Head Games

The second of the Beast Wars: Uprising prose stories, "Head Games" is one of my favorites. I've always quite liked Buzzclaw, the main character, and the conversation between him and Cerebros is honestly some of my favorite moments in the whole franchise. This chapter also brings on David Bishop, Jim's co-writer, who would be on nearly every subsequent story. This story was released about a month after "Broken Windshields", on the 16th of March in 2015.

Buzzclaw, the main character, was a Predacon praying mantis/lizard Fuzor released in the third year of the Beast Wars toyline in 1998. His characterization in this story combines his original tech specs personality of a stoic warrior with the neurotic, insecure characterization of his Beast Wars Sourcebook profile, the former just a front he tries to project over the latter. Unlike most Beast Wars: Uprising characters, his non-beast body is a "Cybertronian-ized" version of his original toy, an ornithopter, along the lines of the designs in the IDW Beast Wars mini-series. Later stories would bring on Christopher Colgin as an artist, who devised Cybertronian bodies based on pre-existing toys.

"Head Games" has a fairly obvious term for a title as compared to some of the other stories, but just in case, it's a term which refers to attempts to psychologically manipulate or intimidate someone. The title also ties into the journey into the head of Fortress Maximus, and the confrontation between Buzzclaw and the "ghost" of Headmaster Cerebros. "Head Games" is also quite similar to another story involving manipulations (of a political sort rather than emotional) amidst a gladiatorial backdrop, the Marvel UK prose story "State Games", published in the Transformers Annual 1986. On the cover, we have Buzzclaw's head, surrounded by three Fortress Maximus heads, the alternate mode of Cerebros. The cover art was provided by Jesse Wittenrich, with the rest of the art provided by William Mangin.

Section 1: We start off in a flashback, with Buzzclaw pinned down in the Games. Buzzclaw's ion disks were mentioned in tech specs; I believe this is the first time he's been established to have corrosive vomit. Armordillo is a Maximal armadillo from the first year of the Beast Wars toyline in 1996; like Buzzclaw, he's a "Cybertronian-ized" version of his beast body. His methodical, murderous personality is also derived from the Beast Wars Sourcebook. Diver was a Maximal frog from Beast Wars II, a redeco of the American 1997 Beast Wars Predacon Spittor. Drancron was a Blentron lizard/dragonfly fusion from Beast Wars Neo, redecoed from the 1998 Beast Wars Predacon Fuzor Sky Shadow. Of note, Drancron's missile launcher (wielded by Armordillo in this story) is his head. Frostbite was a Decepticon hyena from the Universe toyline, redecoed from the 1999 Beast Wars Transmetal 2 Maximal Jawbreaker. Transformation cogs are the organ that give the Transformers their abilities, introduced in the Sunbow The Transformers season 3 five-part mini-series, "Five Faces of Darkness". Supersonic appeared as the presenter for the games in the previous story. On the bottom of page two, we have our first illustration, featuring Buzzclaw looking on in shock at the corpse of Armordillo.

We've reached the first of the breaks; again, I'll go over them in more detail at the end. The Maximal Cybertronix here is from the status reports of Gran (red), Plasma (green), and Kord (blue), inside Fortress Maximus. It weaves in and around the story—Kord's tie into the bits where Fort Max is damaged; Gran riddles off real-time status updates, details of Cybertron's society, and battle statistics; and Plasma's free-association dialog tells the history of Fortress Maximus from the perspective of Cerebros' "ghost." The details around the breaks are based on the stickers of the original Fortress Maximus toy, including the decals on his arms and elsewhere.

Section 2: Ser-Ket was a Decepticon-turned-Predacon dragon from the "Aligned" continuity, introduced in IDW Publishing's Rage of the Dinobots mini-series, depicted as a virtual redeco of Beast Hunters Ripclaw. As with Buzzclaw, her body is a Cybertronian version of her beast form, which appears to be some kind of winged truck. She was created by Mike Johnson, Marighread Scott, and Augustin Padilla. Lio Convoy, his assassination of Supersonic, and the beginning of the Grand Uprising happened in the previous story, "Broken Windshields". Ser-Ket mistakenly refers to Armordillo as Armadrillo, an armadillo-like alien from Ben 10: Ultimate Alien. Proton Blaster is a somewhat generic sci-fi term. Dipole is named for the physics term dipole, "a pair of equal and oppositely charged or magnetized poles separated by a distance." She's based on the bartender from Elpasos who was menaced by Death's Head in issue #113 of the Marvel UK The Transformers comic; he was created by Simon Furman and Geoff Senior. With that in mind, she might also be named after the dipole antenna, the simplest and most widely used antenna in radio and telecommunications. Damaxus was originally mentioned in "Alone Together: Prologue". Abel's Energon is presumably run by Abel, a small non-transforming Autobot from the planet Master and a friend to Chromedome, who was killed by Sixshot in a flashback in The Headmasters episode "Terror! The Six Shadows".

