Zobovor
2023-10-14 16:50:55 UTC
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PermalinkTHE TRANSFORMERS issue #40 is entitled "Pretender to the Throne!" This issue was printed on January 26, 1988 and had a pull date of May 1988. It was the first issue for the new year, and didn't waste any time introducing the new gimmick Hasbro had concocted for that product year. The fact that it would be on newsstands for four months meant this was essentially the only media appearance for the Pretenders, and thus the primary advertising for the Hasbro toys outside of the TV commercials. The pressure was on in a way that didn't exist when the cartoon carried the brunt of the advertising duties. And, just to sweeten the deal, it also features the long-awaited return of Optimus Prime, who was blown to bits back in issue #24.
The issue was written by Bob Budiansky, penciled by José Delbo, inked by Dave Hunt, lettered by Bill Oakley, and colored by Nel Yomtov.
Budiansky likely allowed Prime to secretly survive his "death" scene in issue #24 in case he wanted to revisit the character later on, but it's unlikely he could have foreseen that Hasbro would reverse their decision about killing off the character and resurrecting him as part of the 1988 product line. (Some fans would write to the letters column, believing that the Transformers: the Movie comics adaptation was "proof" that Prime had to come back before the year 2005. That was one problem with the movie being part of the comic's distant future—that future forever loomed over the contemporary present-day comic stories, and would eventually come to influence them heavily under Simon Furman's run. But, we're not there quite yet!)
The front cover, by José Delbo and Dave Hunt, prominently features Skullgrin and Bomb-Burst as well as Landmine (whose face is drawn indistinctly, perhaps to hide his human-like nature). "Introducing the PRETENDERS!" the cover promises, but we're also treated to the familiar visage of Optimus Prime, appearing (appropriately) on a computer monitor. Readers had been asking for Prime's return for a while now. But, as the old saying goes—be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it!
As a point of interest, Marvel Comics had been relying on the character model sheets provided by Sunbow Productions (developed for the G1 cartoon) in order to draw the characters. The Pretenders represent the first departure from this, as the Sunbow cartoon was over and done with by this point. (Six out of the twelve original Pretenders did appear in the Japanese cartoon series, but Takara's team developed their own animation models which were not used by Marvel.) So, one wonders where they got their character designs from? They weren't simply drawing the toys, after all. It's possible they secured them from the animation studios that were developing short animated segments for the Hasbro toy commercials, and there does seem to be a synergy between the Marvel Comics designs and the designs seem in the toy commercials.
So, our story begins with Optimus Prime, seemingly alive and well, but existing in a simulated reality. He leads the heroic Mechabots in a brave struggle against the evil Bombasticons, but these robot designs are ludicrously simple, almost laughable, compared to the sophisticated look of your typical Transformer, evidenced here only by Optimus Prime himself. (In a curious and notable color choice, the Mechabots are orange and the Bombasticons are purple, which tends to be the signature color of Autobot and Decepticon technology, respectfully, in the color language of the Sunbow cartoon series. That usually didn't carry over to the comic book—for example, the Marvel version of the Ark is not orange at all—but it's an interesting parallel.)
We see that Optimus exists only on the computer screen of Ethan Zachary, who has apparently done quite well for himself since last we saw him. Unlike Donny Finkelberg, the perpetual down-on-his-luck loser, Ethan Zachary has managed to found his own company, Alternate Reality, Inc., by designing and selling his own video games. Rather than keeping Optimus in storage on a floppy disk, however, Ethan has been allowing Optimus to live out his existence within these video games, fighting for truth and justice, because he's Optimus Prime and that's just what he does. Optimus believes himself to be a video game character created by Ethan Zachary, unaware of his previous role as Autobot commander. He tries to explain how the Autobots and Decepticons exist in real life, and how Megatron cheated in a contest that led to Prime's destruction. Optimus, however, can only conceive of this in video game terms, and he thinks he simply used up one of his extra Marios and had to start the level over.
Ethan's secretary hands him the evening paper before heading out (her name is Carla—probably a temp because the real secretary, surely named Charlene, is on vacation or something). We see that the Decepticons have hit a genetics lab, though the reason why isn't immediately evident. Trying to trigger Prime's memory, Ethan shows him a picture of Scorponok and Mindwipe, but of course Prime isn't going to have any idea who those specific Decepticons are. Having recently dug into Prime's memory, Ethan shows Prime the Ark. When Prime attempts to use a radio signal to contact it, however, he finds the Ark is no longer at the base of Mt. St. Hilary. Then they try to contact the Witwicky residence, but an angry Sparkplug answers the phone and is, perhaps not surprisingly, completely fed up and wants nothing more to do with the Autobots. (This is more in character for Sparkplug, which makes his willingness to allow Spike to look for the Ark in issue #38 all the more surprising.)
