A Flash Forward, Part 3
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| "A Flash Forward, Part 3" | |||||||||||||
| Publisher | Fun Publications | ||||||||||||
| Published in | Hasbro Transformers Collectors' Club #45 | ||||||||||||
| Writers | Jesse Wittenrich & Pete Sinclair | ||||||||||||
| Pencils | Matt Frank | ||||||||||||
| Inks | Matt Frank | ||||||||||||
| Colors | Thomas Deer | ||||||||||||
| Letters | Jesse Wittenrich | ||||||||||||
| Managing editor | Pete Sinclair | ||||||||||||
| Continuity | Wings Universe | ||||||||||||
Runabout and Runamuck return to Jhiaxus with a memory-deprived Side Burn, while Pyro and crew investigate a kidnapping on Nebulos.
Synopsis
Runabout and Runamuck return to a waiting Jhiaxus, with an amnesiac Side Burn in tow. Runamuck explains how Side Burn was found on their search for personality components, and states to his boss that Side Burn has no memories, which intrigues the Decepticon scientist.
Meanwhile, as the Autobots are cruising through space, Blaze wonders why Sizzle isn't there to give them coordinates. Pyro informs the crew that Sizzle saw himself otherwise occupied, and thus is not with them. Sizzle had told Pyro that they'd find their course soon enough, however. Streetwise then picks up a distress call from Nebulos, and Pyro tells Hubcap to set a course for the planet.
The arriving Autobots are greeted by Carly, Chip, and Spike, who are glad to see familiar, (non-transforming) faces for a change. Spike leads the arriving crew to see Highbrow, Chromedome, Crosshairs and Brainstorm. Chromedome explains that the Nebulan scientist Hi-Q had been kidnapped five days earlier. When asked why it hadn't been reported until now, Crosshairs explained that Hi-Q often locked himself in his office to work until a project was completed, so it didn't seem unusual that he hadn't been seen for days. Brainstorm explained that he'd been working on a new power source (presumably the Powermaster process). Hi-Q was only found to be missing when his assistant, Hi-Test opened the door to the office. Hubcap grills Hi-Test into revealing that Hi-Q had security systems set up all over. Spike, Streetwise and Pyro then view the surveillance footage, which shows Hi-Q being abducted by Runabout and Runamuck.
Meanwhile, on Cybertron, Jhiaxus thanks Hi-Q for his (forced) help and knowledge of the "Generation 2" program, introducing the Nebulan to the "Second Generation" of Cybertronians....
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Humans | Others |
|---|---|---|---|
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Quotes
"Anything at all would be helpful."
"I--I--
"Anything. At. All."
"He--"
"It's alright. You can tell me."
- —Hubcap interrogates Hi-Test
"So why isn't Sizzle here to tell us where we're going?"
"He saw himself involved in a traffic stop two days from now. He didn't want to miss it."
- —Blaze and Pyro
Notes
- Since this is the Wings Universe, which is a variation on the Generation 1 cartoon continuity, the Nebulans in this story are green-skinned and green-haired, as they were in "The Rebirth". The Autobot Headmasters and the Witwicky family remain stationed on Nebulos, as they were at the end of the cartoon.
- Hi-Test and Hi-Q are partners, just as they were in the Marvel Geneneration 1 comic. Hi-Q is also bald, as he was in that continuity!
- Among the "second generation" Transformers created by Jhiaxus is BotCon 1995's exclusive toy Nightracer, making her very first pictorial appearance in Transformers fiction. Sporting a much more feminine shape than her toy, she is coloured not in the black and yellow used for that figure, but rather the blue and blue colour scheme that her creator, Raksha, had intended for her, but which was nixed by Hasbro. She is still wielding the yellow gun her toy comes with.
- The other five new "second generation" Transformers created by Jhiaxus are perplexing. They are the Generation 2 Go-Bot versions of Bumblebee, Frenzy, Mirage, Ironhide and Soundwave. The mixture of factions is not that odd, as Jhiaxus's profile in the previous issue makes it clear his mission it to unite all factions into one, but it seems very unlikely that these are the actual characters themselves. Admittedly, the statuses of most of these five characters are unknown by this point in Generation 1 cartoon continuity, save for Bumblebee, who is on Earth with the Autobots, having received Forestonite powers in "Generation 2: Redux", and Ironhide, who died in The Transformers: The Movie.
- The Sideswipe/Firecracker/Optimus Prime Go-Bot mold is the only one not represented in this crowd.
- The four robots in the tubes behind Jhiaxus are the four unreleased Go-Bot molds created for the Generation 2 toyline which later saw the light of day in Robots in Disguise as (from left to right) Side Burn, Side Swipe, Daytonus and Prowl 2.
- Though his only dialogue is seen on-panel, Sky-Byte himself is not.
