by wadapan
After 3H Productions lost the Transformers license, BotCon was taken over by Fun Publications, who also launched the Transformers Collectors’ Club. Unlike 3H, which tried to tell extremely ambitious stories mostly in the form of convention-exclusive comics, Fun Publications set out to create more standalone stories. Each year saw the release of a standalone convention comic, plus a new comic arc told across six issues of the club’s bimonthly magazine, plus a smattering of other stories across all forms of media imaginable.
Their fiction was published under the Timelines banner, which encompassed dozens of different continuities. Some of these were pre-existing ones, but some—like TransTech, Shattered Glass, and Beast Wars: Uprising—were wholly original. In the end, though, Fun Publications’ work ended up being vastly more convoluted than that of 3H, with almost all of their settings crossing over with each other at various points. It’s hugely daunting on its face, but don’t worry—we’ve done the research for you, and this guide covers absolutely everything in a logical reading order.
Recommendations
But what if you’re not interested in absolutely everything? The Timelines stories are an extremely mixed bag, developed by dozens of writers. If you’re after just one quick read, my big recommendation is “The Truth We Make” by Justin Severson, which I think is the quintessential Punch/Counterpunch story. Otherwise, there are a couple of sets of high-quality stories that can genuinely be read in isolation, and it’s these that I recommend starting with…
Beast Wars: Uprising
Set on a dystopian Cybertron where names like Optimus Prime and Megatron have been consigned to history, leaving the decrepit stragglers of the Autobots and Decepticons to continue their war vicariously through the Maximal and Predacon slave races, Beast Wars: Uprising is a complex story about individuals trying to do good as revolution begins to sweep the planet. The setting was properly unveiled in a comic arc by Greg Sepelak and S. Trent Troop, and continued in a series of twelve prose stories by Jim Sorenson. Each prose story includes a set of interstitials encrypted in cybertronix, comprising of in-universe text—read the translation after the story proper.
- Alone Together
- “Broken Windshields”
- “Head Games”
- “Burning Bridges”
- “Micro-Aggressions”
- “Intersectionality”
- “Trigger Warnings”
- “Identity Politics”
- “Not All Megatrons”
- “Cultural Appropriation”
- “Safe Spaces”
- “Derailment”
- “The Inexorable March”
(A handful of Beast Wars: Uprising profiles were also published. Alongside the first comic arc: Rampage, Transmutate (issue #55), Jawbreaker, Bigmos (#57), Medusa, Lord Imperious Delirious (#59). As profile cards packed with toys: Rampage, Transmutate, Lio Convoy, Eject, Scorponok. I’m also contractually obliged to mention that “A Change to the Agenda” exists, but that doesn’t mean you should read it; it’s a hamfisted retcon by different authors.)
Shattered Glass
Easily the most iconic thing to come out of Timelines, the Shattered Glass mirror universe was introduced in a short April Fools’ Day comic by Sepelak and Troop. Positive reception to that strip led those writers to hastily punch-up the dialogue of that year’s convention comic to match, and the story continued in a series of prose stories, wrapping up in a comic arc by Forest Lee. In later years, other writers mired the continuity in multiversal shenanigans, as part of the club’s wider mytharcs, but you don’t need to worry about that.
- “Shattered Expectations”
- “Shattered Glass”
- “Dungeons & Dinobots”
- “Do Over”
- “The Desert Heat!”
- “Eye in the Sky”
- “Blitzwing Bop”
- “Transhuman”
- “Reunification: Prologue” (published in the PDF for “Do Over”)
- Reunification
Transformers Animated
After the conclusion of the much-acclaimed Transformers Animated, Fun Publications put out a few stories set in that universe, some of which were written by head writer Marty Isenberg! These were completely spared the crossovers everything else got bogged down in, really just being an extension of the show—a complete reading guide to the whole Transformers Animated expanded universe is coming soon.
- “Moving Violations” (by Sepelak and Troop)
- “The Stunti-Con Job”
- “The Return of Blurr”
Absolutely Everything
Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
(Note: Pete Sinclair, editor at Fun Publications, credited himself as a co-writer on a significant amount of material produced by the club, apparently regardless of his level of involvement—from “idly thought of a story premise” to “actually worked on a script”. While his overall contributions to the Timelines stories were undoubtedly very significant, the difficulty in discerning his level of contribution to any one story has led me to simply credit his contractors.)
Beast Wars
Much of Fun Publications’ early material was in a similar spirit to that of the previous convention licensee, 3H, which was set during the “Beast Era” (for all the info on that, check out our Marvel reading guide—see, this is getting complicated already). Unlike 3H, Fun Publications decided to explore the previously-unseen timeframe before Beast Wars.
