"Echoes and Fragments" is a brief, four-chapter prose story published on Ask Vector Prime, written by Jim Sorenson and with illustrations by Chris Colgin. It retells the events of The Transformers: The Movie, altered by multiversal menace Sideways and interdimensional trickster Gong to include aspects of the universe of the GoBots. I'll go a bit more in-depth on the characters as they appear in the story.
Let's start with the opening post, published on January 10, 2016. Over on Renegade Rhetoric, Cy-Kill mentioned an "invasion" of Cybertron by GoBots that Gong had mentioned. Vector Prime (specifically, the TransTech version of the character), indicated it was a game between two incarnations of Cybertron and GoBotron that created a brief, unstable Iocus cluster, merging aspects of the two universes. He mentioned that one of his students, Blueshift (a TransTech version of the Velocitronian theoretical scientist mentioned in Transformers: Exiles), had written a paper about this brief universe, thus the question here. Applied Multiversal and Megaversal Studies, Quarterly is just patterned after a typical academic journal; the idea of the Megaverse comes from the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe-the Megaverse covers series published by them that don't really fit into the main Multiversal model, such as the New Universe or the Ultraverse for Marvel. And so, we begin the story off with the "cover image", based on the American poster for The Transformers: The Movie. Unicron and Galvatron are the only ones who are the same as on the poster, and even then, Galvatron is drawn based on his IDW Publishing Cybertronian body, created by artist Guido Guidi for Spotlight: Galvatron. Otherwise: Galvatron's ship (named as the Revenge in Jim's co-written book with Bill Forster, Transformers: The Complete Ark) is replaced with a modified version of a Thruster-I'll explain more as we get to the actual terms in story-while the Autobot shuttle (seen several times in the movie, with one being piloted by Ironhide and crew at the start, and two latter seen in the middle of the movie after the Autobots flee Autobot City) is replaced by a Command Center, with the Decepticons chasing it being replaced by the Sweeps of Deadlift. Fracture replaces the transforming Cyclonus, Deadlift replaces Scourge, Squirt replaces Wheelie, Bent Wing replaces Springer, Tail Pipe replaces Arcee, Major Mo replaces Ultra Magnus, Throttle replaces Kup, Mr. Moto/Motosan replaces Blurr, and Tri-Trak (who seems to have been accidentally colored as Cy-Kill) replaces Rodimus Prime.
The story is split up into four chapters. Each one has a title, taken from IDW Publishing's four-issue mini-series adapting the movie, Transformers: The Animated Movie. I'll break each chapter up by sections, delineated by the five stars.
Part 1: "The Gathering Storm"
Section 1: The story opens with a paraphrased version of the iconic "It is the year 2005" narration that Victor Caroli provided in The Transformers: The Movie. The film properly introduced Cybertron's moons, Moonbase One and Moonbase Two. Maccadam's Old Oil House is the most famous bar on Cybertron, first introduced in issue #82 of the Marvel UK The Transformers comic, having since gone on to appear in many new stories. Sideways is a character whose massively changed over time; he's most famously been depicted in the "Unicron Trilogy" cartoons of Transformers: Armada and Transformers: Cybertron as a servant of Unicron; the name was previously used in Transformers: Robots in Disguise for an Autobot who seemingly had no connection to the herald of Unicron, but when a Sideways toy was released in the Japanese Transformers: Robotmasters toyline, set in the world of the Japanese Generation 1 continuity, all of the characters named Sideways were linked as dimension hoppers. In 2009, the live-action film Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen included a Decepticon grunt named Sideways, who again seemed to have no connection to the dimension hopper. However, a year later, Jim Sorenson (the writer of this story) and Bill Forster's book, Transformers Animated: The AllSpark Almanac II, included a Transformers Animated incarnation of Sideways that WAS the dimension hopper, and who was heavily implied to be the live-action movie Decepticon as well, hinting that Sideways was a multiversal singularity. Since then, further revelations in Transformers Animated: The Complete AllSpark Almanac and the Ask Sideways column have made it clear that while he's not a singularity, most Sideways are heavily linked to one another, and share a high degree of similarity most alternate incarnations of characters don't. Anyway, with all that out of the way, the one that appears in this story is specifically the Robots in Disguise version of the character, who was a yellow redeco of the Transformers: Generation 2 Road Rocket toy, included with the Decepticon Axer as part of a Wal-Mart exclusive two-pack. The Renegade seen here, meanwhile, is Gong. Gong was one of two Tonka-original watch toys released in the GoBots toyline, along with his Guardian counterpart Tic Toc. While he never received any form of characterization in the original toyline, Ask Vector Prime would set him up as a sort of interdimensional troublemaker, with Transformers: Renegade Rhetoric further portraying him as such.
The Gargent cluster is the universal cluster name given the realities of the GoBots franchise as given to them by the Transcendent Technomorphs (aka, the TransTech), as revealed in The AllSpark Almanac II. Gong's face is noted to be more expressive than a Cybertronian's; the Challenge of the GoBots cartoon often depicted the titular characters with a "squash and stretch" style of animation and very human-like facial features, being a Hanna-Barbera cartoon. The "Level" system was introduced as Dr. Braxis' way of classifying alternate universe in the Challenge of the GoBots two-parter, "Invasion from the 21st Level", and would go on to see use in the Transformers: TransTech story "Withered Hope" and Ask Vector Prime. The Viron cluster is the universal cluster name for the Transformers: Robots in Disguise continuity, created by David Willis and Graham Weaver for the unpublished Transformers: TransTech story "Crankshafts", and canonized in The AllSpark Almanac II. The "mustachioed blue bartender" mentioned is Maccadam, proprietor of the Old Oil House. Maccadam was first visually depicted in #240 of the Marvel UK The Transformers comic; his name was never explicitly SAID in the story, but it was fairly obvious whom he was. The story was printed in black-and-white, but artist Guido Guidi would reference the design for an illustration of the bar in Transformers: The Ultimate Guide, coloring Maccadam as blue. It was also in Transformers: The Ultimate Guide that Maccadam was first linked to the Thirteen, where the book claimed that drunken rumors that the bar's proprietor was in fact one of the original Transformers floated around. In the Transformers Legends anthology book, the story "Prime Spark" featured Maccadams as a multiversal hub of sorts, where the sparks of various incarnation of Optimus Prime and Optimus Primal came after dying. Meanwhile, in 2011, the Transformers: Exiles novel introduced a few new members of the Thirteen, including Alchemist Prime. Initially characterized as a scientist, Alchemist's path would be forever changed when he was introduced in IDW Publishing's Generation 1 continuity; he was off-handedly mentioned by Galvatron in issue #35 of The Transformers as coming up with "prophecies" while drinking "rancid engex." Ask Vector Prime ran with this, hinting that Maccadam's true identity was, in fact, Alchemist Prime. The IDW comics ran with this idea, establishing in Optimus Prime issue #10 that he was a heavy drinker, and, when Maccadam showed up onscreen for the first time in Transformers: Cyberverse, he was revealed to indeed be Alchemist Prime. The Primax Cluster is the universal cluster of the various Generation 1 and Beast Era realities, as established in the Transformers: TransTech stories "Gone Too Far" and "Withered Hope". The "upcoming challenge" is Unicron; Challenge of the GoBots, you see. The Omega Lock was an artifact introduced in Transformers: Cybertron, an ancient item capable of bringing the god of the Transformers, Primus, back online. When it next appeared in Transformers: Prime, meanwhile, it was shown to be linked to the AllSpark, creating the living metal that Cybertron itself was made of. In Ask Sideways, the dimension-hopping villain claimed he had inflicted the Cataclysm on the world of the GoBots seen in "Withered Hope" by messing with GoBotron's Omega Lock; its likely these events here that he used to make up that claim. Gong's home universe (where the GoBotron seen in this story is located) is Gargent 186.0 Gamma, the world of the short-lived GoBots Magazine, which had a few short comic strips in each issue. The protector of space and time is, of course, Vector Prime.
