The Four Issue Limited Series is the story arc that kicked-off the original Generation 1 Marvel Comics series. The series was reportedly only slated to run for four issues, but, due to popular demand, was extended beyond that. The Four Issue Limited Series continued on through issue #80 and ultimately ended with Regeneration One issue #100.

The first four issues of the originally planned run began by introducing the Transformers as the inhabitants of the planet Cybertron which were engaged in a global civil war. It told of how the war was taken to the planet Earth when a starship containing combatants from both sides of the conflict crashed and lay dormant for four million years until the volcano they were buried under erupted, reactivating the ship's onboard computer. The computer then repaired its Transformer occupants.

The story then centered around the Transformers acclimating themselves to their new surroundings, first encounters with the planet's inhabitants, and their desperate need to obtain the fuel they need to function. The evil Decepticons' strategy of violently taking what they need from the humans leads the noble Autobots to try to stop them, continuing their civil war. The initial four issues ends in a climactic battle where the Autobots have apparently beaten the Decepticons with the help of the human Sparkplug Witwicky. The tables are turned when Shockwave arrives and buries them all under a pile of rubble with a blast from his laser gun mode, leading into the next chapter of the continuing story.

The The Transformers Four-Issue Limited Series consists of:

• #1: "The Transformers"
• #2: "Power Play!"
• #3: "Prisoner of War!"
• #4: "The Last Stand"

Additionally, as a tongue-in-cheek joke, these two issues are also labelled as part of The Transformers Four-Issue Limited Series:

• #80: "End of the Road!"
• #100: "The War to End All Wars, Part 5"

Notes

• An alternate ending was scripted and drawn for a UK reprint of issue #4 in The Complete Works Part 2, in this version, Shockwave never strikes, and the series ends with Optimus Prime declaring the Decepticons defeated once and for all. Some have theorized that this ending was created by the US comics in case the series failed to progress past issue #4. However, the art on these panels, particularly a closeup of Optimus Prime's face in the very final panel, is markedly different from Frank Springer's other work in the issue, so it seems much more likely that this version was simply drawn for the UK printing by one of their own artists.