Marissa Faireborne

Generation 1 Animated Series History

It has often been theorized by fans that Marissa was the daughter of Flint and Lady Jaye, and on the commentary track of The Transformers: The Movie 20th Anniversary DVD, it was confirmed by Flint Dille, story consultant on the Transformers movie as well as a writer, story editor and producer on G.I. Joe. This was also verified years before in an interview Flint Dille did with the Ultimate G.I. Joe Cartoon Website. Captain Marissa Faireborn (voiced by Susan Blu with a British lisp) is a member of the EDC, a military organization dedicated to the protection of Earth. In the year 2005, their Autobot allies were taking the first steps in preserving a great victory over the Decepticons. In her first appearance here, Captain Faireborn was stationed on Mars. The EDC crew of Outpost One in orbit around Pluto was on high alert as two Autobots had spotted the Decepticon leader, Galvaton, entering Earth's Solar System. Despite having collaborated with the Autobots in designing and constructing Outpost One as Earth's first line of defense, Galvatron and his soldiers made quick work of the space platform. Trooper Sullivan, who escaped the destruction of Outpost One, managed to radio a distress message. Meanwhile Marissa, who had been tracking the Decepticons from the EDC land base on Mars, received the transmission. At this time Blaster, the Autobots' communication specialist, radioed Captain Faireborn from Earth asking for help. Autobots Blurr and Wheelie had been carrying precious cargo that was vital to the security of their Autobot City on Earth. Their shuttle destroyed, the two Autobots were marooned on the Jovian moon of Io. Captain Faireborn agreed to provide assistance, and embarked on a rescue mission to save the Autobot couriers. Once on Io, she found the Autobots were being attacked by bat-like creatures. With the use of a jetpack and pistol, she drove them off of their prey. However, some of the swarm transformed into bombs and destroyed her spacecraft, leaving her stranded as well. Eventually, Sky Lynx, an Autobot lieutenant commander, ensured the success of the mission by picking up the entire party and fending off an attack by Predaking (This happened in the first five episodes of the G1 Transformers' third season, "The Five Faces of Darkness").

In the episode "The Killing Jar", she, Autobot sub-commander Ultra Magnus, Decepticon second-in-command/saboteur Cyclonus, and Junkion leader/sometime Autobot Wreck-Gar were abducted by a Quintesson scientist to be used as fodder for his experiments. Working together, the quartet managed to subdue the Quintesson and take control of his ship. When Marissa plotted a course back to Earth, the ship was caught in a black hole and sucked into a negative universe. The five of them managed to put aside their differences to repair the ship and return home, where Sky Lynx arrived to transport Marissa, Magnus, and Wreck-Gar to Autobot City on Earth. During the events of the episode "Forever is a Long Time Coming", while conducting target practice on an EDC base, she nearly is de-aged into an infant by time anomalies caused by a Quintesson time window. In "Money is Everything", she and the Autobot combiner team the Technobots end up reluctantly rescuing and protecting smuggler Dirk Manus (with whom she shared a mutual attraction). In "The Burden Hardest to Bear", she accompanies the Autobots on a mission in Japan, where the Decepticons had been attacking different cities. Rodimus Prime loses the Autobot Matrix of Leadership. And after he reverts back to Hot Rod, Marissa is the one who consoles him and tries to understand his indifference.

Dreamwave comics continuity

In the Generation One ongoing series by Dreamwave, Marissa was the granddaughter of Nathaniel Faireborn, founder of the Earth Defense Command.

As Bumper and Warpath attempted to haul the deactivated bodies of Jazz, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Windcharger, and Wheeljack out of an Oregon lake, they were arrested by Commander Marissa Faireborn and a legion of EDC troops. Bumper and Warpath were rendered unconscious, and the seven Autobots were taken to the EDCs subterranean headquarters in the Nevada desert. Contrary to first impressions, the EDC actually helped to repair the damaged Autobots, hoping for their aid in investigating a mysterious Cybertronian energy signature emanating from the deserted town of San Desto. Marissa recruited Jazz, Sunstreaker, Sideswipe and Bumper for the job, and led them and the EDC Night Force Unit into action.

Even before they touched down in San Desto, Marissa had established a good rapport with Jazz, with both parties mutually respecting the other's skills. As such, when a sweep of the town turned up no civilians, Marissa instructed her troops to follow Jazz's orders as they would hers, as they began a more thorough search. Soon enough, they were attacked by an army of Insecticon clones, who killed off most of the EDC soldiers and captured Bumper. Jazz and Marissa managed to escape to a garage, where they found a stash of human and bovine remains. The Insecticons tracked them down, forcing them to flee into a subterranean egg chamber, which Jazz promptly torched, to ensure no reinforcements hatched. This prompted an attack from the enraged Insecticon Shrapnel, but Sideswipe and Sunstreaker managed to cover Jazz and Marissa's escape back to the surface. Once there, they were confronted with yet more Insecticon clones and the cerebro-shell-controlled human citizens of San Desto (a countermeasure enacted by the Insecticon Bombshell). While the Autobots were unwilling to risk killing the helpless thralls, Marissa waded into the army with fists flying. Further bloodshed was prevented, however, when Bumper took out Bombshell, neutralizing both the clones and the human slaves.

Soon after, back at EDC headquarters, Marissa shared a few parting words with Jazz as he and the other Autobots waited for their comrades to pick them up. Marissa assured Jazz that he was not to blame for the loss of the entire Night Force, and seemed about to bring up the strange relationship that had bloomed between the pair of them, until Wheeljack interrupted.

Sometime later, Marissa was chewed out by her superior over the loss of Night Force, who blamed the involvement of the Autobots for the mission going sour. Marissa defended the Autobots (and left the colonel distinctly unimpressed in the process, particularly when he learned that she was on a first-name basis with Jazz), but the colonel demanded that she reinstate her grandfather's Project Centurion, in order to put the EDC on a more equal footing with the Transformers, in terms of power. Marissa objected vocally, but could not sway her commanding officer.

When Dreamwave went out of business in 2005, this story was left unresolved.