Section 2: This whole section is just a prose description of the scene in the film where Optimus Prime sends Ironhide to Earth, unaware of Laserbeak's spying presence. Jazz was seen as Prime's unofficial second-in-command in the three-part pilot mini-series that began The Transformers, but generally was just depicted as a normal Autobot soldier after the fact.
Section 3: Cybertron's description as a "stable axis" upon which the universe is centered, and which Unicron seeks the destruction of, comes from Universe Ramjet's ranting in the Collectors' Club "Balancing Act" storyline, specifically in "Balancing Act, Part 2". Some vaguely "string-theory" sounding stuff with the "one-dimensional strings".
Section 4: And so, we have the Renegades replacing the Decepticons. This whole bit replaces Laserbeak's return, with altered versions of lines like Megatron's backhanded insult of Starscream, and the "more than you know, Prime" line, with an added-in Hanna-Barbera laugh. Cy-Kill, the series 1 GoBot alien motorcycle that was depicted as the leader of the Renegades, obviously replaces Megatron. Fitor, a series 1 GoBot with a starfighter alternate mode, was depicted in the cartoon as Cy-Kill's oldest comrade and his loyal second-in-command. As such, he replaces the loyal Shockwave as seen in The Transformers, the opposite of how he appeared in most classic media. Snoop replaces Laserbeak; she was a GoBot meant for series 2, with a Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird alternate mode. For whatever reason, her toy wasn't released in America, but she still showed up in the cartoon, most memorably appearing as a Renegade double-agent in the ranks of the Guardians in "Cy-Kill's Cataclysmic Trap". Zero was a series 2 GoBot with a Mitsubishi A6M Zero-sen alternate mode; he was most memorable for his appearance in "The Third Column", in which he briefly created a splinter faction of Renegades, and as such, replaces the treacherous Starscream. The transformation noise for the GoBots was different than that of the one the Transformers used, more akin to the mechanical noises made by the Maximals and Predacons in Beast Wars. With no one to serve as a cassette tape, the clumsy and dull Cop-Tur, one of Cy-Kill's constant companions in the show, replaces Soundwave; Cop-Tur was a series 1 GoBot with an alien helicopter alternate mode. As mentioned, the revised version of the scene ends with villainous laughter.
Section 5: The Autobot shuttle from the film is replaced by a Guardian Command Center, the typical spaceships of the friendly faction of GoBots. Cy-Kill's dialogue gets a bit more characterful than the fairly straight lines Megatron has in the film. The Autobots all die the same way; almost all GoBots had built-in hand lasers, as seen in the show, rather than handheld weapons. Additionally, both Guardians and Renegades had built-in flight capabilities, in contrast to only the Decepticons having such abilities. Sky-Jack was a series 3 GoBot with a F-14 Tomcat jet fighter alternate mode. Twin Spin was a series 2 GoBot with a Boeing CH-46 Sea Knight tandem rotor helicopter alternate mode. Gunnyr was a series 3 GoBot MiG-21 "Fishbed" fighter alternate mode. Blades was the name given by the cartoon to Night Fright for his sole appearance in the episode "The Gift"; he was a series 3 Super GoBot with a Mil Mi-24 'Hind' helicopter gunship alternate mode. Prowl's weapon, according to his tech specs, fired "high-corrosive acid pellets". Twin Spin takes Scavenger's place as Prowl's killer. Slicks was a series 2 GoBot with a Renault RE30 F1 car alternate mode. Psycho was a series 1 Super GoBot, with a futuristic car alternate mode. The cackling mad Crasher was Cy-Kill's other constant companion in the series, a series 1 GoBot with a Porsche 956 alternate mode. Instead of killing Ironhide, like Megatron did, the ever-resourceful Cy-Kill spares the Autobot, figuring he can find some use for him.
Section 6: We move on to Earth, with Hot Rod out fishing. His companion in the film, Spike Witwicky's son Daniel, is replaced by Nick Burns, one of the younger human allies of the Guardians, and cadets at UNECOM. Daniel's sadness over his dad being away is replaced by Nick Burns' melancholy over Matt and Anya being away. Matt Hunter is another of the Guardians' allies, a test pilot at UNECOM. Dr. Anya Turgenova, meanwhile, is a Soviet scientist and UNECOM liaison, who had a major role in the show's opening "Battle for GoBotron" mini-series, and was a semi-recurring in the show proper. Unlike Daniel, Nick immediately hops in Hot Rod's car mode; he also warns Hot Rod about the roadblock Kup and crew are setting up, allowing Hot Rod to swerve, unlike in the final film, where he just burst through it. Destroyer and Fly Trap take the place of Blitzwing and Shrapnel in the scene where Kup saves Hot Rod. Destroyer was a series 1 Super GoBot with a Leopard 2A4 tank alternate mode. Fly Trap was a series 2 GoBot with a garbage truck alternate mode. Stallion strafes Hot Rod and Kup in place of Starscream; he was a series 2 GoBot with a Ford Mustang alternate mode.
