Transtech: An Unofficial Guide to the Forgotten Franchise
@transtech-zine
Transtech: An Unofficial Guide to the Forgotten Franchise is a fan zine first distributed at TFNation 2019. Its brief is to act as a handbook to the Transformers: Transtech toyline, pretending as if it wasn't cancelled during the concept phase.
Transtech: An Unofficial Guide to the Forgotten Franchise is a fan zine first distributed in print at TFNation 2019. Its brief is to act as a handbook to the Transformers: Transtech toyline, pretending as if it wasn't cancelled during the concept phase.
This is the digital version of the zine, available today to mark the 18th anniversary of the broadcast of Transtech’s final episode. Please click here to begin your Transtech experience. Navigation buttons are available on the bottom of the blog’s browser theme. If you get lost at any point, please feel free to take a look at the archive.
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Have you ever wanted to know the full story of Transformers: Transtech? Look inside for the exclusive scoop, featuring character bios, episode synopses, and much more, as the complete history of the overlooked franchise comes to light for the first time...
Imagine if you had no idea I was giving these out and you just stumbled across one on a table at the Hilton. “It’s like G1 but it’s different! Why is Cheetor there! What’s going on!” Wild
Hi! I’m Gherkin. Thank you for picking up and reading Transtech: An Unofficial Guide to the Forgotten Franchise. While I’m sure you’ve enjoyed reading about Transformers’ redheaded stepchild, before you scour eBay for cheap Deluxe Cheetor figures or attempt to unearth the lost VHS recordings, here’s one last fast fact for you:
Transtech wasn’t real!
It almost was: you can easily find concept art, character designs, and a handful of photos of the toy prototypes; but in the real world continuity family, Transtech never made it past these initial planning stages.
The tidbits of fact that can be gleaned from these documents are extrapolated here into alternate history fiction, dressed up as a guidebook for your enjoyment – and mine!
What’s so tantalising about Transtech as a subject is that it could have been anything. All we’ve known about it for twenty years exists in concept art, with no story context for any of its characters or plot developments. After Beast Machines’ final episodes cleaned the state for that era of Transformers, the time was ripe for Transtech to introduce its own radical reinvention of the franchise.
Sadly, it was never meant to be. But we can celebrate the fact that its cancellation lead to the first full reboot of anything Transformers related, giving rise to many beloved incarnations of the brand.
So happy anniversary to Beast Machines, and its bravery to change Transformers’ status quo, and here’s to you, Transtech – we hardly knew ye.
CREDITS
Transtech: An Unofficial Guide to the Forgotten Franchise
by Gherkin 🥒
@TheLastGherkin
thelastgherkin.tumblr.com
Cover artwork by:
Nate Hammond @Natephoenix83
Follow him for commission info!
Special thanks to and interior artwork by:
Umar Ali @Speed_Freak01
Erica Walsh @TransSoundwave
Ben Waspshot @Waspshot23
For a digital copy of this zine, complete with creator commentary and behind the scenes details, keep your optic sensors on transtech-zine.tumblr.com!
A change in tone for the last page, as I introduce myself as the man behind the curtain. Apparently without this page you can be absolutely duped into thinking all this was real.
The print version of this zine has a subsequent page on the inside back cover featuring a large Transtech Decepticon logo.
This page was initially going to be an editorial against G1 rehashes; in February 2019 I was writing about how the upcoming IDW continuity, and the Siege toyline, and the Cyberverse cartoon were all heading to a homogeneity of design. Then I took the stick out from up my arse and remembered that in celebrating Beast Machines’ differences, you don’t have to take a dump on everything else.
Thanks for taking the time to read my zine, whether it was in these tumblr posts or if you were one of the lucky 32 to have had one in person. They were way more successful than anticipated at the convention; I had run out by Saturday evening even though I had intended to continue giving them out on Sunday!
Special ultra gear thanks to Team Transtech:
Nat Hammond (bluesky)
Umar @speedfreak01 Ali (bluesky)
Erica @transgirlsoundwave Walsh (bluesky)
Ben @waspshot23 Watson (bluesky, youtube)
I’ve been Gherkin 🥒 @thelastgherkin (bluesky), and until next time, transform and transcend!
September 2001. After thirteen cartoon episodes and fifteen toys, Transformers: Transtech was over. So was it the hit new show Hasbro executives had wanted, or the failure that they’d feared? Well…
Hasbro’s late-game apprehension at producing and airing the series was much to its detriment. With no funding going into its advertisement, and its almost stealth launch in Fox Kids’ Beast Machines rerun slot, Transtech simply did not reach the same viewing figures as its two predecessor shows. The series was scuppered by a deliberate shot in the foot by Hasbro, while it and Takara collaborated on a new franchise to come.
Certainly no blame could be placed on Mainframe, as the team once again brought its A game to the series. Animation went from strength to strength. Character models in general featured more polygons and higher resolution textures than ever used before in a television production. The technorganic Cybertron was rendered with an otherworldly beauty unlike anything in a previous Transformers cartoon. Characters had differing body language depending on their personality, with even characters without clear faces being able to convey specific emotions.
The great amount of collaboration between the show’s writing staff allowed them to pare back Beast Machines’ reliance on serialised storytelling. The result not only produced a varied selection of episodes following the “monster of the week” formula, but also had the overarching storyline playing out in small threads and foreshadowing that only becomes apparent on a second viewing.
Cheetor’s development proved popular. Over the course of the series, he progressed from an unconfident leader who listened too much to his detractors to a field commander so invested in Cybertron’s best interests that he is willing to be voted out if that proves to be the will of the people.
The use of one-shot episodes in Transtech is considered to be one of the show’s biggest strengths. Escaping Beast Machines’ darker tone, Transtech episodes could be variously action-packed, haunting, comedic, or touching. It would be two of the tonally darker episodes – allowed to stand out against the show’s lighter adventure fare – that would garner the most critical praise: “Dark Web” and “Pushed to the Edge”.
Ian Weir’s “Dark Web” had Blackarachnia face off against Starscream once more, following their clash in Weir’s earlier Beast Wars episode “Possession”. However, Starscream’s involvement is kept secret until the episode’s third act; instead, the episode focuses on Blackarachnia’s descent into paranoia and isolation as she finds herself unable to trust her own senses. Weir’s writing and Venus Terzo’s understated performance were praised as depicting a sympathetic Blackarachnia in a parable about sharing the burden when affected by mental illness.
Three weeks later came “Pushed to the Edge” by Christy Marx, best known as head writer for Jem. Marx had form in the field bittersweet Transformers episodes – her sole contribution to Beast Wars being the poignant “Transmutate” – and described “Pushed to the Edge” as “an action movie with heart, told in 22 minutes”. This story gave a new dimension to Rattrap, with the former self-preservationist risking his life for the chance of saving Botanica. Scott McNeil’s impassioned performance as Rattrap, showing equal parts desperation, determination, and unresolved grief, earned him a nomination for 2002’s Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program.
On the topic of voice acting, Tony Jay’s casting of Shockwave was universally praised. The actor brought a menace and intensity to the character, with fans considering him a worthy successor to original series actor Corey Burton. Similar compliments were extended to Keith David as a ponderous, uncertain Optimus Prime, though diehard fans maintained the irreplacability of Peter Cullen. Ian James Corlett was given the chance to show how much he had grown into his role when the episode “Ultra Gear!” had him pulling double duty as the current and past versions of Cheetor.
Not all aspects of Transtech were praised. The toyline, though pushing the envelope for show accuracy, articulation, and cross-compatibility, was hindered by its line-wide use of the Spark Crystal gimmick. The oversized and action feature-heavy Immorticon toy saw many price reductions leading up to the January 2002 sales. Complete, undamaged Transtech toys are very rare to find in the present day, due to the large amounts of relatively fragile translucent plastic used in their construction.
The series’ worst episode is widely regarded to be “Rusty”. Lambasted as derivative of the 1999’s The Iron Giant, “Rusty” is said to lack any of the charm of the film or its title character, with its humorous tone cheapening its attempt at a sad ending and vice versa. For his part, writer Marty Isenberg says that the Iron Giant pastiche was a Hasbro-initiated idea, and that he received little feedback on it because of what he calls “their most non-communicative period”.
Page 27:
Transtech’s biggest fault is widely seen to be in its use of “Generation 1” characters. The Decepticons in the series are depicted as an ever-present background threat, but it’s the group’s newest members, Scavenger and the Immorticons, that spend the most time in the spotlight. Even among the under-utilised heritage characters, Megatron in particular suffers from lack of screentime; the Decepticon leader received no focal episode of his own, with his most substantial appearances being in the jampacked two-part finale.
Purists were already in uproar before the series ever started, as the newly engineered toys of in-demand classic characters were seen as too much of a radical departure from “Generation 1”. Those that stuck with the series to its end construed the show’s message of growth and potential to change into a personal insult: that the classic franchise they loved was long over and that it should moved on from instead of fondly remembered. Angered fans cite the moment Megatron chooses to fall to his supposed death, rather than cease fighting Optimus Prime, as an allegory for the writing staff dismissing the franchise’s most diehard fans for not accepting “inferior” reinventions of the brand.
WHAT HAPPENED NEXT?
In the end, Transtech’s detractors got their way, though not because of their feedback. Hasbro had already put the final nail in Transtech’s coffin before the show had even aired. Their lack of faith in the concept had lead to internal discussions between Hasbro and Takara about the co-production of the next big animated Transformers series and accompanying franchise.
When production cycles estimated that this next series wouldn’t be complete until late 2002 or early 2003, and with the latter Beast Machines toys and Transtech’s modest line underperforming, the decision was made to import one of Takara’s Japan-only franchises as a stopgap. Consequently, Hasbro contacted Saban Entertainment, best known for its work on Power Rangers, to adapt the Transformers: Car Robots anime.
The result, Transformers: Robots in Disguise, was initially pencilled in for a late 2001 transmission, but Transtech’s delayed broadcast pushed it back to mid-February 2002, allowing Saban to make necessary edits to particular RiD episodes following events on the global stage. Despite its conception as a “filler” line, Robots in Disguise proved unexpectedly popular, with Hasbro’s gamble on a cost effective franchise resulting in unanticipated profits. The cartoon’s first run lasted until July 2002, with the bulk of the planned toyline being in shops by August; however, the toys’ success saw a number of additional releases extend Robots in Disguise’s shelf life until early the following year.
In the meantime, the Hasbro/Takara partnership had not been idle. After a protracted production cycle, they announced the 52-episode animated series Transformers: Armada, along with an extensive toyline based around an exciting, modular new gimmick. With RiD having set the stage, and a receptive audience of kids ready and waiting, Armada made its simultaneous international debut in January 2003. But that is a story for another time…
As for Transtech’s legacy, while its concepts and controversial themes would leave little impact on the expanding world of the Transformers, aspects of subsequent toylines were conceived in the same vein. Transtech’s Spark Crystals, which unified every size class of the range under a single gimmick, directly influenced not only Armada’s Mini-Con integration, but also action features in the subsequent Energon and Cybertron lines. The latter two franchises feature Energon Stars and Cyber Keys respectively, both directly based on the Spark Crystals.
Transtech’s influence was felt in smaller ways as well. Design elements of its versions of Megatron and Scavenger were carried over into Armada, with Scavenger’s very inclusion in the series being a result of the Transtech Constructicon’s repentance. 2003’s Universe line almost saw a toy adaptation of the cartoon’s minor character Nightprowler before the release was cancelled. In 2004, the Energon cartoon copied the iconic visual of Shockwave in chains for its introduction of his counterpart Shockblast.
2008 saw the beginning of something of a Transtech revival. After Animated Blurr’s Cheetor-influenced toy got fans talking about Transtech once more, the Transformers Collectors’ Club resurrected several of its character designs to populate an all-new universe of advanced “Transcendent Technomorphs”. However, outside of visual similarities, it bore little resemblance to its predecessor, instead using these new versions of familiar characters to tell a tonally different series of stories; a formula the club would later repeat for its Beast Wars: Uprising series. This new TransTech, a staging ground for deep cut cameos and continuity crossovers, all but supplanted its namesake series in the fan consciousness. And so Transformers: Transtech fell into obscurity once more…
The aftermath section conveys a little bit of extra information while also sneaking in some opinions on Beast Machines in celebration of its anniversary. Nearly everything in that paragraph about Mainframe’s A game could be applied to the Beast Machines cartoon; whether you liked the content or not, the animation and design philosophy was absolutely top notch. The following paragraph, about the lack of serialised storytelling, is veiled Beast Machines criticism, but in remembering something fondly, it is often important to remember its failings and how it could have succeeded.
Then we come to the part where I pat my own back. “In universe” these are critics praising episodes of Beast Machines, but in real life, it’s me telling you which parts I wrote that I’m most proud of. It’s no coincidence that the two highlighted episodes are the ones that existed most vividly in my head before writing anything down.
The Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program is a real thing; in real life, Transformers wouldn’t get a nomination until Peter Cullen as Prime Optimus Prime in 2011, when he lost out to a cartoon lemur with a funny accent.
Yes, I am absolutely praising myself for imaginary casting. But wouldn’t Tony Jay and Keith David be great as Shockwave and Optimus? It’s not too late for you, Keith!
Then the bubble bursts, and reality ensues. Of course Unicron Trilogy-style gimmicks can hinder toy designs. Of course the Immorticon was too big to succeed. Of course translucent plastic toys break all the time, so of course you can’t find any on eBay.
The paragraph on “Rusty” here, added to bolster the word count, is reflective of my own experiences writing the episode. (It’s also the reason the legal indicia on the first page makes it clear that this is Fictional Marty Isenberg.)
The fictional adult fandom reacts the same way the actual adult fandom does: RUINED FOREVER. This was always the eventual punchline to this zine, and the reason the overarching story is about embracing new possibilities and moving on from the past. I often thought about what I could write that would be seen as heretical by a diehard geewunner, tapping into that time in 2001 before the franchise had ever had its first full continuity reboot.
If this entire zine is about making Transtech seem like something too great to exist, then here, as part of What Happened Next?, I twist the knife for fans of the other early noughties franchises. In real life, Transtech was cancelled, ideas were recycled into Armada, and RiD was imported in the meantime. But in a world where Transtech happened, that puts a delay on both of those later franchises.
RiD had the misfortune of being a cartoon featuring wanton metropolitan destruction that debuted mere days before the September 11 terrorist attacks. The consequence on the series was that three episodes were pulled from US rotation and many other episodes were edited, censored, or aired out of order. The universe in this zine has it that RiD began airing in February 2002, with the implication that Saban effectively re-edited the episodes and aired them in the correct order.
RiD wasn’t the only series affected. For those of you normal people with better things to do than memorise cartoon airdates, Armada began its broadcast in America in August 2002. Quite famously, this was six months before the animation was even properly finished. The Japanese debut was in January 2003, and featured a few instances of cleaned up animation. In this zine, both American and Japanese broadcasts commenced in January 2003; this longer production schedule would allow time for many of Armada’s criticisms to be addressed.
We round out our zine experience with how Transtech impacted the future of Transformers - or in some cases, what future Transformers media I would crib from and retcon as being inspired by Transtech. As noted before, Transtech’s toyline was going to feature what would become Mini-Cons, and even after writing this zine I’m still finding how much cross-pollination of ideas there are between Transtech and Armada.
Shout out to my Beast Wars: Uprising crew. Awoouu (wolf howl)
With Transformers’ flagship line now into its sixth year of beast-themed product, Transtech was a conscious decision by Hasbro to pivot back towards vehicular designs, reintroducing the Autobot and Decepticon factions and notable “Generation 1” characters back onto store shelves.
Transtech also saw the introduction of a line-wide gimmick in the form of Spark Crystals. Originally a decorative gimmick during Beast Wars’ Transmetal 2 period, Spark Crystals were re-imagined as coin-sized pucks containing a button cell-powered LED. These Spark Crystals plugged into slots across all size classes, illuminating the figures’ translucent plastic as a sort of whole-body lightpiping. This represented the in-show ability of Transcendence.
Deluxe
Deluxes took over from Basics as the smallest size class. Deluxe class toys did not include Spark Crystals, but all of them save Strika and Obsidian were compatible with this line-wide gimmick. The third wave saw very little distribution and its toys have become a relative rarity.
Wave 1 (June 2001)
Cheetor
Cheetor transforms from a futuristic F1 racer with feline styling and cheetah spots into a robot with hooped wheels for feet. His front wing detaches to form a handheld, springloaded missile launcher.
Shockwave
Shockwave transforms from an angular, low-riding dragster into a familiar, monocular robot. A geared mechanism in his chest causes his shoulder-mounted guns to recoil, simulating firing.
Silverbolt
Silverbolt changes from a swing-wing stealth bomber with eagle styling into a samurai-styled robot. Portions of his wings separate and combine to form a sword for use in robot mode.
Starscream
Homaging his Machine Wars form, this Starscream turns into a stylised fighter jet. His forearm-mounted null rays become missiles for the springloaded launchers in his shoulders.
Wave 2 (September 2001)
Rattrap
Rattrap changes from a sporty hatchback with rat-like styling into two-wheeled robot. He comes with three tool accessories of nebulous purpose that store in his car mode trunk. His rat head is jointed to bite!
Nightscream
Nightscream transforms into a bat-themed starfighter with swept-forward wings. His robot mode chest features a pair of jaws on a retractable string to represent his energy drain ability.
Wave 3 (December 2001)
Strika
A redeco of the previous Beast Machines Deluxe Strika, Transtech Strika turns into a six-wheeled assault tank and features a more show-accurate purple and orange colour scheme.
