The Transformers have made their grand return to comics thanks to the Energon Universe reboot, but it’s certainly not the first time the franchise has re-invented itself over the years. One of the earliest attempts to reboot the franchise was the Transformers: Generation 2 line released in the early 1990s, which was accompanied by a Marvel comic of the same name. Attempting to take the Robots in Disguise in a new “grim’n’gritty” direction for the X-treme ’90s, the series only lasted 12 issues.
Coming from longtime Transformers writer Simon Furman and featuring art primarily by Derek Yaniger and Manny Galan, Transformers: Generation 2 picked things up where the previous Marvel series ended. However, this series sees Optimus Prime and his Autobots assuming a “take no prisoners” attitude while packing some serious firepower.
The story saw the Autobots now fighting a supreme villain known as Jhiaxus, who led a faction of Cybertronians that swore no allegiance to either the Decepticons or the Autobots. Finding themselves faced with an enemy on two fronts, as a more powerful Megatron arrives on Earth and threatens humanity’s very existence.
Marvel Gave the Transformers Big Guns & Big Attitudes
The comic was restarted to tie in with Hasbro’s Transformers: Generation 2 toy line, an attempt to resurrect the dormant franchise for ’90s kids. Made up mostly of day-glo neon repaints of the older figures, there were a few new designs thrown into the mix. Most memorably, Megatron was redesigned to have a tank as an alt-mode, a change that has been kept in many further iterations of the franchise in the years since (although the bright purple and green color scheme was left back in the early ’90s). Marvel’s tie-in comic continued the radical reinterpretation of the classic characters, albeit souped-up for the Image Comics era of big guns and even bigger attitudes.
The series saw Optimus Prime and his Autobots attempting to adjust to the new status quo, as they faced a war on two fronts from the newly-rebuilt Megatron (transformed into a tank by Cobra in the pages of G.I. Joe) and Jhiaxus and his off-shoot Cybertronians. Prime ultimately finds himself having to team up with Megatron to fight the Swarm, a dangerous offshoot of the Cybertronian race that eats everything in its path. The series ends with the Autobots and Decepticons having formed a shaky alliance, although somewhere deep down Prime suspects the truce won’t last, as the two factions are destined to be at war forever.
Optimus Prime and Megatron Team Up in Transformers: Generation 2
Ultimately, Transformers: Generation 2 failed to revitalize the brand. The comic book was canceled after only one year of publication, and the toy line quietly faded away in 1995. However, the franchise’s next reboot would be far more successful in keeping the brand alive. Beast Wars launched the following year, capturing kids’ imaginations with a whole new approach to transforming robot toys. The Transformers franchise has been alive and well in the decades since, going on to become a cultural juggernaut that keeps the toy shelves full of fresh product every quarter. Transformers: Generation 2 may have ultimately been deemed a failure, but now that Skybound has successfully rebooted the franchise in the Energon Universe line of comics, it goes to show that you can’t keep a good ‘bot down for long.
