Nautica (G1)
| This article is about the heroic Generation 1 Autobot. For the evil Shattered Glass Autobot, see Nautica (SG). |
- Nautica is a Camien Autobot from the IDW portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.
An intellectual gifted to the point of possibly being an outlier, Nautica has studied more subjects than you can shake a stick at, from literature to cartography to moral philosophy. By trade she's a quantum mechanic—an engineer with focus on faster-than-light starships—and as such can usually be seen carrying her trusty wrench. Hailing from the colony world of Caminus alongside her friends Chromia and Windblade, Nautica is chipper, upbeat, peppy, and sometimes a bit socially clueless. She's rapidly learning the history of Cybertron and the war, and is always eager to learn from her new friends on the Lost Light.
Nautica transforms into a submarine with limited space travel capabilities.
Fiction
IDW Generation 1 continuity
Nautica was born on a distant world colonized by the Titan known as Caminus. The Titan had carried within him an active hot spot upon leaving Cybertron, allowing new Cybertronians to be born from the colony. A 'Bot and Her City While studying to be a quantum mechanic, she roomed with Firestar. Both of them were part of the same sorority and were Amica Endura... because on Caminus, serious adherents of the Way of Flame expect you to have an Amica in ten megacycles or be written off as "officially lonely". As soon as an equally desperate Firestar cited the Oath of Constancy, Nautica accepted. While they tried, their personalities clashed badly: Firestar would lord her better artistic skills over her and patronizingly assumed Nautica needed to be more like her. Neither could break up as platonic severance gets you cast out. As Firestar tells it, Nautica tended to be part of a group rather than strike out on her own. To make matters worse, Camien society expected you to, if not be a performing artist, to at least try to do it and Nautica couldn't be bothered. That got her stuck with the loathed nickname "Naughty Nautica" and, even though she's a hyper-literate and intellectually skilled person, she became self-deprecating and didn't think much of her talents. The Sensuous Frame The Frail Gaze
Other sorority chums included Velocity, who kept failing her medical exams. The Sensuous Frame
When Windblade wanted to recruit a team to look for Cybertron, Nautica was picked up (which Firestar didn't forgive) alongside Chromia. The Frail Gaze Nautica boarded the Vis Vitalis along with her crewmates, and they served under Thunderclash for a short time. Windblade #4 However, the arrival of Alpha Trion brought to light the dire situation Metroplex was in. As the Vis Vitalis would be unable to reach the Titan in time, Nautica went along with Windblade and Chromia in a smaller and faster craft. Burning Bright Windblade #2
While inside the nigh-corpse of Metroplex, Nautica and Chromia encountered a group of Autobots. After beaning Ultra Magnus with a hook, Nautica tried to act threatening towards the strangers, but failed; Chromia picked up the slack, demanding the Autobots' unconditional surrender. The Dead Are Not Enough Ultimately, Getaway defused the situation by wiping the grime from Nautica's Autobrand, showing they were all on the same side. Introductions were interrupted by an Ammonite attack, forcing a retreat to Windblade's position. Burning Bright Along with the others inside Metroplex, Nautica was transported by the Titan to Cybertron, where she saw Metroplex take down the Necrotitan. Finis Temporis
Nautica and Windblade updated Ultra Magnus about Metroplex's condition as he healed thanks to the infusion of Ore-7. Nautica realized that Magnus wanted answers from Metroplex regarding the Knights of Cybertron and told Magnus that she once asked the titan the same question, only to get the response that none of them deserved to know the truth. The Becoming Nautica was within Metroplex when a swarm of Ammonites large enough to blot out the sky attacked; Metroplex needed no persuasion to join the battle. Black Planet The Ammonites all spontaneously combusted and died due to the actions of Metalhawk. The three Camiens watched as the Lost Light smashed onto Monstructor, and they leapt out of Metroplex to finish off the separated component members of the combiner. ...And the Damage Done
After the turmoil on Cybertron settled down, an enthusiastic Nautica accompanied by Chromia attended crew auditions for the Lost Light hosted by Swerve. Just as she was turned down for having a trisyllabic name, Nightbeat burst in and revealed that the auditions were a joke by Swerve. Six months later, Nautica did end up on the Lost Light, and became close friends with Brainstorm. Towards Peace On her first day, Crosscut took the newbies on a tour and explained how Swerve's was the place where everything happened. No Guns, No Swords, No Briefcases
