The War Against the Destructons, Chapter 1 of 3

« The Transformers in 3-D #3
Optimus Prime and Galvatron! Together again for the first time!...Wait, what?
"The War Against the Destructons, Chapter 1 of 3"
Publisher	Blackthorne Publishing
Cover date	March 1988
Credits	"Noodles"[1]
Writer	Alfred Williams
Artist	Dante Fuget
Inker	Philip Haxo
Editor	John Stephenson

The universe is under threat by an ancient force. Same song, different verse...

Synopsis

On a distant world, a scientist frees a group of imprisoned entities in a desperate attempt to save himself from enemy soldiers. These entities, the Destructons, make short work of the enemy soldiers, but also turn around and destroy the scientist as well. However, a warning message survives, and although one of the four Destructons attempts to destroy it, the dim-witted being only manages to send it out into the depths of space.

The beacon containing the message eventually lands on the planet of Tau-Ursa, where it is dismissed by the native who finds it. Monitorus heads back to the city and presents his latest invention, the Intergon Device, which can increase the potency of Energon...or decrease it. Naturally, this device has drawn the attention of Galvatron, who steals it for his Nullification Cannon.

Monitorus seeks the aid of the Autobots, and Optimus Prime promises to help rebuild Tau-Ursa, but the meeting is interrupted by a Decepticon attack. Prime quickly realises that Sixshot is merely creating a diversion while Galvatron uses his new cannon on the energon plant, but by the time Optimus reaches the plant, it's too late—Cybertron's energon reserves are destroyed.

On Tau-Ursa, Hot Rod and Blurr encounter Ape Face, who has found the warning beacon. The pair steal the tape from him and return to Cybertron, where it's revealed that the tape contains a message from the Logicons, warning of the Destructons and telling of the Logicon planet of Metascan Alpha, which possesses "vast stores of energon". Prime assigns Hot Rod and Ultra Magnus to head two teams and search for Metascan Alpha, but the information is overheard by the Decepticon Clones, who elude the alerted Autobots. They return to the Decepticon hideout with the information. Zarak mocks Galvatron for his men's failure, and forcibly reminds him that Zarak is now Decepticon leader.

Meanwhile, Ultra Magnus's team is already lost on a desolate moon and facing Cyclonus and the Terrorcons. Magnus realizes that they must ignore the Decepticons and continue with their mission. They fly down to the planet below, which they believe to be their destination, only to find that the Destructons have beaten them there. The Autobots attack the Destructons, but are no match for their foe. After Lord Imperious Delirious blasts Magnus with his Delirious Fire, Magnus calls a retreat, but Kup remains behind to sacrifice himself and allow the others to escape.

Optimus and a small team infiltrate the Decepticon stronghold, seeking to destroy the Nullification Cannon. Prime fights at length with Galvatron, before preparing to blast the cannon. Before he can, Scorponok accidentally destroys it while trying to strike him. The Autobot leader is helped away from the explosion by his men.

The Autobots get back to the barren moon, only for Sky Lynx to run out of energon. Cyclonus and the Terrorcons have fallen afoul of the Destructons and are as heavily outclassed as the Autobots were. Magnus orders his men to help the Decepticons and manages to persuade Cyclonus that the two factions need to work together to overcome the Destructons. As they hastily retreat toward Sky Lynx with the enemy in hot pursuit, Cyclonus reluctantly agrees to a truce.

To be continued.... In theory.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Notes

• This possibly is the first instance ever of an official Transformers tale that promised further installments which never appeared. It wouldn't be the last....
• The final text box promises that next issue will feature 'The Union of the Transformers'. Solicitations skip over issue four, but since issue five is listed as 'The War Against The Destructons Part III', it seems that this is a generic description of the upcoming plot rather than an actual title. Part III is summarized as "Optimus Prime and Scorponok undergo the most incredible transformation ever."^[4]
• Laserbeak is not named, so it's possible that Buzzsaw is featured instead, but Laserbeak is the one usually depicted spying on others.
• Though several Targetmasters appear in this issue, only Cyclonus, Scourge, and Kup are shown to be brandishing their Targetmaster partners. No special attention is called to the Nebulans, however.
• Hot Rod comments to Optimus Prime, "It is good to have you back", seemingly indicating a resurrection like in "The Return of Optimus Prime" or "People Power!"
• Fastlane and Cloudraker are not mentioned by name, and they are barely visible and poorly detailed, but their presence may be inferred by Optimus Prime's comment: "Two can play that game" after the attack by Decepticon clones Pounce and Wingspan. Also, one brother (Who knows which?) calls the other "clone brother" when dispatching Blast Off.

Real-life references

• The Kalkars share a name with a race of aliens conquerors from Edgar Rice Burroughs' 1926 novel The Moon Maid. Their warlike nature here means this is probably a deliberate reference (either that or they're named after a town in Germany...)

Errors

• Apeface is clearly and consistently spelled as two words. Also, "Ultra-Magnus" should not be spelled with a hyphen.
• On page 21, Repugnus calls himself "Grotusque".
• In this panel, "definitely" is misspelled as "definately". Ugh.

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References