Carbombya



Carbombya is a fictional North African nation from the Transformers 1980s cartoon. Its formal name is the Socialist Democratic Federated Republic of Carbombya. Ruled by Supreme Military Commander, King of Kings, and President for Life, Abdul Fakkadi, the country is rich in particularly fine oil and is intensely nationalistic. Ships that venture too close to the coastline are often fired upon. According to a sign seen in the episode Thief in the Night, Carbombya City has a population of 4,000 people, and 10,000 camels. Carbombya has been known to harbor Decepticons. Fakkadi is a short-tempered man prone to loud outbursts in reaction to any challenge directed at him. He is not afraid of the Transformers and has tried to threaten and/or shout down both Autobots and Decepticons on numerous occasions.

As a parody of 1980s era Middle Eastern tensions
Carbombya is designed as a parody of Middle Eastern tensions that existed in the 1980s. Its name is a play on the term "car bomb" and Fakkadi's name is intended to invoke that of Libyan dictator Muammar al-Gaddafi. Residents of the country are heard swearing on the lives of their mother's camels, and so forth, in a stereotypical manner.

Casey Kasem versus Carbombya
This did not go over well with veteran voice-over actor Casey Kasem, himself of Lebanese descent (and Druze heritage), who was supposed to provide Teletraan I's voice in "Thief in the Night", which was primarily set in Carbombya. He called for a change in the portrayal of Arab characters in that episode ; and when no changes had been made, he quit the show.

Kasem's sudden departure required the replacement of Teletraan I with Teletraan II (voiced by Frank Welker). In addition, the Autobots Cliffjumper and Bluestreak - both voiced by Kasem and survivors of The Transformers: The Movie - were retired from the series.

Misspellings
Carbombya is occasionally misspelled as Carbombia (an error that recently appeared in the story "Two For the Price of One" by Brandie Tarvin in the Transformers Legends anthology book), and in the script for the episode in which it first appeared, Five Faces of Darkness, it was spelled Karbomia, in a less-overt pun. Fakkadi's name is also often misspelled, generally as "Fakaddi," but the aforementioned Legends story went as far afield as "Faghadi." Perhaps this is not surprising, however, given the numerous English spellings that have been used for Muammar al-Qadaafi's name over the years.