Aspects of Evil!

2011-11-23T00:32:03Z

109.148.180.170: /* Unicron */

{{disambig2|the original Marvel UK comics|the Titan Books trade paperback|Transformers: Aspects of Evil}}
{{comicstory|seriesissue=[[The Transformers (Marvel comic)#Marvel UK|''The Transformers'' (UK)]] #223–227
|prev=Survivors!
|next=(Double) Deal of the Century!
|title="Aspects of Evil!"
|image=Issue227.jpg
|caption=Tony Blair has really let himself go!
|publisher=[[Marvel Comics]]
|coverdate=[[June 24|24th June]] - [[July 22|22nd July]] [[1989]]
|writer=[[Simon Furman]]
|pencils=[[Art Wetherell]] (#224) [[Simon Coleby]] (#227)
|inks=Simon Coleby (#224) [[Cam Smith]] (#227)
|art=[[Jeff Anderson]] (#223) [[Andrew Wildman|Andy Wildman]] (#225) [[Lee Sullivan]] (#226)
|letterer=[[Helen Stone]] (#223) [[Gary Gilbert|Glib]] (#224-225, #227) [[Nick Abadzis]] (#226)
|continuity=[[Marvel Comics continuity]]
}}

'''An aged Rodimus remembers the evils of the Decepticon leaders, and a terrifying revelation is made.'''

==Synopsis==
In the year [[2356]], in a medbay on [[Autobot City|Autobot City: Earth]], a decrepit and sickly [[Hot Rod (G1)|Rodimus Prime]] is visited by an [[Autobot]] [[student]] who is researching the nature of evil.

Rodimus recalls...

===Scorponok===
[[Image:MarvelUK-223.jpg|left|150px|thumb|]]
In the year [[1991]], the [[Decepticon]] civil war was nearly over, and a wounded, defeated [[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]] rampaged through a [[human]] town with the [[Air Strike Patrol]] pursuing with intent to kill. This turned out to be deliberate: It drew Hot Rod and his team to Scorponok, at which point he surrendered. Hot Rod was now forced by Autobot law to protect Scorponok from being killed. Since he also couldn't fight the Air Strike Patrol in a human settlement, he had to settle for leading them into the countryside, which meant Scorponok was left unguarded and was free to walk away to plot anew.
{{-}}
===Galvatron===
[[Image:MarvelUK-224.jpg|right|150px|thumb|"No, Prime! Parents will ''never'' buy a comic with ''this'' on the cover!"]]
When Rodimus Prime's Autobots returned to [[2009]] following the [[Time Wars (event)|Time Wars]], they found the timeline had healed, revising history. Now [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]] [[Fallen Angel|hadn't fled to 1987 Earth]], and because of this, the Decepticons had conquered [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]]. Galvatron attacked Rodimus, taunting him with his defeat and with the revelation he'd murdered [[Blurr (G1)|Blurr]]. His intention was to goad Rodimus into a fury, corrupting the [[Matrix of Leadership|Creation Matrix]] with his baser instincts so that Galvatron could control it. The other Autobots were able to pull Rodimus back from the brink, but in the process, Galvatron had awakened [[Unicron]], trapped in the Matrix since [[The Legacy of Unicron!|his last defeat]]...

{{note|This segment of the story is continued in "[[The Void! (UK)|The Void!]]".}}
{{-}}
===Shockwave===
[[Image:MarvelUK-225.jpg|left|150px|thumb|]]
Autobot City was officially opened in [[2004]], attended by various [[Earth]] heads of state. [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]] attacked with a small army, logically working out that the Autobots would try to protect the humans before fighting back, that they would be slaughtered before they realised they had to fight back, that the death of human leaders would destroy Autobot/Earth relations, and that this act would lead to him taking command of the Decepticons again. His logic was undone by Hot Rod illogically attacking him directly, which caused the attack to break off and strengthened relations with Earth.
{{-}}
===Megatron===
[[Image:MarvelUK-226.jpg|right|150px|thumb|]]
On Cybertron in [[1990]], Hot Rod, [[Kup (G1)|Kup]], and [[Blurr (G1)|Blurr]] were freed from Decepticon captivity by an Autobot deep-cover agent named [[Warmonger]]. Recaptured, Hot Rod was forced to watch as [[Straxus (G1)|Megatron]] accused [[Bludgeon (G1)|Bludgeon]] of being the traitor responsible. Bludgeon demanded to prove his innocence through a traditional trial-by-combat against the other Decepticons, which is what Megatron had hoped for; Warmonger revealed himself as an Autobot when he couldn't bring himself to murder Bludgeon, and so Megatron killed him. Megatron showed casual disregard for the idea Bludgeon could have died first and mused it would have been simpler just to kill everyone.

Throughout this, the student gets more and more eager to learn of Unicron, leading to Rodimus to recall:
{{-}}
===Unicron===
With his body rebuilt, Unicron's third coming was in [[2010]]. He devastated Cybertron and almost wiped out everyone before Rodimus Prime drew his spirit back into the tainted Matrix. But when Kup and [[Arcee (G1)|Arcee]] found him, they realised Rodimus — screaming at them to stay back: "It's not safe!" — had been possessed by Unicron again...

The student sneers at this as a work of fiction, rips off his Autobrand and storms out, declaring he'll find Unicron himself and prove to Rodimus Prime what evil is. Rodimus realises he's unleashed the student's evil side and that Unicron is taking control again...

