Beast Wars Uprising

Before we begin, some background: Beast Wars: Uprising began life as a throw-away universe mentioned in the profile for TransTech Blackarachnia in the 25th issue of the Collector's Club magazine, revealing that she was in fact originally from a parallel Beast Wars world, where the war raged on with the Maximals and Predacons as proxies. Originally a Maximal soldier, she served under Optimus Primal, alongside Rhinox, Cheetor, Rattrap, Nightscream, and Silverbolt, loyal to the Autobots they served. Unfortunely, in the line of duty Rattrap would be severely injured, and Rhinox and Silverbolt ended up dead. Cheetor led the remaining troops to defect to a rebellion, killing Optimus Primal when he refused to disobey orders. Cheetor himself would eventually be injured and captured, and Blackarachnia and Nightscream, meeting up with Predacons Scavenger and Immorticon, escaped from their universe into the TransTech's, where they would meet Alpha Trion and his lackey, Topspin, who transferred their sparks into their TransTech counterparts.

This nameless universe would be revisted 4 years later, serving as the home universe for that year's exclusive toy, Depth Charge. At this time, the idea that the war was still going on was still part of the backstory, as seen in his profile. Next year, however, this universe, now titled Beast Wars: Uprising, would receive a major background change. Rather than the war still being an on-going conflict, the Maximals and Predacons were an underclass, ruled by the Autobots and Decepticons, a dystopia where war was substituted with "the Games". But this wasn't the focus for 2014's "Alone Together," which told the story of Transmutate and Rampage, extremely powerful Transformers trapped in a world they never made, and their fight against Lord Imperious Delirious. The Games would have to wait a year to get their story told.

And that brings us to here.

Beast Wars: Uprising was defined by a series of prose stories written by Jim Sorenson and David Bishop. These stories were, and still are, my favorite piece of Transformers fiction. I won't lie, they came at an important time in my life-a period where I was still figuring out who I was, one that I would consider the lowest point of my life. Maybe it's a bit silly, but the fact that I knew these stories were coming helped me get through the day more than once. And for that, I'm eternally grateful.

But let's not get sappy, shall we?