Force of Habit

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"Force of Habit"
Publisher	Transformers Collectors' Club
First published	April 17, 2008
Writers	Greg Sepelak and Trent Troop
Illustrations	Matt Kuphaldt
Continuity	Cybertron cartoon
Page count	25pp

An Autobot recon team finds a dead colony world that might not be so dead.

Synopsis

On board of the new Autobot flagship Iron Hope, Ultra Magnus thinks to himself (and his binary-bonded Mini-Con partner, Knock Out), as some of highest ranking Autobots-including Scavenger, Rodimus, Arcee, Sparkplug, Bulkhead, and Longrack gather. Ultra Magnus begins his brief: with the black hole growing exponentially, Cybertron's population has been evacuated to Earth. With conventional attempts failing, Optimus Prime has turned to the advice of the mysterious old bot, Vector Prime, and with his crew of Autobots, is looking for the four Cyber Planet Keys and the Omega Lock. Data suggest that the Omega Lock is on Earth, and with agents already on two colonies, the Autobots have a good headstart. However, data from Vector Prime suggests that aside from four main planets, there were other colony worlds designed as relay points. With no way of knowing which colonies have the keys, it's the Autobot space fleet's job to search them out, and to report any data they may find. Magnus assigns the captains to their ships, crews, and regioins of space; Bulkhead and the Eclipse are assigned to Gamma Kreuger ; Sparkplug and the Valiant to Betelgeuse; Arcee and the Azusa to Gamma Serpentis; Longrack and the Spanner to Delta Draconis; Scavenger and the DieCast to Zeta Persei; Rodimus and the Longbow to Beta Aquarii; and the Iron Hope itself to Delta Crateris. Magnus reminds the captains to not engage in any local civilization's power struggles, or to tell them of the severity of the situation. Ultra Magnus also warns them to look out for the Decepticons, as Megatron (having stolen the planet map that contained the archival database on the colonies) presumably has the same data the Autobots have, and orders them to roll out.

On board the Upstart, Brushguard is fed up with his crew; Hardtop complains loudly about getting the raw end of the deal from Megatron, while his brother Swindle looks poised to beat him up, with Buzzsaw and Runamuck entertained by the bickering. With the former Decepticon space fleet decommissioned at the end of the last phase of the war, ships like the tiny Upstart are all that remains, with only Megatron's elites having access to personal warp gates. The Decepticon scientist has trouble with the concepts of Cyber Keys and the Unicron-powered black hole, considering such things to be mystical nonsense, but knows well enough not to protest against Megatron. Interrupted from his thoughts by Swindle taking one of Hardtop's comic books, Brushguard is nearly pushed over the edge, but is interrupted when Buzzsaw points an upcoming planet. The planet is a class three, with energy signatures all over the planet...and Autobot energy signals.

On the planet, the crew of the Spanner disembark from the ship. Armorhide scans the horizon, the planet filled with dead metal and red skies. Blurr, a Velocitron colonist who recently joined the Autobots, doesn't like the look of place, but Longrack insists on searching the place for any signs of a Cyber Planet Key. Armorhide wonders why there would be a Cyber Planet Key on a junkyard planet, but Checkpoint picks up an arm, and figures out that the "junk" surrounding them are corpses. The Autobots find a variety of bots, some with variations on the Autobot and Decepticon insignias, and some with insignia never seen before. Checkpoint doesn't understand, Vector Prime having said that the colonies left long before the war, but quickly turns, thinking he spots something on the horizon. Longrack gives out the orders; he has Checkpoint scavenge for any sign of a Cyber Key, Blurr sweep the perimeter, and Armorhide scan radio traffic. Longrack admonishes and over-eager Armorhide for wanting to fight any native Decepticons, and as the Autobot truck drives off, one of the piles shifts as something leaves it...

Elsewhere, Brushguard, Swindle, and Runamuck cruise on the planet, with Buzzsaw and Hardtop searching elsewhere. Brushguard stops when he spots a small shrub. Ignoring Swindele's insults, the Decepticon scientist notes the fighting would have had to stop for a while before plant life could return, and figures out that the war here ended at least 350 megacycles ago. Brushguard radios the others and inquires if they have found anything. Hardtop lies, having spot a Cyber Key in the shoulder "cliff" of the massive robot corpse he is standing on, and attempts to take the Key for himself. Hardtop can't get it to budge, and pulls harder until it suddenly pops out, his momentum making him stagger backwards and falling off the shoulder. Hardtop's fall is broken by several outcroppings, but the Cyber Key tooth is damaged, causing it to splinter apart. Hardtop mutters to himself about how the situation can't get any worse, but the rusted ground beneath him gives way, as something watching him scurries away. Waking up underground, the Decepticon jeep's lights turn on, and he radios Brushguard, telling him he's found something big...

