Issue 12, 23 February 1985.
Written by: Steve Parkhouse.
Art by: Mike Collins.
Colours by: Gina Hart.
Letters by: Richard Starkings.
Cover art: I think this might also be Mike Collins, although I couldn't be sure.
Plot: The army have unearth an unknown object - actually an Autobot rescue craft, sent after the Ark many moons ago. Chaos soon breaks loose as the Man of Iron emerges from a nearby panel in the ground, and some Decepticons turn up to scrap him. A final act by the Autobots on the scene sends the Decepticons scurrying. Reluctantly, the Autobots are forced to destroy the rescue craft and (unknowingly) its occupant - they can hardly leave Earth now with the Decepticons running around on it as they are.
Wicked dialogue: Not really dialogue, but this is from the narration, after it has described the dormant Navigator within the craft, then turned its attention to Jazz: 'Jazz could know none of this. He only knew of his friendship with a small boy...and what could happen if his enemies prevailed.'
First appearances: The Man of Iron, the Autobot Navigator (well, it's his first appearance in the metal, as it were).
Awkward Self-Introductions: Obviously the Man of Iron feels especially awkward about all this, as he never says a word.
Miserable glitches: Why do the Autobots conclude they have to destroy the rescue craft and all within there and then? Even if they don't plan on going anywhere, surely a ship, or at least the stuff in it, would be useful to have around? And shouldn't Optimus Prime (you know, like, the leader of the Autobots) have known that someone would be within? (But I guess he could have thought that was the Man of Iron. Or maybe that's why he has a tactician like Prowl on staff.)
Back-up strip: Machine Man - Kill Me or Cure Me.
Notes: I'm using, as with the rest of this story, the recoloured reprint from the American comic (issue 34, in this case).
I can't tell if this is just an anomaly from the US reprint, but on the cover of the British issue, Jazz is ramming into Thundercracker. In the panel this is reproduced from, it's Starscream. (I know I shouldn't be judging a comic by its cover, but we're talking about the same panel here.)
Comments: OK, this was a pretty good conclusion, I have to say, but I still think the story didn't need to be as long as it was. And such a pity we had to wait for the end of his title story for the Man or Iron to actually show up for real, and then he got blown to bits after two pages. The whole story, really, has a very different feel to it, not just from the stories before, but from any story after. In some ways, the atmosphere makes it feel more 'grown up', even with a kid as one of its lead characters. With the high pace we've come to expect from later Transformers stories (in whichever media), it might not quite fit in more recent times, but it's interesting to see Transformers lending itself to a very different style, if not genre as such.