Volcanicus comic 1

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Publisher	TakaraTomy Mall
First published	September 7, 2020
Manga	Hayato Sakamoto
Colorist	Gufu Kandagawa (p1, 3-5), Josh Perez (p2, 6-8)
Editor	Kouji Nimura
Continuity	Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity, Precursor World
Chronology	2050

Called to the Blue Planet, the Dinobots of 2050 fill in Optimus Prime about their native time.

Synopsis

Summoned by Primus, the Dinobots arrive on the Blue Planet. Star Convoy and Grimlock immediately recognize each other, and Grimlock explains that his world is being attacked by Megatron Omega. Confused, Star Convoy points out that he's currently fighting God Neptune out in space, but Grimlock clarifies: he means the original Megatron Omega from his time, 2050!

2050 is part of an era of peace and prosperity after the second iteration of the Cybertron Alliance was formed a decade ago. Using the Angolmois Energy within Earth, humanity has boosted all of their industry, including creating their own breed of Transformers, the Selectors, who serve their creators in all menial tasks. Angolmois Energy also reaches the realm of medicine, being used to cure Wheeljack of his memory problems.

However, despite the supposed peace between Autobots, Decepticons, and humanity, the Selectors had thoughts of their own. One of them, an orange one, brings his grievances before Megatron—why are the Cybertronians free and independent while the Selectors are stuck under the yoke of humanity? Indeed, he points out that their situation is similar to the Cybertronians' situation with the Quintessons from millions of years ago—the Cybertronians decided they deserved self-determination and rebelled against the Quintessons. The Selectors want to do likewise to humans with Megatron's help.

Optimus Prime arrives at Neo Scramble City and is welcomed by Atari Hitotonari. Both share their misgivings with the use of the Unicron-derived Angolmois Energy. Optimus meets with Spike Witwicky to express his discontent with the use of Angolmois Energy and the Selectors, but their meeting is interrupted by Hound, who reports a time warp taking place on Dinobot Island. Realizing that the evacuation of Angolmois Energy must be causing it, Optimus has Carly call her old friends, the Dinobots, to warn them of the temporal incursion.

Grimlock calls a meeting of the Dinobots, joined by Grimmaster (who's defensive of his newbie status) and Slash. They're just in time to see the time gate open to reveal the Allicons and their masters, the Quintessons! Having been trapped in a time warp for a while, they were finally able to escape due to Earth's unique energies. Getting right down to business, they order the Allicons to bring in the Dinobots so they can sell them for a profit, a proposition that the dinosaurs obviously reject. Seeing the Allicons aren't quite enough to tame the Dinobots, the lead Quintesson releases the Recreator to bring forth the ultimate Primitive warriors...

Reassembled by the Recreator, Predaking comes smashing down on the Dinobots. Gloating, the lead Quintesson explains that they invented the Primitive Predacons and gave them to the Decepticons. They eventually returned to their creators and now fight on the Quintessons' behalf. Before Predaking can step on Grimlock, Grimmaster combines into his Prime Mode and stops Predaking's foot in the air with his own body. Grimmaster thanks his leader for accepting a former Decepticon into the Dinobots' ranks and is summarily crushed by Predaking. Sapped of his stamina, Grimlock struggles, but he finds hope in an ethereal voice—the Oracle! The Oracle implores Grimlock to use the power of Angolmois Energy sleeping within the earth to bring forth his heart's strength. Grimlock does does, producing the Magma Blades (which the other Dinobots are in awe of), and uses them to transform into the flying "Grimlock Wing Dragon Mode" and slice off one of Predaking's arms. But the Predacon combiner quickly grabs Slash as a hostage. The still-living Grimmaster tosses his Energon Matrix to the Dinobots, granting them the ability to merge into the powerful Volcanicus! Predaking tries to attack the new combiner, but Volcanicus is too much for the Decepticon and forces him to disassemble, rescuing Slash in the process. The Predacons retreat and Slash notices that the Quintessons have fled as well.

Volcanicus is soon contacted by Spike, who alerts the Dinobots to a revolt by the Selectors, assisted by the Decepticons! Carly has been caught up in the initial attack and is badly hurt. Leaving Dinobot Island to Slash, Grimlock leads the other Dinobots to help out Carly.

