Portland
From Transformers Wiki
Portland, Oregon is a city in Pacific Northwest region of the United States of America. Surrounded by hilly forested terrain, it is noted for its close proximity to mountains and at least one active volcano.
It has an uncanny ability to attract newly arrived robots from outer space.
Contents |
Fiction
Marvel Comics continuity
Marvel The Transformers comics
Portland was the nearest city to Mount St. Hilary, the site of the crashed Ark. The New Order Specific locations in and around the city included:
- S. Witwicky Auto Repairs & Tow Service
- Greater Portland Medical Center
- Blackrock Aerospace Assembly Plant Number One
- The corporate headquarters of Blackrock Enterprises
- Blackrock Motor Speedway
- Blackrock Chronic Care Institute
- Jake Lomax's suburban estate
- Forbes's Garage
- A ballet school
- Mister O's
- The suburb of St. Petersburg
- A-1 Used Auto Parts
Sparkplug Witwicky and his son Buster lived in Portland's Southeast quadrant, with Sparkplug operating an auto repair shop and junk yard next to his house. When the Ark's crew awoke and resumed their war on Earth, Buster ended up driving the battle-damaged Bumblebee away from a Portland drive-in theater to his father's shop for repairs. The Transformers
Stalking the streets of downtown Portland later that night, Ravage learned of this alliance from Buster's friends "O" and Jesse; this led to the Decepticons attacking the Autobots at Sparkplug's garage, Power Play!, a battle witnessed by the entire neighborhood. Prisoner of War! Later, when Sparkplug suffered a heart attack while at Ark, Ratchet rushed him and Buster to a Portland hospital, The Last Stand whose paramedic staff were baffled by the presence of the strange ambulance. The New Order
Not long after, a pair of giant robots took over a Blackrock aerospace plant in Portland's suburbs. G.B. Blackrock was in the downtown Portland headquarters of his business empire when news broke; after venting his anger, he visited his injured employee Josie Beller in the nearby Blackrock Chronic Care Institute. Elsewhere in the Portland suburbs, Buster returned to his father's home and garage after his adventures with the Autobots, uncertain how to deal with the backlog of his dad's business. Warrior School!
Blackrock's aircraft factory was soon surrounded by a military cordon, which was powerless to stop the comings and goings of the giant robots within, a fact Josie Beller witnessed from her hospital bed. Repeat Performance! Blackrock's racetrack, where he sometimes drove laps to blow off steam, would shortly become the site of Portland's next robot battle, as he unveiled his anti-robot cannon, only to have a pair of Decepticons attack to destroy it, a pair of Autobots try to stop them, and Josie Beller attempt to destroy them all. DIS-Integrated Circuits! Meanwhile, the captured aerospace plant, still surrounded by the military, saw the creation of the Constructicons The Next Best Thing to Being There! and the failed creation of Jetfire Brainstorm!, before the defeat of Shockwave allowed the workers there to free themselves. Prime Time!
Two-bit criminal Joey Slick, a Portland resident, became a one-man crime sensation after finding the debilitated form of Megatron and taking control of him. Using gun-mode Megatron's power, Slick robbed his way across Portland and the Pacific Northwest, before finally laying waste to the estate of crime boss Jake Lomax in the Portland suburbs. Shooting Star!
Another robot battle occurred in and around Municipal Stadium, during a Brick Springstern concert. Rock and Roll-Out! Following on from that, G.B. Blackrock was once again in his downtown skyscraper when Robot Master made his first broadcast; the following morning his ritzy home in suburban Portland was besieged by reporters looking for a statement. Soundwave was also downtown, concealed in his tape deck mode and monitoring broadcasts from an electronics store, until he, Ravage and Laserbeak dramatically departed to rescue the stranded Megatron. I, Robot-Master!
Ratchet visited a junkyard off Route 26 in Portland's Southeast area when looking for parts for his fallen comrades, inadvertently getting mixed up in a Portland Police Department sting intended to net a local car thief who called himself The Mechanic. Funeral for a Friend! With tools stolen from Ratchet, the Mechanic stole a radar dish from Portland International Airport; meanwhile, Blaster and Goldbug futilely staked out the Mechanic's former garage, unaware that he'd moved to an abandoned canning factory on the city's outskirts. Mechanical Difficulties! Goldbug and Blaster later returned to Portland to track down G.B. Blackrock, finding him departing from one of the city's expensive restaurants with a date. Crater Critters Goldbug later phoned Blackrock at hi sdowntown headquarters to request some life-saving aide. The Cure!
