End of the Road! (US)

The name or term "End of the Road" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see End of the Road (disambiguation).

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"I am victorious! Is there any who can challenge Bludgeon?!" "Me." "...Oh, slag."
"End of the Road!"
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First published	May 1991
Cover date	July 1991
Writer	Simon Furman
Penciler	Andrew Wildman
Inker	Stephen Baskerville
Colorist	Nel Yomtov
Letterer	Rick Parker
Editor	Rob Tokar
Continuity	Marvel Comics continuity
Chronology	1991

All good things...

Synopsis

On Klo, a cornered Getaway is blown to pieces by Dreadwind and Darkwing, their grandstanding irritating Bludgeon, though he admits as he looks at the battered remains of the Autobots, his Decepticons haven't done a bad job. Strangehold asks about the survivors, noting the job's not done 'till the last Autobot falls. Bludgeon reassures him they will be found, as his best warriors are on the job. A short distance away, Octopunch leads a hunting team, but is irritated by Weirdwolf's inability to sniff their prey out, and puts Fangry in charge, declaring they can't have gotten far. His claim is proven as they move out of range, and the last five Autobots left emerge from a nearby pool.

Unfortunately for Grimlock, Prowl is one of the survivors, and spares no breath berating him for their situation. It seems the Dinobots were led into an obvious trap upon the Autobots' arrival on Klo, the Decepticons having realized they were coming after finding Grimlock's tracer aboard their ship, and the resulting melee was a slaughter. Prowl's pontificating is cut short when the Decepticons make their presence known by blasting Blaster to pieces, Fangry having smelled them even in their hiding place. Having enjoyed letting them think they were safe, the Decepticons close in for the kill.

Back at the scene of the first battle, Bludgeon is about to administer another execution to a not-quite dead Wheeljack when he and his warriors are suddenly caught off guard by the arriving Neo-Knights. The Decepticons quickly learn that the humans are only the first wave, and onto the battlefield drops the second wave—Optimus Prime, alive and kicking.

Meanwhile, Grimlock has an answer to Prowl's question about what they're supposed to do: Fight, to the death if necessary, as he demonstrates by putting his fist through Fangry's chest.

Despite Bludgeon's disbelieving cries, Prime is indeed back, and he introduces his new friend, the legendary Last Autobot. The child of Primus relates how he had slumbered beneath Cybertron, designed by Primus to wait until the god's foreseen demise, when a chosen one would find and awake him. Much to his surprise, that chosen one was Hi-Q, until the Last Autobot saw the Nebulon had become part organic and part machine, and more - Hi-Q's very soul had become enmeshed with that of Optimus. Using his powers, the Last Autobot reformatted the Nebulan into a new Optimus, merging the best aspects of both.

His exposition finished, the Last Autobot states definitively that the war is over, but Bludgeon refuses to surrender, attacking Optimus. Bludgeon sees himself as a follower of the Ultimate Warrior, the ravager of worlds, and the Last Autobot is blasphemy to his view. Ignoring Optimus's explanation that this is merely a corruption of the truth, he orders his troops to attack. The Decepticons dogpile on Optimus Prime, much to Dynamo's alarm, but his pleas to the Last Autobot to intervene go unheeded, as the gargantuan robot begins reviving the fallen Autobots. Fortunately, the human's concerns prove unwarranted, as Optimus shrugs off his attackers.

Joined by Grimlock and his group of survivors, charging over the hillside, the tide of battle quickly turns towards the Autobots, and Bludgeon's troops are put to retreat. As Bludgeon proclaims he will lead his troops into the voluntary exile that honor demands, he quietly tells Stranglehold to gather their forces, to live to fight another day.

As the Autobots wrap up, Prowl laments they have nowhere to go, but Optimus Prime informs his brethren that Cybertron survives, restored by the Last Autobot's power and the Matrix energy that washed over the planet in the final battle with Unicron. The Autobots prepare to help the Klozians rebuild, take the Neo-Knights home and, finally, return to their home planet for a new era of peace and enlightenment.

'Til all are one.

