. Volume 1 begins here. It centers around a small group of Decepticons stranded on Earth, led by Megatron, after their ship the ''Nemesis' is shot down by Autobot forces. Said Autobot forces, a crew consisting mostly of disgraced Autobot officers indlucing their leader Ultra Magnus, have been tasked with retrieving the key to Vector Sigma by the Autobot's tyrannical overlod Optimus Prime, in order to decide once and for all the brutal civil war raging on their home planet Cybertron and its colonies.
Though initially trying their best to keep hidden with the help of the American government and their liaison agent Fowler, the Decepticons are forced to reveal themselves to protect the human teenagers Miko and Jack, who, along with the curious Raf, become their human partners and allies. But the Autobots aren't the only villainous faction the Decepticons have to worry about: MECH, a human extremist organization led by an ominous figure known only as Silas, and the mercenaries Arcee and Cliffjumper, whose employer aims to carry out a centuries-old vendetta against all of Cybertron, also seek to use Earth to further their own plans.
Shattered Glass Prime provides examples of:
- Action Girl: Multiple examples on both sides of the conflict. For the Nemesis crew it's Airachnid, who may be a good deal smaller than her fellow 'cons, but kicks just as much tailpipe as they do.
- Adaptation Expansion:
- In Prime, Airachnid's spider-like features and connection to the Insecticons went unexplained. Given that she's a central character in this comic, she's given a much more detailed backstory, establishing her as a subset of Insecticon and featuring her fellow spider-formers Blackarachnia and Tarantulus.
- The Fantastic Caste System Cybertron operated on pre-war, along with the immense social inequality it brought, was only barely mentioned in Prime when Ratchet admits there were issues with Cybertronian society even before the Decepticons started to go off the deep end. Here, the caste system and the characters' stances on it are an important part of the plot, with most of the Decepticons rightfully abhorring it for its cruelty while most of the Autobots see it as the rightful Prime-given order that must be enforced at all costs, lest Cybertron fall into chaos.
- Adaptation Personality Change: Compared to their main counterparts, Jack is a thrill-seeking, yet well-intentioned, rough-houser, Miko has technical knowledge with the sense of responsibility to match, and Rafael has a thing for sketching animals.
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: Being Shattered Glass, the Decepticons are allies of Agent Fowler, Miko, Rafael, and Jack while the Autobots threaten them.
- Adaptational Wimp:
- In the main series Soundwave is a nigh-unstoppable silent menace, whose Combat Tentacles and teamwork with Laserbeak make short work of anyone foolish enough to challenge him head-on. Soundwave in this comic is not only a fair bit smaller that his mainverse counterpart, but also physically weaker, struggling against opponents like Strongarm, whom he practically wiped the floor with when they came to blows in the mainverse.
- Bumblebee in the mainverse is an incredibly competent and heroic scout, who, as Smokescreen puts it, is able to tangle with the best of them. In this universe, he's little more than a cowardly braggart, who is easily dealt with whenever he tries to pick a fight.
- Aliens Are Bastards:
- The Autobots, as per usual in Shattered Glass. They're a faction brimming with Fantastic Racism and adhering to a Fantastic Caste System, seeing a Cybertronians' worth purely in their altmode and thinking of every other race as inferior at best.
- The Quintessons. They're a race of half-organic, half-mechanoid beings who see all fully mechanoid races as nothing more than machines to be used for slave labor. They even occupied all of Cybertron in a past war and exploited it's population until the Cybertronians succesfully fought back and slayed their leader Deeseus, forcing them to retreat. However, Volume 2 reveals that Deeseus is still alive and kicking and that he might have redirected his attention to Earth. However, a page detailing the landmarks of the planet Aquatron reveals that an areas used to brainwash slaves was also used to brainwash quintessons who felt sympathy for them, as well as the planet's freedom was gained in part from the aid of a quintesson named Aquarius.
