Return to Cybertron

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"Return to Cybertron"
Publisher	Marvel Books
First published	1984
Written by	Suzanne Weyn
Art by	Charles Nicholas
ISBN	ISBN 9780871350251 ISBN 0-87135-025-4
Page count	16 story pages, 4 pages of stickers

Optimus Prime returns to find Cybertron under Decepticon control.

Synopsis

Optimus Prime and Prowl are working on a "mysterious spaceship". Despite their advanced astroengineering know-how, they still need assistance from Sparkplug, who is building a device to track the spaceship's journey. The ship is a single-seater, preprogrammed to take its passenger directly back to Cybertron. Sparkplug gripes that Earth is a perfectly fine planet and he doesn't see any reason to leave, which leads Prime to regale him with yet another retelling of how the Autobots came to Earth in the first place.

Then it hit me that Sunstreaker was really just a leg, with the round part just the way you would expect.

Since the Autobots have been gone so long, it is imperative that they re-establish contact, even if it's just to ensure that Cybertron still exists. The discussion is disrupted by a Decepticon assault. Laserbeak and the Decepticon jets blast through the Autobots' encampment, and a direct shot takes Optimus Prime out of commission.

Prime awakens to find his comrades slaughtered. Knowing there is nothing he can do alone, he takes the one-man ship back to Cybertron in hopes of finding reinforcements. Unfortunately, the planet is fully under Decepticon control! Prime meets an Ancient Autobot survivor who tells Prime of the Decepticons' conquest of their homeworld. Prime relates that the Autobots of Earth have fallen as well, just as the pair are ambushed by Decepticon police! The Decepticons blast Prime...who awakens in the Autobot repair bay, surrounded by his teammates. Prowl and Bumblebee tell him that IT WAS ALL A DREAM. This only steels Optimus Prime's resolve to defeat the Decepticons once and for all.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"Why are you all fired up to get back to that electronic planet of yours? I think Earth's a darned nice place to live myself."

—Sparkplug

"Look up here, you Earth-bound rattle-traps! Look at us! Beautiful, mechanical birds of the sky. You will never defeat us!"

—Thundercracker

"...so, you see, only a few of us Autobots survived the Decepticon massacre. Optimus Prime, you must return to Earth and rally a force to reclaim Cybertron. You are our only hope."

—ancient Autobot survivor

Notes

Sadly, not the first time this has happened.

• Prowl is described as Optimus Prime's "helper".
• Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, and Mirage have non-speaking roles. Sunstreaker's appearance consists of "being a corpse".
• Thundercracker refers to himself (and his fellow jets) as "beautiful mechanical birds of the sky". Ohhhh-kaaay...
• In the flashback to ancient Cybertron, we see a guy who looks like Mirage with a red helmet and a Seeker color scheme that is entirely original—blue with purple tailfins and trim.
• Megatron is conspicuously absent.
• On the last page, Optimus Prime is shown with his arms around his fellow Autobots, Bumblebee and... Soundwave?
• Autobot Soundwave has googly eyes.
• This book was used in the movie Spaceballs with a large Spaceballs sticker over the cover.

External links

• Return to Cybertron at Steve-o Stonebraker's site.