Transformers Timelines: Dawn of Futures Past # 1
Written by Forest Lee and Peter Sinclair
Penciled by Dan Khanna, Alex Milne, and Marcelo Matere
Colors by Drew Eiden, Josh Perez, and Thomas Deer

Note: 

For the sake of ease, I'm going to just call everyone, for the most part, by the names they used in Beast Wars.  No one of the Beast Wars cast except Optimus Primal and Megatron are named in this story, as most of their BW names wouldn't apply to anything other than a beast mode.  Most of the cast's original names are left up to the reader's imagination here, and perhaps rightfully so.


Summary:

The planet Cybertron some three-hundred years in the future; in some sacred shrine or records storehouse on the planet's surface, a theft is taking place.  Tigatron (referred to as “Unit-2” here) and his partner (only referred to as “Unit-1”) are moving to engage the intruders in their vehicle modes.  The two law-enforcement agents radio Maximal High Command for some intel; Command tells them that the intruders' goal is the Golden Disk.  Unit-1 inquires as to what the Golden Disk is, but High Command cannot release that information.  Command also orders that the intruders are to be taken in alive, but before an incredulous Unit-1 can respond, he is blasted from the front by one of the intruders who happens to be waiting for them up ahead.  Tigatron quickly transforms and dashes to cover, but Unit-1 wipes-out and crashes.  Tigatron is concerned for his partner, but both Unit-1 and High Command order him to continue pursuit of the intruders.  Tigatron complies and transforms again to vehicle mode, dodging fire from the intruder who blasted Unit-1.  Up ahead in a chamber at the end of the hallway Tigatron and Unit-1 are trapped in, the intruders are revealed as renegade Predacons Megatron, Dinobot, and Scorponok.  Megatron examines the Golden Disk he has just stolen as Dinobot continues to pin Tigatron down with eyebeams.  After smugly stating that his destiny is at last in his hands, Megatron orders his Predacons to leave.  This doesn't sit well with Dinobot, who believes retreating to be dishonorable.  Megatron isn't happy with Dinobot's use of the word honor; he grabs his battle-hungry lieutenant by the neck and lets that notion perfectly clear.  As the Predacons take their leave, Dinobot points out that the destruction of Maximals should be their primary goal, but Megatron sees a larger picture; one that the Golden Disk plays a big role in.  The Predacons transform to vehicle modes and roll out to escape.  Meanwhile at the same time deep within a hidden chamber underneath Cybertron's surface, a mysterious figure contacts former Decepticons Laserbeak and Buzzsaw and orders them to make sure Megatron and his crew make it to their destination.  The mysterious robot tells them to be discreet, as the Maximals are already starting to suspect the presence of another former Decepticon in the Predacon ranks.  As Laserbeak and Buzzsaw take off in a ship, we cut back to Megatron's group as they have reached the outside and anxiously await pick-up in a ship that has been secured for them.  Waspinator radios Megatron from the ship, which Terrorsaur has apparently christened the “Darksyde”, and the ground-bound Predacons look up to behold their new spacecraft.  A few moments later, Tigatron also arrives outside and sees the Darksyde taking off.  He requests authorization of Maximal High Command to commandeer a transport to continue pursuit, which they grant him.  Tigatron transforms and speeds up to the first fighter craft he can find on a nearby airstrip.  He orders the pilot, who turns out to be Airazor to let him take her shuttle to pursue the escaping Predacons.  Airazor volunteers to help and tells Tigatron to get in while she pilots.  Meanwhile in a secret chamber, the Maximal High Command defense council meets to discuss the current events.  They are somewhat amused that the leader of the Predacons thieves is calling himself Megatron and that the Tripredacus Council denies involvement.  The three council members decide to believe the Tripredacus Council this time and look to find a way to stop Megatron's crew from Transwarp-jumping away with the Golden Disk.  They decide on the Axalon, which is the closest ship that can intercept the Darksyde.  In an undetermined quadrant of space, the Axalon is docked with a space station as it restocks supplies and receives an ominous bit of cargo.  Rattrap and Cheetor kick back and relax as Rattrap complains about the amount of stuff they have to load on the ship.  Rhinox interrupts their downtime and tells them to get back to work, as they are departing very soon.  When Cheetor asks about Optimus, Rhinox only tells him that Primal is tending to one last piece of business; we see Optimus Primal in the Axalon's cargo hold, contemplating a giant stasis pod that is branded with a large red X.  