Cybertron's Most Wanted
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| File:Timelines11 diamonded.jpg "Why would you want to save Axiom Nexus?" "Because I'm one of the idiots who lives in it!" | |||||||||||||
| "Cybertron's Most Wanted" | |||||||||||||
| Publisher | Fun Publications | ||||||||||||
| First published | June 18, 2015 (BotCon 2015) January 13, 2016 (Diamond Edition) | ||||||||||||
| Writers | Jesse Wittenrich & Pete Sinclair (see Errors) | ||||||||||||
| Pencils | Matt Frank | ||||||||||||
| Inks | Matt Frank | ||||||||||||
| Colors | Thomas Deer with Wade Alexander | ||||||||||||
| Letters | Jesse Wittenrich | ||||||||||||
| Managing editor | Pete Sinclair | ||||||||||||
| Editor in chief | |||||||||||||
| Continuity | TransTech | ||||||||||||
When the Waruders threaten to consume TransTech Cybertron, its most infamous criminals must step up to save the planet.
Synopsis
It is a normal, peaceful day in Axiom Nexus. Mostly. On the run from the law after a botched theft, wanted criminals Battletrap, Stepper, Nebulon, Scalpel, Boombox, Heavyweight, and their leader C-81 lead the local police force on a chase through the offworlder zone. Finding themselves cornered in Seeker-Shinai, C-81 transforms into robot mode and attempts to scatter the crowd of Seekers through intimidation. The sight of a "Megatron" on Axiom Nexus serves only to petrify the crowd, however, and C-81's gang is apprehended by Sergeant Hound and his squad.
The criminals are taken to the offworlder maximum security prison, where Sergeant Hound, Officer Stungun, Commander Cheetor, and General Optimus Prime discuss whether or not C-81 truly could be a "Megatron" who slipped through Axiom Nexus's security. Though the rest of the group is ready to dismiss C-81 simply as a Megatron lookalike, Optimus retains his suspicions.
Meanwhile, C-81's gang first meet Oilmaster and then Packrat within the prison. Though they get off to a rough start, the lot of them soon come to be on somewhat-amicable terms. C-81 reveals to Packrat that their botched theft was the last raid they needed to pull off to assemble their own interuniversal gate, which C-81 plans to use to provide an off-the-books travel agency. The criminals then team up in order to execute an escape plan. Just as Oilmaster's aerial component succeeds in placing a magne-current amplifier on the prison's generator, the power for all of Axiom Nexus goes out, leading the prisoners to believe their plan is going off without a hitch. "Cybertron's most wanted" fight their way through Autorooper and Blastcharge Strika Drone guards and manage to breach the prison's walls, finding the city outside completely depowered. Taking advantage of the cover of darkness, the criminals make their way to the city's underground tunnel network.
Within the prison, General Optimus Prime and Sergeant Hound learn from Cheetor and Stungun that all other TransTechs have been shut down due to a surge in the planet's global net. The General and the Sergeant are tasked with finding the power outage's source and remedying it.
Underground, Burn Out and Lift-Ticket use Spy-Eye to try and track down a nearby Waruder hive, the cause of the planetary shut down. C-81's group bump into them, prompting the Burn Out, Lift-Ticket, and Spy-Eye to flee. Stepper and Battletrap assume that the fleeing "'bots" are off to report their whereabouts to the O.Z.S.A., and so the criminal gang decides to give chase. They soon lose their trail, and find themselves in the middle of the aforementioned Waruder hive. The hostile invaders engage the group. Though the criminals are initially successful and fighting back against the Waruders, the invader leader Zaptrap appears with supplementary soldiers, and forces C-81 and the others to flee. Cybertron's most wanted are soon overtaken, and crash through an unstable floor as more Waruders converge upon them. With several of their members badly damaged, things look grim... But General Optimus Prime and Sergeant Hound, soon followed by Lift-Ticket and Burn Out, arrive to lend a hand. Lift-Ticket explains to Optimus and C-81 that the Waruder hive's venom caused the planetary surge, and that the TransTechs' condition can be reversed if he can collect a sample of this hive's venom. Lift-Ticket is then badly damaged by a Waruder soldier, revealing him to in reality be a mech piloted by the human Cline. This turn of events gives C-81 an idea, and the Decepticon rips Beet-Chit out of Zaptrap. Holding the Waruders' leader hostage, he forces the bug to negotiate with Optimus and himself. The Waruders agree to provide the Cybertronians with a venom sample in exchange for safe passage to an abandoned Cybertron via C-81's interuniversal gate. Though Optimus impounds C-81's gate after the deportation is completed, he allows C-81's group to "slip away" in recompense for their aid in thwarting the Waruder invasion. Sergeant Hound apologizes to Cline and Dia that he can't aid them further in their war against the Waruders due to the TransTechs' non-interference policy. The humans understand and leave the Autobots on good terms.
