Identity Politics

The seventh story in the Beast Wars: Uprising prose series, "Identity Politics" was released about a week and a half after the previous story, "Trigger Warnings", on September 13, 2016. Chronologically speaking, it is the earliest story in the series, with later stories establishing it takes place 21 stellar cycles before "Broken Windshields". It tells the story of Gnashteeth, the administrator of the Dynamic Energon Distillery in Iacon who, upon being passed up for a promotion, forms a criminal empire with the help of his loyal underling Scorponok, eventually becoming the Predacon crime lord Megatron. This story was written by Jim Sorenson and David Bishop, with illustrations by Tomoya Hosono, and colors by Winston Bolen.

This story was commissioned in part as promotion for the Club's pre-beast Scorponok toy, a redeco of the Generations: Thrilling 30 Scamper toy sold as part of the club's Transformers Figure Subscription Service 5.0. Jim has noted that he wanted to call Scorponok by the name "Scorponaut" (an unofficial pre-beast name for Scorponok created by Trent Troop, who animated Scorponok's Cybertronian form as a virtual redeco of Cybertron Shortround in the CGI Beast Wars prequel Theft of the Golden Disk) to distinguish him from the Decepticon Headmaster who originally held the name, but Fun Publications insisted that he would have the same name as the toy.

The story takes partial inspiration from the 2008-2013 crime drama Breaking Bad, with Megatron in the role of Walter White (played by Bryan Cranston)-a mild-mannered chemistry teacher whose cancer diagnosis pushes him to become a meth dealer and crime lord-and with Scorponok in the role of Jesse Pinkman (played by Aaron Paul), White's former student, pushed from merely being a small-time criminal to assisting in White's various crimes, increasingly performing more and more horrendous actions.

The term "identity politics" was coined in 1977 by the Combahee River Collective, a black feminist lesbian socialist group from Boston. It describes the political associations and agendas developed by people of a particular background, such as race, gender, sexuality, and religion, which define the policies they pursue. For this particular story, it reflects Gnashteeth's struggle to identify himself; feeling ill-suited with his name and place in society, and his reinvention of himself as Megatron, and Scorponok's struggle to define himself.

The cover (by Hosono and Bolen) is done in the style of an old propaganda poster, with Gnashteeth/Megatron staring defiantly in the sky, while in bottom Scorponok has his back turned as a Dropkick with a Kospego logo on it hauls away energon cubes from the D.E.D. Onto the story:

Section 1: We'll start off by going into Scorponok a bit. Of the original Predacon cast of the Beast Wars cartoon, he was easily the one with the least amount to do. While he was Megatron's second-in-command, he suffered from being alternatively portrayed as an inventor and a bumbling goon. With Tarantulas' scientific prowess quickly overshadowing his, and with Inferno's introduction as an extremely loyal Predacon, Scorponok was largely redundant, and was killed off in the second season. In this story, Jim and Dave recast him in the role of a young, socially awkward programmer, eager to show off his work, slowly hardened over the course of the story.

Stockade and Rav are both Mini-Cons with beast modes repurposed as Maximals and are given genders as female here. Stockade was an Autobot-aligned Triceratops from the Universe toyline, a redeco of Classics Knockdown sold in a 10-pack with other Mini-Cons at various places like Kmart. The Mini-Cons were marked as being from the world of Armada on their packaging. Rav, meanwhile, was an Autobot-aligned Pteranodon, a redeco of Classics Swoop sold at various "market six" stores as part of the Dark of the Moon toyline.

Dynamic Energon Distilleries is an all new company created for this story. Impound was a character originally mentioned as a member of the Axiom Nexus Security Administration in the TransTech prose story "Withered Hope", who was created by Greg Sepelak and Trent Troop. No information was given about him beyond his name, so this story casts him as a Predacon security officer. Plasma nets were seen in The Official Transformers: Generation 2 Annual comic "The Dinobots!" Stasis cuffs come from the Animated cartoon.

