Prey!

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

« The Transformers (UK) #96–97 »
You know, we should get our own show!
"Prey!"
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First published	Part 1: 10th January 1987 Part 2: 17th January 1987
Cover date	Part 1:17th January 1987 Part 2: 24th January 1987
Writer	Simon Furman
Art	Part 1: Will Simpson Part 2: Jeff Anderson
Colours	Steve White
Lettering	Annie Halfacree
Editor	Ian Rimmer
Continuity	Marvel Comics continuity

When Optimus Prime tries to test how Autobots get along without him, Megatron summons the Predacons to Earth to get rid of the Autobot leader permanently.

Synopsis

Part 1

Optimus Prime reviews recent events that have transpired on Earth, including the arrival of new Decepticons via their space bridge, and the Autobots' clash with the time-travelling Galvatron. Having been trapped in Limbo during this affair, Prime is concerned to realise that the Autobots were so lost without him to lead them that they were willing to forge an alliance with Megatron. Worried that they would be unable to cope if anything happened to him in the future, Prime hits upon an idea to test his troops, and calls upon Wheeljack to help him put it into action.

Meanwhile, at the Decepticons' Wyoming base, Megatron is growing increasingly paranoid about Optimus Prime, and assaults Motormaster for daring to suggest that he and his Stunticons are capable of defeating the Autobot leader. Having recently gained insight into Prime's character during the time they spent together in limbo, Shockwave concocts a plan to destroy Optimus and Megatron both, and instructs Soundwave to suggest to Megatron that he summon the Decepticons' fiercest hunters, the Predacons, from Cybertron to help him hunt Prime down. But Shockwave has personal reasons for wanting the Predacons on Earth, and once the hunters have arrived, he informs them of his secret plan, which they agree to go along with.

Back at the Ark, Optimus announces that he is going on a reconnaissance mission, leading to loud objections from Prowl and the other Autobots that only serve to strengthen Prime's resolve to test their ability to fend for themselves. With a special cargo prepared by Wheeljack loaded into his trailer, Prime instructs the inventor to wait two hours, then inform the other Autobots that their leader is in "danger." Unfortunately, Prime has no way of knowing of the real danger that lurks ahead—his departure from the Ark is observed by Laserbeak, who quickly relays to Megatron the news that Prime is alone and vulnerable. Seeing his opportunity, Megatron immediately leads the Predacons in ambushing the unsuspecting Autobot leader!

Part 2: "Running Scared!"

Wanting to see Prime squirm, Megatron gives him a ten-minute head start before sending the Predacons after him. Prime flees into the wilderness, and even with his weapon destroyed and his communicator broken, he manages to give a good account of himself: he defeats Razorclaw and Rampage with his bare hands, and when Tantrum and Headstrong come charging at him from opposite sides, he evades their horns by leaping up and hitching a ride with Divebomb hovering above. Unfortunately, Prime soon discovers the Predacons' hidden power when they pull themselves together and reveal that they are a combiner team, as they merge into the titanic Predaking!

Hoping to buy time until the other Autobots come running in response to the phony alarm he has already asked Wheeljack to raise, Prime doubles back to his trailer, hoping the mysterious cargo within can help—but unfortunately, Megatron is waiting for him! Prime manages to dodge a shot from the Decepticon's fusion cannon, but the blast collides with his trailer, and as Prime's trailer is a part of him, the pain he feels through it brings him to his knees. The Predacons separate, and Megatron orders them to finish Prime off. After briefly deliberating amongst themselves, the Predacons decide that now is the time to put Shockwave's plan into motion... and when Optimus looks up a moment later, he can only cry out as the Predacons come bearing down on him!

A short while later, unaware that Prime has been in any real danger, Wheeljack leads the Autobots in search of him... only to discover the dead body of their leader, ripped to shreds!

Featured characters

(Characters in italic text appear only on video screens or in flashbacks.)
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons
Optimus Prime (1) Jetfire (8) Bluestreak (9) Jazz (12) Prowl (25) Tracks (26) Brawn (27) Bumblebee (28) Ratchet (29) Wheeljack (30) Hoist (31) Silverbolt (34)	Thrust (2) Dirge (3) Ramjet (4) Scourge (5) Runabout (6) Runamuck (7) Megatron (10) Galvatron (11) Motormaster (13) Wildrider (14) Breakdown (15) Soundwave (16) Drag Strip (17) Dead End (18) Rampage (19) Razorclaw (20) Tantrum (21) Divebomb (22) Headstrong (23) Shockwave (24) Laserbeak (32) Predaking (33)

Quotes

"Without me to lead them, they were forced to deplorable lengths to defeat the future Decepticon - Galvatron. I still find it hard to believe they actually forged an alliance with Megatron - our mortal foe. Time and again, through errors of judgement and blind stupidity, they were defeated. It makes me shudder to think how close Galvatron came to total victory!"

