Nautica (G1)
- Nautica is a Camien Autobot from the IDW portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.
An intellectual gifted to the point of possibly being an outlier, Nautica has studied more subjects than you can shake a stick at, from literature to cartography to moral philosophy. By trade she's a quantum mechanic—an engineer with focus on faster-than-light starships—and as such can usually be seen carrying her trusty wrench. Hailing from the colony world of Caminus alongside her friends Chromia and Windblade, Nautica is chipper, upbeat, peppy, and sometimes a bit socially clueless. She's rapidly learning the history of Cybertron and the war, and is always eager to learn from her new friends on the Lost Light.
Nautica transforms into a submarine with limited space travel capabilities.
Fiction
IDW Generation 1 continuity
Nautica was born on a distant world colonized by the Metrotitan known as Caminus. The Titan carried within him an active hot spot upon leaving Cybertron, allowing new Cybertronians to be born from the colony. Nautica was one of several Cybertronians born from that hot spot who evolved in such a way that they were considered "female". A 'Bot and Her City
From Caminus, Nautica boarded the Vis Vitalis along with her crewmates, and they served under Thunderclash for a short time. Windblade #4 However, the arrival of Alpha Trion brought to light the dire situation Metroplex was in. As the Vis Vitalis would be unable to reach the titan in time, Nautica went along with Windblade and Chromia in a smaller and faster craft. Burning Bright Windblade #2
While inside the nigh-corpse of Metroplex, Nautica and Chromia encountered a group of Autobots. After beaning Ultra Magnus with her hook, Nautica tried to act threatening towards the strangers, but failed; Chromia picked up the slack, demanding the Autobots' unconditional surrender. The Dead Are Not Enough Ultimately, Getaway defused the situation by wiping the grime from Nautica's Autobrand, showing they were all on the same side. Introductions were interrupted by an Ammonite attack, forcing a retreat to Windblade's position. Burning Bright Along with the others inside Metroplex, Nautica was transported by the titan to Cybertron, where she saw Metroplex take down the Necrotitan. Finis Temporis
Nautica and Windblade updated Ultra Magnus about Metroplex's condition as he healed thanks to the infusion of Ore-7. Nautica realized that Magnus wanted answers from Metroplex regarding the Knights of Cybertron and told Magnus that she once asked the titan the same question, only to get the response that none of them deserved to know the truth. The Becoming Nautica was within Metroplex when a swarm of Ammonites large enough to blot out the sky attacked; Metroplex needed no persuasion to join the battle. Black Planet The Ammonites all spontaneously combusted and died due to the actions of Metalhawk. The three Camiens watched as the Lost Light smashed onto Monstructor, and they leapt out of Metroplex to finish off the separated component members of the combiner. ...And the Damage Done
After the turmoil on Cybertron settled down, an enthusiastic Nautica accompanied by Chromia attended crew auditions for the Lost Light hosted by Swerve. Just as she was turned down for having a trisyllabic name, Nightbeat burst in and revealed that the auditions were a joke by Swerve. Six months later, Nautica did end up on the Lost Light, and became close friends with Brainstorm. Towards Peace At Swerve's, she discussed the latest issue of the Lost Light Insider with Skids and Riptide. Riptide decided to have fun with a drunk Trailcutter, and while Nautica initially joined in the laughter, left to return to her quarters. Words Hang in the Air
Nautica was part of "Team Rodimus" called in to figure out the identity of the Rodimus corpse found within a coffin found in space. Nautica recognized Spectralist markings on the coffin, indicating that Drift, a practicing Spectralist, was the one who carved them. The mystery of the coffin was put on hold, however, as parts of the Lost Light began to disappear and Brainstorm's Early Early Warning System told them to "Run For Your Life!", forcing the crew to evacuate into shuttles. Predestination: A Beginner's Guide Nautica found herself with nineteen others on the new Rodpod, where she gave a short lesson about the ship's quantum generators, concluding with the theory that the ship was so advanced that it "proved itself impossible".
People began to disappear, and tensions began to rise amongst the crew. Hound aimed his gun at Nautica, prompting her to defend herself with her wrench, but the other Autobot was actually aiming past her at Ravage, who had stowed away on their ship. Those present in the Rodpod started to disappear, and Nightbeat finally made the connection that those left behind, including Nautica, were not part of the original crew of the Lost Light. The mystery continued as the Rodpod stumbled upon the bisected remains of the Lost Light. Twenty Plus One
The ship had been attacked and the crew killed. As a quantum engineer, Nautica's expertise was crucial to the group as they explored this disturbing discovery. She identified the quantum foam leaking from the shattered ship, as well as the danger it posed; teaming up with Nightbeat to check a section of the ship for survivors, she noted that local space was "worn down" from excess quantum activity, a further danger. She waded through Nightbeat's questions about life on Caminus while they searched the ship. When Nightbeat found Brainstorm's abandoned briefcase and opened it, only to find it empty, both Autobots were baffled - but failed to notice a bizarre time-skipping phenomena happening to them. The pair then discovered Overlord's corpse locked in a chamber beneath the ship, another piece of the puzzle. They rejoined the main group as the ship began reacting to the quantum foam... and as Ravage discovered a still-alive Rewind inside the empty Magnus Armor. slaughterhouse
While the rest of the group tried to make sense of this, Nautica gazed out at the derelict quantum drums floating in a field of quantum foam, and suddenly worked out what had happened - the Lost Light had apparently duplicated itself at launch due to a malfunction in the quantum engines. Nautica hypothesized that shutting down the quantum engines completely would cancel out any effects that depended on them - restoring their version of the ship to reality. The group searched for Brainstorm's miniaturization gun to make at least one of their number small enough to make it through the loops of drifting quantum foam; during the search, Nautica was shocked to uncover Brainstorm's lifeless body - and startled when Nightbeat pointed out that the inventor had a Decepticon insignia painted on the inside of his faceplate! Once Megatron revealed that he could downsize himself, Nautica guided him and Rewind as they floated out into space to the drifting quantum drums and carried out the procedure, restoring the Lost Light as they had known it. The mission successful, she and Nightbeat puzzled over the survival of Rewind - and of Brainstorm's briefcase. slaughterhouse Part 2: The Road Not Taken
Brainstorm would then poison the crew and use the briefcase to travel through time, attempting to ensure the war never happened and his love Quark would live. Nautica sat in on the Lost Light Internal Legal Affairs Committee's hearing into the affair and quietly stared at her wrench. When Brainstorm made a joke about his being a Decepticon, she stormed out and left the wrench behind. In an attempt to patch things up between them, Ratchet (under pretence of a medical check-up) reminded her that Brainstorm had been a M.T.O. and if his plan had worked, he would have erased himself from the timeline: his actions could not be condoned but had not been selfish.
And Butt-head, I got you
The two patched things up when Brainstorm added a new function to her wrench: a button that said "BRAINSTORM IS AN ASS!". Our Steps Will Always Rhyme
Notes
- Nautica and Chromia were originally planned to look less visually 'female' and more like "the default Cybertronian design", so that readers "wouldn't have clocked" they were female until the dialogue. James Roberts had to "shelve" this idea because IDW wanted to make it clear immediately that female Transformers were in the series.[1]
- In "Twenty Plus One", Nautica is given an estriol-positive spark type as part of a world-building nod. Roberts had this edited in the trade paperback as he thought it would be lazy writing to have gender be down to sparktypes (and to use a feminine name)[2] and because it could be offensive (casting them as an "abnormal", and reinforcing a binary gender system). In the trade, Nautica is ferrum-positive.