Meanwhile, Laserbeak and Buzzsaw are secretly tailing the Darksyde to make sure it cleanly escapes capture.  Over a video-link, their mysterious benefactor orders them to destroy any Maximal ships attempting to intercept the Darksyde.  Meanwhile, the Axalon departs from the supply station and Optimus addresses his crew; they have a special errand to run for the Maximal High Council- to dump some cargo on a barren moon in the Alpha Quadrant.  Rattrap is a bit miffed at all these side-trips and wonders why they have to clean up the Council's mistakes.  Primal is about to explain when Cheetor reports that Maximal Command is sending them a message.  Command orders them to intercept the Darksyde and recover the stolen Golden Disk from Megatron's gang of thieves.  Primal reminds High Command of the Axalon's “sensitive” cargo, but they stress that the Golden Disk takes precedence.  As Primal agrees, the Axalon is suddenly attacked from behind by Laserbeak and Buzzsaw's vessel.  The Axalon takes a great deal of damage from the former Decepticons' missile barrage; the two former Decepticons are seeking to discourage pursuit of the Darksyde.  With their shields weakened to 20%, Rhinox desperately tries to repair the damage done to the Axalon's systems.  But it seems like Laserbeak and Buzzsaw aren't willing to give the Maximals that time.  Suddenly, Airazor's ship appears, with Tigatron riding shotgun.  They attack the Decepticon ship to buy the Axalon enough time to effect repairs and get weapons back online.  However, Airazor underestimates the enemy's durability, and soon it is her and Tigatron in need of rescuing.  Tigatron is knocked unconscious by damage incurred and Airazor radios the Axalon for help.  Rhinox finally gets the Axalon's bridge up and running again and Rattrap manages to blast Laserbeak and Buzzsaw's ship apart with the main guns.  Primal inquires as to Airazor and Tigatron's status, and Cheetor tells him that their ship's reactor is unstable and could blow up at any moment.  Without any time to repair or rescue them, Rhinox suggests a risky remote spark transfer to send Airazor and Tigatron's sparks into blank stasis pods carried in the Axalon's cargo hold.  Primal agrees, even though Rhinox warns that most of Airazor and Tigatron's core mainframe will likely be lost in the procedure.  Meanwhile in on the Darksyde; being some distance ahead of the Axalon, Tarantulas reports from a lab to an unseen superior that he has analyzed the Golden Disk and found some interesting properties.  He signs off as Megatron summons him and asks if he has “the coordinates” yet.  Tarantulas confirms this and Megatron orders him to bring the Golden Disk back up to the bridge.  On the Darksyde's bridge, Megatron detaches his exo-armor as Terrorsaur reports that a Maximal ship is approaching.  The Predacon commander orders a Transwarp jump to be prepared, which doesn't sit well with Dinobot.  After again disciplining his unruly subordinate (i.e. backhanding him), Megatron orders Terrorsaur to hail the Maximal ship.  Over on the Axalon's bridge, Rhinox has finished repairing the damage incurred during Laserbeak and Buzzsaw's attack when the Maximals receive a transmission from the Darksyde.  Megatron introduces himself as leader of the Predacons and Optimus responds with the order to stand down and return the stolen Golden Disk.  Megatron seems amused by the notion that Primal thinks the Disk was “stolen” and signals Dinobot, who gleefully opens fire on the Axalon with the Darksyde's guns.  With that, the Darksyde begins to initiate a Transwarp jump and a wormhole is opened in space.  As the Darksyde jumps, Optimus orders the Axalon to follow and the rest is history.  We cut to quite some time later, seemingly even after the events of the Beast Wars.  The mysterious benefactor who issued orders to Laserbeak and Buzzsaw in the beginning of the story is revealed as the former Decepticon Divebomb, now reformatted into a techno-organic body.  Another Transformer in the room inquires of Divebomb as to the fate of the Golden Disk, and Divebomb says it was lost, along with all those who knew all its secrets.  The other Transformer asks what became of Megatron, and Divebomb responds that Megatron was destroyed in the “Battle for the Sparks”.  Dismissing Megatron as a poor instrument to carry out their plans, Divebomb eagerly proclaims that the TRUE leader of the Predacons has returned now, as we see Divebomb's other companions; Razorclaw and the ORIGINAL Predacons, now reformatted into techno-organic forms and finally ready for their day of glory!  THE END


Slagged!:

-“Unit-1” gets blasted by Dinobot's eyebeams and knocked out of action.

