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Something is afoot in San Desto, so the EDC and their robot pals go to get to the bottom of things.

Transformers: Generation One vol. 3 > Issue #7
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Writer: James "Brad Mick" McDonough, Adam Patyk
Pencils: Don Figueroa
Inks: Elaine To
Colors: Espen Grundetjern & Jong-Im Lee
Letters: Ben Lee

• Original release date: August 25, 2004
• Cover date: August, 2004
• Characters (In order of appearance): Marissa Faireborn, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Jazz, Windcharger*, Wheeljack*, Bumper, Warpath, Starscream Rumble, Frenzy, Soundwave, Insecticons (*deactivated)
• Chronology: Ascension

Synopsis

In a San Desto theater, two soldiers casually joke with each other while watching the airing of some legitimate cinema (while they're supposed to be investigating why the rest of the town is mysteriously abandoned). From the shadows, one soldier is stung on the back of the neck by some kind of metallic bug. The other soldier inquires as to why his partner has suddenly gone silent, but is ambushed by something frightening. Halfway through sending out a radio message for help, he too is silenced.

At the EDC HQ located in Area 51, Marissa Faireborn replays the unfinished radio message to a repaired Jazz, Sunstreaker, and Sideswipe. Jazz understands that the three Autobots have been recruited to help investigate the potentially Cybertronian urban anomaly. Before Jazz complies, Marissa takes Jazz and the other two Autobots on a tour of the facility. After a security scans, the group meets up with Warpath and Bumper, while Wheeljack and Windcharger are undergoing repairs from EDC personnel. After some friction between Warpath and Sunstreaker, Warpath agrees to stay behind while the rest of the Autobots go along with Marissa to San Desto.

Starscream, after surviving Sunstorm's insanity, returns to the Decepticon base, where Rumble and Frenzy were wasting time shooting fish in a barrel.

Being briefed for the mission to San Desto, which suddenly went into a communication blackout. As Marissa explains how human reconnaissance fails, Sideswipe notices on a monitor a brief flicker of an image of Scourge held in captivity.

Later, on the flight to San Desto, Marissa hits on Jazz, Bumper acts insecure and Sunstreaker is jerky. Everybody parachutes out of the helicopter and lands softly, but Bumper earns Sunstreaker's disdain when the amateur gets tangled in his own parachute lines. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe head in one direction, while Bumper and the human soldiers head in another, leaving Jazz teamed with Marissa. Although everybody feels something is off about the town, none of them know that they're being watched.

The humans exploring the town with Bumper aren't ready to so quickly put their lives in the hands of an alien, while Marissa and Jazz grow closer to each other.

The screams of Bumper bring the entire infiltration team back together outside of the theater, where the human soldiers recover from being ambushed by something leaving a green residue on them. Sideswipe heads into the theater to back up Bumper—his size causing considerable damage to the theater. After Sunstreaker heads inside after his brother, Jazz and the soldiers are surrounded by hundreds of Insecticons!

Quotes

"Now you're talking, Ms. Firecracker!"

—Jazz

"I didn't know giant robots had testosterone."

—Marissa

Items of note

• The movie one soldier is watching stars Nightbird, a plot device from the Transformers cartoon episode "Enter the Nightbird", which shares its name with the movie the soldier was watching.
• One of the soldiers calls the other a Real American Hero; this was a tagline for the related toy line G.I. Joe. The toy line is alluded to later when Jazz tosses out the name G. I. Jane.
• "At the movies, no one can hear you scream" is a variation of the tagline used by the film Alien.
• A soldier discovers a Tako Tank and mistakes it for a GoBot.

• This issue contains the first in-continuity reference to Transformer S.T.D.'s.
• Marissa makes a reference her grandfather encountering the Transformers 20 years ago, prompting the establishment of the EDC. Jazz later compares Marissa to Nathaniel Faireborn
• The theater which Bumper's team explores has a poster with art from Duel Masters, a separate Hasbro property which also briefly had a Dreamwave comic.
• On the "Prime Transmissions" page, reader mail is answered by copy editor Matt Hansen. There's also fan art of Arcee and Marissa Faireborn submitted by Silas Zee.
• The "Wavelengths" page has a letter from the desk of Rob Armstrong.

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