Unspace
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This article is a featured article, and considered to be one of the most informative on this wiki.
| This subject of this article goes by multiple names that apply to other articles as well. See Subspace (AB), Infraspace, Foldspace. |
Unspace is the void of nothingness that exists outside of normal space and time, sandwiched between the infinite dimensions of the multiverse, acting as a buffer between universes. Down through Transformers history, it has been referred to with a great many different names, including transwarp space (or just "transwarp"), the warp dimension, overspace, underspace, infraspace, subspace, foldspace, and the bleed.
Many well-known Cybertronian technologies utilize the properties of unspace to function, even if their creators or users do not always understand the specifics, or even the fact that they are using unspace at all. Most famously, the space bridge, which allows a traveller to traverse vast intergalactic distances almost instantaneously by means of a "short-cut" through unspace, while Transwarp Drive allows for travel through time as well. In more common, everyday usage, personalized subspace storage pockets give Transformers the ability to store their weapons, and in some cases shunt their mass, into unspace.
However, its widespread use does not necessarily mean that unspace has a glowing reputation. The precision and energy needed to access it often makes the technology required very temperamental, and hugely susceptible to disruption if its delicate balance is disturbed. Make one wrong move when voyaging through unspace, and it is very likely that you may not end up in the same time period, or even the same universe, that you started in... if you're fortunate enough to end up in a universe at all, and not cast adrift in its formless emptiness. And even this is not the worst that could befall a hapless castaway, because despite its seeming emptiness, unspace is home to a collection of enigmatic, malignant, shapeless entities, and for them to take notice of a stranded traveller is a fate far worse than a mere eternity of solitude. Fortunately, the inhabitants of one of the older, more advanced realities have appointed themselves stewards of the multiverse and taken it upon themselves to trawl unspace, oftentimes rescuing both the on-purpose and the accidental travellers that find themselves lost in its unending expanse.
Conceptual history
The idea of "extra-dimensional space" used for highly accelerated travel is, of course, not unique to Transformers, being a long-standing trope of science fiction. Though not often discussed in detail, this method of transit was in play from virtually the very beginning of Transformers fiction: space bridges explicitly operated on the principle in both the original The Transformers cartoon and Marvel comic, with the dangers of the interdimensional void occasionally serving as plot points. Many subsequent Generation 1 stories would feature pieces of technology that operated on this system, with many different names for the interdimensional space involved being used.
Early on, the concept of Transformers making use of extra-dimensional space was much more prolific as one of the earliest bits of widespread fanon in the burgeoning online fandom. Dubbed "subspace" by fans—again, a popular science-fiction term for the concept—it essentially arose as an explanation for perhaps the most famous question of all: "Where does Optimus Prime's trailer go when he transforms?" When the Autobot leader transformed into robot mode in the original cartoon, his trailer would almost always slide out of the frame, not to be seen again until he transformed back into truck mode, at which point it would come sliding in to connect back up with him. Fans warmed to the notion that it was being shunted into this subspace, where it remained until Prime summoned it back, a concept that also helped to explain the assorted cases of size changing evident in Transformers fiction, with the notion that characters who shrank when they transformed did so by shunting their extraneous mass into subspace.
This "subspace" theory also helped to explain where characters' weaponry disappeared to when they transformed into vehicle mode, and happened to line up well with a sparse few instances in the cartoon that featured the animation "cheat" of having some characters' weapons appear or disappear in a simple flash of light (a similar effect was even used on Optimus Prime's trailer in "The Ultimate Doom, Part 2"). Subsequent Japanese-exclusive Generation 1 cartoons Super-God Masterforce and Victory would later make prolific use of this effect, even turning it into a plot point in one instance, bringing more concrete validation to the idea.
Eventually, subspace was canonized, by name, in 2004 by the Story of Binaltech, which established it as the void between dimensions, and saw characters travel through it to reach separate dimensions.
