Command Performances!

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Asses: handed to Decepticons.
"Command Performances!"
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First published	April 1986
Cover date	August 1986
Writer	Bob Budiansky
Penciler	Don Perlin
Inkers	Ian Akin and Brian Garvey
Colorist	Nel Yomtov
Letterer	Janice Chiang
Editor	Michael Carlin
Continuity	Marvel Comics continuity

Omega Supreme defends the Ark while the Autobots invade the Decepticons' base.

Synopsis

Outside the Ark, Optimus Prime presents to the Autobots their newest member: the titanic Omega Supreme, constructed by Grapple and brought to life by the Creation Matrix. Omega is to serve as protector of the Ark, and with his construction, the Autobots are free to mount a raid on the Decepticons' coal mine base. The purpose of the mission is not combat, however, but to stay only long enough to lure out Devastator, in order to scan him and duplicate the technology used to create combining robots. Long denied the chance for action, the Dinobots refuse to take part in a mission in which they cannot fight their enemies, and, convinced of Optimus Prime's worthlessness as a leader, Grimlock and his men secede from the Autobot ranks, marching off into the Oregon wilderness to seek their own path.

Meanwhile, at the coal mine, the Constructicons—recently found and brought back into the fold by Shockwave—complete the installation of armed fortifications to turn the encampment into a proper base of operations. Co-leaders Megatron and Shockwave continue to bicker, with Shockwave mocking the perceived pointlessness of Megatron's exploitation of Donny Finkleberg's "Robot-Master" hoax, until Megatron departs with Starscream, Skywarp, Thundercracker, Laserbeak, Buzzsaw, Rumble, and Frenzy to greet the Decepticons from Cybertron who are expected to be arriving shortly via the space bridge.

The Autobots roll out for the Decepticon base, deploying their stealth measures as they pass through the streets of Wyoming to ensure they draw no unwarranted attention. Skids, however, is distracted by the wonders of the human world around him, from the music on his radio to the sights on the streets, and accidentally clips irate motorist Jake Dalrymple's expensive Lamborghini. Under orders from Prime not to stop, Skids is forced to drive on, leading the furious Jake and his put-upon girlfriend Frannie to pursue him and the rest of the Autobots as they head on towards the Decepticon base. Entry to the mine remains barricaded by the military, but the Autobots simply run the barricade and initiate their attack; Jake and Frannie, on the other hand, are brought to a halt by the armed soldiers.

Concurrently, Megatron's team discovers that a group of Autobots have crossed the bridge instead of Decepticons. He is about to lead an attack on the newcomers when Soundwave radios him to alert him to the Autobot attack on their base. Presuming the Ark must be undermanned, Megatron tries to take advantage of the situation by attacking the Autobots' spaceship, but of course, he has not reckoned with Omega Supreme; the giant Autobot soundly defeats his squad, and only Megatron and Laserbeak escape with their lives, as the rest of the Decepticons are offlined and have their bodies taken into Autobot custody.

Back at the Decepticon base, Donny Finkleberg decides to attempt an escape when Shockwave orders the Constructicons to merge into Devastator. Spying from nearby, Bumblebee scans Devastator as he forms, and the Autobots, having gained the information they were looking for, withdraw. As the heroes pull out, however, Dalrymple spots Skids and jumps into his path, trying to flag him down so he can explain his story to the soldiers. Skids swerves, leaving him wide open for a proton missile fired by Ravage, who has pursued Finkleberg out of the mine. Skids tumbles down the rock face, and Optimus Prime is forced to watch him fall, knowing that if the Autobots stop to help him, they endanger the success of their important mission.

Presently, the battered Megatron returns, met with accusations of gross incompetence from Shockwave. Reasoning that the Autobots' strange attack-and-retreat tactic masked an ulterior motive, Megatron offers a counterpoint: while he may have unwittingly walked into a trap at the Ark, Shockwave sat and did nothing while a trap sprang up around him! After a moment of pained deliberation, Shockwave accepts that Megatron's argument is sound, and Shockwave cedes command of the Decepticons back to him.

The Autobots return to the Ark, enthusiastic over their victory... all save Optimus Prime, who cannot celebrate in the face of the presumed loss of Skids' life. But back in Wyoming, music is still playing on the radio within Skids' wrecked form...

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"Should I try again to persuade him?"
"No. Megatron is our commander. He has made his decision and must live by it... or, perhaps, die by it."

—Soundwave and Shockwave

"Prepare to meet your manufacturer, Decepticons!"
"Wh-who are you?!"
"I am the guardian of the gates... the junction of your destruction... the laser lighting the way to your doom... the planner of your obsolescence... the furnace that fires your demise... I am the number you cannot compute, Decepticon."