Obsidian
This all-new mold of Obsidian was originally planned for the tail end of the Beast Machines toyline. Accurate to his show appearance, Obsidian once again turns into a twin rotor assault helicopter.
Night Attack Cheetor
This black redeco of wave 1 Cheetor swaps out his ordinary colour scheme for black with yellow highlights.
Page 25:
Mega
Taking cues from the latter day Beast Wars Transmetals, the Mega class reintroduced triple-changing as standard. Toys of Mega class size and upward included an LED Spark Crystal each.
Wave 1 (June 2001)
Blackarachnia
Blackarachnia is a robot/spider/helicopter triple changer, with her spider legs pulling double duty as rotor blades and hip mounted rotary cannons. She features a flip-down visor in robot mode, a non-firing Vamparc Ribbon accessory and a green Spark Crystal.
Scavenger
Scavenger transforms into an unusual cross between a dragster and a bulldozer. His third mode, such as it is, merely positions his (non-functioning) treads underneath his chassis. He features a “power punch” gimmick and a purple Spark Crystal.
Wave 2 (Sept 2001)
Depth Charge
A shellformer, Depth Charge turns from robot to underwater drone. His panels splay out to form a third, flight mode that somewhat resembles a manta ray. He comes with a trident that can be used as a springloaded projectile, and an orange Spark Crystal.
Ultra
Ultra class toys not only included Spark Crystals, but each toy also featured an electronic sound gimmick, playing the classic transformation noise during the figure’s conversion sequence.
Wave 1 (June 2001)
Optimus Prime
This version of Optimus Prime changes from buff robot into a dynamic racing truck with… gorilla styling? Sure! Pressing down a button on the back of his cab flips a visor down onto his gorilla head, opens his grill to reveal his Spark Crystal mount (his robot mode chest), and rotates his smokestacks forward to simulate (non-firing) guns. He comes with a blue Spark Crystal and a translucent orange energon axe.
Megatron
Megatron transforms into a Cybertronian “H”-tank. His vehicle mode tracks feature adjustable suspension to change between “fast attack” and “all terrain aggressive attack” modes; the latter releases springloaded, flip forward rail guns. In addition to the Spark Crystal port in his chest, he features another in his turret (which can be removed and mounted on either robot mode arm). He includes one red Spark Crystal.
Super
The line’s largest size class. Hasbro made the strange decision to make the army-builder character also one of the most expensive. In the long run, this proved beneficial to collectors, as a glut of unsold Immorticons hit heavy clearance in post-Christmas sales.
Wave 1 (June 2001)
Immorticon
Immorticon changes from a large, unmanned tank into a hulking robot mode. It includes two shoulder-mounted, springloaded pulse cannons, a turret with firing projectiles, and a white Spark Crystal. A button on his pectoral plays one of three David Kaye-voiced phrases.
Wave 2 (cancelled)
Rusty
This redeco of Immorticon, designed to resemble Nightscream’s defective pal “Rusty”, was planned to be released in the 2001 holiday season, but was cancelled with little fanfare.
Here’s everything we currently know about the actual Transtech toyline:
Deluxes were electronic and to retail at $7.49
Said Deluxes would light up in translucent plastic areas, including Starscream and Cheetor’s cockpit
The first wave of Deluxes would come out in June 2001 and consist of Cheetor (car), Shockwave (car), Silverbolt (jet), and Starscream (jet). Later Deluxes listed are Rattrap (vehicle) and another unnamed vehicle Transformer
There would be two “Electronic Mega” figures of unspecified characters
As per early study boards, “Electronic Mega” figures would retail at $10.99, be of Optimus Prime and Megatron, and feature lights and sounds
BBTS lists Ultra size class Optimus and Megatron for June 2001, speculating that it is the same as the “Electronic Mega” class
Ultra Electronic Optimus Prime would retail at $15.99
BBTS also lists an “Electronic Super” size class of one figure
Hardcopies exist or existed of Cheetor, Starscream, and Optimus Prime, though only the former two have been made public
Transtech would have featured “lots [of] mini transformers”, that later became Armada’s Mini-Cons
Toys made of recycled Transtech concepts include Marvel Megamorphs Iron Man (Starscream) and Hulk (Immorticon), Armada Scavenger, and probably Megatron
With that all in mind, the Transtech toyline as seen in this zine extrapolates all this information in two major ways: firstly, it expands the roster to include the full show cast. The second way supposes that those prices in US dollars are too low: $7.49 for a figure the size of Beast Wars Transmetal Rattrap with an LED feature? I’m not too sure about that. So I replaced the LED functionality with the interchangeable Spark Crystal gimmick that would house the light feature.
I ditched the Mini-Cons. I would have had to design them from the ground up and integrate them into the plot; Armada would tell that story. and I didn’t want to pre-empt it.
Hey look, it’s Starscream! Starscream is the only Transtech toy hardcopy for which we have complete images. These photos are from behindthetoys.com, and you can just about see where I’ve attempted to obscure that website’s Comic Sans watermark. I’ve tried to map the colour layout from Starscream’s final design onto the toy model, but with removed camouflage (would that make sense on Cybertron?) and a darker helmet to evoke the classic Seeker design. My first pass at colourising these photos failed to change any colour values, meaning that, when turned into greyscale again, it looked exactly the same as if I hadn’t done anything. By error, I completely forgot to give him a Decepticon insignia.
The Deluxes were the easier part of the toyline to fill out, as half the work had been done for me. For a lot of them, it just came down to describing the character designs, along with potential action features the toys might have. Shockwave’s geared mechanism comes from his concept art. Rattrap and Nightscream are mostly new concepts, with Rattrap taking after War for Cybertron Bumblebee and Nightscream’s concepts not really resembling any vehicle in any way, allowing me to fill in the blanks.
Hasbro getting to the third wave of a line without any redecos? Not likely, I says! So the third wave is the budget-conscious one, featuring a reused Beast Machines toy along with an uncancelled Obsidian that had also been on the cards for Summer 2001 alongside the toy that would become Bruticus. The third toy in this wave is a same line, same character redeco:
Well hello, Night Attack Cheetor. This toy release exists on a spectrum somewhere between Beast Machines Night Slash Cheetor and any given black redeco of Bumblebee. Now, I have a weird sense of humour. The first thing anybody thinks of when they think of Transtech is Cheetor’s toy, and it’s never been seen in full robot mode before. So here I am, photoshopping together a full robot image using a Titanium Series Cheetor head, but completely failing to deliver on Transtech’s main attraction, instead presenting a weird black variant. How I laughed. Just for you, digital zine reader, here’s a proper Cheetor I deco’ed up.
For the Mega class assortment, I was completely free to make anything up, so I headed in the direction of triple-changers. The Spark Crystal colours for these three are supposed to compliment their colour schemes. Though her (not very good) concept art suggests a wheeled vehicle mode, I chose a helicopter for Blackarachnia for variety. Her original description here detailed more about her transformation, but I redrafted it after Erica’s art made clear how she worked. Scavenger’s two vehicle modes are supposed to be a low-riding race mode and a higher-suspended work mode. Depth Charge’s flight mode is intended to explain how he got back to Cybertron from Earth. The writing here suggests that the Mega class toys weren’t very good.
It’s Megatron! Unlike the previous two digibashes, I took (most of) the photos for Megatron, and as a consequence, it’s a higher quality pair of images. A lot of brainstorming went into finding which figures would match Megatron’s body shape and design. These figures are, in order from most obvious to most obscure: Animated Shockwave’s arms and legs, Combiner Wars Megatron’s head, (somebody else’s photos of) Armada Starscream’s cannons, 2010 Hailstorm’s forearms (with his pelvic detail used as kneecaps), Universe Galvatron’s turret, Dark of the Moon Voyager Sentinel Prime’s cannon, Dark of the Moon Guzzle’s chest and shoulders, Go! Bakudora’s lower jaw (crotchplate), and Beast Hunters Deluxe Bulkhead’s collar (in black and yellow stripes).
The two headliner characters get to be the bigger toys. And they play the noise as well! The writeup here pokes fun at Optimus Prime’s gorilla motifs. The idea that the gorilla truck has sunglasses is not something I made up. (Side note: the large space between “a visor” is the last of four typographical errors I caught too late for the zine to hit the printers.) Megatron’s “fast attack” and “all terrain [super] aggressive attack” modes come from his control drawing, which also gifts us tidbits like “super cooling energy dump” and the revelation that his tank treads are covered in little M’s.
Obliterate! Immorticon rounds out our quartet. This digibash was created from images of Marvel Megamorphs Hulk, with the head of Dark of the Moon Space Case. The toy’s chunkiness and general naffness helps it pretend to be a toy several times Megamorphs Hulk’s size. Its colours are accurate to one image of Immorticon’s concept art and are actually awful. Putting together this digibash required rotating and editing the shoulder guns, as well as removing a mini figure of the Hulk that insisted on standing right in the way.
Immorticon was inspired by the absolute glut of Beast Machines Supreme Cheetors, one of which I bought for £2 in a charity shop. I called him a “hulking robot”, see what I did there?
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So you think you know Transtech? Try these Transtech Teasers and see whether you can achieve Transcendence, or if you’re as dumb as an Immorticon!
Beginner: Let’s get you warmed up with a few simple questions.
1. What year did Transtech air on television?
a. 2000
b. 2001
c. 2002
2. How many figures were released in the toyline?
a. 10
b. 12
c. 15
3. Shockwave’s true master is…?
a. logic
b. Megatron
c. science
4. Which main character of the cartoon was snubbed for a toy?
a. Scavenger
b. Botanica
c. Silverbolt
5. Cheetor regains an ability from Beast Wars that he was not seen to use in Beast Machines. What ability?
a. foresight
b. telekinesis
c. flight
Intermediate: Getting harder now – you won’t find the answers to these by flipping back!
6. Which British composer provided the song used as Transtech’s theme tune, “Planet X”?
a. Grant Kirkhope
b. Robin Beanland
c. Graeme Norgate
7. Ten years later, Blackarachnia’s Vamparc Ribbon inspired a similar weapon in which IDW Comics miniseries?
a. Autocracy
b. Monstrosity
c. Primacy
8. Which of these was NOT included on the sound chip of Immorticon’s toy?
a. “Decimate!”
b. “Obliterate!”
c. “Annihilate!”
9. When BigBadToyStore first listed the upcoming Transtech toys in December 2000, who was known only as “vehicle #6 un-named”?
a. Rattrap
b. Starscream
c. Nightscream
10. Which character from Transformers Animated homaged a design from Transtech?
a. Dirt Boss
b. Blurr
c. Oil Slick
Expert: Final round… See how you do without multiple choices!
11. The toyline assigned Transcendence abilities to the Decepticons that they were never shown to possess in the show. What was Megatron’s?
12. What was the scientific name of the flower involved in “Pushed to the Edge”?
13. As an Easter egg, Waspinator appeared in the background of every episode except one. Which one?
14. What was the name, written in Cybertronix, of the abandoned warehouse Depth Charge sought refuge in during the events of “Immortal Soul”?
15. Nightscream spent each of his appearances paired up with a different Autobot. Which of the main cast did he never partner with?
0-5: Whoops! Even Scavenger could have gotten a better score than this!
6-10: Getting there! Sounds like you know your basics!
11-14: Impressive! Almost as wise as Optimus Prime!
15: Wow! You’re an unparalleled Transtech expert!
The quiz was initially supposed to come after the Toyline section, but I wanted the latter across a two page spread.
The quiz started out as a fun little activity with two purposes. The first was my weird sense of humour coming straight to the fore: I could produce a quiz that is literally impossible to answer correctly. The second purpose was to fit in little details that wouldn’t fit anywhere else.
One of the problems I had with the quiz is that, because I found it difficult to discipline myself into writing prose, I wrote it before any of the episode synopses. So there’s a little disconnect here versus what makes it in.
The beginner portion of the quiz is straightforward. Like all bad children’s magazines, all answers to these questions are elsewhere in the zine, and if you send in your answers and a stamped addressed envelope, you could win a brand new Game Boy Advance!
The intermediate level is where things get tricky. “Planet X” is a song from the 2000 video game TimeSplitters, and was used in the #TranstechZine video advert. I chose the song for its timbre similarities to Beast Machines’ theme song, “Phat Planet”. The correct answer is electronic music composer Graeme Norgate, who worked with both Grant Kirkhope and Robin Beanland on GoldenEye 007. Kirkhope is the red herring, as he’s the only one anybody’s heard of.
The Vamparc question parodies the homogenous, dull Autocracy Trilogy. Question 8 is an exercise in absurdity: the Immorticon toy DOESN’T say “Obliterate!”, one of the only phrases it is cited as saying, but DOES say “Decimate!”, probably in a completely inaccurate way.
Question 9’s BigBadToyStore article is cited several times in the commentary for the next page. Suffice it to say that there is no way of knowing the true identity of “vehicle #6 un-named”.
The expert part of the quiz removes multiple choices, because no way was anybody at this convention being more of a Transtech expert than me. This is where the disconnect from the actual episodes starts to come in. Question 11 implies that Megatron didn’t have a Transcendence ability in the show, when he was actually shown to possess the same energy powers as Optimus.
“Cyborchidacea Panacea” is, of course, cyber + orchidaceae (Botanica’s plant mode) + panacea (a miracle cure). A dick move of a question among dick moves of questions.
Question 13 is the only mention of Waspinator in this entire zine! Pick a random episode title and you have a 1/13 chance of getting it right. The implication here is that Mainframe threw in Waspinator cameos as nods to the fans. He’s absent from “Dark Web” as that’s the most tonally grim episode.
Protoform X-Port. Do you get it.
I’m not even sure question 15 is true. If it is, it’s only in the loosest sense.
This page is a mess. Graphic design is my passion.
Episode 12: “The Eye of the Storm, Part I”
Written by: Larry DiTillio
Broadcast: 1/9/01
The Foundry. The Decepticons look over the building army of Immorticon warriors. Starscream snipes that this invasion seems to be taking forever. While Shockwave insists that the Immorticons are not ready for combat yet, Megatron fires back at Starscream that he’d know the right time to strike if he had the makings of a good leader. Starscream is slighted.
Cybertropolis. Starscream uses his powers to possess every screen in the city, telling everybody that Megatron is no great revolutionary, and that he plans to commit genocide to rid the planet of what he considers to be the impure technorganic races. Megatron sees the broadcast as well.
The Citadel. The MaxCops mobilise, as Starscream’s words have sent the city’s civilians into a mass hysteria. As the Autobots co-ordinate operations, Starscream materialises in their control room… smugly claiming that he demands sanctuary.
At the Foundry, Megatron fumes at Starscream’s insubordination. He gives the order that they will march into Cybertropolis and take the city, if only to destroy Starscream. Shockwave asks him to reconsider, as the Immorticons’ armour is still not fully tempered, but Megatron ignores his suggestion. Shockwave remains at the Foundry to control the Immorticons.
The Autobots confer about Starscream. Optimus Prime notes that Starscream has a track record for betrayal but being let back into the fold. Cheetor admits that while it might be a trap – Starscream taking the Autobots down from the inside – they wouldn’t be the good guys if they didn’t take in a defector seeking protection.
Blackarachnia, trusting Starscream the least out of any of them, volunteers her own solution: she arms herself with the Vamparc Ribbon, the only weapon capable of harming him, and promises to zap his spark with it if he steps out of line. He’s amused by her tenacity, but his mood sours as he picks up on the secure Decepticon frequency that Megatron and his army are coming for him.
As the MaxCops quell the rioters, Cheetor takes to the emergency broadcast system (wryly acknowledging its recent overuse). He tells his people that Megatron is coming, and that they’re welcome to seek shelter or evacuate… but if they stand together with the Autobots and fight back, they all can make a difference. He’s saved Cybertron once, he says, but only together can they save it again. His speech strikes a chord, and several citizens take up arms.
The Decepticon army comes into view. Cheetor has Blackarachnia activate the city’s forcefield bubble. Megatron gives a signal, and one of the shield generators goes out, creating an opening in the dome and allowing the Immorticons to breach the city limits.
Cheetor orders someone nearby to investigate that particular gatepost. Rattrap and Botanica are in the area; they discover that Scavenger has deactivated the generator. While Rattrap and Botanica fight the enraged Constructicon for control of the generator – resulting in the repeated deactivating and reactivating of the forcefield – Cheetor has the Autobots, MaxCops, and volunteer forces all mobilise to keep the Immorticons out of the city.
Nightscream and Silverbolt fight alongside each other. Nightscream tries to use his energy drain power to deactivate Immorticons. Depth Charge appears and attacks Silverbolt, treating the Autobot as his new nemesis. Strika and Obsidian organise the volunteer troops. Blackarachnia has warily paired with Starscream. Cheetor and Optimus Prime are at the city limits, using their own abilities to expel the enemy soldiers.
All teams find that, due to the insufficient tempering of the Immorticon’s armour, they are easier to defeat, and it’s only their number that is overwhelming. Botanica successfully ensnares Scavenger in vines, and Rattrap reactivates the forcefield. Cheetor announces to his team that, with the number of Immorticons inside the city being finite, they might have a chance of destroying them all.
Starscream sees Megatron approaching, so he possesses an Immorticon for extra firepower. Megatron attacks Blackarachnia first, swiping her aside and taking the Vamparc Ribbon. A blast from his fusion cannon destroys the Immorticon, freeing Starscream. Starscream doesn’t believe that Megatron has the bearings to destroy him; if he had, he’d have done it a long time ago. Megatron responds that he did, and hopefully this time it will take. Megatron fires the superweapon, and Starscream is eradicated.
