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.

IDW - Beast Wars The Ascending

Plot

Magmatron, who since The Gathering is trapped in the timestream, is in the near future of the Beast Era Cybertron, where he witnesses, yet again the destruction of his world at the hands of Unicron, and decides that he must stop this from happening. He returns to prehistoric Earth where he sees a battle between the Maximals and Predacons from his Beast Wars beginning another full-on battle, which itself is just a ruse for Ravage to sneak into the Maximal's lair and steal the temporal devices the Maximals stole at the end of The Gathering when Magmatron went missing, as he plans to use them on Megatron to rescue him from being taken prisoner to Cybertron by the "other" Maximals. Razorbeast and Snarl confront him and knock him out, or so they think, as they leave to continue the battle Ravage starts waking up and can see the devices.

Magmatron goes back in time by a few weeks and arrives at the point when Snarl is sending the message to future Cybertron, and carries it himself into the future to be picked up by The Pack. Those Maximals on Cybertron pick up the message and prepare to head to prehistoric Earth to rescue their team-mate, Razorbeast, which Magmatron hopes might be enough to save the day, however elsewhere Shokaract is being fed Angolmois Energy by the Blendtrons to give him the power to become Unicron's avatar.

Unicron contacts the Blendtrons and warns them that tehre's a disruption in the time stream, that might threaten his plans, he orders Rartorata to Earth to deal with the problem.

On prehistoric Earth the battle continues outside with Razorbeast and Snarl rejoining it, whilst inside the lair Ravage breaks free and activates the devices, which allows Magmatron to contact him, and begins to warn him about Unicron's arrival.

On Cybertron the Maximal Imperium are worried about the recent increase in violence occurring on Cybertron, and call for Big Convoy to meet with them to deal with it, but Big is too busy, as he's just found some Angolmois capsules, which they've had experience with in the past and know this is what's causing the violence. Elsewhere Shokaract wants more Angolmois, as it's slowly turning him into a god, and is told to be patient as his agents are out hunting down more from across the universe.

The Pack travels back in time to Earth and find Razorbeast's group at last (after a few wrong jumps). The Pack have all taken on beast modes, just in case of a need for disguise. On the planet, the battle continues, and Ravage walks through the battlefield in his different time frame, seemingly disturbed by what Magmatron's just told him, when the Pack's ship arrives in the sky, and the Pack join the fight, subduing the Predacons and ending the fight. Ravage reveals himself and starts to tell them what Magmatron told him, but too late as Rartorata appears and stabs Razorbeast, injecting him with Angolmois, mutating him into a feral form.

On Cybertron, Big Convoy and his team arrive outside Shokaract's base and try to find a way in, as they've detected Angolmois in there, Shokaract is bored and decides to "greet" them himself, much to the annoyance of the Blendtrons, he goes outside through a portal, and kills Tasmania Kid, the other Maximals in the team start fighting Shokaract too.

On Earth, Razorbeast has gone feral and starts attacking everyone, alone with Rartorata. The factions join forces and Ravage tells Lio Convoy everything that Magmatron told him before about Unicron.

On Cybertron Big Convoy is killed by Shokaract and knows that Unicron will be arriving next. On Earth again, Rartorata and Razorbeast are both restrained  Lio Convoy manages to calm down Razorbeast enough for him to actually be able to talk. 

The Pack gets everyone fit to leave to head to the ship, but before they can leave the other two Blendtrons arrive and start attacking everyone, to stop them from returning home. Razorbeast breaks free of his restraints and fights Elephorca, distracting the others, and allowing most of the Maximals and Predacons to leave on the ship and return home. Lio, with a sample of Rartorata's venom, plans to use it to make an antidote to the Angolmois energy for anyone affected, with the help of Bump on Cybertron.

The Pack's ship arrives on Cybertron just after Tasmania Kid is killed, and distracts Shokaract, thus reversing Big's death, however Shokaract shoots down the ship, causing it to crash, just as his heralds retunr to Cybertron through some small portals with more Angolmois.

Shokaract sends out his Heralds to spread the Angolmois across Cybertron and help him in his (actually Unicron's) plan. Big locates Bump who was called in by Lio, and then finds the Pack's ship as well nearby, uniting the groups. Ravage goes to speak to Magmatron again in his dimension to talk strategy, ie to send Shokaract to Magmatron's dimension, whilst Lio tells Bump to make enough antidote for the Angolmois for the entire planet.

On Earth Razorbeast is being ganged up on by the Blendtrons, so the remaining Transformers on the planet join the fight.

On Cybertron, Shokaract starts absorbing the Angolmois spread around Cybertron through his Dark Matrix, whilst the Transformers on Cybertron start attacking him on mass. Whilst on Earth, the Blendtrons are dead, but Razorbeast has lost all control and starts heading towards his friends again.

On Cybertron again, Snarl manages to sneak up to Shokaract, and plants the temporal device on the demi-god, sending him to Magmatron's dimension who proceeds to show him to the future.

