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Transformers: Generation One (Dreamwave)
Encyclopedia
Transformers: Generation One was a Dreamwave Productions
comic book
series, consisting of two 6-issue limited series
and an ongoing title. Within the same continuity were 3 other Dreamwave series: a series of character profiles entitled Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye, a prequel miniseries
entitled, Transformers: Micromasters
and another prequel ongoing miniseries called Transformers: The War Within
. In addition, a single story was part of the Transformers Summer Special. All ongoing series were cancelled in 2005 due to Dreamwave's bankruptcy, leaving their plotlines unresolved.
The 'Generation One' term has also come to be associated with the wider Transformers universes
based on the original Transformers animated series
and Marvel comics
.
Spike is able to reactivate the one Transformer recovered by the military - Prime himself. Prime is reactivated, but Spike is angry and bitter towards him for his father's death because of their involvement in the war.
Meanwhile Megatron and the Decepticons have broken free, killing Lazarus, and plan to use a technorganic
virus to reformat Earth into a new Cybertron. Prime and the other reactivated Autobots confront their old foes, but are stopped when Hallo drops a massive bomb on all of them. The advancing virus takes the brunt of the blast, fuelling it further, and the Decepticons (joined by the defected Grimlock
) escape. As the Autobots try to stop the virus Megatron unleashes Devastator
on San Francisco in a mass slaughter. Prime and some of the other Autobots arrive in time to halt them, but when Superion
is gunned down by Starscream
, Skywarp
and Thundercracker
the Autobots are decimated by Devastator's strength. Prime takes out the giant combiner in a full-frontal assault, and Megatron takes the chance to cajole his greatest enemy into joining him.
Meanwhile, Wheeljack
and the rest of the reactivated Autobots try in vain to stop the spread of the virus, which is now fuelling itself, but are hindered by the Canadian military. Spike has been imprisoned by Hallo after discovering the truth - that Hallo was responsible for the destruction of the second Ark. After his attempts to create his own transforming robots had failed one of his subordinates developed a way to control the Transformers, so they sabotaged the Ark in order to gain the Transformers for themselves. Lazarus later went rogue and took most of the Transformers with him. Hallo now plans to obliterate his mistake by launching a nuclear missile at San Francisco. Spike escapes with help from one of Hallo's former employees, and Hallo is gunned down by the President and his aides. The nuclear missile has already been launched, however.
Back in San Francisco Prime refuses to join his foe, and is spared death when Megatron is distracted by heroic firefighters. The Autobots defeat their foes, but Superion is forced to sacrifice himself to stop the missile. In Canada, Wheeljack also manages to create a device to stop the virus, but sacrifices his own energy to power it. The Decepticons escape due to the distraction caused by the missile, but Grimlock refuses to rejoin the Autobots. Spike now rethinks his attitude towards the Autobots.
, and feature Shockwave
as the main villain.
, who tells the astonished Transformers that the war is over and Shockwave has united the planet. Shockwave himself then arrives with a bodyguard of Autobots and Decepticons, gunning down Scourge and arresting the Earthen Transformers as war criminals. After quelling any discontent with his new Triple Changer
s (and gunning down Megatron) the rest of the Transformers leave peacefully, but not before Prime leaves a team of Autobots on Earth just in case.
After Starscream
dumps Megatron in space after escaping from stasis the Autobots learn that Shockwave had indeed unified the planet, awarding power to an Autobot council while he remains in charge of the military, with Ultra Magnus
as his second in command. Before the series started Cybertron had completely shut down before Scourge arrived to study the inhabitants. Reactivating Shockwave he saved him from the Sharkticons, only to be shot in the back in return. Shockwave used the secrets plundered from Scourge's body to create the Triple Changer
s and unify Cybertron. In the present, Shockwave is studying Alpha Trion
for his access to Vector Sigma, and has Menasor reactivated as a distraction while he puts the final phase of his plan into operation. In the meantime Grimlock has located the rest of the Dinobots
in the Arctic and is now returning to Cybertron with them.
