The Last Knight: Altered
is a Fix Fic by Wacko12 on Fanfiction Dot Net that rewrites the events of Transformers: The Last Knight in a similar manner to Dark of the Moon: Altered and Age of Extinction: Altered.
Three years since Optimus Prime's departure into space, the Autobots and Decepticons have been hiding in the shadows and rebuilding their forces while humanity continues to hunt for their kind. However, new threats await in the farthest reaches of the universe, and soon, the Autobots and mankind will have no choice but to set aside their differences and unite if they are to save Earth from the impending apocalypse from the stars.
Followed by Till All Are One and War of Gods and Beasts.
The Last Knight: Altered features examples of:
- Adaptational Backstory Change: The movies and their supplementary comics portrayed the Fallen as a bloodthirsty maniac devoid of any redeeming qualities. This incarnation of Megatronus Prime portrays him as a Tragic Villain who wanted to protect his people from the threat Unicron posed, even if it meant condemning humanity to extinction due to Earth being Unicron's body. However, after killing Solus, he continued past the point of no return, temporarily granting Quintessa the powers of a Prime in order to overthrow the other Primes while becoming convinced that he alone could rule Cybertron.
- Adaptational Badass: Cogman gets to demonstrate his Headmaster abilities here by ripping the head off a drone and hijacking its body for the fight against Thunderwing on Cybertron.
- Adaptation Deviation:
- Dreadbot goes by the name of Hooligan, which was his working name during the production of The Last Knight.
- Quintessa never manages to brainwash Optimus into serving her, instead deploying a clone of him to do her dirty work.
- Adaptational Heroism: Nova Prime, big time. In the IDW comics, Nova Prime was a brutal Cybertronian supremacist who had nothing but disdain towards organic species and sought to join the living universe with the Dead Universe after he ended up in the latter dimension, while his Devastation counterpart was a well-meaning explorer who had been corrupted by Unicron. This Nova Prime is a completely heroic character who helps the Autobots and their allies in defending Earth and restores Cybertron.
- Adaptational Villainy: As villainous as Quintessa was in The Last Knight, everything she did all went towards the restoration of Cybertron. The version that appears here, on the other hand, has no such motivation, as her main goal is instead to prove her deluded belief of herself being the "Prime of Life" right, heedless of the consequences her actions may bring.
- Canon Immigrant:
- The Autobots get Roller and Bob from the 2005 IDW comics, Clocker from Transformers: Cybertron, Skyblast, Strongarm, and Signal Flare from Transformers: Energon, film series toyline characters Grindcore, Salvage, Tomahawk, Armorhide, Longarm, Trench, Wingblade, Clocker, Depthcharge, Beachbreak, Dune Runner, Knock Out, Signal Flare, Skyblast, Landmine, Highbrow, and Ramhorn, and G1 bots Springer, Gears, the Protectobots, Inferno, Dion, Rollbar, Kup, Sunstreaker, Whirl, Trailbreaker, Brawn, Guzzle, Hoist, Ultra Magnus, Hubcap, Camshaft, and Smokescreen
- For the Decepticons, they have Tidal Wave from Transformers: Armada, Trample, Tread, Macerator, and Kickback from ROTF prequel novel The Veiled Threat, Lugnut, Oil Slick, Blitzwing, and Dirt Boss from Transformers: Animated, Scowl from Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2015), Tankor from Beast Machines, Bayverse toyline characters Windburn, Mudslinger, Sledge, Icepick, Steamhammer, Bombshock, Over-Run, Gunbarrel, Brimstone, Space Case, Terradive, Hardtop, Storm Surge, Blademaster, Fearswoop, Ransack, Overkill, Smolder, Undertow, and Reverb, and the Rainmakers, Coneheads, Combaticons, Stunticons, Nacelle, Hotlink, Bitstream, Mindwipe, Bludgeon, Cyclonus, and Skullcruncher from G1
- The Star Seekers from the Aligned Universe make an appearance, with their membership composed of Autobots and Decepticons from the canceled Transformers: Universe online game.
- A Thunderwing inspired by his counterpart from Transformers: Prime – The Game appears along with Jhiaxus from Transformers: Generation 2 and Straxus from The Transformers (Marvel).
- The Blentrons from Beast Wars Neo make an appearance as Thunderwing's subordinates.
- Gnaw and his Sharkticon brethren from G1 appears as Quintessa's minions.
- The Chosen One: Adam Nova turns out to be Nova Prime, the prophesized Prime of Life that Alpha Trion spoke of long ago in Cybertron's ancient past.
- Composite Character:
- Cyclonus is a purple jet-former like his G1 counterpart while having the maniacal personality of his Armada incarnation.
- The Fallen is a Tragic Villain like in Transformers Aligned Universe.
- Decomposite Character: Nemesis Prime remains separate from Optimus rather than being the name he takes up after Quintessa brainwashes him.
- Dragon with an Agenda: While outwardly serving Quintessa, Thunderwing actually seeks to revive his true master Unicron by turning Cybertron into a new body for the Chaos Bringer.
