Steve's Transformers fansite: 1989 reviews

Transformers Annual 1989

Story 1: The Quest
Story 2: Destiny of the Dinobots
Story 3: Trigger Happy
Story 4: Dreadwing Down
Story 5: Chain Gang
Price: £3.99
Writers: Simon Furman, Ian Rimmer, Steve Alan, Dan Abnett
Artwork: Dan Reed, Andy Wildman, Lee Sullivan (cover)
Rating: Art / Story

Synopses:
By Steve Bax

The Dinobots must locate a missing crystal in the Savage Land.

HiQ races against time to retrieve a power cell from the ocean floor.

Decepticon Pretenders raid an oil rig and battle the Autobots.

The annual begins with the now obligatory look at the Transformers war so far. But this is a review with a difference because it is seen through the eyes of an alien youth from another time and galaxy. His name is Dicet and he decides to use his father's experimental Trans-time pod to visit key events in the robot war. He begins with the space battle which caused the Ark to crash on Earth, then witnesses Prime's incarceration by Shockwave and escape, the Autobot leader's death and rebirth, and the creation of the Headmasters on Nebulos. Dicet is fascinated by Galvatron's rampage on Earth and the titanic events of Time Wars. Luckily he is protected by a cloaking screen which allows him to see the action up close and avoid detection. But if something goes wrong he could inadvertently commit the ultimate sin of altering history.

******

Thereafter we are transported to 1992 for the first of the comic strips. The Dinobots return to the prehistoric region of Antarctica, known as the Savage Land, on a mission to save their stricken friend Snarl. They stumble into the path of a stampede of dinosaurs and battle Tyrannosaurus Rex, Triceratops and airborne Pterodactyls. The creatures are seen off by a display of superior strength but the Dinobots are careful not to injure these animals too seriously, recognising that they are attacking out of instinct and not malice.

Afterwards Sludge casts a pitiful gaze at the stretcher-bound Snarl, who is suffering from a particularly nasty disease called Corrodia Gravis, which breaks down a victim's inner components. The Dinobots hope to retrieve a crystal from the shuttle that brought them to the Savage Land millions of years ago, in order to transfer Snarl's mind to it. When they found the ship the crystal was gone and much of the armaments had been stripped. Soon Swoop discovers dead and dying dinosaurs and realises they are in the firing line of a huge laser cannon (formerly attached to the shuttle). Grimlock tears it apart then crashes through a cave wall to discover the culprit. He meets a human palaeontologist who has been using the crystal to halt the spread of a disease that has been sending dinosaurs insane. The stampeders from earlier were apparently victims. The Dinobots agree that they cannot take the crystal so they use it to transfer Snarl's mind to a Stegosaurus instead. With the process complete they depart, leaving Snarl in the professor's care, and vowing to return with a new body for their friend.

******

In the second text story, Backstreet finds himself on the run from the military, the Decepticons, and even his fellow Autobots! It all starts when he is ordered by Optimus Prime to serve as lookout for a plan to capture the Decepticons Crankcase and Ruckus. It goes awry thanks to Backstreet rashly firing upon Needlenose, Spinster and Windsweeper against orders. Override has a go at him for wrecking the ambush and a human settlement and suggests he may be court martialled and executed! Backstreet decides his best bet is to run away, causing the Autobots to go after him, and Megatron wants to use him in a cynical attempt to poison mankind against the Autobots. The matter is neatly resolved when Prime battles Megatron in support of Backstreet, and the headstrong Triggerbot is later exonerated at his trial.

******

Dreadwing gets into a dogfight with the Aerialbots over the Atlantic and gets shot down in flames. As he plummets the Decepticon desperately tries to separate into his Darkwing and Dreadwind component forms, only to find his circuits fused. He hits the surface hard and rapidly sinks. Fireflight and Skydive report their success to group leader Silverbolt, only to earn a severe reprimand. They were supposed to force Dreadwing to land so that the Autobots could retrieve a stolen power cell that a human needs to survive. Optimus Prime recalls how Getaway's pursuit of the Decepticon Quake had caused a man to swerve off a cliff and end up badly injured. Prime's Nebulan companion HiQ tried to make amends by supplying the hospital with advanced technology to keep the patient alive. But Darkwing's Powermaster companion, Throttle, broke in and a power isotope out of the machine. He and Hi-Test planned to absorb its energy to fuel their Decepticon partners.

