Sunrise

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"Sunrise" サンライズ
Publisher	Transformers Collectors' Club (online exclusive)
First published	January 7, 2016
Written by	Andrew Hall
Illustrations by	Hayato Sakamoto
Continuity	Shattered Glass, GoBots
Chronology	2015
Page count	28pp (14 for each translation)

A team of GoBots continue on their mission to save their home universe on Earth, strangers in a strange land that's been made all the more stranger by recent disasters...

Synopsis

On the "Shatteredverse" Earth, heroic Decepticons Soundwave and Blitzwing cool off after recent battles by having energon drinks in the VIP lounge of the Dancitron, the most elite leisure club in New York City. Soundwave excitedly tells his friend of his recent battle with his Autobot arch-nemesis, Blaster, and his encounter with the strange, solar-powered robot known only as Solarbot, much to Blitzwing's bemused interest. The Decepticon communications officer explains how after Blaster and his cohorts retreated, Solarbot asked to interface with Soundwave, looking for data on six cyborgs with organic brains instead of embers. Blitzwing muses on how, after recent troubles with dimensional travelers and superhuman foes, he and Soundwave hardly seem so out of the ordinary anymore. His thoughts are interrupted when Soundwave continues his story, however, explaining that he initially thought that the strange robot meant the Seacons, Decepticons with organic parts in their beast modes. Blitzwing points out that the Seacons have embers, and wonders if the six that Solarbot is looking for have anything to do with the new Earth from the destroyed "Classicsverse" that now orbits Cybertron, something that Soundwave finds very possible. Soundwave mentions that Slugfest believes that Solarbot is looking for dimensional traveling cyborgs, and the Decepticons have a good laugh over that, as they enjoy themselves for the rest of the night...

Across the multiverse, the citizens of GoBotron gather in a dying universe, as Guardian military commander Leader-1, Guardian politician Zeemon, and Renegade commander Cy-Kill deliver grave news to the population. Leader-1 explains that though the mysterious extra-dimensional visitor known only as "the Beast Sage" was able to slow down the effects of the Cataclysm by providing the GoBots with a mysterious piece of machinery called the "crest," the power of the machine has begun to dim, and the Cataclysm has begun affecting the universe once more. With contact lost with those sent through the Dimensional Interfacer, and the breakdown of their dimension increased by some unknown multiversal event, they may have only a few days left before they're wiped from existence. Zeemon steps in to advise against using the Interfacer for an evacuation attempt, as rushing into an unknown dimension without scouting it out first will surely result in disaster. Cy-Kill objects, unwilling to stand by and let his soldiers perish, but Leader-1 steps in to tell his former rival that any lines there used to be between Guardian and Renegade, civilian and soldiers, and otherwise are now gone; all they can do is hope their teams succeed in their goals. The gathered populace give subdued applause to Leader-1's speech, but Cy-Kill knows that in three days, there will be no one left to hope.

