Transformers Comic issue 20

Image:Tf mag 20 2008.JPG

The Transformers make a stand - here, NOW!

Transformers #20 was published by Titan Magazines in January 2009.

Magazine Credits

Editor: Steve White
Designer: Danny Preston
Deputy Editor: Den Patrick
Publishing Manager: Darryl Curtis

Contents

Return to Cybertron: Part 4

• Script: Simon Furman
• Art: Jon Davis-Hunt
• Colours: Kris Carter
• Lettering: Jimmy Betancourt/Comicraft

Unicron has arrived above Earth, detecting it's rich in a primal source (the All Spark infection) — and he hungers for it!

Stockade, still guilty over what he's done, briefly sends in some troops to shoot at the creature's mouth, leading to poor Divebomb's death. It's pretty clear conventional force isn't working and they need a plan. At this point, Optimus arrives, having landed on Unicron in protoform mode after the the Straxus' destruction and been filled in on the situation by Arcee. Stockade thinks the Autobot is here to start a fight, but instead Optimus pitches an alliance to work together against Unicron.

As Optimus has the Transformers regroup at Stockade's drill head where he previously had Nucleon sent into the planet, he explains the situation: Unicron is getting his current power from the Nucleon. Ironhide's team originally came with a harvester, which the Transformers can use to drain the entire Nucleon seam; but first they need to distract Unicron to prevent him absorbing what remains, and that means taking the fight to his innards!

On the endangered Earth, Starscream sends out a broadcast announcing that six hundred miles starting from the captured Savannah, Georgia Autobot base are now a Decepticon nation. All military resistance has been crushed, and all humans in the area are being evicted by bomb strikes...

Deep beneath Cybertron, which the Decepticons have previously explored, Stockade brings everyone to a vast component of the planet: something Ratchet realises looks like a gyro-joint, implying Cybertron is internally similar to the Transformers. Stockade is more interested that when he shoots it, Unicron gets to suffer major disequilibrium! But this also leads to a retaliation, as Unicron deploys a swarm of... robot bat snake... thingies. Er.

The Transformers alternately fire on the wossnames and the gyro-joint, while Bumblebee and Armorhide try desperately to drain the Nucleon on the planet's surface — but this will take twenty-five sub-cycles and the Transformers won't last that long! But then Ratchet realises that Unicron's going to need an energy distribution network, and those pipes on the roof must be full of very volatile Nucleon. Working out a quicker plan, he has everyone concentrate their fire on the roof, causing an explosion that takes out the gyro-joint!

Unicron now feels pain, and suddenly absorbs what Nucleon remains to fix the problem — which feeds the fire and wastes the entire seam! Unicron has no energy to feed on and dissolves as an entity, leaving Cybertron a dead world once more. Later, Optimus offers Stockade the chance to return to Earth with them, but the Decepticon isn't ready to leave; he allows them to take the Nucleon though, to save their new home. Optimus proudly announces this battle as a beginning, where both factions fought side-by-side, and that they'll be waiting for him.

Articles & features

• Beast Wars Battlefield: Write-ups of the skills and weaknesses of Beast Wars Grimlock and a real Tyrannosaurus Rex, leaving the reader to decide who would win in a head-to-head.
• Character Profile: Razorbeast.
• Bumblebee's Way Past Cool Reviews: Video game reviews. (Reviews Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero World Tour)
• Artobots: Fan-art section.
• Star Screams: Letters, art and photos from readers, answered by Starscream.
• Poster of the cover.

Free Gift

• "Free! 4 Piece Stationary Set!" - features G1 Grimlock on the card backing

Reprints

Reprinted stories are only a portion of their respective issues.

• Megatron Origin, part 2d (5 pages)
• Beast Wars: The Ascending part 2c (8 pages)

Errors

• This kids comic has an ad for a Watchmen book (drawing-of book Watching The Watchmen). Slight misjudging of main audience here...
• On page two, Ironhide and Stockade's dialogue are given to each other in one panel.
• On Artobots, a reader creates a spiky, heavily armed character called Destroyer with a Decepticon logo on it... which the editor refers to as an Autobot.
• Stockade transforms into his Earth alternate mode, when he has clearly never been to Earth.

Quotes

Strip

"You must be Optimus Prime. You want to take a shot at me, bring it on. But be warned, your rep means little or nothing here. We got power to spare."
"I know. In fact, it's that very power... that might be the key to stopping Unicron. If... we work together. *extends a hand* For Cybertron!"
"*takes it* For Cybertron!"

—Stockade and Optimus Prime

"A distraction, eh? How about the worst case of indigestion in the galaxy!"

—Stockade, Master of Furmanism

"This land is ours! We reclaim it by right of arms and might. Six hundred square miles of Decepticon territory, an autonomous nation. Everyone within is hereby served notice of eviction."

—Starscream

"C'mon! Is that all you got? "The Great Devourer" my aftplate!"

—Stockade

Star Screams

"Ah, creativity, ingenuity - this is what I like to see! Consider yourself drafted to my team of human slaves, erm, I mean, artisans."

"A word of advice - don't threaten a F-22 Raptor who transforms into a 13 metre-tall robot, even if your big brother is 'tough'."

"It's a shame your favourite robots are mostly Autobots. To the gulag with you! That is all."

Items of note

• Notably, the comic's re-using the same artist who did Part 1 of the story, its first use of an artist twice on a story. While the Transformers are looking like in Part 1, Unicron's changed - where he had energy-held rocks for skin, now he has what looks like glowy red goo.
• Unicron's backstory is never explained, though the discovery Cybertron is "more than meets the eye" has been seen in post-80s G1 continuities. The existence of a giant robot joint in Cybertron is interesting, especially as there's no sign of Primus in the Movieverse in general and this story in particular.
• Cybertron appears to have been left in the Sol system, near Earth and in transformed form.
• While Stockade is remaining on Cybertron for now, it's unknown if his "New Decepticons" are staying or have gone to Earth with the Autobots.
• This is one of the very few instances where Unicron was not beaten by a pseudo-mystical artifact.
• A 600 square-mile spread centered on Savannah would cover all of Georgia and South Carolina, and Florida about as far south as Orlando.