THE TRANSFORMERS: COMICS, BOOKS AND MANGA

CLUB AND CONVENTION TRANSFORMERS COMICS

Beast Wars: Reaching the Omega Point

| Critical Mass | Apelinq's War Journals | Visitations | Herald | Covenant | Schism | Paradox | Reaching the Omega Point |

An archive of BotCon fiction can be found at http://www.botcon.com/archive/story/ and there seem to be no current plans by the current holders of the BotCon license to remove it. You might want to download it in case it goes offline, though.

"Critical Mass" (1997)

This comic was only initially available at BotCon 1997. Written By: Simon Furman Art By: Andrew Wildman Art Assist By: Steven Baskerville Letters By: Starkings & Comicraft

Synopsis:The Predacon scientist Fractyl has created a new invention to shield them from the energon radiation, using a unique element named Furmanite. The scientist hallucinates about his invention blowing up for a while, but is snapped back into reality by Blackarachnia, who urges him to finish the project, planning to take the armour for herself. Packrat spies on their activities, planning to steal the armour.

As they test the Furmanite, Inferno discovers Packrat. Opening fire, Inferno drops a pure energon crystal, which reacts with the Furmanite sample, causing a massive explosion. While Inferno pursues Packrat, Fractyl deduces that Furmanite must be Anti-Energon, which repels energon at low concentrations but blows up at large ones.

Meanwhile, Packrat heads for the energon-rich Badlands, telling himself that the device would help Optimus Primal to appreciate him, and to rid him of his beast mode. Meanwhile, Cheetor, Rhinox and Airazor are talking when they see explosions in the distance, and they move in to intercept. Inferno is weakened by the energon radiation and Packrat, driven mad with power, blasts Inferno into pieces.

Fractyl arrives, warning the Maximals about Furmanite’s danger. Rhinox tries to talk Packrat down, but Fractyl tries to take the Furmanite by force. Packrat nearly guns Fractyl down, but he takes control of himself and surrenders the Furmanite. Airazor spots Megatron and Blackarachnia approaching. Fractyl resigns himself to be berated by the other Predacons. However, Packrat gives Fractyl an idea as a return favour for helping them. Megatron arrives to see Fractyl shooting at the ‘fleeing’ Maximals, and is pleased.

Featured Transformers: Megatron, Fractyl, Blackarachnia, Inferno, Packrat, Cheetor, Rhinox, Airazor

Reviews & Commentary: Reviewed by Blackjack

Apelinq's War Journals

Synopsis: Terrorist activities have occured on some sectors in Cybertron, while the Council of Elders have been quiet. Apelinq goes off to search for the Axalon. However, the trail has come to a dead end. Apelinq investigates transwarp anomalies. The Peace Marshals report increased attacks of terrorists, with the Marshals' numbers being trimmed down. The Wreckers are finally deployed, but the planet is plunged into chaos by more attacks. The Tripredacus Council calls for martial law while the Maximal Council tries to negotiate. Megatron has apparently returned, and have been partially behind the terrorist attacks. The High Council is immobilized and chaos erupts in the chain of command. A large group of Peace Marshals go rogue to hunt down Megatron, but they are destroyed. Apelinq and Rodimus are overwhelmed as the Vehicon legions overtake Cybertron.

Apelinq is left alone as a large part of Cybertron's population disappear under Megatron's onslaught. Apelinq figures out that Megatron uses a transformation virus. An ancient Autobot ship crash-lands, and fills Apelinq with hope. Apelinq develops a shield suit to protect himself against Megatron's plague and manages to find Rodimus, who has also developed immunity to Megatron's virus. The rest of the Wreckres have been destroyed. Apelinq uses Rodimus' unique physiology to try and develop an inoculant against the virus. A transwarp shuttle arrives and crash-lands. Upon inspection, Apelinq and Rodimus finds Primal Prime. A scuffle with the Vehicons leads Apelinq into being plunged into the transwarp portal with the Vehicon Mirage and sent back into the past.

