Comic Book / Star Trek vs. Transformers

Star Trek vs Transformers is a five issue limited series Crossover by IDW Publishing in 2018. Teaming up the characters of Star Trek: The Animated Series with a version of the Transformers mostly inspired by the original 1984 cartoon, the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise ends up responding to a distress signal near Klingon Space, only to discover the mysterious army of 1980s era jets are more than meets the eye...

The series was written by John Barber and Mike Johnson, with art by Phillip Murphy designed to evoke both series' original animation styles.

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Star Trek vs Transformers contains examples of:

• Ambiguous Situation:
  • It's not immediately clear what's up with Fortress Maximus. Ratchet says he needs Kirk to control his desire for vengeance but whether this is Maximus just needing a leash or that he suffered brain damage during his crash landing and needs extra brain power to compensate is unclear. Whatever it is, it's rectified by the end.
  • Cybertron and the Cybertronian race. Megatron and Starscream make mention of the handful of Cybertronians being the only ones in the galaxy. Whether Cybertron is beyond the point of habitability, and thus the race functionally extinct, or simply outside the Milky Way is never made explicit. ^note  Though The Transformers was typically guilty of Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale, going purely by what is said on-screen in ''The Ultimate Doom,'' it seems likely that Cybertron was located outside the Milky Way until getting teleported into Earth's solar system in that episode. If that teleportation never happened in this universe, then it would still be outside the Milky Way.
  • It's not clear if there ever was any Energon on Cygnus Seven or if Maximus just misread the energy signature of dilithium (which is established to be very similar).

• Adaptation Amalgamation: The Transformers' presence in this story mixes their original animated storyline as having played out more or less the same, only for the origin's behind their departure to based on their Marvel origins.

• Adaptational Alternate Ending: The original cartoon ended with many of the Autobots and Decepticons either dead or rebuilt into new forms courtesy of the movie, while the final season ended with Cybertron's restoration and the Autobot's victory. While some version of events of the movie played out in the Star Trek timeline, the events of the Eugenics Wars and World War III drove the Cybertronians underground, leaving them to flee Earth around the time of Star Trek: First Contact, only for the Decepticons to follow and cause them to crash on an unknown planet, stranding them there in stasis for decades.

• Adaptational Badass: Megatron was better known as a General Failure in the original cartoon. Here, he not only manages to nearly defeat both Starfleet and the Autobots, but he briefly conquers the Klingon Empire.

• Adaptational Jerkass: Jazz is much less cheerful and far more angry than usual, having developed a hatred of humans for their destructive actions in the 21st century having driven them underground. He does warm up to his old self eventually.

• Adapted Out: Much like its source material, Pavel Chekov does not appear in this comic, instead being replaced by Lieutenant Arex and M'Ress.
  • Similarly, not all of the Autobots and Decepticons appear in this story, presumably due to having been killed in WWIII, if not their own war.

• Alien Non-Interference Clause: The Prime Directive comes up again when Captain Kirk, en route to Qo'Nos, is forced to weigh the option of either allowing Megatron to conquer the Klingon Empire, thereby eliminating their greatest enemy, but leaving them at risk for a Decepticon invasion, or break the Prime Directive by aiding the Klingons. Optimus himself comes up with his own version of it:

Optimus Prime: Then consider this Prime's directive - by action or inaction, I shall allow Cybertronians to cause no harm to any civilization... no matter their relationship with my allies.

• Alternate Continuity: This one takes effect for The Transformers primarily, depicting them as having existed in the Star Trek universe in a manner mostly inspired by the original animated series. This may possibly be one for Trek as well, as their continuity format places the tv series and films as canon more so than their comics, viewing such stories as canon only so long as they aren't contradicted by the shows or movies.

• And the Adventure Continues...: Kirk invites the Autobots to seek refuge on Earth but Optimus declines, stating the Autobots' destinies lies elsewhere, with them going off to explore the universe.

• Ascended Extra:
  • M'Ress, the damage control officer from the Enterprise, plays a larger role this time around.
  • Commander Kuri, who only appeared in the episode "The Time Trap," is made the central antagonist alongside Megatron.

