#barricade643sg

[askvectorprime]

Dear, Vector Prime.

In Armada it is said that Transformers are born to fight, but is this really true? If so, why do they have "feelings" that get in the way of their actions?

Dear War Weary,

It is true we were born to fight. After all, Primus created us to be his final defense against Unicron.

Nevertheless... we have feelings and emotions because we were not made only to fight—but to love, to laugh, to compete, to travel, to challenge, to build, to entertain, and to...

Well, I could go on and on, but ultimately... we were made to live.

[solarzilla]

art of barricade643sg’s Maximal Hound who is a Jackson chameleon 

[askvectorprime]

Dear, Vector Prime.

How did Astrotrain end up with such a small and skeletal body?

Dear Astrological Anatomist,

In the universe where one might encounter this particular Astrotrain, the Great War had been going on for so long that energon supplies were running dangerously low. Many Cybertronians on both sides were forced to undergo the Micromaster downsizing procedure, and Astrotrain was no exception, giving up his locomotive form to do so.

Having three modes was something which Astrotrain had always felt elevated him above his peers; with only two, he developed quite the inferiority complex. This led him to begin experimenting with strange and unorthodox materials to upgrade his new, smaller body, in the hopes of unlocking a new transformation. Eventually, through a combination of Skeletron and Forestonite, he was able to grant himself a new double-barreled blaster mode—although the formula did have some side effects.

[askvectorprime]

Dear, Vector Prime.

Is there a universe where Starscream or Thundercracker instead of Skywarp has the ability to teleport?

Dear Vanishing Villain,

Well, Starscream has the uncanny ability to disappear whenever the consequences of his actions catch up with him.

[askvectorprime]

Dear, Vector Prime.

Sideswipe, who was supposed to have died in the battle on Earth in IDWSG, has come back to life as new body with partner. Could you tell us what happened to him?

Dear Sideswipe Searcher,

Fresh from their victory over Megatron, the maniacal Optimus Prime and his army of Autobots rampaged across the planet, looting whatever resources they could find and funneling them into the construction of an Ark II that would take them home to Cybertron. Their rampage was thorough; within a matter of months, the victorious Autobots had obliterated most major population centers and crushed the remnants of the world’s various armed forces—as they launched the Ark, Prime gave the order to salt the earth by having Blaster hack into the planet’s various defense systems and authorize the indiscriminate launch of hundreds of intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Many weeks later, Megatron awoke, seemingly the last sentient being on Earth. As the critically damaged Decepticon limped through the graveyard that had once been Los Angeles, he discovered that the Autobots had simply left their dead and dying to rust where’d they’d fallen. Megatron was instinctually repulsed by the notion of desecrating the dead, but realized that he needed repairs—and that the bodies of his former friends and enemies might be the only way to source Cybertronian parts until he could make it offworld. As Megatron lifted the body of one such downed Autobot, whispering a brief apology for what he was about to do, he suddenly found a pair of hands wrapped around his neck! As it turned out, Sideswipe had also survived the battle of Los Angeles, but had been abandoned by his comrades and left to die—even his spark-brother Sunstreaker had turned his back on his critically wounded sibling, with a parting sneer that Sideswipe had always been the ugly one.

Initially, Sideswipe wanted nothing more than to return to Cybertron and exact brutal revenge on everyone who’d abandoned him; in his current condition he could barely stand, let alone fight his way across millions of miles of interplanetary space back to Cybertron. After salvaging whatever they could from the battlefield to patch themselves up, the pair decamped to the nearby city of San Francisco, where they established a base camp on the burned out remains of the Golden Gate Bridge. Not long after, they discovered a Cybertronian Decepticon warship and the prone body of a tiny stasis-locked Decepticon named Whisper. It didn’t take much energon to jump-start Whisper’s systems, and the three set about slowly repairing the downed warship over a period of many months. As they worked, Megatron and Sideswipe had a long time to reflect on their past mistakes and come to some kind of understanding—in time, even Sideswipe’s once-legendary bloodlust faded into a resolute determination to atone for his past misdeeds.

However, when the time came to finally launch the ship, Sideswipe made a shocking discovery—a small group of human survivors had established a small village on the outskirts of the city. It quickly became clear that they would not survive on their own—they would need access to Cybertronian technology and someone with the knowledge of how to properly use it. That night, by the feeble light of the human’s campfire, Sideswipe told Megatron that he should go on without them, and wished him luck in his mission to rebuild the Decepticons.  Touched by the gesture, Megatron bade his new friend farewell—but not without first declaring him an honorary Decepticon. 

The next morning, as Sideswipe leaned back on the cracked asphalt of the Golden Gate Bridge and watched as Megatron’s jury-rigged vessel lifted into the air, he took a moment to carve a new insignia on his chest, beneath the ugly gash that now ran through his old Autobot symbol… then turned back to the pale, haggard humans who looked to him as their new leader and protector, and set to work.

