Time Wars

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Oh shit.
"Time Wars"
Publisher	Marvel Comics
Cover date	7th January 1989—18th February 1989
Writer	Simon Furman
Art	Robin Smith (#200, #201) Dan Reed (#202, #203) Lee Sullivan (#204, #205)
Pencils	Andrew Wildman (#199)
Inks	Stephen Baskerville (#199)
Colours	Euan Peters
Lettering	GLIB (#199, #203, #205) Annie Halfacree (#200, #201) GLOP (#202, #203) Peter Knight (#204)
Editor	Euan Peters
Continuity	Marvel Comics continuity (Marvel UK)
Chronology	1989/Original future (2009)

The combined forces of the Autobots and Decepticons must battle both Megatron and Galvatron to save the present and the future from a rift in space and time.

Synopsis

A time rift has destroyed the planet Quintesson and is now threatening to consume both Earth and Cybertron. Analysing the source of the disturbance, 2009's Autobot scientists find the source of the rift to be the year 1989. They correctly deduce that Galvatron, Cyclonus, and Scourge are somehow the cause. In an attempt to solve the problem, Rodimus Prime and a small group of Autobots travel back in time to 1989.

But before doing so, there is just enough time to thwart a Decepticon plan, led by Soundwave, to drain Earth 2009 of its natural resources via an Energy Leech Machine. The Decepticons are so angry about this that instead of plundering the abandoned Autobot City, they instead follow the Autobots back in time.

The Ravages of Time!

In 1989, the rift is also threatening modern day Earth, causing natural disasters. An earthquake awakens Ravage, who has lain inactive since falling down a mine shaft. He attempts to escape back to the surface, but instead discovers the underground base of Galvatron.

Optimus Prime is giving a briefing to the other Autobots, in which he outlines his belief that the time storm is related to Galvatron. Meanwhile, outside the Ark, Highbrow is fretting over what to do with the head of Scorponok that he had captured. He wishes to end the threat of Scorponok, but is unwilling to kill him in cold blood. Before he can make a decision, he is attacked by the Decepticon Headmasters and Targetmasters in an attempt to recover the head. They capture the head, but before they can destroy Highbrow, the other Autobots come to his rescue and a major battle ensues.

In the midst of the battle, the future Autobots arrive, causing Optimus Prime, Hardhead, Highbrow, Blaster, Brainstorm, and Snarl to be transported to limbo as part of the time travel process. Thinking their friends have been killed by the newcomers, Fortress Maximus leads an attack on the future Autobots.

The Autobot/Autobot War!

Mid battle the group of Decepticons led by Scorponok turn up, but before they can join the battle, Soundwave arrives with his future Decepticons, causing Slugslinger, Misfire, Triggerhappy, Snapdragon, Weirdwolf and Skullcruncher to be transported to limbo.

At the same time, a spacecraft from Cybertron arrives on Earth carrying the combined forces of the Autobot Wreckers and the Decepticon Mayhem Attack Squad. They have joined forces in an attempt to force Galvatron to return to his own time.

The Autobot battle is eventually stopped when Goldbug, who has seen the results of time travel before and believes the newcomers are friends, is injured. Using the Creation Matrix that resides in both Optimus Prime and Rodimus Prime, the present and future leaders are able to communicate with each other and resolve the battle peacefully.

The Wreckers and the Mayhem Attack Squad meanwhile enter Galvatron's base and confront the future Decepticon. They are shocked to discover, however, that Galvatron and Megatron have now joined forces.

Twins of Evil!

Galvatron and Megatron soon leave the ranks of the Wreckers and Mayhem Attack Squad trounced, forcing them to retreat and regroup.

Optimus Prime explains that the rift is caused by Cyclonus and Scourge being in the present because they bypassed the usual mass transfer system when they travelled back in time using Unicron's time portal. As a result, the balance of spacetime has been upset. The situation has been made worse by Cyclonus's death twenty years before his creation. They deduce that if Cyclonus and Scourge are returned to the future, the rift will seal itself.

Shockwaves!

