Deadly Obsession

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Primus have mercy on us all - Pretenders and Powermasters alike - for we are all somehow dreadfully cracked about the head, and sadly need mending.
"Deadly Obsession"
Publisher	Marvel Comics
Shipping date	January 23, 1990
On-sale date	February 13, 1990
Cover date	March 1990
Writer	Simon Furman
Penciler	José Delbo
Inker	Al Williamson (pages 1-4) & Dan Reed
Colorist	Nel Yomtov
Letterer	Jim Massara
Editor	Don Daley
Continuity	Marvel Comics continuity

Simon Furman rewrites Melville, as the Matrix Quest continues.

Synopsis

Longtooth is issued a cetacean.

On the mercury seas of Pequod, the one-legged Autobot Longtooth is closing in on his prey, the whale-like creature known as the Klud that tore away his leg. As he aims his harpoon gun at the creature, his fellow Autobot Pretenders Pincher and Doubleheader are racing to stop him in another craft. As they near their destination, Pincher thinks back on how things became so desperate...

Two weeks earlier, the trio had begun their leg of the Matrix Quest, leaving the Ark and eventually arriving at the harbor town of Gottlieb on Pequod. Only a little while ago, the Klud were believed to be extinct, and yet now one had turned up again, attacking boaters. The Pretenders decided to check it out, believing the creature's sudden return to life could have been caused by the Matrix's power.

Back in the present, Thunderwing and his Decepticons have found the creature as well, and open fire on Longtooth to prevent him from killing it. Ruckus sees fit to make a few jeering remarks about how Thunderwing seems more interested in saving a dumb creature than killing a dumb Autobot, and so Thunderwing knocks him across the bridge for his insubordination.

As Longtooth falls into the water after taking missile fire, his addled mind recollects the events after the Autobots began their quest for the Klud. They had come across the latest of the ships torn apart by the creature and, while Longtooth was making a forensic analysis of the remains, the Klud itself shot out of the water and took Longtooth's leg with it. As he fell into shock, Longtooth experienced a mental break, and began associating the Klud with "the destroyer of worlds". After some repairs, he stole a craft and went out hunting the Klud in the name of justice and vengeance. And now he had found it.

Thunderwing sends Needlenose and Spinster out to deal with the Autobots while he attempts to make contact with the Klud. Exhibiting some unique mental powers, Thunderwing reaches out and makes contact with the beast's mind. He sees the creature swallow an explorer and his escape pod that were adrift at sea, and charged with Matrix energy. That lingering energy was enough to completely revitalize the Klud. Thunderwing also sees the escape pod is from the moon VsQs, elsewhere in the system.

With the Autobots and Decepticons engaged with each other, Longtooth has beaten down the Klud and is ready to pull the trigger on the creature, when Pincher comes forth and makes a last ditch attempt to save his fellow Autobot's soul. Pincher pleads at Longtooth to remember what he was, and what the Autobot code meant to him.

Thunderwing, content in the knowledge that the Matrix should be on VsQs, abruptly calls off the attack and demands his flyers return to the ship at once. Pincher watches them go, and also watches the Klud swim away, alive and well. In that, at least, he finds a victory.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Others
Longtooth (1) Pincher (3) Doubleheader (4) Xaaron (5)	Thunderwing (7) Windsweeper (8) Needlenose (9) Ruckus (10) Spinister (11)	Klud (2) Harbor master (6)

Quotes

"I trust the three of you realize how vital your mission is?"
"Sure, Emirate Xaaron. If we don't find the Matrix, some bad guy's gonna eat us! Right?"
"Ah ha. Your gift for understatement, Longtooth, is quite spectacular! Unicron is not merely some bad guy -- he is the bad guy!"

—Xaaron and Longtooth

"Haw! It's come to something when Decepticon leaders start worrying about dumb animals!"
"Ruckus -- SHUT UP!" [decks him]

— Ruckus and Thunderwing

"What about you, Spinister? Perhaps you would like to question my orders?"
[glances at Ruckus] "Hey, no. I've always been one for conservation of the species!"

— Thunderwing and Spinister

"Through a blood-red haze of pain -- I saw it! --the leviathan, the great beast... the ravager of worlds! And the veil parted, revealing my mission, my destiny! I was the voyager, the redeemer! The great beast was the destroyer of worlds and I was their savior! Our fates were intertwined, our destinies locked in a collision course only one would survive!"

— being driven insane grants Longtooth a poetical streak

Notes

Artwork and technical errors

• The first page announces this as "PART FOUR" of Matrix Quest instead of part 3.
• Page 4, panel 4: Pincher's Pretender shell chin strap is colored like flesh.
• Thunderwing's jet backpack is there half the time and missing the other half.
• Thunderwing is colored as if he's a fleshy yellow guy wearing armor, with his upper chest, shoulders and neck being exposed. Usually only his face is visible.
• José Delbo apparently lost track of what was or wasn't a Pretender shell—Pincher's robot mode is repeatedly drawn and colored with a human face.
• Pincher and Doubleheader's Pretender shells aren't seen again after they exit them, raising the question of why they didn't use them in the battle.