The section breaks this time take the form of Scorponok's datapad, with writing in the Predacon Cybertronix font from Beast Wars. We'll go through it at the end.

Section 2: "E-paint" is short for electronic paint, introduced in the Animated cartoon. Three gangs are mentioned here: the Destron Boys (a gang originally mentioned in the TransTech prose story "Gone Too Far"; "Destron" was the Japanese name for the Decepticons up until the release of the first live-action movie); the Firestormers (mentioned previously in "Trigger Warnings", they're based on the squadron of Autobots seen in the first issue of Marvel's Generation 2 comic); and the Kospegos. That last one appears prominently later on in the story; they're named for the mythical elk-like creature that the Decepticon Thunderhoof pretended to be in the 2015 Robots in Disguise episode "As the Kospego Commands!"; the reason for their name will become clear later. On page 4 we have an image of Scorponok by Hosono and Bolen. The Cybertronian DataNet is the Transformer version of the Internet, first mentioned in the Animated episode "A Bridge Too Close, Part I".

The Administrator, as we soon learn, is Beast Wars Megatron. However, he doesn't receive that name until the end of the story; instead, he's stuck with his original name, one he does not feel suits him: Gnashteeth. As revealed in the final episode of the Beast Wars cartoon, Megatron had renamed himself after a figure mentioned in the Covenant of Primus, which was hinted to actually be him, as part of a bootstrap paradox. His original name was never revealed in the cartoon. Gnashteeth is derived from a Mini-Con Tyrannosaurus rex sold as part of the fifth "Micron Booster" assortment in Japan. Redecoed from Classics Terrorsaur, his colors clearly homaged Beast Wars Megatron, and in this universe, the two are combined. As seen in illustrations later in the story, Gnashteeth/Megatron is depicted as a "virtual retool" of the Generations Thrilling 30 Legends class Megatron, with a head based on Beast Wars Megatron's original one. Scorponok is quite young, as is the majority of the proto-race Cybertronians, a little less that 50 years old. We'll see who the previous administrator was in a bit.

Mechanometers were a unit of measurement mentioned in the Sunbow The Transformers episode "City of Steel". Cybercats were a species of mechanimal first mentioned in the Cybertron episode "Challenge". Later, in The AllSpark Almanac II, Animated Steeljaw was indicated to be a cybercat, which fits in with the modified metaphor used here: "entering the lion's den." The Nemesis, of course, was the starship used by the Decepticons to chase the Autobots in both the original comic and cartoon, though it would not be named until Beast Wars. Megatron was first said to hail from Tarn in the Marvel UK prose story "State Games" published in the Transformers Annual 1986, where he was the city's gladiatorial champion. Forging is one form in which new Transformers are born in IDW Publishing's comics. Kaon was Decepticon-held city-state first seen in Dreamwave Productions' The Dark Ages mini-series. The Museum of Decepticon Heritage is an all-new creation for this story.

Section 3: Gnashteeth's benefactor and mentor, Double Punch, was one of the European-exclusive Action Master Elites sold in 1991, Action Masters who had the ability to transform and push-button gimmicks. Double Punch's scorpion alternate mode was a fair bit more convincing than the others, though it did end up having two tails, as they were formed by his legs; Double Punch's design was based on the Japanese-exclusive Transformer from 1988, BlackZarak. He's had a fair bit of different characterizations over the year, and I'll point out what parts are source from where. His political ambition seems to draw inspiration from his profile in IDW Publishing's Beast Wars Sourcebook (Double Punch received a Beast Wars toy at BotCon Japan 1998, a redeco of Beast Wars Scorponok), which stated that he saw himself as a "mover and shaker" in Cybertronian affairs.