Scourge, who is beginning to have doubts about his alliance with Galvatron, decides to take action and flies to the Decepticon fortress to retrieve Cyclonus's body. There, he finds Shockwave in a state of mental breakdown after learning that he is due to die at Cyclonus and Scourge's hands in 2008. Unwilling to let Scourge take Cyclonus's body, he blasts the future Decepticon unconscious.

Galvatron and Megatron follow the Wreckers and the Mayhem Attack Squad and continue the battle outside. Half of Galvatron's face is blasted off, but this still does not stop him.

When All have Fallen...

The present day and future Autobots and present day Decepticons arrive and join the battle with Megatron and Galvatron, who has now become totally insane and is fighting blindly, slaughtering all in his path in events that are different from how he remembers them as Megatron, pushing him even further from sanity at the same time as they change the course of history.

Meanwhile, the future Decepticons prepare to return to 2009 and Scourge, recovering, appeals to Ravage to get Cyclonus's body.

Optimus Prime, trapped in limbo, can only watch through the Matrix link. As the Autobots and Decepticons continue to fall, however, he decides to take drastic action and uses the power of the Matrix to return to reality and confront Galvatron. However, because he is now in the same period as Rodimus Prime, also the bearer of the Matrix, the effects of the time rift increase.

The Final Battle!

I guess we're not in Kansas anymore.

Ravage manages to convince Shockwave that because he has foreknowledge, he has time to prevent his fate. This snaps Shockwave from his mental decline.

Megatron wanders off into the sunset, amongst the wounded, to fight another day.

Galvatron, still fighting madly, fights Optimus Prime to a standstill, but before a winner is revealed the time rift rips Galvatron apart. Scourge, wanting the madness to end, sacrifices himself by throwing himself into the rift. However, the rift continues to worsen as it needs Cyclonus as well. Just as the rift is about to rip the Earth apart, Shockwave arrives and throws the body of Cyclonus into the rift, causing it to close itself.

The future Autobots return to their own time, pledging to destroy all their time machines. Optimus Prime and Shockwave agree to a truce until they next meet.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"He has judged us and found us wanting! He punished His miserable sinners with a rain of fire and raises demons from the pit of Hades-"
"'Demons from the pit of Hades'. I rather like that!"

—Street preacher and Rippersnapper

"Decepticons...let's go get us some Autobots!"

—Soundwave is ready for the hunt.

"Humans that turn into guns? I have been away a long time, haven't I?"

—Ravage

"Wha-? No! It's as I feared...the Decepticons have come for their leader's head!"

—Highbrow in "They Saved Scorponok's Brain".

"Nice shootin', Swoop, old buddy! The broad never knew what hit her! Now to finish the job!"
"Oh no you don't, Slag! And the 'broad' has a name - Arcee."

—Slag and Ultra Magnus, who's not gonna deal with any sexist name-calling on his watch.

"Hyk-ka-ruk...uhn? I-I hunger...for revenge! Where is Highbrow?"
"Sadly, Highbrow vanished with Prime and the other Autobots. Will this one do instead?"
"I'm not fussy!"

—Scorponok and Mindwipe

"Powerful enough for you, Topspin! Powerful enough for all you Wreckers! I am Megatron...I am power incarnate!"

—Megatron walks through the Wreckers.

"Cowards! A Decepticon warrior never runs from a fight!"

—Carnivac has obviously never met Starscream.

"Logical...all logical. Went wrong...Ratbat...Megatron...Galvatron...wrong...but logical..."

—Shockwave, completely off his trolley.

"If we fight together, Carnivac, we can win!"
"Then fight, Autobot - don't talk!"

—Springer and Carnivac

"Bothersome insects!"

—Megatron on the Autobots.

"As wielder of the Autobots' sacred life force, the creation matrix, Rodimus Prime is as much my future self as Galvatron is Megatron's."

—Optimus Prime may be a little confused.

"[Thinking] He's like a mad dog! It seems the remainder of his mind has turned inward. Whatever he sees...it's not this fight!"

