Transformation 150: Secret Origin.

24/3/2015

It's the single most important issue of Transformers Simon Furman ever wrote, creating the entire origin of the species that has gone on to be the definitive take on their creation.

All that plus a bad ass Wreck-Gar and a sad Smokescreen as well.

All in my look at The Legacy of Unicron! Part 5

As I reach this milestone, I thank you all for reading once again. Bless you all, every one.

Remember, no entry on Friday, but there will be a treat on Saturday.

7 Comments

Simon Hall

25/3/2015 01:15:32 pm

Woot! Yeah, this story totally ramped up my enjoyment of Transformers and is the key reason they've resonated with me - why shouldn't they be fully formed robotic lifeforms? The cartoons pish about them being built massively devalues the whole concept of senitent robots, with them being little more than super-advanced A.I.* Its like if Skynet's Terminator's suddenly decided to call in the union about all this killing and dressing up in flesh malarky.

Living, thinking, feeling (breathing?) robots is where I'm at with Transformers. Even though this origina has been done to death in the last 15 years, its still hugely impressive for its scope and impact...and it'll be interesting to see how the Bayverse handles this (please no Quintessons please no Quintessons).

*Although I do like how the current MTMTE has brought in the concept of 'constructed cold'.

Best of all, this proper kick ass comic-book storytelling. Whilst I'd agree, Jeff Anderson struggles with the pyschedelics (in much the same way the cartoon did), I do like his renditions of Primus and Unicron in their energy forms better than (whisper it) Geoff Senior's later effort.

Nathan webb

26/3/2015 12:34:04 am

I remember this issue so vividly, it blew my mind! I hadn't seen the cartoon origin as I don't think it was on TV when I was a kid and up until this issue of the comic I had never even thought about where the transformers came from. I always just accepted that the transformers just were.

Tim Roll-Pickering link

26/3/2015 10:28:35 am

I'm another who first read the origin in the US reprint and then came to the original via the reprint (of which a tale for another day) and it felt pretty bold in giving a grander purpose to the series beyond two factions warring against one another for reason of the week. And it made sense of the movie. However Unicron could get old hat even during the Marvel run when the black and white stories present two takes on the same idea with six months. But for the grand events he still remained special enough.

And as someone who consumed this one in childhood but not the cartoon versions until much later I've always found their origins for both the TFs and Unicron to be rather silly and not what I feel later versions of the TF story should use. Or maybe I've absorbed some of Grimlock's rants.

Otherwise it's great to see Wreck Garr has made good use of his time even if he hasn't taken basic precautions and used a remote detonator.

And Iron Man isn't slacking the pace either. Not a bad back-up strip to finish up before the merger.

Dave

28/3/2015 11:28:59 pm

What I think is quite bold about this, is that it appears in the British comic. An origin tale is such a staple of the comic book genre that I find it baffling that (presumably(, Furman asked Budiansky if he intended to do one, and he just said, "Naaah". You'd think there would be some draw in the US to address the idea.

Stuart

30/3/2015 01:57:56 pm

As I understand it Furman just submitted it straight up to Hasbro with no prior consultation whatsoever (though presumably he discussed it with the strip's "Official" editor Starkings), quite a bold move that paid off by them OKing it without a bat of the eyelid. It's entirely possibly Budiansky never knew about it at the time, liaising with the UK would have been the job of his editor.

If Furman was expecting the forthcoming new wave of Marvel US style books to take off he might not have thought he'd be on the book much longer, and therefore wasn't worried about the story being contradicted by a future American tale as that wouldn't be his problem.

Ralph Burns

6/4/2015 11:31:10 am

This issue detonated my mind into Playdoh at the time. I do agree that it may be hard for folk who weren't there at the time to realise how utterly mind-mangling and batshit crazy the whole origin stuff is. Utterly mental though I did get a similar feeling when I randomly saw the 2nd Spongebob Squarepants movie recently. Never having watched a Spongebob thing before so not knowing it would be utterly bananas caused my ears to leak spare brain...EXACTLY LIKE IT WAS TO READ TFUK #150 ON DAY OF PUBLICATION!!!

*shakes fist*

SPECIAL TEAMS!

Felicity link

6/11/2019 07:03:02 pm

Since I’m not from the UK, the comic does not take precedence over the cartoon for me. Quite the opposite: for us in North America, the cartoon is the “real” version and the comic is the consolation prize—not as well-drawn, not as much fun, but still decent if you don’t have access to the cartoon at that moment. As such I’m free to prefer the Quintesson origin to the Primus one.

One thing I will say in praise of the Primus origin is that it neatly explains the “naturally occurring gears and pulleys” thing from issue one that fans found so silly. These appeared to be naturally-occurring but were secretly guided by the soul of Primus.

Of course, neither origin is wrong. I enjoy them both. The grand scope of the Primus origin is exhilarating. “Five Faces of Darkness” is definitely not my second-favourite, however.

Tim Roll-Pickering mentions the cartoon’s origin for Unicron, and I’d almost forgotten the cartoon even gave him one, because it was so brief. The material we were given in “Call of the Primitives” feels like Donald F. Glut was making it up as he went along. There’s a lot to unpack there, with Primacron being incredibly old, and his world lying beyond waves of space junk from civilisations long past, and with the Primacron’s assistant seemingly being a doppelganger for the Matrix, but it all gets swept under the rug so that Grimlock can get into the limelight and do his happy dance. On the plus side, at least it’s goofy third-season cartoon Grimlock and not badass Furman Grimlock.

Transformation 150: Secret Origin.

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