Meltdown!

The countdown is on until Cybertron itself is ripped apart by Megatron’s unstable engines, but salvation may be coming in the unlikeliest of forms as the Autobots and Decepticon unite against Flame…

A powerful cover by Marvel UK artist Jerry Paris illustrates the predicament that the Cybertron Autobots find themselves in. Xaaron, Ultra Magnus and the Wreckers, while not actually caught in the clutched fist of the rogue Autobot scientist Flame, are in that bind metaphorically, as captives of his zombie army.

Until last issue that army included the Wreckers’ former (now deceased) leader Impactor, who was also reanimated by Flame’s computer mainframe, but has started to regain some echoes of his consciousness. As the Transformation (intro) page for Transformers UK 168 memorably puts it: ‘Old soldiers don’t die, they get reanimated by insane Autobot scientists.’ Impactor wants revenge on the guy who interrupted his eternal rest, and you get the impression that he will play a pivotal role in what is coming next.

Meltdown, which was published by Marvel UK in June 1988, with art by Robin Smith and story by the prolific Simon Furman, is the third and final instalment of what has been a quirky and offbeat tale. It utilises a cast of Cybertron bots and cons that Furman has assembled and it a great example of the expanded story that the writer has created to fill the gaps between material from the comic’s US sister title (this is because the UK comic was weekly, and the US was monthly.)

These days it is not unheard of to have bad Autobots and noble Decepticons, I mean just look at efforts to recast Megatron as a heroic/tragic revolutionary against an oppressive Autobot State in the modern era. However, in the Eighties things were by and large nice and simple: the Autobots were the good guys and Decepticons the were the villains, so Meltdown is memorable for having an Autobot as the arch baddie. It also shows that bad apples are present on both sides.

The story begins with a recap of what’s happened so far, as told from the perspective of Flame’s computer briefing him on the threat level, and finally a countdown to the firing of the vast engines that will relaunch Cybertron as a mobile dreadnought.

As a minor point, having been told in Legion of the Lost that the events happened ‘three weeks’ before City of Fear, we’re now back to counting time in the Cybertronian vernacular established by Bob Budiansky way back in the 1986 classic, The Smelting Pool, by counting down in ‘breems’ (each one equivalent to eight point three earth minutes).

Robin Smith does a nice job of depicting Flame as a garish nightmare of a robot, utterly self-obsessed and hell bent on reviving an insane idea from Cybertron’s history so that the planet can sail the heavens with himself at the helm, everyone in awe at his achievement. The fact that a good chunk of the planet would be extinguished in the process is by the by.

The rest of the issue is mostly about getting the cast assembled and into place. Springer leads Ultra Magnus and the Sparkler Mini-bots below ground, with Sizzle still whinging about Magnus’ decision to send Flywheels, a Decepticon prisoner, for help. Magnus is charitable in the circumstances and explains that Flywheels is the only one with a jet mode and access to reinforcements, but he equally could have put this upstart back in his place. In a war situation and high stakes there’s no room for petty bickering and questioning superiors.

Below ground Broadside is about to find himself a meal for a hungry Zombie when Impactor intervenes with his trademark harpoon, decapitating the foe. He leaves armed with the information that Flame caused this situation and Broadside gets access to the armoury, which is likely to be extremely useful.

Xarron meanwhile confronts Flame, an old colleague who is still holding a millions-of-years-old grudge against him. When reason fails, Xarron tries to intervene and switch off the reactor, prompting one of the memorable moments of the issue as Flame transforms into his fire cannon mode. We learn that Xaaron also has a combat vehicle mode, but he hasn’t used it in several centuries – the shock of transforming may kill him. It’s a nice twist. I suppose it’s like asking a very elderly and long retired athlete to run a marathon.

With the Wreckers tooled-up, the zombie army is becoming manageable, so Flame’s computer takes defensive measures by sealing the reactor off with blast doors. The opening instalment ends with Springer and Broadside making a dash for the surface to get “stuff” from Autobase that can cut through, only to find their paths blocked by the biggest, most deadly Decepticon of all – Trypticon!

