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Continuing the marketing direction of Armada, the Energon toyline included as series of 4 mini-comics rolled out as the line progressed. Written and illustrated by Dreamwave, the mini-comics were printed back-to-back with a catalog featuring the current waves of Energon toys. None of them have any overt link to any other Energon fiction.
Volume 1[]
Why do you gotta keep starin' at my knee?!
Somewhere on Planet Earth, Hot Shot and Strongarm find a big yellow puddle of energon lying around in the desert. Before they can radio its location in, a pack of Battle Ravage drones attack the pair. But the battle is just a diversion; while the Autobots fight, other drones have been absorbing the energon.
Scorponok arrives to harass the pair further, ordering the drones to fashion an energon weapon for him. Strongarm soaks up enough of the energon to create a weapon for Hot Shot, which he uses to bash Scorponok aside. But with the energon secured, Scorponok simply calls a retreat. Hot Shot and Strongarm take some solace that they have faced "the toughest Decepticon" and survived.
But somewhere, deep inside Unicron, from a fiery portal steps the reborn form of...Megatron!
Featured characters[]
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons |
|---|---|
|
Notes[]
- The flip half of the booklet features a catalog of Energon Wave 1 toys.
- Megatron appears in colors decided by the colorist, as his colors were either not yet finalized or had not been made available to the artists.
- Instead of a Cannon, Battle Ravage summons an Energon mace, similar to its mace tail.
Volume 2[]
The Autobots won simply because Megatron burned his foot.
The Autobots, led by Optimus Prime, are tasked with the mission to save Earth's energon, but their task is made difficult by the Decepticons, led by Megatron. Will either side win the battle? Only time will tell.
On a tall hill on Earth, Inferno and Prowl find a horde of energon and decide to build an energon tower on the site. Landmine, however, lags behind, complaining that he's almost getting a "spark attack" from climbing the hill. Prowl initiates a hologram, showing how the energon tower will appear on the hill. Landmine contacts Optimus Prime for permission to build the energon tower. Optimus denies the request, citing Decepticon activity in the area.
Nearby, Megatron laughs at the attempt of erecting energon towers to keep the energon from him and orders the flock of Divebombs surrounding him to attack. Landmine, alarmed by Optimus's mention of nearby Decepticon activity, warns the other two Autobots, but the warning comes too late, as the Divebombs are in plain sight. To battle all the Divebombs, Inferno and Prowl Powerlinx and Landmine transforms into Brute Mode. In the meantime, Megatron flies overhead and shoots at the Autobots. However, Powerlinx Inferno manages to shoot him out of the sky, sending him crashing to the ground. Down but not out, Megatron reveals that the battle was a distraction, allowing his Insecticons to absorb the energon. Faced with unrelenting numbers, the Autobots retreat. Gloating, Megatron tells the Autobots to tell Optimus that he will not stop until all of Earth's energon is his.
Featured characters[]
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Others |
|---|---|---|
|
|
Notes[]
- The flip half of the booklet features a catalog of Energon wave 2 toys, along with 20th Anniversary Optimus Prime, Alternators Side Swipe, and Universe toys.
- The combination of Inferno and Prowl is bizarrely referred to as "Powerlinx". As in, "Run for cover Powerlinx!"
- The Insecticons are not referred to by name. Instead, they are called "Terrorcon Beetles".
Volume 3[]
An enormous, blinding blaze of laser blasts is far more important than whatever it is the characters are doing.
Mission clock running, 00:01. From orbit, Shockblast neutralizes the defenses of an Autobot energon refinery, allowing Slugslinger and Sharkticon to enter while Mirage patrols the exterior.
Mission clock: 02:11. The two Decepticons slip past an apparently inert sentry drone. They plan to modify the pipeline flows to destroy Autobot City and capture the refinery to boot. Unfortunately, they come under attack from Bulkhead and Tow-Line.
Mission clock: 04:07. Mirage comes racing in to help, only to get stopped by the formerly "inert" Omega Supreme. Sharkticon attempts to cut out, but Omega nails him and the orbiting Shockblast with a single shot. Though the Autobots are victorious, Tow-Line notes that they can never rest as long as the Decepticons seek control of Earth's energon. Mission clock: 05:27.
Featured characters[]
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons |
|---|---|
|
|
Notes[]
- It's very difficult to tell what Sharkticon and Slugslinger are reacting to when they see Omega Supreme. Only the inside portion of his legs are shown in the scene, and at no point are his legs visible when the rest of him is on-panel.
- Though uncredited, the story format and dialog both resemble Simon Furman's style. ("That's Slugslinger's wings clipped!" "Shockblast, it's all gone to—EEAG!") Furman was also writing the main Dreamwave Energon comic at the time.
- The flip half of the booklet features a catalog of Energon toys, including the various "Energon" redecos and the later new-mold Combat-class toys.
- This minicomic was never released with any of Japan's Superlink figures, due mostly to the fact the comic focused almost entirely on toys that were not released in Japan.
- The toy catalog portion was included with early runs of the Transformers Energon DVDs offered by Paramount Home Video.
Volume 4[]
I hate that logo. I'm gonna punch it. Just because!
The Autobots and Decepticons had been locked in an epic war until energon was discovered on Earth. Now both sides fight for control, and the Powerlinx Battles have begun!
Optimus Prime and Hot Shot are down, with Megatron, Snowcat, Mirage, Demolishor and Shockblast all standing ready to finish them. But just as all seems lost, Wing Saber arrives, combining with Prime. The pair blows away the Decepticons, then switches to flight mode as Megatron attacks from the air. Megatron is shocked that his foe can fly now, but Prime informs him that "with teamwork, you can do anything Megatron." [sic]
Prime speculates that Wing Saber will enable them to protect the area's energon.
Featured characters[]
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Humans | Mini-Cons | Others |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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Notes[]
- As Dreamwave was well on the road to total meltdown at this point, the comic is a translation of one that came with the Superlink edition of Wing Saber, in a noticeably different art style.
- It appears that all the love and care that went into the cartoon dub was likewise applied to this comic. Choice dialog selections include "Megatron is flying in fast!" and "You're flying? Optimus can't fly! What is happening?"
- Pain count:
- Let's do it: 1
- It's time to: 1
- We're a team: 1
- You're just in time: 1
- The flip half of the booklet features a catalog of Energon toys, including the three combiner teams and the various larger-sized late-run redecos.
- The binding of at least one of these booklets has been observed to come apart despite careful storage and minimal use.
- This mini-comic was also available as a "Conventions 2004 Exclusive Mini Comic" in a larger format, paired with the Volume 3 catalog. The convention version featured a fold-out front cover with conceptual design sketches of various Energon toys. The actual comic was missing the first introductory page, however.