Table of Contents:
Series Overview
Characters
Settings
Selected Episode Synopses
Technical Notes
Season Two

Transformers: Colony Wars takes place out in the boondocks of space, in a vague time period sometime in the past. It fits in with the pre-Earth G1 timeline, although it does not concern the events on Cybertron. Colony Wars takes place mostly on a planet called Placidron. While a member of the Colony Alliance, a loose collection of worlds pledged to support each other, it is really out in the middle of nowhere. As such, it makes the perfect planet for a young Decepticon commander to conquer to prove herself to her elders. Placidron's only hope is its Defence Force, which the planet has historically mocked and derided.

Autobots
Comet
Function: Advance Guard
"Duty is life."
Description: Comet is a bright red sports car with celestial patterning. He has a youthful look in robot mode, although not comic by any means, and deep, stern blue optics.
Voice: He has a young but serious and determined voice. He sounds a bit like G1 Rodimus Prime. He is respectful when speaking to superiors.
Profile: Comet joined the Defence Force after it became the joke that it is today, which rather mystifies Optimus Prime and Stanchion. Comet claims that he joined because he felt that he had to serve his planet. He seems to be uncomplicated and honest enough to actually mean it, but anyone who takes the Defence Force as seriously as he does is just a bit creepy. He lacks experience, but he tries to think through what he's doing. Overall, he is quiet, dutiful, and perhaps just a bit too straight-laced.
Abilities: Comet is very fast, agile, and skilled with a blade. He carries a plain straight sword and a pistol as a backup.
Weaknesses: Comet is not very strong and lacks heavy armour, a sacrifice for his speed and agility. Also, his inexperience may endanger him. He might be happier if he loosened up a bit.

Murk
Function: Xenoarchaeologist
"Understanding is the first step."
Description: Murk is a black submarine with a big set of floodlights. In robot mode, those floodlights end up on his shoulders. His optics are a cloudy blue.
Voice: He has a dreamy, watery voice.
Profile: Murk came to Placidron to study the alien ruins. The Decepticon invasion disrupted his studies, so he somewhat reluctantly joined the good old fight, figuring that if the Decepticon won, he'd never get a chance to finish his study of the ruins. Besides, Optimus Prime, warped as he is by the alien technology, makes a fascinating study in and of himself. Murk could probably write a tome just about that. He loves learning new things and deeply believes in the importance of preserving, studying, and understanding the past.
Abilities: Murk has skill in linguistics, decryption, investigation, and other such fields. He can use his flood-lights to temporarily blind his enemies and, of course, to light the darkness. Since joining the Defence Force, Murk has started carrying a standard rifle.
Weaknesses: He gets distracted easily and isn't really built or trained for combat.

Optimus Prime
Function: Defence Force Commander
"It's worse than it looks."
Description: Optimus Prime is kitted out in the typical blue, red, and silver, although he has intricate gold traceries permeating his design and has a jagged, otherworldly look to him. He clearly wasn't designed with the same aesthetic principles in mind as the other Transformers. His alternate form is an alien-looking semi truck. His trailer is marked with strange writing that even he doesn't know how to read, but he suspects that it's just an ad for something stupid.
Voice: He sounds rather like an underpaid policeman in a crime-infested town. His voice is hard-edged, often untrusting, and rarely cheerful.
Profile: Optimus Prime gained the title after discovering a strange alien artefact that bonded with him and transformed him into his alien-influenced design. He rather dislikes the name, feeling that it is sarcastically meant and wholly unearned, and doesn't even want the artefact, which he cannot seem to un-fuse from himself, much to his ire. Optimus Prime is the leader of Placidron's planetary Defence Force, such as it is. As everyone knows that Decepticons are a myth and all aliens are friendly, no one much sees any purpose for the Defence Force anymore. As such, they have suffered budget cut after budget cut. Optimus Prime only keeps the position because he is too cynical to believe that the Decepticons are really gone and that all aliens are good and decent. After all, not even all Autobots are good and decent, why should aliens be any different? Optimus Prime tends to be deeply suspicious when things go right. He's just not used to it.
Abilities: As a big truck, he had great strength even before the alien artefact changed him, but now he has endurance and firepower to match, as his trailer unfolds to form a combat base. Optimus Prime also carries a standard rifle for those times when alien-influenced mumbo-jumbo just can't be counted on. He is keenly intelligent, although he often comments that if he was really smart, he'd have given up this job ages ago.
Weaknesses: His inability to look on the bright side prevents him from enjoying the good things in life. Also, his grim outlook does not win him any friends.

Scout
Function: Reconnaissance
"Look on the bright side - I do!"
Description: She is a sunny yellow helicopter something along the lines of an AH-6 "Little Bird". She makes for a fairly short robot and has typical blue optics, a bit on the light side.
Voice: She has a happy, bubbly voice. Scout does not have a squeaky or high-pitched voice or any weird speech quirks. She is not meant to be annoying.
Profile: Scout is the newest member of the Defence Force, aside from Murk. The older members suspect that she doesn't really understand what a joke they are. Her cheerfulness often sets Optimus Prime on edge. Scout loves to be helpful and will often take daring risks to that end. She gets injured a lot, but it doesn't dampen her spirits.
Abilities: Scout has a sophisticated sensor package built into her and a retractable video camera that make her excellently suited to her role. She carries a set of light rockets. As a helicopter, Scout is also very agile and loves doing aerial stunts just for the fun of it.
Weaknesses: She is very lightly armoured. Her willingness to help leads Scout to pursuing foolish ventures. Finally, she is really quite inexperienced.

