Island of Fear

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No one messes with Beachcomber. NO ONE!
"Island of Fear"
Publisher	Corgi Books
Imprint	Young Corgi Adventure/Adventure Game Books
First published	1986
Writers	Dave Morris
Illustrator	John Higgins (interior pencils and cover painting)
ISBN	ISBN 0 552 52316 X ISBN 9780552523165
Page count	67

You join forces with Beachcomber to foil Dirge's evil plot.

Synopsis

Your marine biologist parents have brought you to the South Pacific island paradise of Nali while they study plants in the nearby islands. While exploring Nali, you encounter the Autobots Beachcomber and Seaspray, and discover that Dirge is using a drill to tap the power of the island's dormant volcano to power the Decepticons' weapons. Along with Beachcomber, you make your way to Dirge's base, facing dangers such as a robot-trap, a leopard, an electronic jammer, and Dirge's pet Denebian Stalker. After you have destroyed his equipment, Dirge confronts you but you use the electronic jammer to ward him off and spend the rest of your summer hanging out with Beachcomber.

Endings

The ending detailed above is the result of the optimum path through the book, but other endings wait in store for the unwary adventurer:

• You are eaten by the leopard.
• You have two opportunities to let Beachcomber confront Dirge alone and he (presumably) fails.
• Dirge blows you and Seaspray to pieces with his missiles.
• You send Seaspray to Taulo island instead of helping him find Beachcomber.
• There are two ways to electrocute yourself with the robot-trap.
• Beachcomber shoots you with a laser.
• You give the Denebian Stalker indigestion.
• You use the electronic jammer to sabotage Dirge's drill but awaken the dormant volcano, destroying the islanders' crops.
• You and Beachcomber are killed when Dirge's hideout explodes.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Humans	Others
Beachcomber Seaspray	Dirge	You Nali islanders	Leopard Denebian Stalker

The order in which the characters appear depends on the path you take through the book.

Notes

• All Transformers' names are printed in CAPITAL LETTERS.
• This is a bit of an odd outing for Dirge: he's drawn with his cone down in robot mode, he has a pet Denebian Stalker and he doesn't die at the end.
• You are immune to Dirge's fear-inducing engines.
• Beachcomber mistakes the leopard for Ravage.
• It's possible to play through the book and not encounter Seaspray at all.
• The portrayal of the islanders is somewhat less than politically correct—they are superstitious and believe Dirge to be Adurga, the Winged Messenger of Sorrow. Sample line of dialogue: "Fire god angry!"
• Dirge's plan is very similar to Galvatron's in "Burning Sky!".
• Likewise, the electronic jammer is very similar to the jammers used by the Roadjammers in "Ca$h and Car-nage!".

Advertisements

• Inside the front cover is an advert for the UK comic, using a piece of artwork that depicts Jetfire's unused character model fighting Megatron.
• At the end of the story are adverts for other Young Corgi books "Dinobot War", "Peril from the Stars" and "T.R.Bear: Enter T.R." by Terrance Dicks.