At Neo Scramble City, Optimus Prime confronts Megatron and begs him to stop, as the war is long over. Megatron corrects his counterpart, pointing out that this is a revolution. "Freedom is the right of all sentient beings", no? Megatron asks why the Selectors—super robots like them—don't deserve the same freedom from the humans as their freedom from the Quintessons. Optimus struggles to answer.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Notes

Continuity notes

• Peace has reigned since the reestablishment of the Cybertron Alliance in the Legends epilogue, written by Hayato Sakamoto a year earlier.
• Wheeljack lost his memory in 2025 while performing experiments to prove the existence of the spark, as seen in "The Road to Legends' Revival Chapter 2". In a heartwarming moment, the Technobots call him "Grandpa" (おじいちゃん Ojii-chan), continuing writer Hayato Sakamoto's portrayal of the team as seeing Grimlock as their father in Unite Warriors Offshot.
• In some rather pointed foreshadowing, Nightbird is present when the Selectors petition Megatron for his help. Nightbird herself is a man-made robot lifeform whom Megatron accepted into the Decepticons with no objections; this should give some idea as to his thoughts on the Selectors...
• Though covered by a narration box, Artemis and Moon are visible standing by their creator Atari Hitotonari in the Selector factory. In Beast Wars II, Artemis and Moon were described as being the last monitors of Gaia, Earth in the future, following the departure of its population after the discovery of Angolmois Energy, which the humans are shown using and abusing in this comic. Furthermore, in the previous chapter, Megatron Omega describes his Perfect Form as having "driven the Earthlings from their homeworld". Uh oh...
• Optimus Prime recalls that the Dinobot are "very fond of" Carly—a result, no doubt, of the time she repaired and rescued them from Decepticon captivity in "Desertion of the Dinobots, Part 2".
• Grimmaster joined the Dinobots during the events of the Transformers United EX storyline. He's technically been a member of the group for fifteen years by 2050, but they're still calling him the "new guy" (新入り shinnyūri)!
• The Quintessons were stranded in a spacetime anomaly in a Kiss Players live audio performance, set in 2011 shortly before The Headmasters anime (thus retroactively explaining the Quintessons' absence from that series).
• The Recreator (here based on the cage accessory included with the Earthrise Quintesson Judge toy) was first seen way back in the season 3 episode of The Transformers, "Money Is Everything".
• The Predacons being Quintesson creations originates from the Decepticon-Quintesson alliance of 2010 in "Five Faces of Darkness, Part 5".
• Predaking's last chronological appearance took place in the Zone OVA, where he died in a spectacular and explosive fashion. Evidently, the Recreator patches things up well.
• Clouder makes a brief appearance, having last been seen in this continuity working with the Autobots and allied humans in the United EX finale in 2035.
• Having last been seen in 2021 in Unite Warriors and Legends, Cyclonus and Scourge are suddenly back to being Skywarp and Thundercracker without any explanation.
• Windcharger shows up alive and well here, after his death in The Movie and subsequent accidental appearance in "Call of the Primitives".

Transformers references

• The forged Angolmois crystals used to bring Soundbarriers to life and cure Wheeljack are based on the clear-orange "blast effect" accessory that comes with the Soundbarrier toy.
• Grimlock calls the Quintessons "merchants of death" (死の商人 shi no shōnin), a description of them also used in the Japanese dub title of the episode "The Quintesson Journal".
• Rung's role as a serious revolutionary leader appears to be inspired by the exploits of his Functionist Universe counterpart.
• Zetar and Smokescreen's presence in the Autobot lineup on the final page is presumably inspired by their status as Hasbro Generations Selects toys also released by TakaraTomy Mall. Similarly, fellow domestic Japanese release Nightbird showed up in the preceding chapter.
• Megatron's fight for Selector freedom alongside Rung draws from his IDW counterpart's adventures in the Functionist Universe.

Errors

• In one panel, Swoop is drawn with a completely red forehead.
• After receiving her orders from Grimlock, Slash's visor is blue instead of her usual red.

References

• Volcanicus comic 1 part 1 at TakaraTomy Mall
• Volcanicus comic 1 part 2 at TakaraTomy Mall
• Volcanicus comic 1 translation by Mohair Translations
• Lettered version of the above translation by Fanofcoolstuff27