Repeat Performance!
| |||||||||||||
 Jurassic Spark | |||||||||||||
| "Repeat Performance!" | |||||||||||||
| Publisher | Marvel Comics | ||||||||||||
| First published | May 1985 | ||||||||||||
| Cover date | September 1985 | ||||||||||||
| Script | Bob Budiansky | ||||||||||||
| Pencils | William Johnson | ||||||||||||
| Inks | Kyle Baker | ||||||||||||
| Colors | Nel Yomtov | ||||||||||||
| Letters | Rick Parker | ||||||||||||
| Editor | Jim Owsley | ||||||||||||
| Continuity | Marvel Comics continuity | ||||||||||||
Ratchet recovers the Dinobots, and together they fight Megatron.
Synopsis
Ratchet journeys by shuttle to the Savage Land to locate the Dinobots, who fought Shockwave there shortly after the Ark crash-landed on Earth four million years ago. He uses his M.A.R.B. to locate Cybertronian life deep in a tarpit. After a lot of digging, he locates Slag, and uses a memory probe to view the Dinobots' battle with Shockwave, and their subsequent entombment. Slag awakens and, after recognizing Ratchet as an Autobot, readily agrees to help finish the job they'd started: destroying Shockwave.
Shockwave checks in on Megatron, who has been left to guard the Ark alone and has prepared the head of Optimus Prime for transport to the aerospace plant recently captured by the Decepticons; Shockwave is pleased and comments that he may have to raise his odds-of-having-to-destroy-Megatron calculations.
Shockwave returns to the plant with Optimus Prime's head, effortlessly defeating an Army force that has surrounded the plant. Within, he prepares to begin the construction of a new generation of Decepticons, using the Matrix program within Prime.
Ratchet contacts Megatron, and shows him video footage of the Dinobots defeating Shockwave. With his end of the bargain fulfilled, he arranges for Megatron to meet him on a nearby mountain. When Ratchet arrives, Megatron promptly threatens to kill him. This breaks the bargain... and the hidden Dinobots burst forth from the snow. Turns out Ratchet knew Megatron wouldn't hold up his end of the Rite of Oneness, and the video was from the Dinobots' tussle with Shockwave four million years ago.
But despite the Dinobots' power, Megatron beats them all, leaving Ratchet to face him alone once more. Determined to fight like a warrior, even to the death, Ratchet tries to carry them both over a cliff edge. Though Megatron doesn't budge, the impact weakens the cliff beneath him, and Megatron is sent tumbling away. He transforms into his gun mode in a desperate effort to survive, but disappears into the snow and is not seen again. With Megatron thus defeated, the Ark and the Autobots are free.
Meanwhile, Josie Beller, a series of printed circuit strips laced onto her arm, fires an energy bolt that destroys her hospital room's television. She speculates that she's about ready to check out...
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Humans | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Quotes
"Uhh... I really haven't the time to find out what you want, tubular, carbon-based life form! Could you please find someone else to talk to?"
- -Ratchet vs. a snake
"You seem to be adjusting well to taking orders... instead of giving them! I had calculated only a 27.6% chance that I wouldn't have had to destroy you due to an act of insubordination. I may have to revise that figure upward."
- -Is Shockwave oblivious to how much he's egging on Megatron, or is he doing it on purpose?
Notes
Artwork and technical errors
- Megatron still has his off-center insignia. This is most likely due to the way his character model was drawn. See the note on Megatron's page for more information.
- Shockwave is colored as Megatron for 2 panels in his battle with the Dinobots.
- When Shockwave arrives at the plant, Soundwave is alone. In the next panel, an oddly colored Laserbeak is on his shoulder and appears to speak for Soundwave (whose mouthplate is miscolored also).
- Page 18: Ratchet's head crest is missing as he and the Dinobots stand over Megatron. We should be able to see it poking out on either side of his helmet.
Continuity errors
- The machinery aboard the Ark that rebuilds the Dinobots does not resemble the revival drones that would rebuild the rest of the Transformers 4 million years later in issue #1.
- Snarl's actions in the flashback are a very good match for Sludge's character bios. Sludge's toy bio has the lowest intelligence and notes that he's often the victim of self-inflicted calamities. His Universe profile goes on to say that he often has to be dug out of the rubble he brought down on himself. In the issue, Snarl brings rubble down on the Dinobots and is repeatedly called dumb.
