MediaWiki - User contributions [en]

The Last Stand

2010-07-14T13:53:57Z

64.12.116.65: /* Items of note */

{{disambig2|the comic issue in the Marvel US Comics|the [[Titan Books]] collection|Last Stand}}

{{comicstory|seriesissue=[[The Transformers (Marvel comic)|''The Transformers'' (US)]] #4
|prev=Prisoner of War!
|next=The New Order
|title="The Last Stand"
|seriesissue2=[[The Transformers (Marvel comic)#Marvel UK|''The Transformers'' (UK)]] #7–8
|prev2=Prisoner of War!
|next2=Man of Iron!
|image=MarvelUS-04.jpg
|caption=Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! No! It's... oh. It actually ''is'' a [[Seeker (body-type)|plane]].
|publisher=[[Marvel Comics]]
|date=[[December 4]], 1984
|coverdate=March 1985
|writer=[[Jim Salicrup]]
|pencils=[[Frank Springer]]
|inks=[[Ian Akin]], [[Brian Garvey]]
|colors=[[Nelson Yomtov]]
|letters=[[John Workman]]
|editor=[[Bob Budiansky]]
|continuity=[[Marvel Comics continuity]]
}}
'''The Autobots make a desperate gamble to defeat the Decepticons.'''

==Synopsis==
Some of the [[Autobot|Autobots]] accuse Sparkplug of betraying them by giving the [[Decepticon|Decepticons]] the fuel conversion they needed. Panicked, Sparkplug and his son attempt to escape, but when Jazz blocks their path with a wall of flame, Sparkplug suffers a heart attack. He is rushed to the hospital by Ratchet.

Huffer tells Optimus about a discovery he made in the [[Ark (G1)|Ark]]'s memory banks: Just after the ship crashed, its barely functional computers detected the Decepticon Shockwave arriving on [[Earth]] in pursuit. With the last of its power, the Ark modified five Autobot warriors to combat him, thus creating the [[Dinobot (G1)|Dinobots]]. They traveled in a [[Ark shuttlecraft|shuttle]] to the [[Savage Land]] to confront Shockwave, at which point contact was lost. Huffer has Ratchet dispatch a probe to search for the lost Dinobots.

At the hospital, Sparkplug undergoes emergency treatment and dreams of his Army service in Korea, where he was forced to repair North Korean vehicles. He further recalls sabotaging those vehicles...

With no new fuel sources forthcoming, the remaining Autobots are forced to make a desperate gamble to fight the Decepticons one last time. All the Autobots sacrifice their remaining fuel resources to Optimus Prime, Huffer, Ironhide, Bluestreak and Mirage. These five prepare to fight the Decepticons within the [[Mount St. Hilary|volcano]] that the Ark has crashed into, as the Decepticons arrive to destroy the Autobots once and for all.

In the Savage Land, Huffer's probe has found something and starts to dig it out—until a giant purple hand crushes it...

Although the Decepticons begin to win the battle by virtue of their greater numbers, at the moment of apparent victory, the Decepticons all fall, writhing in internal agony. As he reveals to Buster at the hospital, Sparkplug had corrupted the fuel he provided to the Decepticons, and they are now poisoned. Optimus Prime proclaims the debt that they, and the entire world, owe to Sparkplug Witwicky.

But suddenly, a gigantic blast from above knocks out all the Autobot troops... and Shockwave stands supreme!

"NOT the end..."
{{-}}

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|c1=
* [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Marvel Comics continuity|Optimus Prime]] (1)
* [[Brawn (G1)|Brawn]] (2)
* [[Sunstreaker (G1)|Sunstreaker]] (3)
* [[Mirage (G1)|Mirage]] (6)
* [[Jazz (G1)|Jazz]] (7)
* [[Huffer (G1)|Huffer]] (8)
* [[Windcharger (G1)|Windcharger]] (9)
* [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]] (10)
* [[Gears (G1)|Gears]] (11)
* [[Ironhide (G1)|Ironhide]] (12)
* [[Bluestreak]] (13)
* [[Sideswipe (G1)|Sideswipe]] (14)
* [[Snarl (G1)|Snarl]] (30)
* [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]] (31)
* [[Swoop (G1)|Swoop]] (32)
* [[Sludge (G1)|Sludge]] (33)
* [[Slag (G1)|Slag]] (34)
* [[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]] (35)
|c2=
* [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] (18)
* [[Decepticon medic (Marvel Comics)|Decepticon medic]](19)
* [[Reflector (G1)|Reflector]] (20–22)
**[[Spyglass]] (20)
**[[Spectro]] (21)
**[[Viewfinder]] (22)
* [[Frenzy (G1)|Frenzy]] (23)
* [[Rumble (G1)|Rumble]] (24)
* [[Skywarp (G1)|Skywarp]] (25)
* [[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]] (26)
* [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]] (27)
* [[Ravage (G1)|Ravage]] (28)
* [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]] (29)
* [[Buzzsaw (G1)|Buzzsaw]] (36)
* [[Laserbeak (G1)|Laserbeak]] (37)
* [[Thundercracker (G1)|Thundercracker]] (38)
|c3=
* [[Buster Witwicky (G1)|Buster Witwicky]] (4)
* [[Sparkplug Witwicky]] (5)
* [["O"]] (15)
* [[Mister "O"]] (16)
* [[Jesse]] (17)
}}

==Errors==
* Cover: Megatron is colored mostly brown.
* Page 1: Brawn is colored red and blue instead of green and yellow. Several generic Autobots are seen in the second inset panel.
* Page 2:
** Panel 1: Windcharger is colored with a red chest and head and blue arms, instead of gray torso and red arms. Standing behind Huffer is a off-colour version of [[Jetfire (G1)|Jetfire]]'s original character model (based on the Macross Valkyrie toy)
** Panel 2: Ratchet's face and chevron are colored red instead of their usual grey/white.
** Panel 4: Why does Ironhide have yellow accordion knees?
* Page 3:
** Panel 2: Mirage is colored with red arms and a white head. Jazz (seen holding back Ironhide) is colored mostly blue with red legs, instead of mostly white with black details.
** Panel 5: Jazz fires what's supposed to be his flamethrower, but is in actuality his regular rifle.
* Page 5: Ratchet has an all-red head again and red legs. (Again, the consistency of this indicates that it might be an earlier color scheme.) Optimus is barely as tall as Ratchet's ambulance mode.
* Page 9: A bunch of vaguely Reflector-like robots are suddenly hanging around in the Decepticon fortress. (Issue #1 pretty clearly indicated that the only Decepticons on Earth are the ten introduced in that issue, a point even more explicitly stated by Shockwave in the next issue.) If that's supposed to be Frenzy on one of the repair beds, he's completely off-model.
* Megatron has an off-center Decepticon sigil throughout the issue.
* Page 13: Bumblebee is colored approximately like Sideswipe.
* Wheeljack, Trailbreaker, Prowl and Jazz are all shown to be up and about in this issue, yet they are not shown among the donor Autobots in the [[Tubes of Transference]].
* Page 14: Brawn is shown among the active Autobots, even though he was not among those recharged for the final fight. Frenzy and Rumble are shown as active despite page 9 stating they had been knocked out of action last issue. [[The New Order|The next issue]] reinforces their injury status.
* Page 16: There's Brawn again! And Windcharger!
* Page 18:
** Panel 5: Sunstreaker and Sideswipe are both shown among the Autobots; there's a generic lying on the ground.
** Panel 6: Cliffjumper is among the Autobots. Seriously. Wasn't the whole "last five Autobots" like a really big plot point just a couple of pages ago? Sheesh. And Skywarp, Rumble and Soundwave are among the Decepticons attacking, despite being reported as out of action nine pages earlier.
* Page 19:
** Panel 3: Skywarp is shown again despite being off action. Either that or the Seeker is a miscoloured Thundercracker.
** Panel 6: Who're those generic guys on the ground?
* Page 20: A generic Decepticon can be seen between Megatron's legs. Frenzy and Rumble are once again present.
* Page 21: There's Sunstreaker again! Several generic Decepticons as well. Mirage magically has his left arm again, after it was bitten off by Ravage; whatever damage was done to his chest/head by Buzzsaw has likewise vanished.
* Page 22: And Windcharger, colored like Mirage. Bluestreak's left door/wing is missing.