In the past, Apelinq gets rid of Mirage, and reclaims the trasfer interlink. Finding himself in Earth's past, nearly coming into contact with the combatants. As Apelinq figures things out, Apelinq is torn between investigating the Beast Wars and his duty to return to the future. As he repairs his transwarp program, Apelinq prepares to return to the future when he witnesses the arrival of the Covenant of Primus. Unable to go home just yet, Apelinq witnesses the rise of Shokaract, and decides he cannot abandon the brave Beast Warriors just yet, and enters the battle.

Transformers Featured: Apelinq, Megatron, Rodimus, Primal Prime, Mirage (killed), Beast Warriors, The Covenant of Primus, Shokaract

Reviews & Commentary: Reviewed by Blackjack

Visitations (script reading)

Written By: Bob Forward Performed At: 20 June 1998

Synopsis: the script is available at http://botcon.com/archive/story/1998/98script.html

Onyx Primal and Packrat argue as they find a mysterious device, but the Predacons Fractyl and Vice Grip attack. A shadowy figure swipe the device and disappears. As the Maximals and Predacons battle, Silverbolt and Rattrap arrives, driving the two Predacons away. However, another mysterious figure arrives, revealing herself to be Antagony. She takes down the four Maximals and demands the device from them. Megatron and Waspinator arrive, prompting the Maximals to pin the blame on Megatron. Antagony declares herself as Megatron's worst enemy, prompting Megatron to blame Optimus Primal. A firefight ensues, and a badly damaged Antagony holds Waspinator at gunpoint. Since Waspinator's warranty has expired, Megatron decides to relent... but dust stirred up causes Antagony to sneeze, shooting Waspinator and causing her to run out of energy. Megatron takes Antagony hostage.

Transformers Featured: Packrat, Onyx Primal, Fractyl, Vice Grip, Apelinq (not named), Silverbolt, Rattrap, Antagony, Optimus Primal, Megatron, Waspinator
Notable others: Larry DiTillio, Ben Yee

Reviews & Commentary: Reviewed by Blackjack

Herald

Written By: Simon Furman

Synopsis: Antagony, dispatched from future by Shokaract to the era of Beast Wars, has failed and is captured by Megatron. In the Predacon base Megatron interrogates Antagony, but she remains deathly silent. Apparently Antagony's technology is futuristic, even for the Beast Warriors. Wanting to use the knowledge of whatever device Antagony had sought, as well as information about the future, Megatron used borrowed technology from Tarantulas, a 'Mind Drill', to try and physically draw out the information from Antagony's brain. However, Antagony focuses on a single thing to try and slow down the Mind Drill, that is, her rival Cataclysm.

Both of them had wanted the title of Herald Maximo, and as Shokaract plowed roughshod over Cybertron Cataclysm had completed the rite of Ko-Tu first, and is marked as herald by Shokaract. Cataclysm has always been better than Antagony, but during a campaign against a group of solar-wielding aliens clled the Horus, but when Antagony had engaged Horus in battle Cataclysm caused the sun to explode, nearly killing Antagony in the process. However Shokaract had mistaken it as a two-pronged attack between the two of them. In time, Antagony is selected to go into the past.

However, Antagony realises with her failure Cataclysm will gain another chance to impress Shokaract. Despair overcomes her, but before the Mind Drill can penetrate further a failsafe wiped Antagony's brain, killing her. Megatron, nonplussed, continues to wait, knowing that there will be a reckoning since Antagony's mission is unfulfilled.

