Editing ...The Harder They Die!

{{comicstory|seriesissue=[[The Transformers (Marvel comic)#Marvel UK|''The Transformers'' (UK)]] #98
|prev=Prey!
|next=Under Fire!
|title="...The Harder They Die!"
|image=Marvel UK 098.JPG
|caption=Megatron: Homecoming Queen
|publisher=[[Marvel Comics]]
|coverdate=[[January 31|31st January]] 1987
|script=[[Simon Furman]]
|art=[[Geoff Senior]]
|colour=[[Steve White]]
|letters=[[Annie Halfacree]]
|editor=[[Ian Rimmer]]
|continuity=[[Marvel Comics continuity]]
}}

'''Prime finds that Cybertron is not the home he once knew.'''

==Synopsis==
[[Image:Polyhexdecepticonstronghold.jpg|left|150px|thumb|And it was all going so well...]]
[[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]] is on [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]]. He wanders the desolate streets of [[Iacon (polity)|Iacon]], shocked at what has become of his beloved home planet. Finding a [[Decepticon]] holding an [[Autobot]] at gunpoint, he challenges [[Well-armed Decepticon bully|the bully]], only to find that his foe is powerful. Only a stroke of luck allows Prime to triumph. The Autobot, [[Outback (G1)|Outback]], thanks Prime for the help; when Prime heads off alone, Outback follows discreetly.

[[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] is also on Cybertron, specifically the [[Polyhex Decepticon stronghold|headquarters]] in [[Polyhex]], and congratulates the current Decepticon leader—Lord [[Straxus (G1)|Straxus]], now reduced to a head in a jar—on having pushed the Autobots back and crushed their spirit. Straxus is furious at Megatron for bringing Optimus Prime to Cybertron. Megatron explains that he had little choice; the [[Predacon (G1)|Predacons]] betrayed him, attacking him and leaving him vulnerable to a follow-up attack from a fighting-mad Optimus. Desperate to escape, Megatron summoned the [[space bridge]], only to have Prime hurl them both through the portal before it was stable.

Megatron has already put out word through certain networks that the Decepticons have created a fake Optimus Prime and set him loose on Cybertron. Prime, meanwhile, despairs at the ruins of Iacon. He doesn't have long to lament, however; the misinformation campaign has done its job, and Prime soon finds himself under attack, imprisoned, and sentenced to execution by the Autobot band known as the [[Wrecker]]s.
{{--}}

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|c1=
*[[Optimus Prime (G1)/Marvel Comics continuity|Optimus Prime]] (1)
*[[Outback (G1)|Outback]] (3)
*[[Hoist (G1)|Hoist]] (4)
*[[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]] (5)
*[[Gears (G1)|Gears]] (6)
*[[Wheeljack (G1)|Wheeljack]] (7)
*[[Ironhide (G1)|Ironhide]] (8)
*[[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]] (9)
*[[Blaster (G1)|Blaster]] (17)
*[[Rack'n'Ruin]] (18)
*[[Guardian (Marvel)|Guardian]] (19)
*[[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]] (20)
*[[Sandstorm (G1)|Sandstorm]] (21)
*[[Roadbuster (G1)|Roadbuster]] (22)
*[[Twin Twist]] (23)

|c2=
*[[Well-armed Decepticon bully]] (2)
*[[Megatron (G1)/Marvel Comics continuity|Megatron]] (10)
*[[Straxus (G1)|Straxus]] (11)
*[[Razorclaw (G1)|Razorclaw]] (12)
*[[Rampage (G1)|Rampage]] (13)
*[[Headstrong]] (14)
*[[Tantrum]] (15)
*[[Divebomb (G1)|Divebomb]] (16)
}}

==Quotes==
"Provoke me and you will find I am still a formidable adversary!"<br>
"Calm yourself, Straxus. '''You''' have nothing to fear from me!"<br>
"And Prime does?"<br>
"'''Oh yes!''' You see I have passed word, through your known informants within the Decepticon ranks, to the Autobot resistance, telling of a brazen Decepticon, trying to infiltrate their movement. A Decepticon, designed to resemble - in every detail - their missing hero, Optimus Prime! I won't need to kill my greatest enemy... '''the Autobots will do it for me!'''"
:—'''Megatron''' tells '''Straxus''' his master plan


For long, pleasant moments his mind wanders once more through the glowing golden streets of Iacon. His world is at peace. He remembers a time when his thoughts turned only to life, never to death. But - as conciousness drags him screaming from his past - he realises, with dreadful certainty... '''that has all changed!'''<br>
"'''Decepticon''' - the charges are spying and impersonating our greatest warrior."<br>
"The verdict of this court is '''guilty'''!"<br>
"The sentence is '''death'''!"<br>
"And the '''Wreckers''' will be only too pleased to carry it out!"<br>
:—'''Optimus Prime''' awakes to find himself captured by the Wreckers


==Notes==
* Straxus's body was destroyed in "[[The Bridge to Nowhere!]]". The US comics left him for dead, but the UK series uses him as a major player for quite some time to come.

===Errors===
* Hoist's head is missing its colors on page 3.

===Back-up stories===
* Spitfire and the Troubleshooters - "Counterattack" Part 4
* [[Robo-Capers]]

===Covers (4)===
<gallery>
Image:Marvel UK 098.JPG|98 cover
Image:Tfcolcom12.jpg|Collected Comics 12 cover
Image:Tf commag 08.JPG|'''Transformers Comic-Magazin issue #8:''' Ultra Magnus always brought a child with him.
Image:TitanPrey.jpg|Prey TPB cover
</gallery>
*'''UK issue 98 cover:''' Megatron on Cybertron, by [[Phil Gascoine]]
*'''Collected Comics 12 cover:''' The Predacons surround Optimus Prime, by [[Jeff Anderson]]
* '''[[Transformers Comic-Magazin issue 8|Transformers Comic-Magazin issue #8]] cover:''' Optimus Prime, a miscolored Ultra Magnus and Guardian, and a random small child.
*'''Prey TPB cover:''' Optimus Prime staves off Razorclaw while Ultra Magnus broods, by [[Lee Sullivan]]

===Reprints===
*[[1989]] — ''[[Transformers Collected Comics]]'' 12
*[[1990]] — [[Transformers Comic-Magazin issue 8|''Transformers Comic-Magazin'' #8]]
*[[2004]] — ''[[Transformers: Prey]]''
*[[2009]] — ''[[The Transformers: Best of UK: Prey]]'' #2
*[[2010]] — ''[[The Transformers: Best of UK: Prey]]''
*[[2012]] — ''[[The Transformers Classics UK Volume 3]]''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harder They Die!}}
[[Category:Marvel UK issues]]