Generation 2: Redux

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"Generation 2: Redux"
Publisher Fun Publications
First published BotCon 2010, June 24, 2010
November 24, 2010 (retail edition)
Writers Greg Sepelak and Trent Troop
Pencils Robby Musso
Inks Robby Musso and Frank Milkovich
Colors Evan Gauntt, Trent Troop, and Jesse Wittenrich
Letters Jesse Wittenrich
Editor Pete Sinclair
Continuity Wings Universe

The Transformers fight over a powerful new substance called forestonite.

Synopsis

Following the Rebirth, Galvatron and Zarak had traveled out into the universe to try to reconquer Nebulos and other worlds beyond. Optimus Prime and his Autobots chased after, leaving only a small crew behind at Autobot City to guard against future Decepticon appearances.

In the meantime, new Transformers were created in earthly Cyberfactories. These Earth natives dubbed themselves Generation 2 Transformers, and although they initially didn’t identify with either side of the Cybertronian War, they eventually began to migrate to opposing factions. There were those like Spark, who formed a task force of Generation 2 Autobots dedicated to protecting life, and those like Clench, who formed an outlaw Decepticon Syndicate with other like-minded Transformers and remaining Decepticons such as Breakdown and the Firecons.

Some time in 2010, Clench and his Decepticons attack the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland. Spark and his Autobots confront them, but are overwhelmed, thanks to Clench's forces being bolstered with a new version of Sharkticons sent by the Quintessons as part of an alliance. The Autobots have to retreat, and Spark is taken prisoner along with the human workers.

Streetwise, from Autobot City, meets up with the Generation 2 Autobots to assess the current situation and formulate a battle plan. At the Hadron Collider, Clench is working with the Sharkticon general Sky-Byte to make the chemical forestonite usable. Sky-Byte determines that in its natural state, forestonite is just a sub-grade fuel, but when bombarded with high energy particles, it can alter Transformers, giving them heightened abilities. After an initial test with Cindersaur yields some unexpected results, Sky-Byte is able to refine his formula successfully.

Outside, Double Punch is confusing everyone with his accent as he tries to express his “disinterest” with binary bonding when the Autobots attack. While Scorch leads the initial assault with more Autobots on the way, Clench rushes out to repel the attack with some of his newly forestonite-powered Decepticons.

Meanwhile, Streetwise, Rapido, and Meanstreak sneak in through a back door, trying to find Spark and the hostages. Fighting through Sharkticons, they locate the chamber with the forestonite and their captive leader. They are also met by Sky-Byte, Breakdown, and Dirtbag, who have also been improved by the effects of the forestonite. With their new powers, the Decepticons are able to hold back the Autobots for a while, until Rapido is able to break Spark free of his restraints. In an attempt to keep the forestonite from their enemies, Breakdown shoots the supply. It doesn’t explode as he anticipated, but instead spreads out in gaseous form over everyone and mutates the Autobots with their own powers.

Outside, more Autobots are joining the attack: a battalion of Go-Bots and a group of Generation 1 Autobots from Autobot City. Eventually, the battle inside and the battle outside smash down the walls of the facility, and the forestonite gas escapes, affecting the rest of the Transformers. Realizing they've lost their advantage, Sky-Byte flees with his Sharkticons, with Clench and his men following.

As the Autobots clean up the remains of the battle, Streetwise elects to remain among Spark's forces rather than return to Autobot City. Spark postulates that these changes have truly created a second generation of Transformers as he hands five Generation 2 Autobot symbols to Streetwise for the Protectobots. He also informs Streetwise that there are still some unaccounted-for canisters of forestonite that have to be tracked down in future adventures.

The following events take place only in the mass-market release of the comic.

Having safely escaped, Slicer makes a rendezvous outside of Rennes, France with a mysterious ship. Greeted by an individual who claims to be his future self, he hands over a canister of Forestonite, purportedly to aid in the conquest of the year 5000. In exchange, he is given what his mysterious future self claims are the Autobot battle plans for the next seven centuries. As the ship's doors hiss closed once again, the figure is revealed to in fact be the Wheeljack of another universe. He contacts his superior, Rodimus Prime, and tells him that he was able to detect that Nexus Prime had visited this universe, but the member of the Thirteen was long gone. However, the Forestonite he acquired will make a good power source for a special project he is working on for his commander. Rodimus orders him to return to base, and he warps out just as Slicer discovers the swindle: Wheeljack has given him a copy of Ninja Gladiator for the Magnographix 16.

