Mayhem Attack Squad
| This article is about the roving band of stone-cold killers. For the team of mirrorverse meddling do-gooders, see Mayhem Suppression Squad. |
- The Mayhem Attack Squad is a Decepticon subgroup from the Generation 1 continuity family.
The Mayhem Attack Squad is the Decepticon answer to the Wreckers. The team's lineup is ever-changing, and they recruit the most bloodthirsty and deadly Decepticons to swell their ranks when old members die (or desert).
Unlike the Wreckers, the Mayhems have a sweet ship. When Megatron isn't stealing it, that is.
The team's known members have included:
| 1st known lineup | 2nd known lineup | 3rd known lineup | Classics lineup |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
Fiction
Marvel Comics continuity
With Galvatron and Megatron teamed up on Earth and a rift in time and space threatening to destroy all reality, the Decepticons on Cybertron were getting desperate. They teamed the Mayhem Attack Squad with the Autobots' Wreckers and sent them to Earth in a Decepticon ship to bring down Galvatron and Megatron. Secretly, the Mayhems were under orders to kill any surviving Wreckers once the threat of Galvatron and Megatron was over.
Once on Earth, the two teams joined with the advance scouts Broadside, Inferno, and Sandstorm and moved to attack Galvatron in his lair.
The battle could have gone... better than it did.
Galvatron embedded his hand in Battletrap's chest and cannon-blasted Venom, and by the time the first skirmish was over, only Carnivac, Flywheels and Catilla remained alive.
As the battle moved above ground, Carnivac had a change of heart about killing Springer when Springer saved his life.
The battle escalated as more and more Autobots and Decepticons joined. Ultimately, it was neither Wrecker nor Mayhem that would destroy Galvatron, but a rift in time and space. Time Wars
With the Time Wars over, the two surviving Mayhem Attack Squad members found themselves stranded on Earth when Megatron stole their ship to return to Cybertron.
The surviving Mayhems joined with the surviving Wreckers and the stray Autobots Inferno and Skids to form a new team called the Survivors.
Shortly after this, Carnivac teamed with Snarler (with Catilla observing) on a mission for Scorponok. The three were given Pretender shells as a reward. Snarler, however, was not impressed when the two former Mayhems refused to rejoin the Decepticons. Survivors!
Snarler returned to Cybertron and set about recruiting a new Mayhem Attack Squad to destroy Carnivac and Catilla through training sessions against solid light simulations of high-ranking Autobots in a fake Slaughter City. Despite his abject cowardice, Needlenose was admitted into its ranks, alongside Bludgeon, Stranglehold, Octopunch and Spinister. The Hunting Party
While they succeeded in destroying Catilla, they were targeted for vengeance by Carnivac. A Savage Place!
On Cybertron, the Mayhem Attack Squad—Bludgeon, Stranglehold, and Octopunch—got the assignment of assassinating the Autobot Pretenders Bumblebee, Jazz, and Grimlock. Yesterday's Heroes!
After initially failing to kill the Autobots, the Squad accidentally teleported deep inside Cybertron along with the Autobots. The two groups met inside a huge chamber containing a sleeping Primus and promptly set about trying to kill each other.
After the Squad had been utterly crushed, Octopunch made one final attack against a distracted Grimlock, which was deflected by Grimlock's armor and ended up hitting Primus in the face. Consequently, Primus awoke, drawing Unicron to his ancient enemy's location. Primal Scream
Earthforce
Rather than going out to hunt down Carnivac the Mayhems decided to let the renegade come to them, and so established a base on a tropical island. True to their predictions, Carnivac arrived and managed to dispatch Needlenose fairly easily. Cry Wolf! In response, the Mayhems managed to destroy Carnivac's Pretender shell Wolf in the Fold! but he recovered from the mental shock and murdered Snarler and Spinister. When the Autobot Survivors and Grimlock's Earthforce arrived, he saw to it that Bludgeon, Octopunch and Stranglehold were captured alive—because he knew that being taken alive and not having a warrior's death would be torment for them. Where Wolf?
The three surviving members, Bludgeon, Octopunch, and Stranglehold, managed to escape from Earthforce by being vewwy quiet. Shut Up!
Classics
Twenty years after the end of the war, Ruckus and Needlenose employed Octopunch and Stranglehold in attempt to reform the Mayhem Attack Squad. Despite going to elaborate lengths to get at Nightbeat, they were undone by Ruckus' naïveté as leader and eventually received a serious thrashing at the hands of the Autobots. Cheap Shots
Notes
- Flywheels and Battletrap are the only team members to have appeared prior to the Mayhem Attack Squad's debut in "Time Wars". It is unknown whether they were part of the team at this earlier time. City of Fear!
- Flywheels is not seen to die in "Time Wars", but if you look very hard you can see his corpse among the general carnage.
- However, Battletrap, who had the dubious honor of being the first casualty of the battle, reappears later in both the post-Unicron US issues and in Generation 2, among Bludgeon's forces.
- Some believe that the Triggercons Windsweeper, Ruckus and Crankcase were also part of the Mayhem Attack Squad. Although this is implied by Windsweeper and Ruckus' proximity to Spinister et al in the Matrix Quest, it is never explicitly stated that they are Mayhems within the text of those US stories.