• Badass Boast: Throughly unimpressed with the Klingon High Council, Starscream says he's destroyed multiple High Councils.

• Blue-and-Orange Morality: Seems to be how Megatron and Starscream view the Klingon concept of "honor", frequently assuming the aliens will just bend their knees to them on account of their superior power. To be fair, Klingon culture is very much Depending on the Writer in Star Trek, so them believing this is totally understandable.

• Broken Pedestal: The human race to Jazz. He's noticeably more bitter and cynical towards humans than he usually is. He gets better... somewhat.

• Call-Forward:
  • Scotty mentions that a Constitution-class ship could be crewed by about four or five people, assuming the right modifications were made.
  • Gorkon appears as the Klingon Chancellor.

• Canon Immigrant:
  • Windblade and Airachnid, both of whom were created long after the original cartoon ended, are featured prominently in the comic. As such, they are given designs to better match the 1984 cartoon.
  • Likewise, Acid Storm, a Seeker who only appeared in "Divide and Conquer," is given an Earth mode that he was only given in toy form in the early 2000s, having never adopted it in the original series proper.
  • Chancellor Gorkon, who was first introduced in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, makes an appearance in the style of the cartoon, complete with a lack of the Klingon's distinctive head ridges.

• Canon Welding: The Autobots and Decepticons' adventures on Earth is a mixture of the cartoon and the Marvel comic.

• Continuity Cameo: As the Autobots flee Earth in Fortress Maximus, they're spotted by Zefram Cochrane and Lily Sloane.

• Continuity Nod:
  • Sulu identifies the Seekers' jet modes as pre-Eugenics Wars.
  • The Autobots and Decepticons left Earth due to the onset of World War III. Bumblebee even spies some soldiers dressed in the same style as Q.
  • Spock mentions Starfleet Order Two (from "One of Our Planets Is Missing") which prevents Starfleet officers from taking intelligent lives.
  • Kuri and crew reappear from "The Time Trap."

• Crossover Alternate Universe: For the Transformers anyway. As said above, it's a mix of the cartoon and comics.

• Enemy Mine: The Klingons and Decepticons join forces based on their hatred of humans. Deconstructed as the two can't stand each other at all in spite of their alliance.

• Emergency Transformation: In order to get Trypticon back online, the Decepticons work with the Klingons to reformat his body into a D-7 battle cruiser. The Autobots do the same by waking up Fortress Maximus and reformatting him into an identical copy of the Enterprise, albeit with Transformer-sized corridors and rooms, not to mention Kirk having mentally hooked himself up to the Titan's brain module.

• Eviler than Thou: The Decepticons to the Klingons.

• Foregone Conclusion: Given that Kronos appears in later Star Trek media not conquered by the Decepticons, the Star Trek cast was never in danger.

• History Repeats: As Bumblebee lampshades, the Decepticons caught up with the Autobots, attacked in orbit over an undeveloped planet, and crashed the Autobot ship, trapping both sides in stasis lock for centuries.

• Human Pet: Airachnid expresses the desire to keep Kirk as a pet in the first issue.
  Airachnid: Spare this one. He's cute. I'll keep him as a pet.
  Kirk: Flattered, but you're not my type.

• Karma Houdini: The Klingons. Though they allied with the Decepticons, they aid in fighting them in issue 5 and are even allowed to keep the Decepticons prisoner. Not that Kirk was comfortable with the idea.

• Let's You and Him Fight: The series opens up with the Decepticons attacking a Starfleet mining colony upon their accidental reawakening. The Enterprise is called in to investigate, but mistakingly think the machines are being remote controlled by the Klingons, and Kirk shoots a truck when it blasts its way out of the mine. Turns out that truck is Optimus Prime himself, and his disappearance causes the rest of the Autobots to attack Kirk and the away team when they think the humans took him offline.

• Mental Fusion: Spock uses his famous Vulcan Mind Meld to try and revive Optimus Prime. It works, and Prime thanks the Vulcan for reviving him. This is later done with Kirk and Fortress Maximus, although the captain struggles more so than his first officer.

• Mind Probe: Maximus extracts the perfectly memorized blueprints to the Enterprise from Kirk's mind for his new alternate mode.

