Worlds Collide, Part 2 of 4

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Freudian?
"Worlds Collide, Part 2 of 4"
Publisher	Dreamwave Productions
First published	September 10, 2003
Cover date	September 2003
Writer	Simon Furman
Penciled by	Don Figueroa
Inks by	Elaine To
Colors by	David Cheung
Additional colors by	Espen Grundetjern, Alan Wang, Stuart Ng, Susan Luo, Rob Ruffolo
Letters by	Paul Villafuerte
Editor-in-chief	Roger Lee
Continuity	Dreamwave Armada continuity

While the Autobots try to locate Optimus Prime, Megatron launches a surprise attack on the Autobase.

Synopsis

On Cybertron, Dirge, Thunderwing, Bludgeon, and Scourge secure the Decepticon base for themselves. Scourge notes that Megatron is not among the dead and remains unaccounted for. They prepare to leave for Earth, leaving Bludgeon to guard the portals.

On Earth, Hot Shot grills Over-Run about Optimus Prime's whereabouts. He says that he wants an answer that doesn't involve alternate realities, but Astroscope says there might not be any other answer: the space/time continuum is in turmoil. Something has happened, and most likely Prime was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Unfortunately, finding him will take a long time, as there are an infinite number of alternate realities. Over-Run says that if they do find him, his null-reality pod can be used to bring him back. Unfortunately, Red Alert arrives with some bad news: the pod has vanished.

In the Decepticon headquarters, Megatron is beside himself with rage. Starscream has brought back Over-Run's pod, but has no idea what it is, and Megatron doesn't buy that Starscream was one-shotted by an unseen foe trying to claim the Mini-Con. As he's venting, Leader-1 tells Megatron that he's detected a sub-space probe that the Autobots have sent out, and it's searching for Optimus Prime.

Meanwhile, Optimus Prime tries to get some sort of answer out of Spinister. He says that the Prince of Nothingness came, the heavens opened up, and their final judgment was pronounced. Optimus Prime refuses to accept that a single being could be capable of such destruction, and that even if that was the case, they must have been able to defend themselves. "They tried", Spinister says, "...and they all burned." Suddenly, the ground begins to shake: Unicron has returned!

At Autobase: Cybertron, Blurr tells Jetfire that he's detected multiple space bridge portals opening around Cybertron. No traffic, just portal after portal, all centered on Decepticon Command HQ. Jetfire, sensing trouble, orders an assault team. Down on Earth, Over-Run and several other Mini-Cons prepare to leave for Silver Ridge. The pod has a homing beacon in it, so they'll be able to find it. And once they do, all they'll need is the spatial coordinates for Optimus Prime and they can bring him back. But no sooner than they leave, an explosion rocks their base as the Decepticons attack! Red Alert goes to activate the defense systems, leaving Hot Shot to guard the probe interface. Smokescreen and Scavenger head out to meet the Decepticons head-on. They run into Demolishor and get run off the road. Smokescreen finds himself face-to-face with Megatron, and gets shot point-blank in the chest with his cannon. Red Alert tries to fight back as well, but gets mowed down by Starscream.

At Silver Ridge, the Mini-Cons have successfully entered the Decepticon base, but are baffled as to why the base would be completely deserted. In the Autobase, Hot Shot tells the Space Mini-Con Team to stay in the control room and seal the door after he leaves. He steps out into the hallway and gets blasted by Megatron, who wonders aloud what was so important that he would stay behind. Just as he's about to find out, though, he gets simultaneous transmissions from Demolishor, Cyclonus, and Starscream, as each of them is attacked by an unknown assailant. Megatron leaves to check it out, and finds himself staring into the face of Galvatron...

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"NNNN. This parallel, quantum, alternate reality hoo-hah cranks my shaft!"

—Hot Shot longs for crises with smaller and more relatable stakes

"Just stay focused and, well, aler—RRRT!"

—Red Alert fails to live up to his name

"So it ends. With both a whimper...and a bang!"

— Megatron, always ready with a poetic entrance.

Notes

Continuity notes

• Optimus Prime's sudden disappearance and transport to an alternate, Unicron-ravaged Cybertron back in Armada #13 is hand-waved explained away by Astroscope as the temporal chaos unleashed due to a "clash of realities". In other words- Worlds Colliding.

Transformers references

• The Mini-Cons' shuttle has "2005" written on one of the engines—the year The Transformers: The Movie was set.

Errors

• At the conclusion of the story, Megatron asks, "And who, exactly..." intended to lead to the reveal of Galvatron on the next page. However, the second part of his question is printed on both pages, resulting in Megatron asking "And who, exactly... are you? ...are you?" This is corrected in the trade.

Other trivia

• This is a rather pathetic showing for Scavenger. Despite being a bulldozer, he decides to NOT meet Demolishor's oncoming charge, rolls down a small hill, and then is seemingly unconscious for the rest of the story.
• The Wavelengths page advertises The War Within: The Dark Ages and contains an article from the desk of Brian Augustyn.
• On the DW Letters page, mail is answered by Matt Moylan and includes a piece of fan art.

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• Megaman #2
• Zaion: Epidemic DVD
• Shidima TPB
• War Within: The Dark Ages
• Transformers/G.I. Joe #3
• Armada #16
• Necrowar #3
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #4
• Armada TPB #2
• War and Peace #6
• Transformers/G.I. Joe #2
• More Than Meets The Eye #6
• Megaman #1
• Darkminds Macropolis Vol II #1
• Duel Masters
• More Than Meets The Eye #7 (back cover)

Reprints

• Transformers Armada: Volume 3: Worlds Collide (April 28, 2004) ISBN 0973381744 / ISBN 978-0973381740

• Collects issues #12–18.
• Bonus material includes a cover gallery and a preview of the Energon comic.

• Transformers Armada Vol. 3 (Japan ed.) (December, 2004) ISBN 4861760631 / ISBN 978-4861760631

• Same content as Dreamwave's volume 3, translated to Japanese.

• Transformers Armada Vol. 6 (Spain ed.) (August, 2007) ISBN 978-8498149685

• Reprints issues 13–15, translated to Spanish.

• Transformers Armada: Volume 3 (IDW reprint) (April 15, 2009) ISBN 1600104029 / ISBN 978-1600104022

• Straight reprint of the Dreamwave trade with same contents.

• Transformers Armada: Omnibus (August 18, 2010) ISBN 160010715X / ISBN 978-1600107153

• Contains issues 1–18.
• Bonus material includes the Armada Preview issue.
• Reissued in 2016 with a new cover.

• Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection Volume 28: Worlds Collide Part 2 (October 3, 2018)

• Collects issues #14–18 and Dreamwave's Transformers: More than Meets the Eye #8
• Includes a brief overview of Dreamwave's Energon comic, a bonus glossary section dedicated entirely to background material from the Dreamwave G1-verse, a cover gallery and an intro by Simon Furman.

• 

  Transformers Armada:
  Volume 3: Worlds Collide

• 

  Transformers Armada:
  Volume 3 (Japan ed.)

• 

  Transformers Armada:
  Volume 6 (Spain ed.)

• 

  Transformers Armada:
  Volume 3 (IDW reprint)

• 

  Transformers Armada: Omnibus

• 

  Transformers Armada: Omnibus (reissue)

• 

  Definitive G1 Collection Vol. 28: Worlds Collide Part 2