Coalescence
From MediaWiki
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 I hope you like this, you had to wait five years for it! | |||||||||||||
| "Coalescence" | |||||||||||||
| Publisher | Transformers Collectors' Club (online exclusive) | ||||||||||||
| First published | December 28, 2016 | ||||||||||||
| By | Jesse Wittenrich | ||||||||||||
| Illustrations | Josh Perez | ||||||||||||
| Editor | Luke Thompson | ||||||||||||
| Continuity | Shattered Glass | ||||||||||||
| Chronology | 2011 | ||||||||||||
| Page count | 84pp | ||||||||||||
Worlds collide when the Underbase and its attendants threaten Earth.
Synopsis
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Decepticons | Autobots | Humans | Others |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Quotes
“Stuck? No, no, no. You misunderstand. He can go back to any positive universe he wants. But that is exactly what he doesn’t want. You see there is balance in those universes, in the form of his brothers and sisters. He is alone here though since they’re reluctant to come this far… And he wants to go even further. You see he theorizes that there are more negative universes. And, well, I do believe he wants them.”
- — Beta Maxx
"The ultimate truth, the real truth is… that there is no truth. None whatsoever. Our existence is merely to have our names added to the historical ledgers. And as Optronix, my name wasn’t even a footnote. But as Optimus Prime, ruler of the Autobots and conqueror of worlds, I think I’ve done better.”
- —Optimus Prime
“Why does this universe hate me so?”
- — Doesn't matter what universe he's in, the universe will always hate Waspinator.
Notes
- Having spent years in the pipeline, this story follows up on the plot threads of "Transhuman". It's even set in the same year as that story!
- The main story, first epilogue, and second epilogue take place some time between "Reunification: Part 6" and "Invasion". The third epilogue takes place some time after "The Future Buried...".
- According to a post by Jesse Wittenrich on the Allspark Forums, the story's original outline was different, with the Underbase sending out agents who would attract Unicron's attention. This was scrapped since the events of Another Light brought Unicron into Shattered Glass via other means. Likewise, the original ending would have had the post-Shroud Nexus Prime components meeting the Shattered Glass version of the Fallen, but Wittenrich felt it better to resolve Depth Charge's story.[1]
- Wittenrich also stated the time skip was done to "smooth over" some of the inconsistencies without having to devote time on them.
Continuity notes
- Cyclonus betrayed the Decepticons in "Reunification: Part 4" but is later seen back with Galvatron, his toy bio saying he realised his mistakes while in jail. This story fills in the blanks as the chronologically first story after he was let out. Galvatron has pardoned him of all crimes, to everyone's distaste.
- Readers who followed the previous Shattered Glass stories may notice Jetstorm is suddenly a teeny bit more, ah, "effusive" than he used to be, acting much more like his Beast Machines counterpart, which goes without explanation or comment.
- Star Saber (referred to as just "Saber" in this story) was the first to find out about the Underbase, back at the end of "Transhuman".
- The Nexus Prime components return, but with a few differences, their names having been changed around--minus Heatwave's--because they are now all native Shattered Glass versions, except Heatwave since Wittenrich decided to let him keep his name.
- After years of only existing in his profile and second-hand references, Beta Maxx finally get to personally appear and star in a Transformers story, in which he is depicted as a companion of Shattered Glass Alpha Trion, as previously noted in his original profile.
Transformers references
- Per the writer, the opening with the Fallen being killed is not actually Revenge of the Fallen, but it could be a variant Tyran reality.
- Highwire was actually called Haywire, a more obvious villainous name, but his voice being muffled means he handily has to have a Street Action Mini-Con Team name.
- Sephie accidentally crippling a foe and their being mechanically fixed harkens back to Circuit Breaker's own origin.
- Jetstorm, Demolishor, Hotshot, Windblade, Strongarm, and Side Burn are in fact sentient droids made out of Transformium. Beta Maxx follows up on that by grumbling about Joshua Joyce, the man who gave the substance its unoriginal name in Age of Extinction.
- In a cheeky nod to how he originally had control over fire, The Fallen has semi-control over ice in a negative universe, incidentally answering a question long posed on the multiversal singularity page.
- Demolishor lands in Crystal City shortly before its being attacked by a female Devastator, additionally spotting Doc.
- Two of the hostages are from planet Beest (that particular spelling of the planet's name originating from the Dreamwave Summer Special story "Welcome to the Jungle"), with one being that universe's version of White Leo, who in turn is also that universe's version of Daburu.
Real-world references
- Sephie refers to the recent development of touchscreens.
- Ravage talks about the TV show Stranger Things, specifically mentioning the Upside Down.
- The revelation about Crasher's unique brain is a subtle nod and wink to her origins, being based on the GoBot Crasher - GoBots of course being cyborgs with organic brains.
- The game Windblade created for Strongarm is based on Pokémon Go.
- Hanzo, McCree, Zenyatta, and Genji all hail from the popular PvP game Overwatch.
Errors
- Depth Charge references Beast Wars: Uprising Megatron going offline while in stasis in the Ark, no doubt a nod to the somewhat ambiguous A Change to the Agenda, but the Leatherhide of that universe established Megatron as perishing centuries ago in Not All Megatrons. Not impossible to handwave but a clear disconnect in authorial intent.
References
External links
- "Coalescence" at The Official Transformers Collectors' Club
