A Flash Forward, Part 3
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| "A Flash Forward, Part 3" | |||||||||||||
| Publisher | Fun Publications | ||||||||||||
| Published in | Hasbro Transformers Collectors' Club #45 | ||||||||||||
| Writers | Jesse Wittenrich & Pete Sinclair | ||||||||||||
| Pencils | Matt Frank | ||||||||||||
| Inks | Matt Frank | ||||||||||||
| Colors | Thomas Deer | ||||||||||||
| Letters | Jesse Wittenrich | ||||||||||||
| Managing editor | Pete Sinclair | ||||||||||||
| Continuity | Wings Universe | ||||||||||||
| Chronology | 2012 | ||||||||||||
Runabout and Runamuck return to Jhiaxus with a memory-deprived Side Burn, while Pyro and crew investigate a kidnapping on Nebulos.
Synopsis
Sky-Byte completes the final steps for preparing the ship to leave Cybertron, as Jhiaxus waits for the Battlechargers, who are late as usual. Soon enough, Runamuck and Runabout appear, and the two excited Decepticons explain that not only have they found the personality components, they accidentally brought back online the amnesiac Autobot Side Burn.
Meanwhile, out in space, Pyro and his crew are waiting for Sizzle's trail to turn up. Blaze is aggravated that the precog elected not to come and help, but Sizzle is soon validated when Streetstar picks up a distress signal from Nebulos. Pyro, Sideswipe, Streetstar, Blaze, and Hubcap disembark upon arrival, greeted by Spike Witwicky and his friends. Meeting with the Autobot Headmasters and Targetmaster's, the Nebulos-based Autobots explained that Hi-Q, Chief Scientist of the Nebulons, went missing five days ago while working on Project: Powermaster. A reclusive man, Hi-Q's disappearance was only discovered when his assistant, Hi-Test, was unable to find him. Hubcap notices his unconcerned tone, and begins to interrogate Hi-Test. Using his forestonite-imbued powers of persuasion, Hubcap gets Hi-Test to cough up that Hi-Q had secret surveillance systems installed throughout his office. After finding one in a vase, Spike, Pyro, and Streetstar watch the footage, which shows Runamuck and Runabout kidnapping the scientist. Streetstar is incredulous, as the Battlechargers are just thugs, but Pyro, picking up on Runabout mentioned a "boss", figures that the unintelligent Decepticons will lead them right to him...
Meanwhile, at Jhiaxus' secret laboratory, the Cybertronian thanks Hi-Q for his "assistance," as their labors result in the first of a true second generation coming online!
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Humans | Others |
|---|---|---|---|
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Quotes
"Anything at all would be helpful."
"I--I--
"Anything. At. All."
"He--"
"It's alright. You can tell me."
- —Hubcap interrogates Hi-Test
"So why isn't Sizzle here to tell us where we're going?"
"He saw himself involved in a traffic stop two days from now. He didn't want to miss it."
- —Blaze and Pyro
Notes
- Characters mentioned but not seen include: Sizzle.
Continuity notes
- Last chapter, Runabout noted that Jhiaxus sent them to look for "glowing pink cubes with the robots' thoughts in them," obviously referring to personality components as depicted in The Transformers episode "Starscream's Brigade". With this chapter, it seems obvious that they are for this new Second Generation, which later chapters and profiles would confirm.
- When last seen, the Autobot Headmasters and Targetmasters were assigned as protectors of Nebulos, and would set out to destroy the Hive machines. Looks like they have; Spike is no longer in his Headmaster suit, presumably allowing Cerebros to live in peace.
- Sideswipe is in his original look this issue. While that may seem like an error, his BotCon 2010 bio noted that exposure to forestonite gave him the ability to shapeshift, and next strip would establish he uses his Generation 2 color scheme during combat.
- Carly and Chip Chase have joined Spike on Nebulos; Carly was last seen in season 3 of The Transformers, while Chip Chase hasn't appeared since season 2; his wheelchair has since been replaced with mechanical hover chair of some kind.
- Jhiaxus notes that Hi-Q was the lead developer for the "Generation 2" program; "Generation 2: Redux" previously established that the Nebulons worked with humanity and the Autobots to build the second generation of Transformers.
- Jhiaxus "Second Generation" (see "Transformers references" below) is seemingly made up of clones of various Transformers-which later chapters would confirm. Of the ones seen in this chapter, only two have their sources accounted for, with Bumblebee on Earth as of "Generation 2: Redux", and Ironhide having been killed in The Transformers: The Movie. Soundwave was last seen with the Decepticon forces in season 3 of The Transformers; Frenzy was last seen in The Transformers: The Movie; and Mirage was last seen in season 2.
Transformers references
Real-world references
- Since this is the Wings Universe, which is a variation on the Generation 1 cartoon continuity, the Nebulans in this story are green-skinned and green-haired, as they were in "The Rebirth". The Autobot Headmasters and the Witwicky family remain stationed on Nebulos, as they were at the end of the cartoon.
- Hi-Test and Hi-Q are partners, just as they were in the Marvel Generation 1 comic. Hi-Q is also bald and wears a double-pronged tall collar while Hi-Test has the same crew cut and wrist bracelets the pair wore in that continuity.
- Among the "second generation" Transformers created by Jhiaxus is Nightracer (BotCon 1995's exclusive toy), making her very first pictorial appearance in Transformers fiction. Sporting a much more feminine shape than her toy, she is colored not in the black and yellow used for that figure, but rather the black and blue color scheme that her creator, Raksha, had intended for her, but which was nixed by Hasbro. She is still wielding the yellow gun her toy comes with.
- The other five new "second generation" Transformers created by Jhiaxus are perplexing. They are the Generation 2 Go-Bot versions of Bumblebee, Frenzy, Mirage, Ironhide, and Soundwave. The mixture of factions is not that odd, as Jhiaxus's profile in the previous issue makes it clear his mission it to unite all factions into one, but it is unknown how there were personality components available for living Transformers. Admittedly though, the statuses of most of these five characters are unknown by this point in Generation 1 cartoon continuity, save for Bumblebee/Goldbug, who is on Earth with the Autobots, having received forestonite powers in "Generation 2: Redux", and Ironhide, who died in The Transformers: The Movie.
- The Sideswipe/Firecracker/Optimus Prime Go-Bot mold is the only one not represented in this crowd. It would appear in the form of a Sideswipe clone in Part 5.
- The four robots in the tubes behind Jhiaxus are the four unreleased Go-Bot molds created for the Generation 2 toyline which later saw the light of day in the 2001 Robots in Disguise toyline as (from left to right) Side Burn, Side Swipe, Daytonus, and Prowl 2.
- Though his only dialogue is seen on-panel, Sky-Byte himself is not.
