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My Buddy, My Buddy, My Buddy and Me!
"Escalation!"
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First published	April 1994
Cover date	June 1994
Writer	Simon Furman
Artist	Derek Yaniger ("Tales of Earth Part Five")
Penciler	Manny Galan ("Escalation!")
Inker	Jim Amash ("Escalation!")
Colorist	Sarra Mossoff
Letterers	Richard Starkings with O'Neil
Editor	Rob Tokar
Continuity	Marvel Comics continuity

Autobots and Decepticons wage their battle to destroy the evil forces of the Decepticons Cybertronians!

Synopsis

"Escalation!"

Smokescreen, you bozo, get back over by the "Fa-tow" sound effect!

Jhiaxus has had enough. Talking to himself (or possibly to some unseen troops) he declares that the Cybertronians will sweep across the stars, killing all non-Transformer life, cyberforming all suitable worlds, obliterating all others, creating a perfect universe. When the Autobots come out to try and stop them, they too will be wiped from the heavens like a blotch of grease. So let it be written, so let it be done.

"Tales of Earth Part Five"

The Savage Tank and Youngoil team up THIS ISSUE!

Meanwhile, on Earth, Optimus Prime is visited by the half-dead Megatron. They are about to have a serious talk, when Grimlock slams Megatron into a wall. Prime convinces Grimlock that Megatron is here to talk, and Prime and Megatron agree to an anti-Cybertronian alliance.

At that moment, Sideswipe arrives to report that a nearby world, Ethos, is being systematically destroyed by unknown attackers. Optimus Prime orders the Autobots into action, but Megatron refuses to waste resources on this peripheral threat.

"Escalation!" continued

The Autobots arrive on Ethos barely in time to save the last few survivors. The attackers are (of course) the Cybertronians. While the battle initially goes in the Autobots' favor, the brutality of the Cybertronians begins to tell, and Smokescreen and Inferno are killed. The tide only turns when, unexpectedly, the Decepticons show up to save the day.

After the battle is won, Megatron tells Optimus Prime that the only reason he came was that he learned the attackers were Cybertronian troops. Prime says the fact that he came is sufficient for now. Soundwave then reports some bad news: Starscream is mysteriously missing...

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"I am Jhiaxus, Liege Centuro of the Decepticon elite: High Commander of its forces! This is my will!"

—Jhiaxus starts as he means to go on.

"Appearances to the contrary, I don't think Megatron's here to fight! I believe he has an offer!"
"Ha. Hahahaha! Prime is, of course, right. Prime's always right!"

—Optimus Prime and Megatron know each other inside and out.

Grimlock: Me show you exactly where you can stick your "alliance."
Megatron: Prime, really! Doesn't he have a muzzle!
Grimlock: Muzzle?! Me will —
Prowl: Grimlock, hey! Down boy!

—The Autobot-Decepticon alliance gets off to a shaky start.

"Starscream, if you have nothing of worth to say - say nothing!"

—Megatron tells Starscream where to stick it.

"Dinobots... as our esteemed, if somewhat linguistically strangled leader, Grimlock, would say — it time to munch metal!"

—Swoop

"No, NONONO! Oh, good buddy, I'm sorry. Ain't nothin' I can do for you now."

—Inferno laments that Smokescreen is over, finished.

"Decepticons. I don't believe it. We've been rescued by Decepticons. How...humiliating!"

—Air Raid

Notes

Artwork and technical errors

• Jazz has his Generation 2 deco starting this issue. In the last issue Jazz was in, he was sporting a generic white hood.

Continuity errors

• Joyride - one of the many victims of Unicron back in "On the Edge of Extinction! - appears here alive and well.

Continuity notes

• This issue features the first appearance (outside of the movie adaptation) of Springer in the US Marvel continuity.
• The majority of the Autobots on Ethos were in the Earthforce team. One might guess Furman likes them.
• The 'bots standing right with Megatron to save the Autobots, the ones getting the most visual focus? Two are Manta Ray and Leadfoot, who will join said Autobots. They're also cannily the only two not shown to be gruesomely killing in that splash page, while the Decepticons lop heads off.

Real-life references

Other trivia

• This issue's letters column broke the news that the series would be canceled after issue #12.
• Furman has previously written Inferno and Smokescreen in dire circumstances; in Marvel UK #149, Inferno sacrificed himself to save Smokescreen's life. They can't ever catch a break.

Furminated

• Various amoeboid inhabitants of Ethos are killed.
• Smokescreen takes some hits and explodes. Ironhide also gets hit a couple of times and is not seen again.
• Inferno has a building collapse on top of him.
• Slapdash's burning wreckage is seen at the battle's end.
• A bazillion Cybertronians get blown away or ripped apart by the Autobots and Decepticons.

Cover

• 

  Prime and Megatron fight back-to-back, by Derek Yaniger.

Advertisements

• None yet identified.

Reprints

• Transformers: Rage in Heaven TPB: Optimus Prime, Skydive, Starscream and half of the Liege Maximo, by Andy Wildman.
• Transformers: Rage in Heaven HC: Blast Off, Onslaught and Ramjet, by Phil Jimenez, Andy Lanning, and Chris Blythe.
• The Transformers: The Best of Simon Furman ("Tales of Earth, part 5"): The planet Cybertron, by Don Figueroa.
• Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 91: Generation 2 Part 2 Silverbolt, by Dreamwave Productions and Jhiaxus smashing Optimus Prime, by Geoff Senior.

• 

  Rage in Heaven TPB
  (Titan Books, 2002)

• 

  Rage in Heaven HC
  (Titan Books, 2003)

• 

  Best of Simon Furman
  (IDW Publishing, 2007)

• 

  The Definitive G1 Collection Vol. 91: Generation 2 Part 2
  (Hachette Partworks, 2020)