The Wrath of Grimlock!

« The Transformers (UK) #32 »
Imagine if that Utahraptor slipped in the shower?
"The Wrath of Grimlock!"
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First published	19th October, 1985
Cover date	26th October, 1985
Script	Simon Furman
Art	Barry Kitson, Mark Farmer
Colours	Steve Whitaker
Lettering	Mike Scott
Editor	Ian Rimmer
Continuity	Marvel Comics continuity

The Guardian unit stalks the Autobots through the Ark, and one bot must sacrifice himself to stop him...

Synopsis

Grimlock is aiming his gun at Guardian's cerebral access port, taunting him before he pulls the trigger. Watching the scene on a viewscreen in another part of the Ark, Prowl and Ratchet are dumbstruck—Guardian contains enough explosive to level the mountain, and they can't warn Grimlock—but Wheeljack has an idea. The headless body of Optimus Prime begins to move as Wheeljack operates a terminal, grabbing Grimlock's arm and forcing it up just as the gun fires. Ratchet identifies Wheeljack's life-saving strategy as an internal motor override—without a brain module, Prime's body is just machinery and can be remote controlled. The other Dinobots taunt Grimlock, who is unable to prise his arm from Prime's grip. Seizing the distraction, Guardian charges through them and flees. However, Grimlock does not give the order to pursue—he is preoccupied with the loss of his hand in the commotion...

Grimlock gotta keep his pimpin' hand strong!

Later, Ratchet continues to apologise to Grimlock as he reattaches his hand. Invited to test it, Grimlock punches Ratchet in the face and reports: "It's just fine... thank you!" before barging out of the room. Ratchet asks Prowl whether he has located Guardian, but the droid has retreated beyond sensor range. There are too few Autobots to search for him, and they don't have a way of stopping him even if they do find him. Ratchet returns to the task of reactivating the other Autobots, and Prowl recommends that Windcharger should receive priority, since his magnetic powers managed to stop Guardian in a previous incident. But will it be enough?

From a hidden vantage point, Guardian surveys a large monitor screen as he undergoes a repair program. Now that fourteen Autobots are active, Guardian does not believe the odds are in his favour, so he activates a 'failsafe program'. This is a program installed by Shockwave and Soundwave: if it appears that either the Autobots or Megatron will gain the upper hand and seize control of the Ark, the thermo-nuclear bomb within Guardian will begin an irreversible countdown to detonation as the droid seeks out the greatest concentration of the enemy. The 100-second countdown begins, and Guardian sets out...

Ratchet is finally working to repair Swoop, although his efforts are hampered by the looming presence of Grimlock. Suddenly, Wheeljack and Prowl detect the high-energy reading of the booby-trapped Guardian—just before Guardian breaks the doors down. Grimlock orders the Dinobots to transform and attack. As Ratchet asks Windcharger to use his powers on Guardian's data core, Swoop regains consciousness to see Guardian fighting his comrades. He prepares to shoot, but Ratchet spoils his aim and the shot blasts a hole in the outer hull of the Ark. Learning of the bomb inside Guardian, Swoop transforms to pteranodon mode and grabs the droid, flying him out through the hole and away from the mountain. He drops Guardian, but the countdown finally reaches zero and there is a colossal explosion.

Swoop's body is not recovered, and it is believed that he was liquefied by the heat of the explosion. The Autobots place a marker beacon and mark his death with a ceremony. The other Dinobots depart, heading north. Their reasons for leaving are not given, but they are thought not to include grief. However, Swoop's sacrifice enables Ratchet to revive all but one of the Autobots. Meanwhile, in a private hospital, Josie Beller has completed her own preparations...

Featured characters

(Characters in italic text appear only in flashbacks.)
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Humans
Guardian (1) Grimlock (2) Prowl (3) Ratchet (4) Wheeljack (5) Optimus Prime (6) Snarl (7) Sludge (8) Slag (9) Swoop (12) Windcharger (13)	Shockwave (10) Soundwave (11)	Josie Beller (14)

Quotes

Ratchet: "...so like I said, we're really sorry about the hand, but we had to stop you from blasting Guardian, and...yes...well, that should, er...do it. Why don't you test it?"
Grimlock throws Ratchet a right cross
Grimlock: "It's just fine...thank you!"

