Targets of Opportunity

	; I am a real Am-er-ican,; Fight for the rights of ev'ryman!
	"Targets of Opportunity"
Publisher	Dreamwave Productions
First published	November 3, 2004
Cover date	October, 2004
Story	James McDonough, Adam Patyk
Pencils	Pat Lee
Breakdowns	Nick Kilislian
Inks	Rob Armstrong
Backgrounds	Edwin Garcia
Colors	Anthony Washington, Alan Wang
Letters	Ben Lee
Editor-in-chief	Roger Lee

Don't get too attached.

Synopsis

1985:
Flint and his team of "Meatheads" start their bust of a Cobra shipping operation. Shipwreck finds the leader of the site, Destro, and tries to knock out the arms dealer, only to noticed too late that Destro's cranium is protected by Beryllium Steel. Flint aids Shipwreck, but Destro's escape is aided by the sudden activation of Cobra Flight Pods. The G.I. Joe members are amazed at the flying "trubble bubbles" [sic]. Destro tries to make it to a flight pod of his own, and escapes along with his loyal soldier, Scrap-Iron.

A crew of Autobots crash lands on Earth in Portland, Oregon. Cobra detects the landing, and the Commander dispatches Agent Smith. Overhead, Starscream secretly overhears Cobra's discovery and begins to plot.

After apologizing to his superior for failing to capture Destro, and a bit of work-out with Shipwreck, Flint is sent on another mission. This time, they're sent to rendezvous with another team of G.I. Joes (led by Spirit) and investigate a crash site.

The two teams meet up, and after exchanging some military terminology, they stumble across Cobra, trying to get away with the salvage. After taking out the Cobra soldiers on the ground, Blowtorch uses his flamethrower to uncover what they were attempting to steal—giant, colorful robots.

Back at the base, Flint and Spirit are brought to meet with Duke, Stalker, and Scarlett, to watch some footage from 1935—when G.I. Joe and Cobra became involved in the war between the Autobots and Decepticons.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Joes	Cobras
Blaster (14) Perceptor (15)	Starscream (18)	Flint (1) Mutt & Junkyard (2) Gung-Ho (3) Clutch (4) Rock 'n Roll (5) Snake-Eyes (6) Blowtorch (7) Grand Slam (8) Quick Kick (9) Shipwreck (11) Duke (13) Airtight (19) Bazooka (20) Doc (21) Wild Bill (22) Cover Girl (23) Alpine (24) Barbecue (25) Spirit (26) Stalker (27) Scarlett (28)	Destro (10) Scrap-Iron (12) Cobra Commander (16) Smith (17)

Notes

Shipwreck apparently does not deserve a title card.
The helicopters used by Cobra are "F.A.N.G."s.
Wavelengths has an article from the desk of Pat Lee.
This issue recycled a good deal of artwork:
- Shipwreck from page 5 is reflected in Destro's mask on page 4.
- On page 5, Shipwreck on the first panel is re-used from the third panel.
- The image of Flint reflected on Destro's missile is from the first page.

Real-world references

During his battle rally, Flint makes a reference to icon of American patriotism, Uncle Sam.
Shipwreck refers to Destro as "Doc Doom," comparing the arms dealer to Doctor Doom.
Quick Kick compares the Flight Pods to something out of "an episode of Twilight Zone", while the older Duke says they were like something "straight out of Buck Rogers".
This episode contains two references to the music group Village People.
Agent Smith clearly acts as a forest ranger as his civilian cover. This would make him Ranger Smith, the oppressive antagonist who constantly patrolled Jellystone Park to prevent a smarter-than-average bear from stealing picnic baskets.
Agent Smith probably isn't likely a reference to The Matrix movie series, which wouldn't be created for another fourteen years in-universe.
A poster for "Smokey the bear" appears on one of the walls of Agent Smith's cabin. Smokey the bear is more concerned with preventing forest fires than stealing picnic baskets. But ONLY YOU can prevent forest fires.
Flint calls Shipwreck "Blackbeard", a pirate of legend.
While working out, Flint and Shipwreck listen to "Eye of the Tiger".
Shipwreck compares Barbecue's heat-resistant suit to Darth Vader's armour.

Transformers references

The letter from the writers after the story is titled "Operation Combination", the name of a Japanese Transformer series, but in this case it refers to the integration of the two toy licenses.

Covers (7)

Cover A: 3-page wraparound cover featuring the Autobots and Joes; art by Pat Lee.
Cover B: Wraparound cover featuring the Decepticons allied with Cobra; art by Joe Ng.
Cover C: Wraparound cover featuring the Autobots allied with the Joes; art by Don Figueroa. (covers B and C can combine)
Cover D: Dealer's Incentive cover featuring Spirit, Snake-Eyes and Flint; art by Pat Lee.
Cover E: Dynamic Forces exclusive cover featuring Snake-Eyes and Timber; art by Pat Lee.
Cover F: Foil version of cover E.
Cover G: Reorder variant featuring new art of the Joes with faded versions of the Autobots from cover A in the background; art by Pat Lee.