Prime, about to be forcibly shut down, is saved by Sandstorm
and Broadside
take him to see an Autobot resistance group led by Hot Rod, where he discovers that Shockwave has secretly been conditioning the population for a war of conquest. With Magnus taking out Menasor and the Dinobots battling the Guardian units Prime led an attack on Iacon itself. A doubting Magnus is shot by Shockwave, and he also takes the Matrix from Prime to access Vector Sigma
. However he is stopped by Magnus, now having lost his damaged outer armour to reveal his inner robot - who looks exactly like a white Prime. It is revealed Magnus is in fact Prime's brother, and the two stop Shockwave as Starscream and his followers flee the planet. Grimlock arrives and saves both brothers from falling into the pit at the centre of Cybertron. Elsewhere Megatron's battered body is recovered by Wreck-Gar
and Joe Ng. With Figueroa taking over as sole penciller from issue #1, the stories would mostly focus on the Autobots led by Jazz
, who were left behind on Earth by Optimus Prime in the second series. The first six-issue arc would focus on the conflict between Jazz' team and Starscream
's faction, who left Cybertron at the end of the second series. After an attack by Bruticus
most of the Autobots are captured. However Starscream's forces were decimated by the self-destructing Ark
and by the arrival of the most unexpected foe of all - Starscream's seemingly mad but extraordinarily powerful clone Sunstorm
, forcing Starscream into an uneasy alliance with the Autobots and a reactivated Jetfire
. The arc also introduced Omega Supreme
, and would reveal the existence of a mysterious Cybertronian seal on Earth, which only Starscream could open. A backup strip drawn by James Raiz in issue #4 revealed that Megatron had been repaired, and that Wreck-Gar
had built an army of Seeker clones for him before the Decepticon leader obliterated him.
The next two issues reintroduced Spike, and dealt with the Autobots battling the Insecticons
to free the mind-controlled inhabitants of a town. Issues #9 and 10 would focus on the Decepticon leadership, with Megatron returning, backed by the Predacons (who he had forced into service in the Summer Special), first forcing Shockwave into servitude, stopping his Sixchanger
experiments, before journeying to Earth to beat Starscream into submission. It was hinted that all 3 knew something significant about Cybertron's past, but Dreamwave went out of business before this could be revealed.
The series was routinely Dreamwave's best-selling regular series. It was alternately praised and criticised for its very 'fan-friendly' writing (using more obscure G1 characters and bringing in lots of continuity, for example). Bankruptcy brought the series to a sudden close after issue #10 in January 2005, with many plots left unresolved. With Chris Saccarini rejoining as writer and Pat Lee on art, previews indicated that issue #11 would have featured the female Autobots from the original animated series and issue #12 would feature the return of Optimus Prime (who had been injured in War and Peace). Scourge - Now in the possession of the Earth Defence Command - was also set to reappear, along with Cyclonus
.
acquired the rights to the Transformers licence, they would reprint the first two G1 mini-series from Dreamwave in trade paperback form in February and March 2006. As of April 2007, Ryall remarked that the unpublished Dreamwave stories were still tied up in legal issues and that it was likely to stay that way, leaving those stories unfinished.
Dreamwave Productions
Dreamwave Productions was a Canadian art design studio and comic book publisher founded in 1996 and is best known for their multiple Transformers comic book series...
comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
series, consisting of two 6-issue limited series
Limited series
A limited series is a comic book series with a set number of installments. A limited series differs from an ongoing series in that the number of issues is determined before production and it differs from a one shot in that it is composed of multiple issues....
and an ongoing title. Within the same continuity were 3 other Dreamwave series: a series of character profiles entitled Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye, a prequel miniseries
Miniseries
A miniseries , in a serial storytelling medium, is a television show production which tells a story in a limited number of episodes. The exact number is open to interpretation; however, they are usually limited to fewer than a whole season. The term "miniseries" is generally a North American term...
entitled, Transformers: Micromasters
Transformers: Micromasters
Transformers: Micromasters was a four-issue comic book limited series released in 2004 which takes place in between the War Within and the Generation 1 series. The main focus of the series is the Micromasters subline of Transformers, though it did have some cameos of notable G1 regulars...
and another prequel ongoing miniseries called Transformers: The War Within
Transformers: The War Within
This article is about the comic book series. For other uses, see The War Within .Transformers: The War Within is a series of comic book mini-series written by Simon Furman and published by Dreamwave Productions featuring Generation One characters with brand new pre-Earth designs.The series focuses...
