Beast Wars: Uprising

In the 24^th century, the Great War between Autobots and Decepticons has ended. Instead, the Maximals and Predacons fight in the places of their ancestors. Soon enough however, the new generation wonders why it's fighting their ancestors' feud and a new war begins.

A Bad Future AU of Beast Wars told in five issues and several prose storylines, it details an alternative, dystopian look at the rise of the Beast Era and the futility of war.

Uprising features the tropes:

• A Day in the Limelight: Even the most obscure characters get this.
• Abusive Precursors: The Builders of Cybertron. They created the Maximals and Predacons to fight for their own amusement and have no problem killing anyone of them who questions them.
• Adaptation Name Change: Vector Prime becomes Vector Convoy.
• Adaptational Badass: The Vehicons. Originally they died if a gentle breeze blew in their direction but now they're an unstoppable zombie hoard that can covert solely by touch.
  • Inverted for Vector Prime. In Cybertron, he was a Time Master but here he's just an ordinary Cybertronian.
• Adaptational Heroism: Megatron. He's legitimately trying to help his people even though he'll become extremely rich and gain lots of political power in the process.
• Aliens Steal Cable: By the 24th century, Cybertron is still picking up old Earth transmissions. Eject got the idea for the Games from an old broadcast of The Hunger Games.
• Alternate Character Reading: In-universe, Hatchet of 34^th century Cybertron wonders if Lio Convoy was really the good guy.
• Ambiguous Situation:
  • It was initially unclear who became the Triple-Threat Prime. While hinted to be Optimus Prime, there was also evidence to suggest it might have been Ultra Magnus. It's eventually revealed to be a moniker of the reborn Optimus Prime who fused with a Powermaster, Headmaster and Targetmaster.
  • Many of the comments made by the authors hint that Unicron is still alive in some way.
  • It's unclear if the original Blackarchnia's attack on the original Megatron killed him. While there's evidence to suggest it didn't, in "Cultural Appropriations", Starscream is leading the Decepticons and it's unclear who "The Great Slagmaker" (a nom de guerre attributed to Decepticon leaders) referred to in the story is. Either way, Megatron eventually becomes Galvatron.
• And I Must Scream: Despite being locked in his starship mode, Trypticon is aware of everything that's happening around him and can't even speak.
• Ascended Extra: While loads of obscure Beast Wars characters get time to shine, the real champion of this trope is Eject, the blue Autobot Cassette who's been increasingly sidelined in favour of Rewind.
• Ascended Fanon:
  • While it's not the first piece of Transformers media to use them, this series is known for being the first widespread piece of media to use "mech" and "femme" to describe male and female Cybertronians.
  • In "Cultural Appropriations", Hook performs the role of a medic to the Decepticons on Earth within the Victory something hardcore fans of the G1 cartoon have claimed he is for years.
• Ax Crazy: Considering he's named Galvatron this is to be fully expected.
• Back From the Dead: After the Beast Wars Megatron blew his head off, the Autobots took Optimus Prime to the planet Master sometime in the 20^th to 21^st century where the scientists managed to bring him back. It didn't last.
• Blue and Orange Morality: The Builder Assembly. They work together to oversee Cybertron and oppress the Maximals and Predacons but still view themselves as enemies and want to finish the Great War via the proxy fights.
• Bigger Bad:
  • Unicron. He caused a lot of the damage to Cybertron and since a lot of Point-One Percenters survived his attack, it prompted Deluge to try and make more of them.
  • The Human Confederacy. They locked the Cybertronians inside the Allowed Zone and act as Damocles' Sword looming their heads.
  • The original Galvatron. When he tried to break free of the Allowed Zone, the humans stopped him and cut the Zone in half bringing even more hell down on the Cybertronians.
  • The Megatron from Beast Wars. He succeeded in killing Optimus Prime which wiped away the Maximals. Before she was wiped out however, Blackarchnia managed to infect the original Megatron
• Brain Uploading: Unlike most AIs, Lord Imperious Delirious can only do this meaning that when Rampage blows up the Grand Mal with Delirious inside, Delirious dies for real having no hidden body to jump into.
