- The "Keepers Trilogy" is set of Transformers novels set in Dreamwave's version of Generation One continuity family.
Cover of the 2004 omnibus Hardcover (SFBC exclusive)
In 2003, capitalizing on the recent success of the Dreamwave Transformers comic book Prime Directives (#1 in sales for the year,) iBooks released a trilogy of Transformers novels.
- Hardwired by Scott Ciencin
- Annihilation by David Cian
- Fusion by David Cian
The three books form a continuous narrative that takes place in the missing year betwen Prime Directives and Dreamwave's follow-up miniseries War and Peace.
All 3 novels were collected into a hardbound omnibus in 2004 for the Science Fiction Book Club.
The short story Two for the Price of One by Brandie Tarvin in the 2004 anthology Transformers Legends seems to be set in the same continuity. Ironically, since this story takes place after Megatron's return to power, which had just started when Dreamwave went belly-up, it represents the latest known point on the Dreamwave continuity timeline.
Events of the Keepers Trilogy
Alien beings known as the Keepers abduct Transformers, including Optimus Prime and Megatron, for study. In their absence, Starscream attempts to leverage public interest in the Decepticons into a "reality TV" series set in Las Vegas.
Prime bargains for Megatron's cooperation, at a price to be named later, and the abducted Transformers are able to escape back to Earth - but the Keepers follow, threatening to destroy the planet. The President nukes Las Vegas to be rid of them, but Prime uses the Matrix to send both the Keepers and the missile to another dimension. The threat momentarily averted, Megatron names the price for his cooperation - the Matrix.
Though absolute disaster was narrowly averted, the Keepers' allies on Earth attempt to open a gateway to bring them back. Intrigue abounds between the American government, Transformers enthusiasts, and secret societies to determine who will possess the manifold advantages of alien technology.
Characters
The Keeper's trilogy pioneered the use of fake-sounding names, which would later be used in IDW's Infiltration series.
Listed in order of appearance
- Isolde Holden
- Hugo Fortuna
- Franklin Townsend
- Candyce Simmons
- Chris Killah
- Joe Chuckry
- Tom Hyroon
- Rhona Jay
- Iolus Monk
- Craig
- Janie Whitmore
- Paul Whitmore
- Hendry Whitmore
- Paul Charteris
- Wendy
- Melony Dodds/Harcourt
- Vic Mellors
- Vern Fox
- Antoine Debussy
- Dave Langer
- Ben Fellows
- Paul Buckley
- Joe Torres
- Ryan O'Brien
- Ginny O'Brien
- Butch
- Phil Brodaker
- Buckingham
- Bernie Kalus
- Father Simon
- Jenny Dodds/Harcourt
- Chuck “Chubby” Cherwonowitz
- Darren Norbert
- Sheila Thompsom
- John Kelly
- Carl Lomax
- Allister Greaves
- Stuckey
- Elisa
- William Backes
- Captain Wolfe
- Betsy
- James
- Christoff
- Michelle Grajkowski
- Susan
- John
- Bill
- Captain Andrews
Oddities/Errors
While the nuclear explosion in Prime Directives took place in San Francisco, the Keepers Trilogy moves it to Los Angeles for no apparent reason.
Fan Reaction
Most Transformers fans were disappointed by these novels.
Scott Ciencin (writer of the first book and part of the second, though uncredited) left many readers cold with a mix of sex, gore (Her severed spine jutted from her torso, and entrails uncoiled and slowly snaked out from her body, slippery and eager to stretch out and relax.) and faux-edgy pop culture references. In addition, Ciencin's actual knowledge of Transformers was visibly limited, consisting of what appeared to be hasty perusals of some sources - his description of Bumblebee, for instance, was clearly derived from a cursory glance at his Marvel Transformers Universe profile, presenting him to be blue and yellow (a result of the limited colour palette of the comics), rather than the correct black and yellow. Energon is described as a silvery-gold liquid (before the Energon series depicted it as such), and presented as the power source of the Matrix.
David Cian's half of the trilogy, which dropped the shock tactics and seemed better-researched, was much more positively received.
The Trilogy takes much of its tone from the first Dreamwave miniseries Prime Directives, which was also featured gratuitous gore, nuclear missiles, government conspiracies, a vague sense that Transformers had little sense of free will, and an angsty, indecisive Optimus Prime under the illusion he's engaged in a cosmic struggle of robot vs self. He uses the Matrix twice.
The Keepers baffled fans by being extremely, extremely similar to the Quintessons in method, technology, outlook, relationship to the Transformers, and (to some degree) appearance. Ciencin seems to have simply been unaware of the Quintessons' existence when he created them.
On the positive note; the Keepers Trilogy is one of the few stories to explore the long-term impact of Transformers' interaction with human society.