Fragmentation (G1)

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Titanium Series, here I come!
"Fragmentation"
Publisher	Dreamwave Productions
First published	October 8, 2003
Cover date	October, 2003
Writer	Simon Furman
Pencils	Andrew Wildman
Inks	Erik Sander
Colors	Espen Grundetjern, Rob Ruffolo, Ramil Sunga
Letters	Benjamin Lee
Editor-in-chief	Roger Lee
Continuity	Dreamwave continuity
Chronology	The Dark Ages

Optimus removes himself and Megatron from the board, causing the two factions to break into six. A burning darkness emerges.

Synopsis

Before, at Polar State: Kaon, Optimus Prime heroically dives at Megatron, throwing the two together through an early Space Bridge. Unable to process the unexpected higher occupancy, the portal explodes. Long after the area is abandoned, a crack in space opens up, letting the Fallen return.

Years later, on an operation at a spaceport, Kup questions the existence of a higher power and Cybertron's role in the larger universe. Grimlock pulls Kup's head out of his ass the proverbial clouds.

Hound returns to the Autobase, with news of a Decepticon mobile assault base. But Prowl is unable to spare extra soldiers ever since the Wreckers and L.S.C. broke off from the Autobots with the absence of Prime.

On Orbital Torus State: Kalis, Bludgeon leads Bugly and Mindwipe in a dark ritual. The Fallen crashes their pagan party and recruits the three to be his henchmen.

Starscream and his crew of Predacons transport a shipment of raw Energon to the spaceport, but after landing, they find their receiving team has already been killed by Grimlock's gang. As Grimlock and Starscream shout at each other, Ironhide and Wheeljack jack the Energon transport, leaving Starscream very, very angry.

Deep within Cybertron, the Fallen leads his underlings to the Well of All Sparks and tasks them with the retrieval of Grimlock for his role in the Unbinding.

Featured characters

{{featuredcharacters|c1=

• Optimus Prime (1)
• Prowl (3)
• Ironhide (L.S.C.) (4)
• Grimlock (L.S.C.) (5)
• Jazz (6)
• Kup (L.S.C.) (8)
• Swoop (L.S.C.) (9)
• Hound (10)
• Sludge (L.S.C.) (17)
• Snarl (L.S.C.) (18)
• Slag (L.S.C.) (19)
• Wheeljack (L.S.C.) (20)

|c2=

• Megatron (2)
• Bludgeon (Chaos Trinity) (11)
• Mindwipe (Chaos Trinity) (12)
• Bugly (Chaos Trinity) (13)
• Octane ([[Predacon (War Within) (14)
• Starscream (Predacon) (15)
• Motormaster (Predacon) (16)

|h3=Others|c3=

• Fallen (7)

}}

Errors

• None yet identified.

Quotes

"So I ask you—what's it all about?"
"...Right here, Kup, right now... it about Energon."

— Kup and Grimlock

Items of note

• Cameos: Tracks, Huffer, Mirage, Perceptor, Skids (at Autobase); Brawl, Cliffjumper, Gears, Sideswipe (on monitors); Astrotrain, Hardcase, Krok, Horri-Bull (Predacon forces)
• Grimlock almost accidentally called Swoop, Divebomb—this is a nod to the Marvel UK story, "What's in a Name?".
• The "Wavelengths: section contains an article from the desk of penciller and character designer, Don Allen Figueroa.
• The "Declarations of War" page has reader mail answered by Matt Moylan and has a rendering of Optimus Prime by Jeffrey Englert.

Covers (4)

• Cover A: Jetfire and some major players from the series. Art by Don Figueroa, Erik Sander and Alan Wang.
• Cover B: Double-sized, wrap-around cover by Pat Lee (with Elaine To and Rob Ruffolo), featuring the Dynobots in their Cybertronian forms.
• Incentive Cover: The Fallen by Pat Lee, Erik Sander and Rob Ruffolo.
• Dynamic Forces Cover: by Andrew Wildman, Erik Sander and Alan Wang, featuring the Autobots at Prime's funeral (limited to 3000 copies).

• 
  Sludge is pissed that Pat Lee drew them as balloon-bots. So are we, Sludge, so are we.
• 
  The Fallen's magical floating sword.
• 
  Wildman cover

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