Ask Sideways

From June 27 to July 8, the Herald of Unicron Sideways took over Ask Vector Prime, having kidnapped the guardian of space and time for his own nefarious ends. A bit of a history lesson, then: Although he originates from the 2001 Robots in Disguise toyline, Sideways biggest role was in the Unicron Trilogy. Introduced in Armada, he was third party of sorts, with the ability to disguise himself as an Autobot or a Decepticon, fomenting distrust and fear. Eventually, it would be revealed that he served Unicron, and he was seemingly destroyed by Optimus Prime. He would later return in Cybertron, revealing that he was from Planet X, and again, he used his faction swapping abilities to spread misinformation. He would also show up in other stories, like Robotmasters, where he was revealed to be a dimensional traveler, and indeed, Robots in Disguise Sideways, seemingly a loyal Autobot, was him as well. The one outlier in all of this was Revenge of the Fallen Sideways, seemingly just a normal Decepticon who shared the name. In 2010, however, The AllSpark Almanac II would introduce an Animated Sideways, who came from another dimension, who was heavily hinted to be the movieverse Sideways as well. This has proved...oh, let's just say, contentious.

Let's begin, shall we?

June 27:

Post 1: Following shortly from a post on Andromeda's page, Sideways has taken over Vector Prime's computer. The "confusion from the Cymond Cluster" refers to the Diaclone Waruder invasion, from BotCon 2015's "Cybertron's Most Wanted". Cyber Keys were the main McGuffin of Cybertron, slivers of Primus' energy that could empower a Transformer in a time of need, with higher firepower, flip out swords, speed boosts, or more esoteric energies, such as Vector Prime's Tachyon Shield. Now, our first question: John F. Kennedy was the 35th President of the United States, who was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald in 1963. Naturally, there are numerous conspiracy theories surrounding the event.

Post 2: The Antikythera mechanism is an ancient Greek analog computer, and one of the oldest computers ever found. Following this, Sideways changes the page's avatar to his, a promotional render of Revenge of the Fallen Sideways superimposed on the cyberspace background from Animated season 3 premier, "TransWarped".

Question 2: Johnny 5, the robot from Short Circuit and its sequel, was seen on the menu for Maccadam's Old Oil House in The AllSpark Almanac II. Angolmois Energy is the lifeforce of Unicron, from the Japanese Beast Wars II and Beast Wars Neo. As noted previously, Planet X is Sideways home, seen in the Cybertron cartoon.

Question 3: Vacuum tubes are a real, and somewhat obsolete, piece of technology. Sideways was with Demolishor in Shangai in Revenge of the Fallen; Shockwave's notes on the Omega Sentinels from The AllSpark Almanac II indicated he wanted to go there. Sideswipe cut Sideways in half, lengthwise, in the film.

Question 4: Sideways is talking about the film Highlander, a fantasy depicting a race of immortal warriors living amongst humanity, who can only be killed by another Highlander by cutting off their head, and absorbing their power.

June 28:

Question 1: Dodo birds are an extinct species of bird. Duh. Point Omega is a destined apocalyptic confrontation where the fate of Primus's Grand Plan and the future of the universe would be decided, from the 3H Productions "Reaching the Omega Point" storyline.

Question 2: Nemesis Prime was a semi-sentient puppet of Unicron via Sideways, seen in Armada episode "Puppet". His Japanese name is Scourge...which leads to a connection with Grand Scourge. Part of the Pla-Kit Collection line of model kit figures, he was a redeco of the Energon (or rather, Superlink) Optimus Prime figures. A mysterious figure with little to no indication for motives at the time, his name had led to some theorizing him to be the same as Nemesis. Whatever the case, his later Unite Warriors figure (only recently revealed at the time) had an online bio indicating that he hunted Primes and Matrix bearers across the multiverse, similar to fellow evil Optimus Prime, Dark of the Moon Darkside Optimus Prime. The universal stream here is supposed to be the universe for the Grand Scourge toy, but the guy who asked screwed up a bit: it should be Aurex 604.19 Beta. This answer is popular with Sideways.

Question 3: Like Angolmois Energy, Dark Energon is the lifeblood of Unicron, from the "Aligned" continuity. Aside from Sideways' statement, here, they have been linked before in other pieces of fiction Sorenson has penned. Sideways paraphrases the song "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" from the 1937 film Shall We Dance, specifically the "You say toe-may-toe, I say toe-mah-toe" bit. The holophoner is a musical instrument from Futurama. Shanix is a currency introduced in the Marvel UK The Transformers comic.