Elsewhere, Blurr radios Longrack, not finding anything yet...until a large helicopter starts firing on him. His signal jammed, Blurr duck behind cover before transforming to robot mode, and calls upon his Cyber Key, dodging the helicopter's shots with his super-speed. Blurr begin to run in a circle, forming a funnel that ensnares the helicopter. Two small figures observe the fight, and the second one is used by the first as a slingshot to throw an engine block at Blurr. Breaking into shrapnel as soon as it hits Blurr, the engine block causes him to trip, and he plows through several miles of debris before coming to a stop. Losing consciousness, he watches as three figures loom over him. Back at the Spanner Longrack calls in Armorhide and Checkpoint, giving them the coordinates of Blurr's last known coordinates, and radios the Iron Hope. Longrack informs Ultra Magnus that the colony is a wasteland, and that Blurr has gotten into trouble with the locals. The captain of the half-finished flagship informs that the Iron Hope can't spare any help; with the Longbow and DieCast having just left cycles ago, all ships are already on their way. Longrack signs out, but Ironhide protests the decision. Ultra Magnus tells them they have their orders, and briefly re-invigorates his crew's confidence. Ultra Magnus hopes to himself that the Spanner doesn't run into anything worse.

The Decepticons have reconvened at Hardtop's find: a massive bunker door. With multiple corpses strewn in front of it, Brushguard surmises that whatever in the bunker was important, and tricks Swindle into firing his cannon at the door. With the autoguns flipping out, Hardtop and Buzzsaw are ordered to shoot them down. Pleased, Brushguard is knocked back by Swindle, the Decepticon jeep wanting to tear him apart. Brushguard tells him that he was logical choice, and has Runamuck go up to the door next. Calling on his Cyber Key, Runamuck's arms light up, and his fists pivot into the doors for several minutes until a crack appears. Pulling the door apart with his fingers, Runamuck walks in after throwing a flare in, and lights begin to power and clanks rumble through the air...

On their way to Blurr's last known location, Checkpoint informs the others of information he's found on a mostly-intact data-con: the world's name is Combatron, and it was intended to be a garrison against the "enemy", Unicron. Led by an Autobot named King Atlas, the planet waited until King Atlas disappeared without a trace. The planets population splintered apart, breaking into all out civil war; with no commander to replace King Atlas and Cybertron having forgotten the colony, the war raged on, fighting being the only things most Combatrons knew. With no Cyber Planet Key and no data on which colonies may have Planet Keys, Longrack wonders what the populace was fighting over, and Checkpoint informs him that the colonists brought weapons nearly as powerful as Cyber Keys. Meanwhile, the Decepticons have come across one of these weapon caches, Hardtop finding cyclon blasters, probability grenades, and positron disruptors. Brushguard believes they could gain a large profit from these weapons, giving Megatron a small amount and selling the rest, while keeping the best for themselves. Runamuck and Buzzsaw find Mini-Con storage panels for themselves, while Swindle grabs himself highly illegal nucleon shock gauntlets. Swindle goes up to his occupied brother and lightly taps his shoulder, the energy from the gauntlets sending him flying. Swindle is briefly flushed with the unfamiliar feeling of guilt, while the machine Hardtops comes to life, scanning the prone Decepticon. As the machinery rumbles to life, a furious Brushguard demands to know what Swindle has done...

The Autobots are unable to find any sign of Blurr, when Armorhide and Checkpoint are suddenly assaulted by the Mini-Cons that attacked Blurr earlier. Longrack turns to find blue helicopter, who orders them to surrender, brandishing a sword and a large cannon. Longrack spies the Autobot symbol on the helicopter's shoulders, and putting on his best drill sergeant voice, he orders the robot to stand down in the name of the Cybertron army. Disarmed at the mention of Cybertron, the helicopter skids in front of Longrack, and salutes, the cannon transforming into another Mini-Con, while the other Mini-Cons stand down. Longrack threatens the larger bot with a court martial for his actions and the helicopter apologizes, believing them to be with an enemy unit spotted elsewhere. Taking the three back to his headquarters, and frees Blurr. The helicopter tells the others that his name is Whirl, and tells them the names of his Mini-Con partners, Grip-Lock, Skysickle, and Thunderstick. Alone for 400 stellar cycles, the Autobot has had to make due with what little materials he's had. Explaining that Grip-Lock spotted 5 Decepticons, Armorhide deduces from Whirl's description that the con in charge is Brushguard. Suddenly, an alarm goes off, signalling the vault containing a weapons supply has been breached, and Longrack, getting comfortable with his new commander role, orders Whirl for a manifest file. Radioing the Iron Hope, Longrack informs Ultra Magnus of what the Decepticons have found, but the Autobot commander has his own problems to deal with, a group of Decepticons attacking the Autobot flagship with some surviving Terrorcons. With power knocked out to the ships weapons, the Iron Hope's crew goes to engage the Decepticons, and Ultra Magnus orders Longrack to ensure that the arsenal does not leave Combatron. Back on Combatron, Armorhide comes up with a plan...