. In addition, a single story was part of the Transformers Summer Special. All ongoing series were cancelled in 2005 due to Dreamwave's bankruptcy, leaving their plotlines unresolved.
The 'Generation One' term has also come to be associated with the wider Transformers universes
Transformers universes
is an entertainment franchise. It began with the Hasbro Transformers toy line, centered on two factions of warring alien robots which are called the Autobots and the Decepticons...
based on the original Transformers animated series
The Transformers (TV series)
The Transformers is an animated television series depicting a war among giant robots who could transform into vehicles, other objects and animal-like forms. Written and recorded in America, the series was animated in Japan and South Korea...
and Marvel comics
The Transformers (Marvel comic)
The Transformers was an 80-issue American comic book series published by Marvel Comics telling the story of the Transformers. Originally scheduled as a four issue mini-series, it spawned a mythology that would inform other versions of the saga...
.
Prime Directive (Volume 1)
The Prime Directive miniseries takes place after the Autobots had attempted to leave earth for a second time in a space ship called the Ark II, along with the defeated Decepticons. The Ark II was sabotaged, exploding in the upper atmosphere and sending all the Transformers falling back to Earth, deactivated. The story concerns the reactivation of the Transformers by a scheming entrepreneur and the results when things don't go as planned.Plot
The story begins several years after the destruction of the second Ark. The military, led by General Hallo, recruit an unwilling Spike Witwicky to help them face a new menace - as satellite pictures show a reactivated Megatron destroying a South American rebel camp. Most of the Transformers lost in the Ark disaster have now been recovered by Lazarus, a former US Army officer who has developed a way to control the Transformers, and is now selling them as war machines to the highest bidder, using them to slaughter a group of oil workers as a demonstration. Using a small fragment of the Matrix of Leadership, given to him by Optimus PrimeOptimus Prime
Optimus Prime is a fictional character from the Transformers franchise. Prime is the leader of the autobots, a faction of transforming robots from the planet Cybertron. The autobots are constantly waging war against a rival faction of transforming robots called Decepticons...
Spike is able to reactivate the one Transformer recovered by the military - Prime himself. Prime is reactivated, but Spike is angry and bitter towards him for his father's death because of their involvement in the war.
Meanwhile Megatron and the Decepticons have broken free, killing Lazarus, and plan to use a technorganic
Techno-organic material
In fiction, techno-organic material is a material with properties and abilities of both organic and technological material.-Use in Fiction:...
virus to reformat Earth into a new Cybertron. Prime and the other reactivated Autobots confront their old foes, but are stopped when Hallo drops a massive bomb on all of them. The advancing virus takes the brunt of the blast, fuelling it further, and the Decepticons (joined by the defected Grimlock
Grimlock
Grimlock is the name of several fictional characters in the Transformers universes. He is usually portrayed as a tough leader who turns into a mechanical dinosaur...
) escape. As the Autobots try to stop the virus Megatron unleashes Devastator
Constructicons
right|thumb|Scavenger, Bonecrusher, Longhaul, Scrapper & Mixmaster - five of the original six Constructicons The Constructicons are a group of fictional characters from the various Transformers continuities...
on San Francisco in a mass slaughter. Prime and some of the other Autobots arrive in time to halt them, but when Superion
Superion
-Transformers: Generation 1:Superion is the first Autobot special team to be created, and is the Autobots' first combiner, formed from five smaller robots who are able to transform into fighter-jets and planes.Members:* Silverbolt - Team leader.* Air Raid...
is gunned down by Starscream
Starscream (Transformers)
Starscream is a fictional character in the Transformers franchise. He is one of the most prolific characters in the Transformers fictional work, appearing in almost all incarnations of the story. Starscream is usually portrayed with the same characterization...
