Dark Star!

The end of the Underbase Saga...and the Transformers..?

=Marvel US issue #50= (Story also appears in: Marvel UK issues #208-210)

Script: Bob Budiansky Art: Jose Delbo Inks: Dave Hunt Lettering: Rick Parker Colors: Nelson Yomtov Editor: Don Daley Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco Cover: Frank Springer
 * Major characters (in order of appearance): Ratbat, Scorponok, Soundwave, Fortress Maximus, Ratchet, Optimus Prime, Blaster, Starscream, Grimlock
 * Originally published: March, 1989

Synopsis
Out in the vacuum of space, the Underbase travels ever closer to Earth...

On that planet, the Aerialbots are the first to respond to the alert beacon triggered by Buster Witwicky. Seeing the responsible party, they quickly radio back to the Ark and Fortress Maximus. A full Autobot response battalion arrives within a matter of minutes. Spike is reunited with his brother only to find him on the brink of death. He places Buster within a heating unit in Fortress Maximus's chest to fight off the effects of exposure and frostbite. As the Autobots gather their wits enough to question the situation at hand, though, they are treated to a full scale Decepticon attack, as Ratbat and Scorponok have detected their approach.

The following battle is quick and merciless, and comes to a stop only when Ratbat ends up confronting Fortress Maximus and his own former prisoner, Buster. Buster outlays what Starscream told him before departing, and makes Ratbat see reason about putting his feud with the Autobots on hold until the larger issue can be dealt with. The various faction leaders agree to work together and make a space-worthy craft to hunt down Starscream.

At the edge of space, the most treacherous Decepticon of all leaves his starcruiser to bathe directly in the light of the Underbase's powerful knowledge and knowledgeable power. Before he absorbs much, however, he is blasted out of the way by Prime, manning the guns on the island starship. Even that momentary exposure was enough to supercharge Starscream, unfortunately, and he manages to grab hold of the entire starcruiser he stole and tosses it straight through the island ship, leaving the combined armies crippled and stranded in space, and the Decepticons in particular without any means of star travel from then on.

For some reason, Starscream choses to let them live drifting in the vacuum of space. He also choses to return to Earth and attack it instead of chasing down the Underbase to fulfill his lust for power. He also announces in advance the exact set of cities he plans to assault. Clearly, the "knowledge" part of the Underbase takes awhile to set in.

Optimus Prime enacts Plan B and summons the Autobot starship the Ark to pick them all up and speed back to Earth ahead of Starscream. As the factions begin splitting into teams to cover Starscream's previously identified destinations, Optimus makes the stunning announcement that he will stay aboard the Ark and not confront Starscream. The Decepticons quickly dismiss this as pure cowardice, and leave for Earth in disgust.

Autobots and Decepticons alike confront Starscream one after another and in groups, but ultimately he slaughters them all. The only difficulty he runs into is the Pretenders, whose organic outer shells prove somehow resistant to his destructive energies. As the battles continue, both Ratbat and Scorponok become suspicious that Prime's alleged "cowardice" might actually be greed to capture the Underbase for himself, and abandon their respective battles to return to the Ark and confront him.

Onboard the Ark, Optimus Prime and Hi-Q are guarding Buster Witwicky, while constructing a rocket with reflective panels, designed to catch the Underbase and change its course. Buster makes the mistake of radioing his brother during the battle, though, and Starscream realizes the potential threat an absent Optimus Prime poses to him. He takes off for space to intercept the Autobot leader and the Ark. Ratbat and Scorponok get there ahead of him, however, and confront Optimus Prime. After Scorponok blasts Prime and annihilates Ratbat, he heads off to reach the redirected Underbase on his own. Optimus manages to replace his Powermaster engine in time to go after Scorponok, and physically drags the two of them out of the Underbase's path, so that it strikes Starscream instead. The combined power of the Underbase mutates Starscream until he is overwhelmed with power, and is obliterated.

In the aftermath, Optimus Prime explains to Scorponok that he learned his lesson about the Underbase millions of years ago. He arranged for the reflector rocket and for Buster's "ill-timed" radio message to Fortress Maximus in order to lure Starscream back out into space, where he would surely try to take all of the Underbase's power and destroy himself. The Cybertronian leader part in peace, but Scorponok makes it clear that the war will begin anew, tomorrow...

Items of note

 * Biggest death toll of any issue, including the battle with Unicron. Among the confirmed dead are Jetfire, the Aerialbots, Hound, Bluestreak, Mirage, Hoist, Gears, Goldbug, Jazz, the Seacons, Blaster, the Throttlebots, Thundercracker, Skywarp, the Dinobots, the Predacons, Laserbeak, Buzzsaw, Octane, Astrotrain, Blitzwing, the Technobots, the Terrorcons, Omega Supreme, Ratbat and, of course Starscream.
 * Many people also assume that the rest of the earlier armies, those not possessing organic-enhancements like Headmasters and Pretenders, were also wiped out behind-the-scenes. Though unconfirmed, there's something to be said for this theory. Many Transformers like the Protectobots, Insecticons, and Combaticons are never seen again. Later issues show Prime mourning the loss of warriors not seen killed in the Underbase Saga, like Perceptor and Powerglide, while rough estimates made in later issues of the number of Autobots or Decepticons active on Earth would not allow for the survival of so many behind-the-scenes soldiers. Still, it remains a point for debate.
 * With Ratbat's demise, Scorponok is now in charge of all the Decepticons of Earth. Since most of them were wiped out in this issue, the only major change done here is that Soundwave becomes his second-in-command.
 * This is clearly Slingshot's worst day ever. He gets left behind by his fellow Aerialbots when they go pick up Buster, is ionically-disrupted by Astrotrain, transforms into jet mode only to get strafed by a Decepticon flying patrol, and finally is atomized battling Starscream. Some people just can't catch a break.