Written by big-name-fan Benson Yee, BotCon 2005’s exclusive comic was set around the time of the Pax Cybertronia at the end of the Great War.
Profile cards: Ironhide, Ratchet, Fallback, Ricochet, Chromia, Flareup, Deathsaurus, Buzzclaw, Dirge, Virulent Clones, Flamewar
The voice-actor script reading at that convention, “Cybertronian Theater”, included a short scene following on from the comic. It’s unknown who wrote it, and it was never referenced by later stories.
At BotCon 2007, S. Trent Troop, Kristen Maxwell, and Ronald D. Smith were able to expand out a fan-animation of theirs into a fully-voice-acted-and-animated prequel leading directly into the previous year’s convention comic.
The Max-Cops profiles: 9k, Overshoot, Switchblade (issue #13), High Beam, Shatterpoint, Getout (#14), Stopgap (online)
MTMTE profiles: Cryotek, Backslash, Buzzbomb, Dirge (online)
BotCon 2006’s comic was a direct prequel to Beast Wars written by Hasbro copywriter Forest Lee, with input from Benson Yee. As the first to also be distributed by Diamond Publishing, the comic was numbered Timelines #1.
The Max-Cops profiles: Cheetor, Maximal Command Security Force (Timelines #1)
MTMTE profiles: Optimus Primal, Megatron (Timelines #1)
Profile cards: Optimus Primal, Rhinox, Rattrap, Cheetor, Unit 2, Megatron, Dinobot, Waspinator, Laserbeak, Buzzsaw, Razorclaw, Scorponok (unpublished)
To promote the club’s new Airazor figure, and to tie together the convention comics from the previous two years, Benson Yee wrote a prose Charlie’s Angels spoof set partially between them. A framing prologue (published in issue #14 of the magazine) and epilogue were set during the cartoon proper. In later years, in an attempt to make “Dawn of Future’s Past” the definitive Beast Wars prequel—and in response to highly-unfavourable fan reception—this story was swept under the rug.
Profile card: Chromia 10 Pilot
In 2007, with many of 3H’s storylines still left unresolved, Sepelak and Troop wrote a prose conclusion to The Wreckers, following on from the quietly-published script to the never-fully-illustrated issue #4 and drawing certain elements from Fun Publications’ other Beast Wars stories. This story included a scene leading into 2005’s Balancing Act comic arc.
Cybertron
With the Cybetron cartoon being then-current, many of the early Timelines stories expanded on the setting by featuring various toyline-only characters who never appeared in the show.
For the first two years of the comic, Forest Lee wrote a couple of connected arcs which famously codified the concept of “Multiversal Singularities”, also kicking off a mytharc of his own centred on the club’s yearly exclusive toys. This story drew somewhat from Furman’s old comics for Dreamwave (again, there’s a reading guide for that). Being produced via IDW Publishing, this arc is the only one to have been reprinted for the mass market.
Profile cards: Skyfall, Quickslinger (issue #6), Landquake
MTMTE profiles: Skyfall (issue #4), Vector Prime, Ramjet (#5), Nemesis Prime (#6), Sentinel Maximus (#7), Optimus Prime, Ultra Magnus (#8), Optimus Primal, Soundwave (#9), Downshift, Unicron (#10), Anti-Blaze, Scythe & Checkpoint, Landquake (#11), Street Action Mini-Con Team (#12)
In a bid to tell more standalone stories set during the cartoon, Sepelak and Troop wrote a prose story featuring offscreen characters on a post-apocalyptic planet. This wouldn’t be published until 2008, because at the same time, unbeknownst to them…
…Benson Yee had been writing a prose story featuring offscreen characters on a post-apocalyptic planet. As Yee’s promoted the club’s Astrotrain figure, his was released first, but it’s set after the cartoon, so. The story’s prologue was published in issue #13 of the magazine.
Profile card: Astrotrain
Mini-Con profiles: Deepdive, Longarm, Overcast (issue #13), Nightcruz, Nightscream, Nightcreeper (#14), Heavy Load, Stripmine, Drill Bit (#15), Aftershock, Jumpstart, Buildup, Flashbang, Hawkeye, Highgear, Kickback, Smackdown, Claymore, Overwatch, Covert, Highjump, Lookout, the Extreme Competition team, the Noble Force team, the Steel Reinforcement Team, the Aerial Extermination team, the Apocalypse Brigade team, Drop-Test, Heavy Barrel, Road Rebel, Dead End General, Dead End Drones, Strongarm, Offshoot, Knockdown, Nightscream, Starcatcher, the Sabotage Team, Bunker-Buster, Flashbox (online), Snowblind (#32)
Classics
While the Classics toyline didn’t have any particular associated fiction—being a generic line of updates to popular “Generation 1” characters—copywriter Forest Lee contextualised it as being set in a Marvel-based continuity in some club-exclusive stories, ignoring the UK comic and Generation 2.