Sigil and Halogen were two extremely old robots who served as part of the High Council of Cybertron, as seen in the 2010 Aligned continuity novel Exodus. Sigil was previously mentioned in "Broken Windshields" as a member of the Builder Assembly, while a Generation 1 version of Halogen was mentioned in the Wings Universe prose story "A Team Effort". Notably, the original versions of the characters were unaligned Cybertronians opposed to Megatron's Decepticon revolutionaries who preferred Cybertron's old autocratic way, while here, they are Decepticons; presumably, due to the Decepticons not having origins as a revolutionary group in Beast Wars: Uprising, and thus them being more in line with the Decepticons' goals. Kudon and Cross-Cut were previously mentioned in "Broken Windshields". Kudon was part of the Council of Ancients seen in Dreamwave Productions' The War Within mini-series, and was created by Simon Furman and Don Figueroa. Cross-Cut was an e-Hobby exclusive Collector's Edition figure, a "retool" of The Transformers Skids toy that was based on the original Diaclone release of the mold. His tech specs characterized him as the Autobot's ambassador to various alien races. As we would see in "Broken Windshields", a Micromaster was eventually appointed to the Builder Assembly: Riker, the governor of the colony of Micro from Victory.

Cerberus is the Beast Wars: Uprising version of Bruticus from the 2001 Robots in Disguise toyline. A Predacon with a technorganic Cerberus alt-mode (the three-headed dog who guarded the gates of the Underworld in Greek mythology), he was originally supposed to see release as the Maximal Cerberus in the Beast Machines toyline, but was cancelled and pushed over into Robots in Disguise. In-keeping with Beast Wars: Uprising tradition, he uses his alternate name, with the Bruticus moniker presumably belonging to the original Combaticon combiner.

Double Punch's reminiscences another look into the final days of the Great War in the Beast Wars: Uprising universe. The original in-universe justification for Micromasters' small size in the Marvel comic was that they were designed to be more fuel efficient. Cerebros revealed that the Energon Matrix used to bring life to the Maximals and Predacons came as a gift from humanity back in "Head Games", which is also the source of the idea that the Builders originally wanted to use them as proxy warriors, massaging the early inconsistencies of the universe as presented in Blackarachnia's profile in issue #25 of the Club magazine with the games concept of later stories. Double Punch's BotCon 2010 toy's bio depicted him as a former gladiator, who loved to destroy his opponents by bring the stadium down on them, killing the audience in the process. Engex is a beverage from "Bullets", a prose story from IDW Publishing's Last Stand of the Wreckers trade collection. The "pits of Kaon" were mentioned as where Megatron honed his skills as a gladiator in the Prime episode "Crossfire". Borehole was an unlucky Decepticon forced to fight the Autobot Kick-Off for the amusement of the Decepticons in the ruined Garrus-9, seen in issue #1 of Last Stand of the Wreckers, and create by Nick Roche and James Roberts. Hydrau was a gladiatorial fighter briefly mentioned in Exodus, possibly created by Alex Irvine.

Double Punch's old gladiatorial weapons, as revealed later in the story, are the weapons of BlackZarak, hinted at here by their description as being red and gold in color. Energon wine was seen in The Headmasters cartoon. We get our first "yes" from Gnashteeth/Megatron here, delivered by actor David Kaye with drawled-out syllables in the Beast Wars cartoon; Jim and Dave know how to use it sparingly. Bulletbike was a European-exclusive Power Master from Generation 2; armed with a pull-back motor gimmick, he could roll forth in both robot and his vehicular form, a motorcycle with a sidecar. In the TransTech story "I, Lowtech", a TransTech incarnation of Bulletbike was featured, a businessman with questionable ethics and morals, who was body-swapped into his Generation 2 counterpart as part of the manipulations of Shattered Glass Alpha Trion.

Section 4: Ant-droids were mentioned in the original The Transformers cartoon episode "More than Meets the Eye, Part 3". "Builder world problems" is based on the phrase "first world problems." Array Л takes its designation from a Cyrillic letter found in Russian and other languages, roughly equivalent to the Latin letter "L." More catchphrases out of Megatron with "no" and "excellent."