Stanchion
Function: Combat Engineer
"Don't expect much."
Description: Stanchion is a beige van with a bit of green to liven up the look. His robot mode has normal blue optics.
Voice: He has a lazy drawl.
Profile: Stanchion might have been an enthusiastic Defence Force member some long ago time. Now, he just doesn't care. If no one is going to give him any respect, he's just not going to do anything. Stanchion remains a Defence Force member partly out of force of habit and partly because it seems a nice, safe job, even if his laziness if criticized by his fellows. He is second in command of the Defence Force by dint of seniority, although Comet is probably better suited for the position.
Abilities: Stanchion has shoulder-mounted missile launchers. He also has vast technical skills, if he can be persuaded to actually put them into use.
Weaknesses: Stanchion is a bit of coward and his lack of attention to his duties often results in sloppiness.

Decepticons
Abyss
Function: Transport
"I was made for the void."
Description: In alternate form, Abyss is a Decepticon warship, bristling with weaponry and done up in blues, purples, and greys. In robot form, he is a titanic figure with dim red optics like dying coals.
Voice: Abyss's voice is flat and uninflected. He generally sounds rather bored or apathetic, as if he could care less about everything. While generally quiet and whispery, he gets louder and a bit more lively sounding when properly fuelled.
Profile: Abyss is generally run on minimum amounts of fuel, which prevents him from assuming robot mode. Also, this starvation diet general sinks Abyss into a state of apathy, which makes him rather difficult to motivate. He tends towards unhelpful sarcasm if roused. When his hunger is sated, his personality shifts, and Abyss becomes a cold, calculating destroyer, taking a frigid joy in finding the most efficient way of destroying whatever the target at hand is. If there is no target, Abyss could considerably get quite out of control.
Abilities: Fast enough for interstellar travel and more than intelligent enough not to run into a black hole while doing so, Abyss also sports a vast array of weaponry, as all well befits a Decepticon warship. He can transport and quarter a decent sized detachment of Decepticons within himself.
Weaknesses: Abyss requires large amounts of fuel, especially to transform. Also, his large size makes him a big target.

Cutting Edge
Function: Carver
"Slicing away the outside ugliness often reveals only more ugliness, alas."
Description: In alternate form, Cutting Edge is a primarily brown cat something along the lines of an angular puma with a bit of bronze and orange to his design. His transformation is simple, his cat head splitting to form shoulder pads and reveal his robot head and his cat limbs changing a bit into his robot limbs. His cat claws make for a wicked set of spike heels and wrist blades, which he can put to great use in combat. He retains his brown, bronze, and orange colour scheme, and his optics are a non-standard orange.
Voice: Cutting Edge normally has a standard snooty, cultured voice, with a perhaps a bit of an upper-class English accent. However, he hisses his "S"s and rolls his "R"s. When pleased, he purrs, and when upset or angry, his voice sounds rather more feral. He tends towards polite speech.
Profile: Cutting Edge is haughty as only one who is both a cat and an artist can be. He has his own agenda and only associates with the Decepticons because their goals happen to lie in line with his own. Cutting Edge tends think that his comrades are inferior to him, as they obviously not as cultured as he is, and often tries to convince them to let him carve their armour to improve their dismal looks. He hasn't had any luck on that front. For whatever reason, Cutting Edge does seem to like Megatron and has a habit of rubbing up against her legs as if he was a harmless housecat, which she takes with mixed amusement and annoyance.
Abilities: Cutting Edge is a carver of some skill. As such, he has an impressive set of claws that he can use in both forms. In robot mode, Cutting Edge can also extend finer claws from his finger-tips for detail-work. He serves as the Decepticons' surgeon and general technician, although he considers those duties to be beneath him. Overall, Cutting Edge is highly agile, skilled, and intelligent, and his claws can slice cleanly through most metals.
Weaknesses: Cutting Edge is not particularly durable or strong, and his arrogance and scheming could well get him into trouble.

Megatron
Function: Commander
"My time is now."
Description: Megatron is a massive and intimidating silver tank picked out with a bit of forest camouflage. As a robot, she retains those colours, and her styling is somewhat reminiscent of a cross between G1 Megatron and Tankor, although she is recognizably female. Her optics are a classic red.
Voice: She has a deep, growly voice that generally sounds angry, perhaps something along the lines of a habitual chain-smoker who has had her cigarettes taken away, much to her ire.
Profile: A series of robots were created to command the Decepticon forces of the colonies, as none of the Decepticon Council wanted to step forward and assume the mantel of command, preferring to plot from the shadows. The potential leaders were pitted against each other. After the slaughter of her factory-siblings was completed, the winning robot was awarded the title of Megatron, given command of a small force, and assigned a mission to see how well she could do in real combat. While this Megatron is extremely young, she is programmed with a vast amount of tactical and strategic knowledge and has had the experience of defeating en masse her near-equals. She lacks the polish that an older Decepticon leader would have but has the classic rage and power in spades.
Abilities: Megatron has great strength, endurance like the tank that she is, the capacity for devastating brilliance, a rail gun that would make most gun-Transformers go home crying, and a heavy war hammer.
Weaknesses: Megatron has little life experience, let alone command experience. She is not particularly fast or agile.
Special Note: The lead bad guy is female? Is Lunatron nuts? No, this is actually a clever marketing ploy. As a female and a bad guy, both of which don't sell too well, Megatron will first be produced in small quantities, which will cause the scalpers to snap all of those toys up. Thus, Hasbro will have to do a second run to satisfy the demand. The toys will sell, Hasbro will be happy, and little boys often love to despise girls, anyway. Besides, she's a big tank. It's not like you can make fun of a kid for playing with a big tank.