Forest Lee’s mytharc continued through another six-part comic arc, picking up directly from the cliffhanger at the end of Revelations.
Profile card: Breakaway
MTMTE profiles: Grimlock, Mirage (issue #13), Astrotrain, Skywarp (#14), Rodimus, Ramjet (#15), Breakaway (#16), Cliffjumper, Megatron (#17), Optimus Prime, Starscream (#18)
Lee also wrote BotCon 2007’s Timelines #2, which followed on from the magazine arc.
Profile cards: Bug Bite, Dreadwind, Thundercracker, Dirge, Thrust, Mirage, Weirdwolf, Springer, Huffer, Overkill, Elita-1
MTMTE profiles: Bug Bite, Springer (Timelines #2)
The first Sepelak/Troop prose story to be released was a Classics prequel—following directly on from issue #80 of the original Marvel series—featuring the Mini-Con teams for that toyline. The prologue to the story was published in Timelines #2, and profiles for the characters were published in the magazine.
Mini-Con profiles: Overbite, Grindor, Broadside, Knockdown, Firebot, Nightscream (issue #16), Dreadwing, Oil Slick, Sledge, Terrorsaur, Strongarm, Steel Wind (#17), Snarl, Dirt Rocket, Wideload, Swoop, Divebomb, Thunderwing (#18), Liftor (#33)
TransTech
In a first for the club, the TransTech setting was based not on an existing continuity, but rather was an entirely-original setting making use of various character designs from Transtech, an abandoned sequel concept for Beast Machines developed by Hasbro at the turn of the millennium. The premise of the setting was for it to be a cultural melting-pot of characters from all across the Transformers franchise, plucked from the multiverse.
Lee’s story continued through another six-part arc. Starting with issue #23, Jesse Wittenrich’s Around Cybertron series of backup strips began. Note that Blackarachnia’s story continues in Beast Wars: Uprising, as covered above!
Profile cards: Alpha Trion, Topspin
MTMTE profiles: Beta Maxx (online), Cheetor, Shockwave (issue #22), Prowl, Starscream (#23), Optimus Prime, Megatron (#24)
Sepelak and Troop wrote a handful of side-stories set around the same time during the TransTech arc, creating an impression of a vibrant metropolis. Troublemakers Jackpot and Hubcap featured in the first prose story—broadly based on the movie The Warriors—the one-page comic prologue for which was published in issue #19 of the magazine.
BotCon 2008’s script reading saw a few Transformers Animated characters inadvertently wind up in Axiom Nexus.
The next prose story starred the e-HOBBY exclusive GoBots toys, expanding on the plot of “Games of Deception” (with an epilogue following directly on from that comic). This was the story that opened the floodgates to much more overt GoBots fiction from the club. The story’s one-page comic prologue was published in issue #20 of the magazine.
The last TransTech prose story published, starring Bulletbike, consolidated elements from all the rest, with a framing device set after Transcendent. A one-page comic prologue was published in issue #21.
In 2009, David Willis (who would go on to create Recordicons) wrote a TransTech prose story starring various elderly bots in Axiom Nexus. It was pitched to the club but, for reasons known only to the great minds at Fun Publications editorial, was never pursued.
David Willis also considered pitching a Firecracker text story around this time, playing on the “Dux non Intruitus” concept. Only a page or so was written.
Classics, continued
An unrealised pitch for Fun Publications from Sepelak and Troop included a three-page comic advertising generic Universe Sunstreaker redecos which fans could personalise using stickers to create their own “Spark Warrior”.
In late 2008, to promote the club’s Nightbeat figure, Lee wrote a standalone Classics comic.
Profile card: Nightbeat
MTMTE profiles: Slag, Minerva, Muzzle, Lug, Quig (issue #22)
In 2009, to promote their Seacons giftset, and to provide some closure to the Classics continuity, Wittenrich wrote a prose story. A three-page comic prologue was published in issue #30 of the magazine.
Profile cards: Snaptrap, Nautilator, Overbite, Seawing, Skalor, Tentakil, Piranacon
Shattered Glass
The setting for BotCon 2008 was a “mirror universe”—a trope codified by the Star Trek episode “Mirror, Mirror”—to the Classics universe.
The first glimpse of the Shattered Glass universe came in the form of a three-page “preview” to 2008’s convention comic, a comedic pastiche in the style of Generation 2 written by Sepelak and Troop. People loved it—which sucked for Fun Publications, as they’d made it as an April Fools’ Day prank! They quickly switched gears…
The actual convention comic was written by Ben Yee, and simply flipped the characters’ moralities, not their personalities. It saw Classics Cliffjumper wind up in the mirror universe after the events of Crossing Over. Sepelak and Troop were quickly brought on to “punch up” the comic’s dialogue, bringing it more in line with the jokey preview. This comic was notably Don Figueroa’s return to Transformers artwork after a hiatus.
