Peace

	; Rejected alternate title:; Peace: You're Doing It Wrong
	"Peace"
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First published	October 1988
Cover date	1989
Writer	Richard Alan
Art	Robin Smith
Colours	Steve White
Lettering	Glib
Continuity	Marvel Comics continuity (Marvel UK)
Chronology	2510 (Post-Time Wars future? See Notes)

In the far future the Autobots finally win the war against the Decepticons...but everything doesn't go as planned.

Synopsis

“I hate the word, as I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee.”

In the year 2510, long after most can remember how the war started and when few can distinguish between the factions' motives, the final Decepticon falls in battle with the Wreckers. Relieved that the war is finally over, the fatigued Rodimus Prime decides to step down as leader and selects Springer as his replacement.

However, a Decepticon double agent called Triton has infiltrated the Autobot ranks and is determined to prevent the war from ending. When Rodimus announces Springer as his successor, Triton objects, saying that Springer is a warrior, not a leader. He suggests Ultra Magnus would make a better leader.

Arguments break out amongst the Autobots over who should be leader, with Whirl demanding to know where Triton's "precious Ultra Magnus" was when the Wreckers were ending the war. Triton responds by hitting him; Roadbuster responds by pulling a gun and threatening to kill him; and Scattershot responds by gunning down Roadbuster in the back before he can.

A moment of horrified silence is broken by Sandstorm blaming Triton for Roadbuster's death. The Decepticon is killed, the Autobots split into factions and a new war begins as Rodimus Prime wails in despair.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots

Decepticons

Scattershot (10)
Nosecone (11)
Afterburner (12)
Strafe (13)
Twin Twist (14)
Topspin (15)
Whirl (16)

Triton (9)

Quotes

"With this news...I am stepping down as leader of the Autobots. I am...so very tired. It is time someone new took over."

—Rodimus Prime having a last moment of peace before it all goes wrong.

"Watch your mouth shorty! Where was your precious Ultra Magnus while we were winning the war, eh?"

—Whirl overreacting just a tad.

"Wrong, Roadbuster..."
"Scattershot?"
"Dead wrong!"

—Scattershot guns down fellow Autobot Roadbuster and plunges Cybertron into a new hellish war. Yeah.

Notes

"...Boy, that escalated quickly."

This is one of only a handful of stories from this era not to be written by Simon Furman.
Richard Starkings (AKA "Richard Alan") got the idea from a friend who ran a Doctor Who fanzine, and had a story planned where the Daleks win and then wonder what they're going to do now. That made him wonder what would happen if the Autobots ever won.^[1]
The Decepticons had been holding out in the northern hemisphere.
Triton cites Magnus' credentials by bringing up how he held the Matrix before Rodimus.
Chronologically, this is the final story to feature the future Autobots, set two hundred years after the later "Aspects of Evil!". However, it seems this story was never intended to be "the" future of the Transformers timeline, as ~~the editor~~ Dreadwind gives different explanations for it:
- When one reader wrote in to ask why the Wreckers are alive in "Peace" but dead in "Time Wars", Dreadwind told him that this was likely an alternate timeline where they didn't die.^[2]
- When another reader asked why Rodimus is healthy in "Peace" and not dead of Unicron, Dreadwind explained that Rodimus was just ill in "Aspects" and not dying ("which is a shame") — tacitly putting the stories in the same timeline.^[3]
- When someone asked if these were all the Autobots left, their concerns were dismissed by saying "Peace" was "just a story about the stupidity of war".^[4]
A young James Roberts wrote in to the comic lamenting how bleak an ending this was!^[5]

Cover

Transformers Annual 1989 cover: Scorponok, by Lee Sullivan.

Transformers Annual 1989

Reprints

Bonus material includes an overview of the Marvel Generation 2 comic and several cover sketches.

Transformers: Best of Hot Rod (May 4, 2022)

Classics UK Volume 5; cover art by Andrew Wildman.
Definitive G1 Collection: Chapter 22; cover art by Andrew Wildman and Stephen Baskerville
Transformers: Best of Hot Rod; cover art by James Biggie