Transformers: Ghosts of Yesterday Quiz

Answer: 1969

The book was released as a prequel to the movie, and published in March 2007, while the live-action "Transformers" film was released in July 2007. The book and the movie are not consistent on a few dates, however. In the movie, it was said that Megatron was moved to the Hoover Damn in 1935.

In the book, he is moved in 1969, while at the same time, a human prototype spacecraft is launched from a secret Sector Seven base. These two events were chosen to take place around this time when the rest of the world was busy following the Apollo 11 spacecraft.

Whenever there is a conflict between the movie and the book, the movie is to be considered main canon.

Answer: Ghost One

Megatron was the leader of the Depticons, frozen on Earth. The Ark was the name of the Autobot transport that Optimus Prime used to search the galaxy for the Allspark. The Nemesis was the Depticon transport that they used to search for their lost leader. Ghost One was the human ship that was created by reverse engineering components from Megatron.

This resemblance to Cypertronian technology is what encouraged both the Autobots and Decepticons to investigate the ship.

Answer: We don't know

According to "Transformers: The Movie Prequel" (A comic book), Bumblebee's vocal processors are destroyed by Megatron when he was being interrogated. A biography on one of the Transformers toys said that Hardtop, an old rival of Bumblebee's, was the Decepticon that damaged his vocal processors.

In this book, however, it is not stated who damaged him, and that he had already sustained this injury before the events in this book took place.

Answer: Yes

The human ship, after seeing the Ark, decide to flee, rather than fight. They landed on a planet with breathable atmosphere. However, under the planet was a series of tunnels that had been dug out by indigenous worm-like creatures. They are described as large (the size of a transformer) and muscular.

The Autobots had difficulty dealing with them when navigating the tunnels, and tended to avoid a fight if they could.

Answer: Starscream

Bumblebee had landed on the planet and was walking towards the human ship when Starscream came down and attacked him, chasing Bumblebee off. Starscream then made first contact with the humans and convinced them to help him destroy the "evil" Autobots.

After helping Starscream attack Optimus, the humans decided to have a quick discussion under the guise of having to repair their ship. They decided that Starcream was not trustworthy, and agreed to try to sneak away, but accidentally fell into the underground tunnel system.

Here, Starscream revealed his plan to destroy the humans so they could not tell his fellow Decepticons the location of Megatron. If the Decepticons did find Megatron, then Starscream would be replaced as leader.

Answer: Optimus Prime

After Bumblebee fell into the underground tunnel system, Optimus Prime elected to go and save him, with Jazz, Ironhide, and Ratchet remaining on the Ark. Optimus found Bumblebee, and together they fought off many of the indigenous worm creatures. They eventually encountered the human ship, and offered them aid to get out of the tunnels. For this act of kindness, Walker, the ship's captain, decided to help the Autobots in their struggle against the Decepticons.

Answer: Jensen

There were five people aboard the Ghost One: Sam Walker, the captain, Jacob Thompson, the pilot, Micheal Avery, the chief science officer, Craig Clarkson, the engineer, and Maria Gonzalez, the communications expert and secretary for the mission. Lieutenant Jensen was part of the SSAB and was in charge of the military forces there.

Answer: The Ice Man

Megatron was the transformer that had crash landed in the ice above the Arctic Circle (hence the name: Ice Man). Most human technology was, apparently, reverse engineered by studying him. The humans, after finding him, wanted to move him to a new location: the Hoover Damn in Nevada, where he could be studied along with the Allspark, which had similar markings on it.

The humans later, after the events in this book, adopted the name NBE 1 (Non-biological extraterrestrial).

Answer: Nolan

Throughout the book, Tom Kinnear and Philip Nolan think back and remember when they were fighting in Vietnam together. They had to endure injuries and hardships, and had still managed to pull through. They had started to notice how working at a desk job had made them out-of-shape, and how the effects of age were taking their toll (even though it was only three years after they had been in Vietnam).

Answer: Devastator

Devastator was the Decepticon that, in the movie, transformed into a tank. He was large and powerful, and had no lines. He is the only transformer from the movie that did not appear in the book.

Answer: Jazz

While Optimus is busy saving Bumblebee, Jazz, Ironhide, and Ratchet try their own plans to cripple the Decepticons. While Ratchet stayed on the Ark and provided covering fire, Jazz, being small and nimble, distracted the Decepticons while Ironhide made his way to disable the Nemesis' engines. During the fight, Jazz was unable to maneuver out of the way in time, and was hit by a blast from Blackout, dead center.

