Transformers: Shattered Glass (fiction)
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Transformers: Shattered Glass is a line of comics and prose stories created by Fun Publications, with most of them initially set in a universe that is a strange and bizarre reversal of the Classics universe.[1] The main storyline details the war between the evil Autobots and the heroic Decepticons, as Optimus Prime makes plans to conquer Earth.
| “ | If you want a simple battle between good and evil, you have one right here! The players are just in different places than you expect. | ” |
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Fun Publications
Shattered Expectations
| "Shattered Expectations" | |||
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The first Shattered Glass story, retroactively dubbed "Shattered Expectations", was "released" on April 1st, 2008, when Fun Publications "leaked" three pages of what was supposedly the upcoming BotCon 2008 set's accompanying comic. The storyline was a vignette revolving around Goldbug, Grimlock, and Jazz discovering Pretender technology in a Decepticon laboratory, only to be stopped by Starscream, Razorclaw, and the Mayhem Suppression Squad.
It gave the "evil parallel universe" concept a highly campy treatment — including such gags as Grimlock being a genius, Jazz talking like Mr. T, and reverse-Furmanisms — rendered in Derek Yaniger's style and even featuring flat, 1990s-era coloring.
The fandom response was virtually unheard-of, in that it was almost unanimously positive. Then, when it was revealed that the comic was actually an April Fools' Day gag — set in an entirely different continuity to the real comic — the fandom was in turn almost unanimously disappointed. Fun Publications took note of this...
Shattered Glass
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Main stories:
Related stories:
Unrealized stories:
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The actual storyline started with the real BotCon comic, which took a more serious and by-the-numbers approach to the universe. Picking up right after the events of Crossing Over, the inaugural issue followed Cliffjumper as he arrived in the Shattered Glass universe. When his confusion with the mirror Autobots' seemingly bizarre behavior caused him to have a violent falling-out with Optimus Prime, Cliffjumper found himself in the company of the more hospitable Decepticons instead. From there, he participated in a battle to stop Optimus Prime's Ark from leaving for Earth. When Megatron endangered himself to block a blast from Prime meant for Cliffjumper, it led to the latter destroying the Ark's launch platform, deciding he would definitely fight for the Decepticons' side.
Afterwards the storyline broke into two semi-parallel branches. One branch was told in a series of online prose stories (and a single vignette comic), which followed the events of the war that Cliffjumper had some part in. The popularity of "Shattered Expectations" led to the prose stories taking a somewhat more campy approach to portraying the characters, and a more light-hearted and adventurous tone overall.
"Dungeons & Dinobots" revolved around the arrival of Wheeljack's Dinobots. As both sides worked on capturing a squad of the beasts, Cliffjumper, Sideswipe, Blurr, and Rodimus had a strange encounter with the trap-filled chamber of the mysterious Omega Terminus, which had granted Grimlock and the other beasts embers and a raised level of intelligence. The story was intended as a fantasy-adventure[3] (with many borrowings from Dungeons & Dragons). It was also meant as a way to turn Grimlock from the brute beast of the BotCon issue to his more popular "Shattered Expectations" genius self.
"Do Over" covered the transition from Cybertron to Earth, with Prime attempting to relaunch his Ark before all space travel was stopped by the Plait Expanse. Ricochet kidnapped Megatron as a ploy to try and delay the launch of the Decepticons' own newly-built ship, the Nemesis. When Prime left the Ark to ensure Megatron would not be killed by any hand but his own, Rodimus took advantage by holding a mutiny and throwing everyone loyal to Prime off the Ark. Whisper and the Predacons in turn launched a rescue attempt that was ultimately successful, but not before the Nemesis was forced to launch to chase the Ark. Prime and his loyalists, and Megatron and his rescuers, thus found themselves stranded on Cybertron. Meanwhile, the remaining Cybertronians successfully reached Earth in their ships, but a combination of a pitched battle and a surprise attack by the humans caused both ships to crash-land on the planet below.
"The Desert Heat!" was a two-page comic made available for free online, intended as both a preview for "Eye in the Sky" and as a promotion of the upcoming Club Exclusive figure Heatwave. It followed Heatwave as he awoke from his emergency escape stasis pod and started a search for the other Decepticon pods, in a way that highlighted his technopathic abilities. His first discovery was Soundwave, whom he rescued from being a display in a human tourist attraction, after first engaging in pitched battle with some local "wildlife".
"Eye in the Sky" dealt with the Cybertronians' initial experiences on Earth. The Autobots encountered the Witwicky brothers, and used their new allies' knowledge to hijack a military base. From there they gained control of a potentially destructive satellite created by the fascist and power-hungry government of a post-World War III United States. The Decepticons, meanwhile, fell in with the friendly and rebellious Professor Arkeville and his three interns. The humans helped the Decepticons find their remaining stasis pods and the crash site of the Nemesis, then destroy the hijacked base and satellite.
