Decepticon Graffiti!

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Runabout and Runamuck do America.
"Decepticon Graffiti!"
Publisher Marvel Comics
First published August 1986
Cover date December 1986
Writer Bob Budiansky
Penciler Don Perlin
Inkers Ian Akin and Brian Garvey
Colorist Nel Yomtov
Letterer Janice Chiang
Editor Don Daley
Continuity Marvel Comics continuity

Megatron has a message for Optimus Prime, and sends the Battlechargers out to deliver it.

Synopsis

Uhhh, that Washing Mon... you... ment thing looks like a giant dong, huh huh.

Thanks to Donny Finkleberg selling him out, Skids is taken captive by RAAT. Taken to their headquarters, the Autobot is dissected by Circuit Breaker in an attempt to learn more about the Transformers, which gives Donny some serious second thoughts.

At the Decepticon base in Wyoming, Megatron summons the Battlechargers Runabout and Runamuck from Cybertron. He charges them with delivering a message to Optimus Prime, challenging the Autobot leader to a duel to the death. Soundwave points out that he could just radio the Autobots, but Megatron smashes him in the face with a muffler for not appreciating the need for drama. Not wanting the same treatment, the Battlechargers quickly depart, but they remain irritated that Megatron still acts like he's in charge after a four-million-year absence. Deciding that they'd rather run rampant on the unsuspecting planet Earth, they pull in at a service station to ponder their next move, where they observe a family, the Actons, on summer vacation. Bored of the vacation, the Actons' yougn son Noah amuses himself by graffiti tagging the store wall with the message "VACATIONS ARE THE PITS"—an act of defiance that inspires the Battlechargers to follow the Actons on their tour of America, spray-painting Cybertronian graffiti of their own on national monuments like Mount Rushmore and the Gateway Arch as they go.

The Battlechargers' acts of graffiti are broadcast via news reports, and RAAT is sent to investigate and engage the robot(s) perpetrating these crimes. After the Battlechargers strike the Washington Monument, the Actons approach Circuit Breaker, informing her that the graffiti has appeared at every place they've visisted on their trip. Suspecting a link, Circuit Breaker's team follow the Actons to their next stop—Independence Hall in Philadelphia—and when the Battlechargers appear, RAAT are ready to engage them. While RAAT is able to prevent Independence Hall from being vandalized, in the course of the battle, Circuit Breaker is injured while saving Noah Acton from being killed in the crossfire. She is instructed to remain at RAAT headquarters to recuperate while RAAT embarks on their next effort to intercept the Battlechargers, and though she is frustrated by her inability to join the fight, she knows she is too weak to go against the robots alone. Finkleberg proposes that she reactivate the captive Autobots and ask them for help...

In New York, RAAT prepares for the Battlechargers at the Actons' next stop: the Statue of Liberty, this time havingtaken the appropriate precautions to avoid civilian interference. The Battlecharges hijack the Staten Island Ferry to get to the statue, and unfortunately, all RAAT's firepower is unable to stop them using short-range rocket jumpers to fly up and deface it. Disappointed that the humans haven't been getting the jokes they've been writing in Cybertronian, the pair graffiti the statue in English with the message "HUMAИƧ ARƎ WIMPƧ." Presently, Circuit Breaker and Donny arrive with some unconventional Autobot assistance: as it would have taken too reconstruct all the dissected Autobots, Circuit Breaker has jury-rigged their parts together into a giant piecemeal construct that she controls with her electric powers from a position on its chest. During the fight, when the suit moves on its own to sheild her from the Battlechargers' fire, Circuit Breaker is once again given cause to wonder whether her hatred of all robots is jusitifed... but the thought doesn't last long, as Runabout blasts the torch off the statue and sends its plummetting towards the ferry below. Circuit Breaker uses her Autobot suit to grab the torch, the blasts the Battlechargers to smoking wrecks, letting their remains fall into the waters of the bay.