- Aliens Speaking English: Justified, since the Decepticons have been on Earth for a good while and have spent the majority of their time in the United States. Averted for Megatron's and Starscream's first meeting with Fowler. Megatron actually didn't know how to speak English at that time and had to download that knowledge mid-conversation. His first sentence to Fowler is entirely in Cybertronian before he manages to switch.
- All Webbed Up: Airachnid's go-to strategy when in battle, as she'd rather incapacitate opponents than kill them. Gets used against her in Volume 2, as Arcee correctly deduces Airachnid's hesitance to kill to mean she's never done so before and uses that to break free from the webbing and mode-lock Airahcnide into her motorcycle altmode.
- Ambiguously Gay: The comic at first played it a bit coy with the exact nature of Knock Out's and Breakdown's relationship, not helped by Knock Out's dramatic personality having been turned down significantly from his mainverse counterpart's constant Camp Gay antics. This was eventually subverted for good in Volume 2, where their relationship is explicitly stated to be romantic, as well as being confirmed in a bunch of supplementary material.
- And This Is for...: When starting her assault on Cliffjumper and Arcee in Volume 2, Airachnid proclaims that the enusing beatdown will be for her destroyed hive as well as her sister Blackarachnia.
- Animal Motif:
- Beastformers all have robot-modes that resemble animals. Ratbat looks like a bat and uses echo-location, Ravage resembles a cat and has very sharp claws and so on and so forth.
- Insecticons resemble various insects and arachnids, down to having a queen as a ruler and living in a hive.
- Art Evolution: As the comic went on, the characters started to be drawn with thicker lines and more details.
- The Atoner:
- Breakdown still feels guilty for abandoning Bulkhead during a Decepticon protest gone wrong and sees joining the Decepticons as a way to make up for his cowardice back then.
- It's implied that Flamewar is slowly coming to sincerely regret everything she's done when she was still with the Autobots.
- Bad Boss:
- Optimus Prime's insanity, delusional believe that he's The Chosen One and tendency to brutalize his own troops makes him an unstable and mercurial leader at best.
- Ultra Magnus isn't much better, showing little regard to the drones under his command and demoting and punishing his crew if they fail him even once.
- Berserk Button: For Optimus Prime, not being recognized as the "rightful Prime" is a major one.
- Big Bad: Optimus Prime, as the leader of the villainous Autobots.
- Big Bad Ensemble: While Optimus is treated as the biggest threat overall, several other antagonists take a way more active role in the story than he does, due to him currently being stuck on Cybertron with no idea of the Nemesis crew's whereabouts. Major enemies on Earth include the Hyperion crew lead by Ultra Magnus, Arcee and Cliffjumper (who are employed by Deeseus) and Silas and MECH, all of which have their own goals and interests concerning Earth.
- Boisterous Weakling: Bumblebee is an arrogant, pompous braggart who believes himself to be one of the best warriors among the Autobot ranks. In truth, however, he's just a wimpy scout who doesn't pose much of a threat to the Decepticons.
- Bounty Hunter: Arcee and Cliffjumper in this story are unaligned mercenaries who work for whoever will pay them the most.
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Arcee has committed so many deeds in her career that in response to Airachnid’s hatred for what happened to her fellow Insecticons, including Blackarachnia, she shows casual indifference.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: The Autobots employ this frequently to get information from their POWs. Some of them even threaten the humans with it, just for fun.
- The Corrupter: According to the associated mini-comics, Dai Atlas of the Cybertronian Senate was the one who manipulated Orion Pax into having him question the success of the Decepticons' goals and then goaded him into assassinating Sentinel Prime when the latter was starting to support Megatron. Although it's downplayed as the epilogue shows that Orion always had power-hungry tendencies, Dai Atlas only made them worse.
- Car Fu: Using vehicle mode to ram or drive over your opponents is a commonly used tactic by both sides. Strongarm sneak-attacks Ravage this way in Volume 2.
