Enemy Action!

« The Transformers (UK) #152–153 »
Galvatron auditions for a part in Jaws 5.
"Enemy Action!"
Publisher	Marvel Comics
Cover date	13th February, 1988 - 20th February, 1988
Script	Simon Furman
Pencils	Jeff Anderson
Inks	Stephen Baskerville
Colours	Steve White
Letters	Glib
Continuity	Marvel Comics continuity

Shockwave hastily attacks Galvatron and plays right into the future Decepticon's hands.

Synopsis

"In the navy,
Yes, you can sail the seven seas!"

Having recently escaped from his entombment in Mount Verona, Galvatron approaches the Decepticons' island base, causing Shockwave to fear for his position as leader. Against Soundwave's recommendation, he unleashes the Seacons who have recently arrived on Earth to fortify the base. They attack Galvatron, much to the future Decepticon's amusement.

Meanwhile on the surface, the Sparkabots, on Springer's orders, have been tracking Galvatron since his escape from the volcano. Unfortunately, they're unable to follow any further as none of them are capable of going underwater. As they plan what action to take, and as Springer himself considers what they're supposed to do now Galvatron's free, they are attacked by the Firecons who have been sent to Earth to forge an alliance between Galvatron and the Decepticons on Cybertron, but first they're going to kill the Autobots.

Chariots of Firecons.

The Sparkabots try to fight back, but are caught off-guard and Fizzle is knocked into the ocean by a blast from Cindersaur. Down below, Galvatron makes short work of the Seacons, even when they combine to form Piranacon. Back on the surface, Guzzle and Sizzle get a second wind, as Sizzle remembers they can use their vehicle mode exhausts to actually fight fire with fire. Shockwave begins to fear that he has made a terrible mistake by attacking Galvatron so hastily, but rationalizes it as having been for the greater good, and so he gathers the Decepticons together, ready to fight Galvatron. Much to Shockwave's horror and surprise, Galvatron enters the base and informs the Decepticons that he had come in peace to form an alliance. But now, because Shockwave chose to attack him, he is now their enemy.

Galvatron then leaves Shockwave to deal with his angry troops. His plan had always been to undermine Shockwave's leadership so that the Decepticons would ultimately welcome him when he later takes control. As he leaves, Galvatron spots the unconscious form of Fizzle. As he comes out of the ocean with the Autobot in hand, Galvatron is approached by the Firecons with an offer of an alliance. He laughs the suggestion off, having no intention of forming one alliance after just passing up another, and then knocks Sizzle out when he tries to take him in, leaving the Firecons and Sparkabots alone on the beach. Shockwave decides that what he needs is an expendable weapon and begins his search for Megatron.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons
Sizzle (11) Guzzle (12) Fizzle (13) Springer (14)	Galvatron (1) Snap Trap (2) Seawing (3) Skalor (4) Jawbreaker (5) Nautilator (6) Tentakil (7) Shockwave (8) Soundwave (9) Piranacon (10) Sparkstalker (15) Cindersaur (16) Flamefeather (17) Ramjet (18) Razorclaw (19) Thrust (20) Drag Strip (21) Rampage (22) Megatron (23)

Quotes

"Before you answer that, may I respectfully remind you that the Seacons were brought here from Cybertron to work on our base's fortifications - not to battle! Perhaps we should attempt to talk to Galvatron!"

—Soundwave, have you been drinking?

"What is this? Shockwave sends fish against me? Does he expect me to laugh myself to death?"
"Laugh this off, Galvatron! No-one badmouths Skalor and lives!"
Galvatron slugs Skalor
"Sadly, that is no longer the case!"

—Galvatron makes Skalor look like a tool.

"[Thinking] I sent the Sparkler Mini-Bots to Earth in case Galvatron ever got free! A wild, uncontrolled power such as his must ever be watched! But what do they do now he's actually free?"

—Springer made a boo-boo.

"This is it! Get ready to fire on my command!"
"Not necessary, Decepticons. Though Shockwave has done his best to convince you otherwise...the fact remains that I come in peace!"
"What?!"

—Shockwave has his CPU blown by Galvatron

Notes

Artwork and technical errors

• Flamefeather's chest gains a feathered pattern between parts 1 and 2.
• Overbite's beast mode is inconsistently drawn with his toy's limbs and sometimes without.
• Overbite does not form one of Piranacon's limbs when the Seacons combine, however Piranacon uses a standard generic gun instead of Overbite's Targetmaster form. Despite this, Overbite is still seen falling after Galvatron blasts Piranacon apart.
• Galvatron is missing his cannon when he picks up Piranacon but it reappears when he throws him in the next panel.
• Fizzle dives deep into the ocean despite only being a few feet away from the shore.

Continuity errors

He can form a team with Archerbot.