Profile cards: Optimus Prime, Grimlock, Goldbug, Jazz, Starscream, Razorclaw, Ricochet, Megatron, Rodimus, Divebomb, Blurr, Sideswipe, Rampage, Nightbeat, Thunderclash, Nightclash
MTMTE profiles: Rodimus, Starscream (Timelines #3)
After the convention, a series of prose stories by Sepelak and Troop continued the story. The first was a riff on the old Marvel comics, loosely inspired by Dungeons & Dragons, and served to bring Grimlock’s potrayal back in line with “Shattered Expectations”. A prose prologue to the story was published in issue #22 of the magazine.
The second prose story had Ricochet, a convention toy given little lip-service in the main comic, as its lead villain. It covered the lead-up to the Transformers’ departure from Cybertron. The PDF also included a short prologue for Reunification—which was already starting to be published at the time—set after “Transhuman”.
A two-page comic prologue to “Eye in the Sky” was published online, featuring that year’s subscription freebie, Heatwave.
The third prose story covered Earthfall, introducing a human cast along with Shattered Glass Ravage, a fan character created by David Willis.
The last of the initial batch of prose stories was a riff on the sorts of stories told in Season 2 of the Sunbow cartoon, with Blitzwing given the spotlight.
The next prose story wasn’t released until 2011, after a significant delay. Set before Reunification, it wraps up Sephie Beller’s arc.
Continuing directly on from the prologue in the PDF for “Do Over”, Lee’s final arc for the club followed Heatwave back to Cybertron to wrap up the main Nexus Prime storyline. Around Cybertron continued throughout the run; Wittenrich wrote a set of profiles to complement it, but they weren’t released officially, instead shared on DeviantArt after the fact.
Profile cards: Heatwave, Cyclonus
MTMTE profiles: Blackarachnia, Topspin, Whisper (issue #25), Dirge, Sky Lynx, Ravage (#26), Aquarius, Computron, Steeljaw (#27), Hound, Abominus, Ratbat (#28), Heatwave, Cyclonus (#29), Nexus Maximus, Galvatron (#30), Scourge (Twitter), Andromeda, Countdown, Esmeral, Mirage, Monstructor, the WASP (unpublished)
Wings Universe
One of the biggest continuities left untouched by the club at this point was perhaps the most iconic: the original ’80s Sunbow cartoon. When they eventually tackled it, they did so through a very slight alternate universe, where the main difference was that many characters were depicted using their Timelines or Universe toys. In terms of narrative, they stuck mostly to the “gaps” in the Sunbow timeline, before and after the cartoon, micro-managing the Saturday-morning continuity and folding in basically all of the previous Beast Wars tie-in stories (with some inconsistencies arising) to boot. However, it should be noted that—just as with most ancillary Beast Wars media—none of the Wings Universe material stuck closely to the tone of the Sunbow cartoon. As none of this material really tied back into any of the other Timelines stories, this is a huge block that you can genuinely just skip without issue—in fact, I actively recommend you do this!
BotCon 2009’s convention comic, by Rik Alvarez and Forest Lee, was set after the Sunbow cartoon, but flashed back to the very distant past, following Kup as a new recruit at the start of the great war.
Profile cards: Kup, Flak, Landshark, Thunderclash, Leozack, Skyquake, Banzai-Tron, Scourge, Sweep Two, Sweep Six, Sweep Seven, Dion
MTMTE profiles: Kup, Banzai-Tron, Flak, Leozack, Dion (Timelines #4)
“The Coming Storm, Parts 1-2”, “Flames of Yesterday”, “Parts 3-4”, “A Team Effort”, “Parts 5-6”,
Wittenrich continued the story via the magazine, beginning with a recap of the Nexus Prime storyline before following the Elite Guard in the far past. Two prose stories by Wittenrich slotted directly into the first arc, one focusing on the “Female Autobots”, and another being a The A-Team pastiche featuring the Stealth Team (winning out over other Elite Guard teams in a fan vote). Around Cybertron made the jump to the Wings Universe and continued apace.
