Falling into Place
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| "Falling into Place" | |||||||||||||
| Publisher | Fun Publications | ||||||||||||
| Published in | Hasbro Transformers Collectors' Club #61 | ||||||||||||
| Writers | Jesse Wittenrich & Pete Sinclair | ||||||||||||
| Pencils | Eryck Webb | ||||||||||||
| Inks | Eryck Webb | ||||||||||||
| Colors | Evan Gauntt | ||||||||||||
| Letters | Jesse Wittenrich | ||||||||||||
| Managing editor | Pete Sinclair | ||||||||||||
| Continuity | Shattered Glass | ||||||||||||
| Chronology | 2015 | ||||||||||||
Ultra Mammoth and the Autobots arrive on Shatteredverse Cybertron, just in time to hunt down Ultra Magnus—and to learn of the next crisis for the Decepticons!
Synopsis
On the Cybertron of the "Shattered Glass" universe, the heroic Decepticon Straxus discusses with the "Classicsverse" heroic Autobot Blaster about the latter's home universe. Straxus expresses shock at the cruelty of his postive-universe counterpart, but the pair's conversation is cut short when a portal opens before them, disgorging a large organic-looking dinosaur that attacks the pair! A hand belonging to the Classicsverse Ironhide emerges from the portal, telling the dinosaur-in actuality the "Classicsverse" Grimlock-to cool off, reminding him that he's "their" Blaster. Grimlock transforms, telling him that he knew that, as the other Autobots-Prowl, Silverbolt, and their leader, Ultra Mammoth emerge from the portal. Blaster greets the confused Autobots, who take notice of Straxus; realizing there's a lot to explain, Blaster calls the welcoming committee. He emits a hologram, and the heroic Decepticon leader Galvatron, alongside the "Classicsverse" Cliffjumper, heroic Quintesson Aquarius, and the latter's cyborg companion, greet the newcomers. Galvatron explains that they are on Cybertron, but not the one they know, and invites them back to their base to explain in-depth their new reality...
At Decepticon headquarters, Aquarius explains the importance of the Origin Matrix, given by the Vok to Ultra Mammoth to protect. The Matrix is a portion of the sword of Prima, the Star Saber, the pieces of which Aqaruius and one of the original Thirteen Transformers, Nexus Prime, have been searching for, to help correct the damage done to the multiverse. He further explains to them that while there's many different versions of them across the multiverse and in this universe, Prima, along with all the rest of the Thirteen, Primus, and Unicron, are multiversal singularities, the same being throughout all of the myriad realities. Aquarius asks Mammoth to hand over the Matrix, but Mammoth refuses; having been entrusted with its safety, the Autobot refuses to hand it over to anyone but Nexus Prime himself. Galvatron, impressed with his resolve, decides that Mammoth can be trusted to hold onto it, and turns over discussion to Cliffjumper, who has been the longest "Classicsverse" resident of this mirror universe. Cliffjumper, much to Galvatron and Mammoth's consternation, quickly blows through some of the big points, telling Mammoth that he can read the rest on his datapad. Reading through it, Ultra Mammoth asks how they can help Treadshot stop Mammoth's evil counterpart. Galvatron brings up a hologram of the stellar spanner, which has been repaired just enough to allow for a jump from Galvatron's Cybertron to Mammoth's Earth.
Latter, the Autobots check in with Spinister and Needlenose, who have been assigned to reformat Ironhide, Silverbolt, and Prowl back into vehicular forms. Mammoth informs them that he does not intend to leave his form, believing that it will serve as a reminder of the past. Galvatron tells him that he's lucky; if they had to travel to Galvatron's Earth, they would have needed a ship. As if on cue, Cyclonus comes up with a message from Soundwave; the Autobots are attacking Decepticon City on the "Shattered Glass" Earth, and the Decepticons need reinforcements. Galvatron tells Cyclonus to have Blast Off prepare the Annex and prepare a strike team; he's going to Earth...
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| SG Decepticons | Classicsverse Autobots | Other |
|---|---|---|
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Notes
- Characters mentioned include: Classics Straxus, Classics Scrounge, the Shattered Glass Scrounges, Depth Charge, Nexus Prime, Prima, Unicron, Primus, Shattered Glass Ironhide, the guardians of the Origin Matrix, Shattered Glass Optimus Prime, Shattered Glass Ultra Magnus, Shattered Glass Treadshot, Side Burn, Demolishor, Shattered Glass Starscream, Stonecruncher, Excavator, Shattered Glass Soundwave, and Shattered Glass Blast Off.