Continuity errors

• TBD

Continuity notes

• Thunderwing's affinity for the Matrix is first mentioned here.
• This may be the most flashback-intensive Transformer story ever; 6 of 20 pages are flashbacks—including at one point a flashback within a flashback within a "several minutes earlier" which could technically be considered yet another flashback.
• Xaaron refers back to Primus's awakening from "Primal Scream" in his mission briefing.

Real-life references

• The issue is an homage to the Herman Melville classic Moby-Dick, with Longtooth filling the role of the crazed, vengeance-obsessed Captain Ahab. In particular, it borrows the opening line ("Call me Ishmael") and the name of Ahab's whaling vessel (the Pequod)
• The story also heavily references the movie Jaws, with a holiday ground being threatened by a killer beast, the creature's bite radius being a plot point, fortune hunters descending to hunt the creature, and the beleaguered harbor master trying to keep people from sailing into the dangerous waters (he even cops dialogue from oceanographer Hooper, saying that "This was no boat accident!" and "They're all going to die!") The ship that Longtooth steals to hunt the Klud is named "The Orca", the same as the shark-hunting fishing boat from the film.

UK printing

Issue #286:

• Additional Transformers story: "The Lesser Evil!"
• Other strips: G.I. Joe the Action Force - "Fair Trade" and Combat Colin
• AtoZ: Twin Twist and Ultra Magnus

Issue #287:

• Additional Transformers story: "Inside Story!"
• Other strips: G.I. Joe the Action Force - "Fair Trade" and Combat Colin
• AtoZ: Unicron
• << Dreadwind answers a letter from Steven Mapes who, with his twin David, would go on to become Transformers rarity collectors, convention organisers, and webmasters of fansite Transformers At The Moon. >>

Issue #288:

• Additional Transformers story: "Front Line!"
• Other strips: G.I. Joe the Action Force - "Fair Trade" and Combat Colin
• AtoZ: Vortex and Warpath

Issue #289:

• Additional Transformers story: "End of the Road!"
• Other strips: G.I. Joe the Action Force - "Fair Trade" and Combat Colin
• AtoZ: Wheelie and Wheeljack

Other trivia

• Transformers Universe profiles for Crankcase and Needlenose are found after the main story.
• The letters page declared The Transformers and Marvel Universes to be separate. It also politely asked the readers to forget about issue #3 (which guest-starred Spider-Man and had other Marvel cameos).
• The face of Thunderwing's Pretender shell varies a lot depending on the artist; here, inker Dan Reed - notable for his UK work - gives it a heavily organic style. Next issue, penciler Geoff Senior will make it appear strictly robotic.

Foreign Localization

Swedish

• Title (1990): "Sjöodjuret" ("The Sea Monster")

  Title (2019): "Dödlig Besatthet" ("Deadly Obsession")

Covers (5)

• US cover: Longtooth Ahab, by José Delbo and Ian Akin.
• UK issue #286 cover: Starscream and Grimlock defeat Bludgeon, by Andrew Wildman.
• UK issue #287 cover: Springer and Superion, by Stewart Johnson.
• UK issue #288 cover: Grimlock holding Irwin, by Pete Knifton.
• UK issue #289 cover: Irwin trapped in Motormaster, by Pete Knifton.

• 
  US issue #64 - Hop to it Longtooth!
• 
  UK issue #286 - ...and a million fangirls cried out.
• 
  UK issue #287 - Thanks Springer, what would we do without you?
• 
  UK issue #288 - Grimlock shows off his new dancing human toy.
• 
  UK issue #289 - That's a mighty big truck there!

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US

• Trix cereal - inside front cover
• Instant Quaker Oatmeal presents Popeye - between pages 4 & 5 and between pages 5 & 6
• Acclaim Douple Player wireless head-to-head system - between pages 7 & 8
• Capcom Bionic Commando - between pages 8 & 9
• Airwolf engine powered model helicopter - between pages 16 & 17
• Wheels and Wings cards - between pages 17 & 18
• Star Signals and Checklist - between Hosehead and Nightbeat profiles
• WCW video game for Nintendo - between story and Crankcase profiles
• Transmissions
• Marvel subscription service
• Chips Ahoy! cookies - inside back cover
• Lucky Charms cereal (back cover)

UK

????

Reprints

• Transformers: Matrix Quest TPB: Thunderwing, Rodimus Prime, Shockwave and half of Primus, by Andrew Wildman.
• Transformers: Matrix Quest HC: Thunderwing with the Creation Matrix, by Pat Lee.
• Best of Transformers: Eye of the Storm: Optimus Prime, Ravage and Skywarp, by Andrew Wildman.
• Classic Transformers Volume 5: panels from this issue, "Eye of the Storm", "Deadly Obsession" and "...All This and Civil War 2".
• The Transformers Classics, Vol. 5 cover: Prowl, by Guido Guidi.
• Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection, Volume 17: Matrix Quest: Nightbeat and Prime's corpse by Makoto Ono and Geoff Senior.

• 
  Matrix Quest TPB (Titan Books, 2002)
• 
  Matrix Quest hardback (Titan Books, 2002)
• 
  Best of Transformers: Eye of the Storm (Titan Books, 2008)
• 
  Classic Transformers Volume 5 (IDW Publishing, 2009)
• 
  The Transformers Classics, Vol. 5 (IDW Publishing, 2013)
• 
  Definitive G1 Collection vol. 17: Matrix Quest (Hachette Partworks, Ltd., 2018)