United Kingdom

"You stupid English, with your Yorkshire puddings and your chips and fish!"

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (also called Region 2) is a strange, possibly allegorical, land where pants are called trousers, underwear is called pants, women run the government, Batman kidnaps children, state-sponsored media is popular instead of elitist, vinegar is a condiment, and they have good rock and roll.

They are presumably a part of Europe, though also no longer a part of Europe in a sense.

Also, they spell things funny and their DVDs won't play on our DVD players. Spooky.

Fiction

Generation 1 continuity family

Marvel Comics continuity

Marvel The Transformers comics

Events from the UK-only comic stories are in italics.

"Oh bollocks, an immigrant! Kick him out! British Jobs for British Workers!"

Some time in the past, the Man of Iron and his Navigator came to Earth while searching for the Ark and left their ship beneath the area that would one day become Stansham. There they remained, though the Man of Iron would occasionally leave the ship to visit the surface—in 1017 he encountered humans, including Godwin the Strongarm and Aethelric, and a further two sightings were recorded.

In 1984 a beacon from the ship attracted the attention of the earthbound Autobots and they took a shuttle to the United Kingdom to investigate. Upon arrival, Jazz kidnapped a human named Sammy Harker to provide the Autobots with intelligence about the local area, but they were attacked by the Decepticons, who had also followed the beacon to its source.

As battle raged above Stansham Castle, the Man of Iron emerged from his ship once more, only to be blown up by Thundercracker. Jazz destroyed the ship (inadvertently killing the Navigator) and the Transformers left the United Kingdom. Man of Iron

About a year later they would return, seeking the source of an energy transmission that caused aspects of their personalities to reverse. Tracing the signal to a secret research facility Jazz and Starscream fought over Zeke Heilmann, a human who was stealing the core of PARD for his own nefarious purposes. In the ensuing battle both Zeke and the device were destroyed by Jazz. To a Power Unknown!

By 1987, the country was the home of the European branch of international anti-terrorism taskforce Action Force; their field leader Flint was an English soldier. They ended up battling alongside Grimlock, Blades and Centurion against a raging Megatron (or so they thought) in London's docklands. Centurion and Megatron fell into the River Thames. Ancient Relics!

Richard Branson (or Mister Johnson) attempted to fish out the remains, only for Shockwave and the Seacons to swipe his catch. Salvage!

In 1990, Shockwave emerged from the sea off the coast of Blackpool where he paused only to squash a man and his dog before leaving for New Jersey to spy on Scorponok. Dark Creation He later set up his Decepticon dissident base there. Surrender!

Transformers Comic-Magazin

The Metropolitan Police handle a protest in their calm and reasoned manner.

As Scotland was an oil exporter, Glasgow came under heavy Decepticon attack in their attempt to seize all oil in one go. (I think you meant Aberdeen, guys.) The Autobots slowly pushed the Decepticons out. Transformers in Action: He Who Laughs Last ...

Fleetway Generation 2 comic

In 1994, Bludgeon led his forces to attack London with the intention of attracting Optimus Prime. The damage to the city was severe; even the Houses of Parliament were bombed. Optimus defeated Bludgeon only to face a returned Megatron, who handed his skidplate to him. Before he could finish off his old adversary, Megatron was attacked by Bludgeon's troops and Optimus was rescued by the Dinobots. The arrival of Jazz's group forced Megatron to escape with Starscream and Prime declared victory, though he advocated that the Autobots vacate the area to escape any human retaliation. War Without End War Zone

Marvel Generation 2 comic

London was one of the cities hit in the Decepticons' global slaughter. The Gathering Darkness

Generation 1 cartoon continuity

"Just ignore the dragon and he'll go away."

The Transformers cartoon

A group of Decepticons, the Autobots Warpath and Hoist, and Spike Witwicky ended up time-travelling to England in the 6th Century. Starscream got involved in a spat between local Sirs Wigend of Blackthorn and Aetheling the Red before seizing control from the former and attempting to conquer the latter's fiefdom, as well as messing about with history by creating gunpowder in Europe centuries early. Luckily, Spike and the Autobots stopped him.