In 1996, the Beast Wars cartoon introduced the world to transwarp technology. This tech was explained to operate by opening a window into "transwarp space", through which travellers could access entire other times and dimensions, and it was shown to do just that in the very first episode, before going on to play a recurring key role in numerous stories throughout the rest of the series as beyond. As the most consistent and explicit use of inter-dimensional-transit technology, its name began to be used in other fictions too. The first episode of the 2001 Robots in Disguise referred to a space bridge using transwarp technology, and Animated would continue to use the terms interchangeably.
Perhaps the most important addition to the ongoing story of interdimensional space was the 2008 prose story "Gone Too Far", produced for the Transformers Collectors' Club by longtime fans Greg Sepelak and Trent Troop. This story took the huge final step of combining the myriad depictions of interdimensional space together, establishing that they were all the same thing (see the quote up top) and using "transwarp" as its primary name. In the process, they canonized the fanon idea of "subspace storage pockets", in which Transformers could keep their personal paraphernalia. "Transwarp" remained the primary term for the concept (and was used as the title of this wiki article) until the late 2010s/early 2020s, when Transformers: Cyberverse, War for Cybertron, and IDW's Beast Wars comic book all collectively began using "unspace" to refer to the interdimensional void—a term plucked from issue #69 the original Marvel comic book—which is probably for the best, as it enables us to distinguish the location from the technology!
A few other barren extra-dimensional realms have sporadically appeared in Transformers fiction, perhaps most notably the utter void of complete non-existence left in the wake of Unicron's passing. Sepelak and Troop's "Withered Hope" noted that this is what exists outside of all reality itself, while unspace is what is between dimensions, a slight but key distinction. Others exist that are so sparsely explained that they are harder to quantify and relate to the unspace concept, such as the UK Generation 1 comics' parasite-infested Limbo, or the fleetingly-referenced, more metaphysical "infraspace" from IDW's Escalation. For these and other more vague, possibly-related concepts, see the list below.
Fiction
Generation 1 cartoon continuity
The Transformers cartoon
Stranded on Earth in 1984, the Decepticons developed space bridge technology in order to facilitate the transport of resources to and from Cybertron. The bridge operated by opening a portal into interdimensional space—described by Megatron as a "cold, dark void"—and generating a path across it in the form of a beam of light, which a traveller was required to focus upon, lest they risk becoming lost in nothingness. To become lost was to "cease to exist", according to Megatron, Transport to Oblivion or in the more dramatic parlance of Shockwave, to be "catapulted into oblivion". The Ultimate Doom, Part 1 Although they would occasionally hijack the space bridge for their own purposes, the Autobots never developed a system of their own, instead working in concert with humanity in the early 21st Century to create a network of warp gates that operated on a similar principle, with the advantage of fixed entry/exit points, versus the constant relocation the Decepticon space bridge design required. Five Faces of Darkness, Part 3
Instances of Transformers visibly displacing their weapons and paraphernalia were rare, but not unheard of; Ravage's proton bombs disappeared in a flicker of purple light when he transformed to enter Teletraan I More than Meets the Eye, Part 2; Kickback's gun manifested in his hands in a purple flash during the Insecticons' first battles with the Autobots A Plague of Insecticons; Cyclonus summoned his oxidating laser into his hand while confronting the Autobots in their mausoleum Dark Awakening; and Blurr once did the same to his electro-laser. 1986 commercial bumper The glow-effect seen to accompany these displacements also appeared in a few other vanishingly rare instances that subspace can probably be attributed to: Jazz's forearm once glowed orange when he substituted his hand for his grappling hook More than Meets the Eye, Part 2; Optimus Prime's trailer sported a pronounced golden glow in one instance when he called it to him; The Ultimate Doom, Part 2 and Soundwave shimmered with a white halo as he grew back to full size in one unique transformation sequence. Transport to Oblivion
The Quintessons had also perfected a means of interdimensional travel, using a secret chamber to teleport criminals of their race away to different dimensions. One such realm was described as a "dimension without substance"; subsequent evidence indicates that this realm was actually interdimensional space itself. Madman's Paradise
Japanese cartoon continuity
The Autobot/human alliance that brought about warp gate technology began with the development of the Trigger space station, which even the Decepticons recognized as superior to their own space bridge system and attempted to appropriate. Damage done to the Trigger's systems in the attempt caused it briefly punch a hole through time. The Battle of the Star Gate By the year 2011, however, warp gates had fallen into disuse among the Autobots, who instead finally adopted space bridge technology for themselves, setting up a network between Cybertron, Autobot City on Earth, and their secondary command post on Athenia. Four Warriors Come out of the Sky The Trainbots usually ferried travellers through the inter-dimensional space the bridge traversed, though transit grew dangerous when the gravimetric balance of the bridge was destabilized following the destruction of Mars. The Autobots' access to Earth was subsequently greatly diminished when their space bridge was destroyed by the Decepticons. Daniel Faces His Biggest Crisis Ever!!