—Grimlock shows Ratchet that no good deed goes unpunished

Notes

Continuity notes

• Prowl recalls Windcharger's effectiveness against Guardian during "that Auntie business," referring to the events of "Raiders of the Last Ark".
• It is revealed via flashback that Shockwave and Soundwave reprogrammed Guardian for his security duty following the events of US issue #6.
• Despite having only been introduced into the US series in its most recent issue, the Dinobots do not reappear in its pages for another year. The UK series exploits their absence to send them off on a series of adventures of their own told through UK-original strips, hence their departure at the end of this story; we will catch up with them again in a few months' time beginning in issue #45.
• The epilogue notes that Ratchet is able to repair "all but one" of the defeated Autobots; the "one" is Sunstreaker, who was gravely damaged by Shockwave in US issue #5, and who Ratchet noted last issue that he had to give up working on.
• The final scene of the issue, with Josie Beller completing her cybernetic upgrades, is included to ensure the story leads directly into US issue #9, as the UK series returns to reprinting US material next issue. The scene is a widescreen recreation of the penultimate panel of US issue #8 (right), which was cut from the UK printing of that story.
• During the course of this issue, a thermo-nuclear bomb is detonated over the mainland United States of America. Other than destroying Guardian and causing Swoop's temporary absence from the comic, this (literally) earth-shattering event is apparently inconsequential even within the UK continuity; the only time it's ever referenced is in a one-panel flashback in "The Icarus Theory" explaining how Swoop was knocked offline.

Real-life references

• As with last issue, this story takes its title from The Wrath of Khan, continuing writer Simon Furman's early predilection for taking his story names from movies.

Continuity and plotting errors

• Continuing an error from last issue, Optimus Prime's body is still depicted with both arms intact; he lost one in US issue #4.

Artwork and technical errors

The old one-two!

• As in the previous issue, we're close, but we're still not quite all the way there when it comes to the Transformers being drawn to match their character models. The Dinobots continue to feature their early colour schemes as seen last issue (a yellow dino-mode head for Slag, a grey one for Snarl, and a blue one for Swoop), Prowl and Wheeljack continue to appear as they did last issue (the former with a squared-off head and missing most of his blue/black trim, the latter in an early colour scheme with red shoulder fins), and Windcharger is drawn in an odd in-between hybrid of character model, package art, and toy.
• Optimus Prime's body is drawn to tower over the Dinobots, when they should be the ones much taller than him.
• Grimlock loses his left hand to Prime's body, but when he clocks Ratchet to "test" his replacement, the art shows him punching with his right hand. This was corrected for the Collected Comics reprint by flipping the panel, adjusting the asymmetrical corners (causing the panel to overlap the corner of one further up the page) and re-doing the sound effect lettering. This amended version (pictured at right) was used for all subsequent reprints.
• On page 10, Sludge and Snarl's bodies are uncoloured white.
• Oddly, the Autobots holding the memorial service for Swoop are all generics who don't match the designs of any of the Ark crew.

Courtesy of my...

• Snarl calls out his energo sword as he attacks Guardian.
• Guardian detonates the thermo-nuclear bomb that Shockwave booby-trapped him with.

Other trivia

• Swoop was the only Dinobot toy not released in the UK... could that be why he was chosen as the one to apparently die at the end of this story?

Back-up material

• Back-up strips: Robo-Capers , Matt and the Cat , and Machine Man ("If This Be Sanctuary?!" part 2 )
• Fact File Interface: Inferno

Covers

• Issue #32: Grimlock's roaring T. rex head, by Will Simpson.

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Reprints

• 
  Transformers Collected Comics #6 (Marvel UK, 1987)
• 
  Transformers Holiday Special 1994 (Marvel UK, 1994)
• 
  The Transformers: Best of Grimlock (IDW Publishing, 2010)
• 
  The Transformers Classics UK Volume 1 (IDW Publishing, 2011)
• 
  Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection, Vol. 2: New Order (Hachette Partworks Ltd, 2018)