Mayhem Attack Squad

The Mayhem Attack Squad is a Decepticon subgroup from the Generation 1 continuity family.

Shut up, we like our name.

The Mayhem Attack Squad (or sometimes simply Mayhem) is the Decepticon answer to the Wreckers. The team's lineup is ever-changing, and they recruit the most bloodthirsty and deadly Decepticons to swell their ranks when old members die (or desert). Whether it's attacking high-value targets or fomenting societal upheaval through sabotage and deception, the group always lives up to the name, spreading doom, destruction...mayhem.

They usually have a sweet ship and some of them can combine into the mighty Thunder Mayhem.

Fiction

Marvel Comics continuity

Marvel The Transformers comics

With Galvatron and Megatron teamed up on Earth and a rift in time and space threatening to destroy all reality, the Decepticons on Cybertron were getting desperate. They teamed the Mayhem Attack Squad with the Autobots' Wreckers and sent them to Earth in a Decepticon ship to bring down Galvatron and Megatron. Secretly, the Mayhems were under orders to kill any surviving Wreckers once the threat of Galvatron and Megatron was over.

Once on Earth, the two teams joined with the Advance Surveillance Unit Broadside, Inferno, and Sandstorm and moved to attack Galvatron in his lair.

Galvatron shows what he thinks of the lesser-known toys.

The battle could have gone... better than it did.

Galvatron embedded his hand in Battletrap's chest and cannon-blasted Venom, and by the time the first skirmish was over, only Carnivac, Flywheels and Catilla remained alive.

As the battle moved above ground, Carnivac had a change of heart about killing Springer when Springer saved his life.

The battle escalated as more and more Autobots and Decepticons joined. Ultimately, it was neither Wrecker nor Mayhem that would destroy Galvatron, but a rift in time and space. Time Wars

With the Time Wars over, the two surviving Mayhem Attack Squad members found themselves stranded on Earth when Megatron stole their ship to return to Cybertron.

The surviving Mayhems joined with the surviving Wreckers and the stray Autobots Inferno and Skids to form a new team called the Survivors.

Shortly after this, Carnivac teamed with Snarler (with Catilla observing) on a mission for Scorponok. The three were given Pretender shells as a reward. Snarler, however, was not impressed when the two former Mayhems refused to rejoin the Decepticons. Survivors!

Snarler returned to Cybertron and set about recruiting a new Mayhem Attack Squad to destroy Carnivac and Catilla through training sessions against solid light simulations of high-ranking Autobots in a fake Slaughter City. Despite his abject cowardice, Needlenose was admitted into its ranks alongside Bludgeon, Stranglehold, Octopunch and Spinister. The Hunting Party

One of these things is not like the others, one of these things does not belong!

The newly-formed Mayhems travelled to Earth where they released a Hellhound into the Texas area to flush out the Survivors. Instead, it drew the attention of the estranged Survivor Carnivac, one of their primary targets. Way of the Warrior They were about to execute the renegade Decepticon when an armoured detachment of the U.S. Army arrived to deal with the Hellhound and opened fire. Carnivac made good his escape while the Mayhems slaughtered the soldiers, so they split up and tracked him down in the town of Los Gravos. Although he managed to subdue Needlenose, Carnivac surrendered when Octopunch threatened the lives of some nearby humans. Octopunch prepared to deliver the killing blow Survival Run when one of the humans hit him in the back with a truck, incapacitating him. The rest of the squad quickly converged on the commotion and although Carnivac put up a good fight he once again put himself in danger to protect the humans and was left helpless at Spinister's feet. The arrival of Catilla and the other Survivors saved Carnivac's life but Catilla was killed by Bludgeon before the Mayhem Attack Squad retreated and Carnivac subsequently swore to hunt down and kill the Mayhems for murdering his friend. A Savage Place!

"So that's it? What, we're some kinda... attacking... mayhem squad?"

On Cybertron, the Mayhem Attack Squad—Bludgeon, Stranglehold, and Octopunch—got the assignment of assassinating the Autobot Pretenders Bumblebee, Jazz, and Grimlock. Yesterday's Heroes!

