A Savage Circle
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 Galvatron decided that the House of Mirrors wasn't to his liking. | |||||||||||||
| "A Savage Circle" | |||||||||||||
| Publisher | Marvel Comics | ||||||||||||
| First published | March 1991 | ||||||||||||
| Cover date | May 1991 | ||||||||||||
| Writer | Simon Furman | ||||||||||||
| Penciler | Andrew Wildman | ||||||||||||
| Inker | Stephen Baskerville | ||||||||||||
| Colorist | Nel Yomtov | ||||||||||||
| Letterer | Rick Parker | ||||||||||||
| Editor | Rob Tokar | ||||||||||||
| Continuity | Marvel Comics continuity | ||||||||||||
Altered Images, redux.
Synopsis
Aboard the Ark, Galvatron sees his own past self before him, and snaps. In his insanity, he begins venting his rage on Megatron, unloading millennia of loathing on his former self. Megatron, meanwhile, is still recovering from his neuro-physio linkage to the Autobot Ratchet, and the Nucleon infusion which brought him back to life. As a result, he perceives Galvatron as Ratchet, and begins to fight back against his "Autobot oppressor". On the bridge, Shockwave and Starscream detect the conflict on their monitors, and head down to that level intent on vanquishing what they believe are weakened Autobots, just out of the stasis pods.
Rocketing away from Cybertron, Bludgeon and his Decepticons employ the strictest of scientific method in choosing their destination—Bludgeon blindly stabs a big map with his sword, and they decide to go after and conquer the world he skewered, Klo.
Back on the Ark, Ratchet has just fallen free of his stasis pod, the Nucleon effect having taken longer to revitalize him than Megatron or the other Autobots. He quickly realizes, though, that a psychic link remains between him and Megatron, as he begins to see through the Decepticon leader's eyes, and feel his pain from the battle with Galvatron. Around that time, though, Galvatron finally snags a clue and stops beating the life out of his former self. As he steps around the corner to collect himself, though, Starscream and Shockwave arrive and find the semi-lucid Megatron before them. Starscream reflexively shifts back into groveling boot-licker mode, but Shockwave snaps him out of it and sends Starscream on his way to locate any Autobots on the loose while he deals with Megatron. Before Ratchet's helpless eyes, Shockwave unleashes his cannon-arm's firepower on Megatron, and the feedback knocks Ratchet to his knees just as Starscream finds him in the maintenance bay.
On Cybertron, Prowl is regretting his choices which led to the Autobots being trapped on the dying planet. He gets a sudden shock when Grimlock arrives out of the blue with salvation: a set of Decepticon battle cruisers which he had secreted away millions of years ago just for such an occasion. Grimlock's foresight has now given the Autobots a chance to survive the planet's destruction and track down the Decepticons before they do any more damage.
Meanwhile, Hi-Q continues trying to convince the Neo-Knights that he is Optimus Prime reincarnate, and holds the key to Cybertron's salvation...
On the Ark, Ratchet astonishingly manages to hold his own against Starscream, decking the treacherous Decepticon with a single punch. And yet, with Megatron and Galvatron having reached an alliance and turned on Shockwave, Ratchet realizes that they are too dangerous to be allowed to roam free. With Starscream's unwilling help, he triggers an explosion in the Nucleon storage reactor, causing the Ark to spin out of control and crash down to Earth, just as it did four million years earlier...
Featured characters
(Characters in italic text appear only in flashbacks.)
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Humans | Nebulans | Others |
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Quotes
"So let's get this straight.... millions of years ago, even before we were stranded on Earth, you and the other Dinobots sneaked into a Decepticon spaceport and stole three battle cruisers. Just on a whim, perhaps?"
"Yep. See, we not much care for Prime's leadership, think he a bit soft in the head. You a lot like him, actually."
- —Prowl and Grimlock going at it
"Oh, come on! This isn't the way it's supposed to happen! Sure, you're supposed to die, but you have to run around a bit first, fight back! What fun is this?"
"Fun? Fun?! How dare you? How dare you trivialize life and death! Is that all it's ever been to you, this war -- fun? How many, eh? How many have to die for you to get your jollies? How many?"
- —Starscream pushes Ratchet's buttons and gets decked for it.
"Yes! As it was before, when Optimus Prime pressed that fateful button, crashing the Ark into Earth -- sacrificing our lives to stop the Decepticon menace -- so shall it be again! Events...have come full circle!"
- —Ratchet gives a farewell speech
Notes
Artwork and technical errors
Continuity errors
- Contrary to what the Universe profile states, Repugnus first appeared years prior to this issue in Headmasters #1 along with his fellow Monsterbots.
Continuity notes
- The second year Autobot Car Inferno finally makes his first official appearance in the regular Marvel US comic continuity in this issue, in a one-panel cameo. Inferno had previously appeared in the alternate-universe "Rhythms of Darkness!".
- Megatron and Ratchet each flashback to their joining from US issue #70.
- Ratchet's sacrifice of the Ark (and himself) nominally takes out four Decepticon leaders; Galvatron II, Megatron, Shockwave, and Starscream. Good for him...however, Galvatron survives the crash and immediately begins killing fleshlings. How successful Ratchet's sacrifice was at taking out the other three varies wildly from one divergent timeline to another. But that's okay, because sometimes his sacrifice is undone, too! (I hate quantum.)
Real-life references
UK printing
Issue #327:
- Other strips: Machine Man - "Victory" and Combat Colin
- AtoZ: Pounce
Issue #328:
- Other strips: Machine Man - "Victory" and Combat Colin
- AtoZ: Repugnus
Other trivia
- Transformers Universe profiles for Pounce and Repugnus are found after the main story.
Covers (10)
-
US issue #78 - The one you've been waiting for - apart from all the other times it happened! -
UK issue #327 - The addition of the Fiendish Feet banner really sells the issue -
UK issue #328 - All together now: "Bad boys, bad boys..."
- US issue #78 cover: Galvatron, by Andrew Wildman.
- UK issue #327 cover: heavily recolored version of US cover.
- UK issue #328 cover: Galvatron and Megatron vs Shockwave, by Andrew Wildman.
-
End of the Road TPB -
End of the Road hardback -
Classic Transformers Volume 6
- End of the Road TPB cover: Galvatron, Grimlock, Bludgeon, Prowl and half of Unicron, by Andrew Wildman.
- End of the Road hardback cover: Galvatron and generic Decepticons, by Bryan Hitch, Andrew Currie & Chris Blythe.
- Classic Transformers Volume 6 cover: a scrapbook of images from issues #76-80, all by Andrew Wildman and Stephen Baskerville.
-
Best of Megatron -
Regeneration One 100 Page Spectacular cover A -
Regeneration One 100 Page Spectacular cover B -
The Transformers Classics, Vol. 7
- Best of Megatron cover: Megatron, by Livio Ramondelli.
- Regeneration One 100 Page Spectacular cover A: Action Master Grimlock smashes, by Andrew Wildman and Jason Cardy.
- Regeneration One 100 Page Spectacular cover B: Hi-Q writhes in pain with the memories of Optimus Prime, surrounded by (anti-clockwise from top) The Last Autobot, Grimlock, Prowl, Ratchet, Galvatron, Fortress Maximus, Shockwave, Megatron and Bludgeon, by Guido Guidi.
- The Transformers Classics, Vol. 7 cover: Ratchet, by Guido Guidi.
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