Question 4: Primax 302.06 Gamma is the world of the Dreamwave Productions Generation One comics. The third volume of Generation One indicated Earth had some mysterious connection with Cybertron.

Question 5: A flagellum is the false foot on microscope creatures. Tarantulas indicated that he and the Tripredacus Council were not descendants of Autobots or Decepticons in the Beast Wars episode "Other Victories". The 3H Productions "Primeval Dawn" storyline and Universe comic had Tarantulas as a creation of Unicron, based off of Megatron's derogatory labeling of Tarantulas as a "spawn of Unicron" in "Nemesis, Part 1".

Question 6: The final episode of the Sunbow The Transformers cartoon, "The Rebirth, Part 3", ended with Cybertron being re-energized for a new Golden Age, as Galvatron and Lord Zarak fled to plot anew. Another popular answer with Sideways.

Question 7: Armada Sideways' Mini-Cons, Rook and Crosswise, were both Headmasters and Combiners, forming Sideways heads, and forming together a small robot. Never given a name in English media, his Japanese name was "Mirror". Tinder is a dating app. In Western fiction, binary-bonding is how one (usually a Nebulon or a human) can become a Headmaster, Targetmaster, Powermaster, etc.

Question 8: The TakaraTomy Transformers: Cloud toyline and accompanying fiction depicted an alternate world, home to a faction of Autobots who served as guardians of the multiverse.

June 29:

Question 1: The Thunder Arrow was a Decepticon ship from Victory, the Japanese release of Decepticon Micromaster Skystalker's interstellar shuttle. Skystalker's toy was not given a name beyond the designation of "Thunder Arrow pilot", and he never appeared in the Victory cartoon. The Hyperion was an Autobot ship seen in the first episode of Armada, "First Encounter". Powerlinxing is the term for when a Mini-Con combines and powers up a larger Transformer. Sideways sold the Thunder Arrow to Animated Swindle for some O-Parts, artifacts from the 2001 Robots in Disguise cartoon designed to reactivate Fortress Maximus.

Question 2: Bonobos are a type of great ape. Ick-Yaks were mentioned by Kup in The Transformers: The Movie, and seen in Sunbow The Transformers season 3 episode, "Chaos".

Question 3: The "Sideways is Tarantulas" meme is a semi-ironic fan theory started by David "Walky" Willis, based on some broad similarities between the characters. Sideways shoots it down...

Question 4: ...and lends credence to it, picking Tarantulas' Transmetal alt-mode.

Question 5: This is talking about Beast Wars cartoon Predacon-turned-Maximal Dinobot, who transformed into a Velociraptor. Being released in the late 90's, Dinobot turned into a Jurassic Park-style scaly Velociraptor, but in the years since, Velociraptors have been found to have feathers. Dinobot was cloned several times throughout the cartoon, starting with Clone One in "Double Dinobot", the cyber raptors in "Cutting Edge", and Transmetal 2 Dinobot II in "Feral Scream Part 1". Dinobot shattered the Golden Disk in "Code of Hero". Sideways notes he has been cloned multiple times in the Tyran cluster thanks to the Fallen; The Complete AllSpark Almanac explained that the Fallen's importance in that cluster (due to Revenge of the Fallen) has cause multiple universes to emerge that all follow the same basic path. This serves as an explanation for the universes of the various novelization, comic adaptations, video games, children's books, and more of the movieverse.

Question 6: Nothing too big here.

Question 7: Vector Prime, in Cybertron premier episode "Fallen", was shown to be unfamiliar with the Autobots, Decepticons, and Megatron, despite his seeming omniscience. Death's Head, a Marvel-owned robotic bounty hunt-er, freelance peacekeeping agent, killed Shockwave by destroyed his neural cluster in issue #147 of the Marvel UK The Transformers comic. The original Ask Vector Prime feature on Hasbro's website claimed he was 9 billion years old.

Question 8: lol

Question 9: Tootsie Pops are a sucker-type candy with a Tootsie Roll in the center. Their famous commercial asked "How many licks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop?"

June 30:

Question 1: Ramulus was a Transmetal 2 Maximal mountain goat from the fourth year of the Beast Wars toyline. In the 2003 Universe toyline, his toy was redecoed as Longhorn, and Longhorn showed up in the Universe epilogue seen in Fun Publications' "Revelations" storyline. Dan Khanna intended for them to be the same character, and later, Vector will confirm it for us.

