Actually, the G1 UK Marvel comics are meant to be in-canon with the US Marvel comics. They've always been written as an expansion of the US stories. Likewise when Furman assumed the writing helm at Marvel US, Marvel US continuity was retconned to better fit in with Marvel UK. But overall, there is only one catholic Marvel continuity. Just because there are a few continuity discrepancies here and there doesn't mean that they are separate continuities. Lemme put it this way, the continuity discrepancies in the Marvel comics are NOTHING compared to the raging continuity contradictions in the G1 cartoon!! (yet it's generally accepted that the G1 cartoon is a single continuity).

 

Bluestreak1701: your timeline seems fairly spot on - I don't have the time right now to read it in detail (I'm at a net café atm, so time = $$) but it seems alright. I'm sure X-BoB will spot out any serious inconsistencies. The Earthforce arc is a difficult one to place, but I've always assumed that it occurs just before the Underbase Saga.

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The US marvel stories are canon to the UK marvel stories, but not vice versa, I believe.

I.S.T.: Then explain how Matrix Quest could have possibly happened based on the events of the US comics alone. (-_-) The entire reason why the Matrix began experimenting with evil was detailed in the Deathbringer story in the UK comics - it is these events which eventually lead on to the events of the Matrix Quest, which in turn has ripple effects throughout the rest of the US Marvel canon.

 

The only TF show that had genuine continuity was BW

The G1 comics had just as much continuity as Beast Wars - and in some instances, even surpassed the story writing quality of Beast Wars. One reason being that comics are less bound by censorship and "parental correctness" that cartoons are often scrutinised by.

 

Both G1 Marvel and Beast Wars would often implant small story elements in earlier issues/episodes, which would gradually combine with other smaller elements and snowball into some massive story climax. I honestly think that Furman did this better than Forward and DiTillio (although the BW writers did do a very good job to their credit - also, to be fair, they were working with a far smaller number of eps, whereas Furman wrote over three hundred issues for Marvel UK, and a good thirty odd issues for Marvel US) - IMO, Furman was a lot better in writing little story elements, which, when they finally unveiled themselves made you go, "zOMG! That's why everything else has happened and... zOMG!!" It's kinda like watching the ending of an M. Night Shyamalan movie only in variable dosages. d:

 

For example, Powermaster Prime's random PMS cramps... and the oh-so brief mention by Snarl that there was an unaccounted life form on the Ark that Grimlock quickly dismissed, but would nonetheless prove critical... the list goes on.

 

Forward and DiTillio don't seem to be as forward-thinking in their plot writing. This is something that Forward admits to in the DVD interview. They tend to write in stuff more retrospectively and then make the later stuff fit in with the earlier stuff - and I'll admit that they are pretty good at retconning their own continuity. For example, Tarantulas' true identity as a member of the Predacon Secret Police seems to be something that Forward and DiTillio only thought about whilst writing Season 2 - I doubt they had that idea whilst writing Season 1. But that role suited Tarantulas' already mysterious and covert nature. Furman on the other hand would have installed little tidbits from beginning all the way until the plot revelation is made that only makes sense when you go back and think about it in the newly revealed context. For example, when Optimus Prime's mind merged with Hi-Q, all those many issues of Optimus Prime's random PMS suddenly made sense! He wasn't menstruating, his mind was preparing to merge with Hi-Q's! It all just hits you when you see little Hi-Q sitting atop Slag and saying, "I am Optimus Prime." zOMG!!11!1!!one!1!

and this, dear friends where was dreamwave stepped in, did osme great work retelling the whole g1 mythos, while incorporating everything in some way or another (even if only via cameo)...

 

...and then its creator drove away in a new porshe with all the money, legal complications and hopes for a final, all encomassing and well drawn continity.

 

I just hope the new comic company can finally be legally be able to pick up after dreamwave and expand upon it. hell then we can even have a stable armada/cybertron universe too.

 

for my part i HATE this new badly drawn "infiltration" rubbish. long live the beast wars comic though.

