Perchance to Dream

Galvatron, Cyclonus and Scourge travel back in time with a plan to destroy Unicron.

=Marvel UK issues #255-60=

Writer: Simon Furman Artists: Andrew Wildman, Staz, John Stokes Lettering: Stuart Bartlett


 * Characters Prowl, Ironhide, Sunstreaker, Wheeljack, Silverbolt, Galvatron, Runabout & Runamuk, Menasor, Jetfire, Ravage, Optimus Prime, Jazz
 * Originally published: 3rd February 1990 - 10th March 1990

Synopsis
The Ark is unoccupied for an unknown reason, and an alternate reality Galvatron sneaks onboard. Using probe devices, he looks through the minds of the injured and offline Autobots, trying to find ones with dark sides that - now he knows their brain patterns - he can permanently unleash, creating a new army!

His devices probe Prowl, Ironhide, Sunstreaker, Wheeljack and Silverbolt, causing them all to dream about times on Earth when they committed questionable acts:


 * Prowl remembers trying to stop the Battlechargers during Decepticon Graffiti!. His aggressive approach and their response left a trail of devastation. Optimus stepped in, telling Prowl that, as an Autobot, he couldn't endanger humans like this - Prowl thought to himself "sometimes you have to fight fire with fire!".


 * Ironhide remembers finding himself near a siege, where unnamed terrorists were holding hostages. Believing the hostages would be killed if the police went in, Ironhide attacked in full force to intimidate the terrorists into surrendering; however, the police came in at the last moment and ruined the effect. Ironhide had to kill the lead terrorist and berated the police as "dumb organisms".


 * Sunstreaker remembers being on a covert recon mission to scout out Fortress Sinister (sometime during Power Play!), and blowing it by showing off. The Decepticons attacked, injuring Jazz; scared at the thought of being made "a mess" himself, Sunstreaker abandoned his comrade and deliberately drew the Decepticons near to the US military encampment so the humans would drive them off. Sunstreaker congratulated himself and admired how he'd saved his good looks, while many soldiers lay badly wounded as a result of his tactic.


 * Wheeljack remembers running into Ravage at the Blackrock Aerospace Plant, following the Dinobot Hunt. He wanted to find the technology used to make Jetfire so he could repair the injured Autobots, and made a deal with Ravage - in return for the technology, he'd brainwash Jetfire into returning to the Decepticons. Despite not trusting Jetfire, he backed out at the last minute. He later found out Ravage had destroyed the factory, meaning he almost betrayed his comrade for no end result.


 * Silverbolt remembers battling Menasor, a battle where Superion had to be needed - despite (still!) not being fully tested. This time the process worked, but it also caused the Aerialbots to see inside each other's minds. His secret fear of heights revealed, Silverbolt caused Superion to go savagely berserk.

Galvatron's probe accidentally causes the Autobots to revive. Making himself known, he uses his mind-control device on Wheeljack and Prowl. However, as Autobots they're easily able to deny their baser instincts and they shoot him down without warning. Galvatron is then sent into a comatose state by a device Wheeljack created, leaving him trapped in dreams and in Autobot custody.

Continuity
The flashbacks all take place before Afterdeath!. With the exception of Ironhide's, they make specific reference to past stories, either directly placing themselves at a certain time (Prowl, Sunstreaker and Wheeljack) or being more vague (Silverbolt). They can all slot into past continuity with no problem.

The framing story, by contrast, doesn't fit with contempoary continuity. As the Ark is flying, it has to be before On the Edge of Extinction! but there is no point when these characters could be revived and then killed again in time for Nucleon revival. Furthermore, the story starts off the Earthforce run which sidesteps the US continuity entirely (though some fans view Earthforce as happening post-Unicron).

As for this story's Galvatron and how he fits into continuity... sod knows.

Items of note

 * Sunstreaker was ripped in half by Shockwave back in The New Order and not seen online until [Totaled!], when he was killed again. He doesn't know who Galvatron is, suggesting he was only brought online shortly before Totaled! and was not brief on anything. This is the first story to have him back for any length of time.
 * Perchance to Dream follows the same format - flashback-based character vignettes with a framing story - as the earlier Aspects of Evil.
 * Reprinted as a self-titled digest-sized trade paperback by Titan Books in August 2006. It was collected with the UK Thunderwing stories and the 3-part Irwin Spoon story that ended the Earthforce run.