Question 2: Animated Dug Base was seen with Grandus in "Decepticon Air", both sharing the same mold. Dug Base was based on Dag Base, a robot from Brave Command Dagwon, who was himself a retool of Return of Convoy Grandus.

Question 3: Unit:E was a planned crossover storyline from Hasbro, involving Transformers, G.I. Joe, Action Man, Stretch Armstrong, M.A.S.K. Micronauts, Rom, Jem and the Holograms, and more, that only ever saw the light of day as one comic from SDCC 2011. It was briefly referenced in the third season of the Prime cartoon. Circuit Breaker was a robot hating human with a suit that granted her flight and electrical power from the Marvel The Transformers comics. Dr. Arkeville was a Decepticon ally and mad scientist seen in several episodes of the first season of the Sunbow The Transformers cartoon. Hydra was a Decepticon Godmaster from Super-God Masterforce. Professor Princess was a supervillainous toddler from Animated. T.A.I.L.P.I.P.E.'s name is inspired by S.U.V. or the Society of Ultimate Villainy from the Animated episode of the same name.

Question 4: Cute in a dirtbag kind of way.

Question 5: This question refers to Beet-Papil, a female transforming ladybug from the fiction for the Armored Insect Battalion Beetras toys, which would be imported as the Deluxe Insecticons by Hasbro.

Question 6: In the Dreamwave Energon comic, the Armada versions of Rhinox, Airazor, Terrorsaur, and Cheetor were enslaved by Unicron to become his Four Horsemen, as War, Death, Famine, and Pestilence. "Rhinox is death" is an ancient fandom meme, from the same fanfic that gave us "You lived like a warrior ans died to an hero."; "Dinobot's Old Technology". I believe David Willis asked this; he had made several porn comics for Slipshine based on characters from his webcomics. Rhinox ate wild bean vines and farted in Beast Wars episode "The Low Road".

Question 7: Micronauts and Rom are both properties owned by Hasbro, who had comics set in the main Marvel Universe published in the late 70's/early 80's. The question asker wants to know if they exist in the Marvel The Transformers comic universe, which initially stated off also in main continuity, but quickly established itself to be its own thing.

Question 8: Rapid Run was a redeco of the Armada Sideways toy from the Energon toyline.

Question 9: A paramecium is a species of single-celled organisms. This whole question is a reference to a gag from Futurama episode "The Why of Fry"; when Fry asks who killed the dinosaurs, the Brainspawn answers that he did.

July 1:

Question 1: Ursa Magnus is a fan character created by a fan with the same screenname; a Maximal polar bear version of Ultra Magnus. A TransTech version of the character was slipped into the background of "Invasion Prologue".

Question 2: Jeez, I hope this guy is alright.

Question 3: The Dark Spark comes from the Rise of the Dark Spark video game; a mysterious evil energy, capable of traveling through dimensional barriers. The Nega-Cores were created by Jhiaxus in the IDW Publishing Revelations storyline, to assist in the Dead Universe's expansion into the living one. Vector previously theorized the Dark Spark was connected to the Dead Universe somehow.

Question 4: True enough.

Question 5: So, Canada.

Question 6: Hunter Nemesis Prime was an "evil redeco" of Beast Hunters Optimus Prime from the Go! toyline, whose bio described him as an evil Optimus Prime from an alternate universe, brought to the main timeline by the "Black Legendisc". The bio's description of him is vaguely similar to the mirror-universe Shattered Glass concept, which in universal stream technobabble has been described as a "negative-polarity" universe.

Question 7: The Challenge of the GoBots universe was being destroyed by the Marvel Comics The Transformers splinter timeline, Classics, a series of stories by Fun Publications set in the Marvel timeline ignoring the Marvel UK and Generation 2 stories. The Omega Lock was introduced in Cybertron, and seen again in the Prime cartoon; these Omega Locks seem to be more metaphysical, however. As it turns out, Sideways' story about messing around with the Omega Locks on GoBotron is somewhat true. We'll get to that back on the Ask Vector Prime annotation page later.

Question 8: At the beginning of the Robotix cartoon, the human's ship was shot down by an unidentified alien spacecraft, landing on Skalorr. According to the one issue Marvel adaptation comic, these aliens were called the Ejoornians, a name that would later be applied to the aliens from the Revenge of the Fallen prequel comic, Defiance, by The AllSpark Almanac II.