The General later reports to Starscream, Prowl, and the Convoy, as the TransTechs are slowly recovering. The General tells Starscream and Prowl that the rumors surrounding C-81 were only rumors, assuring them the TransTechs could never mistakenly allow a "Megatron" on-planet. The TransTechs are satisfied, but the rest of the Convoy is savvy to the General's lie. They nonetheless accept to cover up C-81's identity, with Beast Prime stating that if the General trusts C-81, so does the rest of the Convoy.
General Optimus Prime later enjoys some off time with Spy-Eye, looking on as Axiom Nexus returns to normalcy, and contemplating how "everyone has the capacity for change."
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
Quotes
Notes
Continuity notes
- Some cropped panels from this issue were utilized as artwork for the tie-in Facebook pages Andromeda - Axiom Nexus News Reporter, Rook - Axiom Nexus News: Investigative Journalist, and Axiom Nexus News Editor.
- Prowl II (or another alternate universe version of him in Axiom Nexus) previously appeared as an OZSA member in "Withered Hope".
- The Waruders, Burn Out/Dia, Lift-Ticket/Cline, and Spy-Eye are not Cybertronians nor do they hail from a technically Transformers universe. They come from the continuity of Diaclone, one of the pre-Transformers Takara toylines which served as a source of molds for the original Generation 1 toys.
- In advance of the release of "Cybertron's Most Wanted", the Facebook version of Ask Vector Prime identified several universal streams of pre-Transformers toylines/fiction, establishing them as part of the Transformers multiverse.
- The Convoy debuted three years prior in "Invasion Prologue". Excepting General Optimus Prime, they were all listed in an entry of the Andromeda Facebook page a few weeks before BotCon 2015.
Transformers references
- Primal Prime hangs out with Tap-Out and Ramulus just as their 3H-verse counterparts did in The Wreckers comic.
- Flamewar appears in her toy design from the previous year's BotCon.
- Many of the Seekers in Seeker-Shinai utilize the designs of toys produced by Fun Publications.
- The two Windblades seen on page 1 use her Generations and Legends color schemes, respectively.
- The two Thundercrackers seen on page 2 use his Action Master and classic G1 color schemes while the two Skywarps utilize his Classics and Henkei color schemes.
- Appropriately enough, the Cybertron Ransack who is a member of Sergeant Hound's OZSA team uses the "Gasket Police Type" coloration.
- Bruticus uses his 2008 Universe toy design, the first time said design has made a proper appearance in fiction.
- Among the items Packrat finds in his prison cell is a live-action film series Matrix of Leadership.
Real-life references
- One of the Offworlder prisoners is based on the titular character of Masked Rider Amazon. There's precedent for this sort of thing in comics illustrated by Matt Frank.
Errors
- Hellbat appears in a completely new color scheme; all his previous appearances in fiction over the decades utilize his original Victory cartoon/toy coloration. It is unknown if this is an error or intentional. Perhaps he hails from his home reality's Generation 2 era?
- Though the comic credits the writing to "Greg Sepelak & S. Trent Troop with Jesse Wittenrich", the comic was actually written by Jesse Wittenrich and Pete Sinclair. Only the basic outline of the closing battle and various lines used within it remain from an earlier script written by Sepelak and Troop, whose credit as primary writers was kept in the comic against their wishes.
- The Diamond edition properly credited only Wittenrich and Sinclair.
Other trivia
- Cryotek is mentioned, but does not appear in-story.
- The Diamond Edition includes profiles for General Optimus Prime, Battletrap, and Zaptrap and Beet-Chit.
Covers
- BotCon Edition:
- Diamond Edition:
