Issue 31, 19 October 1985.
Written by: Simon Furman
Art by: Barry Kitson
Colours by: Gina Hart
Letters by: Annie Halfacree
Cover art: So hard to tell...John Stokes?
Plot: The remaining Dinobots fight the Guardian robot, the final blow struck by Ratchet as he strikes a weak point into the security droid's cerebral units, cuasing it to retreat. After an argument about who gets fixed next (Swoop loses), the Dinobots go hunting for Guardian themselves. Meanwhile, Shockwave taunts Optimus Prime, not realising that the Autobot leader has used up the last vestiges of the Creation Matrix in his mind to give life to the six brain modules he created. Buster, carrying the Matrix in his own mind, struggles to fix his tape deck, only to discover in a fit of pique and a blinding headache, that it's managed to fix itself. Prowl and Wheeljack soon discover that Guardian was in fact under Decepticon control as evidenced by the nuclear bomb within it - a bomb that the Dinobots are about to unwittingly set off.
Brill!: Ratchet verbally shoots Grimlock down. There are loads of Autobots here ahead of Swoop, so the winged wonder can just wait his turn. Now, if Grimlock will excuse him, he has work to do!
Wicked dialogue: After the above dressing-down, Grimlock turns to the other Dinobots. 'I don't see that there's anything to laugh about...' Snarl stifles a laugh: 'Oh - ha...no, boss.'
Technobabble: Guardian has a neural hydraulic musculature, which must come in handy.
International Interest: Actually, this is one of the best examples so far (in fact, ever) of the British stories merging gracefully with the American ones. It links up the points between the last and next American stories, while somehow managing to keep their sub-plots alive and continuing.
Miserable glitches: Shockwave has blue shoulders when he boasts to Prime about the brain modules. In fact, while we're on the subject of colouring, Grimlock starts out the issue with a grey woober, it having turned (correctly) black by the end. And Snarl's stegosaurus head is grey instead of gold.
Shouldn't Swoop be at least afforded some priority on Ratchet's schedule? After all, he's the only flier they've got. Considering their enemies are entirely airborne, he could be useful!
Guardian apparently has enough energy reserve to power a space transit. Shame no-one remembered when they were all so low on fuel in the first story arc.
Comments: Lovely. Some of the best Transformers story involve a small group of focus characters, and this time it's no exception. Simon Furman's writing is really taking off, and Barry Kitson's art is great too. Shame about poor Sunstreaker here, to be the first Transformer decisively put on the long-term casualty list. (Sure, Megatron fell into the snow, but I bet we see him before we see ol' Sunny again.) A nice piece of plot and action for some of the classic characters - reminding us why they are classic characters in the first place. Fans of the Earthforce stories, take a look at this one.