All the Familiar Faces!

	; Ragh! Smash Spider-Man for stealing cover space! Ragh!
	"All the Familiar Faces!"
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First published	July 1989
Cover date	November 1989
Writer	Simon Furman
Penciler	José Delbo
Inker	Dave Hunt
Colorist	Nelson Yomtov
Letterer	Jim Massara
Editor	Don Daley
Continuity	Marvel Comics continuity

Why would anyone EVER deliberately bring Starscream back to life?

Synopsis

In Megatron's base on Cybertron, Ratchet has responded well to the medical challenge and advanced technology being used to re-corporate Starscream. Almost too well—he has to rein himself in and remember he is being forced to work on this project. As Megatron leaves him to continue his work, Ratchet takes special note of the three deactivated Autobots he brought with him from the Ark, and the three prototype Pretender shells Megatron has on display. He resolves to... stay busy. Megatron offers Deadwind and Darkwing permanent jobs and they like the idea, especially as they are not entirely sure they managed to lose the Mecannibals. Outside, two of the creatures consume a dead Transformer...

Back on Earth, Optimus Prime has had enough of being jerked around, and makes a command decision—the other Autobots are to make their way to the shuttle and return to the Ark as quickly as possible to deal with whatever threat Ratchet might be facing up there. He nominates himself to stay and cover their retreat from any reprisal by Scorponok and the Decepticons. As the Autobots reluctantly follow Prime's orders, the Decepticons swarm over Optimus, pressing him to the ground. Seeing this, Hot Rod chooses to leap free of the rising shuttle at the last minute, and rushes back to his leader's aid.

No need, though. Optimus Prime once again demonstrates why he's the most hardcore pacifist around. With one shrug of his mechanical muscles, he sends the three Decepticons attacking him flying. He then approaches Lord Zarak to calmly discuss the situation, and continues to do so even after taking a point blank zap from Scorponok's tail to the chest. Prime does his best to make Zarak see reason, that they both have been manipulated by the Air Strike Patrol and whoever is truly giving them orders.

Speaking of "whoever", Megatron is checking on Ratchet's progress and finds Starscream completely repaired and completely mindless... just as Megatron likes him. Per Megatron's instructions, Ratchet has rendered Starscream's mind a total blank slate, with none of that pesky screeching and overthrowing to get in the way of his uses as a warrior. But, as Ratchet tells Megatron that it's time for him to uphold his end of the bargain and disable the explosives on the Ark, the Decepticon laughs at him and prepares to send the detonation order anyway.

Needless to say, Ratchet is hardly surprised, but it is also too soon for the counter-plans he has set in motion to bear fruit. Desperate for time, he triggers an explosion in the laboratory to escape his Micromaster guards. As he runs through the corridors, though, he finds that Megatron has already sent Starscream to Earth by way of the dimensional portal, thanks to a pre-programmed set of personality commands. He then runs into Megatron himself. Uh-oh.

On the Ark, Blackjack is almost done setting the explosives, when he realizes the other Autobots are on their way back in the shuttle. Looking for a weapon to blast them with, Blackjack runs into Kup, who has reactivated and is pointing a gun in his face. Startled, the Micromaster drops the triggering mechanism, starting the countdown on the copious amounts of explosives.

Just as Optimus and Zarak reach an accord on Earth, Starscream arrives through the dimension portal, pre-programmed to hail the glories of Megatron for all who will listen. Oh, and destroy all who are listening, too. Mustn't forget that.

Back on Cybertron, Megatron is interrupted in his execution of Ratchet by some bad news: his other Pretender prototypes have mysteriously begun glowing. Putting two and two together, the Decepticon tyrant realizes what has become of the deactivated Autobots just as Jazz, Bumblebee and Grimlock spring to life... as Pretenders!

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Nebulans	Misc
Ratchet (2) Joyride (4) Pinpointer (see Errors, below) (5) Grimlock (7) Goldbug/Bumblebee (8) Jazz (9) Kup (16) Hot Rod (17) Getaway (18) Blurr (19) Slapdash (?) (20) Optimus Prime (21) Chromedome (22) Landmine (29)	Starscream (1) Megatron (3) Blackjack (6) Darkwing (G1) (10) Dreadwind (11) Detour (12) Hyperdrive (13) Road Hugger (14) Mindwipe (23) Iguanus (24) Scorponok (25) Triggerhappy (26) Skullcruncher (27) Weirdwolf (30)	Zarak (28)	Mecannibals (15)

Quotes

"Like a flawless Lysken crystal, my plan reveals perfect facet within perfect facet. The abduction of you, Ratchet, the recovery of Starscream's shattered remains, the maipulation of the Air Strike Patrol. Facets of revenge!"

—Megatron is the Megatroniest.