After initially failing to kill the Autobots, the Squad accidentally teleported deep inside Cybertron along with the Autobots. The two groups met inside a huge chamber containing a sleeping Primus and promptly set about trying to kill each other.

After the Squad had been utterly crushed, Octopunch made one final attack against a distracted Grimlock, which was deflected by Grimlock's armor and ended up hitting Primus in the face. Consequently, Primus awoke, drawing Unicron to his ancient enemy's location. Primal Scream
Known members:

Earthforce

"Contrary to popular belief, our job is NOT just to attack Miles Mayhem."

Rather than going out to hunt down Carnivac, the Mayhems decided to let the renegade come to them and so established a base on a tropical island. True to their predictions, Carnivac arrived and managed to dispatch Needlenose fairly easily. Cry Wolf! In response, the Mayhems managed to destroy Carnivac's Pretender shell Wolf in the Fold! but he recovered from the mental shock and murdered Snarler and Spinister. When the Autobot Survivors and Grimlock's Earthforce arrived, he saw to it that Bludgeon, Octopunch and Stranglehold were captured alive—because he knew that being taken alive and not having a warrior's death would be torment for them. Where Wolf?

They later managed to escape from Earthbase by being vewwy quiet. Shut Up!

Afterwards Bludgeon, Octopunch, and Stranglehold hooked up with Megatron and Shockwave, who had been deposed as leaders of their respective Decepticon factions, and took on a bounty to assassinate their betrayers, Starscream and Soundwave. External Forces! Though they outnumbered their prey they hadn't counted on the (admittedly highly unlikely) intervention of the Earthbound Autobots and Dinobots to save Starscream's life and the Mayhems were soundly defeated. The Lesser Evil!

Classics

Twenty years after the end of the war, Ruckus and Needlenose employed Octopunch and Stranglehold in attempt to reform the Mayhem Attack Squad. Despite going to elaborate lengths to get at Nightbeat, they were undone by Ruckus' naïveté as leader and eventually received a serious thrashing at the hands of the Autobots. Cheap Shots

Known members:

Regeneration One

In preparation for the arrival of Bludgeon and his Warworld, Soundwave began seeding the undernet of Cybertron with subsonic transmissions to increase the population's aggression levels. After Blaster stumbled across his signal, Soundwave sent the Mayhen Attack Aquad—Carnivac, Snarler, and Roadblock—to eliminate the Autobot communications specialist before he spread word of his discovery. At the Garage they easily broke through troops from Ultra Magnus's civil defense corps, however Blaster and his fellow post-Nucleon patients were ready for them. Huffer, Silverbolt, and Inferno helped Blaster take down the Mayhems and the undernet signals were disabled. Destiny, Part Two

Known members:

TransTech

One of the many criminal gangs and factions in the Offworlder Zone of Axiom Nexus was the Mayhem Attackers. Gone Too Far

2005 IDW continuity

Ah, close enough to Octopunch.

Mayhem was a post-war anarchist outfit, out to bring down the 'ruling class' of both sides. They were led and presumably founded by Carnivac, a former agent of the Tyrest Accord. Their first known target, and certainly a big one, was the notorious Prowl: this was done at the behest of Tarantulas, who gave them advanced Earth beast mode disguises that would disguise their spark signatures. Poor Tidal Wave found himself not just a whale but a whale with a mobile HQ in his guts! Sins of the Wreckers #2 Sins of the Wreckers #3

Agents of Mayhem not only helped capture Prowl, they tried Sins of the Wreckers #1 and eventually succeeded at covertly snatching the Aequitas data from Verity Carlo. This brought them into open conflict with the Wreckers and while Carnivac hoped they'd see sense and join, the Wreckers managed to account for Mayhem members Polar Claw Sins of the Wreckers #2 and Claw Jaw. Sins of the Wreckers #3 Mayhem aided Tarantulas by defending his base in the Noisemaze from the Wreckers, Sins of the Wreckers #4 but Tarantulas was ultimately defeated and the Noisemaze collapsed. The surviving Mayhem members were able to escape and were joined by the Wrecker Impactor, who ended up agreeing with their mission statement. Sins of the Wreckers #5

