The Legacy of Unicron!

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This article is about the comic story. For the trade paperback that reprints it, see Transformers: Legacy of Unicron. For a list of other meanings, see Legacy (disambiguation).
« The Transformers (UK) #146–151 »

Well, there goes the neighbourhood.
"The Legacy of Unicron!"
Publisher Marvel Comics
Cover date 2nd January - 6th February 1988
Script Simon Furman
Art Geoff Senior (#146-147)
Dan Reed (#148-149)
Bryan Hitch (#151)
Pencils Jeff Anderson (#150)
Inks Stephen Baskerville (#150)
Assists: Geoff Senior (#151)
Colours Steve White
Letters Annie Halfacree (#146-150)
Richard Starkings (#151)
Continuity Marvel Comics continuity (Marvel UK)
Chronology Original future (2008)

Rodimus Prime and Death's Head battle Unicron on Junk and learn of the Transformers' origin.

Synopsis

"Juicy fruit?"

On January 1, 2008, "freelance peacekeeping agent" Death's Head chases his latest bounties, the Decepticons Cyclonus and Scourge, to the skies over Junk. After a brief but intense battle, all three succumb to the thrall of Unicron, whose head landed on Junk following events in 2005. After assassinating Shockwave, the Decepticon leader in 2008, Cyclonus and Scourge send the Decepticon army on a suicide assault against the Autobot-controlled Cybertron. Unicron hopes that both armies will devastate each other in battle, thereby granting his long-desired revenge against the Transformer race.

Unicron has also enslaved the Junkions, and has forced them to attach his head to Junk to serve as his new body. He has also had them construct a time portal, which will allow him to retrieve his errant creation, Galvatron from his refuge in 1988.

Wreck-Gar, Smokescreen, and Inferno land on Junk shortly thereafter and are attacked by Death's Head and the Junkions, Unicron's unwilling pawns. Wreck-Gar is blasted and captured by Death's Head, but escapes when his captor is distracted by a command from Unicron. Inferno and Smokescreen escape to Cybertron in their shuttle, only to be shot down by Cyclonus and Scourge. Inferno dies in the resulting crash, after throwing Smokescreen from the ship. Smokescreen reports the situation on Junk to Rodimus Prime. After some hesitation, Rodimus agrees to go to Junk, and brings Scattershot and the Dinobots along as backup.

On Junk, Death's Head decides that he's through with being Unicron's slave, and opens fire on his master. Unicron, unimpressed, begins to mentally torture the non-bounty hunter. To escape the pain, Death's Head forces his psyche away from his body and into Unicron's mind, on the astral plane. There, after trading verbal jabs with the Chaos Bringer, Death's Head tricks Unicron into revealing his history and that of the Transformers.

Meanwhile, Rodimus Prime's team has arrived on Junk. Rodimus sends the Dinobots to distract the Unicron-influenced Junkions, resulting in many "innocent" Junkion casualties. Smokescreen and Scattershot stay on the Autobots' shuttle to distract Unicron with a series of strafing runs. The attack drives Unicron to expel Death's Head from his mind and recall Scourge and Cyclonus from Cybertron. With their new leaders fleeing the planet, the other Decepticons follow suit and retreat.

"Wonder how much I can get for this on eBay?"

Death's Head runs into Rodimus, and the two devise a plan to defeat Unicron. Feigning obedience, Death's Head presents the seemingly inert body of Rodimus Prime—and the Creation Matrix—to his master. Rodimus then uses Death's Head's mental projection to insert himself into Unicron's mind. There he is savagely attacked by the Chaos Bringer.

Wreck-Gar, having escaped Death's Head and his Junkion brethren earlier, had tunneled beneath Unicron's head and set up a series of explosive charges. Death's Head discovers this and immediately pulls Rodimus from the mind link with Unicron.

Scourge and Cyclonus arrive on Junk just before the explosives detonate. Death's Head, seeing an opportunity to claim his original quarry, tackles the duo through the now-activated time portal. Wreck-Gar's charges detonate, destroying both Unicron and the time portal. Rodimus Prime, after verifying that his friends are safe, comes to realize that Unicron has not been destroyed completely, but is now trapped within the Matrix.

Cyclonus and Scourge were sent back in time far enough to become soldiers in Scorponok's army, but Death's Head disappeared thereafter.

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots Decepticons Junkions Others


Quotes

"Pathetic! Hoped for more courage, yes? Should have known better, huh? Still, I - UNNH!"
"Hah! Hoped for more intelligence...yes? Die, bounty hunter-"
"Think not!"
"AAIEE!"

—Death's Head and Scourge trade both quips and blows.


"Anyway, Inferno and Smokescreen will drop you off at Junk and return with the shuttle. Goodbye, Wreck-Gar...may all your programmes be serials!"

—Rodimus Prime gives his old friend a most appropriate send off.


"Thar she blows, cap'n. Junkions on the horizon. And tonight on Question Time, we ask - what are they doing here?"
"Surprise party?"