On board Steelhaven, Brainstorm is constructing a new body for Goldbug. This in itself is interesting, since Brainstorm claims the new body was built to the same specifications as Goldbug's previous body. However, Goldbug's body was a total hack job. He was blown to smithereens by G.I. Joe, who attempted, badly, to rebuild technology they didn't understand, eventually requiring Ratchet to take over and supervise the reconstruction (and any resemblance he bears to the other five Throttlebots is just a happy coincidence). Within the context of the fiction, we're supposed to accept that the only reason Goldbug looks the way he does is because G.I. Joe had no idea how to reassemble Bumblebee properly, and Ratchet did the best reconstruction job he could after Crankcase (no, not the Triggercon) and Mainframe (no, not the Action Master) ruined things.
So, what specifications is Brainstorm referring to? If he had original blueprints on file somewhere, then he would have been able to turn him into Bumblebee again. To precisely and meticulously duplicate the same mistakes G.I. Joe made seems completely pointless. (What's funny is that Bumblebee actually did get a new toy in 1989, prompting his eventual de-Goldbugification in the comics.)
Spike Witwicky had previously bugged his dad's boarding house (a sensible precaution, given that the Predacons tracked him to the auto garage and demolished it), and he mentions that somebody tried to contact his dad on behalf of Optimus Prime. Spike doesn't know who Optimus Prime is, but Goldbug sure does. He assures Spike this is impossible, since he claims to have watched Prime's funeral concession. Goldbug is a bald-faced liar, since he wasn't present for Prime's funeral at all. These events coincided directly with the G.I. JOE AND THE TRANSFORMERS crossover, so Bumblebee/Goldbug was busy getting blowed up and/or put back together badly. However, none of the other Transformers present can vouch for Goldbug's story, so they all take his deception at face vaue and accept it.
Spike is concerned and wants to go to Earth and see what's going on. Fortress Maximus is still undergoing repairs, however (apparently, precisely copying Goldbug's shoddy, botched hack job was the priority), so Goldbug elects to go instead. Goldbug makes a big show of pointing out that his head is a brand-new one, and Brainstorm mentions it might still have some bugs to work out. Never let it be said that Bob Budiansky doesn't know how to foreshadow.
Goldbug shows up at Ethan Zachary's company and lets himself in through a loading entrance. Ethan Zachary proclaims in utter shock, "What the—w-who are you?! WHAT are you?!" as if he's never seen a Transformer before in his life. He shows Goldbug the computer monitor with the face of Optimus Prime on it, and now it's Goldbug's turn to gasp in surprise. (Throughout this issue and others, Dave Hunt tends to ink Prime's face in a way that makes it look like he has no nose and no face. His yellow eyes are just floating in a black abyss. In a way, it's kind of creepy, and somehow it suits Prime since he's still technically dead right now. He's a ghost. Or he's Batman. I'm not sure which.)
Also, Goldbug is being colored more like Bumblebee in this issue, with blue arms and legs, rather than his all-yellow look as we've seen in previous issues.
Ethan Zachary says he's been trying to jog Prime's memory, but seeing pictures of the Decepticons hasn't done the trick. Goldbug wants to go one step further and simulate an actual counterattack on the Decepticons, thinking that might help Prime remember who he really is. Knowing the Decepticons have taken over the genetics laboratory, they send Prime on a new virtual mission through cyberspace—to track down the Decepticons and learn what they are up to. Still believing it to be a game, Prime transforms to vehicle mode (just the cab section, though, weirdly... his trailer is nowhere to be seen) and makes the digital trek to the laboratory, where he finds the Decepticons.
Scorponok is working on a new experiment that has required six volunteers. One supposes that, rather than sacrificing any of his trusted Headmasters or Targetmasters, he's elected instead to round up some relatively disposable nobodies. (As an aside, I wasn't collecting most of the Pretenders toys growing up, so for the longest time I was largely unable to distinguish any of them except for Skullgrin. I'm a little more familiar with them now, largely owing to the fact that I just barely acquired the vintage 1988 toys this year.)
