VEHICON ALERT!
From MediaWiki
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 Fighting Wire Frames | |||||||||||||
| "VEHICON ALERT!" | |||||||||||||
| Publisher | 3H Enterprises | ||||||||||||
| First published | Early January[1] to February 17, 2001[2] (BotCon: Beyond) | ||||||||||||
| Writer | Rob Gerbracht | ||||||||||||
| Continuity | 3H Beast Wars continuity | ||||||||||||
Faces new and old show up to oppose Megatron's rule of Cybertron.
Synopsis
[edit]Megatron alerts his Vehicon armies to the presence of a new band of insurgents that has been detected in the Polyhex sector of Cybertron. Reconnaissance reports from the field upload target information to each unit, providing the Vehicons with dossiers containing details regarding the Faction, Designation, Threat Level, and Abilities of all eighteen of the new targets, as well as Directives for each Vehicon unit to deal with each of their assigned targets.
Megatron's orders are to "Terminate on sight" fourteen of these targets, "Apprehend on sight" three of them, and to merely establish contact with one that may simply be a malfunctioning drone. Five targets are identified as Maximals, two are Predacons, and the rest are either unrecognized or yet to be determined.
Of the fourteen targets to be terminated, four of them catch Megatron's attention enough for him to make Private Log addendum entries to each of their respective dossiers. The first of these four, who is also the Priority target, is identified as a member of an order that Megatron had thought to have been long since destroyed, leading him to wonder if this could indeed be a long-lost survivor from that group. The second one impresses Megatron in her lethal ability that belies her unintimidating appearance. The third is recognized as an old enemy that Megatron had presumed to be dead. And the fourth turns out to be a former subordinate of Megatron's, one he had deemed a useless coward that he wishes he himself had eliminated previously; the thought of having another chance to do so now entices Megatron.
With the dispatch order given, each Vehicon unit is to proceed to their assigned target objectives immediately.
Featured characters
[edit](Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Maximals/Autobots | Predacons/Decepticons/Vehicons |
|---|---|
|
Notes
[edit]Production notes
[edit]- "VEHICON ALERT!" is an online Dramatis Personnae feature that was originally hosted on BotCon: Beyond. It was launched in early January 2001[1] and was updated over a steady course until February 17.[2] It originally set the stage for the then-forthcoming BotCon 2001 story "Departure", building up hype by gradually updating the roster of characters who were set to be members of a new team of Wreckers for the Beast Era. Each member's dossier was revealed one at a time, with the exception of the Deployers whose three dossiers were revealed together in a single update.
- It also provided hints as to which toys would become the convention exclusives for that year. Ultimately, of the seven characters (or eight, if you count the unreleased Ramulus redeco) who didn't already have a previously released toy of themselves in the forms seen in this feature, Arcee and Tigatron turned out to be the exclusives for that year, with Cyclonus not coming until the following year at BotCon 2002, and Skywarp turning up at retail in the 2003 Universe toyline.
- Each assigned Vehicon unit is represented by a silhouette that resembles their toys more than their cartoon character models. Of further note is the distinct lack of Strika and Spy Streak among the units, as "VEHICON ALERT!" originally came about before the toys of those two were released.
- Some of the toys depicted in the feature are actually those of other characters whose toy releases preceded the appearances of these characters in these forms:
- Alpha Trion is represented by the Beast Machines Snarl toy.
- Rotorbolt is represented by the Beast Machines Obsidian toy.
- Devcon is represented by the Beast Machines Mirage toy.
- Skywarp is represented by the Beast Machines Deluxe class Jetstorm toy.
- Fractyl is represented by the original Beast Wars Terrorsaur toy (despite Fractyl having already received a toy in this form four years prior).
- Cyclonus is represented by the Beast Machines Ultra class Jetstorm toy.
- After BotCon: Beyond merged with BotCon Online on November 13, 2001,"VEHICON ALERT!" was oddly not carried over to BotCon Online with the rest of the BotCon: Beyond material. It disappeared and would not reappear until mid-July of 2005, when it was added to the BotCon Online archives under the site's then-new tenure of Fun Publications.
Continuity notes
[edit]- Though "VEHICON ALERT!" was released first, the sudden appearance of the newcomers in Polyhex described here takes place chronologically between the 13th and 14th entries of "Apelinq's War Journals", which were released four months after this feature went live.
- Furthermore, those entries would later reveal more details about the circumstances involved in the sudden appearance of these newcomers. Apelinq and Rodimus were already on Cybertron as Wreckers, who had come from their base to Polyhex to investigate a ship that arrived there from a transwarp portal. Said ship contained the newly arrived Primal Prime and his crew. Of the sixteen individuals who aren't Apelinq or Rodimus, the only ones who could have come from the ship with Primal Prime are Spittor, Packrat, Sonar, Tigatron, Fractyl, and Ramulus. How the other remaining nine newcomers turned up in Polyhex at this time has never been disclosed.
- The entries would also confirm Mirage to have definitely been among the Vehicon Generals (if not the only general) who partook in these events.
