Eye of the Storm

This article is about the stand-alone issue. For the anthology, see Best of Transformers: Eye of the Storm.

« The Transformers (US) #69 » « The Transformers (UK) #306–308 »
Finally, Wildman!!
"Eye of the Storm"
Publisher	Marvel Comics
Shipping date	June 26, 1990
On-sale date	July 17, 1990
Cover date	August 1990
Writer	Simon Furman
Penciler	Andy Wildman
Inkers	Harry Candelario & Bob Lewis (pages 7-8, 15-17)
Colorist	Nel Yomtov
Letterer	Rick Parker
Editor	Don Daley
Continuity	Marvel Comics continuity

Several plot threads begin, as the countdown to Unicron continues.

Synopsis

Grimlock mad. Grimlock smash. Grimlock want Dinobots back. Grimlock nearly kill stupid Pretender Waverider for tedious flashback exposition.

Just chill, man...

Meanwhile, Optimus Prime has become worried about the general mood of his soldiers aboard the Ark. Despite the loss of the Matrix, they are still not taking the threat of Unicron very seriously, falling into the groove of serious relaxation and downtime between missions. He begins to consider that the only way to defeat Unicron may be with the Autobots and Decepticons united as one.

In the meantime, Optimus Prime checks in on Nightbeat, who he has assigned to a research project—looking into the apparent deaths of Megatron and Ratchet a few months back to see if there was any chance they survived. Nightbeat had indeed come up with a theory, as one or both of the Transformers could have fled into a trans-time dimensional portal known to have been active at the time, only to have been caught between universes when the base exploded and deactivated the portal. To test his theory, Nightbeat constructed a sub-spatial "fishing line" to search the space between space for Ratchet's bio-mechanical readout and lifesigns.

Off in space, Galvatron is brought before the present day Unicron, and demands to know why Unicron has broken the bargain they made. Unicron explains that that was a different Unicron's promise, and he needs Galvatron's strength in his own timeline now. He demands that Galvatron go forth and spread word of his coming to Cybertron... forcefully. Galvatron agrees, for the moment.

Grimlock retrieve Dinobots from stasis pods. Grimlock sorry he have to "WHAMM!" Kup to do it, but he found way to save friends. Dumb Prime not trust Grimlock's suggestion, so Grimlock take matters into own hands.

Elsewhere on the Ark, Optimus Prime makes the shocking announcement over the ship's comms that he plans to offer an unconditional surrender to Scorponok and the Decepticons, in order to pave the way for an alliance against Unicron.

Rumble rumble rumble, mutiny mutiny mutiny.

The offer will come too late for two of Scorponok's troops, though. Mindwipe and Triggerhappy were less than pleased when Scorponok offered the madman Starscream a place in his Decepticons, and him then losing track of that psychopath completely was the last straw. As they fly away from the Decepticons' New Jersey base, the two warriors are confronted by Starscream himself. Starscream, along with his partners Shockwave and Ravage, have joined forces to attempt a coup on Scorponok's command. They offer Mindwipe and Triggerhappy a place in their new order.

As Grimlock forcibly blasts free of the Ark, Optimus Prime explains to Nightbeat and Waverider the reasoning behind it. A new energy source called Nucleon had been discovered on Hydrus Four, a power apparently capable of granting new and more powerful life to mechanical lifeforms. Unfortunately, there were stories of psychological side effects, dementia and paranoia attacking some of the earliest recipients of Nucleon's power. Prime dismissed it as too dangerous to use on the fallen Autobots, but Grimlock got hold of a copy of the report and wanted to check it out. It seemed Prime's objection wasn't enough to discourage him.

Suddenly, in the midst of Optimus's explanation, Nightbeat's probe returned... carrying the bizarre fusion of Megatron and Ratchet's form with it.

Featured characters

(Characters in italics appear in flashbacks only.)

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Others
Hot Rod (1) Chromedome (2) Fixit (3) Siren (4) Hosehead (5) Highbrow (6) Getaway (7) Joyride (8) Waverider (9) Grimlock (10) Jazz (11) Bumblebee (12) Optimus Prime (13) Nightbeat (14) Kup (15) Cloudburst (16) Ratchet (17) Snarl (24) Swoop (25)	Megatron (18) Galvatron (20) Scorponok (26) Mindwipe (27) Triggerhappy (28) Starscream (29) Ravage (30) Shockwave (31)	Unicron (19) Hook, Line, and Sinker (21–23)

Quotes

"...And so --Hahaha-- the Zyrogian says I'll have a crate of those! Hahaha... oh-ho!"
"Huh! Heard that one in my mecho-incubator!"