Hours later, Walter Barnett returns to RAAT headquarters to discover that Circuit Breaker has released the captive Autobots, their freedom having been the price for their agreeing to help her fight the Battlechargers. Both and Finkleberg are fired from RAAT for this act of insubordination, and Finkleberg returns to his New York apartment. While ponderwing what to do with his $50,000 paycheck, Finkleberg switches on the TV and is greeted with a report on the defacing of the Statue of Liberty. Still feeling guilty over his betrayal of Skids, Donny writes a $50,000 check in order to fund repairs on the monument.

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots Decepticons Humans

Quotes

HE'S PULLED OUT AN EXHAUST MANIFOLD!! This match is OUT OF CONTROL!!!

"When I want your opinion, I'll tell you what to say, Soundwave!"

—Megatron


"Maybe we should forget about that tin-headed tyrant, Runamuck!"
"Yeah - we could have a lot of fun on a world like this, Runabout. Heh heh."
"Yes, a lot of fun!...Like what?"
"Heh heh...I don't know."

—Runabout and Runamuck, geniuses at work.


"Heh heh heh! Let's tell the fleshlings what we think of them! Heh heh heh!"
"Oh, Runamuck, what a wonderfully wicked thing to write! You really do have a talent for the one-liner!"
"Yours is funny too, Runabout. It makes me laugh. [pause] Heh heh."

—The Battlechargers take on the Washington Monument


"Heh heh! That was the most fun we've had yet, Runabout!"
"A marvelous experience, Runamuck! We simply must stop by again some day! But these fleshlings -- they never get as angry about what we write as that other fleshling did a few days ago in the parking lot, Runamuck."
"Yeah. They just seem... confused."
"No doubt our wit is too slyly subtle for them to appreciate."
"Yeah, that's it! Heh heh."

—The Battlechargers reflect on their graffiti skills.


"My friction ray will hit her first, Runabout! Heat up her molecules, make her explode! Heh heh! Big mess! ...I love a big mess!"

—Runamuck (miscolored as Runabout)


"Such a perfectly awful looking monstrosity, Runamuck! Whatever could it possibly be?"
"Shoot first, ask questions later, Runabout! Heh heh heh!"

—Runabout and Runamuck


"Heh heh. Fleshling likes to give orders to Transformers! What will you say after I've burnt you to carbon ash, fleshling, eh? Heh heh!"

—Runamuck

Notes

Continuity notes

  • The Aerialbots were captured by RAAT last issue; Skids has been captured between issues, after Donny sold him out at the conclusion of last issue. The Aerialbots' faces are shown to have been added to Circuit Breaker's wall of trophies along with the "Cybertron Seven," as introduced in issue #21, which has been rearranged to accommodate them. Skids's isn't visible.
  • We've previously seen Transformer brain modules in issue #9 and issue #10; this issue renders them as small spheres, as they were in #9, rather than the cuboids from #10.
  • Flashbacks again recap Circuit Breaker's origin from issue #6.
  • Donny returns to his apartment, as seen in issue #15.
  • Bot Roster:
    • Autobots: 23 active as all RAAT captives are freed; 5 rogue Dinobots; 14 in repair bay. (42 total)
    • Decepticons: 21 active; 9 offline as the Battlechargers both enter and leave the picture. (30 total)

Transformers references

  • The Battlechargers as described as transforming "faster than the human eye can follow," a reference to the rapid, spring-loaded transformations of their toys. Like the commercial jingle said, "nobody jumps into action faster than Battlechargers!" In-universe, according to their profiles in The Transformers Universe, their transformations take only half a second.

Real-life references

Continuity and plotting errors

  • Circuit Breaker is forced to jury-rig the Autobots together because, according to her, "it would take days" to get the Autobots operational, but after the battle (which itself was the next day), only "several hours later," the Autobots are gone, apparently restored to their autonomous forms.
  • Where do the Battlechargers get the rocket jumpers they use to fly in robot mode? They don't have them at the start of the story, when Megatron gives them their assignment; they only appear later on.
  • The check Donny writes at the end of the story is dated October 4th, 1986, which would mean that three months have passed between issue #21—set on July 4th—and this one. That doesn't seem right; plus it's not even done to stay in-sync with the real-world publication date of this issue, which was in August!

