Once upon a Time...

« The Transformers (UK) #265 » « Earthforce
To be fair, The Da Vinci Code is pretty awful as well.
"Once upon a Time..."
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First published	7th April 1990
Cover date	14th April 1990
Writer	Simon Furman
Artist	Andy Wildman
Letterer	Peri Godbold
Cover	Gary Gilbert
Continuity	Marvel Comics continuity/Earthforce

Grimlock throws the book out of the window.

Synopsis

These stories do not fit into the normal Marvel continuity. See Earthforce for details.

An initially unseen voice reads a book...

There was once a planet called Cybertron, inhabited by mechanical beings who could change their forms into machinery and weapons. There was a civil war between two factions: the evil Decepticons and the heroic Autobots. The Decepticons were led by Megatron, who took them to great successes until Optimus Prime emerged and fought back. He had a good lieutenant. Such was the scale of the conflict that Cybertron was knocked out of its orbit and sent drifting through space towards an asteroid belt. So Optimus Prime had the Ark constructed to blast a path through the asteroids. He succeeded, but the Decepticons attacked. Prime decided that, as they couldn't win, he had to destroy them all, and he crashed the Ark on a nearby planet. Four million years, later the Ark's computer revived them and gave them all the ability to transform into machinery, weapons and animals. The narrator curses the computer.

Doing things THEIR way!

The book then takes a shift in style...

After that, the Autobots and Decepticons fight over fuel, Megatron and Shockwave fight over the Decepticon leadership, Optimus Prime and Megatron get killed off only to come back, some Transformers get Nebulan companions and more. Optimus Prime loses track of what's going on on Earth and dispatches the narrator and listeners to take care of it.

Megatron is convinced to try peace and that there is room on Earth for both factions. The Decepticons abandon war and settle down to a happy, hippy lifestyle. Everyone lives happily ever after.

In Northern Canada, sixteen miles east of Churchill, the Earthforce shuttle has landed. Inside, Grimlock has been reading to his fellow Autobots. He asks them if they buy the story. The silence is deafening. "Me neither!" exclaims Grimlock as he throws the book out of the window. Grimlock declares that they will do things their own way. Prowl and Wheeljack are in trouble, so he orders them all to move out and "kick Decepticon butt!"

The book lies abandoned in the snow. It is the Autobot Code.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons
Optimus Prime (2) Prowl (5) Swoop (7) Snarl (8) Slag (9) Sludge (10) Grimlock (11) Silverbolt (16) Ironhide (15) Jazz (12) Bumblebee (13) Sunstreaker (14)	Megatron (1) Starscream (3) Soundwave (4) Blitzwing (6)

Notes

Artwork and technical errors

• Grimlock's additions to the story are lettered and drawn in a very childish manner, intended to be the Dinobot's own efforts.

Continuity errors

• Sixteen miles east of Churchill places the Earthforce shuttle in the middle of Hudson Bay. While it's possible that the bay could be frozen over, it would be unlikely that it would be to such an extent that it could support the weight of the shuttle and all those heavy Transformers. Simon Furman may have meant west of Churchill.

Continuity notes

• Grimlock's brief description of the comic storyline ends with "Prime come back [from the dead], lose track of what really happening on earth and we have to look after it"... skipping right over every story since "People Power!" That's one way to avoid Earthforce continuity!
• This was probably meant to run before "Desert Island Risks!": Bumblebee and Ironhide are still in base, the search for Wheeljack and Prowl yet to start.
• Prime cited the Code in "Two Steps Back!" and Grimlock had just promised restraint. Dude holds a grudge.

Back-up Material

• Additional Transformers Story: Blood on the Tracks
• Other strips: G.I. Joe the Action Force - "Manoeuvring for Position" and Combat Colin
• AtoZ: Shockwave

Covers (2)

• 
  Issue #265
• 
  Titan TPB

• Issue #265 cover: The Autobot Code lies abandoned in the snow, by Gary Gilbert.
• Earthforce TPB cover: Grimlock thumps a table, by Stephen Baskerville.

Generics

The two examples of generics from this issue both appear in "book-within-a-comic" The Autobot Code, so they may represent "real" characters or merely generics within the context of the book.

• 
  Another scene of the early days of the war on Cybertron, showing generics from both sides.
• 
  Megatron ruthlessly tortures a generic Autobot.

Reprints

• 2005 — Transformers: Earthforce