- Evil Knockoff: After Quintessa fails to make Optimus submit to her will, she deploys a clone of him tailor-made to obey her commands dubbed Nemesis Prime to retrieve Merlin's staff.
- Half the Man He Used to Be:
- Nemesis Prime is sliced in half lengthwise by Optimus Prime, who remarks that the dark Prime is nothing compared to him.
- Dragstrip and Dead End are cut in half by Wingblade after Squeeks destroys the Decepticon gun emplacement that was pinning down the Autobot-human coalition's forces.
- Happily Adopted: Adam Nova was adopted by the Yeagers after the Battle of Hong Kong and has enjoyed a close bond with them, and Izabella is later taken under their wing.
- Heroic Willpower: Optimus Prime manages to resist Quintessa's brainwashing this time around thanks to his iron will and unshakable belief in justice.
- Humongous Mecha: Thunderwing and Tidal Wave are the largest Cybertronians in the story apart from Omega Supreme.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Skullcruncher is run through his head and chest by Drift after the Autobot samurai double-teams him with Crosshairs.
- The Juggernaut: Thunderwing is practically unstoppable due to his impenetrable armor and monstrous strength, being able to knock Omega Supreme to the ground when he first arrives on Earth.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: Bruticus elects to retreat after seeing the Stunticons die at the hands of Wingblade and Highbrow.
- Locked Out of the Loop: As Prowl notes in his journal entry, most members of the Transformers Reactionary Force were members of Cemetery Wind who were left in the dark regarding the atrocities that their old boss Attinger committed.
- Magnetism Manipulation: Nova Prime is capable of using electromagnetism to his advantage in combat, most notably immobilizing Thunderwing and disabling his chest-mounted cyclone cannon before throwing the herald of Unicron into space.
- Mythology Gag: Like his counterpart in Transformers: Fall of Cybertron, Slug knocks a door down on an enemy bot and mockingly tells them "Excuse me" as they're crushed underneath.
- Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: Quintessa's characterization here dives headlong into this trope, with her main motivation for draining Unicron's essence to power Cybertron centered around proving her deluded belief of herself being the prophesized "Prime of Life" right rather than any genuine concern for her home world.
- Off with His Head!:
- Ruination gets his head torn off by Jolt after the whip-wielding Autobot gangs up on him with Sideswipe, losing his left arm to Sideswipe's blades in the process.
- Kup tears Dropkick's head from his body.
- Race Lift: Nova Prime is a half human, half Cybertronian hybrid rather than pure Cybertronian.
- Related in the Adaptation: Nitro Zeus is Shockwave's younger brother in this continuity rather than a fanboy of the Decepticon scientist and assassin.
- Smug Snake: Quintessa is arrogant enough to believe she's the one destined to save Cybertron when all evidence states that she is far from the case. In fact, as Nova Prime recounts to the Autobots, Megatronus Prime was able to use Quintessa's ego to manipulate her into joining his plan to destroy Unicron at the cost of Earth's life-forms by tricking her into believing herself the prophesized Prime of Life while she was none the wiser to his darker ambitions.
- Soft Water: In Optimus Prime's case, its justified by the fact that Cybertronians are quite resilient, allowing him to splash into the Atlantic Ocean from Earth's atmosphere relatively unscathed.
- Space Pirates: Like their Aligned Universe counterparts, the Star Seekers are a pirate gang made up of various bots from all sides who do not want to pick a side in the Autobot-Decepticon War, taking up careers as spaceborne raiders plundering whatever they can get from other civilizations to survive.
- Spared by the Adaptation:
- Canopy gets to be rescued by the heroes and find sanctuary among the Autobots.
- Onslaught lives past the junkyard battle and later moves to Titan with his fellow Decepticons.
- Nitro Zeus never gets his head blown off by Bumblebee during the final battle since he's not on Cybertron in the first place.
- Squashed Flat: Wildfire is crushed underfoot by Stratosphere during the plutonium retrieval mission Ironhide, Salvage, Longarm, Brawn, and Armorhide are in.
- Ungrateful Bastard:
- The default response of the world's leaders towards Cybertronians is to basically lump them together as "enemies" even though the Autobots have helped saved Earth's bacon from the Decepticons many times over. Lennox even lampshades the sheer stupidity behind such thought processes while he's being briefed on TRF operations.
- After Cybertron's restoration, the world's leaders decide the best way to thank Earth's saviors is to demand compensation for the damage Cybertron inflicted on Earth, most notably access to Cybertronian technology. Luckily, Nova Prime shuts them up real fast by revealing all the atrocities Cemetery Wind committed against Cybertronians and humans, ensuring that everyone knows the truth about what happened after the Battle of Chicago.
- Unstoppable Rage: Rewind's death causes Nova Prime to fly into a rage, with the young Prime awakening his Magnetism Manipulation powers and throwing Thunderwing into deep space after disabling the herald of Unicron's cyclone cannon.
- We Named the Monkey "Jack": Annabelle Lennox's baby brother, Aaron Hyde Lennox, was named in honor of Ironhide.