"Flesh and metal are mixing together in a manner unimagined by all but me!" Scorponok proclaims. "Only MY genius made it possible!" There's no real explanation given as to just why Scorponok decided to create the Pretenders, except I guess for the throwaway line that "the Autobots will never suspect their true identities until it is too late!" So, basically it's a magic trick the Decepticons can do exactly once. Once they discover that Skullgrin is a Decepticon, it's not like you can put the rabbit back in the hat. This seems like the Decepticons went to a lot of trouble for a very low-yield result. Maybe Scorponok is just showboating because he doesn't have somebody like Ratbat to push him around and tell him what projects he can or cannot spend energy on. But, I do find it kind of interesting that a Decepticon who is part flesh creature and part machine is trying to make other Decepticon hybrids. It's like he wants there to be more soldiers like himself.
In any event, we're introduced to Iguanus, Bomb-Burst, Submarauder, Skullgrin, Bugly, and Finback. (It seems highly unlikely these were the original names of the candidates. After all, why would a guy who transformed into a motorcycle be named Iguanus?) Optimus Prime is watching the whole thing digitally, but he trips a firewall and Vorath is alerted to the fact that they're being spied on. Vorath attempts to run an antivirus program, so Prime is forced to escape back the way he came and report his findings.
It really makes you wonder, though, what kind of experiments these human scientists were running at their genetics lab. Judging by the look of the Decepticon Pretenders, they were evidently experimenting on lizards and bats and insects, and whatever Skullgrin is supposed to be. He's like a skull monster, but I guess his horns are a bit like a bull. Was there a genetic experiment to breed a bull with bones on the outside of his body? There was some seriously unethical shit happening behind the closed doors of this facility. I think the Decepticons might have done the world a favor by raiding it. Who knows what kind of creatures the human scientists were planning on breeding!
Optimus reports back to Ethan and Goldbug, explaining that they need to create six new Autobot characters in order to effectively counter their numbers. "We can't just 'create' six new characters," Goldbug points out, and I think this is more Bob Budiansky talking—expressing his frustration, as always, that Hasbro has mandated that these new toys need to just appear out of nowhere. Miraculously, there just happen to be six willing and able volunteers aboard Steelhaven, who must have been standing just off-panel during the entire HEADMASTERS saga, since we've never seen them before now.
The Autobots have copied the Decepticon bio-engineering equipment based on Goldbug's description, and Goldbug hopes they will be able to "duplicate the Decepticon's experiment." This is technically correct, since it's mainly Scorponok's experiment, and he is a Decepticon, but I'm pretty sure this was meant to read "duplicate the Decepticons' experiment," possessive plural. Optimus sends the data to Steelhaven that he had recorded during his visit to the Decepticons, allowing the Autobots to create their own Pretenders—Landmine, Cloudburst, Waverider, Groundbreaker, Sky High, and Splashdown. That's right—twelve new characters are introduced in this issue alone. New, from Hasbro! Collect them all!
Optimus enters the computer of the genetics lab and deliberately alerts the Decepticons to his presence. This time, Scorponok is inputted into the computer to deal with the intruder directly, while the Decepticon Pretenders are sent to the location where the intruder originated. Outside, the laboratory is swarming with RAAT vehicles, but the Decepticon Pretenders take turns naming their weapons (Skullgrin carries a slag-maker cannon, Bomb-Burst has a slime-shooter, etc.) RAAT is predictably overwhelmed. "Whatever they are, they're not robots!" one of the troopers shouts. (Now, if the comic book had demonstrated that RAAT had become quite effective against fighting robots, and that Scorponok had created the Pretenders as an anti-RAAT tactic, that would have made some kind of sense.)
The Decepticon Pretenders arrive at Ethan Zachary's building (it looks like Bugly and Bomb-Burst are the only ones who can fly, and have to carry the others) and they discover six armored humans guarding the entrance. Bomb-Burst observes that they're unusually large for human beings, at which point Scorponok dismisses him with, "Idiot! That only means their cowardice is greater!" The Decepticons know there was a spy breaking into their computer while they were creating the Pretenders, but they don't quite put two and two together and consider that these Transformer-sized humans might be more than meets the eye. (Too bad Shockwave's not still around. Surely he would have figured it out!)
The Autobot Pretenders flee at the sight of the Decepticons, but it's part of a pre-arranged plan cooked up by Optimus Prime. He knew the Decepticons would expect humans to run away, which is, apparently, the sole reason the Autobot Pretenders were given a human-like appearance. It's clear the Autobots didn't duplicate the Decepticon experiment exactly, since their Pretenders didn't end up based on fish and bugs and things. I think this probably means the genetics laboratory was also doing experiments on human beings as well. It's the only reasonable explanation why there was actual human DNA available for the Autobots to use. That's honestly even more disturbing than experimenting on insects and lizards.
