Aerialbots over America!: Difference between revisions

From MediaWiki
Jump to navigationJump to search
← Older editNewer edit →
undoRepowers (talk | contribs)
Administrators
4,681 edits
No edit summary
Line 30: Line 30:
But Vasquez, seeing [[Maria Vasquez|his daughter]] break through the police line to call out to her daddy, breaks through the cerebro-shell's programming, and fires Megatron into the [[space bridge]], causing it to return to [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]]. As the Aerialbots fly away, Bombshell hitches a ride on Silverbolt's wing.
But Vasquez, seeing [[Maria Vasquez|his daughter]] break through the police line to call out to her daddy, breaks through the cerebro-shell's programming, and fires Megatron into the [[space bridge]], causing it to return to [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]]. As the Aerialbots fly away, Bombshell hitches a ride on Silverbolt's wing.


Meanwhile, at an airstrip in [[New Jersey (Earth)|New Jersey]], the newly arrived Autobots from Cybertron have been found by [[Rapid Anti-robot Assault Team|RAAT]], led by [[Circuit Breaker (G1)|Circuit Breaker]]!
Meanwhile, at an airstrip in [[New Jersey (Earth)|New Jersey]], the newly-formed [[Rapid Anti-robot Assault Team|RAAT]] unloads and processes their cargo - the seven Autobots who recently arrived from Cybertron! Their heads are removed and hung on the wall at the behest of the unit's leader... [[Circuit Breaker (G1)|Circuit Breaker]]!


==Featured characters==
==Featured characters==
Line 80: Line 80:


==Quotes==
==Quotes==
"But can we depend on this feeble fleshling?"<br>
"Does iron rust red? With one of my '''cerebro-shells''' planted in his brain module, he'd eat '''nuclear waste''' if I asked him to. Fleshling, there's a grease spot on my foot. See if you can clean it... with your '''tongue'''!"
:—'''Shrapnel''' prompts '''Bombshell''' to be a jackass
"But Ratchet, he's a human! Humans don't rust!"<br>
"But they sweat!...Bring the human back after you dehumidify him."
:—'''Skids''' and '''Ratchet'''
"I'm pleased you are still functional, Skids. We thought you were dead."
"I'm pleased you are still functional, Skids. We thought you were dead."
:—'''Optimus Prime''', showing very little concern.  
:—'''Optimus Prime''', showing very little concern.  
Line 98: Line 108:
::'''Ramjet:''' "..."
::'''Ramjet:''' "..."
*For the most part, Silverbolt's jet mode actually makes an attempt to be [[Scale|''in scale'']] with the rest of the jets!
*For the most part, Silverbolt's jet mode actually makes an attempt to be [[Scale|''in scale'']] with the rest of the jets!
* Page 17: Slingshot's missing the damage he received from Ramjet's attack; he's also colored blue instead of white.


===Continuity errors===
===Continuity errors===
Line 106: Line 117:
===Continuity notes===
===Continuity notes===
*This issue takes place on [[July 4]], [[1986]].
*This issue takes place on [[July 4]], [[1986]].
*The [[Insecticon (G1)|Insecticons]] and [[Conehead|second year Decepticon jets]] first arrive on Earth in this issue.
*The [[Insecticon (G1)|Insecticons]] and [[Conehead|second year Decepticon jets]] first arrive on Earth in this issue. Megatron states that he modified the Insecticons' alternate forms to resemble Earth insects... including giving them the ability to shrink. Of note, this implies that those were their ''Cybertronian'' forms we saw back in issue #17... even though they pretty much looked the same as their Earth modes.
*Prime is seen nursing an injury he received saving Skids' life in issue [[Command Performances!|#19]]. This injury would play a big part in the next couple of issues.
*Prime is seen nursing an injury he received saving Skids' life in issue [[Command Performances!|#19]]. This injury would play a big part in the next couple of issues.
* The Insecticons, the Coneheads and the Aerialbots all get to show off their special powers - Thrust's engines force Skydive to land; Dirge broadcasts his fear-frequency; Fireflight uses his fire-fog missiles; Ramjet flies straight into Slingshot; Slingshot uses his VTOL capabilities; Air Raid uses his torque rifle; Shrapnel zaps Slingshot; Kickback kicks both a door and Air Raid.
* The narration pegs Superion's height as "eight stories" - roughly 100 feet.
*The cliffhanger features Circuit Breaker mounting the heads of the [[Cybertron Seven]] on the wall of her RAAT base. This also happened in issue #19..
*The cliffhanger features Circuit Breaker mounting the heads of the [[Cybertron Seven]] on the wall of her RAAT base. This also happened in issue #19..


