Battle Beneath the Ice

Battle Beneath the Ice is a UK storybook set in Generation 1 continuity.

Battle Beneath the Ice is notable for being set in the time before The Transformers: The Movie, and is set in late 2000.

Vital Statistics

ISBN 0-552-52402-6
Writer: Dave Morris
Illustrator: Nik Spender (painted)
Pagecount: 47pp

Major characters:

• Hot Rod
• Ravage
• Jeff Grey
• The City-Dwellers

Originally published: In the UK by Corgi Books, 1987

Synopsis

Jeff Grey, Bill Gordon and Neil Travers are traveling to Antarctica, where two of their fathers work at the Federation of Western Europe's oil fields. When they Arrive at Fossil Point Station however, they discover Jeff's father was called away by a discovery at the nearbye drillsite.

The three cadge a ride on a transport plane, where Jeff encounters the Autobot Hot Rod, in sotrage and being transported ot the same location. They bond over a mutual admiration for Hot Rod's mad driving skillz and a love of the Gus Gopher Show. When the plane is shot down, they fidn themselves stranded in a deadly blizzard, only to be rescued by the benevolent City-Dwellers.

The City-Dwellers' leader The Watcher takes them on a tour of the city, showing off it's many technological marvels, becore takign them to meet the excavation team Jeff's father is now (which is only just now reachign the city's entrance.)

The Combaticons appear on the surface, ivnestigating the wreckage- it was Blast-Off that destroyed the plane. Slingshot and Skydive go to fight them while Hot Rod and the humans continue their tour.

While exploring an illusion-room, they are approached by the Decepticon Ravage, who informs them the City-Dwelelrs shot down their plane, not the Decepticons. Their guide intervenes- and it shot by Hot Rod's weapon-- which onyl affects robots. The City-Dwellers plan to study the agressive instincts of humans, Autobot and Decepticons in order to program them into themselves and conquor Earth.

Jeff suggests Ravagee substitute his recording of the Gus Gopher Show for the footage of the Arielbots and Combaticons fighting. Ravage likes the idea- it's sneaky!

When the City-Dwellers upload the 'combat data' into their robotic brains, they are instead reprogrammed to act like wacky cartoon characters. The invasion foiled, the Decepticons are reluctantly allwoed to depart under a flag of truce, leaving Hot Rod wonderign what could be accomplish if Aubotots and Decepticons could work together without a common enemy.

Continuity

Because it is explicitly set in the intermezzo prior to the movie, this story is generally accepted to occur within cartoon continuity (or some version thereof). The characterization of the Aerialbots is notably cartoon-ish.

Comments/Notes

• Battle Beneath the Ice was also the name of an episode of the Centurions cartoon series, a contemporary of Transformers.

External links

• Battle Beneath the Ice, on the Obscure TC Book Archive
  
  
  From Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki, a Wikia wiki.