The Flames of Boltax!
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 This cover wins the award for "Most Blatant Case of False Promotion" in the history of the series. | |||||||||||||
| "The Flames of Boltax!" | |||||||||||||
| Publisher | Marvel Comics | ||||||||||||
| First published | September 1988 | ||||||||||||
| Cover date | January 1989 | ||||||||||||
| Writer | Bob Budiansky | ||||||||||||
| Penciler | José Delbo | ||||||||||||
| Inker | Danny Bulanadi | ||||||||||||
| Colorist | Nel Yomtov | ||||||||||||
| Letterer | Bill Oakley | ||||||||||||
| Editor | Don Daley | ||||||||||||
| Continuity | Marvel Comics continuity | ||||||||||||
Read on, but only if you're willing to tempt madness... even death.
Synopsis
Buster Witwicky finds himself being chased by strange creatures through an alien landscape. He suddenly takes a laser blast to the chest... only to find no damage has been done at all. A moment later, Ratbat and the Decepticons re-materialize around him. It seems they had developed a new full-sensory holographic projection system called Realvision and needed a guinea pig to test it. Starscream announces that they are now prepared to review the Autobot tapes, which captures Buster's attention. Of course, Ratbat sends him back to his cell instead of letting him observe.
Ratbat and Starscream activate the Realvision and find themselves holographically present on Cybertron more than four million years ago, near the dawn of the Cybertronian Civil Wars. They witness a convoy of Autobots, consisting of the Triggerbots and Lieutenant Commander Optimus Prime of the Autobot Fourth Computerized Division. Prime, it seems, has come up with the idea of enlisting the aid of High Circuitmaster Boltax and his vast font of knowledge, in the hopes that it can be used to end the war before it grows out of control. The Triggerbots question this, knowing it will violate a neutrality agreement and could escalate the war, but Prime thinks it's worth the risk. As the Autobots negotiate their way through several traps on the road to Boltax, they remain unaware that Megatron and the Triggercons—seeing the neutrality agreement is now off—are dogging their every move.
Back in the real world, Buster uses the time-honored "air shaft trick" to break out of his cell in order to get a look at what's on the tapes.
In Realvision, Optimus Prime and his soldiers approach Boltax's Temple of Knowledge. The Circuitmaster's disciples allow Optimus alone to pass through and see Boltax. The Circuitmaster does not offer Prime any direct aid, but instead instructs him to seek what he's looking for inside the Underbase. (As each Transformer mind carries a DATAbase, the Underbase is said to be a collection of knowledge that UNDERlies all dataBASEs.)
Buster enters the Realvision scenario just as Optimus Prime begins to bathe in the light of the Underbase and Megatron blasts his way in through Boltax and the disciples. Confronted by Megatron, Optimus Prime informs his enemy that the knowledge and power of the Underbase is too much for any one being to possess. Megatron blows Optimus Prime away and heads toward the Underbase. Badly injured, Optimus manages to manipulate the temple's controls and launch the Underbase on a never-ending course through space instead of letting Megatron claim it. While he's full of shame, Ratbat notes this is what made his career.
With the Realvision over, Ratbat and Starscream review what they've learned and recognize the power of the Underbase is not a myth, as it is generally thought in the present. What's more, Soundwave informs them that the course calculations within the cassettes tell that the Underbase will be passing through the Earth's solar system within a week's time. Ratbat and Starscream both begin to scheme on how to capture the power of the Underbase for themselves (though Starscream does show some rare discipline by using his inner monologue instead of broadcasting his treachery for everyone to hear).
As Buster prepares to sneak off and try to warn the Autobots, he runs head-first into a wall and is discovered by the Decepticons...
Featured characters
(Characters in italic text appear only in flashbacks.)
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Humans | Others |
|---|---|---|---|
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Quotes
"At this stage in his career, Optimus is clearly but a young, foolish officer. The Optimus of today would never endanger an innocent like Boltax!"
"Then he became even more foolish with age!"
- —Ratbat and Starscream
"They survived again! Watching screws rust is more entertaining than this!"
- —Starscream
"Step aside, Boltax!"
"Please... you must turn back. I cannot allow you to pass."
"I didn't come to ask for your permission!
- —Megatron, as he puts his fist right through Boltax's avatar
"Cybertron's greatest treasure--gone. All because I let pride and glory--not reason--dictate my actions. All because of me. I shall live with this shame for the rest of my existence."
- —Optimus Prime starts down the path of eternal angst
"What--?! The fleshling! How long have you been here?!"
"Perhaps long enough to have heard Optimus Prime's warning -- that too much knowledge can lead to madness... even death?!