Finally, the Autobots drop their deception. There's no strategic benefit in pretending to be scared and then deciding to drop the act, however. The situation hasn't changed, and the Autobot Pretenders gain no advantage by dropping the ruse. Nonetheless, it's what they do. "Reveal and roll out!" Optimus Prime orders, despite several of the Autobot Pretenders transforming into vehicles that do not have wheels, and thus cannot roll.
Weirdly, when the outer shells of the Autobot Pretenders separate to reveal their hidden inner robots, the outer shells split bilaterally down the center, with their faces splitting in half. This is the opposite axis from how the actual Hasbro toys come apart, whose Pretender shells have a front half and a back half, not a left half and a right half. This also runs counter to their animation designs for the TV commercials, in which all the Pretenders split into a front and back half when the robots emerge.
There is some strong inherent silliness behind the idea of Autobots disguised as gigantic humans, though. We've seen that there are plenty of Transformers who can change size when they transform (Megatron, Soundwave, the Insecticons, etc.) so I don't know why Budiansky didn't just make the Pretenders the size of regular humans when they're in their shells. Maybe they could have grown to full size when they emerge, or something. No, the toys can't do this, but the fictional characters already did a LOT of things the toys couldn't mimic (like move their arms and legs, in a lot of cases).
Goldbug is on the battlefield observing, relaying what he sees and allowing Optimus Prime to participate in the battle remotely. It's the next best thing to having Optimus Prime leading the troops into battle himself, and it's Goldbug's hope that this will jolt something inside Prime and awaken him to his true purpose. After Optimus gives the Autobot Pretenders the order to separate from their outer shells, the Decepticons do the same. The Decepticon Pretenders are aghast at the idea that the Autobots have copied their strategy and are seemingly prepared for anything. Optimus is monitoring the battle and offering instructions, but suddenly Goldbug's new body suffers from a malfunction and he is unable to continue relaying visuals. The Autobot Pretenders become completely worthless without Optimus giving them orders.
Within cyberspace, Scorponok tracks down the intruder, and he's well familiar with the name of the legendary Autobot leader Optimus Prime. It's interesting to me that this is the first meeting between Scorponok and Optimus Prime, who longtime readers of the comic book know will eventually develop a mutual respect for one another and even what I'd call a friendship. This is where it all started. Scorponok tries to ambush Optimus, but he's got a protection program defending him. Prime was expecting this move from Scorponok, and responds with a data surge that overwhelms Scorponok and forces him to withdraw, pulling out of virtual space back into the real world.
With Goldbug's transmission capability restored, the Autobots, led by Optimus Prime, make short work of the Decepticon Pretenders, who retreat in a panic. In the aftermath, Optimus Prime realizes what it means to be a leader and a fighter. Goldbug is delighted, knowing that Prime has returned to his old self, but his hopes are quickly dashed when Prime adds, "So, when do we start the next game...?" Seems Prime is still just as lost and clueless as ever before. It's a shocking ending, but at the same time, you kind of come away feeling like all the Autobots' efforts were a complete waste.
It's kind a shame that most of the Pretenders in this issue never really got anything in the way of meaningful characterization. Skullgrin was heavily featured on the Decepticon side of things, and we'll get some later adventures with Landmine and Cloudburst, but pretty much everybody else will be relegated to background status for the bulk of their careers. The fact that Landmine and Skullgrin were the only ones from this group to eventually get TRANSFORMERS UNIVERSE profiles is disappointing, too. We don't even get the benefit of expanded biographies that delve into the personalities of the characters. Also, there were a few 1988 toys who never appeared in the U.S. comics at all in any capacity—the Pretender Vehicles never showed up at all, for example.
We'll also see later that other Transformers end up adopting Pretender technology, like the Pretender Beasts and Thunderwing, but given its extremely limited usefulness in this issue, it seems strange that anybody would have ever bothered with it again.
The next issue is one of my all-time favorites, and features an all-out Transformers brawl with basically every character from the comics up to this point, and a promised duel between Grimlock and Blaster. Whoever thought it would be the Autobots who squabble over who the next leader will be? That seems like more of a Decepticon thing to do! But, it absolutely happens, and we'll talk about it in about 30 days!
Zob (Helper Cat has learned that if she keeps getting into my lap, I'll just give up putting her on the floor and just let it happen)