#insecbabbles

So. The Shadowzone. Fascinating little addition to the TFP lore, virtually unexplained and used solely as a plot device. It’s a hand-wavey fun side-thing that is never delved into for the can of worms it would open: How come there’s a perfect replica of earth in there, yet no signs of life and technology? Why can you see and phase through the objects in the ‘real’ world, but they can’t do the same for you? How does the Shadowzone even work on something like the Nemesis, a ship that moves? Does the Shadowzone-Nemesis also move? And if Soundwave fell into the same Shadowzone back on Cybertron, does that mean the shadowzone is essentially a copy of the original universe? But then it should have Cybertronians living there too, since there’s a tangible version of the Nemesis in the Shadowzone when Soundwave is sent there! 

There’s no sense to be made there. Generally speaking, it’s best to just accept that the Shadowzone is a hand-wavey set-piece. It was never meant to be explainable.

And then my friend @harutemu said something amazing. What if the Shadowzone the kids got trapped in was a manifestation of  Unicron’s subspace? And the Shadowzone that Soundwave got trapped in was a manifestation of Primus’ subspace? Both Unicron and Primus are planetformers - Earth and Cybertron are their bodies, and it would make sense that their subspace is large enough to store a large chunk of their own mass. It’s downright necessary if they want to transform, and mass shifting is a canon part of how Transformers are capable of pulling a whole-aft trailer out of nowhere ( looking at you G1 Optimus )

It explains why the Earth Shadowzone had the exact same rocks and make-up, and how it was possible to  see the ‘real’ world when in the Shadowzone. Instead of being in a separate dimention, they were folded away in Unicron’s subspace! It explains how it is possible that there is signs of life and technology in the Shadowzone, without the presence of living organisms. Everything on the planet’s surface is close enough to essentially be part of the Cybertronians body, and thus it can easily be shifted into their subspace. The two groundbridges did not create the Shadowzone. They opened up the subspace of a slumbering giant!

Now you might ask: How is it possible that there is a Nemesis in the Shadowzone, and one outside of the Shadowzone? The answer is as follows: There is only one Nemesis and it is outside of the Shadowzone. Only Soundwave is in the shadowzone - folded away into Primus’ subspace and only capable of seeing out.