—Optimus Prime doesn't have a lot of confidence in his Autobots.

"Only I can defeat Optimus Prime - remember that always!"

—Megatron does not want to share.

"Excellent! I knew Motormaster must have some uses!"

—Megatron after the Predacons use poor Motormaster for target practice.

"Y-you...I don't believe it!"
"Well, thanks for the lift."

—Divebomb is stumped and Optimus Prime is polite.

Notes

Production notes

• "Prey!" kicks off a nine-issue run of UK-original stories centered around Optimus Prime and Megatron, which was—generally speaking—not as common as one might expect in the comic. Writer Simon Furman was aware that both characters were due to soon be killed off in upcoming issues of the American series, and with no guarantee that the pair would return, he crafted this story arc as a big "last hurrah" for them, a swan song in the event that he would never get the chance to write the classic leaders again.

Continuity notes

• Of the recent events Optimus Prime reviews, the Autobots' alliance with Megatron and near-defeat at the hands of Galvatron took place in UK issues #78-88 (with visuals in this story specifically showing Scourge being defeated by Megatron in issue #83, and the brainwashed Jazz attacking the Autobots in issue #85), the arrival of Thrust, Dirge, and Ramjet over the space bridge was seen in issue #89 (US issue #21), and Runamuck and Runabout's attack on the Statue of Liberty occurred in issue #95 (US issue #23).
• Written with knowledge of future events in upcoming American issues, this story establishes Megatron's increasingly paranoid obsession with Optimus (right), which will be a factor in US issue #25 (UK issue #107-108), and introduces the Predacons ahead of their US debut in the same issue.
• Adding to passing remarks made in recent issues, Shockwave makes a reference to the unknown events that he, Optimus Prime, and the other Transformers who disappeared during "Target: 2006" went through during their mysterious absence, with a footnote again reminding readers that the full story will be told in the impending issue #100.
• Silverbolt appears among the Autobots who find Prime's "remains" at the end of the story, indicating that the Aerialbots have returned to the Autobot ranks after being released from RAAT captivity in issue #95.

Plotting and continuity errors

• Bluestreak appears among the Autobots in the Ark, but he should be among the many Autobots offline in the repair bay after being injured by the Dinobots in issue #50.
• It's very convenient that Optimus Prime should choose to go out alone at the exact time that Megatron concocts a plan that requires Prime to be alone, isn't it?

Artwork and technical errors

General artistic goofs for this story include Wheeljack and Ratchet appearing with outdated early colour schemes seen in older issues (Wheeljack has red shoulder-fins and blue boots; Ratchet has red boots and a red frame around his chest-window), and a noticeably-miscoloured robot-mode Tantrum who has red thighs and forearms and light-blue/white shoulders and boots, when his arms should be all-grey and his legs all-black.

Part 1:

• Page 2, panel 4: Runamuck's face is yellow instead of white. His arms are orange, when they should be yellow (though they lacked this feature in the US story that debuted the characters).
• Page 3
  • Panel 1: The whole upper half of Megatron's face is coloured blue like his helmet, making him look like he's wearing a Batman-like cowl.
  • Panel 2: Galvatron's colours are a mismatched blend of silver-grey (the colour used throughout "Target: 2006") and light blue (the colour of his finalized Marvel colour model, typically used by the comic's finalized palette to represent silver). He's also purple shoulder pylons, when they should be grey/silver/light blue/whatever.
• Page 4:
  • Panel 4: Megatron's got that Batman cowl again.
  • Panel 5: Breakdown is coloured like Dead End, except he's got a yellow bicep instead of red.
• Page 5:
  • Panel 1: The whole front of Motormaster's chest is coloured blue; as seen on the previous page, it should just be in a "T"-shape.
  • Panel 4: Megatron's forehead is white instead of blue.
• Page 7:
  • Panel 2: Optimus has a yellow panel on his midriff that should be red.
  • Panels 3 & 6: Bumblebee's got spooky red eyes.
• Page 8:
  • Panel 3: Laserbeak's "shoulders" are blue instead of red.
  • Panels 4-5: The hand aiming at Motormaster belongs to Rampage, but in the next panel, it is Headstrong who completes the dialogue the preceding panel begins. This isn't necessarily an error (the hand in the previous panel does not have to belong to the off-panel speaker) but it's not great storytelling. Also, the fingertips of Rampage's hand are yellow instead of red.

