TFtember: Trans-Europe Express

"Trans-Europe Express", the Transformers, December 23, 1985

Megatron is on a rampage across Istanbul. Why? Because he's looking for Pearl of Bahoudin. It isn't because it's a priceless artifact or the monetary value-no. He wants it because it is actually part of a Cybtertronian weather satellite and with it he can rule the world!

The Autobots, meanwhile, are competing in the Europea 2000 road race. They're racing for charity but their actual mission to safeguard the car of the American driver as the Decepticons might want the prototype racer for themselves. 

Yeah, turns out both plots will merge in the end but it turns out the Decepticons faked a road race to lure the American driver and his fancy car out to combine the car's shell with the pearl. So, how did they fake a race across multiple countries? Wouldn't it have been easier to just steal the car once they get the pearl? Why do something that would involve the Autobots at all? 

TFtember: Transformers#60

"Yesterday's Heroes!" the Transformers#60 (December 1989) with credits to Simon Furman (script), Jose Delbo (pencils), Dave Hunt (inks), Nelson Yomtov (colors), Jim Massara (letters), and Don Daley (editor)

To sum up last issue, Ratchet and Megatron were at ground zero of a massive explosion. This makes Optimus Prime rather put out. 

On Cybertron, the Autobot Pretenders have teamed up with the Micromasters to lead a resistance against the Decepticons. Lord Thunderwing is most annoyed at this point, so he summons the Mayhem Attack Squad (Bludgeon, Octopunch, and Stranglehold) to find the resistance and kill them. 

Optimus, meanwhile, is brooding on the Moon. Hot Rod figures the best to get him out of his funk to program a giant drone to attack the Autobots but let Optimus win in order to build his confidence up. Pity the drone goes berserk for real. 

Oh, and due to a teleporting screw up, the Autobot resistance ends up meeting the Transformer god, Primus. 

Well, that's a heck of a note to end on. Yeah, Optimus ends up getting his groove back, Megatron seemingly dead and yeah, here's god. Can't fault the creatives for coming up with some twists. 

TFtember: Long Haul

 Long Haul

And we end our look back at the Transformer toys this month with the guts of the Constructicons, Long Haul. 

Starting out as a Diaclone Construction Vehicle RobotNo. 5 Dump Truck, Long Haul was one of the first combiner bots in the franchise. Like I said with Hook, subsequent combiners would only have one robot as the torso but here we gets two, so Long Haul got to act as the lower body. 

There weren't too many toys on him. Much like his Constructicon brethren, there was the initial toy in 1985, a later giftset and the European release where he was a bit yellow. 

The file card paints rather interesting character. Hates his job but understands the importance of supply lines. "Can be goaded into a fight if he's overmatched" is a rather interesting line. Does he avoid violence unless there's no other option? Does he wait until he's overmatched?

The comic was less clear. Built by Shockwave on Earth, he mostly stayed with the Constructicons in group shots until they were slowly faded away in the background. Seriously we didn't even see them get shot or anything. 

The cartoon, where he was voiced by Gregg Berger, didn't fare much better. He mostly complained about his job, as well as having multiple origins. His biggest individual role was dragging an injured Kickback away in the movie. After that, it was all background shots until the end. 

TFtember: War Dawn

 "War Dawn", the Transformers, December 25, 1985

We open with the Aerielbots taking on the Decepticon Seekers. It's rough going, as Starscream has hostages. He dumps them out, but thankfully Aerielbot leader Silverbolt saves them! Mostly by catching on his back, which seems to me would be instantly fatal but what do I know?

There is dissention in the ranks, however. Some of the Aerielbots are wondering if the Decepticons aren't right, or at the very least if humans are worth fighting for. On a mission to Cybertron, the Aerielbots blunder into a trap and end up sent a few million years in the past. Cybertron's past to be specific where they end up encounter a young bot named Orion Pax. 

They also encounter Megatron and a few of his followers. Things get progressively worse from there, with Pax and his two friends being gunned down by Megatron. Thankfully Alpha Trion is here, and he has some ideas about repairing them into something a bit more...prime

Not bad, even if the animation is a bit wonky in parts. We get a proper origin for Optimus Prime, which had been strongly hinted at in "the Key to Vector Sigma, Part 2"

TFtember: Transformers#59

    "Skin Deep" the Transformers#59 (Mid. November 1989) with credits to Simon Furman (script), Jose Delbo (pencils), Dave Hunt (inks), Nel Yomtov (colors), Jim Massara (letters), and Don Daley (editor)

More Pretender shilling

Grimlock is back baby! He tries to kill Megatron but fails. The Decepticon laughs, did Ratchet really think this low level treachery would succeed? Not really, but then again Grimlock wasn't his main weapon...

Speaking of that, Starscream is wiping the floor with the Autobots and gathered Decepticons, so much so the factions call a truce and try to take down the newest Pretender. All hopes seems lost until Hot Rod manages to hit the right spot to weaken the Air Commander. The rest pile on and soon Starscream is back to his old cowardly self. 

Megatron is less than pleased at this but he's going to go all to pieces when he figures out Ratchet's real plan...

Great set up and even the toy advert is handled with care. 

TFtember: Kickback

Kickback 

Last Insecticon we'll look at this month. Starting out as a Diaclone Waruder Insect Robo Battas figure, this one went from robot to grasshopper. Since it was also a Battas figure, there was a small cockpit for a figure American audiences never saw. 

The filecard had him as a real nasty bit of work. Blackmail seems to be his reason for living, only befriends bots so he can dig dirt of them, holding it against them. 

As far as the comic go, Kickback was first introduced as a loyal warrior to Lord Staxus but he had no issues switching over to Megatron. He would mostly show up with the other Insecticons until he faded away, with #41 being his last appearance. 

The cartoon wasn't much better. Voiced by Clive Revill, he was mostly a thug. He wasn't much on blackmail but he could clone himself, so there's that. Like his Insecticon brethren, he had one main episode then slowly faded into the background. He was featured in the Movie, being crushed by Kup and possibly being turned into Sweep. He seemingly got better and showed up in a few episodes during the third season, but as Kickback so I guess it was a clone that got changed?

TFtember: Aerial Assault

"Aerial Assault", the Transformers, December 10, 1985

Not the most offensive episode set in the Middle East, if that means anything. 

This focuses on the Aerialbots as they run afoul of the Combaticons. One by one they are picked off and stripped of vital parts. The surviving bots happen across a young boy named Hassan who gives them the lowdown. To wit, the once peaceful country was ruled by Prince Jumal, until he was deposed by the traitor Ali, who not only seeks to strip the country of its wealth but he's also allied himself with Megatron!

Yup, seems the parts that are being stolen are to be the key parts to a new series of drone fighters Megatron is building. 

Also a giant purple griffin, because why not?

Yeah bit of mess. The Combaticons are here yet we don't have their origin (that would air next month in '86) so the familiarity everyone has is a bit confusing. Plus there is also the plot point that the Aerialbot's parts are also being used for cars which doesn't make sense even by 1980's cartoon logic.