At Swerve's, she discussed the latest issue of the Lost Light Insider with Skids and Riptide. Riptide decided to have fun with a drunk Trailcutter, and while Nautica initially joined in the laughter, left to return to her quarters. Words Hang in the Air
Nautica was part of "Team Rodimus" called in to figure out the identity of the Rodimus corpse found within a coffin found in space. Nautica recognized Spectralist markings on the coffin, indicating that Drift, a practicing Spectralist, was the one who carved them. The mystery of the coffin was put on hold, however, as parts of the Lost Light began to disappear and Brainstorm's Early Early Warning System told them to "Run For Your Life!", forcing the crew to evacuate into shuttles. Predestination: A Beginner's Guide Nautica found herself with nineteen others on the new Rodpod, where she gave a short lesson about the ship's quantum generators, concluding with the theory that the ship was so advanced that it "proved itself impossible".
People began to disappear, and tensions began to rise amongst the crew. Hound aimed his gun at Nautica, prompting her to defend herself with her wrench, but the other Autobot was actually aiming past her at Ravage, who had stowed away on their ship. Those present in the Rodpod started to disappear, and Nightbeat finally made the connection that those left behind, including Nautica, were not part of the original crew of the Lost Light. The mystery continued as the Rodpod stumbled upon the bisected remains of the Lost Light. Twenty Plus One
The ship had been attacked and the crew killed. As a quantum engineer, Nautica's expertise was crucial to the group as they explored this disturbing discovery. She identified the quantum foam leaking from the shattered ship, as well as the danger it posed; teaming up with Nightbeat to check a section of the ship for survivors, she noted that local space was "worn down" from excess quantum activity, a further danger. She waded through Nightbeat's questions about life on Caminus while they searched the ship. When Nightbeat found Brainstorm's abandoned briefcase and opened it, only to find it empty, both Autobots were baffled - but failed to notice a bizarre time-skipping phenomena happening to them. The pair then discovered Overlord's corpse locked in a chamber beneath the ship, another piece of the puzzle. They rejoined the main group as the ship began reacting to the quantum foam... and as Ravage discovered a still-alive Rewind inside the empty Magnus Armor. slaughterhouse
While the rest of the group tried to make sense of this, Nautica gazed out at the derelict quantum drums floating in a field of quantum foam, and suddenly worked out what had happened - the Lost Light had apparently duplicated itself at launch due to a malfunction in the quantum engines. Nautica hypothesized that shutting down the quantum engines completely would cancel out any effects that depended on them - restoring their version of the ship to reality. The group searched for Brainstorm's miniaturization gun to make at least one of their number small enough to make it through the loops of drifting quantum foam; during the search, Nautica was shocked to uncover Brainstorm's lifeless body - and startled when Nightbeat pointed out that the inventor had a Decepticon insignia painted on the inside of his faceplate! Once Megatron revealed that he could downsize himself, Nautica guided him and Rewind as they floated out into space to the drifting quantum drums and carried out the procedure, restoring the Lost Light as they had known it. The mission successful, she and Nightbeat puzzled over the survival of Rewind - and of Brainstorm's briefcase. The Road Not Taken
Brainstorm would then poison the crew and use the briefcase to travel through time, attempting to ensure the war never happened and his love Quark would live. Nautica sat in on the Lost Light Internal Legal Affairs Committee's hearing into the affair and quietly stared at her wrench.
And Butt-head, I got you
When Brainstorm made a joke about his being a Decepticon, she stormed out and left the wrench behind. In an attempt to patch things up between them, Ratchet (under pretence of a medical check-up) reminded her that Brainstorm had been a M.T.O. and if his plan had worked, he would have erased himself from the timeline: his actions could not be condoned but had not been selfish.
