The Transformers #17

Name: The Transformers #17
Brand: Marvel
Availability: InStock

Jun 1986 · Marvel · 0.75 USD; 0.40 GBP; 0.95 CAD

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“Return to Cybertron Part 1: The Smelting Pool!”

★ 1st appearance — Perceptor★ 1st appearance — Seaspray

About this Issue

The Transformers #17 is the first sustained look at Cybertron's wartime society in the entire Marvel run — the series had not revisited the Transformers' homeworld since its debut issue, a gap of roughly a year and a half. Writer Bob Budiansky used the 'Return to Cybertron' arc to introduce the largest single-issue cohort of new Autobot characters in the series' history, debuting Blaster, Perceptor, Cosmos, Powerglide, Seaspray, Warpath, and Beachcomber all at once, alongside the full Insecticon trio and the comics-exclusive Decepticon warlord Lord Straxus. Beyond the sheer volume of first appearances, the issue stands apart for its emotional weight: Scrounge — who debuts and dies in the same installment — became one of the most poignant one-issue characters in Transformers comics history, his sacrifice haunting Blaster for months afterward in subsequent issues. The dystopian portrait of Cybertron under Decepticon occupation, complete with disenfranchised 'Empties' and an industrial execution pit, pushed the licensed title into darker, more politically textured storytelling than the toy-commercial framework might have suggested.

In "Return to Cybertron Part 1: The Smelting Pool!", the Autobots make their long-awaited return to their homeworld, Cybertron, where the weight of history and danger looms large. As Scrounge gives his life to secure vital intel on Earth, the fate of the Autobots hangs in the balance—set against the stark, industrial heart of their once-great planet. Written by Bob Budiansky and illustrated by Don Perlin, with inks by Keith Williams, colors by Nel Yomtov, and letters by Janice Chiang, the issue’s cover by Herb Trimpe captures the grim intensity of the moment.

writer Bob Budiansky · artist Don Perlin · inker Keith Williams · colorist Nel Yomtov · letterer Janice Chiang · cover Herb Trimpe

ComicBooks.com Value

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Raw (VF) $1

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This exact issue on ebay

CGC 9.8 $112 1 listing CGC 9.6 $79.95 1 listing Raw — VG $3.99 1 listing Raw / ungraded $40 1 listing

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FINE · Newsstand $7 VF+ $8.49 FN · Newsstand $9.99 VF/NM $10.25 VERY GOOD $20 CGC 9.8 · Signed · Virgin $127.29 CGC 9.8 · Signed · Virgin $242.04 The Transformers #17 Marvel Comics (1984) $14.65

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History

By early 1986, Marvel's Transformers series faced a structural challenge familiar to licensed comics tied to expanding toy lines: Hasbro's second-year product range included dozens of new characters — Blaster, the Insecticons, the new Autobot mini-vehicles, the Seeker jets — who had no narrative foothold in a story set entirely on Earth. Bob Budiansky's solution was to shift the action off-planet entirely, crafting a two-part 'Return to Cybertron' arc (issues #17–18) that simultaneously world-built the Decepticon-occupied homeworld and folded in the new toys through their Cybertronian alternate modes. The on-sale date of February 25, 1986 placed the issue in the same cultural moment as the lead-up to the animated Transformers: The Movie, and Budiansky's bleak, Decepticon-dominated Cybertron — visually distinct from the Sunbow cartoon's version — reflected the darker, more militarized tone he and penciler Don Perlin brought to the Marvel continuity throughout this period.

Trivia · 8 facts

First comic appearances of Autobots Blaster, Scrounge, Perceptor, Cosmos, Powerglide, Seaspray, Warpath, and Beachcomber — the largest single-issue Autobot debut cohort in the Marvel series.
First comic appearance of Decepticon Lord Straxus (Lord High Governor of Polyhex), a comics-exclusive villain created by Bob Budiansky who never had a corresponding toy in this incarnation.
First comic appearances of the Insecticon trio: Shrapnel, Bombshell, and Kickback.
Scrounge both debuts and dies in this single issue — the first time a brand-new named Autobot character was introduced and killed in the same installment in the Marvel run; his death reverberated in Blaster's characterization through at least issue #29.
The issue is the first return to Cybertron in the comic since issue #1, presenting the homeworld under Decepticon occupation with a social underclass of fuel-starved neutrals called 'Empties' — a piece of world-building with no counterpart in the contemporary animated series.
Story title: 'Return to Cybertron Part 1: The Smelting Pool!' — written by Bob Budiansky, penciled by Don Perlin, inked by Keith Williams, colored by Nel Yomtov, cover art by Herb Trimpe; on sale February 25, 1986 (June 1986 cover date).
The issue was reprinted in the UK across Transformers #66–67, in French (Éditions Héritage, 1987), in Swedish (Atlantic Förlags, 1988), in Titan's Cybertron Redux collection (2003), and in Image's Transformers Compendium #1 (2025).
The issue contains a Marvel/National Committee for Prevention of Child Abuse public service back-matter page featuring Spider-Man and Power Pack, along with house ads referencing the ongoing Hobgoblin and Dakota North strips — tying the physical comic to the broader mid-1980s Marvel publishing context.