, Skywarp
Skywarp
Skywarp is the name of several fictional characters in the Transformers toy line. He is usually depicted as a black or purple Decepticon jet with teleportation powers.-Transformers: Generation 1:...
and Thundercracker
Thundercracker
Thundercracker is the name given to multiple fictional characters in the Transformers universes. Thundercracker is almost always depicted as a blue color Decepticon who turns into a jet fighter.-Transformers: Generation 1:...
the Autobots are decimated by Devastator's strength. Prime takes out the giant combiner in a full-frontal assault, and Megatron takes the chance to cajole his greatest enemy into joining him.
Meanwhile, Wheeljack
Wheeljack
Wheeljack is the name of several fictional characters in the various Transformers universes.-Transformers: Generation 1:Wheeljack is the mechanical engineer and scientist of the Autobots in the Transformers television and comic series based on the popular toy line produced by Takara and Hasbro. His...
and the rest of the reactivated Autobots try in vain to stop the spread of the virus, which is now fuelling itself, but are hindered by the Canadian military. Spike has been imprisoned by Hallo after discovering the truth - that Hallo was responsible for the destruction of the second Ark. After his attempts to create his own transforming robots had failed one of his subordinates developed a way to control the Transformers, so they sabotaged the Ark in order to gain the Transformers for themselves. Lazarus later went rogue and took most of the Transformers with him. Hallo now plans to obliterate his mistake by launching a nuclear missile at San Francisco. Spike escapes with help from one of Hallo's former employees, and Hallo is gunned down by the President and his aides. The nuclear missile has already been launched, however.
Back in San Francisco Prime refuses to join his foe, and is spared death when Megatron is distracted by heroic firefighters. The Autobots defeat their foes, but Superion is forced to sacrifice himself to stop the missile. In Canada, Wheeljack also manages to create a device to stop the virus, but sacrifices his own energy to power it. The Decepticons escape due to the distraction caused by the missile, but Grimlock refuses to rejoin the Autobots. Spike now rethinks his attitude towards the Autobots.
War and Peace (Volume 2)
After the impressive sales of the first volume Dreamwave commissioned a second six-issue mini-series. Again drawn by Pat Lee, it was now written by Brad Mick (later revealed as Dreamwave writer James McDonough). The plot would focus on the Transformers' homeworld of CybertronCybertron
Cybertron is a fictional planet, the homeworld of the Transformers in the various fictional incarnations of the metaseries and toyline by Hasbro. In the Japanese series, the planet is referred to as "Cybertron" pronounced as セイバートロン Seibātoron...
, and feature Shockwave
Shockwave (Transformers)
Shockwave is the name of several fictional characters in the various Transformers series. Throughout his incarnations, he is usually distinguished by a laser cannon in lieu of one of his hands and his distinctive face, which is featureless save a single robotic eye...
as the main villain.
Plot
A year after the events of the first series, the Autobots and Decepticons are drawn to the Arctic by a signal from a mysterious pod. As the two sides battle the pod opens to reveal ScourgeScourge (Transformers)
Scourge is the name of several fictional characters from the Transformers series. He first appeared as one of the central villains in the 1986 film The Transformers, voiced by Stan Jones. He also regularly appeared in the animated Transformers series and Transformers comic books. Since then other...
, who tells the astonished Transformers that the war is over and Shockwave has united the planet. Shockwave himself then arrives with a bodyguard of Autobots and Decepticons, gunning down Scourge and arresting the Earthen Transformers as war criminals. After quelling any discontent with his new Triple Changer
Triple Changer
Triple Changers are Transformers that can transform from robot into two different alternative modes.-Transformers: Generation 1:...
s (and gunning down Megatron) the rest of the Transformers leave peacefully, but not before Prime leaves a team of Autobots on Earth just in case.
After Starscream
Starscream (Transformers)
Starscream is a fictional character in the Transformers franchise. He is one of the most prolific characters in the Transformers fictional work, appearing in almost all incarnations of the story. Starscream is usually portrayed with the same characterization...
dumps Megatron in space after escaping from stasis the Autobots learn that Shockwave had indeed unified the planet, awarding power to an Autobot council while he remains in charge of the military, with Ultra Magnus
Ultra Magnus
Ultra Magnus is the name of several fictional characters from the various Transformers storylines.-Transformers: Generation 1:The greatest Transformer of them all. A commander could want no finer a soldier than Ultra Magnus...