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|c1=
* [[Landfill (G1)|Landfill]] (6)
* [[Hot Rod (G1)|Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime]] (7)
* [[Quickmix (G1)|Quickmix]] (8)
* [[Student]] (9)
* [[Kup (G1)|Kup]] (11)
* [[Arcee (G1)|Arcee]] (12)
* [[Blurr (G1)|Blurr]] (16)
* [[Flak (G1)|Flak]] (17)
* [[Sunrunner]] (18)
* [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]] (19)
* [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Marvel Comics continuity|Optimus Prime]] (22)
* [[Warmonger]] (28)
|c2=
* [[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]] (1)
* [[Whisper (G1)|Whisper]] (2)
* [[Tailwind (G1)|Tailwind]] (3)
* [[Nightflight (G1)|Nightflight]] (4)
* [[Storm Cloud]] (5)
* [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]] (10)
* [[Windsweeper]] (13)
* [[Ruckus (G1)|Ruckus]] (14)
* [[Crankcase (G1)|Crankcase]] (15)
* [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]] (20)
* [[Astrotrain (G1)|Astrotrain]] (21)
* [[Blitzwing (G1)|Blitzwing]] (23)
* [[Straxus (G1)|Straxus]]-[[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] (24)
* [[Bludgeon (G1)|Bludgeon]] (25)
* [[Octopunch]] (27)
* [[Stranglehold]] (26)
|c4=
* [[Unicron]] (29)
}}

==Notes==
*In the US reprints, eventually a subplot will develop of Shockwave preparing to declare a Decepticon civil war against Scorponok, with the [[...All This and Civil War 2|resulting story]] being reprinted in 1991. This would hint Furman had the Decepticon civil war idea planned this far back but went on to change the details of it considerably.
*In describing Shockwave, Rodimus repeatedly uses the term "inhuman" as an insult. Talk about being unclear on some core concepts!
*The same format of flashback-based character vignettes with a framing story will be used again in "[[Perchance to Dream]]".
*All of the post-movie stories have been wiped from existence after the Time Wars, with a new revised history in place. The full effects of this—i.e. are dead characters still alive, did Cyclonus and Scourge go back in time (if they didn't, Death's Head would still be around too)—are never explored. However, Rodimus refers to "The Legacy of Unicron!" as still having happened.
*The "Autobot law" Scorponok uses against Hot Rod could be the [[Autobot Code]], though neither of them refers to it as such.
* The student is never seen again.

===Errors===
* In part 2, Flak and Sunrunner are depicted as being the same size as their non-[[Micromaster]] comrades.

===Continuity===
It's 'round about this time UK continuity gets iffy:
* The Galvatron segment and the Rodimus Prime framing story follow on from both "[[Time Wars]]" and "[[The Legacy of Unicron!]]". Both are continued in [[The Void! (UK)|#251]] to [[White Fire|#254]].
* Scorponok and Megatron's segments don't fit "present-day" continuity at all, though. While it could be assumed that Rodimus's timeline diverges from the regular Marvel one around 1989 (due to [[Primal Scream|the earlier arrival of Unicron]]), that would still mean Megatron was blasted into dimensional space and merged with [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]]. While it's possible Megatron could be back in time for 1991, 1990 is pushing it a bit. More annoyingly, his story could fit after "[[The Fall and Rise of the Decepticon Empire.]]" ''if'' it was set in different year. Maybe Rodimus is getting his dates mixed up? However, if events diverged at "[[Skin Deep]]" or earlier so Megatron was defeated by other means, it would all fit, though what would cause that divergence is unknown. (Viewing these stories as apocryphal could be the easiest solution, but where's the fun in ''that''?)
*The Aspects Galvatron would appear to be a Galvatron formed from a post-Time Wars [[Straxus (G1)|Megatron clone]], who knows in advance he'll be transformed; it'd make sense that he deliberately take different actions to the original Galvatron.
* The Decepticon civil war turns up in "[[Trigger-Happy!]]" in the [[Transformers Annual 1990]], released around the same time.
* Chronologically, the Shockwave portion is the third to feature the post-movie cast; it is preceded by "[[Ark Duty]]" and followed by "[[Target: 2006]]" (or [[The Transformers: The Movie|the Movie itself]], technically).
* The framing portion of this story is the next-to-last post-movie tale, chronologically. "[[Peace]]" is set some two hundred years after this story, though it is unclear if it is meant to be in continuity with this tale. The reader never sees how or if Unicron is driven out of the Matrix.
* It's not explicitly stated that it's his time-jump to 1987 that Galvatron didn't do, but the narration refers to him as not having "fled to Earth": something that fits better for "[[Fallen Angel]]" than "[[Target: 2006]]".

===Covers===
* '''Issue #223 cover:''' [[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]] waves at the [[Air Strike Patrol]] by [[Geoff Senior]].
* '''Issue #224 cover:''' Rodimus really gets on top of Galvatron by Geoff Senior.
* '''Issue #225 cover:''' Your puny Earth bunting is no match for [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]] by [[Jeff Anderson]].
* '''Issue #226 cover:''' Megatron dominates Bludgeon in the ring by Jeff Anderson.
* '''Issue #227 cover:''' Unicron chows down on Cybertron (again) by Geoff Senior.

===Reprints===
*2005 — ''[[Transformers: Aspects of Evil]]''
*2010 — ''[[The Transformers: Best of Megatron]]''

[[Category:Marvel UK issues]]

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Aspects of Evil!