Here we are, at whatever the one before the penultimate issue is called, the last but two chapter of the original and founding Transformers saga. In other, less convoluted, words, here’s Transformers: Regeneration One #98 (of 100), which hits comic stores this coming Wednesday (January 29th). And boy, does this one kick some serious assets. We’ve been kind of teasing the threat posed by/true power of (former Cybertronian senator) Jhiaxus for a while now, but this issue should leave no one in any doubt about his lofty niche in the pantheon of Transformers villainy. But, before you read on, be warned, my authorly digressions do have a hint of spoiler about them, so if you’d rather have your issue served up unsullied by loose-lipped internet blather, cease reading now. Okay, so, where’d we leave things. Oh yeah, Rodimus Prime just got smacked around by Jhiaxus and he’s not taking it lying down. In fact, he’s mobilizing the whole dad-blasted Cybertronian fleet and going in all guns blazing. Not your average, agonize-about-it-for-a-decade Prime this one. Oh no. If this were toy branding, it’d be Affirmative Action Rodimus Prime emblazoned on the packaging. But is such all-guns-blazing action against a largely unquantified foe a wise move? Maybe not. Anyway, once the action kicks off it never stops, with the kind of full on epic battle the like of which this comic has never seen. “Could there possibly be room for anything else,” I hear you wonder. Well of course. There’s also the return to, um, unrestrained action for not one but TWO uber-fan favourites. Both of which you’ve been crying out for. But one of these is kind of good news, and one is very bad. Especially for poor Optimus Prime. Plus (oh yeah, it keeps on coming), the mystery of Galvatron and those Acolytes of Unicron takes another unexpected twist. Alrightyyy! No full IDW preview yet, but as soon as one surfaces I’ll update and link to it here. NOW UPDATED with link to preview.
simon furman 
I’m ecxited to see the full potential of RG1 Jhiaxus: is similar to his G2 counterpart but in some ways is very different. and I’m eager to know if he his an indipendent agent or a pawn of Leige Maximo. We will see ^_^
Also, I’m curious about the fate of Galvatron and his part in the great scheme!
The best thing of RG1 is the feeling that every character, every action, every step has a purpose, and now everyone is in place for the grand finale.
As one character says in #100, “everything’s connected. Everything!”
Sounds amazing! But then I would expect nothing less from you or this awesome series Simon.
Why do I get the feeling that we get to see the full and proper return of Shockwave in this issue!…. 😉
Fortress Maximus should be the same size as Optimus Prime. He only became a much larger Transformer and have his head transform into Cerebros on the way to Earth in #38. This original head, and therefore body, has no increased size modifications.
Unless, perhaps, the Autobots came to rely on Fortress Maximus being much larger and powerful, that they requested the same modifications to be done to the original head. Maybe the body is not new and is the larger body he had while on Earth with only his head being modified to have a size increase.
I forget. Did we learn what happened to Fortress Maximus’ body after Spike refused to bond with him?
I think Fort Max’s original body was trashed by Megatron during his whining, kill-all-fleshlings phase
The link to the preview doesn’t work.
Fixed, I hope.
Looks like its gonna be Optimus vs Fort Max and it appears that Rodimus is sending the entire Autobot fleet into a trap. Can’t wait to pick it up tomorrow!!
Hi Simon, hope you’re well. 🙂
Fort Max has been drawn as bigger than Prime, but wasn’t he more regular-sized whenhe left Cybertron in the Headmasters mini series? Galen transformed into his head originally, then he was doubled in size en route to Earth and had Cerebros as the intermediary head. I assume the new body has been built around his original head, so… you know what, never mind. I’d rather not get bogged down with overthinking it and just enjoy the comic. 🙂
On a separate note, I’ve just put some old Captain Britain comics on eBay. After 29 years, I’ve only just realised you were on the editorial team. A belated thank you for being part of another great comic. 🙂
Just read it. Too much action and not enough plot progression for a comic ending in two issues. I’m concerned #99 and the double-sized #100 will be rushed given all the different plotlines happening right now. The story is still setting up things to come.