- The inclusion of Obsidian (or possibly just his drones) in the Vehicon units, as well as Rotorbolt being in the body of a Copter Drone, suggests that either this takes place near to the time of "Sparkwar Pt. I: The Strike" (in which Obsidian and his drones made their debut), or that Megatron had already been developing Copter Drones ahead of time offscreen.
- Of the Vehicon units assigned to pursue Apelinq as a target, Mirage is not among them. As "Apelinq's War Journals" would confirm Mirage to have attacked Apelinq shortly after Primal Prime's team first appeared in Polyhex, this would suggest that Mirage either broke rank to go after a target that he wasn't assigned to, or circumstances somehow forced Mirage into attacking Apelinq.
- Packrat's Transmetal form is shown here for the first time to be a repurposing of the Walmart-exclusive Beast Wars Transmetal Rattrap toy.
- One of Rodimus's abilities is described as "apparent core viral immunity". "Apelinq's War Journals" would later reveal this to refer to a "unique physiology" that somehow makes Rodimus immune to Megatron's transformation virus. Furthermore, the "order" that Megatron's Private Log entry on Rodimus mentions would later be revealed in both "Apelinq's War Journals" and "Departure" to refer to Rodimus's being a Matrix Templar, which also tied in with his immunity to Megatron's virus.
- It was Megatron's Private Log entry for Sonar that first revealed her to be female. This came about from her toy bio lacking any pronouns to identify her gender, which 3H took advantage of to add in another female. Since then, many more females have come about from writers seizing similar opportunities from gender-ambiguous bios.
- Tigatron's dossier claims that he "may possess additional weapons and abilities of unknown origin". It would be later revealed in his toy bio, "Departure", and "Primeval Dawn Part 1" that he possesses Vok-enhanced powers.
- Megatron believed Tigatron had died back when Tigerhawk (whom Tigatron had been fused into with Airazor) was obliterated by the Nemesis's fusion cannon in "Nemesis Part 2". His subsequent resurrection would later be covered in "Primeval Dawn Part 1".
- Megatron's original desire to terminate Fractyl was first mentioned in Fractyl's Universe-style profile that was originally published in the BotCon 1997 program guide.
Continuity errors
[edit]- When set against the context of the Beast Machines cartoon, it's a little odd to see Jetstorm and Tankor (if it is them and not just their drones) alongside Obsidian in the "Units Assigned" section of the dossiers, considering that both Tankor and Jetstorm were no longer in the cartoon by the time Obsidian showed up. However, there would be more plausibility if the units involved were instead just the Tank Drones and Aero Drones, since both of those drone types continued to be used by Megatron himself even after Jetstorm and Tankor were gone. Inversely, were it not Obsidian himself but instead just his drones (leaning into the aforementioned possibility of Megatron having already designed the Copter Drones ahead of time), that would enable these events to occur at an earlier point when Tankor and Jetstorm were both still around.
- Likewise, with these events preceding those of "Departure", Blastcharge's presence here is a little at odds with his later appearance in that story, in which he is first brought online by Megatron. Unless, again, the units bearing his silhouette were instead just his drones, as dialogue in "Departure" gives wiggle room to the notion of Megatron having already created those drones prior to creating Blastcharge himself.
- As this was primarily meant to be a toy ad, Alpha Trion is included among the Wreckers who were sighted in Polyhex, since he was considered as a possible convention exclusive to be made from the Beast Machines Snarl mold. However, the subsequent Wreckers comics would later present him as not only having never physically joined up with the Wreckers but also having never actually materialized in the real world at all, with him only serving as a spirit guide who would occasionally appear to Primal Prime in visions. He would not appear in the physical world properly until "Abduction", in which he sported his classic Generation 1 design rather than his Snarl-based lion design.
- Likewise, Arcee is included when she should be living a life of underground seclusion at this point, as "Departure" would later establish. Did she just happen to come up the surface in Polyhex that day or something?
- Megatron is able to recognize Tigatron, yet the Maximal's dossier labels his faction as the third "undetermined" option. Megatron should be able to tell that Tigatron is a Maximal. Plus, Tigatron's Designation is given as "N/A" despite Megatron having definitely known him by name.
Other errors
[edit]- In Rotorbolt's image, the neck of his vehicle mode cockpit is extended whilst he is shown in robot mode.
- The image of Ramulus is a mirrored image of his toy in beast mode.
Transformers references
[edit]- Polyhex is mentioned here for the first time in eleven years, having last been mentioned in the toy bio for Generation 1 Kick-Off in 1990. It first appeared in the 17th Marvel G1 comic issue "The Smelting Pool!" in 1986.
- Apelinq is described as possessing "matter/energy abilities of unknown origin" in reference to what "Apelinq's War Journals" would reveal to be his Transfer Interlink.
- The Deployers are said to contain Targetmaster capabilities.
- Skywarp is said to possess "Additional measured abilities [that] may threaten capture operations", most likely in reference to his original teleportation ability.
