The Cure!
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 Monday, you can fall apart / Tuesday, Wednesday, break my heart | |||||||||||||
| "The Cure!" | |||||||||||||
| Publisher | Marvel Comics | ||||||||||||
| First published | March 1987 | ||||||||||||
| Cover date | July 1987 | ||||||||||||
| Writer | Bob Budiansky | ||||||||||||
| Breakdowns | Don Perlin | ||||||||||||
| Finishes | Ian Akin & Brian Garvey | ||||||||||||
| Colorist | Nel Yomtov | ||||||||||||
| Letterer | Janice Chiang | ||||||||||||
| Editor | Don Daley | ||||||||||||
| Continuity | Marvel Comics continuity | ||||||||||||
Ratbat sends a team of Autobot prisoners to kill all Transformers infected with the Scraplets. If they don't comply, the Earth will be destroyed.
Synopsis
Ratbat captures the Throttlebots during a fuel raid on Cybertron. Rather than have them executed, he sends them to Earth on a mission to destroy all Transformers infected with Scraplets, using canisters of acid. They are given 10 hours to complete this mission, after which Ratbat threatens to destroy the Earth. Arriving at the crater, they find Goldbug's tire tracks heading off into the desert. Rollbar and Wide Load take an acid canister and follow them.
Meanwhile, an exhausted Charlie Fong pushes the decrepit Goldbug to a filling station, where the attendants are alarmed by his condition. They offer him some water, some of which spills on Goldbug. Instantly, the Scraplets there wither and die. The legendary cure is nothing more than water! Before Charlie can "wash his car", however, Rollbar and Wideload arrive, intent on slagging Goldbug. Once Charlie demonstrates the cure on Wideload, the two Throttlebots are more than happy to back down.
Goldbug arranges for G.B. Blackrock to have water transported to the crater to cure all the infected Transformers, but when Goldbug prepares to cure Blaster and the Triple Changers, Blaster tells Goldbug to kill him rather than save the Decepticons. During Goldbug's hesitation, the Scraplets merge into a conglomerate monster to fight back. The Scraplet monster proves more than a match for the weaponless Throttlebots, and Goldbug decides to cure Blaster and the Decepticons to provide enough firepower to fight against the monster. The gambit proves effective, and Blaster finishes the Scraplets off with the acid that Throttlebots brought with them. Goldbug uses the last of the water Blackrock brought to the crater to remove the Scraplets that had infected the Throttlebots during the fight.
Astrotrain learns enough about Blackrock to believe him to be of use to the Decepticons, and attaches a portable stroboscopic opticon to Blackrock's forehead. The chip flashes a light pattern in front of Blackrock's eyes, then falls away unseen by anyone else. The Decepticons then escape, carrying the cargo from the freighter which brought the Scraplets to Earth.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Humans |
|---|---|---|
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Notes
- The Transformers' discussions of the "rare chemical" that cures scraplets have caused a great deal of confusion (and amusement) in the fandom over the years. Many fans interpret various lines in isolation as meaning that the Transformers consider water to be a rare chemical, have never heard of it, and/or don't believe in its existence, all of which would be patently ridiculous beliefs for a spacefaring race (and would contradict Bumblebee's statement way back in issue #1 that he is excited that Earth is covered in water because he loves a good swim.)
However, much of this interpretation hinges on the idea that the Transformers know exactly what the cure's chemical formula is, and simply don't believe it exists. This notion is flatly contradicted by various statements in this issue and the previous one, which make it clear that they don't know the identity of the chemical:- Octane: "Legend has it that, thousands of vorns ago during an outbreak on Cybertron, a rare chemical was found that killed the scraplets! But I doubt any of us will live long enough to rediscover it."
- Ratbat: "The only cure is a chemical so rare that its very existence is suspect! But whether the ancient legends about this substance are true matters not."
- Wideload: "I never heard of such a substance!"
Rollbar: "Hmm... maybe it doesn't exist on our world!"The only thing the Transformers have been told about the cure is that it's rare, which fits with most of what we've seen and been told of Cybertron (Bumblebee never claims that there IS water on Cybertron.) Nobody denies the existence of water; they just don't know that it's the cure. In fact, the very next issue reveals that Ratbat's entire operation is centered around an evil, hypnotic, water-using car wash! At best, we can chastise Rollbar and Wideload for not knowing much about water, which isn't too surprising since 1) they're scouts and 2) they spend most of their time fighting for their lives on Cybertron.
- Grimlock occupies the Marvel corner box space for the next eight US issues, beginning with this one, reflecting his current status as leader of the Earth-bound Autobots in the series, even though he doesn't actually appear in this issue.
- On page 13, Goldbug refers to Blackrock's company as "Blackrock Enterprises".
- References to other Transformers continuities/issues: The freighter was sent by Ratbat on a secret mission in issue #29 before becoming infected by Scraplets. The nature of its secret cargo will be revealed in issue #31.
- This issue was reprinted by IDW Publishing as Generations #11. It featured a new cover by Nick Roche.
Errors
- Despite Ratbat's threat to destroy the Earth, no effort is made by the Autobots to contact him after the Scraplets threat is averted. Apparently, the Earth does not get destroyed.
- The color schemes for the three sports car Throttlebots are constantly confused in this issue. Searchlight, Chase, and Freeway all switch color schemes on the opening splash page. They're drawn and colored correctly after that, but later Chase is shown with Searchlight's head and colors. Someone must have referenced this issue for the later G.I. Joe/Generation 2 crossover, because the same error repeats there. The head switch may stem from their Transformers Universe profiles which also switch the heads.
- On page 20, a rear view of Astrotrain shows him with his wings attached to the front of his torso instead of the back, and no arms.
Covers (3)
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US issue #30 - Yay, Throttlebots, so... ineffective. -
UK issue #126 - Well, that's what they told Goldbug afterwards... -
UK issue #127 - Throttlebots - easy on the eye AND the stomach!
- US cover: Rollbar punching through the Scraplet monster, by Herb Trimpe.
- UK issue #126 cover: the Throttlebots attack Goldbug, by Lee Sullivan.
- UK issue #127 cover: the Scraplet monster attacks the Throttlebots, by Robin Smith.
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