Transformers: The War Within
The War Within is a six-part miniseries published by Dreamwave Productions in 2002, set in the main G1 Dreamwave continuity. It depicts the early days of the Autobot/Decepticon war and Optimus Prime's ascension to leader of the Autobots. The series was successful enough to lead to two sequel series.
| The War Within issues: |
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| #1 | #2 | Preview | #3 | #4 | #5 | #6 |
Overview
Eons ago on Cybertron, the Autobot-Decepticon war is in its early stages, with the vicious Megatron cutting a swath through the ranks of the Autobots. When the previous Prime is killed, the High Council chooses a common data entry bot to step up and become the new leader: Optimus Prime. But not everyone is happy with the new choice, as his initial command decision is to surrender Cybertron to the Decepticons. Meanwhile, Megatron works to activate planetary scale engines which could remake the face of Cybertron. He needs one thing to power them... and Optimus Prime has it.
The War Within was the first of any series to seriously re-imagine G1 characters as they might have appeared on Cybertron; before, pre-Earth Transformers were often just simplified versions of their Earthen selves, if they were redesigned at all.
Creative team
The series was written by long-time Transformers scribe Simon Furman, marking his return to mainstream Transformers comics. Pencils were by Don Figueroa, who also did the redesigns of dozens of Generation 1 characters for the series.
Items of note
- Though the individual comics from Dreamwave were titled Transformers: The War Within, the collected volume from IDW Publishing is titled Transformers: War Within, possibly for trademark reasons.
- Several of Figueroa's designs were later made into toys for the Titanium Series toy lines, including Optimus Prime, Jetfire, Thundercracker (recolored into Starscream and Sunstorm), and Megatron. Starscream's design was also adapted for Unicron Trilogy Starscream's Cybertron form. Planned Titanium line toys for Grimlock and Prowl reached the prototype stage but the line was canceled before their release. Also seen as an unpainted prototype was War Within Bumblebee with an alternate head for Cliffjumper.
Errors
- On the back cover of the trade paperback collection, "Transformers", in one place, is spelled "Transfrormers".
Sequels
Collections
- Transformers: War Within — Pocket novel (July 14, 2004) ISBN 1897105010
- Transformers: War Within — IDW reprint (March 28, 2007) ISBN 1600100562