• There are several notable variances between the new characters and their toys, due to Marvel UK receiving early and/or incomplete information about toys that were not yet on sale when the story was produced. Variances include:
  • The Seacon identified as "Jawbreaker" in this comic (as well as in issue #160) was released as a toy under the name of "Overbite", even in the UK, despite an urban myth to the contrary—a myth that is directly based on a misinterpretation of the significance behind the name used in this issue! A Grim Grams letters page in issue #164 would later address this discrepancy, offering up the rather haphazard explanation that Shockwave arbitrarily renamed Jawbreaker "Overbite" when he arrived on Earth, but that everyone still called him "Jawbreaker".
  • Snaptrap's name is consistently spelt as two words—Snap Trap.
  • All six Seacons and Piranacon have an early, abandoned colour scheme (blue, orange, and silver) versus the teal, purple, and pink of the production version. This colour scheme was also seen in the first commercial featuring the Seacons, in both animation and the physical toys advertised.
  • Fizzle and Sizzle's colour schemes were reversed so that Fizzle appeared in red and Sizzle in blue. This was consistently followed for all their future appearances in robot mode in the UK comic, though Fizzle's car mode would be coloured blue from "City of Fear!" onwards. However in the US story "Ca$h and Car-nage!" they would appear in their toy colours.
  • The Sparkabots are here referred to as the Sparkler Mini-Bots.
• Sizzle says that the Sparkabots did not have their guns while fighting the Firecons but somehow manages to threaten Galvatron with a gun later.

Continuity notes

• The story introduces twelve new characters across multiple subteams.
• Shockwave is a jerk.
• Shockwave's paranoia is rooted from Galvatron's seizing control from Megatron back in "Target: 2006", his own saving the Dinobots from him in "Fallen Angel", and his subsequent attempt to have the Combaticons kill him during "Ladies' Night" (though he's reasonably sure Galvatron doesn't know about that one).
• Despite his fear of Galvatron and knowing how powerful the future Decepticon is, Shockwave only surrounds himself with five other Decepticons for the showdown - none of which are known for the strength or firepower needed to combat Galvatron; surely strength in numbers would have been more logical?

Real-life references

• TBD

Courtesy of my...

• "Seawing's sting" paralyses Galvatron's left arm.

Backup material

Issue #152

• Back-up strips: Iron Man - "Stratosfire" and Robo-Capers

Issue #153

• Back-up strips: Action Force - "Slaughter" and Combat Colin
• Following the demise of the UK Action Force (G.I. Joe) comic after 50 issues, Transformers issue #153 saw the comic start to reprint US G.I. Joe stories as the regular backup strip. The comic's name on the cover was changed to The Transformers and Action Force. However, the indicia still identifies the series as The Transformers.
• Additionally, the Robo-Capers strip was replaced by Action Force's Combat Colin.

Covers (2)

• Issue #152 cover: Galvatron battles the Seacons, by Lee Sullivan.
• Issue #153 cover: Action Force burst into the comic, by Lee Sullivan.

• 
  Issue #152 cover
• 
  Issue #153 cover

Reprints

• Transformers Collected Comics 14: reuse of issue #152 cover, by Lee Sullivan.
• Transformers Comic-Magazin #19: Galvatron and some interesting attempts at Firecons. Art by ???
• Transformers: Legacy of Unicron: Unicron's head vs. Death's Head, Wreck-Gar & Rodimus Prime, by Geoff Senior & Oliver Harud.
• Best of UK: City of Fear #4 Regular cover: Shockwave commands Piranacon, by Andrew Griffith.

• 
  Collected Comics #14 (Marvel Comics UK, 1989)
• 
  Transformers Comic-Magazin #19
  Condor Verlag, 1992)
• 
  Transformers: Legacy of Unicron (Titan Books, 2003)
• 
  Best of UK: City of Fear #4 (Regular cover)
  (IDW Publishing, 2009)

• Best of UK: City of Fear #4 RI cover: Galvatron strides across the seabed, by Jeff Anderson and Steve White.
• Best of UK: City of Fear TPB: Trypticon blows up zombies, by Andrew Griffith.
• Classics UK Volume 5 TPB: the head of Unicron watches over Triton swapping his badge, Zombie Impactor attacking Springer, a fleeing Cyclonus and Scourge and an angry Flame, by Andrew Wildman.
• Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection Volume 12: Cosmic Carnival: Skullgrin and the Cosmic Carnival by Don Figueroa, Frank Springer and Danny Bulanadi.

• 
  Best of UK: City of Fear #4 (RI cover) (IDW Publishing, 2009)
• 
  Best of UK: City of Fear TPB (IDW Publishing, 2009)
• 
  Classics UK Volume 5 (IDW Publishing, 2014)
• 
  The Definitive G1 Collection Volume 12: Cosmic Carnival (Hachette Partworks, 2018)