—One Autobot fails to entertain another with his jokes.

"No! I will serve you no more! Die!" [opens fire]
[laughs as the blast hits him harmlessly; tortures Galvatron] "Would you care to reconsider?"

—Galvatron and Unicron negotiate

"C'mon, Kup -- we old hands at this game, we know score. Obey orders to a point, but sometimes to win, you have to bend rules -- take chances!"

—Grimlock

"Me truly sorry, Kup -- but coldn't let you stop me! May not believe this, but this go against grain for me too. Prime idiot, but he also boss. Like you, I loyal to Autobot ways. But like I say, sometimes you have to bend rules.... even if it mean compromising your principles!"

—Grimlock monologues for an unconscious Kup

"Shockwave! I saw you burn up in Earth's atmosphere! I saw you die!"
"Illogical, since I am here standing in front of you, clearly functional -- it would follow that I survived. Suggestion, we dispense with the tiresome shocked exclamations and get down to business!"

—Triggerhappy is not happy with Shockwave's convenient explanations.

"Hahaha! Maybe we should be called the ex-Decepticons then! I mean, all three of us are supposed to be dead! Want to join? 'Fraid we gotta kill you first!"

— it's not so funny when Starscream jokes about killing you.

Notes

Artwork and technical errors

• Page 15, panel 1: the top of Scorponok's head is colored yellow.

Continuity errors

• Shockwave fell to Earth in "The Desert Island of Space!" and Ravage was knocked down a mine-shaft by Skids in "Showdown!". However, in the UK they had both been alive for quite a while since then and there was no lettering edit in the UK reprint to dodge this. Even in the US stories, Ravage had been around for the G.I. Joe crossover.
• Triggerhappy mentions seeing Shockwave burn up in Earth's atmosphere, but Scorponok's Decepticons had not yet joined up with Shockwave and Ratbat's forces by that point. Perhaps he saw a recording?
• The recurring issue is that Triggerhappy and Mindwipe are going to work with Starscream in the coup despite defecting because of Starscream!

Continuity notes

• Hot Rod is palling around with Chromedome while the latter's in sickbay. The two were comrades under Fortress Maximus since "Ring of Hate!" so it makes sense Hot Rod is visiting.
• Several characters mention the events of US issues #65–66, where the Classic Pretenders were left to die on VsQs, and Thunderwing assaulted the Ark with the Matrix, only for both to be lost in space. Waverider handwaves why the Classics weren't killed by saying "I guess" Thunderwing felt they were going to die anyway and he didn't need to bother doing it himself.
• Nightbeat's investigation pertains to the explosion at the climax of US issue #59.
• Optimus Prime experiences the first of a series of mysterious pains in his gut. Though never truly spelled out for us, this is apparently the first indicator of the "metamorphosis" Hi-Q underwent in later issues.
• Optimus' "hail mary" of surrendering is happening because Scorponok is "approachable". This nods to the Decepticon leader being willing to listen to Optimus and stand down forces in "All the Familiar Faces!" and "Skin Deep", at the start of Furman's US run. (This is actually a recent development in both US and UK continuity but Optimus is desperate.) Optimus also saved his life, removing him from the path of the Underbase during their armistice and team-up in "Dark Star".

Real-life references

• "The servo-droid did it!" Siren yells at the TV, a riff on the stereotype that the butler always dun it in murder mysteries.

Other trivia

• In the credits, over Grimlock trashing his room, editor Don Daley and editor-in-chief Tom DeFalco are credited as "Grimlock's Interior Decorators".
• According to a retcon made by Fun Publications, Unicron is a single entity who travels across the dimensions, meaning that the Unicron of Galvatron II's timeline and the Unicron of this timeline are the same entity. This means that Unicron lied to Galvatron II and did break his promise. Bear in mind, this should not surprise anyone. Or did he?
• Transformers Universe profiles for Fastlane and Mindwipe are found after the main story.
• Sight gags by Andrew Wildman include various items of human food, a spyglass and fedora for Nightbeat, and a toy dinosaur in Grimlock's room.
• The two generics conversing in the corridor as Optimus Prime walks past reuse Hosehead and Siren's models. Given that Siren and Hosehead were shown earlier in the issue to be watching TV during this time, it can't be them.

