Moonbase Two

Moonbase Two, Moon Beta,^[1] Luna 2, or Artemis, is one of Cybertron's moons.

Fiction

The Transformers cartoon

In the year 2005, Moonbase Two was an Autobot command base during the fight against Decepticon-controlled Cybertron. Spike Witwicky and Bumblebee were stationed there until Unicron attacked it after gobbling up Moonbase One. Spike and Bumblebee set the entire moon to self-destruct in Unicron's mouth in an attempt to destroy the planet eater, but he didn't even bat an eyelid. The Transformers: The Movie

Animated cartoon continuity

Moon Base Two was Cybertron's outer, smaller moon. It served as an impressive communications and computer facility. The AllSpark Almanac II

Aligned novels

Moonbase Two orbited Cybertron. Exodus

2005 IDW continuity

Luna 2 was originally famous for its hot spots, and when they cooled it became famous for energon mines. Patternism With the disappearance of the larger Luna 1, only Luna 2 remained in Cybertron's orbit. The Death of Optimus Prime

Luna 2 once had its own set of laws different from Cybertron's, remaining from the days of the Knights of Cybertron, though they were mostly forgotten by present day. Predestination: A Beginner's Guide Pre-war, during the Senate's peak of corruption, they put their maximum security prison Garrus-1 on the moon. Patternism It was also the location of the Thymesis Energon mining facility where Overlord's spark was discovered 4.2 million years ago. Remembrance Day

Starscream once led an attack on Luna 2 that would become considered one of the most important and terrible events of the war. Life After the Big Bang At some point there was a Moonbase 2 there Who's Afraid of the DJD? and during the war, a popular drinking song concerned a Transformer born on Luna 2. The Becoming Some 500 years ago, Anode and Lug traveled to Luna 2 to retrieve a rare piece of widowed metal for the Grand Architect, only to run into a Decepticon Cybernought. Some Other Cybertron

According to Roadbuster, the amount of energy used up by the life-support machines on Debris in a single day would have been enough to light up the dark side of Luna 2. Zero Point

Like Cybertron, Luna 2 was ruined and abandoned during the war, but once Vector Sigma was reignited and the planet was reborn, it automatically began reviving the remaining moon by transmitting energy into it. Stick Together During the Necrotitan's attack on Iacon, Megatron wanted to evacuate the population to the moon for a chance to mobilize his Decepticons against the threat. Burning Bright

After surrendering to the Autobots, Megatron requested his trial be held at Luna 2's Raskol Arena, claiming it was the only place large enough for the population to participate. In fact he was aware of Luna 2's ancient-but-valid laws, and guided the trial towards a loophole that let him demand to be judged by the Knights of Cybertron themselves. Predestination: A Beginner's Guide

The Functionist Universe

Given that Cybertron lacked any oceans, Luna 2 lacked any tides to control, which meant it had no function in Six-of-Twelve's view. He rectified this by turning the moon into a giant harvester unit that would strip mine uninhabited planets for resources which it would teleport to Cybertron. For unknown reasons the plan fell through. Bad Moon Rising

That's no moon. It's a... er, wait...

As part of a peace treaty to settle a two million year-conflict with the Black Box Consortia, The Custom-Made Now Six-of-Twelve saw an opportunity to restart his plan with the moon. The sympathetic Nine-of-Twelve was not informed of the plan. Bad Moon Rising The Functionist Council published a cover story that they were forced to sell Luna 2 to the Consortia. Consequently, all Lunabots were "recalled" as they had been rendered obsolete. The Custom-Made Now Luna 2 was removed from Cybertron's vicinity, and its absence was noted by Rewind as evidence of where they'd ended up. Anomie Nine-of-Twelve explained to Team Rodimus that the lack of Luna 2 meant that Cybertron had no more spaceships so that the Council could make Cybertronians fear the galaxy, making them easier to control. Despite this, Luna 2 soon made its way back to Cybertron, first appearing as an intermittent U.F.O. before hovering above Adaptica while Six-of-Twelve unveiled Rung's alternate mode. A World Misplaced

When the moon unveiled its tractor beams, Nine-of-Twelve realized what Six had done and explained it to his guests before he fell into despair as the moon began sucking up refugees. Megatron grabbed what weapons he could and ordered them placed in areas that could do the most damage to Luna 2, while Rodimus wanted to save Luna 2 so its teleporter could be used to return to Necroworld. Bad Moon Rising Under his guidance, many fighters died, but they kept Luna 2 under fire long enough that the civilians could flee. Unfortunately, both Megatron and Terminus were stuck under the damn thing when it began to fully devour the city. Rung intended to destroy Luna 2 with The Cog to try and thwart the Functionist Council. Modes of Production After losing the opportunity to use the Cog to destroy the moon, Rung supersized himself and began punching it, before it turned its guns on him and killed him. Rodimus despaired that he had to choose between using Luna 2 to get home and saving the alternate Cybertron before Roller had a brainwave. If Brainstorm was going to project the field of Killmaster's wand all around Necroworld to teleport it, couldn't they just teleport Luna 2 to Necroworld? Brainstorm confirmed they could since Necroworld was hollow. Nine-of-Twelve assured everyone that Luna 2 was automated so there would be no guards as he and Clicker wished them good luck. To Rodimus' rage, Megatron had seemingly played them to remain behind and escape the consequences of his trial, but the window of opportunity was closing and the moon vanished from Cybertron, much to Megatron's shock. Luna 2 was presumably taken to the main timeline with the Autobots. This Machine Kills Fascists

Beast Wars: Uprising

Luna 2, known more traditionally as Artemis, Derailment was where the Underbase resided undiscovered for millennia, until the end of the Great War, when Thunderwing found it. The Wreckers tried to stop him using its powers, and were completely wiped out. In the process, the surface of the moon was devastated. Not All Megatrons

When the Resistance launched a raid on Fortress Maximus in Tarn, Lio Convoy was silhouetted against Luna 2 as he jumped off a transport. Bighorn later metaphorically commented that Buzzclaw had so much baggage that it could be seen from Luna Two. For that reason, the Resistance chose Buzzclaw for the mission into Fortress Maximus, where Buzzclaw would be bait for Maximus's psychic influence. Head Games

At a later point during the Uprising, the Predacon general Razor-Claw managed to seize control of Artemis, along with Cybertron's other remaining moons. Derailment

Energon Universe

Moonbase Two was inhabited by Turbosects, small insects that helped smooth the moon's internal functions. Every two centuries, Omega Supreme flew over the satellite. Early into the Great War, Ulchtar, Genvo and Jetfire flew to the moon to watch the Guardian pass by, detonating a round of ammunition to get their attention and wave at the giant. Transformers #13

Notes

• Cybertron's two (or three, or four) moons were first shown in the movie. At no point were any Cybertronian satellites seen in the first two seasons of the cartoon, making their presence in the movie a bit of a mystery. However, a "drunken" Megatron does refer to Cybertron as 'the land of the metal moon' in "Microbots".

Foreign names

• Japanese: Moonbase 2 (ムーンベース2 Mūnbēsu 2)

See also

• Luna Secundus, the second moon of Earth in one continuity

References