Mini-Con profile: Cop-Tur (issue #31)
MTMTE profiles: Runabout, Jetstorm (issue #31), Magnum, Over-Run (#32), Onslaught, Moonracer (#33), Deathsaurus, Metalhawk (#34), Sentinel Major, Ricochet (#35), Ironfist, Bruticus (#36)
At some point in 2011, Lyzack was slated to receive a spotlight prose story written by Justin Severson (with help from Wittenrich), taking place between the two comic arcs (and alluded to at the start of Battle Lines). However, the story wasn’t finished in time. A decade later, in 2021, Severson shared the unfinished draft of the story; elements of it went on to inform his Of Masters and Mayhem story “The Truth We Make”, and it’s well worth a read. Severson had pitched himself to Fun Publications with a couple of loosely-“G1” Mini-Con profiles, but they weren’t ever released either.
Mini-Con profiles: Cradon, Seawave (unpublished)
2011’s arc followed on from the last, and continued through to the cartoon’s start.
Profile cards: Side Burn
MTMTE profiles: Landshark, Starscream (#37), Outback, Ironhide (#38), Side Burn, Prowl (#39), Thunderclash, Lyzack (#40), Gyronian Sentry, Sprocket (#41), Hauler, Devastator (#42)
Skipping ahead to Earth in the post-cartoon timeframe, Sepelak and Troop wrote BotCon 2010’s convention comic. However, it seems that it was subject to a great deal of meddling from editorial, leading the writers to be dissatisfied with the final story. The Diamond Edition included an exclusive short epilogue, featuring a dimension-hopping Shattered Glass Wheeljack.
Profile cards: Spark, Streetstar, Clench, breakdown, Sky-Byte, Rapido (available in Spanish and English), Cindersaur, Double Punch, Turbomaster, Land Shark, Sea Shark, Air Shark, Slice, Sideswipe, Punch/Counterpunch
MTMTE profiles: Clench, Rapido, Slicer, Scorch (Timelines #5)
Wittenrich picked things back up from there with another magazine arc, setting up the events of the upcoming Machine Wars storyline. The first part was partially adapted shot-for-shot from storyboards for a deleted scene from The Transformers: The Movie.
Profile cards: Ramjet, Thundercracker (issue #42), Runamuck, Over-Run, Scourge
MTMTE profiles: Ultra Magnus, Runamuck (issue #43), Sizzle, Jhiaxus (#44), Windbreaker, Flamefeather (#45), Hubcap, Nightracer (#46), Blaze, Soundwave (#47), Sideswipe, Frenzy (#48)
The customization-class handbook for BotCon 2013 included a single comic panel.
BotCon 2013’s convention comic was based on Machine Wars, which never had fiction of its own (being a short-lived toyline released around the time of Beast Wars and featuring many big-name characters in new forms). An unrealised prose prologue to this comic would’ve featured Scourge.
Profile cards: Hoist, Skywarp, Strika, Obsidian, Megaplex, Mirage, Thundercracker, Sandstorm, Electrons, Bitstream, Hotlink, Sunstorm, Starscream, Blastcharge
MTMTE profiles: Strika, Obsidian, Megaplex, Thundercracker, Mirage (Timelines#8)
The story continued directly into the initially-web-exclusive Timelines #9… seemingly conceived simply so that Timelines #10 could be released at Fun Publications’ 10th BotCon. It also served to advertise the third series of subscription service toys.
Profile cards: Carzap, Nacelle, Sepent O.R., Tarantulas, Krok, Nightracer
MTMTE profiles: Krok, Serpent O.R., Carzap, Tarantulas (Timelines #9)
“Teletraanic History Records: Marissa Faireborn and Old Snake”
Towards the end of their run, Fun Publications released a few G.I. Joe/Transformers crossover figures, inspired by the connective tissue in the original Sunbow cartoons. A prose summary in issue #65 of the magazine covered some of this, and was supplemented by file cards included with the toys themselves.
File cards: Rodimus Prime, Arcee, Marissa Fairborn, Old Snake, Advanced Stealth B.A.T.
“Tornado – Decepticon Saboteur”, 17th March to 24th June 2014
To tease BotCon 2014’s Pirates vs Knights comic, a Facebook page for one of its characters was started, in the style of “Apelinq’s War Journals“. It’s likely that most or all of this material was written by Wittenrich, perhaps with contributions from Greg Black.
Celebrating the 20th anniversary of BotCon, 2014’s comic wrapped back to 3H’s original BotCon storyline, Reaching the Omega Point. Set post-Beast Machines, the story was conceived by Marty Isenberg (not that you’d know it) and scripted by Wittenrich.
Profile cards: Cannonball, Ferak, Scorponok, Hunter, Brimstone, Dread Pirate Crew, Flamewar, Devcon, Ginrai, Alpha Trizer, Apelinq, Flareup, Primal Prime
MTMTE profiles: Dread Pirate Crew, Flamewar (issue #58), Flareup, Apelinq, Alpha Trizer (Timelines #10)
“Tornado – Decepticon Saboteur”, 30th June 2014 to 7th January 2015
Following the events of the convention comic, the Facebook page spun out one more arc of its own, focusing on the search for Starscream’s immortal spark.