Then Starscream returned, and Jazz broadcast to Ironhide to abort his mission. In his hesitation, Jazz was speared by Bonecrusher's pointed tail.

He then tried to make quick repairs for the final battle, but was still not up to 100% when it came, and he was again paired off with Frenzy for the fight.

Answer: Blackout

Scorponok fits into a special compartment in Blackout, and can be deployed at Blackout's leisure. Scorponok and Blackout work better together because of their symbiotic relationship, than the other Decepticons. Barricade also has a compartment for Frenzy, but Frenzy seems to have a more independent attitude than Barricade.

Answer: Russians

When the Americans were moving Megatron in the convoy, on a snow-covered road, a KGB agent, Sergei Tasarov, who was driving the lead vehicle, swerved and caused the entire convoy to crash. It was then made known that a submarine was nearby, full of Russian forces ready to take whatever secret the Americans had, which turned out to be Megatron.

The Americans had to deal with a severe blizzard, which disabled communications, and advancing Russian forces.

Answer: Blackout and Starscream

Starscream's ultimate goal was to prevent the Decepticons from finding Megatron, for as long as Megatron was absent, Starscream would be in command. Starscream ordered all his comrades to stay in orbit while he went to check out the ship so he could destroy it and create his own story to present to the Decepticons.

His fellows were extremely doubtful of the tale he told them, and Blackout issued a challenge for leadership. Starscream beat Blackout and continued to injure him to "teach him a lesson" and then, once again with the combined power of the Decepticons, minus Blackout, following his orders, he attacked the Autobots.

Answer: Scorponok

While Starscream was down on the surface of the planet, Blackout sent Scorponok aboard the Ark in order to disable its engines. When Starscream returned, he tried to get the Decepticons to attack the Ark before it escaped, without having to explain what had transpired down on the planet. With Scorponok aboard to disable the engines, and with Optimus Prime and Bumblebee still on the planet, the other Decepticons knew that the Autobots would not leave.

This forced Starscream to quickly spin up a tale (which was partially true) that would satisfy the Decepticons, which it didn't.

This was when Blackout issued his challenge for leadership of the Decepticons.

Answer: They might lead the transformers back to Earth

It was made clear that in the event of encountering hostile intelligent life, that Ghost One was not to return home in order to prevent the aliens from following them. Although his crew was upset with his decision, Walker insisted that they not return to prevent the Autobots and Decepticons from bringing their war to Earth. Mission control back at SSAB on Earth eventually decided to allow the return of Ghost One, but Walker still stayed, and the wormhole soon destabilized and collapsed soon after. Without any hope of returning home, the crew decided to aid the Autobots against the Decepticons.

Answer: Rangers

Sergeant Martin and his team of Rangers were sent to the SSAB base for "Arctic Training". This was quite suspicious considering that most U.S. forces were in Southeast Asia at the time. It turned out that the team had been sent by the Old Man to watch over the transport of the Ice Man. They ended up turning the tide of the battle between U.S. and Russian forces.

Answer: Yes

While the marines had set up a perimeter around Megatron to defend against the Russians, the engineers were in the middle, trying to keep Megatron cooled. With most of their equipment destroyed by the crash, they could not keep him out of stasis, and Megatron woke up. With all other military personnel on the perimeter, Kinnear and Nolan, who were both badly wounded, were charged with refreezing him.

Answer: No one

For the final battle between Autobots and Decepticons, Optimus ordered everyone to fight, including Ratchet (who had previously remained on the Ark to provide long range support). This allowed Scorponok to move around uninhibited to disable the Ark. Optimus noticed Scorponok's escape, and reassigned Ratched to deal with him. Ratchet then proceeded to beat Scorponok thoroughly, and moved to take his place at the helm of the Ark once more.

Answer: Jensen

Sam Walker died when he ordered Ghost One to fire on Starscream. They had snuck up behind him and fired, severely damaging him. In his fury, Starscream unleashed a salvo of blasts at the human ship, and obliterated it. Starscream then called for the Decepticons to retreat, and to break off their otherwise rather successful attack.

Tom Kinnear and Philip Nolan both sustained heavy injuries, but continued to attempt to refreeze Megatron. Kinnear got Megatron's attention and got Megatron to pick him up. At close range, he detonated a backpack full of grenades, and himself, knocking Megatron backwards. Nolan than found the single remaining tank of liquid nitrogen and froze Megatron. He died soon after due to insufficient protection against the cold.

Lieutenant Jensen survived the battle with the Russians, commanding most of it and was left to admire the courage that both Kinnear and Nolan had shown.