Multiple companies have continued the story of the Marvel Comics universe in different ways, meaning that story is continued in several mutually-exclusive directions:

• The UK Annual story "Another Time & Place".
• The G.I. Joe issue "Unfoldings!", leading into the Generation 2 series.
• The Fun Publications "Classicverse", starting chronologically with "The New World".
• The IDW Publishing maxi-series The Transformers: Regeneration One.

It never ends!

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Humans	Nebulans
Getaway (1) Nightbeat (8) Slapdash (9) Wheeljack (10) Sunstreaker (11) Blurr (12) Silverbolt (13) Inferno (14) Air Raid (15) Siren (16) Grimlock (21) Prowl (22) Blaster (23) Kup (24) Slag (25) Sludge (26) Snarl (27) Swoop (28) Last Autobot (29) Optimus Prime (32) Hot Rod (33)	Dreadwing (2) Bludgeon (3) Battletrap (4) Snapdragon (5) Crankcase (6) Stranglehold (7) Fangry (17) Quake (18) Weirdwolf (19) Octopunch (20) Horri-Bull (37) Squeezeplay (38) Skullcruncher (39)	Thunderpunch (29) Dynamo (30) Rapture (31) G.B. Blackrock (35) Circuit Breaker (36)	Hi-Q (34)

Quotes

"Do you not understand? It's OVER—FINISHED!"

—Bludgeon, executing Siren

"That. [puts his fist straight through Fangry's torso] That what we do, Prowl. We fight... to the death!"

—Grimlock rallies his troops.

"As it was foretold, so it came to pass. But the chosen one... was something of a surprise. Until I saw that there was more to this tiny being than met the eye."

—The Last Autobot

"And now... it is time for this mindless war to cease. It is done, finished."

—The Last Autobot

"ENOUGH! Do you not understand, Decepticons? It is over—FINISHED! A new age has dawned, and we must herald it in... with peace and harmony!"

—Optimus Prime, while pulverizing a squad of Decepticons

"Hear me, Autobots -- we are destroyed, whipped like curs! We have failed, and in that failure shamed ourselves beyond redemption! We leave you now to begin the solitary exile that honor demands! Farewell, Autobots -- I salute you!"

—Bludgeon spins a fakey tale to cover the Decepticons' tracks.

"For me, personally, it never ends!"

—Simon Furman, giving mixed messages as he concludes the letters page

Notes

Production notes

• For its final issue, the comic's page-count is bumped up from 20 (the usual amount it's been running at for the last year-and-a-half) to 22 (the industry standard for the time, which the comic used to run at prior to issue #47). Thus, no Universe profiles are included this issue.

Artwork and technical errors

• On the final page, Wheeljack is colored medium and dark gray, while Kup has a helmet like that of Wreck-Gar.

Continuity errors

...But, on the other hand, it beats Stranglehold fantasizing about scantily-clad Bludgeon and Octopunch.

• "Recipe for Disaster!" and, in the UK, "Prime's Rib!" say that the Transformers have no gender and no "mates". Tell that to Stranglehold, whose fantasies involve scantily-clad maybe-robot women!

Continuity notes

• Optimus Prime appears in his Action Master design, but Nucleon is not explicitly mentioned here as being a part of his transformation. However, Hi-Q absorbed energy during Grimlock's metamorphosis to Action Master form in "Still Life!", an indirect appropriation of Nucleon that is confirmed in Transformers UK Annual #7, "Another Time & Place".
• If a (Fill in the Blank)master is killed with their partner, could the Last Autobot still resurrect them?
• On page 19, Optimus Prime seems to be shattering or completely crushing Crankcase's head; despite this, Crankcase is shown running off in retreat on page 21. He doesn't seem to have a head as he retreats, though!
• Though the story certainly implies that all the destroyed Autobots were revived, the only confirmed survivors are Optimus, Grimlock, Slag, Sludge, Prowl, Hot Rod, Inferno, Blaster, Kup, and Wheeljack.
• When last seen, in the flashback sequence, Circuit Breaker's still comatose, with no word given as to her ultimate fate.
• Powers and abilities:
  • Judging by Octopunch's comments, Fangry can see in infra-red while Weirdwolf can't. Fangry also claims he could smell the Autobots underneath the layer of mud as well.
  • Dynamo has an easier time using his powers on Klo than he did on Cybertron.

