Transformers: The Movie #3
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeTransformers: The Movie #3 (February 1987) delivers the comic-book debut of Rodimus Prime — Hot Rod's transformation after seizing the Matrix of Leadership — making it the first time this pivotal generational handoff was rendered in print for U.S. readers. The issue also marks the first appearance of Unicron in full robot mode in an American comic, cementing the planet-eating chaos god as a fixture of the expanded Transformers mythos. Although the mini-series sat outside Marvel's ongoing continuity, its depiction of the film's climax gave a generation of readers their primary printed record of events that were rapidly departing theaters, and the story's core beats — the Matrix, the ascension of a new Autobot leader, the fall of Unicron — would echo through every Transformers comic line that followed. Taken together, the three issues represent the franchise's first sustained attempt to bridge the animated-film universe with the direct-market comic audience.
ComicBooks.com Value
Show all 12 grades ▾
This exact issue on ebay
CGC 9.8 ▾ $275 2 listings
Raw / ungraded ▾ $3.59–$40 15 listings
Read it digitally
Sell my copy
Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.
We Buy Collections ▸History
When the 1986 animated film arrived, regular series writer Bob Budiansky was occupied with the ongoing monthly title, which Marvel had deliberately kept anchored in the present day rather than the film's far-future setting. The task of adapting screenwriter Ron Friedman's script fell to Ralph Macchio, an experienced Marvel staffer who had written the very first issue of the ongoing series. Macchio and penciller Don Perlin, inked by Ian Akin and Brian Garvey, appear to have worked from a pre-final draft of the screenplay — issues #2 and #3 shipped after the film had already left theaters, and multiple details in the adaptation diverge from the finished film in ways consistent with an earlier script stage. The decision to keep the adaptation separate from the main continuity meant it was never integrated into Budiansky's ongoing storyline, though Marvel UK later bundled all three issues into a 76-page prestige-format Winter Special, adjusting the story's in-world date from 2005 to 2006 to align with Simon Furman's concurrent 'Target: 2006' storyline in the British weekly.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Title: 'Unicron!' — Part 3 of 3. Published February 1987 by Marvel Comics.
- First U.S. comic-book appearance of Unicron in full robot mode.
- First comic-book appearance of Rodimus Prime, depicted as Hot Rod's transformation upon opening the Matrix of Leadership.
- Written (adapted) by Ralph Macchio; pencils by Don Perlin; inks by Ian Akin and Brian Garvey.
- The adaptation was written from a pre-final draft of Ron Friedman's screenplay, resulting in notable divergences from the finished film — including structural rearrangement of scenes and differences in character dialogue, color schemes, and certain action sequences.
- The issue exists outside the Marvel U.S. ongoing continuity; it was never integrated into Budiansky's present-day storyline.
- All three issues were collected by Marvel UK in a 76-page prestige Winter Special (card cover), the largest single-story Transformers comic Marvel UK had published at that time; the UK edition changed the story's date from 2005 to 2006 to maintain continuity with Furman's 'Target: 2006' storyline.
- Later collected by IDW Publishing in Classic Transformers Volume 6 TPB (2010) and The Transformers Classics Vol. 7 TPB (2014), and by Hachette Partworks in The Definitive G1 Collection Vol. 92 (2020).
Cast · 19 characters
Full credits
Reprints
Reprinted in Transformers the Movie #[nn] (1986), Transformers #2/1988 (1988), The Transformers Classics #7 (2014), Transformers Compendium #2 (2025)
Key issues in Transformers: The Movie
Variants (1)
Reviews
Reader reviews
No reader reviews yet.