Section 7: Next up, the scene in the movie introducing Ultra Magnus and the others. Ultra Magnus' function, according to his toy box, was that of "Autobot City Commander". Starscream fired the shot on the assembled Autobots in the movie; here, he's replaced with Water Walk, a series 2 GoBot who turned into a Cessna sea plane. Stinger replaces one of the Decepticon jets firing on Kup and Hot Rod; he was a series 2 GoBot who had a Chevrolet Stingray alternate mode. Several pieces of the description of Autobot City as a "energy-gathering metropolis" with "hydroelectric works," with features like windmills, come from early concepts for the film, including artist Floro Dery's original design for the city. Zero once more replaces Starscream; he's notably much less whiny about catching his foot in the door, simply turning off his circuits and blasting it free. Screw Head, Crain Brain, and Spoons replace the Insecticons Shrapnel, Bombshell, and Kickback, with Spoons specifically taking up the role of "Decepticon run over by Kup". Screw Head was a series 1 GoBot who turned into a drill take. Crain Brain was a series 1 GoBot with a Unic K-200B crane truck alternate mode. And Spoons was a series 2 GoBot who turned into a forklift. To replace the very specific dialogue used Shrapnel and Kickback (since they literally eat their way in), Crain Brain and Spoons sing lyrics from the song "Ol' Man River", from the musical Show Boat. As I mentioned, the Autobots couldn't fly in the continuity of the cartoon. Spoiler was a series 1 GoBot with a Lamborghini Countach 500LPS alternate mode. Decker Decker is the GoBot identity that Renegade Rhetoric gave to the Machine Robo MR-27 Doubledecker Bus Robo, one of the few unreleased in the GoBots toyline.. He turns into a Mitsubishi Fuso Aero King double-decker bus. Tank was a series 1 GoBot who turned into an alien tank. Loco was a series 1 GoBot with a JNR D-51 train alternate mode. Stretch is the cartoon name for Tux, a series 2 GoBot with a Rolls-Royce Phantom VI limousine alternate mode. Vain Train, like Decker Decker, is based on a Machine Robo toy unused in the GoBots toyline; specifically, he's based on the MR-22 New Shinkansen Robo toy, with a 200 Series Shinkansen train alternate mode. Geeper-Creeper was a series 1 GoBot with a Mitsubishi Jeep alternate mode.
Crossword is one of the components of the Renegade combiner Puzzler, who turns into an orange Porsche 930T, and who forms the left arm of Puzzler. He fires on Blaster's communication pod in place of Bonecrusher, the left arm of the Decepticon combiner Devasator, setting up a trend for Puzzler's components to replaced the Constructicons. The story accidentally has Blaster say Decepticons instead of Renegades; of course, given the universe bending in the story, that might be intentional. Dr. Go replaces Soundwave for most of the rest of the story, beginning here. He was released in the toyline as the series 1 Super GoBot Herr Fiend, who turned into a Porsche 928S. For whatever reason, his name was changed for the cartoon, becoming a pun on the James Bond novel and film, Dr. No. In the cartoon, he was given a stereotypical mad scientist personality with a German accent, interspersing his dialogue with German words. "Jawhol" is German for "yes sir!"; "Herr" is a German word used as an honorific along the lines of "Mister" or "Sir"; "drei" is German for three. The Dread Launchers were one of the later toys released in the GoBots toyline, similar to the Duocons from Transformers, their toys split into two modes, with the legs becoming a launcher and the upper body becoming an aerial mode.. Re-Volt was depicted as their leader in the cartoon; he turned into a hawk and a launching crawler. Chaos turned into a Grumman X-29 experimental aircraft and a launching truck, while Traitor turned into a mechanical insect and a launching platform. They replace Soundwave's cassettes in this scene (specifically, Rumble, Frenzy, Ravage, and Ratbat); Re-Volt specifically takes up Rumble's role of quipping as they break into the communications station. Blaster's dialogue is altered to include a rhyme trash-talking the Renegades.
Section 8: We check back in with Sideways. Van Guard was a series 2 GoBot who turned into a Dodge Caravan, while Defendor was a series 2 GoBot with a Alvis Saladin Mk.II alternate mode. The mechanical modern-day GoBotron was built around the original organic planet, as seen in "The GoBotron Saga", "Lost on GoBotron", "The GoBots That Time Forgot", and various other episodes. GoBeings is the name of the GoBots species before they became cyborgs, as mentioned in "The GoBotron Saga". As told in the Marvel UK and US The Transformers comic, Primus, the Light God, created the Transformers as the last line of defense against his evil brother, the Chaos God Unicron. The GoBots were retconned in The AllSpark Almanac II to be the Transformers of their universe, with Primus residing at GoBotron's core; evidently, like the Oracle in Beast Machines. Wrecks was an unaligned, older GoBot seen in the episode "Lost on GoBotron", a non-transforming drifter who organized gladiatorial fights and sideshows in the underbelly of Old GoBotron to protect his mutant GoBeing followers.
Section 9: The story flips around now, with Guardian versus Decepticon. The Secret Riders replace Blurr in his scene where he frets about the Decepticon overrunning the city. The Secret Riders are used, along with the Robo Rebels (who I'll explain in a second), are used to represent the "new generation" of Guardians, along the lines of the 1986 Autobots serving as the main cast of the film while the 1984 to 1985 characters take the back seat or are killed off. In the Secret Riders, they debuted late into the cartoon, with them graduating to full Guardian status in "Guardian Academy". Unfortunately, their appearances in the cartoon were the source of some of the show's biggest continuity errors. Twister (he's not mentioned here, and there's a reason for that which I'll get to) and Tri-Trak showed up in the episode ""Et Tu, Cy-Kill"" as Guardians some centuries ago, with Twister as a member of the council. Meanwhile, Tork showed up as a RENEGADE in the episode "The Gift". Even their membership had errors. In "Guardian Academy", the Super GoBot Staks was depicted as one of the Secret Riders in the academy, despite having been a full-fledged Guardian who showed up fairly regularly since the beginning of the show. Meanwhile, in "Quest for New Earth", Tork was replaced by the series 3 Super GoBot Throttle, who replaces Twister here. In any case, Tork turns into a Ford Ranger, Tri-Trak turns into a Honda ATC 200 three-wheeler, and Throttle turns into a BMW KS 1000 RS motorcycle. Meanwhile, Arcee, Springer, Kup, and Hot Rod are replaced by the Robo Rebels. The Robo Rebels were created as a group in Renegade Rhetoric, a group of new Guardian cadets made up of toys released late in the GoBots toyline and who didn't get to appear in the cartoon, given personalities for the first time. Arcee is replaced by team leader Bent Wing, a series 3 GoBot with a Chance Vought F4U Corsair alternate mode, made female by Renegade Rhetoric. Springer, meanwhile, is replaced by series 3 Super GoBot Super Couper, who turned into a Ford Coupe. In the film, Arcee mourned for her dead comrades until pulled away by Springer, but their roles are reversed here, with Bent Wing pulling Super Couper away. Professor Von Joy and Sparky replaced Wheeljack and Windcharger as the dead Autobots in this scene; Sparky was seen as the Professor's assistant in a couple of episodes, including "Element of Danger" and "The Secret of Halley's Comet". Professor Von Joy was released in the toyline as Baron Von Joy, a series 1 Super GoBot who turned into a Porsche 930T, while Sparky was a series 3 GoBot who turned into a Pontiac Fiero. The Boomers were Tonka original toys, buggy vehicles with a spring-loaded transformation and a ball-shaped projectile. There were two variants of the toys, the Guardian Rumble and the Renegade Blast, and the packaging for the toys depicted them as individuals. However, the Rumble Boomers showed up in the episode "Mission: GoBotron" as mass-produced, non-living vehicles. Anyway, the Rumble unit here replaces the missile launcher from the original movie. Tail Pipe and Raizor, meanwhile, replace Hot Rod and Kup, with Daniel making his first appearance in-story. Tail Pipe was a series 3 GoBot who turned into Skyline 2000 RS Turbo, while Raizor was series 3 Super GoBot who turned into a VTOL-modified McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom. The nervous Tail Pipe was much more worried about their chances than the hotheaded Hot Rod. And as before, Super Couper cannot muster the confidence that Springer had, with Bent Wing instead inspiring the others. The Hitch Hiker unit doesn't replace anything in particular in this scene. Hitch Hiker was one of the Power Marchers released in GoBots toyline by Tonka, which they licensed from another Bandai toyline, WalkingRobo. They didn't transform, but rather, were battery-operated toys with a motorized "walking" gimmick. Obviously, Autobot City has been renamed Guardian City in the new timeline.