"Blitzwing Bop" continued the Cybertronians' adventures on Earth. An accident and fight involving the Autobots' attempt at building a stellar spanner led to both Heatwave being sent back to Cybertron, and Blitzwing granted the ability to broadcast disruptive Earth music over the Autobots' emergency frequency. While at first this proved to be a useful deterrent against the Autobots, the ability started growing uncontrollably in power. Both sides eventually were affected to the point of possible physical damage, forcing almost everyone into emergency stasis lock. Blaster and Soundwave, immune thanks to their communications abilities, fought over the increasingly put-upon Blitzwing, while Beachcomber, immune due to being completely insane, attacked the Decepticon base. However, the interference of Officer Thunderwing on one front and Arkeville and his interns on the other, led to the Decepticons eventually being able to fend off Blaster and Beachcomber's attacks and cure Blitzwing. This story was intended to be in the style of a "'Shattered Glass' Sunbow episode".[3]
Reunification, the 2009 Transformers Collectors' Club magazine comic arc, formed the second branch of the storyline, running in roughly the same time period as between "Do Over" and "Blitzwing Bop". It kept the more serious tone of the original BotCon comic (with a couple of exceptions). Following on from the events of Transcendent, Landquake, Breakaway, Topspin, and Alpha Trion traveled with Skyfall's body to the Shattered Glass universe, and found themselves mixed up in the its strange politics. Trion embarked on his plans to assassinate both Prime and Megatron and take control of Cybertron, while leaving Rodimus in control of Earth. He also revealed his true plans to use his four interdimensional "guests" as tools to aid his conquest, then kill them, which led to Landquake, Breakaway, and Topspin having to escape with Skyfall's body. They eventually met up with a strange ally in the form of Aquarius, who urged them to seek both refuge and their last group member by going to Megatron. Prime, meanwhile, had his own plans to use new superweapon Omega Doom to destroy the Decepticons and embark on galactic conquest, after first successfully using Omega to deal with an assassination attempt by Trion.
Around Cybertron, published along the main comic story, was a series of comic strips which involved Rook and his Autobot journalist crew reporting either on the events of "Reunification", or on side stories featuring minor characters in the Shattered Glass universe.
The plot threads eventually converged as Omega Doom and the fleeing interdimensional travelers met on Megatron's doorstep. Megatron's assassination by Cyclonus eventually led to Landquake, Breakaway, Topspin, Skyfall, and Heatwave being finally reunited as Nexus Prime, who then resurrected Megatron as Galvatron, and defeated Omega Doom.
"Transhuman", another prose story, was published in 2011 and wrapped up (some) loose ends while leaving others open for future instalments to deal with. After the Autobots attack R.J. Blackrock's oil rig, nearly killing Sephie in the process, she goes to her mysterious internet contact, who upgrades her with some Cybertronian technology.
"Coalescence", the final prose story, wouldn't be published until the closing days of the club at the end of 2016. It employed a small timeskip to smooth over inconsistencies with the previous stories, and resolved the plot threads from "Transhuman".
e-HOBBY
IDW Publishing
Creative team
The "Shattered Glass" comic featured a return of the then-retired Transformers artist Don Figueroa, with Espen Grundetjern on colors, and was written by Pete Sinclair and Benson Yee.
The prose stories were all written by Trent Troop and Greg Sepelak (who'd previously co-created "Shattered Expectations"), but with a different set of artists on each story:
- "Dungeons & Dinobots" & "The Desert Heat!": Evan Gauntt
- "Do Over": Yuki Ohshima (art) & Drew Eiden (colors)
- "Eye in the Sky": Tom Whalen
- "Blitzwing Bop": Chad Porter
- "Transhuman": Casey Coller & Greg Sepelak (art), S. Trent Troop (colors)
Reunification was written by Forest Lee, with art by Robby Musso and colors by Josh Perez.
Around Cybertron was created by Jesse Wittenrich, Recordicons by David Willis, and SD SG by Josh Perez.
Notes
- The Transformers Legends mobile game held an event inspired by these stories, appropriately titled "Shattered Glass".
- Transformers Animated received its own Shattered Glass-inspired mirrorverse, which was first depicted in a BotCon 2011 lithograph and expanded on in The AllSpark Almanac Addendum.
- The authors of The AllSpark Almanac apparently hail from a mirrorverse of their own.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Pete Sinclair talks about Shattered Glass on the Allspark (archived link)
- ↑ Pete Sinclair talks about the last two Shattered Glass stories on the TFCC forums (defunct link)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Trent Troop answers Shattered Glass-related questions (archived link)