Bot Roster

• Autobots: 30 active; 8 rogue Micromasters; 1 in storage, 31 offline, 25 presumed offline. (95 total)
• Decepticons: 21 active (+Soundwave, -Triggerhappy and Mindwipe), 5 gone rogue; 25 offline, 25 presumed offline, 2 offline/missing. (78 total)

UK printing

• For these issues, the backup strip (G.I. Joe the Action Force) was dropped and this story ran across three issues instead of the usual four (as had been the case since Issue #213).
• The cover for #306 gets doubly highbrow as it depicts Prime as Rodin's sculpture The Thinker and also quotes the famous Roman general Tacitus.

Issue #306:

• Reprint Transformers story: "In the National Interest"
• Other strips: Combat Colin

Issue #307:

• Reprint Transformers story: "In the National Interest"
• Other strips: Combat Colin

Issue #308:

• Reprint Transformers story: "The Enemy Within!"
• Other strips: Combat Colin
• This is the last weekly issue before the move to fortnightly printing.

Covers (4)

• US cover: Major plot points of the story, by Andrew Wildman.
• UK issue #306 cover: A pensive Prime, by Stewart Johnson and Robin Bouttell.
• UK issue #307 cover: Unicron punishes Galvatron, by Andrew Wildman and Robin Bouttell.
• UK issue #308 cover: Shockwave chokes Mindwipe, by Stephen Baskerville, Lesley Dalton and Robin Bouttell.

• 
  US issue #69 - What's in the middle? I hope it's Rack'n'Ruin!
• 
  UK issue #306 - Nice to see you, to see you nice.
• 
  UK issue #307 - No more! No more Stan Bush!
• 
  UK issue #308 - Even when he's trying to be cool, Shockwave is mean.

Advertisements

US

• Fleer NFL Football cards - inside front cover
• Taito Wrath of the Black Manta for NES - between pages 4 & 5
• Nickelodeon Magazine - between pages 5 & 6
• LJN The Uncanny X-Men for NES - between pages 9 & 10
• NEC Bonk's Adventure for TurboGraphx 16 - between pages 12 & 13 (2 pages)
• American Comics & Entertainment - between pages 16 & 17
• Bullpen Bulletins - between pages 20 & 21
• Arachnophobia movie - between story and Fastlane profile
• Transmissions
• Marvel subscription service
• TSR AD&D books - inside back cover
• Konami Super C and Snake's Revenge for NES (back cover)

UK

????

Reprints

• Transformers: Matrix Quest TPB cover: Thunderwing, Rodimus Prime, Shockwave and half of Primus, by Andrew Wildman.
• Transformers: Matrix Quest hardback cover: Thunderwing with the Creation Matrix, by Pat Lee.
• Best of Transformers: Eye of the Storm cover: Optimus Prime, Ravage and Skywarp, by Andrew Wildman.
• Classic Transformers Volume 5 cover: panels from this issue, "Deadly Obsession", "All Fall Down" and "...All This and Civil War 2".
• The Transformers Classics, Vol. 6 cover: Blitzwing, by Guido Guidi.
• Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection:Volume 18: Edge of Extinction: Grimlock, above an interior scene (issue #74) of Powermaster Optimus Prime battling the Acolytes of Unicron. Grimlock art by Guido Guidi, Retro art by Andrew Wildman (pencils) and Stephen Baskerville (inks).

• 
  Matrix Quest TPB
  (Titan Books, 2002)
• 
  Matrix Quest HC
  (Titan Books, 2002)
• 
  Best of Transformers: Eye of the Storm
  (Titan Books, 2008)
• 
  Classic Transformers Volume 5
  (IDW Publishing, 2009)
• 
  The Transformers Classics, Vol. 6
  (IDW Publishing, 2013)
• 
  The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 18: Edge of Extinction
  (Hachette Partworks, 2017)