Autobots Fight Back

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As opposed to all those times when they didn't bother
Autobots Fight Back
Publisher	Ladybird Books
First published	1985
Written by	John Grant
Art by	Mike Collins, Mark Farmer
Continuity	Ladybird Books continuity
ISBN	ISBN 9780721409429 ISBN 0-721-40942-3
Page count	48 pp

The Autobots use a car rally as a cover in order to foil a Decepticon construction project.

Summary

Dispatched to the Decepticon base on a spying mission, Bumblebee discovers that the villains’ construction of their space cruiser has been impeded by an inability to test their new ion-drive propulsion system due to the massive space requirements of the test rig required, a tube 5m in diameter and 1600m long. Detected by Soundwave, Bumblebee flees, but is pursued by Ravage through woods and hills. Ducking around a bend, Bumblebee is able to stun his pursuer with a blast of bright light from his headlights and makes good his escape, leaving Ravage to attempt in vain to pick up his trail. While searching, however, Ravage happens upon an abandoned railway and follows it to an equally abandoned tunnel, providing the Decepticons with the perfect venue to build their propulsion system test rig. Although the tunnel has partially collapsed, the remaining section is to the exact dimensions required.

Having reported to Optimus Prime on their enemies’ troubles, Bumblebee returns to the Decepticon base to learn more, only to discover it all but deserted. Trailbreaker and Hound use their tracking abilities to pinpoint the Decepticons’ position, and with help from Spike and Sparkplug, the area is identified as containing a large, abandoned quarry, in which Sparkplug suggests the Decepticons have set up shop. The Autobots are unsure of how to proceed without being detected by the Decepticons, but when Spike goes grocery shopping with Ironhide, he learns of an impending car rally that will run right by the area where the Decepticons are set up. Optimus Prime arranges for Jazz and Spike to participate in the race in order to investigate.

On the day of the rally, Spike and Jazz split up during the race between checkpoints to avoid Jazz's true nature being exposed to Decepticons monitoring the rally, and Spike finds and follows the railway to the quarry. However, the quarry is deserted aside from an abandoned train of stone hoppers. Meeting back up with Jazz at their objective, Spike has him contact Optimus Prime, and following the railway downhill, the pair reach the tunnel itself, where they discover the Decepticons and their equipment. Soundwave detects their presence, but just then, Prime and the other Autobots burst into the tunnel via an air shaft, and a firefight ensues that plunges the tunnel into darkness. Spike has Jazz drive him back to the quarry, where he instructs the Autobot to push the train of stone hoppers after releasing the brakes. Jazz sets the train in motion downhill towards the tunnel and alerts the Autobots so they can escape. The cars smash into the Decepticons and their machinery, collapsing the tunnel on the evil robots with a massive explosion.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Notes

Errors

• As in "Autobots' Lightning Strike", Ravage is again referred to as a "canine" when he's feline in nature.

Transformers references

• The influence of "More Than Meets The Eye" is again felt upon the Ladybird continuity, as the main plot of this book revolves around repairing the Decepticons' spacecraft, which crashed at the conclusion of the miniseries.
• Sparkplug's map confirms that the Autobot and Decepticon bases are in Oregon, as in most Generation 1 continuities. The map also singles out two fictional towns, Valgenia and Paprika Plain.

Trivia

• This story was also released as a Talk and Read audiobook which included music and sound effects.
• Soundwave speaks in ALL CAPS.
• Jazz's car mode has a working transmission with at least four speeds.
• This book highlights one of the more unusual features of the Ladybird books, which is the remarkable lack of knowledge the Transformers have managed to acquire on Earth's nature, culture, and technology. Back in "Autobots' Lightning Strike", the Transformers could not fathom the concept of lightning; in this volume, the Decepticons are baffled by a railway track, with Soundwave even going so far as to suggest that the rails (or as he calls them, "metal strips") are a crude energy conductor system. We'll see another major example of this in "Laserbeak's Fury".

External links

• Autobots Fight Back scans at green-ranger.com
• Audio file at Steve-o's Transformers Site