The Void! (UK)

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

« The Transformers (UK) #251 »
"This reminds me of the time—" "Was that before or after history changed?"
"The Void!"
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First published	31st December 1989
Cover date	6th January 1990
Writer	Simon Furman
Art	Staz
Letterer	Glib
Continuity	Marvel Comics continuity

Rodimus Prime leads the Autobots to Earth - but there's a traitor on board...

Synopsis

New Year's Day, 2010. Following the timeline reset that left Galvatron in charge of Cybertron, Rodimus leads the Autobots in a retreat to Earth. As the Autobots enter hyperspace - or the Void, as it's nicknamed - Rodimus is feeling the widespread unspoken resentment at the idea of running away.

Doubleheader and Pincher discover the ship's guidance systems have been destroyed, leading Kup to realise there's a saboteur onboard and they're flying blind. Soon afterwards, Rodimus Prime goes missing. Kup begins to crosscheck lifesigns against crew listings in the hope of identifying the unknown enemy - who two guards run into and recognise as an Autobot before being gunned down. As the ship emerges from hyperspace too close to Earth and with emergency retros dead, Kup discovers there are no extra lifesigns - "the saboteur is one of us!".

This story is continued in Edge of Impact.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons
Red Alert (1) Kup (2) Rodimus Prime (3) Arcee (5) Big Shot (6) Sidetrack (7) Flak (8) Doubleheader (9) Pincher (10)	Galvatron (flashback) (4)

Errors

• The opening narration gives the date as New Years Day, 2009, instead of 2010. The previous two years, the UK comic's "future" storylines had started on the New Years Day 20 years from the publication date. January 1988's "The Legacy of Unicron! was set at the start of 2008, while January 1989's "Time Wars" began in 2009. Dreadwind confirmed that the 2009 date was an error, with 2010 being the correct date in the letters page in issue 258.

Items of note

• The future Autobots last appeared in the Galvatron segment of "Aspects of Evil!", which directly precedes this story. Their story continues into "Edge of Impact" and the two following issues. Multi-part stories with a different title for each part would be the norm from this point on.

• Whoever the saboteur is, they kill three generic Autobot Pretenders.

• This 4-part story is the last appearance of the post-movie cast and era.