Portland fell victim to a Decepticon scheme to steal gasoline via hypnotic carwashes, causing a gas crisis across the region; Sparkplug was one of many unwitting operators of the Wash and Roll carwashes until Buster and Jesse foiled the scheme. Buster Witwicky and the Car Wash of Doom
Buster and Sparkplug later witnessed the apparent execution of Goldbug and several other Autobots from their Portland home; shortly afterwards they received a visit from Goldbug himself, reduced to a brain module in a toy car, and seeking help in reaching the Ark. Buster and Walter Barnett departed to help the Autobots... and the Predacons subsequently arrived and destroyed Sparkplug's house and garage. Buster, meanwhile, stopped at a suburban Portland mall along the way to get fresh batteries to sustain Goldbug, only to have a skirmish with the Predacons. Toy Soldiers! Spike Witwicky subsequently arrived at his father's Portland home to find it wrecked but his father alive and unharmed. Trial by Fire! With his home destroyed, Sparkplug stayed briefly at the Cascade Vista Motel outside of Portland, where he received a visit from Spike and his new Autobot allies; The Desert Island of Space! later he moved into a decrepit Portland boarding house, Pretender to the Throne! and was still living there when Blaster arrived seeking help in rescuing Buster from the Decepticons Club Con! and a short while later when both his sons finally returned home. The Man in the Machine! With the Ark having departed for space, Portland saw no further giant robot incursions.
Recordicons
Ratbat had an award from the Portland Chamber of Commerce on the wall in his quarters. Recordicons #11
Dreamwave Generation One continuity
When Ultra Magnus arrived on Earth to enforce Shockwave's edict that the Earth-bound Autobots surrender themselves to the Cybertronian alliance, Optimus Prime ordered a portion of his troops into hiding there. Brothers' Burden
Linkage
Top Gear hunted down and subdued Tailslide with the aid of two Fixer Bugs in a Portland suburb. Linkage Part 2
Transformers/G.I. Joe
G.I. Joe and Cobra independently detected the crash of an Autobot shuttlecraft near Portland. Flint was sent to retrieve it with a team of rookies, and managed to repel a Cobra team sent to do the same thing and recover an unconscious Blaster. Targets of Opportunity
2005 IDW continuity
Soundwave was trapped in his cassette player mode and bought by a kid living in Portland. Spotlight: Soundwave
Decades later, Arcee and Jazz helped the local humans deal with flooding as part of Optimus Prime's mandate of goodwill to humanity. Unfortunately, G.I. Joe (under the influence of the secret Dire Wraith General Joe Colton) decided that the Cybertronians must have had ulterior motives and attacked the Autobots. Prime arrived with reinforcements and tried to convince the humans to stand down their (ineffective) attack, but this was ruined when Rom arrived and killed Colton and three other Joes. Subsequently, the Autobots departed to chase down the mysterious alien while the Joes were left to call for reinforcements. Scarlett decreed that the apparent murders were a declaration of war upon humanity, Concorde Hymn though Mainframe and Agent Helix mulled over the inconsistency in that theory. The Divine Source of Liberty
Ask Vector Prime
Butch "Spike" Witwicky was born in Portland. Ask Vector Prime, 2015/09/07
Games
Transformers Roleplaying Game
Portland was the nearest city to the crashed Ark. It contained a number of businesses and amenities, which included S. Witwicky Auto Repairs & Tow Service, Burger Shed, and Vincenzo's Pizza. The Onyx megacorporation had its primary headquarters in Portland. Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook
Notes
- It rains a lot in the Portland area, yet the inhabitants are almost always seen to be enjoying clear skies in Transformers. Perhaps rain is just a nuisance to draw.
- Portland is widely considered to be the greenest, meaning sustainable, city in the United States, and possibly the second-greenest in the world.
- Sun-bleached rock formations and dusty desert roads are in short supply in lush, heavily-forested river valleys; to find those you have to drive 90 minutes east to the Rain shadow.
External links
- Portland at Wikipedia
