A small band of Autobots take Optimus Prime's consciousness to Nebulos to have a new body built for him, but encounter some potentially deadly challenges.

Synopsis[]

Fortress Maximus has ordered the skeleton crew on the Steelhaven to travel to Nebulos to get some help in rebuilding Optimus Prime. Goldbug, Slapdash, Joyride, and Getaway meet with the Nebulan scientist, Hi-Q, who explains that after the events of the Headmasters miniseries, the citizens of Nebulos tainted their own energy sources so as to be poisonous to any Transformers that might seek to return to their world. When Decepticons Darkwing and Dreadwind arrived soon after the departure of the other Transformers, they soon found themselves victim of this poisoning, and lay dormant for a time. They were later revived by Nebulan traitors Hi-Test and Throttle, who had stolen power-conversion plans that eventually created the Powermasters. However a major side-effect is that in order to generate the energy the Nebulans must consume huge quantities of food, and many of Darkwing and Dreadwind's attacks are to secure supplies. Hi-Q, the creator of this process, binary bonds with the reborn Optimus Prime, and several members of his staff join with other Autobots, in order to combat the threat posed by Darkwing and Dreadwind. They, too, leave Nebulos to join the other Transformers on Earth.

Credits[]

Writer: Bob Budiansky
Pencil Art: Jose Delbo
Ink Art: Danny Bulanadi
Colorist: Nelson Yomtov
Letterer: Bill Oakley
Editor: Don Daley

• Originally published: July, 1988

Major characters[]

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Errors[]

• The Nebulan capital city of Koraja appears radically different than it did in the Headmasters miniseries; the new version of Koraja is both much larger and more overtly high-tech than the miniseries' version.
• Despite being on Nebulos, the Gardens of Eternal Peace and Harmony Macrobiotic Restaurant that Dreadwind and Darkwing attack at the start of the story has "RESTAURANT" written across the entrance in English.

Items of note[]

• Goldbug is the only Autobot who ends up not needing to become a Powermaster, thanks to his high fuel efficiency.

Which is convenient, since Kari, Hi-Q's fourth assistant, is a staunch pacifist who refuses to fight alongside the Autobots.

References[]

• Slapdash, Joyride, and Getaway all made their first appearances in the previous issue, in which the narration described them as being charged with guarding the Optimus Prime disk on board Steelhaven.
• Hi-Q explains the steps that the Council of Peers took to keep invading robots off Nebulos after the final issue of the Headmasters miniseries.

UK printing[]

• In the Grim Grams for issue #176, Grimlock declines to answer a puzzle involving guessing the identity of a Dinobot who transforms into a T-Rex, hates Blaster and answers the letter page.
• Issue #177 featured an updated Transformers A-Z entry for Optimus Prime.
• In the Grim Grams for issue #177, Grimlock states he doesn't believe that an appearance by an issue of Transformers on long running UK soap Coronation Street could be considered an honor.

Covers (3)[]

• U.S. issue 42 cover: battle royal by Jose Delbo
• UK issue 176 cover: Darkwing and Dreadwind by Kev Hopgood; the image of Dreadwind from this cover was reused as part of the first "Dread Tidings" masthead during the character's stint on Marvel UK letters page.
• UK issue 177 cover: Optimus Prime cover by Jeff Anderson proclaiming the character's return. This image would later be cropped and used as the character portrait in the info block on future UK covers.

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