===Real-life references===
===Real-life references===
* The issue is mostly set in and around Hoover Dam.
* The issue is mostly set in and around Hoover Dam, in the Black Canyon; a tour guide reels off facts and figures about the dam including its service area of Nevada, Arizona and California. The Vasquez family lives in Boulder City, Nevada. We also stop in at the Ark, in rural [[Oregon]], and get an epilogue set in southern [[New Jersey]].
* A reporter curiously identifies Silverbolt's alternate form as an SST (supersonic transport), rather than the less generic, more commonly known Concorde.


===UK printing===
===UK printing===

Revision as of 04:17, 18 February 2015

« The Transformers (US) #21 »
« The Transformers (UK) #89–90 »

Insert your own tasteless 9/11 joke here.
"Aerialbots over America!"
Publisher Marvel Comics
First published June 1986
Cover date October 1986
Writer Bob Budiansky
Penciler Don Perlin
Inkers Ian Akin and Brian Garvey
Colorist Nel Yomtov
Letterer Janice Chiang
Editor Michael Carlin
Continuity Marvel Comics continuity

Bombshell controls a human with a cerebro shell and is challenged by the Aerialbots.

Synopsis

Recent arrival Bombshell uses a cerebro-shell to force hydroelectric engineer Ricky Vasquez to bring Megatron into the plant at Hoover Dam, as part of a plan to steal the plant's energy and transport it to Cybertron. Meanwhile, Skids returns to the Ark with Donny Finkleberg to inform them that seven Autobots were accidentally transported to Earth. Optimus Prime sends Jetfire and Finkleberg to investigate. The Autobots then receive word of the invasion of the hydroelectric plant, and the Aerialbots, recently created by Wheeljack using the stolen combiner technology, are dispatched to deal with the situation.

Only the Aerialbot leader, Silverbolt, has been given a complete personality, and the other Aerialbots are not yet programmed to defend human life. When the Aerialbots combine into Superion, Silverbolt must fight to influence the combined form from within in order to keep Superion from killing Vasquez. Forced to disassemble rather than kill Vasquez, the mission seems doomed to failure.

But Vasquez, seeing his daughter break through the police line to call out to her daddy, breaks through the cerebro-shell's programming, and fires Megatron into the space bridge, causing it to return to Cybertron. As the Aerialbots fly away, Bombshell hitches a ride on Silverbolt's wing.

Meanwhile, at an airstrip in New Jersey, the newly-formed RAAT unloads and processes their cargo - the seven Autobots who recently arrived from Cybertron! Their heads are removed and hung on the wall at the behest of the unit's leader... Circuit Breaker!

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots Decepticons Humans

Quotes

"But can we depend on this feeble fleshling?"
"Does iron rust red? With one of my cerebro-shells planted in his brain module, he'd eat nuclear waste if I asked him to. Fleshling, there's a grease spot on my foot. See if you can clean it... with your tongue!"

—Shrapnel prompts Bombshell to be a jackass


"But Ratchet, he's a human! Humans don't rust!"
"But they sweat!...Bring the human back after you dehumidify him."

—Skids and Ratchet


"I'm pleased you are still functional, Skids. We thought you were dead."

—Optimus Prime, showing very little concern.


"Pull my trigger, fleshling! Pull my trigger!"

—Megatron says terrible things to a mind-controlled Ricky Vasquez

Notes

Artwork and technical errors

  • Dirge's wings and cockpit are pink on pages 10 and 15.
  • Ramjet is colored just red and black in 2 panels at the bottom of page 16.
  • Blaster's head is blue on the last page.
  • The Coneheads' conversation after initially driving off the Aerialbots is several flavors of screwed up, presumably due to misdirected speech balloons:
Thrust: "We showed them who's boss of the skies, right, Thrust?"
Dirge: "Right, Ramjet!"
Ramjet: "..."
  • For the most part, Silverbolt's jet mode actually makes an attempt to be in scale with the rest of the jets!
  • Page 17: Slingshot's missing the damage he received from Ramjet's attack; he's also colored blue instead of white.