—Optimus Prime on Galvatron's even more dubious than usual sanity.

"N-nuh-no! NO! I defy you! I...AM...GALVATRON!"

—Galvatron yells at the apocalypse.

"And so it ends! Only it never really ends, does it?"
"No. I can never repay you for what you did here today, but it changes nothing. While you remain committed to the Decepticon cause, I will do everything in my power to stop you! When we next meet, it will be as sworn enemies!"
"But of course...anything else would be illogical!"

—Optimus Prime and Shockwave

Notes

Artwork and technical errors

The Fortress Maximus repaint we've all been waiting for!

• On page 4 of issue #200, Robin Smith draws Blaster with his Marvel US head. On pages 9 and 11, however, he is drawn with his cartoon head like in all his other Marvel UK appearances.
• The first page of issue #201 was originally printed with the wrong colours, as a result of the yellow and magneta plates of the CMYK printing process being switched. A similar blunder had previously happened with the US reprint in issues #33 and 34 and in issue #101 (though there, it was the cyan and magenta plates that got switched). This was corrected in the subsequent Collected Comics and Titan Books reprints, though the colors are still slightly off (especially the dark brown-ish red on Rodimus Prime). For Hachette's Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection Volume 15, John-Paul Bove faithfully corrected the colors to what they were originally intended to look like.
• The nature of Goldbug's injury shifts all over the place—he's shot in the shoulder by Misfire, but then has a critical chest injury by the time Magnus finds him. His dramatic turn done with, his life-threatening wound reverts to being a shoulder injury that Hoist patches up in three seconds flat.

You're doing it wrong, Fort Max.

• It's a recurring problem with the rotating artists on the UK comic, but the height of characters changes drastically over the course of the story. Fortress Maximus goes from being a shade taller than Rodimus to almost half again as tall between issues.

See? That's better. Now for you, Arcee...

• Several panels in the two issues drawn by Robin Smith feature characters in poses directly drawn from their character models. Most of them can be found in issue #200:
  • Ravage on page 1, panel 2 (the same pose is used again, albeit mirrored, in panel 1 on the subsequent page, with a slightly redrawn pose appearing in panel 3)
  • The Ark on page 4, panel 2
  • Grimlock and Powermaster Optimus Prime (minus his handguns) on page 4, panel 3 (Fortress Maximus in the same panel appears to be an original pose)
  • Galvatron on page 7, panel 3
  • Snapdragon on page 8, panel 2 (with a slightly redrawn leg)
  • Weirdwolf and Skullcruncher (both of them slightly redrawn) on page 9, panel 1;
  • Fortress Maximus (with a different facial expression), Rodimus Prime and Blurr on page 10 (Arcee, Kup, Ultra Magnus and Red Alert appear to be original poses)
  • Possibly Fortress Maximus on page 11, panel 3 (downscaled and with less details)
  • Rodimus Prime in the subsequent panel (albeit with a different facial expression and one arm redrawn to be raised).
• Some more can be found in issue #201:
  • Misfire (with a redrawn hand to include his gun), Skullcruncher, Fangry and Slugslinger on page 5, panel 2 (Horri-Bull and Weirdwolf appear to be original poses)
  • Soundwave (with his hand redrawn and lacking his gun) and Cutthroat on page 6, panel 5 (Blot appears to be an original pose)
  • Fortress Maximus on 9, panel 4 (with an arm redrawn to be raised, and a hand redrawn to be opened)
  • Uncertain are Scorponok on page 5, panel 5 and Rippersnapper, Hun-Gurrr and Sinnertwin on page 6, panel 5, who never had Universe profiles.