Transformers Featured: Megatron, Antagony (killed), Cataclysm (flashback), Shokaract (flashback)

Reviews & Commentary: Reviewed by Blackjack

Covenant

Written By: Simon Furman

Synopsis: A group of twelve mechanoids wait in the planet Protos. One of them, Leonicus, watches a sunrise, a rare yet spectacular occassion on the planet. After watching it Leonicus returns to the Sanctuary, and is decontaminated as he entered the bunker. They, the Covenant, created by Primus, have been waiting for millennia, doing rituals and preparations in anticipation of 'the Omega Point', the 'Shokaract', and are the only ones who can ensure that Primus' grand plan succeeds. As Leonicus enters the Reflectorium, however, he senses something amiss as time seems to flow in an odd manner, and Leonicus realizes that this is a sign that the Chronoarchitect, an old god like Primus and Unicron, is coming. Leonicus braces himself as the Chronoarchitect materialises, which bombards the room with fragmented images from the past and future. Leonicus alone was able to remain sane throughout the ordeal while the other members of the Covenant were shocked and were out cold.

The Chronoarchitect spoke to Leonicus alone, screaming in pain and gives a warning that time is in flux, that everything is in chaos, and the time stream is beginning to unravel, and as the Chronoarchitect was seemingly torn apart he delivers a warning of 'return to the beginning'. The last time the Chronoarchitect had appeared was in 2005 and the Covenant had assembled for battle as Unicron returns to destroy the Matrix, but their efforts are naught because Rodimus Prime had risen and defeated Unicron. Since then they have been waiting for when Shokaract, the Omega Point, would occur. Leonicus briefs the rest of the Covenant on the Chronoarchitect's warning, and dispatches members of the Covenant to search for clues and to stop Shokaract from occurring.

Leonicus wonders about the beginning. The world had come to life after Unicron ate the old universe and is reborn, and both Primus and Unicron, in their battle in the other plane, had been trapped in the physical plane. Primus had then created life after being trapped inside an asteroid, creating the Twelve, the Covenant, before creating the Transformers.

Transformers Featured: Leonicus, Aquator, Libras, Scorpius, Unicron (flashback), Optimus Prime (flashback), Liege Maximo (flashback), Primon (flashback), Capricun, Chronoarchitect (possibly killed), Piscor, Ariex, Primus (flashback). Other members of the Covenant presumably appear in group shots but are not neamed.

Reviews & Commentary: Reviewed by Blackjack

Schism

Written By: Simon Furman

Synopsis: The Cub, one of Shokaract’s minions, is undergoing the rite of Ko-tu, where, after which he would be one of Shokaract’s heralds. As he bounded along in his beast mode, he embarks on a hunt through the Badlands of Cybertron. Shokaract had subjugated all of Cybertron, but there are still small pockets of Maximals and Predacons resisting their rule. For would-be heralds, these resistance leaders are targets to prove themselves. For the Cub, his target was the last still active Autobot, the Veteran. The Veteran watches the Cub from nearby, and thought of how many friends had been gone, all of whom are now but myth. The Veteran knew he had done so much, and considered just finishing it all, but he couldn’t do it with good conscience. The Cub attacks, and the two battle. After a brief struggle, the Veteran used his beast mode and aerial supremacy to defeat the Cub. The Cub fell and was damaged badly. The Veteran, however, spared the Cub’s life. Some time later the Veteran and the Predacon Sandstorm came across the remains of the Cub, torn apart by his fission brother Cataclysm due to his failure. Sandstorm suggested some bizarre plan to save the Cub’s life, merging the Veteran’s spark with that of the Cub’s, in order to take possession of the Cub, and thus gaining information on Shokaract’s forces. Not having anything else to lose, the Veteran decided to go through with the plan. As the resistance members watched while the Veteran approached the Cub, the Veteran transferred his spark into the Cub body. The Cub refuses to be possessed, while the Veteran is tired of all the deaths and wants this to end, to which the Cub’s memory might hold the key. After a mental struggle, both the Veteran and the Cub are merged into one being… Windrazor.

