TFtember: Five Faces of Darkness, Part 4

"Five Faces of Darkness, part 4", the Transformers, September 18, 1986

Last cartoon of the year and we get a shake up. The Decepticons, the ones lead by Galvatron, arrive on Goo and attach his disyoal follows. The Quintessions manage to talk him down but as that is going on, Rodimus takes a trip inside the Matrix and we learn the orgins of the Transformers!

It seems the Quinessions built them, with the Autobots coming from their consumer good line and the Decepticons coming from their military hardware

The Constructicons haven't been idle either. On Earth they unleash their latest creation: Trypticon!

Rodimus comes out of his dream walking with a warning-they have to get to Cybertron!

On Earth, the Decepticons are gearing up for an invasion. Can the Autobots stop them?

TFtember: Transformers#70

    "The Price of Life" the Transformers#70 (September 1990) with credits to Simon Furman (script), Andy Wildman (pencils), Stephan Baskerville (inks), Nelson Yomtov (colors), Rick Parker (letters), and Rob Tokar (editor)

Last comic of the year and woof. The shocker from last issue? Megatron and Ratchet are alive! Fused into one horrible screaming amalgamation of metal but alive. 

Naturally the issue is, what to do? Separating them is impossible. They can keep Ratchet alive but that goes for Megatron too, so what now?

Grimlock is searching for a way to make himself stronger but we'll get into that later. 

Honestly this is a highlight of the series both in terms of body horror and the questions it raises. What is Optimus going to do?

Tftember: Scavenger

Scavenger  

The last toy review of the year and let's give him a hand. Seriously, he's Devestator's right hand. 

The toy is rather decent, going from robot to excavator from the Diaclone line. Scavanger got reissued a few times, once in a giftset and the others were redecoed into a yellow robot. 

The file card paints him in a dim light. He thinks he's fairly useless and is constantly digging up things to try and prove his worth. 

The comics had him as one of the first Decepticons born on Earth and that was about the full extent of his character. He showed up alongside the rest of the Constructicons and mostly played a roll with them. He did survive to the end of the Marvel book, so that's something.

Don Messick voiced him. That doesn't clear up the utter Gordian knot that is the Constructicons origins in the show and at this point I think I'll skip trying to explain. He was mostly there and that's about all I can say about him. Individually he did very little but he was part of a larger crew so there's that. 

TFtember: Five Faces of Darkness, Part 3

 "Five Faces of Darkness , Part 3", the Transformers, September 17, 1986

Picking up from the last episode, the Autobots manage to escape the exploding Quintessa, but their ship is damaged. Floating freely in space, they resolve to relax and enjoy the ride. 

Galvatron is trying to assert his leadership over the Decepticons but it growing clearer that his mind is gone. 

The Quintessons, meanwhile, are most put out to learn that Rodimus Prime lives. Perhaps an alliance with the Decepticons? They make an offer the energy starved 'cons can't refuse although Blitzwing is the sole holdout. When Galvatron finally returns, he is not happy. He is not happy at ALL.

The Autobots finally crash land on the alien world of Goo. Yes, it is as disguisting as it sounds. Things should be looking up finally when the Decepticons attack...

TFtember: Transformers#69

      "Eye of the Storm" the Transformers#69 (August 1990) with credits to Simon Furman (script), Andy Wildman (pencils), Harry Candelario & Bob Lewis (inks), Nelson Yomtov (colors), Rick Parker (letters), and Don Daley (editor)

Things are rushing to a climax. Grimlocks wants to lead again. Optimus Prime fears the only way to defeat Unicron is to work with the Decepticons. Nightbeat, meanwhile, is assigned to find Ratchet. 

On the Decepticon side, Galvatron is brought to the present day and made to work for Unicron. There's even greater dissention among the ranks, as some Decepticons do NOT handle Scopinok welcoming back Starscream, for reasons that should be painfully obvious. 

I won't spoil the final page, but damn. 

TFtember: Roadbuster

Roadbuster 

Odd one this one time, as this wasn't a Diaclone or Takara toy. No, Roadbuster started life as Mugen Calibur, part of Special Armored Battalion Dorvack line. Made by Takatoku Toys, the company went bust before being absorbed by Bandai in 1984. 

The toy is rather neat, larger than the average Transformers toy and way more detailed. The file card would be the most characterization he'd get for years. According to the card, he's brave, fearless and loves nothing than blasting Decepticons. Outside of combat, he's quiet and bores easily. 

The comics were pretty nonexistent, at least here in the states. He did show up in the UK series and more recent stuff. The most consistent element is his being a member/leader of the Wreckers, an elite squad of Autobot warriors. He's at least been in comics in some form. To date he's never been animated. 

Disappointing, because he seems like cool character. Lot of potential to play off of other characters. 

TFtember: Five Faces of Darkness, part 2

"Five Faces of Darkness, part 2", the Transformers, September 16, 1986

When we last left our heroes, Rodimus Prime and Grimlock were discovered by the energy starved Decepticons. Springer and Arcee arrive in the nick of time but Rodimus seems to be gravely injured. 

Remember the Autobots who were kidnapped? Turns out it was the Quintessons (introduced in the film, floating heads obsessed with kangaroo courts)! Rodimus figures this out when the Matrix tells him. 

Galvatron is found but he's gone crazy. Ultra Magnus, Kup, and Spike are sentenced to death and dumped in a robotic shark infested pool. The Aerialbots manage to rescue them, but the Quintessons are sore losers so they set about blowing up their own planet...

Moving right along, but if you failed to catch the movie you'd be really lost here.