Continuity notes
- This chapter takes 48 hours before the prologue, setting up the battle of Decepticon City mentioned in that chapter.
- Blaster's encounter with his Straxus, and his friend Scrounge's death in the smelting pool, were seen in Marvel's The Transformers #17. Straxus notes that the Scrounges of his universe are mass-produced drone soldiers, as seen in the Shattered Glass online prose stories.
- Blaster, and all the rest of the Autobots, Decepticons, and humans on the Classics Earth, arrived in "Invasion".
- Ultra Mammoth and his crew were sent to prehistoric Shattered Glass Earth in the "Beast Wars Shattered Glass" storyline, where they encountered Depth Charge, and where Ultra Mammoth recovered the Origin Matrix.
- Grimlock sardonically notes that he knew it was Blaster when the others tell him to stop attacking; he and Blaster vied for leadership of the Autobots during the period where Optimus Prime was dead in the first half of the Marvel The Transformers comic.
- Cliffjumper, who is noted to be the longest resident from the Classics universe, arrived in the original "Shattered Glass" comic.
- Aquarius and his companion (who would eventually be given the name "Chifumi Takahashi" by Ask Vector Prime) arrived back on Cybertron in the 12 installment of Transformers I.Q., where they witnessed Ultra Mammoth emerging from the portal on a viewscreen.
- Aqarius and Nexus Prime have been looking for the Star Saber ever since the end of the "Reunification" storyline. They intend to use it to repair the multiverse; the multiverse was damaged after Shattered Glass Ultra Magnus destroyed the Classics universe in "Invasion", the fallout of which the TransTech were seen dealing with in "Invasion: Epilogue".
- Silverbolt refers to Prima as "the Prima", somewhat confused during the talk of multiversal singularities; his universe's version of Prima was mentioned issue #65 of The Transformers comic.
- Ironhide notes his counterpart in the Shattered Glass universe is dead; Ironhide died at the hands of Shattered Glass Ultra Magnus in "Invasion".
- Among the events Cliffjumper briefly summarizes include Megatron's death and rebirth as Galvatron (seen in the "Reunification" storyline); Treadshot and Ultra Magnus' rivalry (from "Invasion"); and Side Burn and Demolishor's origins with the Underbase (as seen in "Transhuman", though the full story wouldn't be seen until over a year later in "Coalescence").
- The Decepticons intentionally destroyed their stellar spanner in the aftermath of the "Reunification" storyline, hoping to prevent future acts like Alpha Trion's attempted invasion. Galvatron notes Stonecruncher and Excavator have been repairing it; Stonecruncher was noted to have been working on it in "Solar Requiem".
- Cyclonus was pardoned by Galvatron for his assassination attempt (as noted in his toy's tech specs), and is now a high-ranking officer, as seen in "Solar Requiem".
Transformers references
- Straxus notes that he wrote a screenplay called Into the Smelting Pool, paralleling his evil counterpart's smelting pool.
- The new stellar spanner incorporates the "suspension bridge" design of the Marvel version of the space bridge; as opposed to the original stellar spanner's ring-shaped Sunbow look.
- Some new Shattered Glass characters are introduced in this chapter, and as always, take their designs and color schemes from a variety of places:
- Excavator is mentioned as working alongside Stonecruncher on the Stellar Spanner; while the latter has been previously seen, this is Excavator's first mention. Excavator's positive-universe counterpart is a member of the Micromaster Combiner Constructor Squad, and combines with postive-universe Stonecruncher to form a full vehicle.
- Spinister and Needlenose share their bodies with their positive-universe counterparts, in the colors of Autobot Double Targetmasters Quickmix and Scoop, respectively. This matches up with Shattered Glass Quake, who showed up in the original "Shattered Glass" comic and was in the colors of Double Targetmaster Landfill.
- Blast Off, a version of the positive-universe Combaticon.
- The attack on Decepticon City mirrors the attack on Autobot City, from The Transformers: The Movie. Soundwave takes the role of Blaster, calling for reinforcements from Cybertron.
Real-world references
- Cliffjumper calls his summary "Cliff Notes", after CliffsNotes, study guides on various pieces of literature. His notes are actually seen in the same issue, on the page right before the comic.
Other trivia
- Gee, it sure is surprising that Ultra Mammoth, the only character with a recent Collectors' Club toy, would be keeping his current body, eh?
Errors
- Depth Charge's name is spelt as "Depthcharge".
- Side Burn's name is spelt as "Sideburn".