- Covers Always Lie: The cover for Volume 2 depicts Airachnid in battle with Optimus Prime, apparently in the middle of webbing him up. Optimus isn't even on Earth at this point in the story and the Autobot Airachnid ends up having a climactic battle with in Volume 2 is Arcee, not Optimus.
- Cute Mute: Soundwave can only "speak" through playing back soundbites of others talking. Combined with him being The Faceless, this would make him come across as creepy as his mainverse counterpart, were it not for his compassion, his love for his symbiotes and his passion for music.
- Deadpan Snarker: Really everyone gets a good sarcastic one-liner in from time to time. The most prevalent examples being Knock Out and Nautica.
- Defector from Decadence: Two members of Strika's team, Flamewar (formerly Flareup) and Brainstorm defected from the Autobots-the former after her part in Ultra Magnus's attempt on Optimus's life came out, the latter after he was left behind by his fellow Autobots when they retreated from their base.
- Demonization: In a twist of the original series' set-up, it's the Autobot government doing this to the Decepticons, portraying them as Ax-Crazy Bomb-Throwing Anarchists who seek Cybertron's destruction by tearing down the caste system to the general populace. The very name 'Decepticon' is basically a slur, made up of the words Con (Constructed) and deception/deceitful. The Decepticons chose to wear the name as a badge of honor, because if speaking truth is deception, they're gladly guilty.
- Determinator:
- Megatron. Even being stabbed and slowly bleeding out only slows him down at most.
- Unfortunately, Optimus Prime. He will stop at nothing to regain the key to Vector Sigma and make himself the one true Prime, so he can lead Cybertron into a new Golden Age.
- Dirty Cop: Strongarm has no qualms about fabricating evidence or physically assaulting someone to provoke them into fighting back so she can bring them in on charges of assaulting an officer.
- Drill Tank: Used in pretty much all of the Autobots' energon mines.
- Dual Wielding:
- Wheeljack, as in the original series.
- Starscream fights with two elegant longswords.
- The Echoer: The only way Soundwave can "talk", due to Optimus tearing out his voice box to keep him from telling anybody what really happened to Sentinel Prime.
- Electric Torture: Windblade does this to Starscream in the supplementary comic "Just Talke To Me!" She doesn't come into the interrogation aching to do so and in fact, tries to get Starscream to give her information by just asking him for it. After Starscream calls her out hard on her Condescending Compassion and general hypocrisy though, she's real quick to pick up an energon prod and mercilessly torture him.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Arcee and Cliffjumper, immoral mercenaries they are, love no one else but each other.
- Evil Former Friend: Megatron and Orion Pax/Optimus Prime. They used to fight for equality together, but Orion's own desire for power eventually caused him to betray Megatron and undermine the entire Decepticon-cause.
- Evil Is Bigger:
- Due to his matrix-given upgrade, this Optimus Prime is bigger than Megatron and by extension most other Cybertronians.
-
Word of God explains that this applies to most characters when compared to their canon counterpart, with Decepticons generally being smaller while most Autobots are larger to fit in with the cartoon trope of villains being bigger than the heroes.
- Fantastic Caste System: Before the war, Cybertron had a strict caste system, featuring manuals like the future Megatron, archivists such as Orion Pax, and "disposables" that included Soundwave and his Minicons. The Autobots continue to uphold it under Optimus Prime's regime, while the Decepticons have opposed it ever since their formation as a movement.
- Fantastic Racism:
- Higher caste bots usually have nothing but disdain for those of the lower caste, like mine workers and beastformers.
- Airachnid has issues with organic lifeforms just as Arcee and Cliffjumper see her as a "bug". The former gets better, the latter two don't.
- The Fundamentalist: Starscream and Knock Out butted heads over the validity of Unicron and Primus's existences in Volume 1.
- Great Offscreen War: Twofold.
