...The Harder They Die!

	; Megatron: Homecoming Queen
	"...The Harder They Die!"
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First published	24th January 1987
Cover date	31st January 1987
Script	Simon Furman
Art	Geoff Senior
Colour	Steve White
Letters	Annie Halfacree
Editor	Ian Rimmer
Continuity	Marvel Comics continuity (Marvel UK)
Chronology	1987

Optimus Prime finds that Cybertron is not the home he once knew.

Synopsis

This story is told in nonlinear form. This synopsis presents it in chronological order for ease of reading.

Optimus Prime believes himself about to be savaged by Predacons Razorclaw and Rampage—but surprisingly, rather than pounce on Prime, the pair leap over him and disappear into the woods. The watching Megatron is baffled by their disobedience, and his momentary confusion allows the other Predacons to stun him and steal his fusion cannon, before also disappearing. Megatron realises that Shockwave has set him up, evidently believing that in unarmed combat, Megatron will be no match for Optimus Prime, leaving Shockwave free to take his place as Decepticon leader. Unfortunately, Megatron is carrying a backup sidearm, and when he spots what he believes to be Optimus Prime standing by his trailer, he opens fire, blowing him to pieces. But what Megatron has destroyed is not Prime, but a facsimile construct constructed in Prime's image by Wheeljack, which the Autobot leader intended to use to fake his death so that he could test his Autobots' ability to function without him to command. Having used the construct to dupe Megatron, the real Prime tackles the Decepticon from behind, and the pair grapple. Realizing that Shockwave was right that he cannot beat Prime, Megatron summons the Decepticons' space bridge... but as it begins to appear, Prime makes a suicide play, hurling himself and Megatron through the bridge before it can fully materialize, causing an explosion. Presently, the Autobots arrive to find the shattered remains of Prime's facsimile construct, and—just as Prime had initially intended—assume their leader to have been destroyed. But with no evidence that the real Prime has survived either, even Wheeljack, who was in on the planned deception, believes that Optimus is no more.

In truth, both Prime and Megatron survive the unstable transport through the bridge and arrive on Cybertron, but are separated in the process. In the ruined streets of one of the planet's cities, Prime discovers a Decepticon thug brutalizing the small Autobot Outback. Prime intervenes, seizing the Decepticon by the throat, only to be unexpectedly blasted by beams from the thug's eyes. Briefly blinded, Prime hurls his opponent away, and can only flail around, waiting for a new attack to come... but when nothing happens, he opens his eyes to discover that his throw wound up impaling the Decepticon on a large spike of debris, killing him. Outback is shocked to learn that his rescuer is the legendary Optimus Prime, and when Prime sets off, Outback discreetly follows him.

Megatron, meanwhile, has made his way to the Decepticon headquarters in Polyhex. He is pleased to see that the Decepticons are in power on the planet, but immediately clashes with the local Decepticon leader, Lord Straxus—reduced to a disembodied head kept alive by a life-support bubble, following the destruction of his body during his earlier battle with Blaster—who is furious that Megatron has brought Optimus Prime to Cybertron. However, Megatron already has a plan for dealing with Optimus: via a series of informants, he has fed the Autobots on Cybertron disinformation, tricking them into believing that a Decepticon designed to look like Optimus Prime will be seeking to infiltrate their ranks...

Optimus Prime finds his way to Iacon, but despairs at the ruined state of the city. As he mourns the fallen Autobot capital, he is blindsided by an attack from Rack'n'Ruin and Guardian unit, which knocks him out. Coming to a short while later, Prime finds himself held by energy bonds and surrounded by Ultra Magnus and the Wreckers, who are all fired up to execute the 'bot they believe to be a Decepticon impostor!