as his second in command. Before the series started Cybertron had completely shut down before Scourge arrived to study the inhabitants. Reactivating Shockwave he saved him from the Sharkticons, only to be shot in the back in return. Shockwave used the secrets plundered from Scourge's body to create the Triple Changer
Triple Changer
Triple Changers are Transformers that can transform from robot into two different alternative modes.-Transformers: Generation 1:...
s and unify Cybertron. In the present, Shockwave is studying Alpha Trion
Alpha Trion
Alpha Trion is a fictional character in the various Transformers universes. Alpha Trion is one of the Thirteen Primes, thus all his portrayals are considered to be the same individual. He is generally depicted as an ancient mechanoid with a link to Optimus Prime...
for his access to Vector Sigma, and has Menasor reactivated as a distraction while he puts the final phase of his plan into operation. In the meantime Grimlock has located the rest of the Dinobots
Dinobots
Dinobots is the name of several teams of characters in the fictional Transformers Universe. The groups are made up of several robots, each of whose transformed mode is that of a dinosaur or similar prehistoric animal. They are called Dinotrons in the Japanese version; and ' in the Japanese dub of...
in the Arctic and is now returning to Cybertron with them.
Prime, about to be forcibly shut down, is saved by Sandstorm
Sandstorm (Transformers)
Sandstorm refers to several different characters in the various Transformers universes. The original Sandstorm was an Autobot Triple Changer who appeared in the Transformers animated series, voiced by Jerry Houser in 1986...
and Broadside
Broadside (Transformers)
Broadside is the name of three fictional characters from the various Transformers universes.-Transformers: Generation 1:Broadside's bio presented him as literally getting the worst possible out of his alternate modes. He transforms into an Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, but gets seasick. He...
take him to see an Autobot resistance group led by Hot Rod, where he discovers that Shockwave has secretly been conditioning the population for a war of conquest. With Magnus taking out Menasor and the Dinobots battling the Guardian units Prime led an attack on Iacon itself. A doubting Magnus is shot by Shockwave, and he also takes the Matrix from Prime to access Vector Sigma
Vector Sigma
In the fictional universe of the first Transformers animated series, Vector Sigma is the "mega-computer" that gives sentience to non-sentient robots, and is used by the Quintessons to endow their robotic creations with the true life that eventually leads to their rebellion...
. However he is stopped by Magnus, now having lost his damaged outer armour to reveal his inner robot - who looks exactly like a white Prime. It is revealed Magnus is in fact Prime's brother, and the two stop Shockwave as Starscream and his followers flee the planet. Grimlock arrives and saves both brothers from falling into the pit at the centre of Cybertron. Elsewhere Megatron's battered body is recovered by Wreck-Gar
Wreck-Gar
Wreck-Gar is the name of two characters from the Transformers universes. Both are unpredictable good-aligned characters who provide comic relief in their series.-Transformers: Generation 1:Wreck-gar is the idiosyncratic leader of the Junkions....
Generation One (Ongoing title)
After the success of the second series Dreamwave decided to upgrade the series to ongoing status. A special issue #0 was released, written by Brad Mick aka James McDonough and Adam Patyk, with art by Pat Lee, Don FigueroaDon Figueroa
Don Allan Figueroa is a Filipino American comic book artist and toy designer. He is best known for his work on many different Transformers designs, for both the defunct Dreamwave Productions and with IDW Publishing.-Dreamwave Productions:...
and Joe Ng. With Figueroa taking over as sole penciller from issue #1, the stories would mostly focus on the Autobots led by Jazz
Jazz (Transformers)
Jazz is the name of a fictional character from the various Transformers universes. He is usually portrayed as a music loving robot and talks with a slang accent. He is also a good friend of Optimus Prime's...
, who were left behind on Earth by Optimus Prime in the second series. The first six-issue arc would focus on the conflict between Jazz' team and Starscream
Starscream (Transformers)
Starscream is a fictional character in the Transformers franchise. He is one of the most prolific characters in the Transformers fictional work, appearing in almost all incarnations of the story. Starscream is usually portrayed with the same characterization...