—Omega Supreme introduces himself to Megatron

"I will now allow you a few moments to beg for your life before I execute you for gross incompetence."
"Beg? It is you who should beg me, Shockwave -- for my forgiveness! If I am to be faulted for running into a trap, consider this -- you sat here and watched as a trap sprang up around you!"

—Shockwave vs. Megatron in a war of words

"As for the Decepticons lost today, they mean nothing! They can be replaced!"

—Megatron sure knows how to inspire loyalty

Notes

Continuity notes

The entire active roster of Autobots attends the unveiling of Omega Supreme; despite being functional when last seen, Bluestreak and Mirage have disappeared.

• Omega Supreme's construction is revealed to have been the "project" Optimus Prime asked Grapple to undertake in issue #14, though the footnote in this issue pointing that out oddly acts as if we should have known this already.
• Having both been shown by issue #14 to have remained active following the events of issue #12 which offlined so many of their fellow 1984 characters, Mirage and Bluestreak disappear from the series with this issue without explanation. Optimus Prime's dialog seems to indicate that all the available Autobots would be participating in the attack, but they are nowhere to be seen; further, Ratchet says he has over a dozen Autobots in the repair bay, when previously, he had only the even dozen that were injured in issue #12. Either the pair have been injured in a battle we didn't see, or they've retroactively been placed on the injured list.
• The Dinobots reappear for the first time since their introduction in issue #8. Their disappearance into off-panel limbo is papered over here by some dialogue from Grimlock, which sees him note that Optimus has prohibited them from joining the other Autobots in battle because their alternate modes would make them "stand out among humans".
• This issue sees Rumble, Frenzy, and the Constructicons rejoin the Decepticon forces, having previously been missing during the period of Decepticon instability that has seen the faction scattered across the last half-dozen or so issues. Shockwave specifically notes he had to "find and bring back" the Constructicons; Rumble and Frenzy's absence is not remarked upon.
• The Autobots deploy the "stealth" modifications previously seen in issue #14, hiding their insignia and deploying their facsimile construct drivers. Skids misses the order to do so because he's distracted listening to music, a fondness for which he picked up in the same issue.

Transformers references

• Having spoken perfectly normally in his previous appearance, Grimlock starts adopting the caveman-like speech patterns of his cartoon counterpart in this issue. It's a mild beginning, amounting to only a few dropped definite and indefinite articles that are inconspicuous enough that you might not even notice them; he's not gone full "Me Grimlock!" yet.

Artwork and technical errors

• Skids is missing the red stripe on the side of his vehicle mode throughout this issue. It is intermittently colored blue like the rest of his body, or left uncolored white.
• The cover colors Skywarp and Rumble as grey instead of their usual blue-black; Skywarp has blue trim instead of purple. Rumble and Frenzy both have yellow weapons, and Frenzy has yellow eyes. Starscream has red tailfins with blue decals, instead of blue fins with red stripes.
• Page 1: A dodgy color separation job makes Grapple's gun-hand appear greenish instead of blue-black.
• Page 2, panel 6: The side of Skids' helmet ridge is left partially uncolored white.
• Page 3:
  • Panel 3: Grimlock's eyes are left uncolored white (like the rest of the Dinobots) instead of their normal red.
  • Panel 4: Skids' gun is colored red (as if it were his fist) instead of pale blue/white.

• Page 6, panel 1: The Autobots are shown driving six abreast down the streets of a Wyoming town. Smokescreen has a yellow panel on his hood that shouldn't be there.
• Page 7, panel 3: Jake's car is drawn as a Lamborghini Countach (also popular with many Transformers), but the doors are hinged like normal car doors (right). On a real Countach they should open vertically, scissor-style.
• Page 9, panel 2: In mid-transform, Tracks's trunk is colored red instead of blue.
• Page 10, panel 3: Blaster is colored like Optimus Prime.
• Page 11, panel 6: Skids' upper legs are colored the same blue as his lower legs (though in this panel, they're a faded purple to indicate he's in the distance).
• Page 12:
  • Panel 2: Skids' upper legs are the same blue as his lower legs again.
  • Panel 3: Skids' face is blue, and his gun is red again.
  • Panel 7: Devastator's chest shield is colored green instead of purple.
• Page 13:
  • Panel 1: Devastator's Decepticon insignia is Autobot-red.
  • Panel 4: Now Devastator's insignia is uncolored white! Also, Smokescreen's head is colored pale blue/grey instead of its regular blue, as if it was part of his shoulder guns.
  • Panel 5: Smokescreen's head is still miscolored, and now his fist is red instead of blue.

Megatron's carefully laid plans come to fruition.

