Eye of the Storm
| This article is about the stand-alone issue. For the anthology, see Best of Transformers: Eye of the Storm. |
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 Finally, Wildman!! | |||||||||||||
| "Eye of the Storm" | |||||||||||||
| Publisher | Marvel Comics | ||||||||||||
| First published | June 1990 | ||||||||||||
| Cover date | August 1990 | ||||||||||||
| Writer | Simon Furman | ||||||||||||
| Penciler | Andy Wildman | ||||||||||||
| Inkers | Harry Candelario & Bob Lewis (pages 7-8, 15-17) | ||||||||||||
| Colorist | Nel Yomtov | ||||||||||||
| Letterer | Rick Parker | ||||||||||||
| Editor | Don Daley | ||||||||||||
| Continuity | Marvel Comics continuity | ||||||||||||
Several plot threads begin, as the countdown to Unicron continues.
Synopsis
Grimlock mad. Grimlock smash. Grimlock want Dinobots back. Grimlock nearly kill stupid Pretender Waverider for tedious flashback exposition.
Meanwhile, Optimus Prime has become worried about the general mood of his soldiers aboard the Ark. Despite the loss of the Matrix, they are still not taking the threat of Unicron very seriously, falling into the groove of serious relaxation and downtime between missions. He begins to consider that the only way to defeat Unicron may be with the Autobots and Decepticons united as one.
In the meantime, Optimus Prime checks in on Nightbeat, who he has assigned to a research project—looking into the apparent deaths of Megatron and Ratchet a few months back to see if there was any chance they survived. Nightbeat had indeed come up with a theory, as one or both of the Transformers could have fled into a trans-time dimensional portal known to have been active at the time, only to have been caught between universes when the base exploded and deactivated the portal. To test his theory, Nightbeat constructed a sub-spatial "fishing line" to search the space between space for Ratchet's bio-mechanical readout and lifesigns.
Off in space, Galvatron is brought before the present day Unicron, and demands to know why Unicron has broken the bargain they made. Unicron explains that that was a different Unicron's promise, and he needs Galvatron's strength in his own timeline now. He demands that Galvatron go forth and spread word of his coming to Cybertron... forcefully. Galvatron agrees, for the moment.
Grimlock retrieve Dinobots from stasis pods. Grimlock sorry he have to "WHAMM!" Kup to do it, but he found way to save friends. Dumb Prime not trust Grimlock's suggestion, so Grimlock take matters into own hands.
Elsewhere on the Ark, Optimus Prime makes the shocking announcement over the ship's comms that he plans to offer an unconditional surrender to Scorponok and the Decepticons, in order to pave the way for an alliance against Unicron.
The offer will come too late for two of Scorponok's troops, though. Mindwipe and Triggerhappy were less than pleased when Scorponok offered the madman Starscream a place in his Decepticons, and him then losing track of that psychopath completely was the last straw. As they fly away from the Decepticons' New Jersey base, the two warriors are confronted by Starscream himself. Starscream, along with his partners Shockwave and Ravage, have joined forces to attempt a coup on Scorponok's command. They offer Mindwipe and Triggerhappy a place in their new order.
As Grimlock forcibly blasts free of the Ark, Optimus Prime explains to Nightbeat and Waverider the reasoning behind it. A new energy source called Nucleon had been discovered on Hydrus Four, a power apparently capable of granting new and more powerful life to mechanical lifeforms. Unfortunately, there were stories of psychological side effects, dementia and paranoia attacking some of the earliest recipients of Nucleon's power. Prime dismissed it as too dangerous to use on the fallen Autobots, but Grimlock got hold of a copy of the report and wanted to check it out. It seemed Prime's objection wasn't enough to discourage him.
Suddenly, in the midst of Optimus's explanation, Nightbeat's probe returned... carrying the bizarre fusion of Megatron and Ratchet's form with it.
Featured characters
Characters in italics appear in flashbacks only. (Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Others |
|---|---|---|
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Quotes
"Shockwave! I saw you burn up in Earth's atmosphere! I saw you die!"
"Illogical, since I am here standing in front of you, clearly functional -- it would follow that I survived. Suggestion, we dispense with the tiresome shocked exclamations and get down to business!"