All of the Guardians in that big paragraph don't really replace any single Autobot, aside from the ones at the the end that I'll get to. Dive-Dive was a series 2 GoBot who turned into a Los Angeles-class nuclear submarine. Apollo, like Decker Decker and Vain Train, was a Renegade Rhetoric GoBot based on a Machine Robo toy that didn't see release by Tonka; in his case, he was based on MR-53 Apollo Robo, who turned into the Saturn V rocket. Ace was a series 3 GoBot who turned into a P-51 Mustang; Royal-T was a series 1 GoBot who turned into a Hawker-Siddeley Harrier GR3/Sea Harrier jet; and Spy-Eye was a series 3 Super GoBot who didn't show up in the cartoon, who had a RAF Panavia Tornado GR1 alternate mode. Hi-Way was another repurposed Machine Robo toy who wasn't released by Tonka and had an identity invent by Renegade Rhetoric; he was based on MR-06 Highway Robo, who turned into an alien bus of some sort. Street Heat was a series 2 GoBot who turned into a Chevrolet Camaro Z28. Man-O-War was a series 3 GoBot with an Iowa-class battleship mode. Spay-C was a series 1 GoBot who turned into a Rockwell Orbiter space shuttle, while Good Knight was a series 2 release who had a Excalibur Roadster alternate mode. Wrong Way was a series 2 GoBot who turned into a AH-64 Apache; the cartoon depicted him as a bit of a buffoon. The wind turbine that Ramjet throws Wrong Way into were seen in the aforementioned concept art for Autobot City. Beamer the car, Sky Fly the jet, and Guide Star the space shuttle were three of the six GoBots toys released as promotional items at Wendy's in 1985; Renegade Rhetoric depicted them as recent graduates of the Guardian Academy (with a couple of erroneous appearances before their graduation in homage to the Secret Riders' own confusing debut). The Command Center that Ironhide and his men were piloting is replaced with an Autobot shuttle. Pumper, Hans-Cuff, and Dart replace the dead Ratchet, Prowl, and Brawn, respectively, with Dumper replacing Ironhide, his lucky survival only made possible due to Cy-Kill sparing Ironhide. Pumper was a series 1 GoBot who turned into a firetruck. Hans-Cuff was a series 1 GoBot who turned into a Toyota Crown patrol car. Dart was a series 3 GoBot with a Honda VF1000R motorcycle alternate mode. Like the Secret Riders before him, he too had a confusing debut. His toy was sold as a Renegade, but when he debuted in "Mission: GoBotron", he appeared as a Guardian. Then, in ""Et Tu, Cy-Kill"", he appeared in flashback as a Guardian who defected to the Renegades. Then, in "The GoBots That Time Forgot", he appeared as one of the amnesic GoBots living on Level 17 of GoBotron, under the control of Gunnyr, who joined up with the Guardians at the end of that episode. Renegade Rhetoric smoothed that over by having him defect to the Renegades, only for his torture at Gunnyr's hands making him defect back to the Guardians. Dumper was a series 1 GoBot who turned into a dump truck.
The Guardian shuttle seen here is the Courageous, which we'll get into a minute. Leader-1 was the series 1 GoBot with a F-15 fighter jet alternate mode, who was depicted as military leader of the Guardians. He replaces Optimus Prime, obviously enough. Hound and Sunstreaker, meanwhile, are replaced in this scene by Jack Attack, another Machine Robo toy given a GoBots identity by Renegade Rhetoric; in his case, MR-38 Mini Cooper Robo, who turned into a Mini Cooper 1300S. The Dinobots (Grimlock, Slag, Sludge, and Swoop; Snarl, for whatever reason, only appeared in a few scenes of the movie, silently standing in the background) are replaced by Courageous, the Power Warrior combiner, made from the Power Suits and the Last Engineer's ship, the Courageous. The Guardians using the Power Suits include: series 3 GoBot Bolt, who turns into a Lockheed P-38 Lightning, Series 2 GoBot Scratch, who turns into a Ford Bronco, series 1 GoBot Dozer, who turns into a bulldozer, and Staks, a series 2 Super GoBot who turns into a Peterbilt 352H semi-truck. In contrast to Cy-Kill, Leader-1 simply says he has to stop Megatron, in a much more boring way than Prime's line in the movie. He rams through Thrust, Shrapnel, and Blitzwing like Prime did in the movie, then then converts in mid-air, blasting Ramjet, Thundercracker, Soundwave, Kickback, and Dirge, in the same order as Prime. Leader-1's forcefield was seen throughout the movie. Leader-1's quips are a bit more...well, "Hanna-Barbera"-esque. Tri-Trak, depicted as a young hot head in "Guardian Academy", replaces Hot Rod for this scene. Major Mo, who will be serving as Ultra Magnus for most of the story (which we'll get to), replaces Kup briefly for thise scene. Major Mo was a series 2 GoBot who turned into a Nissan 300ZX; he didn't show up in the cartoon, but he was depicted as the Robo Rebels' mentor in Renegade Rhetoric. Kup, who encourage Prime to kill Megatron, is replaced here by Tork; both him and Leader-1 don't intend to kill Megatron, instead incarcerating him. As such, Megatron's exchange with the Guardian leader is changed somewhat. Megatron's energy shield was seen in "More than Meets the Eye, Part 3"; Tri-Trak's hand blasters are deflected onto Leader-1, as opposed to Megatron using Hot Rod as a shield while firing his laser pistol into Prime. Instead of knocking Megatron off a cliff like Prime, Leader-1 manages to fire a shot off that throws him back. The Decepticons retreat plays the same, with the treacherous Starscream ordering Astrotrain to carry them off, and the mortally wounded Megatron begging Soundwave to help him.
At the bottom of the post, we have another illustration by Chris Colgin, of the scene where Snoop returns to Renegade High Command with information. To avoid stepping on Warner Brothers' toes, as was believed to be necessary at the time, everyone here is depicted in different bodies from the cartoon. Cy-Kill is drawn as his TransTech counterpart seen in "Transcendent: Part 1", while Cop-Tur, Fitor, and Zero are TransTech-ized versions of their original bodies. Snoop, meanwhile, is a virtual "redeco" of Armada Mini-Con Terradive, with a new head based off of her original. The illustration is based on one of the panels of the scence as adapted into IDW Publishing's Transformers: The Animated Movie.
Part 2: "To the Death—and Beyond!"