Section 3: Vamp was a Monster Renegade with a monstrous flying car alternate mode from GoBots; we'll learn more about her in "Cultural Appropriation". Functionism is a philosophy from the IDW Publishing's 2005 comic continuity, introduced in stories by James Roberts. However, the idea of a caste system decided by alt-modes was introduced in the "Aligned" continuity first, starting with the Exodus novel.

Section 4: The fuel pump is the Cybertronian equivalent to the heart, originally mentioned issue #29 of the Marvel The Transformers comic. The announcement on the vid-screen from the Builders (specifically the "able-chassised, freedom-loving Cybertronian" bit) puts me in the mind of some of former United States President George W. Bush's speeches during the invasion of Iraq, though I don't think it's based on anything specific. I'm not sure if the crab-guy and the ATV Maximal are meant to be anyone. Wreckloose was a Decepticon Komodo dragon from the Jungle Planet, released the Cybertron toyline. A very slight redeco of Cybertron Wreckloose with an all-new bio was sold in the 2010 Transformers toyline as an exclusive to Big Lots!; it seems that this story is placing that Wreckloose in the Generation 1 continuity. Buzzclaw's drunken stupor is causing him to see Dipole (who seems to have been knocked out) as a sculpture; that bit initially confused me, so I'll point that out here. Knockdown was a Mini-Con/Autobot Triceratops from the Classics toyline. Engex was introduced in the prose story included with the collected version IDW Publishing's Last Stand of the Wreckers mini-series,"Bullets". Backstop was an Autobot rhinoceros also hailing from the Jungle Planet from Cybertron. Like Wreckloose, he had a (more extensive) redeco of his toy that was also sold in the 2010 Transformers toyline as a Big Lots! exclusive. Buzzclaw's plan (to stay in the bar and drink until the attacks stop) seems to be in reference to the 2004 horror comedy Shaun of the Dead, where the titular character's plan for the zombie apocalypse is to stay at a pub until it blows over, with the line even paraphrased. The term "Omega Sentinel" is another name for the Guardian robots, the group to which Omega Supreme belongs, given to them in the Dreamwave Productions' mini-series The War Within. Cybershark was a Maximal hammerhead shark, released in the second year of the Beast Wars toyline in 1997.

Section 5: MTS stands for "Mass Transit System"—an ancient form of transportation introduced in the Sunbow The Transformers cartoon episode "Desertion of the Dinobots, Part 2". It's recognizable from its description as being "vitreous". The epilogue of "Broken Windshields" mentioned that there was rumors of Lio Convoy being called "Supreme Commander"; looks like they're true. We know that Buzzclaw would have lost his bet on the Predacon victory for the game in "Broken Windshields", since Lio Convoy was given orders by Eject to push it in the Maximals' favor. Triax was a city mentioned in IDW Publishing's Autocracy mini-series, which was previously mentioned in the Cybertronix section of "Broken Windshields". Megatron's inclusion in Ser-Ket's rant is obvious; Razorclaw was the leader of the original Generation 1 Predacons, and the group has been depicted as the direct ancestors of the Beast Era faction several times, most notably in the "Dawn of Future's Past" comic from BotCon 2006. The Liege Maximo was introduced in Marvel's Generation 2 comic, created by Simon Furman and Geoff Senior, and would eventually be retconned as being one of the Thirteen original Transformers; the comic presented the Liege as the ancestor of the modern Decepticons, something that's generally been dropped from his appearances in modern fiction.