The Immorticons pause, and it seems like the battle is over. But their eyes glow yellow, and they speak with one voice: Shockwave’s. “Megatron. Your irrationality has made you unfit for command.” Shockwave explains that his true master has always been logic, and that logically there can be no peace on Cybertron unless all sentient life is destroyed. Instead of merely co-ordinating them, he assumes direct control over every Immorticon, causing them to fight with more focus and efficiency.
Megatron is stunned as his new empire collapses around him. Cheetor realises that, with the forcefield bubble up, they’re now trapped with a more formidable enemy. And Nightscream finds himself low on energy, cornered by Immorticons…
Episode 13: Aftershock, Part II
Written by: Larry DiTillio
Broadcast: 8/9/01
The Immorticons, under Shockwave’s control, threaten to destroy all life in the city. Nightscream, cornered and out of energy, calls out for help… and a familiar Immorticon cuts through his attackers! Nightscream and Rusty are overjoyed at being reunited. Rusty’s broken transmitter gives Nightscream an epiphany: he uses his sonic scream on Shockwave’s control frequency, and the Immorticons are temporarily disabled.
Granted time to think, Cheetor summons a vision. He is shown a confrontation between himself and Shockwave in the Foundry, in which the Decepticon grabs him by the neck and throttles him before dropping his lifeless body. He is shocked to have foreseen his own death, but taking the fight to Shockwave seems to be the only recourse.
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Optimus Prime finds Megatron swearing revenge on Shockwave, and criticises him for only being able to think about advancement in terms of who the next target for his vengeance is. Megatron rounds on him, telling him he still has his pride. Cheetor suggests that Megatron guide them to the Foundry, but Megatron snaps at him, saying he doesn’t take orders from a cub. Cheetor squares up, telling the fallen Decepticon leader that he couldn’t even command his own troops, and that pooling their resources is going to be the only way to defeat Shockwave.
Cheetor gives the order to Rattrap and Botanica that on his signal, they’re going to reopen to allow his strike team to leave Cybertropolis. Botanica says she has to concentrate to keep Scavenger bound, but Rattrap can man the controls.
Elsewhere, Silverbolt finds Blackarachnia in the rubble and helps her up, making sure she’s OK. He tells her he’s been fighting Depth Charge, who has been tailing him for the whole battle. She offers him the Vamparc Ribbon if he really wants to harm an immortal spark, but the flier insists there’s another way through to their former friend.
Cheetor puts Strika and Obsidian in command of the Autobots, and then gives the signal to Rattrap. As the forcefield goes down, Shockwave regains control of the Immorticons and the battle resumes. Cheetor leads Optimus, Megatron, Nightscream, and Rusty out of the city, fighting vehicle mode Immorticons along the way.
Strika and Obsidian order a team of MaxCops to evacuate the remaining civilians underground into Iacon. They join the battle in earnest, sweeping through the city and firing on the Immorticons. Strika tells Botanica that, with the shield no longer needed, their gatepost is not a position that needs defending. As she and Rattrap prepare to move on, they come under attack by a squadron of Immorticons.
Depth Charge pounces on Silverbolt. They take the fight to the skies, as Depth Charge has developed a new flight mode. Silverbolt insists that the Depth Charge he knows is in there somewhere. Changing back into robot mode halfway across the city, Depth Charge pins Silverbolt down, insisting that he cannot be saved. But an evacuating line of civilians passes by their brawl, and Depth Charge is distracted.
On the long stretch between Cybertropolis and Tarn, Cheetor confides in Nightscream that he had a vision of his own demise. Nightscream says that it’s only one possible future, but Cheetor tells him that’s now how it’s worked before. They reach the Foundry, but Shockwave’s Immorticon guards are no match for Megatron and Rusty’s weapons.
Rattrap and Botanica have managed to defeat all but one of their attackers, but they have been overpowered. Broken and beaten, the two lovers’ hands slowly reach towards each other. The Immorticon, speaking with Shockwave’s voice, tells them that sentimentality is a weakness, but before it can act, Scavenger decapitates it. “Never liked that guy anyway.”
The last part of Megatron’s route to the control room is a walkway overlooking molten metal. As Cheetor reaches the door the other end, Nightscream stops him, telling him that if he is going to die today, this is his last chance to stop it. Cheetor says he knows the danger, but if it’s the only way to save the day, then he has to do it.
They notice that Megatron refuses to go any further; Optimus realises he’s challenging him to a duel. The prideful Megatron refuses to co-operate with his sworn enemy for any longer. First, he says, he’ll have the pleasure of destroying Optimus Prime personally. Then he’ll retake his army from Shockwave and level the planet. As Optimus draws his energy axe, Megatron reveals he shares the same Transcendence ability, equipping an energy mace!
Blackarachnia has followed Depth Charge and Silverbolt and is ready to fire with the Vamparc Ribbon. Silverbolt talks her down, asking Depth Charge if being part of an invading force is what he wanted. Innocent people are running scared from him now – what about the oath to protect he took as a Peace Marshal? Depth Charge is distraught, saying that he has become the antithesis to what he once was. He asks Blackarachnia if she can make an adjustment to the Vamparc Ribbon.
Cheetor, Nightscream, and Rusty enter the control room. Shockwave briefly refuses to acknowledge them, considering them beneath him. When he does look, he recognises Rusty by his serial number, and wirelessly reboots the Immorticon’s programming so he attacks the two Autobots.
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A juvenile Maximal, lost and alone, runs through the city streets. She rounds a corner; an Immorticon towers above her. It takes aim – and is blasted by a powerful energy beam! Her saviour is Depth Charge! He hoists the Vamparc Ribbon, now drawing energy from his own spark, and unleashes a violent lightning that arcs from Immorticon to Immorticon. The girl runs, thanking her hero.
While Nightscream distracts the corrupted Rusty, Cheetor uses his super speed to dodge Shockwave’s laser blasts. He tells Shockwave that as long as he lives, he’ll stand up to tyrants. Cheetor gets within reach of Shockwave’s control crown – but the Decepticon grabs him by the neck. “Then live no longer.” Shockwave’s grip starts to squeeze…
Optimus Prime and Megatron fight. Optimus insists that everything Megatron has done was by choice – a choice to feed his greed for power. If he can rid himself of his evil ambition, Megatron’s domineering personality could a force for good. Megatron is angered: “I am a force for good!” An overzealous mace swipe causes him to careen off the edge, but Optimus grabs his hand. Optimus tells him that they can work together, but Megatron needs to make the choice to break his cycle of revenge. “It’s too late for that,” says Megatron. His free hand swings and stabs Optimus through the wrist with an energy blade, forcing him to let go. Megatron drops into the smelting pool.
Shockwave tells Cheetor that his interference is becoming bothersome, but no matter: in his new Cybertron to come, autonomy will be a thing of the past. “Never!!” shouts Cheetor, using his arm blades to cut Shockwave’s forearm off, and then, when Shockwave raises his blaster, cutting the other arm off as well. Cheetor grabs the control crown and puts it on, feeling his awareness flood into every Immorticon at once. He gives a single command to all of them: destroy the Immorticons.
He sees, across the city, as the drones begin to turn on each other. He sees Botanica and Rattrap tend to each other’s wounds, as Scavenger moodily sits nearby. He sees Blackarachnia comforting Silverbolt over the drained husk of Depth Charge. He sees Strika and Obsidian guarding the entrance to the underground, keeping watch. And he sees as each Immorticon, having taken out its comrades, self-destructs, never to be used as a weapon again.
Cheetor takes off the crown. Rusty, who has returned to his docile state, helps Nightscream to apprehend Shockwave. Nightscream is surprised that Cheetor managed to avert the future he saw. Optimus enters the control room, confirming whether Cheetor saved the day. Cheetor asks after Megatron; Optimus says he made his choice. “Choices are what define us,” says Cheetor.
Outside the Foundry, Cheetor and Optimus watch the sun setting behind Cybertropolis on the horizon. “What next?” asks Optimus. Cheetor replies, “We clean up.”
Cheetor’s voice is heard, giving a speech over a series of vignettes. “When I was a kid, I lived in the moment. I used to think that the past was just a bunch of boring stories.” Nightscream and Rusty spending an enjoyable afternoon at Six Lasers. “Then it came back to haunt us in a big way.” Shockwave is suspended in an isolation cell, overseen by wardens Strika and Obsidian. “History’s mistakes played out in front of me in real time.” A penitent Scavenger, painted in prison stripes, lays foundations for a building. “The last thing Optimus Primal ever said to me was ‘transform and transcend’.” Sitting on the farmhouse porch, Rattrap and Botanica share a kiss. “I didn’t understand it then, but now I do. We have to be better than what we were.” A funeral marker commemorates the life of Depth Charge – Here Lies A Protector. “We have to become something else. Exceed our own expectations, and the expectations of others.” Silverbolt and Blackarachnia catch a robber like a dynamic duo of superheroes. “We’re not beholden to the past, but we can learn from it.” Optimus Prime supervising a polling station, chatting amiably with a long line of voters. “And we can live in the present. But through the choices we make today…” Cheetor, looking out over the changed city from a Citadel window. He smiles bittersweetly. “The future is ours to shape.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” says Starscream’s ghost, lurking in the shadows…
Finale time! These two episodes were initially titled “Power Play” parts I and II. I thought that was a weak title, and as it was April/May 2019 at the time, I retitled it “Endgame” parts I and II after a little comic book flick you may have heard of (and also because Shockwave manoeuvred everybody like pieces on a chessboard). Then I remembered, oh wait, Beast Machines’ finale was called “Endgame” and I discarded that idea. Then I considered “Aftershock” as a title for both episodes; then “Foreshock” for the first part and “Aftershock” for the second. Finally, I ditched the overt Shockwave connection from the first episode’s title, as I considered his importance a twist ending. The result: a pair of separate but linked episodes, with the action and objective pivoting into a different direction after the first part.
Said first part became “The Eye of the Storm, Part I”. Naturally, there’s the Stan Bush connection; this is where Cheetor steps up and proves he has the touch. There’s also the literal level: Cybertropolis, inside the calm of the forcefield bubble, all hell breaking loose around them. Finally, the “eye” in the title does hint towards a particular cyclopean antagonist.
So Megatron and Starscream have their lovers’ quarrel, and it leads to total warfare. This first episode is about ramping up the tension. Is Starscream trustworthy? Is Shockwave seething? Can the Autobots mount a defence? I’m picturing a long stretch of time as Cheetor and Megatron face off through the forcefield bubble.
I deleted some dialogue from this episode, in which Silverbolt tries to dissuade Blackarachnia from harming Starscream by saying “If you kill him, you’re no better than him.” Starscream responds, “Nobody’s better than me.”
Cheetor finally makes his rousing leader speech on (you guessed it) every screen in the city. This is the culmination of everything he’s been through throughout the Beast Era. He’s the leader, he’s in charge, and in the next episode he even gets Megatron to fall in line.
The fight in the shield generator was conceived as an interesting set piece to represent the main threat of this episode. Rattrap and Botanica fight to keep the forcefield up while Scavenger tries to turn it off, but when Shockwave makes his play, the Autobots and Decepticon swap goals.
The remainder of the episode is spent putting characters into places they need to be. Nightscream in peril to allow for his rescue; Silverbolt against Depth Charge to redeem the latter; Blackarachnia with Starscream to provide Megatron his killing weapon.
It’s the latter “ape shall not kill ape” moment that Shockwave considers a tipping point. But should it be? Starscream gloats that Megatron will need to change as a person (subtext there again!) to kill him, but Megatron rejoins that he already killed Starscream once as Galvatron. Megatron is the same as he ever was. It’s a wonder that Shockwave didn’t turn sooner in this continuity.
Before we end on a high with the next episode, let’s skip ahead a bit and list some disappointments. Shockwave’s art on the next page should tell you why I stick to headshots. He needed a bit of art to sell him as the main antagonist, and I was keen to show how his head worked at other angles, but my sketchy style in this context just makes him look unfinished.
Cheetor’s final speech demonstrates a problem I was having with the Eurostile font, in that the version I had installed didn’t have a genuine italic, so I had to fudge it. When it’s just one word on a line, it’s passable, but having it in such large quantities lead to the line spacing messing up. In a similar vein, there’s another typographical error here, as the episode title has no quotation marks.
With that out of the way, “Aftershock, Part II” was an absolute pleasure to write. I allowed myself to write and write with no abridging, satisfyingly concluding all the character arcs I’d set up.
Megatron, once stripped off his power and influence, is, like all despots, a child throwing a tantrum. This is the closest thing he gets to a focal episode, and we really do get to see inside his head. His refusal to accept change would be tragic if he weren’t a xenophobic fascist.
Another typo! “Cheetor tells him that’s now how it’s worked before” should have a NOT in there instead of a NOW.
Optimus and Megatron’s duel is naturally reflective of their classic dam skirmish; it also owes much to the old man fight from the end of Metal Gear Solid 4 and the dramatic final fight from Star Wars: Episode III.
Cheetor’s vision of his own death, and his aversion thereof, ties to the core theme of choice. Until now, Cheetor’s visions had been glimpses at a definite, concrete future. Once you free yourself of the idea that there’s a definite conclusion you’re heading to, you can do anything.
Shockwave’s control crown is one last More than Meets the Eye reference.
And so we reach the end of the episode, with every character ending up where I intended them to. Cheetor gives a voiceover on silent footage of characters hitting the end of their arcs; maybe there’s soft indie music playing, because this is an episode of a show from the noughties.
The Starscream twist ending is wholeheartedly stolen from the awful, awful Power of the Primes animated series.
Optimus Prime is now an adjudicator for general elections. He’s in a position of power, but he’s not the leader any more. Cheetor’s bittersweet smile reflects that, while he has been the hero and will always try to be, if it is the will of the people to vote him out in “the choices [they] make today”, so be it. If I had to continue the story from here, I’d have Starscream’s ghost possess Cheetor’s main political opponent and cause further unrest.
The final graphic here is based on Fun Publication’s scene transitions from their prose stories. If I would have thought to look - and I didn’t - I could have found a Transtech logo variant of this in one of their stories set on Axiom Nexus. Here it is in living colour.
And that’s a wrap for the synopses! See you next page.
Episode 10: “Rusty”
Written by: Marty Isenberg
Broadcast: 18/8/01
Nightscream is on his downtime and ready to relax by doing some ruin exploring, but everybody he asks – a meditating Cheetor, Silverbolt going out on a mission, and a call to Rattrap – brushes him off with a “Not now, Nightscream.” Pouting about his rejection, Nightscream heads off alone.
Outside the Citadel, on his way to the underground entrance, he passes by Optimus Prime. He half-heartedly invites him, but Optimus seems too distracted staring up at the sky to even notice him. As the dejected Nightscream slumps off on his own, Optimus snaps out of his trance and drives away urgently.
Nightscream’s exploring takes him past Optimus’ demolished memorial. He examines the pair of deactivated Immorticons – but one stutters to life! He’s ready to fight, but the Immorticon’s weapons are all disabled and it can barely stand up. Its scratchy, distorted voice croaks out “help…”
Nightscream takes pity on the pathetic drone, and tells it he’s going to look after it. An inspection of the Immorticon’s cerebral circuits yields that its connection to the Decepticons is broken, and that its logic chips have melted in its last fight.
When Nightscream says he’ll go and get Optimus Prime, the Immorticon’s prime directive to destroy Optimus briefly resurfaces, before its power is sapped and it returns to docility. This outburst, combined with Nightscream still being mad at his friends, convinces him that he has to keep the Immorticon secret for now.
In the Citadel, Optimus has Blackarachnia access local satellites to scan for what he saw in the sky. They discover a large meteoroid is on a collision course with Cybertron, threatening them with a devastating blast, tidal waves, firestorms, and an impact winter to threaten all life on the planet! As the Autobots have no starships, Optimus asks Blackarachnia to augment a dropship with a spaceflight engine; she’s hesitant, but he implores her that time is of the essence.
Nightscream has named his new charge “Rusty”, and patched him up using parts from the other deactivated Immorticon. Their journey to the surface is a slow one, with Rusty stopping and starting to look at different things like an excited toddler, but Nightscream finds it endearing. They go into the Citadel through a concealed back entrance. Nightscream treats their journey like a tense sneaking mission, having to keep Rusty in line when he starts wandering off.
Nightscream hears Optimus Prime approaching down the corridor. Rusty’s programming is set off again, so Nightscream hides him in an unoccupied laboratory. The Autobot sage passes by and notices Nightscream’s suspicious behaviour, but as he has bigger things to worry about, he dismisses it. He asks Nightscream where Cheetor is, and Nightscream responds that he’s meditating.
Optimus moves on, and Nightscream ducks into what turns out to be Botanica’s seldom-used botany lab. Samples of exotic flowers have spread out from their specimen jars, coating the every flat surface of the lab in a rich, colourful flora. Rusty is enchanted by his beautiful surroundings, gently using his enormous hands to pluck a tiny blossom and present it to Nightscream as a gift.
Nightscream is amazed, understanding now that, thanks to his melted circuits, Rusty is developing past his Immorticon programming. He’s the first of a new breed of Autobot, with the potential to grow up and be anything. Nightscream’s going to find his friends and introduce them to Rusty, leaving him with a two-way comm device that he leaves switched on, as Rusty is comforted by the sound of his voice.
Optimus Prime has met with Cheetor, telling the young leader about the meteoroid. His plan is to take a dropship into space and redirect the course of the meteoroid, using Cybertron’s gravity to slingshot it back into space. Cheetor tells him that the dropships aren’t built for atmospheric re-entry, but Optimus tells him that it’s the only way, and that he’s made up his mind to be the pilot. Cheetor responds that if he were really committed to this act of self-sacrifice, he wouldn’t have come to him to discuss it.