==Items of note==
* First Appearances- Autobots: Grimlock, Slag, Sludge, Swoop, Snarl (Only video, not in person).
*First Appearances- Decepticons: Shockwave, Medic, Spyglass, Spectro, Viewfinder.
* '''Cameos:''' [[Ted Koppel]] (voice only), [[Mitchell Roland]], [[Doris Roland]], ballet girls, [[Trailbreaker (G1)|Trailbreaker]], [[Wheeljack (G1)|Wheeljack]], Sparkplug's Army buddy, North Koreans, hospital crew, [[United States military]].
* Advertised as part 4 in a 4-issue limited series, but the ending and letter column both make clear that issue [[The New Order|#5]] of what was now an ongoing was forthcoming.
* The narrative box makes a quick reference to the World War I novel ''All Quiet on the Western Front'': "Meanwhile, all's quiet on the Decepticon front..."
* According to a text box in the letter column, ''Transformers'' #5 was originally going to be drawn by the team of "[[wikipedia:Vincent_Giarrano|Vince Giarrano]], penciling superstar-in-the-making" and "[[Brad Joyce]], inker extraordinare". This did not come to pass, and while Joyce did eventually ink issue [[The Next Best Thing to Being There!|#10]], Giarrano would never work on the series.
* [[Jetfire (G1)|Jetfire]]'s original character model (based on the Macross Valkyrie) appears in the first panel of the second page, but he is miscolored and partially obscured by Huffer's arm.
* An [http://www.tfarchive.com/comics/faq/alternate.jpg alternate ending] was scripted and drawn for a UK reprint of issue #4 in Transformers: The Complete Works, Volume 2; in this version, Shockwave never strikes, and the series ends with Optimus Prime declaring the Decepticons defeated once and for all. Some have theorised that this ending was created by the US comics in case the series failed to progress past issue #4. However, the art on these panels, particularly a closeup of Optimus Prime's face, in the very final panel, is markedly different to Springer's so it seems much more likely that this version was simply drawn for the UK printing by one of their own artists.
* A second alternate ending was published in the ''Federal Comics Super Special edition''. It expands the second panel of the penultimate page (or, the second panel from the link within the previous note) into a final splash page, eliminating the other panels entirely. Additionally, any page that mentioned the Shockwave subplot was dropped.

===Covers===
<gallery>
Image:MarvelUS-04.jpg|'''US issue #4''' - Rare Brown Megatron appears!
Image:MarvelUK-7.jpg|'''UK issue #7''' - Megatron isn't even allowed on the UK cover
Image:MarvelUK-8.jpg|'''UK issue #8''' - Megatron took first in the Prime Press contest
Image:Tfcolcom02.jpg|'''Collected Comics #2''' - Megatron ''is'' allowed on this UK cover
</gallery>
* '''US issue #4 cover:''' the final battle, by [[Mark Texeira]].
* '''UK issue #7 cover:''' reuse of art from US cover.
* '''UK issue #8 cover:''' Megatron holds the defeated Optimus Prime overhead, by [[Barry Kitson]].
* '''Collected Comics #2 cover:''' Reuse of US issue #4's cover.

===Advertisements===
* GoBots motorized model kits - inside front cover.
{{-}}

==External links==
* [http://www.tfarchive.com/comics/faq/#1f "Is it true there was an alternate version of #4?" at Tfarchive.com]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Last Stand}}
[[Category:Marvel US issues]]
[[Category:Marvel UK issues]]

The Last Stand

2010-07-14T13:46:41Z

64.12.116.65: /* Items of note */

{{disambig2|the comic issue in the Marvel US Comics|the [[Titan Books]] collection|Last Stand}}

{{comicstory|seriesissue=[[The Transformers (Marvel comic)|''The Transformers'' (US)]] #4
|prev=Prisoner of War!
|next=The New Order
|title="The Last Stand"
|seriesissue2=[[The Transformers (Marvel comic)#Marvel UK|''The Transformers'' (UK)]] #7–8
|prev2=Prisoner of War!
|next2=Man of Iron!
|image=MarvelUS-04.jpg
|caption=Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! No! It's... oh. It actually ''is'' a [[Seeker (body-type)|plane]].
|publisher=[[Marvel Comics]]
|date=[[December 4]], 1984
|coverdate=March 1985
|writer=[[Jim Salicrup]]
|pencils=[[Frank Springer]]
|inks=[[Ian Akin]], [[Brian Garvey]]
|colors=[[Nelson Yomtov]]
|letters=[[John Workman]]
|editor=[[Bob Budiansky]]
|continuity=[[Marvel Comics continuity]]
}}
'''The Autobots make a desperate gamble to defeat the Decepticons.'''

==Synopsis==
Some of the [[Autobot|Autobots]] accuse Sparkplug of betraying them by giving the [[Decepticon|Decepticons]] the fuel conversion they needed. Panicked, Sparkplug and his son attempt to escape, but when Jazz blocks their path with a wall of flame, Sparkplug suffers a heart attack. He is rushed to the hospital by Ratchet.

Huffer tells Optimus about a discovery he made in the [[Ark (G1)|Ark]]'s memory banks: Just after the ship crashed, its barely functional computers detected the Decepticon Shockwave arriving on [[Earth]] in pursuit. With the last of its power, the Ark modified five Autobot warriors to combat him, thus creating the [[Dinobot (G1)|Dinobots]]. They traveled in a [[Ark shuttlecraft|shuttle]] to the [[Savage Land]] to confront Shockwave, at which point contact was lost. Huffer has Ratchet dispatch a probe to search for the lost Dinobots.

At the hospital, Sparkplug undergoes emergency treatment and dreams of his Army service in Korea, where he was forced to repair North Korean vehicles. He further recalls sabotaging those vehicles...

With no new fuel sources forthcoming, the remaining Autobots are forced to make a desperate gamble to fight the Decepticons one last time. All the Autobots sacrifice their remaining fuel resources to Optimus Prime, Huffer, Ironhide, Bluestreak and Mirage. These five prepare to fight the Decepticons within the [[Mount St. Hilary|volcano]] that the Ark has crashed into, as the Decepticons arrive to destroy the Autobots once and for all.

In the Savage Land, Huffer's probe has found something and starts to dig it out—until a giant purple hand crushes it...