On the "Classicsverse" Earth, the original GoBots team of Path Finder, Small Foot, Road Ranger, and Bad Boy—Bug Bite has run off on his own once more—wait at the rendezvous point for their three new teammates in the middle of a field in Utah. Wary after their experiences in Axiom Nexus, they are initially on guard when they see three vehicles approaching, but quickly stand down after realizing that back-up has arrived: arrogant Guardian Admiral Man-O-War, kindly Guardian medic Rest-Q, and the twisted Renegade scientist known as the Buggyman. Man-O-War quickly greets Path Finder, the only one there who he believes earns a modicum of his respect, explaining that they were sent here on a search-and-rescue mission when contact was initially lost with the six. Rest-Q notices that Bug Bite has gone missing, and Treds, the security officer, is forced to explain that he slipped away while they were offline for auto-repairs. Man-O-War begins insulting Treds for his apparent failure, and Treds is forced to take the abuse—he remembers how, long ago at the start of the war, he served under Man-O-War, and while he did more fighting than the arrogant Guardian, Man-O-War kept getting promoted, allowing him to flaunt his superiority over Treds. Path Finder steps in and explains that they've had problems they hadn't anticipated. Having spent far too much time stuck in Axiom Nexus, their original infiltration mission is no longer viable; instead, Path Finder suggests that they approach the Autobots directly. Man-O-War scoffs at this, but Small Foot, fed up with the Admiral's bad attitude, actually manages to briefly shut him up, explaining that the Autobots are much like them; heroes willing to help those in need. The Buggyman takes this moment to step in and introduce himself, acting as the navigator of Man-O-War's unit. Pulling out a small insectoid drone known as R-Navi, the Renegade scientist has R-Navi pull up holographic maps it made of the area upon arrival. Finding the Autobot base in Oregon, Path Finder decides to split the two teams up: she and Bad Boy will take to the air (and Man-O-War is quick to join her, supposedly so he can supervise first contact, but mainly so he doesn't have to walk or drive), while Treds takes the rest by land. Man-O-War takes one more stab at Treds, but the Guardian promises to get everyone there safely. As the two teams head out, Path Finder hopes she made the right choice by splitting the teams up...unaware that they were being watched the whole time...

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"Earth, again? Honestly, human names... why not go for something patriotic, like 'Peopletron,' or something?"

—Treds finds Earth names to be stupid.

"The Buggyman is master of not just insects... I have metal maggots, turbo-worms, and botspiders, too... You will love them!"

—Buggyman

"That means you’ll be the one in charge of the ground team’s safety, Treds. You sure the perilous wilds of Potato won’t be too much for you?"
"I’ll get them to the Autobot base safely, or I’ll turn in my Guardian badge."
"I’ll hold you to that, soldier."

—Man-O-War and Treds

Notes

• Characters mentioned but not seen include: Solarbot, Blaster, President Colton, Ravage, Optimus Prime, the Seacons, the Terrorcons, Cold Slither, the Vehicons, Slugfest, the Recordicons, the Beast Sage, Doctor Go, Bug Bite, and the Last Engineer.