Profile card: Starscream
A box set of unsold BotCon 2014 toys was sold with an exclusive one-page comic by Jesse Wittenrich and Greg Black, an epilogue to the Pirates vs Knights storyline.
Script readings
A couple of Sepelak/Troop script readings were totally disconnected from the other Timelines fiction being made at the time. As usual, they’re fun tongue-in-cheek affairs.
BotCon 2013’s script reading was written by Sepelak and Troop, along with Graham Weaver. Like BotCon 2009’s comic, it used one of Kup’s stories as a framing device, but it was uniquely set in the “Aligned” continuity, attempting to reconcile errors between the War for Cybertron games and the Prime cartoon (something Sepelak elaborated on on tumblr). A script reading of the Prime episode “Shadowzone” had previously been performed at BotCon 2011, with a minor extra scene.
Doing away with the pretence of a shared theme entirely, BotCon 2014’s script reading had a mysterious interdimensional kidnapper pluck characters from across the whole franchise’s history.
“Invasion”
The big return to the Shattered Glass universe saw it collide with the Classics universe, all observed from the TransTech universe. These entangled plot threads ran for the remainder of the club’s run.
David Willis, creator of Shattered Glass Ravage, came on to write a gag strip for the magazine beginning with issue #34. The first few strips were roughly set between “Eye in the Sky” and “Blitzwing Bop”, but the comic’s generally continuity-light.
Profile card: Ravage (Twitter)
A six-page TransTech comic by Wittenrich was published online, then later (in edited form) in the Diamond Edition of Timelines #7.
Benson Yee, writer of the original “Shattered Glass” comic, returned for BotCon 2012’s crossover.
Profile cards: Galvatron, Thundercracker, Drift, Ultra Magnus, Turbo Tracks, Soundwave, Treadshot, Gigatron, Metalhawk, Optimus Prime, Kick-Over, Octopunch, Spinister, Wreck-Gar, Scrap Iron, Junkheap, The Bard of Darkmount, Longarm
“Bee in the City 2: Electric Bugaloo”
BotCon 2012’s script reading, as usual by Sepelak and Troop, tied very loosely into “Invasion” and saw “Joe” return with plans for an invasion of his own.
Wittenrich checked back in with the TransTechs in a two-page comic promoting the first series of subscription service toys and setting up the next year’s magazine storyline.
Profile cards: Slipstream, Circuit, Breakdown, Jackpot
2012’s Recordicons strips mostly focused on Ravage meeting various positive-universe characters, tying into “Invasion”. The last strip was inspired by the then-upcoming “SG Soundwave vs SG Blaster” e-HOBBY set.
Benson Yee, joined by Matt Frank, wrote 2013’s magazine arc, with Classics Ultra Magnus and Megatron winding up on prehistoric Earth in the aftermath of “Invasion”. It’s not about Beast Wars cartoon characters, like the title might lead you to believe.
Profile cards: Depth Charge, Ultra Mammoth
MTMTE profiles: Optimus Prime, Depth Charge (#49), Grimlock, Dirge (#50), Scylla, Autojetter (#51), Ultra Mammoth, Megatron (#52), Magnaboss, Autolauncher (#53), Rhinox, God Neptune (#54)
Wittenrich wrote a seven-page comic, set before the final part of Beast Wars Shattered Glass but focusing on the TransTechs, checking in on one-off universes belonging to the characters from the second series of subscription service toys.
Profile cards: Barricade, Fisitron, INSIRT (social media), Treadshot, Chromedome, Rewind, Thrustinator
Axiom Nexus News, 29th April to 18th June 2015
Across an interconnected set of Facebook pages for Andromeda, Rook, and their Editor, Jesse Wittenrich (with contributions from Greg Black) revisited the TransTech world to set up BotCon 2015’s comic. These were joined by Ask Vector Prime, inspired by an old feature on the Hasbro website and written primarily by Jim Sorenson, which proved extremely influential.
A three-page comic by Wittenrich following on from “Timeless” and leading into “Cybertron’s Most Wanted” was published via the Facebook pages. It starred a copy of Packrat from the original 3H stories.
Sepelak and Troop wrote a comic for BotCon 2015, but their script was heavily rewritten by editorial, to the point where they requested that their names be stricken from the credits. Seemingly the final straw for them, this was their final contribution to Fun Publications.
