Dinobot Hunt!

Part 1

Issue 47, 8 February 1986.

Written by: Simon Furman
Art by: Will Simpson
Colours by: Stuart Place
Letters by: Annie Halfacree
Cover art: John Stokes

Plot: A US military unit is out in the Black Rock desert in Nevada, when Snarl surfaces from a sandstorm, wild and raging. They are saved when Brawn, Mirage and Trailbreaker interrupt things. Optimus Prime has sent them and other groups of Autobots to the approximate locations of Grimlock, Snarl, Slag and Sludge, who are still out in the wild and crazy from brain deterioration as Swoop was last issue. Snarl goes on to attack a 'non-existent' military base (you know the kind). After conventional defences fail, General Thompson orders everyone to abandon base, they must self-destruct rather than let the enemy have anything. Snarl is caught up in the explosion of a new weapon as the base destructs, and slumps unconscious. Little do the Autobots and Thompson know, however, that Laserrbeak has been watching the whole thing.

Brill!: Thompson, who really didn't want to command the base, tells the Autobots that they did him a favour in having him wipe it out. It's also kind of cool that he doesn't seem fazed by giant robots in the least, dinosaur-shaped or otherwise.

Wicked dialogue: After describing the secret and non-existant nature of the military base, the narration adds, 'In approximately twenty-five minutes, this non-existent base will cease to exist.'
Brawn's response to Snarl attacking and defeating several military units and causing the destruction of an entire military facility: 'Uh - yeah. We're sorry he's caused so much trouble...' Like he was barking at the postman or something.

Technobabble: Prowl's keeping tabs on the rogue Dinobots through their cyno-traces.

Miserable glitches: Out in the desert, Trailbreaker's grown a white head/helment. This issue also has Snarl back to his grey stegosaurus head.
I'm not sure if this is a note or a nit, but Snarl is incredibly durable here. I can accept that he survives the disintegrator because he's made out of something the Terran scientists didn't know about, but five heavily-armed US military units take him on and he doesn't even slow? Even if he is mad, surely he would have suffered at least some damage?

Back-up strip: Iron Man.

Notes: This story would later be reprinted in issue 7 of Transformers Collected Comics, and later in Titan's Transformers: Dinobot Hunt trade paperback.

Comments: See how well Snarl does here? We are back to a problem we had in earlier issues, that Transformers are often (and inconsistently) made out to be insanely powerful and durable compared to human weapons. After all, most of the time, Cybertronian weaponry doesn't seem to do much more collateral damage than their Earth equivalents. (Often less.)
I get the feeling this story will be a bit like an anthology, given that we've taken up this chapter picking up Snarl - grabbing a Dinobot or two each chapter. General Thompson really is a good character, it's a shame they didn't use him some more - the Autobots could use a few new human friends, especially a senior military guy (assuming after what he does this issue that he isn't now Private Thompson!). In fact, through him we can see that Will Simpson really can draw humans quite well - it's Transformers that seem to give him trouble, with those bizarre-looking mouths and heavy use of toy designs. His robot faces in particular I find distracting.