Continuity notes

• After nearly eight years, the G1 GoBots storyline set up in the TransTech story "Withered Hope" is finally followed up, with the Guardians and Renegades still racing against time to save their home universe, which was falling apart thanks to the overlapping frequencies between it and the "Classicsverse". Specific notes include:
  • This story takes place after the end of "Withered Hope", which ended with Path Finder, Small Foot, Road Ranger, Treds, and Bad Boy transported to the "Classicverse" Earth and meeting up with Bug Bite, who informed them of the arrival of another team of GoBots. However, see "Errors" below.
  • "Withered Hope" established that the "Classicsverse" had an overlapping "frequency" with the Challenge of the GoBots universe, which was causing the breakdown of the GoBots' reality. With the destruction of the "Classicsverse" in "Invasion", several sources (such as Ask Vector Prime and Beast Wars: Uprising) indicated that while the world of the GoBots was no longer being consumed, the damage already done was still affecting the universe. The destruction of the "Classicsverse" is also responsible for the "major dimensional shift" that has affected the Dimensional Interfacer, along with increasing the breakdown of the GoBots' home universe.
  • The G1 GoBots were briefly stuck in Axiom Nexus, where Bug Bite abandoned them and traveled to 15 years into the past to the "Classicsverse", planning to assassinate Megatron, as seen in "Games of Deception". The others were reunited with him again at the end of "Withered Hope", but he's since run off again. He switched from his e-HOBBY G1 GoBots body into his BotCon 2007 in "Withered Hope", something that Road Ranger brings up when he's suspicious of Buggyman.
• Soundwave and Blitzwing were shown to be good friends back in "Blitzwing Bop".
• Soundwave fills in Blitzwing on the events of "Solar Requiem" while at the Dancitron, this story taking place shortly after it; Soundwave is depicted in the art with his new e-HOBBY toy body, and specifically mentions how Solarbot defeated Blaster by melting his way out of the Autobot communications officer's chest. Soundwave gained the body he has in this story in that comic, transporting his mind from his previous body on Cybertron to the new one built on the "Shatteredverse" Earth, as the stellar spanner had been shut down after the events of "Reunification".
• President Colton is noted to have visited the Dancitron before; he was first seen back in "Eye in the Sky", a mirror-universe version of Joe Colton, the original Joe from G.I. Joe.
• While his official function is as the Decepticons' communications officer, Soundwave's BotCon 2012 toy's tech specs noted he had also taken up the unofficial function of morale officer, something which Blitzwing lightly ribs him for in this story.
• Soundwave refers to himself as "Sir Soundwave"; he was knighted by the United Kingdom in "Blitzwing Bop".
• What happened between Soundwave and Solarbot after the events of "Solar Requiem" was first told in Soundwave's history record in issue #65 of the Collectors' Club magazine, serving as set-up for this story. Specifically, it noted that Soundwave mistook the bots with organic implants instead of embers that Solarbot was looking for as the Seacons, which is again reiterated here.
• The "Classicsverse" Earth was transported after the events of "Invasion", where Ultra Magnus brought about the end of the "Classicsverse" as part of a scheme to cause chaos throughout the multiverse.
• The universal cluster containing the GoBots franchise was established to be the Gargent cluster in The AllSpark Almanac II.
• While it's not super obvious, the Beast Sage's identity is hinted at by the sigil generated by his crest, described as "leonine-shaped"; he's the Maximal leader Lio Convoy from the Beast Wars II cartoon. A post from Ask Vector Prime that set up this story mentioned how Lio Convoy (who was the same Lio Convoy seen as a member of the Convoy in "Invasion Prologue" and "Cybertron's Most Wanted") left Axiom Nexus and journeyed to the world of the Challenge of the GoBots cartoon, before heading to the world of the Japanese Transformers: Prime toyline and becoming Leo Prime, as describe in his Prime toy's bio (which was written by author Andrew Hall). This story fills in the gaps, establishing why Lio Convoy journeyed to GoBotron and what he did while he was there.
• Though Zeemon cautions against evacuating from their home universe, previous stories have already shown that many ignored this, taking on new forms and traveling to other realities, such as in Beast Wars: Uprising.
• Road Ranger notes how the Earth of the "Classicsverse" seems much less advanced than the Earth of his home universe; while humanity was eager to work with the GoBots in the Challenge of the GoBots cartoon, the inhabitants of Earth in Classics have been more distrustful of Cybertronians, as seen in most realities spinning off from the Marvel The Transformers comic.
• Road Ranger feels ill at ease around the fully-robotic Transformers, more comfortable with the organic inhabitants of Earth, an attitude he expressed previously in "Withered Hope".
• The Autobot base that Buggyman has found is in Oregon, pointing to it being the Ironworks base seen their in "Invasion".

GoBots continuity notes and references

• While their names aren't specifically said, the Guardians addressing the crowd are obviously Leader-1 and Zeemon. Leader-1 is recognizable from his description, and is referred to simply as "leader," making his identity fairly obvious. Zeemon, meanwhile, was established to be a prominent Guardian politician in the Challenge of the GoBots cartoon. It's noted how his face is blank of emotion...because his face is his vehicle mode's windshield.
• "Withered Hope" established that Path Finder and her team were sent through the Dimensional Interfacer to get to the "22nd Level"; both the Interfacer and the concept of "levels" come from the Challenge of the GoBots two-parter "Invasion from the 21st Level", where Doctor Braxis created the device to view and open portals to other dimensions, which he called "levels."
• When Leader-1 delivers the dire news, several of the crowd members "with articulated digits" clenched their fists; many of the character models for the GoBots gave them large, blocky fists that often looked mitten shaped, with no clear delineation between the fingers (at least, looking at the models themselves, as the cartoon would randomly give them fingers whenever it was called for).
• Path Finder exclaims "thank the Engineer" upon the arrival of their back-up; the Last Engineer was the GoBeing who designed the GoBot body after the near-destruction of GoBotron, as seen in "The GoBotron Saga" mini-series, looked up to by the Guardians for his wisdom.
• Man-O-War's arrogant, disrespectful attitude towards others, including towards those who are of near-equal rank, was previously seen in his sole appearance in the cartoon, "Mission: GoBotron. He was depicted there as a liaison to the Guardian military forces from the civilian government, hence his depiction here as a military leader who hasn't actually seen that much fighting.
• Treds was shown to be a Guardian early on in the war in the episode "Et Tu, Cy-Kill".
• Buggyman's characterization is new here; his few appearances in the cartoon had him talking normally, but never displaying much of a personality. The next chapter sheds some light on this...