It’s a welcome, if totally unexpected, return for this character, who became an instant fan favourite at his debut in the 1987 story King of the Hill and sets the scene nicely for the conclusion.

This of course begins with Jeff Anderson’s cover depicting Trypticon ‘partying’ at the expense of the zombie hordes. His arrival has the potential to tip the balance heavily in the favour of Flame’s opponents, but first we’ve got three pages of Xaaron dodging blasts from Flame, attempting to transform, and finally reasoning with Flame again, so basically a rehash of scenes from the previous issue.

In the battle of the Wreckers versus the blast doors, it’s the doors that are holding firm. Magnus asks where Springer and Broadside are with the heavy artillery, only to get the answer in the shape of the monstrous Trypticon advancing towards them.

Springer and Broadside appear with Flywheels – who apparently could not get reinforcements in terms of numbers, so he settled for the biggest Decepticon of the lot. Then a memorable line from Flywheels, “Trypticon get the door,” sees the giant Decepticon headbutt the doors down and they are in (with zombie Impactor following close behind).

Magnus makes light work of Flame and the Autobots argue about who should be the one to undertake the surely fatal trip inside the reactor to switch it off. Xaaron is their talismanic elder and too important to sacrifice, but before Magnus or Springer can go in, they are forced to repel more of Flame’s zombies. This is the scene that the cover is based on.

Flame, having been an irritating pain in the arse for the last four issues, finally gets his comeuppance, as he’s about to launch himself at Xaaron and gets harpooned through the head by Impactor. The ex-Wrecker leader then becomes the one to enter the reactor and shut it off, getting torn apart in the process. As the Autobots and Decepticons escape to the planet surface, the engines destroy themselves, and the Xaaron pays tribute to Impactor – the Autobot who “died twice” so that others may live.

In closing it’s a satisfying conclusion to the story. Sure, it’s in many ways predictable, but there are a few unexpected turns, such as the return of Impactor and Trypticon, and some great moments like Xaaron attempting his transformation and Flame’s fire tank, to keep things exciting. It’s no surprise that the City of Fear saga is a fan favourite from the original Marvel run.

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King of the Hill!

Grimlock stakes his claim for the vacant leadership of the Autobots just as the monstrous Trypticon arrives from Cybertron intent on making sure there’s nobody left alive to lead!

May 1987. In Britain a general election campaign is getting underway (which would result in a third term for Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative party) and this is referenced in the Transformation page of issue #111 as being of secondary importance to another big contest underway – who should govern the Autobots as the successor the late Optimus Prime! Lee Sullivan’s fantastic cover makes it clear that Grimlock is making an aggressive play for the top job. The big shake-up of the Transformers status quo initiated by writer Bob Budiansky through his decision to kill of both Prime and Megatron nears its conclusion but not before we marvel at the debut of the biggest, baddest robotic dinosaur of all… the unstoppable Trypticon!

As is also typical for a Budiansky Transformers story there is a human support character. In the case of ‘King of the Hill’ that role is filled by a young palaeontology student named Rachel Becker. The story opens with Rachel up in the wooded mountains in Oregon showing her professor and his assistant an “exciting find” – fresh dinosaur footprints! It could be a stegasaurus or triceratops she claims, but Professor Paaswell knows better. He points out the even lines suggesting the prints were mechanically carved and therefore an elaborate hoax. Rachel is disheartened but the group’s attention is attracted to a pterodactyl soaring in the sky above them. They decide to stick around and pitch their tents.

That prehistoric bird is of course the Dinobot Swoop. He’s on a mission to procure a fuel source for his comrades and finds his target in the form of a petrol tanker parked at a diner 158 miles south east. It’s odd that Swoop can’t find anything more local but perhaps he simply enjoys a chance to stretch his wings and get away from the other Dinobots for a bit. He steals the drum clean off the tanker vehicle and makes off with it (as a waitress in the diner overfills a coffee cup while watching in shock!). Soon the Dinobots are feasting in the manner of a pack of hungry lions. Curiously, when the Transformers first arrived they were unable to ingest Earth fossil fuels but that’s no longer a problem it seems. Possibly the Dinobots have been modified following the agreement between G.B. Blackrock and the Autobots for him to provide them with free fuel?