Continuity errors

• Scourge was pretty mad at Galvatron last time he saw him, to the extent that he was willing to kill him. How we get from that to them working together in issue #200 is unexplained. Scourge even changes his mind in this very story!
• What's left of the Wreckers and the Mayhem Attack Squad, having been key characters for much of the story, simply disappear in the closing stages, shunted aside by the big names. The same happens to the rank-and-file present day Autobots such as Wheeljack and Scattershot (the latter was going to be killed off shortly anyway).
• The "present" Autobots should recognise most of the "future" Autobots—Kup and Blurr, for example, are among their current forces on the Ark. Kinda lucky they didn't make the trip to Earth, really... They should probably recognise Ultra Magnus and Rodimus Prime (he looks just like Hot Rod, after all) as well, and maybe even Red Alert. (Similarly, isn't it lucky that Scorponok didn't bring the present day Terrorcons with him?)
• Blaster appears in the 2009 timeline but neither does he travel back in time with the other Autobots nor is he present when the Decepticons storm Autobot City. It's lucky he didn't travel back in time as his 1989 incarnation is present as well, or was.
• At least some of the present-day Autobots (such as Ironhide) should recognise the explosive effects of being shunted to limbo, so their immediate declaration that Optimus and company have been killed is a little hysterical.
• The plan is to get Cyclonus's body and Scourge back to the future, but it is unclear how they plan on accomplishing that. Nobody in 1989 appears to have the means to transport them into the future.
• Rodimus Prime isn't really Optimus Prime's future self. Optimus Prime and Rodimus Prime in the same era should not cause a time disruption despite what the two Primes believe (Rodimus Prime and Hot Rod, however)... Apparently it is actually caused by the two holding the Matrix simultaneously. Though, Optimus doesn't have the Matrix, as it is with his other body on VsQs, a fact that won't be revealed for several issues. Head hurt yet?
• And most glaring of all, the opening page of issue #203 claims, "The Underbase Saga takes place in its entirety before Time Wars begins." This is simply an impossibility since several present-day characters involved in "Time Wars" (like Blaster, Grimlock, the Dinobots, Ironhide, Hoist, and Goldbug) all meet their ends at end of the Underbase Saga. For "Time Wars" to have occurred after the Underbase Saga, these characters would have had to have not perished, or at least have been rebuilt immediately after. Yet, their deaths (along with those of many others) play a crucial role in the proceeding chapters that follow up from this massacre, and none of them die within the events of "Time Wars". The only way to properly fit "Time Wars" into the timeline without conflict would either be for it to take place within the middle of the Underbase Saga (as it was originally published), or for it to take place before the whole Underbase Saga occurred (a more ideal setting that doesn't interrupt the relatively serialized format of the Underbase Saga).