- —Starscream and Ratbat catch Buster eavesdropping
Notes
Artwork and technical errors
- Page 2, panel 3: Starsceam's face is colored half silver, half dark gray. (Together with his yellow eyes, he looks like he's cosplaying as Silverbolt!)
- Jose Delbo misinterpreted the badly-drawn faceplate on Soundwave's character art as a mouth, and drew him accordingly several times during his run. This issue is by far the most prominent example.
- Optimus Prime is given a Cybertronian truck mode, yet his robot form is unchanged, sporting Earthly truck details (a common error in G1 stories.) This alternate mode is different from the Cybertronian alt mode he had in issue #1. In addition, Backstreet, Dogfight and Overdrive all have Earthly alt-modes while on Cybertron, with the creative team apparently hoping their toyetic imperfections will make them pass as alien.
- Dogflight flies around with his front landing gear down.
- In the UK printing, the US cover is used as an interior page that is placed immediately after Megatron shoots Optimus Prime. This page doesn't mesh well with the other pages, since it exaggerates Optimus's injury, and since the art style is completely different from that of the other pages. This is probably due to the UK needing filler due to the shortening of the US stories.
Scientific errors
- Assuming the "molten mercury mines" are literally molten mercury, they're not much of a hazard to Transformers, since mercury is "molten" at room temperature and boils well below the melting point of steel. The worst it might do is cause a short-circuit if it gets at live wires.
Continuity notes
- Following functions given on their toys' bio cards, for the Realvision experience, Raindance provides the video and Grand Slam the audio. This will be the last we ever see of the pair in the Marvel continuity.
- Optimus Prime is still a callow youth, to the extent that the Triggerbots will openly question his orders (and be right). Megatron is already aware of him and he's already Prime, so bearing the Matrix did not make him automatically leader.
- This seems to be the event that makes Marvel Optimus the guilt-ridden depression sufferer we know so well.
- Backstreet refers to "circuit sects" as creepy weirdos, up to who-knows-what.
Character profiles
Other notes
- The highly simplified Dery-ized character models of Optimus and Megatron contrast quite markedly with the very toy-accurate designs of the Triggerbots and Triggercons. The former look like they don't actually transform; the latter look like they shouldn't be able to walk.
- Starscream and Buster both come across as really, REALLY thick considering how hard it is for them to grasp the Realvision concept. We bet they both shout "Don't go upstairs!!" during horror flicks, too.
- The Realvision device itself is most likely inspired by the Holodeck from the Star Trek: The Next Generation television series, which debuted roughly a year before this issue was published.
Bot Roster
- Autobots: 75 active; 5 bodyless Throttlebots. (80 total)
- The two captive Autobot tapes are never shown active and never join up with the Earth crew and are not tallied here.
- Ratbat's Decepticons: 46 active; 4 offline/missing. (50 total)
- Scorponok's Decepticons: 25 active.
UK printing
Issue #196
- Backup strips: Action Force - Jungle Moves and Combat Colin
- AtoZ: Megatron
Issue #197
- Backup strips: Action Force - Jungle Moves and Combat Colin
IDW Classics reprinting
- Page 2: Soundwave is recolored in blue and his mouth is edited out, while his nose and cheekbones remain intact. This is true for most of his appearances in this issue.
- Page 3: See image on right. Seriously, the whole issue is like that.
- Page 15: Panel 1, the top of the cylinder of light which Optimus Prime is standing in is now yellow. Green remains intact in other panels.
Covers (8)
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US Issue #48 - And if you believe this... -
UK Issue #196 - Aunt Ethel's knitting went unrecognized as a potent Decepticon weapon -
UK Issue #197 - And for an encore, this was a FOUR-STAR story! Ha! Ha! Ha! -
Dark Star TPB
- US issue #48 cover: Megatron and a defeated Prime, by José Delbo
- UK issue #196 cover: Dogfight and Optimus Prime attacked, by Art Wetherell and Stephen Baskerville
- UK issue #197 cover: Optimus Prime being blasted, by Stephen Baskerville
- Dark Star TPB cover: Starscream, Carnivac, Overbite, Dogfight, and half a Mecannibal by Andrew Wildman.
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Dark Star HC -
Classic Transformers Volume 4 -
Best of Optimus Prime -
The Transformers Classics Vol. 4
- Dark Star Hardback cover: Starscream victorious by Seth Fisher and Chris Blythe.
- Classic Transformers Volume 4 cover: Panels from US issues #59 and #60, pencils by José Delbo, inks by Dave Hunt and colours by Nel Yomtov.
- Best of Optimus Prime cover: Optimus Prime by Livio Ramondelli.
- The Transformers Classics Vol. 4 cover: Starscream by Guido Guidi.
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