Transformers references

• The Dancitron, the leisure club where Blitzwing and Soundwave are relaxing, is a Shattered Glass version of the original Danictron, a dance club secretly used by the Decepticons to hypnotize its patrons into becoming their slaves, seen in the Sunbow The Transformers episode "Auto-Bop".
• When Solarbot asked to interface with Soundwave, the Decepticon thought he would power him up into an all-gold "Super Seibertron" mold. The "all-gold" aspect refers to the Linkin Park Special Edition toy of The Transformers Soundwave colored almost entirely in gold. "Seibertron", meanwhile, was an old fan romanization of Cybertron's Japanese media, which as fallen by the wayside as materials from Japan indicate that it was always meant to be spelled as "Cybertron". See "real-world" references below for more.
• Blitzwing muses on how much the war has changed over the last few years, going from simply good robots fighting evil robots to involving dimensional travel or universal streams, something of a meta-commentary on the changing direction of Shattered Glass stories over the years.
• The Seacons are a mirror-universe version of the 1988 Decepticon combiner team. Four of the members showed up in the April Fool's Day comic "Shattered Expectations" (Snaptrap, Overbite, Seawing, and Tentakil) with Shattered Glass versions of Skalor and Nautilator presumably rounding out the group. The coloring on "Shattered Expectations" resulted in the intention not being clear, but the Shattered Glass Seacons were meant to be repurposed from the 2008 Timelines Seacons. Soundwave brings up how they had "organic parts" to their alt-modes; like some other subgroups such as the Monsterbots and Firecons, several of the Seacons had organic-looking parts of their alt-modes, such as the scales on Skalor. Soundwave pronounces their team name as "See-a-cons," which Blitzwing quickly corrects to "See-cons"; many fans tend to pronounce the team's name the way Soundwave does, but according to the commercial for their toys, Blitzwing is correct.
• When correcting Soundwave, Blitzwing brings up a group known as the Vehicons; whether they're Shattered Glass versions of the Beast Machines Vehicons or the Prime Vehicons is unknown.
• Like the "G1 GoBots", Man-O-War, Rest-Q, and Buggyman are all based on Autobot Mini Vehicle from the original The Transformers toyline with similar alternate modes. Man-O-War and Buggyman are based on Seaspray and Beachcomber, using the early coloration of those toys seen in a Takara catalog (which also had early colors for Cosmos and Powerglide that were used for Path Finder and Bad Boy), while Rest-Q is based on Hubcap, using an early color scheme seen in the Toy Fair 1986 catalog. Hubcap's early colors previously inspired a Transformers version of Rest-Q that was seen in several Wings Universe stories. Similar to Wings Rest-Q, he has "foreign vocoder syndrome," a condition that occasionally causes him to speak words in different languages, something that's flared up thanks to his new body. In this story, he says the Antillian word for "member," "M'boblygrue" (Antilla was a planet seen in the Sunbow The Transformers episode "Cosmic Rust".
• R-Navi is named for the ship-based artificial intelligence units used in the Japanese Beast Wars series, the NAVI.
• Among Buggyman's menagerie of insects are: metal maggots (an insult used by Mega-Octane against Movor in the Robots in Disguise episode "Attack from Outer Space"), turbo-worms (extraterrestrial animals mentioned in issue #27 of the Marvel The Transformers comic), and bot-spiders (parasites seen in the Armada episode "Portent").

