TRANSFORMERS: REGENERATION ONE #82

"LOOSE ENDS, PART 2"

Writer: Simon Furman | Penciler: Andrew Wildman | Inker: Stephen Baskerville
Colorist: John-Paul Bove | Letterer: Chris Mowry | Editor: John Barber
Editor-in-Chief: Chris Ryall

The Plot: On Earth, the Wreckers are pursued by Megatron's lobotomized Decepticon forces while searching for an array they can use to contact Cybertron. The Decepticons capture Kup, to whom Megatron reveals he wants the Autobots, and especially Optimus Prime, to come find him. Meanwhile, Ultra Magnus learns that the Wreckers stole a shuttle for their secret mission. And Grimlock arrives on planet Nebulos in search of a cure for Nucleon poisoning, but finds himself attacked and captured by Nebulon forces. Finally, on Earth, the Wreckers are attacked by a human calling himself Circuit Smasher.

G1 Continuity: Nebulos is the planet where the Headmasters, Targetmasters, and Powermasters first appeared, circa the HEADMASTERS limited series in 1987. Circuit Smasher is clearly based on Circuit Breaker, a human character used primarily in Bob Budiansky's early G1 issues. Her rights are owned by Marvel rather than Hasbro, so I don't expect to see her pop up in this series.

Body Count: No one dies, but Megatron has several lobotomized Decepticon warriors under his command. I recognized: the Predacons, the Terrorcons, Octane, Astrotrain, Blitzwing, Ratbat, Buzzsaw (or Laserbeak), Skywarp, and Starscream. Furman was always very, very good at keeping track of exactly which characters were where at any given time, so I suspect these are all the Decepticons who were either still on Earth or imprisoned aboard the Ark near the end of the original series.

Megatron also has the head of Autobot medic Ratchet affixed to the front of a sled on which he cruises the barren Earth. When last we saw Ratchet in the final G1 issues, he and Megatron were bonded on some psychic level. It remains to be seen if this is still the case.

My Thoughts: I had forgotten two things when I started reading this series -- One: Megatron was quite insane in the original G1 comics; and Two: Simon Furman's Grimlock is smart. I care for neither of these characterizations. I guess I'm just a cartoon fanboy at heart, but I like my Megatron to be cold and calculating rather than irrational, and my Grimlock to be a simple-minded "tank" rather than a cunning strategist (though I don't care for the cartoon's season 3 portrayal of Grimlock as a total buffoon, either). But I accept that their characterizations are different in the comics, and I can live with it.

The Grimlock storyline looks to be interesting. When G1 ended, he had truly become an Action Master, though not named as such in the comic -- he had lost his ability to transform. Now he hopes the Nebulons can build him a new, transformable body.

But what really interests me about this plot is revisiting Nebulos. It was primarily featured in the HEADMASTERS limited series and in an issue or two somewhere around the forties of the Budiansky run, and I've always liked it as an alternate backdrop for the Transformers' war. At the moment, the Nebulons are working to restore the original heads of the Autobots who became Headmasters all those years ago. It's a nice touch, since Furman killed off all the Headmasters during the Unicron battle in G1 #75.

Variant "retro" cover by Guido Guidi

However I'm most intrigued by the fact that a group of Decepticons also ditched their heads on Nebulos, and some of them perished in the G1 series as well -- most notably, Scorponok. Now, I have to admit -- the cover of the second REGENERATION ONE trade paperback has Scorponok pretty much front and center, so I have a sneaking suspicion where this story might be headed -- and I like it.

Last thought: I enjoyed seeing some 1984 era Decepticons in Megatron's zombie army. But more notably, I was happy that the brief Ultra Magnus scene on Cybertron featured an appearance by Trailbreaker, one of the original Autobots. Oddly, considering Furman's Chris Claremont-esque habit of having every character called by name when they first appear, he went unnamed through the entire scene. I think Hasbro may have lost the rights to the "Trailbreaker" name, as they have called him "Trailcutter" in recent years, so I assume Furman simply chose to go without mentioning the replacement name.

Final Opinion: Still troubled by the destruction of Earth, but overall enjoying the story. It's Furman being Furman, so if you're into that sort of thing, it's pretty exciting,

Available as part of TRANSFORMERS: REGENERATION ONE, vol. 1 from Amazon.com.