Mayhem Debate Club

Two years later, most of Mayhem had adopted vehicular alt-modes and added Smolder and Steamhammer to their ranks. They captured Springer and under their control he attacked politician Megan Guiglione in a plot to disrupt the weak Autobot/human peace. However, to their surprise, Guiglione ended up being the human alt-mode of Overlord! The Mayhems attempted to attack Overlord but were destroyed in seconds, leaving only Carnivac and Impactor. Impactor was later killed while battling Overlord but Carnivac was able to use his power to separate Overlord into his two components, which Springer disposed of in opposite points of time with Tarantulas' Timemaze. Requiem of the Wreckers

Known members:

Beast Wars: Uprising

During the Great War, the Mayhem Attack Squad was a famous Decepticon group, led by or associated with Carnivac.

On the Builder controlled Cybertron, their legacy endured in a Predacon supremacist group which took their name. A far cry from their ancestors, the Mayhems were little more than another gang in Iacon's underworld, and a particularly pathetic one at that, regarded by the Maximal Command Security Force as nuisances. Meanwhile, Predacon Secret Police officer Tarantulas saw them as useful foot-soldiers, stringing them along with promises of power in the "new world order".

When the Builder Twirl was murdered, MCSF officer Wolfang's investigations brought him into conflict with the Mayhemist Fennec, working for Tarantulas, who had discovered Twirl was a Targetmaster. In his attempt to find Twirl's murderer, Wolfang and Resistance member Blackarachnia fought and incapacitated the Mayhemists, with the survivors being taken into custody by the MCSF. Trigger Warnings

Of Masters and Mayhem

The Mayhem Attack Squad was selected by Shockwave to form the ultimate combiner, Thunder Mayhem. Their power amplified and the combiner's personality solidified by the Matrix of Malice, the Mayhem Attack Squad's destructive ability proved uncontrollable. The Squad captured Optimus Prime and restrained him within their ship, forcing him to watch as Thunder Mayhem went on an apocalyptic rampage across Cybertron, nearly driving the Cybertronian race to extinction. Deadly Aim Lively Pursuit Pandora's Gift

With their homeworld in ruins, the Mayhem Attack Squad turned their combined form on other planets, styling themselves as "the Slaughterers of Worlds", before they were called to Earth by Ramjet who requested their aid in destroying the universe. History Agreeing, the Mayhem Attack Squad turned Thunder Mayhem on Merida, only to be confronted by the Autobot Pretenders and Optimus Prime himself. Pandora's Gift

Though Thunder Mayhem handled this resistance at first, it was met by Wreckage who distracted it long enough for Elizabeth to fire a beam of energy that wounded its chest, allowing Wreckage to expose the Matrix of Malice. Together, all parties managed to destroy the Matrix, causing the Squad to de-combine and killing Thunder Mayhem. In the aftermath, the Wreckers took the Mayhem Attack Squad into custody when they left the planet. Finale

Known members:

2019 IDW continuity

Get Wreckers. You could save money and be better protected from Mayhem, like us.

Mayhem was a terrorist organization operating from the shadows of Velocitron and seeking to subvert the local government. Tread & Circuits Part 1 Mayhem was so pervasive that Breakdown, head of the local Security Operations branch, was actually in cahoots with them, along with many of his operatives. Much like The Rise on Cybertron, Mayhem was secretly affiliated with the Ascenticon movement and their end goal was to seize control of Velocitron and put their representative Knock Out in charge of the planet. Tread & Circuits Part 4

Mayhem's spokesman Octopunch hacked into the latest performance broadcast by the Wreckers, denouncing the group as just another dose of meaningless entertainment for the ignorant masses. He demanded that the government halt the upcoming Speedia 500 race, the method in which the planet used to choose its leaders, and executed Electrons on the air to punctuate his statement. The Wreckers arrived on Velocitron to investigate and after accidentally discovering a hidden Mayhem hideout, Circuit ran afoul of his old comrade Axer. Tread & Circuits Part 1 Employed by SecOps for the planet but also a covert member of Mayhem, Axer tried to warn his old friend to stay out of their business. However, when Circuit subsequently tracked Axer back to the Mayhem hideout, he was shot in the head to conceal its location. Tread & Circuits Part 2

