Judgment Day!

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<img alt="" src="/w2/images2/thumb/4/4c/TFTM2.jpg/230px-TFTM2.jpg" width="230" height="351" border="0" /> Weasels ripped my flesh! RIZZ!
"Judgment Day!"
Date published	September 1986
Cover date	January 1987
Adaptation	Ralph Macchio
Breakdowns	Don Perlin
Finishes	Ian Akin and Brian Garvey
Colors	Nelson Yomtov
Lettering	Janice Chiang
Editor	Bob Budiansky

Galvatron attempts to hunt down and destroy Ultra Magnus and the Autobot Matrix of Leadership.

Synopsis

Galvatron and the Unicron-empowered Decepticons return to Cybertron, where Galvatron dispenses swift revenge upon Starscream as Starscream attempts to proclaim himself leader. As the other Decepticons see Starscream's ashen form crumble to the ground, they proclaim their loyalty to Galvatron.

Unicron devours one of Cybertron's moons, and earns Galvatron's wrath, having hoped that Cybertron and all of its moons would be given to him upon completion of the task Unicron had given him. But Unicron quickly makes clear that he has power to inflict great pain on Galvatron, even from a distance. Galvatron sets to his mission: find Ultra Magnus, the current keeper of the Autobot Matrix of Leadership, and destroy them both.

Ultra Magnus and the Autobots, learning of the threat Unicron poses to Cybertron, leave Earth in a pair of shuttlecraft to attempt to help, but they are quickly intercepted by Galvatron and the Decepticons. Although they manage to escape, Kup, Hot Rod, and the Dinobots are separated from the others, and Ultra Magnus must sacrifice most of his ship to fool Galvatron into believing him destroyed.

Hot Rod, Kup and the Dinobots crash upon the surface of a strange alien world, where they are quickly captured by the Quintessons. After being thrown in a prison cell, they meet Kranix, the sole survivor of Lithone. He explains to the Autobots that the Quintessons serve to hunt down survivors of Unicron's attacks, and sentence them to death. After Kranix is executed, the Autobots are taken to face the Quintessons. Just as they are dropped into a pit of Sharkticons, Kup frees himself from his bonds, and frees his fellow Autobots, enabling them to fight back. They soon turn the tables on the Quintessons, who are last seen being chased away by their own Sharkticons. Wheelie, a refugee hiding from the Quintessons, offers the Autobots a ship that will enable them to get off the planet.

Unicron inches closer to Cybertron, devouring the second of its moons, taking Bumblebee and Spike along with it...

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Humans	Others
Bumblebee (7) Ultra Magnus (8) Springer (10) Arcee (11) Kup (12) Hot Rod (13) Perceptor (14) Grimlock (15) Sludge (16) Snarl (17) Wheelie (21)	Scourge (2) Cyclonus (3) Galvatron (4) Starscream (5)	Spike Witwicky (6) Daniel Witwicky (9)	Unicron (1) Quintessons (18) Sharkticons (19) Kranix (20)

Errors

• When Unicron consumes the first moon, Jazz is colored like Cliffjumper and Cliffjumper is colored like Jazz.
• While Kranix is very clearly shown being dropped into liquid, and the pit underneath Hot Rod and co. is colored in such a way as to imply water... there isn't any below them at any point thereafter.
• The antennae on the Sharkticons appear and disappear from panel to panel, implying the artist may have been referring to multiple versions of the character models. Their color schemes also shift on occasion.

Differences Between the Film and Comic

• Between issue 1 and this, Unicron seems to have given Galvatron LOADS of new soldiers. As opposed to the extra unknown six in issue 1, there are now at least fifteen discernible silhouettes in the background.
• Cyclonus' armada makes a background appearance, as Galvatron now commands a fleet of at least four Sweeps (assuming one is Scourge) and four... Cycloni?
• Starscream has no extra coronation vestments, such as the crown or cape.
• Galvatron makes it completely obvious that he's Megatron... by very awkwardly announcing it. "I -- Who was Megatron... And now have become GALVATRON!" He goes on to recount being thrown out of Astrotrain and so on, all while jumping out of Cyclonus. He proceeds to blast Starscream, who just falls apart rather than disintegrates.
• Ultra Magnus is shown supervising the building of the two shuttles.
• Cliffjumper and Jazz attempt to depart the moon with a ship looks conspicuously like the Lithonian ship shown in the opening moments of the animated movie, but upside-down.
• Astrotrain is apparently a badass, as he leads a team of Sweeps and strikes a large blow against the shuttles.

Grimlock jumps his cue.

• The shuttles escape only after Ultra Magnus and company detonate an asteroid, causing a chain reaction.
• The Auto-Combatant Hot Rod fights is attached to a mobile base and has an actual metal tongue to stick out at Hot Rod, as opposed to walking on its legs and making a buzzing noise.
• Hot Rod's shuttle is pulled down to Quintessa by a rocket-powered claw with a drill in it. Uh... Okay.
• While not in the original script nor the completed film, the adaptation has Grimlock captured and tried with Hot Rod and Kup by the Quintessons.
• Speaking of Grimlock, Hot Rod and Kup have the following exchange upon landing on Quintessa:

"Did anybody see where the Dinobots landed?" "They fell off in another direction, Hot Rod. Let's just hope they fell into the same gooey liquid we did." ...All with Grimlock standing right behind them.

• Kup slips out of his bonds and shoots the ones holding Hot Rod and Grimlock, as opposed to them just fading away as the pair fall.
• A Sharkticon tries to scare Grimlock, at which point he scares it instead and has them attack the Quintessons.

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Items of note

Verily, I, Sludge, say unto thee. Forsooth!

• Ultra Magnus identifies the Decepticons' weapons as "moleculon missiles". Somehow he manages to do this without laughing.
• The Quintessons are explicitly tied to Unicron in the comic adaptation. This is never established in the movie.
• Completely out of the blue, Sludge of all 'bots gives one of the most hilariously <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple_prose" class="extiw" title="wikipedia:Purple_prose">purple speeches</a> in the entire history of the franchise.
• Hot Rod's right arm is in a pretty crazy position on the cover. He's apparently the most thorough proctologist on Cybertron or Quintessa. Also, only the two Sharkticons being tossed about by Hot Rod and Grimlock have antennae.