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...
Carving his way into the base, Magnus concurs with Tracks that the Autobots of this world are weak and pathetic. Metalhawk arrives with a group of Autobots to confront him, but Magnus rushes foward, cutting down Tracks, Jazz, Wheeljack, and Warpath. Magnus stands ready to cut down Metalhawk and Scoop as well, but another portal opens, disgorging Straxus, Octopunch, Soundwave, and Magnus' nemesis Treadshot. Treadshot confronts Magnus as the others take down the rest of the evil Autobots, but Magnus uses the stolen Terminus Blade to produce a blinding light, allowing him and the others to escape. Metalhawk demands for an explanation from the newcomers; Soundwave explains that they are from a mirror universe where the Autobots are good and the Decepticons are evil, and that they learned of this universe when Cliffjumper was accidentally transported to theirs. Treadshot explains that Magnus was once the most trusted general of his world's Optimus Prime, only to be mutilated and imprisoned when he attempted a coup. Allying with the rogue Rodimus Prime, Magnus obtained a new body, and opened a portal to this world. The Decepticons soon discovered this portal, and with Soundwave's abilities and some background information from Cliffjumper, they were able to track Magnus down. Treadshot and Metalhawk agree to team up, splitting up their forces; Octopunch and Scoop head off to find Wheeljack; Straxus, Soundwave, Metalhawk, and Kick-Off fight the Junkion horde; and Treadshot goes to track down Magnus. All the while, these newcomers are observed by Spinister, and soon reports back to Gigatron. Seeing an opportunity, Gigatron sends (Skullgrin and Octopunch to steal the Rarefied Energon while the Autobots are distracted...
In the Rarefied Energon vaults, Wheeljack begins funneling up its energy to the surface, setting up a force field to prevent anyone from tampering with his work. After Wheeljack teleports back to Magnus, Skullgrin and the evil Octopunch rise out of the murky depths. Unfortunately for them, Scoop and the good Octopunch have also entered the vaults, and the 4 duke it out. Octopunch fights his evil counterpart, not realizing who he is, while Skullgrin attempts to take on Scoop, who disables both him and his Pretender shell. While Octopunch continues his fight, Scoop has Holepunch and Tracer transform to help disable the machines, much to the Nebulans chagrin.
Topside, Wheeljack finishes the final steps on his device. Treadshot confronts Magnus, but he's to late to stop him, as Magnus pushes the Terminus Blade into the machine. The reaction unleashes a massive rift in space time, causing havoc around the world. Autobots stationed in Japan and Canada help with rescue and evacuation attempts, while in South America, Fortress Maximus gathers everyone he can onboard. Underground, Octopunch knocks out his counterpart after finally realizing who it is, and attempts to help Scoop disable the shield. Unable to penetrate it, the two head back up, where Magnus fights both Treadshot and Kick-Off. The latter assumes that Magnus wants to bring more of his kind here with the rift, but Magnus proclaims he is doing quite the opposite; he's bring this world over into his universe! Hearing this, Soundwave rushes to the chamber where Wheeljack works. Before he can reach it, the Junkions surround him, bring him to his knees. Fortunately for him, an unlikely rescuer blasts them back; Gigatron and his Decepticons! Unwilling to let invaders from a dimension conquer a world that should belong to him, Gigatron defends Soundwave, allowing him to reach the chamber. Reading the energy output charts, Soundwave realizes there's no way to shut the portal down without harming the planet more. Wheeljack sneaks up on Soundwave as he's distracted, but Octopunch arrives just in time to save his friend, and when he mentions Wheeljack's force field, Soundwave gets an idea, relaying it to Treadshot. Unfortunately, Magnus realizes that he's stalling, and pushes forth to Soundwave's position. Luckily, Gigatron and Metalhawk's firepower combined manages to stop Magnus, allowing Soundwave to finish putting up a global forcefield. Magnus, however, laughs; it was never his intention to destroy Earth, at least not fully. He and his Autobots retreat, and the remaining Cybertronians gather. As they leave their universe behind, they watch as the Rarefied Energon's power destroyed their home dimension, leaving the Earth a relic of a dead universe. As they begin to orbit the native Cybertron, the Autobots and Decepticons fear that this is only the beginning. Straxus, however, encourages them with his eloquent words, proclaiming that as long as they shall live, the battle against the darkness will never end.
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.