-The Axalon, Laserbeak and Buzzsaw's vessel, and Airazor and Tigatron's vessel get into a messy space dogfight.  Airazor and Tigatron's sparks need to be remotely transferred out of their bodies in the aftermath, and Laserbeak and Buzzsaw's fate is unclear.  The fact that their ship is blasted apart and their cockpit fills with flames makes me believe that those two Cons' aren't coming back any time soon though.

-Dinobot seems to antagonize Megatron a lot, which in turn motivates Megatron to violence against his insubordinate lieutenant.  Gee, sure hope this relationship doesn't go south.


Sightings:

-I'm not sure who “Unit-1” is supposed to be.  Apparently his toy name was going to be “Nitro Streak” according to some of the fan club organizers, and some fans have suggested that he is an undercover Ravage based on the color scheme (which resembles Alternator Ravage).  I doubt the Ravage idea based on what we've seen in the storyline, but one can see where this speculation comes from.

-Obviously, all the Maximals and Predacons in the exclusive Botcon 2006 set appear so might as well mention which toy molds they descend from.  Tigatron/Unit-2 and Cheetor are repaints/remolds of Cybertron Clocker, Optimus Primal is a repaint/remold of Cybertron Crumplezone, Rhinox is a repaint of Cybertron Landmine, Rattrap is a repaint of Cybertron Ransack, Dinobot is a repaint of the Cybertron Longrack mold with Armada Hoist's head pegged on in place of Longrack's, Megatron is a repaint/remold of Cybertron Defense Red Alert, Waspinator is a repaint of Machine Wars Skywarp, and Laserbeak and Buzzsaw are repaints of Energon Divebomb.

-Some characters also appear that were not released as toys, but clearly are based on certain molds.  Unit-1 is a repainted, assumedly remolded Cybertron Clocker.  Airazor's body is based on the Energon Slugslinger mold, with a new head design based on Airazor's animation model head.  Razorclaw is based on the Cybertron Leobreaker mold, with a new head design based on Gen 1 Razorclaw. 

-Divebomb first appears in shadow in what is probably his original Gen 1 form, although it seems rugged and worn with age (or possibly has a touch of the Cosmic Rust).  At the end of the issue, he sports a brand-new techno-organic body that is not directly based on any toy.  Reportedly, the Cybertron Brimstone mold was going to be used for Divebomb's new body, but the artist instead drew a completely new and original design.

-The other original Gen 1 Predacons appear in shadow behind Razorclaw, but we can still kinda see what toy molds they were based on.  Rampage is definitely based on Beast Wars Transmetal 2 Cheetor, but the other two are more nebulous.  Tantrum appears to be based on Beast Wars Fuzor Torca or Beast Machines Longhorn; I can't exactly tell because the brief glimpse we get shows elements of both of those designs.  And Headstrong looks to be based on the Beast Wars Neo Guiledart mold, which is more commonly and usually known as Triceradon over here.  It's possible these designs were reworked to look more like the Predacons' original alt-modes, but we can't really tell from what we can see.

-And of course, there are a few original designs in this issue too.  Aside from the aforementioned Gen 1 Divebomb redesign, Predacons Scorponok, Tarantulas, and Terrorsaur all have completely new Cybertronian designs.  Scorponok's Cybertronian design looks to take a few elements from Energon Scorponok, with the shovel claws and crane hooked-tail, but as far as I can see, these designs are all unique.  Ditto for the Maximal Defense Council, whose shadowed forms don't look familiar to me in the least.  One of them looks like he has Armada Blurr's head design, though.

-Dinobot carries a sword much like his original Beast Wars toy.  But while his original sword mimicked the skeletal structure of Dinobot's raptor tail, this sword appears to be a drill of some kind, fitting in with Dinobot's Cybertronian excavator alt-mode.  Unfortunately, the sword isn't included with Dinobot's exclusive convention toy.