Section 5: И is the Cyrillic equivalent of "I," while П is the Cyrillic equivalent of "P." Hydrax was an unreleased Predacon of the Prime variety from the Bot Shots toyline; a redeco of that line's Twinstrike, he turned into a two-headed dragon. The Dropkick-model haulers were previously mentioned as a type of Quintesson-built Terrorbot drone back in "Burning Bridges", named for the Decepticon pick-up truck of the same name from the 2007 live-action movie toyline, who was depicted as a mass-produced Decepticon drone. This story reveals that they're the green-and-purple transport drone used by Megatron in the early days of the war, seen in The Transformers episode "War Dawn". Another instance after the last few stories of a subspace pocket, where Transformers store weapons and other items, based on old fan explanations for strange scenes in various episodes of the original cartoon where characters would summon weapons in a flash of light.

Section 6: The Kospego insignia, seen on the cover, is an abstract antler shape, for reasons that will become obvious. Ped is a continuity import of a Decepticon from the 2015 Robots in Disguise cartoon as a Predacon; the original was a semi-humanoid robot with centipede features, who turned into a semi-truck, and who was a coward with an inferiority complex. CPKs stands for "Cyber Planet Keys"; the previous few stories have featured the power-enhancing objects from Cybertron as a form of currency, with their physical appearance based on the Hasbro Asia-exclusive collector's coin included with their release of Masterpiece toys.

We'll learn more about the bar and its bartender in a bit. Megatron swears by the Inferno; this was the initial name for the Cybertronian version of Hell mentioned throughout the Beast Wars cartoon. After the character named Inferno was introduced, however, it was renamed as the Pit, which is also mentioned later in the story. "Navy-and-teal" gives us a hint as to who the bartender is.

Section 7: The bar's name is The Scourge of Athenia, while the bartender's name is Krunix, whose named it for one of his old partners. This, combined with the fact that he has a hologram of a organic in armor named Fracas projecting in the bar, puts all the pieces of the puzzle together. The bar takes its name from the Decepticon Scourge, one of Unicron's creations from The Transformers: The Movie and part of the 1986 toyline, and Athenia, a planet first seen in the Sunbow The Transformers cartoon's season 3 premier, "Five Faces of Darkness, Part 1" (though it was only named in the Japanese dub of the episode), which later served as the Autobots' headquarters in the Japanese sequel series The Headmasters. When Scourge's toy was re-released in 1987, he was made a Targetmaster, partnered with the Nebulan Fracas. Krunix, meanwhile, is a bit more complicated. In issue #2 of Marvel's Headmasters mini-series, the Decepticon Cyclonus was supposed to show up a few scenes, but artist Frank Springer accidentally drew Cyclonus' Targetmaster partner Nightstick instead (further compounding the issue, the models for Nightstick and Fracas accidentally swapped their names around). When it came time for the series to be released in Marvel UK's version of The Transformers, audiences were already familiar with Cyclonus as a character, and so editorial swapped out Cyclonus name for a new one, creating the "character" of Krunix. Here, he's made the Headmaster partner of Scourge (calling back to the model swap of Nightstick and Fracas), and is repurposed from the Titans Return Fracas Titan Master toy, which formed the head of that line's Scourge. Of note, the Beast Wars Transmetal 2 Predacon locust Scourge previously showed up with that name in "Broken Windshields"; this seeming inconsistency with the naming scheme of Beast Wars: Uprising characters will be addressed later.