Weaponry displacement gradually became a much more common sight in the years that followed 2011; Godmaster warrior Ginrai was often seen to summon up his cannons into his hands with a flash of light. The great users of this technique, though, were Star Saber, Deathsaurus and their warriors, who would regularly manifest their various weapons during battle. Their frequent use of the technique offered some more insight into its working, suggesting that a Transformer uses some of their personal energy supply in summoning a weapon, and in keeping it summoned: When Deathsaurus was poised to slay Star Saber with his Living-Metal-Destroying Cannon, the weapon fizzled out and de-materialized because he did not have the energy to spare. Attempting to summon his sword immediately afterward, Deathsaurus could only manifest the blade for a moment before it too faded out. Resurrection!? The Decepticon Fortress
Story of Binaltech
To increase the Autobots' manpower, Chip Chase invented the Genetronic Translink System, which allowed a Transformer's spark to be safely stored in subspace, and from there, control multiple Binaltech bodies via translink ports installed on them. GT Units Online! Later, Wheeljack attempted to use the GT System to transfer Prowl's spark into a new body from across the solar system by moving it through subspace. Unfortunately, a Decepticon attack caused the system to malfunction, and Prowl's spark was lost to the void. Prowl & Chase A few years later, Prowl's spark found its way through the infinite vastness of subspace and materialized in a parallel timeline where the Binaltech project had died out. Unfortunately, this did not put him beyond the reach of his timeline's Decepticons, who used a neuro-net frame, hooked up to subspace node, to locate his spark across the dimensions and drain energy from it to power a synthetic electrum monster they had created. An Autobot from the timeline Prowl had travelled to, Bluestreak, voyaged across subspace to team up with the Autobots of Prowl's home time, stop the Decepticons, and restore Prowl to his true body. Unfinished Business, Part 1 Unfinished Business, Part 2
Marvel The Transformers comics
The Decepticons' space bridge was designed to resemble a suspension bridge, and when activated, the swirling void of interdimensional space became visible through the "cables" that formed its sides. To fall from the bridge into the void was to be immediately and explosively destroyed, a fate met by several Autobots and Decepticons during an attempt by Blaster's rebel cell to destroy the bridge. The Bridge to Nowhere!