Artwork and technical errors

  • Throughout this issue, neither of the two Battlechargers is colored particularly consistently. In particular, Runamuck is nowhere near his finalised Marvel color model; his arms are entirely white instead of having yellow fronts, and the hinge assembled around his head is red instead of orange.
  • Page 2, panel 1: As in last issue, the entire front of Skids's chest is light blue, when only his grill and headlights should be this color. Additionally, his Autobot symbol is missing its "chin."
  • Page 3, panel 4: Taking into account the fact that this page deliberately alters the colors of the Autobot faces mounted on RAAT's wall to make them appear further away as part of the background, chiefly by replacing white with blue: Air Raid, Skydive, and Fireflight all have red helmets, when Skydive's should be blue-black, and Fireflight's and Air Raid's sould be blue; and Slingshot's head is entirely blue save for his red eyes, when his whole face and head should be red, with only the sides of his helmet as blue. These errors repeat on page 6. In the same panel, Blaster's feet are blue-black, when they should be the same grey as the rest of his legs.
  • Page 4:
    • Panel 2: Laserbeak is a wildly off-model collection of shapes. Part of his left wing has been colored orange, as if it were part of the car-throne Megatron is sitting on. For the first, but not the last time, Runabout and Runamuck's colors are switched. The pair's speech bubbles are matched to their colours, so the panel shows Runamuck-coloured-like-Runabout speaking Runabout's dialogue, and vice versa.
    • Panel 4: The entire lower half of Megatron's body is shaded in a single dark colour; his thighs should be lighter than his pelvis and boots.
    • Panel 5: The portion of Runamuck's face visible above his mouthplate is red instead of white. The tips of Runabout's fingers are uncoloured white.
  • Page 5, panel 7: The yellow strip on the side of Runamuck's vehicle mode is running across the top of his side, instead of the bottom. Some misaligned color elements result in Runabout having a purple strip across his hood, while his windscreen is orange instead of red.
  • Page 7, panel 1: Runamuck has yellow hands and feet. Runabout's Decepticon symbol (or rather, the featureless splotch where it should be) is red.
  • Page 8, panel 5: Runamuck's face is red instead of white again. He's missing the yellow strip across the front of his hood.
  • Pages 10-11: Donny's shirt has changed from green to purple on these two pages. He could just be wearing a different shirt, but there's no real cause for him to have changed.
  • Pages 12-15: Noah's shirt has three white stripes on pages 12 and 15, but only two on pages 13 and 14.
  • Page 12:
    • Panel 4: Runamuck is missing the yellow stripe on his side.
    • Panel 5: Runamuck has a yellow stripe across the tips of his feet. He technically should have this, as his feet form his hood and he has a stripe there in vehicle mode, but it's not meant to be part of his robot mode color model.
  • Page 13, panel 1: Runamuck's mouthplate is red instead of white.
  • Page 14, panel 1: Runamuck and Runabout's colours are switched again (above right). This time, the speech bubbles are not matched to their colours, so we have Runamuck-coloured-like-Runabout speaking Runamuck's dialogue, and vice versa. Also, Runamuck's head is entirely white, when per Runabout's colours it should be black.
  • Page 16:
    • Panel 6: Runamuck is missing all his yellow stripes.
    • Panel 7: Runamuck and Runabout's colours are switched again. The three speech bubbles in the panel are consequently thoroughly mismatched; first Runamuck-coloured-like-Runabout instructs Runamuck to transform; then Runabout-coloured-like-Runamuck speaks Runabout's dialogue about how "splendid" the statue is; then finally Runabout-coloured-like-Runamuck replies to himself with Runamuck's dialogue about wanting to trash the statue.
  • Page 18:
    • Panel 1: Runabout's trunk-hood is red instead of white.
    • Panel 2: Runabout and Runmuck's colours are switched once again.
  • Page 19-21: Circuit Breaker's jury-rigged Autobot "suit" doesn't look at all like any of the Autobots that supposedly make it up, containing no parts belonging to any of them.
  • Page 20:
  • Panels 2-3: Runamuck's helmet is red instead of white.
  • Panel 6: Runabout is coloured like Runamuck.

