The Living Nightlights!
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| "The Living Nightlights!" | |||||||||||||
| Publisher | Marvel Comics | ||||||||||||
| First published | 19th May 1990 | ||||||||||||
| Cover date | 26th May 1990 | ||||||||||||
| Writer | Simon Furman | ||||||||||||
| Pencils | John Marshall | ||||||||||||
| Inks | Stephen Baskerville | ||||||||||||
| Letters | Helen Stone | ||||||||||||
| Continuity | Marvel Comics continuity/Earthforce | ||||||||||||
Introducing the Sleepfast—the first light that needs no physical switch.
Synopsis
A television advert introduces the Sleepfast, a humanoid light that one can switch on and off by thought alone. Just the thing for turning the lights out from bed!
Wheeljack and Snarl break into the Sleepfast warehouse. Snarl is worried both that they are committing a crime but also finds the Sleepfasts scary. However, Wheeljack believes that the lights are dangerous as he has examined one and discovered that it uses Cybertronian technology. Even worse, the Sleepfasts are alive, and can put the user under subliminal control. The Autobots must find the mastermind behind the scheme and stop him soon. Elsewhere, an unseen figure switches off a monitor and comments that Wheeljack is right and must be eliminated.
In the warehouse, Wheeljack and Snarl are suddenly taken by surprise as hordes of Sleepfasts come to life and attack them. There are far too many to overcome, and they are subdued. Then the mastermind reveals himself—it is Mindwipe! The Decepticons have thrown him out just because he tried to enthral Scorponok, but he now plans to use a human army to rule the planet. He raises his gun, but Wheeljack and Snarl immediately think "Light on!" and activate the Sleepfasts. Wheeljack explains that the massive light overloads Mindwipe's neural circuity and "scared the Living Nightlights out of him!", a pun that Snarl hates, so he turns off the lights.
Featured Characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
Errors
- Snarl's shoulder wings disappear in some panels.
Items of note
- The story is named after the James Bond movie The Living Daylights.
- This is the only story in the Earthforce period to make reference to Scorponok and give any indication as to the existence of a third force of Decepticons.
- In the US story "Eye of the Storm" Mindwipe would leave Scorponok's Decepticons, but under very different circumstances from those mentioned here. It all joins the melting pot of theories on where Earthforce fits into continuity.
Reprints
- This story was reprinted in the Titan Books trade paperback "Earthforce".