Profile cards: Packrat, Battletrap, Stepper, Megatron, Oilmaster, General Optimus Prime, Sgt. Hound, Burn Out, Lift-Ticket, Waruder Marauders, Zaptrap, Galva Convoy, King Waruder (Twitter)
MTMTE profiles: General Optimus Prime, Battletrap, Zaptrap and Beet-Chit
“The Brick List: Earth’s Most Wanted”
A set of Kreons sold at BotCon 2015 came with a short comic written by Jesse Wittenrich, with art by Hayato Sakamoto, creator of the first half of the Kre-O Transformers manga.
Axiom Nexus News, 19th June to 30th September 2015
Following on from the convention comic, Ask Vector Prime moved into the spotlight, with Sideways temporarily hijacking the column.
In 2013, Jesse Wittenrich wrote a pack-in comic for a Shattered Glass-inspired e-HOBBY set of exclusive toys, translated into Japanese by Andrew Hall. It followed on from “Invasion”.
Profile cards: Soundwave, Slugfest, Ratbat, Blaster, Rewind, Ramhorn, Solarbot
As Recordicons continued, it broadened its scope a little, checking in with continuities inspired by Beast Wars (in #16 and #26) and More than Meets the Eye (in #27). “Solar Requiem” fed back into the strip in #18.
The GoBots plot thread from “Withered Hope” was finally picked back up by Andrew Hall in four prose stories following on from “Solar Requiem”—these being “Sunrise”, “High Noon”, “Journey’s Eve”, and “Last Sunset”. Originally previewed at BotCon 2013, Hall’s busy schedule meant they didn’t start publication until 2016, with the last story barely scraping out before the license was lost. They were planned to be translated into Japanese, but time constraints prevented this from happening for all except the first.
Profile cards: Bug Bite II (Twitter)
Following a teaser prologue published in issue #60, an in-universe text recap in #61’s “Cliffjumper’s Cliff Notes!” caught readers up on the Shattered Glass storyline to date, in time for 2015’s comic arc, written by Wittenrich. From issue #61, David Willis was given the whole back cover, with “Hot Shot’s Bot Thoughts” and “Bot on the Street” joining Recordicons—but he quit after issue #63, leading Josh Perez and Wittenrich’s SD SG to take over, as standalone gag strips.
Teletraanic History Records / MTMTE profiles: Prowl (issue #62), Grimlock (#63), Soundwave (#65), Galvatron / Optimus Prime (#66)
Profile card: Ratchet
Axiom Nexus News, 1st October 2015 to 15th February 2016
Throughout the month of October, a parade of guest hosts filled in for Vector Prime. After returning from the events of Another Light, Vector Prime journeyed to Nebulos, answering questions along the way. The most popular guest-hosts meanwhile received spin-off pages of their own: Spacewarp’s Log crossed over with Ask Vector Prime, while Cy-Kill’s Renegade Rhetoric slowly filled out a fictional “second season” of the Challenge of the GoBots cartoon. “Echoes and Fragments”, a prose remix of The Transformers: The Movie featuring GoBots, was published at the very tail end of this run.
“Dawn of the Predacus”
BotCon 2016’s theme celebrated the 20th anniversary of Beast Wars, with a set of exclusive toys seemingly inspired by the old Universe series, unusually branded as Combiner Wars product and produced with greater coordination with Hasbro. Jim Sorenson was invited to pitch a Beast Wars: Uprising story for the convention comic, but in the end production of the comic was handed off to IDW Publishing.
Axiom Nexus News, 3rd March to 3rd April 2016
In the leadup to BotCon 2016, a series of dialogues between Rook and Andromeda brought readers up to speed on many Beast Wars characters’ biographies.
The comic ended up being a heavily-abridged version of a Beast Wars prequel pitch that regular IDW colorist John-Paul Bove had been trying to get off the ground (apparently to little interest). The result reads like the product of someone who hasn’t seen Beast Wars since the nineties, being utterly ridden with bizarre errors and retcons.
Profile cards: Ravage, Tarantulas, Ramhorn, Cicadacon, Sea Clamp, Megatron, Airazor, Tigatron, Unit-3, Terrorsaur, Scorponok (instructions), Buzz Saw (unpublished)
A script-reading follow-up to the comic book was performed at the convention, written by Bove and Wittenrich. It tied back explicitly to Furman’s comics for IDW Publishing (see our reading guide of his work).
Of Masters and Mayhem
In the waning days of the club’s license, it became a race against time to resolve as many lingering plot threads as possible. The main storyline, however, was a new continuity explored in the magazine’s comic arc and a series of rather underrated prose stories.
Axiom Nexus News, 30th April to 14th July 2016
At the end of April, Renegade Rhetoric returned with a series of transmissions from Wheeljack, one of the Spy Changers from “Brain Problem Situation”. Meanwhile, a few standalone Axiom Nexus News posts went out, before ending abruptly on May 21st, apparently at the whim of Sinclair, who wanted the pages shut down.