Section 6: Fortress Maximus should be obvious enough. Probably should note here that I won't be pointing the origins for any 1984-1986 characters or Beast Wars/Beast Machines show characters beyond some exceptions, if only because I think anyone reading these will (more likely than not) know who they are. The diagram of Fort Max is derived from the sticker on the release of Buzzsaw's toy with Soundblaster in The Headmasters year of the Japanese toyline, recognizable by the description of 6 red circles pointing to a part of Max's body, with one circled in blue (that being Fortress Maximus' "weak spot"). Fortress Maximus' repurposing as a prison probably owes to his IDW incarnation, where he was the warden of Autobot maximum security prison Garrus-9, as first seen in Spotlight: Arcee. Bighorn was a Maximal bison from Beast Wars II, redecoed from the American Beast Wars 1997 Maximal Bonecrusher. Survive was a Maximal brown bear from Beast Wars Neo, redecoed from American Beast Wars 1996 Maximal polar bear Polar Claw. Corahda (alternatively Romanized from his Japanese name as Cohrada and Colada) was a Maximal cobra from Beast Wars Neo.

Section 7: Tarn was introduced in the aforementioned "State Games", giving it and "Head Games" another link. Mega-miles were a unit of measurement mentioned by Wheeljack in the first episode of the Sunbow The Transformers cartoon, "More than Meets the Eye, Part 1". IFF stands for "Identification, Friend or Foe," and is a real-life radar-based identification system. Empties are Transformers who are so low on energy that they have barely any functionality left, often unable to transform, practically falling apart, and with their physical and mental abilities severely limited; they were introduced as a concept in the original Marvel The Transformers comic in issue #17. Luna Two is the name for Moonbase Two in IDW Publishing's comics, with the moon having been originally introduced in The Transformers: The Movie.

Section 8: Squeezeplay was a Decepticon Headmaster with a crab monster alternate form, from the fifth year of The Transformers toyline in 1988. Perhaps some foreshadowing here with the mechanimals as to where the Uprising will go, aside from indicating that Squeezeplay is a sick piece of shit. Petro-rabbits were mentioned in The Transformers: The Movie, hailing from Alpha 9; Turbofoxes were mentioned in The Transformers Mirage's tech specs, and were the first Cybertronian animal ever seen in the franchise (not counting Laserbeak, Ravage, and Buzzsaw, the cassette Transformers with animalistic robot modes). Crumplezone is a Micromaster version of the Armada Mini-Con tank, partnered with the Decepticon Cyclonus; appearances by other Armada Mini-Cons in later stories would indicate that he's specifically based on Crumplezone's "Powerlinx" colors, with the original version of Crumplezone representing a different character. Growl was a Decepticon Micromaster FMC XR311 combat support vehicle from the final year of the original toyline in 1991, part of the Military Patrol. Grid Pravus might refer to Transformers fan and TFW2005 member Pravus Prime, as grids in the Beast Wars cartoon were usually named after prominent members of the fandom. Squeezeplay's "former partner" is his Headmaster partner Lokos.

Section 9: Bulge was a Jungle Planet-native Mini-Con aligned with Scourge, sold in the Galaxy Force (Cybertron in English) toyline as part of a promotion, coming free with any toy bought at a "TF Station" affiliate. He was a redeco of the Armada Mini-Con Makeshift and transformed into a twin-rotor helicopter and a Gatling gun. Windshear (here spelt as Windsheer) was part of the Mini-Con Assault Team from the Generations Thrilling 30 toyline, transforming into a helicopter and the head and upper torso of the team's combined Centuritron form; obviously designed to be female, her gender is confirmed here. Mechanometers are mentioned again after being name-dropped in the previous story, which were first mentioned in The Transformers episode "City of Steel". The black and purple Micromaster Ser-Ket throws to the ground is 1989 Sport Car Patrol member Blackjack, who transformed into a 1988 Ford Probe GT Turbo sports car. On page 19, we have our second and final piece of art, featuring Buzzclaw and the others making their way up to the shattered eye of Fortress Maximus; they should technically be much smaller, but the illustration fudges their size a bit to make it clear what is happening. In the art, Cybershark and Bighorn are both depicted as Cybertronian-ized versions of their Beast bodies; Survive, meanwhile, is directly based on the Cybertronian form of the Survive from IDW Publishing's The Ascending mini-series, created by Don Figueroa.

Section 10: I'll go more in depth with the three here when they get named later on in the story. The way they're depicted here, a pair of three rattling off various damage reports, facts, and snippets of culture to no one, is reminiscent of both the precogs from the 2002 science-fiction action film Minority Report, and the Hybrid Cylons that controlled the basestars from the rebooted 2003-2009 sci-fi series Battlestar Galactica. The use of the word "dexter" here is the definition meaning the "right-side", derived from the Latin word "dexter". Plasma's eulogy here comes from "The Second Coming", a poem written in 1919 by Irish poet W.B. Yeats.