[askvectorprime]

Dear, Vector Prime.

Are there any other Cybertronians named "Transit" besides Primax, Uniend and Tyran?

Dear Bus Busybody,

Of course, but they're mostly alike. Transit is little more than a low-level thug, rarely involved in matters of consequence. On Earth, he likes to hide in populated areas, where the threat of collateral damage is enough to keep Autobots from picking a fight with him.

Even amongst the Decepticons, Transit is one of the most sadistic of them all. When approaching a traffic light, he will deliberately slow down just enough for it to change to red. At a bus stop, he'll surreptitiously angle his rear-view mirrors so the driver can't see people running to the doors before they close. He swaps out his route number and destination when in motion. He declines most contactless payments. He drops most luggage from his compartment. Once a month or so, he'll pretend to break down for no reason at all. And worst of all, he isn't wheelchair accessible. There is simply nothing in life that brings Transit greater satisfaction than making people late, and so despite what he may report to the Decepticon leadership, Transit is such a miserably ineffective soldier in the "war on cars" that he may as well be a double agent.

The one incarnation of Transit I can think of who ever did anything of note did so entirely involuntarily. One of the largest Maximals ever sparked, Transit ferried Micromasters and proto-formers around Damaxus, together with his driver, Arrowbolt. With budget slashes, a standard Class-H energon ration wasn't enough to power Transit's frame, and so he was stuck in vehicle mode indefinitely—not unlike many of the Builders.

Now, Damaxus, as you may know, was one of the first cities to be overrun by Vehicons, with most of the population just trying to go about their lives in the unstable climate of the time when the infection began to spread. Transit was on his usual route, when his passengers saw the chaos begin to unfold outside the windows. Fleeing from the drones, a Cyberdroid, Omega, ran alongside the bus, banging on the door—and Arrowbolt ignored the protests of Socket, one of the Micromasters on board, to stop and let him in. One of the motorcycle drones was right behind him, and it was only the quick action of Major Mayhem, a Predacon in one of the front seats, that stopped the Vehicon getting aboard. Major asked Arrowbolt to take Socket's advice: to not stop again for any reason.

Transit's energon-starved chassis turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as his body had such poor internal conductivity that the virus wasn't immediately transmitted to his spark from his exterior. He thundered through the growing mob, as the Vehicons pounded on his windows and piled onto his roof. Major Mayhem ordered everyone to barricade the entrances as the Vehicons began to break in, and they were able to fend off the attackers for a time—but in the claustrophobic interior, their hostility soon turned to the other passengers.

The other riders were Rockbuster and Bound Rogue, both Maximals; and Yardarm, a Decepticon laborer who bristled at the idea of taking orders from a Predacon. Making matters worse, Rockbuster suggested that the Vehicons were the Builders' doing, blaming Socket and Yardarm. From the driver's seat, Arrowbolt tried to keep the peace, but Major Mayhem accused her of condescension and cowardice he saw as typical in Maximals—which in turn led Bound Rogue to brand him a bigot.

Although Rockbuster's hardwired Claw Buster gun was their most effective weapon against the Vehicons, he quickly ran out of energon. Bound Rogue pointed out that Socket was still practically fully-fuelled, but the Micromaster refused to share some of her own so Rockbuster could reload. That was enough for Rockbuster to finally snap; he turned on Socket, crushing the Micromaster's body in his claw. At that point, however, an ethereal purple light filled the bus—where Omega had been sitting, there was now a tank drone. With Yardarm preoccupied tackling Rockbuster in the aisle, it plunged a claw into the floor. Major Mayhem blasted the Vehicon, but it was too late: the effects of the virus began to take over Transit, reformatting his body into another mindless killing machine… with his passengers still inside.

[askvectorprime]

Dear Vector Prime,

Why is this BWII Skywarp body not combinable with Magnaboss?

Dear Boss Baby,

I believe you are mistaken—Skywarp can be combined with War for Cybertron: Kingdom Santon and Lio Junior into Magnaboss! Unless… ah, I apologize. It seems that those toys weren't released in your reality.

[askvectorprime]

Dear, Vector Prime.

What does Omega Supreme transform into in Beast Wars? Also, did he belong to Maximal or Predacon?

Dear Supreme Scouter,

Tragically, Omega Supreme perished in one of the final battles of the Great War. The Autobots and their allies were moved by their friend’s sacrifice, but the realities of war meant that they had no choice but to strip the fallen war machine for spare parts and siphon whatever energon remained in his systems before pushing onward.

