edge."
- Venus Terzo's directions for Legend Convoy was to use a voice "like a hardened police chief," while her direction for "White Propionica" was to use her normal Blackarachnia voice, kinder but "still a little sharp and biting."
- Frank Todaro was instructed to use a "younger" version of Scott McNeil's voice for Dinobot, perhaps with fewer growls.
- Both Legend Convoy and Soundbyte are original characters created for this script; alternative versions of them would show up in the Beast Wars: Uprising finale, "Derailment". Legend Convoy is noted to have antlers; writer Jesse Wittenrich intended for her to turn into a reindeer.
