The New World

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Screw Klo, first he's got a new Transformer race to create.
"The New World"
Publisher	Transformers Collectors' Club (main story: online exclusive; prologue: published with Diamond Edition of "Games of Deception")
First published	July 25, 2007 (online at the Transformers Collectors' Club)
Writers	Greg Sepelak and Trent Troop
Illustrations	Greg Sepelak
Colors	David Willis (Diamond prologue)
Continuity	Marvel Comics continuity
Chronology	1992
Page count	18pp + 1 page prologue

The Mini-Cons are charged with rebuilding Cybertron... but some are not content to simply give up the world they've built to others.

Synopsis

Fifteen years ago, Cybertron has been all but abandoned; with the planet tearing itself apart after Unicron's attack, and the new leaders of the factions taking off after each other, all that remains are a group of humans and Hi-Q, Optimus Prime's Powermaster partner. Carrying his partner's life-force within him, the Nebulon leads the group to the Last Autobot, hoping his abilities can revitalize the Transformers' world. However, when the Last Autobot senses the pain of the Autobots on Klo, he uses his powers to create a new Transformer race. Taking data from Prime and Hi-Q's merged Action Master form, and using the Matrix energy scattered across Cybertron, he creates the race of Mini-Cons, the first of whom is named Modus Prime. Giving each Mini-Con a sliver of his spark, allowing them to access his powers, the Last Autobot charges them with the restoration of Cybertron and to destroy the horrors that exist below the surface. Taking off, he leaves the Mini-Cons behind to prepare...

Below the surface, Broadside is accosted by three mutants known as Meathook, Sawtooth, and Guttersnipe. Unfazed by the larger Cybertronian's threats to eat him, Broadside unleashes his payload into Sawtooth, the largest of the Mutants, whose head blows off before he can deal with the shell. The other two mutants prepare to attack, but members of the Predator Attack Team ambush the two remaining mutants. Guttersnipe is savagely attacked by Overbite, and Meathook's head is torn from his shoulders by Dreadwing as he attempts to deal with Broadside and Snarl. The bloodthirsty ground-based members of the Predator Attack Team laugh as they mess with the corpses of the mutants under the disdainful eye of Broadside. Distracted by the sudden clank of metal feet, the Mini-Cons are relieved when the Dinobots step out of the shadows, having just arrived from a nest of three mutants of their own. Hacksaw, their leader, greets the other group of Mini-Cons, his confidence even disarming the savage Predator Attack Team. While comparing their kills, Dreadwing suddenly flies off, a scream briefly piercing through the air. An impressed Hacksaw offers Broadside a drink, but the tank Mini-Con is lost in thought. The Predator Attack Team would be put away if it wasn't for the mutant threat, but even then, the mutants' numbers are low. Along with the far more dangerous demon threat being eradicated, the threats have been mostly dealt with. Broadside's reverie is shaken by Overbite and Terrorsaur attacking each other, and the two leaders put their troops in line.

Later, Knockdown heads to Maccadam's Old Oil House, eager to relax. Briefly noticing Broadside heading towards a backroom with a few other Mini-Cons, the Dinobot takes a swig of his oil, and leans back to listen in on conversations. Most are of Mini-Cons celebrating and playing games, but he soon hears shouts coming from the back room. Heading over to investigate, he watches as one of the waiters exits the room. He gets a brief glimpse inside and hears Broadside mentioning something about an accident and how "they've come too far". When the waiter notices the Dinobot, he startles, dropping his tray to the floor. As Knockdown bends down to pick them up, he hears a blade unsheathe, but when he looks up, the smaller Mini-Con puts his hands behind his back. The waiter dismisses the Dinobot's concerns, and asks for some tips on handling other tips in return for some free Siebenaler Vintage.

Later, Knockdown informs Hacksaw of what he heard. Knowing that Knockdown wouldn't lie to him, but also knowing that he might have simply misheard, he decides to go to Broadside himself, who is currently providing security for Modus Prime. At the energon processing plant in Altihex, Modus Prime praises Broadside for his recent work. The tank Mini-Con simply nods, and cautions Prime to watch out for stragglers. Wanting to investigate personally, Modus tells Broadside he'll be fine and uses his powers to heal parts of the plant as he walks along. A few minutes later, Sledge notices something up ahead. As Hacksaw approaches from the surface, a large explosion goes off, knocking the Dinobot backwards. Thunderwing helps him up and tries to hold him back as he rushes towards the flames. A figure emerges from the fire: Broadside drops to his knees, holding another Mini-Con, and cries out for a medic. As the Night Rescue Team arrive, and Remedy tries in vain to save Modus, Hacksaw prevents himself from feeling sorrow. Firebot returns to the surface, along with Sledge and Wideload, who are carrying a massive corpse behind them. Sledge claims that the Transformer attacked them and that the entire place exploded when they returned fire. Seeing the Autobot symbol on the larger bot's chest, Broadside is angered. Strongarm attempts to think of a rational explanation, and Broadside uses his hypothesis of a madness-disease as reason to destroy the corpse. Sledge and Wideload carry it to a nearby trash chute. Strongarm objects, but Broadside denies him, and attempts to take command. Hacksaw, however, comes through the crowd and reminds Broadside that with Modus Prime gone, the Mini-Con with the next-most seniority takes command; in other words, the Dinobot leader now leads everyone. He wishes to examine the body, but Sledge and Wideload have already sent it down to the smelter...