Sidestep
Function: Fighter Escort
"Heh, that was fun ... whoops, no!"
Description: Sidestep is a navy and teal pyramid jet. He looks like a fairly standard, red-opticed Seeker in robot form, although the design ought to be altered a bit to allow him to properly transform.
Voice: Sidestep sounds like the average dumb street punk and often sounds confused or over-excited.
Profile: Sidestep was created as one of several prototypes to test the ability to leave the normal plane of matter and energy. The calculations to do so required great processing power and slaving in the hardware to do so left all the protoypes rather stupid. The project was called a failure, and the surviving prototypes were assimilated into the rest of the Decepticons. Sidestep turned out a decent fighter, so long as he had someone to do his thinking for him. As Turbulence's fighter escort, she fills the role of thinker for him, and he in turn looks up to her as something liker an older, wiser sister who is good to hide behind when things go wrong. He is easily amused by juvenile humour and property destruction.
Abilities: Sidestep can "step sideways" and leave the plane of matter and energy, thereby becoming immaterial and invisible, which allows him to walk through walls and force fields. He cannot pick up objects while immaterial, although objects previously pocketed stay with him. Most of his mind is set aside to run this ability. Sidestep also has standard arm-rifles and a length of chain that he uses as a whip and garrotte. As a fighter jet, he is fast and agile.
Weaknesses: Sidestep isn't very bright and is liable to get into trouble if left to his own devices. He isn't very heavily armoured. His special ability is fuel-intensive and liable to adversely affect his sanity if he uses it too long, as it is rather mentally taxing. Besides, who knows what lurks in the dimensions beyond matter?

Turbulence
Function: Quartermaster
"Come fly the unfriendly skies. Actually, don't."
Description: Turbulence is a massive white transport plane with a bit of thin red striping along her middle. In robot mode, she remains rather plain, with standard red optics, but she stands taller than Megatron. After Abyss, she's the tallest robot in the series. Turbulence has a habit of referring to Megatron as "Megadrone".
Voice: She sounds a bit like Han Solo but female. Her voice says that she's a smuggler who doesn't really want to be here and she can kick your butt.
Profile: Turbulence was an unaligned smuggler who played the factions off each other to improve her own station. The Decepticons got sick of her little games, caught her, and told her that she could join or die. Rather wanting to stay alive, she joined. However, her general mouthiness and bad attitude got her sent on a one way trip out to colonies, ostensibly to help the fledgling Decepticon cause out in the boondocks, although in reality it was more of a punishment assignment. Turbulence serves as second in command, mostly because no one else really wants the job.
Abilities: Turbulence has great strength and endurance, being built to crash and survive. She can carry quite a bit of supplies. Her engines join together to form her impressive air cannon, which can knock over others at a low setting and produce metal-melting plasma at higher settings. While no genius, she is street smart and good at getting what she wants, generally by throwing people through walls until they agree with her.
Weaknesses: Aside from her ramming capacities, Turbulence is unarmed in plane form. Her willingness to speak out does not endear her to her superiors.

Non-Regulars
Random Placidronians
They're the "civilians" that get menaced by the Decepticons and the folks filling out the crowd shots. Most of them are blue-opticed Autobots, but a few have oddly-coloured optics and lack symbols.

Silvertongue
He is charming, charismatic, and stylish, wearing a sleek spaceship form. Silvertongue serves as the Speaker for Placidron in the Colony Alliance. With his blue optics and non-confrontational manner, he seems to be a classic Autobot, but he is in reality a Decepticon deep cover agent. Optimus Prime has a near irrational loathing of Silvertongue and the bureaucracy that he stands for, suspecting that Silvertongue may be out to make his life difficult, which Silvertongue takes with a sort of amused grace. Oh, if only that foolish Autobot knew what Silvertongue was really up to ... well, then he'd have a real reason to hate Silvertongue.

The Aliens
They left ruins and artefacts, and no one is sure why they vanished. However, signs seem to point to them returning. What could they want?

The Artists
They're weird. They want to spark the entire planet. One is a standard construction type, one is a jet, one looks downright bizarre, one is a futuristic cassette host ( probably plays something like DVDs ), one is a mechanical spider, and one is a camera. The construction type vaguely seems to be in charge. They wear no factional symbols and tend towards odd optic colours, particularly white.

The Decepticon Council
They're a rather pompous bunch prone to wearing capes. They want glory for the Decepticon cause but don't want to have to do the conquest themselves. That might actually be dangerous. There are three of them, two males and a female.

The Other Potential Megatrons
They die rather quickly. They all look pretty much like crosses between G1 Megatron and Tankor and are all mostly silver, although their accent colours vary. About a quarter of them look female. One of the males teams up with the one who is to win. Together, they defeat the others more easily. When he tries to finish her, she's a hair quicker and defeats him, thereby becoming the new Megatron.

Abyss
While actually a character, the Decepticons spend enough time inside him that he counts as a setting. Abyss's insides are done up in dark purple and blue and tend towards vaulted ceilings and dim lighting. It's all rather gloomy and may be interpreted as Cybertronian Gothic, in the architectural sense of the word. He contains quarters, a medical bay, a command deck, a communications section, and an engineering section.