Loading up their loot, the Decepticons are suddenly assaulted by the Autobots. Armorhide fires off a blast at Brushguard while dropping down from Whirl, but Swindle knocks him back with his nucleon shock gauntlets. Brushguard, Buzzsaw, Runamuck, and Swindle prepare their weapons and Cyber Keys, but Blurr uses his own Cyber Key to steal away their weapons, warping Buzzsaw's inbuilt cannons. Grabbing Armorhide before he falls to the ground, an exhausted Blurr drops the weapons to the ground, and Longrack orders Brushguard to surrender. Brushguard simply grins, and points to a nearby hill, where Hardtop stands with multiple Decepticlones, created using scans from him, Buzzsaw, and Runamuck. Brushguard announces his intent to use the arsenal to brute force the Decepticon's way to victory, but notices Whirl looking at the scanner palate used to create the Decepticlones, who notes that it is the last one on the planet, having been used to bolster their forces. Longrack orders Whirl not to fire, but the helicopter raises his cannons, and is suddenly hit by a barrage of Decepticlone fire. The Autobots scramble, and Longrack uses his Cyber Key, causing his arm to spin rapidly and throwing chunks of debris at the drone. Blurr is confronted by Runamuck, who powerlinxes with his new Mini-Con partner, Skidmark to strike the Autobot with enhanced strength. Blurr transforms, and rushes out of the way, Runamuck and Skidmark following him. Checkpoint is cornered by Buzzsaw and Heavy Barrel, the Decepticon helicopter's new Mini-Con partner. Checkpoint is helped by Thunderstick, who powerlinxes with the Autobot, turning his shoulder mounted wheels into mini-guns, and fires upon Buzzsaw. Brushguard is attacked by Whirl, who attempts to bring his blade down on the Decepticon jeep. Calling on his Cyber Key, his chest fires a spear through Whirl, and the Autobot is wrapped in technorganic vines, preventing him from moving. While Grip-Lock and Skysickle try to cut through wires to assist elsewhere, most of the Autobots fall one by one. Longrack is assaulted by Swindle, Blurr is forced to crash by Skidmark and Runamuck, and Checkpoint's powerlinx port is blown off by HArdtop's sniper rifle. Forced to surrender, the Autobots are planned to be used by trophies to present to Megatron by Brushguard, and the scientist dismisses their claims that Armorhide can still save the day.

Back at the Spanner, Armorhide transforms to vehicle mode, using his Cyber Key to unleash missiles on the surrounding Decepticlones. Transforming to robot mode, he uses the pilfered nucleon shock gauntlets in conjunction with his Cyber Key to crush the Decepticlones. Still, the drones surround him, and soon, they pile on top of him, until the nucleon shock gauntlets overload, causing an explosion seen in the distance by the others. Brushguard, thinking himself triumphant, orders the scanner loaded, but a sudden blast destroys it. Looking up, Brushguard is aghast to find that the Upstart, having been commandeered by Skysickle and Grip-Lock, hovering overhead. Brushguard orders the Decepticlones to attack, but without the original scanner's control signal, the drones begin to go haywire. The Autobots escape, and while Brushguard rants about his fortune, the other Decepticons rush away, joined by Brushguard when he notices the incoming Spanner piloted by a still-functioning Armorhide. Deliberately crashing the ship, Armorhide ejects from the ship, and watches as the ship digs a groove through the surface, the blast lighting up the countryside. As the rockets on his seat fail, Armorhide prepares for deactivation, but is grabbed by Whirl, who brings him on board the Upstart. Leaving the Decepticons with a survival kit, the Autobots leave, and Checkpoint asks where they'll go next.

Back on the planet's surface, Brushguard radios Megatron, while Hardtop shares his comic book collection with the other Decepticons. Brushguard begs Megatron for a warp gate, but the Decepticon leader informs him that he'll wait there for a deca-cycle. Brushguard attempts to defend himself, but is threatened by Megatron for his failure...

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Notes

• Mentioned characters include: Optimus Prime, Vector Prime, agents on colony worlds, Primus, Starscream, Thundercracker, Unicron, Omega Guardians, King Atlas, Snow Cat, Demolishor, and Thrust.