-When Divebomb speaks of Laserbeak and Buzzsaw's “other” former Decepticon comrade, we see a picture of Ravage as he appeared on the Beast Wars TV show on a nearby view screen.  Laserbeak, Buzzsaw, and Ravage, of course, all were Soundwave's cassettes on the original Gen 1 cartoon.

-We can see Protoform X, AKA Rampage's stasis pod being loaded into the Axalon on the space station, and of course Optimus agonizing over it later in the cargo hold.

-Rattrap initially starts off wearing a helmet that makes his head look like Cybertron Ransack's head, assumedly to further link Rattrap to that toy mold.  He removes it once in his seat on the Axalon's bridge, making his “brain”-exposed noggin appear as we all know and love from the Beast Wars TV series.  Clever and cute.

-When Tarantulas is examining the Golden Disk, the disk is locked in a device that makes it appear as the “Golden Disk Cyber Key” that the 2006 exclusives all come with.  Also, Tarantulas is likely reporting to the Tripredacus Council behind Megatron's back in that very same scene.

-Megatron shows that his convention-exclusive body is just a giant suit of armor, and he has the sleeker, pre-Beast Wars form he was briefly shown in the first episode of the TV series under it.


Hearings:

-As I mentioned, none of the TV show characters, other than Megatron and Optimus Primal are referred to by name.  Optimus starts to call Rattrap a name that begins with “R-”, but is cut off before he can finish.  I agree that it is better to leave these things to fan speculation, plus saved a lot of trouble for Hasbro at having to trademark new names.

-Megatron's line describing honor to Dinobot as “a word they carve on a dead Maximal's gravestone” is particularly ironic, considering how Dinobot ended up in the TV series.  Megatron also became enraged at the cloned Transmetal 2 Dinobot in the TV series episode “Nemesis Part 2” for using the word “honor” in his presence.

-Waspinator mentions that Terrorsaur named the ship “Darksyde”, also referencing the fact that Terrorsaur was the first one in the TV show to say it aloud.  Although fans debated if Terrorsaur was saying that Darksyde was the name of the Predacon vessel or if he was simply using the term “dark side” in the show, this comic seems to make it canonical that “Darksyde” is and will be considered the name of the Pred vessel from now on.

-Airazor refers to Tigatron as “Stripes”, a nickname used by many of the characters for him throughout the TV show.  Her ship is called the “Chromia-10”, a name-drop homage of a female Autobot who appeared the original Gen 1 episode “The Search For Alpha Trion” and just last Botcon got a convention exclusive toy.

-As mentioned, the Protoform X stasis pod situation is hinted at and vaguely explained by Optimus Primal as “cleaning up a mistake”.  This “mistake” will eventually come back to haunt the Maximals in the second season of the TV series.

-When Optimus asks High Command to wish them luck, a listening-in Laserbeak comments “Where have I heard that before?”  He is referring to Transformers The Movie, when he overheard Optimus Prime utter the line “Now all we need is a little Energon, and a lot of luck”.

-Rattrap refers to Rhinox as a “big rhinoceros”; an obvious tip of the hat to Rhinox's eventual Beast Wars alt-mode, and a more subtly ironic reference to a line Rattrap had in the first episode of Beast Wars; “Put me down, ya big bulldozer!”

-Rhinox has to “remotely” transfer Tigatron and Airazor's sparks to blank protoforms in the Axalon's cargo hold.  He mentions that they could lose some or all of their core mainframe, explaining why Tigatron and to a lesser extent Airazor have memory and identity issues when they come online in the TV series.

-Tarantulas extracts the coordinates of prehistoric Earth from the Golden Disk, if that wasn't obvious.  Megatron's amusement at Primal's accusation that he stole the Golden Disk comes from the fact that Megatron may know that the disk has a hidden message from the original Gen 1 Megatron meant for Decepticon descendants, as revealed by the TV show episode “The Agenda Part 2”.  If he doesn't know this exactly, he certainly knows that the disk was intended for Decepticon/Predacon possession.

-The epilogue scene takes place after even Beast Machines, as Divebomb mentions a “Battle for the Sparks” and references Megatron's apparent death from the final episode of that show.  As the first group to be designated “Predacons” (although Simon Furman might think differently), Razorclaw and company were likely the founders of the future generations of Predacons that now have inherited the Decepticons' mantle.   