Although the Decepticons begin to win the battle by virtue of their greater numbers, at the moment of apparent victory, the Decepticons all fall, writhing in internal agony. As he reveals to Buster at the hospital, Sparkplug had corrupted the fuel he provided to the Decepticons, and they are now poisoned. Optimus Prime proclaims the debt that they, and the entire world, owe to Sparkplug Witwicky.

But suddenly, a gigantic blast from above knocks out all the Autobot troops... and Shockwave stands supreme!

"NOT the end..."
{{-}}

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|c1=
* [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Marvel Comics continuity|Optimus Prime]] (1)
* [[Brawn (G1)|Brawn]] (2)
* [[Sunstreaker (G1)|Sunstreaker]] (3)
* [[Mirage (G1)|Mirage]] (6)
* [[Jazz (G1)|Jazz]] (7)
* [[Huffer (G1)|Huffer]] (8)
* [[Windcharger (G1)|Windcharger]] (9)
* [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]] (10)
* [[Gears (G1)|Gears]] (11)
* [[Ironhide (G1)|Ironhide]] (12)
* [[Bluestreak]] (13)
* [[Sideswipe (G1)|Sideswipe]] (14)
* [[Snarl (G1)|Snarl]] (30)
* [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]] (31)
* [[Swoop (G1)|Swoop]] (32)
* [[Sludge (G1)|Sludge]] (33)
* [[Slag (G1)|Slag]] (34)
* [[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]] (35)
|c2=
* [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] (18)
* [[Decepticon medic (Marvel Comics)|Decepticon medic]](19)
* [[Reflector (G1)|Reflector]] (20–22)
**[[Spyglass]] (20)
**[[Spectro]] (21)
**[[Viewfinder]] (22)
* [[Frenzy (G1)|Frenzy]] (23)
* [[Rumble (G1)|Rumble]] (24)
* [[Skywarp (G1)|Skywarp]] (25)
* [[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]] (26)
* [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]] (27)
* [[Ravage (G1)|Ravage]] (28)
* [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]] (29)
* [[Buzzsaw (G1)|Buzzsaw]] (36)
* [[Laserbeak (G1)|Laserbeak]] (37)
* [[Thundercracker (G1)|Thundercracker]] (38)
|c3=
* [[Buster Witwicky (G1)|Buster Witwicky]] (4)
* [[Sparkplug Witwicky]] (5)
* [["O"]] (15)
* [[Mister "O"]] (16)
* [[Jesse]] (17)
}}

==Errors==
* Cover: Megatron is colored mostly brown.
* Page 1: Brawn is colored red and blue instead of green and yellow. Several generic Autobots are seen in the second inset panel.
* Page 2:
** Panel 1: Windcharger is colored with a red chest and head and blue arms, instead of gray torso and red arms. Standing behind Huffer is a off-colour version of [[Jetfire (G1)|Jetfire]]'s original character model (based on the Macross Valkyrie toy)
** Panel 2: Ratchet's face and chevron are colored red instead of their usual grey/white.
** Panel 4: Why does Ironhide have yellow accordion knees?
* Page 3:
** Panel 2: Mirage is colored with red arms and a white head. Jazz (seen holding back Ironhide) is colored mostly blue with red legs, instead of mostly white with black details.
** Panel 5: Jazz fires what's supposed to be his flamethrower, but is in actuality his regular rifle.
* Page 5: Ratchet has an all-red head again and red legs. (Again, the consistency of this indicates that it might be an earlier color scheme.) Optimus is barely as tall as Ratchet's ambulance mode.
* Page 9: A bunch of vaguely Reflector-like robots are suddenly hanging around in the Decepticon fortress. (Issue #1 pretty clearly indicated that the only Decepticons on Earth are the ten introduced in that issue, a point even more explicitly stated by Shockwave in the next issue.) If that's supposed to be Frenzy on one of the repair beds, he's completely off-model.
* Megatron has an off-center Decepticon sigil throughout the issue.
* Page 13: Bumblebee is colored approximately like Sideswipe.
* Wheeljack, Trailbreaker, Prowl and Jazz are all shown to be up and about in this issue, yet they are not shown among the donor Autobots in the [[Tubes of Transference]].
* Page 14: Brawn is shown among the active Autobots, even though he was not among those recharged for the final fight. Frenzy and Rumble are shown as active despite page 9 stating they had been knocked out of action last issue. [[The New Order|The next issue]] reinforces their injury status.
* Page 16: There's Brawn again! And Windcharger!
* Page 18:
** Panel 5: Sunstreaker and Sideswipe are both shown among the Autobots; there's a generic lying on the ground.
** Panel 6: Cliffjumper is among the Autobots. Seriously. Wasn't the whole "last five Autobots" like a really big plot point just a couple of pages ago? Sheesh. And Skywarp, Rumble and Soundwave are among the Decepticons attacking, despite being reported as out of action nine pages earlier.
* Page 19:
** Panel 3: Skywarp is shown again despite being off action. Either that or the Seeker is a miscoloured Thundercracker.
** Panel 6: Who're those generic guys on the ground?
* Page 20: A generic Decepticon can be seen between Megatron's legs. Frenzy and Rumble are once again present.
* Page 21: There's Sunstreaker again! Several generic Decepticons as well. Mirage magically has his left arm again, after it was bitten off by Ravage; whatever damage was done to his chest/head by Buzzsaw has likewise vanished.
* Page 22: And Windcharger, colored like Mirage. Bluestreak's left door/wing is missing.

==Items of note==
* First Appearances- Autobots: Grimlock, Slag, Sludge, Swoop, Snarl (Only video, not in person).
*First Appearances- Decepticons: Medic, Spyglass, Spectro, Viewfinder.
* '''Cameos:''' [[Ted Koppel]] (voice only), [[Mitchell Roland]], [[Doris Roland]], ballet girls, [[Trailbreaker (G1)|Trailbreaker]], [[Wheeljack (G1)|Wheeljack]], Sparkplug's Army buddy, North Koreans, hospital crew, [[United States military]].
* Advertised as part 4 in a 4-issue limited series, but the ending and letter column both make clear that issue [[The New Order|#5]] of what was now an ongoing was forthcoming.
* The narrative box makes a quick reference to the World War I novel ''All Quiet on the Western Front'': "Meanwhile, all's quiet on the Decepticon front..."
* According to a text box in the letter column, ''Transformers'' #5 was originally going to be drawn by the team of "[[wikipedia:Vincent_Giarrano|Vince Giarrano]], penciling superstar-in-the-making" and "[[Brad Joyce]], inker extraordinare". This did not come to pass, and while Joyce did eventually ink issue [[The Next Best Thing to Being There!|#10]], Giarrano would never work on the series.
* [[Jetfire (G1)|Jetfire]]'s original character model (based on the Macross Valkyrie) appears in the first panel of the second page, but he is miscolored and partially obscured by Huffer's arm.
* An [http://www.tfarchive.com/comics/faq/alternate.jpg alternate ending] was scripted and drawn for a UK reprint of issue #4 in Transformers: The Complete Works, Volume 2; in this version, Shockwave never strikes, and the series ends with Optimus Prime declaring the Decepticons defeated once and for all. Some have theorised that this ending was created by the US comics in case the series failed to progress past issue #4. However, the art on these panels, particularly a closeup of Optimus Prime's face, in the very final panel, is markedly different to Springer's so it seems much more likely that this version was simply drawn for the UK printing by one of their own artists.
* A second alternate ending was published in the ''Federal Comics Super Special edition''. It expands the second panel of the penultimate page (or, the second panel from the link within the previous note) into a final splash page, eliminating the other panels entirely. Additionally, any page that mentioned the Shockwave subplot was dropped.

