Exodus!

	; Don't poke me! My mother poked me once... ONCE!
	"Exodus!"
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First published	February 1991
Cover date	April 1991
Writer	Simon Furman
Penciler	Andrew Wildman
Inker	Stephen Baskerville
Colorist	Nel Yomtov
Letterer	Rick Parker
Editor	Rob Tokar
Continuity	Marvel Comics continuity

The name or term "Exodus" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Exodus (disambiguation).

Fangry gets FUBAR'ed.

Synopsis

As Cybertron's weather continues to worsen in the aftermath of Unicron's attack, Darkwing and Dreadwind are searching for cover. As the two Powermasters search for someone to blame for their current apocalyptic woes, the opportunity presents itself when a hanging Autobot symbol shakes loose from the building and crushes Dreadwind. Darkwing quickly jumps to the conclusion that everything must be the Autobots' fault... a conclusion rather representative of the Decepticon army as a whole.

Inside, Prowl is desperately trying to maintain the alliance, but is receiving little help from his co-commanders. Bludgeon and Krok are focused on feeling out the mood of their brethren, and don't want to commit to anything just yet, while Grimlock can't believe the Decepticons will ever be able to stand being at peace, and so makes no effort to avoid antagonizing them. Fangry, in particular, raises the ire of both Grimlock and Bludgeon with his insubordinate attitude. Everyone quiets down, though, when Blaster unveils his seismographic findings... the planet is literally tearing itself apart without Primus's lifeforce to sustain it. They have no choice but to abandon the planet entirely before it destroys itself.

Meanwhile, Shockwave and Starscream have prepped the Ark for take-off, unaware that they may have more than one uninvited stowaway...

Later on, Prowl tries to get Grimlock to agree to make an inspirational speech to the troops to rally their morale, just like Optimus Prime would do. Grimlock tells him to get bent. He makes it very clear to Prowl that even though Prime named him leader, that doesn't mean he'll be doing things like Optimus, or especially Prowl, might want things done. Leaving his unwanted second-in-command behind, Grimlock runs into Fangry, who's interested in a little selfish payback after their exchange back at the meeting. Grimlock's new Action Master body lets him take Fangry's punishment, and give much harder than he gets. The public and humiliating beating of a fellow Decepticon by the Autobot leader, though, is just what Bludgeon and Krok needed to swing their troops fully in favor of turning on their "allies". After getting the overly compliant Prowl to reveal HIS plans, they begin to make plans of their own.

Elsewhere on Cybertron, the Neo-Knights have found themselves in an unenviable position: trapped in a cell-box for eventual transit back to Earth with the catatonic Circuit Breaker and Hi-Q, who is still rambling on about being the real Optimus Prime, and the power of the Last Autobot to save Cybertron from destruction, yada yada yada. He's bald—who's gonna believe him?

And so, after telling the Decepticons all their plans and allowing them to be the first ones to safely leave the planet, Prowl suddenly developed a nagging feeling that he might just have screwed everyone. Grimlock does little to assuage his fears, as he has some secret plans of his own being prepped by the Dinobots. Prowl's fears are quickly confirmed when Wheeljack checks out their getaway ships and realizes they've all been sabotaged beyond repair, leaving the Autobots stranded... on a dying world.

Meanwhile, the Ark has finally taken off, and Galvatron congratulates himself on having stowed away for the voyage. As he strides confidently down the hallway, however, he comes face-to-face with his own mirror image—Megatron!

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Humans	Nebulans
Prowl (3) Grimlock (5) Blaster (13) Bumblebee (14) Silverbolt (15) Rollout (16) Sunstreaker (17) Wheeljack (18) Jazz (19) Snarl (29)	Darkwing (1) Dreadwind (2) Krok (4) Soundwave (6) Treadshot (7) Crankcase (8) Fangry (9) Quake (10) Squeezeplay (11) Bludgeon (12) Shockwave (20) Starscream (21) Megatron (22) Galvatron (30)	G.B. Blackrock (23) Circuit Breaker (24) Thunderpunch (25) Dynamo (26) Rapture (27)	Hi-Q (28)

Quotes

"It's this planet, Darkwing. It's doomed... and we're doomed right along with it. I knew it, I just knew it!"
"Yeah, ironic, isn't it? We survive the most apocalyptic battle we're ever likely to fight, and what happens? Our own planet decides to self-destructed and take us with it! It's so... frustrating! I wanna kick someone's butt for this, but how do you beat up on a planet? If only --"
[giant Autobot symbol falls and crushes Dreadwind]
"Yeah -- the Autobots! It's bound to be their fault!"