We learn that Grimlock and his team have a certain disdain for humanity that is at sharp odds with that of their fellow Autobots. There’s also an arrogant belief in their own strength and superiority over humanity and the other Autobots. Word has reached them that a successor to Optimus Prime is to be chosen and Grimlock intends to claim the empty throne. The Dinobots’ self-imposed exile (since they walked out in the prologue to Target: 2006) will shortly be ended. Their bellies filled, their hunger now is for power.

• 

• 

A quick check in with the Decepticons reveals that the small Florida Keys island they commandeered in Gone But Not Forgotten is now a top cover for a massive underwater base. This is impressive progress considering that the enemy forces won’t have been there much more than a month by this point. I wondered whether the Constructicons could have been sent ahead? But I’m not so sure, as the hydrothermacline technology is the reason for the base’s location and the Decepticons only acquired that fairly recently (in Afterdeath!).

Inside the base, Shockwave again commands but the change of regime has done nothing to reassure their bottom-line-obsessed fuel auditor Ratbat – who is stationed on Cybertron and now appears on screen. Ratbat is convinced that the Earth-bound operation is costing more in fuel than it brings in and they will have to pull the plug. Shockwave pins the blame for their inefficiency on the flawed leadership of his predecessor Megatron and persuades Ratbat to give them one more chance, by sending the mightiest Decepticon available for an assault on the Ark. If they can capture the Autobot headquarters they will have access to abundant resources.

At the Ark, Perceptor has convened a meeting of the senior Autobots to discuss the appointment of Optimus Prime’s successor. Jetfire, who endured a disastrous spell of temporary command during Prime’s disappearance is present, Blaster, Ratchet, Omega Supreme (now about a fifth he was on his debut) and the Special Teams leaders Silverbolt and Hotspot. Interestingly, Prowl is absent. As Prime’s deputy I would expect to see him there as a frontrunner, particularly as we know he’s now operational against (see Funeral For a Friend). As for Perceptor himself, for someone who very recently arrived from Cybertron, he’s in a very senior role. I put this down to the years (perhaps millennia?) that he commanded a resistance unit on Cybertron. That has to count for a lot. Perceptor praises the qualities of the great Optimus: strength, wisdom, leadership, compassion and generosity.

These are attributes that are mostly lacking in the oafish Grimlock, who blunders in swings his energo sword through a hologram of Prime. He declares that strength is all that matters and as the strongest Autobot he should lead. Where Prime avoided conflict in order to spare humanity the fallout, Grimlock has no such qualms. Everyone is horrified and the Dinobot commander stomps off in a huff.

Part one finishes where it began, with Rachel Becker. She awakened in her tent by a blinding light outside. She goes to investigate and witnesses the manifestation of the Space Bridge and a gigantic and imposing war machine travelling across it – the ‘unspeakable terror’ that is Trypticon! Fans cheer. Rachel screams!

As an interesting footnote to the story, this will be the first time US readers will have seen the Dinobots in a major way since their debut two years ago (save from a cameo in Command Performances). The lack of character development Stateside means that Grimlock is now portrayed as the ‘dumb dino’ with speech difficulties just as he is in the now well-established Sunbow cartoons. Trouble is that this portrayal is at odds with the UK continuity where he’s talked normally up until now. UK writer Simon Furman would have to move his Grimlock closer to the Budiansky portrayal after this. The Grim Grams page carries a letter from a reader in the USA who has discovered the UK comic and is enquiring about Target: 2006, showing again the growing global reach of the comic.