Wreck and RULE!:

-With three artists on the issue, it could have been confusing, but they all keep it mostly consistent and the art is pretty solid for the most part.  The shot of Razorclaw at the end is particularly impressive.

-It's always a treat to read about this cast, as they are amongst the most well-developed characters in Transformers history.  The writers nail everyone's personality pretty accurately in both dialogue and interactions with each other.  Cementing a concept like the original Predacons being connected to the Beast Wars era Preds, which has only been vague fan speculation in the past, is pretty nice and should be utilized further in future stories.

-This comic does a good job of pushing most of the convention exclusive toys, and goes a step further showing toys that could be made for future conventions.  I know I certainly want a Leobreaker-remold as Razorclaw now.


Wreck and ROT!:

-When it comes down to it, was this REALLY a story that needed to be told?  Nothing really happens that we didn't already know from the TV show, and some tack-on plot points like Laserbeak and Buzzsaw attacking and Tigatron and Airazor being late additions to the Axalon just seem forced and the stuff of bad fan fiction.  I know that they had to push the convention toys, but surely there could have been a better way to do it.  Why not a story of the Maximals' first mission together under Primal's command?  Or how Megatron assembled his Predacon team of criminals?  And the Divebomb plot thing feels quite unnecessary in the grand scheme of things as well.  Laserbeak and Buzzsaw are apparently killed off, so what was the point of introducing them and further complicating things?  Again, the answer is simply to push the convention exclusive toys, which almost feels a bit insulting.

-As I mentioned, the Tigatron and Airazor thing seemed really forced and was probably written in because the voice actors who portrayed the characters were going to be present at the convention.  Plus, it makes for an extraordinary coincidence that Tigatron and Airazor are the two late additions to the cast in this comic, and are also the first two new Maximals discovered in the TV series.  And don't get me started on that “remote spark transfer” thing Rhinox suggests.  Not that I doubt Rhinox could pull something like that off, it's just that it kind of comes out of left field as a cheap way to explain how Tigatron and Airazor get aboard the Axalon.

-Speaking of far left field, what was up with that epilogue scene with Divebomb and Razorclaw?  Suddenly, it's all the way past the end of Beast Machines and Divebomb has been explaining this whole story to Razorclaw and the other original Predacons?  If the writers wanted to do something like this, they should have established at the BEGINNING of the story that this whole tale was being recalled by someone.  The concept of the original Predacons resurfacing after all this time is kind of cool, but the execution, ugh.

-All in all, there were too many details that complicated a pretty simple concept.  Tigatron has a partner (Unit-1) that doesn't get an exclusive toy and whose presence just seems to confuse fans, so why is he there?  Laserbeak and Buzzsaw's attack damages the Axalon quite a bit, yet Rhinox magically repairs most of the damage done to the bridge within a few hours at most.  Airazor and Tigatron try to help the Axalon but fail and end up on the Axalon anyway, where they just could have been in the first place.  The only extra bit retconned in that made sense was showing Protoform X's stasis pod being loaded on the Axalon, and that's only because the TV show already established this.

-One little knock at the art; the space fight between the Axalon, Laserbeak and Buzzsaw's ship, and Tigatron and Airazor's ship is impossibly hard to follow thanks to crowded panels and murky inking and coloring.  In one panel, it looks like Tigatron just randomly spazzes out and screams “HULL BREA-AAA!”.  I had to re-look at the preceding panels closely to determine that Airazor's ship had been shot and damaged.


Final Judgment:

I'm always pretty hard on convention comics, and that's because they usually fall into the trap of being a fanwank fest instead of a coherent story.  Sadly, this seems to be the case with this issue.  I don't really think this was a back-story that needed to be elaborated on, and the writers seemed to try to throw a lot of extra side-things going on to flesh it out more, but it just had the effect of over-complicating things.  It is a fun read, however, and nice for the little details, but the whole just doesn't stand well on its own.  Of course, the convention comics are usually burdened with pushing the convention toys, but I thought the last few ones did much better in this department.  We don't even get to see most of them in action; everyone is just standing around for the most part or on a spaceship.  And ironically, one of the best-looking characters in the art, Razorclaw, doesn't even get an exclusive toy.  As a collectible item, I can recommend it for the cover price.  As a comic story, however, it's quite lacking.  Peace.


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