Out to Lunch!

	; Some people see pink elephants. Others...
	"Out To Lunch!"
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First published	14th October 1989
Cover date	21st October 1989
Writer	Simon Furman
Art	Andy Wildman
Letterer	Annie Halfacree
Cover	Andy Wildman
Continuity	Marvel Comics continuity

An Autobot gets in a bar fight while some Decepticons have a philosophical discussion about being losers.

Synopsis

Darkwing and Dreadwind are down on their luck. With Megatron dead, they're out of work again, spending most of their time over-energizing at Maccadam's Old Oil House. Unfortunately, they still haven't shaken the Mecannibals that have been chasing them since their last job. Wandering back into the bar, they pass by the Autobot Quickswitch, who is in disguise to meet a Decepticon informant who has new information for him. He never gets to make the meeting, as two Mecannibals break into the bar and begin chowing down on the patrons. Quickswitch is forced to give up his cover in order to prevent a slaughter, quickly switching between his various modes in order to bring down the attackers. Despite the chaos of the battle around them, Darkwing and Dreadwind are too plastered to realize what's going on, and remain engrossed in their self-pitying summation of their recent lives. Only after Quickswitch literally brings down the house around them do the Powermasters look away from their oil long enough to notice the wreckage, and they quickly high-tail it before getting blamed for the devastation.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Others
Quickswitch (5)	Darkwing (1) Dreadwind (2)	Mecannibals (3) The moustachioed bartender (4) Rocky (6)

Quotes

"Urh. Y'know, Dreadwind, shumtimes I think we'd have been bur-better off...if we'd let those bur-blasted mecnannibals, who were chashin' ush, catch 'n' eat us!"

—Darkwing is a whiny drunk.

"Wha-? Rocky was-"
"Ptoo! A bit on the tough side...but tasty!"

—The bartender and a Mecannibal

"I mush' disagree."
"You mush'?"
"Yus. I don' think this fuel is poisoned, at all...I jush think we've had a weeny bit too much of it..."

—Darkwing and Dreadwind state the obvious.

Notes

Artwork and technical errors

In the second panel, when Dreadwind and Darkwing approach the exterior of Maccadam's, there is no sign of Rocky, or anyone else on the door.

Continuity errors

This story is set after the events of "Skin Deep" but appears eleven issues before that story concluded. This is presumably due to the previous decision to pause the US material for eleven issues (#221–231) to run reprints of past UK stories in order to widen the gap in publishing but it results in a disjointed approach to story flow.

Continuity notes

This is the first (and last) appearance of Quickswitch.
Thunderwing has revoked Maccadam's neutral status since taking power.
The Mecannibals' presence on Cybertron was first shown in the US story "All the Familiar Faces!". However, because the US material was temporarily suspended and replaced by UK reprints, "Out to Lunch!" was printed six issues before "All the Familiar Faces!", ruining a planned crossover.
Dreadwind and Darkwing saw their former employer Megatron (seemingly) destroyed in the explosion of his fortress tower at the conclusion of "Skin Deep".
The Mecannibals had been tracking the Decepticon Powermasters since the events of "Recipe for Disaster!", and were seen to have followed them to Cybertron in "All the Familiar Faces!"

Real-life references

The panels where Dreadwind and Darkwing sit and drink are extremely reminiscent of the "head-to-head" sketches from Alas Smith and Jones, a popular British comedy at the time.

Other trivia

In the letters page, Dreadwind disses Jazz by claiming he was built by troubled, recently renamed British Leyland.^[1]

Back-up material

Additional Transformers story: "Back from the Dead"
Other strips: Action Force - "Beginnings... and Endings" and Combat Colin

Generics

There are many generic Decepticons in the background of Maccadam's Old Oil House.

While Quickswitch waits for his informants, generic Decepticons play darts and arm-wrestle behind him.
Two rough-and-ready Decepticons drink alongside Quickswitch at the bar.
As a half-eaten generic tries to warn the bartender about the Mecannibals, an adorable Decepticon licks his spilt oil from the bar.