TRANSFORMERS #4
"The Last Stand" Synopsis

Written by Jim Salicrup
Pencils by Frank Springer, Inks by Ian Akin and Brian Garvey

"After all our struggle on this world, our situation is worse than ever!"

The Autobots are incensed at the prospect that Sparkplug Witwicky has given Megatron and the Decepticons the means to convert Earth's fossil fuels into a new energy supply (see issue #3).  While the Autobots argue amongst themselves, Sparkplug and Buster attempt to flee, but when the Autobots realize that they need Sparkplug to convert fuel for them as well, Jazz blocks their path with a wall of flame.  The stress gives Sparkplug a heart attack; Ratchet quickly offers to take him to a hospital in his ambulance mode.

Meanwhile, Optimus Prime learns that shortly after the Ark crashed on Earth some four million years ago, the Ark computer sent a drone to Antarctica after it detected another Cybertronic life form on the planet--namely, the Decepticon Shockwave!  Recognizing him as a threat to the Ark's safety, it adapted five of the Autobots into what it believed was the planet's dominant mechanical life forms at the time, dinosaurs.  Shortly after the Dinobots confronted Shockwave, he noticed the drone observing him and destroyed it.  The present-day Autobots launch a probe to determine the fate of Shockwave and the Dinobots.

Elsewhere, the U.S. Army attacks the Decepticon base will full force, but their artillery is completely ineffective against Megatron!  At Starscream's self-serving suggestion, Megatron sends Ravage to learn of the Autobots' status.  When Ravage reports back that the Autobots failed to acquire a new fuel source, Megatron realizes the time to strike is now!

The Autobots' last, desperate gambit is to transfer all the other Autobots' remaining energy into Optimus Prime, Ironhide, Huffer, Mirage, and Blue Streak, in the hopes that five fully-charged warriors will be enough to fight the Decepticons.  The Decepticons soon arrive, at first giving the Autobots a chance to surrender but finally invading the sanctity of the volcano.  The Autobots fight bravely in the ensuing battle, but just as it appears the Decepticons have won, each of them keels over in terrible pain, the result of the corrosive fuel developed by Sparkplug!  

At the hospital, Sparkplug is recovering from his ordeal and is reunited with Buster.  Back at the Autobot base, the Autobots stand victorious, until all of them are knocked out with a powerful blast from Shockwave, who proclaims:  "After four million years I have accomplished my mission--the Autobots are no more!"...

First Appearances: The five Dinobots appear in a flashback sequence--Grimlock, Slag, Sludge, Snarl, and Swoop.  Also, Shockwave makes his debut.

Transfacts:

• Assuming that Sparkplug was at least 16 years old when he was drafted for service in Korea, he is at least 48 years old by the time of this story.

• Shockwave remaining behind on the Decepticon space craft while the other Decepticons boarded the Ark was a clever way of explaining why Shockwave is the only character up to this point who doesn't transform into an Earth-based form.  A similar excuse was used to explain his appearance in the cartoon series.

 

This Page Created 3/1/2001
Last Update: 3/1/2001