Transformers Annual 1987

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"You're a bad off-model likeness!" "No, YOU'RE a bad off-model likeness!"
Transformers Annual 1987
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First published	1st August 1987
Cover date	1987
Cover	Robin Smith
Continuity	Marvel Comics continuity
ISBN	0-948936-09-6
Page count	64
Price	£3.75

The Transformers Annual 1987 was published by Marvel Comics Ltd on 1 August 1987.

Contents

• Front Papers: Ultra Magnus and Galvatron
• "This book belongs to"
• "What's in a Name?"
• "Doomsday for Nebulos" - Headmasters Saga (chapter 1)
• Transformers Trivia Quiz
• "Vicious Circle!"
• "Stylor's Story" - Headmasters Saga (chapter 2)
• AtoZ: Brainstorm, Chromedome, Hardhead and Highbrow
• "Ark Duty"
• "The Final Conflict" - Headmasters Saga (chapter 3)
• AtoZ: Mindwipe, Skullcruncher and Weirdwolf

Synopsis

Front Papers

The Transformers remake of Alas Smith and Jones never took off

Two page inside cover poster of the heads Ultra Magnus and Galvatron gurning at each other. By Jeff Anderson.

This book belongs to

A page for the lucky owner of the annual to fill out a mini tech spec entry for themselves. The fields given are Owner, Allegiance, SPD, STR and INT. The page is filled out with a character model picture of Hun-Gurrr.

What's in a Name?

Having learned of the arrival of the Predacons on Earth, Swoop reflects on how he encountered one of their number, Divebomb, on Cybertron.

Doomsday for Nebulos

Lord Zarak meets with a group of Decepticons led by Scorponok, who he has summoned to Nebulos, and soon begins to wonder if this was a mistake...

Transformers Trivia Quiz

Split into two sections, one about Autobots and one about Decepticons, with a slight numerical imbalance of 21 Autobot questions and 22 Decepticon. Most are general franchise questions (e.g. "Scattershot is the team leader of which Autobot group?", "The Decepticon Triple Changer Octane can become which two vehicles?") but a few relate specifically to the comic (e.g.. "Which Autobot hosted the Transformers comic letters page for just one issue?", "Three Decepticons appeared on the cover of last year's Transformers Annual. Who were they?"). The answers are on the following page.

Vicious Circle!

Ultra Magnus, having survived falling into a volcano, must face Galvatron once again.

Stylor's Story

As the Decepticons attack the Nebulan city, Stylor decides to join the Headmasters.

Character bios

Bios of Brainstorm, Chromedome, Hardhead and Highbrow, similar in style to the AtoZ features in the regular UK title (which are themselves cribbed from the US Transformers Universe). The only difference is the addition of a "Chest Readout" category (although similar stats are available for all Transformers, they're just more visible with the Headmasters).

Ark Duty

A vital information tape is stolen from Kup; Hot Rod disobeys orders to retrieve it.

The Final Conflict

Scorponok and Fortress Maximus face off in a duel to the death!

Character bios

Profiles of Mindwipe, Skullcruncher and Weirdwolf, identical in style to the Autobot ones.

Errors

• Throughout the annual (in the latter two text stories and the profile on Highbrow), Gort is referred to as "Grot". It's too consistent to be a typo and suggests that Ian Rimmer, whoever wrote the Headmasters story, or Simon Furman, who edited the annual, either weren't familiar with the character or were working from an early outline. (The annual features no credits except on the first two comic strips.) Curiously, the same error appears in a volume in the Transformers Adventure Game Books line, Swamp of the Scorpion, which was also produced in the UK in 1987 – implying one could have potentially influenced the other.

Items of note

• The three comic strips tie in well with the Marvel UK stories: "What's In a Name?" is set during the events of "Grudge Match!" (just after the scene of Swoop and Sludge watching the television report), "Vicious Circle" carries on the story from "Fire on High" (in what was either an attempt to make people buy the annual or a way of ensuring there was something in there worth reading, depending who you listen to) and "Ark Duty" ties in with the future timeline.
• The Headmaster Saga seems to be set during the events of the Headmasters mini-series. The first two stories are a faithful adaptation of "Broken Glass!" (with a recap of "Ring of Hate!"), but the third is new and must be set during "Brothers in Armor!!" (in the same gap as "Worlds Apart!", after the creation of the Targetmasters and before the Transformers left Nebulos).
• For no readily apparent reason, Fortress Maximus' Nebulan partner is called Kord rather than Galen. Years later, the foreword to The Transformers Classics, Vol. 4 would retroactively declare his full name to be "Galen Kord", but the letters page for Issue #158 already stated that the name "Kord" was simply incorrect.
• Fortress Maximus apparently keeps his old head "inside a chamber in his massive robot structure".
• Bonded Headmasters are referred to on occasion by both Transformer and Nebulan names - e.g., Duros/Hardhead, even in dialogue, although this is less than consistent.
• The origin of the Targetmasters recounted in "The Final Conflict" states their partners are Nebulan weapons who have been engineered to transform into robots and then given minds duplicated from other Nebulans (implying the originals are still walking around).
• In "Doomsday for Nebulos", all dialogue for Scorponok (the only Transformer to speak) is written in CAPITALS AND BOLD. This practice is discontinued in the other stories.
• A pictorial question in the quiz asks readers to identify a character by their Cybertronian alternate mode, reusing art of Jazz from The Transformers Universe issue 2. This quiz was actually the first time this art was published in the UK, meaning the only way to know the answer (without peeking) would be to watch the cartoon episode "More than Meets the Eye, Part 1" — easier said than done in the UK at time of publication. This was certainly an unusual question from a publication that regularly insisted the legitimacy of the comics continuity over the cartoon.