The two patched things up when Brainstorm added a new function to her wrench: a button that said "BRAINSTORM IS AN ASS!". Our Steps Will Always Rhyme
Brainstorm, Getaway, and Skids interrupted her reading about Froid to teach her practical skills, as she'd asked... which were basically circus tricks. She protested until she realised hanging from the ceiling was cool. This was interrupted by a visit to the Vis Vitalis: Thunderclash was finally dying and everyone was invited to his pre-wake. Everyone at the pre-wake had an awesome dance party... except Nautica and some others who sat in the corner like saddos, with her lowering her face shield and grumping that nobody seemed to have noticed they weren't there.
Firestar noticed though, having joined the Vitalis with half of their old sorority. The two attempted to catch up but Nautica was uneasy around Firestar, as the latter 'playfully' undermined the former's vocation and her accomplishments. After an awkward conversation, the two segregated. Hours later, she stuck around on the Vitalis with Skids so she can catch up with the old gang (and desperately told him "they're not all... y'know").
He picked up something was wrong and she asked if she could borrow him for a minute The Sensuous Frame to practice dancing. To his surprise, she was a lot better than she had let on or thought. Relaxing, she admitted to him that she had befriended Firestar out of desperation and her frustrations.
That was when bizarre, horrific aliens attacked! Completely without combat skills, Nautica was overrun but shoved her fist into the recharge socket to vape the suckers. Nautica and Skids took refuge with Nightbeat, Getaway, Ravage, Firestar, and Velocity, who Nautica briefly caught up with. When the creatures, identified as personality ticks, broke in, Nautica detonated innermost energon to keep them back... which didn't work but never mind, Skater saved the day off-panel. She tried to convince Firestar to stay on space adventuring after that and was bluntly asked if "adventures" were really this nasty all the time ("maybe it is"). After encouraging her to ensure "Lotty" stuck to her career, she was aghast to learn Firestar, believing they just weren't a good fit, was willing to take the shame of platonic severance for her. Nautica refused to allow it and said that while they were different, they were still friends. The Frail Gaze
When Swerve fell seriously ill, Nautica was part of the massive rescue effort sent down to the hologram planet of "Swearth" in a human holomatter avatar. She hung out with Rodimus, Nightbeat, and Megatron and devoted time to tickling Megatron's avatar to see if he was ticklish. (He was not) The real Earth struck her as a good place to visit, as the humans had accomplished so much for a young race. The One Where They Go to Earth Instead, she got to visit the graveyard planet of the legendary Necrobot alongside the equally interested Velocity. A fun day was had by all until they learned the flowers for every statue was actually a symbol of how many lives each Transformer had taken! The Not Knowing
Before the ship went on a forced shutdown, Nautica, Whirl, and Swerve were enjoying a drink together when a protoform (actually scraplets in disguise) was found outside the bar door. Unable to keep it around in case it impaired the shutdown but with no Biometric Envelopment Device for it, the three amigos ran around the ship trying to find a solution and Nautica bashed Ultra Magnus unconscious in a freakout when the scraplet hijacked his armour in front of him. Christmas is a time for whacky hijinks! Silent Light
Nautica would attend Megatron's lessons on the Knights of Cybertron, although she would spent much of her time tinkering with the Rodpod. In one lesson, Megatron pointed out the significance of a symbol that had popped up multiple times in their travels. Skids said it was the symbol he said seen when he went through Tyrest's portal, and Nautica had seen it on Troja Major. Along with the rest of 'Team Rodimus', she boarded the Rodpod to find the cause of a series of mental attacks. Using the teleport drive she had installed, they followed the source of the assault, ending up "supposedly" of the map. However, when things materialised it turned out they were on the Necroworld. They left the Rodpod to explore, but were immediately attacked by Decepticon fighters. Any chances of escape in the Rodpod were dashed when they were blown out of the sky, a stray missile blowing up part of Nautica's face. They retreated into the Necrobot's fortress only to learn that the 'bot was dead and that the rest of the Lost Light crew had mutinied, leaving them all to the Decepticon Justice Division for having been 'too close' to Megatron. How Bright Their Frail Deeds The D.J.D. deliberately gave them until sunrise to dwell on their imminent death.