• Canon Welding: As in the original Beast Wars, the G1 events are a mixture of the comic and cartoon stories though the backstory follows the cartoon more closely.
• Composite Character:
  • Trypticon is locked in starship mode as was his Aligned self.
  • Galvatron II is a clone of the original G1 Galvatron rather than just someone who shares (or possibly took) the same name.
  • Deluge is both the Autobot Deluge from G1 and the more popular Decepticon Deluge from G2. It's stated that he was an Autobot once but defected to the Decepticons.
  • In-universe, the deeds of Galvatron II and Galva Convoy are attributed solely to Galvatron by 34^th century historians with the latter being largely forgotten.
• Crapsack World: Until the Underbase returns, Cybertron is, to be blunt, a terrible place to live.
• Cybertronians Are Survivors: Despite 11 million years of hellish wars and alien forces trying to wipe them all out, the Cybertronians refuse to die. When the fighting ends in the 24^th century, it takes little under a century for the planet to return to a time of peace and a stable society.
• Darker and Edgier: This is very probably the darkest Transformers story written by official authors. The Autobots have aged into arses no better than the Decepticons (and work with them in the Builder Alliance) while the Maximals have zero problem committing terrorism to achieve their goals. There's not one character who could be said to be a 100% heroic person.
• Death by Adaptation: Several from the many Beast Wars iterations of the '90s but the most notable are Optimus Primal, Silverbolt and Rhinox.
• Deconstruction: The Human Confederacy is harsh deconstruction of the United Federation of Planets by the time of Star Trek: The Next Generation. The story shows how arrogant, sanctimonious and racist a power they would be and the flaws of a society that moves forwards in technology while remaining very backwards in terms of customs. Unsurprisingly, the Confederacy breaks into two movements regarding this conflicting mindset and goes to war over it.
• Demoted to Extra:
  • Optimus Primal, Silverbolt and Rhinox only appeared in flashback.
  • The Vok.
• Destructive Saviour: It's frequently mentioned that without Optimus Prime leading the Autobots on Earth, the battles were a lot more destructive as whoever took command didn't give a shit about keeping humans safe.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Galvatron made a mad dash to break the Allowed Zone and destroy the humans. He failed. Their response? Halve what little territory the Cybertronians have left and oppress them even more.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Hot Rod and Riker survive the Grand Uprising and live to see, and be a part of, the Cybertronian Parliament.
• Enemy Mine: The start of the Builder Alliance. The Autobots and the not totally insane Decepticons joined forces to combat Thunderwing and the insane Decepticons.
• Everyone Has Standards: Even Rampage thinks the humans are awful people.
• Evil Knockoff: The intent behind Galva Convoy and using the G-Virus in his creation. The Builders need an army to combat the growing Resistance.
• Fantastic Racism
  • The Builders hate the Micromaster Autobots and Decepticons for being mobile and view the Maximals and Predacons as drones.
  • The new humans view the original stock as second class citizens.
  • Humans and Cybertronians hate one another.
• Fauxshadow: The Oracle predicts a time where Humans and Cybertronians will one day stand side-by-side in fighting off a great threat. This never happens.
• Feeling Oppressed by Their Existence: Lord Imperious Delirious decides to kill all Cybertronians because of their Sparks.
• Folk Hero: By the 34th century, it's heavily doubted whether or not Optimus Prime (or "Optimus Convoy" as he's come to be known) ever even existed.
• For Want of a Nail:
  • The Uprising universe came about because the Megatron of Beast Wars succeeded in killing Optimus Prime and wiping out the Maximals. Without Optimus in charge, the Autobots were much more destructive in their battles on Earth.
  • The final story also hints that the absence of the Matrix of Leadership had a major effect on 24^th century Cybertron.
• Gender Flip: Many minor characters become female.