Continuity notes

• This story shows where most of the non-Cybertron Unicron Trilogy Autobots have gone during the events of the show; Scavenger, Sparkplug, and the Land Military Mini-Con team were last seen in Armada, while Arcee, Rodimus, Bulkhead, Ironhide, Prowl, and Skyblast all were last seen in Energon. Longrack, Blurr, Brushguard, Buzzsaw, and Runamuck make their first chronological appearance here; they originally appeared in-continuity in the first club prose story, "The Dark Heart of Sandokan", set after the cartoon.
• Cybertron's evacuation, the arrival of Vector Prime, the Omega Lock being located on Earth (based on the symbol of the Atlantis on Lori's t-shirt), and Megatron's theft of the colony data were all established in the first Cybertron episode, "Fallen".
• The agents Magnus refers to are Hot Shot, Red Alert, and Overhaul; Hot Shot and Red Alert arrived on Velocitron in "Landmine", while Overhaul was accidentally trapped on Jungle Planet in "Search", which Knock Out reflects bitterly about.
• The Space Bridge network was introduced in "Balance".
• Megatron's elites (Starscream and Thundercracker) are noted to have personal warp gates, while the other Decepticons are forced to use small ships. Most of the larger Decepticon ships were used to rebuild Cybertron after the events of Energon.
• Unicron, along with Megatron and Starscream, was trapped in the energon sun in Energon episode "The Sun". Brushguard notes Megatron's new powers gained from the Armor of Unicron.
• Ultra Magnus is a veteran of the Armada War and Powerlinx Battles, seen in Armada and Energon, respectively.
• King Atlas disappearance is presumably a result of Unicron capturing him in the Universe storyline. Various materials note he stayed on Optimus Primal's Cybertron as part of the Children of Primus.
• Swindle sarcastically asks a worried Buzzsaw if he's seen Snow Cat or Demolishor lately when Brushguard proposes betraying Megatron; Snow Cat and Demolishor were lobotomized by Megatron in Energon, despite their loyalty.
• Megatron threatens Brushguard with him finding out what happened to Thrust first-hand. Thrust was crushed between Unicron's seams while begging for Megatron (then Galvatron)'s help in Armada episode "Union".

Transformers references

• Many of the characters in this story are non-show toy characters given their first appearances here. These include:
  • Much of the crew of the Iron Hope. Ultra Magnus and Knock Out were an "eleventh hour" Energon toy. Tow-Line was a regular release from the Energon toyline. Grimlock and Swoop were a Hasbro-only pair sold together. Quickstrike was a redeco of Energon Bulkhead, while Overcast was a Hasbro repurposing of Energon Jetfire's Energon-powered form. The Sky Scorcher Mini-Con Team, while not identified here, were named by Ask Vector Prime as Effect, Blitz, and Seeker from the second wave of Micron Boosters. RipTide comes from the Transformers Legends story "Lonesome Diesel", while Smokescreen is a Cybertron toyline character redecoded from Crosswise.
  • The Uptstart's crew all are Cybertron toyline characters.
  • Three of the four crew members of the Spanner are Cybertron toyline characters. Checkpoint, meanwhile, is a K-Mart exclusive Energon toy, redecoed from Energon Rodimus.
  • Whirl is a Universe toy; his Mini-Con partners Skysickle and Thunderstick, meanwhile, are repurposed from the two Mini-Cons Whirl was sold with, Makeshift and Gunbarrel, respectively. Grip-Lock, Skidmark, and Heavy Barrel are toys sold in the fourth Micron Booster wave, sold under the Galaxy Force banner, renamed from Clamp, Gauge, and Trigger, respectively.
  • While never named, descriptions, along with later statements from the story's authors, show who the Decepticons who attack the Iron Hope are; the three jets are Energon Slugslinger and Cybertron Skywarp and Sunstorm, the gunships are Energon Dreadwing and Sharkticon, and the tyrannosaurus is Armada Predacon.
• The story's opening illustration features Rodimus, Arcee, Blurr, Bulkhead, and Ultra Magnus, among others. While this could be a coincidence, it sure seems like they're gathered by nature of the fact that they're Unicron Trilogy versions of the The Transformers: The Movie main cast. Magnus later quotes a line from his Generation 1 counterpart: "I can't deal with that right now!"
• Swindle notes the Autobots have been running Cybertron for the past vorn; vorns are a measurement originating from Marvel's The Transformers issue #18.
• Brushguard talks to Swindle like someone "explaining quantum physics to a stunned turbofox"; turbofoxes come from Generation 1 Mirage's bio.
• The Upstart is a modified version of the dropship from the Armada PlayStation 2 game.
• Combatron appears to have been heavily influenced by Apocalypse Planet, a planet that was planned to be included in the Cybertron franchise, but was cancelled. Much like Combatron, Apocalypse Planet was to be a war-torn wasteland populated by heavily armed and armored warriors. Armorhide even calls it an "apocalypse planet". The Cyber Key Hardtop finds is based off a hand grenade, with a decorative "pin" near the top.
• Hardtop compares the dead Combatron resident whose shoulder he stands on to an Omega Guardian, presumably the group to which Omega Supreme and Omega Sentinel belong. Later fiction would rename this group to the Guardians of Cybertron.
• Blurr's voice speeds up when he uses his Cyber Key, in reference to his Generation 1 counterpart.
• Runamuck swears by the Pit, the Cybertronian version of Hell originally mentioned in the Beast Wars cartoon.
• Data-Cons come from the PS2 Armada video game.
• Nucleon is the substance that was noted to create the Generation 1 Action Masters on the cardbacks of 1990's range of toys.
• Whirl's Mini-Con partners speak in an odd combination of Mini-Con binary and Cybertronic Standard, a Cybertronian language originally mentioned in "The Dark Heart of Sandokan".
• Longrack could hear Scavenger's shouting from a mega-mile away, a unit of measurement used in "More than Meets the Eye, Part 1".
• Part of the name of Grip-Lock's assigned military unit is "Irontread Squad". Irontread was the Japanese name of Demolishor after he received a new body during Energon.
• The Decepticlones originate from the PS2 Armada video game.
• When ranting about the power of the arsenal, Brushguard shouts that their will be no more pointless races, a reference to the rather...sizeable portion of the Cybertron cartoon that the Velocitron race took place in.

