United Kingdom
From Transformers Wiki
TheUnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland(also calledRegion 2) is a strange, possibly allegorical, land where pants are called trousers, underwear is called pants, women run the government,Batmankidnaps children, state-sponsored media is popular instead of elitist, vinegar is a condiment, and they have good rock and roll.
Also, they spell things funny and theirDVDswon't play on our DVD players.Spooky.
Fiction
Generation 1 continuity family
Marvel Comics continuity
MarvelThe Transformerscomics
Some time in the past, theMan of Ironand hisNavigatorcame toEarthwhile searching for theArkand left their ship beneath the area that would one day becomeStansham.There they remained, though the Man of Iron would occasionally leave the ship to visit the surface—in1017he encounteredhumans,includingGodwin the StrongarmandAethelric,and a further two sightings were recorded.
In1984a beacon from the ship attracted the attention of the earthboundAutobotsand they took ashuttleto the United Kingdom to investigate. Upon arrival,Jazzkidnapped a human namedSammy Harkerto provide the Autobots with intelligence about the local area, but they were attacked by theDecepticons,who had also followed the beacon to its source.
As battle raged aboveStansham Castle,the Man of Iron emerged from his ship once more, only to be blown up byThundercracker.Jazz destroyed the ship (inadvertently killing the Navigator) and theTransformersleft the United Kingdom.Man of Iron
About a year later they would return, seeking the source of an energy transmission that caused aspects of their personalities to reverse. Tracing the signal to a secret research facility Jazz andStarscreamfought overZeke Heilmann,a human who was stealing the core ofPARDfor his own nefarious purposes. In the ensuing battle both Zeke and the device were destroyed by Jazz.To a Power Unknown!
By1987,the country was the home of theEuropeanbranch of international anti-terrorism taskforceAction Force;their field leaderFlintwas an English soldier. They ended up battling alongsideGrimlock,BladesandCenturionagainst a ragingMegatron(or so they thought) inLondon's docklands. Centurion and Megatron fell into theRiver Thames.Ancient Relics!
Richard Branson(orMister Johnson) attempted to fish out the remains, only forShockwaveand theSeaconsto swipe his catch.Salvage!
In1990,Shockwave emerged from the sea off the coast ofBlackpoolwhere he paused only to squash amanand hisdogbefore leaving forNew Jerseyto spy onScorponok.Dark CreationHe later set up his Decepticon dissident base there.Surrender!
Transformers Comic-Magazin
As Scotland was an oil exporter, Glasgow came under heavy Decepticon attack in their attempt to seize all oil in one go. (I think you meant Aberdeen, guys.) The Autobots slowly pushed the Decepticons out.Transformers in Action: He Who Laughs Last...
FleetwayGeneration 2comic
In1994,Bludgeonled his forces to attack London with the intention of attractingOptimus Prime.The damage to the city was severe; even the Houses of Parliament were bombed. Optimus defeated Bludgeon only to face a returned Megatron, who handed hisskidplateto him. Before he could finish off his old adversary, Megatron was attacked by Bludgeon's troops and Optimus was rescued by theDinobots.The arrival of Jazz's group forced Megatron to escape with Starscream and Prime declared victory, though he advocated that the Autobots vacate the area to escape any human retaliation.War Without EndWar Zone
MarvelGeneration 2comic
Londonwas one of the cities hit in the Decepticons' global slaughter.The Gathering Darkness
Generation 1 cartoon continuity
The Transformerscartoon
AgroupofDecepticons,the AutobotsWarpathandHoist,andSpike Witwickyended up time-travelling to England in the 6th Century. Starscream got involved in a spat between local SirsWigend of BlackthornandAetheling the Redbefore seizing control from the former and attempting to conquer the latter's fiefdom, as well as messing about with history by creating gunpowder in Europe centuries early. Luckily, Spike and the Autobots stopped him.