Section 1: If you don't know who Vector Prime is, and you're reading these annotations, you probably shoudn't be, but just in case, Vector Prime is one of the Thirteen original Transformers and guardian of space and time, introduced in Transformers: Cybertron. The Facebook edition of Ask Vector Prime indicated that in the universes inhabited by GoBots, he was a Guardian known as Vec-Tor. Tadek is a board game from the sci-fi television series Farscape; its description here matches up with its depiction in the show. Zeemon is the elderly civilian leader of the GoBots, a series 1 Super GoBot who turns into a Datsun 260Z Fairlady-Z. Zeemon didn't have a face in the cartoon, only a windshield, and as such his "expressions" are unreadable. Vec-Tor refers to Maccadam as brother, cementing that he's a member of the Thirteen in that reality, at least. The alien vehicles that various Guardians and Renegades turn into were referred to as "GoBotic" in Renegade Rhetoric.
Section 2: For Leader-1's death scene, the scientificly-apt Tail Pipe replaces Perceptor. Major Mo takes up Ultra Magnus' role from here on out. The Last Engineer was the GoBeing who created the GoBot body to protect his species after the Cataclysm, as seen in "The GoBotron Saga"; he was able to repair Leader-1 previously in "Flight to Earth". It's obvious here that he's died in this amalgamated reality. Tri-Trak, unlike Hot Rod, is unable to bear the guilt, and leaves the room as Leader-1 dies. The Matrix of Leadership showed up in the movie out of nowhere, having not been mentioned at all in the first two seasons of The Transformers; that's leaned into here, with the Guardians having only ever heard of the legends of the Matrix of Leadership. Without Tri-Trak (who has replaced the Chosen One, Hot Rod) there, the Matrix simply falls to the floor, and Raizor is forced to pick it up and hand it over to Major Mo. Like Magnus, Mo shows early signs of being unworthy, adjusting it like Magnus did in the film. Additionally, Mo doesn't object to Leader-1's passage of the Matrix to him. In general, Major Mo seems much more comfortable with leadership than Magnus was in the film. Unicron watches in, as he always does...
Section 3: The Uniend cluster is the universal cluster for the various "Aligned" continuity realities, as introduced in Transformers Animated: The Complete AllSpark Almanac. The Predacons in Transformers: Prime were the Cybertronian equivalent of dinosaurs, primordial beasts from Cybertron's ancient past. Sideways leaves, with the Omega Lock frequencies stuck in-between.
Section 4: Sideways rush job has caused the universe to have a conjoined Autobot-and-Guardian, Decepticon-and-Renegade war. Megatron remains, while Starscream is once more replaced by Zero. Puzzler and his components fully replace Devastator and the Constructicons here. In the cartoon, Puzzler was depicted as a non-sentient robot built from human cars in the episode "Auto Madic", but the combiner was given true life using TransTech sparks pilfered by Cy-Kill in Renegade Rhetoric. Here, they're depicted as living GoBots, presumably with organic brains. Tic Tac, the red Chevrolet Corvette who forms Puzzler's upper torso, replaces Scrapper; he was stated on Puzzler's toy packaging to be the "evil mind" behind the team, and was given the Mighty Skill of "Super Intelligence" by Renegade Rhetoric. The other members of Puzzler, aside from Crossword, include lower torso Jig Saw, a white Toyota Celica XX police car; right arm Pocket, a yellow Lamborghini Countach; left leg Zig Zag, a blue Nissan 300ZX; and right leg Rube, a black Mercedes 300SL. Instead of any of Puzzler's components objecting to Dr. Go's opinion, Tank does instead. Tank notes that most of the Renegade don't have pinkie fingers; the hands of most GoBots in the cartoon were depicted with large rectangular fingers and a thumb, with little-to-no delineation between the fingers. Dr. Go invented a shrink ray in "Cy-Kill's Shrinking Ray". Astrotrain changed sizes when he transformed, going from a normal-sized Decepticon in robot mode, to a ship big enough to carry a dozen or so others. In the 90s, Transformers fans online came up with the idea of "mass-shifting" to explain it away, an idea adopted by many pieces of official media published in the 2000's and 2010's.
Section 5: Now, for Galvatron's creation. Spoons replaces Thundercracker, with his reformatted form of Deadlift replacing Scourge. Deadlift was a Decepticon released in the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen toyline as part of a two-pack with the Autobot Beachcomber, recolored from fellow Decepticon in the line, Dirt Boss. He turned into a forklift, and his color scheme homaged the original Spoons, with Spoons' ID number from his original Machine Robo release, MR-34, being tampographed on his side. Scrouge had his Sweeps in the film, identical robots reformatted from Kickback and Shrapnel; Deadlift, too, has his own Sweeps. Deadlift's Sweeps here are repurposed from Dirt Boss; Dirt Boss appears to have been based on the Scrapper drones from the first Transformers movie's video game adaptation. Crasher, meanwhile, replaces Bombshell, as she is reformatted into Fracture, like the Insecticon was into Cyclonus. Fracture was a redeco of the Transformers: Classics Mirage figure released in the live-action Transformers movie toyline as a Walmart exclusive; a homage to Crasher, she was initially meant to BE the same character as Crasher as part of the 2008 Transformers: Universe toyline, but ended up being shifted over to the movie's toyline. In the film, Cyclonus was supposed to have an "armada" of identical robots like Scourge had with the Sweeps; while this idea was cut, the final film kept the dialogue the same, giving him an "armada" of one robot reformatted into Skywarp. Fracture has one as well; I'll go into them when I get to the second illustration by Colgin. As seen on the cover and a mentioned later in the story, the Revenge has been replaced by an augmented Thruster, the typical spaceships used by the Renegades. Galvatron accidentally(?) says Ultra Magnus instead of Major Mo here, while Unicron accidentally says "Autobot Matrix" instead of "Guardian Matrix".
Section 6: The Renegade Hall of Heroes replaces the Decepticon Hall of Heroes, obviously enough. Steamer was a cartoon-only GoBot who appeared in the episodes "Steamer's Defection"; he was a Renegade who transformed into a steamroller, who defected to the Guardians after Cy-Kill ordered him to put human lives in danger. Puzzler's components replace the Constructions as the trumpeters at Zero's coronation. Clutch and Warpath replace Rumble and Soundwave for this bit; they were both Super GoBots, parts of series 3 and 2 respectively. Clutch turned into a Chevrolet pickup truck, while Warpath turned into a AH-64 Apache helicopter gunship. Neither of them appeared in the cartoon, but the two appeared in Renegade Rhetoric as former Decepticons recruited by Cy-Kill when the Renegade leader was exiled to Axiom Nexus. While those incarnations were Cybertronians, these versions are presumably cyborg GoBots.
Section 7: Vec-Tor tries restoring things to normal, only to cause the other reality to flip back and forth...