Nightscream interrupts them, and they tell him they’re going to the hangar. While Nightscream dashes to gather the other Autobots, Rusty, having heard Optimus over the radio, heads towards the hangar with murderous intent…
In the hangar, Optimus prepares to take flight, but Cheetor and Blackarachnia both try to discourage him from going. Blackarachnia tells him that not even his armour his durable enough to survive atmospheric re-entry. The team is interrupted by Rusty’s entrance, and as the Immorticon slowly advances on them, they draw their weapons.
Nightscream enters with a group of MaxCops, but is appalled that Rusty has regressed. In the chaos that follows, the Autobots threaten to shoot Rusty, Nightscream defends him and tries to talk him down, and Optimus tries to sneak away onto the ship. At Nightscream’s insistence, they lower their weapons. His voice calms Rusty, who repeats back to him Nightscream’s earlier promise to look after him.
Before anybody can react, Rusty hoists Optimus out of the powering-up dropship and gets inside it himself, launching off. The Autobots rush outside and watch as, for a tense few moments, the ship heads up towards the meteoroid. For a moment, nothing seems to happen… but a fiery trail streaking across the sky confirms that Rusty’s final act was not in vain.
As relief washes over the crowd, Optimus Prime comforts the distraught Nightscream, who laments over his new friend who could have grown up to be anything. Optimus tells him that what he grew to be was a hero. Blackarachnia posits that if anything could survive re-entry, it’d be Immorticon armour…
Nightscream looks down at the crumpled blossom in his hand.
Episode 11: “Ultra Gear!
Written by: Bob Forward
Broadcast: 25/8/01
Nightscream is in the Citadel foyer, talking with the MaxCops about a series of vehicle mode crashes all near the same location. Suddenly, silence falls over the room, heralding the ominous arrival of Strika and Obsidian, the former Vehicon generals. Nightscream
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cautiously approaches his one-time enemies, but they claim fealty to the Autobots.
Elsewhere, Optimus Prime and Cheetor are meditating. Optimus tells Cheetor that in order to truly unlock his powers of precognition, Cheetor has to untether his spark from linear time. The Autobot leader breathes slowly, and sees his past and his future projected astrally ahead of him. He flips through his old memories like a scrapbook.
Nightscream bursts into the room, snapping Optimus and Cheetor out of their trance. He tells them that Strika and Obsidian have turned up. Optimus heads down, eager to reunite with the two former Autobots. Cheetor hangs back, confidentially telling Nightscream that he has no idea who that old guy was or where he is. It becomes clear to Nightscream from his mannerisms that Cheetor has regressed to his age before the Beast Wars!
Optimus meets with Strika and Obsidian. The duo is penitent for their actions during the Battle of the Sparks, and now claims allegiance to the Autobots. They are understanding when Optimus says he wants to ask them more questions before accepting them into the fold, but that it’s Cheetor who should have the final say. Strika is surprised that Cybertron’s ruling power is a young kid.
Nightscream brings Cheetor down to see them, but the speedy cat escapes. Strika and Obsidian are unimpressed that the commander won’t see them, but Nightscream tells them he’s on an important mission. In hushed tones, he tells Optimus to stall for time.
Nightscream flies over the city, thinking it through: if he were a hyperactive kid looking for a good time, where would he go? He heads straight for Six Lasers Over Cybertron, an amusement park and arcade, where he finds Cheetor using his super speed to flit between games. Cheetor says he’ll only come back to the Citadel if Nightscream can beat him in a VR hoverboarding game.
At the Citadel, Strika and Obsidian explain that their loyalty will always lie with Cybertron’s ruling party; they regret their time serving the Vehicon Megatron, but wish to prove themselves to the Autobots by destroying the Decepticon insurgency. Optimus insists that he’s not the leader, and that they have to run everything by Cheetor. Strika asks if he’s such a leader, why isn’t he meeting the Great War’s most decorated generals?
Nightscream slimly beats Cheetor in the VR game. As they make to leave, Nightscream lamenting that somehow he became the responsible one, Cheetor is approached by a shady Maximal, who tells him if he wants a real race, he should come back after closing time.
The last time Nightscream kept a secret, it was a disaster, so he has Optimus Prime meet him in Cheetor’s chambers, where the cub has been pacified by a video game. Optimus realises that his Transcendence is to blame, but Cheetor is too impatient to meditate to try and restore his memories. Optimus says that, until Cheetor becomes more co-operative, they just have to ride it out. He meets with the former Vehicons once more, telling them that it is Cheetor’s wish that they get their own house in order before heading off into a warzone. Obsidian suggests it is time for a change in leadership.
Under cover of night, Cheetor sneaks out, meeting with the Maximal, Nightprowler, outside Six Lasers. Nightprowler challenges him to a street race, with both putting forward 5000 credits and the winner taking it all.
Nightscream tracks Cheetor down but is too late to stop the race. He flies overhead, and realises the improvised track goes straight through the accident blackspot he was looking into that morning. Nightprowler has henchmen in the area, preparing to ambush Cheetor, so that they can split their 5000 credit profit.
Nightscream flies with Cheetor, telling him that the race is dangerous, and urging him to stop. Cheetor doesn’t listen, so Nightscream tells him to at least use his foresight to look ahead. Cheetor streaks through the streets; he’s so in the zone that it accidentally triggers his precognition. Once again he sees his timeline laid out ahead of him, but this time, his spark returns to the present.
Cheetor dodges over the roadblock ambush and apprehends Nightprowler’s lackeys using his superspeed, before catching up to the racer and cuffing him too. Nightscream is impressed that Cheetor is back.
Cheetor and Nightscream return to the Citadel with the criminal group in tow. He tells Strika and Obsidian that he was working undercover to take down an underground street-racing ring, and they are impressed that he made the arrests almost single-handedly. Cheetor tells Optimus that he’ll need the two generals to stick around, because while he was adrift from time, he saw a storm coming in their near future…
Oof. “Rusty”. I had such big ideas for you. Every episode in this zine started out as an early draft before reaching its final form, but the initial draft of “Rusty” was such dreck that I had to almost completely discard it and start again. The draft starts off by spending too much time with Nightscream at the start, being dismissed by his friends in turn like this is a childrens’ book. The subplot with the meteor proceeds at a glacial pace, with the Autobots spending all their time talking about it and not even preparing the dropship. Rusty immediately goes to sacrifice himself, skipping over the tense Mexican standoff in the hangar, and flies into space with the booster rockets that no Immorticon before or since is shown to possess. The draft ends with the awful line “He was my new friend. He was going to be anything.” without taking any steps to endear Rusty to the audience or to Nightscream.
My second pass cut out all the padding for the story, accelerating the meteor subplot so that Optimus had already began to act before giving Cheetor the briefing. Yes, the narrative is still contrived to provide a very obvious The Iron Giant homage, but at least Blackarachnia doesn’t say that the meteoroid isn’t headed directly for Cybertropolis as “that would be a remarkable coincidence”, like in the first draft!
I took great pains to present Rusty like a learning, excitable child, to hopefully make his eventual sacrifice all the more upsetting. The scenes where Nightscream attempts to hide this lumbering hulk through the Citadel is inspired by the sequence in Big Hero 6 where Hiro brings low battery Baymax home.
As soon as Nightscream christens him “Rusty”, the narrative humanises him by changing his pronouns from “it” to “he”. I felt it was important to show that Rusty is capable of learning. Finding a growing intelligence in a robot with underdeveloped logic circuits is a lot like finding a botanical garden in a disused lab; natural beauty and untouched evolution. This capacity for change is what causes Rusty to perform his final sacrifice. It ties in with Transtech’s underlaying theme of potential vs stagnancy as well.
Blackarachnia’s closing words were intended as a comfort to Nightscream, but in the end they kept the door open for Rusty’s return in “Aftershock, Part II”. I felt sorry for the poor sod.
“Ultra Gear!”, the only Transtech episode with its own exclamation mark! (Except, per typographical error, it has no closing quotation marks.) This episode was a conscious effort to emulate some low-stakes Beast Wars hijinks. The age regression episode is a well-worn cartoon plot, but I’m using it to have Cheetor reflect on how far he’s come since Beast Wars so ha. Transformers had recently (2015’s recent, right?) used it in “Adventures in Bumblebee-Sitting!”
Strika and Obsidian were originally scheduled to resurface in “The Eye of the Storm, Part I”, but the finale proved so packed that they saw better utilisation here. This also allowed them more time to integrate into the Autobots before taking command of their army.
The racing subplot was added in so that this episode - about Nightscream hiding a childish friend from the responsible adults - wasn’t just a carbon copy of “Rusty”. Six Lasers Over Cybertron was Cheetor’s theme park of choice in Beast Wars, and it later saw use in fiction as the thing that opened Orion Pax’s eyes up to racial injustice in the Aligned continuity. Yes, really.
I wanted the renegade Maximal racer to be a dark recolour of Cheetor, and it turns those are few and far between: the choice was between Ravage, Cataclysm, and Nightprowler. Nightprowler was supposed to be a Wal-Mart exclusive redeco of the original Beast Wars Cheetor in the 2003 Universe toyline, though this zine pretends that Transtech was his debut. Admittedly, this deep pull makes a difficult read if you get mixed up between the two starring characters whose names start with “Night-”.
Cheetor captures the crew single-handedly and impresses Strika and Obsidian - arguably because that’s how Optimus Prime would do it. The fun, lighthearted episode ends with Cheetor receiving a foreboding portent of the future. This drastic tonal shift at the end of an episode is directly because of the Doctor Who episode “Fear Her”.
Thanks again to Nat @Natphoenix25 Hammond for providing lineart from the cover for use as illustrations. Here’s the reference I provided to them for Cheetor, consisting of a headshot by me and Takara control art, both of which I colourised.
Episode 8: “Immortal Soul”
Written by: Marv Wolfman
Broadcast: 4/8/01
A dark and stormy night. A small cargo vessel heads towards Cybertropolis’ harbour, when a looming, monstrous creature attacks. The next day, a traumatised Maximal docker gives a news interview about being attacked by this huge, bipedal monster; they tried to fight back against it, but it seemed invulnerable.
Watching the news broadcast in the Citadel, Cheetor hands Silverbolt a file containing previous encounters with the alleged creature. While he hadn’t previously been taking the cryptid sightings seriously, now that it has hit the news, they need to be doing something about it. Silverbolt, claiming to be the most decorated Autobot officer, dedicates himself to closing the case.
In Tarn, the Decepticons also watch the broadcast. Megatron is fascinated by this supposedly immortal monster; if they can tame it, it might prove a significant asset in the coming battle against the Autobots.
Silverbolt takes a day at the docks, collecting information and witness statements, as well as examining the affected boats. He learns that the creature is large and amphibious, with talons or claws, and that it seems impervious to blaster fire and piercing weapons. In addition, he finds out that it only attacks ships containing food supplies, and only at night.
That night, Silverbolt hovers over the harbour, watching for incoming freight. A ship comes into view, and soon afterwards, it is set upon by something under the surface that looks like a torpedo. Silverbolt descends as the torpedo arcs out of the water and lands in robot mode on the boat. The monster terrorises the crew and frantically searches for cargo. Silverbolt confronts it, and recognises the face glaring down at him – Depth Charge!
Depth Charge refuses to be seen by his old ally, and while Silverbolt is stunned at his reappearance, he escapes back under the water.
The next day, in Blackarachnia’s lab, Botanica asks who Depth Charge is. Silverbolt explains that Depth Charge was once a Peace Marshal who went rogue after the people under his protection were slaughtered by Rampage, a Maximal experiment to create an immortal spark gone horribly right. The two became involved in the Beast Wars on prehistoric Earth, where they met their fate in an act of mutual execution. As Botanica notes that the creature seems to be acting more like Rampage than Depth Charge, Blackarachnia hands Silverbolt her newest device: an underwater propeller attachment for his vehicle mode.
On another night, Silverbolt surveils the harbour once more. Spotting a cargo vessel coming in to port, he lands on it, assuring its hooded occupant that this is a routine Autobot checkup. Sure enough, the boat is besieged once more. Silverbolt defends himself when Depth Charge violently lashes out at him, and when the fugitive escapes underwater, Silverbolt is ready, pursuing him with his new propeller unit.
The figure on the boat takes his hood down, revealing that Megatron, too, has found his target.
The chase takes Silverbolt into an abandoned warehouse, accessible only from underwater, where Depth Charge is cornered. Depth Charge tells him that the raw energon that killed him and Rampage instead fused them into an amalgamated being; Depth Charge is immortal, and Rampage’s dangerous, murderous tendencies are taking over his personality. So he hides, away from anyone he can hurt, and stealing food to make his prolonged existence less painful.
Silverbolt steps forward, gently telling Depth Charge that he should come home. Somehow, he says, they can fix him. Depth Charge rounds on him: “You think you can fix this?” A fight breaks out. Depth Charge claws animalistically, his baser urges rising to the surface. Silverbolt counters with his swords, determined not to hurt him.
They fight to a standstill. Depth Charge stands over Silverbolt, threatening to tear the exhausted Autobot to pieces with his teeth, but Silverbolt has an unlikely saviour: Megatron. Megatron tells Depth Charge that he’s building a safe haven for the outcasts and the freaks. No more hiding in the shadows, and no more expectations of conformity. In the heat of the moment, Depth Charge is convinced, and leaves with Megatron.
Later, in the medbay, a crestfallen Silverbolt tells Cheetor that he couldn’t save Depth Charge. Cheetor comforts him, telling him that he did his best, but that Depth Charge might be too far gone. Silverbolt insists that there’s no such thing, and that he’ll help him… some day.
Episode 9: “Smelling a Rat”
Written by: Bob Skir
Broadcast: 11/8/01
At the Foundry in Tarn, Shockwave unveils his latest weapon: a duplicate of Rattrap, developed after he became fascinated by the rat’s tenacity. Under Megatron’s orders, Starscream is to possess the avatar using his ghost powers to infiltrate the Citadel, gain intel on their defences, and sabotage what he can get away with. When Starscream questions if the real Rattrap will be there, Shockwave states he’s in semi-retirement and most likely on his plantation.
Starscream enters the Citadel in broad daylight, checking in through a security gate, and being greeted by the MaxCops as a regular. Once inside, he heads towards Blackarachnia’s lab. He questions her about any new artillery developments. Blackarachnia is a little suspicious about all the questions, but she invites him to the presentation she’s about to give to Cheetor and Optimus Prime.
Elsewhere, the real Rattrap and Botanica wrap up a day’s work on the farm. After Botanica absently says they need a vacation, Rattrap remembers his stash of holographic pleasure chips. Fixated on giving them at least a virtual reality holiday, Rattrap remembers that he left them in his office in the Citadel.
Blackarachnia gives a presentation to Cheetor, Optimus Prime, and Starscream, about the energy-efficient shield generator she’s worked up. With a few of them placed in Cybertropolis’ historic gatehouses, there should be enough reach to generate a forcefield bubble around the entire city. Starscream asks what would happen if only one generator were to go down, and Blackarachnia answers that it would take out the whole forcefield.
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Rattrap enters the reception. The MaxCops are confused by his seeming reappearance, but Rattrap has no idea what they’re talking about. When the system refuses to check him in, the guards draw their weapons on him, thinking he’s an impostor, and call Cheetor. Cheetor takes the call discreetly and, suspecting espionage, instructs Optimus, Blackarachnia and “Ratscream” to stay put.
Rattrap, surrounded by drawn blasters, gets increasingly agitated, and uses his Transcendence ability to become invisible. The MaxCops open fire, but Rattrap slips away through the checkpoint just as Cheetor enters the foyer.
Upstairs, Optimus hears the blaster fire and leaves to investigate, instructing Blackarachnia and Starscream to stay inside the conference room. Shortly, Cheetor puts a message through on the comms to watch out for anybody acting unlike how they usually do. Starscream asks what Cheetor said; it takes a second too long for Blackarachnia to realise he isn’t on the Autobot comm channel, as Starscream unleashes his spectral power and incapacitates her.
Deciding that escape is his best course of action, the fake Rattrap makes his way towards the exit, calling an elevator. He gets into the lift and the doors close behind him… and he is ambushed by the real Rattrap, who was invisibly lurking inside! Rattrap fights Rattrap in an all-out scrap as the lift descends, with neither one coming out on top.
The lift doors open. Both Rattraps pause mid-combat as Cheetor, Optimus Prime, and a squad of security guards hold them at gunpoint. The Rattraps are placed in a holding cell while the Autobots discuss what to do with them. Optimus, who has been in a similar situation before, suggests Cheetor asks them a series of questions.
Alone in the room with the suspects, Cheetor asks them a series of questions concerning Rattrap’s part in the Beast Wars and the Battle for the Sparks, receiving very similar answers from both. Cheetor grows increasingly frustrated.
Blackarachnia enters, having figured that Starscream must have got a full history of their adventures when he entered her mind. The key to finding the fake is to ask them about things that happened since. She asks one Rattrap why he came to the Citadel today, and he answers that he wanted to visit his pals and see what they were up to.
While that Rattrap sits forward smugly, the other answers “To get THIS!”, slamming a holo-chip into the back of the first one’s head. The affected Rattrap convulses uncontrollably, while the other explains that he’s just forcibly sent him on a trip through every vacation spot at once.
