#1 - "Departure"/"Primeval Dawn"

Departure

Credits

Writer - Glen Hallit / Additional Text - Rob Gerbracht / Art - Dan Khanna / Lettering - Richard Starkings & Comicraft

Story

The story begins on Earth in the early part of the 21st century, where a crisis has just erupted in Dr. Fujiyama's lab. His new army of robotic ninjas (based on the original Nightbird prototype) has gone berserk, attacking the doctor and his guests -- Daniel Witwicky, and the Autobots Arcee and Wheelie. An Autobot rescue ship soon arrives and saves Arcee and Dr. Fujiyama, but Daniel and Wheelie are trapped and injured. Left with no choice, Daniel detonates a thermal grenade, sacrificing himself and Wheelie to defeat the swarm of Nightbirds.

Later on, after the Pax Cybertronia puts an end to the Autobot/Decepticon war, Arcee is still depressed over Daniel's death. Hot Rod attempts to engage her by talking about his plans to undergo the Maximal upgrade -- where Transformers are reduced in size in exchange for increased energon efficiency -- but she remains sulking.

Cut to much later in Transformers history, where Optimus Primal leads a small band of Maximals against Megatron's domination of the planet. Primal and Nightscream have just rescued three long-forgotten Deployers (Rav, Mol, and Drillbit), but are immediately pursued by the Vehicons. The Maximals are saved by the unexpected arrival of two newcomers, Ramulus and Primal Prime. Optimus Primal's confusion is quickly clarified by Apelinq, while Ramulus bears a grudge against Primal for abandoning him on prehistoric Earth during the Beast Wars.

Eventually, the three take the Maximals to see the Oracle, which reveals the existence of three other Maximal groups beside Optimus Primal's own: the Mutants (Razorclaw, Soundwave, Poison Bite, and Icebird), the Dinobots (Magmatron, Rapticon, Airraptor, Dinotron, Striker, Triceradon, and T-Wrecks), and the Wreckers (Primal Prime, Ramulus, Sonar, Spittor, Tigatron, Packrat, Fractyl, and Apelinq). The Oracle explains that it is orchestrating each group's activities in an attempt to end Megatron's domination of the planet. Then, after giving each group a set of assignments, the Oracle erases Optimus Primal's and Nightscream's memory of the meeting and sends them away.

Primal Prime, meanwhile, is ordered to lead the Wreckers away from Cybertron for a special mission. But before he leaves, the Wreckers visit Rodimus, the older and wiser version of Hot Rod. Rodimus is still vainly trying to convince Arcee (now reformed as a spider) to join them, but she is still depressed over Daniel's death and sends them away.

Fractyl, however, lags behind; he tries to approach Arcee, but they are suddenly attacked by Megatron's new Vehicon generals, Quake and Blastcharge. In the ensuing firefight, Fractyl is severely wounded, which jolts Arcee into action -- she has been honing her combat skills during her years of solitude, and uses them to quickly repel the Vehicons. She then saves Fractyl by reformatting him into a Transmetal design.

Meanwhile, the other Wreckers have arrived at their spaceship, but find that it is inhabited by Vehicon drones. Another fight quickly ensues, and the Wreckers receive air support from Cyclonus, Rotorbolt, and Skywarp against the Vehicons. They are soon joined by Arcee and Fractyl, while Tigatron uses his mystical "Nature's Fury" attack to destroy Quake.

As the Wreckers board the ship and lift off from Cybertron, they are attacked by a single mysterious warrior, Devcon. And in the depths of Cybertron, away from any observers, the Oracle creates another mechanoid to aid the Wreckers in their mission: Alpha Trion...

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Primeval Dawn

Credits

Writer - Bob Forward / Art - Dan Khanna / Lettering - Richard Starkings & Comicraft

Story

The story begins on prehistoric Earth, after the end of the Beast Wars and the departure of Optimus Primal and his team of Maximals. The alien Vok, who had been previously running experiments on the planet, resurrect the dead Maximals Airrazor and Tigatron. Then, by combining the Autobot Maxtrix, the Transmetal Driver, and the Optimal Optimus control armor, the Vok create Primal Prime.

Unknown to the Vok, however, the Predacon spy Tarantulas (who survived their earlier attempt to kill him) watches the proceedings from afar. Along with the Tripredacus Agent and several decanted Predacons, Tarantulas begins to plot his revenge against the Vok and their servants...

Notes and Comments

• The comic book was published by 3H Productions, the organizers of BotCon: Glen Hallit, Jon Hartman, and Karl Hartman. It was available exclusively to attendees of BotCon 2001.
• The computer-generated cover is by Mainframe Productions, the animation studio which produced the Beast Wars and Beast Machines TV shows.
• "Transformers: The Wreckers" was available in a variant cover, an exclusive for attendees of the BotCon 2001 VIP dinner. This cover was drawn by Dan Khanna, and features Rodimus and the Wreckers bursting from the cover page.
• The Optimal Optimus control suit was shown in the Beast Wars episode, "Master Blaster."