Ocean Encounter
From Transformers Wiki
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| "Ocean Encounter" 洋上の戦い
(Yōjō no Tatakai) | |||||||||||||
| First published | November 17, 2012 | ||||||||||||
| Written by | Andrew Hall | ||||||||||||
| Art by | Hidetsugu Yoshioka | ||||||||||||
| Continuity | Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity | ||||||||||||
| Packaged with | Tankmaster vs Marinemaster | ||||||||||||
Tankmaster ambushes Grimmaster, but is thwarted by Marinemaster and gives up some valuable information.
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Synopsis
After triumphing over Roadmaster, Grimmaster is ambushed by Tankmaster, who has been hiding amongst the debris of their landfill battle, waiting for his moment to strike. Pressing his gun to Grimmaster's head, he is about to execute the traitor when a shot blows the weapon from his hand courtesy of Marinemaster, who has been patrolling nearby. Zooming into action in his boat mode, Marinemaster overcomes Tankmaster with his speed on both sea and land, and suggests that the Decepticon offer up some information in exchange for his life. Though initially unconvinced of Marinemaster's remorselessness, Tankmaster observes his resolve, and volunteers a surprising fact: the mysterious High Regent currently leading the Decepticons on Earth is not his commander—he follows the will of Megatron alone.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons |
|---|---|
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Notes
- Marinemaster is the Generation 2 Autobot Manta Ray, identifiable by his pontoon-boat alternate mode and his in-story use of Manta Ray's original Tech Spec quote, "If you blink... you'll miss me!" In a nod to his origins as a Generation 2 character, like Racemaster before him, he is described as only having been created recently, in the immediately-pre-G2 era this story occupies. His Targetmaster partner, Rotorbolt, is named as a further hint to his identity, in reference to Manta Ray's Generation 2 subgroup, the Rotor Force.
- Tankmaster, meanwhile, is the rather surprising choice of Grindcore, an original character created for IDW Publishing's comics in the early part of the 2005 IDW continuity. The sole hint towards his true identity is from his bio, which notes he joined Master Chaos for the same reason as Rollermaster—Rollermaster's true identity, Straxus, was an associate of Grindcore's in IDW continuity. Writer Andrew Hall notes, though, that while he envisions Straxus as having dimension-jumped into the Japanese cartoon continuity for his appearances in United EX, Grindcore is a native of this dimension.
- We also learn for the first time that Scrash, the Decepticon leader in United EX and its 1992 contemporary Operation Combination is not the overall Decepticon leader, leading only the small cell of Decepticons attacking Earth at the moment. In retrospect, this was probably suggested by the fact he never carried the "Emperor of Destruction" title, going instead by 総統, sōtō. Though the fandom has long translated this term as "Führer" (partially for comedy value), Hall has opted to use "High Regent", and incorporated the meaning of that term—an individual who acts as leader due to the absence of the real ruler—into Scrash's role in the United EX story.
