Ca$h and Car-nage!

Apparently bounty hunters were big in the 80's.

=Marvel US issue #46= (Story also appears in: Marvel UK issues #192-193)

Script: Bob Budiansky Art: Jose Delbo Inks: Danny Bulanadi Lettering: Bill Oakley Colors: Nelson Yomtov Editor: Don Daley Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco Cover: Frank Springer
 * Major characters (in order of appearance): Kreb, Lokos, Brisko, Zarak, Fizzle, Sizzle, Backstreet, Dogfight, Override, Guzzle, Cindersaur, Sparkstalker, Flamefeather, Fangry, Squeezeplay, Horri-Bull, Scorponok
 * Originally published: November, 1988

Synopsis
At a county fair...a bounty hunter named Burn-Out interrupts the Z Foundation's carnie "Reck the Robot" shoot-'em booth by shotgun blasting the robo-prop. The barker tells him about a chance for real prizes...

At a monster truck rally...Randy "Roadhog" Horton indulges his passion for demolition derbies by destroying the Robo-car provided for the Z Foundation Challenge. The announcer tells him how he could do the real thing, for real money...

At a sleazy motel...two bounty hunter named Skunge and Felix employ high technology gimicks and their own deceptively small size to capture criminals-at-large. At the local police station, an officer mentions the Z Foundation's robot-hunting bounty...

And so, in New York City, the four mercenaries gather at the Z Foundation's national offices. They are met by Mr. K and his associates, Mr. B and Mr. L. They explain that the chairman Mr. Z founded their business in order to eliminate the threat of all Transformers to the people of Earth. They offer the men $50,000 for each Transformer they bring in, and the use of patent-pending "jammers", designed under the theory that they can neutralize a Transformer's convertion power. So armed, the bounty hunters are christened the Roadjammers, and sent out to hunt their prey.

Meanwhile, there are nothing but robots on Cybertron. Six Autobots have been captured by the Decepticons, and await their fates in a detention facility. The Firecons arrive and escort out three Autobots -- Fizzle, Sizzle, and Backstreet -- to a waiting Space Bridge center. For their own suspicious purposes, the Decepticons fully re-energize and rearm the Autobots, sending them across the trans-dimensional gateway to planet Earth...right near New York City.

Catching the Autobots by surprise, the Roadjammers make quick work of Sizzle and the others. Still, some of what the Autobots said before they were jammered makes them curious -- if the Autobots did just arrive on Earth like they claimed, how did the Z Foundation know where to send the Roadjammers to patrol? It crosses their minds that maybe Mr. K and the alphabet flunkies are running some kind of scam on the side with the 'Cons, so they come up with a plan to catch the businessmen with their possible Decepticon partners, and turn them all over to Mr. Z for an even bigger reward.

Back at the Z Foundation, Felix jimmies their way into a locked parking structure, and sure enough they find three Decepticon Headmasters languishing in the corner. Mr. K and the others arrive and make no attempt to hide their partnership -- they reveal their hidden binary-bonding armors and join with their Decepticon partners in robot mode. Only then do they realize they're paralyzed by the jammers, since Felix made the necessary adjustments to double the power of the three jammers they were given.

At that moment, Mr. Z himself enters the structure, and unveils his true identity as Lord Zarak, leader of the Decepticons. He summons Scorponok to retrieve the jammer technlogy from the Roadjammers, but Felix has arranged to manipulate the jammer signals by his dashboard computer system, letting him turn all six Cybertronians against Scorponok by remote control.

Temporarily overwhelmed, Zarak feels forced to activate his prototype anti-jammer, which unfortunately will free the Autobots from the Roadjammers' control as well as his fellow Decepticons. As the jammering effect fades, the Autobots recover quickly and get the Roadjammers to safety before the Decepticons can turn on them. As the Autobots drive away, Felix tells his team that he's confident the jammer technology can be reverse-engineered, and that they'll all soon be back in business...

Errors

 * Was there some purpose to the Z Foundation other than setting up the Roadjammers? If so, what? If not, huh?
 * Cindersaur, of all people, saying "I can roast 'em later?"

Items of note

 * This is the first US appearance for nearly the entire cast: Fangry, Horri-Bull, Squeezeplay, the Triggerbots, Firecons, and Sparkabots.