Transformers: Generation One (Dreamwave)

The 'Generation One' term has also come to be associated with the wider

Prime Directive (Volume 1)

The Prime Directive miniseries takes place after the Autobots had attempted to leave Earth for a second time in a space ship called the Ark II, along with the defeated Decepticons. The Ark II was sabotaged, exploding in the upper atmosphere and sending all the Transformers falling back to Earth, deactivated. The story concerns the reactivation of the Transformers by a scheming entrepreneur and the results when things don't go as planned.

Plot

The story begins several years after the destruction of the second Ark. The military, led by General Hallo, recruit an unwilling

Meanwhile, Megatron and the Decepticons have broken free, killing Lazarus, and plan to use a technorganic virus to reformat Earth into a new Cybertron. Prime and the other reactivated Autobots confront their old foes, but are stopped when Hallo drops a massive bomb on all of them. The advancing virus takes the brunt of the blast, fuelling it further, and the Decepticons (joined by the defected

Meanwhile, Wheeljack and the rest of the reactivated Autobots try in vain to stop the spread of the virus, which is now fuelling itself, but are hindered by the Canadian military. Spike has been imprisoned by Hallo after discovering the truth - that Hallo was responsible for the destruction of the second Ark. After his attempts to create his own transforming robots had failed one of his subordinates developed a way to control the Transformers, so they sabotaged the Ark in order to gain the Transformers for themselves. Lazarus later went rogue and took most of the Transformers with him. Hallo now plans to obliterate his mistake by launching a nuclear missile at San Francisco. Spike escapes with help from one of Hallo's former employees, and Hallo is gunned down by the President and his aides. The nuclear missile has already been launched, however.

Back in San Francisco Prime refuses to join his foe, and is spared death when Megatron is distracted by heroic firefighters. The Autobots defeat their foes, but Superion is forced to sacrifice himself to stop the missile. In Canada, Wheeljack also manages to create a device to stop the virus, but sacrifices his own energy to power it. The Decepticons escape due to the distraction caused by the missile, but Grimlock refuses to rejoin the Autobots. Spike now rethinks his attitude towards the Autobots.

War and Peace (Volume 2)

After the impressive sales of the first volume Dreamwave commissioned a second six-issue mini-series. Again drawn by Pat Lee, it was now written by Brad Mick (later revealed as Dreamwave writer James McDonough). The plot would focus on the Transformers' homeworld of Cybertron, and feature

Plot

A year after the events of the first series, the Autobots and Decepticons are drawn to the Arctic by a signal from a mysterious pod. As the two sides battle the pod opens to reveal Scourge, who tells the astonished Transformers that the war is over and Shockwave has united the planet. Shockwave himself then arrives with a bodyguard of Autobots and Decepticons, gunning down Scourge and arresting the Earthen Transformers as war criminals. After quelling any discontent with his new

After

Prime, about to be forcibly shut down, is saved by

Generation One (Ongoing title)

After the success of the second series Dreamwave decided to upgrade the series to ongoing status. A special issue #0 was released, written by Brad Mick aka James McDonough and Adam Patyk, with art by Pat Lee,

The next two issues reintroduced Spike, and dealt with the Autobots battling the

The series was routinely Dreamwave's best-selling regular series.

IDW Publishing