July 2:

Question 1: S.T.A.R.S. was the first ever Transformers fan club, which had its "story" told in pack-in mail-order flyers, explained in-fiction as part of an Autobot-human relations program. Ransack and Crumplezone come from Cybertron, Decepticons recruited from Velocitron.

Question 2: Conjunx Endura is a term from IDW Publishing's More than Meets the Eye, essentially meaning "married couple". Cybertron Soundwave also came from Planet X, and was one of the last survivors alongside Sideways. Wing Saber was also seen in Cybertron.

Question 3: Sideways and Soundwave were seemingly shunted into another dimension alongside Starscream after the latter's fight with Galvatron, in Cybertron episode "Showdown". J'nwan is something of a Cybertronian version of Valhalla, where the most legendary Transformers reside, seen in the 3H Productions "Reaching the Omega Point" storyline.

Question 4: The facsimile constructs were Decepticon-controlled human clones that were very prominent on the early, Furman-penned years of the IDW Publishing comics continuity. When Shane McCarthy took over, they practically disappeared, only showing up here and there in later author's stories.

Question 5: The Fallen was one of the Thirteen original Transformers, introduced in the Dreamwave Productions comic mini-series, The Dark Ages. In the "Aligned" continuity, he was given a "real name"-Megatronus. The Realm of the Primes is dimension in the astral plane, where several of the Thirteen reside, seen in the 2015 Robots in Disguise cartoon. Cosmic rust was a disease introduced in Sunbow episode "Cosmic Rust". Femax was a planet seen in issue #53 of the Marvel comic, inhabited by a race of giant humanoids, with a primitive male society and a highly advanced female society. The White Beamer is the personal sword of White Leo, the leader of the Autobot-aligned Beastformers from The Headmasters and Beastformers, which was released as Battle Beasts in the US. Hive was a planet seen in The Headmasters episode "Fight to the Death on Planet Hive!!" Imperius Drax was the leader of the heroic Stentarian faction the Terradores, who was accidentally assassinated by Whirl in More than Meets the Eye; he was noted to have a golden staff. Lobotomaxx was an alien from the G.I. Joe: Star Brigade toyline, who was a member of the Lunartix Empire. He and the other two toys who were members showed up in Devil's Due Press' G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers: Black Horizon comic.

Question 6: Clio was inspired by an ad for the Renault Clio car running in the late 80s, featuring a transforming version of the car. When asked about it in the Marvel UK letters page of issue #315, Blaster claimed she was the Decepticon Powermaster Clio, whose partner was Patra. Get it? Cleopatra?

Question 7: Trilobites are an extinct species of arthropods, similar to horseshoe crabs. The "Aligned" continuity was meant to all fit into one universe...albeit, as Aaron Archer says, if you squint.

Question 8: The Wreckers were an elite squadron of Autobots introduced in issue #78 of the Marvel UK comic, who have since gone on to appear in other continuities. Everyone mentioned here has actually died; Wide Scope and Drop Zone were members of the Wings Universe version of the team, killed by Squadron X in the Tornado - Decepticon Saboteur Facebook page. Leadfoot was a member of the Wreckers from Dark of the Moon; he was killed by the black ops CIA unit Cemetery Wind in Age of Extinction. Seaspray was a member of the Wreckers in the Prime cartoon; his ship was destroyed by Dreadwing in the episode "Loose Cannons". Rotorstorm, a European Turbomaster, joined IDW Publishing's Wreckers in Last Stand of the Wreckers, where he was killed by Overlord via being shot in the head. Spittor, a Predacon frog from the Beast Wars toyline, was a member of 3H Productions' Beast Machines era Wreckers, killed when an explosion went off in a ship he was onboard. Springer, who has been a member on most versions of the team, was killed by Megatron in Regeneration One. Hyperion was one of the Wrecker's former leaders in the IDW Publishing continuity, killed when he was sucked out of the Lost Light in issue #2 of More than Meets the Eye and crashed on a planet nearby. And Impactor was leader of the original incarnation of the Wreckers, who died twice; once in issue #88, protecting Emirate Xaaron from Macabre, and again in issue #169, when a zombified Impactor sacrificed his life once more to shut down a reactor poised to destroy Cybertron.

July 3:

Question 1: It is a bit odd, in hindsight, how there was no Starscream in the 2001 Robots in Disguise toyline.