In Protos, the Covenant has been waiting for two hundred years after the Chronoarchitect’s death, fearful that Shokaract’s rise to power might signal the coming of Point Omega (also known as coincidentally Shokaract), the battle in which they have to fight in. Elsewhere, among Shokaract’s stronghold in Corumkan, the herald Cataclysm stands before a transwarp portal, where he prepares to go where Antagony had gone to discover the Dark Essence. As he prepared to go through, Windrazor swooped in to attack, intent on vengeance. In the Badlands, Sandstorm and a group of Maximals and Predacons uses the distraction provided by Windrazor (whose allegiance is still in doubt) and embarks on a quest to the region known as J’nwan, the realm of myth and legends. Meanwhile, Windrazor continues to battle Cataclysm despite them being near to a transwarp portal. The two are sucked into the timestream. Battling as they are in space-time, Windrazor’s dual mind was experienced enough and was able to defeat Cataclysm, sending him scattered through time. Windrazor, meanwhile, ended up deposited on Earth, right in the middle of the Beast Wars.

Transformers Featured: The Cub (turned into Windrazor), The Veteran (turned into Windrazor), Sandstorm, Cataclysm (killed), Leonicus, Windrazor, Megatron II

Reviews & Commentary: Reviewed by Blackjack

Paradox

Written By: Simon Furman

Synopsis: A damaged 'Hunter' evades airborne Maximal pursuers. Low on power, the Hunter hides in a mysterious cave of a backwater world. In the cave is a pit with living shadows, and a voice tells the Hunter to embrace his destiny... The far future, at the time of Shokaract's reign: Antagony watches as a civilization is destroyed, ready to be made in Cybertron's image. In Protos, Leonicus ponders what course of action they should take. As he reflects once more upon their origins, Ariex interrupts and shows Leonicus the creation of Windrazor, and his subsequent travel through a time portal to the past. Apparently Shokaract's herald Cataclysm was to travel to the past to correct a temporal event, and the Covenant decides to follow, to the time of the Beast Wars. Elsewhere, Sandstorm leads a group through enemy territory towards the quasi-mythical realm of J'nwan. Through the constantly-shifting region, Sandstorm is determined to seek out the 'legends' that lived in the J'nwan region. All of the members of his squad were killed and driven insane by the reason-defying region, but Sandstorm manages to prevent himself from going completely insane, and forges on.

Earth, the Beast Wars: Windrazor figures out where he is and recalls the chain of events that has caused the Beast Wars. Windrazor finds a tracking device dropped by the late Cataclysm, a tracker that would locate the Dark Essence, what Cataclysm and Antagony were after. In the Maximal base, Rhinox detects Windrazor's arrival as a temporal anomaly, and informs Optimus Primal. Windrazor follows the tracker and travels into a fissure and begins to feel uncomfortable, and realises that the place is a massive temporal anomaly. Optimus Primal's Maximals had followed Windrazor, thinking he was someone from Cybertron sent to rescue them, and Megatron's Predacons had ambushed them. While the Predacons pin down the Maximals, Megatron himself flies towards the peak to find Windrazor, and is pursued closely by Optimus Primal. Windrazor realizes that the Dark Essence contained in this area is what had led to Shokaract's creation, which was at a danger of being wiped out. Windrazor's dual personality wanted different things to do with the Dark Essence, allowing Megatron to get the drop on him and toss him aside. Megatron recognizes the Dark Essence as Unicron's essence. Windrazor battles Megatron, but Megatron easily takes Windrazor down, and uses him as a hostage against Optimus Primal. However, Windrazor manages to break free and as it savagely attacks Megatron, Unicron's essence manages to take control of his fury and breaks free.

In J'nwan, Sandstorm forges through trials both mental and physical and meets the legends, but they refuse to help out in the war. Sandstorm leaves, and is sent out, and concludes that this is Point Omega. Back in the Beast Wars, the Predacons and Rhinox are taken out instantaneously by Windrazor, possessed by Unicron. Optimus Primal concludes that Unicron's destruction in 2005 has shunted his lifeforce into the past, and now he seeks to return. In Windrazor's mind, the Veteran convinces the Cub to take over their body. Unicron begins to attack the Maximals, and is about to kill Cheetor when Windrazor's dual personality manages to expel Unicron out. Just as he does so, Shokaract enters through the portal and knocks Optimus Primal out.

