Still Life!

	; Stop breathing down my neck!
	"Still Life!"
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First published	January 1991
Cover date	March 1991
Writer	Simon Furman
Penciler	Andrew Wildman
Inker	Stephen Baskerville
Colorist	Nel Yomtov
Letterer	Rick Parker
Editor	Rob Tokar
Continuity	Marvel Comics continuity

As their world lies dying, the Transformers attempt to maintain peace between themselves.

Synopsis

"I'll take a no. 3 combo with a large diet coke."
"Rrf grr arggrff."
"What?"

With Unicron destroyed, a small group of Autobots and Decepticons gather around the shattered remains of Optimus Prime, somehow still clinging to life. As Prime gasps out his final words, his last request is that Prowl make sure Grimlock takes command of the Autobots in his absence.

Elsewhere on the planet, Optimus Prime's Nebulan partner Hi-Q is on the run, fleeing from the creatures who just devoured Runabout. He thinks to himself that he needs to get back to Prime, tell him about the miraculous changes they both are going through, thanks to the Powermaster process.

At the new United Cybertronian compound, Prowl gives his news to a less than enthusiastic Grimlock. When Grimlock moves to go about his business with little more than a word, Prowl grabs him and tries to drill home his new responsibilities. Grimlock shoots back, telling him that the Ark has been stolen, complete with several deactivated Autobots who were never fully brought back by the Nucleon. Grimlock was planning to lead his Dinobots on an expedition to track down and retrieve the lost ship. Prowl's not done, though. He reminds Grimlock that Optimus Prime upheld a code of ideals for the Autobots, including the notion that Autobots do not kill, unless as a last resort to save others. He makes Grimlock vow to carry on Prime's views.

As Grimlock and the Dinobots leave, Prowl receives some bad news from Blaster's seismology report, while Bludgeon and his lieutenant Krok agree to bide time and weigh their options before making any moves.

On the search for the Ark, Swoop questions Grimlock, submitting that Prowl may have been right, that preserving the peace was more important than their current mission. Cynically, Grimlock informs him that the peace has no chance of lasting anyway. The way Grimlock sees it, Primus never created a single Cybertronian race, but two - one good, one evil. As he goes on, Grimlock's body suddenly seizes up completely, leaving him totally paralyzed. Just then, Hi-Q catches up with the Dinobots, and his hunters find him as well. The monsters surround the Dinobots, who are forced into battle instead of running away, in order to defend their helpless leader.

Meanwhile, at the stolen Ark, Starscream and Shockwave are attempting to enact repairs to the damaged ship. Starscream doesn't understand why it's necessary to repair the Ark, when they could easily hunt around and find another one. Shockwave explains to his partner that the Ark is still the best ship on Cybertron, and his calculations suggest they won't have time to hunt down and steal another ship. In the shadows, Galvatron silently agrees with his assessment.

Back at the battle, the Dinobots are having a rough time with the Demons: they are incredibly resilient and continue to pop up by the dozen. As the Dinobots still refuse to abandon Grimlock, he silently laments that his rash use of Nucleon may leave them all frozen as he is... or worse. However, Hi-Q's Powermaster "energy vision" sees something else in Grimlock—a chrysalis of pure energy slowly building beneath his superstructure. Using his special abilities, Hi-Q manages to tap into and boost the process, pushing Grimlock's transformation to fruition in a matter of moments, but at the cost of accelerating the Nebulon's own transformation. In his new Action Master robot mode, Grimlock is now bursting with power. He single-handedly sends the devil-creatures packing, and then grabs one of the stragglers to beat him to death as revenge. Hi-Q stops him, however, speaking to Grimlock about the inner conflict in his circuits, and that he only truly wins a battle when he gives peace and chance, and stops himself from taking life needlessly.

As the Dinobots turn to go, they're treated to a pair of surprises. First, Grimlock reveals that with his new power comes the loss of his ability to transform. Then, Hi-Q makes the startling claim that he somehow is Optimus Prime.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Nebulans	Others
Cloudburst (3) Sureshot (5) Hosehead (6) Kup (9) Jazz (10) Prowl (11) Optimus Prime (12) Wheeljack (13) Grimlock (19) Rad (20) Blaster (21) Nightbeat (22) Snarl (24) Swoop (25) Slag (26) Sludge (27)	Apeface (1) Scorponok (2) Bomb-Burst (4) Runamuck (7) Darkwing (8) Bludgeon (14) Quake (15) Krok (23) Shockwave (28) Starscream (29) Galvatron (30)	Hi-Q (17)	Unicron (16) Demons (18)

Quotes

"nnn... noh time... get Grimlock tell hm..."
"But, Prime --"
"Nuh! Make... mmmake him... underst-- uh *"

—Optimus Prime's last words to Prowl

"Do you understand what I'm saying, Grimlock? Prime named you the new Autobot leader!"
...
"Fine. Me get right on it."

— if Prowl's message impresses Grimlock, he's not about to let it show.

"Me remember you, Prowl -- remember how you like to think you smart! Always have plan, clever scheme! But you just soldier with brain, nothing more! You think you know it all, but you see only small picture!"

—Grimlock

"Prime had a message for you. He wanted you to remember that whatever the provocation, whatever the circumstances, the foes we fight are still living beings! We are Autobots, we kill only as a last option, and then only to save other lives! Mercy and compassion are what set us apart from those we fight! We forget that and we are lost! As Autobot leader, do you vow to follow this code, uphold Prime's ideals?"
...
"Yes."