Placidron
Placidron is an Earth-type planet of many different biomes, varied life, and big oceans. It features a number of Autobot settlements and some alien ruins. The ruins are done up in a distinctive highly detailed and somewhat jagged style and ought to echo the native life. The aliens vanished long before the Autobots arrived, but some of their artefacts still seem to be in working order and indicate a fairly advanced civilization. As the main setting, many parts of Placidron will be visited as the show progresses. It is ruled by an Overlord.

Pseudodron
Pseudodron is a desert planet rich in metals held by the meagre Decepticon forces. It is in what the Autobots consider uncharted space, and the Autobots certainly have no idea that it exists. There are mining sites, factories, laboratories, training areas for drilling newly created Decepticons in the art of war, barracks, an arena for testing and entertainment, ceremonial chambers, and a spaceport or two. The series only shows the arena, which takes after the arena in the two "Deadly Games" comics, the ceremonial rooms, which are done in a similar style to Starscream's coronation chamber in the movie, and perhaps a bit of the spaceport. The Decepticon Council rules Pseudodron.

The Placidron Defence Force Base
It is rather run-down and shabby. It is also located up by the Placidronian North Pole, so that the Defence Force kooks don't bother the rest of the colony. Done in faded orange, there are barracks, an armoury, a common room, a ramshackle training center, a watchtower, a few paltry defense gun installations, and a hangar with an antique troop shuttle. Optimus Prime's office features a dartboard sporting Silvertongue's face.

Rather than detailed all thirteen episodes, here are a selected few episodes to give a general idea of the metaplot and the important events. The titles given aren't the actual episode titles. Instead, they are there to serve as descriptive placeholders.

Opening Arc
The series opens on the Pseudodronian arena at night. The Decepticon Council, capes and all, address an arena of potential Megatrons, all fresh out of the factory. They explain that the would-be leaders must fight each other to the death until one remains. That one will be the leader for the colonial Decepticons. The battle commences, and epic fight music plays. There is a lot of impressive and inventive butt-kicking. One of the females suggests to a male that they team up. They do so and mow down the others much more efficiently. Once the others have fallen, the male turns on his former team-mate, but she's quicker on the uptake than he is and slays him. The sun rises on her, tired but triumphant amongst the fallen bodies of her factory-siblings.

She is taken to the ceremonial chambers and awarded the title of Megatron. There is no coronation; she must first return victorious from the task that the Council sets her. Megatron must conquer Placidron, a fringe world without causing too much of a fuss from the Colony Alliance. If it all possible, she ought to also examine the alien ruins; there might be something useful there. Megatron is then introduced to her crew. Cutting Edge is the surgeon and general technician, although he informs them that he is in fact an artist and serves as a medic and technician only on sufferance. Sidestep is air support and an escort fighter. The Council then has him demonstrate his "stepping sideways" ability. Sidestep appears behind Megatron in an attempt to scare her. She is not amused. Turbulence is introduced as the quartermaster, and the transport plane makes it quite clear that she is not in the least impressed by this "Megatron". Megatron asks if these few troops are all that she will be given to conquer a world. The Council then leads her and her crew over to a hanger in the spaceport and introduces her to Abyss the living warship. Megatron is much more pleased.

Upon arriving in Placidronian orbit, Megatron decides to first take out Placidron's communications satellites, to prevent the planet from summoning outside help from the Colony Alliance. Turbulence points out that if communications from Placidron suddenly cease, the Colony Alliance might get suspicious, but Megatron ignores her. Placidron never has much to say, anyway. No one should notice anything for a long while.

The Placidronians notice that their satellites are ceasing operation and call in the Defence Force to deal with it, for lack of a better idea. Plotting out the known facts in his office, Optimus Prime notes a pattern to the destruction, which suggests that a natural phenomenon is not at work here. The Defence Force Autobots are introduced now with cute little intro bits for each of them. Comet and Scout are helping rescue a Placidronian who has fallen down a valley. Stanchion is at the Defence Force base, dozing.

Optimus Prime summons the Defence Force together, and they take the rickety old troop shuttle out to the one communication station on Placidron capable of interstellar communications, figuring that will be the next thing taken down. He's right. The Decepticons attack and the two sides square off for a good old fashioned battle. The Defence Force seems a bit shocked that Decepticons actually exist, but Optimus Prime feels vindicated that his millennia of suspicion have a basis in fact. Abyss is too low on energy to join the battle and has been hidden a distance away. Megatron dispatches Cutting Edge to sabotage the communications station. This leaves the Decepticons at a numerical disadvantage. Turbulence gets the bright idea of having Sidestep nab Scout and take her hostage.

There is a tense standoff. Comet manages to rescue Scout, but in the meantime, Cutting Edge succeeds in sabotaging the communications station. The Deceptions retreat, having accomplished what they came to do. The Defence Force manages to salvage a moral out of all this in that saving Scout's life was more important than any military goal.

Murk's Introduction
The Defence Force grapples with the fact that Decepticons do in fact exist. Despite Scout's footage of the attack on the communications station, no one wants to believe them. The Placidronians seem to think if they don't believe the Decepticons exist that the Decepticons will just go away. Optimus Prime dispatches Scout and Comet to look for the Decepticons. They have to be somewhere, after all.

