Linkage Part 1

The Transformers Legends of the Microns #1 »
"Linkage" Part 1
Publisher	Columbia Music Entertainment
First published	1 May 2003
Written by	Hirofumi Ichikawa
Art by	Hirofumi Ichikawa
Continuity	Armada cartoon
Packaged with	Legends of the Microns 1

The Super Stunt Team escape their pursuers and meet a new ally.

Synopsis

While the battle for the Mini-Cons rages on between the Autobots and Decepticons in a different part of the world, in a "West Coast city in the United States", the Super Stunt Team race down a busy street with a pair of mysterious machines chasing them. The trio manage to duck into an underground parking garage, but realize they can't run forever and need to take a stand.

The three scan and begin to convert a nearby car, using Redline's Powerlinx "Evolution Protocol" ability to turn it into a turbo cannon. The machines advance, and the Mini-Cons blow them away. After they celebrate their victory, the young woman who owns the car (and saw the whole thing) wonders just how the car can be returned to something she can drive home in...

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Notes

• This comic was available only with the first volume of the Legends of the Microns DVD in Japan, along with the exclusive Super Stunt Team toys. Later pressings of the DVD did not include either.

Transformers references

• Optimus Prime and Megatron appear only in a single "setup" panel explaining the backstory.
• When exactly during the events of the Armada cartoon this takes place in is vague at best. The story doesn't have a proper frame of reference until several installments in.
• While scanning Stella's car, Servo does the same spinning-head thing High Wire does in the first episode of the Armada cartoon when he scans his alternate mode.
• Also during the scan, the Team mentions Power Plans. This would be considered an iffy reference at best were it not for this being written by Ichikawa, who is a confirmed huge geek for the Hasbro Transformers fiction elements. Also, they do not use the Japanese words for "power" and "plan", but the phonetic katakana パワープラン (pawāpuran).

Trivia

• The city this issue takes place in is unnamed. Part 6 suggests that it is Seattle, Washington.
• The devices chasing the Mini-Cons are not named in this issue, but are later revealed to be "Fixer Bugs".
• The Mini-Cons' speech is punctuated with < > brackets to indicate they're speaking in the beeping "binary" language heard on the show. (The English translations shown on this wiki instead use a different font to denote binary-speak.)
• Stella's text uses a different font than the Mini-Cons'. Hers looks more like brushstrokes, while the Mini-Cons have a more rigid "print" style font. This continues throughout the entire series.
• Also, the sound effects are rendered in English rather than Japanese. This too is consistent throughout the series.
• The fourth page of the mini-comic is a profile of Hirofumi Ichikawa, with a bust sketch of Armada Optimus Prime in place of his picture.

External links

• "Official" Linkage mini-comic translations (archived)