To counter the space bridge, the Autobots later bridged the interdimensional gulf with their new trans-time dimensional portal technology. King Con! When Megatron attempted to use this technology to escape an impending implosion in his base on Cybertron, he was stopped by Ratchet, Skin Deep, only for the subsequent blast to first hurl the two combatants through the portal, then damage the device enough to cause it to shut down before they could emerge on the other side. Consequently, the pair were left stranded in interdimensional space—called "unspace" by Nightbeat, the "nothingness between realities"—before being recovered by an automated probe the Autobot detective sent into the void to find them. Eye of the Storm
Beast Era
Beast Wars & Beast Machines cartoons
At some point during the three hundred years that followed the end of the Great War, the transwarp cell was perfected, allowing for the creation of the Transwarp Drive. The drive allowed starships equipped with it to voyage across time and space by generating their own portals through what Cybertronian culture now termed "transwarp space", without the requirement of the grounded entrance or exit portal that the space bridge before it had required. Having been aware that the technology was in development as far back as the 20th century, Megatron encoded a message on the Golden Disk, leaving instructions for any descendants of the Decepticons who found his missive to use transwarp tech to travel back in time and alter history in the Decepticons' favor. The Agenda (Part 2) The descendant who realized this scheme was the Predacon also known as Megatron, who stole the transwarp-enabled ship Darksyde and brought his troops back in time to prehistoric Earth, only to be pursued by Optimus Primal's Maximal crew. Beast Wars (Part 1)
In order to destroy an alien weapon threatening Earth, Megatron triggered the explosion of a set of transwarp cells, obliterating the weapon, but also claiming Optimus Primal's life. Other Voices, Part 2 By virtue of its very nature, however, the explosion punctured a hole into transwarp space which remained open for some time afterward. This gave Maximal engineer Rhinox the chance to project his core consciousness through the window, piggybacking on the trail left by Primal's spark as it joined the Allspark and actually follow and recover his departed leader's lifeforce from the afterlife itself via transwarp space. Coming of the Fuzors (Part 2) Additionally, the transwarp energies that infused the shockwave of the explosion caused it to move through time as well as space, eventually reaching Cybertron in the Beast Warriors' home time. Alerted to the time-lost Transformers' situation by the wavefront's arrival, the Tripredacus Council dispatched their covert agent Ravage in a transwarp-capable ship to recover them, but his mission met with failure. The Agenda
After defeating the Predacons and capturing Megatron, the Maximals jury-rigged transwarp technology to an Autobot shuttle to effect their return to their home time. Nemesis Part 1 Unfortunately, Megatron broke free during transit through transwarp space and escaped into the vortex, emerging on Cybertron some time before the Maximals' intended arrival date. He proceeded to conquer the planet, so that when the Maximals exited transwarp at their intended time in his relative future, his forces were waiting for them. Revelations Part II: Descent
Beast Wars Neo cartoon
The starships Gung Ho and Dinosaur could achieve faster-than-light travel by travelling through a "warp dimension." Fight! Maximals
3H comics
A constantly-rotating fissure into interdimensional subspace that exists naturally on Cybertron gives rise to the region of the planet known as the J'nwan, where space and time are constantly in flux, and numerous pocket dimensions frequently intersect with the planet itself, producing a maddening landscape among which many Transformers of legend have opted to live out the rest of their days. Paradox
When Unicron was destroyed in the year 2005, his death tore a hole into the "overspace" between dimensions, through which the chaos-bringer's Dark Essence wound its way to prehistoric Earth. Though initially chosen by Shokaract to recover the dark god's essence, Cataclysm was too afraid of being lost to the void should he travel via transwarp, so Antagony went in his stead, though the rigors of unprotected travel through overspace took it out of her, allowing her to be captured by Megatron. Herald Cataclysm went after her, and his worst fears were realized when Windrazor disrupted his transit through transwarp, causing his component molecules to be scattered among the nothingness. Schism After the failure of his Heralds, Shokaract personally travelled through overspace to Earth to ensure the Dark Essence continued to exist, Paradox but wound up cancelling out his own existence. Terminus
