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The Transformers (Marvel Comics): Difference between revisions
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{{quote|Four million years ago, they came from '''Cybertron''', a world composed entirely of machinery... a world torn by an age-old war between the heroic '''Autobots''' and the evil '''Decepticons'''. These incredibly powerful living robots, capable of converting themselves into land and air vehicles, weapons and other mechanical forms, continue their conflict here on '''Earth'''. They are...'''THE TRANSFORMERS'''|Introductory blurb of the US comic}}
As well as the [[The Transformers (
The comic was initially set in the main [[Marvel Universe]], but soon moved to a separate [[Alternate Universe]] along with the ''[[G.I. Joe]]'' comic to prevent [[Executive Meddling]] from Hasbro interfering with Marvel's own characters. Most of the early issues were written by Bob Budiansky; he and his successor, Simon Furman, would end up having more influence on the overall ''Transformers'' mythos than anyone else.
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In America, the comic was originally a four-issue limited series written by Jim Salicrup and published bi-monthly. When it became an ongoing series, it was printed monthly and written by Budiansky. It was printed on higher-quality paper than most other comics, and as a result was also more expensive. While it used the same characters, setting, and premise as the cartoon, it told a significantly different set of stories. In particular, while the Transformers in the cartoon were built by Quintessons, in the comic, they originally arose from [[Mechanical Evolution|"naturally-evolving gears and pulleys."]] This was later [[Ret Conned]] into the Transformers being created by the god Primus, a part of canon [[Transformers Cybertron|later cartoon series]] adopted.
In the UK, the comic was published weekly for most of its run, and the American comics were commonly split in two in order to stretch the material. To make up for the dramatically shortened length, the UK comic also featured original material written by Simon Furman in the gaps between the American issues. These stories ''usually'' fit in with the American continuity, albeit with occasional twisting. After [[Transformers:
In addition, 1987 brought the new Headmaster and Targetmaster toys. Since this resulted in the appearance of a large number of toys with two [[Gimmick|gimmicks]] between them, Budiansky wrote a four-issue [[Spin-Off]] entitled ''Transformers: Headmasters'' (not to be confused with the ''[[Transformers Headmasters]]'' [[Anime]]), which introduced all the new characters as arrivals on the planet Nebulos. This series ended with the characters leaving Nebulos for Earth, to arrive in US issue 38 (UK 156). In the UK, it was reprinted in 16 parts as the backup strip in the main comic during the leadup.
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After Budiansky suffered [[Creator Breakdown]] as a result of trying to keep Hasbro happy, Furman was brought on to write both the US and UK comics. His focus on [[Story Arc|story arcs]] and [[Character Development]] was considered the high point of the comic's run; however, due to a communications breakdown, the UK comics at this point drifted out of sync with the US publication. Furman initially tried to tie his backup stories more closely to the main action, but Marvel UK frequently reprinted a classic story without warning, which resulted in the backup strip referencing events that had yet to occur in the main strip. As a result, Furman said "screw this" and simply turned the backup strip into a series of light-hearted romps that never even tried to maintain continuity with the US series.
It finally ended after 80 issues in America (September, 1984-July, 1991) or 332 in Britain (September, 1984-January, 1992) due to declining interest in ''Transformers'', though Marvel would later publish the short-lived ''[[Transformers Generation 2|Generation 2]]'' comic as a sequel. ''[[Transformers Classics]]'' is an alternate sequel by [[Transformers Timelines
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* [[Cybernetics Will Eat Your Soul]]: Shockwave, very much.
* [[Death Is Cheap]] : Optimus Prime.
* [[Depending
* [[Deus Est Machina]]: Primus and Unicron are more important in the Marvel series than in the rest of G1
* [[Enemy Civil War]]: At various points, there has been Megatron vs Shockwave, Shockwave vs Ratbat, Ratbat vs Scorponok, Scorponok vs Shockwave again, Scorponok vs Megatron, and Scorponok vs Megatron vs Galvatron.
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** A particularly unique example is in Time Wars where Autobots and Decepticons of two eras band together to stop the Con'sown leaders- Galvatron and Megatron.
* [[Excited Episode Title]]: Almost every issue has at least one exclamation mark.
* [[Bounty Hunter|Freelance Peacekeeping Agent]]: [[
* [[Gladiator Games]]: Popular on Cybertron before the Decepticon uprising. Megatron himself started off as a gladiator.
* [[Honor Before Reason]]: Optimus Prime asks a human to destroy him because he endangered bystanders in a ''video game'' fight against the Decepticons... even though Megatron was cheating at the time. [[It Makes Sense in Context]], but Optimus' action was still stupid.
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** In the future, Cyclonus and Scourge are this to Shockwave himself. They succeed, albeit while under mind control.
* [[Time Travel]]
* [[Transplant]]: At the end of "The Legacy of Unicron", [[
* [[You Keep Using That Word]]: The comic has a character named Emirate Xaaron. An ''emirate'' is not a person, but a ''place'' that is ruled by an ''emir.'' (No, Xaaron's not one of the "big enough to be a [[Genius Loci]]" bots.)
* [[Zombie Apocalypse]]
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