's faction, who left Cybertron at the end of the second series. After an attack by Bruticus
Combaticons
The Combaticons are a group of Decepticon military vehicles in the assorted fictional universes of the Transformers.- Transformers: Generation 1 :...
most of the Autobots are captured. However Starscream's forces were decimated by the self-destructing Ark
Ark (Transformers)
The Ark is an Autobot spacecraft in the Transformers Universe. It has appeared as a central fixture of the Transformers storyline ever since its creation, as the Autobots main method of transport to Earth and as a base once they arrive....
and by the arrival of the most unexpected foe of all - Starscream's seemingly mad but extraordinarily powerful clone Sunstorm
Sunstorm (Transformers)
Sunstorm is the name of several fictional characters from the Transformers universes. Sunstorm is always a Decepticon allied jet who is yellow or orange in color.-Transformers: Generation 1:...
, forcing Starscream into an uneasy alliance with the Autobots and a reactivated Jetfire
Jetfire
Jetfire is the name of several fictional characters from the Transformers universes. He is nearly always depicted as an Autobot with jet or space shuttle alternate mode.-Transformers: Generation 1:...
. The arc also introduced Omega Supreme
Omega Supreme
Omega Supreme is the name of a fictional character from the Transformers franchise. He is always an Autobot and is often depicted as a gigantic transformer with vast strength and/or overwhelming firepower.-Transformers: Generation 1:...
, and would reveal the existence of a mysterious Cybertronian seal on Earth, which only Starscream could open. A backup strip drawn by James Raiz in issue #4 revealed that Megatron had been repaired, and that Wreck-Gar
Wreck-Gar
Wreck-Gar is the name of two characters from the Transformers universes. Both are unpredictable good-aligned characters who provide comic relief in their series.-Transformers: Generation 1:Wreck-gar is the idiosyncratic leader of the Junkions....
had built an army of Seeker clones for him before the Decepticon leader obliterated him.
The next two issues reintroduced Spike, and dealt with the Autobots battling the Insecticons
Insecticons
Insecticons is the name given to a sub-group of fictional characters in the Transformers Universes, referred to as Insectrons in the Japanese version. The name was also used for several fictional characters in the Transformers Universes...
to free the mind-controlled inhabitants of a town. Issues #9 and 10 would focus on the Decepticon leadership, with Megatron returning, backed by the Predacons (who he had forced into service in the Summer Special), first forcing Shockwave into servitude, stopping his Sixchanger
Sixshot
Sixshot is the name of two fictional characters from the various Transformers series. Introduced in 1987, Sixshot appeared in the last few episodes of the original US Transformers animated series, voiced by Neil Ross. His defining gimmick was that he had six different forms, not two like a normal...
experiments, before journeying to Earth to beat Starscream into submission. It was hinted that all 3 knew something significant about Cybertron's past, but Dreamwave went out of business before this could be revealed.
The series was routinely Dreamwave's best-selling regular series. It was alternately praised and criticised for its very 'fan-friendly' writing (using more obscure G1 characters and bringing in lots of continuity, for example). Bankruptcy brought the series to a sudden close after issue #10 in January 2005, with many plots left unresolved. With Chris Saccarini rejoining as writer and Pat Lee on art, previews indicated that issue #11 would have featured the female Autobots from the original animated series and issue #12 would feature the return of Optimus Prime (who had been injured in War and Peace). Scourge - Now in the possession of the Earth Defence Command - was also set to reappear, along with Cyclonus
Cyclonus
Cyclonus is the name of several fictional characters from the various Transformers universes.-Transformers: Generation 1:The tech spec from the box art of the Cyclonus toy describes him as a compassionless Decepticon air warrior and saboteur...
.
IDW Publishing
When IDW PublishingIDW Publishing
IDW Publishing, also known as Idea + Design Works, LLC and IDW, is an American publisher of comic books and comic strip collections. The company was founded in 1999 and has been awarded the title "Publisher of the Year Under 5% Market Share" for the years 2004, 2005 and 2006 by Diamond Comic...
acquired the rights to the Transformers licence, they would reprint the first two G1 mini-series from Dreamwave in trade paperback form in February and March 2006. As of April 2007, Ryall remarked that the unpublished Dreamwave stories were still tied up in legal issues and that it was likely to stay that way, leaving those stories unfinished.