The Dreamwave G1 was crappy in the beginning, but it did get gooder afterwards. Such a shame that the comic folded just as it was getting decent.

I.S.T.: Then explain how Matrix Quest could have possibly happened based on the events of the US comics alone. (-_-) The entire reason why the Matrix began experimenting with evil was detailed in the Deathbringer story in the UK comics - it is these events which eventually lead on to the events of the Matrix Quest, which in turn has ripple effects throughout the rest of the US Marvel canon.

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You're forgettign the most important thing: kids in the US couldn't buy those comics(If i'm wrong, shoot me and call me a dead idiot) normally. So, why would something that they couldn't access effect the US continuity?

 

edit: Goki, i have an unrelated question.

 

Is the optimsu prime in the G1 marvel comics after the computor game incident the real optimus prime, or just a copy? I've read he deleted himself outright and then somebody found a backup and stuck that in his body/ is this true? if it is, then Prime in that continuty became nothing more than a damn good immitation...

*waits for x-bob and stuff*

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I'm a Marvel Comics n00b.

*waits for x-bob and stuff*

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I'm a Marvel Comics n00b.

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That surprises me. I would have figured they'd be your secodn favorite continuity after the beast era...

You're forgettign the most important thing: kids in the US couldn't buy those comics(If i'm wrong, shoot me and call me a dead idiot) normally. So, why would something that they couldn't access effect the US continuity?

 

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Because Furman took over.

 

In the US comic continuity Primus is Cybertron, Xaaron exists, Thunderwing, the Autobots are on the Matrix Quest, the Matrix is evil, stuff that Goki pointed out.

 

All of this originated in the UK comics and Furman brought it with him.

joshlowe is right. Ditto the Decepticon Mayhem Attack Squad, and the fact that Thunderwing was Decepticon commander on Cybertron, not to mention the existence of Autobase etc. - all this originated from the UK comics.

 

In answer to your question X-BoB: ya know, I never thought of post-LAN-death Optimus Prime as being a copy. My understanding is that moments before Megatron killed Optimus Prime, Ethan Zachary saved a copy of Optimus Prime's core consciousness on a floppy disk! Damn! And of course, this backup copy Prime had lost most of his memories which Ethan tried to restore - and it was eventually this copy that would be uploaded into the Powermaster Prime "Transtector" that was created on Nebulos - thus the birth of Powermaster Optimus Prime. But considering that we are dealing with what is essentially a digital entity, Powermaster Optimus Prime is for all intents and purposes, the original Optimus Prime. I'm not entirely sure how the hell it worked, but somehow Prime's Spark must have been transferred along with his core consciousness into that disk - because as we know, a Transformer simply cannot live without his/her Spark (or "Primal Essence" as it was known in the Marvel Comics). That Spark would have been transferred from the disk to the PM Transtector. This is pure conjecture from my POV of course - the comics never really cleared this issue up, so it could be argued that PM Prime is just a damn good copy of the original Prime who died after being PWN'd at Counterstrike. :P But the only slight anomaly with that notion is that Powermaster Prime still retained the spiritual link with the Matrix that only the original Optimus Prime would have had - a bond which Optimus Prime claim he had forged with the Matrix after carrying it for millions of years. If PM Prime was a mere clone, then that clone would not inherit the long-forged affinity with the Creation Matrix - his bond with the Matrix would only be as deep as Thunderwing's; both Transformers being created with a natural affinity with the Matrix. But Prime claimed to have a higher bond with the Matrix because he had carried it for so much longer than Thunderwing. This leads me to favour the notion that Prime's Spark may have been copied by Ethan Zachary, and that thus PM Prime is actually the original Optimus Prime, and not just a copy.

How about this: when Prime's progrmming was uploaded into his PM body, he still only saw himself as a computergame. There was no life. But then he the poisonous energy from Nebulos started to kill him. What if it was at that time that Prime's spark came to his new body from the Matrix? Would make this the original Prime with all his memories and his link to the matrix.

 

(huge retcon, I know)