We also learned England possesses the time-travelling site known as Dragon Mound, that plate armour existed far earlier than stuffy historians and their "facts" would tell us, and that dragons existed naturally in England. A Decepticon Raider in King Arthur's Court

In the 20th Century the country had the dubious honour of big-game hunter and national stereotype Lord Chumley causing an international incident when he stole a top secret Soviet jet. The Autobots sorted it out and made a mess of his castle. Prime Target

Japanese cartoon continuity

A British sport star. Not pictured: the News Of The World tapping his phone.

Strangely, by this point in time, Britain was covered with the type of thick fog that hadn't been seen since the 1950s. It's almost like someone hadn't done any research.

Sixshot blackmailed the UK to hand over its energy or he would devastate London. It didn't, so he did. Terror! The Six Shadows

The Godmaster Lightfoot, heir to British Motors, was born in Britain. His father was unable to start a car company in England and so moved to that land of enterprise, Canada. Lightfoot: A Dramatic Encounter Champion racer and fellow Godmaster Road King also originated from the UK, having the nickname "the British Wolf".

Flight 308 from Mont Parta was captured by Blood off the coast of England, in the Strait of Dover. Kidnapping!? The Targeted Jumbo Jet Violating UK airspace was apparently a laugh, as the Decepticon Godmaster jets Hydra and Buster had fun zooming over London at high speeds before heading on to Japan. Super Warriors - The Godmaster Brothers

Wings Universe

Wings Universe is based on the Generation 1 cartoon, but deviates from it in cosmetic ways and continuity points.

Pyro Ignatius Spark was a citizen of the United Kingdom. When Clench's Decepticon Syndicate attempted to kidnap and ransom the Queen of England, Pyro was motivated to gather his own team of second generation Autobots to oppose the Syndicate. Clench's profile

Battle Beneath the Ice

The United Kingdom would presumably be part of the Federation of Western Europe, something the EEC will turn into in the near future of 2000. Battle Beneath the Ice

Beast Wars: Uprising

Circa 1984, the Acton family took a trip to England, much to the ire of their son Noah, seeing a variety of historic landmarks. During their trip to the British Museum, Starscream led an attack on the facility to claim a statue of Amenhotep III that supposedly had magical powers. They also got a nifty paperweight. Cultural Appropriation

Unicron Trilogy

Energon cartoon

I'm sensing a pattern with the scenes set in England.

In the peaceful inter-war period, the Autobots built Plains City in England. It wasn't actually on a plain. Official Guidebook

Cybertron cartoon

While looking for the Omega Lock, the Autobots dug up around an ancient druid site. The area briefly became a battleground when Thundercracker and Starscream attacked. Space

Later, Starscream's Ancient Decepticon army swarmed in the skies of the nation, spreading panic. Invasion

Live-action film series

IDW movie comics

Diego Garcia, a British overseas territory and home to a joint UK-US military base, was used as a training facility for NEST and base for Autobots. Alliance #3 British armed forces eventually became part of NEST and helped destroy the Decepticon Overcast. Alliance #4

Titan movie comic

The Orkney Islands are home to a NEST base, and noted as a forward operating location. The base contains a training facility for Autobots. New Tricks

CHIIIICKEEEEENN LLEEEEEEEGGG!!

Revenge of the Fallen film

An unknown number of British Army soldiers served in NEST, at least one who would get killed in battle. SASF Agent Graham, a special forces operative, was part of Major Lennox's NEST command structure; like most of NEST, he trusted the Autobots. Revenge of the Fallen

Dark of the Moon film

Carly Spencer was British, and worked for the UK embassy when she first met Sam Witwicky. Dark of the Moon

The Last Knight film

The legendary King Arthur was helped by the Transformers, and millennia later the United Kingdom was visited again by the denizens of Cybertron.The Last Knight

Bumblebee film

Charlie Watson had a Union Jack poster stashed in her room. Bumblebee

Merchandise

Bendy-Bus Prime landed in London and took the form of a bendy bus.

