Rise of the Maximals - Issue #1

[Verno]

I fear you'll only get bored at reading me repeat myself mate (If you haven't already ), but my response remains the same: "Love it!" & "Want more!"

To which my response remains the same - I can always rely on you for some encouragement, Hursty. Always one of the (if not the) first to read and reply

I love this growing "Feral" streak amongst the Autobots, oh so very fitting.

Living on a foreign rock with a ticking time-bomb at its core would put you a little on edge. You're bound to lash out rebelliously

WHERE'S THE BLOODY REST OF IT!!!!! You just got me sucked in and it ended dammit!!

With a little energon and a lot of luck, I should have another couple of Pages for your perusal in the next couple of days.

Awesome as always dude. Seems a little strange seeing Trailbreaker stand up to Prime like that, not something you would usually expect from him. Kind of helps to convey the desperation they are feeling.

I can't lie - there were 4 other Autobots in that room that could of got those lines, but as Trailbreaker hadn't spoken much in that scene, I gave them to him

I didn't grow up watching and/or reading G1, so my connection to (and knowledge of) the characters is less-so than Fans like yourself. So I very much enjoy your observation that a character like Trailbreaker saying such things to Prime helps communicate the desperation of the situation

[Verno]

The scene is anything but polished, but as I'll be a tied up for the next little while, I thought I'd post it up nonetheless.

And now, back to our story...

Page 7:

Panel One: The doors of a research lab open and Fonix walks in, looking angered. He is holding a hand-held computer tablet. Briq is sitting at a desk and looks up from the computer display he is studying.

Fonix: Did you hear, Briq? We are at war.

Panel Two: Fonix throws the tablet on Briq’s desk.

Briq: Have been for a while, haven’t we? Or did I miss something?

Fonix: No, we’re just inventing new ones to fight.

Panel Three: Fonix leans on the opposite side of Briq’s desk. He is in a foul mood.

Briq: I have Csirac’s latest progress report-

Fonix: Let me guess -- slow going, but he remains confident of an upcoming breakthrough.

Panel Four: Fonix walks around to Briq’s side of the desk.

Briq: Yeah, that’s pretty much it. There’s also something I’ve been working on I’d like you to take a look at.

Fonix: Is it more interesting than the failed coalescing of Trans-Ion particles?

Panel Five: The two small Autobots study the computer display. Fonix’s optics are narrowed.

Briq: I was comparing the star-charts from the captured Predacon vessels to our own and came up with some… anomalies.

Page 8:

Panel One: A close up of Sideswipe’s face, looking confused.

PNL: A short time later.

Sideswipe: Gravitational anomalies?

Panel Two: Fonix and Briq are standing before Grimlock, Sideswipe and Tracks in a command room.

Fonix: Everything exerts gravity, right? You, me, that table. But because of our comparatively small masses, it’s hard to measure.
Link PNL: But something like a planet, for example, is easier to recognise because of its interaction with space and surrounding celestial bodies and so on.

Grimlock: Get to point.

Panel Three: A shot from behind Briq and Fonix looking towards the three large Autobots. Tracks and Sideswipe exchange a smile.

Briq: We’re missing a couple of planets.

Sideswipe: We?

Tracks: Careless of us to misplace such things.

Panel Four: A mid-shot of Briq and Fonix.

Briq: They were there and now they’re… just… not.

Fonix: We’d identified several of them as potential planets for human colonisation. Habitable, with a breathable atmosphere.
Link PNL: I did some searching through our records, which are sketchy at best, and it turns out we’ve been losing planetoids for some time -- we’ve just been too busy to notice.

Page 9:

Panel One: A shot of the room at large.

Sideswipe: Someone is stealing planets?

Briq: I know, it sounds absurd.

Grimlock: Why?

Fonix: Direct as ever, Grimlock.
Link PNL: But I can’t even begin to speculate.

Panel Two: Sideswipe crosses his arms as he studies the two small Autobots.

Sideswipe: Ok, but answer me this -- Could it be the Predacons?

Fonix: The short answer is no. The Predacons lack the resources to launch an all-out attack on Cybertron, let alone move an entire world out of its orbit.
Link PNL: Whoever is behind these disappearances has an incredible power at their disposal, and a design for them that we can’t possibly comprehend at this stage.

--- End Excerpt ---

Good times.

[Hursticon]

Calling it now, the Vok are setting their experiments into motion!
A draft it may be dude, but awesome none the less.