"Three Busted Optics" appears to just be a generic bar name. Empties are essentially the Cybertronian equivalent of homeless people, Transformers so low on energy that they often can't transform and have cognitive difficulties. They were first seen in issue #17 of the Marvel The Transformers comic; I imagine all the ones here are probably Micromasters, due to their mobility and also due to the fact that they're all characters who were on the short-side of Cybertronian height. Tappet was a neutral Transformer who fled the war and only returned to Cybertron after it was over, first seen in IDW Publishing's The Death of Optimus Prime one-shot. Created by John Barber, James Roberts, and Nick Roche, his colors and physical appearance were based on the British children's character Noddy, created by Enid Blyton, with his kibble indicating he turned into Noddy's famous car. The Maximal bounty hunter Gauntlet appears to be an all-new creation of Jim Sorenson and Dave Bishop's here. Dipstick, who shares a body-type with Tappet, was a grumpy little Autobot first seen in IDW Publishing's Last Stand of the Wreckers issue #1; he was created by Nick Roche and James Roberts.

Protoforms of Anarchy is based on the titular motorcycle club from the Amercan crime-drama television show, Sons of Anarchy, which aired from 2008 to 2014. Skater, the final Empty mentioned, was an assistant of Emirate Xaaron seen in Marvel UK's The Transformers issue #78, created by Simon Furman and Jeff Anderson. The Uraya Bypass presumably leads from Iacon into Uraya, the Cybertronian city-state first seen in Dreamwave Productions' The War Within mini-series. Ego, the new Chairman of Dynamic Energon Distilleries, is a version of the TransTech character seen in "I, Lowtech", TransTech Bulletbike's main competitor, who was created by Greg Sepelak and Trent Troop. The new Administrator of the Iacon facility, Datamine, was a greedy and mathematically-minded Decepticon seen briefly in the Wings Universe prose story "A Team Effort", created by Jesse Wittenrich. Budora, Megatron's co-deputy administrator, is another continuity import of an Aligned-style Predacon. In his case, the original Budora was the leader of the Predacon team known as the Four Oni from the Japanese-exclusive Prime sequel series, Go!; a power-hungry individual who wanted his leader, Dragontron, to remain in stasis, he transformed into an "ursagryph" (a combination of a bear and a bird) and was a retool of the Hasbro Prime: Beast Hunters Predacon Grimwing.

Section 8: Acid rain, as I've explained before, was originally seen as an artificial phenomenon on Cybertron in the Sunbow The Transformers cartoon episode "Divide and Conquer". It's gone on to be depicted as a semi-natural phenomenon in later stories; here it's attributed to the output of Cybertron's faltering industrial base. Raze and Sting, the Predacons hired by Gnashteeth and Scorponok, are based on two Decepticons who showed up in stories from the prose anthology collection. Raze was a violent braggart who turned into a jukebox, appearing in the story "Paddles" and created by Jean Rabe. Sting, meanwhile, was a small and hapless Decepticon gladiator seen in the story "Parts", who was created by Donald J. Bingle.

The Kospegos' leader, Thunderhoof, is a Maximal version of the Decepticon crime boss Thunderhoof, seen in the 2015 Robots in Disguise cartoon. Elk-like in appearance and with a tractor alternate mode, he had the speech patterns of a stereotypical gangster. He's not named right away, having hidden his identity long ago. He's sort of the counterpart to Tuco Salamanca (Raymond Cruz) from Breaking Bad in this story, Walter White and Jesse Pinkman's initial contact with the criminal underworld. His underling is Terrorsaur, one of original main Predacons from the Beast Wars cartoon, as I'm sure you know. His appearance in this story is based off his BotCon 2016 toy, a retool of Combiner Wars Air Raid. His line, "welcome to the dark side," is a line verbatim from the Beast Wars episode "Equal Measures", his greeting to Cheetor when the Maximal was accidentally teleported to the Predacon base. More on that in a bit.