Transformers Featured: the Hunter/Shokaract, Antagony, Leonicus, Ariex, Windrazor, Cataclysm, Sandstorm/Scorpius, Aquator, Capricun, Megatron II, Rhinox, Optimus Primal, Silverbolt, Rattrap, Inferno, Rampage, Quickstrike, Waspinator, Dinobot II, Cheetor, Blackarachnia

Reviews & Commentary: Reviewed by Blackjack

"Reaching the Omega Point"

Written By: Simon Furman & Glen Hallit Art By: Geoff Senior Inks By: Geoff Senior Colours By: Andrew Wildman Letters By: Richard Starkings & Comicraft

Synopsis: Shokaract battles the Maximals and Windrazor, knocking them around as space-time begins to unravel. Meanwhile, Megatron tries to make sense of Shokaract's motives, guessing correctly that Shokaract is the product of Unicron's essence. Meanwhile, time-traveller Apelinq, having previously travelled back in time to retrieve a time-lost device, watches the battle in curiousity. The Covenant, twelve warriors created by Primus in anticipation of Shokaract, arrive and join the Maximals in battling Shokaract. However, Shokaract tears through several of the Covenant members, while Apelinq joins the battle. Meanwhile, reality is being torn asunder, as Megatron arrives on the space-time risk. Megaron theorizes that with Unicron's essence is being pulled back to 2008, and Megatron's temporal tamperings have worsened Shokaract's situation, causing him to travel back in time to safeguard his future.

Megatron opens fire on the rift, causing Shokaract to summon his two heralds, Cataclysm and Antagony. The Predacon Sandstorm arrives to help his fellow time-traveller Windrazor, saying that his attempt to recruit the ancient warriors from J'nwan have failed. Optimus Primal approaches the two of them, and as they speak, Beast Warriors from alternate timelines appear, pulled due to the disintegration of space-time. Shokaract engages Megatron. While Megatron wants to know his future in exchange for not destroying Shokaract's essence, Shokaract responds by throttling Megatron. The alternate-reality Beast Warriors engage Shokaract, but are all summarily atomized when Shokaract unleashes the Matrix of Conquest. Meanwhile, Apelinq and the Covenant kill Shokaract's heralds.

Suddenly, Sandstorm opens fire on Transquito, revealing that he is in fact Shokaract's herald. However, as the combatants watch, Leonicus of the Covenant reveal that Sandstorm is in fact one of the Covenant, Scorpius, and had infiltrated Shokaract's heralds. Sandstorm manages to get close enough to open fire on Shokaract, dealing a blow on the monster. Shokaract transforms and atomizes Sandstorm. Windrazor, Optimus Primal and Apelinq all open fire on Shokaract, in a desperate attempt to protect their futures. The remaining four members of the Covenant then turn themselves into pure energy, coming into the spiritual realm and watching as the Dark Essence of the past begins to merge with the Dark Essence of the future brought by Shokaract. Unicron's astral form appears, and the Covenant's energy forms turn into Primus' astral form.

Suddenly, the legendary Autobots and Decepticons, led by Optimus Prime and Megatron, appear out of a wormhole and open fire on Shokaract, having heard Sandstorm's plea after all. Shokaract is defeated, both i the physical realm and the spiritual realm, and the dark essences are destroyed. Transwarp portals return the displaced combatants to their own time, and Shokaract explodes.

Epilogue: The Hunter that would become Shokaract enters the cave where his destiny awaits, only to discover nothing.

Transformers Featured: Optimus Primal, Shokaract (killed), Blackarachnia, Windrazor, Cheetor, Rattrap, Rhinox, Megatron II, Apelinq, Leonicus, the Covenant (killed), Chronarchitect (flashback), Antagony (killed), Cataclysm (killed), Sandstorm/Scorpius (killed), Polar Claw (killed), Drill Bit (killed), Transquito (killed), Cybershark (killed), B'Boom (killed), Air Hammer (killed), Unicron, G1 Optimus Prime, G1 Grimlock, G1 Megatron, G1 Soundwave

Reviews & Commentary: Reviewed by Blackjack

 

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