—Wreck-Gar and Inferno


"Go? Yes - end of part one. But I'll be back right after the break, Unicron - count on it!"

—Wreck-Gar


"Heh - face it, Inferno, you always did want to go out...in a blaze of glory!"

—Inferno lives up to his name.


"I...yes, you're right! Prepare a shuttle. The Dinobots, Smokescreen, Scattershot and I will leave for Junk immediately. The Matrix will deliver us from Unicron! [Thinking] I hope!"

—Rodimus Prime


"I defy you, Unicron, yes?"

—Death's Head, consummate badass, yes? Yes.


"Hmm. Well, perhaps by daring so much, you have earned a last request of sorts. Yes, I shall tell you a tale unheard by any mortal creature...the origin of Unicron!"
Elsewhere, in the real world...
"Unicron! If only we knew more about him!"

—Unicron and Rodimus Prime have excellent dramatic timing.

Notes

Artwork notes

  • Primus is deliberately modeled on Rodimus Prime because Rodimus is the hero here.[1]

Artwork and technical errors

  • On the final page of Part 6, Scorponok's "horns" are drawn to be rising from behind his back and two or three times bigger than usual.
  • In the same panel a bit of rubble behind Scorponok is colored the same lilac tone as his torso, as though it were a massive backpack.

Continuity errors

  • Unicron requires the Junkions to construct a time portal to retrieve Galvatron from 1988. However, in a later story also penned by Furman, the Unicron of the main Marvel US continuity kidnaps a Galvatron from an alternate future timeline without the use of a time portal. Perhaps the Chaos Bringer usually has a time portal housed somewhere in his body, and being little more than a head in this story left him with no option but to build an external one?
  • The planet is called Junk. Presumably by now Simon Furman had seen the movie where both Perceptor and Unicron refer to the "planet of junk", but was unaware that both the movie script and the cartoon series called it Junkion. This is not the first time this sort of thing happened in the UK comic...
  • In 1987 Soundwave was able to read Death Head's thoughts, so why can't he in 2008 to determine whether or not he's bluffing? Though it's possible Death's Head could have come up with a defense, or less likely that Soundwave lost this ability, neither is ever mentioned.

Continuity notes

  • Grapple can be seen in Part 3 gunning down one Decepticon at pointblank range without looking while also firing on Blitzwing. This is surprisingly awesome for the guy.
  • This is the first version of Furman's big origin story. Interestingly, Unicron only refers to wanting "total domination" of the universe rather than total annihilation. This, and the idea of Unicron and Primus as entities among larger pantheons, would get dropped later on. Also note that Rodimus isn't aware of Primus at all until Death's Head mentions it; when Furman moves to America with "Yesterday's Heroes!", Primus is now the Transformers' official god and they're shocked to discover he's real.
  • By going back in time to serve under Scorponok, Furman reconciled Cyclonus and Scourge's appearances in the United Kingdom story with their first appearance in the United States Headmasters limited series.
  • Death's Head, although gone from the United Kingdom Transformers timeline, was far from dead. After an encounter with the Doctor, he was then sent to the regular Marvel continuity, and subsequently starred in a series of short-lived titles.
  • The future Autobots were last seen in "Headhunt". After this story, they appear next in "The Big Broadcast of 2006" and "Space Pirates!".
  • Unicron claims that inside his mind, the Matrix actually makes him stronger. His other claim, that he can absorb it and they will become one stronger entity, turned out to be true. However, the "make me stronger" bit doesn't work when it's Unicron inside the Matrix and not vice versa.
  • The main villain of the piece has his half completed giant construction destroyed with explosives whilst he is distracted. Haven't we seen this before?

Junkionisms

Most of Wreck-Gar's pop-culture references in this story are generic TV, film and sports references that don't refer to any shows in particular, unlike past and future issues that include a lot of references to British television programmes. There are still a few that can be singled out, though:

  • "Tonight on Question Time, we ask..."—A reference to the topical debate TV show of the same name.
  • "Quite remarkable!"—Wreck-Gar's reaction to seeing Unicron's head was the catchphrase of the late sports commentator David Coleman; British readers of a certain age will find it difficult not to read the line in Coleman's voice.
  • "Four faults!"—In showjumping, "faults" are penalties received for mistakes. "Four faults" is a common number, and Wreck-Gar subjects himself to this amount after being forced to kill a Junkion in Part 2. The equine theme continues in Part 5, when he sets off a bomb timer with a cry of "And they're off!"
  • Wreck-Gar's opening monologue from Part 5 is done in the style of the famous mission briefings from Mission: Impossible, using many of the famous quotes from that show ("Your mission, should you choose to accept it..." "...disavow any knowledge..." "...will self-destruct in five seconds!"). In the midst of it, he sneaks in a reference to the shampoo, Head & Shoulders.
  • "Analysis, Mister Spock!"—If you don't know, we can't help you.
  • "It's time to countdown to today's prize."—Countdown is a long-running British TV quiz show.
  • "So it's goodnight from me... and goodnight from him!"—This two-man farewell was uttered by Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett at the conclusion of each episode of their television series, The Two Ronnies.
  • "Th-th-that's all, folks!"—Again, if you don't recognise this, there's nothing that can be done for you.

