Linkage Part 11

« The Transformers Legends of the Microns #11 »
"Linkage" Part 11
Publisher	Columbia Music Entertainment
First published	25 February 2004
Written by	Hirofumi Ichikawa
Art by	Hirofumi Ichikawa
Continuity	Armada cartoon
Packaged with	Legends of the Microns 11

Redline attempts to rescue Twirl and stop Unicron's agents from destroying the Linkage.

Synopsis

Redline chases after Ravenus, who has kidnapped Twirl, but even with his new powers, catching him is tricky. The rest of the Super Stunt Team and the Sonic Assault Team use the Master Key to evolve, causing Stella to note their new ability to speak proper English and their color-changing skills. Stella is mildly jealous of the latter, since she thinks she'd like to be a blonde. Falcia discourages this, then jets off to help Redline.

Stella realizes that they need more help, so she releases the Mini-Cons Impulsor and Quench from the final two Mini-Con storage panels. Flat-Out interrogates the Aqua Raider Team about the Doomstone, but Bilge claims there's no way to defuse it safely. Ravenus begins to activate it, but Kingbolt drops from the sky (apparently summoned by Impulsor and Quench), drop-kicking Ravenus and dislodging Twirl from him, thus stopping the Doomstone energies from entering the Linkage. Kingbolt and Redline team up to destroy Ravenus, but Twirl yells for them to stop, as she found out during their Powerlinx that Ravenus is actually an Autobot!

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Notes

• This comic was available only with the eleventh volume of the Legends of the Microns DVD in Japan, along with the exclusive Kingbolt toy. Later pressings of the DVD did not include either.

Transformers references

• After all this time and a lot of dancing around the issue, Unicron is finally explicitly named in the comic. The DVD this issue came with contains "Miracle", the episode that finally name-drops Unicron for the show's viewers.
• Falcia's complimenting Stella's hair color calls back to Part 6, when she had insulted Stella, gripping a lock of her hair and asking if Redline's "pet" was named "Redmop". All friends now!

Now, darken our brightest hour!

• Nemesis Prime is shown in Bilge's explanation of the Doomstone's creation, clutching the Vorpal Saber and Run-Over (Run-Over's only fictional appearance). Of note is the Matrix-like design in his chest when he pulls in the "death agonies" of the world he's destroying... a design the Nemesis Prime toy doesn't have. Presumably he stopped having this (fictionally) once he passed on the Doomstone to Sideways. Nemesis also makes his one and only cartoon appearance in "Puppet", contained in the DVD attached to this issue.
• When Kingbolt descends, four other green glowing lines appear; more Mini-Cons who were still on Earth. This sets up the scene in "Miracle" where hundreds of Mini-Cons the Autobots and Decepticons didn't realize were left on Earth arrive at the Cybertron-bound Axalon in space.
• Ravenus' revealed Autobot sigil looks like an old rubsign, down to the colors. It's even in the place of the rubsign on the Transmetal Terrorsaur toy that Ravenus is based on.

Real-world references

• Kingbolt and Redline's combo attack is a visual reference to the Big Magnum, the hero's final attack from the Metal Hero series Space Sheriff Shaider.

Trivia

• Four pages again, and a lot of text. A lot of backstory is having to be crammed in here, because the cartoon sure couldn't be bothered to explain what the hell is going on.
• Impulsor and Quench appear, but are unnamed. By this time, the book Legends of the Microns Year Book 2003 had come out, naming the two upcoming toys in its toy section... but it got their names swapped. Whoops.

External links

• "Official" Linkage mini-comic translations (archived)