The Final Battle!

Unicron attacks Cybertron, but one Autobot is about to light their darkest hour.

Synopsis

Following their battle with the Decepticons in space, Ultra Magnus and his crew of Autobots crash-land on the planet Junkion. To aid the Autobots in repairing their damaged shuttle, Arcee provides Daniel Witwicky with the robotic exosuit once worn by his father. But the Autobots' arrival on Junkion has not gone unnoticed: the planet's native Junkions—led by Wreck-Gar—do not take kindly to strangers messing around with their junk, and are preparing to attack with their Junk Gun. Before they can, however, Galvatron and the Decepticons arrive, having been informed by Unicron of the Autobots' survival after their last encounter. The Junkions hang back to watch as the Autobots and Decepticons clash—a battle that culminates in the Sweeps drawing and quartering Ultra Magnus, allowing Galvatron to claim the Matrix of Leadership from his remains.

As the Decepticons depart, the Junkions emerge to attack the mourning Autobots, but are once again interrupted, this time by the arrival of Hot Rod and the other missing Autobots aboard the ship they acquired while on the planet Quintesson. Through a combination of the "universal greeting" and some energon, Hot Rod makes peace with Wreck-Gar, leading the Junkions to repair Ultra Magnus. Wreck-Gar agrees to help the Autobots in their battle against Unicron, and reveals that the Junkion planet is actually a giant spaceship, which joins the Quintesson cruiser in blasting off for Cybertron.

Returning to Unicron, Galvatron declares that he is unwilling to be the monster planet's slave any longer, and attempts to use the Matrix against his master, only to discover that he is unable to wield its power. Amused, Unicron reveals that he is not merely a metal planet by transforming into his titanic robot mode, and promptly eating Galvatron whole. Unicron proceeds to tear into Cybertron; the Decepticons on the planet attempt to fight back, to no avail.

The Autobots and Junkions arrive just as Unicron launches his attack, and open fire on him. Unicron retaliates, blasting the Quintesson ship with an eye-beam that cleaves it in two—but unfortunately for the planet-eater, the forward portion of the vessel is sent spiralling right into his own giant eye. The Autobots tumble out inside Unicron's body, but Hot Rod is separated from the others in the fall, and encounters the still-functional Galvatron. Galvatron suggests that he and Hot Rod join forces against Unicron, but Unicron swiftly tortures the Decepticon into submission once more, and forces him to attack Hot Rod. As the pair grapple, Hot Rod is able to seize the Matrix from around Galvatron's neck, and is transformed by its power into the new "Prime Autobot": Rodimus Prime! Rodimus easily overpowers Galvatron, hurling him through Unicron's metal hide, then opens the Matrix, releasing its energy to destroy Unicron from the inside out. With Unicron's body being torn apart all around him, Rodimus quickly tracks down the other Autobots and leads them in escaping out Unicron's other eye, just before the giant explodes, leaving only his severed head orbiting Cybertron. Rodimus Prime then leads the Autobots in routing the shattered forces of the Decepticons, allowing the Autobots to reclaim their homeworld and begin a new age of peace.

'Til all are one!

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Notes

Differences with the film

The comic adaptation continues to be based on a slightly earlier version of the script than the finished film uses. Alternate scenes, details, and staging derived from the script include:

• Daniel describes the crash on Junkion as being "more fun than a rollercoaster." In the script, he specifically refers to a coaster at "Futureworld," but the comic refers only to "Funworld."
• There's another installment of the "Ultra Magnus doesn't understand Perceptor" running gag that didn't make it into the finished movie that sees Perceptor describe the makeup of Junkion as "a chaotic amalgam of discarded ferrous and non-ferrous articulations."
• Springer is the one to declare "Showtime's over, we've got work to do!" instead of Ultra Magnus, as in the finished film.
• Ultra Magnus is drawn and quartered by the Sweeps, rather than blown to pieces (right).
• Looking down at the Junkions as their ship descends, Kup reminisces about the Crocodillos of Stronterom (but see "Errors," below).
• Though the dialogue has Hot Rod refer to them as the traditional cubes, the energon he offers the Junkions is in the form of a handful of long, thin sticks, per the script's call for "energon sticks." In the finished film, he offers them one of the small wafers previously seen being given to the Allicons on Quintessa.
• Hot Rod also talks some TV to Wreck-Gar, adding "Void where prohibited" after Kup has said his line. In the script, though, this line was attributed to Kup too.
• Instead of simply providing the Autobots with a ship, as in the movie, Wreck-Gar turns the entire planet of Junk into a rocket ship (right). The finished film features a vestigial reference to this abandoned idea, when Wreck-Gar describes the planet as a "sleek sexy import with turbo handling."