===Covers===
<gallery>
Image:MarvelUS-04.jpg|'''US issue #4''' - Rare Brown Megatron appears!
Image:MarvelUK-7.jpg|'''UK issue #7''' - Megatron isn't even allowed on the UK cover
Image:MarvelUK-8.jpg|'''UK issue #8''' - Megatron took first in the Prime Press contest
Image:Tfcolcom02.jpg|'''Collected Comics #2''' - Megatron ''is'' allowed on this UK cover
</gallery>
* '''US issue #4 cover:''' the final battle, by [[Mark Texeira]].
* '''UK issue #7 cover:''' reuse of art from US cover.
* '''UK issue #8 cover:''' Megatron holds the defeated Optimus Prime overhead, by [[Barry Kitson]].
* '''Collected Comics #2 cover:''' Reuse of US issue #4's cover.

===Advertisements===
* GoBots motorized model kits - inside front cover.
{{-}}

==External links==
* [http://www.tfarchive.com/comics/faq/#1f "Is it true there was an alternate version of #4?" at Tfarchive.com]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Last Stand}}
[[Category:Marvel US issues]]
[[Category:Marvel UK issues]]

The Last Stand

2010-07-14T13:46:21Z

64.12.116.65: /* Items of note */

{{disambig2|the comic issue in the Marvel US Comics|the [[Titan Books]] collection|Last Stand}}

{{comicstory|seriesissue=[[The Transformers (Marvel comic)|''The Transformers'' (US)]] #4
|prev=Prisoner of War!
|next=The New Order
|title="The Last Stand"
|seriesissue2=[[The Transformers (Marvel comic)#Marvel UK|''The Transformers'' (UK)]] #7–8
|prev2=Prisoner of War!
|next2=Man of Iron!
|image=MarvelUS-04.jpg
|caption=Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! No! It's... oh. It actually ''is'' a [[Seeker (body-type)|plane]].
|publisher=[[Marvel Comics]]
|date=[[December 4]], 1984
|coverdate=March 1985
|writer=[[Jim Salicrup]]
|pencils=[[Frank Springer]]
|inks=[[Ian Akin]], [[Brian Garvey]]
|colors=[[Nelson Yomtov]]
|letters=[[John Workman]]
|editor=[[Bob Budiansky]]
|continuity=[[Marvel Comics continuity]]
}}
'''The Autobots make a desperate gamble to defeat the Decepticons.'''

==Synopsis==
Some of the [[Autobot|Autobots]] accuse Sparkplug of betraying them by giving the [[Decepticon|Decepticons]] the fuel conversion they needed. Panicked, Sparkplug and his son attempt to escape, but when Jazz blocks their path with a wall of flame, Sparkplug suffers a heart attack. He is rushed to the hospital by Ratchet.

Huffer tells Optimus about a discovery he made in the [[Ark (G1)|Ark]]'s memory banks: Just after the ship crashed, its barely functional computers detected the Decepticon Shockwave arriving on [[Earth]] in pursuit. With the last of its power, the Ark modified five Autobot warriors to combat him, thus creating the [[Dinobot (G1)|Dinobots]]. They traveled in a [[Ark shuttlecraft|shuttle]] to the [[Savage Land]] to confront Shockwave, at which point contact was lost. Huffer has Ratchet dispatch a probe to search for the lost Dinobots.

At the hospital, Sparkplug undergoes emergency treatment and dreams of his Army service in Korea, where he was forced to repair North Korean vehicles. He further recalls sabotaging those vehicles...

With no new fuel sources forthcoming, the remaining Autobots are forced to make a desperate gamble to fight the Decepticons one last time. All the Autobots sacrifice their remaining fuel resources to Optimus Prime, Huffer, Ironhide, Bluestreak and Mirage. These five prepare to fight the Decepticons within the [[Mount St. Hilary|volcano]] that the Ark has crashed into, as the Decepticons arrive to destroy the Autobots once and for all.

In the Savage Land, Huffer's probe has found something and starts to dig it out—until a giant purple hand crushes it...

Although the Decepticons begin to win the battle by virtue of their greater numbers, at the moment of apparent victory, the Decepticons all fall, writhing in internal agony. As he reveals to Buster at the hospital, Sparkplug had corrupted the fuel he provided to the Decepticons, and they are now poisoned. Optimus Prime proclaims the debt that they, and the entire world, owe to Sparkplug Witwicky.

But suddenly, a gigantic blast from above knocks out all the Autobot troops... and Shockwave stands supreme!

"NOT the end..."
{{-}}

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|c1=
* [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Marvel Comics continuity|Optimus Prime]] (1)
* [[Brawn (G1)|Brawn]] (2)
* [[Sunstreaker (G1)|Sunstreaker]] (3)
* [[Mirage (G1)|Mirage]] (6)
* [[Jazz (G1)|Jazz]] (7)
* [[Huffer (G1)|Huffer]] (8)
* [[Windcharger (G1)|Windcharger]] (9)
* [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]] (10)
* [[Gears (G1)|Gears]] (11)
* [[Ironhide (G1)|Ironhide]] (12)
* [[Bluestreak]] (13)
* [[Sideswipe (G1)|Sideswipe]] (14)
* [[Snarl (G1)|Snarl]] (30)
* [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]] (31)
* [[Swoop (G1)|Swoop]] (32)
* [[Sludge (G1)|Sludge]] (33)
* [[Slag (G1)|Slag]] (34)
* [[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]] (35)
|c2=
* [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] (18)
* [[Decepticon medic (Marvel Comics)|Decepticon medic]](19)
* [[Reflector (G1)|Reflector]] (20–22)
**[[Spyglass]] (20)
**[[Spectro]] (21)
**[[Viewfinder]] (22)
* [[Frenzy (G1)|Frenzy]] (23)
* [[Rumble (G1)|Rumble]] (24)
* [[Skywarp (G1)|Skywarp]] (25)
* [[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]] (26)
* [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]] (27)
* [[Ravage (G1)|Ravage]] (28)
* [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]] (29)
* [[Buzzsaw (G1)|Buzzsaw]] (36)
* [[Laserbeak (G1)|Laserbeak]] (37)
* [[Thundercracker (G1)|Thundercracker]] (38)
|c3=
* [[Buster Witwicky (G1)|Buster Witwicky]] (4)
* [[Sparkplug Witwicky]] (5)
* [["O"]] (15)
* [[Mister "O"]] (16)
* [[Jesse]] (17)
}}