Following the end of the Beast Wars, Tarantulas attempted construction of a transwarp portal to bring the captured Matrix of Leadership into Unicron's clutches. Primeval Dawn
After Cryotek seized control of the power of Primus via the Divine Light and began to battle Sentinel Maximus, the Quintesson Al-badur opened a portal to dispose of them by sending them into the formless nothing between worlds. Pulled through the portal along with his intended victims, Al-badur was disintegrated, unable to survive the non-realm, while the power of Primus within Cryotek and Sentinel Maximus sustained them. Maximus, however, was summoned away by Primus, whisked away through the void to emerge in another time and dimension, while Cryotek was left with the sense that he was not alone... Wreckers: Finale Part II
2006 IDW Beast Wars continuity
Magmatron used "transwarp shunt" technology to send himself back in time without using a spacecraft in order to gather up the protoforms that became scattered across prehistoric Earth during the Beast Wars. The Gathering #1 The small number of these protoforms who awoke as Maximals proved more industrious than their forebears, and their leader Razorbeast was able to beam a message through transwarp space to summon a rescue team from the future. He also dispatched Magmatron by blowing up his transwarp shunt platform just as he was attempting to return to the future, The Gathering #4 which resulted in Magmatron becoming dislodged from space and time. The Ascending #1
2021 IDW Beast Wars comic
Cybertronian ships equipped with a Transwarp Drive could access unspace, propelling themselves through both time and space. Within unspace however, the laws of physics differed from those of normal space. After stealing the Golden Disk and a warship, a group of Predacon separatists used their transwarp drive to travel to another world in another time but were pursued by a the Maximal exploration craft Axalon. Savage Landing Part 1
Following the two ships crashing, they were visited by a trio of Vok, Skold discovering this when a scan of hers picked up the unspace signatures that the aliens had left within the Darksyde. Savage Landing Part 2 When the Maximals and Predacons had joined forces to combat the Vok, Skold remembered the anomalous signatures. Knowing that Optimus Primal had recently been in the presence of the Vok, Skold found the same readings on the Maximal leader and concluded that the Vok came from unspace. The Beginning of the End
Working with this theory, Rattrap and Waspinator rerouted the energies of the Axalon's transwarp drive through its weapon systems. When the Vok prepared to destroy all Cybertronians on Earth, the two turned the Axalon's new weapons on the aliens, the Vok becoming one with unspace when struck. With their common foes gone, Megatron turned on Primal only for Rattrap to turn the weapon on the Predacon leader, sending him forward 114 cycles in time. The End
Dreamwave Generation One continuity
When the original thirteen Transformers defeated Unicron in battle at the dawn of time, they did so by blasting the chaos-bringer and his servant, their own traitorous brother The Fallen, into a black hole and out of their dimension. While Unicron proceeded to emerge somewhere else in the multiverse, The Fallen was not so lucky, becoming trapped in the interdimensional void, The Ultimate Guide which he called "underspace". Conflagration Untold eons later, around seven million years before the present day, the Decepticons developed space bridge technology, which operated by traversing this realm, referred to by the Transformers as both "infraspace" and "foldspace". The initial test of the bridge was disrupted by Optimus Prime, and he and Megatron vanished, cast adrift in interdimensional space, while simultaneously opening the pathway for The Fallen, who was at last able to return to the material world. Fragmentation Prime and Megatron were later plucked from infraspace by the Quintessons and brought to their world of Quintessa. Megatron struck a deal with the aliens and returned to Cybertron with a new army, while Prime remained captive until Perceptor was able to probe the mysteries of infraspace and recover him. In the process, Flash made an impromptu trip through the fissure Perceptor had created into the void, experiencing a curious monochromatic "photo negative" vision of the world around him as he traveled through it. The Age of Wrath
2005 IDW continuity
- See also: orbital jump, Emergency warp-out, quantum generator
An unprotected trip through transwarp space was accompanied by a sensory maelstrom in which various points of space and time were experienced simultaneously, as if seeing through four-dimensional compound eyes. Homecoming