Other changes made to the story, usually in the name of condensing and simplifying it, which are not derived from the script include:

• In the finished film, the Quintesson and Junkion stories run parallel, and the story cuts back and forth between the two narratives. Per the decision to consolidate all the Quintesson scenes into one unbroken story for issue #2, this issue relates the Junkion portion of the story as one similarly-unbroken adventure. The scene of Galvatron returning to Unicron and learning that Ultra Magnus still lives, however, is cut, with Galvatron simply describing for Magnus how Unicron told him this information.
• Writer Ralph Macchio's fondness for expository dialogue requires Wreck-Gar to speak several lines without "talking TV," which results in the Junkion leader doing "caveman-speak" like a cartoon Dinobot.
• The Autobots' fight with the Junkions is cut, with Hot Rod and Kup's group arriving just as the Junkions begin to approach the others after Magnus's destruction. With the introduction of the universal greeting having been cut from the previous issue, it's here presented as just something Hot Rod knows about, not something Kup had to teach him.
• Kup provides an explanation for how his group found Magnus', noting that they tracked their ship's exhaust.
• After the Autobots crash through Unicron's eye, only Hot Rod's battle with Galvatron is shown; all other scenes of both the Autobots dealing with the dangers inside the planet-eater, and of the Dinobots and Junkions battling him outside, are cut. In particular, this means that Jazz, Cliffjumper, Bumblebee, and Spike are never shown being rescued by Daniel—yet Bumblebee and Spike do appear among the Autobots when they reunite and escape Unicron's body in the final pages.
• Blurr is part of the Autobot group who travel inside Unicron.

Visual differences from the film, resulting from incomplete or outdated reference material include:

• Daniel's exo-suit is red and blue instead of white (right).