Retrorats were a Cybertronian species mentioned in the Sunbow The Transformers episodes "Changing Gears" and "Microbots". Sting's arm-mounted sonic disruptor was described in his original appearance. "Getting down to the brass tacks" is an idiom for getting down to the essentials/ the basic facts of a situation; I'm unsure if its rendering as "brass tax" is intentional or not. The Golden Spires are another name for the Celestial Spires, the original headquarters of the Autobot Council from the Marvel UK The Transformers comic, used as an interjection after they were destroyed; in this universe, they remain standing. On page 20, another illustration by Hosono and Bolen, featuring Thunderhoof watching as Terrorsaur knocks down Scorponok and Gnashteeth struggle to get up. "Emperor of Destruction" is the Japanese title given to Decepticon and Predacon leaders. And here, Gnashteeth is given the moniker of Megatron for the first time, though in a mocking way. The CR tank at the D.E.D. plant is like the one on the Predacon's ship in the Beast Wars cartoon: a bath-like structure filled with liquid, containing repair nanobots.

Section 9: The Allspark is one of the names for the dimension from which all sparks come from and where they go when they die, first named as such in the Beast Machines cartoon. The "shadow economy" is another name for the black market.

Section 10: Double Punch's tendency to side with both sides in an argument to advance his position was mentioned in his original toy and both of his BotCon toy's tech specs. Traachon was also mentioned as part of the Builder Assembly back in "Broken Windshields"; he was High Councillor and General seen in a few stories published in the Marvel UK The Transformers comic annuals, starting with 1985's "And There Shall Come...A Leader!" in the Transformers Annual 1985, and was created by Simon Furman and John Stokes. Floron was one of the Decepticon statues seen in the Hall of Heroes during Starscream's coronation in The Transformers: The Movie; he was named in concept art by Floro Dery, who named the Decepticon after himself. The Tyrant Spear (originally known in this universe as the Tyrant Blade) was the weapon of BlackZarak, a red spear. Here, it is repurposed from BotCon 2016 Megatron's combined missile launcher weapon, originally from the Robots in Disguise 2001 Megatron/Galvatron mold, a fact that will be made more clear next story. Gnashteeth's declaration of turning from a pawn to a queen both homages the game of chess, and the fact that in the Beast Wars cartoon, Inferno referred to Megatron as his queen, the result of his beast-mode's instincts effecting his personality.

Section 11: Scorponok's new double-barrelled weapon (part of his TFSS toy, naturally) is one of Double Punch's Blacking Cannons, named after BlackZarak's four shoulder-mounted double-barrelled cannons. I dunno if the large gold Maximal is meant to be anybody or if he's just a generic. The Dropkicks are mentioned to be Quintesson in origin, as previously stated in "Burning Bridges". Firebot is the equivalent of a "fireman"; it's also the name of several characters, including a friendly firecar from the Playskool Go-Bots toyline (rendered as "Fire-Bot") and two Mini-Con firetrucks, one from Armada and one from the Classics toyline. The page ends with one final illustration from Hosono and Bolen: a grief-stricken Scorponok standing over the corpse of Impound. I believe Impound's design is a new one, and not based on anything pre-existing, but I could be wrong.

Section 12: The Minions are the Minions of Unicron gang, named for Unicron's followers in the original Universe toyline. Ginormous is a word you've probably heard before; as a digression, Scatman Crothers, the original voice actor for Jazz, is sometimes credited for coining the word, using it to describe Unicron in The Transformers: The Movie, but the word has been around a bit longer, being dated at least as far back in British military slang from the late 1940s. Snitch is another continuity import of a 2015 Robots in Disguise Decepticon; this time, a rat-like Decepticon seen in the Robots in Disguise chapter book, Sideswipe versus Thunderhoof. He was created by John Sazaklis. Scavenger is a bit of an interesting one. He's a version of the Beast Machines Vehicon, who turned into a strange, excavator-like tank. Scavenger was one of the four servants of Shattered Glass Alpha Trion seen in the "Transcendent" and "Reunification" storylines, who, along with Blackarachnia, Nightscream, and Immorticon, traveled to the TransTech universe and had their sparks place into that universe's counterparts of themselves. Scavenger was described as a former member of the Darksyder gang, and we see him get his start with that group here. As with Scourge, another Scavenger previously showed up in "Broken Windshields" before the naming convention of Beast Wars: Uprising was quite established, the Beast Wars Transmetal Predacon ant. Jim Sorenson has stated that if he could go back, he would rename that Scavenger "Corpse Eater." The Rust Sea was originally mentioned in the letters page of issue #162 of the Marvel UK The Transformers comic, and has gone on to become a staple of Cybertron's environment.