Section 8: Turbo and Night Ranger replace Jazz and Cliffjumper, warping in and out with them as Vec-Tor's attempts to fix reality falter. Turbo was one of the main Guardians in the cartoon, one of Leader-1's closest comrades; he was a series 1 GoBot with an alien car alternate mode. Night Ranger, meanwhile, was a series 2 GoBot who turned into a Harley-Davison Electra Glide. Jazz's hip dialogue is altered for Turbo to be more like how the boisterous Guardian would talk. Autobot City is Autobot City once more. The Autobot Blaster is replaced by the Guardian Blaster, fittingly enough; he was a series 1 GoBot who turned into a M33 Missile tank. The Autobot Frigate flucutates back and forth with a Space Hawk; the Space Hawk was a Tonka-original toy, a transforming spaceship with a walker mode. The toy's box described them as being possesed by both Guardians and Renegades, but when they showed up in GoBots: Battle of the Rock Lords, the Renegades were the sole ones seen using them. Renegade Rhetoric helped make both concepts work, by having them as ships built by the Guardians, only for many of them to have been stolen by the Renegades. "Time to go!" was Turbo's catchphrase in the cartoon; it was taken from his declaration in the first episode, "Battle for GoBotron", when he, Leader-1, and Scooter were sent off to stop Cy-Kill and his Renegades from invading Earth, and it morphed into a catchphrase starting with "Invasion from the 21st Level, Part I". Matt and Anya vary back and forth with Spike Witwicky, while Bumblebee is replaced by Scooter, the series 1 GoBot scooter who was the other of the three main Guardians of the show. Like Bumblebee, he was the main kid-appeal character of the cartoon. Nick is now joined by A.J. Foster, the other main human ally of the Guardians in the show, a cadet for UNECOM. "Worst case of indigestion" is one of many phrases that continuously pop up in Transformers writer Simon Furman's work, known in the fandom as "Furmanisms". Spike's utterance of "shit" is replace by Anya's stereotypical Russian inclusion of "nyet".
Section 9: Old GoBotron's maze like qualities, again, were seen in the various episodes in appeared in.
Section 10: Blaster the Autobot was left behind in The Transformers: The Movie; the script for the film indicated that he had a dropped subplot seeing him as leader of a group of Autobots defending Autobot City from the Decepticons not chasing Magnus and his group. General Newcastle was another of the Guardian's allies, a semi-recurring character who was commander of UNECOM, the multi-national group created to help defend Earth from the Renegades along side the Guardians. It looks like Hot Rod, in this timeline, hasn't replicated Tri-Trak's actions, as he still feels a connection to the Matrix of Leadership. Motosan and Bullseye replaced Blurr and Perceptor for the rest of the story. Motosan is an odd one. He's the series 3 GoBot Mr. Moto, who turned into a Honda ATC 200. He showed up in cartoon briefly, but was never name checked. For whatever reasons, his model sheet was labelled as "Moto-San". The only explanation I can think of is that whoever drew his model was Japanese, since "-san" is an honorific in Japanese roughly equivalent to "mister," but Challenge of the GoBots was animated in Taiwan. Bullseye was also a series 3 GoBot, who turned into a B-1 Lancer. "The more things change, the more they stay the same" is a phrase attributed to French novelist and critic Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr.
Section 11: I'm not sure, but I feel like "Darn that Guardian" is a reference to the Omni Productions dub of the Transformers: The Headmasters episode "The Mystery of Planet Master", in which, after learning of Soundwave's death, Galvatron says "Darn that Soundwave. AGGGHHHHH!" Again, GoBotron's tunnels were seen fairly often in the cartoon. Sideways' trans-phase abilities were seen in Transformers: Armada; the power of Unicron allowed him to phase in and out of reality, teleport, and instantly regenerate damage that would be fatal to normal Transformers. Bullet was the final Machine Robo toy unreleased in the GoBots toyline that Renegade Rhetoric gave an identity to; he's based on MR-12 Shinkansen Robo, who turns into a Series-0 Shinkansen train. Mach-3, meanwhile, was a series 3 GoBot with a McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II fighter jet alternate mode.
Section 12: In the cartoon, the Guardians and Renegades' ships used hyperspace for long journeys. I don't believe
that the Command Center numbers have any significance. Kup's war stories about the petro-rabbits on Alpha 9 and the Ick-Yaks on Beta 4 with tales of Zod and Scales, two Tonka-original Gobots toys. Zod was a massive reptillian beast aligned with the Renegades, with a battery-operated motorized gimmick that allowed him to roll forward and rear up on his back wheels. Scales, meanwhile, was a reptillian Renegade who turned into an F1 car, who had a friction-powered motor and an auto-transformation gimmick. Hot Rod's auto-combatant, meanwhile, is replaced with a Ridge Runner; the Ridge Runner was a cancelled second Guardian Power Marcher, who looked like a white box with what could charitably called "legs". The Revenge's missiles were called "moleculon missiles" in the film's script; the names got used in issue #2 of Marvel's Transformers: The Movie adaptation comic. Kup's encounter with shrikebats on Dromedon is replaced with Quick-Steps on Zeeros. Quick-Steps were the Renegade Power Marchers released in the toyline. Zeeros was a planet that served as a Rengade hideout, see in the episode ""Et Tu, Cy-Kill"". Kup accidentally says Quartex instead of Zeeros; we'll get to Quartex in a minute. In the movie, Hot Rod and the others got rid of the missiles by "inversing polarities"; here, they re-route gravity dampeners. We'll see what world has replaced Quintessa in a bit. Major Mo gives a far more cold response on Hot Rod, Kup, and the Dinobots' supposed death than Ultra Magnus' "I can't deal with that now!" The emergency seperate of the Command Center presumably involves lauching off the cockpit, with the "walker" being left as dead weight. The planet of junk has been replaced with the planet of rock...more on that in a bit.
The final illustration of the story is attached this post, showing Spoons and Crasher's recreation into Deadlift and Cyclonus, with the recreation of other Renegades into their forces. The layout is based on the panel of Scourge and Cyclonus' creation in issue #2 of Transformers: The Animated Movie adaptation. The illustrations reveals that Screw Head and Crain Brain were recreated into Sweeps, while Slicks (only barely visible) became Fracture's "armada". Like the previous illustration, they all use slightly different designs as compared to the cartoon. Spoons is just directly based on his toy. Crasher is a "virtual redeco" of the unreleased Transformers: Generation 2 Go-Bot Rumble toy (later used as Transformers: Robots in Disguise Spychanger Daytonus) with a new head based on Crasher's cartoon head. Screw Head is based on Transformers Unite Warriors Nosecone, with the head altered so that the drill weapon of the toy becomes his head. Crain Brain is based on Transformers: Generations Combine Wars Hook. Slicks is based on Transformers: Generation 2 Go-Bot Double Clutch; his reformatted "armada" form is a "virtual redeco" of Transformers: Classics Mirage. He's in the original white colors of Crasher's initial series 1 toy (her cartoon colors of black and orange were seen on her toy's re-release in series 2), and has a mouthplated head based on Crasher's toy.
Part 3: "Terror on Two Worlds!"