Art and technical errors

• Just like the previous issue, this one is also simply called "Transformers: The Movie" on its cover, without a definite article, even though issue 1 was called "The Transformers: The Movie". The indica for all three issues identify the series' title as "Transformers: The Movie Vol. 1".
• Basically everyone on the cover is off-color to some extent. Especially notable are Hot Rod's grey boots; accurate to the movie itself, but not to either his standard Marvel colors, or to the colors used in this mini-series.
• Throughout this issue:
  • Springer's "abs" are yellow instead of dark green; accurate to his animated appearance, but not to his finalized Marvel color scheme.
  • Wreck-Gar sports an early color scheme that does not match his finalized Marvel colors. His abdomen, "belt" and hip-pouches appear in shades of orange rather than light blue, and his arms and legs are rendered only in two shades (orange and yellow-orange), where the final colors give him brown shins and red hands.
  • Cyclonus's wings and engines are grey instead of light-blue.
  • That sticky-uppy thing on Galvatron's back is consistently colored light blue instead of purple. His belt is light-blue instead of red.
  • The flames on Hot Rod's chest are orange instead of yellow, and he has orange highlights on his arms that shouldn't be there.
  • Unicron's entire helmet and lower jaw/beard are colored purple; his finalized Marvel colours would make them white. His famous glowing red "abs" are coloured orange like the rest of his body.
  • Rodimus Prime's feet are red instead of light blue/white. The "headlight"/"windscreen" detailing around his waist is light blue instead of yellow and orange.
• Page 2:
  • Panel 2: A triangular panel on Ultra Magnus's torso is yellow instead of red.
  • Panel 5: Arcee's thighs and right shin are purple instead of white. Purple is largely used to shade Arcee's white parts through this issue, but nobody else in the panel has any shading. The tip of Perceptor's cannon is white instead of blue/black.
• Page 3:
  • Blue inks are printed noticeably off-center on this page.
  • Panel 1: Perceptor's forearms, and the panel on his stomach, are colored light blue-white, instead of dark blue.
  • Panel 3: Springer's torso is light green instead of dark green.
  • Panel 4: Arcee's got some creepy tiny baby-arms. A big chunk of the exo-suit in her arms is miscolored pink, as if it were part of her torso.
  • Panel 5: While Arcee's lower legs are shaded with purple, her upper legs are shaded with light blue.
• Page 4, panel 6: Springer's Autobot symbol is uncolored, left the same light green as his chest.
• Page 5, panel 3: Even allowing for his early colors, Wreck-Gar is miscolored in this panel; the center of his chest is red instead of light blue, and some printing errors cause yellow blobs to appear over the light-blue portion further down.
• Page 6, panel 5: Scavenger's head is solid blue-black, lacking any blue-white highlights for his eyes and mouth.
• Page 7:
  • Panel 4: Galvatron's shoulder-pylons are purple instead of light blue, his face is the same purple instead of grey, and his hand is grey instead of light blue.
  • Panel 5: Ultra Magnus' pelvis and lower left leg are coloured solid grey instead of blue and white.
  • Panel 6: The tread on Galvatron's arm is purple instead of light-blue. His hand is still grey instead of light-blue, as is his left hip-guard.
• Page 8:
  • Panel 4: Ultra Magnus' eyes are white like the rest of his face, instead of dark blue.
  • Panel 7: Galvatron's hand's are still grey. Instead of the featureless green rock it's otherwise depicted as, the Matrix is here rendered as a sort of rounded cuboid, with a circular opening.
• Page 9:
  • Panel 1: Cyclonus still has grey wings and engines instead of light-blue.
  • Panel 5: As noted above, Kup refers to the Crocodillos of Stronterom... but per the script for the film, the name of this planet should be spelled "Strontero," no "m" at the end. Grimlock's mouthplate is white instead of blue-black like the rest of his head. Sludge is coloured like Grimlock (despite standing right next to Grimlock), with a yellow chest and solid-blue black head. Wheelie is purple instead of orange.
• Page 11, panel 1: Wreck-Gar's headlamp is uncolored, left the same orange as the rest of his helmet.
• Page 12:
  • Panel 1: Kup's speech bubble points to Arcee. A printing error has caused a white splotch to appear on Hot Rod's collar.
  • Panel 2: Wreck-Gar's headlamp is green instead of purple.
  • Panel 3: An overzealous attempt at mood lighting makes Hot Rod's face entirely dark blue.
• Page 13:
  • Panel 3: Hot Rod's Autobot symbol is uncolored, left the same orange as his chest-flames.
  • Panel 5: The Matrix is uncolored. The square in the center of Galvatron's belt buckle—but only this part of his belt—is red, leading to...
  • Panel 6: ...the only panel in the comic where Galvatron's belt is correctly colored red.
  • Panel 7: Galvatron's left kneepad is light blue instead of grey, while his right thigh is grey instead of purple.
• Page 16, panel 2: Galvatron's right tread is purple instead of light blue.
• Page 18: The Junkion planet-spacecraft is drawn to be the same size as Kup and Hot Rod's Quintesson cruiser, when moments beforehand it was large enough for the Quintesson ship to land on.
• Page 19-20: Galvatron's eyes are blue instead of yellow.
• Page 19, panel 3: Hot Rod's Autobot symbol is uncolored, leaving a blank white patch on his chest.
• Page 21, panel 3-4: Rodimus Prime is missing his spoiler.
• Page 23, panel 4: Spike is wearing the exo-suit he has in the film, instead of the space suit he wore in the previous two issues. Bumblebee is colored like Grimlock; Kup is colored like Springer.
• Page 24, panel 4: Springer has grey thighs instead of green. Blurr's just kind of a solid-blue lump.

Other trivia

• Blurr gets his only line of dialogue in the entire comic adaptation this issue (right).
• According to a 2015 Facebook entry of Ask Vector Prime, the Unicron depicted in this comic was in fact blasted out of this dimension by the Matrix and later became the Planet X seen in the Galaxy Force cartoon.

Cover

Issue #3: The Autobots attack robot-mode Unicron, presumably by Don Perlin, Ian Akin, and Brian Garvey.