Question 2: Lori was one of the Autobot's human allies in Cybertron. While her father was given the name Ernesto, her mother was never given a name, and she never received a last name. So, Sideways fixes that. Of note, Lori's Hispanic background is never really touched upon beyond her father's name, and his use of "mija" as a term of endearment for her in the Cybertron episode "Speed". Nano-gnats were mentioned in "A Meeting of Minds", from the Transformers Legends anthology books.

Question 3: oof, poor Vector.

Question 4: This refers to one of the commercials for the original toyline's Pretenders range of figures, where a young boy would announce that he's a video gamer, and in response, another one would answer that he's a skateboarder, before opening his "shell" that he was a bad, late 80's CGI "Transformer" with a badly vocoded voice. Watch it here: https://youtu.be/0rzuw7k1iQE

Question 5: Armada and Cybertron did indeed give different origins- the former (at least in the Japanese version of the show, the confused English dub was a bit harder to decipher) implied that he was grown from Unicron's cells, which was latter thrown out by the latter, making him a native of Planet X. The idea that Cybertron Planet X's survivors aligned themselves with Unicron does not come from the show, but rather Soundwave's profile in issue #9 of the Club Magazine. Planet X was said to be the body of an alternate Unicron in the Galaxy Force DVD booklets. Unicron collapsed into a black hole in Cybertron. Ask Vector Prime previously indicated Planet X origins lied in the Cybertronian Empire from the Marvel Generation 2 comic. Robots in Disguise Sideways was depicted as a loyal Autobot in his tech specs; these tech specs were used for Armada Sideways in a nigh-identical form, with the exception that Rook and Crosswise had given him a split personality.

Question 6: Prima is the first Transformer, originally mentioned in issue #65 of the Marvel comic. His sword, the Star Saber, was first mentioned in Nexus Prime's profile in issue #30 of the Club magazine. The AllSpark appeared in both the live-action movies and Animated.

Question 7: What a weird question. Doubleface is Sideways Japanese name (for Armada). Kitsunes are fox-like creatures from Japanese folklore.

Question 8: Discord is a.....dragon horse thing from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. He showed up on the menu for Maccadam's Old Oil House (introduced in issue #82 of the Marvel UK comic) in The Complete AllSpark Almanac.

July 4:

Question 1: Gibbons are another type of great ape. "Big Red" is the designation given to a giant generic red Autobot from the first issue of the Marvel comic. Gladiaron was one of the Decepticon leaders from history seen in the Hall of Heroes, from The Transformers: The Movie; he was given his name by Floro Dery. The Triumvirate were the three Decepticon leaders on Cybertron after Straxus' death, seen in issues #213 and #214 of the Marvel UK comic. Composed of Octus, Legonis, and Seizer, they were based on the Second Triumvirate of Rome. Megazarak was a Decepticon from the Universe toyline, sold at OTFCC 2004. His name was taken from the Japanese name for Scorponok; we'll learn more about him in Ask Vector Prime.

Question 2: It is a children's toyline, of course! You know who Swindle is, undoubtedly. I believe that's the Oxford English Dictionary definition for whorl.

Question 3: This particular name for Unicron, the "Prince of Nothingness" comes from issue #15 of the Dreamwave Armada comic.

Question 4: In his time answering the Marvel UK letter's page, Blaster claimed in had a brother and sister; Toaster, an Autobot with a toaster alt-mode (duh) in issue #310; and Karmen, an Autobot who turns into a set of heated hair rollers in issue #316. In IDW Publishing's Stormbringer, artist Don Figueroa drew Blaster in one of the scenes set on an Autobot orbital post; this would be made an error where Spotlight: Blaster showed that, at the time, he had been lost in space due to a botched assassination attempt. Simon Furman joked on his blog that in Stormbringer it was Blaster's brother, Bluster, and for stupid reasons, TFWiki took it literally. Casa del Blaster roughly translates from Spanish into "House of Blaster".

Question 5: MOSC stands for "Mint on Sealed Card", a term in toy collection. Jeff Bezos is the founder and CEO of Amazon. An endoscopic claw is a type of torture device, seen in issue #4 of IDW Publishing's Last Stand of the Wreckers. Can't remember what Gentile's first name was.

Question 6: At this time, the wiki was treating the two "Aligned" Grimlocks (the first being the Generation 1 inspired Grimlock from the Fall of Cybertron video game and the IDW Publishing comics, Rage of the Dinobots and Beast Hunters; the second being the former Decepticon Grimlock from 2015's Robots in Disguise) as the same character.

