tfwiki.net

Skin Deep - Transformers Wiki

Why would anyone EVER rehire Starscream?

Synopsis

(thumbnail)

Grimlock has never been one to mince words—only metal. No sooner is he reactivated that he goes right for the kill, tackling Megatron in his dino-mode. Still reeling from his recovery, though, he is easily dispatched by Megatron. The Decepticon laughs at Ratchet's meager attempt at treachery, but the surgeon taunts him back with the assertion that his little mindless engine of destruction, Starscream, isn't quite as perfect as he'd like.

Before he can push the issue further, Megatron is interrupted by Bumblebee, who manages to delay the fiend temporarily by blowing several neat holes in his chest. After catching up with Bumblebee and informing Jazz of the extent of his new Pretender powers, Ratchet takes off to deal with the situation on the Ark.

Meanwhile on Earth, Starscream has begun to destroy Scorponok's Decepticons in the glorious name of Megatron. As Optimus Prime finally starts to wise up on everything that's been happening over the past few hours, Starscream sends his new, invincible Pretender shell to destroy the Autobot. At Zarak's bidding, the remaining Decepticons leap into the fray as well, only now on Prime's side.

The Autobot shuttle has successfully redocked with the Ark, but even with the full allotment of Autobots available, they are having little success disarming the bomb. Their prisoner, Blackjack, is less than helpful, as he says the timing sequence simply cannot be stopped once it's begun. Knowing that they'd be unable to escape the blast radius in time, much less evacuate all their wounded from the medical bay and stasis chambers, Kup continues working on the bomb in a desperate attempt to bypass the booby-traps and disarm it.

On Cybertron, Megatron removes the threat of the Autobots by tossing each of them out through the side of his fortress, one at a time. Bidding his Powermaster and Micromaster servants to go after the Pretenders and keep them occupied, Megatron devotes his time to searching out the missing Ratchet and whatever other little surprises the medic might have in store. At that moment, Ratchet is trying to make contact with the Ark, in the hopes of helping them with their little "exploding" problem.

(thumbnail)

Ratchet likes to bring the house down.

The battle against Starscream is not faring very well at all, as he disables the last of the operational Transformers besides Optimus and Zarak. However, one of his earlier victims, the Autobot Hot Rod, manages to regain his senses long enough to photon-blast Starscream's Pretender shell, and the impact is strong enough to send sympathetic waves of pain back to the owner. As Scorponok joins in, a circuit is completed, and suddenly Starscream's personality shell program gives way, just as Ratchet intended. The whiny coward is back, and he quickly assesses the situation and begs Scorponok for lenience and sanctuary.

In his fortress, Megatron catches Ratchet fiddling with the trans-time dimensional portal. Believing the Autobot is attempting to escape, he bats him aside and begins to gloat over the sprawled body that all his enemies will soon be dead. Ratchet corrects him, informing Megatron about the glitch he installed in Starscream's new software. Furthermore, as Megatron sees with his own eyes, Ratchet wasn't trying to escape, he was bringing the Ark's explosives to the fortress. Panicking, Megatron attempts to throw himself through the portal to safety, but Ratchet tackles him. Outside, the Autobots and Decepticons cease fighting as a sudden, massive explosion consumes the entire base, and apparently Ratchet and Megatron along with it.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"Who?"
"I was going to say Goldbug, but it seems I'm back to being Bumblebee again! Ah, well, it doesn't matter! One or the other of me will blow big holes in you if you don't let Ratchet go!"
"Hah!"
[shoots big holes in Megatron's chest] "He doesn't hear as well as he used to, does he?"

—Megatron finds that Bumblebee has gotten a serious upgrade in the firearms department


Kup: "Getaway, ask the little punk how to stop the countdown!"
Getaway: "I've tried! But the "little punk" won't tell me!"
Blackjack: "Can't tell you, can't tell you! Are you deaf, Autobot? Do you think I want to die?"


"Ohno,ohno!I'monlyfourmillionyearsold! I'mtooyoungtodie!"

