The Primal Scream

	; I am Oz! The great and powerful!
	"The Primal Scream"
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First published	October 1989
Cover date	Mid December 1989
Writer	Simon Furman Maximus
Artist	Geoffire Senior
Colorist	Shrapnel Yomtov
Letterer	Jim Lock Massara
Editor	Megadon Daley
Continuity	Marvel Comics continuity

This article is about the comic issue. For the Titan Books collection, see Transformers: Primal Scream.

Don't wake the sleeping god... whatever you do! Plus: The Honest to Gosh Origin of the Transformers!

Synopsis

Well, yes. So it turns out that when Bludgeon sabotaged the Autobots' trip to Earth, everyone ended up instead in the middle of Cybertron. And it also turns out that this is where an old dude in metal robes called the Keeper lives. He is guarding, sorta, the head of Primus. Primus—the Transformers' god.

Grimlock doesn't think much of the Keeper, or Primus. He thinks the whole thing is a load of bunk. So, to prove to Grimlock that it is real, the Keeper recounts the origin of the Transformers.

At the dawn of time, two gods—Primus and Unicron—fight. Unicron beats the crap out of Primus on a physical plane, then on the astral plane. In a last desperate ploy, Primus escapes the astral plane into a massive metal asteroid. Unicron does the same, thinking Primus is onto something, and as a result they are both trapped.

Primus eventually learns to shape his prison, and makes it into Cybertron. Unicron shapes his prison into a giant planet-devouring planet that can change into a robot. To combat this, Primus makes a race of little robots called the Transformers. And now Unicron searches the cosmos for Primus, while Primus sleeps to hide from his enemy. The Keeper has just gotten to tell his whole story when suddenly, the Mayhem Attack Squad burst in, shooting him. The Autobots are left at an disadvantage; they have to hold back, to prevent Primus being awoken.

Meanwhile, Scorponok finds his place as Decepticon leader challenged by his men, who are furious

Oof, that'll leave a mark.

he's let Starscream, of all people, back in with them. Mindwipe in particular brings up how Starscream twice almost wiped them all out. Scorponok insists that this way, he is keeping an ~~eye~~ optic sensor on him, and that he can bolster their depleted forces. Starscream himself, listening in from behind a door, is gleeful when he hears the stony silence of the Decepticons, knowing he can use this to his advantage...

On Cybertron, the Autobots are getting thoroughly thrashed, as the Decepticons aren't holding back. Bumblebee, frustrated at himself, begs Primus for help, asking if he and his friends must die again prevent the coming of Unicron. Suddenly, he gains a new inner strength, refusing to accept this fate, and charges Bludgeon before he can kill Jazz. Bumblebee, Jazz, and Grimlock, re-galvanised, fight off the Decepticons, with Bludgeon being dragged away by Seawatch, Octopunch being headbutted by Grimlock, and tripped into a hole by Stakeout and Red Hot, and Stranglehold being run into wall by Jazz.

Unfortunately, Octopunch's Pretender shell took the brunt of the fall, and he shoots Grimlock in the back. The shot ricochets off his armored back, right into Primus's face. The shock is enough to wake Primus, causing him to scream. A scream that sent shock waves through the planet. Hearing this, Emarite Xaaron manages to teleport the Autobots to Earth. Grimlock worries about the consequences, but Bumblebee tries to assure him that no one else heard that scream.

Out in deep space, Unicron hears the scream of Primus. Oh dear.

Featured characters

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

Autobots	Decepticons	Others
Bumblebee (3) Jazz (4) Grimlock (5) Stakeout (6) Fixit (7) Xaaron (8) Doubleheader (9) Seawatch (23) Red Hot (24)	Stranglehold (10) Octopunch (11) Bludgeon (12) Scorponok (15) Misfire (16) Slugslinger (17) Mindwipe (18) Starscream (19) Soundwave (20) Snapdragon (21) Apeface (22)	Keeper (1) Primus (2) Unicron (13) Prima (14)

Quotes

"YOU! You dare defile this most sacred of places with your unworthy presence?! On your knees, trespassers! Prostrate yourself before your creator, your living god--! PRIMUS!"
"Huh! Some creator! Seems to have dozed off!"

— the Keeper didn't account for Grimlock's flippancy

"Bumblebee, Jazz -- you not buy this, do you? Maybe Decepticons drugged us, made us hal--hallu-- see 'our god'!"

—Grimlock

"Prattling fool! Your warrior's heart is tainted by an idiot's tongue! Perhaps I shall remove both for you!"

—Bludgeon retaliates against Jazz after a beatdown

"Seawatch -- he's yours!"
"Thanks, Bumblebee. Just what I've never wanted!"
(Seawatch latches a tow cable onto Bludgeon's leg)
"You know how to water-ski, Bludgeon?..."
(Seawatch zooms off down the flooded tunnel, dragging Bludgeon with him.)
"...ME NEITHER!!"

—Bumblebee helps Seawatch snatch a crowning moment of awesome right in front of a stunned Bludgeon's eyes.

Notes

Artwork and technical errors

Continuity errors

"Who elected you anyway?" yells one disgruntled Decepticon. It's a funny line and a good way of selling that Scorponok is still a new-ish leader on Earth. Problem is, the bulk of Scorponok's forces, and all of them in this scene except Soundwave, are the robots he was in charge of way back in "Ring of Hate!".