Section 13: The Maximal Flying Corps was previously mentioned in "Burning Bridges". "The king is dead, long live the king" is a phrase dating back to the 1422 accession to the throne of French king Charles VII, after the death of his father Charles VI. The process by which the Darksyders name themselves is a homage to real-world fandom history; some fans took Terrorsaur's line a little literally, believing that the Predacon's ship was named the Darkside, something that wound up being canonized in the Beast Wars: Transmetals video game, albeit spelled as the Darksyde. Gnashteeth takes the Megatron name for himself, acknowledging it as being both from prophecy (the previously aforementioned passage from the Covenant of Primus) and from history (the original Decepticon Megatron). It also serves as an homage to Walter White taking on the moniker of Heisenberg, after German theoretical physicist Werner Heisenberg. The story ends with a massive image of the Predacon insignia.

Now, the Cybertronix, in full, reads as follows (with spelling errors intact):

Logging on to alt.software.dev

User ID Megabee42296

FSS15: hey, bee, wwhats new

GEOFAN: wb

MesothulasSinner: Thats why I

typically employ more, shall we

aggressive strategy when dealing

with recalcitrant Maximals.

MesothulasSinner: Hello, Bee.

Cyberbee42296: Hi, all. anything

new?

ravagekitteh: hi bee im here too

Agent3P: go away kitteh

ravagekitteh: Y U so mean to meh

Agent3P: Good point, Mes. Ill

keep in mind. The Uprising has

been good for business.

FSS15: Not much bee. your latest

algo kicked serious skidplate btw.

CyberBee42296: Glad to help. PM

me, I have an optimization algo I

need another set of optics on.

FSS15: No prob

ravagekitteh: I can look too!

alt.dev.software takes its naming convention from the 90's Usenet newsgroup communities. It also serves as a reference to alt.toys.transformers, one of the earliest online communities of Transformers fans, who were so big that the site and some of its users were referenced several times in the Beast Wars cartoon. Scorponok's username Cyberbee42296 (erroneously referred to as both "Megabee42296" and "CyberBee42296") is a reference to both the original Beast Wars Scorponok's cyberbee drone, and the air date of the first episode of the Beast Wars cartoon, April 22nd, 1996. The other users include: FSS15, taken from the initials of the Transformers Figure Subscription Service, for which Scorponok's toy was released as part of the fifth series; GEOFAN, who is presumably Fractyl, a Predacon Pteranodon and geologist, whose original toy was a redeco of Beast Wars Terrorsaur exclusive to BotCon 1997, and who had a new toy redecoed from BotCon 2016 Terrorsaur that Scorponok's toy came with in the Figure Subscription Service; MesothulasSinner, AKA Tarantulas, the IDW Publishing version of whom was originally a neutral scientist named Mesothulas, as seen in the Sins of the Wreckers mini-series; Agent3P, referencing the Beast Wars incarnation of Ravage, an upgraded Predacon version of the Decepticon original, who was an agent of the Tripredacus Council, and who had a toy sold as "Tripredacus Agent" at the tail end of the Beast Wars toyline, due to the trademark on Ravage being unavailable at the time; and ravagekitteh, the Yatter username of Shattered Glass Ravage, an internet-adicted cat who spoke in leetspeak.

"wb" stands for "welcome back." Shattered Glass Ravage had an encounter with his positive-universe counterpart in the Recordicons comic strip from the Club's magazine, his evil doppelganger despising him. Agent3P mentions the Uprising, which hasn't actually happened by the point this story takes place; maybe this communication takes place years later.