In a desperate search for anything useful, Nautica joined Swerve and Velocity in checking out what the Necrobot's keys opened. En route, Nautica was glad to learn Swerve had become guilty that he was a bad boss for Ten (but unamused to learn the guy had forgotten where Ten was). The keys turned out to open a basement room full of slumbering organics in stasis pods—using the fortress's teleport chamber to escape meant leaving the organics to die at the Decepticon's hands. When Megatron gave a grand speech in favour of staying to protect the pods, Nautica (and everyone else) silently agreed to stay and face their deaths. The Sun in Flight With sunrise bearing down, and the only development being the spitting-in-wind arrival of Drift and Ratchet, Nautica felt a burning need to finally stop putting off declaring her feelings about her comrades and sought out Rewind for relationship advice. After a confused discussion about how relationships refused to be logical, she learned Cybertronians declared Amica Endura only after they'd ruled out being a Conjunx. That pretty much made her decision for her. Your Fierce Tears
At Drift's suggestion, Rewind recorded the last requests of the gang so that they could get it out of the way and broadcast it into space. At Close of Day Nautica found herself unable to think of any last words to quote, berating herself for it, and requested to be buried in the shadow of the Fourth and Central Athenaeum. She tried to come up with a passage for her grave but found herself unable to care anymore, despair setting in. How Bright Their Frail Deeds
Take a listen when she's calling for you
Finally Nautica came to a decision and gathered Rung, Nightbeat, Brainstorm, Velocity, and Skids together for the right of Amica Endura. She opened her spark to them, recited the ritual, and told them all how they were valued, being accepted in turn; after, Rung congratulated her nervous self on taking the step.
In the end, rather than wait to be attacked, the Autobots decided to make a final charge on the enemy (minus Megatron, who Rodimus berated by pointing to Nautica as someone who was scared but willing to fight). At Close of Day Skids sacrificed himself to provide the assembled Autobots with a temporary spark surge, temporarily granting them Outlier levels of strength. Rage, Rage After being thanked by Rodimus for serving with him, Nautica and the others charged the Decepticons. At Close of Day For her part, Nautica fiercely unloaded her weapons upon the horde of attackers. When the spark upgrade wore off, she retreated back to the Necrobot's compound as Megatron stepped up to take on the Decepticon Justice Division. Once inside, Nautica was utterly inconsolable after learning of Skids' death and stayed with his body for the rest of the night. Rage, Rage Do Not Go Gentle
Toys
Generations
- Chaos on Velocitron (box set, 2017)
- Accessories: Blaster, shield/vehicle front, Titan Master
- Nautica is a retool of Titans Return Deluxe Class Blurr, adding a new face and new arm-mounted propellers. She transforms from robot to seacraft and back, and her (yet unnamed) head-robot can pilot her from within, or ride inside of her detachable shield.
- She was only available in a ToysЯUs-exclusive box set with Quickswitch, Laser Optimus Prime, Fastlane and a Rodimus Prime Titan Master head.
- Nautica's mold was also retooled into Brainstorm.
Notes
- Nautica and Chromia were originally planned to look less visually 'female' and more like "the default Cybertronian design", so that readers "wouldn't have clocked" they were female until the dialogue. James Roberts had to "shelve" this idea because IDW wanted to make it clear immediately that female Transformers were in the series.[1]
- In "Twenty Plus One", Nautica is given an estriol-positive spark type as part of a world-building nod. Roberts had this edited in the trade paperback as he thought it would be lazy writing to have gender be down to sparktypes (and to use a feminine name)[2] and because it could be offensive (casting them as an "abnormal", and reinforcing a binary gender system). In the trade, Nautica is ferrum-positive.
