Salvage!

« The Transformers (UK) #160–161 »
The new series of Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) doesn't go well.
"Salvage!"
Publisher	Marvel Comics
Cover date	9th April 1988 - 16th April 1988
Script	Simon Furman
Art	Lee Sullivan
Colour	Euan Peters
Letters	Tom Frame (160), Glib (161)
Continuity	Marvel Comics continuity

Shockwave resurrects Megatron and primes him as a weapon to use against Galvatron.

Synopsis

In London, Virgin boss Richard Branson finances a clean-up operation to remove the remains of Megatron and Centurion from the bottom of the River Thames where they had been since their battle a bit ago.

Richard Branson begins his quest to get a cameo role in everything.

No sooner have they been lifted clear than the Seacon Jawbreaker leaps from the water and cuts the chains holding them to the cranes. Thrust, Dirge, Ramjet & Blitzwing then swoop in and attach suction cups, before carrying them away to Shockwave.

A few hours later, the Sparkler Mini-Bots finish digging Ultra Magnus out from underneath Mount Verona. Ultra Magnus is at first disoriented; haunted by the memory of Galvatron and the many defeats he had suffered at his hands. Catching sight of Megatron and Centurion being flown past by the Decepticons, the Autobots decide to follow after them.

Some time later in the Decepticon Fortress, Snap Trap has repaired Megatron's body but his mind is broken. Shockwave is planning to use him as a weapon against Galvatron and so orders Snap Trap to use the psycho-probe in an attempt to repair his mind.

Ultra Magnus and the Sparklers, having made their way to the base of the fortress, are discussing how they will stop the Decepticons from reactivating Megatron. However, they have not got far when - to Ultra Magnus's dismay - Galvatron, who has been spying on Shockwave, reveals his presence and tells them that he cannot allow them to interfere with Megatron's resurrection.

Inside the fortress, the psycho-probe is forcing Megatron to confront his deepest fears through a series of visions; unfortunately, he is not handling this very well and is terrified of an image of Optimus Prime.

Ultra Magnus is having similar problems outside when confronted by Galvatron and is also cowering in fear, much to Galvatron's amusement.

Megatron is confronted by a second image, this time of Lord Straxus, the Decepticon leader from Cybertron, who had attempted to take over his body. Straxus taunts Megatron and destroys the image of Optimus Prime, telling Megatron that, soon, he will be in control. This finally snaps Megatron from his fearful state and he attacks, ripping the image of Straxus apart.

Having finally defeated his inner demons, Megatron's mind snaps back to sanity. Shockwave takes the moment of opportunity this affords him to use the psycho-probe on him, brainwashing Megatron into believing that Galvatron is his enemy and that he must destroy him.

Outside, Galvatron is taunting Ultra Magnus, who has become paralysed with fear. Galvatron begins to beat up the Sparklers, while Ultra Magnus stands impotently by. Still haunted by his many defeats, Ultra Magnus ultimately forces himself to confront his fear and he attacks Galvatron. Driven by fear turned to rage, he manages to beat Galvatron who retreats. Ultra Magnus, with a renewed confidence, declares that the next time he meets Galvatron will be the last.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"There we are. Two giant robots, as promised. And to think, you doubted I could deliver!"
"I've got to hand it to you, Mister Branson, that's one heck of a bit of litter."

—Richard Branson and a reporter have a low opinion of Cybertronians.

"Mister Branson - shark!"
"What are you talking about, man? This is the Thames!"
"Yeah, and that's a shark's fin! You gonna tell him he's in the wrong place?"

—Colby and Richard Branson

"Ultra Magnus - how nice to see you again!"
"NOOOOO!"

—Galvatron triggers Ultra Magnus's PTSD.

"NOOO! You're - you're dead...dead! I saw you die! OPTIMUS PRIME! Please...please...stay back! I-I didn't mean...to kill you..."

—Megatron

"Our last battle ended with both of us buried alive under tons of molten lava. I could deal with that...Ultra Magnus evidently couldn't. I fear, Sparklers, that your friend...has fought his last battle!"

—Galvatron references a meme.

