Invasion (issue)
| This article is about the BotCon 2012 comic story. For the Cybertron episode, see Invasion (episode). |
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 Prepare for mood whiplash. | |||||||||||||
| "Invasion" | |||||||||||||
| Publisher | Fun Publications | ||||||||||||
| First published | April 26, 2012 (BotCon 2012) October 10, 2012 (retail ed.) | ||||||||||||
| Writer | Benson Yee and Pete Sinclair | ||||||||||||
| Pencils | Dan Khanna | ||||||||||||
| Inks | Jake Isenberg | ||||||||||||
| Colors | Josh Perez, Jesse Wittenrich, and Thomas Deer | ||||||||||||
| Letters | Jesse Wittenrich | ||||||||||||
| Editor | Pete Sinclair | ||||||||||||
| Continuity | Shattered Glass/Classics | ||||||||||||
| Chronology | SG Current era (2012)/Classics end of universe | ||||||||||||
An evil Ultra Magnus and his army invade an unwitting alternate universe, threatening all existence.
Synopsis
8 hours ago in the "Shatteredverse" on the prison planet of Paradron, Ultra Magnus escapes from his cell with his forces, slaughtering most of the prison staff, and opens up comms to his brother, Optimus Prime, gloating that his time as a petty little tyrant is up. Ironhide, loyal to the end, crawls towards Magnus to try and stop him, but Magnus simply blasts him apart. Wheeljack opens up the stellar spanner portal, and Magnus leaves, telling Prime that he was always their father's favorite. Enraged but unable to follow, Prime activates Paradron's distress beacon, knowing that one Decepticon can do his work for him...
Now, on the "Classicsverse" Earth, the Autobots get to work repairing the Ironworks base in Oregon after the recent attack by Gigatron and his Decepticons. Rad and Metalhawk are inside reporting on the attack to other Autobot bases throughout the world, when alarm klaxons begin to go out. Kick-Off reports that something's in the sky, and the Autobots watch as what appears to be a space bridge portal opens. Rad tells Metalhawk to wait inside, as he prepares for whatever comes through.
Outside, three strange worm creatures come through the portal and bite down on Sandstorm, Broadside, and Slapdash, spreading a virus that turns them into Junkions. The Junkions proceed to attack their former friends, as Magnus and his forces exit through the portal. Magnus orders Wheeljack to find the Rarefied Energon and set up their equipment, as he and the others deal with the rest of the heroic Autobots of this world. Soon, the Junkions claim Mainframe, Outback, and Rollout as well, leaving only Kick-Off and Rad. The two rush to get inside, but before they can, Rad is knocked down by a Junkion. Reacting before they can transform them as well, Rad blasts the door controls, locking it closed and saving Kick-Off. Kick-Off contacts Metalhawk, warning him of the danger outside, and heads to the armory to get some more firepower...
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| SG Decepticons | SG Autobots | Classicsverse Autobots | Classicsverse Decepticons | Humans/Nebulans | |
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Quotes
"Every one of them will pay for how they laughed at our plans! Or how they would have laughed had they known. Either way... BOOM!"
- — SG Wheeljack
"Oh, dear Treadshot, you delightful Decepticon scum! I can't tell you how much I missed you trying to kill me."
- — Ultra Magnus has a special relationship with Treadshot
"Magnus! You coward! Like a small, herbivorous shrew, you are nothing! I will hunt you to the ends of time! I will burn your empire to the ground I... I... I fraggin' hate that guy."
- — Treadshot has a special relationship with Ultra Magnus
Notes
- Characters mentioned but not seen include: Prime and Magnus' father, Starscream, Rodimus, Unicron, and Ravage.
- This issue's story was foreshadowed in the toy profile cards for Shattered Glass Galvatron and Thundercracker's from the previous year's BotCon, which mentioned the return of stellar spanner activity and a prison break, respectively.
- At the end of this story, it seems that anyone in the Classicsverse who wasn't on Earth was destroyed. As Megatron had left Earth in "At Fight's End" with a ship full of Decepticons, that likely suggests their demise, as well as Ultra Magnus's group which left Earth at the end of "Games of Deception". And let's not forget Nightbeat's detective agency on Azure. Comments made at BotCon 2012 imply that Optimus Prime was also off-planet at the time. However, other statements suggest that anyone not on Earth is not necessarily dead, hinting at the club magazine storyline for 2013. That story arc, Beast Wars Shattered Glass, reveals that one of Megatron's ships, along with Ultra Magnus's ship, survives the destruction as a result of arriving in Earth orbit just in time.[1] The fate of the remaining Autobots would eventually be addressed in "Epilogue".
- The convention edition cover came about because someone linked the organizers to a ComicsAlliance article about Dave Perillo's work via Twitter.[2]
Continuity notes
- Previously mentioned offhandedly in "Shattered Glass" as a poet, the heroic incarnation of Straxus properly debuts in this issue, indeed displaying his signature poetry skills.
Errors
- Lotsa missing commas and some comma splices. Example: "I am one of Gigatron's personal guards, you have no hope of defeating Octopunch!"
- On page 13, SG Octopunch has purple Decepticon symbols.
- Fortress Maximus is said to be stationed in South America, but the civilians he rescues speak in Yucatec Maya, which is a language spoken on the Yucatán Peninsula and in Belize, which are in North/Central America.
- Wheeljack is commanded to "hone in on the rarified energon.", which, despite somewhat common usage in this context, is non-standard. It should be "home in", like a homing missile does.
- Depending on the canonicity of 2007's Classicsverse lithograph, Perceptor should probably be in his Classics Legends Class body, not his original body.
Real-world references
- As storms threaten Earth's existence, modern-day Central/South Americans (see "Errors" above) worry their ancestors were right about 2012.
- Ultra Magnus and Tracks quip that the Classicsverse Autobots' resistance is "clearly futile", referencing the Borg from Star Trek (on whom the Junkions are based).
Transformers references
- Ultra Magnus kills Ironhide in a manner similar to Ironhide's death in The Transformers: The Movie. "Such pitiful nonsense!"
- Ultra Magnus and the Terminus Blade were mentioned briefly in earlier stories, and both are only now being given center stage. The stellar spanner was also introduced earlier, but had a much larger role.
- Ratchet is still in the new body he acquired in "At Fight's End", but now it's colored like the North American release versus the Japanese release.
- The "Canada" panel on page 16 is full of tiny Marvel superhero cameos. And Simon Furman. Also ... Robot-Master? ...and Rescue Roy???
- Octopunch mentions that he survived the Unicron War.
- There are three inverted Furmanisms. First is Wheeljack's "Sow the edy!", second is Magnus's "My time is about to start! Begin!", and the third is Treadshot's "Like a small, herbivorous shrew, you are nothing!"
- Shatteredverse Straxus's speech at the end mirrors Optimus Prime's reassurance at the end of "All Fall Down".
- Many visual details throughout the story cement the main setting as a Marvel-style universe, such as Blaster, Wheeljack, and Octopunch's colors and Broadside's character model. Slapdash's head is based on the round, helmeted face seen in his Transformers: Universe profile, not the square-ish helmet seen in the comics themselves.
Covers
- BotCon Edition: Way-out pop art cover depicting the four alignments featured in the issue; art by Dave Perillo.
- Retail Edition: Optimus Prime stares at his enemies through a shattered glass; art by Dan Khanna, colors by Thomas Deer.