Profile cards: Reflector, Flash Sentry, Ratchet, Generations 2 Ratchet, Medix
G.I. Joe featuring Ninja Force and Transformers
A crossover boxed set of toys inspired by Marvel’s original G.I. Joe/Generation 2 crossover was released in 2016, including a little blurb and some file cards.
File cards: Cobra Commander, Scarlett, Dr. Sidney Biggles-Jones
Randy Para (writer of the profiles for Nacelle, Generation 2 Starscream and Ramjet) wrote a pack-in comic for the club’s Armada Skywarp figure, as a bridge between the original comics packed in with Armada and Energon toys.
Profile cards: Skywarp, Skywasp (Twitter)
The first two parts of Wittenrich’s last comic arc checked in on the humans from the Classics universe—adjusting to life on an alternate Earth—before reintroducing Ramjet, and setting up the prose stories, where Impactor recruits a new team of Wreckers.
Profile cards: Ramjet, Lifeline, Quickslinger, Impactor
MTMTE profiles: Ramjet (issue #67), Lifeline, Impactor (#68)
Justin Severson, writer of the unpublished Wings Universe Lyzack story, contributed one of the best prose stories from Fun Publications’ tenure, the first time a writer’s really delved into Punch/Counterpunch as a character.
Profile cards: Counterpunch
Artist Matt Frank wrote another character spotlight, this time for Fractyl, in which he meets a marooned crew of saurian Cybertronians.
Profile card: Fractyl
MTMTE profiles: Gnash, Thrashclaw (issue #70)
The next two parts of the comic arc finally introduced Thunder Mayhem, and briefly checked back in on the Shattered Glass universe.
Profile cards: Megatron & Spacewarp, Needlenose, Grabuge, Spinister, Windsweeper, Bludgeon
“Foundation and Wreckage, Part 1: Deadly Aim”
The last two prose stories were written by Wittenrich; this one technically came out alongside the previous batch, but has been moved up with its sequel for better pacing. In flashbacks, it explores the relationship between the Wreckers’ final recruits.
“Foundation and Wreckage, Part 2: Lively Pursuit”
The Wreckers find themselves returning to Cybertron to pick up one final ally before journeying to Earth.
Profile card: Bluestreak
The Wreckers finally arrive on Earth, joining forces with the wayward crew of Pretenders to face off against Thunder Mayhem.
Profile cards: Optimus Prime & Hi-Q, Spacewarp (unpublished)
In one final prose story, Wittenrich delved back into an unseen period in the Shattered Glass timeline to wrap up the Underbase plot thread. Being by a different author, it has a fair few inconsistencies with the older prose stories. A couple of present-day epilogues to the story acted as a sendoff to the Shattered Glass universe.
Profile card: Waspinator
A one-page TransTech epilogue by Wittenrich printed in issue #72 tied up some loose ends from Classics.
Axiom Nexus News, 31st December 2016
In the final hours of the club’s license, the Rook and Andromeda pages returned with a flurry of posts, as they reported on the demise of the multiverse. The Editor was supposed to return for a brief sendoff, but the posts ended up going unpublished.
Another two-page epilogue by Wittenrich was published as a surprise in the Diamond Edition of G.I. Joe vs Cobra #9, in January. It serves to introduce an entire Shattered Glass multiverse, featuring the club’s new Shattered Glass Starscream toy, and depicts firsthand the events described on New Year’s Eve.
Profile card: Starscream
YouTube
Thought we were done? Surprise. For most BotCons, some form of promotional video was produced—most notably, several received comedic CGI animations from notable fandom members Randall Ng and DR. SMOOV. All of this stuff’s decidedly non-canonical, but I’ve collected everything in a chronological YouTube playlist for your viewing pleasure.
Other stories by these authors
You know what they say: try as you might, you simply can’t keep a toy robot convention down. Many of the creatives who worked for Fun Publications have gone on to produce Transformers fiction in an unofficial post-canon capacity.
“The Lizard’s Lost Treasure”
Greg Sepelak and Trent Troop wrote a pack-in storybook for the Playskool Heroes Marvel Spider-Man Adventures Stunt City playset. It’s now lost media, so if you find a copy, get in touch!
A Pete’s RoboCon April Fools’ day pitch for a crossover between a bunch of Hasbro properties.
“Happy Birthday to Marvel Grimlock”
A three-panel comic.
“Beast Wars Shattered Glass FAN TALE”
Following on from a relettered version of “Epilogue Two”, a two-page comic implored Pete’s RoboCon 2021 attendees to send in pitches for an illustrated prose story. If the lack of said follow-up prose story is anything to go by, nobody did!
A few contributors to the original Ask Vector Prime feature went on to write for an unofficial sequel.
TFWiki Community 