Fire on High!

« The Transformers (UK) #119–120 » »
Under neon loneliness motorcycle emptiness
"Fire on High!"
Publisher	Marvel Comics
Cover date	27th June–4th July 1987
Script	Simon Furman
Art	Dan Reed (119), Geoff Senior (120)
Colours	Steve White
Letters	Mike Scott (119), Richard Starkings (120)
Editor	Ian Rimmer (uncredited)
Continuity	Marvel Comics continuity (Marvel UK)
Chronology	1987/Original future (2007)

Everyone returns to the future... except for one

Synopsis

At the foot of Mount Verona, Cindy Newell briefs a war council consisting of Autobots from both 1987 and 2007. She explains how Galvatron is aiming to generate the huge force of a volcanic eruption but deny the release and instead tap the energy. But this will trigger off shockwaves across the entire West Coast, causing numerous other volcanoes to erupt, devastate cities and cause major structural damage to the continent. Rodimus Prime is outraged and suggests that, since brute force can't stop Galvatron, perhaps they should try returning him to his own timeline. Wreck-Gar and Goldbug explain their idea to create a time-jump over-ride device, cannibalising the machines of both the Autobots and Galvatron.

As plans are initiated, Ultra Magnus explains to Cindy that he has been given the task of distracting Galvatron, and he wants her to get away from here. Cindy is angry that Magnus is going to his certain doom and asks why he has to sacrifice himself. In tears, she runs away. Magnus is depressed by this and his mood is not helped when Wreck-Gar makes smutty comments about the situation.

At the summit, Galvatron completes repairs to his power siphon, correctly deducing that Ultra Magnus was responsible for them. Galvatron plans a slow painful death for Magnus when, suddenly, Goldbug charges up the mountain aboard Wreck-Gar's vehicle mode. Goldbug's blaster and Wreck-Gar's axe knock Galvatron off guard, but, when Kup and Blurr attack Galvatron, the latter recovers long enough to blast them unconscious. Goldbug dodges the blasts as Ultra Magnus challenges Galvatron from the other side of the siphon. Meanwhile, Wreck-Gar, guarded by Rodimus, is rapidly constructing a device. Galvatron pounces on Magnus and quickly overcomes him, then picks up his foe and throws him into the mouth of the volcano.

Galvatron believes he has won and now only needs to await the imminent eruption to tap the volcano's power. He suddenly remembers that there is one thing that can stop him becoming a god—his time-jump trigger device. He goes into the siphon control room to destroy it, but it is gone.

Wreck-Gar is taking longer than expected, as Galvatron's device incorporates some unusual technology, and needs more time. But Galvatron now advances on them. Rodimus and Galvatron exchange blasts but neither makes little progress. Then, Rodimus notices Galvatron is standing near a power cable and blasts that. Galvatron is caught in a huge electrical charge and falls. Rodimus approaches, only to learn the hard way that Galvatron is much tougher. The future Decepticon savagely beats and subdues his foe and prepares to achieve his dream of annihilating Rodimus Prime.

But Death's Head wants his money, so Rodimus Prime must live! Death's Head blasts Galvatron away from the Autobot and then attacks him. Whilst the bounty hunter freelance peacekeeping agent fares no better, with both his mace and left arm destroyed in the process, he has unwittingly bought the Autobots the time they need.

Goldbug awakens Rodimus Prime and tells him that Wreck-Gar has finished. He tries to explain that the device has some strange parts, but Rodimus orders the override be triggered now. Wreck-Gar triggers the device and it sweeps away all the future combatants.

Goldbug is left alone. He assumes that Wreck-Gar's theory about Galvatron recalibrating his device to stay behind was wrong. He turns and sees that Wreck-Gar was not wrong at all...

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Humans	Others
Wreck-Gar (1) Kup (2) Blurr (4) Rodimus Prime (5) Goldbug (6) Ultra Magnus (7)	Galvatron (8)	Cindy Newell (3)	Death's Head (9)

Quotes

"If you want to do it, B&Q it! D.I.Y time jump over-ride device...it's childsplay!"
"What?"

-Wreck-Gar's vocal quirk puts years on Rodimus Prime.

"Pity. Sleek, economic model. Nudge, nudge...wink, wink - know what I mean?"
"Thanks a bunch, Wreck-Gar! That I really didn't need!"

-Wreck-Gar and Ultra Magnus

"Fall, curse you - FALL!"

-Rodimus Prime has had it up to here with Galvatron being alive.

Notes

Artwork and technical errors

• Rodimus's chest symbol not only regularly disappears (as usual) but on the first splash page it is a Decepticon symbol.
• Ultra Magnus's shoulder rockets appear and disappear on the final page of issue #119.
• In one panel Rodimus's hand is drawn backwards.

Continuity errors

• Cindy Newell is described as a "post graduate student" but she states she has a PhD in geology. The term "post doctoral" is more accurate.

Continuity notes

• The future Autobots won't appear again for another 13 issues, in "Headhunt".

Real-life references

• The arc's title comes from a song by the UK rock band ELO.

Other trivia

• TBD

British Junkionisms

• On the first printed cover, Goldbug yells for Galvatron to "Come on down!", a phrase used to gather contestants from the audience from the gameshow The Price Is Right, normally announced as "(contestant name)... COME ON DOWN!". He also used the line in-story.
• "If you want to do it, B&Q it!"—The catchphrase of the British DIY retailer, B&Q.
• "It's Childsplay!"— the name of a short-lived 1976 television series featuring short plays entirely written by children under sixteen. It was presented by Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise.
• "Jus' like that!"—one of comedian/magician Tommy Cooper's catchphrases.
• "Nudge nudge, wink, wink - know what I mean?"—one of the most famous lines from Monty Python's Flying Circus, showcased in a sketch titled "Candid Photography". The line was originally spoken by Eric Idle, who, of course, voiced Wreck-Gar in The Transformers: The Movie.
• "Vorsprung durch Technik, as the Germans say."—The tagline of the Audi car company. It means "Advancement through technology".
• "I'm boldly going where no man has gone before here."—Do we really have to tell you?

Back-up material

Issue #119:

• Back-up strips: The Iron Man of 2020 - "Man of the Year" Part 1 and Robo-Capers
• AtoZ: Breakdown and Bruticus

Issue #120:

• Back-up strips: The Iron Man of 2020 - "Man of the Year" Part 2 and Robo-Capers

Covers (2)

• Issue #119 cover: Goldbug riding Wreck-Gar, by Will Simpson.
• Issue #120 cover: Death's Head, Galvatron & Rodimus Prime, by Jeff Anderson.

• 
  Issue #119
• 
  Issue #120

Reprints

• Transformers Comic-Magazin #13 cover: A miscolored Galvatron fights Rodimus Prime on a BLINDINGLY neon orange cover.
• Transformers: Fallen Angel cover: Death's Head, by Geoff Senior and Oliver Harud.
• The Transformers Classics UK Volume 4 cover: Rodimus and Galvatron fight whilst Scorponok squeezes Highbrow and Goldbug rides Wreck-Gar, by Andrew Wildman.
• Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 8: Wanted: Galvatron – Dead or Alive : Soundwave by ??? and Galvatron by Dan Reed

• 
  Transformers Comic-Magazin #13: Glorious... sniff...
  (Condor Verlag, 1991)
• 
  Fallen Angel
  (Titan Books, 2003)
• 
  The Transformers Classics UK Volume 4 (IDW Publishing, 2013)
• 
  Definitive G1 Collection Vol. 8 (Hachette Partworks Ltd, 2017)