"No! I've got another one for you! How come He's still alive? We heard he got dropped down a mine-shaft by some Autobot!"
- —Triggerhappy is not happy with Shockwave's convenient explanations.
Notes
Artwork and technical errors
Continuity errors
- Shockwave fell to Earth in "The Desert Island of Space!" and Ravage was knocked down a mine-shaft by Skids in "Showdown!". However, in the UK they had both been alive for quite a while since then and there was no lettering edit in the UK reprint to dodge this. Even in the US stories, Ravage had been around for the GI Joe crossover.
- Triggerhappy mentions seeing Shockwave burn up in Earth's atmosphere, but Scorponok's Decepticons had not yet joined up with Shockwave and Ratbat's forces by that point. Perhaps he saw a recording?
Continuity notes
- Several characters mention the events of US issues #65–66, where the Classic Pretenders were left to die on VsQs, and Thunderwing assaulted the Ark with the Matrix, only for both to be lost in space.
- Nightbeat's investigation pertains to the explosion at the climax of US issue #59.
- Optimus Prime experiences the first of a series of mysterious pains in his gut. Though never truly spelled out for us, this is apparently the first indicator of the "metamorphosis" Hi-Q underwent in later issues.
- Though there are still a few glitches, this issue is the closest "turning point" where the UK Earthforce Saga could reasonably break off from the standard comic timeline.
Real-life references
Bot Roster
- Autobots: 30 active; 8 rogue Micromasters; 1 in storage, 31 offline, 25 presumed offline. (95 total)
- Decepticons: 21 active (+Soundwave, -Triggerhappy and Mindwipe), 5 gone rogue; 25 offline, 25 presumed offline, 2 offline/missing. (78 total)
UK printing
- For these issues, the backup strip (G.I. Joe the Action Force) was dropped and this story ran across three issues instead of the usual four (as had been the case since Issue #213).
Issue #306:
- Reprint Transformers Story: "In the National Interest"
- Other strips: Combat Colin
Issue #307:
- Reprint Transformers Story: "In the National Interest"
- Other strips: Combat Colin
Issue #308:
- Reprint Transformers Story: "The Enemy Within"
- Other strips: Combat Colin
- This is the last weekly issue before the move to fortnightly printing.
Other trivia
- According to a retcon made by Fun Publications, Unicron is a single entity who travels across the dimensions, meaning that the Unicron of Galvatron II's timeline and the Unicron of this timeline are the same entity. This means that Unicron lied to Galvatron II and did break his promise. Bear in mind, this should not surprise anyone.
- Transformers Universe profiles for Fastlane and Mindwipe are found after the main story.
Covers (9)
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US issue #69 - What's in the middle? I hope it's Rack'n'Ruin! -
UK issue #306 - Nice to see you, to see you nice. -
UK issue #307 - No more! No more Stan Bush! -
UK issue #308 - Even when he's trying to be cool, Shockwave is mean.
- US cover: Major plot points of the story, by Andrew Wildman.
- UK issue #306 cover: A pensive Prime, by Stewart Johnson and Robin Bouttell.
- UK issue #307 cover: Unicron punishes Galvatron, by Andrew Wildman and Robin Bouttell.
- UK issue #308 cover: Shockwave chokes Mindwipe, by Stephen Baskerville, Lesley Dalton and Robin Bouttell.
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Matrix Quest TPB -
Matrix Quest HC -
Best of Transformers: Eye of the Storm -
Classic Transformers Volume 5
- Matrix Quest TPB cover: Thunderwing, Rodimus Prime, Shockwave and half of Primus, by Andrew Wildman.
- Matrix Quest hardback cover: Thunderwing with the Creation Matrix, by Pat Lee.
- Best of Transformers: Eye of the Storm cover: Optimus Prime, Ravage and Skywarp, by Andrew Wildman.
- Classic Transformers Volume 5 cover: panels from this issue, "Deadly Obsession", "All Fall Down" and "...All This and Civil War 2".
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The Transformers Classics, Vol. 6
- The Transformers Classics, Vol. 6 cover: Blitzwing, by Guido Guidi.
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