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Nightbeat shows off his fashion sense.
"The Big Shutdown!"
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First published	5th August –12th August1989
Cover date	12th August –19th August 1989
Writer	Simon Furman
Art	Lee Sullivan
Letterer	Helen Stone (#230) Stuart Bartlett (#231)
Cover	Andrew Wildman andLee Sullivan
Apologies to	Raymond Chandler
Continuity	Marvel Comics continuity

Nightbeat stars in his very first mystery as the next Decepticon menace is introduced.

Synopsis

When Cosplay Goes Wrong: A Fox Network Special.

Having recently joined theArk's crew onEarth, theAutobot detective namedNightbeat receives a chance to test his mettle when an Autobot corpse is found on a desertedCalifornia beach. Taking his partnerSiren to the scene of the crime, he finds a mysterious figure has beaten them to the investigation. Siren's noisy...existence alerts the figure to their presence, and the suspect hightails it out of there with two vehicles. Nightbeat sends Siren to retrieve the snooper, while he does some snooping of his own.

As Nightbeat continues his investigation at the corpse, Siren corners the two vehicles in an alleyway, only to learn they are Autobot Transformers namedHosehead andHorsepower. The corpse was actually a friend of theirs namedPlayback, but before more explanations can be exchanged, Horsepower is blasted through the chest by acyclone cannon, signature weapon ofThunderwing, heir apparent to theDecepticon throne!

While Siren is running in fear of the DecepticonPretender and Nightbeat is interpreting his clues back at the beach, they piece together what has happened. Hosehead, Playback, and Horsepower were Decepticon prisoners onCybertron, deliberately set loose on Earth. As part of his test to achieve higher rank in the Decepticon hierarchy, Thunderwing had been tasked with hunting them down as prey.

After leading Thunderwing back to the beach and Nightbeat, the three Autobots confront the considerably more powerful Decepticon. Thinking quickly, Nightbeat detaches his Nebulan counterpartMuzzle and temporarily reanimates the dead, headless body of Playback. Momentarily caught off guard by the shambling corpse, Thunderwing is unprepared when Muzzle suddenly disconnects and leaps clear, radioing his larger body to blast the corpse's power supply. This triggers a massive explosive inferno inches away from Thunderwing. Although the Decepticon's shell protects him from direct harm, it is also superheated from the blast, cooking the more vulnerable robot inside. Thunderwing is forced to dive into deeper waters in a desperate attempt to cool himself down.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"C'mon, Nightbeat -let's get outta here! Our leader,Optimus Prime, told us to stay at theArk! We've only been on Earth for two days andalready we're disobeying orders!"
"You know what I always say,Siren. If the rules won't bend enough to get you results...you have tobreak them!"

—Siren does some pretty shameless exposition dumping whileNightbeat talks tough.

"The name'sThunderwing, Autobot! Heir apparent to theDecepticon throne! My thanks for leading me straight to myprey! Yourreward...isDEATH!"

—Thunderwing

"Yess! Flee, try to escape! The sheerfutility of your effortsthrills me!"

—Thunderwing gets creepy.

Notes

Artwork and technical errors

Continuity fun time

At this point in time,Megatron-Straxus is ruling the Decepticons on Cybertron... and "A Small War!" will retroactively place this story over fourteen months before August 1989, when theTriumvirate/Decepticon Imperial Headquarters were in control andRatbat,Shockwave etc. are all around. In either case, why is Thunderwing being allowed to bid for leadership?

Well, it's possible that this is all a big mistake. At this point in time, the UK comics are aware of what's coming up in the US (as Furman's writing both) but Marvel UK is struggling to tie in the same way it used to: UK strips are running simultaneously with US and there are lengthy gaps where the US reprints are replaced withUK reprints to stretch things out. It's possible this was meant to run after the other Megatron's death, when Cybertron probably does need a new 'Con leader (asScorponok's ignoring them), but has accidentally aired too early (as "Out to Lunch!" will do).

This leaves the other problem: if thisis "fourteen months ago", the sequel "Assault on the Ark!" very much cannot fit with itsPowermasterOptimus Prime being in charge. He should either be dead or not back on Earth yet, due to "Cold Comfort and Joy!".

The important thing is Nightbeat is cool.

Continuity notes

• Nightbeat indicates he and Siren only joined the Ark's crew two days ago.
• When or how Hosehead and Nightbeat got binary-bonded to Lug and Muzzle on independent occasions is unknown.
• Muzzle's trick with Playback indicates that, while a Headmaster robot might die if their head is destroyed, a binary-bonded Nebulan partner might be able to survive by simply attaching to a new body.

Real-life references

• The title and general ambiance are an homage toRaymond Chandler's classic detective novelThe Big Sleep. It's likely that Playback's name was chosen based on another Chandler novel,Playback.

Other trivia

Back-up material

Issue #230:

• ReprintTransformers story: "Resurrection!"
• Other strips:Action Force - "Airshow" andCombat Colin

Issue #231:

• ReprintTransformers story: "Resurrection!"
• Other strips:Action Force - "Airshow" andCombat Colin

Foreign Localization

Swedish

• Title: "Den Stora Nedkopplingen" ("The Big Shutdown")

Covers (2)

• Issue #230 cover: Nightbeat wearing a trenchcoat and fedora, byAndrew Wildman.
• Issue #231 cover: Nightbeat sees Thunderwing through his magnifying glass, byLee Sullivan.

• 

  Issue #230 - Nightbeat, you may want to hit the Big'N'Tall shop for your trenchcoat, pal.

• 

  Issue #231 - That's nottechnically how a magnifying glass works...

Reprints

• Issue #330 cover:Galvatron's hand protrudes through the Arctic ice, byStaz.
• Issue #331 cover:Action Master Prime in front of an Autobot casualty, by Andrew Wildman.
• Transformers Winter Special: Megatron "Spotlight", by Andrew Wildman. Re-use of the cover of issue#243.
• Transformers: Perchance to Dream:Superion gets smacked around byMenasor - detail from the cover of issue#259 by Andrew Wildman.
• Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection, Volume 17: Matrix Quest: Nightbeat and Prime's corpse byMakoto Ono andGeoff Senior.

• 

  Issue #330 - Lend a hand? (Marvel Comics UK, 1991)

• 

  Issue #331 - "You don't scare me. I've got chunks of guys like you in my stool!" (Marvel Comics UK, 1991)

• 

  Winter Special - Megatron's shadow is as mean as he is! (Marvel Comics UK, 1993)

• 

  Perchance to Dream (Titan Books, 2006)

• 

  The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 17: Matrix Quest (Hachette Partworks, Ltd., 2018)