Section 1: The GoBotron Fortress was a cancelled playset for the tale end of Tonka's GoBots toyline, only seen in catalogs and in promotional materials, such as the back of the of Space Hawks' box. Twister was the other Secret Rider; he transformed into a helicopter. The Critias Gate was a super-dimensional reactor, created by the Autobots of BT World in Transformers: Alternity that allowed the two-dimensional incarnations of the Transformers known as the Planicrons to evolve into higher dimensional beings; its named for Critias, a dialogue by ancient Athenian philosopher Plato. Vector Prime's circular chest ornamentation was termed a "Critias Gateway" by the Facebook incarnation of Ask Vector Prime.
Section 2: Quintessa has been replaced by Antares III, the planet to which the Master Renegade fled to after causing the Cataclysm that nearly destroyed GoBotron. The mechanical fish that attacked Hot Rod in the film are replaced by Odd Ball, one of the Renegades released in the 1985 GoBots Wendy's promotion. He turned into some kind of alien vehicle. Renegade Rhetoric established that he was a Mini-Con recruited by Cy-Kill while the Renegade leader was exiled to Axiom Nexus, modified to become a bestial GoBotic ship. Cy-Kill noted after he and his recruits returned, Odd Ball fell in with the Monster GoBots thanks to his alt-mode, hence his placement on Antares III here; this version is probably a full-fledged cyborg GoBot. The robotic squid that attacked Kup, meanwhile, is replaced by Monsterous. A combiner from the GoBots toyline made up of the bestial Renegades Fright Face (the upper torso and head), Heart Attack (the lower torso), South Claw (left arm), Weird Wing (right arm), Fangs (left leg), and Gore Jaw (right leg). They were too late to appear in Challenge of the GoBots, but they were incorporated into that world via Renegade Rhetoric, where they were Uniend Cluster/"Aligned" continuity Predacons recruited by Cy-Kill in Axiom Nexus. Here, they're full-fledged GoBots. The blue GoBot with no face is Fright Face. Matt, Anya, Nick, and A.J. have the exo-suits that Spike and Daniel had in the film. And now, we realized what Junkion has been replaced with: Quartex, the home world of the titular characters of Tonka's Rock Lords. The toyline was a spin-off of GoBots, who appeared in the theatrical film GoBots: Battle of the Rock Lords. The Junkions, meanwhile, have been replaced with the Rock Lords. Tombstone was a series 1 evil Rock Lord who turned into a piece of quartz. Narligators were series 1 Narlies. Something of an outlier for the Rock Lords toyline, the Narlies were small, somewhat super-deformed animals with felt "hair" and a pull-back motor that caused their heads to go up and down when they moved forward. Rock Shot was one of the Shock Rocks, Rock Lords with some form of gimmick. He had a retractable rock projectile attached to a string, that, when his left arm was placed into position, was launched like a catapult with the press of a button. His rock mode is revealed for the first time here; he turns into a piece of bauxite, an orangey sedimentary rock. Magmar was a series 1 release, the evil leader of the Rock Lords who turned into a piece of igneous rock. Slimestone was a series 2 evil Rock Lord who turned into a piece of silver. Stonehead was the based of the evil Rock Lords seen in GoBots: Battle of the Rock Lords; a playset was solicited in catalogs for the Rock Lords toylines, but it ended up getting cancelled.
Section 3: The alligator-like minions of the Quintessons (unnamed in The Transformers: The Movie, comics from Dreamwave Productions would later call them Allicons) are replace by several of the Monster GoBots. Scorp was released in series 2, and turned into a scorpion-like treaded vehicle. Bladez was released in series 3, a Monster GoBot with a crab-like tank alternate mode, who was the only one of them who didn't appear in Challenge of the GoBots. The universal greeting, of course, comes from The Transformers: The Movie. Scorp and Bladez are joined by Bugsie (one second) and Hornet. The description of them and Klaws (again, one second) is based on their appearance in Challenge of the GoBots, which were considerably different from that of their toys; it would appear that they, along with several of the other characters who debuted latter in the show, were based on early concepts, with different colors and sometimes entirely different appearances. The Bugsie that appears here is the GoBot who, in the toyline, was called Klaws; in GoBots: Challenge of the Rock Lords, Klaws and Bugsie had their names swapped. Both Bugsie/Klaws and Hornet were series 3 GoBots. The Master Renegade was the leader of the early incarnation of the Renegades back when the GoBots were known as GoBeings; his Renegades caused a meteor to impact GoBotron, forcing the Last Engineer to create the GoBot body. The Master Renegade stole his ship and fled to Antares III, creating his own "Monster GoBots" from some of his Renegades.
Wheelie has been replaced by the RoGuns, the identity given by Renegade Rhetoric to the GoBots with cap gun modes made by toy company Arco, who licensed the toyline from Tonka. The two that appear here are Squirt and Shotgun; Squirt was called "Squirt Gun" on the packaging. Shotgun, meanwhile, was named "RoGun Cap Rifle" on his packaging (from which the team name comes from).
The Quintesson Baliffs, Executioners, and Prosecutors are replaced with the other Monster GoBots, with the Quintesson Judge replaced by the Master Renegade. The two surviving Lithones, the peaceful robots who resided on a planet with the same name, only for it to be devored by Unicron at the start of The Transformers: The Movie, have been replaced by two of the titular characters of the Tomy Starriors toyline; specifically, two humanoid Wastor Protectors. The Protector who replaces Arblus is not named, but it's clear from his description as a "grey-and-blue mech with a huge spinning saw mounted in his chest" that he's Cut-Up. The Monster GoBot who replaces the Prosecutor is Klaws (released in the toyline as Bugsie), a series 3 GoBot with a monstrous wheeled vehicular form. Unlike the Quintessons, who perform the trials for their own amusement, and whom sentence their prisoners to death regardless of whether they're innocent or guilty, the Master Renegade is far more straightforward in his judgements. The Datcyls replace the Sharkticons; Dactyl was a cancelled Renegade Power Marcher for the GoBots toyline. Kranix, the last survivor of Lithone, has been replaced by the Starriors Wastor Protector Crank. Pincher was a series 2 Monster GoBot who turned into a bestial spaceship. In the Starriors backstory, the titular characters inhabited a post-apocalyptic Earth. Crank and Cut-Up, however, come from Planet Zi, the home planet of the titular characters from the other Tomy toyline, Zoids. Seems like their worlds have been merged as well.
Section 4: We meet the rest of the RoGuns here. Pistol was the name given to "Cap Pistol". Rifle and Scope are the names given to "Cap Rifle" and "Robo-Scope".
Section 5: In the universe of the Transformers, Vec-Tor is consistently referred to as Vector Prime. Breez the twin-rotored helicopter and Pow Wow the camper were the other two Renegade GoBots released as part of the Wendy's GoBots promotion. Like Odd Ball, they were Mini-Cons recruited by Cy-Kill in Axiom Nexus; they're full-fledged GoBots here.
