Decepticon Patrol

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Megatron totally doesn't care that his army is on fire.
"Decepticon Patrol"
Publisher	Marvel Books
Cover date	1984
Written by	Dwight Jon Zimmerman
Art by	Charles Nicholas and Phil Lord
ISBN	ISBN 9780871350114 ISBN 0-87135-011-4
Page count	48pp

The Decepticons search for a factory that they can use to build an army!

Synopsis

The Autobots and Decepticons are introduced, as well as some of their special abilities. Bumblebee can see things that are very far away! Megatron declares that this is the Day of the Decepticons, and sends his troops to find a factory they can use to build an army.

Optimus Prime suspects something is up, because it's too peaceful, and sends Bumblebee and Mirage to scout. Meanwhile, the Decepticon planes fail to find any factories in the middle of the ocean, the top of a mountain range, or in low-orbital space. The gargantuan Ravage doesn't find any Autobots in the jungle. Laserbeak sees an automobile factory and flips out, reporting to Megatron that an army of Autobots is being constructed. Mirage and Bumblebee overhear this and report back to Prime.

Optimus Prime gets a brilliant inspiration, and orders Huffer to dig a huge hole. Bumblebee spots the Decepticons approaching. Prime has Mirage create a mirage^[1] of a factory over the hole. The Decepticons attack, but not even Megatron's "energy cannon" can damage the illusory factory. Ravage suspects a ruse, and tackles Mirage, ending the mirage.

Ratchet repairs Mirage, Bumblebee stops Laserbeak with an electrified net, Huffer overpowers Starscream and Thundercracker, and Mirage gets his revenge on Ravage via a ferocious attack of "electric balls". The battle ends when Prime throws Megatron and Skywarp(?) into space, which should keep them out of trouble.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"I'll teach you to attack me from behind!"
"Ouch! Those electric balls really hurt!"

—Mirage and Ravage are so right.

"I'm putting you two into orbit. That should keep you out of trouble!"

—Optimus Prime casually pitches his enemies into the thermosphere.

Notes

• Various activities are interspersed through the story, such as connect-the-dots, Huffer's Word Maze and several unscramble-the-message pages ("Factory not hurt", Starscream reports to Megatron.)

• The art is completely off-the-wall. While Optimus Prime and the Decepticons are drawn as in the early comic, the rest of the characters' robot modes are unique to this work, and decidedly strange, including a bug-eyed Bumblebee and an eyeliner-wearing Laserbeak. Odd artwork makes it look as if Mirage has a moustache.^[2]

• Skywarp has a nice hat. He is ignored by the other Decepticons through the entire book.

• Thundercracker totally has Blurr's head bobber.

• Ravage is drawn looming over an elephant. It's not clear from context if the elephant is tiny or Ravage is huge, but the evidence leans toward the latter.

External links

• "Decepticon Patrol" at Steve-o's Transformers Site.

References