3H - Reaching the Omega Point

Title: Terminus

Story: Simon Furman with Glen Hallit

Script: Simon Furman

Pencils/Inks: Geoff Senior

Computer Colouring/Effects: Andrew Wildman

Lettering: Richard Starkings and Comicraft

Plot

The evil tyrant from the future, Shokaract has made his way into the distant past of Earth, during the Beast Wars, so he can secure the essence of Unicron's evil that is seeded on the planet. Upon arriving, he attacks the local Maximals, who are joined by Windrazor, who is a resident of Shokaract's dark future. The Maximals are badly outmatched against the much more advanced Cybertronian.

Megatron is watching the battle with glee, as he gets to see his adversaries killed, and Apelinq, another time traveller from the "present day" Cybertron that the Beast Warriors are from watching as well, as he finds it fascinating, despite him needing to return to Cybertron with the antidote to the transformation virus on the planet.

Suddenly, a portal opens up and the Covenant of Primus arrive from their secluded hideout and immediately start attacking Shockaract, as they have been training to from their creation, however even they are no match for Shokaract and he kills most of them.

Apelinq grows tired of just watching, and decides to join in with the fight, despite it jeopardizing his mission back home. Megatron, noticing that space and time is beginning to warp around him, due to the battle, also decides to join the fight.

Shokaract is in trouble now, so he revives his two loyal heralds, Antagony and Cataclysm to aid him in the battle.

From no-where, Sandstorm, another Transformer from Shokaract's future, arrives and explains to Optimus and Windrazor that this battle is at the epicentre of a massive time storm that is merging several time lines, and that he was unsuccessful in getting help from J'nwan in the future.

Suddenly more beast warriors from other universes and time lines start to appear in this time and join the battle against Shokaract. With their help, Antagony and Cataclysm are destroyed, but Shokaract taps into his Matrix of Conquest, and annihilates most of the newcomers.

Soon, Sandstorm joins the battle against Shokaract and is revealed to be another member of the Covenant, who was sent undercover to the future to try and stop Shokaract.

In anger, Shokaracts fully taps into the powers of the Matrix of Conquest, grows to a greater size and destroys Sandstorm/Scorpius. Everyone else continues their attacks on the tyrant, and the remaining Covenant members use the last of their powers to combine into an energy being, and enter the Matrix of Conquest, where they fight with the embodiment of Unicron inside the Matrix.

Outside the Matrix, another portal opens, and the people of J'nwan, including the original Optimus and Megatron, arrive and join the battle. Both inside and outside the Matrix, the heroes win the battle, the essence of Unicron is destroyed and Shokaract explodes, ending the Omega Point, and erasing it from history.

In another time and place, the Predacon who would later become the tyrant Shokaract is running for his life, he makes his way to the pool where he was destined to locate the essence of Unicron, but he finds nothing there....he is left to his death by his pursuers instead.

Characters

Maximal

Optimus Primal - Ape/Treaded Vehicle/Jet

Windrazor - Winged Wolf Lost in Time Storm

Apelinq - Ape

Polar Claw - Polar Bear Killed by Shokaract

B'Boom - Mandrill Killed by Shokaract

Air Hammer - Owl-Hammerhead Shark Killed by Shokaract

Blackarachnia - Spider

Cheetor - Cheetah

Rattrap - Rat

Rhinox - Rhino

Primal Prime - Ape/Treaded Vehicle/Jet (Mentioned)

Predacon

Shokaract/Hunter - Crab Defeated by the Covenant and others

Megatron - Dragon

Antagony - Ant Killed by Apelinq and Covenant Members

Cataclysm - Cheetah Killed by Apelinq and Covenant Members

Drill Bit - Boll Weevil Killed by Shokaract

Transquito - Mosquito Killed by Shokaract

Covenant of Primus*All erased from history after Omega Point

Leonicus - Lion

Scorpius/Sandstorm - Scorpion Killed by Shokaract

Taurotron - Bull Killed by Shokaract

Ariex - Ram

Geminator Killed by Shokaract

Piscor

Aquator

Cancix

Librus

Sagittarii

Virgol

Capricun

J'nwan

Optimus Prime - Truck

Grimlock - Tyrannosaurus Rex

Megatron - Gun

Soundwave - Cassette Player

Other

Unicron Defeated by the Covenant and others

Primus

Other Beast Warriors

Chronarchitect (Flashback)

Notes

• The prelude storyline (and apparently the comic itself too) is available here: http://botcon.com/archive/story/index.html
• I won't be talking about the prelude text stories here, as they are pretty much rehashed in the comic itself, if you wish to read them, then you can see it at the above link.
• This was the storyline for Botcon 2000
• The storyline with Shokaract before his transformation was later rehashed for Fun Pub's "Hoist the Flag" comic.
• The events of this comic take place within the last few episodes of the Beast Wars cartoon, as Megatron has his new dragon body, but Tigerhawk hasn't made an appearance yet.
• The substance that Apelinq went to Earth for was a cure to Megatron's transformation virus from the Beast Machines series...one has to wonder why he doesn't take this opportunity to simply kill Megatron here and now, before he can conquer Cybertron?
• As should be obvious, the members of the Covenant are named after the constellations.
• The Covenant members aren't very easy to identify in this comic, but there does at least appear to be 12 separate character models, so they're all there!
• Sandstorm's true identity as a Scorpius is kind of spoiled when he is shown in a flashback early in the comic in his noticeable colours and alternate mode.
• Also, Scorpius joins the battle fairly early on, but isn't introduced into the story, or is noticed by Shokaract until very late on....this could be a mistake, or due to the time-warp thingie.
• The location 'J'nwan" is based on the term "Gen One" aka, Generation One. This is further added to when it's denizens include the original Optimus and Megatron, amongst other G1 characters.
• So yeah...the beast warriors summoned from the multiverse (or whatever) can shoot lasers from just about every body part....odd.
• The combined form of the energies of the Covenant resembles the version of Primus shown in the Marvel comics, thus it looks somewhat like Rodimus as well.
• After this comic ends, we learn that Apelinq returned to Cybertron through a portal before the Omega Point is erased, explaining how he remembers the events.
• Windrazor is later mentioned to have been rescued by Apelinq, but is ultimately erased from history, but due to his actions, Primus allows him to exist, but only as an in-between guide for other Transformers to travel between universes or something.