Mount St. Hilary
- Mount St. Hilary is a volcano from the Generation 1 continuity family.
Mount St. Hilary is famous for being the place where the Ark crashed on Earth...sometimes.
Fiction
Marvel Comics
Roughly four million years ago, the Transformers space cruiser, the Ark, crashed into the side of the dormant volcano in Oregon not far from Portland. It lay undisturbed until the volcano erupted again in 1984. The explosion reactivated the systems aboard the Ark, which promptly set about restoring the Autobots and Decepticons on board. The Transformers
Mount St. Hilary would serve as the headquarters of the Autobots for the next few years. At one point, Wheeljack installed a number of automated gun emplacements around the volcano. These were hidden inside the rock face, emerging through sliding panels as they were needed.
Under the leadership of Grimlock, the Autobots completed repairs on the Ark Used Autobots and successfully relaunched it into space. Child's Play The hole left behind still contained a variety of discarded machinery and communications systems. These were later used by the Autobot Goldbug to send a distress call Toy Soldiers! that was eventually received by the Autobot Headmasters on Nebulos.
They answered the distress call and made their way to Earth followed by the Decepticons. Tracking the source of the signal, they arrived at Mount St. Hilary to find Spike Witwicky looking for his missing brother, Buster.
Not long after, the Decepticon Headmasters attacked and trapped Spike in the volcano. Scorponok caused molten lava to erupt from the cavern floor. Fortress Maximus’s Headmaster, Galen, attempted to save Spike by pushing him out of the path of a rock fall and died himself in the attempt. Trial by Fire!
Later a Firebug landed on Earth on one side of the volcano and an Autobot shuttlecraft landed on the other side the next morning. Firebug!
After this, Mount St. Hilary played no further role in the Transformers war.
Generation 1 cartoon
The Ark crashed to Earth, smashing into a volcano. There it rested until a volcanic eruption four million years later reactivated it and its inhabitants. More than Meets the Eye, Part 1
Tremors led the Autobots to uncover a cavern within the volcano containing fossilized dinosaur bones, leading to the creation of the Dinobots. S.O.S. Dinobots However, the volcano didn't erupt again until Megatron brought Cybertron into Earth's orbit, causing geological chaos. The activity in the volcano ceased when Ironhide bravely drove in and blasted rock debris from the crater rim, plugging the shaft. The Ultimate Doom, Part 2 At some point the Autobots installed an elevator up the interior of the volcano's main vent. Enter the Nightbird
This location served as the Autobots' headquarters until the construction of Autobot City. A short time after the defeat of Unicron, the volcano was smashed into a pile of loose shale by Trypticon. Five Faces of Darkness, Part 5
Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers Manga
Autobot Headquarters is located in Arizona. Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers issue 2
Beast Wars cartoon
"Camelot!"
"It's only a model."
"Sssh!"
Blackarachnia and Silverbolt dug into the side of the volcano, finding the cavern containing the Ark. The Predacon leader Megatron had discovered its location, and subsequently, he infiltrated the Ark, severely damaged the stasis locked Optimus Prime, and unleashed a time storm centered on the volcano. The Agenda (Part III) After stabilising the Autobot leader, the Maximals installed the remains of their ship in the cavern, using it as their base. Optimal Situation
After Megatron located and reactivated the Nemesis, he used the warship's tractor beams to pull off chunks of the volcano, exposing the Ark's rear section. Nemesis Part 2
Micromaster Collection
After a battle with the Decepticons, the Autobot Micromasters discovered ruins of Cybertronian origin at Mount St. Hilary, including a piece of metal with a Predacon faction symbol on it (though none of the Micromasters knew the symbol's significance). Sixtrain! Activate Red Mode!! The Autobots set up a headquarters at the base of the volcano. While excavating the ruins, they uncovered a stasis pod which emitted a strange radiation that brought forth a combiner team from an alternate dimension. The Menace of Landcross's Combining Formation!
Merchandise
- In 1984 Presto Magix released a transfer set called Trouble on Mount St. Hilary.
- In 1985 Mount St. Hilary appeared on the Action Cards trading cards from Milton Bradley.
Notes
- Mount St. Hilary seems clearly inspired by the real-world eruption of Mount St. Helens just a few years earlier.
- In the guidebook Beast Wars Universe, the volcano is referred as "Mount St. Helens".
- The location of the volcano is stated to be Oregon in most continuities, though the Generation 1 cartoon does not give an explicit location.
- A possible location for the volcano could be the Boring Lava Field near Portland, which does indeed contain a number of volcanoes.
- In early scripts for the G1 cartoon, the volcano was named "Crater Mountain".