But now, after nineteen issues, let us enjoy what we are all here for. “Let us begin…”
Interesting twist with a certain character…makes you wonder if he is good or evil. Is his plan to eradicate all the transformers…also jhiaxus is curious…what did he learn from the underbase. And doess a certain character kick his arse…
Well, it looks to be all crashing down now, doesn’t it. I guess I don’t have many questions this month like usual. It looks like a lot of deaths happened here if those 2 capital ships are a done deal. I’ll assume Scorponok is in pieces at the bottom of a canyon but I do kind of hope we find out what happened to all those other Decepticons that were with Bludgeon. What did the Autobots do with his corpse? The ending of this issue was awesome and I can’t wait to see the spectacular ending. Way to go Simon. Great job.
Ok, so I am a little confused after reading this. If Jhiaxus is this powerful, then it looks like it wouldn’t matter what Rodimus chose to do. Jhiaxus would have just assimilated Cybertron anyway. I hate to see Rodimus in this situation, as it seems like Optimus wouldn’t have had any more options had he been in charge anyway…
There’s a difference between attacking/assimilating Cybertron when everyone’s home and in full self-defence mode (it’s clear Jhiaxus is aware of what happened when Bludgeon tried it) and dividing and conquering, which is what Jhiaxus has done.
Wow this issue ROCKED! Ugh this shouldn’t end EVER!
Muhaha. Loved the last two panels.
You what I will miss the most Simon? The artwork. Don’t get me wrong, I love your stories, but you can still keep writing TF stories, but I have a said feeling, this art style will die with Regeneration One. (Of, course I can look at it every time I open my comics, but you know what I mean…)
Love Guido as much I loved Andrew.
*You know
I want more. Moooooore. 2 issues isn’t enough.
Its getting harder to ask questions that you can even hint at answers at this point, but here goes:
1. When Unicron was destroyed in 75 was “every” Unicron destroyed across the multiverse? Is he completely gone?
2. In the last panel, is that zero space forming on the sides or the life force of what was just eliminated?
3. Will we know before issue 100 what exactly is going on? I’m more joking on this one and I love all the teases, but its a little scary that we have basically 3 issues left and I still can’t quite figure it out.
4. I’m guessing you’ve finished writing or are close to finishing writing the last issue, looking back on this 20+ issue run, is there anything you wish you had delved into more detail or given more focus?
All in all, I’ve been loving this whole run, and I’m going to miss it in a couple of months. Also, the fact that you actually respond to our questions on here is beyond awesome.
1. I really doubt that will be acknowledged at all.
1. Can’t say. But there’s a lot of Multiversal shenanigans in #100.
2. Nope. But what Zero Space is will be explained.
3. Good.
4. There’s always more I’d like to have explored/highlighted/expanded upon, but overall, having finished #100’s script and seen the art start to roll in, I’m pretty satisfied.
3. HA!
By the way, having grown up reading the original comics when they came out, the fact that you now have a blog that I can post on and you respond is pure awesome. I can’t wait to see how this ends and at the same time I really wish it would keep going.
I liked it mostly, still I just can’t imagine how all of this will be wrapped up in a matter of two issues, that’s not to say I don’t have faith that it will be accomplished but man, there’s just so much going on.
Excellent issue, totally gripping from beginning to end. It brought back memories of the UK epics when we were reaching the last few issues; revelations and twists galore. It looks like we’re finally going to go out with the bang that we deserved. 🙂
Oh. Optimus Prime has a vision of Unicron returning in #81. I wonder if that will amount to anything or is just part of Optimus Prime’s insecurities.
More the latter. I can conclusively reveal that Unicron will not be making any surprise reappearance in #100. But there is a bit of wanton chaos in the mix.
Simon, I’d like to ask many questions, but one thing is bothering me the most:
– How it’s possible that Underbase, created from the four/five minds of Cybertronian geniuses includes more power than Matrix which is a part of the energy of TFormers’ creator himself?
