"Have you ever wondered...what came before?. We are ageless, timeless, and yet we have no memory of creation, no concept of who or what we truly are. Or what we can be!"
—Megatron
Transformers: The War Within is a Transformers miniseries put out by Dreamwave Comics in 2002, written by Simon Furman and art by Don Figueroa. Set in Dreamwave's Transformers G1 continuity, the story begins in the early days of the Great War with the ascension of Optimus Prime to leader of the Autobots. The young Prime finding his leadership contested by both the Decepticons and doubtful Autobots.
The series saw two sequels; War Within - The Dark Ages, which introduced The Fallen, and War Within - Age of Wrath, which went unfinished due to Dreamwave's bankruptcy.
This series contains examples of;
- Adaptation Amalgamation: While a prequel to G1 media, as with most Transformer media concepts not original to the G1 era are inserted into it here, most notably the Golden Disk MacGuffin from the Beast era.
- Alas, Poor Yorick: Megatron is introduced monologuing to the head of a corrupt Senator he's implied to have recently killed.
- All There in the Manual: The Fallen's enigmatic backstory was fleshed out in Transformers: The Ultimate Guide and the profile of his Titanium figure and later works would establish his true name as Megatronus Prime.
- Call-Forward: During their climatic battle, the Matrix gives Optimus and Megatron visions of the future that include;
- Their famous battle on the Sherman Dam from the three part pilot of the original The Transformers G1 cartoon.
- Rodimus Prime, Optimus' successor, leading Fortress Maximus into battle.
- Cut Short: The Age of Wrath series, the third installment under the "War Within" branding, was cancelled at three issues due to Dreamwave's filing for bankruptcy.
- Creepy Souvenir: Issue 2 opens with Megatron monologuing to the head of a corrupt politician he killed.
- Expy: The Fallen as an evil Prime serves as one for the Liege Maximo another evil Prime Simon Furman created in Transformers: Generation 2.
- Flat-Earth Atheist: Optimus, at the start of the story, doesn't give much credence to the Matrix having any mystical abilities.
- MacGuffin:
- Unsurprisingly, the Matrix of Leadership. It's what chooses who leads the Autobots and it's the object of Megatron's desire as he believes it will allow him to transform Cybertron into a mobile battle station.
- The Golden Disk also. Given to Optimus upon his ascension to leader of the Autobots, it's supposed to contain the wisdom of all previous Primes. At the end of the series, Optimus tosses it into space saying he'll make his own destiny.
- May It Never Happen Again: The Dark Ages: Taking place during a time period when both Optimus Prime and Megatron have gone missing and the Autobot and Decepticon armies have fractured into multiple smaller factions, the mysterious and nigh-unstoppable Transformer only known as The Fallen attacks and kidnaps four Transformers (Hot Spot, Grimlock, Jetfire and Blitzwing) as part of some sort of plot. He also recruits the Chaos Trinity, a trio of Transformers who believe in magic, to his cause by granting them actual powers. In the aftermath of the Fallen's defeat (brought about by a literal Deus ex Machina as the Creator God of the Transformers briefly manifested and annihilated him with a gesture), the various factions place several locks on the seal he was trying to open to ensure no one faction would ever be able to try to finish the job.
- Merchandise-Driven: An interesting aversion in the context of the larger franchise, this was one of the first pieces of Transformers media that wasn't conceived to promote, or based off, a pre-existing toy line. All the designs here were for the comic. Though toys would later come based off the designs from this series due to its success.
- Mirror Character: Grimlock and Starscream. Both being characters who think they could do a better job as leader of their respective factions than their current boss, as well as also being the resident Jerkass of their respective faction. Grimlock however comes to gain respect for Optimus by the end, while Starscream nearly destroys the planet in an attempt to kill Megatron.
- Mythology Gag:
- During Shockwave's attack on Iacon, "Are All Dead" is burned into the wall. A reference to the iconic cover of issue #5 of the Marvel Comics Transformers series.
- Megatron's plan to use the Matrix to transform Cybertron into a mobile planet-sized battle station is one to the original goal of Megatron from the Marvel comic from the 80s.
- Prequel: To Dreamwave's ongoing Transformers comics at the time, as well as in the Broad Strokes to the Transformers: Generation One era.
- Reluctant Ruler: Optimus' attitude when he's told the Matrix has selected him as the new Autobot leader.
- Token Evil Teammate: Grimlock, as usual, is the most unpleasant members of the Autobots as well as the most critical of Optimus' leadership. He's even stated to have been a former Decepticon but his reasons for switching sides are never expounded upon.
