Mystery!

An Aerialbot gets confused.And so does the editor.

Issue 269
Script: Simon Furman Pencils: Pete Knifton Inks: Pete Venters Letters: Glib

Synopsis
'Twas a dark and stormy night...Skydive arrives for guard duty at the partially built Autobot Earthforce base only to find no sign of Wheeljack, who he was supposed to be relieving.What he does find is a table overturned, a lamp smashed, Wheeljack's blaster lying abandoned outside and both robot and animal tracks. Suspecting they belong to a Predacon, Skydive quickly comes to the only conclusion:a Decepticon has attacked and killed Wheeljack and, judging by the footprints, is now heading towards the Autobot shuttle.

Skydive gives chase and discovers someone has blown their way into the shuttle.Seeing what he believes is a Decepticon carrying Wheeljack's body, he tackles the figure only to discover it is Wheeljack carrying a thermo-heating unit.Seconds later, a bemused Air Raid turns on the lights and asks for an explanation.

After Skydive has related his story, Wheeljack explains he was cold and retrieved the heating unit from storage, only for it to overheat.While attempting to shut it off, he knocked over the table and the lamp and ended up fleeing from a polar bear. Embarassed, he tried to dispose of the evidence, but has lost his key in the confusion so had to force the door.Air Raid decides they're better off keeping the incident quiet but advises Wheeljack to learn to bear with the cold and Skydive to lay off the human mystery videos.

Errors

 * Although the Aerialbot who relieves Wheeljack is referred to as Skydive three times during the strip and drawn as such, the inside cover blurb claims it is Air Raid.An enquiry to Dread Tidings confirmed that it was indeed Skydive.
 * It is not adequately explained how Wheeljack forced his way into the Autobot shuttle without his blaster.

Items of note

 * This story marked the first appearance of Air Raid in the Earthforce saga.No explanation is given for his resurrection but it is possible he was revived with nucleon(as it is implied happened with the Dinobots)or repaired by Wheeljack(as later happened with Tracks).
 * Skydive recalls Grimlock saying there were Predacons in the area, probably after the events of "Snow Fun".
 * No Decepticons appear in this story, apart from in Skydive's imagined view of what happened to Wheeljack.It isn't entirely clear who the attacker is meant to be but of the five Predacons it more closely resembles Tantrum.

UK printing

 * Back-up stories: G.I. Joe and the Transformers:"Power Struggle", GI Joe The Action Force, Combat Colin
 * Issue #269 contains AtoZs on Silverbolt and Skids.
 * In the issue's Dread Tidings, it is reported that a sign outside a pub in Middlesex is advertising "Jazz, Live here on Monday" and Unicron writes in to ask Dreadwind to say hello to his friends Johnny and Iain.Dreadwind also attempts to answer the age-old question of what Emirate Xaaron transforms into, saying that as he hasn't done it for millions of years the shock would probably kill him but it's probably something wimpy like a toaster.

Covers(2)
Issue 269: A worried looking Skydive by Pete Knifton and Pete Venters.