Starting Over!

« The Transformers (UK) #261 » Earthforce »
First he wants "old-fashioned" Decepticons, then he complains when he gets them. Prick.
"Starting Over!"
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First published	10th March 1990
Cover date	17th March 1990
Writer	Simon Furman
Art	Staz
Letterer	Stuart Bartlett
Cover	Stephen Baskerville
Continuity	Marvel Comics continuity/Earthforce

Prowl and Wheeljack find the good old days aren't as old as they thought...

Synopsis

On a mountain in the Arizona desert, an unseen figure orders Soundwave, Drag Strip and Dead End to start the countdown on a rocket to bring the Autobots and humans to their knees.

It's not just fans who dislike gimmicks.

Below, Prowl and Wheeljack are investigating reports of Decepticon activity. They bemoan how in their day things were simple, but since being revived, they find the new era chaotic with Transformers with little men for heads or guns, with outer humanoid shells, with little men for engines, Double Targetmasters, Micromasters, and more. It all confuses Prowl, who wishes for some good old-fashioned Decepticons.

He is not disappointed when the Autobots encounter a patrol made up of Mixmaster and Long Haul. The two Constructicons give a good fight but are soon subdued. Wheeljack wonders what they were doing out here, and Prowl spots the mountain. They climb to see what is happening at the summit.

At the top, they don't find the "Microheadtargetmaster with a Pretender shell" that Wheeljack was expecting, but instead Megatron! The ex-Decepticon leader is about to launch a satellite that will release gases to trap the Sun's heat and raise Earth's temperature, making it easier to generate energon. He is unconcerned that the side effect will be global warming, melting the polar ice caps and widespread flooding. Prowl and Wheeljack whisper that they have to stop Megatron, despite facing overwhelming odds and certain death. "Just like old times!"

As Wheeljack knocks out the two Stunticons, Prowl leaps forward on the attack...

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"It begins now! A new era of Decepticon supremacy - a reign of evil that will bring the Autobots and humans to their knees! Soundwave - start the countdown! No-one can stop me now!"

—Megatron tempts fate as usual.

"Easy for Optimus Prime to say 'go check on reports of Decepticon activity in Arizona!' He might have some idea of what to expect!"
"Right, Prowl, in our day it was all straightforward! A transformer was a transformer then! One or two modes occasionally combining. You knew where you were then. You could go into battle knowing what to expect."
"Only now you've got transformers with little men for heads and guns. Transformers with outer humanoid shells, transformers whose engines are little men, double-targetmasters, micromasters...I get a headache just thinking about it!"

—Prowl and Wheeljack give a hilariously unsubtle critique of the franchise at the time.

"Well, I'll be...Constructicons! Hey, Wheeljack — it's Mixmaster and Longhaul! We know these guys!"

—Prowl

"Nnf! Should fine the answer up here."
"Big deal! Probably some microheadtargetmaster with a pretender shell!"

—Prowl and Wheeljack should stop giving Hasbro ideas.

"If I can just..."
"Here, let me help you."
"Oh, thanks-"
"Greetings, Autobot germs - you're just in time!"
"Oh, shoot..."

—Prowl and Megatron

Notes

Artwork and technical errors

• TBD

Continuity errors

• Prowl and Wheeljack talk of many developments as though they've been offline during them. However, both were deactivated during the Underbase Saga, by which time Headmasters, Targetmasters, Pretenders and Powermasters had all been established.
• Prowl mentions the Double Targetmasters. However, this particular gimmick was never shown in the comics, although several of the robots appeared without Nebulan companions.
• In Dread Tidings, Dreadwind assures a reader that "Time Wars" is part of a stable time loop and the future events will happen as before. You lying git.

Continuity notes

• Megatron's return after the events of "Skin Deep" is not explained but neither Autobot acts very surprised to see him walking around, just surprised he's on Earth: evidently, something happened between stories.
• Prowl states that Megatron is no longer Decepticon leader. Subsequent issues will demonstrate a bitter Decepticon Civil War in process.
• This story continues the process of the UK comic going "back to basics" and focusing more on the earliest Transformers, in line with the Classic rereleases in the European toyline at the time. However, it also contributes to the general continuity nightmare that is the Earthforce storyline.
• We know from "Snow Fun!" that this happens in 1990. As this story is happening during "Break-Away!", we get a very specific date of March 24th 1990 (or "NOW" as the other issue had it).
• Like Prowl and Wheeljack in this issue, Springer previously lamented the state of "Transformers these days" back in issue #173. Apparently things have gotten worse since then.

Real-life references

• The dialogue on the cover of this issue may be a reference to the opening credits of '70s Western television series Alias Smith and Jones, which contained a nearly identical exchange.
• You can take Prowl's lament about unending toy gimmicks as coming right from Simon Furman's overworked soul.

Other trivia

• TBD

Back-up material

• Additional Transformers story: "The Primal Scream"
• Other strips: G.I. Joe the Action Force - "Going Under" and Combat Colin

Cover

• Issue #261 cover: Prowl and Wheeljack are ambushed, by Stephen Baskerville.

• 

  Issue #261

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: Best of the Rarities: Soundwave and Ravage "cassette" by James Biggie.

• 

  Transformers: Earthforce
  (Titan Books, 2005)

• 

  The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 20: End of the Road
  (Hachette Partworks, 2018)

• 

  Transformers: Best of the Rarities
  (IDW Publishing, 2022)