Real world references

• While Soundwave and Blitzwing are getting their photos taken by onlookers, Ravage is outside tagging every photo they're in and commenting on them on Spacebog, the Shattered Glass version of Facebook.
• Aside from the Transformers-based references, the idea of a "Super Seibertron mode" references the concept of a Super Saiyan from Dragon Ball Z, a powered-up form used by members of the Saiyan race that causes them to glow and turns their hair gold, a concept that shares narrative DNA with the "burning spirit"-induced power-ups in the various Transformers anime.
• Man-O-War arrogantly states that everyone should know who he is, but tells them anyway just in case for "those living 20,000 leagues into the deepest darkness," referencing the 1870 science-fiction adventure novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by French writer Jules Verne.
• Buggyman misinterprets a sign for Idaho calling it the "State of Potatoes" (as Idaho is well know for producing the vegetable) as saying that the area is in "a state of potato."

Errors

• There's a fairly big chronology problem with this story. This story comes a bit after the end of "Solar Requiem", which took place after the events of "Invasion", which saw the "Classicsverse" destroyed and its Earth orbiting the "Shatteredverse" Cybertron. However, the end of "Withered Hope" took place directly after "Games of Deception", which happened quite some time before "Invasion". We know from "Dungeons & Dinobots" that the events of "Games of Deception" take place some time in 2009 (Cliffjumper mentions how he and the other Autobots and Decepticons woke up 25 years ago on the Ark), which makes a three-year time gap between the "Games of Deception" and "Invasion". Hall acknowledged that it requires some measure of disbelief, and the story itself justifies the delay by saying the natural disasters caused by the events of Invasion kept Man-O-War and the others delayed, but it is still quite noticeable.
• As with "Withered Hope", the words "GoBot" and "GoBotron" are consistently spelt without the camelcase that they should have, being rendered as "Gobot" and "Gobotron".
• On page one, Soundwave says "mano al mano", a misspelt version of a Spanish phrase that literally means "hand-to-hand" but has since come to mean any competition between two people. It should be rendered "mano a mano."
• On page four, the narration describes the home universe of the GoBots as being a world in the "Gargent universal stream," when it should be "Gargent universal cluster."
• Solar cycles are used to measure time by multiple GoBots in this story, but as established previously in "Withered Hope", they should be using terms like "days."
• Perhaps somewhat perplexingly, after using the "levels" system from the cartoon in "Withered Hope", Leader-1 refers to universes with universal stream names, though this could at least be explained to be the result of Lio Convoy telling him.
• While the story says that Man-O-War is the one leading the reinforcements to Path Finder and the others in vehicle mode, the illustration shows Buggyman at the front.
• BuggyMan's name is consistently rendered as "Buggyman", without the camelcase spelling seen on both his toy and his character model sheet.

Other trivia

• After the story ends in English, a Japanese translation is provided for Japanese fans.
• This story's title image by Hayato Sakamoto was originally displayed at BotCon 2013,^[1] where it was said to be "coming soon". Ultimately, it took nearly three years for the story to arrive. The cover depicts 6 of the 8 GoBots seen in this story (Path Finder, Treds, Small Foot, Man-O-War, the Buggyman, and Rest-Q), GoBotron (two large shells surrounding a smaller inner planet), and the original energy form of Solarbot as seen in "Solar Requiem" (recognizable by the three-pronged "crown" structure" on his "head").
• When he tells Blitzwing that he had to leave the Recordicons outside, Soundwave refers to the maître d' as the "Metro-D".
• After being referred to in the previous story by his toy name, "Herr Fiend", the Renegade's mad scientist is referred to by the name used in the Challenge of the GoBots cartoon, Doctor Go.
• After being given more Challenge of the GoBots-esque faces in "Withered Hope", both Bad Boy and Road Rangers have the mouth-plated faces of their G1 GoBots toys.

References

External links

• Spatiotemporal Challengers Part 1: "Sunrise" at The Official Transformers Collectors' Club