Prime leads the Autobot Powermasters on an expedition to retrieve the power cell from Dreadwing's cockpit. But they encounter the Seacons on the ocean floor and a fight starts. The Autobots are out of their element underwater and end up paralysed, stung and bitten by the Decepticons, but mounts an effective fight-back as possible. He knows they are running out of time because their Nebulan companions have a limited supply of air. HiQ and the other Nebulans open Dreadwing's cockpit, releasing Hi-Test and Throttle, and taking back the power cell. HiQ thinks he could absorb the energy of the cell and supply Prime with enough power to defeat the Seacons, but he knows it isn't an ethical option. With that the Nebulans return to the surface to be picked up by the Aerialbots. They think they have left Prime and the others for dead, but moments later they surface too. The Seacons had realised that Hi-Test and Throttle would drown unless they got them to safety, and decided to break off the attack and concentrate on salvaging Dreadwing. This is all good news for Joyride who can't wait to get out of the water - he's starting to rust!

******

The Decepticon Pretenders - Skullgrin, Bomburst and Iguanus, are running low on fuel so they decide to attack an oil rig just off the coast. They enslave the workers and order them to connect a huge device to the pump, which will convert the fuel into a kind that Transformers can ingest. Trouble is the humans are not cut out for lugging heavy machinery and the impatient Skullgrin has to do it himself. A NATO spy plane sees the Decepticons and radios in the danger, before noting that three 'giant men' have also climbed aboard!

The Autobot Pretenders - Cloudburst, Landmine and Splashdown, were keeping the Decepticons under surveillance and moved in once they attacked the rig. A firefight ensues and Skullgrin's stray shot manages to clip the wing of the NATO plane, circling overhead. It goes down on a direct course for the rig and Cloudburst tells Bomburst to help rescue the craft - if not it will slam into the rig and blow everyone sky high. The Decepticon agrees and both Transformers separate from their shells and transform into aircraft mode, then zoom up to the plane and support its wing until it lands. Back at the rig the Decepticons have been subdued and Bomburst is put under arrest as well. He is most aggrieved seeing as he helped out, but Cloudburst says thank you just to cheer him up.

******

Comments:

The editorial for this annual talks it up as the best ever - even topping last year's 'veritable feast' of Transformers action. I don't know about that but it does have some good moments. I am especially impressed with The Quest - the text story where Dicet time travels his way around the robot war. A very innovative way to review the story so far I thought. The writing style is really punchy and engaging too - and it's just a shame that the writer isn't credited in the book. Whoever it was, hats off to them. Triggerhappy also, I thought was very good. But the practice of having Ian Rimmer write the first part and Dan Abnett finish it off has caused a slip-up. Rimmer starts writing about Scoop, the Autobot Targetmaster, but in the Abnett's instalment he's become a Decepticon! Looks like the editor missed that one.

Strip wise, I enjoyed Dreadwing Down the most. It made good use of HiQ, who let's face it never featured very prominently for much of the run, and I liked the idea of using Nebulan technology to save the accident victim. A scientist like HiQ will have a lot of expertise to contribute to the Autobot cause but this was something the writers hardly utilised. Dan Reed's drawing style is something fans seem to like or don't, but it has always worked for me. I really liked the shot of the jet going down and thought the Seacons looked really menacing. Joyride getting electrified looked like it really hurt!! The story (like much of the annual generally) features a mix of old and new characters. The Aerialbots make a return for Dreadwing Down, appearing alongside newbies like the Powermasters and Seacons. But at this stage the Aerialbots are supposed to be laying deactivated in the medical bay (after tangling with Starscream in the Underbase Saga) and Silverbolt is mentioned as injured in the Christmas 1989 issue. So I am not sure where this story fits in the continuity.

Interesting idea, having Snarl suffer from a wasting disease. Apart from the Scraplets the idea of Transformers catching viruses is almost unheard of. It takes place in 1992 after the comic finishes its run but before G2 starts. Since Snarl is fully restored in that we have to assume that the Autobots didn't waste time building him a new body. Chain Gang is a fairly simple story but enjoyable all the same. I rather like that the writers are trying to do more with the Pretenders because they are characters that seemed to get introduced and then forgotten about, leaving fans wondering what the point was. The six getting showcased happen to be the ones that were released in the UK as toys - a coincidence? Again, I don't know where this fits with continuity but at the end Cloudburst is talking about returning them to Cybertron to face trial. I would have thought locking them up at the Ark would have been the easier option, since the homeworld is still in Decepticon hands etc.

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