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots Decepticons Quintessons

Quotes

"So I' sez to 'im, you fink I'm gonna tear off me head and let some squishy live n'it, you got another fink comin'."
"I don't know what you're saying."
"I was expressin' my disinterest i—"
"No, I mean I can't understand you."

—Double Punch has an accent that Calcar can't penetrate.


"Om nom nom nom nom!"

—Cindersaur eats a canister of forestonite.


"Well, this is embarrassing. This has never happened before, I swear."

—Rapido has impotent photon missiles.


"Fire and debris fall
ambition has been thwarted
we'll take our cut now."

—Sky-Byte departs with a haiku


"Then we'd best make it official then. Can't have enough star players on the team, after all. Thanks to the forestonite mutation, we're all experimental tech now. We truly are a new generation of Transformers. And there's going to be lots to do: Decepticons to thwart, villains to fight, a home to defend. Not to mention a case to solve... How are your detective skills, Streetstar?"
"Can't be beat, please don't call me that."

—Pyro and StreetWISE. The latter of which does not like his new name.

Notes

  • Mentioned characters include: "Nexus-Whoever".
  • Characters mentioned in Clench's profile include: Galvatron, Zarak, the Queen of England, and Pyro.
  • Characters mentioned in Rapido's profile include: Optimus Prime, the Concurrence, and Pyro.
  • Characters mentioned in Slicer's profile include: Galvatron, Breakdown, and Clench.
  • Characters mentioned in Scorch's profile include: Optimus Prime, Boss, Flash, Hurricane, and Double Punch.

Continuity notes

  • This story takes place a few years after the fourth season of the Transformers cartoon, with most of the first generation Autobot forces chasing after Galvatron and Zarak's Decepticons in space, while the second generation Autobots and Decepticons duke it out on Earth.
  • Breakdown and Streetwise were last seen in Transformers episodes "The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1" and "The Rebirth, Part 3", respectively.
  • The volcanic eruption that awoke the Autobots and Decepticons in "More than Meets the Eye, Part 1" is among the events flashed back during the "Cybernet Space Cube" montage.
  • The Second Generation Transformers were created with help from the humans and Nebulons, along with technology reverse-engineered from Vector Sigma.
  • Streetwise tries using the universal greeting and energon goodie trick on the Sharkticons, first seen in "The Transformers: The Movie".
  • Jazz, Beachcomber, and Seaspray all last showed up at various points in the third season of the Transformers cartoon. Goldbug last appeared in "The Rebirth", while Sideswipe hasn't been seen since the second season of the cartoon.
  • Aquafend notes that Jetstorm has returned from Cybertron; he and Deluge were seen in "The Coming Storm: Part 1" harrasing and eventually getting their butts kicked by Nexus Prime.
  • Wheeljack's apperance here places him as having come at some point after "Transhuman", released a year later. While he's working for Rodimus here, at some point he'll depart from his forces, joining up with Ultra Magnus' faction. He has also been looking for Nexus Prime, noting that he was in this timeline some time before, as seen in the aforementioned "Coming Storm".