[Trent]

Yep. That has the Vok all over it

Awesome as always Verno, don't leave us hanging too long until the next installment.

[Verno]

A draft it may be dude, but awesome none the less.

Awesome as always Verno, don't leave us hanging too long until the next installment.

Thank you both for your kind words, as always, but...

Calling it now, the Vok are setting their experiments into motion!

Yep. That has the Vok all over it

You're both a long way off the mark

Remember what the TVC is all about -- molding established canon into a single, coherent storyline. Except perhaps in this case we're dealing a little more with pseudo-canon...

[Verno]

Page 98:

Panel One: A Predacon Soldier is sitting on the floor, restrained with electro-bonds in a Autobot holding cell. Sideswipe walks over to a large unit on the wall and retracts two jumper-lead-looking cables.

Predacon Troop: What are you doing? What are you doing?!

Panel Two: Sideswipe bends down and hooks the two leads to the Predacon, who is unable to shake them off.

Predacon Troop: Hey, stop, stop! You’re an Autobot, you don’t believe in torture!

Sideswipe: Once a Decepticon has run you through it a few times, it’s kinda hard to dispel.

Panel Three: Sideswipe stands up to admire his handiwork, smiling.

Sideswipe: You know, I don’t think believe was quite the word you were looking for. You meant condone, or employ. And you’re right -- Autobots do tend to shy away from such measures.

Panel Four: Sideswipe goes nose-to-nose with the Predacon. All trace of a smile is gone from Sideswipe's face.

Sideswipe: Do you see any Autobots around here?

Page 99:

Panel One: Sideswipe returned to the wall and leans beside the unit from which the leads are emanating.

Sideswipe: Here’s the thing -- You can either choose to tell me what I want to know, and then I’ll kill you, quickly, as a reward for your co-operation.
Link PNL: Or, you can choose to not tell me what I want to know, in which case I’ll crack your cranium open and start extracting data from your processor one file at a time.

Panel Two: Sideswipe's smile returns as he laughs and places one hand on a large lever on the side of the unit.

Sideswipe: Now, -haha-, I have no expertise or experience in such a procedure -- I just think it’d be fun -- but who knows what you’ll start doing when I start playing around in there.

Panel Three: Sideswipe holds up his other hand, which is clearly shaking. The smile remains on his face.

Sideswipe: Also, I’m kinda clumsy. I mean, does this looks like the hand of a neurosurgeon? It's shaking already out of the pure excitement.

Panel Four: A close-up of Sideswipe's face, the smile is gone again replaced by a cold stare.

Sideswipe: But lastly, you just put a blaster round in the chest of a good friend of mine. I’m emotionally unstable right now, so if I find the switch that auto-aligns your transformation cog, I might just rip it out and see what happens.
Link PNL: Your lips better start moving, while you’re still in control of them.

--- End ---

[Trent]

^You skipped a few pages. It's seems kinda harsh even for Sideswipe. But I can imagine him getting to that point with the right push. Those missing pages might fill in the blanks

[Verno]

^You skipped a few pages. It's seems kinda harsh even for Sideswipe. But I can imagine him getting to that point with the right push. Those missing pages might fill in the blanks

Haha, those numbers are something of a red herring. As the scene doesn't follow on from anything already written, I just put them in for fun.

I don't even know if I'll use this scene in the end, but it was fun to write nonetheless.

[Hursticon]

I don't even know if I'll use this scene in the end, but it was fun to write nonetheless.

It had me smiling, especially the talk of poking around inside one's cranium with little to no knowledge - simply to see what happens when one starts prodding...
Oh! ripping out the Transformation-Cog Alignment Switch? <- Beautiful!


Trent does bring up a point, it does seem a little harsh for Sideswipe; but then his allegiance is no longer with the Autobots...

Sideswipe: Do you see any Autobots around here?

...and in my mind's eye, it's not the classic G1 Sideswipe that's employing such cerebrally ravenous tactics, it's the battle hardened G2 Sideswipe - "unleashed" and a little primal, if you will.

[Trent]

...and in my mind's eye, it's not the classic G1 Sideswipe that's employing such cerebrally ravenous tactics, it's the battle hardened G2 Sideswipe - "unleashed" and a little primal, if you will.

Yeah I can definately see a black Sideswipe, complete with his angry face and spiked wheels on his shoulders leaning over a decepticon making that threat.

I am so keen for that G2 MP Tell me you're picking that one up Verno?