==Errors==
* Cover: Megatron is colored mostly brown.
* Page 1: Brawn is colored red and blue instead of green and yellow. Several generic Autobots are seen in the second inset panel.
* Page 2:
** Panel 1: Windcharger is colored with a red chest and head and blue arms, instead of gray torso and red arms. Standing behind Huffer is a off-colour version of [[Jetfire (G1)|Jetfire]]'s original character model (based on the Macross Valkyrie toy)
** Panel 2: Ratchet's face and chevron are colored red instead of their usual grey/white.
** Panel 4: Why does Ironhide have yellow accordion knees?
* Page 3:
** Panel 2: Mirage is colored with red arms and a white head. Jazz (seen holding back Ironhide) is colored mostly blue with red legs, instead of mostly white with black details.
** Panel 5: Jazz fires what's supposed to be his flamethrower, but is in actuality his regular rifle.
* Page 5: Ratchet has an all-red head again and red legs. (Again, the consistency of this indicates that it might be an earlier color scheme.) Optimus is barely as tall as Ratchet's ambulance mode.
* Page 9: A bunch of vaguely Reflector-like robots are suddenly hanging around in the Decepticon fortress. (Issue #1 pretty clearly indicated that the only Decepticons on Earth are the ten introduced in that issue, a point even more explicitly stated by Shockwave in the next issue.) If that's supposed to be Frenzy on one of the repair beds, he's completely off-model.
* Megatron has an off-center Decepticon sigil throughout the issue.
* Page 13: Bumblebee is colored approximately like Sideswipe.
* Wheeljack, Trailbreaker, Prowl and Jazz are all shown to be up and about in this issue, yet they are not shown among the donor Autobots in the [[Tubes of Transference]].
* Page 14: Brawn is shown among the active Autobots, even though he was not among those recharged for the final fight. Frenzy and Rumble are shown as active despite page 9 stating they had been knocked out of action last issue. [[The New Order|The next issue]] reinforces their injury status.
* Page 16: There's Brawn again! And Windcharger!
* Page 18:
** Panel 5: Sunstreaker and Sideswipe are both shown among the Autobots; there's a generic lying on the ground.
** Panel 6: Cliffjumper is among the Autobots. Seriously. Wasn't the whole "last five Autobots" like a really big plot point just a couple of pages ago? Sheesh. And Skywarp, Rumble and Soundwave are among the Decepticons attacking, despite being reported as out of action nine pages earlier.
* Page 19:
** Panel 3: Skywarp is shown again despite being off action. Either that or the Seeker is a miscoloured Thundercracker.
** Panel 6: Who're those generic guys on the ground?
* Page 20: A generic Decepticon can be seen between Megatron's legs. Frenzy and Rumble are once again present.
* Page 21: There's Sunstreaker again! Several generic Decepticons as well. Mirage magically has his left arm again, after it was bitten off by Ravage; whatever damage was done to his chest/head by Buzzsaw has likewise vanished.
* Page 22: And Windcharger, colored like Mirage. Bluestreak's left door/wing is missing.

==Items of note==
* First Appearances- Autobots: Grimlock, Slag, Sludge, Swoop, Snarl (Only video, not in person).
First Appearances- Decepticons: Medic, Spyglass, Spectro, Viewfinder.
* '''Cameos:''' [[Ted Koppel]] (voice only), [[Mitchell Roland]], [[Doris Roland]], ballet girls, [[Trailbreaker (G1)|Trailbreaker]], [[Wheeljack (G1)|Wheeljack]], Sparkplug's Army buddy, North Koreans, hospital crew, [[United States military]].
* Advertised as part 4 in a 4-issue limited series, but the ending and letter column both make clear that issue [[The New Order|#5]] of what was now an ongoing was forthcoming.
* The narrative box makes a quick reference to the World War I novel ''All Quiet on the Western Front'': "Meanwhile, all's quiet on the Decepticon front..."
* According to a text box in the letter column, ''Transformers'' #5 was originally going to be drawn by the team of "[[wikipedia:Vincent_Giarrano|Vince Giarrano]], penciling superstar-in-the-making" and "[[Brad Joyce]], inker extraordinare". This did not come to pass, and while Joyce did eventually ink issue [[The Next Best Thing to Being There!|#10]], Giarrano would never work on the series.
* [[Jetfire (G1)|Jetfire]]'s original character model (based on the Macross Valkyrie) appears in the first panel of the second page, but he is miscolored and partially obscured by Huffer's arm.
* An [http://www.tfarchive.com/comics/faq/alternate.jpg alternate ending] was scripted and drawn for a UK reprint of issue #4 in Transformers: The Complete Works, Volume 2; in this version, Shockwave never strikes, and the series ends with Optimus Prime declaring the Decepticons defeated once and for all. Some have theorised that this ending was created by the US comics in case the series failed to progress past issue #4. However, the art on these panels, particularly a closeup of Optimus Prime's face, in the very final panel, is markedly different to Springer's so it seems much more likely that this version was simply drawn for the UK printing by one of their own artists.
* A second alternate ending was published in the ''Federal Comics Super Special edition''. It expands the second panel of the penultimate page (or, the second panel from the link within the previous note) into a final splash page, eliminating the other panels entirely. Additionally, any page that mentioned the Shockwave subplot was dropped.

===Covers===
<gallery>
Image:MarvelUS-04.jpg|'''US issue #4''' - Rare Brown Megatron appears!
Image:MarvelUK-7.jpg|'''UK issue #7''' - Megatron isn't even allowed on the UK cover
Image:MarvelUK-8.jpg|'''UK issue #8''' - Megatron took first in the Prime Press contest
Image:Tfcolcom02.jpg|'''Collected Comics #2''' - Megatron ''is'' allowed on this UK cover
</gallery>
* '''US issue #4 cover:''' the final battle, by [[Mark Texeira]].
* '''UK issue #7 cover:''' reuse of art from US cover.
* '''UK issue #8 cover:''' Megatron holds the defeated Optimus Prime overhead, by [[Barry Kitson]].
* '''Collected Comics #2 cover:''' Reuse of US issue #4's cover.

===Advertisements===
* GoBots motorized model kits - inside front cover.
{{-}}

==External links==
* [http://www.tfarchive.com/comics/faq/#1f "Is it true there was an alternate version of #4?" at Tfarchive.com]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Last Stand}}
[[Category:Marvel US issues]]
[[Category:Marvel UK issues]]

Reproduction

2006-09-15T23:35:19Z

64.12.116.65: /* Familial relationships */ added DW info on Brothers and Clones

Various reproduction methods for the Transformers species have been demonstrated across various continuities.

==Mechanical construction==

Sometimes new transformers are simply built from scratch and that's all it takes. A suitable transformer body is constructed and when finished and turned on it just springs to life. Two notable examples of this type of reproduction appear in the [[Generation 1 (television series)|''Generation 1'' cartoon]] when [[Wheeljack]] and co. created the [[Dinobot (G1)|Dinobot]]s, and later when the temporarily super-intelligent [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]] created the [[Technobots]].

The Dinobots were initially very simple mentally, and were ordered to be deactivated because they were too dangerous. Wheeljack then developed a set of crown-like devices to place on the Dinobots which greatly enhanced their intellect, although they were still "dumb" and child-like compared to the other Autobots. The Technobots, on the other hand, were immediately fully-functional and some of them were even ''smarter'' than average Transformers. If one were to take these facts as canonically meaningful (rather than simply the whims of the writers of those episodes), it could be guessed that programming a functional Transformer brain from scratch is extremely difficult, such that even Wheeljack was not up to the job. Temporarily super-genius Grimlock may have been the only one capable.

At least on the surface, this "built from scratch" approach runs counter to claims in other episodes of the show that [[Vector Sigma]] is needed to create new Transformer life. (See below.) However, since Vector Sigma is presented as being a supercomputer, and not a "magical" device like the [[Generation 1 (Marvel comic)|comics']] [[Creation Matrix]], it could fall into line with the speculative statements above regarding Grimlock and Wheeljack. Perhaps Vector Sigma is simply an advanced enough computer that it is capable of constructing a working mind.