Continuity notes

• This marks the end of the story arc that began 121 issues ago in "Target: 2006".
• "The Quest!", published in "Transformers Annual 1990", had a time-traveller watch the Time Wars. In that telling, Rodimus fights Megatron while Optimus fights Galvatron and Scourge's defeated remains are thrown into the rift (though Shockwave's arrival is the same). This could be how the story was meant to go and nobody snipped it, but as "The Quest!" brings up the possibility the time traveller was altering history by observing it, it could also be an intentional 'error' to show the changing timeline.
• This story like the previous epic began with the first issue of the new year, which (along with the obligatory Christmas story) meant cutting the Underbase Saga in two.
• This was the last of the UK comic's 'epic' storylines. By issue #213 falling sales meant that the page count of the UK originated strip was reduced from 11 to 6. The constant threat of the comic's cancellation meant that Simon Furman kept the story arcs limited to a few issues at most.
• Uncharacteristically, there is no exclamation mark on the end of the title. Perhaps the story was far too exciting already to need one (let alone two).
• The present day Ultra Magnus was going to get a rematch with Galvatron here, but the upcoming switch to black-and-white strips forced Furman to wrap up everything in Time Wars; poor ol' Magnus got lost in the shuffle.^[1] Insult to injury, his 2009 incarnation is never seen after this strip and, considering the state the Decepticons were making of him, could have died with barely a mention!
• As if the high death count was bad enough, keep in mind that this is right in the middle of the Underbase Saga, which had many more deaths.
• Cyclonus was killed in issue #189 "Dry Run!". The initial effects of the time rift were shown in issues #182–187 "Space Pirates!" with the destruction of the planet Quintesson.
• Here Ravage recovers from his fall down a mine shaft after a battle with Skids in issues #72–73 "Showdown!" (US issue #20).
• The future Autobots last appeared in "Space Pirates!". Their story continues in the second segment of "Aspects of Evil!", then "The Void!".
• Highbrow got hold of Scorponok's head in the Transformers Annual 1989 story "All in the Minds!".
• The future Decepticons don't really add anything to the story. They just turn up, watch for a bit and then leave.
• The Wrecker/Mayhem strategy is laughable - they simply walk into Galvatron's base, arguing loudly.
• Speaking of them, the high death count mainly applies to them. The only Wreckers that survive this story are Springer, Whirl (who does not appear and whose fate is never revealed), Inferno (who isn't technically a Wrecker, but does hang out with them), and Broadside. The only Mayhems that make it out alive are Carnivac and Catilla. Flywheels comes close to making it out (he survives the initial attack) but gets killed off panel shortly after.
• Fracas vanishes after Scourge comes across Shockwave. Maybe he saw the death-count the story was creating and got out while the going was good.
• When this story was written, it was with the intention that Megatron was the same guy we saw being blown up with the space bridge at the end of "Gone but Not Forgotten!". However, a few months later, the story "Two Megatrons!" would retcon him into actually being a clone bearing the mind of Straxus who thinks he's Megatron. Consequently, the events of this story leave open the (originally unintended) possibility that, in the original timeline, it was actually this Straxus-Megatron who was rebuilt into Galvatron by Unicron, rather than the genuine article.
• Galvatron actually starts off this story in a fairly sane state of mind (as he had in "Altered Image!") By the end of it he's attempting to destroy every Transformer that exists and screaming his defiance at the universe itself. Hanging out with Megatron seems to have this effect on him (although to be fair, having half his face blasted off probably didn't help matters).
• Galvatron's main problem is that he starts to 'remember' the events of Time Wars from Megatron's point of view, and can see they're starting to happen differently to how he remembers. This is the very first time it's mentioned that he 'knows' these past events—and he should know all his various plots will fail if he's always known. This was presumably meant to be another effect of the timestorm (or potentially a result of his increasing psychosis).
• Finally, Galvatron stays dead. Hard to miraculously recover from being erased from history. Except...

Real-life references

• During the first issue when humans are fleeing from the Terrorcons on New Year's Day 2009, a dropped copy of Dragon's Claws can be seen. This prediction of the title's longevity was optimistic, as the real Dragon's Claws comic folded a few months into 1989; however just a few months before the real New Year's Day 2009 a trade paperback of Dragon's Claws was published.
• The thingum (probably a time-jump trigger device) Rodimus Prime is holding as he shakes Optimus' hand on the final page is almost a dead ringer for a dematerialisation circuit, an integral component of the TARDIS time machines from Doctor Who. However, it appeared to have a handle on one end, and was likely a complete device in its own right rather than being a part of a (much) larger unit.

Other trivia

• Issue #200 marks the advent of the new logo that would remain with the series till its cancellation. Although the new logo drops the "The" from the cover title, the indicia still identifies the series as The Transformers.
• On the back cover to issue #200, Galvatron's shadow is the silhouette of Megatron. Very cute.
• The cover of issue #205 features a potential sighting of Toaster, as well as the only known appearance of Teenytron.

Back-up material

Issue #199

• Back-up strips: Action Force - "Hush Job" and Combat Colin

Issue #200

• Classic Covers Calendar: The first in a series of monthly calendars that showcased inks from covers of yesteryear with new colours. This January edition used Geoff Senior's inks from issue 117 (and also misspelled "calender").
• Back-up strips: Combat Colin – "Combat Colin and Semi-Automatic Steve in Robo-Capers"
• Free gift: Transformers: The Facts, a 12-page booklet chronicling the history of the Transformers.
• Other features: A Pictorial History of the Transformers, a two-page recap of the story so far.