- The war against the Quintessons was a pivotal event in Cybertron's history, directly leading to the return of the Primes with Infinitus' ascension to Sentinel Prime and subsequent defeat of the Quintessons' leader, as well as the instation of the caste system to speed along the rebuilding of Cybertron's infrastructure. Several characters are old enough to be veterans of that war, but we only see some of it in Shockwave's forced flashbacks in Volume 3.
- Zig-zagged with the war on Cybertron between the Autobots and the Decepticons. Unlike in the original series, Cybertron is ravaged by war, but not completely dead. The conflict is also still going, due to the lack of an exodus from the planet by both sides, but the plot mainly centers around the fighting on Earth with only brief cutaways to Cybertron and how the 'Cons are holding up there.
- Greater-Scope Villain: Primus. That's right, God himself is (or is at least build up to be) the final boss, as the one directly responsible for the creation of Optimus Prime, in order to force his twisted sense of order onto the universe.
- God Is Evil: Primus in the Shattered Glass universe, is a cruel perfectionist who "deletes" any species that doesn't meet his standards, up to and including his own first creation Prima. He's also The Man Behind the Man for Optimus, having corrupted Vector Sigma into making Optimus into a twisted version of a Prime after the Matrix of Leadership rejected him.
- Handicapped Badass:
- Soundwave had his voicebox torn out and his face disfigured to the point of having to have it replaced with a blank black visor, but he didn't let that keep him down for long. In the present, he's one of Megatron's most trusted lieutenants and, while not on his mainverse counterpart's level, still a capable warrior in the field.
- An evil version with Ultra Magnus, who had his hand chopped off by Optimus Prime as punishment for his attempted coup during the war, but is still a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: In the battle with Airachnid and Jack, Arcee, in an attempt to attack them, ends up shooting a leaking energon pump of her own ship, resulting in a huge explosion that nearly kills her.
- Hypocrite: Windblade disapproves of higher caste prisoners of war being tortured and views Ratchet brainwashing and physically altering his test subjects as barbaric. But the second someone she interrogates talks back too much or says something she doesn't like, she's more than willing to rough them up, standing in the caste system be damned.
- Infodump: Volume 1 has regular exposition speeches by the Cybertronian characters, though to be fair, it's the volume that has to set everything up and convey to the viewers what the characters are all about. Volume 2 and 3 get better with this, keeping the exposition more organic by having it conveyed through conversations.
- "It" Is Dehumanizing: Arcee and Cliffjumper look down upon Airachnid as a "bug".
- Insistent Terminology: To Megatron, Optimus Prime remains "Orion Pax" just as many Autobots view "low caste Cybetronians" like Megatron himself as "D-16".
- Jerkass Has a Point: In Dai Atlas's own words, the best Cybertronians to perform mining and medical work are those that are constructed for such tasks, and Orion reluctantly agreed with him that he himself would not last in Megatron's occupation, nor would he feel comfortable being operated on by a “lamppost”. Downplayed, as this is mostly an excuse both use to not even try to reform the system.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Flamewar still has a very entitled, borderline racist attitude towards Cybertronians whose altmodes she views as lesser, but there are signs she's genuinely starting to better herself and is becoming more heroic.
- Living Ship: The Nemesis is actually a Titan named Trypticon. For some reason or another he stopped speaking to his crew after being heavily damaged by Windblade during the war. (Breakdown speculates that he simply can't talk anymore.)
- Mirror Universe: It wouldn't have "Shattered Glass" in the title if it weren't.
- Mugging the Monster: During Breakdown's pirate days, he and the rest of the Stunticons decided it would be a brilliant idea to try and rob a seemingly defunct Decepticon ship. Unfortunately for them, Megatron was aboard said ship and they were soon disabused of the notion that this would be an easy job.
- My Greatest Second Chance: Breakdown once left his then best friend, Bulkhead, to fend for himself when the Functionaries were responding to Pro-Decepticon activity that Bulkhead was taking part in. When telling Raf the story, he says that joining the Decepticons himself felt like a chance to do good.
