- The Mayhem Attack Squad is a team of Decepticons in the Generation One continuity family.
The Mayhem Attack Squad is the Decepticon answer to the Wreckers. The team's lineup is ever-changing, and they recruit the most bloodthirsty and deadly Decepticons to swell their ranks when old members die (or desert).
Unlike the Wreckers, the Mayhems have a sweet ship. When Megatron isn't stealing it, that is.
The team's known members have included:
- 1st known lineup
- 2nd known lineup
- Bludgeon
- Needlenose
- Octopunch
- Snarler (leader)
- Spinister
- Stranglehold
- 3rd known lineup
- Bludgeon (leader)
- Octopunch
- Stranglehold
Fiction
Marvel Comics continuity
With Galvatron and Megatron teamed up on Earth and a rift in time and space threatening to destroy all reality, the Decepticons on Cybertron were getting desperate. They teamed the Mayhem Attack Squad with the Autobots' Wreckers and sent them to Earth in a Decepticon ship to bring down Galvatron and Megatron. Secretly, the Mayhems were under orders to kill any surviving Wreckers once the threat of Galvatron and Megatron was over.
Once on Earth, the two teams joined with the advance scouts Broadside, Inferno, and Sandstorm and moved to attack Galvatron in his lair.
Galvatron shows what he thinks of the lesser-known toys.
The battle could have gone a little better than it did.
Galvatron embedded his hand in Battletrap's chest and cannon-blasted Venom, and by the time the first skirmish was over, only Carnivac, Flywheels and Catilla remained alive.
As the battle moved above ground, Carnivac had a change of heart about killing Springer when Springer saved his life.
The battle escalated as more and more Autobots and Decepticons joined. Ultimately, it was neither Wrecker nor Mayhem that would destroy Galvatron, but a rift in time and space.
With the Time Wars over, the two surviving Mayhem Attack Squad members found themselves stranded on Earth when Megatron stole their ship to return to Cybertron.
The surviving Mayhems joined with the surviving Wreckers and the stray Autobots Inferno and Skids to form a new team called the Survivors.
Shortly after this, Carnivac teamed with Snarler (with Catilla observing) on a mission for Scorponok. The three were given Pretender shells as a reward. Snarler, however, was not impressed when the two former Mayhems refused to rejoin the Decepticons.
Snarler returned to Cybertron and set about recruiting a new Mayhem Attack Squad to destroy Carnivac and Catilla.
One of these things is not like the others, one of these things does not belong!
While they succeeded in destroying Catilla, they were targeted for vengeance by Carnivac.
On Cybertron, the Mayhem Attack Squad—Bludgeon, Stranglehold, and Octopunch—got the assignment of assassinating the Autobot Pretenders Bumblebee, Jazz, and Grimlock. Yesterday's Heroes!
After initially failing to kill the Autobots, the Squad accidentally teleported deep inside Cybertron along with the Autobots. The two groups met inside a huge chamber containing a sleeping Primus and promptly set about trying to kill each other.
After the Squad had been utterly crushed, Octopunch made one final attack against a distracted Grimlock, which was deflected by Grimlock's armor and ended up hitting Primus in the face. Consequently, Primus awoke, drawing Unicron to his ancient enemy's location.
Earthforce
Carnivac hunted down and murdered Spinister, Needlenose and Snarler. When the Survivors and Grimlock's Earthforce arrived, he saw to it that Bludgeon, Octopunch and Stranglehold were captured alive - because he knew that being taken alive and not having a warrior's death would be torment for them. Cry Wolf Wolf In The Fold Where Wolf?
The three surviving members, Blugeon, Octopunch, and Stranglehold, managed to escape from Earthforce by being vewwy quiet. Shut Up!
Notes
- Flywheels and Battletrap are the only team members to have appeared prior to the Mayhem Attack Squad's debut in Time Wars, part 3. It is unknown whether they were part of the team at this earlier time.
- Flywheels is not seen to die in Time Wars, but if you look very hard you can see his corpse among the general carnage.
- However, Battletrap, who had the dubious honor of being the first casualty of the battle, reappears later in both the post-Unicron US issues and in Generation 2, among Bludgeon's forces.
- Some believe that the Triggercons Windsweeper, Ruckus and Crankcase were also part of the Mayhem Attack Squad. Although this is implied by Windsweeper and Ruckus' proximity to Spinister et al in the Matrix Quest, it is never explicitly stated that they are Mayhems within the text of those US stories.
- A mirrorverse version of the Mayhem Attack Squad exists in the Shattered Glass continuities, called the Mayhem Suppression Squad. Its roster is filled by heroic versions of past Decepticon exclusives from Fun Publications.