Starscream emerges from the spasming avatar, saying that while it was fun for a time, he can’t stand to be a rodent for any longer. Rattrap retrieves his holo-chip, while Blackarachnia jokes that only he could be so hedonistic as to put a holiday simulation before a visit to his friends.
Starscream goes back to the Foundry, telling Megatron and Shockwave that, while he got information on the Autobots’ new shield generators, he had to leave early because of the one thing Shockwave couldn’t predict about Rattrap: the personal element.
Arriving back on the farm, Rattrap tells Botanica he’s really ready for that virtual vacation, as he’s had one heck of a day. In the fields, the dummy Rattrap is strung up as a scarecrow.
“Immortal Soul” is where we really start leaning into Silverbolt as a superhero. His perpetrator, Depth Charge, is aquatic by nature, so I took the opportunity to set much of the episode in a harbour, hinting at an agricultural economy introduced following Beast Machines’ Great Reformatting.
As with “Ancient Relics, Part II”, there’s this conception here that once something is heavily publicised, it can’t be walked back. Cheetor’s government needs to be seen doing something about this alleged monster that stalks the docks. It’s all about keeping up appearances.
I’m less familiar with Depth Charge than I am most of the Beast Wars cast, owing to the bizarre original broadcast of Beast Wars in the UK: GMTV failed to air the show’s third season, with the next Transformers TV content being Beast Machines on what was then Fox Kids. My takeaway from the character was that he was something of a paladin, single-mindedly seeking out his own form of justice. This episode spins out from the idea of this paladin being forced to fuse with his heretical enemy, and the self-loathing that would ensue.
Silverbolt explains here that Depth Charge was a Peace Marshal. I believe this term originates from 3H’s Wreckers material rather than from the Beast Wars cartoon.
Silverbolt’s new underwater propeller, more commonly known by scuba tourists by names like “sea scooter”, is inspired by Crash Bandicoot’s submergibles. Perhaps, like Samurai Prowl, it could have seen a later toy release. The hooded Megatron, meanwhile, is inspired by this striking image from Beast Wars: Uprising.
Depth Charge’s “You think you can fix this?” line is supposed to convey his transformation into Rampage. Depth Charge considers himself beyond saving, but Rampage would consider his monstrousness a point of pride. It’s the Rampage side, I think, that Megatron appeals to. But as with everything Megatron says in Transtech, it’s words people want to hear rather than anything he holds to be true.
What’s struck me about writing the commentary for this is how dark these episodes are. “Disassembled” is a fun Batman-style romp that ends with Cheetor rethinking everything about himself. It’s immediately followed by “Dark Web”, in which Starscream drives Blackarachnia off the deep end with paranoia; “Field Test”, in which the Autobot struggle to take down just one of their opponents; “Buried”, in which, again, Cheetor finds himself lacking in leadership; “Pushed to the Edge”, in which Rattrap is really put through the wringer; and now “Immortal Soul”, where an old ally has found himself turned into a monster and shuns his nearest companions. Out of all of those, it’s only “Pushed to the Edge” that has something close to an unambiguously happy ending. Thank goodness we have “Smelling a Rat” here to give us some levity.
When I was divvying up character focus between all thirteen episodes, episode 9 got both “Starscream episode” and “Rattrap episode”. I wanted to explore what else Starscream’s ghost powers could do, so came up with the idea of this espionage dummy, explained away as being one of Shockwave’s retaliatory weapons. I amused myself at the idea of Doug Parker as Starscream as Rattrap.
From there it was just running through the motions of a standard evil double episode: the original stumbles into the plan, two identical people fight, and the heroes try to determine which one is real. In a twist on the usual setup, it’s not that Rattrap does something heroic that the villainous Starscream wouldn’t comprehend that gives him away, but it’s that Rattrap does something hedonistic and in character. It’s good that Beast Wars set up one of its heroic characters with so many vices.
The shield generator is a backported plot development from the finale that I needed to establish earlier on. It wouldn’t have made sense to me for the Decepticons to already know how the bubble works in “The Eye of the Storm, Part I”. Trying to find the word “gatehouse” led me to Wikipedia’s page on gatehouses, which coincidentally features a picture of Micklegate Bar in York, a place I’d visited while I was writing.
The holo-chips are from “Sparkwar Pt. II: The Search”. The similar situation Optimus once found himself in is “A Prime Problem”. The “Ratscream” name came from a dream I had. Getting ambushed by an invisible assailant in a lift is pure Metal Gear Solid. The dummy strung up in the fields refers to Thanos’ armour scarecrow from “Infinity Gauntlet”.
I like that Starscream just gives up and leaves. Bye Felicia.
I didn’t envy Umar @speedfreak01 Ali’s task in designing Rattrap. Out of all the art I commissioned for this zine, Rattrap was the only character to have literally no visual representation in the original concept art. I asked Umar for a Rattrap that hearkens back to his Beast Machines look, but otherwise patterned after War for Cybertron Bumblebee; additionally, it was important (and plot-relevant) that he had a “nasty techno-rat mouth” on his chest. Rattrap retains his wheel legs, as while I’m not sure he counts as good representation, he certainly has applicability to wheelchair users.
Umar succeeded in producing a great character design with just the right amount of :3smile gremlin energy as anticipated. He also gets props for taking after Beast Machines’ aesthetic of tube necks and bulbous inner body parts. Here’s an additional sneak peek at the moment we both realised that I’d forgotten to mention the zine was going to be black and white.
The Rattrap character profile I drew on page 06 is based on Umar’s design here. Additionally, this art was meant to pair with “Pushed to the Edge” before finding its home here.
Episode 6: “Buried”
Written by: David Wise
Broadcast: 21/7/01
Rattrap calls a briefing. He tells Cheetor and Optimus Prime that, when he and Nightscream blocked the Immorticon’s signal back to Shockwave, they discovered the location of the Decepticon headquarters: an old factory in the polity of Tarn.
The name means something to Optimus Prime: it is Megatron’s place of origin, so the Decepticons have the home advantage if the Autobots take the fight to them. Cheetor thanks Rattrap and dismisses him, then talks with Optimus about their next plan of action. Sensing that Cheetor is still mad at him, Optimus suggests they take a walk. Cheetor leaves Silverbolt in charge, joking that if one of them comes back alone, it’s because they’ve killed the other in frustration.
Optimus’s expedition takes them under Cybertropolis, into the ruins of Iacon. Cheetor gently quizzes him on what lesson Optimus is trying to teach, but Optimus ignores his questions. As they walk, they are observed: Scavenger is in the area, scrounging around for materials. Seeing the Autobots, he follows them, flanked by two Immorticons…
On the surface, Silverbolt has decided that the team need to be in peak physical condition, having the Autobots do a mandatory exercise regimen, much to their irritation.
Optimus Prime takes Cheetor to a memorial building, telling him that it holds great importance to what he wants to impart to him. Cheetor steps into the shrine, finding a giant silver statue of Optimus as he appeared during the Great War. Before Optimus has a chance to elaborate, they are set upon by Scavenger and the Immorticons. In the ensuing battle, the Decepticon forces manage to unsettle the architecture and there’s a cave-in; Cheetor and Scavenger are trapped together inside the memorial, while Optimus is outside with the Immorticons!
Optimus evades their blasts with expert timing, causing the two Immorticons to fire on each other. He turns his attention to the memorial, but the rubble covering the building is too heavy for even his strength. He tries to shout through to Cheetor that he’ll come back for him before heading back to the surface.
Inside the memorial, Scavenger is still fighting Cheetor, who is avoiding his attacks. Scavenger goes to topple the statue, but Cheetor quickly stops him, impaling him on a pipe. Cheetor tells him to stop attacking, for both their sakes, as the structure may not take much more punishment. With the two forced to endure each other’s company, Scavenger takes the time to tell Cheetor every way he’s failed the Cybertronian people.
Optimus arrives on the surface to get the Autobots’ help. Comedically, Silverbolt initially thinks that Optimus got so annoyed with Cheetor that he murdered him, but he is soon set straight and the team begin their rescue mission.
Underground, their conversation runs the gamut of Scavenger’s complaints. He tells Cheetor that he’s a young upstart who only came to run the planet because he happened to be the one that saved it, and in establishing his new government, he doesn’t consider the needs of everyone, just the needs of the higher ups. Cheetor insists that he’s trying, and while he agrees that the responsibility of a whole planet isn’t something that should have, he’s better than Megatron. As Scavenger talks about how Megatron is the working-class revolution Cybertron needs, Cheetor realises that everything Scavenger knows about Megatron is a lie. There’s no telling the Constructicon that, though, as Scavenger lionises and defends the Decepticon leader, refusing to listen to reason.
The Autobots arrive on the scene and start shifting debris. Inside, Scavenger realises that the statue is important to Cheetor, so he struggles to his feet to try and destroy it. Cheetor counters him, but as the two begin to clash, the Autobots shift some rubble. Rescue is nearly at hand, but to get out, Cheetor and Scavenger have to work together to lever some of the wreckage.
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The two begrudgingly co-ordinate, and after some struggle, the entrance is cleared. Scavenger makes his escape, but when the Autobots go to stop him, Cheetor orders them to let him go. When Optimus questions why, Cheetor says that in the grand scheme of things, Scavenger is just a regular citizen who was duped by Megatron’s rhetoric; locking him up isn’t going to bring him around to the Autobots’ side.
Optimus Prime steps into the memorial and finally imparts the lesson: he destroys the statue. He tells Cheetor he’s no hero or idol, and it’s not your past that should determine your impact on the world, but the choices you make. Cheetor agrees, and the two shake on it.
Episode 7: “Pushed to the Edge”
Written by: Christy Marx
Broadcast: 28/7/01
Rattrap and Botanica tend to their crops out on the plantation. Rattrap complains about the relative lack of action in his life, but Botanica playfully ribs him, knowing he’s secretly enjoying his semi-retirement.
A Decepticon dropship passes overhead, so the two Autobots take up arms. Shockwave, on the dropship, is only interested in testing out an experimental chemical bomb, which he detonates in the field before withdrawing.
The chemical agent begins to infect and decay the plant life. Botanica acts quickly to contain the affected area with her vines, while Rattrap, in vehicle mode, flattens the crops in a circle around the outbreak. Their quick action saves the rest of the field, but the two of them fall ill.
Rattrap and Blackarachnia are put under quarantine. A Maximal doctor tells Cheetor and Silverbolt that the virus is slowly shutting down their technorganic systems; he compares them to a sample of the crops he’s been testing, saying that if a cure isn’t found, they too will wither and die. Cheetor tasks the medical team with synthesising a cure, but that will prove difficult without even knowing the cause.
In the quarantined part of the farmhouse, Rattrap paces the floor, wondering what the doctor is saying about them. Botanica is in a direr state due to being at the epicentre of the outbreak, but her connection to the organic core is granting her insight about their condition. Weakly, she tells Rattrap that she senses the agent was created from a unique species of orchid that grows only at one location on Cybertron – a floral terrain she can feel crying out in anguish.
Rattrap tries to talk to the doctors, but they insist he calms down and gets some bedrest. Desperate, and with his time running out, he sneaks out of the farmhouse while the medical team are distracted. He makes his way through overgrown fauna while his body starts failing.
At the farmhouse, the doctors notice his absence when Botanica convulses. Silverbolt is dispatched to try and locate him on the plantation, as he can’t have gotten far.
Elsewhere, Rattrap emerges from the underbrush at the foot of a plateau: this is his final obstacle. The climb is gruelling for the wheeled Autobot, especially with the threat of his body seizing up. But Rattrap pushes himself onwards. His grip slips, and his climb is nearly over too quickly – but Silverbolt catches him and lifts him to safety.
Silverbolt demands to know what Rattrap is doing. The panicking rat tells him that there’s not enough time to explain, and that he’s already lost Dinobot, Rhinox, and Optimus Primal; he isn’t losing anyone ever again. Rattrap implores Silverbolt to consider what he would do if Blackarachnia were in Botanica’s position, and Silverbolt is swayed.
The two peek over the precipice of the plateau, and find that the area is now home to a Decepticon field laboratory! Though a temporary structure, the area is fortified by a squadron of Immorticons. Rattrap spots Shockwave’s dropship at the centre of the site; he’s convinced that once they have a plan of attack to get inside, he can handle the rest himself.
After a tense situation in which the two nearly alert the Immorticon guards, Rattrap infiltrates the facility via the vents. Further sneaking, using his espionage skills and Transcendence ability to turn invisible, leads him to Shockwave’s personal lab, where the Decepticon is developing a newer version of the virus.
Rattrap sneaks up on Shockwave and uses his vehicle mode rat head to bite him. Shockwave is blindsided, and turns on the Autobot intruder, but Rattrap is ready with his blasters. Rattrap goads Shockwave into giving him the cure; Shockwave asks how Rattrap intends guarantee his co-operation, so the rat reveals that through his bite, Shockwave is infected too!
The two have a skirmish, with a disoriented Shockwave trying to unlock the antidote from storage while trying to rid himself of his enemy. Rattrap fights on with desperation and dirty tactics as his body fails him. As he struggles to overcome Shockwave, he realises that his body’s unpredictability is confusing the Decepticon’s logic circuits. Like a drunken boxer, Rattrap gets the upper hand and snatches the cure out of Shockwave’s reach.
Rattrap calls in for air support; Silverbolt, in steel skin mode, drops in through the roof and airlifts him to safety. Shockwave, left without the counter-agent, has to put all of his concentration on synthesising a new one, meaning he cannot supervise the Immorticons into pursuit.
Rattrap returns to the farmstead with the elixir. The medical team replicates the formula before Rattrap re-enters quarantine to administer it to Botanica. Rattrap mutters oaths under his breath. The cure doesn’t seem to be working. His balance gives way, and he collapses.
…but it’s Botanica who helps him up, giving him the antidote in turn. She thanks Rattrap, but he brushes her off, saying she’d do the same for him. He drops his emotional armour, telling her that with her and the farm, he’s finally at a point in his life where he’s happy, and he’d do anything to preserve that. The two lovers embrace.
Elsewhere, Megatron communicates with Shockwave, and, catching him injecting himself with the cure to his own virus, declares this latest experiment a failure. The Decepticon leader orders Shockwave to pack up the field lab and come up with another way to rid them of the technorganics. Shockwave tells him that he always has another plan…
And so we come to “Buried”, where Optimus wants the past to die, even if he has to kill it. This episode was conceived as “Cheetor and Scavenger get trapped in a cave”. It’s a classic storytelling device for two characters to get thrown into a room, gain a new understanding of each other, and are forced to work together in order to escape. This trope is 100% responsible for the Netflix version of She-Ra.
The rest of the episode formed around this core idea, with elements integrated to serve the ongoing story. For instance, “Rusty” needed there to be a defunct Immorticon at the centre of the action, but no further episodes were planned to have any sort of invasion of them, so they were dropped in here. Character wise, this is the episode where Optimus humbles himself into Cheetor’s command. In the narrative, this is treated as him disavowing his reputation, but to us, the outside reader, he does it in the most absolutely extra way by destroying a statue Cheetor had just fought to protect. It’s a good job that Cheetor had just received newfound clarity on his place in the universe, otherwise he might have been a bit ticked off.
Just a few smatterings of a Silverbolt-led comedic B-plot here. An attempt was made.
I find Scavenger an interesting villain because he can’t be fought. He’s followed along with Megatron’s rhetoric out of disenchantment with how things are going. Cheetor is desperate for approval from all the people all of the time; he’s not going to combat one of his own citizens.
The scene at the episode’s end, where the reinvented Optimus Prime destroys a statue of the G1 version, is written to be something forum bros would be up in arms about.
Art for this story is provided by Ben @waspshot23 Watson (although the picture was initially intended to go with “Disassembled”). I chose Ben to draw Scavenger because I knew his blend of Energon-style toyeticity along with G2 and Dreamwave art sensibilities would create an eye-catching and and characteristically hefty version of the Constructicon villain. Outside of the head (which, as noted, is from Fun Pub’s TransTech Scavenger), Ben was given free rein on the design. Here are some of his concept sketches:
Ben went on to colour his art of Scavenger on his own time.
“Pushed to the Edge” was one of the episodes that existed most vividly inside my head (alongside “Dark Web”). Rattrap is definitively put through the wringer to protect his new life. He’s a semi-retired hero forced back into one last job in the vein of an action film. I don’t have much to say about this one. I feel like it’s strong enough to work on its own.
The plant in question is an orchid as it evokes Botanica’s alternate mode. Early ideas for the Maximal doctor included him being a fan-favourite background character granted a toy years later by the Collectors Club. He might turn into a technorganic duck. The Decepticon field lab, in my head, looks like the SHIELD outpost in Thor.
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Episode 4: “Dark Web”
Written by: Ian Weir
Broadcast: 7/7/01
Blackarachnia patrols the city at night when the Autobots get notified of a silent alarm being set off. Blackarachnia, nearest to the crime scene, swings in alone, and discovers Megatron and a team of Decepticon volunteers stealing supplies from a refinery. She stalks through the shadows and the machinery, observing the Decepticons’ actions and waiting for backup.
Suddenly, Blackarachnia is attacked. She whips around to face her opponent, finding herself up against a shadowy doppelganger of herself. She’s unable to put up a good fight, as her double hits stronger and reacts faster than she does. Blackarachnia is flung into a silo, which collapses into rubble on top of her. Debris above her shifts and moves, as if her double is coming back to finish the job… But when she is freed, ready to retaliate, she finds Silverbolt. She passes out.