Section 11: The first Micromaster patrol of military vehicles that the Resistance comes across inside is composed of "Crack" ( I'm using air quotes here because his name is never mentioned explicitly in story, as I'll do with any other character from another continuity), Shot (who is mistakenly referred to as "Shock"), and Bomb. They use the Japanese names of Armada Land Military Mini-Con Team (Knock Out, Wreckage, and Bonecrusher), and are specifically based on that team's "X-Dimension" release's colors. The second group is composed of "Thunderblast", "Wreckage", and "Steamhammer". Wreckage is an imported version of the aforementioned Land Military Mini-Con Team member in his original colors; Thunderblast and Steamhammer, meanwhile, were redecoes of Bonecrusher and Knock Out from the Cybertron toyline, and part of the Autobot-aligned Air Defense Mini-Con team, as opposed to the Decepticon affiliation here. The third and final group that Buzzclaw goes up against consists of "Bonecrusher" (another member of the Land Military Mini-Con Team in his original colors), "Broadside" (a redeco of Knock Out from the Armada Night Attack Mini-Con Team), and "Tankor" (the third and final member of the Cybertron Air Defense Mini-Con Team).

The Race Track Patrol were sold in the final year of the original toyline in 1990; their alt-modes included a Chevrolet Corvette (Motorhead), a Baja off-road buggy (Roller Force), a Dodge Shelby Charger (Ground Hog), and a Formula-1 race car (Barricade). Polyhex was a city introduced in issue #17 of the original Marvel The Transformers comic. Spark Grid is the Japanese name of Armada Mini-Con Swindle in his powered-up form, which was sold in the US as the separate character Zapmaster; he turned into a Formula-1 race car. A version of Zapmaster was previously mentioned in the Cybertronix sections of "Broken Windshields". Dirt Digger is somewhat of an enigma; he's probably meant to be Dirt Rocket, Decepticon Mini-Con racing motorcycle and member of the Dirt Digger Team from the Classics toyline.

Cerebros' depiction in this story is heavily based on his pacifist depiction in the three-part fourth season of the original Sunbow The Transformers cartoon, "The Rebirth". Nebulos, of course, is the home planet of the Nebulans, aliens who binary-bonded with Transformers to become Headmasters, Targetmasters, and Powermasters. The Scouring of Nebulos, a major historical event in the Beast Wars: Uprising universe, is first mentioned here.

Section 12: Mech-fluid (the equivalent to "blood" for Transformers) was originally mentioned in the Beast Wars cartoon.

Section 13: "Human arrogance" refers to Spike Witwicky, who practically forced Cerebros to become his Headmaster in "The Rebirth". The Terran Singularity is probably named for the idea of a "technological singularity", a hypothetical point at which technological advancement on Earth becomes unstoppable and irreversible, changing society forever. ICE stands for "Intrusion Countermeasure Electronics", a sci-fi originally mentioned in American-Canadian writer William Gibson's 1982 short story "Burning Chrome", who credited the idea to fellow science fiction writer Tom Maddox. The Titans were established in IDW Publishing's comic continuity as the name for "city-bots", where they were an ancient group to which Metroplex belonged. The Lazarus Society is named for Lazarus of Bethany, who was resurrected by Jesus after four days of death in the Gospel of John, from the New Testament of the Bible. The Maximals are linked to Fortress Maximus here, with the faction taking their name from him. Vector Sigma, the source of Cybertronian life in the original Sunbow The Transformers cartoon, is indicated to have been destroyed. The boon from humanity Cerebros speaks of is Lio Convoy's Energon Matrix. The idea that war was looking to be renewed before the games came along probably is meant to massage the early profiles for Beast Wars: Uprising Blackarachnia and Depth Charge, which indicated that Cybertron was still at war. The slabs are etched with the names of the three generations of Witwickies who bonded with Cerebros; Spike, his son Daniel, and Daniel's son Galen , a new character named for the original Nebulan Headmaster partner of Fortress Maximus in the Marvel The Transformers comic. The original Galen was created by Bob Budiansky and Frank Springer for the Headmasters mini-series.