Omega Supreme’s remains were largely forgotten; as the new city of Cybertropolis grew over and around the burned-out husk of Iacon, his corroded superstructure wound up buried beneath Cybertron, along with the bodies of many other fallen warriors. He remained there for centuries, until Optimus Primal’s sacrifice unleashed one final Great Transformation. The creation of this technorganic Cybertron drew upon the vast quantities of metallic remains buried beneath the planetary crust; in this way were Omega Supreme’s remains—along with the bodies of countless friends and foes who had fought and died in the Great War, now all equal in death—swept up, recycled, and merged with vast quantities of concentrated organic matter to create the first generation of technorganic flora and fauna.

[askvectorprime]

Dear, Vector Prime.

How did Megatron acquire Pinpointer and Lionizer? What happened to their partners Crosshairs and Rad?

Dear Battle Befuddled,

The Megatron of that universe was typical of many Megatrons, believing Decepticonism was the only philosophy that could and should exist—even if he'd have to warp the minds and sparks of others to make it so. You may recall his fiendish plan to reformat all Autobots into Decepticons, but that was just one in a long line of schemes. The Battle Masters arose from a previous plot of his, which saw him abduct several Micromasters—including Pinpointer and Lionizer—in order for Shockwave to create a type of weapon which could be powered by a living spark. The experiment was technically a success, but to Megatron’s disgust, the so-called Battle Masters retained the ability to transform—and with it, a degree of autonomy he viewed as unacceptable.

Naturally, the Autobots fielded a strike force on a rescue mission. When Megatron knocked away Crosshair's W-35 LR Doomblast Forge Launcher with his HPR Telescopic Laserstrike Launcher blade, Pinpointer leapt into the fray, transforming into his new Dual Rocket-Propelled Grenade Launcher mode to grant Crosshairs some heavy ordinance. The blasts' effect sent Megatron reeling, enabling the Autobots to escape with their rescuees, and return to the Ark.

Optimus Prime saw what Megatron had done to the Battle Masters as an atrocity, and sought a way to reverse the procedure, but most of the Battle Masters instead wanted to follow Pinpointer's example in using their new power to fight back, eagerly partnering up with Autobot soldiers. Lionizer teamed up with Rad, adopting a new color scheme, and the two joined Prowl's recon mission to Praxus in the waning days of the Siege on Cybertron. Rad had actually started out as a researcher in Praxus, eventually reaching the rank of Space Command Engineering Sergeant, but he got along with the short-tempered, brooding Lionizer surprisingly well.

[askvectorprime]

Dear, Vector Prime.

What were Exo-Suit and Fireglide doing at SGIDW?

The former was among the victim parts that Ratchet had that appeared to be his, while the latter did not appear in the comic at all.

Dear Mirror Master,

The ‘bot you know as “Exo-Suit” was actually the heroic Cityspeaker Roritchi. Long ago, he partnered with the benevolent BlackZarak on their mission to spread the light of civilization across Cybertron, until he met the malevolent Halonix Maximus in a pitched battle. Tragically, Halonix struck BlackZarak down; so distraught was he by the loss of his friend and partner that Roritchi hid himself away in a remote corner of the Static Zone and entered stasis lock. When Goldbug used Starscream’s spark to rouse Metroplex from his long slumber, the same pulse of energy interfaced with Roritchi’s system, who awoke to find a Cybertron ravaged by millennia of civil war. Seeking answers, he staggered to the nearest settlement he could find… only to be felled by a group of retreating Autobots as he approached the gates of Gold City. His parts would ultimately be salvaged by Ratchet, who neither knew nor cared that he’d cut down an ancient historical figure of some renown.

Fireglide stayed by Cannonball’s side during their initial fight against the Decepticons and served as an ad-hoc “mascot” of sorts. Tragically, when the Rising Sea was destroyed, Fireglide went down with the ship.

[askvectorprime]

Dear, Vector Prime.

We have seen a Cybertronian named "Garboyl" that looks exactly like the AOE Wal-Mart 2 pack Strafe.

Are there similar examples in Grimlock and Slug?

Dear Dinosaur Devoted,

Indeed. During one iteration of the Beast Wars, the veteran warrior Grimlock was upgraded by the quantum surge into a new Transmetal form, alongside the rest of the Maximals and Predacons. A bot out of time, frustrated by the fact that he didn’t recognise anyone, Grimlock was a thorn in the side of both factions, attempting to woo Terrorsaur and Dinobot into forming a third breakaway group.

Things were complicated by the arrival of the rogue Predacon Magmatron and his Dinobots. Grimlock was elated to meet these saurian warriors, and Magmatron capitalized on this by tricking Grimlock into thinking his crew were none other than his old teammates Swoop and Slag from the Great War—when in fact, they were the evil Predacons Garboyl and Cindersaur! Naturally, the ruse didn’t last long; their cruel behavior quickly outed them, along with the fact that neither could remember what they were supposed to be called.