Continuity notes
- Although this is advertised as the introduction of the Dinobots, they had actually been introduced by flashback in issue #4. This issue features their recovery from the Savage Land in the present day.
- Optimus Prime transferred the Creation Matrix to Buster Witwicky in "The Worse of Two Evils!", why is Shockwave still able to use it to create new life? Letter columns confirmed that some residual energy remained in Prime's head. This energy was used on the Constructicons, but tapped out before Jetfire could be completed.
- The Savage Land setting is the last vestige of the story occurring within the larger Marvel Universe; after this, Transformers would be totally in its own world. A footnote on page 1 indicates this story takes place before Avengers #257 (in which the Savage Land is destroyed).
Real-life references
- Apart from Ratchet's excursion to Antarctica, we're in the usual setting: Portland and rural Oregon, including an unnamed mountain in the Cascades.
UK printing
Issue #27:
- Back-up strips: Machine Man - "He Lives Again" Part 1, Robo-Capers and Matt and the Cat
- With this issue, the comic went weekly and full color (all the way until issue #215). The layout was revised and the number of pages shortened, settling on 12 pages of Transformer action, one 6 page backup strip and two half page funnies.
Issue #28:
- Back-up strips: Machine Man - "He Lives Again" Part 2, Robo-Capers and Matt and the Cat
- Fact File Interface: Snarl
- Free gift: A2 poster of the Dinobots, by John Higgins (later reprinted in the Transformers Annual 1987)
Trivia
- The cover features only Grimlock, Slag and Sludge—without Snarl and Swoop. These same three Dinobots were initially introduced in the animated series's "S.O.S. Dinobots" before their remaining two companions, and the same three only were seen in the commercial animation for the Dinobot toys. Coincidence?
- IDW's Classic Transformers reprint censored the editor's note on page 1 that mentioned the Savage Land and Avengers #257.
Bot Roster
- Autobots: 6 active, as the Dinobots return to the fold, plus 16 inactive and Optimus Prime held captive.
- Decepticons: 10 active after Megatron goes missing.
Covers (11)
-
US issue #8 - What IS Grimlock doing to Slag? -
UK issue #27 - ... that shaked when he laughed like a bowl full of purple jelly. -
UK issue #28 - "We'll defeat Shockwave with the Dinobots. And a free poster. And an elephant." -
The Transformers Comics Magazine #4
- US cover: Sludge, Grimlock and Slag, by M.D. Bright.
- UK issue #27 cover: Shockwave transforming, by Robin Smith.
- UK issue #28 cover: reuse of art from US cover.
- The Transformers Comics Magazine #4 cover: ???
-
New Order TPB -
New Order hardback -
Classic Transformers Volume 1 -
Best of UK: Dinobots #6 cover A
- New Order TPB cover: Shockwave, Optimus Prime's head, Slag, Jetfire and half of Earth, by Andrew Wildman.
- New Order hardback cover: Swoop, Slag, Snarl and Sludge in the Savage Land, by Barry Kitson & Chris Blythe.
- Classic Transformers Volume 1 cover: featuring panels from "The Transformers", "Power Play!", "Brainstorm!", "The New Order" and "Prime Time!".
- Best of UK: Dinobots #6 cover A: Guardian beating up the Constructicons, by Josh Burcham.
-
Best of UK: Dinobots #6 cover B -
Best of UK: Dinobots #6 incentive cover -
The Transformers Classics, Vol. 1
- Best of UK: Dinobots #6 cover B: Guardian leading the Dinobots, by Josh Burcham.
- Best of UK: Dinobots #6 incentive cover: panels from "In the National Interest".
- The Transformers Classics, Vol. 1 cover: Optimus Prime, by Guido Guidi.
Advertisements
- Secret Wars II #4
- Fig Newtons/Apple Newtons Treasure Chest
- Nestlé Quik free Steve Garvey baseball
- Reese's Pieces "Glubgrafutz"
- Bonkers! new watermelon flavor
- Mile High Comics (2 pages)
- various comics dealers
- Bullpen Bulletins, with notice of death of Morrie Kuramoto
- The Sword of Solomon Kane limited series
- Marvel subscriptions
- Star Comics subscriptions
- Young Astronaut Program