Question 7: Violen Jiger was the main antagonist of Zone, a supernatural creature formed from the spirits of dead Decepticons.

Question 8: Hehehehe. Puns.

July 5:

Question 1: The God of the Maximals was seen in Beast Wars Neo. At the time, the show had not yet had any form of English release, either official or unofficial, beyond the first 10 or so episodes being subtitled. It would take a few years until Karyuudo Fansubs released it, and as it would turn out, this God was Vector Sigma.

Question 2: This post was revised from the original:

Q: Sideways, you backstabbing razor snake. Why was Axer chasing after your aft all the way from Primax to Viron anyways?

A: Hey, that's not how I remember it... ok, fine, it's exactly how I remember it. Anyway, his sister and I were something of an item and I miiiiiiight have accidentally made an inappropriate remark about her exhaust port. Maybe. I mean, how was I supposed to know he was such a prude?

Q: You rude-aft spawn of a glitch, what's Axer's sister's name?

A: Woah, you ingest complicated organic molocules for sustenance with that mouth, sister? Actually, you kinda remind me of the dame in question. She could melt tetrinite with her extremely foul vocal processor. Lucky me, right?

Anyways, her name? Everyone called her Airbags, on account of the way they'd deploy even in the event of a, shall we say, low-speed collision. Hehehehehe. Good times!

I'll go off the original here, and then add in anything from the revised version.

Sideways was originally introduced in 2001's Robots in Disguise, as I said previously. He redecoed from Generation 2 Laser Cycle Road Rocket. He was sold in a two-pack; the other Laser Cycle, Road Pig, was redecoed as Axer, whose bio indicated he was the Generation 1 Action Master, who traveled to the Robots in Disguise universe. Razor-snakes were mentioned in the tech specs of Spittor, a Predacon frog from the second year of the Beast Wars toyline. I asked the second bit; tetrinite was mentioned in the Kids Stuff Talking Story Book, Jaws of Terror. Airbags is a sex joke, I'm sure you can figure it out. I talked about the Terradores and Imperius Drax before; this is our first mention of the Axiom Nexus Auto-Censors.

Question 3: Galactic Guardians was the favorite television show of Bud from Cybertron, which was also one of Sideways'. It's description here, made by Jim and Vivian (gearshift on the AllSpark, who also did other stuff for Ask Vector Prime proper), is probably inspired by Battlestar Galactica; a modern, serious sci-fi reboot of a somewhat campy 1970's TV sci-fi show, although Galactic Guardians seems a bit more silly than 1970s BSG. Specifically, details like a weasley vice President (Gaius Baltar), sociopoltical commentary being undercut by network execs (as revealed by series writers Ronald D Moore on commentary tracks), and the thirteen episode structure of season one all remind me of it. Netflix is still a thing in Axiom Nexus Cybertron, I guess. As a result of this all new stuff, there's a lot less referential material here, so I'll go over what I can. Jake Colton was an actor from issue #45 of the Marvel comic. Bud became a movie director in the years following Cybertron, as revealed in the end credits of the final episode, "Beginning". Alkatron is named for Alcatraz. Franzozia for France. "Mr I Get Buried Under Piles Of Bricks With My Leg Sticking Out Like A Nerd" refers to the online Kre-O manga, where Sideways would usually only show up as a leg sticking out of a pile of bricks. Israeorg is named for Israel; U.S.T.R. for U.S.S.R., Ventrical City for Vatican City; and West Konkora for North Korea. Ava Jo Stratford doesn't appear to be an outside reference; Rollie Friendly was a film director, also from issue #45 of the Marvel comic. Animated Optimus Prime, while serving as a lowly space-bridge maintinence bot, watched documentaries on the Great War, as seen in premier episode "Transform and Roll Out". Cold construction is a type of reproduction from IDW Publishing's comic, in which a spark is generated by the Matrix and placed in an already fabricated body. I've already gone over Cloud World. Roman Centurions are a real life thing from history; they're probably inspired by the Cylons of BSG, who marched down New Caprica at the end of season 2 after Gaius Baltar's surrender. New Angeles is based on New York and Los Angeles; the Statue of Justice, on the Statue of Liberty. McFeely chimes in here; TFWiki's current version of the source page cuts out a bit of Gearshift's answer: "Q: at least i'm not obsessed with updating galactic guardian's wiki" Chris McFeely is one of the admins on TFWiki, and at the time he was one of the busiest, before he started up The Basics on Youtube. Supernatural is a CW show; if you weren't around on Tumblr from 2012-2014, its fanbase on their were...well, obsessed. "Jet fuel can't melt steel beams" is a meme about 9/11 conspiracy theories.