• 👁 TFTM3.jpg
  

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US

• Inside Front Cover: M&M's
• Between Page 4 & 5 : Lazer Tag game kit
• Between Page 5 & 6: The Amazing Spider-Man in the Free the Cap'n (Crunch) Mystery Promotion
• Between Page 7 & 8 : East Cost Comics
• Between Page 8 & 9 : Comic Dealers and Charles Atlas
• Between Page 18 & 19 : Random Sponsors / Marvel Super Mart
• Between Page 20 & 21: Classic Comics Subscription Offer
• Bullpen Bulletins - between pages 21 & 22
• Marvel Subscription Offer
• Inside Back Cover: YAMAHA Synthesizer
• Back Cover: Brach's Gum Dingers

UK

• Transformers Tell-A-Tale Adventures - inside front cover
• Marvel Super Heroes Advanced Set (TSR RPG) - page 27
• Transformers UK Weekly Comic - inside back cover
• 'The New Leaders' Transformers Toy Advert - back cover

Reprints

• 👁 (thumbnail)
  

  The Transformers Winter Special 1986 (Marvel UK, 1986)

• 👁 (thumbnail)
  

  Classic Transformers, Vol. 6 (IDW Publishing, 2010)

• 👁 (thumbnail)
  

  The Transformers Classics, Vol. 7 (IDW Publishing, 2014)

• 👁 (thumbnail)
  

  Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 92: Transformers: The Movie (Hachette Partworks, 2020)

Reprint notes

• All three issues of the mini-series were collected into one special for release in the United Kingdom. This reprint edits the date from 2005 to 2006, to keep continuity with the regular weekly comic's recent story "Target: 2006," which—working from an even older draft of the film than the one on which this adaptation was based—placed the events of the movie in that year.
• It appears some alterations were made to this UK release as Kup's speech bubble and the white splotch on Hot Rod's collar have both been corrected on page 12, panel 1.

Like the regular monthly series, this mini-series also had its colors "remastered" for The Transformers Classics series of trade paperbacks, with varying degrees of success. The process was applied less thoroughly to these issues; notably, Hot Rod was not recolored into toy-accurate red-and-orange, unlike in previous volumes.

• Page 3, panel 1: Perceptor's forearms are corrected to dark blue. However, the light-blue shading on his face, the dial on his shoulder cannon, and his incorrectly-colored stomach panel has become much too dark.
• Page 6:
  • Panel 4: Scavenger's head and gun have gone from their correct blue-black to incorrect purple.
  • Panel 5: Most of the line-art detail on Scavenger's head has been erased.
• Page 7:
  • Panel 4: Galvatron's hand has gone from incorrect grey to still-incorrect purple.
  • Panel 5: Magnus's pelvis and leg are corrected.
  • Panel 6: Galvatron's face has gone from the correct grey to incorrect purple, and his left cheek is now the same light-blue as his helmet. The grey of his hand, hip-guard, and kneepad has become much more purple-tinged.
• Page 9, panel 5: Wheelie and Sludge's colours are sort of corrected (see right); Wheelie a very greyish orange, while Sludge has become entirely red from the neck down, including his grey arms, and the grey box that should be in the center of his chest.
• Page 11:
  • Panel 1: Wreck-Gar's headlamp is corrected.
  • Panel 8: Magnus's eyes are changed from their correct dark blue to incorrect light blue/white.
• Page 12, panel 3: Hot Rod's over-dark face is lightened.
• Page 13, panel 3: In a wrongheaded attempt to correct the coloring error with Hot Rod's Autobot symbol, it's the orange flames that wind up being erased here, leaving an Autobot symbol behind.
• Page 16, panel 1: Galvatron's right kneepad goes from purple (it's normally grey, but the colors are simplified in this panel for his transformation) to incorrect light-blue.
• Page 19:
  • Panel 3: Hot Rod's Autobot symbol is corrected.
  • Panel 7: Galvatron's face is changed from the correct grey to dark purple. Grey used in the original version to represent the inner joints of Galvatron's elbows are changed to light blue, but with a slightly greener tinge than the rest of Galvatron's light blue.
• Page 20:
  • Panel 1: Again, dark purple is used in place of grey on Galvatron's face and kneepads.
  • Panel 2: A grey joint is again replaced with light blue.
  • Panel 4: Galvatron's face remains grey, but his knees are changed to dark purple, and his elbow joint becomes purple.
• Page 23, panel 4: Bumblebee is recolored, but not to his correct colours; now, he's black and white, colored as if he were Jazz. Even that isn't right for Marvel Jazz, though, who should be blue and white.

External Links

• Sunbow revision script of the movie (The Final Battle! covers pages 92-131)