== Infusion ==

In other stories, once a new Transformer body has been built must still be infused with life (what the Beast era would likely gloss as a [[spark]]) from a powerful "god-like" outside source. In the ''Generation 1'' cartoon this was Vector Sigma; in the Marvel comics it was the Creation Matrix which housed the essence of [[Primus]], the Transformers' creator-god; in the [[Beast Era]] cartoons, sparks arrived from the [[Allspark (dimension)|Allspark]], perhaps through Vector Sigma. In the Marvel comic and Beast Era cartoons, each Transformers' life-force was a fragment of Primus' own.

In the [[Young Corgi]] book [[Desert of Danger]] Hot Rod refers to his creation after the Ark left Cybertron as when he was [http://www.physics.ohio-state.edu/~sstoneb/tf/books/corgi-adv/desert/22.html matrixed]. How exactly this would have happened if Prime was aboard the Ark with the Matrix, is unknown, however the [[Dreamwave]] [[More than Meets the Eye Guide]] provides one possible explanation.

According to the guide, in Dreamwave continuity Transformers generally begin life as a skeletal mass of partially formed circuits: a protoform. These are kept in stasis pods filled with nuturing nutrient gell. They can be built to specific specifications or be fairly general, allowing the robot to form naturally upon introduction of a spark. Sparks, and hence life, usually come from the Matrix, BUT if the Matrix is absent life can be granted by attuning the protoform to an energy wavelength similar to the Matrix and then applying a concetrated burst of energon. This is rarely used as it is extremely resource consumptive requiring restrictively high ammounts of energon.

== Resurrection ==

Though not quite the same as reproduction, a copy of the mind or essence of a previously living Transformer may be introduced into a new body and through some vague process return that Transformer to life. This occurred when [[Starscream]] created the [[Combaticon]]s in the G1 cartoon, and in the comic when Prime used copies of the minds of existing Cybertronians to create the second series Autobot cars on [[Earth]]. Another example from the comic occurs when Optimus Prime himself is returned to life merely by inputting a human's [[floppy disk]] copy of his mind into a new body.

In his ending to the Beast Wars: Transmetal video game Ravage uses "a prototype cloning device based on transreplication technology" to clone the deactivated G1 Decepticons on the Ark into new protoform bodies.

This is included as a means of reproduction because it seems likely from the dialogue that the Autobot cars created via copied minds by Prime on Earth still existed on Cybertron when he left, meaning that if they survived, two of each of these individuals now existed.

== Budding ==

[[Image:Budding.jpg|right|thumb|Budding doesn't look like much fun at ALL.]]

The [[Generation 2 (comic)|''Transformers: Generation 2'' comic]] introduced the concept of asexual "budding." Bubbles and lesions of apparently liquid metal formed on a robot's chest accompanied by energy discharge, the process grew more intense until the point where a large mass of liquid-metal burst free from the chest and slowly formed, first into a [[protoform]]-like blank figure, and then solidified into a full Transformer. Illustrations suggest that this was something of a communal event, with others surrounding the budding robot in a circle.

It was revealed that (in the Marvel continuity at least) early Transformers reproduced this way until they reached the population level Primus desired. At this turning point, the practice stopped and all memory of it was erased. When the [[Cybertronian Empire]] (possibly under influence of the [[Leige Maximo]]) rediscovered and revived the process sometime during the 4 million years after the [[Ark]]'s loss, the successive generations of robots produced were increasingly less sentient and emotional (as Primus's lifeforce was apparently spred thinner and thinner between them) and the lifeform called [[Swarm|The Swarm]] was created as a byproduct.

== Sexual reproduction ??? ==

Despite most continuities having male and female genders (gender being a mental and social classification as opposed to "sexes", a physical distinction) and a definite strong history of romance between these genders, there is little canonical evidence for Transformers reproducing sexually. (Though admittedly there isn't a lot of direct evidence for [[human]]s reproducing sexually in most Transformers media, which is, after all, aimed towards kids.) In the ''Generation 1'' cartoon the male-female romance could perhaps be explained as an artifact of [[Quintesson]] mental programming very closely echoing the organic life forms the Transformers were built to serve.

The best case for sexual reproduction could probably be made from ''[[Beast Wars (television series)|Beast Wars]]'', where [[Rattrap]] makes numerous off-color remarks throughout the series, especially directed at [[Silverbolt (Fuzor)|Silverbolt]] and [[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]]. These comments strongly hint at something sex-like among Transformers, though it could of course be merely recreational rather than reproductive.

It is unknown what effect the ''[[Beast Machines (television series)|Beast Machines]]'' [[reformatting]] of Transformers into [[technorganic]] beings that are equal part organic life and mechanical to a cellular level has on their reproductive options.

== Familial relationships ==

One confusing aspect of this apparent lack of sexual reproduction is the canonical use of genealogical terminology to describe certain relationships. The most common of these is when two transformers regard each other as "brothers" (e.g. G1 [[Sideswipe]] and [[Sunstreaker]], or RID's [[Optimus Prime (RID)|Optimus Prime]] and [[Ultra Magnus (RID)|Ultra Magnus]]). However, the "[[Beast Era]]" widened the issue of reproduction with Rattrap referring to his "great-aunt" [[Arcee]] and in general the practice of Maximals and Predacons referring to the Autobots and Decepticons as their respective "ancestors", as well as themselves as being their "descendents", implying a direct genetic (for want of a better term) lineage. Various sources of debatable canonicity suggest that [[Optimus Primal]] is specifically descended from [[Optimus Prime]], usually through the phrase "his ancestor Optimus Prime". In the absence of sexual reproduction, the use and meaning of these genealogical references is difficult to explain.

Again, the Dreamwave More than Meets the Eye Guide brovides a partial possible answer. According to the guide when a spark naturally splits as it's being introduced to a protoform it creates two robots who are "Brothers" such as Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. When such a spark division is artificially induced the less ballanced and self-relient pair created are refered to as "Clones." (This definition of "Brother" may or may not apply to Rid Prime and Magnus whose brotherhood might instead result from both being rebuilt by Alpha Trion).

[[Category:Transformers]]
[[Category:Transformer culture]]<div id="wikia-credits"><br /><br /><small>From [http://transformers.wikia.com Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki], a [http://www.wikia.com Wikia] wiki.</small></div>

Reproduction

2006-09-15T23:27:59Z

64.12.116.65: added Dreamwave guide reproductive info

Various reproduction methods for the Transformers species have been demonstrated across various continuities.

==Mechanical construction==

Sometimes new transformers are simply built from scratch and that's all it takes. A suitable transformer body is constructed and when finished and turned on it just springs to life. Two notable examples of this type of reproduction appear in the [[Generation 1 (television series)|''Generation 1'' cartoon]] when [[Wheeljack]] and co. created the [[Dinobot (G1)|Dinobot]]s, and later when the temporarily super-intelligent [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]] created the [[Technobots]].

The Dinobots were initially very simple mentally, and were ordered to be deactivated because they were too dangerous. Wheeljack then developed a set of crown-like devices to place on the Dinobots which greatly enhanced their intellect, although they were still "dumb" and child-like compared to the other Autobots. The Technobots, on the other hand, were immediately fully-functional and some of them were even ''smarter'' than average Transformers. If one were to take these facts as canonically meaningful (rather than simply the whims of the writers of those episodes), it could be guessed that programming a functional Transformer brain from scratch is extremely difficult, such that even Wheeljack was not up to the job. Temporarily super-genius Grimlock may have been the only one capable.