—Blurr


"Oh, and by the way, I wasn't trying to escape! With Cloudburst's help, I locked onto the explosives Blackjack carelessly left lying around the Ark -- and brought them here!"
"NO! You've doomed us both!"
"Well, as you demonstrated to me at the start of this whole affair, in the final analysis -- I'm expendable!"

—Ratchet gives Megatron some long-due comeuppance


"This time -- you stay dead!"

—Ratchet's final sacrifice to stop Megatron

Notes

Artwork and technical errors

Continuity errors

  • It's odd to hear Megatron refer to Bumblebee as "Goldbug", since Bumblebee only became Goldbug after Megatron disappeared in the space bridge accident. While Megatron did see Goldbug's deactivated body last issue, he didn't seem particularly curious about it, as at the time he was kicking Grimlock's head off and telling Ratchet to clear up that "mess". There's also something of a retcon in play, as at the end of the last issue Bumblebee had already emerged from his Pretender shell, but seemingly reveals himself for the first time here.
  • As the explosives could be sent into Trans-Time portal, and the Ark's shuttles could be used to evacuate, there's no clear reason the Autobots couldn't simply load the explosives onto a shuttle to get rid of them.

Continuity notes

Real-life references

  • The cover blurb is a play on the common Marvel excitement-builder "Not a hoax! Not a dream! Not an imaginary tale!", originating with X-Men #42 and revisited on occasion. ("Not an imaginary tale!" was a dig at DC Comics, who did "Imaginary Story" tales where big events like death, marriage etc could be played out for an issue) Future story developments would render the blurb untrue... just as they did for X-Men #42!

UK printing

Issue #249:

Issue #250:

Issue #251:

  • Additional Transformers story: "The Void!"
  • Other strips: G.I. Joe the Action Force - "The Lower Depths" and Combat Colin
  • AtoZ: Runabout and Runamuck

Other trivia

Bot Roster

  • Autobots: 23 active as Ratchet is lost in an explosion; 8 rogue Micromasters; 1 in storage, 28 offline, 28 presumed offline. (88 total)
  • Decepticons: 21 active as Starscream returns to the fold, 4 rogue Micromasters; 26 offline, 25 presumed offline, 4 offline/missing. (80 total)

Covers (4)

  • (thumbnail)

    US issue #59 - Admit it, who fell for that one?

  • (thumbnail)

    UK issue #249 - Ooohhh, sparkly!

  • (thumbnail)

    UK issue #250 - Merry Christmas, everyone!

  • (thumbnail)

    UK issue #251 - This reminds me of the time...

Advertisements

US

  • Trix cereal - inside front cover
  • Star Trek V: The Final Frontier figures - between pages 4 & 5
  • Nestlé Quick merchandise - between pages 5 & 6
  • NBC Saturday Morning Lineup: Kissyfur, Camp Candy, Captain N: The Game Master, The Karate Kid, Smurfs, The Chipmunks, Saved by the Bell, Alf Tales, Alf - between pages 7 & 8 (2 pages)
  • Airwolf engine powered model helicopter - between story and Nautilator profile
  • Mister Bubble - between Nautilator and Overbite profiles
  • Star Signals and Checklist - between Seawing and Skalor profiles
  • Duck Tales Magazine - between Skalor and Snaptrap profiles
  • Marvel subscription service
  • Chips Ahoy! cookies - inside back cover
  • Lucky Charms cereal (back cover)

UK

????

Reprints

  • (thumbnail)

    Transformers: Primal Scream TPB (Titan Books, 2002)

  • (thumbnail)

    Transformers: Primal Scream hardback
    (Titan Books, 2002)

  • (thumbnail)

    Classic Transformers Volume 4 (IDW Publishing, 2009)

  • (thumbnail)

    The Transformers Classics, Vol. 5
    (IDW Publishing, 2012)

  • (thumbnail)

    The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 16: The Primal Scream
    (Hachette Partworks, 2017)