"Though I enjoy spinning subtle webs of deceit and trickery, I must admit -- wholesale destruction is just so much more satisfying!"

—Blackjack

Detour: "Quit shovin' me, Dreadwind, or I'll--"
Dreadwind: "You'll what? Gimme a break, half-pint!"
Hyperdrive: "Do it, Detour! Give him a break -- a broken arm -- a broken leg!"

—Hyperdrive, ever the instigator

"Someone's pulling the strings, Zarak... and it's neither of us! ...Decide, Zarak -- are you your own robot, or just someone else's automaton? Decide!"

—Optimus Prime can talk almost anybody out of fighting!

"Where's this hunk 'a junk's weaponry? Blast it, some days you just can't find a gun when you need one--ulp! Kup!"

—Blackjack - face-to-muzzle with Kup's gun - should know better than to provide fate with that kind of opening

Notes

Artwork and technical errors

Somehow he gave Jazz's future shell his robot face in the second version. Nel Yomtov promptly fell for it.

In this issue, José Delbo recycles the poses from two panels from the previous issue (a "self-swipe", if you will):
- The first case, panel 4 on page 2, is somewhat excusable, as it's meant to be a flashback (to panel 6 on page 8 of the previous issue, to be precise). Despite being nearly identical in almost every detail, the panel is in fact redrawn - right down to including a bulk-sized Pinpointer as one of the defeated Autobots!
- Less excusable is panel 2 on page 3 of this issue, which recycles the poses of the future Pretender shells for Grimlock, Jazz and Bumblebee from panel 6 on page 11 of the previous issue.

Continuity errors

TBD

Continuity notes

Part of the reason Zarak decides to trust Optimus Prime is that he recalls Prime's selflessness when it came to the Underbase in "Dark Star".
This being 1989, Hot Rod has yet to learn about interfering with "Prime's fights".
The fate of the Mecannibals would be revealed in the UK story "Out to Lunch!" However, due to the UK comic suspending its printing of the US material and running reprints of old UK stories for eleven issues, "Out to Lunch" appeared six issues before the Mecannibal scene here.

Real-life references

TBD

Bot Roster

Autobots: 24 active as the Classic Pretenders are restored; 8 rogue Micromasters; 1 in storage, 28 offline, 27 presumed offline. (88 total)
Decepticons: 20 active, 4 rogue Micromasters; 26 offline, 25 presumed offline, 4 offline/missing. (79 total)

UK printing

Issue #246:

Additional Transformers story: "Demons!"
Other strips: Action Force - "Law of the Jungle!" and Combat Colin

Issue #247:

Additional Transformers story: "Dawn of Darkness"
Other strips: Action Force - "Law of the Jungle!" and Combat Colin
Classic Covers Calendar: The twelfth and final in a series of monthly calendars that showcased inks from covers of yesteryear with new colours. This December edition used Barry Kitson's inks from issue 145.

Issue #248:

Additional Transformers story: "Fallen Star!"
Other strips: G.I. Joe the Action Force - "The Lower Depths" and Combat Colin
- From now on the Action Force back-up strip was now titled G.I. Joe the Action Force, although the cover logo would not change until issue #249.

Other trivia

Transformers Universe profiles for the Technobots are found after the main story.

Covers (4)

US issue #58 cover: a bizarre and mad Optimus Prime, by José Delbo.
UK issue #246 cover: a Demon in Seawatch's eye, by Stewart Johnson.
UK issue #247 cover: Demons and Classic Pretender Autobots, by Jeff Anderson.
UK issue #248 cover: Classic Pretenders, by Geoff Senior.

US issue #58 - Introducing Hate Plague Optimus Prime!
UK issue #246 - Um, is it a chair?
UK issue #247 - They'd never look that scary again.
UK issue #248 - Wow, an actual UK cover that references a US story!

Reprints

Transformers: Primal Scream TPB cover: Grimlock, Goldbug, Pretender Starscream, and half of Primus, by Andrew Wildman.
Primal Scream hardback cover: Grimlock victorious over the Sports Car Patrol, by Dave Gibbons.
Classic Transformers Volume 4cover: panels from US issues #59 and #60, pencils by José Delbo, inks by Dave Hunt and colours by Nel Yomtov.
The Transformers Classics, Vol. 5 cover: Prowl, by Guido Guidi.
Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection:Volume 16: The Primal Scream: Optimus Prime by Guido Guidi above an interior scene of the Megatron vs Grimlock.

Transformers: Primal Scream TPB (Titan Books, 2002)
Transformers: Primal Scream hardback
(Titan Books, 2002)
Classic Transformers Volume 4 (IDW Publishing, 2009)
The Transformers Classics, Vol. 5
(IDW Publishing, 2012)
The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 16: The Primal Scream
(Hachette Partworks, 2017)

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All the Familiar Faces!

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