We also learned England possesses the time-travelling site known asDragon Mound,that plate armour existedfarearlier than stuffy historians and their "facts" would tell us, and thatdragons existed naturally in England.A Decepticon Raider in King Arthur's Court
In the 20th Century the country had the dubious honour of big-game hunter and national stereotypeLord Chumleycausing an international incident when he stole atop secret Soviet jet.The Autobots sorted it out and made a mess of his castle.Prime Target
Japanese cartoon continuity
Strangely, by this point in time, Britain was covered with the type of thick fog that hadn't been seen since the 1950s. It's almost like someone hadn't done any research.
Sixshotblackmailed the UK to hand over its energy or he would devastate London. It didn't, so he did.Terror! The Six Shadows
TheGodmasterLightfoot,heir toBritish Motors,was born in Britain. His father was unable to start a car company in England and so moved to that land of enterprise,Canada.Lightfoot: A Dramatic EncounterChampion racer and fellow GodmasterRoad Kingalso originated from the UK, having the nickname "the British Wolf".
Flight 308 fromMont Partawas captured byBloodoff the coast of England, in the Strait of Dover.Kidnapping!? The Targeted Jumbo JetViolating UK airspace was apparently a laugh, as the Decepticon Godmaster jetsHydraandBusterhad fun zooming over London at high speeds before heading on toJapan.Super Warriors - The Godmaster Brothers
Wings Universe
Pyro Ignatius Sparkwas a citizen of the United Kingdom. WhenClench'sDecepticon Syndicateattempted to kidnap and ransom theQueen of England,Pyro was motivated to gather his own team of second generation Autobots to oppose the Syndicate.Clench's profile
Battle Beneath the Ice
The United Kingdom would presumably be part of theFederation of Western Europe,something the EEC will turn into in the near future of 2000.Battle Beneath the Ice
Beast Wars: Uprising
Circa 1984, the Acton family took a trip to England, much to the ire of their sonNoah,seeing a variety of historic landmarks. During their trip to theBritish Museum,Starscream led an attack on the facility to claim a statue ofAmenhotep IIIthat supposedly hadmagicalpowers. They also got a niftypaperweight.Cultural Appropriation
Unicron Trilogy
Energoncartoon
In the peaceful inter-war period, the Autobots builtPlains Cityin England. It wasn't actually on a plain.Official Guidebook
Cybertroncartoon
While looking for theOmega Lock,the Autobots dug up around an ancient druid site. The area briefly became a battleground whenThundercrackerandStarscreamattacked.Space
Later, Starscream'sAncient Decepticonarmy swarmed in the skies of the nation, spreading panic.Invasion
Live-action film series
IDW movie comics
Diego Garcia,a British overseas territory and home to a joint UK-USmilitary base, was used as a training facility forNESTand base for Autobots.Alliance #3British armed forces eventually became part of NEST and helped destroy the DecepticonOvercast.Alliance #4
Titan movie comic
The Orkney Islands are home to a NEST base, and noted as a forward operating location. The base contains a training facility for Autobots.New Tricks
Revenge of the Fallenfilm
An unknown number of British Army soldiers served in NEST, at least one who would get killed in battle.SASF Agent Graham,a special forces operative, was part ofMajor Lennox's NEST command structure; like most of NEST, he trusted the Autobots.Revenge of the Fallen
Dark of the Moonfilm
Carly Spencerwas British, and worked for the UK embassy when she first metSam Witwicky.Dark of the Moon
The Last Knightfilm
The legendaryKing Arthurwas helped by the Transformers, and millennia later the United Kingdom was visited again by the denizens of Cybertron.The Last Knight
Bumblebeefilm
Charlie Watsonhad a Union Jack poster stashed in her room.Bumblebee
Merchandise
Bendy-Bus Primelanded inLondonand took the form of abendy bus.
