Transformers UK #2

The Facts

Dated: 4th October - 17th October 1984

Cover: John Ridgeway

Story: "The Transformers" (12 pages; part 2)

Credits: Bill Mantlo (plotter); Ralph Macchio (scripter); Frank Springer (penciller); Kim Demulder (inker); Higgins (co-letterer); Parker (co-letterer); Nelson Yomtov (colourer); Bob Budiansky (editor); Jim Shooter (editor in chief)

This reprints the final 12 pages of US #1 with most of the pages in black and white rather than full colour.

Alterations: The story omits a double-page spread from the US edition in which the Autobots quote their tech specs at each other. As a result, several characters won't appear in the UK comic for a while yet.

Reprints: Reprinted in full colour in Collected Comics 1, in hardcover format in The Complete Works Volume 1, and currently available in the Titan graphic novel Beginnings.

Features: The cover adverstises free action transfers; The Openers pages feature news about free gifts in Typhoo teabags, BP's built a robot competition, and a competition to win the book Space Olympics in the Interplanetary Spy series. Pages 10-11 are dedicatied to Robot Roundup, featuring robot-related news and talking about robots available to buy; page 23 features a Design a Decepticon competition with the prize being a Starscream, Skywarp, or Thundercracker toy; page 24 features Doctor Who meets the robots, which details some of the robots that had appeared in Doctor Who up to 1984, and contains a couple of omissions; page 30 contains a next week feature, a reader questionnaire entitled Transformers Data Bank, and the final chance to subscribe for a year for £8.00, with a free Transformers poster thrown in.

Back-Up Strips: Machine Man

In Brief

Which one is this?

Buster and Jessie suck face at a drive-in movie and then there's a big battle.

Firsts and Lasts

• The first second half of a story and, consequently, the first appearance of the story so far feature on the first page - with the first page of comic strip being printed smaller than the rest in order to fit it in.
• The first time the UK reprint chops entire pages out of the US story
• The first Transformers cover by John Ridgeway
• The first appearances of Bluestreak, Brawn, Bumblebee, Cliffjumper, Gears, Hound, Huffer, Ironhide, Ratchet, Sunstreaker, Windcharger, Buster Witwicky, Sparkplug Witwicky, Jessie, and "O"

Memorable Moments / Dialogue Triumphs

The Autobots assume that a drive-in movie is some kind of religious ritual.

Miserable Moments / Dialogue Disasters

The scene where the Decepticons quote their tech-specs at each other. As Rumble says, 'Can the speeches.' If I want to read tech-specs, I can buy the toys.

Characters

Autobots

Autobots (behind the scenes)

Decepticons

Humans

The Story

Synopsis

The Ark rebuilds the fallen Transformers, but its memory banks have been damaged by the crash, and it no longer knows the difference between Autobot and Decepticons. The Decepticons recover their wits first and Megatron decides to leave the Ark as the current odds make it too risky to destroy the Autobots now. The Autobots, meanwhile, examine the probe's footage of Earth, believing themselves to be seeing machine-based lifeforms. Eventually, they send out a squad of Autobots to scout out the area and make contact with the local lifeforms. Meanwhile, in a nearby town, teenager Buster Witwicky gets a lecture from his father Sparkplug about spending too much time studying and not enough doing something that will get him a job later in life. Buster then borrows his Dad's car to go to the cinema. He is at the drive-in cinema with his girlfriend Jessie and friend "O" when the Autobots arrive to investigate it, believing it to be some kind of religious ritual. Bumblebee drives into the back of Buster's car, and he and his friends get out just as the Decepticons attack, their first strike blowing their car to pieces. Bumblebee cries out, having been wounded, and Buster decides that he has to stay and find out why as Jessie and "O" join the crowd fleeing the scene. Meanwhile, the other Autobots join the fray, but break off when Prowl realises that the humans fleeing the scene are the planet's real lifeform. He decides that Prime must be informed personally, and the Autobots flee. Buster realises that Bumblebee is leaking something that isn't oil, and steers Bumblebee back to Sparkplug's garage. He begins attempting to fix Bumblebee, but gets nowhere until he wakes up Sparkplug and tells him that the VW Beetle is alive, at which point Bumblebee saks for help as he believes he is dying.

Goofs

• For the second issue running, the cover doesn't really reflect the contents of the issue.
• If the Ark's memory banks contain no knowledge of the war, then why did the probe from last issue think that an aeroplane resembled a Decepticon attack form?
• One of Megatron's speech bubbles is clearly placed to look like it's one of Optimus Prime's
• When Megatron asks if all the Decepticons are accounted for, why do his troops start telling him about their abilities? Not only is it nothing to do with what he asked, but surely he already knows what they can do.

Analysis

'Yes, but what does it mean?' Well, it is marginally better than the first issue. There's a bit of space to showcase a few characters, but unfortunately characterisation amounts to little more than characters quoting from their tech-specs. Still, at least we're spared the double-page spread of the Autobots quoting their tech-specs at each other. The plot showcases some good ideas at the Drive-in movie, but unfortunately that's the only half-decent thing.

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