Real-world references

• The star systems Ultra Magnus assigns each ship are the home systems of different alien races from the PC game Star Control II. Delta Draconis, the focal point of this story, is the home of the Thraddash in the game... an alien race that has razed its own civilization to the ground eighteen times by the time the player encounters them. Other planets include Gamma Kreuger (home system of the Pkunks), Betelgeuse (adopted home system of the Syreen; the devastated Acid and Radioactive worlds are theorized by Magnus to be the result of Decepticon intervention), Gamma Serpentis (home system of the Yehat, who are indirectly referred to as a "spacefarring civilization"), Zeta Persei (home system of the Druuge), Beta Aquarii (home system of the Utwig), and Delta Crateris (where the Ur-Quan ship the Sa-Matra is located).
• The Azusa is named for Azusa Fuzita, a Japanese Transformers fan. The DieCast is named for the metal used in old Generation 1 toys.
• Brushguard refers to "real wrath-of-god type stuff", a direct quote from Ghostbusters.
• Buzzsaw compares the chance to tear apart the Autobots to Christmas and also invites the Autobots to "say hello to my little friend," a reference to the 1983 film Scarface.

Errors

• On page 13, the "s" is missing from the word "scream."
• On page 19, "give" is used instead of the proper tense, "gave."

Other trivia

• As noted above, "Force of Habit" has some overlap (in cast and concept) with the previously released short story "The Dark Heart of Sandokan". Sepelak and Troop had already begun work on the former when "The Dark Heart of Sandokan" was published—with them having no prior knowledge of it! They decided to finish and submit the story anyway, so it could be later released during a dry spell for Club fiction, which is exactly how things turned out.^[1]
  • Sepelak and Troop also petitioned for more stories set on the Cybertron colony worlds, pre-cartoon, but the idea was rejected. One concept included a story about Crosswise finding out he was the last monster hunter; Lugnutz would have played the role of the mythical sphinx, wandering the desert and posing riddles to humans.^[2]
• Unlike most of the prose stories released pre-2015, "Force of Habit" was available to non-Club members.
• Not that it's an error internal to the story, but it's a bit odd to see Blurr being a recent ally, seeing as how angry Optimus was at Hot Shot for making contacts on Velocitron in the cartoon. Additionally, it's a bit odd that the Space Bridge network is brought up, seeing how the main Autobots didn't learn about it until Primus woke up in the show.
• Like "The Dark Heart of Sandokan" before it, Cyber Keys are treated as physical objects stored in a pocket dimension, with Hardtop finding one on a corpse, and Blurr stealing the Decepticon's Keys using his super speed. Blurr notes they are constructed from rare crystals found underground on Velocitron; the same is presumably true of at least Jungle Planet and Gigantion.

References

External links

• "Force of Habit" at The Official Transformers Collectors' Club