Question 4: Wine Country is a region of California. The 2004 film Sideways is a comedy-drama set in the region.

Question 5: Scrounge was an Autobot from issue #17 of the Marvel comic, who sacrificed his life to deliver information to the Autobots about Optimus Prime and his troops survival on Earth.

Question 6: Fem-rocks are female Rock Lords.

Question 7: Samus Aran is the main protagonist of Nintendo's Metroid video games. Geno (whose real name is the unpronounceable string of characters "♥♪!?") is from the Super Mario RPG. They showed up as an Easter egg in a crowd illustration in TransTech prose story "Gone Too Far".

July 6:

Question 1: Hot Shot had something of a rivavly with Sideways in Armada.

Question 2: Onyx Prime is one of the thirteen, introduced in The Covenant of Primus. Onyx Primal was the exclusive toy of BotCon 1996, a Predacon redeco of the Beast Wars Basic-class bat Optimus Primal. I don't think the idea of Onyx Primal being a clone comes from anywhere specific.

Question 3: The Knights of Unicron were an exclusive set of toys at SDCC 2014, redecoed to resemble hair metal band from the 80's. The song "Thunder Punch" was mentioned in their packed-in booklet, and is a reference to both Stan Bush's "The Touch" (perhaps most famous to Transformers fans for its inclusion in The Transformers: The Movie.) and the song "Thunderstuck" by AC/DC; the guy in the comments goes through with this, combining the lyrics of the two songs. Kremzeek was an energy being aligned with the Decepticons from Sunbow episode "Kremzeek!"; he's been appearing as a mascot on drinks in comics since Dreamwave Productions' Generation One ongoing. Mood Whiplash and Nightmare Fuel are drinks first seen in IDW Publishing's More than Meets the Eye issues #13 and #11; they are both named after tropes from TV Tropes. Engex was first mentioned in the prose story "Bullets" from the TPB for Last Stand of the Wreckers; it later showed up in More than Meets the Eye. The Autotrooper is named after and has paraphrased lyrics from the Iron Maiden song, "The Trooper". Autotroopers were the identical-looking Autobot police force from Animated, themselves based on the Autoroopers from Kiss Players. Quintessons are squid like aliens, first introduced in The Transformers: The Movie. The Sonic Canyons were first mentioned in the Tech Specs for 1988 Autobot Headmaster, Siren. There's one more bit left out in the current src page on TFWiki: "If you had to listen you'd find yourself Doin' the same thing too! Ignoring The Prowl, Ignoring The Prowl! (DA DA!)" These are paraphrased lyrics from Judas Priest's "Breaking the Law".

Question 4: Hoo, boy, this one. Alright, so, this was supposed to be another "I did" answer with some vague inneudo. Thanks to some fairly careless wording, this answer ended up reading as a rape joke. Thankfully, Jim and the rest quickly apologized when this was pointed out, edited the answer to remove it and provide something a bit more meaningful, and took care to review and edit any future posts which could be seen to have similar connotations. In 3H Productions' "Primeval Dawn" storyline, Tigatron and Airazor were revived by the Vok after Tigerhawk's destruction in Beast Wars episode "Nemesis, Part 2". The concurrently-published but chronologically later Wreckers comics showed that of the two, seemingly only Tigatron had made it back. Gutcruncher was a Decepticon Action Master from the final year of the toyline; it was noted he traded with the Junkions, Transformer-like robots from the Planet of Junk introduced in The Transformers: The Movie. MCSF stands for Maximal Command Security Force, the Maximal police introduced in BotCon 2006's "Dawn of Future's Past". The throwback cassette is Ravage, who was revived by Tarantulas after his death in "The Agenda (Part III)". The big red Optimus lookalike is Primal Prime, who was created by the Vok to protect the Matrix of Leadership and the Transformers onboard the Ark. Sideways' trans-phase abilities were introduced in Armada; they allow him to become intangible and regenerate from injuries that would be fatal for a normal Transformer.