The Autobots also made use of subspace as part of their communications network, beaming transmissions through it; it was through this network that Ironfist disseminated his Wreckers: Declassified datalogs Life After the Big Bang and how Tyrest transmitted the signal of his universal killswitch. Arm the Lonely
Transformers vs. G.I. Joe
Ruthless terrorist organization Cobra had interdimensional travel technology in the form of the M.A.S.S. Device, but travel through the void proved fatal to all save for the cybernetically enhanced Destro. Funeral for a Friend Snake-Eyes performed a meditation ritual that he believed would grant him the mastery of body and mind to survive the journey, but when he was tackled into the M.A.S.S. Device portal by a revenge-seeking Duke, the pair were set adrift in interdimensional space. They both clung to Snake-Eyes's sword, which somehow appeared to protect them from the effects of the void, and were then snatched to safety by Optimus Prime, who had wound up trapped in the space between worlds under unknown circumstances, and had adopted a misshapen alternate mode to survive its ravages. Form Follows Function
2019 IDW continuity
Her teleportation ability temporarily enhanced by an experimental rig created by Perceptor, Jumpstream passed through unspace and wound up in a possible future where Cybertron had been conquered by Exarchon. While in transit through the in-between dimension, she was noticed by Skywarp, who had been stranded there years before. Test Flight I On Jumpstream's return trip to her proper time, Skywarp followed in her wake, freeing himself from unspace. Test Flight II
When Skywarp held the Autobots hostage with an imploder, Jumpstream teleported him and it back into unspace, fusing his molecules with the weapon and venting all his energon in the process. She warned that if he tried to teleport back to normal space, the imploder would activate on arrival, killing him. Skywarp lamented his renewed consignment to the dimension as Jumpstream teleported back home. Fate of Cybertron
2001 Robots in Disguise cartoon
Transwarp technology was employed by the Autobots in their Global Space Bridge, a network of subterranean tunnels incorporating transwarp portals that allowed the heroes to travel to any location on Earth within minutes. Battle Protocol! The interior of the Global Space Bridge appeared in a variety of ways; one rendition in particular evoked the typical "empty void" visual that often accompanies uses of transwarp space. Landfill
Additionally, the Predacon ship the Megastar was transwarp-capable. An Explosive Situation
Unicron Trilogy cartoon continuity
- See also: Warp gate, Dimension gate
To cross the interstellar distance from Cybertron to Earth in search of the Mini-Cons in the year 2010, the Autobots and Decepticons used warp gates, which did not require a pre-constructed exit portal at the destination point; each traveler would individually materialize out of transwarp space at their intended location. First Encounter Like space bridges, though, they could be delicate: when Smokescreen unexpectedly entered the gate moments after Optimus Prime and his team had departed through it, he materialize on Earth in an entirely different region of their target continent. Prehistory While on Earth, both factions used instantaneous short-range warp technology to get from place to place, which could span the distance from Earth to its moon. These devices required a transmat pad to send travelers on their way, but unlike space bridges, they could be recalled to base without the need for one. Metamorphosis The interstellar warp gate apparently lacked this recall feature; when the factions were ready to return to their home planet, they had to construct spacecraft to ferry them there. Threaten Depart
By the year 2020, during the war for energon, various Cybertron Cities had been constructed on Earth, each with their own space bridge, allowing for quick and easy transport from planet to planet. These operated on the more familiar "tunnel" principle, generating a glowing pathway through transwarp that riders would drive along, until they emerged through another portal at the tunnel's end. Cybertron City The bridges used during the Cyber Planet Key quest of 2030 operated the same way, though they were only used for transit between Earth and Cybertron; to travel to Cybertron's various colony worlds, the Autobots used instantaneous dimension gates sliced through reality by Vector Prime, while the Decepticons could short-cut through Megatron's fire dimension. Fallen At one point, the Autobots travelled through a naturally-occurring subspace fissure in the Skeleton Nebula to cross over into a different dimension, Warp where their attempt to create a space bridge to get them home exposed them to another of the time-transcending dangers of transwarp tech, when they wound up opening a hole into the past. Guardian
