Prime's Rib!
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 "And that's for leaving your dirty socks lying around!" | |||||||||||||
| Prime's Rib! | |||||||||||||
| Publisher | Marvel Comics | ||||||||||||
| First published | 2nd September 1989 | ||||||||||||
| Cover date | 9th September 1989 | ||||||||||||
| Writer | Simon Furman | ||||||||||||
| Art | Andy Wildman | ||||||||||||
| Lettering | Helen Stone | ||||||||||||
| Cover | Geoff Senior | ||||||||||||
| Continuity | Marvel Comics continuity | ||||||||||||
Optimus Prime creates a new female warrior to appease human feminists.
Synopsis
On July 15, 1995, in an attempt to forge better relationships with the humans on Earth, Optimus Prime unveils a new 'female' Autobot called Arcee to counter claims of sexism from human feminists. Much to Prime’s bemusement, Arcee doesn’t prove popular with the feminists who complain that she looks weak and shouldn’t be pink.
Jazz and Hot Rod are unable to understand what all the fuss is about as the only thing that they can see that separates Arcee from other Autobot warriors is a variation in the upper chassis design.
As Prime attempts to calm the feminists, the Decepticon Headmasters, Fangry, Squeezeplay and Horri-Bull, led by Shockwave, launch a surprise attack. Prime orders Arcee to stay back while he handles the Decepticons, much to Arcee's disgust.
Prime is soon overpowered and Arcee is forced to go to his rescue, managing to drive off the Decepticons. During the confusion she and Hot Rod collide and end up in a heap on the floor, leading Hot Rod to declare that he's all for female Transformers, much to the feminists' displeasure.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Humans |
|---|---|---|
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Errors
- Set in 1995, it is unclear where this story could fit in the established continuity.
- Optimus Prime appears in his smaller-robot Powermaster form. As he had stopped using that body before 1995 in the main timeline, then the story possibly takes place in the standard Marvel UK future timeline (which the notes below assume). He was never seen in that body in that timeline either though (which doesn't mean that he couldn't have been a Powermaster in 1995). It's probably best not to think too much about it.
Items of note
- The title of this issue is derived from the Biblical story of the creation of Eve, who was formed from one of Adam's ribs. It is, of course, also a reference to "prime rib" cuts of meat.
- Originally published in black and white.
- Came with a free gift of two stick-on tattoos of Autobot and Decepticon insignia.
- In terms of story chronology, this is the first UK story set in a future timeline and centring on the movie cast. The next story, from the Movie characters' point of view at least, would be "Ark Duty", followed by the Shockwave segment of "Aspects of Evil!".
Reprints
- Reprinted in the Titan Books trade paperback "Earthforce" in 2005.