Real-life references

• TBD

UK printing

Issue #331:

• Reprint Transformers story: "The Big Shutdown!"
• Other strips: Combat Colin

Issue #332:

• Reprint Transformers story: "The Greatest Gift of All!"
• Other strips: Combat Colin
• Whereas "The Big Shutdown" was reprinted in colour, "The Greatest Gift of All" wasn't.

Other trivia

• With typical Marvel humor, this issue is billed as #80 in a four-issue limited series.
  • Twenty-three years later, IDW's Regeneration One comic would recycle this gag for its own final issue.
• This is obviously a very abridged version of Furman's plans but he did reveal to the Collectors' Club that his original plan was indeed that a resurrected Prime would go after Bludgeon. However, Optimus would decide to do this instead of staying on Cybertron, a crushing blow to the Autobots who'd have gone on the Last Autobot quest as he'd just abandoned them; he would also have felt guilty about not being on Earth.
• Nobody gets the final US cover corner box; instead, an orange and yellow beveled Decepticon insignia appears here, contrasting the Autobot symbol featured in the cover's logo.
• Weirdwolf makes the most adorably hurt expression when Octopunch jabs him for his failure.
• When the Autobots get slaughtered, Snapdragon can be seen punting a head away from Nightbeat's wrecked form... the closest Muzzle ever gets to making an appearance - or even being acknowledged- in the US strips!
• How high were sales in the 90s speculator boom? This comic was cancelled for low sales of 70,000 copies an issue.
• Simon Furman's "send-off" message at the end of the issue claims that this will almost certainly mark the end of the Transformers franchise, but that he hopes to continue to write stories about the Neo-Knights. Wonder how that turned out?
• Game over, man—game over.

Covers (3)

• US cover: Bludgeon about to dismember Wheeljack, as the shadow of Optimus Prime looms in the mist, by Andrew Wildman.
• UK issue #331 cover: Optimus Prime by Andrew Wildman; recolored version of page 12 of the story.
• UK issue #332 cover: recolored version of US cover.

• 
  US issue #80 - Wheeljack never gets a break.
• 
  UK issue #331 - All action, no 'Master.
• 
  UK issue #332 - It's the end... but the moment has been prepared for.

Advertisements

• None yet identified.

Reprints

• Transformers: End of the Road TPB: Galvatron, Grimlock, Bludgeon, Prowl and half of Unicron, by Andrew Wildman.
• Transformers: End of the Road HC: Galvatron and generic Decepticons, by Bryan Hitch, Andrew Currie & Chris Blythe.
• Classic Transformers Volume 6: A scrapbook of images from issues #76–80, all by Andrew Wildman and Stephen Baskerville.
• Regeneration One 100-Page Spectacular cover A: Action Master Grimlock smashes scenes from the collected stories, by Andrew Wildman and Jason Cardy.
• Regeneration One 100-Page Spectacular cover B: Hi-Q writhes in pain with the memories of Optimus Prime, surrounded by The Last Autobot, Grimlock, Prowl, Ratchet, Galvatron, Fortress Maximus, Shockwave, Megatron and Bludgeon, by Guido Guidi.
• The Transformers Classics, Vol. 7: Ratchet, by Guido Guidi.

• 
  Transformers: End of the Road TPB
  (Titan Books, 2002)
• 
  Transformers: End of the Road HC
  (Titan Books, 2003)
• 
  Classic Transformers Volume 6
  (IDW Publishing, 2010)
• 
  Regeneration One 100-Page Spectacular cover A
  (IDW Publishing, 2012)
• 
  Regeneration One 100-Page Spectacular cover B
  (IDW Publishing, 2012)
• 
  The Transformers Classics, Vol. 7
  (IDW Publishing, 2014)

• Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 20: End of the Road: Bludgeon (art reused from Dreamwave's More than Meets the Eye profiles) above an interior scene of Grimlock punching through Fangry (from US issue #80), by Andrew Wildman.

• 
  The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 20
  (Hachette Partworks, 2018)