Plague of the Insecticons!

This article is about the Marvel UK Annual story. For the similarly-named cartoon episode, see A Plague of Insecticons.

Transformers Annual 1986 »
Shrapnel's little-seen "shrieking" power.
"Plague of the Insecticons!"
Publisher	Marvel Comics in association with Grandreams
First published	December 1985
Cover date	1986
Writer	Simon Furman
Art	Jeff Anderson, Mike Collins
Colours	Hart
Lettering	Starkings
Editor	Cranna
Continuity	Marvel Comics continuity

The Autobots' attempt to form an alliance with the US Government is sabotaged by the Insecticons.

Synopsis

Anxious to forge better relations with the humans on Earth, Optimus Prime approaches the President of the United States with a view of forging an alliance. The President agrees to meet him, and Optimus Prime, Prowl, and Warpath travel to Washington, D.C. to visit the President at the White House.

Unfortunately, an unscrambled phone call between the Secret Service and the Army is intercepted by Soundwave. Unwilling to allow the Autobots to ally with the humans, Megatron decides to awaken the Insecticons.

Just as Optimus and the President meet, the Insecticons attack the humans, making war cries in the name of the Autobots in an attempt to discredit them. After assaulting the military presence around the White House, Bombshell announces that they will take the battle to the city, as though he was receiving an order from Optimus Prime.

Enraged, the Army attacks the Autobots, who make their escape. Noticing that the Insecticons are acting with inexplicable restraint, as if they hadn't yet mastered their abilities, Optimus Prime deduces that they are being remotely controlled by an outside agent. Prowl and Warpath pursue the Insecticons alone, arriving in the city to find them causing untold destruction.

While Optimus Prime attempts to locate the origin of the Insecticons' controller, it's revealed to be Ravage as he commands Shrapnel to fire a splinter grenade at Prowl, taking him out the fight. Prime splits his mind between his main body and Roller to reinforce Warpath while simultaneously locating the source of the control signal.

Optimus Prime soon discovers Ravage, who is almost impressed by Prime's resourcefulness. He sends a mental command to Bombshell to inject Prime with a cerebro-shell and destroy him, but the signal is too strong and is also picked up by Kickback. As Bombshell dives at Prime, Kickback attacks Prime the only way he can—through Roller.

The attack on Roller causes Optimus Prime to double up in pain, causing Bombshell to overshoot his target as he fires his cerebro-shell, which then hits Ravage. Ravage instantly falls under the mental control of Bombshell, who in turn is already under the mental control of Ravage, leaving Ravage, quite literally, without a mind of his own.

Having defeated the Insecticons, Optimus Prime decides that the Autobots should simply leave, as he believes that the humans would not listen to them now. However, the President saw through the Decepticon plan and trusted the Autobots to come and explain. They didn't, and he vows not to make the same mistake again.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Humans
Optimus Prime (1) Prowl (2) Warpath (3) Jazz (8) Roller (12)	Shrapnel (5) Kickback (6) Bombshell (7) Soundwave (9) Megatron (10) Ravage (11)	President of the United States (4)

Notes

There you go again, Prime.

• The President is drawn in the likeness of Ronald Reagan.
• The origin of the Insecticons shown here is at odds with their later appearances in the Marvel comic continuity such as "The Smelting Pool!", "The Bridge to Nowhere!", "Target: 2006" and "Aerialbots over America!" which show the Insecticons as being on Cybertron. It doesn't help that they don't actually arrive on Earth until after Ravage vanishes down a mine shaft in "Showdown!" As a result, this story is usually not considered to be in continuity with the main UK comic continuity.
• Alongside a McDonald's, Washington, D.C. has shops called Furman's Weight Watchers and Rimmer's Ooptician. Hope they had Insecticon insurance...
• Warpath is hilariously toy-accurate, with his feet forming a solid block in robot mode.

Errors

• "Articulated lorry". That's so cute!
• The Insecticons are coloured in a hybrid of their G1 and Diaclone colour schemes; Shrapnel and Kickback have brown legs and red chests, Bombshell has brown arms and a red chest.
• Warpath is coloured green in one panel and silver-grey in another.
• Optimus Prime's smokestacks frequently disappear, sometimes alternately.

Covers

• 
  Transformers Annual 1986
• 
  Plague of the Insecticons!
• 
  The Transformers Classics UK Volume 1

• Transformers Annual 1986 cover: Starscream, Thundercracker, Jazz, Optimus Prime and Sunstreaker. Artist unknown.
• Plague of the Insecticons! cover: Cropped version of the Annual cover.
• The Transformers Classics UK Volume 1 cover: The Ark, Auntie, Optimus Prime, Megatron, the Overlord, the Man of Iron, Guardian and the Ultimate Autobots, by Andrew Wildman.

Reprints

• 1986 — The Transformers: Plague of the Insecticons!
• 2011 — The Transformers Classics UK Volume 1