After the Speedia 500 began with the Wreckers in participation, Mayhem struck, seeking to eliminate as many of the racers as possible. Skullgrin caused an avalanche to separate the participants, while Axer, Octopunch, and Submarauder picked off racers one at a time. The Wreckers did their best to fight off the terrorists, but a bombing run by Slugslinger and Thunderblast brought more chaos to the race. Thunderclash managed to down Submarauder, but interference from Breakdown's SecOps operatives allowed the Pretender to escape. Apparently ignorant of Mayhem's larger agenda, Axer chased Knock Out down, intent on killing the lead racer. However, Axer was killed by his own commander Breakdown, allowing Knock Out to win the Speedia 500 and the position of Velocitron's First Senator. Tread & Circuits Part 3

The Wreckers were in attendance at Knock Out's inauguration to prevent any further assassination attempts. Submarauder fired a harpoon at the new First Senator from a balcony, despite Minerva's attempt to stop him. Knock Out was struck in the chest and chaos erupted again as more Mayhem members stormed the hall. The Wreckers engaged them and ultimately seemed to triumph, but Submarauder succeeded in framing Minerva for the assassination attempt on Knock Out. Breakdown had her taken into custody and the Wreckers were forced to leave her on Velocitron as they departed the planet. The shackled Minerva was brought before the new First Senator and his inner circle, where she realized the terrifying truth- Knock Out and his entourage were ALL Mayhem, and the entire conflict was manufactured for their benefit. Minerva was consigned to indefinite stasis and the new rulers of Velocitron, now sporting their updated insignias, hailed the Decepticons and Knock Out! Tread & Circuits Part 4

Known members:

Toys

Combiner Wars

• Bludgeon (TFSS 4.0, 2016)
• Grabuge (TFSS 4.0, 2016)
• Needlenose (TFSS 4.0, 2016)
• Spinister (TFSS 4.0, 2016)
• Windsweeper (TFSS 4.0, 2016)

The Mayhem Attack Squad was the theme of 2016's Combiner Wars-themed Transformers Figure Subscription Service, with five of its toys redecoed as established and new members of the team. Ruckus was renamed to his French Canadian name for trademark reasons. The five combine into Thunder Mayhem.

Legacy

• Wrecker Malleus Minotaurus / Chop Shop / Barrage (2024)
• Prime Universe Breakdown / Windsweeper (w/ Cleansweep, Ozone) (2024)
• Decepticon Bludgeon / Decepticon Rukus (2024)

The Amazon-exclusive Legacy United Doom 'n Destruction Collection was themed around the Mayhem Attack Squad as a follow-up to the Wreckers-themed Wreck 'N Rule Collection from the first year of Legacy. Most of the figures are adorned with the tentacled skull insignia introduced in Tread & Circuits as well as the standard Decepticon insignia. The capsule line inducted a handful of new members into the ranks of the Mayhem Attack Squad, including new Targetmaster partners for Windsweeper.

Notes

• Flywheels is not seen to die in "Time Wars", but if you look very hard you can see his corpse among the general carnage.
• However, Battletrap, who had the dubious honor of being the first casualty of the battle, reappears later in both the post-Unicron U.S. issues and in Generation 2, among Bludgeon's forces.
• Some believe that the Triggercons Windsweeper, Ruckus, and Crankcase are also part of the original Mayhem Attack Squad. Although this is implied by Windsweeper and Ruckus's proximity to Spinister et al. in the Matrix Quest, it is never explicitly stated that they are Mayhems within the text of those U.S. stories. Furthermore, Crankcase isn't present during the Matrix Quest, despite his appearance on the cover of #63. In 2008, Ruckus would be made the leader of a "new Mayhem Attack Squad" in the Timelines story "Cheap Shots", and in 2015, Windsweeper was made a member of the team that forms Thunder Mayhem. Still crossing our fingers for Crankcase.
• The fleshy look of the 2005 IDW continuity Mayhems is taken from Jack Lawrence's old Beast Wars Transmasters UK fancomics (with permission from Lawrence).^[1]

Foreign names

• Japanese: Mayhem Kōgeki-tai (メイヘム攻撃隊 Meihemu Kōgeki-tai, "Mayhem Attack Force")

See also

• Decepticon Heavy Brigade
• Squadron X
• Ten Deadliest Killers

References