At least on the surface, this "built from scratch" approach runs counter to claims in other episodes of the show that [[Vector Sigma]] is needed to create new Transformer life. (See below.) However, since Vector Sigma is presented as being a supercomputer, and not a "magical" device like the [[Generation 1 (Marvel comic)|comics']] [[Creation Matrix]], it could fall into line with the speculative statements above regarding Grimlock and Wheeljack. Perhaps Vector Sigma is simply an advanced enough computer that it is capable of constructing a working mind.

== Infusion ==

In other stories, once a new Transformer body has been built must still be infused with life (what the Beast era would likely gloss as a [[spark]]) from a powerful "god-like" outside source. In the ''Generation 1'' cartoon this was Vector Sigma; in the Marvel comics it was the Creation Matrix which housed the essence of [[Primus]], the Transformers' creator-god; in the [[Beast Era]] cartoons, sparks arrived from the [[Allspark (dimension)|Allspark]], perhaps through Vector Sigma. In the Marvel comic and Beast Era cartoons, each Transformers' life-force was a fragment of Primus' own.

In the [[Young Corgi]] book [[Desert of Danger]] Hot Rod refers to his creation after the Ark left Cybertron as when he was [http://www.physics.ohio-state.edu/~sstoneb/tf/books/corgi-adv/desert/22.html matrixed]. How exactly this would have happened if Prime was aboard the Ark with the Matrix, is unknown, however the [[Dreamwave]] [[More than Meets the Eye Guide]] provides one possible explanation.

According to the guide, in Dreamwave continuity Transformers generally begin life as a skeletal mass of partially formed circuits: a protoform. These are kept in stasis pods filled with nuturing nutrient gell. They can be built to specific specifications or be fairly general, allowing the robot to form naturally upon introduction of a spark. Sparks, and hence life, usually come from the Matrix, BUT if the Matrix is absent life can be granted by attuning the protoform to an energy wavelength similar to the Matrix and then applying a concetrated burst of energon. This is rarely used as it is extremely resource consumptive requiring restrictively high ammounts of energon.

== Resurrection ==

Though not quite the same as reproduction, a copy of the mind or essence of a previously living Transformer may be introduced into a new body and through some vague process return that Transformer to life. This occurred when [[Starscream]] created the [[Combaticon]]s in the G1 cartoon, and in the comic when Prime used copies of the minds of existing Cybertronians to create the second series Autobot cars on [[Earth]]. Another example from the comic occurs when Optimus Prime himself is returned to life merely by inputting a human's [[floppy disk]] copy of his mind into a new body.

In his ending to the Beast Wars: Transmetal video game Ravage uses "a prototype cloning device based on transreplication technology" to clone the deactivated G1 Decepticons on the Ark into new protoform bodies.

This is included as a means of reproduction because it seems likely from the dialogue that the Autobot cars created via copied minds by Prime on Earth still existed on Cybertron when he left, meaning that if they survived, two of each of these individuals now existed.

== Budding ==

[[Image:Budding.jpg|right|thumb|Budding doesn't look like much fun at ALL.]]

The [[Generation 2 (comic)|''Transformers: Generation 2'' comic]] introduced the concept of asexual "budding." Bubbles and lesions of apparently liquid metal formed on a robot's chest accompanied by energy discharge, the process grew more intense until the point where a large mass of liquid-metal burst free from the chest and slowly formed, first into a [[protoform]]-like blank figure, and then solidified into a full Transformer. Illustrations suggest that this was something of a communal event, with others surrounding the budding robot in a circle.

It was revealed that (in the Marvel continuity at least) early Transformers reproduced this way until they reached the population level Primus desired. At this turning point, the practice stopped and all memory of it was erased. When the [[Cybertronian Empire]] (possibly under influence of the [[Leige Maximo]]) rediscovered and revived the process sometime during the 4 million years after the [[Ark]]'s loss, the successive generations of robots produced were increasingly less sentient and emotional (as Primus's lifeforce was apparently spred thinner and thinner between them) and the lifeform called [[Swarm|The Swarm]] was created as a byproduct.

== Sexual reproduction ??? ==

Despite most continuities having male and female genders (gender being a mental and social classification as opposed to "sexes", a physical distinction) and a definite strong history of romance between these genders, there is little canonical evidence for Transformers reproducing sexually. (Though admittedly there isn't a lot of direct evidence for [[human]]s reproducing sexually in most Transformers media, which is, after all, aimed towards kids.) In the ''Generation 1'' cartoon the male-female romance could perhaps be explained as an artifact of [[Quintesson]] mental programming very closely echoing the organic life forms the Transformers were built to serve.

The best case for sexual reproduction could probably be made from ''[[Beast Wars (television series)|Beast Wars]]'', where [[Rattrap]] makes numerous off-color remarks throughout the series, especially directed at [[Silverbolt (Fuzor)|Silverbolt]] and [[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]]. These comments strongly hint at something sex-like among Transformers, though it could of course be merely recreational rather than reproductive.

It is unknown what effect the ''[[Beast Machines (television series)|Beast Machines]]'' [[reformatting]] of Transformers into [[technorganic]] beings that are equal part organic life and mechanical to a cellular level has on their reproductive options.

== Familial relationships ==

One confusing aspect of this apparent lack of sexual reproduction is the canonical use of genealogical terminology to describe certain relationships. The most common of these is when two transformers regard each other as "brothers" (e.g. G1 [[Sideswipe]] and [[Sunstreaker]], or RID's [[Optimus Prime (RID)|Optimus Prime]] and [[Ultra Magnus (RID)|Ultra Magnus]]). However, the "[[Beast Era]]" widened the issue of reproduction with Rattrap referring to his "great-aunt" [[Arcee]] and in general the practice of Maximals and Predacons referring to the Autobots and Decepticons as their respective "ancestors", as well as themselves as being their "descendents", implying a direct genetic (for want of a better term) lineage. Various sources of debatable canonicity suggest that [[Optimus Primal]] is specifically descended from [[Optimus Prime]], usually through the phrase "his ancestor Optimus Prime". In the absence of sexual reproduction, the use and meaning of these genealogical references is difficult to explain.

[[Category:Transformers]]
[[Category:Transformer culture]]<div id="wikia-credits"><br /><br /><small>From [http://transformers.wikia.com Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki], a [http://www.wikia.com Wikia] wiki.</small></div>

Reproduction

2006-09-15T22:53:01Z

64.12.116.65: added info from the Talk page

Various reproduction methods for the Transformers species have been demonstrated across various continuities.

==Mechanical construction==

Sometimes new transformers are simply built from scratch and that's all it takes. A suitable transformer body is constructed and when finished and turned on it just springs to life. Two notable examples of this type of reproduction appear in the [[Generation 1 (television series)|''Generation 1'' cartoon]] when [[Wheeljack]] and co. created the [[Dinobot (G1)|Dinobot]]s, and later when the temporarily super-intelligent [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]] created the [[Technobots]].

