Transformers Comic issue 4

« Titan Transformers Comic #4 »
Don't let them play a video game!
Publisher	Titan Magazines
First published	11 October 2007
Cover date	November 2007
Editor	Steve White
Deputy editor	Den Patrick
Designer	Martin Stiff
Publishing manager	Darryl Curtis

Devastator blows stuff up.

Contents

Lost In Space 2: Devastator

Due to the foldspace detonation, Devastator has been transported to an uninhabited alien world covered with cities. With no one around to fight or terrorise, Devastator is bored out of his mind and has been randomly destroying stuff. He's being mentally affected by an unknown source but doesn't care, but he eventually gets himself to realise he needs to get off-world before he runs out of fuel and so locks onto an energy source.

A holographic message, left behind by the world's extinct inhabitants, tells him that the energy source—"the Flame"—unleashed the inhabitants' worst instincts and caused them to kill each other. Devastator, uninterested, drives on halfway through the message. Other Decepticons—Starscream, Barricade and Bonecrusher—appear before him, taunting him about his stupidity and attempting to kill him so he can't reach the Flame.

The nature of these apparitions is left unexplained (it is most likely caused by the Flame getting inside Devastator's head) but he shows no interest in them and isn't bothered by their taunts, simply blasting them aside. He reaches the Flame, ignores all the questions it raises about what he's faced and his aggression, and simply takes the power he needs and heads back into space.

"See, me, I go by one guiding principle—keep it stupid... simple!"

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Articles & features

• Character Profile: Blackout
• Cybertron Smackdown: Optimus Prime v. Megatron — Write-ups of the skills and weaknesses of the two 'bots in question, leaving the reader to decide who would win in a head-to-head. Written by Simon Furman.
• How To Draw Optimus Prime.
• Top Gear — Win "Optimash Prime", Barricade & Ratchet toys, and Transformers: The Ultimate Guide.
• Movie poster.
• Mech Mail - Letters and art from readers

Free Gift

• "4 Pin Badges!" - one with the Autobot symbol, one with the Decepticon symbol, one with Optimus' head and one with Megatron's.

Reprints

Reprinted stories are only a portion of their respective issues.

• Transformers: Movie Prequel, part 2a (7 pages)
• Beast Wars: The Gathering, part 2a (7 pages)

Quotes

"No one to fight, no one to terrorise. Three solar cycles in... and I'm going nuts!"

—Devastator

"The Flame will consume you, utterly, as it did us. We were a peaceful race, un-versed in the ways of war, until the Flame..."
"Whatever."

—Ominous Exposition meets its match in Devastator

"See, me, I go by one guiding principle — keep it stupid... simple!"

—Devastator reveals his mantra as he blows up apparitions of Barricade and Bonecrusher. And who can argue with that?

Items of note

• A plot device that's driving Transformers into mad violence has come up several times under Furman's pen, in "Distant Thunder!" and "Primal Fear!". Here, the plot breaks down as Devastator is such a violent, uncaring thug that he always feels violent anyway and he can just carry on.
• The story hints that Devastator is either mocked and disliked by his fellow Decepticons, or deep down he believes he is. If the latter, his declaration that "their words" can't hurt him is protesting too much.
• Between this and his suicidal actions in #2, Devastator is shown to care about nothing beyond doing his job (i.e. smashing things) and has no interest in anything beyond that.
• In the recap for the reprints, Razorbeast is one of "the Autobot Maximals": not quite right but a way to quickly explain to kids that the Maximals are a) The goodies b) Came from Autobots