While unconscious, Blackarachnia dreams of her doppelganger stalking through a twisted world of spiderwebs. In this vision, it uses Blackarachnia’s telekinetic powers and deadly weapons to eliminate her friends one by one; then it comes across Silverbolt…
Blackarachnia wakes up in the medbay, with Silverbolt at her bedside. He gently explains to her that the Decepticons got away, and while he did find signs of a scuffle, he never saw the thing that attacked her. She discharges herself from the medbay, refusing to rest until she has come up with a strategy to defeat the monster and protect her friends.
Blackarachnia locks herself in her lab and refuses to see anyone – not even Silverbolt. Her inner voice keeps telling her that neither she nor her friends will be safe until she has created a weapon powerful enough to destroy the shadow creature. Over the next few days, Blackarachnia creates a series of guns. Every time she falls asleep, she tests her latest weapon in her dream; it is never enough to defeat her double, spurring her on to make deadlier and more dangerous weapons when she wakes up again.
Silverbolt knocks on her lab door to show her something, but Blackarachnia pushes him away. She has finally completed her most powerful design: the Vamparc Ribbon, a weapon that leeches spark energy from its target as a power source for a violent energy blast.
The shadow manifests again, and her fight with it takes her out of her lab and into the Citadel. Here she finds that similar doppelgangers lurk around every corner, trying to contain her. Feeling under attack, Blackarachnia makes her way through the building, firing off pot shots at each assailant.
Overwhelmed by the shadows’ numbers, Blackarachnia dives into a surveillance room, where she finds the tallest doppelganger yet. Though she threatens and attacks the creature, it keeps evading her attacks. With no interest in fighting her, the thing slams a button down on the surveillance console, revealing to Blackarachnia that since leaving the lab, she’s been fighting Autobots and Maximals – and security camera footage from the refinery shows that there was no assailant that night. With new clarity, Blackarachnia turns to see that her latest opponent was Silverbolt himself. The two embrace, with both worried about what’s happening to her…
From Blackarachnia’s voicebox, Starscream vaingloriously explains that he has been haunting her from inside her mind as part of a revenge plot to destroy everything she loves for her part in ousting him from the Beast Wars. He throws her around using her own telekinetic power.
Blackarachnia gives Silverbolt the Vamparc Ribbon, urging him to shoot her with it. Starscream guides the two of them into a dramatic standoff where he threatens to force Blackarachnia to shoot herself in the head. Silverbolt is first on the trigger. The Vamparc Ribbon drains energy from Starscream’s spark. The Decepticon is shocked; this is the first thing in millions of years to have hurt him. He is forced to retreat.
Blackarachnia is back in the medbay, recovering from the physical trauma. She tells Silverbolt that in future she’ll listen to him when he tries to help. But she rests uneasy, knowing that Starscream could strike again at any time.
Meanwhile, Starscream returns to the Decepticons, presenting Megatron and Shockwave with the blueprints for Blackarachnia’s new weapons.
Episode 5: “Field Test”
Written by: Len Wein
Broadcast: 14/7/01
While planning their next move in combating the Decepticons, Autobot High Command receives a transmission from Shockwave. Shockwave, apparently
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wearied by having to fraternise with the unintelligent Scavenger, offers him as a prisoner to the Autobots, giving them co-ordinates to where they can pick him up.
Optimus Prime immediately suspects a trap. Cheetor agrees, but with no leads as to where the Decepticons are hiding, he suggests that triggering the trap is the best way of tailing them back to their base. In the meantime, he tasks Rattrap and Nightscream with triangulating the origin of Shockwave’s transmission.
Cheetor leads a strike team of Optimus, Blackarachnia, Silverbolt, Botanica, and two Maximal Security Force officers (MaxCops) to the rendezvous point, which turns out to be Kalis, a ghost town now overgrown with technorganic plants. Blackarachnia explains that during the Great War, Kalis was a minor township that was used by the Decepticon Science Division as testing grounds for experimental weapons, before the area had to be abandoned for safety reasons. Optimus Prime obliquely hints that there is more to the story than Blackarachnia knows.
The team comes across a containment cell in the town square. As they cautiously approach it, suspecting a trap, the container collapses open, revealing not Scavenger, but a bulky, armoured, heavily armed robot. A viewport lights up on the interior of the cell, from which Shockwave introduces the robot as an Immorticon, first of a new race of sparkless Decepticon soldiers.
The Immorticon steps forward and executes the two MaxCops, causing the rest of the Autobots to duck for cover. While it advances, a strange wave of energy pulses from underground, washing over the team, but seeming to have no effect. Silverbolt squares up against the Immorticon, but as he readies himself for his steel skin ability, he instead receives a precognitive vision of being flung aside by its fist – a vision that comes true in short order. As Cheetor tries to receive his own flash of foresight, he is enveloped in vines, and he realises that the energy wave has swapped their Transcendence powers around!
While the Autobot team scrambles to evade their new foe, back in Cybertropolis, Rattrap and Nightscream have made no progress discovering the Decepticon hideout. Instead, they’ve discovered a series of unusual transmissions being sent and received from Kalis. To investigate further, they head towards the town on a shuttle.
Optimus Prime has paired up with Blackarachnia, and they talk each other through their swapped powers. While Optimus quickly masters her telekinesis to attack the Immorticon, Blackarachnia struggles to activate his energy weapons. Optimus tells her that Kalis was really abandoned because it was being used as a burial site for disused doomsday weapons; he suspects a still-active device underground is responsible for their power swap. The Immorticon fires a charged shot at them with its powerful beam distributor ray – and in the nick of time, Blackarachnia uses Optimus’ ability to fashion an energy shield, protecting them, but levelling the building around them.
The Immorticon breaks out of the rubble and falters briefly, before transforming into vehicle mode and setting off after Cheetor, Silverbolt, and Botanica. Blackarachnia reasons that the Immorticon has only rudimentary intelligence, and that it is being shepherded by Shockwave. Cheetor, who has been listening in via the comms, tasks Optimus Prime and Blackarachnia with going underground and locating the power exchanger. Meanwhile, Cheetor and the team are going to try and survive long enough to understand the Immorticon’s full capabilities.
As the Immorticon trundles towards them in tank mode, Botanica acts as bait, reflecting its bullets and beams. Cheetor attempts to ensnare the Immorticon’s treads with vines while Silverbolt gets in some hits; the flyer manages to sever its ray gun, but he is distracted by an unexpected premonition, and the Immorticon blasts them with its pulse cannons. Underground, Optimus Prime and Blackarachnia explore the disused weapons storage facility. While she advises the Autobots on how best to counter her own weapon designs, Optimus surreptitiously plants detonation charges around the area.
Rattrap and Nightscream arrive on their shuttle. Rattrap discovers the coded transmission through which Shockwave controls the Immorticon; Nightscream emits a sonic scream on the same frequency and Shockwave is immobilised. The team watches in suspense as the Immorticon freezes… and reboots on its most basic programming: find and destroy Optimus Prime!
As the automaton pursues them, Blackarachnia asks Optimus how to identify the ability exchanger. Optimus admits that the only thing he knows is that the entire cache of weapons is too dangerous to fall into Decepticon hands; maybe in destroying all of it, he’ll find the right device. Blackarachnia is shocked by his self-sacrifice, but Optimus insists that, with the Immorticon following him, his being at the centre of the explosion is the only way to take it down.
Blackarachnia returns to the surface and the Autobots flee in Rattrap and Nightscream’s ship to a safe distance. Inside the facility, Optimus Prime has a showdown with the Immorticon, giving it a dramatic speech about the choices one can make to change the path of one’s life… but the Immorticon is sparkless, and doesn’t comprehend what he is saying, so Optimus pulls the trigger.
The demolition charges are detonated, and explosions spread throughout Kalis. The Autobots wait with bated breath as the city is levelled by the collapse of its foundations… But an orange bubble of energy emerges through the debris. Optimus Prime has survived thanks to the shield technique he learned from Blackarachnia, and his use of his own power signals to the team that their abilities have been restored. The Immorticon’s armour is melted and its circuits fried; they’ve won.
Cheetor has Optimus airlifted to safety, but is irritated at him for planning such a suicidal mission. Optimus insists that it was the only way to stop the Immorticon. Cheetor is troubled; this was only one Immorticon, and they don’t know if it was operating to the fullest of its abilities. It killed two Maximals and was only stopped with an unrepeatable explosion – what will it take to stop an army of them?
My primary inspiration for “Dark Web” is apparently so obscure that instead of being able to link to it, I’m going to have to take a moment to explain it. When I was growing up, I owned The Official Spider-Man Annual 1997, a 1996 UK publication featuring a handful of comic stories. One of these comics was called “The Spider-Shadow!”; during a fight with Mysterio, Spider-Man gets his head trapped in a fishbowl helmet, which he instantly shatters. From that point onward, Spider-Man is hounded by a monstrous doppelgänger of himself which knows all his weaknesses and nearly defeats him. It’s only through context clues - such as passerby J Jonah Jameson lambasting his “solo acrobatics act” - that he realises that the Spider-Shadow was never there, and that the supposedly-shattered fishbowl helmet is still on his head, casting the monster as an illusion. Spidey captures Mysterio and goes home to MJ’s spaghetti carbonara.
UPDATE: I found the annual in question, and you can read the comic here.
This came to mind when plotting out the Blackarachnia/Starscream rematch. What could Starscream do with his ghostly powers to enact his revenge? Blackarachnia has gone through a lot in the long, long time since “Possession”, having swapped faction, embraced her feelings for Silverbolt, and adopted her found family. Starscream’s plan hinges on driving her paranoia to such a point that she could harm her own friends. In earlier drafts, the double appeared in reflections as Blackarachnia’s Beast Wars bodies.
In establishing a villain that can get inside your head as an unstoppable ghost, you also need to come up with a way to stop him from doing the same thing every episode, hence the introduction of the Vamparc Ribbon. The Vamparc Ribbon is a weapon introduced in IDW’s “Autocracy” series, though in one of this zine’s little kisses with history, I pretend like it was introduced during Transtech. Since it draws its power from spark energy, it’s not an ethical weapon to have; consequently, Blackarachnia only goes to use it when the threat is that high.
The implication of the end is that, as part of the army-building throughline in these early episodes, the weapons Blackarachnia developed are for use by the Immorticons, and that stealing the blueprints was Starscream’s secondary objective.
The Blackarachnia art here is by the excellent Erica @transgirlsoundwave Walsh. As mentioned before, I don’t rate Blackarachnia’s concept art designs very highly, so outside of a checklist of things, Erica was free to make her own design. I asked Erica to create a Blackarachnia that hearkened back to her Beast Wars appearance; I provided the design for her head, and asked that Erica include a spider abdomen that becomes a helicopter cockpit for a vehicular mode, and twin helicopter rotors that form the spider legs. While sketching out her ideas, Erica went the extra mile and came up with a transformation scheme as well:
As popular fiction will tell you, a faceless army of identical soldiers will always lose out to a small band of heroes. With all-out warfare on the cards for episodes 12 and 13, there needed to be an earlier story establishing the level of threat an Immorticon poses, before swathes of them are cut through in the finale. So this episode is my “Dalek”.
A lot of this episode is the “show, don’t tell” counterpart of the Immorticons’ earlier character bio. You could tell the audience it has deadly weapons, but instead you could kill off two MaxCops. You can tell the audience it has rudimentary intelligence, or you could demonstrate what happens when it loses its control signal. You could say it’s tough, or you could only have it be defeated by levelling an entire town on it. The Immorticon’s most basic programming is deliberate setup for “Rusty”, where I downplay what I think is an amazing pun in calling it the Prime Directive.
It helps the Immorticon’s reputation that the Autobots are on the back foot, having had their powers exchanged. This couldn’t be a power innate to Immorticons, because then they could use it every week, so there had to be an outside reason for it to happen. This dovetailed into my search for a condemned part of Cybertron to use as a battleground, so I chose Kalis. In the Marvel UK comics, Kalis was home to the secret base of mad scientist Flame, who used an army of zombies to deter intruders from uncovering his plans to turn Cybertron into a mobile battle station. The guy invented zombies, and that wasn’t even his primary objective. So Flame’s two-pronged attack is extrapolated into the backstory of the Decepticon Science Division and its many doomsday weapons. As with “Ancient Relics”, there’s lore implications here.
Silverbolt misusing Cheetor’s power is supposed to be a great comedy moment. Optimus giving the Immorticon a characteristic speech is an odd comedic beat, but I think I was intending to show that he considers levelling the city to be a last resort.
Optimus again acts as if he’s the main hero; the Immorticons’ Prime Directive reflects that the Decepticons consider him that as well. Though he’s on better terms with Cheetor at this point, he still seems to be ready to sacrifice himself as if every battle is the final one. It’s a good job for him that Blackarachnia is slightly more imaginative with his Green Lantern powers.
Episode 2: “Ancient Relics, Part II”
Written by: Bob Forward
Broadcast: 23/6/01
Shockwave tells Megatron that they’ve been in stasis for eons. Surely then, Megatron reasons, the young Transformers before him are loyal Decepticon soldiers, having freed him to rule over their captive Cybertron. Cheetor defies the tyrant, telling him that they’re the first of a new breed of Autobots, and that they’ll crush dictatorship wherever it rears up. Megatron does not take this well.
Worn out from their previous battle and with the dome crumbling around them, the Autobots have no choice but to make a retreat from Megatron’s all-out assault. Cheetor gives the order to put up as many barricades from fallen wreckage as they can to prevent the Decepticons’ escape, but Megatron ploughs right through.
Megatron and Shockwave stand triumphant over the weary heroes. All hope seems lost until another Transformer bursts out of the Millennia Dome, and flawlessly disarms the three Decepticons. The newcomer gives a speech that wherever Megatron tries to dominate, he’ll be there to stop him. Megatron, egged on, heads to the surface with Shockwave.
The Autobots look to their saviour, who introduces himself: “My name is Optimus Prime.” Optimus tells them that all the bad things that they’ve heard about Megatron are true; Cheetor tells him the currently volatile situation on Cybertron. As they make the slow walk back to the surface, allowing the Autobots to heal, Optimus tells them about Transcendence: in the latter stages of the war, Optimus and some of his troops were granted a spark boost by the Oracle, and they began to manifest special abilities. Optimus senses that these new Autobots each have a similar power hidden inside.
Just as Rattrap makes a crack about Megatron – “What’s the worst he could do?” – the team reach the surface to find that the protestors are now embroiled in a full-blown riot. Megatron broadcasts zealous, revolutionary speeches from every screen in the city. Now, the Decepticons are no longer the biggest threat: it’s Cybertropolis’ own citizens.
Cheetor gives the order for the team to split. Botanica and Rattrap are to head to the nearest radio tower, to locate the origin of Megatron’s transmission. Nightscream, Silverbolt, and Blackarachnia are to spread out and try to prevent the rioters from causing any damage to public property or innocent bystanders. Optimus and Cheetor head to the Citadel’s amphitheatre to try and stop the fighting.
Rattrap and Botanica go to the radio tower, fleeing from rioters. Rattrap discovers he has the power of invisibility; he feints down an alleyway so the protestors are caught by surprise by Botanica’s vines. The two of them enter the facility and start triangulating the broadcast. Elsewhere, a cornered Silverbolt discovers his special ability to coat himself in a blaster-resistant alloy; his attackers’ weapons are taken away by Blackarachnia’s new telekinesis. Nightscream finds he can briefly absorb and copy his allies’ powers.
At the amphitheatre, Cheetor tries to make the protestors listen to reason, but they completely ignore him. He’s disheartened by his lack of authoritativeness as a leader. Rattrap calls in that they’ve found the signal’s origin: at the top of the Citadel building. Optimus Prime’s solution to getting Cheetor up there quickly is to take a huge vertical leap and then throw Cheetor the rest of the distance.
On the roof, Cheetor finds that the messages are pre-recorded, and that the Decepticons have already escaped. With his friends being closed in on by the angry masses, Cheetor is left with only one option: use
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Shockwave’s recording equipment to broadcast a speech across the entire city. Now, with everything resting on him, Cheetor doesn’t know what to say to fix everything.
Optimus Prime arrives on the roof. He tells Cheetor that he needs to fake confidence in himself if he wants others to listen to him. He says that Cheetor should phrase what he wants to say in a way that the people want to hear; no shallow platitudes, but matters of substance. Above all else, he should denounce Megatron and everything he stands for.
Cheetor gives the speech, assuaging the doubts of any of the protestors that, while it’s early days for their new administration, everyone will be seen to and everything will be put in its place. And if you don’t believe that, he says, here’s Optimus Prime! The throng rejoice at the return of the ancient hero, but Optimus privately criticises Cheetor for exploiting his reputation.
The Autobots put together a complaints system whereby every voice is heard and put into a list of priority by committee, and the former protestors are placated. Cheetor confesses to his friends that his idea of being independent was getting him nowhere, accepting that it’s not a weakness to ask for help. Elsewhere, Megatron has plans of his own for Cybertropolis…
Episode 3: “Disassembled”
Written by: Marv Wolfman
Broadcast: 30/6/01
In a shadowy abandoned factory, Scavenger meets up with Decepticon High Command, pledging loyalty to Megatron. Shockwave counsels Megatron that with such low intelligence, Scavenger may not be a valuable asset. The Decepticon leader tasks Scavenger to prove his worth by causing the Autobots chaos and destruction.
Cheetor gives a speech at a construction site, promising an ongoing redevelopment project to adapt Cybertropolis’ buildings into sustainable architecture in line with the planet’s technorganicism; the jewel in the crown of this project is a new quadrupedal walker crane. Mid-speech, he gets a flash of foresight that something is going to fall. Covering for him, Optimus Prime has the crowd move along as if to look at another part of the area; just as the throng is out of the way, a spire falls from the construction site.