I don’t know where you’re directing this story, I’m not sure if like the fate of some of my favorite characters at the end of the road, but I can’t wait to see the conclusion of the whole thing.
Great action packed issue, Simon, one of the bests overall. Congrats for this and ask for more next month 🙂
My personal opinion on the matter:
I don’t think the Underbase was created from four/five minds. It was the collected data of all transformers up to the point it was shot into space. I think the five gathered every information in it they could find + they uploaded their whole personal intellect as well.
Plus I guess, it is not more power, just different power.
Yeah, though in inception it’s Boltax’s baby, the five are kind of the custodians/caretakers of Underbase rather than the be all and end all of it. It’s a braintrust of countless minds and experiences, but the five are uniquely a part of it.
Hello again Mr Furman, we met at the Nice Con convention last year ( you signed my What If #54 and my son’s Transformer book) and I saw you are appearing at London Film & Comic con in July. I brought a couple of the Regeneration Packs you were selling, and thought they were really cool, especially the original scripts. I was wondering, would you consider doing the same thing with any Deaths Head comics, as I would love to own some of those scripts, he will always be my favourite character. Thanks for reading, see you in July.
Sadly, the only Death’s Head script I have is the recent Hulk vs Death’s Head story. Wish I still had the ones from way back when.
I may just be really overthinking things here, but the panel right after Prime’s encounter with Fort max, there’s a pic of Ultra Magnus talking to Hound and Bumblebee. It looked an awful lot like a panel from the Target 2006 story where Hound is asking Ultra Magnus what the rush of finding Optimus is. Was this an homage to the old UK story? did anyone else notice this? Am I nutty?
You may well be overthinking things, though equally I’m happy to claim credit for this as a deliberate nod.
What do you have against Combiners?
To my knowledge, nothing. But I didn’t want them to define RG1. Too much else going on.
Guess I can see your point. Still would have been nice to see Superion or Devastator fighting in the background or something. Just makes it odd that Rodimus would attack Jhiaxus without any big guns. Not even a city like Metroplex or Trypticon, I don’t even see Omege in the attack group. Anyway, I don’t think a combiner has ever been in any of your UK issues, and I know there weren’t any in your US run.
Questions not about the issue, but I was looking through TIME WARS recently, and was wondering what your plans were for the arc if you hadn’t been rushed to bring the UK series to conclusion?
By the way…are we going to see a juicy Rodimus vs Galvatron fight for issue 100? We GOTTA see that! I think both Galvatron and Jhiaxus require spectacular deaths!
Sill haven’t read this ish yet so I don’t quite know where things are at but yes, it would be great to see the big guns squaring off before this is over and done with.
Jhiaxus (as awesome as he is in RG1), I’ve never been that keen on to be honest so I’ll just be happy to see him go whoever takes him out but what I’m really, really hoping for is Optimus and Galvatron to finish what they started in Time Wars .
Great issue. Sad that it has to end so soon (especially since my wish list of finding out what happened to The Mechanic, Spacehikers, etc. will likely go unfulfilled), but I hope you find time to write more unofficial sequels (like Alignment, Another Time And Place) some day.
Even if the Marvel continuity is shut down after #100, for me, it never ends. I will still read the old Marvel comics (Titan reprints) and enjoy them each time over and over.
I liked the last issues of the original Marvel story. It didn’t feel rushed to me (in a negative way), not even back in the early nineties. It felt like a really wild rollercoaster, building up speed that ended with a climatic bang, There was action, there was plot development, there was characterisation. Not one of those three was neglected I feel.
RG1 feels a lot slower and deliberate. More planned out and story driven but it loses that fun rollercoaster ride I had back in the day. I don’t think its an insult to acknowledge there are two distinctly different approaches to storytelling from #56 – #80 and #81 – #100 and falling into one camp or the other.
Oh, and I wish people would remember there are more than 100 issues to the Marvel continuity. There’s RG1#0 obviously plus the Headmasters mini-series and the Marvel movie adaptation counts too. And maybe the Transformers Universe profile books that Marvel published if those count.