Meanwhile, Megatron has decided that a pretty good plan would be to get Abyss powered up and transformed and to just let him wreak havoc. To that end, they'll need fuel. Given that they've been getting strange readings from the ruins and they're supposed to investigate those anyway, Megatron decides to see if they can find any usable fuel out there.

The Decepticons run into an Autobot xenoarchaeologist. This archaeologist would be Murk, and episode shows a small snippet of him happily doing his research to establish that he a nice, constructive person. The Decepticons try to hunt him down, but he knows the ruins better than they do and is able to use the ruins' tricks and traps against them. There is a lot Indiana Jones-esque fun, and the Decepticons are made to feel rather stupid.

The Defence Force arrives. However, the Decepticons have finally got a handle on some of the traps and cleverly snare the Defence Force. While Megatron is making a dramatic speech, Murk sneaks in and sets the Defence Force free, and Optimus Prime rallies his troops to drive off the Decepticons.

Murk decides to join the Defence Force because as long as the Decepticons are out there, he's never going to get any research done. He asks about Optimus Prime's strange design, noting that it seems similar to the designs in the ruins. Optimus Prime reluctantly explains that, long ago, he had been called out to deal with a mysterious artefact and prevent it from causing any harm. The artefact fused with him and altered his design to what it is now, earning him the sarcastic moniker Optimus Prime. Murk makes some joke about writing a doctoral thesis on what the artefact did to Optimus Prime, and the Defence Force welcomes Murk to the fold.

The Obligatory Artist Episode
Frustrated by her failure to get anything useful from the ruins, Megatron decides to attempt a more straight-forward energy raid. Optimus Prime is starting to get used to her style and also has Murk on his team now, so he drives off the Decepticons fairly easily.

The Decepticons are unable to retreat to Abyss. Turbulence points out that picking a refinery where they'd have limited options to retreat was stupid. Megatron retaliates by insisting that if they even consider retreat, they are lost from the start. Turbulence responds by claiming that the good leaders of history have known when to call a "tactical relocation" and always leave that option open. They get into a scuffle. Cutting Edge breaks up the fight, pointing out that the Autobots will be after them that and he may know a place where they can hide until they can sneak back to Abyss.

Cutting Edge gets the Decepticons in touch with the Placidronian artist community. The artists don't seem to be particularly interested in the Decepticons, but for Cutting Edge's sake, they agree to let the Decepticons stay until the coast is clear and they can retreat back to Abyss. In conversation, it comes out that the Decepticons have a living warship. The artists suddenly get a lot friendlier and more interested. Cue ominous music.

Meanwhile, the Defence Force is still looking for the Decepticons. After the attack on the refinery, the Placidronians are slowly starting to accept that there might actually be Decepticons out there and so are being a bit more helpful to Optimus Prime's efforts.

Megatron takes Cutting Edge aside and frightens out him what the artists want. The artists want to make the entire planet alive, he explains, as giving life to a planet would be ultimate act of creation. They think that a living spaceship like Abyss could be useful towards that purpose, if Abyss could be merged with Placidron.

Megatron quickly realizes that if Abyss merges with the planet, he will give her planetary control by default. Turbulence doesn't think this is such a great idea; she doesn't trust Abyss. He seems just a bit too bored by everything to be entirely on the level. As such, Turbulence obliquely tips off the Autobots to their location by being a bit too obvious in gathering supplies.

In classic good guy fashion, the Defence Force charges in and stops the maniacal plot to merge Abyss with Placidron. The Decepticons and artists scatter and live to plot another day. Optimus Prime boggles at the fact that he's just had an out-and-out victory here. The Defence Force returns to base in high spirits.

Diplomatic Games
With so much evidence that Decepticons do in fact exist and are in fact up to no good, the Placidronian Overlord has no choice but to allow the Defence Force to make their case before the Placidron's representative in the Colony Alliance. Optimus Prime goes to speak himself, to get the job done right, and takes Murk, as Murk is a fairly well-respected scientist who won't be much use back on Placidron fighting the Decepticons, anyway. He leaves Stanchion in charge while he's gone.

Optimus Prime and Murk make their case to Silvertongue, Placidron's representative in the Colony Alliance. Silvertongue comes off as sympathetic if a bit patronising to the stupid backwater colonists and ultimately unable to do anything whatsoever to help them out. There is so much bureaucracy to slog through, and well, it's not as if they actually brought him real proof - a captured Decepticon, perhaps.

Meanwhile, Cutting Edge and Sidestep report back to Megatron that Optimus Prime and Murk are missing. Now is an excellent time to strike! Megatron decides to root out to the Defence Force at their home base. Turbulence suggests that they would do better to spend their time gathering supplies at the moment. Megatron duly ignores her. Abyss, who has spent a long time running on empty now, agrees with Turbulence, which immediately put Turbulence on edge. Megatron ignores Abyss, too.

The Decepticons hide Abyss and strike at the Defence Force base. Undermanned and outdated as the base is, things look grim for the Defence Force, and having Stanchion in charge doesn't help. Seeing Stanchion so overwhelmed, Comet essentially takes over and rallies the Defence Force for a dramatic last stand that involves setting up a smokescreen, tossing buckets of paint at the Decepticons, and rushing out of the smoke, yelling and firing wildly in hopes of confusing the Decepticons enough to buy some time. Cutting Edge complains unbearably about what the paint does to him; Sidestep isn't too pleased, either. Megatron sees the trick for what it is and demands that her troops stop being such a bunch of wusses and get down to business.