Shattered Glass
The British want to invade the United States. Boo, hiss! Don't be too concerned, though. The queen knows that bombing land she wants to conquer is VERY counter-productive. Wonder why no one else thought of that.Eye in the Sky
Animatedcartoon
By the 22nd century,Waleswas no longer a part of the UK and had become a U.S. State. At some prior point, diplomatic relations between the US and UK were broken beforePresidentBenito Carusorestored those ties.The AllSpark Almanac II
Aligned continuity family
Primecartoon
During the search forPredaconremains,Ultra Magnus,Wheeljack,andBulkheadwent to investigate Decepticon activity inScotland.Project PredaconThough they easily overcame theVehiconssearching there,Starscreamand hisPredaconwere a different matter, and the Decepticons ultimately got away with the fossil they needed.Chain of Command
2015Robots in Disguisecartoon
Fixitintercepted a Decepticon transmission coming from a remote island off the English coast and was excited to get a chance to visit, despiteBumblebee's warnings that dashing knights and chivalric adventures are only in the movies. Then they slayeda dragon!The Golden Knight
Spacewarp's Log
In the 31st century, a combined alliance of theDarkling LordandInhumanoidshave conquered all mainland areas on earth.Arthur Pendragonreists them as the crowned king of The United Kingdom of Great Britain;Ireland;Iceland;Greenland;Australia;New Zealand;New Guinea;Madagascar;Cuba;Manhattan,Staten Island, and Long Island;the Canadian Island Territories;Japan;Borneo;Hispaniola;Svalbard;Tierra del Fuego;Puerto Rico;Indonesia;thePhilippines;Sakhalin;andTaiwan,also known as the UK for short.
Notes
- Despite being a tiny country, English, the primary native language of the UK, seems to have become wide-spoken throughout the galaxy. Interesting.
- By strange coincidence, a number of Transformers (including the entire planet ofGigantion) have accents identical to some of those in the United Kingdom! And we thought they were allAmerican...
- In 2009,Prime MinisterGordon Brownmade a public appeal forOptimus Primeto come and solve the country's problems, to which the Conservative Party responded Brown had "more in common with the Decepticons".[1]The following year's Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition would presumably make the Lib Dems theMini-Consbut we're not sure who the Scottish National Party count as in this stretched metaphor.
- The UK has produced several Transformers comics, including the long runningMarvel UKTransformerstitle, which reprinted (sometimes with edits) American Marvel comics and created new stories around them. It's never had the same success yet, though it has made comics based onGeneration 2,Armada,the live-action films,andAnimated,andPrime.If that wasn't enough transforming robots, it also published a strip based on theGoBotsunder theirRobo Machinebranding![2]
- The UK also produced a few people who've done the odd Transformers-related thing, like "strategically shaved ape"Simon Furman,James Roberts,Andrew Wildman,andGeoff Senior.
- The word "slag"is considered offensive in the UK (you wouldn't want your sister to be described as one). This has causedsomeTV shows to be (very badly) edited to avoid use of the term (although strangely notall), and at least onecharacter namechange on both sides of the Atlantic. They also have trouble with the word "spastic",resulting in similar controversies and abrupt character name-changes. It's still okay to call a cigarette a" fag ", though.
- We have DVD boxsets ofthe 2001Robots in DisguisecartoonandZone,and you Yanks still don't. Ahhh ha ha ha HA. (Now let us have more than two super-cheapBeast WarsDVDs:( )
- At least our DVDs are better than the ones theJerrieshave, take that Fritz!
- British fan Louis Georgiou formerly had the largest collection ofTransformerstoys and merchandise (2,111) as of 11 May 2017,[3]but has since been surpassed by American AJ Ard in 2018 (with 3,626 items).[4]
- In 2024, the world's first dedicatedTransformersstore opened; situated in Battersea Power Station, London.
References
- ↑Daily Telegraph report
- ↑http://counter-x.net/gobots/comic/robo_machines/
- ↑Guiness World Records 2020 page 72
- ↑Guiness World Records 2022 page 197
External links
- United Kingdomat Wikipedia
