Break-Away!
From Transformers Wiki
| The name or term "Breakaway" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Breakaway (disambiguation). |
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 Grimlock kept failing his audition to be the new host of The Apprentice. | |||||||||||||
| "Break-Away!" | |||||||||||||
| Publisher | Marvel Comics | ||||||||||||
| First published | 24th March 1990 | ||||||||||||
| Cover date | 31st March 1990 | ||||||||||||
| Writer | Simon Furman | ||||||||||||
| Art | Staz | ||||||||||||
| Letterer | Stuart Bartlett | ||||||||||||
| Cover | Stephen Baskerville | ||||||||||||
| Continuity | Marvel Comics continuity/Earthforce | ||||||||||||
The different values of Optimus Prime and Grimlock go head to head.
Contents |
Synopsis
Aboard the Ark, Grimlock declares that he and the other Dinobots are again quitting from the Autobot army, perhaps for good this time. However, Optimus Prime doesn't react much, being more concerned with Unicron than tantrums. Highbrow is worried, as the Autobots need the Dinobots' raw strength, whilst Grimlock is furious that his attitude is dismissed as a mere tantrum. He picks up the table and throws it at the wall. Then as he and Prime once more argue their philosophies, Grimlock challenges Prime for the leadership and declares they will decide by combat.
The two Autobots fight each other and prove evenly matched. Ten minutes later, Getaway and Swoop look at the two still struggling and decide to call it a draw. Suddenly, Optimus Prime and Grimlock burst out laughing. Prime declares that Grimlock has beaten some sense into him and declares that the Dinobot leader is now appointed "Autobot Commander: Earth". He only asks for restraint. Grimlock responds that he accepts and will be restrained. Prime asks who will go with him as he will need more troops than the Dinobots.
At this point, Jazz, Bumblebee, Sunstreaker, Ironhide, and Silverbolt declare that they will go. They have just heard from Prowl and Wheeljack about how they stopped Megatron's plan to destroy Earth's atmosphere, but are in trouble and need help. Optimus Prime gives them his blessing and tells them to go quickly!
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots |
|---|
|
Quotes
"Me quit!"
- —Grimlock starts us out on a good note.
"Well?"
"Well what? If you wish to leave - leave! With Unicron pressing ever closer to Cybertron, intent it seems on its destruction, I have no time to deal with tantrums!
"Tantrums? Tantrums!!"
- —Grimlock makes a scene and Optimus Prime hilariously shuts him down.
"That wasn't tantrum...[Tears the table out of the floor] This tantrum!"
- —Grimlock
Notes
Artwork and technical errors
- Prime says "me must" instead of "we must".
Continuity errors
- Grimlock says "I" instead of "Me" on the cover.
- This is quietly ignored in the US stories too but: last time Bumblebee worked for Grimlock, he ended up going AWOL from the Dinobot's mad tyranny and had people sent to hunt him down. Yet here he is willingly working for Grimlock with not even a hint of the problems that ran in so many comics!
Continuity notes
- Clues to help or befuddle anyone trying to work out when the Earthforce stories are set include:
- The opening caption says "The time: Now."
- Optimus Prime is concerned about Unicron heading for Cybertron.
- Grimlock attacks Prime for bringing the war to Earth, as seen waaaay back in #1 and a recurring source of guilt. Hardball, Grimlock.
- Grimlock's likely reason for wanting to quit is the events of the previous issue, "Two Steps Back!".
- Grimlock is actually bothered what happens to us dumb stubbies, a huge change from his early days.
- Optimus is flanked by a Headmaster, a Powermaster, a Targetmaster, a Pretender and a Micromaster: explicitly old toys versus new toys.
- Take that caption literally, it happens on March 24th! This works out quite well as "Snow Fun!", running right after "Life in the Slow Lane" (which says Prowl's been MIA for "days"), takes place on April 1st.
- Jazz just shows up and strangely enough, his Pretender shell is nowhere to be seen. Well, that artificial New VS Old thing wouldn't work so well if Grimlock, Jazz, and later Bumblebee were sporting their shiny new clothes. (Transformers Annual 1990 would handwave that Jazz just prefers to fight without it.)
Real-life references
- TBD
Other trivia
- TBD
Back-up material
- Additional Transformers story: "Bird of Prey!"
- Other strips: G.I. Joe the Action Force - "Manoeuvring for Position" and Combat Colin
Cover
- Issue #263 cover: Grimlock thumps a table in front of Optimus Prime, by Stephen Baskerville.
Issue #263
Reprints
- Transformers: Earthforce cover: Grimlock thumps a table — crop of the cover to UK issue #263, by Stephen Baskerville.
- Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 20: End of the Road: Bludgeon (art reused from Dreamwave's More than Meets the Eye profiles) above an interior scene of Grimlock punching through Fangry (from US issue #80), by Andrew Wildman.
Transformers: Earthforce
(Titan Books, 2005)
The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 20: End of the Road
(Hachette Partworks, 2018)