Part 2:

• Page 3, panel 1: Optimus Prime's left hand is white instead of blue.
• Page 7, panels 4 & 5: Optimus's collar is yellow instead of red.
• Page 10-11: Jetfire is positively dinky, standing shorter than most of the other Autobot present, when he should at least head-and-shoulders taller than any of them.

Back-up material

Issue #96:

• Back-up strips: Spitfire and the Troubleshooters ("Counterattack," Part 2) and Robo-Capers
• In response to queries from readers Piers Barden and John Dorney, this issue's "Grim Grams" has Grimlock clarify the precise chronological placement of "Target: 2006" relative to The Transformers: The Movie, explaining that Galvatron travelled back in time after ordering "Decepticons, to Earth!" (at around the 35min mark of the film).

Issue #97:

• Back-up strips: Robo-Capers and Spitfire and the Troubleshooters ("Counterattack," Part 3); this issue's Robo-Capers strip features Transformers who didn't quite make the grade (right).
• This issue's "Grim Grams" sees reader Steve Tanner wonder why Galvatron had no memory of Megatron joining forces with the Autobots in "Target: 2006," if Megatron is his past self. Grimlock explains that this is because Galvatron's arrival in the past caused the creation of a new parallel timeline, and in Galvatron's past, those events simply never happened. Many (many!) future issues of the UK comic will continue to act as if the future Galvatron comes from is still the future that the present-day stories are leading to, but this will eventually be rendered impossible, so this would suggest we can trace the point of divergence right back to Galvatron's first time jump.

Other trivia

• Issue #96's "Transformation" editorial page notes that, "as of last issue," the UK Transformers comic is now being sold in North America. This seems like it might be a slightly late announcement, as US and Canadian dollar prices were added to the cover of the comic two issues ago, suggesting it became available stateside then.
• Issue #97 marks another rise in price for the comic, from 30p to 32p.
• Grim Grams letter writer John Dorney went on to become prolific Doctor Who audio drama author John Dorney!

Foreign Localizations

• Swedish

• Title (1989): Jakten! ("The Hunt!")
• Title (2021): Villebråd ("Prey")

Covers (2)

• Issue #96: Optimus Prime attacked by an unseen assailant, by Jeff Anderson.
• Issue #97: Predacons charging, by Geoff Senior.

• 
  Issue #96
• 
  Issue #97

Reprints

• 
  Transformers Collected Comics #12 (Marvel Comics, 1989)
• 
  Transformers Comic-Magazin #7 (Condor Verlag, 1990)
• 
  Transformers: Prey TPB (Titan Books, 2004)
• 
  Best of UK: Prey #1 regular cover (IDW Publishing, 2009)

• 
  Best of UK: Prey #1 RI cover (IDW Publishing, 2009)
• 
  Best of UK: Prey TPB (IDW Publishing, 2010)
• 
  The Transformers Classics UK Volume 3: (IDW Publishing, 2012)
• 
  The Definitive G1 Collection, Vol. 7: The Harder They Die (Hachette Partworks, Ltd. 2017)
• 
  Transformers: I siktet 2006 (Ades Media, 2021)

Reprint notes

• Both Titan and IDW's reprints of Part 1 are sourced from the Collected Comics reprint, and hence end with a tag that merely reads "END OF PART ONE!" instead of "NEXT: RUNNING SCARED!" as the original issue did.

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Issue #96:

• "They Have Arrived: The New Leaders"—Galvatron and Ultra Magnus toys
• Heinz Invaders Club
• Ladybird Books' Transformers: The Movie book and cassette
• Dungeons & Dragons Basic Rules Set 1

Issue #97:

• "The Incredible New Teams"—Aerialbots, Protectobots, Combaticons, and Stunticons toys
• The Transformers: The Movie Poster Magazine
• Dungeons & Dragons Basic Rules Set 1