Section 6: The Action Shock Rocks were the second wave of Shock Rocks, who instantly transformed when a button made contact with the ground. Dragon Stone was the evil Action Shock Rock; Renegade Rhetoric depicted them as mass-produced drones. The Snarlie-Narlie was released as part of series 2, a bigger, battery-operated Narly bull, whose packaging described him as the king of the evil Narlies. The Narlilizard was one of the series 1 Narlies, while the Narlirhino, Narlilion, Narlibaboon, and Narlibat were part of series 2. While the biocards of the series 1 Narlies depicted them as individuals, both GoBots: Battle of the Rock Lords and Renegade Rhetoric depicted them as species. Stone Hook was the other evil Shock Rock, an obsidian rock with a retractable hook. Spearhead was a series 3 evil Rock Lord, who turned into kyanite (as given by Renegade Rhetoric, since his toy packaging gave no indication to his composition). Sticks 'N Stones were a Series 1 Rock Lord(s), a two-headed evil-doer who turned into a slab composed of anthracite and magnetite. Stoneheart and Brimstone were series 2 Rock Lords, who turned into pieces of slate and brimstone, respectively. Saberstone was a series 3 Rock Lord, who given a gender (female, based off of various websites claiming that she was the only "evil" female Rock Lord) and an alternate mode (a piece of garnet) by Renegade Rhetoric. The Stone Wing was one of two vehicles from the Rock Lords toyline, which transformed from a buggy into a jet-like form. Fracture retains the destructive stomping power of Crasher, as she was depicted with in the cartoon. Pocket and Jig Saw replace Scavenger and an erroneously appearing Shrapnel as the Renegades who confront the exo-suited humans. Pocket forms the right arm of Puzzler, like Scavenger does for Devastator; issue #3 of IDW Publishing's Transformers: The Animated Movie adaptation replaced Shrapnel with Long Haul, who, like Jig Saw, forms the lower torso of his gestalt. A.J. tells Nick they need to "convert" in place of Blurr telling Daniel to "transform"; convert is the word Hasbro uses in place of "transform" on Transformers toys and packaging for legal reasons.
The straight-laced Major Mo says "curse you" when the Matrix won't open, as opposed to Ultra Magnus' "damn you." Unlike Magnus, Mo gives in to Galvatron's demands and hands over the Matrix, in order to keep his troops safe; as such, he is only slightly wounded, as opposed to Magnus being dismembered.
Part 4: "Matrix Quest!"
Section 1: Sideways is far more angular than any GoBot, obviously. Heat Seeker was a series 3 GoBot who turned into a F-16 Falcon.
Section 2: Vamp was a series 2 GoBot with a monstrous car form, while Creepy was a series 3 GoBot with an insectoid alternate mode. Hot Rod's "I have nothing but contempt for this court" line is sadly lost, but hints of it still remain, with the text indicating that his "reply was pregnant with contempt". Since the Dactyl's aren't aquatic-based creatures, there's no pool for Hot Rod and Kup to fall into; Hot Rod still converts into car mode and drives around the pit until he escapes, while Kup gets lucky and lands on a Dactyl. The Quintesson Cruiser has been replaced by the Grungy, the Renegade Power Warrior redecoed from Courageous. Renegade Rhetoric depicted Grungy as a creation of the Master Renegade using scans of Courageous.
Section 3: Magmar takes the place of Wreck-Gar intially, dueling with Springer, until Boulder takes over Wreck-Gar's role during when the Junkons would ally with the Autobots. The two Rockasaurs, Spike Stone the Triceratops and Terra-Roc the Pteranodon, were part of the toyline; a few Rockasaurs showed up in the film, but neither of them did. Their connection to the Jewel Lords was seen in Renegade Rhetoric. Kup names his pet Dactyl Gnaw; Gnaw was the name given to an individual Sharkticon in The Transformers toyline. In Dreamwave Productions' Transformers: Generation 1 comics, Gnaw was depicted as friendly, close to the Autobot Wheelie. I'll go into the individuals more once their named. Boulder is the heroic Rock Lord leader, a series 1 toy who turned into a piece of tungsten. The Rock Pot was the other vehicle in the Rock Lords toyline, a motorized cart of sorts that had a conveyor belt to pick up enemy Rock Lords, along with a place for a Rock Lord to stand, and even a perch for a Narlie. The Blast Rocks and the Stun Stones were the heroic Action Shock Rocks; Renegade Rhetoric had them as creations of Magmar reprogrammed by Nuggit. Granite and the android Nuggit were series 1 Rock Lords, who turned into a piece of "silvery" granite and a nugget of gold, respectively. Marbles, Pulver-Eyes, and Crackpot were all part of series 2; they turned into pieces of marble, dolomite, and azurite, respectively. Rock Roller was a heroic Shock Rock, a blue rock who had the gimmick of a pull-back motor in boulder mode. The Fossilsaurus was a toy intended for the American Rock Lords toy with a goldish-tan color scheme, but ended up only seeing release in Europe in the original Machine Robo blue and purple colors. Fossilsaurus was a gestalt made up of the Fossil Lords Jaw Bone, Rib Cage, Hip Bone, and Tail Bone; Jaw Bone showed up in GoBots: Battle of the Rock Lords with his prototypical color scheme, though he was only called "the Fossil Lord" in the film. The Jewel Lords were Rock Lords who turned into jems; Solitaire was the only one who showed up in the film, and she turned into a diamond. Flamestone and Sunstone were the other Jewel Lords from the toyline, who turned into ruby and amber gems, respectively. In the film, the heroic Rock Lords had a heroic Narliphant; he's replaced here with fellow heroic series 1 Narly, the Narliehog. The Junkions ship (given the name the Minnow by Transformers: The Complete Ark, named after the ill-fated ship from television series Gilligan's Island) is replaced by the crystalline ship used by Solitaire and Nuggit in GoBots: Battle of the Rock Lords.
Section 4: I believe "cyberquake" is a new term here, obviously the Cybertronian version of an earthquake.
Section 5: Nothing notable here, everything's going according to the modified script.
Section 6: Sideways nihilistic nature comes out every so often, as seen here.
Section 7: Bit of a fast-forward here. Hot Rod expresses some confusion as reality begins to reset, forgetting what Guardians are.
Section 8: Outside, the Rock Lords have been replaced with the Junkions. Rhisling is Vector Prime's sword, the name given to it in issue #5 of the Transformers Collectors' Club magazine.
Section 9: Reality's almost fully restored at this state. Optimus and Magnus have returned in place of Leader-1 and Major Mo. The last vestiges of the GoBots leaves as Hot Rod opens the Matrix of Leadership and becomes Rodimus Prime.
Section 10: Equanimity is a state of psychological stability/composure, unaffected by experience or exposure to emotions.
Section 11: The third season of The Transformers would show that Rodimus Prime's plans worked out, with the Decepticons exiled to Chaar, and the Autobots working alongside the Earth Defense Command. Sideways injuries are taking longer to heal due to the energies of Primus associated with Vector Prime.
And so our story ends! Return to the main Ask Vector Prime annotations page to finish up!