In the end, Grimlock teamed up with Dinobot to send them packing; he later called the Maximal the only “true Dinobot” left, and formally aligned himself with the faction. Though they were unable to use Magmatron’s ship to escape the planet—as it was destroyed by Scorponok and Scavenger, after they failed to secure it for the Predacons—Grimlock played a key part in the Maximals’ eventual victory.

[askvectorprime]

Dear, Vector Prime.

Why is the altmode of Prime universe Bulkhead in Legacy different from Prime cartoon?

Dear Bulkhead Buddy,

After permanently deposing Cyclonus and his puppet government, Bulkhead reunited with Wheeljack and gathered a small group of ex-Wreckers to hunt for any stragglers who’d escaped the planet amidst the chaos and gone into hiding offworld. As disguise was no longer a priority, Bulkhead took this opportunity to upgrade into a tough, off-road configuration that would allow him to traverse uncharted terrain and carry the weapons and energon cubes required to conduct this long-range mission.

[askvectorprime]

Dear, Vector Prime.

Could you tell us about Seeker-body Jetfire?

Dear Sky Seeker,

Variations on this individual crop up all across the multiverse, under different names. The Jetfire I am familiar with was a famous explorer, celebrated for defeating the Star Seekers of the Blot Nebula. On one of his expeditions, he tracked the apocryphal AllSpark to a primitive Earth, only to discover to his dismay that the artefact's energon radiation interfered with his telemetry, causing him to crash-land on the North Pole. Unearthed millions of years later, he quickly upgraded himself into a new form with an external booster unit to improve his atmospheric flight capabilities and prevent a similar mishap occurring in future.

In another universe, this was the ex-Omnicon Skyblast, who felt a lack of purpose after the development of Cyber Key technology finally gave the Autobots the ability to boost their own power without relying on others. With his comrades no longer needing his abilities, he upgraded himself into a new Cyber Key-carrying form that would let him do for himself what he had done for them.

And in a negative-polarity universe you might be familiar with, this was none other than Starscream, back when he was a student at the Crystal City Science Institute. Optimus Prime captured him and branded him with an Autobot insignia, but Starscream flatly refused to help the bot who had leveled Crystal City before his very optics, and Prime threw him in a cell to rot—from which he was eventually rescued by Megatron, who had pioneered the art of transformation. Starscream took this innovation and helped develop yet more complex transformations, upgrading himself several times over the ages to meet the demands of an ever-escalating war.

[askvectorprime]

Dear, Vector Prime.

What is Pathfinder called in the Viron cluster?

Dear Flying Object Identifier,

Pathfinder.

[askvectorprime]

Dear, Vector Prime.

Could you tell us about Viron Skywarp

Dear Skywarp Savant,

Skywarp began his military career as a hunter in the Predacon Air Force, where he transformed into an airborne shark—much like Megatron's future underling, Sky-Byte. He was known as Sky Shadow's most efficient and vicious lieutenant, who always punctuated his attacks on Autobots with some cruel one-liner or joke at his opponents' expense. Nevertheless, his sense of humor made him a popular soldier, at least among those who weren't victims of his pranks.

It was thus a surprise when Skywarp made the decision to join Starscream's Decepticons, turning his back on Sky Shadow and assuming a Cybertronian sonic attack jet as an alternate mode. Skywarp claimed to be "pulling one last joke" on his former commander by doing so.

In any case, as a Predacon or as a Decepticon, Skywarp possessed the ability to switch places with others through teleportation. Though it took a large amount of focus, Skywarp trained himself to be able to do it on the fly, making him a constant nuisance for friend and foe alike. His secondary weapons as a Decepticon were a pair of arm-mounted "Crash Missiles", which he used to bring down other fliers with ease.

[askvectorprime]

Dear, Vector Prime.

Are there any other Botbots besides Wasabi Breath that transform into sushi?

Dear Itamae Interested,

There certainly are, a handful that mostly clustered together under the ranks of the Hibotchi Heats.

The self proclaimed leader was Shogun Tekkatron, who turned into a hosomaki roll. In his robot mode he was a fierce commander, clad in nori-armor, feared and respected across the mall—although he also lacked any weaponry and mostly just sat on a chair while the others went about their days.

Foxy Fierce was one of the most dramatic of their clique, often ending up in a duet with Drama Sauce. His kabuki-inspired facial insignia was so impressive that it could frighten particularly nervous bots, so he often remained in inarizushi form when around others.

Lucky Sevens is one of the most friendly of the gang, spending a lot of her time hanging around with the Seasons Greaters. Like Shogun Tekkatron she turns into hosomaki, but her variety is what I believe is called ehomaki.

While not a true piece of sushi or even a full member of the Hibotchi Heats, the Lost Bot Sensei Spicy was commonly associated with them. This wandering warrior was happy to help out bots of any gang, although most found her sharp comments and acidic tone too grating to actually listen to. She turned into a wasabi stem, and her biggest rival was Hojonigiri, the rancid riceball from the Spoiled Rottens.