The Battle of the Star Gate

This article is about the final issue of The Battle of the Star Gate. For the series, see Transformers: The Battle of the Star Gate.

« Transformers: The Battle of the Star Gate #4
"The Battle of the Star Gate" スターゲート戦役 (Star Gate Sen'eki)
Published in	Super Robot Magazine #14
Cover date	October 19, 2003
Story	Naoto Tsushima
Art	Naoto Tsushima
Continuity	Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity

Autobots and Decepticons alike unite to thwart the power of two Starscreams bent on altering the course of history.

Synopsis

The Decepticons report to Megatron that Starscream has absconded with their stolen shipment of energon cubes, along with the mysterious duplicate Starscream who appeared from within the Trigger's warp gate. Soundwave soon gets a lock on Starscream's position: He and his enigmatic doppelgänger have withdrawn to the orbiting Trigger space station.

Out in space, aboard the Trigger, Starscream cuts right to the chase, inquiring as to the identity of the second Starscream. The stranger reveals himself to be Starscream's own ghost, having inadvertently been transported back in time from the near future. Starscream's ghost intends to change the flow of history, destroying Megatron in the present so that he can survive in the future. As the spectral figure gloats, the amassed forces of the Decepticons suddenly appear in the star-specked sky overhead, followed quickly by the Autobot army. Optimus Prime is notable by his absence, having been missing since Megatron sent him to the depths of the ocean during their last encounter. Unfortunately, the Autobots cannot make a move against the Starscreams, who stand poised to kill the human staff of the Trigger if the heroes so much as twitch. Megatron, of course, is not so concerned, perfectly willing to kill the Starscreams and humans in one blast, and so the Autobots are forced to engage the Decepticons in battle to prevent them from taking action. Helping the Autobots in the battle are a platoon of C-X drones, dispatched from Earth by Professor Adle.

While the Autobots and Decepticons are occupied battling each other, Starscream's ghost reveals the reason for his theft of the energon cubes: Using their power, he fuses both himself and the present-day Starscream with the Trigger, transforming the space station into a massive, misshapen robot mode. Tipping the scales even further in his favor, Starscream also takes control of the C-Xes and turns them against the other Transformers, but Megatron smashes his way through the drones and prepares to unleash his fusion cannon upon the composite Starscream/Trigger beast. He is unable to take his shot, however, as Starscream uses the Trigger's warp gate to teleport a hail of asteroids down upon the Autobots and Decepticons.

In the Trigger's control room, the Autobots' friend Makoto rallies the other staff members in fighting back. Together, they activate the Trigger's "purge system," and jettison the majority of the Trigger's armor plating, just as they launch the control room as an escape pod. Although left a twisted mass of wiring and internal mechanics, Starscream still has plenty of fight left in him, and seizes the control room, hurling it towards Earth. As the capsule begins to burn up in re-entry, Makoto thinks the end is near... until the capsule is saved at the last moment by the timely arrival of Optimus Prime himself, riding on the back of Cosmos! Optimus mobilizes the Autobots, but they can do little more than blast at the asteroids Starscream continues to bombard them with, fearing what will happen if even one makes it past them to Earth. Megatron uses the opportunity to get close to Starscream and unleash a point-blank fusion cannon blast to his face. Thinking Starscream has been dealt with, Megatron wastes no time in turning on Optimus Prime, but in truth, Starscream is still kicking, and twists the remains of his blasted body into a gigantic warp gate that threatens to suck all the Transformers into a black hole somewhere in the depths of the universe. As the Transformers all fight against the pull of the gate, Megatron realizes that he must unite with Optimus Prime to stop Starscream, and transforms to pistol mode without shrinking, calling out to the Autobot leader to use his power. Prime seizes Megatron, and calls upon all the energy of the Matrix, channelling it through himself and into Megatron, uniting the two leaders' power in one epic blast that reduces Starscream's Trigger-body to cosmic atoms. However, the Transformers are all caught in the backwash of the tremendous explosion, and their flaming bodies are sent tumbling to Earth.

Months later, Makoto reflects upon the events of the "Battle of the Star Gate", as they have become known. There has been no sign of Optimus Prime or Megatron since the battle in space, with only whispered rumors of a continuing fight between what few Autobots and Decepticons remain on Earth. Having been chosen to be part of the construction team for the Trigger II, Makoto returns to space, but he is sure that, somewhere on Earth, Optimus Prime is alive, and that the time will come for him to fight again.

Somewhere in the inky blackness of the cosmic night, the broken body of the present-day Starscream floats. Slowly, upon his lips, a crooked smile forms.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Humans	Others
Ironhide (16) Powerglide (17) Bumblebee (18) Bluestreak (19) Tracks (20) Omega Supreme (21) Kick-Off (26) Mirage (27) Jazz (35) Warpath (36) Highjump (37) Huffer (38) Hot Rod (39) Overdrive (40) Cliffjumper (41) Optimus Prime (42) Cosmos (43) Hoist (44) Skyfire (45) Sunstreaker (46) Trailbreaker (47) Blaster (48)	Thrust (1) Megatron (2) Astrotrain (3) Soundwave (4) Starscream (5) Starscream's Ghost (6) Galvatron (7) Venom (8) Ramjet (9) Dirge (10) Hyperdrive (11) Knockout (12) Thundercracker (13) Blitzwing (14) Chop Shop (15) Sixshot (25) Iguanus (28)	Makoto (22) Trigger staff members (23 & 24) Professor Adle (29) Katua Adle (49)	C-X (30–34)

Notes

• This issue features many generics. Some of these may be established characters, but there isn't enough detail to make a positive identification. Possible cameos include (in order of appearance): Mudslinger, Hot Spot, Meltdown, and Groundbreaker.
• This story takes place in the original The Transformers cartoon continuity, before the events of The Transformers: The Movie. In this context, many of the cameos seem out of place, including Sixshot, the Deluxe Insecticons, and Micromasters.
• The duplicate Starscream which appeared at the conclusion of the previous issue is revealed to be Starscream's ghost, which appeared in the Generation 1 cartoon episodes "Starscream's Ghost" and "Ghost in the Machine". In this story, he has travelled back in time, just as he also did in the Beast Wars episode "Possession", but with suitably more explanation.
• Starscream's ghost is revealed to have been responsible for corrupting the C-X drone in "Divided Views".
• This issue contains one of the handful of instances in which Megatron has transformed to pistol mode without shrinking.
• With this concluding chapter of Transformers: The Battle of the Star Gate, most of the Autobots and Decepticons are injured and missing, leaving Earth mostly devoid of Transformers in the late 1990s. When Takara created their Generation 1 cartoon timeline in 2007, they exploited this state of affairs to slip the events of Car Robots, set in 2000, into the Generation 1 continuity. As there hadn't been any real indication that Car Robots was part of Generation 1 continuity before, this was more than likely a happy accident on Tsushima's part.
• The events of this issue would be somewhat followed up in a "divergent" timeline in the Cloud Compilation Comic, which was also drawn by Tsushima.

External links

• Hydra's TF Pulp commentary on "The Battle of the Star Gate" at The Allspark (archived)