Issue #201

• Back-up strips: Action Force - "Hush Job" and Combat Colin

Issue #202

• Back-up strips: Action Force - "Hush Job" and Combat Colin

Issue #203

• Back-up strips: Action Force - "Strange Bedfellows" and Combat Colin

Issue #204

• Classic Covers Calendar: This February edition used Lee Sullivan's inks from issue 134.
• There was no Dread Tidings this issue (because of the calendar). However, Dreadwind did get a small section of the Transformations page to moan about it.

Issue #205

• Back-up strips: Action Force - "Strange Bedfellows" and Combat Colin

Covers (7)

• 

  Issue #199 cover

• 

  Issue #200 cover

• 

  Issue #201 cover

• 

  Issue #202 cover

• 

  Issue #203 cover

• 

  Issue #204 cover

• 

  Issue #205 cover

• Issue #199 cover: Galvatron is on fire! by Robin Smith.
• Issue #200 cover: Wraparound cover, featuring Rodimus Prime, Arcee and Kup bursting out of Powermaster Optimus Prime, by Lee Sullivan.
• Issue #201 cover: Fortress Maximus fights Rodimus Prime while Goldbug is dying, by Robin Smith.
• Issue #202 cover: Galvatron and Megatron stand on heads, art by Andrew Wildman.
• Issue #203 cover: Carnivac and Springer, by Andrew Wildman.
• Issue #204 cover: Optimus Prime interrupts Galvatron vs Rodimus Prime, by Jeff Anderson.
• Issue #205 cover: Galvatron defeats everyone, by Andrew Wildman.

Reprints

• 1991 — Transformers Collected Comics #18 (parts 1–3)
• 1991 — Transformers Collected Comics #19 (parts 4–5)
• 2003 — Transformers: Time Wars
• 2008 — The Transformers: Best of UK: Time Wars #2–5
• 2009 — The Transformers: Best of UK: Time Wars TPB
• 2009 — The Transformers: Best of UK Omnibus
• 2019 — Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 15: Time Wars.

• 

  Collected Comics #18

• 

  Collected Comics #19

• 

  Time Wars TPB

• 

  Best of UK: Time Wars #2 cover A

• 

  Best of UK: Time Wars #2 cover RI

• 

  Best of UK: Time Wars #3 cover A

• Collected Comics #18 cover: reuse of the cover to UK issue #199.
• Collected Comics #19 cover: reuse of the cover to UK issue #202.
• Time Wars TPB cover: Galvatron takes on Optimus Prime, by Geoff Senior and Oliver Harud.
• Best of UK: Time Wars #2 cover A: the Terrorcons on the rampage, by Dan Khanna and Liam Shalloo.
• Best of UK: Time Wars #2 cover RI: crop of a panel from UK issue #199.
• Best of UK: Time Wars #3 cover A: Autobot royal rumble, by Dan Khanna and Liam Shalloo.

• 

  Best of UK: Time Wars #3 cover RI

• 

  Best of UK: Time Wars #4 cover A

• 

  Best of UK: Time Wars #4 cover RI

• 

  Best of UK: Time Wars #5 cover A

• 

  Best of UK: Time Wars #5 cover RI

• 

  Best of UK: Time Wars TPB

• Best of UK: Time Wars #3 cover RI: series of panels from UK issue #200.
• Best of UK: Time Wars #4 cover A: Megatron and Galvatron take on the Wreckers and Mayhems, by Dan Khanna and Liam Shalloo.
• Best of UK: Time Wars #4 cover RI: crop of a panel from UK issue #203.
• Best of UK: Time Wars #5 cover A: Galvatron V Powermaster Optimus Prime, by Dan Khanna and Liam Shalloo.
• Best of UK: Time Wars #5 cover RI: crop of a panel from UK issue #204.
• Best of UK: Time Wars TPB cover: reuse of cover A to Best of UK: Time Wars #1.

• 

  Best of UK Omnibus

• 

  Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 15: Time Wars

• Best of UK Omnibus cover: crop of cover A to Best of UK: Time Wars #4.
• Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 15: Time Wars; art by Lee Sullivan (pencils retro), Stephen Baskerville (inks, retro) and Don Figueroa? (Highbrow)

References