Unicron's herald Ramjet was lost to the infinite reaches of transwarp when his master collapsed into a black hole. Floating helplessly there, he was discovered by the evil entities that inhabited the void, who repeatedly destroyed and recreated him until they grew bored and cast him back into the material universe. Ramjet profile
Dreamwave Armada continuity
In order to open an interdimensional rift so that Unicron could enter this universe, his Heralds invaded the space bridge nexus, a hub of multiple space bridges at Decepticon Command Headquarters on Cybertron. They activated all the bridges, causing overlapping portals to open all across local dimensional space, Worlds Collide, Part 2 of 4 which even resulted in the bridges piercing holes through transwarp to entirely different dimensions. Worlds Collide, Part 4 of 4 The turmoil this caused to the fabric of space/time caused Optimus Prime to vanish into another universe, so the Autobots sent a search probe into subspace through a space bridge. Floating in the gap between realities, the probe began searching through those innumerable other realities, searching for the one into which Prime had disappeared. Worlds Collide, Part 2 of 4 A squad led by Jetfire ended the chaos by destroying the space bridge nexus, but this did not close Unicron's portal Worlds Collide, Part 4 of 4 through which he soon emerged. The End
Live-action film series
- See also: Sarcophagus, Foldspace warhead, Transwarp Key
The Dynasty of Primes were the first to possess the power to traverse the interdimensional gulf, which they did using sarcophagi. Their servants, the Seekers, were also gifted with the power to generate their own personal space bridges so that they could search the universe for stars to feed the AllSpark. Defiance #4 With the death of the Primes and the banishment of The Fallen across the dimensions, the technology was lost to modern Cybertronians until reinvented by Sentinel Prime. Foundation #4 The unexpected activation of the pillars that made up Sentinel's bridge caused his craft, the Ark, to jink uncontrollably across space and time until it crash-landed on Earth's moon in 1961, Convergence chapter 1 but one pillar recovered from the wreckage was used by the Fallen to broach transwarp and allow him to escape his exile. Convergence chapter 4 Sentinel would later be revived and would use his bridge to transport Cybertron into Earth's solar system. Dark of the Moon
A natural subspace fissure known as the Alkaris Anomaly was responsible for warping the AllSpark into Earth's solar system, but its constantly fluctuating nature meant that when Megatron attempted to follow, he was disgorged in some far off corner of the galaxy. To delay the Autobots in following him, he had Devastator unleash a foldspace warhead, which explosively warped its firer and several Autobots to randomized spots across the galaxy. Prelude: Megatron
Animated cartoon
Space bridge technology is openly known to operate by piercing transwarp space. The key component in a bridge's functioning is the plasma dynamic thruster, which is responsible for opening the fissures into interdimensional space that allow for transport. TransWarped In this universe, the term is even used as a verb: one "TransWarps" from place to place.
Transformers also use subspace for means of accelerated long-distance communication, beaming transmissions through it via use of a tachyon transmitter. Human science has yet to master this technology; all attempts remain in the development stage. Mission Accomplished
Two uses of transwarp space collided in amusing fashion when Swindle hijacked the Autobot ship Steelhaven. Using the Autobots' space bridge, Sari Sumdac was able to hack into the frequency Swindle used to access his subspace storage pocket and TransWarped Optimus Prime through it, so that he emerged on the Steelhaven through the access drawer in Swindle's chest. Decepticon Air
TransTech
In one of the oldest realities in the multiverse, Cybertron was never burdened by civil war. Its inhabitants, the Transcendent Technomorphs, instead dedicated themselves to a study of the infinite mysteries of transwarp space, and the other dimensions that could be reached through it. Appointing themselves stewards of the multiverse, the TransTech constantly monitor transwarp (or "the bleed", as they also call it Transcendent: Part 1), chronicling each distinct universe they find and sifting through the interdimensional void for travelers in danger. Those who lose their way in transwarp can be redirected to one of the TransTech's receiving stations, where the travelers are then processed and allowed to live in the city of Axiom Nexus until such time as it may become possible to return them to their world of origin. When Jackpot and Hubcap wound up in Axiom Nexus, Scattorshot gave them the abbreviated version of the TransTech's mission statement, and filled them in on the myriad uses of transwarp, explaining its connection to space bridges, time travel, subspace and more. Gone Too Far
