Kings of the Wild Frontier.

	; Cowbots.
	"Kings of the Wild Frontier."
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First published	December 1989
Cover date	February 1990
Writer	Simon Furman
Penciler	José Delbo
Inker	Dave Hunt
Colorist	Nel Yomtov
Letterer	Jim Massara
Editor	Don Daley
Continuity	Marvel Comics continuity

The Autobots discover that the Wild West may be a little TOO wild for them.

Synopsis

"I tried to tell him this town ain't big enough for the two of us, but then I remembered which franchise we're part of."

The Triggerbots are investigating the desert planet Cheyne in their search for the Matrix. Even more so than the others, Dogfight is less than thrilled about their current assignment, and is literally itching for a fight (y'know, from the sand). When they're nearly run down by a pack of riders, and see that the riders are chasing a child, Dogfight leaps into action, and the other Autobots are forced to follow suit. Despite their protests that things aren't what they seem, the riders are driven off by the Triggerbots. They are then taken in by the child's parents, who act as gracious hosts and insist the Autobots freshen up at their farm before moving on.

Meanwhile, Thunderwing has hooked his three Autobot captives (Hosehead, Nightbeat and Siren) up to a Mind Leech device, and has extracted enough information from them to learn of the Matrix Quest. As he and his fellow Decepticons begin to set down on Cheyne, Ruckus makes an off-handed remark about how good it'll be for the Decepticons to eliminate the Autobot Matrix once and for all. Thunderwing silently disagrees, though, and is already forming plans to claim the Matrix, and its power, for himself.

Back at the ranch, Hud and his family tell the Triggerbots a sad tale about being driven off their homeworld by a political upheaval, and about trouble with "land prospectors" on this one trying to take away their farm. Once again, the Autobots allow themselves to be convinced to stay longer than they should, turning their quick stop for freshening up into an overnight stay.

Elsewhere, Optimus Prime reaches deep into himself to make psychic contact with the Matrix, but is treated to visions of a dark corruption consuming the artifact, and the face of Unicron swallowing all Transformers into oblivion.

On Cheyne, the Triggerbots have been convinced to stay even longer, and help tend Hud's farm. At this point, their minds are clearly so fogged that they cannot even remember the Matrix Quest. As Dogfight accompanies his host into the town of Osaplam for protection, he is confronted by Thunderwing and the Decepticons. After a short battle, Thunderwing examines Dogfight more closely and realizes he truly knows nothing of the Matrix, or even his own identity anymore. Discarding the Autobot as useless, Thunderwing and the others make ready to leave the planet and move on to the next.

Shaken a bit out of his fog by the beating (and the absence of Hud, who was chased out of town the moment he was separated from the Autobot), Dogfight is approached by the riders he had attacked the day before. They explain the family's evil nature to him, and Dogfight rushes back to the ranch to confront Hud and the others. At gunpoint, he forces Hud to reveal his true form, as a Vrobian psychic vampire that has been feeding off of the Matrix life-energy in all of them, a slow and wasting process made possible by the family's ability to psychically pacify their prey. In this case though, revealed as he is, Hud opts for a plasma cannon. As he blasts Dogfight out of the building, the rest of the family lunge for the other Triggerbots' guns just as they begin to snap out of their funk.

Chasing Dogfight around the property, Hud taunts him, saying the Autobot warrior is too pathetic to understand true warfare. Dogfight denies this, saying that Autobots know full well the horrors of war, yet must engage in it anyway. He crushes Hud's rifle as it is firing, and the backfire kills the Vrobian. Dogfight reunites with Backstreet and Override to learn that they had to similarly deal with the others. The three Autobots are left standing alone in the empty farm, wondering what the point of it all was.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Others
Override (1) Dogfight (2) Backstreet (3) Nightbeat (8) Hosehead (10) Siren (11) Optimus Prime (17)	Thunderwing (9) Ruckus (12) Spinister (13) Needlenose (14) Windsweeper (16)	Junior (4) Hud (5) Jed (6) Joe (7) Fatale (15) Unicron (18)

Quotes

"I've had enough! I'm a warrior, not a bloodhound! I... WANT... A... FIGHT!"

—Dogfight has had his fill of Matrix-hunting

"Wait, Dogfight! We don't know --"
"How much do you need to know? Four heavily armed goons chasin' a kid? C'mon! Oh, man, I am going to enjoy this so much!"

— Override learns just why they call him Dogfight

"Greetings, organisms. I am Thunderwing, these are my Decepticons. I suggest you stand aside, we have business here that doesn't involve lower lifeforms such as yourselves!"

— Thunderwing chats up the locals

"Hah! It is as I suspected. The Autobot is under some form of mental control. In his enthralled state, he has forgotten his quest, his past -- perhaps even his name! Come, leave him to his befuddled oblivion! The proud Autobot warrior, lost in a fog of passive amnesia! A more cruel, torturous fate even I could not have devised!"