Part 2 – issue #112 – kicks off with the fabulous ‘Dinosaur war’ cover by Herbe Trimpe and Tim Perkins which adorns the US version of the story. Rachel Becker flees in panic at the terrible sight of Trypticon but as her terror abates she realises that the giant dinosaur has not even noticed her. She settles down for the night to wait for morning (obviously it takes more than a close encounter with an extra-terrestrial dinosaur to put her off her sleep!).

Trypticon quickly makes his way to the Ark and reveals his impressive battlestation mode. He dispatches his servant Wipe-Out in car mode to scout the area, and fires ‘sonic scrambler’ missiles at the Ark entrance. The devices begin to disorientate the Autobots inside. Perceptor and his ‘Cybertron Seven’ comrades staggers outside to investigate and come under heavy bombardment. The Dinobots, like Rachel, are attracted by the noises and the light show and have a ringside seat for the slaughter.

While Slag, Snarl and Sludge are enjoying the show (and admiring Trypticon’s marksmanship) Grimlock seems to have come over all responsible and leaderlike and is aghast to see his would-be troops getting cut down. He steps away to resolve his inner conflict and comes face to face with Rachel, who this time holds her ground (she had previously been disappointed with herself for running from Trypticon instead of indulging her scientific curiosity). Grimlock is impressed by her courage but as he leaves, Wipe-Out sneaks up and steals Rachel as a gift to his master.

As Blaster follows Perceptor in taking a direct hit in the chest, Omega Supreme and the other Autobots emerge from the Ark and also suffer immediate disorientation. If they can’t destroy the scramblers they’ll be sitting ducks! Grimlock takes no enjoyment from the carnage. He was prepared to throw his weight around to obtain the leadership but he has no wish to see the Autobots slaughtered.

So, when Rachel is delivered to Trypticon as a snack. Grimlock leaps into action and sinks his teeth in the giant Decepticon’s head and the other Dinobots rush to his aid. Slag bathes Trypticon in fire and Snack appears to break Wipe-Out apart with a mighty flick of his tail. Swoop as usual comes off worse, taking a blast through the wings from Trypticon’s head cannon but still gets off a missile.

Trypticon’s size and raw power means he is a formidable adversary for all five Dinobots at once, but the Space Bridge suddenly appears and Ratbat commands Trypticon to retreat – he has exceeded his energy budget for this mission (either Ratbat is worried about him running out of fuel and being overcome, or he’s that anal about the budget that he won’t countenance an overspend even if Trypticon may well have emerged victorious).

While Rachel re-joins her fellow humans, the battered Autobots regroup within the Ark. They are extremely grateful for the Dinobots’ timely intervention and impressed by Grimlock’s performance on the battlefield. Jetfire tells him that he has earned the position of Autobot leader if he still wants it. Grimlock for once is humbled and respectfully declines. He had thought that being the strongest was enough, but now he realises that it takes more than that to command the Autobots, because of his selfishness many of his comrades were unnecessarily hurt.

Ratchet enters telling Grimlock that his patients (Blaster and Perceptor) wish to disagree: Grimlock has displayed courage, compassion, military skill and charisma in the battle – in short, exactly what the Autobots could hope for in a great leader. Perceptor tells the others that their search is over, and they all hail Grimlock – Leader of the Autobots!

In summary, the Autobots have a new leader but his earlier abrasive style and questionable values must still raise some serious question marks about his suitability. It appears that the Autobots, perhaps in their desperation, have acted in the heat of the moment and in the cold light of day might come to regret their choice (which of course they do). But it must also be recognised that the humble and selfless Grimlock who manifested in defence of Rachel was a worthy contender in that moment.

I rather enjoyed Trypticon’s butt-kissing sidekick Wipe-Out. It appeared that he’d been left behind when his boss fled. However, it might not be the last we see of him. On the cover to issue #169 Trypticon has a car chest plate which on the toy version is Wipe-Out.

This ends a run of US stories. Next issue it’s back to the UK team for the latest Transformers The Movie inspired time-travelling saga – Wanted: Galvatron.

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