Featured characters

(Characters in italic text appear only in flashbacks.)
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons
Optimus Prime (1) Outback (3) Hoist (4) Bumblebee (5) Gears (6, see "Errors") Wheeljack (7) Ironhide (8) Ratchet (9) Blaster (17) Rack'n'Ruin (18) Guardian (19) Ultra Magnus (20) Sandstorm (21) Roadbuster (22) Twin Twist (23)	Well-armed Decepticon bully (2) Megatron (10) Straxus (11) Razorclaw (12) Rampage (13) Headstrong (14) Tantrum (15) Divebomb (16)

Quotes

"Hah! And you're big enough to teach me the error of my ways? Well, forget it! In my experience, the bigger they are..."
"The harder they die?"

—The Decepticon thug and Optimus Prime

Ultra Magnus: "Decepticon - the charges are spying and impersonating our greatest warrior."
Springer: "The verdict of this court is guilty!"
Roadbuster: "The sentence is death!"
Twin Twist: "And the Wreckers will be only too pleased to carry it out!"

—Optimus Prime awakes to find himself captured by the Wreckers

Notes

Continuity notes

Straxus's battle with Blaster (right) took place in US issue #18. As written, that (American) story depicted him dying, but this UK-original tale shows that he has survived his apparent demise, after a fashion.
The razing of Iacon was recounted in the "Cybertron: The Middle Years!" text feature in issue #83.

Guardian battle-droids made their debut in issues #20-21; these issues introduced the sole Guardian unit kept aboard the Ark, which later reappeared in issues #30, 31 and 32. The one seen in this issue is a newer, sleeker model (right), evidently the product of four million of years of technical improvements.
Ultra Magnus and the Wreckers were last seen in issue #88.

Continuity and plotting errors

Gears is shown among the Autobots gathering up "Prime's" remains, but he should be offline in the repair bay, following injuries sustained at Decepticon hands in issue #50 (in accordance with his status in the American stories). He also previously erroneously appeared active in issues #78 and 81, so perhaps his appearance here is a knock-on effect of that initial mistake.
Wheeljack was in on Optimus's plan to fake his death, so he shouldn't really be so quick to believe that Prime has actually died. The story justifies his belief with the fact that he receives no sign that the real Optimus has survived (presumably, Optimus would have called him to check in, but his communicator was destroyed last issue), but no time is taken to explore Wheeljack's thoughts, so it leaves things a bit vague. Does Wheeljack believe that the facsimile construct actually is Prime? Is his work so good that it is completely indistinguishable from the real thing? If so, what does he think happened to the construct? If not, what does he think has happened to Prime? If he believes he's really dead, you'd think he'd mention the plan to the other Autobots.

Artwork and technical errors

Page 2, panel 6: Optimus Prime's neck is green.
Page 3, panel 5: Hoist's head is uncoloured white. The orange portion of his legs are coloured the same yellow as Bumblebee.
Page 4, panel 1: As in the previous two issues, Ratchet and Wheeljack are still coloured in outdated, early colour schemes; Ratchet has a red frame around his chest-window, Wheeljack has red shoulder-fins.
Page 7, panel 1: The central portion of Megatron's fusion cannon is white instead of blue.
Page 11, panel 3: Springer is still using the early colour model seen in his earlier appearances during "Target: 2006," which makes his helmet and face the same shade of green, and gives him grey forearms and fists. Additionally, there are some telltale lines and shading artifacts around Roadbuster's head which suggest that artist Geoff Senior initially drew and inked it incorrectly, and had to paste a small piece of paper with the corrected drawing over it.

Back-up material

Back-up strips: Spitfire and the Troubleshooters ("Counterattack", Part 4) and (according to the Transformation contents page) Robo-Capers (or not); Spitfire concludes this issue.
Free Gift: Galvatron sticker badge, featuring art by Geoff Senior; this issue's Not Robo-Capers offers some tips on where not to stick it!
Competition: Win a copy of Ladybird Books' Transformers: The Movie "Tell-A-Tale" storybook and cassette pack by finding the hidden Autobot and Decepticon insignias in a drawing of the movie's poster.
Reader Robert Hughes sends a letter in to this issue's "Grim Grams" asking what Macabre's alternate mode is; Grimlock says it's a "bat-winged air current glider."