—Dreadwind and Darkwing, still their usual selves

"Shut up! ...Please."

—Prowl tries to get through to the panicked masses

"If you think speech help, you make it. You better at it."
"Me? It's not my job! Prime named you Autobot leader, not me! You have a responsibility to your troops, a duty --"
"That it, isn't it? That what really stick in your craw! It that Prime name me Autobot leader and not you! Always saw yourself as next leader, didn't you? With your clever plans and fancy speeches! Well, you not leader -- I AM!"

—Grimlock may or may not quite have the measure of Prowl

"Their plan, fellow Decepticons -- is weak! Ill-befitting a warrior race such as ours! Colonizing a barren world, starting from nothing, scratching a living from dust and dirt! This is not our way! We take, and any thing or one in our way is crushed! They would have us bury our heritage, bend our knees to their feeble-minded ways! Well, I say no! I say from this day on we begin afresh, with new wars to fight, new worlds to conquer! I mean, why fight it, it's in our oil!"
[affirmatives from the troops]
"Good! Then I take it you're all quite happy... to let the Autobots die with their world!"

—Bludgeon rallies the troops

"Peace? A piece is all that will be left of you when I'm finished! For daring to strike me -- you will die a thousand terrible deaths!"

—Fangry gets angry at Grimlock

"Of course, silly of me. I'll just keep quiet in the future, shall I? Follow in your footsteps and marvel at you! Tell me o' masterful one, what is your bidding..."

—Starscream is not afraid of his latest commander, Shockwave

Notes

Artwork and technical errors

While carrying the Neo-Knights aboard, Quake is miscolored blue.

Continuity errors

Continuity notes

For simplicity's sake, the majority of the Transformers seen here and in the remaining issues are from the Earthbound crews. However, there used to be thriving Autobot resistances and Decepticon hierarchies on Cybertron before the battle with Unicron, yet now the planet is portrayed as virtually empty except for the few troops under Grimlock and Bludgeon's command. One can assume they were destroyed by Unicron.
Another "cast living in a bubble" plot device is the number of ships necessary to carry all Autobots and Decepticons on Cybertron to another world — six — and the Decepticons managing to destroy every other available ship on the planet to strand the Autobots — all three of them.
This issue features the first appearances of Rollout and Treadshot. Blink and you'll miss 'em.
Blaster, formerly an Autobot resistance maverick who battled Grimlock to a stalemate and stood toe-to-toe with the Autobot leaders at the time, as of this issue is in much more of a support role, similar to his G1 cartoon Season 3 portrayal.
Grimlock points out that Prowl always saw himself as the next Autobot leader. Prowl did lead the Autobots from issues #9 through #12 while Optimus Prime was imprisoned.

Real-life references

UK printing

Issue #325:

Other strips: Machine Man - "Rime of the Ancient Wrecker!" and Combat Colin
AtoZ: Weirdwolf

Issue #326:

Other strips: Machine Man - "Victory" and Combat Colin
AtoZ: Skullcruncher

Other trivia

This is what a thousand terrible deaths looks like.

The bio accompanying Fangry's Tech Specs notes that his "tail converts to compressed air cannon that produces 200 mph gale force winds", perhaps implying that at some point during the design process, Fangry was intended to come with a transforming tail piece that would become a secondary weapon in robot mode. Furman seems to interpret this detail as Fangry being able to transform his tail into a compressed air cannon while in his alternate mode, though somewhat hilariously, he has to turn his back on Grimlock to do so.
Before he learned the comic was being cancelled, Furman planned that the stranded Autobots would be forced to take Nucleon to survive the planet's collapse: essentially a choice between death or the loss of transformation (or worse).^[1] The search for the Last Autobot would have been a longer tale.
Transformers Universe profiles for Weirdwolf and Skullcruncher are found after the main story.
With Grimlock in charge of the Autobots again, he moves back into the US cover's corner box, this time in his Action Master form as rendered by Andrew Wildman. Sadly, with the impending end of the US comic, ol' Grim only gets three issues of corner-box glory.
In the credits, editor Rob Tokar and editor-in-chief Tom DeFalco are jointly credited as "Running Scared".