- Mythology Gag:
- Megatron's explanation as to why his faction are calling themselves Decepticons in an ask is word for word the same as his original series counterpart's answer of the same question to an amnesiac Orion Pax in "Orion Pax, Part 1". Only this time it's completely sincere and true.
- Trypticon saved his crew from an Autobot ambush by paralyzing them with stasis beams and then using his internal space bridge to warp them to Earth. His counterpart in Prime did the same thing to his crew in "Flying Mind", but his motives were much less benevolent.
- A map of the Cybertronian colony world Aquatron states that the planet's liberation was aided by a rogue quintesson named Aquarius, a heroic quintesson from the original Shattered Glass comics. It's also mentioned that Aquarius spends much of his current time stoned of experimental drugs. A likely nod to the original Aquarius' hippie theme.
- Never My Fault: Optimus refuses to take responsibility for any of his crimes, from the murder of Sentinel Prime that he pinned on Megatron to the destruction of the Cybertronian colony of Prion.
- Noble Bigot: Deconstructed heavily with Windblade. Any nobility she displays is incredibly shallow at best and comes across more like Condescending Compassion than genuine kindness.
- Noodle Incident: Breakdown tells Raf that he would’ve spent time in a Decepticon brig if he didn’t join them.
- Only in It for the Money: Arcee and Cliffjumper work for anyone with the right amount of money for them.
- The Political Officer: Strongarm's role aboard the Hyperion, which is crewed by Ultra Magnus and Wheeljack among others who have fallen out of favor with Optimus.
- Punch-Clock Villain: A few of the Autobots qualify:
- Nautica, the chief engineer on the Hyperion, was drafted into the Autobot forces after her home planet allied itself with the Autobots, and despite relishing the chance to see the wider galaxy, has doubts about her place serving the Autobots.
- Bulkhead is the chief of mining operations for the Hyperion crew who only works for the Autobots out of necessity and could care less about the Autobot cause or functionism. Later chapters show that he may not have even been given a choice in joining thanks to being Shadowplayed by Slipstream.
- Pharma is an Autobot medic who was ordered to dispose of Soundwave after his fateful encounter with Optimus that cost him his voice and face. After discovering Soudwave was Not Quite Dead, he instead opted to patch up the worst of his wounds, and leave him to be found by his fellow Decepticons.
- Related in the Adaptation: Blackarachnia and Airachnid are "sisters" here.
- Shout-Out:
- Knock Out threatens Ravage with a cone of shame in Volume 2.
- A flashback shows Breakdown's first meeting with Motormaster in a Bar Full of Aliens. Among said bar patrons are some andalites and daleks.
- Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil: The Quintessons are notorious for enslaving mechanoid races like the Cybertronians for their own benefit.
- The Starscream: While the named Starscream is genuinely loyal to the Decepticons, Ultra Magnus once tried to usurp power from Optimus after nearly killing him, and it appears that Strongarm seeks to oppose the former as well out of loyalty to the latter. Ultra Magnus himself also still hasn't given up on overthrowing Optimus.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Despite Flareup's defection to the Decepticons and renaming as Flamewar, primarily to save herself from aiding Ultra Magnus's failed coup attempt, Slipstream prefers to keep her at a distance.
- Token Non-Human: Of a sort, as the Cybertron-based Decepticons are revealed to have recruited the services of Slizardo, a reptilian alien warrior originating from the original cartoon.
- We Used to Be Friends: Optimus and Megatron, Windblade and Starscream, Bulkhead and Breakdown, the list goes on.
- You Are Number 6: Lower caste Cybertronians and drones are forbidden from having a name under the caste system. Instead, they're identified by a string of numbers and letters. The Decepticons actively defy this by choosing names for themselves to replace their original numbers. The Autodrones start to defy it as well as the comic goes on, but aren't as open about it.
- You Killed My Father: Leader and Sister, actually, but Airachnid has a deep hatred of Arcee for killing the Insecticon Queen and Blackarachnia in the past.