At Modus Prime's control room, Hacksaw and his Dinobots meet up with the Night Rescue Team and the Clear Skies Team to discuss recent events. With Broadside, Sledge, and Wideload being the only survivors, and the same three being the ones Knockdown saw at Maccadam's, Hacksaw is suspicious. Unrest is spreading across the Mini-Con community, with some being afraid of the so-called madness disease and others of the Autobots coming back to kill the rest of them. Terrorsaur offers to get information out of Broadside but an angry Hacksaw refuses, knowing the violent Mini-Con will just end up killing the three. Strongarm reports the causes of death of those at the plant: Modus Prime was killed by the explosion, although there are some light wounds on his body; Road Hazard was ripped in half and died of shock; and Steel-Belt was crushed under a storage tank. Yardarm and Flatbed were also killed in the explosion. More surprisingly, however, Strongarm believes that the large Transformer was already dead, and Broadside used it to hide his murder of Modus Prime. An incensed Nightscream demands proof, and Strongarm brings up several pictures he took with his modified optics. Strongarm points out that the corpse looks like multiple bodies welded together: the right arm is made of two separate pieces, and each part looks like it was destroyed in different ways. Along with various welds showing in spectrometer scans, and parts of a Decepticon emblem on his leg, the evidence looks conclusive. Knowing the potential fallout if the theory were revealed, and that Broadside would regardless claim that the "Autobot" had simply scrounged for parts, Hacksaw orders that this information be kept secret. Suddenly, Steel Wind detects that the "come home" beacon of the trans-hyperwave caster tower in Proximax is being scrambled. Hacksaw decides to head over to the tower, ordering the Night Rescue Team to stay with his Dinobots while the Clear Skies Team keep watch from six cliks out.

As he climbs the makeshift stairs of the tower, Hacksaw hears two Mini-Cons inside. The Dinobot watches as they hook up a data-con to the Omniversal Serial Bus port. Hacksaw makes his presence known, demanding an explanation for what they're doing. He recognizes one as Oil Slick, a slimy character, and the other, Dirt Rocket, as matching Knockdown's description of the one of the Mini-Cons he saw at Maccadam's with Broadside. Hacksaw sees past the pair's excuses, and Oil Slick tells Grindor to put the Dinobot down. Grindor leaps from behind in monster truck mode, and all three of the Mini-Cons pile onto Hacksaw. The Dinobot fights back, throwing Grindor and Oil Slick into the data-con and causing it to explode. He grabs Dirt Rocket and demands to know who's ordering them. An answer is given when Broadside steps forward, revealing himself to be their leader. The Mini-Cons were ordered by him to set up a signal to keep the Autobots away. Hacksaw demands an explanation for Broadside's actions and gets one: Broadside believes that once the Autobots return, the Last Autobot will re-absorb the Mini-Con's sparks. Believing that Primus would not allow this, Hacksaw scoffs at this notion, but Broadside counters by saying that the demons and mutants, too, are creations of Primus, and yet the Mini-Con's entire purpose is to kill them off. Broadside and Hacksaw begin to fight, and continue their argument as they tear into each other. Broadside reveals that he found Scorponok's body and scavenged through the databanks in his head; the Decepticon wanted his people to have more to life than just simple existence, toiling away for a reward, and Broadside wants the same thing. Hacksaw accuses him of becoming a Decepticon himself, an accusation Broadside does not deny. Their fight having weakened the walkway they stood on, Hacksaw falls. Broadside grabs him, telling him they don't need the Autobots and that they can be strong on their own. Hacksaw denies this; Broadside will never be strong if he cannot sacrifice for the greater good. Broadside lets go of his only friend's hand, and watches as the Dinobot's look of pity burns its way into his head. Returning to the Dirt Digger Team, he demands to know if the signal was sent. Oil Slick begins to yell angrily, but Broadside grabs him by the throat and holds him up against the wall. Broadside tells them they're going to have to hide underground for the time being. Grindor, having dropped his "dumb brute" act, is incensed, but Broadside spins his cannon menacingly and tells the three that their only other option is to be easily identified corpses.