• Page 14:
  • Panel 2: Skids' upper legs are blue again, and his torso is solid red.
  • Panel 5: Soundwave's visor is colored pale purple like the rest of his helmet instead of its usual yellow.
• Page 15, panel 5: The fronts of Megatron's legs, as well as his feet, are colored blue-black instead of white.
• Page 16:
  • Panels 3-4: Omega Supreme has gained some grey panels on the front of his torso that should be red. Also, despite the fact that his face was colored in its correct red back on page 2, in both these panels and for the rest of the issue, it's colored grey like the rest of his helmet and body (see right)
  • Panel 4: Megatron's blue-black has become a dark purple, and his whole torso is also that color instead of white (again, see right) His feet are also still miscolored.
• Page 17:
  • Panels 2 & 4: Starscream and Thundercracker are indistinguishable when they are destroyed by Omega Supreme, both colored blue-black.
  • Panel 5: Laserbeak is colored as Buzzsaw when Omega Supreme wings him.
  • Panel 6: Megatron's blue-black is back to its correct shade, but his torso is still wrongly colored in that color. His feet are still miscolored.
• Page 18, panels 3 & 6: Omega Supreme's right arm is colored entirely yellow; only his claw and upper arm should be this color, while his forearm should be grey.
• Page 19, panel 2: Omega Supreme's helmet is red instead of grey.
• Page 20, panel 3: Laserbeak is incredibly fat as he perches on Shockwave's arm.
• Page 21, panel 2: Laserbeak's beak is red instead of pale blue.
• Page 22, panel 2: Jetfire's face is red instead of white.

UK printing

Issue #70:

• Published: 12th July, 1986
  

  

  Once again, US Grimlock has clearly demonstrated how unfit he is to lead the Dinobots.
• Cover date: 19th July, 1986
• Back-up strips: Robo-Capers, Hercules ("What Fools These Immortals Be!" Part 1), and Matt and the Cat; Hercules debuts this issue
• Fact File Interface: Omega Supreme
• Free Gift: Menasor collector card for the Special Teams Special Collection Wallchart
• Due to the fact that the Dinobots have been active in multiple UK-exclusive stories since their last appearance in US material, Grimlock's complaint that the team never sees any action doesn't fit with UK continuity. Hence, his dialogue is altered for the UK reprint to become solely about their dissatisfaction with Optimus Prime's leadership (see right). Additionally, rather than leave the Autobot forces outright, Grimlock merely orders the Dinobots to return to the Ark to talk, setting up the events of the next UK-exclusive story in issues #74-77. All this new dialogue for Grimlock is written with "normal" speech, in-keeping with all his other UK appearances, instead of the cartoon-caveman dialect that the US stories begin using with this issue.
• Similarly, while the Constructicons have not been seen in US material since US issue #10, UK-exclusive stories have shown them to be part of Shockwave's camp for some time. Consequently, Shockwave's claim that he "found and brought back" the Constructicons is edited for the UK reprint so that he is complimenting their work on the base, rather than his boasting about his own accomplishment (again, see right).

Issue #71:

• Published: 19th July, 1986
• Cover date: 26th July, 1986
• Back-up strips: Robo-Capers, Hercules ("What Fools These Immortals Be!" Part 2), and Matt and the Cat
• Fact File Interface: Thrust

Bot Roster

• Autobots: 10 members of Optimus Prime's forces confirmed active after Omega Supreme comes online; Skids missing in action; 5 rogue Dinobots; 7 wayward arrivals from Cybertron; Bluestreak and Mirage disappear, implied to have joined the 12 offline in repair bay. (37 total)
• Decepticons: 11 active; Skywarp, Thundercracker, Starscream, Rumble, Frenzy, and Buzzsaw taken offline by Omega Supreme and stored in the Ark. (17 total)

Courtesy of my...

• Omega Supreme's tank takes out Skywarp with a laser cannon.
• Megatron once again namechecks his fusion cannon.
• Ravage takes out Skids with a low-energy proton missile.

Covers (3)

• US issue #19: Omega Supreme kicking Decepti-ass, by Herb Trimpe.
• UK issue #70: Autobots attacking, by John Stokes.
• UK issue #71: reuse of art from US cover.

• 

  US issue #19 - The Decepticons look on in horror as Omega Supreme shoots Some Guy.

• 

  UK issue #70 - The cover lets you know that in this issue, Autobots fight Decepticons.

• 

  UK issue #71 - Oh yes. Ha ha. I see what you did there...