The Dinobots were initially very simple mentally, and were ordered to be deactivated because they were too dangerous. Wheeljack then developed a set of crown-like devices to place on the Dinobots which greatly enhanced their intellect, although they were still "dumb" and child-like compared to the other Autobots. The Technobots, on the other hand, were immediately fully-functional and some of them were even ''smarter'' than average Transformers. If one were to take these facts as canonically meaningful (rather than simply the whims of the writers of those episodes), it could be guessed that programming a functional Transformer brain from scratch is extremely difficult, such that even Wheeljack was not up to the job. Temporarily super-genius Grimlock may have been the only one capable.

At least on the surface, this "built from scratch" approach runs counter to claims in other episodes of the show that [[Vector Sigma]] is needed to create new Transformer life. (See below.) However, since Vector Sigma is presented as being a supercomputer, and not a "magical" device like the [[Generation 1 (Marvel comic)|comics']] [[Creation Matrix]], it could fall into line with the speculative statements above regarding Grimlock and Wheeljack. Perhaps Vector Sigma is simply an advanced enough computer that it is capable of constructing a working mind.

== Infusion ==

In other stories, once a new Transformer body has been built it must still be infused with life (what the Beast era would likely gloss as a [[spark]]) from a powerful "god-like" outside source. In the ''Generation 1'' cartoon this was Vector Sigma; in the Marvel comics it was the Creation Matrix which housed the essence of [[Primus]], the Transformers' creator-god; in the [[Beast Era]] cartoons, sparks arrived from the [[Allspark (dimension)|Allspark]], perhaps through Vector Sigma. In the Marvel comic and Beast Era cartoons, each Transformers' life-force was a fragment of Primus' own.

In the [[Young Corgi]] book [[Desert of Danger]] Hot Rod refers to his creation after the Ark left Cybertron as when he was [http://www.physics.ohio-state.edu/~sstoneb/tf/books/corgi-adv/desert/22.html matrixed]. (How exactly this would have happened if Prime was aboard the Ark with the Matrix, is unknown.)

== Resurrection ==

Though not quite the same as reproduction, a copy of the mind or essence of a previously living Transformer may be introduced into a new body and through some vague process return that Transformer to life. This occurred when [[Starscream]] created the [[Combaticon]]s in the G1 cartoon, and in the comic when Prime used copies of the minds of existing Cybertronians to create the second series Autobot cars on [[Earth]]. Another example from the comic occurs when Optimus Prime himself is returned to life merely by inputting a human's [[floppy disk]] copy of his mind into a new body.

In his ending to the Beast Wars: Transmetal video game Ravage uses "a prototype cloning device based on transreplication technology" to clone the deactivated G1 Decepticons on the Ark into new protoform bodies.

This is included as a means of reproduction because it seems likely from the dialogue that the Autobot cars created via copied minds by Prime on Earth still existed on Cybertron when he left, meaning that if they survived, two of each of these individuals now existed.

== Budding ==

[[Image:Budding.jpg|right|thumb|Budding doesn't look like much fun at ALL.]]

The [[Generation 2 (comic)|''Transformers: Generation 2'' comic]] introduced the concept of asexual "budding." Bubbles and lesions of apparently liquid metal formed on a robot's chest accompanied by energy discharge, the process grew more intense until the point where a large mass of liquid-metal burst free from the chest and slowly formed, first into a [[protoform]]-like blank figure, and then solidified into a full Transformer. Illustrations suggest that this was something of a communal event, with others surrounding the budding robot in a circle.

It was revealed that (in the Marvel continuity at least) early Transformers reproduced this way until they reached the population level Primus desired. At this turning point, the practice stopped and all memory of it was erased. When the [[Cybertronian Empire]] (possibly under influence of the [[Leige Maximo]]) rediscovered and revived the process sometime during the 4 million years after the [[Ark]]'s loss, the successive generations of robots produced were increasingly less sentient and emotional (as Primus's lifeforce was apparently spred thinner and thinner between them) and the lifeform called [[Swarm|The Swarm]] was created as a byproduct.

== Sexual reproduction ??? ==

Despite most continuities having male and female genders (gender being a mental and social classification as opposed to "sexes", a physical distinction) and a definite strong history of romance between these genders, there is little canonical evidence for Transformers reproducing sexually. (Though admittedly there isn't a lot of direct evidence for [[human]]s reproducing sexually in most Transformers media, which is, after all, aimed towards kids.) In the ''Generation 1'' cartoon the male-female romance could perhaps be explained as an artifact of [[Quintesson]] mental programming very closely echoing the organic life forms the Transformers were built to serve.

The best case for sexual reproduction could probably be made from ''[[Beast Wars (television series)|Beast Wars]]'', where [[Rattrap]] makes numerous off-color remarks throughout the series, especially directed at [[Silverbolt (Fuzor)|Silverbolt]] and [[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]]. These comments strongly hint at something sex-like among Transformers, though it could of course be merely recreational rather than reproductive.

It is unknown what effect the ''[[Beast Machines (television series)|Beast Machines]]'' [[reformatting]] of Transformers into [[technorganic]] beings that are equal part organic life and mechanical to a cellular level has on their reproductive options.

== Familial relationships ==

One confusing aspect of this apparent lack of sexual reproduction is the canonical use of genealogical terminology to describe certain relationships. The most common of these is when two transformers regard each other as "brothers" (e.g. G1 [[Sideswipe]] and [[Sunstreaker]], or RID's [[Optimus Prime (RID)|Optimus Prime]] and [[Ultra Magnus (RID)|Ultra Magnus]]). However, the "[[Beast Era]]" widened the issue of reproduction with Rattrap referring to his "great-aunt" [[Arcee]] and in general the practice of Maximals and Predacons referring to the Autobots and Decepticons as their respective "ancestors", as well as themselves as being their "descendents", implying a direct genetic (for want of a better term) lineage. Various sources of debatable canonicity suggest that [[Optimus Primal]] is specifically descended from [[Optimus Prime]], usually through the phrase "his ancestor Optimus Prime". In the absence of sexual reproduction, the use and meaning of these genealogical references is difficult to explain.

[[Category:Transformers]]
[[Category:Transformer culture]]<div id="wikia-credits"><br /><br /><small>From [http://transformers.wikia.com Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki], a [http://www.wikia.com Wikia] wiki.</small></div>

Reproduction

2006-03-27T20:12:18Z

64.12.116.65:

Transformers have been shown to reproduce in a number of ways.

Some are built from scratch and when finished and turned on just spring to life (G1 Catoon Dinobots and Technobots).

In other stories they must be infused with life from an outside source. In the G1 Cartoon this was Vector Sigma, in the Marvel Comic it was the Creation Matrix.

The Transformers: Generation 2 comic introduced the concept of "buding" where it was revealed early TFs reproduced Asexualy until they reached the population Primus desired and then stopped and all memory of it was erased. When the Decepticon Empire rediscovered and revived the process the resulting robots were increasingly less sentient and the lifeform called The Swarm was created as a byproduct.

Despite having two genders there is little canonical evidence for TFs reproducing sexually. The best case could probably be made for Beast Wars where Rattrap makes numerous off-color remarks that hint in this direction, especially directed at Silverbolt and Blackarachnia. It is unknown what effect the Beast Machines reformating of Transformers into Technorganic beings has on their reproductive options.

[[Category:Transformers]]<div id="wikia-credits"><br /><br /><small>From [http://transformers.wikia.com Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki], a [http://www.wikia.com Wikia] wiki.</small></div>

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