• Genius Loci:
  • Fortress Maximus ran out of sufficient Energon to move and ground to a halt in Tarn. The Builders use him as a living prison for upstart rebels.
  • Trypticon becomes locked in his spaceship alternate mode.
• Healing Factor: Rampage.
• History Repeats: 11 million years ago, Cybertron had a powerful empire which became heavily factionalized and fell into brutal civil wars. In the 25^th century, humanity has a powerful empire which becomes factionalized and falls into a brutal period of civil wars.
• Hope Spot: In-universe, Hot Rod becoming Rodimus Prime was this for the Autobots. He didn't deliver and he got a low spot in Builder hierarchy.
• Humans Advance Swiftly: Due to stealing Cybertronian technology, humans go from existing in the 1980s to being Cybertron's equal in about forty years. This gets a subversion later on. Since they advanced so quickly, they're very quick to lose everything.
• Humans Are Bastards: Completely so. They punish all of Cybertron for the actions of the few and it's clear that they're fully prepared to wipe out the Cybertronian race if they have to.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: The original Megatron and the Predacon one from the original Beast Wars cartoon. The latter manages to decisively kill Optimus Prime which wipes away the Maximals from the timeline. Before she's wiped out however, Blackarchnia attacks and infects the original Megatron with her cyber-venom which wipes out the Predacons as well setting the stage for the awful world that is Uprising.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Humans distrust all Cybertronians due to Galvatron's actions. But they're fine with the Quintessons however.
• Interspecies Romance: In the final story, the human Ne'll and the Maximal Rapticon hook up. It inspired tens of thousands of pieces of fiction regarding it with a minority actually being accurate.
• Irony: In "The Agenda Part III", Megatron claimed the Autobots and Maximals had made the Predacons into slaves and dismissively called the Autobots "archaic Energon guzzlers" with the implication that, while there was a kernel of truth in there somewhere, he's mostly exaggerating perceived flaws in Cybertronian society. Everything he says there literally comes true in the Uprising timeline.
• It's All About Me:
  • The Builders of course. They don't care for the future of the Maximals and Predacons, they just want to play their war games.
  • The Human Confederacy. As Nucleon lampshades, the humans view themselves as the only victims of the Great War and for all their power don't really care about anyone else who suffered because of it.
• Know When to Fold'Em: The last guard of the Builder Assembly decides he doesn't want to fight Lio Convoy one-on-one and decides to join him.
• Laser-Guided Karma:
  • The Builders spent 400 years making the lives of Maximals and Predacons a living hell and gave the a-ok to the creation of the Vehicons to curb the rebels. They're turned into Vehicons by Galva Convoy.
  • The Human Confederacy spent the same period of time bullying and hounding the Cybertronians for the collateral damage that the Great War caused to Earth. In the 25^th century humanity's technological empire collapses into a series of brutal civil wars that sent the race back to the Dark Ages. By the 34^th century, they're not even worth thinking about.
• Madden Into Misanthropy: Five minutes after he came online, Galva Convoy read the entirety of Cybertronian history and decided it had to go. All of it.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: The G-Virus. Are the victims being driven insane solely due to its connection to the original Galvatron or could it be to Dark Energon's connection to Unicron?
• Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: The root cause of the Great Uprising. The Builders treated the Maximals and Predacons like utter crap and they eventually said enough is enough.
• My Species Doth Protest Too Much: Cerebros doesn't much care for the Cybertronian hatred for aliens and how long and destructive their wars tend to be.
• Mythology Gag: In all seriousness, it would take less time to list everything that isn't a Mythology Gag. The more notable ones are:
  • The main currency on Cybertron are Cyber Planet Keys. Noisemaze drones are also featured.
  • San Francisco was destroyed in the Great War.
  • The G-Virus utilizes Dark Energon to replicate the process through which Unicron turned Megatron into Galvatron.
  • Rampage and Transmutate are Point-One Percenters. Engex and empurata also appear.
