...All This and Civil War 2



=Marvel US issue #72= (Story also appears in: Marvel UK issues #313-314)

Script: Simon Furman Art: Andrew Wildman Inks: Stephen Baskerville Lettering: Rick Parker Colors: Nelson Yomtov Cover: Andrew Wildman
 * Major characters (in order of appearance): Starscream, Shockwave, Mindwipe, Triggerhappy, Ravage, Runabout, Runamuck, Scorponok, Optimus Prime, Hot Rod, Soundwave, Kup, Grimlock, Galvatron II, Xaaron, Nightbeat
 * Originally published: November, 1990

Synopsis
Surveying the burnt out wreckage of the former Decepticon base, Starscream and company are very pleased with themselves. Well, most of them -- Mighty Mindwipe and The Terrible Triggerhappy still look like they're about to lubricate themselves, even in victory. As Starscream tries to provoke his troops into action, he leaps into the debris and begins digging through for survivors. Unfortunately, he finds one: Scorponok is not happy.

Underground, Optimus Prime is just beginning to come to after the blast that destroyed the bunker. As he watches the Decepticons gird themselves for battle with a new enemy, Prime quickly realizes that his alliance with Scorponok may prove useless if the Decepticons get caught up with another war. He readies Kup and Hot Rod to search out the other Autobots in the mess, and prepare them to salvage the situation as best they can.

Back on the surface, Scorponok quickly casts aside Starscream and all the flunkies under Shockwave's command. Their battle quickly carries them into the river, and all the way across to Manhattan Island. Shockwave, as always, beats his chest in the name of logic, claiming his leadership is for the greater good of all Decepticons. Scorponok, meanwhile, is more interesting in tearing his opponent to shreds rather than debating politics.

Interlude 1 -- On Hydrus Four, the Dinobots have all been successfully revived by the Nucleon, and so Grimlock has ordered them to stockpile the substance with specially-designed energy siphons, to bring enough of the Nucleon back to the Ark to fully revitalize their ranks (and rub Prime's nose in the brown stuff). As the loading continues, though, Grimlock suddenly finds his leg frozen up, paralyzed. He flashes back to the little robots words: "Time will tell..."

Interlude 2 -- Deep in the bowels of Cybertron, Emirate Xaaron is on the run from Galvatron and the heralds of Unicron who ransacked Autobase on the surface. In classic horror movie fashion, Galvatron literally crashes through a wall to capture Xaaron. What follows, however, is a surprise (to Xaaron, at least); Galvatron claims to owe Unicron no loyalty, and is just as interested in stopping him as Xaaron and the Autobots are, if only for his own selfish reasons. After Galvatron informs him that the Matrix is lost as a tool, Xaaron mentions a second legend, the notion that all of Primus' children united in opposition could do the trick as well.

As Prime and the few Autobots he could gather emerge from the Decepticon bunker, they are confronted with the worst of possibilities. The war is over, and the war has begun -- it is now Decepticon against Decepticon, and Prime's surrender has done nothing to end the in-fighting among the Children of Primus. He takes Nightbeat with him to Manhattan in hopes of stopping the loss of innocent lives, and possibly talking down Scorponok so that the alliance can continue.

In the meantime, Scorponok has gained the upper hand against Shockwave, his passion and fire for combat appparently enough to bring down the "computer on legs", at least momentarily. Their battle is interrupted when Prime drives in between the two combatants, and begs for a cease fire. Instead, Scorponok states his terms: Shockwave must die at his hand, or else the alliance is finished. While Optimus consults his moral compass, the decision is taken out of his hands when G.B. Blackrock arrives with his new team of superhumans: The Neo-Knights!

Items of note

 * A Transformers Universe profile for Landmine and Skullgrin is found after the main story.