Reprints

• 

  The Transformers Comics Magazine #10 (Marvel US, 1988)

• 

  Transformers: Showdown paperback (Titan Books, 2003)

• 

  Transformers: Showdown hardback (Titan Books, 2003)

• 

  Classic Transformers Volume 2 (IDW Publishing, 2008)

• 

  The Transformers Classics, Vol. 2 (IDW Publishing, 2012)

• 

  The Definitive G1 Collection, Vol. 5: The Smelting Pool (Hachette Partworks, Ltd., 2019)

IDW Transformers Classics edits

For The Transformers Classics series of trade paperbacks, IDW Publishing "remastered" the coloring of the series with varying degrees of success. These changes were sometimes to fix errors, but often to alter characters' color schemes to make them resemble their toy and/or cartoon selves, and were rarely applied with consistency. IDW's recolored version was also used for Hachette's Definitive G1 Collection. (n.b. not all the changes made in IDW's The Transformers Classics are present in the Definitive G1 Collection in this instance. Where they differ, a note has been made below.)

"Remastering" makes Omega's shadows lighter than the rest of his body, among other weird changes.

Don't rise, Blastimus Prime.

• As is standard for this series, Soundwave is "corrected" from his purple Marvel color scheme to toy-and-cartoon accurate blue. (change not present in Hachette edition)
• Throughout the issue, in another great example of the inconsistency of the "reconstruction", the dark grey used to shade areas of Omega Supreme's pale grey body is "remastered" into a pale purple, standing out as lighter against his body instead of darker (see right).
• On the cover:
  • Skywarp's blue trim is changed to purple. (change not present in Hachette edition)
  • Starscream's right rear tailfin has become colored pale blue like the rest of him while his left one remains the same red it was before, and his Decepticon insignias have lost their purple color and also become pale blue.
• Page 1:
  • Optimus Prime's mouthplate has become miscolored the same pale yellow as the background.
  • Grapple's greenish gun hand becomes "corrected" to solid orange instead of blue-black.
• Page 2
  • Panel 1: The "nose" of Omega's Autobot insignia is now uncolored. The blue-black of his tank treads has become the same pale purple that's been subbed in for dark grey, and the fully dark-grey front of his tank mode has now become half grey, half pale purple (again, see right). Worse, the once sharp inks for Optimus Prime, Grapple and Ratchet standing in the background (which are still block colored blue) have sorely eroded.
  • Panel 6: Skids' helmet ridge is fully colored.
• Page 3:
  • Panel 3: Swoop's white hi-lights are removed, giving him grey eyes and teeth.
  • Panel 4: The right side of Skids' pelvis has become white like his upper leg, instead of blue.
  • Panel 5: Skids is block-colored purple in this panel, but the "remaster" erases the purple area under his neck, giving him the impression of being a head floating behind Optimus Prime.
• Page 5, panel 7: Some slightly iffy color separation on the original printing that saw yellow ink bleeding out of Starscream's red parts is blown way out of proportion here, giving him full-on yellow stripes and highlights.
• Page 9, panel 2: The yellow details on Optimus Prime's pelvis are erased.
• Page 10, panel 3: Blaster's colors are corrected (right). (change not present in Hachette edition)
• Page 12:
  • Panel 1: Optimus's yellow pelvis details are gone again.
  • Panel 5: The screentones used to shade Mixmaster and Long Haul as they combine are erased; Long Haul is just colored a slightly darker shade of green instead.
• Page 13: Rather than correct Devastator's red insignia, the uncolored one from panel 4 is now colored red to match it. Siiigh.
• Page 14: There's a large empty spot on Ravage's cheek that's not part of the original lineart. Evidently this is another issue that was remastered from a damaged copy where the lineart had been partially erased; in filling-in that empty spot blue-black like the rest of Ravage, the reprint also incorrectly colors in his white eye the same color.
• Page 15, panel 6: Having apparently used scans from a smudged copy as the basis for the remaster again, the "B" in "Durabyllium" became an "S", thus making the name of the metal in this version "Durasyllium".
• Page 20: In perhaps the perfect example of the frustrating inconsistency of the remastering on this series, observe how Megatron's blue-black shifts from solid blue on page 18 to a more greenish hue on this page. He was the same color throughout the original, and this page is more reflective of those colors. Also, the shading on Shockwave's thighs becomes a muddy brown-purple.

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US

• M&M's (inside cover)
• Free headphone radio from Nabisco Confections - between pages 4 & 5
• Bonkers! chewy candy - between pages 5 & 6
• Marvel Comics' The New Universe - between pages 7 & 8
• Thundercats on VHS / Marvel Super Mart - between pages 8 & 9
• East Coast Comics - between pages 16 & 17 and between pages 17 & 18
• Various comic shops, and typical ads from the era - between pages 19 & 20
• Bullpen Bulletins - between pages 20 & 21
• Subscribe to Marvel Comics at only 65¢ per copy!
• Transmissions
• MASK (inside back cover)
• Yamaha DX100 Synthesizer (back cover)

UK

• Both issues:
  • 1986 Marvel Summer Specials (including Collected Comics #4)
  • Cyclonus, Scourge, Hot Rod, Kup, and Blurr toys (right)