— Thunderwing

"You're wrong! We live and breathe warfare day in and day out! It's the only life some of us have ever known! We know exactly how to fight -- we just don't like doing it!"

— Dogfight

"Matrix forgive me! He left me no choice. The others...?"
"Don't ask. It was us or them."

—Dogfight and Backstreet are really having a bad day

Notes

Artwork and technical errors

Crankcase is depicted on the cover, despite the fact that he is not one of Thunderwing's troops for this story.
José Delbo appears to have interpreted Dogfight's guns as being ones that he holds, rather than parts of his arms. When he's not using them, they're "holstered" on his hips.

Continuity errors

The Ark has an altar. A few issues back in "Yesterday's Heroes!", Bumblebee stated that he forgot they had a god. Maybe Prime had it built after the rediscovery of Primus.
The art of Prime's falling into the altar is awkwardly redrawn from issue #50 (see image).

Continuity notes

Thunderwing captured the Autobot Headmasters in the previous issue.

Real-life references

The story is an obvious Western homage. While it combines elements from many Western films, the plot bears a (slight) resemblance to Shane, which is probably the inspiration for the name of the planet, "Cheyne". The title is also lifted from "The Ballad of Davy Crockett". The town name, Osaplam, is "Malpaso" backwards - as in, the many Western films released by Malpaso Productions. The character named Hud is likewise a reference to yet another famous Western.

UK printing

Issue #282:

Additional Transformers story: "Shut Up!"
Other strips: G.I. Joe the Action Force - "Into the Breach" and Combat Colin
AtoZ: Tailgate and Tantrum
In the box at the top left-hand corner of the cover, an unknown Transformer is attacking Optimus Prime. The attacker's identity will be revealed in #284.

Issue #283:

Additional Transformers story: "Manoeuvres!"
Other strips: G.I. Joe the Action Force - "Into the Breach" and Combat Colin
AtoZ: Thundercracker and Thrust
- This was the only time AtoZ was printed in black and white and after readers' complaints the profiles were reprinted in issue #309, this time in full colour.

Issue #284:

Additional Transformers story: "Assassins"
Other strips: G.I. Joe the Action Force - "Into the Breach" and Combat Colin
AtoZ: Topspin and Tracks
In the box in the top left hand of the cover Dreadwind now appears, having pushed Optimus Prime out over the last two issues. His permanent cover pose and Hi-Test appear from the next issue.

Issue #285:

Additional Transformers story: "External Forces!"
Other strips: G.I. Joe the Action Force - "Into the Breach" and Combat Colin
AtoZ: Trailbreaker and Trypticon

Other trivia

Transformers Universe profiles for Dogfight and Override are found after the main story.

Courtesy of my...

The Triggerbots are said to be carrying dual phase concussion blasters on their hips.

Foreign Localization

Swedish

Title (1990): "Civilisationens Räddningspatrull" ("The Rescue Party of Civilization")
Title (2019): "Dom Vilda Viddernas Kungar" ("The Kings of the Wild Expanses")

Covers (5)

US cover: Cowboy Thunderwing, by Ian Akin.
UK issue #282 cover: scary Bludgeon, by John Marshall and Pete Venters.
UK issue #283 cover: Octane on the firing range, by Robin Smith.
UK issue #284 cover: a sniper stalks Starscream, by Kirk Etienne.
UK issue #285 cover: Soundwave vs Starscream, by Stewart Johnson.

US issue #63 - "Ah've come for my nice cover. No? Oh."
UK issue #282 - A ghost samurai robot skeleton!
UK issue #283 - Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time.
UK issue #284 - Not the crotch! Not the crotch!
UK issue #285 - Starscream needs to get more in touch with his mothering instincts.

Reprints

Transformers: Matrix Quest TPB: Thunderwing, Rodimus Prime, Shockwave and half of Primus, by Andrew Wildman.
Transformers: Matrix Quest HC: Thunderwing with the Creation Matrix, by Pat Lee.
Best of Transformers: Eye of the Storm: Optimus Prime, Ravage and Skywarp, by Andrew Wildman.
Classic Transformers Volume 5: panels from this issue, "Eye of the Storm", "Deadly Obsession" and "...All This and Civil War 2".
The Transformers Classics, Vol. 5 cover: Prowl, by Guido Guidi.
Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection, Volume 17: Matrix Quest: Nightbeat and Prime's corpse by Makoto Ono and Geoff Senior.

Matrix Quest TPB (Titan Books, 2002)
Matrix Quest hardback (Titan Books, 2002)
Best of Transformers: Eye of the Storm (Titan Books, 2008)
Classic Transformers Volume 5 (IDW Publishing, 2009)
The Transformers Classics, Vol. 5 (IDW Publishing, 2013)
Definitive G1 Collection vol. 17: Matrix Quest (Hachette Partworks, Ltd., 2018)

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