UK printing

Issue 94

Issue #95

  • Back-up strips: Spitfire and the Troubleshooters ("Counterattack," Part 1) and Robo-Capers

Other trivia

So, like, Todd, can we like, be in your gang?
  • This issue was a favourite among fans back in the 90s, due almost entirely to the miscreant characterization of the Battlechargers. Runamuck's constant "heh heh" snickering to himself put many fans in mind of Beavis and Butt-Head, who had risen to fame in the intevening years, and comparisons between the two duos were common—though in reality, Runabout doesn't act that way at all, instead speaking in an eloquent way that suggests delusions of sophistication.
  • This issue was one of writer Bob Budiansky's favourites. [1]
  • Stan friggin' Lee enjoyed this issue so much he wrote a letter to the creative team congratulating them on it![2]
  • Both the upcoming Transformers/G.I. Joe crossover and The Transformers Universe profile series are teased in this issue's letters page. The editor notes that, following the invitation extended in issue #18 for young reader "Shingo" to write in, several letters from "imitators" have been received, but they're still waiting for the genuine article to get in touch.
  • Due to the presence of Marvel-owned character Circuit Breaker, IDW Publishing were unable to reprint this issue in their 2008 Classic Transformers Volume 2 collection, as they had not yet negotiated a license to do so with Marvel. The issue was replaced in the collection with a text summary.

Covers (3)

  • US issue #23: Battlechargers defacing the Statue of Liberty, by Herb Trimpe.
  • UK issue #94: Battlechargers, by Lee Sullivan.
  • UK issue #95: reuse of art from US cover, with some new word balloons.
  • US issue #23 - Lady Liberty sheds a tear.
    US issue #23 - Lady Liberty sheds a tear.
  • UK issue #94 - Blurr wants a word with these guys.
    UK issue #94 - Blurr wants a word with these guys.
  • UK issue #95 - Ha. Ah ha. Got it.
    UK issue #95 - Ha. Ah ha. Got it.

Reprints

IDW Transformers Classics edits

For The Transformers Classics series of trade paperbacks, IDW Publishing "remastered" the coloring of the series with varying degrees of success. These changes were sometimes to fix errors, but often to alter characters' color schemes to make them resemble their toy and/or cartoon selves, and were rarely applied with consistency. IDW's recolored version was also used for Hachette's Definitive G1 Collection, with exceptions noted below.

  • Page 1: The green of Circuit Breaker's irises is erased.
  • Page 2: Here and throughout the issue, Circuit Breaker has a much more tanned skin tone than all the other humans, despite them all having the same colour skin in the original printing.
  • Page 4: Unusual for IDW, Soundwave was not recolored blue for this issue, and appears only with his original purple color.
  • Pages 5-11: Spider-Man's face is erased from Noah's shirt. However, it was restored for Hachette's Definitive Collection.
  • Page 5, panel 7: The erroneous purple stripe is removed from Runabout's hood.
  • Pages 12-13: Inconsistent remastering results in both Runabout's blue-black tone, and Runamuck's light-blue tone both being too dark, making the pair appear solid black and solid blue, respectively.
  • Page 16, panel 6: Runamuck and Runabout's colours are switched so that this panel matches with panel 7. Of course, as described above, panel 7 is the one in error, so this creates a double-goof.
  • Page 22, panel 4: The news anchor on Donny's TV is recolored to have an African-American skin tone. He remains Caucasian in the very next panel.

Advertisements

US

  • M&M's - inside front cover
  • Lazer Tag
  • Bonkers! (candy)
  • Westfield Comics Subscription Service
  • NBC Saturday morning cartoons: Kissyfur, Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears, Smurfs, Punky Prewster, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Foofur, Kidd Video, plus: One to Grow On.
  • Adidas Astronauts (boys & girls activewear)
  • Marvel subscription service
  • Dungeons & Dragons set #1: Basic Rules - inside back cover
  • Brach's candy (back cover)

UK issue #94:

UK issue #95:

  • S.T.A.R.S.
  • Heinz Invaders fan club
  • Dungeons & Dragons Basic Rules Set 1 (back cover)

References

  1. ↑ Bob Budiansky interview at Moonbase 2
  2. ↑ An interview with Bob Budiansky at OneShallStand.com (Archived copy)
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