Continuity errors

  • On page 12, Jetfire refers to a game they played on Cybertron. Yet, having been given life on Earth (immediately preceding issue #14), Jetfire has never been to Cybertron.
  • Megatron seems to need the fleshling to pull his trigger to be able to fire, yet in previous issues Megatron would fire in gun mode without anyone pulling the trigger.
  • The security guard doesn't notice that Ricky is carrying a large gun.

Continuity notes

  • This issue takes place on July 4, 1986.
  • The Insecticons and second year Decepticon jets first arrive on Earth in this issue. Megatron states that he modified the Insecticons' alternate forms to resemble Earth insects... including giving them the ability to shrink. Of note, this implies that those were their Cybertronian forms we saw back in issue #17... even though they pretty much looked the same as their Earth modes.
  • Prime is seen nursing an injury he received saving Skids' life in issue #19. This injury would play a big part in the next couple of issues.
  • The Insecticons, the Coneheads and the Aerialbots all get to show off their special powers - Thrust's engines force Skydive to land; Dirge broadcasts his fear-frequency; Fireflight uses his fire-fog missiles; Ramjet flies straight into Slingshot; Slingshot uses his VTOL capabilities; Air Raid uses his torque rifle; Shrapnel zaps Slingshot; Kickback kicks both a door and Air Raid.
  • The narration pegs Superion's height as "eight stories" - roughly 100 feet.
  • The cliffhanger features Circuit Breaker mounting the heads of the Cybertron Seven on the wall of her RAAT base. This also happened in issue #19..

Real-life references

  • The issue is mostly set in and around Hoover Dam, in the Black Canyon; a tour guide reels off facts and figures about the dam including its service area of Nevada, Arizona and California. The Vasquez family lives in Boulder City, Nevada. We also stop in at the Ark, in rural Oregon, and get an epilogue set in southern New Jersey.
  • A reporter curiously identifies Silverbolt's alternate form as an SST (supersonic transport), rather than the less generic, more commonly known Concorde.

UK printing

  • The injury Prime is nursing in this issue is actually the source of a subtle continuity change between the US and UK comics. The cause of the injury is different depending on which version of the comic you're reading:
    • In the US version, Prime was wounded fighting to save Skids during "Command Performances!", 2 issues previously. In the UK version, there was a 17-issue gap between this story and "Command Performances", so the hole in his side was repaired, and he was later re-injured in exactly the same spot.
    • The exact origin of Prime's new injury remained a mystery until issue #100. All we knew at this point was that Prime was somehow damaged while he was displaced in limbo during "Target: 2006".
  • In a similar vein, it is a little odd, in the UK print, to hear Optimus refer to the arrival of the Cybertron Seven over the space bridge as the most significant turn of events since the Transformers landed on Earth, when his Autobots have spent the last nine issues or so in the company of Ultra Magnus, an Autobot sent over the Space Bridge from Cybertron, and fighting Galvatron, a Decepticon from the future. Unless his troops just didn't tell Optimus about Magnus.

Issue #89:

Issue #90:

  • Backup strips: Spitfire and the Troubleshooters - "Beginnings" and Robo-Capers

Other trivia

  • In the issue's publication info on page 1, the cover date is printed as October 1987 rather than 1986. (The month is correct, as Marvel consistently listed issues four months ahead of their release date.)
  • When this issue was reprinted in Classic Transformers Volume 2, the image of Circuit Breaker was replaced with a silhouette and the speech bubble with her name was removed for copyright reasons.

Covers (7)

  • US issue #21 - Wait, wrong way!
    US issue #21 - Wait, wrong way!
  • UK issue #89 - Actually, Slaves of the Insecticons is a different book altogether.
    UK issue #89 - Actually, Slaves of the Insecticons is a different book altogether.
  • UK issue #90 - UK Silverbolt seems to be a robo-racist.
    UK issue #90 - UK Silverbolt seems to be a robo-racist.
  • Transformers: Showdown TPB
    Transformers: Showdown TPB
  • Transformers: Showdown hardback
    Transformers: Showdown hardback
  • Classic Transformers Volume 2
    Classic Transformers Volume 2
  • The Transformers Classics Vol. 2
    The Transformers Classics Vol. 2

Advertisements

  • None yet identified.

Reprints

Retrieved from "https://tfwiki.duckdns.org/index.php?title=Aerialbots_over_America!&oldid=944649"