Optimus Prime insists on treating things like a police investigation, getting Blackarachnia to examine the crime scene and Silverbolt to question the Constructicons. Blackarachnia discovers that the spire wasn’t broken; rather, it was methodically disassembled to fall deliberately. None of the Constructicons noticed anything out of the ordinary.
By contrast, Cheetor would rather Optimus Prime step back and allow him to lead the investigation through his prophetic visions, but Optimus brushes him off. Cheetor fumes, and with his Autobots following Optimus’ orders, he decides to take matters into his own hands. After some strain, Cheetor gets a vision, and follows it to an innocuous office building.
Staking out the scene, Cheetor clocks Scavenger entering the building. Soon, the structure starts to disassemble, so Cheetor calls in for backup. The Autobots arrive to evacuate the building’s occupants. Blackarachnia uses her telekinesis to slow the collapse, while Cheetor uses his speed to ferry people to safety; Nightscream and Silverbolt fly civilians out from the higher floors, with Nightscream using echolocation to find them. Silverbolt cradles the last evacuee, using his steel skin to emerge from the wreckage unharmed.
Cheetor sees Scavenger escaping and chases him into the automated sewer system. During their confrontation, Cheetor questions his perp; Scavenger introduces himself, and tells Cheetor that the mayhem he’s causing is going to reach new heights. With a flip of a switch, Scavenger alters the layout of the sewer’s passageways, blocking Cheetor from following him.
In the citadel, Optimus Prime briefs Cheetor. Optimus’ investigation has uncovered that Scavenger is a prolific Constructicon who recently went AWOL. Both sites he attacked were buildings that Scavenger had worked on, so Optimus reasons that the next place he’ll strike will be too – but with such a long list of potential targets, it will be difficult to predict where.
As Optimus begins to outline their plan of action, Cheetor puts his foot down. Optimus has been taking too many liberties by commanding Cheetor’s unit, when his position should be advisory. Optimus abides, and asks Cheetor his opinion. From speaking to Scavenger, Cheetor knows that he’s no master planner; this is a chaotic enemy they can’t predict with logic. Cheetor has an epiphany when looking out of the window and seeing the walker crane – Scavenger’s comment about new heights was unimaginatively literal!
By the time the Autobots arrive on the scene, Scavenger has already taken control of the crane, using its wrecking ball to cause havoc. The team attempts to control the damage, but they struggle to get close to the crane. Cheetor asks Optimus Prime for advice; he recommends Cheetor use the crane’s cable against it. The two of them manage to swing the wrecking ball around the crane’s legs, disabling it.
Scavenger takes off and Cheetor chases him. Cheetor demands to know why Scavenger is doing this. The Constructicon admits he’s just a regular guy disenfranchised by Cheetor’s leadership; it’s the Autobots’ fault that there’s unrest in Cybertropolis, and even Cheetor’s new reforms are too little too late. Cheetor is devastated.
Scavenger throws a demolition charge to distract Cheetor while he escapes; Cheetor uses his speed and momentum to propel the explosive into the sky, where it detonates harmlessly. Optimus Prime comforts Cheetor, saying sometimes not all citizens are going to agree with the ruling party, but it’s important to keep trying to create an equitable world for everyone. “What next?” asks Cheetor. Optimus replies, “We clean up.”
At the Decepticon hideout, Megatron – who has been observing everything thanks to Shockwave’s camera hacking – compliments Scavenger. But it’s not his wanton destruction of property that has caught Megatron’s favour; it is Scavenger’s emotional crippling of Cheetor. As Megatron welcomes Scavenger into the fold, the factory’s production lines roar into life…
I wanted to draw a parallel between Cheetor and Optimus in their heroism; both are accomplished commanders, and both can do recklessly heroic acts. But Optimus is more authoritative; he gets Megatron’s respect and the respect of the people of Cybertropolis as a living legend, while Cheetor remains unproven in the public eye.
“[Optimus] flawlessly disarms the three Decepticons.” That’s the only reference to Starscream in this episode. I wanted him to be out of focus until his return in the later episode “Dark Web”. I probably could have done with making his defeat in the previous episode seeming a bit more decisive, then removing the reference to him here.
‘Big head on every TV screen in the city’ is one of my favourite storytelling tropes. There’s an irrevocableness in saying something on a live broadcast that everybody is watching. There’s no closing Pandora’s Box. In the big Transformers continuity that exists only in my head, it’s Optimus’ swearing vengeance on Megatron that gets picked up by a live broadcast feed, and it’s the public and news media’s reactions to this that end up starting the war. In Transtech, Cheetor acknowledges the overuse of this trope in “The Eye of the Storm, Part I”.
With only three active Decepticons who need to escape by the end of the story, the threat becomes the civilian protestors. As one might in a cartoon, the narrative contrives situations in which the characters come to discover the extent of their new superpowers. In using these powers to non-violently incapacitate the rioters, Transtech follows Beast Machines’ tendency toward non-offensive weaponry.
Optimus throwing Cheetor onto a rooftop is patterned after something James Roberts’ supercop depiction of Orion Pax might do.
If you put your heroes in a position of governmental power, then your solutions to political unrest are going to have to be realistic. Cheetor making a grand speech and quelling the riots is important to his character arc, but outside of fiction, a grand speech isn’t going to solve the underlying problems. This resulted in the tacked-on line about the complaints system.
Nat @Natphoenix25 Hammond was kind enough to provide the uncoloured lineart for both Optimus and Cheetor for use as interior illustrations. As noted before, both characters are visually based on different bits of concept art than the official TransTech characters used in Fun Pub’s stories. Here’s the excerpt of the Optimus’ concept board, along with a coloured headshot by me, that I provided to Nat as a reference.
With “Ancient Relics” having set the stage and status quo, “Disassembled” is where we start to go next. Scavenger is reintroduced as the first of what the zine terms “Decepticon volunteers”, Maximals and Predacons who have been swayed by Megatron’s rhetoric. This is what you have to do to have your heroes outnumber your bad guys before they get the chance to build an army of immortal drones. To Megatron, the volunteers are lower lifeforms to enslave and exploit; Shockwave, on the other hand, sees no logical reason to keep up the pretence. His rivalry with Scavenger is based on that of Animated’s Shockwave and Lugnut, and foreshadows not only the opening gambit in “Field Test”, but also Scavenger turning his back on the Shockwave-led Decepticons in “Aftershock, Part II”.
After Beast Machines, Cybertron’s entire ecosystem has changed. I wanted to show Cheetor’s government working in this new environment by adapting to renewable energy sources, as the nineties and early noughts were rife with eco-friendly messages. Building sites are the backdrop to this episode, playing up Scavenger’s idiot savant qualities when it comes to architecture.
Cheetor and Optimus are at loggerheads after the events of the previous two episodes. Optimus is still trying to be the main hero, years after his time has passed and the world has moved on without him, giving way to new leaders. The conflict between the two characters comes from a similar clash between Optimus and Bumblebee in “Decepticon Island”.
I said on page 04 that at one stage I’d committed to only referring to the character as “Optimus Prime”. It’s in “Disassembled” that you can see remnants of this idea, and you can see how it gets old very quickly.
I’ll leave you with my final thoughts on “Disassembled”. When you watch, say, an episode of a Batman cartoon, after the first two supervillain attacks, Batman spends time in the Batcave figuring out where the third will be. I wanted to parody the hell out of that. Scavenger is unpredictable because he’s stupid; he has no plan but to knock things down. If the Joker is considered such an agent of chaos, why are his plans always so meticulously detailed?
Episode 1: “Ancient Relics, Part I”
Written by: Bob Forward
Broadcast: 16/6/01
Cheetor dreams of a bolt of light bursting out of the ground, destroying Cybertropolis. Waking up, he sees crowds of demonstrators outside the Citadel, each vying for preferential attention from him and his Autobot Council. However, noticing he is late for an appointment, he has to use his super speed to cut through the throng, fobbing them off. One particular protestor, the Constructicon Scavenger, is unhappy with the same old excuses.
Deep in the underground catacombs, Rattrap and Nightscream are surveying what remains of Iacon, on a mission to find any Great War era recordings or archives for advice on their fledgling government. The bored Nightscream, cracking wise about Rattrap’s war stories, stumbles onto a secret passageway. They cautiously investigate…
Up in the skies of Cybetropolis, Autobot officers Silverbolt and Blackarachnia respond to reports of rioting. They track down Scavenger, who has taken to brawling with his fellow protestors, who are attempting to subdue him. Silverbolt swoops in to do his daring hero routine, and when Scavenger flees, Blackarachnia catches him in a web. The two Autobots are too distracted by their flirtatious banter to see Scavenger evading custody.
At the plantation on the edge of Cybertropolis, Cheetor and Botanica meditate. He confesses to her that he wants to be a strong and independent leader, but he knows nothing about running a city. He also mentions his bad dreams; Botanica insists that he has a precognition power he’ll be able to tap into with practise.
Rattrap and Nightscream discover a large, domed structure. Nightscream inadvertently unlocks its seals, and together they find a battlefield held in stasis for millennia – still with burning fires, warm blasters, and a handful of ossified Transformers.
The dome opening causes a bolt of light to beam down from space that all of Cybertropolis sees; Cheetor, Botanica, Silverbolt and Blackarachnia all make to converge on its position. Rattrap reports in that he and Nightscream are now under attack from an assailant that they can’t see; one that is using the detritus of the battlefield against them.
En route, Cheetor gets a vision, causing him to swerve to a halt. In the vision, he sees the road ahead full of protestors, blocking him from getting to Iacon. He takes Botanica on an alternate route. They receive a call from Silverbolt that the demonstrators are getting out of hand, and it’s becoming more difficult for the Autobots to defend themselves. Cheetor says that he somehow knew about the rioting, but gives Silverbolt and Blackarachnia the order to retreat.
The four of them join the battle in the dome. Blackarachnia remembers a story from her history books of the final battle of the Great War, in which Optimus Prime tricked Decepticon High Command into joining him in the Millennia Dome, where they would be frozen in time indefinitely. Silverbolt notes that their incorporeal attacker is strategically redirecting all of their attacks towards one “statue”, causing cracks to appear in its fossil-like covering to reveal the Transformer underneath. As the “ghost” enters the statue, the Autobots finally realise that this is one threat they’ve faced before, a long time ago – and the statue cracks open, revealing the new body of Decepticon Air Commander Starscream!
While Starscream loudly brags about his glorious return, the Autobots scramble to counter-attack, but struggle against both his ghostly abilities and now his advanced firepower. The team turn to Cheetor for leadership, but he’s at a loss. Botanica urges him to use his precognition, but he struggles to centre himself.
During the fight, Starscream brags about his immortality, and that he’s the only one out of Decepticon High Command to have survived, having been separated from his body for thousands of years and now reunited by the unsealing of the Millennia Dome. He plans to take over Cybertron and bring about a new empire with himself as its head.
Nightscream, desperate to make amends for breaking the seal, tries using his sonic scream on the Decepticon, finding that it briefly disorients him enough to disable his ghost powers. This gives Cheetor the time to realise that this isn’t something he’s going to figure out on his own, and that it’s teamwork that saves the day.
Finally granted a vision of how they succeed, Cheetor gives the Autobots their orders. Cheetor himself takes Starscream on in hand-to-hand combat, forcing him to remain corporeal; he distracts Starscream by exploiting his major weakness: talking about himself.
With Starscream’s attention elsewhere, Blackarachnia and Botanica strike: the former webs up his blasters so he can’t fire, and the latter uses vines to pin him to the ground. As Starscream starts to fade to his spectral form, Silverbolt rams a sword though his chest and Nightscream uses his sonic power to make him tangible again. Finally, Rattrap uses some demolitions charges to cover him with debris.
The team rest easy with Starscream incapacitated, but Cheetor tells them of his dream: it wasn’t something returning to Cybertron that destroyed the city, but something buried underneath it. As if on cue, two more Transformers break out of their stasis: the ancient Decepticons Megatron and Shockwave have returned!
The episode synopses make up the bulk of the zine. Each of these episodes began as one or two line summaries, then a paragraph, then the full forms you see here. These were the hardest thing to write; at one stage I’d considered much shorter, open-ended summaries, justifying to myself that in-universe, one could simply go and watch the episodes in question. Of course, out of universe, the episodes don’t exist, and I didn’t want people to feel ripped off that this exposé only told half the story.
The Beast Machines episode “Sparkwar Pt. II” includes a sequence where Megatron tricks Primal with a hologram of Optimus Prime, which claims to be an essence stored in Iacon following a final battle. TFWiki notes that there must be enough truth in that story for it to convince Primal. Transtech’s interpretation of this battle results in a frozen bubble of time in which Optimus Prime and his greatest enemies are intended to be held for eternity. The ossified Transformers are inspired by the Maximuses from the Energon episode “Ambition”. (Nightscream being the one to screw it all up is in response to backlash against the character.)
The Millennia Dome is named after the real life Millennium Dome, a pop cultural reference reflecting the turn-of-the-century setting. That said, references to the Dome would have been dated even as early as this episode’s 2001 airing; this was done to hint at Transtech’s protracted production cycle and delayed broadcast.
You can infer a lot of lore here that, in my head, Transtech wastes no time in explaining or detailing. I invite you, the reader, to invent your own story incorporating the reason why the Autobots and Decepticons are Micromaster scale, why the Autobots’ search for new weapons lead them to Transcendence, why Starscream looks like Skyquake, and why Megatron is no longer Galvatron. I want 3000 words of this on my desk by Tuesday morning.
The Autobots here are reimagined as a Cybertronian peacekeeping force presumably because I made the same connection that Fun Publications’ writers did: the Transtech Autobot insignia looks like a police badge.
The title “Ancient Relics” comes from the Marvel UK story of the same name, in which a Megatron long thought to be dead is unearthed.
The rare Decepticon Spark Crystal! There were originally going to be a lot more of these Spark Crystals peppered throughout the book, before the layout allowed room for more illustrations that I went way overbudget in commissioning.
In a way, Botanica is the quintessential technorganic Transformer. Her plant alternate mode – gained when she captained a survey expedition to a jungle planet – gives her a unique connection to Cybertron’s organic core, granting her insight as to the current status of the planet. It is because of this connection that Botanica has put aside her scientific specialism in botany to become a spiritualist and naturalist. She has taken to guiding Cheetor in the art of meditation to help the young leader understand his place in the universe, a role she is amazed to find herself sharing with the legendary Optimus Prime.
Botanica’s other position in the Autobots is that of an agriculturist, cultivating crops of fruit and vegetables on an outskirts plantation she runs with Rattrap. They dutifully shoulder this responsibility, providing food for Cybertropolis’ denizens now that they no longer run on energon.
A pacifist at heart, Botanica avoids battle where possible, preferring a method of de-escalation. When the need for combat arises, she opts to use her enemy’s weaknesses against them with the aid of her Transcendence power to control plant matter. With her powerful vines, she can disorient or constrict any foe.
Depth Charge – Monster?
Depth Charge was once a Maximal with one goal in life: the single-minded pursuit of the Predacon who slaughtered everybody on the colony under his protection. Rampage was once Protoform X, a shadowy experiment to create an immortal spark, driven criminally insane by constant agony. The pursuer and the prey found themselves embroiled in the latter stages of the Beast Wars. A final, fateful battle saw Depth Charge and Rampage surrounded by raw energon crystals. When Depth Charge gained the upper hand, a cackling Rampage allowed him to impale his spark with a shard of raw energon, causing an explosion that obliterated them both.
Or so it appeared. Slowly and excruciatingly, argonised steel and polymer sinew reconstituted and reformed. Depth Charge awoke screaming. The instability of the raw energon and contact with Rampage’s spark had rendered Depth Charge immortal, but with a cost: aspects of Rampage’s sociopathic personality began to emerge in Depth Charge.
Having made his way back to Cybertron the long way – both physically and temporally – Depth Charge hides in the shadows, struggling not to succumb to his monstrous urges. But reports of sightings of this unstoppable, animalistic warrior have piqued Megatron’s attention…
Strika and Obsidian – Old Guard
During the latter stages of the Battle of the Sparks, the Vehicon Megatron resurrected Strika and Obsidian to command his drone army. The two were talented strategists who led the Autobots to victory in countless battles during the Great War. They had allied with the Vehicons due to their curiously oblique morality: their loyalty lies with Cybertron, regardless of the power in charge.
Last seen being launched into Cybertron’s orbit by anti-gravity generators, Strika and Obsidian have now returned without explanation, swearing fealty to Cheetor. Optimus Prime vouches for their character, but the Autobots are uneasy about being allied with their former enemies. For their part, Strika and Obsidian seem to be repentant; they refuse to reformat into technorganic forms, knowing that they, as purely mechanical beings, will eventually run out of energon for sustenance.
Of the two, Strika is the brawn. Large and imposing, she possesses great physical strength and dangerous ordnance. Her tactical brain and proficiency for strategy are rivalled only by Obsidian’s. For his part, Obsidian has an encyclopaedic knowledge of warfare throughout many planets’ histories, and is a manoeuvrable dogfighter equipped with pinpoint-accurate heat-seeking missiles. The two of them make an unstoppable military force on land or in the air.
I am not afraid to say that Botanica’s art here sucks. I didn’t really have much to say about or do with her in Transtech. In Beast Machines she’s this unique creature, a portent for the series’ true technorganic resolution, but by the time Transtech rolls around, she’s become the status quo.
