Slugslinger's Ambition

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"Slugslinger's Ambition" スラッグスリンガーの野望 (Slugslinger no Yabō)
First published	February 14, 2018
Manga	Hayato Sakamoto
Continuity	Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity
Chronology	Late 1980s, 2011, 2021 (G1 World) 2017 (Legends World)

Slugslinger's true colors come to light during a great battle over a valuable device.

Synopsis

On 1980s Earth, Wheeljack presents his latest invention to the other Autobots: the Transform Super Cog, a device that can grant Transformers new transformations and combinations. He assures a wary Optimus Prime that there's no chance of the Decepticons coming for the cog without triggering his new alarm system, unaware that it's currently being dismantled by infiltrators Overkill and Slugfest. The cassettes are soon followed by Megatron and the Decepticon army, including new additions Slugslinger, Misfire, and Triggerhappy, who make short work of the Autobots' own newbie, Pointblank. Megatron is pleased and taunts Starscream that his days as Air Commander may be numbered, and when Starscream protests that he's superior to the new jets, he gets blasted by Slugslinger. The other two prove less impressive, however, as Misfire accidentally shoots Slugslinger in the back and Triggerhappy's random firing has the other Decepticons keeping far away.

Runabout and Runamuck successfully ram through the Autobot defenses and seize the Super Cog, but are in turn taken down by Topspin and Twin Twist, two new Autobot soldiers with a mysterious secret. These Jumpstarters proceed to defeat who they believe is Megatron, though they realize too late their victory was over Megatron's double, Megaplex, allowing the real deal to sic Sunstorm on them. Soundwave deploys a squad of new cassettes to finish them off, but Enemy's attack is blocked by Nightstalker, who confronts his old comrade Ravage over a past betrayal. In the chaos, Slugslinger uses his specialty—shooting people in the back—to steal the Super Cog from the Jumpstarters, then asks Megatron to transform into gun mode and finish off the Autobots. When he does so, however, Slugslinger fuses both the cog and Megatron to his wrist, allowing him to take control of his leader's mighty firepower. Announcing his intent to become the next Emperor of Destruction, he guns down Megatron's loyalists (and Starscream) as well as Optimus Prime.

As he lies injured, Optimus Prime tells Ironhide, Prowl, Sunstreaker, and Mirage that they will fight cogs with cogs: inspired by a previous battle, the five of them have modified their own transformation cogs to be able to combine, albeit the process is not yet perfected. Their combined form, Optimus Maximus, severs Slugslinger's Megatron arm with a karate chop, and the jet flees with the other Decepticons hot on his heels to punish him for his treachery. Optimus Maximus then captures Megatron, only for the Decepticon leader to emit a mysterious energy wave that separates the combiner, leaving Optimus Prime taking on his nemesis one on one. When Megatron gets up after being knocked into a wall, however, his body has turned black, and Wheeljack warns Optimus that he's emitting quantum surge energy. Megatron realizes the shock from the battle has caused "something" to awaken within him and dubs his new form "Transmetal Megatron", but instead of continuing the battle, he departs to take revenge on Slugslinger, warning the Autobots that they'll get a taste of his newfound power soon enough.

To avoid punishment, Slugslinger and his comrades flee into space and remain there until Megatron-turned-Galvatron is defeated in 2011, at which point they return to the Decepticons. By coincidence he then becomes a Targetmaster, and when his partner Caliburst mutates in the Legends World and becomes capable of firing anti-electrons, he finds he finally has the power to act on his ambitions again...

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Notes

• This story features many lesser-known Generation 1 characters, many making their earliest chronological appearance in Japanese continuity, and some making their first ever visual appearance in Japanese continuity.

Continuity notes

• Perceptor hopes the super cog can be used to repair Metroplex, who was left damaged after events told in Vol. 42.
• Overkill and Slugfest make their second appearance in Japanese continuity, following the Generation 1 episode "Call of the Primitives".
  • The pair are also depicted weaponless at the beginning of the comic based on their animation errors in the Generation 1 cartoon, but have their weapons appear seemingly out of nowhere similar to Ravage's weapons in "More than Meets the Eye, Part 2".
• Runabout and Runamuck similarly make their third appearance in Japanese continuity, having not appeared since the 1986 cartoon episodes "Chaos" and "Ghost in the Machine".
• Nightstalker recalls Ravage's time as an Autobot imperial guard, a backstory based on the Marvel UK text story "State Games" that introduced Nightstalker. Their shared past and the body-strengthening ability used by Nightstalker previously appeared in Bonus Edition Vol. 37.
• The Autobots' previous combiner adventure took place in the episode "Masquerade", and their newfound combination technique is dubbed the "Masquerade Project". This also provides a proper explanation for Optimus Maximus's unexplained appearance in the Unite Warriors manga, leaving some leeway as to why they never used it elsewhere by throwing it out there that the process is unstable.
• Megaplex was first established in Japanese continuity by his 2003 Collector's Edition figure, which came with a bio card mentioning his decoy clone function.
• Megatron's Transmetal transformation is a retelling of the 2009 e-HOBBY pack-in comic "Destron Leader Megatron Black Ver.", which is here provided with a conclusion in that Megatron just sorta... leaves.

Transformers references

• The first panel is drawn to look like the title screen of an episode of the Japanese version of the Generation 1 cartoon.
• Though originating as Diaclone molds, the Jumpstarters Topspin and Twin Twist were never released in Japan in the 1980s; thus, this is their first appearance in Japanese Generation 1 continuity.
• Sunstorm borrows from his religious characterization in the Dreamwave comic continuity, shouting about striking down the Autobots with divine lightning.
• Stripes, Nightstalker, Wingthing, and Enemy's appearance here ties into their recent Masterpiece toy set.
• In a reference to an animation error in "Starscream's Brigade", a black Thrust makes a cameo in the Decepticon crowd.