Meanwhile, Optimus Prime and Murk return, rather discouraged by their failure to get help from the Colony Alliance. They arrive just in the nick of time to save the day. Comet expects to be chastised for his scatter-brained plan. Instead, Optimus Prime congratulates him - so what if it was a stupid idea? It worked to buy them time, and that was all it was meant to do. Thus, children are taught the value of thinking outside of the box.

There are a few filler episodes, mostly harebrained Decepticon schemes and whatnot. There is some foreshadowing that something weird is going on with the ruins.

Probably In Bad Taste Now, But I Wrote This Months Ago
Still hiding out in Abyss, Megatron sulks, as her Decepticons have been getting their afts kicked far too often. Behind Megatron's back, Turbulence dispatches Sidestep to raid a library and go get plans for solar energy collectors. They may not be techs, but how hard can it be to put something together from plans? Cue humourous library scene.

Meanwhile, a fault deep within Placidron gives way, causing a massive earthquake. Disaster results. The Defence Force gets called in to help with the rescue effort. Scout is enthusiastic about being able to help. Comet is determined to do his job right. Stanchion is a bit horrified by all the carnage. Optimus Prime is resigned; horrible things happen, and all one can do is pick oneself up and deal with them. Murk goes to check on the nearest set of ruins, blabbing incoherent about how much this could have set his work back.

Meanwhile, the library that Sidestep was idly terrorizing has caved in. Turbulence hauls over there and digs him out. They then get to sifting through the remains of the library to find the needed plans.

The Defence Force wraps up the rescue effort as best they can. Murk returns and excitedly reports that the earthquake has exposed an entirely new section of ruins. He insists that they have to go see this. They yell at him for not being more of a help. However, he uses his generic technical skills to help Stanchion save an earthquake victim and thereby reproves his worth.

Meanwhile, Turbulence and Sidestep have finally found the plans that they were looking for, just in time to have Megatron angrily ask them over the radio what the slag they've been doing. Cue sheepish Decepticons scrambling for a plausible lie.

What Is It With Jets and Treachery?
Still sneaking around behind Megatron's back, Turbulence and Sidestep are out gathering supplies to build the solar energy collectors. Given that these supplies are more low-profile than actual fuel, the raids are easier. Cutting Edge notes their actions and reports back to Megatron with the news. Megatron summons Turbulence and Sidestep. Now, Sidestep's too much of an idiot to be much concern or even know what he was really doing, so he gets off lightly - Megatron tosses him out of the command deck and into the hall. Turbulence is mangled for her treachery, but Megatron sees that a set of solar collectors would help their energy problems and so sets Cutting Edge to making them. Cutting Edge is less than thrilled at such drudgery but gets to it.

Optimus Prime gets antsy that the Decepticons are being so quiet. Scout and Comet still haven't had any luck finding the Decepticon ship, likely because the Decepticons keep moving it whenever they get the enough energon. Murk convinces finally convinces Optimus Prime to take the Defence Force on an excursion to the new ruins uncovered by the earthquake. If they can't find the Decepticons and there aren't any other things to worry about, they might as well.

Once there, Murk notes that some of the mechanisms there have started working. This rather excites him, as he hasn't been able to get any of it going by himself. He hypothesizes that the earthquake may have restarted them somehow. Optimus Prime doesn't like it; he has a bad feeling about all this. Scout ends up playing research assistant and seems quite content with the role. Comet stays on the alert for traps. Stanchion trails behind. Murk starts to get into theories about why the intelligent natives died out. Optimus Prime manages to cut through the history-babble to point out that they're mostly rubbish and suggests that maybe the aliens didn't die out - maybe they just left. He doesn't want to be here. Why should the natives? Murk is a bit peeved but starts to consider Optimus Prime's theory. He has Stanchion inspect some of the machinery and reaches some worrying conclusions based on what Stanchion tells him.

Meanwhile, the Decepticons have their solar collectors finished. Megatron has them built into Abyss so that he can use the energy to get his robot mode running and wreck havoc like he was meant to. Even now, there are hints of a personality shifts in Abyss; he is less sarcastic and more interested in destruction. Cue ominous music.

In Which Abyss Pretends to be Godzilla
It's even a dark and stormy night. Abyss transforms and comments that it's so good to stretch out finally. Megatron wants him to take out the Defence Force base once and for all. Abyss replies that he doesn't want to do that and would much rather take out Placidron's capitol city. The Defence Force is laughable; taking out the capitol city will be more useful and will also demoralize the populace. As Abyss stalks off, heedless of her commands, Megatron ponders just what she's unleashed here. Turbulence mocks Megatron for not being able to control her own ship. Instead of getting violent, as that hasn't worked at all in the past, an exasperated Megatron then demands to know Turbulence has any better ideas. Turbulence is stunned silent.

The rest of the episode mostly features Abyss rampaging in a cold, calculating manner and the Defence Force trying to stop him. Flat-out attacks don't work, so they get sneaky and inventive with traps, but Abyss is too smart to get caught. Finally, they decide on evacuation, as they can't stop the titan.

The rest of the Decepticons, having finally got their acts together, arrive. Having no better plan, they join in on the destruction, pretending this is what they meant to do all along. Have the Decepticons finally won?

