Expansion

The Expansion is an attempt to merge universes from the 2005 IDW portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

The Expansion is the great plan of the Cybertronians of the Dead Universe. Their goal is to expand the Dead Universe to consume the living universe, where the Cybertronians will bring their greatness and govern all in a new order.

“	The Expansion is upon us. No one can stop it. Not you, not I.	”
—Galvatron, Spotlight: Galvatron

Fiction

2005 IDW continuity

The Expansion had its origin over 6.7 million years ago, during the reign of Nova Prime. Confident that the Transformers were the highest form of life, Nova believed that they should expand their influence across the cosmos. He commissioned the Ark under the pretense of exploration, secretly planning a conquest. Spotlight: Optimus Prime In anticipation of this conquest, he began artificially boosting the population of Cybertronians by drawing sparks from the Matrix. The Divided Self However, following the Ark's departure, Nova Prime discovered a portal to the Dead Universe in the Benzuli Expanse and had the ship enter so that he could conquer this new realm as well. Dark Dawn The full truth of their time there is unknown, but the Ark crew was driven to a state of living death, and Nova became the fearsome being known as Nemesis Prime. Spotlight: Galvatron More significantly, the Cybertronians were only able to venture to the "living universe" for a short amount of time, or else they would die. The only one able to avoid this effect was Galvatron, and they did not know how he was able to, let alone replicate the process. Spotlight: Cyclonus Needless to say, this added a wrinkle into the Expansion.

As such, Nemesis Prime modified his plan, creating a new form of Expansion that would merge the Dead Universe with the living universe, allowing him to return to his own realm and bring order to it. Spotlight: Hardhead For this purpose he wielded the Darkness he had acquired in the Dead Universe, unaware that his new power was actually an aspect of the D-Void, an evil entity that was manipulating him into merging the universes so that it could consume all life on the other side. Genesis

Millions of years later, after Cybertron was laid waste and Optimus Prime became leader of the Autobots, Nightbeat traveled to Gorlam Prime, where he was apprehended by Galvatron and others. Nemesis decided that it was time to prepare for the Expansion, having Straxus place a device in Nightbeat's cerebral chamber. Spotlight: Nightbeat He ordered Jhiaxus to prepare the Nega-Core, which would play a significant role in making the Expansion come about. He also sent Galvatron to retrieve Thunderwing from Hound's unit on Cybertron, killing Leadfoot in the process. Spotlight: Galvatron After this, Galvatron was dispatched to Earth to prevent the Reapers from destroying it, as Earth was part of the Expansion. Devastation #6

When Jhiaxus finished the Nega-Core, Nemesis Prime dispatched Cyclonus to prepare it for activation, using Thunderwing as its guardian. Learning that it was almost ready, Nemesis Prime ordered his minions to prepare for the Expansion. Spotlight: Cyclonus Activating the implant in Nightbeat's head, Jhiaxus revealed to Hardhead that Gorlam Prime was part of his experiments in converting organic species to the Cybertronian form, as well as preparing them for the harshness of the Expansion to come. The resulting event was to be a merging of the existing universe with the strange lifeless realm of the Dead Universe, after which the Cybertronian elite would govern all. Spotlight: Hardhead

Prompted by Dealer, Hot Rod recovered the Magnificence, which gave the Autobots much-needed information about the Expansion. However, Nemesis Prime used the Darkness to strike down Optimus Prime, who needed to be gone before the Expansion could occur. Spotlight: Doubledealer

Using the information gained from the Magnificence and technology Bludgeon had developed to control Thunderwing, the Autobots who underwent polydermal grafting managed to steal the Nega-Cores from their guardians. Nemesis Prime, who found that the Darkness wished to take Optimus Prime, was killed by Galvatron, who offered to take the Darkness from Optimus. He agreed, but the Autobot leader then hurled the fully possessed Galvatron into a solar pool. With control breaking down, Jhiaxus was attacked by his former creation Arcee, and was chased through Gorlam Prime. Hound's team on Earth went for Grindcore and Straxus, with Sideswipe managing to take them both on. The grafted Autobots managed to push the three Nega-Cores into the Dead Universe, and get out before they exploded, sealing the Dead Universe. This caused every Dead Universe Cybertronian in the world of the living to immediately die, with the exception of Jhiaxus, who was near the portal on Gorlam Prime. However, Hardhead, who was now a resident of the Dead Universe himself, blocked Jhiaxus' escape, allowing Arcee to decapitate him and kill him for as long as she wanted. With Nemesis Prime dead and the Darkness seemingly destroyed with Galvatron, the Expansion had come to end. Spotlight: Sideswipe

Galvatron would later turn out to have survived and retained the Darkness, though he showed no inclination towards continuing the Expansion, Heart of Darkness #1 the D-Void instead using him for a different plan that would have the same results. Genesis Nemesis Prime also persisted and continued his attempts to return from the Dead Universe, but cleansed of the D-Void's influence, he returned to being Nova Prime and made no mention of the Expansion. Dark Dawn

Notes

• Expansion was also the name for what would have been the six-issue miniseries set after (the originally six-issue) Revelation miniseries, and would have extended the storyline of Nemesis Prime and Jhiaxus's schemes. Unfortunately, IDW Publishing canceled Expansion and truncated Revelation in favor of All Hail Megatron.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Expansion (エクスパンション Ekusupanshon)