The Dark Heart of Sandokan
| This article is about the Fanclub-exclusive story. For the titular MacGuffin, see Dark Heart of Sandokan. |
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| "The Black Sea of Sandokan" "The Dark Heart of Sandokan" | |||||||||||||
| Publisher | Transformers Collectors' Club | ||||||||||||
| First published | February 19, 2007 | ||||||||||||
| Writer | Benson Yee | ||||||||||||
| Pencils | Jake Isenberg | ||||||||||||
| Inks | Jake Isenberg | ||||||||||||
| Colors | Thomas Deer | ||||||||||||
| Continuity | Cybertron cartoon | ||||||||||||
| Page count | 29pp | ||||||||||||
A crashed Autobot ship's crew and a Decepticon bounty hunter race to recover a new powerful energy source, while an alien intelligence desires to destroy them all.
Synopsis
Prologue
On board the Star Arrow, an Autobot ship assigned with the carrying a new piece of technology known as a Force Chip, Excellion complains about having to transport something he feels is a waste of time. When berated by his mentor, Blurr, about the risk of Decepticons obtaining it, Excellion misses the point, think it just a simple Cyber Key. Blurr explains that the Force Chip, while similar, is made from Nebulan technologies, and can increase a Cybertronian's power by a factor of twenty or more, a weapon that could help the Decepticons rise up again. Override, commander of the ship, steps in, explaining to Excellion he's here because she believes his efforts can be beneficial. As Excellion apologizes for this outburst, the ship is rattled, alarm klaxons begin to sound, and Override demands a status report. Swerve explains that plasma beam attack originates from the planet below, Sandokan, which. according to the star charts, is supposed to be abandoned. Their shield's power already halved. With more blasts incoming, Override orders for evasive maneuvers. The ship is suddenly struck by a different beam, causing the ship's metal to buckle and groan. Longrack identifies it as a powerful tractor beam coming from below, and with no other way to get out of it's grip, Override orders Swerve to launch the torpedoes. With the tractor beam stopped, Blurr accelerates the ship, thinking they're home free. Unfortunately, one final blast takes out the ships systems, and as the crew falls unconscious, the ship free falls in the planets atmosphere, breaking apart...
Chapter One
In space, the Decepticon pirate ship Kalis' Lament glides in space. The ship's science officer, Brushguard, reports that one of their probes has returned. Skywarp, the ship's first officer, orders for its data to be displayed on-screen, and the crew watches footage of the attack on the Star Arrow. Detecting the Force Chip onboard, Skywarp demands the location of where they crash. Runamuck reports it landed on a relatively unknown planet named Sandokan, when he is interrupted by the ship's captain, Cannonball, who proclaims that the planet is cursed. Buzzsaw laughs, thinking it a joke, but is grabbed at the throat by Cannonball's claw hand, who holds the helicopter-bot until he apologizes for his mocking tone, and is thrown into a nearby panel. Cannonball explains that for 3,000 stellar cycles, a race of warriors fought against one another, until one side invented a living weapon known as the "Dark Heart," which killed everything living on the planet. When questioned on what to do, Cannonball decides to not head in, instead having Runamuck hail Astrotrain, who he plans to have take out the planet's defenses so they can claim the prize for themselves. Appearing on-screen, the Decepticon bounty hunter is annoyed, having other things to do. Cannonball attempts to convince him to complete a favor he owes after his crew rescued him on Taros Four, and when this fails, the Decepticon pirate threatens to spread word about his lack of honor and his incompetence. Astrotrain reluctantly concedes, and quickly works out a deal. Astrotrain is suspicious of Cannonball's unwillingness to go to the planet itself, the pirate captain hiding the information about the defenses from him, but considers the potential upgrade to his systems to outweigh any risk. Astrotrain turns to his Mini-Con crew after his communication ends, consisting of Star Catcher, Astro-Hook, Astro-Line, and Astro-Sinker; Astrotrain considers them his equals, and has taught them all to speak Cybertronic Standard. Star Catcher and Astro-Hook are suspicious of Cannonball, but Astrotrain assures them that he plans to rip them off and take the Force Chip for himself, using it to become the most powerful bounty hunter in the galaxy, and tells them to recharge for lift off in 20 cycles.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Aliens |
|---|---|---|
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Notes
- Mentioned characters include: Galvatron, Unicron, Primus, Vector Prime, a Tarosian princess,
Continuity notes
- This story takes place sometime after the end of the Cybertron cartoon. Override was last seen onboard the Ogygia in series finale Beginning; since then, she's been transferred to the command position of the Star Arrow. Blurr and Longrack were chronologically last seen in Force of Habit, having commandeered the Decepticon ship, the Upstart. The story wouldn't be released until a year later. Excellion and Swerve, meanwhile, make their first appearances in fiction here.
- Brushguard, Runamuck, and Buzzsaw were last seen chonologically stranded on Combatron in Force of Habit. Skywarp was among the Decepticons who attacked the Iron Hope in the same story. Cannonball makes his first appearance in fiction here.
Transformers references
- Excellion complains that they could have just sent the Force Chip via Galactic Express, a company mentioned in Transformers cartoon episode Five Faces of Darkness, Part 1.
- Override's been upgraded into here GTS' toys appearance.
- Nebulos is the home planet in America's continuities of the various "-master" partners, including Headmasters, Targetmasters, and Powermasters. They were mentioned in the Cybertron cartoon.
- The Force Chip takes its name from the Japanese name for the Cyber Keys.
- While mulling over rescuing the living weapon Synthos, Override recalls Optimus Prime's words, "Freedom is the right of all sentient beings." This hearkens back to Generation 1 Optimus's Tech Spec quote, and those of several following Optimus Primes as well.
- The Kalis' Lament takes its name from the Cybertronian city of Kalis, first seen in Marvel UK's Transformers issue #164.
Real-world references
Other trivia
- After the story ends, there's a plug for the Club-exclusive Astrotrain toy.
- The preview art depicts Override in her original colors. The online version of the same art of her in her GTS toy colors.
- The story was originally titled "The Black Sea of Sandokan", which is reflected in the prologue published in Transformers Collectors Magazine #13. A correction was published the next issue.