The only preparatory viewing I did for this zine was BM’s final three episodes, which is why this bio in particular comes off as only vaguely remembering what Botanica was like (she has vines?!).
Your thought exercise for today: think of a character who was very definitively killed off. You are told you need to bring them back into the narrative. How do you achieve this? Thankfully, with Depth Charge, there was an established precedent of immortality. I rewatched his death scene in Beast Wars again and again and the ambiguity of Rampage’s final laugh struck me. So I reframed it as Rampage cursing his greatest enemy by removing his ability to die. As with Starscream and the Immorticons, Depth Charge ties into Megatron’s refusal to change.
“Argonised steel and polymer sinew” is a quote on Cybertronian makeup from Infiltration, but the language here about Depth Charge’s painful reformation is an attempt to evoke a particular page from “Alone Together” in which the same thing happens to Rampage.
Depth Charge’s head design is an attempt to blend his concept art with both his existing Beast Wars head as well as that of Rampage’s. The neck is intended to be rubberised and waterproof, reflecting the fact that his head would have to tilt straight upwards when swimming.
It’s the special guest stars! There were two factors that contributed to Strika and Obsidian’s return in Transtech. First is that Bob Skir had intended there to be a scene in “Endgame Pt. III” in which the duo returned to the reformatted Cybertron and remained purely mechanical as penance for their actions; this scene was cut for time. The second factor is that Obsidian was intended to receive a new Deluxe class toy in the latter stages of the BM toyline, which resulted in a bizarre game of telephone that produced the character Rotorbolt for 3H. As far as Transtech is concerned, the Deluxe toy was released, as you’ll see later on.
Scavenger’s just your everyday working bot. After a long day at the building site, there’s nothing he enjoyed more than knocking back a few energon cubes at the oilhouse. He’s a bot’s bot; he knows how things are and how they’re meant to be. Then one day he woke up in a world where young Autobot upstarts are in charge. Suddenly the things he used to say and do were being criticised, like he was an undesirable in his own city, and the Constructicon Guild received no support to transition to working in a Cybertropolis that was more leaves and vines than steel and rivets.
His complaining turned into protesting, and protesting into rioting. Scavenger just wants his voice heard; someone’s got to stand up for the honest, hard-working bot. Then something happened. Megatron, the ancient warlord, was on every screen in the city, talking about glory days and revolt and retaking what you were owed. And so Scavenger joined the Decepticons.
Megatron not only keeps him as an asset for his strength and his local knowledge – there’s nothing Scavenger doesn’t know about Cybertropolis architecture – but also because, outside of building things, he’s so stupid that he follows orders unquestioningly.
Immorticon – Weapon
Trapped in a future with no military support, Megatron orders Shockwave to design and mass produce a force of sparkless warriors. The Immorticons are the pinnacle of Decepticon super science; an unstoppable army of identical soldiers that feel no pain and follow orders unquestioningly. Their unique drone nature means that Immorticons are virtually indestructible, as they are not truly alive to begin with; their armour is coated with a special alloy that is only vulnerable to a weapon on par with Megatron’s fusion cannon.
For all their physical strength, Immorticons have low intelligence, with their logic and reasoning circuits operating well below Cybertronian standards. Effective Immorticon deployment in battle requires them to be supervised by their commanding Decepticon officer, as left to their own devices they can be easily outsmarted. Their vocabulary is limited to words like “Obliterate!” and “Exterminate!”, with shouted phrases rarely exceeding a few words.
Built for war, the standard Immorticon frame bristles with ordnance. In addition to its powerfully strong arms, each unit is equipped with two pulse cannons, a formidable railgun turret, and a beam distributor ray. Its weapons platform alternate mode, an unstoppable all-terrain tank, reveals an additional six blasters.
Nightscream – Reconnaissance
Rude, confrontational, and paranoid, it’s not easy to like Nightscream. Unfortunately, that’s what you become when left alone on a hostile planet, constantly under threat by militaristic forces. However, Nightscream has been attempting to make amends for his abrasive behaviour since the end of the Battle for the Sparks. He catches himself before marking a remark. He bites his tongue and tries to be positive instead. But with Cybertropolis at peace, he’s been finding it difficult to adjust to not having to run for his life, so he often slips back into his bad habits. Deep down, Nightscream is a good kid in need of a friend. He’s been tagging along and pairing up with each of his Autobot cohorts to try and find the bond that really works. So far, he still finds himself at a loose end.
Nightscream has a number of abilities befitting his bat-like form. His sonic scream fires concussive blasts of sound to damage and disorient his opponents. He can also shoot a tether at an enemy and use it to drain their energy. His Transcendence ability allows him to temporarily copy the special powers of anyone he touches.
Nobody’s favourite characters. I wanted Scavenger to be a blue collar worker who got drawn in by the rhetoric. He’s exaggeratedly dimwitted, buying into every new piece of propaganda without thinking about it critically. It is important to remind you at this stage that Transtech came out in 2001, and that any resemblance to the modern day political landscape is surely coincidental.
Scavenger’s bust is based on art from Fun Pub’s TransTech comics. Pretty straightforward.
The route that Fun Pub took with Immorticon is that he’s just some guy with little clear characterisation. Brother, let me tell you, if you name your character Immorticon, he has to be a big deal in some way. So I took the name at its face value and came up with the idea that they were an army that was immortal. They’re the successors to the Vehicons, with a little Dalek in their DNA (aside from the obvious, a “beam distributor ray” is a fancier name for a Dalek’s death ray gun).
That potential vs stagnancy subtext crops up here with the Immorticons, in that they are incapable of doing anything new but will last forever. In fact, between the Immorticons, Starscream, and Depth Charge, Megatron is amassing invulnerable warriors.
I wrote up Tech Spec numbers for the entire cast at some point, but they went unused.
The Immorticons, mindless drones with no will of their own, have one intelligence point more than Scavenger. Ouch.
I did the Immorticons’ digibash before I did the profile art. The head I used for the toy is DOTM Space Case, so consequently that’s what the head is based on here. Space Case’s unusual mouth is reimagined as a sort of grill, to try and make the head more closely resemble a skull.
The greatest challenge in this zine was finding a way to redeem Beast Machines’ most hated character. So, as with Silverbolt, I thought about how someone in an apocalyptic situation would react to that situation ending. Unlike Silverbolt, Nightscream is struggling to get used to what could be considered the new normal.
The thing about Nightscream’s Beast Machines design is that it’s ugly, despite he and I sharing the same haircut. (His ability is from Peter Petrelli, a third handsome man with the same haircut.) No, it’s his enormous bat nose that distracts from the rest of the face. I wanted to try and make Nightscream more mature and handsome, so I discarded Draxhall Jump’s designs of him as a lanky creature of the night. His head is patterned after a Power Ranger helmet, with two enormous fangs coming down to look like the centre parting all cute male celebs had in the 90s. Toyetically, the robot mode face is intended to fold into the head when the lower bat jaw is raised.
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Rattrap has been many things during his long Maximal career: saboteur, spy, hacker, marksman, demolitions expert… He never expected to end up as a humble labourer, ploughing the fields with his partner Botanica to provide much-needed food for Cybertropolis’ technorganic populace. Though he peppers his speech with sardonic remarks bemoaning his lot in life, underneath the macho façade he’s unendingly loyal and will fiercely defend his family when they’re under threat.
Rattrap is called upon by the Autobots when they need a specialist in land navigation or infiltration. His keen senses allow him to flawlessly plot a route through a combat zone without an enemy encounter (it’s not cowardice, it’s self-preservation!), ably assisted by the temporary invisibility granted by his Transcendence. In battle, he is quite the sharpshooter, and something of a multitool bot; there’s an array of offensive weapons and helpful gadgets stashed in his superstructure.
You’d be forgiven for thinking Rattrap misses being part of the action, given how he jumps at the call. Again, it’s his faithfulness to his Autobot friends that keeps him coming back; retirement awaits once they can find a willing replacement that can match Rattrap’s particular set of skills. He may be waiting some time.
Silverbolt – Hero
Look, up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s Silverbolt! This tin-plated titan swoops into action to protect and defend the innocent citizens of Cybertropolis from those that would do them harm. Villains cower when they know Silverbolt is coming; as the most decorated Autobot officer with the highest number of arrests, it would benefit them to surrender and come along quietly (or at least, that’s what he tells them).
The truth is, with the Vehicons out of the picture, Silverbolt has learned to have fun again. Leaning into his heroic persona, he revels in the fight against injustice, cracking snappy one-liners and corny lines about chivalry at the drop of a hat. He’s well equipped for battle, too, with wing-mounted energy blasters, a high-frequency vibroblade, and the Transcendence ability to temporarily coat himself in a durable, blaster resistant alloy.
If Silverbolt could be said to have a weakness, it’s his overprotectiveness of his partner Blackarachnia. Despite the arachnid proving herself to be a capable warrior time and again, if he feels she is in peril he can become distracted and blinkered to anything else going on around them (much to her frustration).
Blackarachnia – Engineer
Dismiss Blackarachnia as a standard femme fatale at your peril. Capable, intelligent, and with an unparalleled level of determination, this former Predacon bad girl is a staunch defender of Cybertropolis and its people. Partnered with Silverbolt both romantically and professionally, Blackarachnia makes use of her martial arts skills and spiderweb-based weaponry against her foes. Her Transcendence grants her the power of telekinesis, which sees use in a diverse array of situations in and outside of combat.
When she’s not in battle, Blackarachnia can be found in her laboratory. It’s here that she uses her engineering knowledge to invent and develop a wide array of gadgets and weaponry, as well as research her own molecular structure to gain a deeper understanding of technorganicism. Blackarachnia is also something of a Great War history buff, providing context and explanations for the words and actions of Optimus Prime and his contemporaries. However, she finds that her sources, redacted by previous administrations, do not always tell the whole truth.
After the turbulent stages of her and Silverbolt’s relationship, Blackarachnia is uncertain of how to maintain their bond now that one of them isn’t trying to coax the other back from the dark side.
Transtech Rattrap is strange. The character had been one of the series’ main heroes, and a December 2000 article on BigBadToyStore confirmed he was due to be in the second wave of the toyline. Yet there is literally no visual evidence of him by Draxhall Jump, Hasbro, or Takara. Consequently, Rattrap was a character that had to be designed from scratch. This zine’s Rattrap was designed by Umar @speedfreak01 Ali, though this particular drawing is by me. More on that later. For now, here’s my first pass at a Rattrap.
My original plan for Rattrap was that, after Beast Machines, he became an ageing hippie - with an irresistible “flower power” play on words in his love for Botanica. After a while it tumbled to me that somebody with Rattrap’s set of skills would be restless in a menial job; consequently, his Transtech depiction is partially based on Al Bundy from Married… with Children.
Beast Machines wasn’t kind to Silverbolt. In fact, his shift from a corny goofball hero into a brooding antihero is probably the epitome of the show’s tonal problems. But his curtain call in the final episode is jovially calling Blackarachnia the “dark venom of [his] heart”. So his characterisation here as a silver age Superman isn’t so much my idea as it is a canonical reversion that happened in the show (albeit for about two minutes).
Silverbolt’s control art says “Silver Bolt Agile One” on it, so that’s a thing. His high frequency vibroblade is a Metal Gear Solid reference, and his steel skin ability is taken from Animated Ironhide.
The drawing of Silverbolt is my least favourite in the book. The helmet follows his concept art’s trend towards samurai styling, while his face is given a heroic jawline and domino mask to fit the superhero theme. I don’t like it because I feel it tends too far towards human rather than robot.
If you had to describe Blackarachnia’s character in one word, it’d be “determined”. Everything she put her mind to during Beast Wars and Machines, she gave 100%. A lot of her bio here was written after “Dark Web” which needed her to be a bit of a loner who created weapons. The line about her being a Great War history buff comes after her knowledge in the field in the Beast Wars episode “Possession”, foreshadowing her conflict with Starscream in later pages.
Blackarachnia’s head design is all new because her Transtech concepts suuuuuck. Her pointy ears and mandibular dracula cape come from the concept art, but her head design hearkens back to her first Beast Wars model, with an added eight-eyed Hot Shot visor.
Here’s trivia for you: her Transtech concept art has a bright red line down the middle because of a dodgy scanner.
Later on you’ll see full body art by Erica @transgirlsoundwave Walsh of Blackarachnia. She also kindly provided me with this alternate profile art with characteristic aplomb:
All Megatron has ever wanted is power. It is his means, his motive, and his goal. It was his thirst for conquest that began a four million year war between the Autobots and the Decepticons. Now, stranded in a future free of tyranny, Megatron seeks to fill that vacuum and continue his reign of terror. Forced to rebuild his army from the ground up, Megatron relies on his tried and true recruitment tactics, making grandiose speeches disguising his despotism as revolution for the oppressed. Though he’s content to use his eager volunteers to make up numbers in his militia, his smooth talking and honeyed words mask his contempt for what he views as the impure Maximal and Predacon races.
It is said that only the strongest may lead the Decepticons, and Megatron certainly lives up to that reputation. His strength and endurance are unmatched, though he relies on Shockwave to handle anything requiring scientific knowledge or mechanical aptitude. Megatron’s signature weapon, his fusion cannon, interdimensionally siphons power from a black hole to fire concentrated bursts of energy. In destroyer tank mode, he can also use two mounted railguns to fire armour-piercing high velocity projectiles.
Starscream – Dogfighter
During the Great War, Starscream was infamous for his boundless treachery. Always openly planning mutiny on his commanders and bullying his subordinates, this Decepticon air commander had no interests in mind but his own. When his duplicity become too much for his leader, Megatron, he was summarily eliminated. But death did not slow him down. Starscream soon discovered that a mutation in his spark left him invulnerable, beyond the limits of a physical body.
Thanks to this newfound ability to separate his consciousness from his corporeal form, Starscream was the only one among his fellow survivors to escape the sealed Millennia Dome. Adrift and alone for countless years, Starscream has had plenty of time to develop his ghostly powers and plot out his revenge for long-held grudges. Starscream rejoins the Decepticons, having been drawn back to Cybertron by the Dome opening. Megatron permits him to stay because his abilities are an asset and his self-importance intimidates the volunteer Decepticons into obedience.
In his material form, Starscream can exceed speeds of Mach 4 and is armed with null rays and shoulder-mounted cluster bombs. His mutations allow him to render his body intangible and invisible; in addition, he can vacate his body to possess and control another Cybertronian.
Shockwave – Scientist
Hypothesis, experiment, data, conclusion. In Shockwave’s eye, the world around him is a science project; his fellow Cybertronians are as specimens under a microscope. His detached manner is no mere scientist’s affectation: Shockwave feels no camaraderie, or anger, or any emotion; he experiences only unfeeling logical reasoning, and dedication to scientific advancement.
His amoral experimentation led him to the Decepticons; he benefits from lack of oversight from the ethics committee, and Megatron benefits from the development of weaponry and technology.
A gifted technogeneticist, Shockwave’s latest creations are the Immorticons, a horde of unstoppable soldier drones built only to obey the commands of their master. Shockwave’s analytical mind grants him a special connection with the Immorticons; he can assume direct control over multiple units at once for the greatest tactical advantage. In person or remotely, his strategies in battle are uninhibited by restraint or retribution; instead, Shockwave clears a warzone with brutal, mechanical efficiency – and a powerful Neuron Beam of his own design.
Though Shockwave’s greatest strength is his unequalled intelligence, his lack of empathy can leave him blindsided by unexpected emotional responses from allies and enemies alike. He is starting to create contingencies to remove these uncertain variables from the equation…
I struggled getting started on Megatron’s profile. Those first two sentences are cribbed from the box of his GDO toy, and I used them to springboard myself into the rest of the bio. It is important to remind you at this stage that Transtech came out in 2001, and that any resemblance to the modern day political landscape is surely coincidental.
For Megatron’s head, I wanted to keep the general outline of the Transtech concept art and match it with the Sunbow Megatron’s face. The two inscribed M’s on his forehead nod to IDW’s stealth bomber Megatron.
Starscream’s bio here is a bit of a tiptoe through continuity to try and make everything fit in Beast Wars’ established timeline. Being eliminated for his duplicity is supposed to infer his death at Galvatron’s hands during The Transformers: The Movie. By the character’s exit from the Sunbow cartoon in “Ghost in the Machine”, he has been restored to a corporeal body, but in his next appearance in Beast Wars’ “Possession”, he’s just a spark again. Transtech’s backstory, set between these episodes, reconciles this, with his physical form trapped in the Millennia Dome, but his spark being free. After going through transwarp space to reach the Beast Wars era, Starscream is forced to wait 180,000 years to return to his body.
Starscream’s headshot here is based on his Transtech toy hardcopy, minus its mouthplate, but plus a Saren Stone catsmile.
The first portion of Shockwave’s profile is probably my finest bit of prose in this zine, as it really evokes Shockwave’s alien morality and disregard for the people around him.
Starscream aside, Optimus’ resignation and Megatron’s black hole weapon suggest a Marvel Comics G1 history, but Shockwave’s treacherous ambitions are the most overt holdover. As Chris McFeely will tell you, neither major G1 Shockwave was a scientist, with Dreamwave bringing that aspect into his character. Let’s make like Transtech did it first, and Dreamwave copied it. Shockwave’s Neuron Beam takes its name from his handgun in the Siege toyline.
Shockwave’s design plays with his concept art, making certain details resemble bug mandibles and adding circuit patterns to his antennae. His triangular eye is a deliberately edgy departure from his classic appearance, but note how the surrounding area is still an irregular hexagon. Both Shockwave’s and Megatron’s art on this page were only half drawn, then mirror flipped down the middle.