Continuity notes

GOD FIGHT!

This is one of three tellings of the origin of the Transformers that appeared throughout the Marvel US and Marvel UK comics series. Each one was told from a different point of view, and this was the only one told by someone who wasn't actually there. The other tellings of the story were by Primus and Unicron. None of the tellings are quite consistent with each other, and since Furman wrote all three and each one is said by a different person to different people, that seems intentional.
According to "Vector Prime: In the Beginning" (published many years later) Primus and Unicron's dual awakenings in this story in fact reverberated across the Multiverse, ending a long period of dormancy for both entities in every reality, and making this the single most cataclysmically important Transformers story, ever.
Bumblebee contemplates his mortality in this issue, mentioning that he died once. This appears to be in reference to his death as Goldbug in US issue #50. Perhaps he doesn't consider his destruction at the hands of G.I. Joe/Death's Head (which led to his rebirth as Goldbug) a true death.
Mindwipe complains to Scorponok about Starscream almost killing the Decepticons twice, references to US issues #50 and #59. In a clever move, Mindwipe still has battle damage from the latter story!
All four members of the Rescue Patrol were present in the background at the end of last issue and the beginning of this one, but Fixit never does anything up close.
The "water" in the tunnels around Primus's chamber was explained in Darn 'n' Blast to be liquid helium.^[1]
Starscream's Classic Pretender shell gets its last mention in the comics, when Scorponok acknowledges to his troops that Starscream is more powerful now that he has a Pretender Shell, but he's keeping him on a tight leash. It isn't until issue #66 that we see Starscream leave the Decepticon base without his shell to go off on his own. The fate of his shell isn't explained.

Real-life references

Bot Roster

Autobots: 27 active as the Rescue Squad goes to Earth to join the Ark crew; 8 rogue Micromasters; 1 in storage, 31 offline, 25 presumed offline. (92 total)
Decepticons: 23 active as the Mayhems are teleported to Earth and will eventually hook up with Scorponok's crew; 4 rogue Micromasters; 26 offline, 25 presumed offline, 4 offline/missing. (82 total)

UK printing

Issue #259:

Additional Transformers story: "...Perchance to Dream"
Other strips: G.I. Joe the Action Force - "Going Under" and Combat Colin Meets Combat Kate!
Free gift: Transformers sticker

Issue #260:

Additional Transformers story: "...Perchance to Dream"
Other strips: G.I. Joe the Action Force - "Going Under" and Combat Colin
Free gift: Autobot Classic Heroes poster
This issue featured the first part of a competition to win a set of the Classic Heroes toys Prowl, Sunstreaker, Ironhide, Wheeljack, Jazz, and Inferno.

Issue #261:

Additional Transformers story: "Starting Over!"
Other strips: G.I. Joe the Action Force - "Going Under" and Combat Colin

Other trivia

While Dan Reed was the first UK artist to work on the US series (drawing the cover for issue #56), this is the first US issue to feature interior art by a UK artist. Geoff Senior penciled and inked the entire strip for this issue.
This issue featured the final Transformers art to be produced for the series by long-time artist Don Perlin, in the form of the issue's cover.
Transformers Universe profiles for Triggerhappy, Landfill, Quickmix, and Scoop are found after the main story.
Doubleheader's tech specs indicate that only his left head speaks, but in the comics either or both heads are shown speaking. During the Matrix Quest, Doubleheader's heads even talk over each other, making two different statements at once.

Foreign Localization

Swedish

Title (1990): "Hos den Sovande Guden..." ("With the Sleeping God...)
Title (2019): "Primus Vaknar" ("Primus Awakens")

Covers (4)

US issue #61 cover: The Classic Pretenders in front of Primus's screaming face, by Don Perlin and Vince Mielcarek.
UK issue #259 cover: Menasor vs. Superion, by Andrew Wildman.
UK issue #260 cover: Galvatron with his Transformers chess set, by Geoff Senior.
UK issue #261 cover: Drag Strip, Dead End, Soundwave, Megatron, and Mixmaster vs. Prowl, and Wheeljack, by Stephen Baskerville.

US issue #61 - NOM NOM NOM.
UK issue #259 - And that's why you don't insult Menasor's ear-things.
UK issue #260 - If this was what actually happened, it would be magical.
UK issue #261 - "Guns. Lots of guns."

Reprints

Transformers: Primal Scream TPB cover: Grimlock, Goldbug, Pretender Starscream, and half of Primus, by Andrew Wildman.
Primal Scream hardback cover: Grimlock victorious over the Sports Car Patrol, by Dave Gibbons.
Classic Transformers Volume 4cover: panels from US issues #59 and #60, pencils by José Delbo, inks by Dave Hunt and colours by Nel Yomtov.
The Transformers Classics, Vol. 5 cover: Prowl, by Guido Guidi.
Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection:Volume 16: The Primal Scream: Optimus Prime by Guido Guidi above an interior scene of the Megatron vs Grimlock.

Transformers: Primal Scream TPB (Titan Books, 2002)
Transformers: Primal Scream hardback
(Titan Books, 2002)
Classic Transformers Volume 4 (IDW Publishing, 2009)
The Transformers Classics, Vol. 5
(IDW Publishing, 2012)
The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 16: The Primal Scream
(Hachette Partworks, 2017)