This page provides fans and readers with all the resources needed to fully enjoy the entire run of the Classicverse, from Marvel Transformers Issue 1 released in 1984 through Transformers: Invasion released in April of 2012. While the Classicverse itself ended in 2012, many of the characters found themselves in new universes — most notably in the shattered mirror version known as Shattered Glass.
The following provides both a reading guide and synopsis as to how the Transformers fiction from Marvel G1, Classics, and Shattered Glass are all connected.
Shattered Glass was created by Aaron Archer, Brian Savage, Pete Sinclair, and Benson Yee. After trying to talk his G.I. Joe team at Fun Publications into developing a mirror universe for the G.I. JoeCon Convention Set, Brian Savage asked his Transformers advisory council if they thought a mirror universe would work for Transformers. Unlike the Joe team, the Transformers team jumped at the opportunity — it had never been done on the Transformers brand.
At BotCon 2007, an impromptu round table meeting with Aaron Archer, Pete Sinclair, and Benson Yee led to the initial notes for how the core cast of Shattered Glass should look. The BotCon 2008 convention toy offerings were developed at Fun Pub with the story concept conceived by Benson Yee and Pete Sinclair. The story name “Shattered Glass” — which would also become the name of both the concept and that universe — was thought up by Pete Sinclair.
The idea was that this universe wasn’t just a mirror, but rather a shattered reflection of the regular “Classics” universe, with some things being the obvious opposite or color swaps of the characters and events from G1, while others being various twists one would not expect. The universe debuted April 2008 in the pages of Transformers: Timelines Issue 3 with featured art by Don Figueroa.
During its run at Fun Publications from 2008–2016, there were around 30 Shattered Glass toys produced and over a dozen comic book and prose stories set in the Shattered Glass universe. Shattered Glass has continued from 2016 to present day in the form of new toys, comics, and memorabilia offered by Hasbro, Takara-Tomy, their licensees, and various comic book publishers both in the U.S. and overseas.
A special thanks to all of the additional writers and artists that contributed to both the Classicverse and Shattered Glass franchises during their time at Fun Publications.