Digital Doom on the Highway to Destruction (G1)

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This article is about the greatest battle on Earth in Generation 1. For the greatest battle on Earth in Shattered Glass, see Digital Doom on the Highway to Destruction (SG){{#switch:{{#sub:Digital Doom on the Highway to Destruction (SG)|-1}}

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Rodimus Prime inaccurately remembers the "greatest battle on Earth."

Digital Doom on the Highway to Destruction<ref>We underline the name because the source material consistently does so. Your guess is as good as ours.</ref> is what Rodimus Prime recalls as "the Transformers' greatest battle on Earth".

Fiction

S.T.A.R.S. mail-order flyers

Deep within the data battle center, Rodimus Prime solemnly recounted the story of "the most crucial" Transformer battle for an unknown audience. This "legendary" conflict took place prior to the construction of Autobot City on Earth:

An Autobot convoy led by Optimus Prime set out to determine a building site for the city. They were ambushed en route by Megatron, the "death-dealing, menacing machine gun" and Thundercracker, "the energy-zapping fighter plane". Soon the "innocent convoy was converted into a shower of drone rockets" and other weaponsfire. Rodimus Prime remembers the Transformers greatest battle on Earth.

As punishment for trying to escape their bizarre little continuity, they were cursed to relive this moment forever.

Optimus ordered Cliffjumper, Warpath, and Cosmos to retreat and summon help, believing this to be the team's only hope. Despite their attempt to escape Thundercracker's "force field," they found themselves actively pursued by the Decepticon jet. Transformers Combat Data

All of this information, including Rodimus's introduction, was relayed to potential S.T.A.R.S. recruits, who were told that they, too, could "get in on all the action in this desert drama ambush."

Notes

• Rodimus Prime and Optimus Prime are shown coexisting in the days before Autobot City. Since this exists in a micro-continuity wherein The Transformers: The Movie is an actual movie made by the Autobots, this may or may not be an error as such.
• It's unclear what Megatron and Thundercracker could actually do to these eight Autobots that would constitute the "greatest battle on Earth." Either this micro-continuity is shockingly tame, or Rodimus is having a senior moment.
• Thundercracker's description as being able to "zap the power supply of his enemies" ties into previous pack-in flyer appearances (assuming that "zap" is being used synonymously with "sap"). Notably, this is the only continuity that gives him such an ability.
• Megatron is shown using his stock assembly as a "particle beam cannon", which may be the only canonical instance of such.
• The notion that S.T.A.R.S. recruits could contribute to the fight is temporally troublesome. If this battle is a thing of the past, then what could they do? The other S.T.A.R.S. fiction seems to occupy a time period in the mid-1980s, so it's possible that the message is being sent back in time from Rodimus's day in order to affect the battle's outcome. Or, more likely, the writers weren't investing much thought into their throwaway toy-ad copy.

References

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