Transformers references

  • Nearly every Generation 2 original character gets to make an appearance in this story. Aside from toys released at BotCon 2010, these include:
  • Additionally, a few of the Generation 1 characters released in the Generation 2 toyline appear, including:
    • The Generation 2 releases of Sparkstalker and Flamefeather, who are joined by Cindersaur here.
    • Fizzle, who would be shown in later stories to have changed his name to "Blaze", the name of his Generation 2 release.
    • Beachcomber, Bumblebee (who first shows up as Goldbug; the forestonite turns him back into Bumblebee, albeit more toy-accurate than before), Hubcap, and Seaspray.
    • Sideswipe and Jazz.
  • For the first half of the story, Breakdown and Streetwise are in virtual redecoes of their BotCon 2010 toys using their Generation 1 colors.
  • Streetwise and Rapido are drawn with their door wings folded folded against their backs, helping them better resemble their original toys.
  • Breakdown being the only functional Stunticon is a reference to the fact that his Generation 2 toy was the only one of the Stunticons that saw release, as an exclusive at BotCon 1994. None of the Protectobots had their toys released either.
  • Galvatron is drawn based on his Universe Deluxe-class toy.
  • Optimus Prime's headcrest is drawn as silver, as it was erroneously in the "Rebirth" three-parter.
  • Several Second Generation Transformers (including Rapido) are noted to have been built in the '90s, a reference to how some of the early Generation 2 toys were originally released at the tail end of the European Transformers toyline.
  • Aquafend notes that the new Sharkticons were first encountered when they destroyed an Autobot outpost near Zegris, a planet introduced in "Gone Too Far".
  • Sky-Byte is noted to be a Predacon General; Japanese media would indicate that the Predacons were created by the Quintessons.
  • Rapido says that "in an emergency, I outrank everybody," referencing Rapido's original tech specs, where he had a rank of 10. (Optimus Prime's rank was only 9 that year!)
  • Forestonite was originally introduced in the Comic Bom Bom G-2 manga, "The New Battle!!"
  • The...bright coloration of Generation 2 toys is explained here to be part of the mutagenic side effects of forestonite exposure.
  • Sky-Byte, like his Robots in Disguise cartoon incarnation, likes to make haikus. Additionally, his exposure to forestonite gives him the ability to shoot a "Tsunami Blaster" from his chest, named for the special attack of RID Sky-Byte.
  • Aquafend and Jetstorm are brothers, in reference to their shared mold.
  • Rapido jokes that Clench takes after his predecessors when he retreats as the fight gets more fair, poking fun at the Transformers cartoon's habit of having the Decepticons retreat at the slightest inconvenience to their plans.
  • Pyro insists on calling Streetwise "Streetstar", much to his consternation. Streetstar was the name given to his BotCon 2010 toy, as the name Streetwise was not available.
  • Sideswipe gives himself spiked wheels, based of his counterpart in the Marvel Generation 2 comics.
  • The Ninja Gladiator game first appeared in the Transformers Animated episode "Where Is Thy Sting?".

Real-world references

  • Most of the action takes place within and about the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland. It's real! And it didn't end the universe.
  • Streetwise's personality is based on Shaft, referencing his TFWiki article's opening, itself based off of Shaft's theme song.
  • Rapido's mannerisms are based off The Most Interesting Man in the World, from the Dos Equis advertising campaign of the same name.
  • Clench's mannerisms are based on character actor Jack Palance. His claim to have "core-dumped bigger than you" is a reference to a line from Palance's film City Slickers. His quip "Believe it... or not!" refers to Ripley's Believe It or Not!, a television show which Palance hosted.
  • Pyro's mannerisms are based on David Tennant's portrayal of the Tenth Doctor.
  • When Cindersaur downs the forestonite, he goes "om nom nom", in reference to the internet meme. Fun fact, the phrase itself originates from Cookie Monster.
  • Pyro notes in the end that humanity can go back to "hunting the Higgs boson."

Errors

  • In the flashback, Zarak should be drawn like American "The Rebirth" Zarak, not Japanese Headmasters Scorponok. This was corrected for the Diamond Edition.
  • Streetwise is consistently drawn with Rapido's helmet.

Other Trivia

  • The Diamond Edition includes an exclusive epilogue (featuring Slicer and Shattered Glass Wheeljack) and profile pages for Clench, Rapido, Slicer, and Scorch.
  • Powers granted by Forestonite include:
    • Firecons: enhanced flame attacks
    • Clench: can create localized gravity wells.
    • Breakdown: Concussive sonic blasts
    • Sky-Byte: "Tsunami Blaster" chest-beam attack
    • Rapido: superspeed
    • Pyro: premonition of imminent future
    • Bumblebee: floats like a butterfly
    • Sideswipe: shape shifting
    • Beachcomber: plant life blossoms where he stands
    • Streetwise: intangibility
    • Windbreaker: air blasts
    • Motormouth: energy lasso
    • Aquafend: ice attacks
    • Meanstreak: pain-inducing energy surge
    • Electro: Electricity-enhanced sword
    • Most characters do not showcase their powers, but some will get to show them off in later stories.

Covers

  • BotCon Edition: Spark and the other G2 Redux Autobots pushing "City Commander" Ultra Magnus out of the way to rush to a situation, and closeups of Breakdown and Clench; art by Nick Roche and colors by Thomas Deer.
  • Diamond Edition: G2 Autobots by Alex Milne and colors by Evan Gauntt.
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