Pages from Marvel’s Transformers #71-75. Author Simon Furman, Artists Andrew Wildman and Geoff

Pages from Marvel’s Transformers #71-75. Author Simon Furman, Artists Andrew Wildman and Geoff Senior.

One of the most unexpected and tragic redemption stories to come out Marvel’s Transformers is the saga of Scorponok, the archenemy of the giant Autobot Fortress Maximus. Fortress Maximus/Cerebros and Scorponok are both Headmasters, whose heads can detach and transform into a separate little figure. In American Transformers fiction, the tiny head figurines were Nebulans, human-like aliens from the planet Nebulos. Back when Headmasters were shiny new toys, they were introduced in their own Marvel Transformers miniseries, in which Autobots led by Fortress Maximus resettled on Nebulos to escape the ongoing war. The Decepticons pursued them and eventually both sides took on partners among the native Nebulans.

Scorponok’s partner was Lord Zarak, a selfish, xenophobic, and deluded political pundit who was determined to whip up the populace’s fears over the metal aliens so he could seize emergency powers over the Nebulan government. So caught up was he in his racism and self-righteousness that he invited the Decepticons to Nebulos to help him get rid of the Autobots, only to find himself forced to appease Scorponok and his warriors at every turn lest they conquer and destoy his planet. Eventually, he was “binary bonded” to Scorponok to become his head, and their thoughts began to align. For all his selfishness, Zarak was not fully evil and loved his daughter and homeland, but bound to Scorponok, he became cruel and violent. However, what little nobility Zarak had also influenced Scorponok. The combined Scorponok now had Zarak’s potential for love and Scorponok’s headstrong valor.

Starting from the Underbase Saga, Scorponok became aware of Optimus Prime’s wisdom. Later, when Optimus Prime proposed an alliance to defeat Unicron, Scorponok struggled with the temptation to backstab Prime, but ultimately did the right thing. Over the rest of the storyline, he grew more and more impressed with Prime’s courage and compassion, and more aware of the deficiencies within himself. He was finally inspired to make a heroic last stand against Unicron while Prime was temporarily incapacitated.

And so Scorponok, who was also Lord Zarak, a man who had once deluded himself into thinking he was doing good when he had only done evil, only to meet true goodness in the form of Optimus Prime, died doing one genuinely good thing.