Personal tools

Fractyl has created a new device,energon armor, using an element calledfurmanite.Blackarachnia urges him to finish the project (so she can use the results to take over thePredacons).Packrat eagerly spies on their activities, coveting the new armor.

The initial test is a success, but when Blackarachnia asksInferno for thepureenergon sample, she finds that the ant is distracted. Inferno has discovered Packrat, and he drops the pure energon crystal. This sample reacts with the furmanite that Fractyl dropped, causing a massive explosion. Fractyl deduces that furmanite must be anti-energon, and that if his device comes near any larger deposits of energon, the world could be at stake.

Of course, Packrat has taken off with the orb-shaped energon armor and is heading straight toward the energon-richbadlands. Packrat feels this device will solve his problems of being unappreciated by his group.

Meanwhile,Cheetor,Rhinox, andAirazor enjoy the sounds of nature—until they come across Packrat battling Inferno, that is. Packrat has gone mad with power, blasting Inferno into pieces. Fractyl arrives, warning of the dangers of his new armor. Rhinox tries to talk Packrat down, but Fractyl takes a forceful approach. Packrat knocks him down but surrenders the armor.

Airazor spotsMegatron and Blackarachnia approaching. A despondent Fractyl resigns himself to his fate. However, Fractyl's good-heartedness in saving theMaximals from his invention has inspired Packrat, and he gives Fractyl an idea.

As Megatron catches up, he sees Fractyl shooting at the fleeing Maximals and is pleased. Packrat's plan to make Fractyl look good to his superior works, and Rhinox is pleased with Packrat's attitude turnaround.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Maximals	Predacons
Packrat (5) Cheetor (6) Rhinox (7) Airazor (8)	Megatron (1) Fractyl (2) Blackarachnia (3) Inferno (4)

Quotes

"WARNING! Energon levels exceeding safety parameters. Stasis lock imminent."
"Bequiet, voice! Can't you see I'mbusy?!"

—Inferno's onboard computer is paid no respects by the madInferno.

Fractyl: "You'd better go. I'll have to stay and face the music."
Rhinox: "For what it's worth, Fractyl, you didgood. A lot of folk would have saved their own neck, left us to cook."
Fractyl: "I couldn't. I have a responsibility as ascientist that goesbeyond my allegiance. I should have never allowed this to happen, I let myself be blinded by my ownneed."

Packrat: "Hey! I know I told Fractyl to make it look good, but notthat good!"
Rhinox (thinking): "You know something, Packrat... ...There'shope for you yet!"

Notes

Production notes

"In twelve seconds time, I drop the photograph in the sand, walking away. Ten seconds now.
It is July, 1997. I am writing that Transformers is a past work, an old franchise people are surprised to remember. I am thirty-six years old.
Four seconds now. Three."

This was the first piece ofBotCon fiction ever produced, kicking off two decades of work! It followed the noble tradition ofpimping toys, in this case theBotCon 1997 exclusives.
It was alsoSimon Furman's andAndrew Wildman's first return toTransformers since theMarvelGeneration 2 comics. (Until3H contacted him to write the comic, he'd not even been aware there was still afandom.^[3]) In honor of their return, this comic opened with a message from them to the congoers. Gaze upon that note, for it is a relic of a time whenTransformers was considered to beold and dead, despiteBeast Wars (note notBeast Wars: Transformers) doing well in ratings; where people would respond with "unintentional dismissiveness" to the idea of Furman and Wildman having worked on it, and where some extra TF fiction was a wonderful and odd thing.
Furman would later admit that he wasn't that hip to what happened inBeast Wars until after BotCon 1997! Heh, little did he realize at the time that he would go on to write many more pieces ofBeast Wars fiction, including thefinal episode of the cartoon.
Three years after the comic's BotCon 1997 release, scans of the comic were posted online to the (now defunct) BotCon: Beyond website onDecember 8,2000^[1] before they were later moved to the main BotCon website proper, BotCon Online, onNovember 13,2001^[2]
The "KADOOM" panel at the top of Page 6 features three cute little pixelations of Robot Mode Fractyl, Beast Mode Blackarachnia, and Robot Mode Inferno, with the former two being tossed into the air by the explosion while the latter fanatically chases after Packrat. Ha!

Continuity notes

Though this comic takes place within the cartoon's first season, Fractyl and Packrat are just...there, with no explanation for their presence given by the comic. The BotCon 1997 program guide featuredThe Transformers Universe-style profiles for the two, in which Fractyl was confirmed to have been aprotoform emerged from astasis pod claimed by thePredacons. Packrat, meanwhile, would not get an origin of his own untilBotCon 2002's "Betrayal", in which he was said to have been a preexisting Maximal thief onCybertron who had been placed into a stasis pod and shipped off-world (evidently, aboard theAxalon) by theImperial Peace Marshals. Presumably, his pod was found and opened byOptimus Primal's team of Maximals at some point prior to this issue's events. Both characters would go on to appear in laterBotCon fiction published by3H, but the two's absence from the rest of the cartoon's events was only loosely explained in their profiles, with Fractyl's mentioning his preference to remain out in the fields (a laTigatron) and Packrat's mentioning his preference to work alone (though, his profile also states that he has his own quarters aboard theAxalon, implying that he does live there with the other in-show Maximals, which only raises more questions).
The energon armor is meant to shield the Predacons (and Maximals) in robot mode from the harmful effects of the energon radiation in the planet's atmosphere, which was a constant threat throughout the cartoon but most prominently in its first season.
Blackarachnia harbors secret ambitions to seize Predacon leadership from Megatron, which she mainly displayed in "The Trigger, Part 1", "Part 2", and "Spider's Game".
Inferno goes bugnuts at the sight of a Maximal, calling Packrat a "destroyer of the colony", in direct reference to the events of "Spider's Game", which places this comic's events, at the earliest, at some point after that episode.
The concept of "anti-energon" is introduced in this comic as a preexisting substance that both Fractyl and Blackarachnia are already familiar with.
TheBadlands are also introduced here, as one of the most energon-rich areas on the planet. Later fiction would eventually apply the name tovarious Decepticon-owned territories onCybertron.

Art and technical errors

All of the characters who wear their respective faction'sinsignia on their helmets in the show do not wear them here.
In the last panel on Page 11, the first "a" in Rhinox's line of "But he's more of a skulker than a fighter," is italicized, reading with unnecessary emphasis as "But he's more ofa skulker than a fighter..."
In the fifth panel on Page 15, Fractyl's speaking bubble points away from him, instead pointing towards Airazor in the next panel.

Transformers references

"#1 in a one-issue limited series" is a joking nod to thefirst issue (andfinal issue) of theMarvel Comics run, which was originally a 4-issue mini.
Furmanite is a reference to—oh, you guessed.
The lettering is the same thatComicraft used for theGeneration 2 comics, complete with 'boxes' for Maximals speech bubbles and 'daggers' for Predacons.
Despite being a Predacon, Fractyl invokes theMatrix (rather than thePit).