From a far-off corner of the multiverse, a team of GoBots voyaged across transwarp space using Dr. Braxis's Dimensional Interfacer. Their transit was detected by the TransTech, though the Interfacer's method of piercing transwarp was noted to be unlike any of the technology used by the Transformers to do so. Withered Hope
Swindle, Swindle and Swindle sold Transwarp drives as a way to travel between realities. Ask Vector Prime
Aligned continuity family
Interdimensional transport technology was developed by the Ancients, but lost to the Transformers of the modern day until it was re-engineered during the three-year period of inactivity that followed the opening salvo of their conflict on Earth. Exodus Prime graphic novel Out of the Past While the Decepticons dedicated their efforts to recreated full-fledged space bridge tech, the most the Autobots could muster, with only human technology to work with, was a scaled-down version known as the "GroundBridge" that could only transport travelers around the planet and no further. Darkness Rising, Part 1
Ground and space bridge portals take the appearance of a tunnel of light disappearing into the distance, but after walking partway into this tunnel, travelers will vanish in a flash over an unseen "event horizon", entering a swirling blue-green tunnel that cuts through transwarp itself with no visible beginning or end, before reappearing at their destination in a similar manner. Operation Bumblebee, Part 1
The island of Griffin Rock was also home to several independent examples. Human scientists experimented with transwarp travel as part of their Sanctuary Plan, outfitting robotic "tracers" with crystals that would teleport the island's human population to a subterranean shelter via subspace wormholes. Countdown When the S.S. Phantom Voyager, a ship from 1915, was teleported into the future by a malfunctioning time machine on board, it disappeared into the interdimensional void outside of time. The ship rested in the void for a brief period before returning to the timestream, ten years into the future, repeating the process for a hundred years before being returned to its home time. Phantom of the Sea
Cyberverse cartoon
The space between universes, unspace was a dangerous realm, its properties breaking down matter native to any universe. The Crossroads The bizarre, self-proclaimed masters of the multiverse known as the Quintessons made free usage of unspace's lethal properties, using large quantities of it to destroy any universe they deemed guilty. The End Of The Universe I
The crew of Ark, after making use of an old space bridge, wound up in unspace along with several of their counterparts from other universes, a few Autobot crews meeting grisly ends in the void. Using nine AllSparks, the Arks managed to escape. The Crossroads The experience inspired Wheeljack to bottle some unspace goo for use as weapon. His goo soon proved its worth by destroying Vector Sigma so that the Decepticons could not pervert it. Battle For Cybertron IV
When the Quintessons invaded Cybertron, they incorporated Starscream into their new Judge. To stop him, Windblade unleashed the mighty Iaconus, prompting the Quintessons to retaliate with Croaton. Even with Quintesson technology augmenting his body, Croaton could not defeat Iaconus, forcing Starscream to kill the War Titan by dousing his head with unspace goo. The End Of The Universe III
During the invasion, Megatron had stolen the Quintessons' multiverse drive, The Judge and travelled to another reality. In this world, Megatron found that his counterpart had won the Great War after stealing the Matrix of Leadership. Managing to steal the Matrix, along with Astrotrain and the Insecticons, Megatron fled back to his reality, aware that his counterpart would follow. Silent Strike To that end, he had Astrotrain and Dead End fashion a weapon that could banish its targets to unspace. Rack 'n' Ruin 'n' Ratchet While the weapon proved readily capable of banishing the Decepticon supersoldiers to the hellish realm, the alternate Megatron swatted away the weapon before he could be consigned to such a fate. The Other One
Notes
- Unspace's alternate name "the Bleed", used in "Transcendent: Part 1", comes from DC Comics / WildStorm Productions stories.