Shattered Glass

The British want to invade the United States. Boo, hiss! Don't be too concerned, though. The Queen Mother knows that bombing land she wants to conquer is VERY counter-productive. Wonder why no one else thought of that. Eye in the Sky

How foreigners perceive the British. Pip-Pip!

Animated cartoon

By the 22nd century, Wales was no longer a part of the UK and had become a U.S. State. At some prior point, diplomatic relations between the US and UK were broken before President Benito Caruso restored those ties. The AllSpark Almanac II

Aligned continuity family

Prime cartoon

During the search for Predacon remains, Ultra Magnus, Wheeljack, and Bulkhead went to investigate Decepticon activity in Scotland. Project Predacon Though they easily overcame the Vehicons searching there, Starscream and his Predacon were a different matter, and the Decepticons ultimately got away with the fossil they needed. Chain of Command

2015 Robots in Disguise cartoon

Fixit intercepted a Decepticon transmission coming from a remote island off the English coast and was excited to get a chance to visit, despite Bumblebee's warnings that dashing knights and chivalric adventures are only in the movies. Then they slayed a dragon! The Golden Knight

Transformers Legends

Waspinator taught Megatron about Whirl and Roadbuster, two foreign Transformers who first appeared in a British comic book. The concept of "British Transformers" causes Megatron to imagine the two as English stereotypes walking the streets of London, and he asks out loud how Whirl is supposed to drink tea without a mouth. Waspinator tells him he's wrong and needs to stop focusing on the whole British thing. Legends Vol. 15

Spacewarp's Log

In the 31st century, a combined alliance of the Darkling Lord and Inhumanoids have conquered all mainland areas on earth. Arthur Pendragon reists them as the crowned king of The United Kingdom of Great Britain; Ireland; Iceland; Greenland; Australia; New Zealand; New Guinea; Madagascar; Cuba; Manhattan, Staten Island, and Long Island; the Canadian Island Territories; Japan; Borneo; Hispaniola; Svalbard; Tierra del Fuego; Puerto Rico; Indonesia; the Philippines; Sakhalin; and Taiwan, also known as the UK for short.

Transformers in the United Kingdom

Oi oi m8, 'old up, u got a loicense for that galactic man???

From a media standpoint, the United Kingdom is easily the European country that has received the most attention from the Transformers brand, earning multiple unique Transformers comics throughout the decades on top of all the previously-mentioned media appearances. It also probably has the best modern retail distribution of Transformers toys in the region and it has been the location for several prominent Hasbro-backed Transformers fan conventions - all of this contributing to (and, most likely; also being the consequence of) the Transformers franchise becoming a significantly more popular intellectual property in the UK compared to the rest of Europe.

As with a few other European countries, the UK would earn its own Pre-Transformers toy line with Convertors, manufactured by Grandstand and published by Hales Ltd.; which consisted of repackaged figures from various Japanese companies including TakaraTomy, Toybox, and Yonezawa Toys. Additionally, a unique version of RadioShack's "Galactic Man" also released under RadioShack's parent company Tandy. Tandy's version of Galactic Man has a dark blue box top rather than the purple or light blue one other regions have and is made of materials more resistant to the yellowing prevalent in the original RadioShack version of the toy. Although the UK wouldn't receive a "unique" Generation 1 toyline like France and Greece did with their nationally-manufactured manufactured figures or Italy with their very peculiar localized set of imports, the regular Hasbro-imported Transformers toyline would launch in the UK in 1984 - premiering in the same year as its US counterpart - in contrast with many other European countries who would only receive their Transformers quite a few years later (some, like Portugal, wouldn't get the toyline until somewhere around the early 90s!).

The UK would get a rather interesting regional version of Marvel's The Transformers comics, which were first just reprints (sometimes with edits) of the US issues but would then earn new stories meant to slot in with the originals. Prolific Transformers writer Simon Furman got his start on this comic, and would later go on to write for the US version as well as several comics in the 2005 IDW continuity. Although Marvel UK's Transformers title is still the most famous British transformers comic, it would only be the first one: as mentioned, the UK would eventually be the breeding ground for multiple unique Transformers comics based on Generation 2, Armada, the live-action films, Animated, and Prime. And on a funky Transformers-related note, Britain would also get a strip based on the GoBots under their Robo Machine branding.