Of Course Not
Abyss notes that he can subdue this planet perfectly well by himself, without his smaller comrades. Indeed, without them, he can claim all the glory for himself and thereby improve his own standing within the colonial Decepticon ranks. Finally, they know his weaknesses. Having judged his comrades expendable, unneeded, and liabilities, he then takes out Cutting Edge. The carver is intelligent and capable, and moreover, he is their medic. His loss will hit them the worst, Abyss reasons.

Sidestep manages to sneak to Cutting Edge's rescue at the last moment, but the carver is severely damaged. The Decepticons fall into disarray, and Abyss manages to damage quite a few of them before they escape. Without Abyss, they have no base to return to, so they scatter. They could take out Abyss themselves, knowing his weaknesses as they do, but they're not quite that desperate yet.

The Defence Force continues its desperate battle to take Abyss down, and Stanchion comments on how the Decepticons are such a wretched bunch that they even turn on each other. Optimus Prime wonders if he can exploit this, and he sends Scout off to have a parley with one of the Decepticon grunts, if she can find one. Perhaps Megatron's minions will be discouraged enough to aid the Autobots. Besides, it's not like Scout can do much against Abyss, aside from get smacked down like every other helicopter in this kind of show.

Scout manages to find Turbulence, and they have a tense cat-and-mouse game where Turbulence tires to make Scout go boom, and Scout hides behind whatever is handy to avoid that fate. Slowly, Scout starts to pick up on the fact that Turbulence doesn't like Megatron very much, and in all innocence, asks her why she follows Megatron if she hates Megatron that much. This just makes Turbulence angrier, because following leaders who smack you around is one of those Decepticon things that Autobots just don't understand. The scenery suffers. Scout gets entirely the wrong idea from this, assuming that Turbulence must be die-hard loyal to Megatron to stick around when she hates Megatron that much, and points out that Megatron can't conquer the planet if Abyss does it first. Turbulence is rather pleased about that, which just confuses poor Scout more. Utterly baffled by the Decepticon, Scout tosses her arms up in the air and demands to know if Turbulence wants to be slagged by Abyss, too. That rather spoils Turbulence's momentary good mood. In the cheerful way given to small yellow Autobots, Scout then inquires if Turbulence will help them subdue Abyss.

There's never something for nothing. Turbulence follows Scout back and has a quick chat with Optimus Prime. If he gets Cutting Edge, Sidestep, and her fixed up, she can tell him how to take down Abyss. There's a tense truce. Murk and Stanchion argue sociology as they fix up the Decepticons. One Decepticon just tried to kill the others, and now one bartered to get all her comrades fixed? Go figure.

In true Decepticon form, Turbulence crosses the Autobots. During their repairs, she slowly and carefully explains Abyss's weakness to Sidestep in very small words, making sure that he understands. Then, she dispatches him to go inform Abyss that they can and will take him out if he continues to ignore commands and target his own comrades. So informed, Abyss has no choice but to obey Turbulence.

Optimus Prime grumbles that Turbulence could have at least indulged in some dramatic posturing and gloating to let them know what she was up to. Megatron returns from nursing her wounds. Cutting Edge immediately slinks over to her and informs her of what a naughty Decepticon Turbulence has been - consorting with Autobots, undermining Megatron's control, oh my! Deciding that this has gone far enough, Megatron takes out Abyss herself by disconnecting his solar panels, thereby cutting him off from the needed energy to maintain robot mode.

The Decepticons pile into spaceship mode Abyss and retreat. Megatron has meaningful talk with Turbulence and Abyss, a.k.a. tosses Turbulence through Abyss's more sensitive instrument panels. The Autobots reflect and make witticisms about how confusing the Decepticons are.

All the Foreshadowing Was Actually Leading Up to Something?
The Decepticons have been quiet since Abyss's failure. Murk has taken the opportunity to investigate the new ruins opened up by the earthquake and is happily working away. Comet is there with him to assist with simple tasks and to guard against any Decepticon attacks that may come. Optimus Prime is paranoid like that, after all. Murk notes that a lot of the older machinery has started functioning again. He got a fairly good look at Sidestep's innards when he fixed up the Seeker, and he notes that some of the alien machinery bears a striking to the Seeker's phasing equipment. Following Optimus Prime's theory in a much earlier episode that the aliens might have just left, rather than have been wiped out, Murk tentatively hypothesises that the aliens might have used the phasing equipment to shift out of this plane of matter to the nether space that Sidesteps walks when he vanishes. He goes on to ponder if Sidestep's otherworldly jaunts might be what caused the machinery to reactivate. Comet stands at watch and occasionally helps Murk move something heavy.

Then, some of the readings on Murk's gauges go crazy. The alien machinery isn't just online and idling - it's working, but to what purpose, Murk is uncertain. Comet readies himself for battle, but Murk says that Comet has been around Optimus Prime too much. This is probably harmless, the xenoarchaeologist figures. There's a distortion effect, and a set of aliens phase into the ruins. Murk does a classic speech about peace and friendship between all life in the galaxy. However, the aliens are not happy about the robotic intruders on their world. Murk and Comet barely escape with their lives.

Meanwhile, Scout is helping set up a surveillance system. She flies sensor suites out and sets them up, and Stanchion remotely links them into a network. Ironically, rather than Decepticons, their fledgling surveillance network pick up aliens instead. The aliens seem to be coming out of the woodwork wherever there are ruins and are determined to get rid of the robot infestation.