Question 5: The Dark Gods and Light Gods were the groups Unicron and Primus belonged to, originally mentioned in issue #150 of the Marvel UK comic. The Chronarchitect was seen in the 3H Productions storyline "Reaching the Omega Point"; Ask Vector Prime linked him to the "Ruler of Space and Time" from the Beast Wars Neo manga.

Question 6: Beta was the number two of A3 (later Alpha Trion) in the early days of the Transformer race as slave of the Quintessons; she helped lead a rebellion against them, as seen in the Sunbow cartoon episode "Forever Is a Long Time Coming". Solus Prime is a member of the Thirteen and the first female Transformer created (in-fiction, not in terms of real-life), introduced in the novel Transformers: Exiles. Solsbury Prime refers to Solsbury Hill, a hill in England that shows remnants of a medieval era fort, perhaps best known from the Peter Gabriel song "Solsbury Hill".

Question 7: Fun fact, Vector Prime's sword is called the Rhisling.

Question 8: What a strange question to ask. Anyway, aside from Solus, who was killed by the Fallen, the others we know to be dead are Liege Maximo, Onyx Prime, Micronus Prime, and Alpha Trion. The Thirteenth was reincarnated as Optimus. Quintus Prime, Alchemist Prime, Amalgamous Prime, Vector Prime, and Nexus Prime all left Cybertron. The only one whose fate we don't know is Prima.

July 7:

Question 1: Tilapia are a kind of fish.

Question 2: The Ask Vector Prime sections for The Complete AllSpark Almanac claimed that Sideways had been to the Rovio cluster, the world of Angry Birds Transformers. Road Pig was a Generation 2 Laser Cycle Decepticon, who was redecoed into a Generation 1 version of Sideways in the Robotmasters toyline. Also, pig puns!

Question 3: In the Sunbow cartoon, and sometimes in the Marvel comic, Optimus Prime's trailer tended to disappear when he transformed to robot mode. One of the more popular fan explanations for this is that it's stored in subspace, as Sideways recants here. Surpringly, Skarvros appears to be an all new planet. Nebulans are the aliens who, in western fiction, binary bond with Transformers to become Headmaster, Targetmaster, Powermasters, etc. Narliphants are an elephant-like species of Narlies, toys from the Rock Lords toyline that had fake hair, and a wheel-system that cause the mouth to open and close as one pushed them along the floor.

Question 4: Scraplets are metal eating parasites introduced in the Marvel comic. Archduke of Destruction does not appear to be a previous epithet for Unicron; it was for Beast Wars II Megastorm. Battle Beasts were seen inside Unicron in the aformentioned G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers: Black Horizon comic, having been enslaved by him to serve as anti-bodies.

Question 5: The question is a lyric from the song "With a Little Help from My Friends", a song originally by the Beatles song, but perhaps better known for the Joe Cocker cover. A gear shredder is a type of weapon from the Fall of Cybertron video game. Soundwave's quote here is a paraphrase version of the motto of Generation 1 Soundwave.

Question 6: The Doctor asked about is the main character from Doctor Who (from which "wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey" comes from). Scalpel is a Decepticon "medic" from Revenge of the Fallen, referred to only as "the Doctor" in the film itself. Here, it's said he fixed Sideways after Sideswipe sliced him in half.

Question 7: A play on the "if you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you". History lesson: this phrase is derived from American conman George C. Parker, who "sold" the Brooklyn Bridge, among other locations, to unwitting immigrants. The spacebridge described here is the Marvel comics version, which did indeed phase halfway through on two worlds. Spanner, the creator of the technology behind the space bridge, was revealed to have been forcefully rebuilt into it in issue #18 of the Marvel comic. Again, Doubleface is Sideways' Japanese name.

Question 8: I've already gone over Violen Jiger. Devil Z and Dark Nova were the mysterious alien beings leading the Decepticons in Super-God Masterforce and Return of Convoy, respectively.

July 8:

Question 1: In The AllSpark Almanac II, Shockwave's notes revealed that Sideways was captured by Primal Major and his crew onboard Alpha Supreme, and that Sideways sabotaged Alpha's engines near a black hole. The Pit is the Transformer version of hell, first mentioned in Beast Wars.

Question 2: Obviously Sideways is talking about all the sex he's had.

Post/Question 3: Rook's page reported on the OZSA's attempts to rescue VP. Walky's Tarantulas question makes him so mad he blew his head off. And that's that! (Yeah, I could try and identify the specific explosion used, but I'm not that obsessive.)