Solar Requiem

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"Solar Requiem" 太陽の哀歌 (Taiyō no Aika)
Publisher	e-HOBBY
First published	March 2013
Story by	Jesse Wittenrich
Translation by	Andrew Hall
Art by	Hidetsugu Yoshioka
Continuity	Shattered Glass
Chronology	Current era (20xx)
Packaged with	SG Soundwave vs SG Blaster

Solarbot finds himself in the middle of a confrontation between Sir Soundwave and Blaster.

Synopsis

Still stranded on Earth's moon following his last encounter with Soundwave, Blaster, along with his cassettes Rewind and Ramhorn, examine the American moon landing site, but find the hardware left behind of no use in getting them back to Earth. Just then, a sudden energy wave draws their attention heavenward; as it plays over them, rippling reality around them and offering them visions of other versions of themselves, they realize the surge is coming from another universe entirely. And caught in the energy wave is a small ship, which the evil Autobots watch as it crashes down on the Moon nearby...

Little do the Autobots realize that the energy wave was caused by the destruction of the "Classicsverse", and that the ship is not the only thing to have crossed dimensions in flow: the Earth of this parallel mirror-dimension, home to heroic Autobots and evil Decepticons, has also crossed over, and settled into an orbit near Cybertron. Here, the displaced "Classicsverse Autobots" try to come to terms with the fact their universe has been destroyed and the fundamentally different principles of the new world they find themselves in, but it is not easy—in particular, Kick-Off refuses to work with Decepticons of any kind, despite Metalhawk's attempts to talk him around. Galvatron tries to focus the grim Metalhawk's attention on other things, so they turn to their current project: dealing with the damage the reality-destruction wave has caused to this dimension's Earth. With the stellar spanner presently damaged, Wheeljack has created a mental spanner that allows Soundwave to project his consciousness across space, into a new body built for him on Earth by Starscream, allowing him to report back on clean-up efforts.

Back on the Moon, Blaster and his cassettes reach the tiny ship, which carries a single passenger: a brilliant, glowing figure that scans Rewind and mirrors his form to better communicate with the Autobots. This "Solarbot" explains that he is a member of a race that diverged from the Transformers millions of years ago, who evolved to mine and live within stars, but who now need help as their stars are growing dark... but Blaster is more interested in whether or not his little ship will still fly. Solarbot confirms it will, and Blaster feigns concern for Solarbot to ensure passage for himself and his tapes to Earth. Upon reaching the planet, they quickly track down Soundwave and his tapes Slugfest and Bat-Bot as they are attempting to repair Earth's ravaged electronics network, and immediately engage them in battle. As the tapes scuffle, their masters exchange fire, only for Solarbot to come running between the two combatants, trying to stop them. The strange newcomer is clipped by one of Blaster's shots, causing him to reflexively transform into cassette form, and is then picked up by the evil Autobot and stuffed in his chest compartment to keep him out of the way. But Solarbot's presence inside his body has a very unanticipated effect on Blaster, which he discovers as his gun melts in his hand: he is now surging with the power of a sun itself! Cackling with glee, Blaster turns his new powers on Soundwave, firing bolts of solar energy, but before he can do any harm, his chest begins to smolder, and a very angry Solarbot burns his way out of the Autobot. Deprived of his new power and badly wounded, Blaster calls for retreat, and Soundwave shakes hands with Solarbot, offering to help him with whatever troubles have bought him to Earth...

Featured characters

Italics indicate reality flash.
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"Slugfest am helping?"
"Dude, you're totally not!"

—Slugfest is not impressing Sir Soundwave

"Your mayhem ends here, miscreant!"

—Bat-Bot

Notes

• Characters mentioned include: Stonecruncher and Heatwave.

Continuity notes

• Shattered Glass Blaster has been stranded on the Moon since the end of the text story "Blitzwing Bop", published three-and-a-half years before this issue.
• Wheeljack, Jazz, and Tracks were all grievously injured by Ultra Magnus in "Invasion".
• Cyclonus has been granted amnesty and let back into the Decepticon ranks by Galvatron after he assassinated Megatron in "Reunification: Part 4", as his tech specs for his 2010 Timelines toy noted.
• Cliffjumper is seen berating Counterpunch, probably because he defected from the Shattered Glass Autobots in Around Cybertron #8, his and Esmeral's last appearance before this comic. Reflector was last seen in "Reunification".
• The stellar spanner was destroyed by the Decepticons at the end of "Reunification" to prevent Alpha Trion and the Autobots from abusing it. Stonecruncher is noted to be working on it; Stonecruncher was last seen on Earth as part of Astrotrain's Micromaster squad in "Transhuman".
• Soundwave misses Heatwave; the Decepticon joined with his fellow components to form Nexus Prime and save the multiverse back in "Reunification".
• Bludgeon would later witness the events of this story in "Cybertron Magna Convoy".

Transformers references

• Wheeljack, Jazz, and Tracks have all been rebuilt into their Generations/Reveal the Shield bodies.

Other trivia

• Co-produced between Fun Publications and e-HOBBY, this comic was packaged with the two companies' first joint exclusive, the "SG Soundwave vs SG Blaster" set. The new body featured in this comic is the Soundwave toy included in this set, a redeco of the Generation 1 Soundwave toy in the Shattered Glass character's blue and white.
• The U.S. flag at the moonlanding site has at least 18 stripes. This would be an error if this wasn't the Shattered Glass world's United States, which can technically have as many stripes as it wants.

Errors

• Slugfest is depicted as dim-witted, as he was in "Dungeons & Dinobots". However, in "Do Over", he had his intelligence boosted upon receiving an ember.

External links

• Scans of "Solar Requiem"