Mt. St. Hilary
I did not think that I would do a page on Mt. St. Hilary but a lot of people have asked what it is. The volcano is never mentioned in the cartoon but it is in the comics. However, not everyone reads the original Marvel comics that were released in the 1980s. I mentioned that it is the mountain in the Pacific Northwest (maybe) that the Autobots' space cruiser crashed into on Earth during the Generation 1 series. There are some particular issues dealing with Mt. St. Hilary is that it was undisturbed until it erupted in 1984, which reactivated the Autobots and Decepticons. If it was sleeping for 4 million years, then the scientist in me would say either the volcano was dormant/sleeping or extinct. Usually a mountain is considered to be dormant if no activity has occurred around 10,000 years.
Now here is where it gets tricky....where is this volcano in real life? In the Marvel comics, it indicated that it was about 60 miles east of Portland, Oregon, where a tons of mission occurred. If it was in Portland, Oregon, it could possibly be Mt. Hood or in the Boring Lava Beds,
which both are to the east
of Portland. Several times in the Marvel comics, it mentions the
Cascades mountainous/volcano range, which might make it relatively similar to Mt. Hood. But, here...you be the the judge.
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
This is Boring Lava Bed near Portland, Oregon. | Portland, Oregon with Mt. Hood in the background. | This is Mt. Hood all by itself. |
There are some continuity errors with the animated series in terms of the
scene where the mountain is located. For the first several episodes of the
first season, it appeared that it was in the western portion of Oregon...very
green scenery and rain, which I will provide more information later on.
During the 2nd half, it appeared that the volcano was in a desert. During
most of the episodes, it was always sunny, however, do not let that fool anyone
that does not know about Oregon, it rains here all of the time. A good example
of this is during the episode Conquer and Divide, which aired during the first
season. The desert scenery in the 3rd picture conflicts with the
actual geography and climate of the Portland area
and especially
that of Washington State.
If the volcano is anywhere in that region, the
southeastern part of Oregon
seems most likely. However, if it is in southeastern Oregon then that
would conflict some of the scenes that deal with the ocean.
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
Typical Oregon scenery | My favorite joke when it comes to my weather and Transformers because I live in Oregon | more like a desert |
Southeastern Oregon |
Created on: May 7, 2008 Updated on May 7, 2008 cascadia2008@hotmail.com