Section 14: The three Cyberdroids are: Gran (red), the smallest form of Grand Maximus, brother of Fortress Maximus from Super-God Masterforce; Kord (blue), this universe's version of the original Galen, who takes his name from a prose adaptation of the Marvel Headmasters series in the Marvel UK Transformers Annual 1987, which referred to Galen as "Kord" for unknown reasons; and Plasma, known in the US as Cerebros, the smallest robot part of Robots In Disguise Fortress Maximus. Rather than her original red color scheme, she's green here. The original Plasma/Cerebros was male; this story starts a trend that will pick up in future stories, flipping the genders of various characters previously established to be male. In Plasma's ranting, she mentions that Cerebros is linked to Zebres and Emissary; Emissary was a redeco of Cerebros who formed Robots in Disguise Fort Max's head; his toy was sold as Zebres in the Robotmasters toyline. Cog and his components, the armored vehicles Gasket and Grommet, was the standard "city-former" partner of Fortress Maximus in the original toyline; when Grand Maximus was released, he had a Cog of his own, formed from Onomisu and Koka. The "grandfather, father, son" bit refers to Spike, Daniel, and Galen. The "wife and mother" is Carly, Spike's wife and Daniel's mother from the Sunbow The Transformers cartoon. The wife of Daniel, as the Cybertronix section will reveal, is Llyra, daughter of Zarak from the original Marvel Headmasters series, created by Bob Budiansky and Frank Springer. The "enemy" and "opposite" were probably meant to refer to Zarak and Scorponok originally, but later stories would reveal that the father of Llyra was someone else in this continuity, and Scorponok had a different name. The term Macromaster (used to describe normal-sized Transformers, as opposed to tiny Micromasters) probably takes its name from Macromasters, the fancomic of Transformers fan-artist-turned-pro Don Figueroa. As such, Megamaster then refers to the giant city-sized Transformers, usually referred to these days as Titans, following on IDW Publishing's comics. Plasma begins to say, "we are Fortress Maximus," quoting the fully combined Fort Max and Spike Witwicky as they fought to defend Earth from Galvatron, in issue #79 of the Marvel The Transformers comic. Plasma's final quote comes from the 1818/1819 poem "Bright Star" by English Romantic poet John Keats.

Section 15: Cheetor led the initial resistance before being heavily injured, as first told in Blackarachnia's profile in issue #25 of the Club magazine. Grimlock was sold as a Maximal in the second year of the Beast Wars toyline in 1997, redecoed from the Velociraptor Dinobot; his bio indicated he was the original Autobot Grimlock, having undergone the upgrade to Maximal, and he's depicted as having followed the same path here. Preditron is a new version of a character originally mentioned in Wings Universe prose story "A Team Effort" by Jesse Wittenrich, himself named for the evil version of Beast-Bot with a wolf mode in the Playskool Go-Bots toyline, though this version will be radically changed from that depiction when he eventually appears. He's the founder of the Tripredacus Council, the rulers of the Predacons from the Beast Wars cartoon. We'll go in depth on him a bit more later on.

The Cybertronix sections read as:

Green: sending such flame from frosen brest

Red: Riots erupting across the southern hemisphere tensions escalating paroxyms of violence surge

Green: memories of sorrow break upon the shore like waves on the beach like

Blue: 7 degree alignment correction

Red: -der Assembly paralyzed by inexperience

Green: too many years decades centuries of petty infighting of

Blue: quantum lens receiver experiences 1.224% power surge compensate

Green: might as well be walking on the sun

Red: Damaxus only the latest in a

Blue: increase the efficiency of the antimatter charm pulsar by 1.0339% if

Green: Llyra my wife my mother Where bloody Tybalt, yet but green in earth, Lies festering

Red: Maximal interventionalism exceptionalism an existential thread that Predacon rivalry

Green: peasants of that land Wondering to lay

Red: seeking necessary redress but equilibrium too fragile

Blue: dorsal osmotic vacuum matrix miscalibration END OF LINE

Red: redeploy 113th Micromaster battalion to Simfur in anticipation of resistance

Blue: completely resynchronize the primary and auxiliary autosequencers in

Green: sunlight moonlight moonshine cocacola chocolate the touch of

Red: manufacturing output necessary for fullscale militarization beyond the capacity

Green: as we

Green: hearing the sound of a quiver in the empty air out the reins as

Blue: core sink 11925 experiences slight tenancy to overheat with redirection of coolant

