Robot Buster!

« The Transformers (UK) #59–60 »
Buster takes Frenzy from behind.
"Robot Buster!"
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First published	Part 1: 26th April, 1986 Part 2: 3rd May, 1986
Cover date	Part 1: 3rd May, 1986 Part 2: 10th May, 1986
Writer	Simon Furman
Plot	Barry Kitson
Art	Barry Kitson
Inks	Tim Perkins (Part 2 only)
Colours	Josie Firmin (Part 1), T.M. Cooks (Part 2)
Lettering	Annie Halfacree
Editor	Ian Rimmer
Continuity	Marvel Comics continuity

When Wheeljack and Ratchet build an exo-suit for Buster, an unsanctioned field test leads the human into a confrontation with Shockwave.

Synopsis

Part 1

Frenzy was never cooler than at this moment.

Wheeljack and Ratchet ask Optimus Prime to visit their lab to see their newest creation—a large mechanical suit for Buster Witwicky that will allow him to fight alongside the Autobots. Optimus Prime is outraged at the notion of endangering Buster's life in battle, prompting the indignant Buster himself to insist that he has a right to be allowed to help the Autobots after all he has done for them. Sad but resolute, Prime insists the suit be dismantled.

Regretting his angry words to Prime, Buster decides to prove to the Autobot leader that the suit has merit by secretly field-testing it. That night, before Ratchet and Wheeljack can start disassembling it, Buster commandeers the suit and heads for the Decepticons' old abandoned fortress, hoping to find some technology he can take back to the Autobots... but what he finds instead is Frenzy, in the midst of a salvage mission. Frenzy knows the task is just pointless busywork given to him by Shockwave, who is on edge thanks to rumours about the return of Megatron, but that only means the small Decepticon is in a bad mood and more than ready for a fight when Buster ambushes him. Buster thinks that capturing a Decepticon will be even better evidence of his suit's capabilities, but Frenzy is unharmed by his attack and unleashes the full force of his sonic powers in retaliation. In agony, Buster tries to shut down the suit's audio input, but accidentally winds up triggering its "echo cell" feature, which absorbs Frenzy's sonic attack and blasts it back at him, knocking him out. Sensible enough to realize he only defeated one of the weakest Decepticons through sheer luck, Buster decides to depart post-haste... only to find himself confronted by Shockwave!

Part 2: "Baptism of Fire!"

After spending most of the night running from Shockwave and making futile attempts to combat him, Buster is cornered by the Decepticon leader, but is able to escape again by hurling a handful of sand into Shockwave's optic sensor. This brief moment of blindness causes Shockwave to remember his previous, more-prolonged immersions in darkness—his four-million year burial at the hands of the Dinobots, and his recent submergence in a swamp by Optimus Prime—and for once, the normally cold and emotionless Decepticon's mask of logic slips away. As emotion takes hold, Shockwave furiously vows to hunt down and slay Buster.

As dawn breaks, Buster finishes reconfiguring his suit to channel all of its energy into one blast, hoping this will be enough to take Shockwave down. No sooner has he completed his work than Shockwave catches up to him and moves in for the kill. Buster opens fire at point blank range, and the resultant blast hurls Shockwave back, but also reduces the suit to a smoking wreck. Alas, as Buster crawls out of the suit's remains, he discovers his efforts were in vain when the still-functional Shockwave seizes him. Just before Shockwave can crush the life from the human, Optimus Prime and the Autobots arrive, having discovered the suit was missing from the lab. Prime offers to let Shockwave leave peacefully in return for Buster's safety, and, his logical mind reasserting itself, Shockwave agrees. Buster's experience has convinced him that fighting with the Autobots is not something he wants to be part of after all... but unfortunately for him, Shockwave is already plotting revenge, now knowing that the Autobots' friendship with Buster is a weakness he can exploit...

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Humans
Optimus Prime (1) Ratchet (2) Wheeljack (3) Trailbreaker (7) Bumblebee (8) Smokescreen (9) Tracks (10)	Frenzy (5) Shockwave (6)	Buster Witwicky (4)

Quotes

"I will go...for now. But I promise you this, Optimus Prime: when you and I meet next it will be Shockwave who again walks away...leaving your charred and blackened corpse behind me."

—Just because Shockwave is cold and logical doesn't mean he can't have a dramatic flair

"What do you think of our newest Autobot?"
"I—I...HAVE YOU ALL LOST YOUR MINDS?!"

—Ratchet not getting the response he expected from Optimus Prime.

"If it took an accident to defeat one of the less powerful Decepticons, I'd sure hate to meet--"
"HUMAN!"
"Heck...was that ever a stupid thing to say!"

—Buster summons Shockwave with the power of dramatic irony.

"Shockwave — the human you hold is under Autobot protection! Release him and you can leave. Harm him in any way and we will open fire. Not even you could survive our combined firepower. Your life for Buster Witwicky's. It is logical, is it not?"

—Optimus Prime being a badass papa wolf while trolling Shockwave mercilessly.