Other Trivia

  • How did Furman and Starkings sell Hasbro on this whole Primus thing? Well, Furman would reveal in an interview for Classics UK that they just didn't ask: "If we'd said, 'We want to do the origin of the Transformers', they'd have said 'I don't know about that...' But we thought if we presented it as a fait accompli in a script, along with some part-completed pages... In the end it didn't even show up on their radar."[2]
  • Unicron's mind is full of rainbows! Who knew?
  • This was the first Transformers story Bryan Hitch worked on, and Geoff Senior wouldn't draw another story for quite a while due to moving to Dragon's Claws.
  • The giant battle in issue #148 is the only double page spread in all of the UK stories.

Back-up material

Issue #146

Issue #147

  • Back-up strips: Iron Man — "Stratosfire" and Robo-Capers

Issue #148

Issue #149

  • Back-up strips: Iron Man — "Stratosfire" and Robo-Capers

Issue #150

Issue #151

Covers (6)

  • Issue #146 cover: Death's Head strangling Cyclonus, by Lee Sullivan.
  • Issue #147 cover: a Unicron-guided Death's Head takes on Shockwave, by Jeff Anderson, Stephen Baskerville and John Burns.
  • Issue #148 cover: Blurr, Kup & Rodimus Prme take on Decepticons, by Dan Reed and John Burns.
  • Issue #149 cover: Smokescreen through the windscreen, by Barry Kitson & Robin Bouttell.
  • Issue #150 cover: Rodimus Prime & Unicron wraparound cover, by Jerry Paris & John Burns.
  • Issue #151 cover: Death's Head & Rodimus Prime team up to fight Unicron, by Lee Sullivan.
  • Issue #146
    Issue #146
  • Issue #147
    Issue #147
  • Issue #148
    Issue #148
  • Issue #149
    Issue #149
  • Issue #150
    Issue #150
  • Issue #151
    Issue #151

Reprints

  • Issue #290 cover: Optimus Prime's corpse, by Stewart Johnson.
  • Issue #291 cover: Bumblebee about to be attacked by the alien, by Stewart Johnson.
  • Issue #292 cover: Windsweeper attacked by the alien, by Stewart Johnson.
  • Issue #293 cover: Thunderwing with the Matrix, by Stewart Johnson.
  • Issue #294 cover: dead Landmine, by Stewart Johnson.
  • Issue #295 cover: Thunderwing's ugly mug, by Stewart Johnson.
  • Issue #290
    Issue #290
  • Issue #291
    Issue #291
  • Issue #292
    Issue #292
  • Issue #293
    Issue #293
  • Issue #294
    Issue #294
  • Issue #295
    Issue #295
  • Issue #296 cover: Kup vs the evil Matrix, by Stephen Baskerville.
  • Issue #297 cover: Thunderwing speared, by Staz.
  • Issue #298 cover: Galvatron II emerging in the New York harbor, by Stewart Johnson.
  • Issue #299 cover: Galvatron II before a dead Rodimus Prime, by John Marshall and Stewart Johnson.
  • Issue #300 cover: Autobots attack, by John Marshall and Stewart Johnson.
  • Issue #301 cover: Autobots victorious, by John Marshall, Stewart Johnson and Robin Bouttell.
  • Issue #296
    Issue #296
  • Issue #297
    Issue #297
  • Issue #298
    Issue #298
  • Issue #299
    Issue #299
  • Issue #300
    Issue #300
  • Issue #301
    Issue #301
  • Transformers Comic-Magazin #16 (Condor Verlag, 1991)
    Transformers Comic-Magazin #16
    (Condor Verlag, 1991)
  • Transformers Comic-Magazin #17 (Condor Verlag, 1991)
    Transformers Comic-Magazin #17
    (Condor Verlag, 1991)
  • Transformers Comic-Magazin #18 (Condor Verlag, 1991)
    Transformers Comic-Magazin #18
    (Condor Verlag, 1991)
  • Transformers: Legacy of Unicron (Titan Books, 2003)
    Transformers: Legacy of Unicron (Titan Books, 2003)
  • Classics UK Volume 5 (IDW Publishing, 2014)
    Classics UK Volume 5 (IDW Publishing, 2014)
  • Definitive G1 Collection vol. 11: The Legacy of Unicron (Hachette Partworks, Ltd., 2018)
    Definitive G1 Collection vol. 11: The Legacy of Unicron (Hachette Partworks, Ltd., 2018)
  1. ↑ The Transformers Classics UK Volume 5, "The Legacy of Furman" feature: "a no-brainer", Furman calls it
  2. ↑ The Transformers Classics UK Volume 5, "The Legacy of Furman" feature
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