This book was published by Marvel Books with a copyright of 1984. ISBN 0-87135-009-2.
The scans live here: http://www.physics.ohio-state.edu/~sstoneb/tf/books/coloring/undersea/. Browse them at your leisure. "FC" and "BC" are the front and back covers.
Artwork notes:
Prime, Megatron, the Seekers, Ravage, and Laserbeak appear in their
familiar cartoon models (more or less). All the other character
designs (including Soundwave himself and Rumble) are based on their
box art and/or the actual toys, which implies that the artwork was
done before those designs were ready.
Story notes:
The names "Buster" and "Spike" both appear in reference to Sparkplug's
son. Hound uses his holographic projection ability in this book. In
the earlier "Decepticon Patrol", hologram-projecting was Mirage's
forte. Their tech specs indicate that Mirage has the ability to create
illusionary disguises for himself, while Hound projects holographic
maps. Neither of them is said to have abilities like the cartoon
version of Hound, or the ability to turn invisible as cartoon Mirage
does. This book was possibly written after "Decepticon Patrol", at
a time that it had been decided Hound would have versitile holographic
abilities in the cartoon. Also, Ravage and Laserbeak are able to
speak like ordinary Transformers.
Lastly, as in "Decepticon Patrol", also by Zimmerman, the
idea of using a factory to build a Transformer army is central to
the plot of this book.
Summary:
This book starts out with brief profiles for its main characters.
Then, in the story section, we learn that Megatron plans to salvage
gold from a sunken ship. He will use this gold to buy factories he
can use to build an army of Decepticons. The Autobots try to reach
the treasure first. A fight ensues, and the Autobots win when Rumble
accidentally swallows up his teammates with an earthquake. (Again.)
The good bits:
![[ Bumblebee peers into the Decepticon base. ]](base.jpg "Bumblebee peers into the Decepticon base.")
The book explains that Megatron is "twice as mean when disguised
as a gun."
What are the Decepticons using for a base? Somebody's house? Just
look at this picture... they have nice windows and shrubbery.
Wheeljack builds a ship, and it's a perfectly normal Earth cargo
vessel. It's not even giant-sized for Transformers to use.
"Grrr! I'm leaping right through them!" growls Ravage. "How can
this be?"
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