Just when did the early UK stories take place?

Putting the earliest UK stories into a Transformers chronology is a tricky business. There are four UK stories (Man of Iron, The Enemy Within, Raiders of the Last Ark, Decepticon Dam Busters) set between events in the first four US stories (The Transformers, Power Play, Prisoner of War, The Last Stand), and it's difficult to see where they fit into the tight timescale of events. This is also true of some of the flashback scenes in the first Earthforce story, Perchance to Dream. At least one of these flashbacks takes place in this same period.

• Where are the gaps?
• Man of Iron
• The Enemy Within
• Raiders of the Last Ark
• Decepticon Dam Busters
• Earthforce Flashbacks - to be added

Where are the gaps in the US stories?

There are a number of possible gaps in the US narrative between the Transformers awakening on Earth, and the Autobots' defeat at the end of The Last Stand. Where I have given page numbers, I assume that the story begins on page 1, and don't count adverts as pages. That way, you can find the page whether you're reading the story using the US comic, UK comic, a graphic novel, IDW reprint, or scans. The gaps are as follows:

1. Between panels of Power Play page 9, whilst Sparkplug is repairing Bumblebee. The caption says that this took "a few hours". During this gap the Decepticons are busy building their new base.
2. During Prisoner of War, around about page 10. Buster is in the Ark and Sparkplug is a Decepticon prisoner working on fuel conversion. The rest of the story is portrayed as being the next day on page 11. However, this is more an implication than a proven fact.
3. Between panels of Prisoner of War page 23. (effectively between Prisoner of War and The Last Stand), whilst Ratchet is repairing Gears. A caption says that Gears is repaired "soon", and Buster and Sparkplug appear to have been in the Ark all this time.
4. Between The Last Stand pages 6 and 12 whilst Ratchet is taking Sparkplug to the hospital.

Back to Top

Man of Iron

Man of Iron was printed in UK #9-12, reprinted in full colour in Collected Comics #3, and, differently coloured, in US #33-34. It is set at the end of summer (UK #9 page 1), but it's still the school holidays (UK #10 page 10), which means that it is the last week in August or the first in September. The story clearly takes place over a few days. The story features Optimus Prime, Jazz, Mirage, Bluestreak, Trailbreaker, the original three Seekers, Laserbeak and/or Buzzsaw.

I don't think the story can fit, as has been suggested, after The Last Stand because the Transformers featured mean it would have to be between Prime Time (US #12/UK #39-40) and Command Performances (US #19/UK #70-71). Prime Time is shortly before Christmas Breaker (UK #41) and so happens in December 1985 and Command Performances is definitely before Aerialbots over America (US #21/UK #89-90), which happens on the 4th of July 1985. This rules out the time of year established in the story itself.

So where does it go? My best guess is that it's during gap 2 - in the middle of Prisoner of War. When the Autobots return to the Ark, they send a team to investigate the signal whilst the Decepticons do the same. This is also where the UK editorial team placed this story in their three Robot War features (UK #22, 36, 63) which told us the story so far.

Back to Top

The Enemy Within

This story (UK #13-17, reprinted in full colour in Collected Comics #4 and UK #308-317) gives us lots of clues as to when it is set. It has to be after Prisoner of War because Megatron mentions the Decepticons' encounter with Spider Man (UK #13 page 2). It has to be before The Last Stand because Megatron is in sole command and the Decepticons are still in their original base. However, it cannot easily fit in either gap 3 or gap 4 because it features both Gears (in the background of UK #15 pages 1-2 and UK #17 pages 4-5 and possibly also in UK #13 page 9, though it's unclear who the character is supposed to be) and Ratchet (plays an important role in UK #15 page 2). My best guess is that it happens whilst Gears is being repaired and that his presence in the background is an artistic error. The Robot War features (UK #22, 36, 63) place it somewhere before the end of The Last Stand, but don't give us any more information.

Back to Top

Raiders of the Last Ark

This story (UK #18-21) follows on from The Enemy Within (UK #13-17). It features Gears, but not Ratchet - so it has to happen in gap 4. It could plausibly happen either side of the scenes in The Last Stand set in the Decepticon base. There is a caption at the end stating that it happens before the end of The Last Stand

Back to Top

Decepticon Dam Busters

This story (UK #29-30) consists of Ratchet telling the Dinobots a cautionary tale as they travel back to the Ark after Repeat Performances (US #8/UK #27-28). Ratchet's tale, if true, has to have happened before the end of The Last Stand. However, it is clear that Ratchet is getting some of the details wrong - there are lots of non-existent Decepticons hanging around, as well as Inferno - who is on Cybertron at this point. It may be that Ratchet made the story up.

Assuming that he didn't make it up, there are some clues as to when it happened. Firstly, Ratchet was there - so it can't have been in gap 4. Secondly, Bumblebee plays a major role in events - so it can't be in gap 1. That leaves us with gap 2 (the middle of Prisoner of War) and gap 3 (between Prisoner of War and The Last Stand). Because I have placed The Enemy Within in gap 3, I think that gap is a little bit crowded, so my best guess is straight after Man of Iron, which happens to agree with the three Robot War features (UK #22, 36, 63).

Back to Top

Conclusion

The timeline of the early stories, therefore, goes something like this:

• US #1 / UK #1-2 (The Transformers)
• US #2 / UK #3-4 (Power Play)
• US #3 / UK #5 pages 1-10 (Prisoner of War)
• UK #9-12 (Man of Iron - later reprinted in US #33-34)
• UK #29-30 (Decepticon Dam Busters flashbacks)
• US #3 / UK #5-6 pages 10-23 (Prisoner of War)
• UK #13-17 (The Enemy Within)
• US #3 / UK #6 final two panels (Prisoner of War)
• US #4 / UK #7 pages 1-7 or 1-9 (The Last Stand)
• UK #18-21 (Raiders of the Last Ark)
• US #4 / UK #7-8 pages 7-21 or 10-21 (The Last Stand)

You visited Target: 2006 at 10:53 pm BST on Monday 6th September 2010