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Story by Suzanne Weyn
Art by Carlos Garzon

This book was published by Marvel Books with a copyright of 1985. ISBN 0-87135-038-6.

The scans!

View the scans as... a single web page, a CBZ archive, or a PDF.

Most of these images came to me from TF Raw, but the person who scanned them has been lost to the sands of time. I scanned the covers myself.

Summary:

On a peaceful day, everyone at the Autobot camp is working or training, but Bumblebee is having trouble finding a way to contribute. After being teased he speeds off on his own.

While in his happy place, Bumblebee spots incoming Decepticons with his telescopic vision and goes back to base to warn his friends. Some of the Autobots are skeptical because they can't hear the Cons' jet engines coming... but that's because the Cons are using new jet engine silencers.

Optimus Prime takes Bee's warning seriously and they prepare to defend themselves. After chasing the Decepticons off, all the older Autobots, including Prime, praise Bumblebee for his abilities and his courage.

General observations:

This book is a great example of Bumblebee's role as the "kid appeal" character, the one that children are meant to identify with and care about, rather than merely idolizing them like with Optimus Prime. The text explicitly describes him as the "youngest" Autobot, which is unusual. (His TF Universe bio only metaphorically calls him "the Autobots' little brother", and says--as with his tech specs--that he idolizes the "bigger" but not "older" Autobots.) Most stories with Bumblebee don't put his "little guy trying to prove himself" side so directly on display. It's sweet!

The art in this book has very few quirks to it, relatively speaking! Sure, Bumblebee has the block-head design seen in other '85 coloring books, but otherwise there are very few deviations from the standard character models. Prime seems to have the chevron-shaped grille he sports in some coloring books, and Megatron wears his comics-style helmet, as usual for Marvel Books titles. That's about it!

The sequence with the camp mirage is very similar to the part of Decepticon Patrol where the Decepticons attack a mirage of an Autobot factory, get confused about it not blowing up, and then go in close where the Autobots ambush them. The illusion is even made by Mirage in both cases!

Specific story notes:

• Despite the title, Bumblebee doesn't actually go on a "mission" in this book.
• In the opening, Prime is shown repairing some sort of console or computer at the Autobot camp. Unusually technical work for him.
• Huffer is typically very gruff, but here he reaches out to Bumblebee in an attempt to comfort and include him after Sideswipe and Bluestreak make fun.
• While out sulking, Bumblebee nihilistically thinks to himself: "I'm no good to anyone. I belong in that junkyard!"
  
• The page which introduces the jet engine silencers is a little unclear, but it seems like maybe Starscream invented it and Megatron is genuinely praising him for it. Either that, or Megatron invented it himself and felt like addressing Starscream by name while bragging about how great his design is.
• As is typical in G1 sidestories, Mirage has a "make a mirage" ability akin to cartoon Hound's holograms.
• When the Decepticons are on their way, Prime orders everyone to "break camp" and relocate 20 miles south. The coloring books frequently refer to to "camps" (as well as headquarters, bases, fortresses, etc.), but here the word seems quite literal... although the "camp" is illustrated with buildings akin to aircraft hangers.
• THEN... when the Decepticons attack they're surprised to not be causing any damage, because the whole camp is a mirage. So... the Autobots packed up and removed all those buildings and fences??

Art/production notes:

• There's one page which seems to show Jazz and Bluestreak from behind, in heavily toy-based drawings. This is at odds with the cartoon models seen in most of the rest of the book.
• In that same picture, you can see Prime's chevron-shaped grille. It shows up a couple other times in this book, and was previously seen in The Deadly Fuel Shortage, Summertime Coloring Book, and the 1984 coloring book covers.
• As the Decepticons flee on p30, Rumble or Frenzy has seemingly decided to defect, because he's standing among the Autobots firing on the receding Cons.
• On page 31 Mirage is... lying down? In a tree? Also, Bluestreak is seen here in his standard model despite the toy appearance earlier.
• Like The Autobot Smasher!, this book's back cover has a punch-out character standee.