Notes

Production notes

• The plot of "Robot Buster!" is credited to artist Barry Kitson, with regular writer Simon Furman providing the script over his idea. In an interview in The Transformers Classics UK Volume 2, Furman recalls that the team had been having a "tough time keeping Barry interested" in continuing to work on the comic, since Kitson did not particularly enjoy drawing the robot characters, and "bringing him in on the plot side" was an attempt to do so. The two-parter was essentially thought of as being done "for Barry" in the offices, so it only tangentially ties in to the next few issues' storyline.
• The second part of this story marks Marvel UK's first attempt at colouring the comic using mechanical colour separation—the cheaper method by which the American comics were coloured—instead of the hand-painting used up to this point. The result is... rough, and the team's dissatisfaction with it led to the use of the pseudonymous credit "T.M. Cooks" (short for "Too Many Cooks") for the issue. The series returns to painted colours for the remainder of the year, but the team would eventually get a handle on the process, and the comic will feature colour separation from issue #93 onwards.

Continuity notes

• Buster refers to the period of time during which he carried the Creation Matrix in his mind, as covered in US issues #6-12, and to his "pulling Optimus's fat out of the fire" at the close of the story when he used the Matrix to control Jetfire and save the day.

• Though long since abandoned and never to reappear in the US stories, the Decepticons' original fortress (created in US issue #2) has previously been revisited in the UK comic in "Crisis of Command!", and will reappear again in future UK stories. In the US issue immediately preceding this one Shockwave's Decepticons are described as operating out of a "makeshift fortress"; the appearance of the original fortress in this UK story might be an attempt by the UK comic to patch over this odd piece of US discontinuity by indicating that it is the base Shockwave is using.
• Frenzy mentions rumours that Megatron has returned, referring to television broadcasts showing the former Decepticon that hit the airwaves in US issue #15. Frenzy himself, incidentally, is unaccounted for by the US stories during this time of divided Decepticon leadership; only the UK stories depict him as explicitly being part of Shockwave's camp.
• Shockwave recalls his millions of years of entombment courtesy of the Dinobots, as seen in US issue #8, complete with a recreation of a panel from that issue depicting his burial.
• Shockwave's submergence in the swamp took place in US issue #12. His absence was short-lived, as he quickly returned in US issue #14 with no real remark passed, but the UK comic inserted several additional stories between those two adventures, making his disappearance from action a more protracted one. This issue fills in the gap through flashback, showing us how Shockwave was forced to spend "days or months" trapped in the blackness of the swamp, until he finally touched bottom and could boot-jet his way to freedom (right). In The Transformers Classics UK Vol.2, Furman would give this as an example of the little gaps in Budiansky's stories, the result of poor Bob having to promote a never-ending stream of new toys, that the UK team looked for so they could plug in their stories.

Real-life references

• The story's title may be a reference to the British comic strip Ro-Busters.

Artwork and technical errors

Butthurt Witwicky.

• Several caption boxes and text balloons feature noticeably mis-aligned text in Part 1; on page 1, a lot of text is set too low inside the bubbles and boxes, and dialogue throughout the issue is shifted "up to and to the left" inside bubbles, and isn't even centered relative to itself.
• By this point in the US stories, Wheeljack has settled down into his finalized Marvel Comics colour scheme, but here, he's still got the early scheme from prior issues with red shoulder-fins. Additionally, he's missing his shoulder cannon, and on page 2 of part 1, he's got purple shoulders.
• Barry Kitson draws an oddly proportioned Shockwave, with an oversized head nearly as wide as his torso, and tiny hands.
• Part 1, page 4, panel 2: There's a second, blank speech bubble here after Buster pauses mid-sentence (right). It was probably supposed to contain something like "...then..." or "...well..." to bridge the boy's previous dialogue with his outburst in the next panel that Prime "stinks."
• Part 1, page 6, panel 3: Frenzy's rear-mounted thruster gun is miscoloured green, apparently mistaken by the colourist as part of the bundle of junk in his hands.
• Part 1, page 11: Shockwave says "Perish at the hands of Shockwave" when, well, he only has ONE hand. Oops!
• Part 2, page 3, panel 1: "Nonexistent" is misspelled as "nonexistant".
• Part 2, page 10, panel 3: Smokescreen is missing his door-wings, and has only one shoulder-mounted gun instead of two.

Back-up material

Issue #59:

• Back-up strips: Rocket Raccoon ("Masque of the Red Breath", Part 2), Robo-Capers and Matt and the Cat.
  • This issue's Robo-Capers is a special strip that shows Soundwave exacting retribution from Marvel Film Makers for the misprinted strip in issue #51.
  • Also featured is a half-page comic strip advert promoting the movie Biggles, which will continue over the next four issues.
• Who's Who: Humans

Issue #60:

• Back-up strips: Rocket Raccoon ("Masque of the Red Breath," Part 3) and Robo-Capers. Matt and the Cat is replaced this issue by the next chapter of the Biggles advert/comic.

Covers (2)

• Issue #59: Robot Buster takes down Frenzy, by Geoff Senior.
• Issue #60: Shockwave has Buster in his sinister hand, by Barry Kitson.

• 
  Issue #59 - Who ya gonna call? Not Buster!
• 
  Issue #60 - I spy with my little eye...

Reprints

• 
  Collected Comics #9 (Marvel UK, 1988)
• 
  Transformers: Second Generation (Titan Books, 2005)
• 
  The Transformers Classics UK Volume 2 (IDW Publishing, 2012)
• 
  The Definitive G1 Collection, Vol. 4: Second Generation (Hachette Partworks, Ltd., 2018)