Guess Who the Mecannibals Are Having for Dinner?

2008-05-09T22:08:04Z

212.139.65.171: /* Errors */

[[Image:MarvelUS-52.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Shouldn't this be "Guess ''Whom'' the Mecannibals Are Having for Dinner"?]]
{{Template:Comicnav | Generation 1 (Marvel Comics) | 52 | seriesname=Marvel U.S. | prev=The Man in the Machine! | next=Recipe for Disaster! | series2=Generation 1 (Marvel Comics)#Marvel UK | seriesname2=Marvel UK | issuenumber2=Issue #213{{n-}}216 | prev2=The Man in the Machine! | next2=The Fall and Rise of the Decepticon Empire }}
'''In a mission to secure parts for their comrades, a couple of Autobot Pretenders bite off more than they can chew.'''

==Synopsis==
[[Image:Urtuskian.jpg|left|thumb|200px|Remember, kids: Rust-sucking causes tetanus.]]

In the wake of the [[Underbase Saga]], dozens of [[Autobot]]s are inoperative with severe microchip damage. Optimus Prime sends [[Pretender]]s Landmine and Cloudburst on a mission to secure microchips from the black market on [[Grand Central Space Station]], where robots are not welcome (as demonstrated when the crowd at a [[Black Hole Bar and Grill|local bar]] shoves a [[Chromite]] out an airlock). The Pretenders soon find chip dealers, not realizing that the dealers are actually [[Nebulos|Nebulan]] [[Powermaster]]s Hi-Test and Throttle. They also meet Berko and discover that a fellow Autobot, Sky Lynx, has recently been to the station, but went missing soon after Berko attempted to make a deal with the same shady pair.

[[Image:Mecannibals.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Fear the spheres.]]

Landmine attempts to recover Sky Lynx by insisting that the dealers take them to the suppliers directly. The Pretenders soon find themselves face to face with the [[Mecannibals]], robot-eating mechanical lifeforms. They are safe from the Mecannibals' appetite only thanks to their human-appearing outer shells. The Mecannibals agree to do business over dinner: Sky Lynx.

Landmine's inner robot form, which had stayed outside at the beginning of the "deal," arrives to free Sky Lynx. He gratefully escapes, and Landmine's inner robot recombines with his outer shell in the confusion, unseen by the Mecannibals. They soon complete the deal for the microchips and return to the space station.

All would be well, except the Pretenders decide to reveal their robotic nature to Berko afterward. This is witnessed by Hi-Test and Throttle, who notify a local bartender, J'oh. When the Pretenders go to the bar (to settle Berko's tab), they are quickly overwhelmed by the station's robot-hating populace and are shoved out of an airlock. Before Landmine and Cloudburst can re-orient themselves, they are knocked out by <strike>Darkwind</strike> Dreadwing and transported back to the Mecannibals. It seems that the Mecannibals are eager to replace the meal they just lost, and two Autobots in synthetic flesh shells will do just fine!

==Credits==
'''Writer:''' [[Bob Budiansky]] 
'''Pencil Art:''' [[José Delbo]] 
'''Ink Art:''' [[Dave Hunt]] 
'''Colorist:''' [[Nel Yomtov]] 
'''Letterer:''' [[Manny Manos]] 
'''Editor:''' [[Don Daley]] 
*''Originally published:'' May, 1989

===Major characters===
(''Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
{|border=5 cellpadding=5 cellspacing=5 align=center style="border:#800000"
! style="background:#FFEEEE" | [[Autobot]]s
! style="background:#EEEEFE" | [[Decepticon]]s
! style="background:antiquewhite" | Others
|-
| style="background:#FFEEEE" valign="top" |
* [[Landmine (G1)|Landmine]] (2)
* [[Cloudburst]] (3)
* [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]] (6)
* [[Sky Lynx (G1)|Sky Lynx]] (8)

| style="background:#EEEEFE" valign="top" |
* [[Dreadwing (G1)|Dreadwing]] (9)

| style="background:antiquewhite" valign="top" |
* [[J'oh]] (1)
* [[Throttle (G1)|Throttle]] (4)
* [[Hi-Test]] (5)
* [[Berko]] (7)
* [[Master Mouth]] (10)
|}

==Errors==
[[Image:Grandcentralspace.jpg|thumb|300px|Not so much ''[[Wikipedia:The Blue Danube#Popular Culture|Blue Danube]]'' as ''[[Wikipedia:Cum on Feel the Noize|Cum on Feel the Noize]].'']]
* Though the residents appear to dislike humans as "rust-sucking robot lovers", Grand Central Space Station's docking ports are nevertheless labeled with [[Wikipedia:Arabic_numbers|Arabic numbers]].
* Hi-Test and Throttle refer to the combined form of Dreadwind and Darkwing as Darkwind rather than Dreadwing.
* ''Incorrectly regarded as a goof:'' Landmine destroys the vial of energon cubes he used to pay for the chips (on p.19), but it appears to show up again, unharmed, on the next page. However, in panel 5 on p.20, close inspection reveals Cloudburst handing Master Mouth a replacement vial.
* On the other hand, on p.8, when Optimus sends them on their mission, he only gives them one vial...
{{-}}

==Items of note==
* The title is presumably an homage to the classic movie ''[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061735/ Guess Who's Coming to Dinner].''
* Among the Autobots shown needing repairs are [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]], [[Blaster (G1)|Blaster]], [[Gears (G1)|Gears]], and [[Goldbug (G1)|Goldbug]]. Most of them are {gulp} decapitated.
* Cloudburst's ''inner'' robot transforms into a spacecraft large enough to transport both his own ''outer'' shell and Landmine easily. This is a classic example of [[Size changing#implicit size changing|implicit size changing]].
* The Nebulans, Berko, and many of the aliens on the station seem to be completely fooled into thinking the Pretenders are humans (not just organic, but specifically ''human''), despite the fact that they're Transformer-sized, and thus somewhere over 15' (5m) tall. However, the inhabitants of the nearby planet of [[Femax]] are specifically called "human" (by Landmine, in the next story, "[[Recipe for Disaster!]]"), and are Transformer-sized, so this makes a certain kind of sense.

===Covers===
{{picsneeded|UK covers}}
* '''U.S. cover:''' Mecannibals about to have a Transformer lunch by [[Jose Delbo]]
* '''UK issue 213 cover:''' Landmine and Cloudburst / Megatron / Visionaries by [[John Stokes]]
* '''UK issue 214 cover:''' Mecannibals / Megatron vs [[Quake]] by John Stokes
* '''UK issue 215 cover:''' Triggerbots vs Dreadwing by [[Jeff Anderson]]
* '''UK issue 216 cover:''' variation of US cover / Backstreet and Susan by [[Art Wetherell]]

{{Columnlist|2|
[[Image:MarvelUK-213.jpg|thumb|200px|center|213 cover]]
[[Image:MarvelUK-214.jpg|thumb|200px|center|214 cover]]
}}
{{Columnlist|2|
[[Image:MarvelUK-215.jpg|thumb|200px|center|215 cover]]
[[Image:MarvelUK-216.jpg|thumb|200px|center|216 cover]]
}}

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[[Category:Marvel US issues]]
[[Category:Marvel UK issues]]<div id="wikia-credits"> From [http://transformers.wikia.com Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki], a [http://www.wikia.com Wikia] wiki.</div>

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Guess Who the Mecannibals Are Having for Dinner?