On Cybertron, the Heralds are confused about where Shokaract has gone, which allows Ravage to attack them, scaring them away. Shokaract is shown the future where Unicron uses him as a portal into this reality, and he is shocked, he tears out his dark matrix, which kills him instantly, and ends Unicron's plans, and also causes a space-time rift that frees Magmatron from his dimension and rejoins the normal time line, and also affects the shuttle taking the "other" Maximals from Earth to Cybertron. Magmatron reveals that before he was shunted back he looke din on Earth and reports that Razorbeast was killed by Optimus Minor, who euthenized him.

In the aftermath, the Transformers are united and start rebuilding their world, hoping there are no more terrible things happen before they can finish, just as Megatron arrives on the planet...

Characters

Maximal

Lio Convoy - Lion (Former Mechanical Lion)

Big Convoy - Spider Tank

Razorbeast - Wild Boar Killed by Optimus Minor

Apache - Mandrill (Former Speeder)

Long Rack - Giraffe (Former Excavator)

Mach Kick - Horse

Stampy - Rabbit (Former Speeder)

Drill Nuts - Boll Weevil (Former Drill Tank)

Break - Penguin

Survive - Tank

Cohrada - Jet

Bump

Tasmania Kid - Car  Killed by Shokaract

Ikard

Prowl - Speeder

Silverbolt - Jet

Ironhide - Treaded Vehicle

Prowl II - Owl Killed in crossfire

Grimlock - Giant Raptor

Torca - Elephant-Orca

Snarl - Tasmanian Devil

Optimus Minor - Spider Monkey

Ramulus - Ibex

Claw Jaw - Squid

Air Hammer - Owl-Hammerhead Shark

Cybershark - Hammerhead Shark

Wolfang - Wolf Killed by Shokaract

B'Boom - Mandrill

K-9 - Dog Killed by Shokaract

Noctorro - Bull-Bat Killed by Shokaract

Armordillo - Armadillo

Bonecrusher - Bison

Bantor - Tiger-Mandrill Killed by Drancron

Polar Claw - Polar Bear

Stink Bomb - Skunk

Optimus Primal - Ape/Jet/Treaded Vehicle

Santon

Motorarm

Tonbot

Scuba

Rockbuster

Gimlet

Sharp Edge

Randy - Motorcycle (Alternate Future Only)

Predacon

Magmatron - Seasaur, Landsaur, Skysaur

Ravage - Jaguar

Materror - Mantis

Retrax - Pill Bug

Snapper - Snapping Turtle

Injector - Hornet-Lionfish

Lazorbeak - Pteranodon Killed in Angolmois Reaction

Sky Shadow - Lizard-Dragonfly

Jetstorm - Dragonfly

Transquito - Mosquito

Scourge - Locust

Buzzsaw - Yellow Jacket

Buzzclaw - Lizard-Mantis Killed by Rartorata

Powerpinch - Earwig

Spittor - Poisonous Toad Killed in Angolmois Reaction

Terragator - Alligator-Turtle

Insecticon - Beetle Killed by Shokaract

Iquanus - Frilled Lizard

Manta Ray - Manta Ray Killed by Drancron

Drill Bit - Boll Weevil

Scavenger - Ant

Megatron - Dragon

Autocrasher

Crazybolt

Archadis

Vice Grip Killed in Angolmois Riot

Dirgegun - Jet (Alternate Future Only)

Saberback - Treaded Vehicle (Alternate Future Only)

Killerpunch - Tank (Alternate Future Only)

Halfshell - Tank (Alternate Future Only)

Guiledart - Tank (Alternate Future Only)

Unicron's Heralds

Shokaract - Tank Suicide

Drancron - Lizard-Dragonfly (Former Jet) Killed in Angolmois Reaction

Rartorata - Hornet-Lionfish (Former Jet) Killed in Angolmois Reaction

Elephorca - Orca-Elephant (Former Land Vehicle) Killed by Earthbound Transformers

Max-B - Wolf

Hellscream - Shark

Antagony - Ant

Hardhead - Pachycephalosaurus 

Thrustor - Raptor

Other

Unicron (Essence Only)

Cybertronian Civilians

Notes

• Most of the guys still on Cybertron in this story are from the Japanese and Botcon Beast Era franchises, and are also mostly still in their Cybertronian modes
• This story is set during the final episode of Beast Wars, beginning with the Maximals preparing to leave Earth with Megatron, and ending with Megatron breaking free and arriving on Cybertron before Primal and his team.
• The cause of Megatron's freedom is implied to have been because of Shokaract's death causing temporal distortions.
• The signal to the future failed originally, but thanks to Magmatron's interference, it succeeds.
• Transquito mentions to Injector about how he looks similar to Rartorata, referencing that they share the same toy mold.
• The Pack's ship is shaped like the Maximal insignia
• So by the end of this story, some of the Maximals and Predacons were left behind on Earth with no way off, either they were rescued at some point after this story, or they were just abandoned.
• Long Rack's pre-Earth mode is based on his Cybertron series toy