A quirky promotional event for Revenge of the Fallen on DVD, made in conjunction with national rag "newspaper" The Sun, would involve the creation of Bendy-Bus Prime, a life-sized sculpture of an all-new Transformers character that presumably transformed into a London "bendy" bus (although, of course, the statue itself was a non-transformable display piece). This statue was given away on December 9, 2009.

In 2024, the world's first dedicated Transformers store opened, situated in Battersea Power Station, London.

I was a UK exclusive for a while, and then I wasn't!

Fandom

Given the franchise's popularity in the UK, it naturally follows that the United Kingdom also has an incredibly active fan scene. Britain has the honor of hosting the first ever BotCon to be held in Europe, the appropriately named BotCon Europe 1999, organized by Transmasters UK, a UK-based fan fiction group active since the early 1990s. BotCon Europe 2002 would again be held in the UK, with this convention's exclusive toy - Rook - being the closest to a British-exclusive Transformers toy... Until 3H Productions would also begin selling it on their US website (ironically, despite the immense popularity of the Transformers in the UK, there has never actually been a fully exclusive British Transformers toy, in contrast with all these other countries).

Ever since BotCon's dissolution the British have replaced it with their own Transformers conventions: TFNation and TFUKcon. Each convention is held annually at different times of the year, both starting in 2016 and 2022 respectively. On the 25th of March 2023 TFNation started running smaller, one-day conventions that are held sporadically throughout the year called "Mini-Cons". The Mini-Cons take place in a variety of locations, most of which are in Manchester. TFNation also irregularly hosts an event called "The Gathering", a social meet-up where Transformers fans can, well, gather and chat about anything Transformers-related.

Notable people

• Simon Furman who, as mentioned; remains one of the most prolific writers in the Transformers franchise
• Geoff Senior, a British artist who worked on the Marvel comics alongside Furman
• Andrew Wildman, a British artist who has also worked on the Marvel comics alongside Furman
• Jack Lawrence, a British artist who worked on the both the first and second IDW continuities
• James Roberts, a fan who'd go on to write one of the main ongoings for Phase 2 of the 2005 IDW continuity
• Brian Ruckley, a Scottish novelist who penned IDW's 2019 reboot

Notes

And did those feet in ancient time...

• The corner box on the US release of Man of Iron - the first UK-made comic - features a Union Flag behind the image of Grimlock.
• Despite being a tiny country, English, the primary native language of the UK, seems to have become wide-spoken throughout the galaxy. Interesting.
• By strange coincidence, a number of Transformers (including the entire planet of Gigantion) have accents identical to some of those in the United Kingdom! And we thought they were all American...
• In 2009, Prime Minister Gordon Brown made a public appeal for Optimus Prime to come and solve the country's problems, to which the Conservative Party responded Brown had "more in common with the Decepticons". The following year's Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition would presumably make the Lib Dems the Mini-Cons but we're not sure who the Scottish National Party count as in this stretched metaphor.
• The word "slag" is considered offensive in the UK (you wouldn't want your sister to be described as one). This has caused some TV shows to be (very badly) edited to avoid use of the term (although strangely not all), and at least one character name change on both sides of the Atlantic. They also have trouble with the word "spastic", resulting in similar controversies and abrupt character name-changes. It's still okay to call a cigarette a "fag", though.
• We have DVD boxsets of the 2001 Robots in Disguise cartoon and Zone, and you Yanks still don't. Ahhh ha ha ha HA. (Now let us have more than two super-cheap Beast Wars DVDs :( )
  • At least our DVDs are better than the ones the Jerries have, take that Fritz!
• British fan Louis Georgiou formerly had the largest collection of Transformers toys and merchandise (2,111) as of 11 May 2017, but has since been surpassed by American AJ Ard in 2018 (with 3,626 items).

External links

• United Kingdom at Wikipedia