Notes

Production notes

Original (left), Hachette reprint (right). The nightmare year of 2018 continues

• Hatchette's reprint in 2018 saw Richard Branson changed into "Mister Johnson", ruining the greatest moment in Transformers history. Lee Sullivan was brought back to redraw Branson's hair and chin. As Simon Furman explains: "In the absence of actual paperwork from those dim distant days proving we had Branson's permission to use his likeness, it was decided to err on the side of caution. I did actually try and contact Branson. But in the end we got Lee Sullivan to make art changes... to his own art."^[1]

Artwork and technical errors

• Lee Sullivan only had one reference photo of Branson to work off of, which is why two of the three close shots of his face are pretty much identical.
• For some reason, Snaptrap's head is permanently hidden by shadow in every panel he appears in. Perhaps Sullivan had spilt tea all over the top of his reference sheets?
• When Ultra Magnus is freaking out about Galvatron, his mouth is full of what looks like spit. Cybertronians salivate?

Continuity errors

• TBD

Continuity notes

• Shockwave decided to use Megatron as a weapon against Galvatron at the end of "Enemy Action!"
• Here Megatron is forced to confront a vision of Lord Straxus, whose mind has infected Megatron's after the botched mind swap in "Resurrection!" He defeats him subconsciously, thereby giving him the strength to reassert his own personality. Ironically this Megatron is later shown in "Two Megatrons!" to be a clone created by Straxus that became infected with Megatron's personality.
• Despite Ultra Magnus's vow to defeat Galvatron once and for all the next time they meet, this is actually the last time the present day Magnus would come face to face with his foe. So he didn't really break his promise; the opportunity just never came up. (It would have but the plans had to be dropped.)^[2] The future version of Ultra Magnus would travel back in time during Time Wars to confront Galvatron but the Autobot's actions in no way led to Galvatron's defeat.
• The Decepticon Fortress was first built by the Decepticons in "Power Play!" and later abandoned in "I, Robot-Master!".
• Dirge is uncharacteristically alive in this story because the UK continuity ignored the events of the G.I. Joe and the Transformers mini-series in which he was killed off.
• Snap Trap is the one performing surgery on Megatron. Does Shockwave have no-one more suited in his employment that "the butcher of the bogs" is the best choice for this?

Real-life references

• Richard Branson is a very rich British guy responsible for the Virgin range of companies. At the time of the story, he was involved in a Keep Britain Tidy campaign.

Back-up material

Issue #160

• Back-up strips: Action Force - "Serpentor" and Combat Colin
• In Grim Grams, Grimlock says that Primus recreated Hot Rod in his own image as Rodimus Prime.^[3] (Which is a bit wonky, as Hot Rod and Rodimus Prime look pretty much the same as each other, and therefore BOTH of them look like Primus, but hey ho.)

Issue #161

• Back-up strips: Action Force - "Road Safety - from the Air!", Action Force - "Battle Island" and Combat Colin

Covers (2)

• Issue #160 cover: Ultra Magnus rising from the lava, by Bryan Hitch.
• Issue #161 cover: Megatron confronted by Prime, by Bryan Hitch.

• 

  Issue #160

• 

  Issue #161

Reprints

• Transformers Summer Special 1994 cover: Optimus Prime opening the Matrix, by Stewart Johnson.
• Transformers: Space Pirates: Rodimus Prime, Arcee and Wreck-Gar have a little problem with Quintessons, by Geoff Senior and Oliver Harud.
• The Transformers Classics UK Volume 5: the head of Unicron watches over Triton swapping his badge, Zombie Impactor attacking Springer, a fleeing Cyclonus and Scourge and an angry Flame, by Andrew Wildman.
• Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection Volume 12: Cosmic Carnival: Skullgrin and the Cosmic Carnival by Don Figueroa, Frank Springer and Danny Bulanadi.

• 

  Summer Special 1994 (Marvel Comics UK, 1994)

• 

  Transformers: Space Pirates (Titan Books, 2003)

• 

  Classics UK Volume 5 (IDW Publishing, 2014)

• 

  The Definitive G1 Collection Volume 12: Cosmic Carnival (Hachette Partworks, 2018)

References