—Prowl may or may not have gotten through to Grimlock

"Opinion, Bludgeon?"
"I think, Krok, we should examine... options!"

—Unicron's been dead five seconds, and Krok and Bludgeon are already scheming

"I dunno -- I just don't see the point in this! I mean, Unicron's been defeated.... there's no hurry to get off-planet now. We could wait awhile, steal a spacecraft without big holes in it!"

—Starscream grouses about being on Ark repair duty

"As regards the immediacy of our departure, I have a hypothesis..."
"What a surprise!"

—Shockwave and Starscream

"I understand you, Grimlock -- I always have. Like Scorponok, you walk the fine line between good and evil, Autobot and Decepticon! Your mind is a perpetual battleground, your war a lonely struggle against your own nature! Give in to hate and anger and you lose! Part of you dies! But every time you find peace, stay the hand that slays, you win! That is why you must remember that whatever shape it wears, it is still life. And life is the most precious thing of all!"

—Optimus Prime gives one of his ennobling speeches via Hi-Q

Notes

Artwork and technical errors

Cloudburst's corpse seems to be in remarkably-intact condition despite him being blown to melted bits by Unicron's flame breath last issue.
In spite of having died by getting stepped on by Unicron while in his Pretender shell, Bomb-Burst is seen wrecked in alt-mode here. (Keep in mind though that the robots are long established as able to work outside their shells). Regardless, he's still dead.
In the same panel as the above two characters' bodies, Sureshot's wreckage is a bit harder to identify, as some of the landscape seems to have been mistakenly colored in his scheme too.
The highly damaged Optimus Prime is in his super robot form, but there isn't much in the artwork to indicate he has a smaller robot inside.
Speaking of the damaged Prime, in his first panel, he appears to have half a mouthplate, but it disappears afterwards.
Pages nine and twelve of UK issue #324 have their color palettes reversed.

Continuity errors

The Transformers Universe profile for Grotusque says that his first appearance is "right here", when he actually first appeared in Headmasters #1.

Continuity notes

This is the second time that Prime has died in the Marvel US continuity.
Optimus had been suffering mysterious flashes of pain since issue #69, which he'd assumed was a problem with the Powermaster process, but as Hi-Q reveals is nothing of the sort.
Bludgeon and Grimlock are officially identified as the new Decepticon and Autobot leaders.
Grimlock being made Autobot leader is a bit of an odd choice because he made a hash of it last time, and the last time Prime saw him he was storming off in a huff. However, he'd been a pretty serviceable leader in the Earthforce stories and while they're not in continuity with "Still Life!", Furman may have subconsciously been thinking of it.
Previously depicted as completely bald, Hi-Q has grown quite a bit of white "fringe" while serving as Prime's engine.
Grimlock raises the theory that Autobots and Decepticons are in fact genetically separate, and that is why the war started. This contradicts Megatron's stated reasons for doing so way back in the first issue, which was explicitly because he was dissatisfied with Cybertron being at peace. But, then again, no one's ever accused Grimlock of being a scientist. This notion doesn't come up again in this series, but would be explored further in Generation 2 and Regeneration One.
The demons had previously appeared in the UK comic stories "Underworld!", "Demons!", and "Dawn of Darkness".
Grimlock's paralysis has been building since his exposure to Nucleon in US issue #70, first with his leg in #72 and then his hand in #74.
Powers and abilities:
- Sludge uses his shockwave stomp to knock a few Demons flat.
- Apparently Powermasters have the ability to see sources of energy.

Real-life references

The cover is Furman's second reference to a scene from the 1986 film Aliens, paraphrasing a line from Bill Paxton's Private Hudson character. The cover of Marvel UK #264 used the same gag, with the line quoted verbatim. These both come after an entire issue set up as an Aliens pastiche.
Slag's line "Frying tonight!" hearkens back to an old Britishism from the shortages surrounding World War II, when fish & chip shops would only offer fried fish on certain days of the week. (It is also a famous quote from the film Carry on Screaming.)

UK printing

Issue #323:

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

Issue #324:

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

Other trivia

Transformers Universe profiles for Grotusque and Horri-Bull are found after the main story.
Optimus Prime's appearance in the US cover's corner box is finally updated from his original form to his Powermaster body... or, in this case, what's left of it (the artwork is, rather grotesquely, taken directly from the interior of this issue).
In the credits, editor Rob Tokar and editor-in-chief Tom DeFalco are jointly credited as "Need A Life".
Swoop starts to tell a rather dated pun: "Let's make like shepherds and—get the flock out of here." Yeah, it wasn't really funny back in the day either.

Courtesy of my...

Snarl calls out his energo sword as he smacks a Demon around with it.

Covers (3)

US issue #76 cover: frozen Grimlock, Swoop, Sludge and a Demon, by Andrew Wildman.
UK issue #323 cover: aftermath of Unicron's attack, by Andy Wildman.
UK issue #324 cover: recolored version of US cover, by Robin Bouttell.

US issue #76 - Oh Grimlock you cad!
UK issue #323 - What Transformers needs is more watercolours...
UK issue #324 - Grimlock came last in the Dance Dance Revolution championship.