Comet and Murk make it back to base and get patched up. Murk insists that they should try for peace. Optimus Prime won't have any of it. The aliens attacked first, and he's not going to nance around with words while his people are being hurt. While fleshy, the alien's phasing machinery makes them difficult to combat, and there are so many of them. The Defence Force is quickly over-whelmed. Optimus Prime's worst fears have come true, and he can't help but feel a bit vindicated.

However, Optimus Prime carries a bit of alien machinery in him, his "Matrix", and it too awakens, transforming him into a shiny new repaint - er, more powerful form. He's able to hold off the aliens. There is an epic battle. The day seems saved. Then the next wave arrives.

Cliff-hangers Are Fun
The Decepticons could care less about the aliens. After all, they can let the aliens wipe out the Autobots and neutrals, and then swoop in while the aliens are weak to conquer. However, the aliens target Sidestep, as he has phasing abilities. Turbulence isn't about to aliens hurt her idiot Seeker, and Megatron acknowledges that Sidestep is a valuable member of the team. Thus, the Decepticons reluctantly join the fight against the aliens. They could leave Placidron, as they do have a spaceship, but that would be admitting defeat, and Megatron is too stubborn to even consider that.

The Autobots are still waging a desperate battle against the aliens. Despite Optimus Prime's power-up, things look rather bleak. Comet shows off inklings of leadership skill, organizing the civilians into militias to fight the aliens.

Megatron has Cutting Edge disable Abyss's space travel and reactivate his solar panels. Charged up, he'll be able to mow down swaths of aliens, but without his spaceflight, he can't escape and will be forced to battle the aliens. Thus, Megatron unleashes one unhappy Abyss. He's still not enough to stem the tide.

Scout reports back to Optimus Prime that the Decepticons are pitching in with the fight. Optimus doesn't trust it one bit and even goes on to speculate that the Decepticons may be behind all their alien problems. He's vaguely right - Sidestep's powers disturbed the aliens and brought them out of hiding.

The aliens figure out that Optimus Prime has a bit of their technology in him and use that to try to control him. Comet assumes command of the Autobots while Optimus Prime is incapacitated and calls a truce with the Decepticons. Working together, they manage to push all the aliens out of the plane of matter, but the losses are high. They lose Abyss and Stanchion in suitably dramatic ways. Also, Optimus Prime is still battling with the aliens in his head. There's a nice astral plane-style fight scene. Unfortunately, he's losing.

The Decepticon may have lost their warship, but they still have their leader. She has Cutting Edge salvage weapon components from Abyss's corpse and make a really big bomb and integrate it enough with Sidestep's systems to he can carry it out of the plane of matter when he "sidesteps". Megatron then has Sidestep, who is going just a wee bit loopy from his nether space jaunts, deliver the bomb directly to the aliens.

It destroys enough of them that the aliens try one last stand. Meanwhile, Optimus Prime shakes off the alien control. He is less than thrilled about the truce with the Decepticons, but the two sides band together and defeat the remnants of the aliens in an epic fight scene.

Both sides are weary, but the Autobots find the strength to imprison the remaining Decepticons, save for Sidestep, who uses his powers to escape. Eventually, Scout and Comet manage to hunt down Sidestep and jail him, too.

To conclude the series, Optimus Prime has a chat with Megatron. He explains that he doesn't trust her any farther than Scout and throw her, but the Defence Force is going to need people who can actually fight, now there's proof that unfriendly aliens and Decepticons exist. So he offers to let Megatron and her Decepticons join, explaining that they'll have all of the weapons and special powers disabled except for valid emergencies and they'll be watched very closely. Otherwise, they can rot in jail forever. He also asks if she wants to ask her minions for any advice. Megatron fiercely insists that she can make up her own decisions. Optimus Prime shrugs, tells her to suit herself, and gives her some time to think.

Megatron accepts, albeit grudgingly. After all, she can't conquer the universe from jail. Thus, the Decepticons make a pretence of being good. There's a nice ending shot of both sides fighting together against a different alien menace. The viewers know that they'll be fighting each other again next season. Fin.

Musical Score
The musical score will not rely on the music of the era in which the cartoon is produced. It will strive to be timeless, as to avoid sounding dated in the years to follow. The Decepticons will be characterised by martial pieces such as marches. The Autobots will have themes with a more legalistic feel to connote justice. Placidron will have its own themes that suggest a simple, idyllic life. The aliens will have discordant, disjointed pieces. The artists will have music that suggests a dark carnival.

Animation Quality
The show will be animated with medium quality cell animation. High quality animation would either be expensive or limited in frame rate, which would result in long pauses of characters staring at each other and recycled transformation sequences. Medium quality animation will allow the characters to actually move around and blow each other up, which the kiddies love, and won't look as horrible as low quality animation. CGI would add more detail to the series than the general aesthetic tone dictates, although it might be used sparingly for bits involving the aliens if it could be properly integrated with the cell animation.

Should Colony Wars be so lucky as to get a continuation, there is a meta-plot that can be continued. Megatron still wants to rule Placidron; she's just changed her methodology a bit. Cutting Edge arranges a tragic "accident" for the Placidronian Overlord. Optimus Prime, smelling a rat ( Or is that a cat? ), declines the position when it is offered. Besides, he doesn't trust politics and doesn't want to become a figurehead. Megatron plays up her credentials as a heroine of the battle against the aliens and gets the Overlord position. At first, her intentions seem innocent enough, but she swiftly plunges once-idyllic Placidron into a military-ruled dystopia. It's up to Optimus Prime and his ragged band of freedom fighters to dethrone her.