• Mythology Gag:
  • From Transformers:
    • Believe it or not, the planet Cygnus Seven is from the G1 cartoon. It's nothing like its cartoon counterpart though.
    • Optimus appears to have been Orion Pax in this continuity's past.
    • Starscream's radar display has a small version of the energy being Kreemzeek (who appeared in his own self-titled episode).
    • Spock mentions the famous "more than meets the eye" catchphrase the series is known for, which Kuri later repeats.
    • Arcee seems to have a rivalry with Airachnid, like they did in Transformers: Prime
    • When he confronts the Klingon High Council, Starscream gloats how he crushed his fair share of high councils, as he did in The Transformers (IDW).
  • From Star Trek:
    • The comic opens with the traditional stardate, placing it as 5892.7. This places it between the first and second seasons of the cartoon. Speaking of the cartoon, this same scene takes full advantage of homaging the infamous closeup shots of the crew.
    • Not even robots can help being attracted to Captain Kirk, as Airachnid seems to wish him spared because "he's cute." Kirk sarcastically claims he's flattered.
    • Twice does Dr. McCoy use his famous catchphrase, first when he sees the deactivated body of Optimus Prime, then when Fortress Maximus transforms.
    • The robotic exosuits built for the Enterprise crew transform into Starfleet Type Seven shuttlecraft, as made famous by "The Galileo Seven." The one built for Sulu even comes with a fencing blade.

• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: The Decepticons, thanks to Trypticon and their alliance with the Klingons, nearly have the Autobots and Starfleet on the ropes until Starscream takes off, revealing Kuri had given him a cloaking device in the process. Megatron, incensed by this seeming betrayal, attacks the Klingons and pursues his traitorous second-in-command. Doing so leads the captured Klingons to provide information on how to counter the Decepticons, allowing them to stop Megatron from conquering Qo'Nos.

• No-Sell: The only Star Trek weapon that can hurt Cybertronians is a phaser set to full power. And even then, Optimus is mildly wounded instead of outright disintegrated.

• Revenge: Fortress Maximus desires some on Trypticon.

• Seen It All: Subverted. Even after everything the Enterprise crew have seen, they're caught off-guard by the Cybertronians. The Cybertronians however have seen it all and don't really react to the Star Trek aliens except to comment on how ugly the Klingons are.

• Sequel Hook: The Decepticons in Klingon custody.

• The Starscream:
  • But of course. While Fortress Maximus and Trypticon are duking it out, Starscream sneaks away using a Klingon cloaking device, then he decides to conquer the Klingon Empire for himself. Too bad Megatron decides to finally punish him for his deceit once and for all.
  • Surprisingly, Megatron himself ends up becoming one when he thinks the Klingons pulled one on him for providing Starscream with one of their cloaking devices, and responds by nearly conquering their entire empire. Ironically enough, he accuses Kuri of this, but the Klingon calls him out and says that he betrayed their alliance first.

• Spared by the Adaptation: The Transformers: The Movie ended with Optimus Prime, Starscream, and Ratchet dead, while Megatron, Thundercracker, and Skywarp were reformatted into Galvatron, Scourge, and Cyclonus/Armada respectively (though Prime was resurrected later on). Here, despite some version of the movie playing out in the Star Trek timeline, all of them survived and remain as they are.

• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
  • Though the Federation and Klingons are advanced space faring civilizations, the technology of the Cybertronians is far above theirs. Being a race millions of years older than either species certainly gives them a leg up.
  • While the starship modes of Maximus and Trypticon can accommodate Cybertronians, the Autobots only fit in the Enterprise's shuttle bay.
  • What ultimately defeats the Decepticons on Kronos? The fact that there are more Klingons than Decepticons.
• Time Dissonance: None of the Cybertronians consider four million years to be a long period of time.

• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: The dilithium survey team whose presence reactivated Fortress Maximus's autonomic systems.

• World War III: Outright mentioned to be why the Cybertronians left Earth. The war made the planet worthless to them.

• Xenafication: Arcee is a lot more action-oriented in this story, going out of her way to rescue the captured Starfleet officers and is shown wielding a massive sword.