  • At some point in Cybertronian history, a Prime found (or will find) "a Cube and a Star Harvester" on the third planet of a distant solar system.
  • Both Autobots and Decepticons joined forces to combat an insane, hyper-powerful Thunderwing.
• Necessary Evil:
  • Grimlock, to no real surprise, is a believer in this.
  • Lio Convoy is willing to commit terrorism if it means the Maximals and Predacons will be free to decide their own fates.
• Never My Fault: Nucleon thinks this of the humans. The humans have a low opinion of Cybertronians due them hating humans while being savage and having little technology but that's because the humans locked the Cybertronians away to die and stole most of their technology. Of course Cybertronians hate humans.
• One Steve Limit: Every Cybertronian has a unique name that no other Cybertronian shares though the names can be very similar such as "Optimus Prime" and "Optimus Primal" or "Skywarp" and "Sky Warp". The exceptions are Megatron (real name Gnashteeth) who views himself as being worthy of Megatron's name, Galvatron who's just a clone of the original and Rampage who gives the proverbial middle finger to social norms and customs.
• The Remnant: By the 24^th century, Cybertron and Elba are all that remain of the once mighty Cybertronian empires.
• Shout-Out:
  • Both in-universe and out, the Games were inspired by The Hunger Games.
  • The Human Confederacy is heavily inspired by the United Federation of Planets as seen in Star Trek: The Next Generation.
  • The backstory from the G1 Era has many G.I. Joe references.
• Super Prototype: The Cybertronians born from Vector Sigma have been alive for at least, 11 million years. Those born from the Energon Matrix seem to live only for a few centuries as those in the 34_th century are unsure as to what happened in the 24^th.
• Taking You with Me: Rampage intends to do this with Delirious but the former survives.
• Token Good Teammate:
  • Hot Rod and Full-Tilt are the only two Builders who have reservations with the treatment of Maximals and Predacons. They're later joined by Buckethead and the Constructicons.
  • Una might be the only human with sympathies for the Cybertronians.
• Too Dumb to Live:
  • Hot Rod has his moments where he's often perfectly willing to take his Builder colleagues at their word.
  • Eject when he's willing to use Dark Energon to create Galva Convoy and the Vehicons. When Galva Convoy essentially tells him he's going to rebel, Eject just waves it off and storms away.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid:
  • There was once a Predacon named Gnashteeth who was a simple administrator at a refinery and a good friend to Scorponok. Then everyone said he should show gratitude for how far he got and the mob began muscling in on him. Eventually he decided to kill everyone who'd wronged him and renamed himself "Megatron".
  • The human race. They started out as a peaceful people but repeatedly getting caught in the crossfire of the Great War turned them into complete xenophobes.
• Ungrateful Bastard: Optimus Prime sacrificed his second chance at life (and the Matrix of Leadership) to save humanity from the Swarm. They respond by locking away all Cybertronians to die.
• Villain Has a Point: Lord Imperious Delirious when he says Cybertron has gone through a series of wars despite the ego of Cybertronians.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Deluge's excuse for the horrific experiments that birthed the new generation of Point-One Percenters.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Later stories begin introducing cracks in humanity's "utopia" and by the mid 25^th century, humans succumb to a series of brutal civil wars, a period recorded as "The Fall of Man" by 34^th century Cybertron. Humanity's fate by the 34^th century is unknown.
• Worthless Yellow Rocks: In 1984, Starscream lead a raid on the British Museum to gain a statue with supposed magical powers. During the raid, Brawn picked up a large rock and threw it at Skywarp, the stone being lodged in Skywarp's cockpit who then proceeded to use it as a paperweight and toy. The Maximals and Predacons then placed the stone in a museum of personal artifacts that belonged to Decepticon officers. The human name for this stone? The Rosetta Stone. It's eventually reclaimed by its rightful owners but it would have been much kinder to leave it on Cybertron considering the fate of human society.
• Zombie Apocalypse: The Vehicon Apocalypse is the Cybertronian equivalent.