Later, at Iacon's Grand Oratory, Broadside delivers the news that Hacksaw is dead. Broadside claims his death was a result of Mini-Cons infected with the so-called madness disease, and orders an end to all Autobot zone exploration and a quarantine from off planet visitors. Attempting to assure the angriest crowd members, Broadside is suddenly interrupted when the screen broadcasting his image flickers. Footage taken by the Clear Skies Team takes his place, showing Broadside letting go of Hacksaw. The crowd is furious. Alarmed, Broadside falls silent, and Nightscream comes forth to accuse him of murdering Hacksaw and Modus Prime. Strongarm concurs, revealing the conglomerate nature of the so-called "Autobot" corpse. Broadside's cohorts come to back him up but, as Nightscream further accuses him of being a Decepticon, the crowd demands his death. Divebomb, however, wants to arrest him, knowing that if Broadside's group dies, the knowledge of what he's done and why he's done it will go with them. Taking his chance, Broadside calls for revolution, and declares Cybertron as belonging to the Mini-Cons. Members of the crowd break out fighting, and as Broadside takes his chance to escape, the chant of "Our World" rings out through the night...

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Notes

• Mentioned characters include: Unicron, Bludgeon, Grimlock, Primus, the group of humans who Hi-Q travels with, Scorponok, and Zarak.
• Characters seen in art but not in-story include: Thunderpunch, Rapture, G.B. Blackrock, a loader-type Mini-Con and a crane-type Mini-Con (possibly Road Hazard and Yardarm, the other members of the Urban Renewal Team), and three plane-type Mini-Cons.
• The prologue to this story was published separately in the Diamond Edition of "Games of Deception", another Classics story.

Continuity notes

• The story is set in 1992, right after the events of Marvel's The Transformers issue #80 in the Classics continuity. The prologue brings up many of the events from the last 6 issues of the comic, including: the attack of Unicron in #75; the death of Optimus Prime in #76; the search for the Last Autobot and Grimlock and the Autobots' last minute escape in #79; the attack on Klo and the fusion of Optimus Prime and Hi-Q in issue #80.
• Demons, after originally appearing in Marvel UK's The Transformers issue #246 (which isn't in Classics continuity), showed up about a year later in issue #75 of the Marvel US The Transformers comics.
• Scorponok died in Marvel US issue #75.

Transformer references

• The majority of the Mini-Cons from the Classics toyline appear. The only one who does not appear is Swoop, who is currently with Grimlock and the other Autobots off Cybertron. Hacksaw, an all-new character created for this story, takes his place. A few fiction-only teams and individuals appear as well.
• Modus Prime's name is derived from "Minimodus," the Canadian French/Spanish name for Mini-Cons used on Armada's toyline packaging.
• The mutants originally appeared in issue #245 of the Marvel UK comics, being ported over for the first time in Classics continuity.
• Maccadam's, meanwhile, first appeared in issue #82 of the UK comics.
• Broadside forms his Demolition Team here, but they are never mentioned by name. Sledge and Wide Load both appear as members of other fiction-only teams, which are subsequently destroyed. These teams are the Urban Renewal Team and the Heavy Hauler Team.
• Hacksaw occasionally lapses into pronoun-less Dinobot-style speech: "Terrorsaur, you are stupid violent beast", "No, but makes sense anyway."
• Altihex was introduced in the War Within comic book series.
• Sledge refers to the corpse as a "Bulk" a term Mini-Cons call normal sized Transformers, originating from the Linkage mini-comics.
• The Dirt Digger team use a data-con for their dirty work, from the Armada video game.

Real-world references

• The front loader Mini-Con and crane Mini-Con's colors in the prologue's artwork are based on colorist's David Willis' characters Joyce Brown and David "Walky" Walkerton.
• Three Decepticon-aligned Mini-Cons seen in the prologue are based on three real life jets: the Northrop P-61 Black Widow (bottom, purple and green), the McDonnell Douglas X-36 (top, shades of green), and the unmade Short PD.13 (grey and purple). See right.
• Sawtooth's general design is based off the "Guts Tank" boss from Mega Man 2.
• Snarl invites the mutants to "come out and plaaaaaay-ee-aaay!", quoting a famous line from The Warriors.
• Overbite mugs (ha!) with the severed face of a mutant ("Hey, look everyone! I'm a mutant! Booga-booga-booga!") in reference to a well-known installment of The Far Side comic strip.
• The neon sign at Maccadam's refuses to stay lit properly, in the tradition of dive bars everywhere.
• The Memnon Overpass is named after Memnon Vanderbeam, one of the primary characters from the webcomic Starslip Crisis.
• Siebenaler Vintage is served at Maccadam's, named after Eric Siebenaler. one of the designers for Transformers toys at the time.
• "Sector Spellos" is named in homage to voice actor Peter Spellos, who voiced Robots in Disguise Sky-Byte.
• Gygax is named for Dungeons & Dragons creator Gary Gygax.
• Ankmor Park is named after Ankh-Morpork, principal city of the Discworld novel series.

Errors

• After the Last Autobot's quote, the story beings with a "Chapter 1" header...despite there not being any other chapters to the story. Presumably at some point, sections were going to be divided by chapters.
• Wideload is accidentally referred to as "Wide Load" several times.

Other trivia

• Unlike most of the other Club stories, The New World was free to read to non-members. When the prose section went back up after an extended disappearance, however, all stories became free to read.

External links

• "The New World" at The Official Transformers Collectors' Club