Primeval Dawn

 

Writers: Bob Forward (part 1) and Simon Furman (parts 2 and 3)

Publication date: July 13, 2001 – July 31, 2004

 

A backup feature running through the three issues of the BotCon-exclusive comic variously titled Transformers: The Wreckers, Transformers: Enter the Wreckers, and Transformers Universe Featuring the Wreckers, Primeval Dawn takes place on prehistoric Earth shortly after the end of the Beast Wars. Yes, another one of those.

The Vok, the alien architects who antagonized our beastly heroes throughout most of the cartoon and are revealed here to be an evolved form of the Swarm from the Generation 2 Marvel comics, are back! Only now they're good guys, allegedly. We're fed a nonsensical retcon that the Vok saved Tigerhawk's spark when he was vaporized by the Nemesis in the series finale, then they send his spark back to Earth again, inexplicably splitting it back into Tigatron's and Airazor's individual sparks. They're resurrected as Transmetals using two more blank protoforms left behind in crashed stasis pods, bringing the Axalon's total complement of blanks up to seven.

The Vok also take the abandoned control suit Quickstrike used to puppeteer Optimal Optimus in "Master Blaster" and combine it with Megatron's Transmetal driver (which we last saw in Packrat's collection of junk in Collections) using the power of the Matrix, which they remove from Optimus Prime's chest and implant in their technological Frankenstein creation, giving it life. This is Primal Prime, the... embodiment of the combined knowledge of all Matrix bearers from throughout time, or something. He looks identical to Optimal Optimus except he's red instead of orange.

Elsewhere, we learn that Tarantulas faked his own death, somehow, for some reason. He meant to electrocute himself and explode, leaving only his smoking feet intact, sure. But now he's back! No one's ever really gone! And somehow he's been fused with the two Vok who entered him immediately prior to his greatly exaggerated death, gaining their powers. We see that Ravage, too, is alive again. As in The Gathering, he's in his Transmetal 2 body, but here he's actually allowed to have his robot head. 

 

Of course, in IDW Publishing's Beast Wars continuity, Ravage already went back to Cybertron with Lio Convoy. How can we explain this discrepancy with a completely separate timeline? Well, Magmatron resurrected Ravage by transplanting his spark into a blank protoform, claiming that his original body was damaged beyond repair. So what if Tarantulas used his new Vok powers to regenerate, reformat, and revivify Ravage's obliterated corpse? If they're going to keep bringing back all these dead characters, why shouldn't we kill their authorial intent?

The first of Primeval Dawn's three parts was written by Beast Wars story editor Bob Forward, so despite the creatively bankrupt story decision to undo half of the show's character deaths, the writing is a lot better than it has any business being. Certainly better than it is in Parts 2 and 3, when Simon Furman takes over scripting duties!

But that continuation didn't come for three years. In the meantime, someone had the crazy idea to continue Primeval Dawn as a Flash-animated motion comic, complete with original music by The Transformers: The Movie composer Vince DiCola. A recap of Part 1 was released in May of 2002, with a ten-minute animation continuing the story screened at Wizard World Chicago Comic Con that July. Sadly, only the recap survives, with the full Primeval Dawn II animation now lost media.

 

The story finally continued when Simon Furman picked up his pen once again, introducing several characters from the Beast Wars toyline that he would eventually reuse in The Gathering and The Ascending, failing to imbue them with any memorable characterization either time. There's no shortage of ways you can headcanon these double appearances into making sense but I'm not invested enough to write them down. However, I am invested enough to point out that both here and in his IDW work, Furman has characters casually address Ravage as "Tripredacus Agent," because that was the name on the Tech Specs cards for some obscure toys of him due to alleged trademark issues. What a great nickname/alias, really rolls right off the tongue.

 

The Maximals awaken a stasis pod containing Ramulus, who launches into a tirade cursing that bastard Optimus Primal for abandoning his crew. Why does Simon Furman think that protoforms are pre-existing Transformers put into stasis for interstellar travel? That doesn't even make any sense; they're robots, they can just turn themselves off for the trip. Why is this asshole sheep blaming Optimus Primal for a problem that didn't even exist until this story was written?

Tarantulas, supported by Ravage, Spittor, Iguanus, and Razorclaw, ambushes the Maximals and beats the shit out of Primal Prime, ripping the Matrix from his chest so he can deliver it to his true master: Unicron! The Chaos-Bringer will live again! For like the fifth time! I'm really on the edge of my seat this time.

Airazor and Tigatron drag Primal Prime back to the abandoned Maximal base for repairs, where they attempt to contact their Vok overseers but are unable to get any service because the Ark doesn't have a 5G network. I really dislike the characterization of these characters just being all-in on the Vok now. These aliens tried to destroy the Earth, they abducted Tigatron and Airazor, they forcibly merged their sparks into a brainwashed gestalt. Sorry, not buying them as being good guys all of a sudden. Maybe Airazor and Tigatron are still under the aliens' mental influence, but the comic doesn't seem to suggest as much. They're just looking to the Vok for instructions because they have no idea what they're supposed to do now. Great!

Fortunately, the Predacons solve that dilemma for them by launching an all-out assault on the Maximal base, not realizing that Tarantulas has sent them to their deaths while he works on opening a transwarp portal to return to Unicron with the Matrix. While Airazor goes to activate the Ark's defenses, Tigatron searches fruitlessly for Ramulus to plan a counterattack, but the surly sheep has disappeared.

Meanwhile, the prone Primal Prime parlays with his preternatural patrons on the p-sychic plane. The Vok explain that they are the guardians of "the One" and "the Plan," but that Plan is now in danger. The only solution now is for them to combine their essence and imbue it within a vessel, and the only one available is Primal Prime. "AH-AH-AH-AH-AH--AAAAAAA!" agrees Primal Prime.

The Predacons have disabled the Ark's defenses and are about to force their way inside, and Ramulus is still nowhere to be found. Just when all hope seems lost and Tigatron is about to give in to despair, Primal Prime awakens, glowing with Vok power. "The Vok are here!" say the Vok.

TO BE CONCLUDED... the comic promises, but, oops, that never happened because 3H Productions lost the Transformers license and went bankrupt. This seems to be a common theme.