The Legacy of Unicron!

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File:Transformers (UK) 150.jpg
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
Continuity Marvel Comics continuity

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

Synopsis

Taking place in 2008, "freelance peacekeeping agent" Death's Head chases his latest bounties, 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 the 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 decimate 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.

Back 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' 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.

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

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 Perceptor refers 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...

Items of note

  • 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.
  • 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 "Fire on High!". 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.
  • Seaspray can be seen in Part 3 gunning down one Decepticon at pointblank range without looking while also firing on a tank. This is surprisingly awesome for the guy.
  • The way Shockwave was killed has haunted Nick Roche since childhood... [1]

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;.
  • "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.

Back-Up Stories

Issue #146:

Issue #147:

  • Iron Man — "Stratosfire" Part 2
  • Robo-Capers

Issue #148:

  • Iron Man — "Stratosfire" Part 3
  • Robo-Capers

Issue #149:

  • Iron Man — "Stratosfire" Part 4
  • Robo-Capers

Issue #150:

  • Iron Man — "Stratosfire" Part 5
  • Robo-Capers

Issue #151:

  • Iron Man — "Stratosfire" Part 6
  • Robo-Capers

Reprints

  • This story was reprinted in issues #290 - #301 of the UK comic.

Covers (19)

  • Issue #146
    Issue #146
  • Issue #147
    Issue #147
  • Issue #148
    Issue #148
  • Issue #149
    Issue #149
  • Issue #150
    Issue #150
  • Issue #151
    Issue #151
  • 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
    Issue #296
  • Issue #297
    Issue #297
  • Issue #298
    Issue #298
  • Issue #299
    Issue #299
  • Issue #300
    Issue #300
  • Issue #301
    Issue #301
  • Legacy of Unicron TPB
    Legacy of Unicron TPB
  • Issue #146 cover: Death's Head strangling Cyclonus, by Lee Sullivan.
  • Issue #147 cover: a Unicron-guided Death's Head takes on Shockwave, by Lee Sullivan.
  • 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 #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 #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.
  • Legacy of Unicron TPB cover: Unicron's head vs Rodimus Prime, Wreck-Gar & Death's Head, by Geoff Senior and Oliver Harud.

References

  1. ↑ Moonbase 2 interview, 50:26 to 51:08
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