Transformers Comic-Magazin issue 22

« Transformers Comic-Magazin #22 »
Publisher	Condor Verlag
Cover date	August 1992
Continuity	Marvel Comics continuity
Price	3.50 DM

Contents

Transformers in Action: Beloved Earth, accursed Decepticons

(source)

Reprints

• The Transformers (Marvel UK) #168-169 - "Meltdown!" Parts 1 & 2

Notes

• The text story is largely a recycled version of the story published in issue 5. Except that story was credited to Robert Mann, yet this one is credited to Michael Rubin! Since the original story itself was apparently reycled from an issue of the M.A.S.K. Comic-Magazin, published by Interpart, one of Condor's alternate identities/imprints, it's possible that Rubin was the original writer of the M.A.S.K. version, and this version finally credits him properly. Most of the spelling and faction attribution errors present in the version published in issue 5 (such as "Submaroder", and Crankcase and Ruckus being listed as members of the Triggerbots) are still present in this version, with the most notable change being the fact that Bumblebee is called "Goldbug" now... who is still equipped with a Pretender shell. Which can still transform into a Volkswagen Beetle. Which can still transform into a Decepticon when "Submaroder" is placed inside the shell. And like Bumblebee in the original version, Goldbug is also "tied up and gagged" by the Decepticons. However that is supposed to work with that mouthplate of his.
• In the version of the story published in issue 5, an unspecified "government spokesperson" expresses his hopes that the humans won't have to deal with a new world government of extraterrestrials. In this version, that notion is expressed by the President of the United States in a television interview.
• Unlike the version of the story published in issue 5, Fizzle's name is not misspelled.
• In the version of the story published in issue 5, Optimus Prime explicitly challenges Megatron to a duel one on one in front of live cameras, to which Megatron agrees. Said showdown is then broadcast live globally via satellites. In this version, they simply encounter each other inside the combustion chamber of a reactor... and yet somehow, their duel is still stated to occur in front of live cameras.
• Unlike the version of the story published in issue 5, this version explicitly states at the very end that all the events of the story took place within a single night.
• The translated comic is titled "Hotter than a Thousand Suns".

Errors

• In the version of the story published in issue 5, the Decepticons are said to be attacking nuclear power plants and refineries in "small groups". In this version, it's specifically the Decepticon Pretenders who are said to be attacking those locations in "one man teams", which is utterly contradictory.
• In the version of the story published in issue 5, Jazz assumes the Decepticons have deployed the Firecons to the cities, and suggests deploying the Sparkabots to deal with them. In this version, a group called the "Sparkler-Cons" (!) are explicitly said to have been deployed to terrorize the cities together with the Powermasters. Jazz then elaborates that the Decepticons have sent the "Sparkler Minibots" and the Firecons to the cities, and again has the Sparkabots deal with them. In the Marvel UK comics (translated versions of the relevant stories were published in issues of the Comic-Magazin), "Sparkler Mini-Bots" was used as an alternate name for the Sparkabots, not a separate group, whereas in the text story from Comic-Magazin #12 (which was partially recycled for Comic-Taschenbuch #3), "Sparkler Minibots" was used as a super-category for both the Sparkabots and the Firecons. Meanwhile, the term "Sparkler-Cons" is completely unique to this particular version of this text story.
• The quote by the President of the United States ends in a comma rather than a period, despite being at the end of a paragraph.
• The Triggerbots, who are explicitly not mislead, manage to subdue the... Triggerbots. In the version of the story published in issue 5, their opponents were the Triggercons, which makes considerably more sense.