Green: to feel the thrill of opening a gift

Red: that intercepted transmissions suggest a 12%

Red: to Grid Digilaut

Green: What men or gods are these What maidens loth What mad pursuit what struggle

Blue: to redirect emergency response nanoswarms to pullulate at coordinates 372 by 994, subsection 18

Red: as rebel assault gamma commences 3 solar

Green: by the ocean, it was so dismal

Red: Gamma thrust now 92.3% likely in the next 10 cycles vulnerable means of ingress include sewage linkage energy conduits optic port gravity relay bundles

Blue: energy reserves insufficient for full scale

Red: warning! Optical breach, dexter, response team to alert status deploy to primary and secondary vertical trunks

Green: youre in the jungle baby you gonna die

Blue: 39.2 kilounits of trans, aluminum required from synthesizer banks 11 to 14 reroute sensor

Green: tide is loosed, and everywhere the ceremony of innocence is drowned END OF LINE

Blue: delta and sigma regions experiencing ongoing oxidation damage (fire) prep trans. cog for minlevel internal spin

Red: energon reserves for first responders critically low

Green: [fi]tted to the sphere Our missiles always make too short an arc

Red: Mental penetration of Predacon designated Buzzclaw now 17% reiterate request to Builder Assembly to release energon reserves for Micromaster reserve forces

Blue: asymetrical multitronic ca-

Red: -[ana]lysis of strategy indicates anomalous behavior

Green: the angel begged permission

Blue: damage of relays 3447 and 3472 prevent accurate assessment and direction of nano repair circuitry END OF LINE

Green: the start not so out of reach for Lio Convoy as for us

Red: [pen]etration of Predacon designated Buzzclaw now 100% Predacon designated SerKet was the key

Green: all you need is love

Blue: fire suppressing systems overwhelmed initiating O2 lockdown END OF LINE

Green: Olin how could you turn out so different from Galen your twin always Scor-

Red: [po]rts 1, 3 not found retrying socket error 114 ports 1, 3 not found retrying socket error 114 ports 1, 3 not found retrying socket error 114 ports 1, 3 not found

Plasma Kord Where are you I am lonely

Many of Plasma's lines are directly lifted from human literature and music. The first is a line from a poem by 15th century English politician and poet, Sir Thomas Wyatt. The second quote, however, doesn't appear to come from anywhere. "too many years decades centuries of petty infighting of" is another new line. "might as well be walking on the sun" are lyrics from the 1997 debut single of the American rock band Smash Mouth, "Walkin' on the Sun". Llyra is mentioned by name here, confirming her identity in the main story. "Where bloody Tybalt, yet but green in earth, Lies festering" is a quote from "Romeo and Juliet" by 16th century English playwright William Shakespeare. "peasants of that land Wondering to lay" comes from the poem "A Dream of Death" by W.B. Yeats. The 113th squadron probably gets its name from More than Meets the Eye writer James Roberts' fondness to slip it in as an Easter egg, as the issue #113 of the Marvel UK comic was his first. Simfur was introduced in IDW Publishing's prequel mini-series for the first live-action Transformers film and is named for Transformers writer Simon Furman. Among the things Plasma remembers is the soft drink Coca-Cola. "hearing the sound of a quiver in the empty air out the reins as" comes from the Metamorphoses, a narrative poem by the Roman poet Ovid from the year 8 AD. Grid Digilaut is named for TFW2005 member and Animated fan Digilaut. "What men or gods are these What maidens loth What mad pursuit what struggle" is a line from 1819's "Ode on a Grecian Urn" by John Keats. "by the ocean, it was so dismal" is a lyric from the 1975 rock-reggae song "Redondo Beach" by American singer-songwriter Patti Smith. "youre in the jungle baby you gonna die" is a lyric from the 1987 song "Welcome to the Jungle" by American rock band Guns N Roses. "[fi]tted to the sphere Our missiles always make too short an arc" comes from the 1928 poem "The Soldier" by American poet Robert Frost. "the angel begged permission" comes from the poem "A little East of Jordan" by 19th-century American poet Emily Dickinson. "all you need is love" is lyrics from the 1967 song of the same name by the English rock band The Beatles. Olin Witwicky is Galen Witwicky's twin and is a version of Zarak's son/Llyra's half-brother from the Wings Universe, Olin Zarak, introduced in BotCon 2014's tie-in fiction. "Scor-" is presumably supposed to be the first syllable for "Scorponok".