Transformers Windblade: Distant Stars

Hi, this is Margaret Scott, the first female

writer on Transformers Comics, and you are listening

to all things Transformers. Hi, this is John

Barber from IDW Publishing. You are listening

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we are reading right now here inside the pull

bag. It record. Yeah, I did that already. Good

job. Count in and start going. My transistors

are trembling. Autobotly August 2018 kicks off

with something that has been years in the making.

The return of the fembots to all things Transformers

here inside the pull bag. This is episode 317

of the pull bag. I am your host TF2 and Mike.

Joining me are three fembots that would give

Austin Powers a run for his money. First up we

have the cyclonus loving knockout drooling Nicole

Beatles Diva Hailstorm. Hello. Rock on. See?

No mention of Rio this time. I appreciate that.

Oh, you just mentioned his name. What are you

talking about? Then we have the Megatron -obsessed

wrong prime worshipping Heather, a .k .a. Hahi

Prime. Ronimus rules, optimist rules. You're

allowed to have that opinion. It is wrong. No,

it's not. Then there's that wrecker girl. She

wrecks, she rules. It's Amy, a .k .a. Lady Wreck.

Woo -hoo! Not the kickin' intro that I expected,

but that's okay. You interrupt me enough times.

You're not worthy enough of one. Yeah, I get

it. It's fine. I'll whirl on you later. I'm sure

you will. Today we explore the distant stars

with Transformers Windblade. This is the second

series that was a part of the Combiner Wars,

so this shit is confusing. Amy, take this away

because holy crap. Okay, so before you go, just

a little bit of history, folks. We're only currently

doing in this episode issues four to seven of

the second Windblade series written by Margaret

Scott, art by Korn Howell. We're also doing Combiner

Hunters at the end of the arc, and that is done

by Sarah Peter Doroshay. The crazy thing about

this is we tried doing this like three and a

half years ago when this was new. We tried doing

the Combiner Wars issues for Windblade. We did

four of the seven issues, and only four of them

were actual Combiner Wars crossovers. But how

this second... volume of wind blade is traded

is crazy there's actually two trade paperbacks

there's one called distant stars which is what

i will be going off of because it's just issues

four to seven plus combiner hunters and then

they released something more recently called

when transformers wind blade lost city i'm so

lost yeah so how was traded this set that were

so the first volume that they did the one that

was drawn and all the art done by Sarah Stone

and Merigrid wrote. That one was just Windblade

Volume 1, and it had four issues, and we've already

reviewed it. We've already covered that, yes.

You were thinking, if you were thinking, oh,

then I'll just get Windblade Volume 2. Well,

Volume 2 kind of got split up in between two

things because it got folded into Combiner Wars.

Yep. So half of it, if you just wanted just the

trade, With just the Windblade, however, it fits

into continuity. You're going to want to go with

Transformer Combiner Wars and then get Transformers

Windblade Distant Stars. That'll be the first

four issues and the last four issues with Combiner

Hunters, the one shot. Right. And that's what

I got. Yeah. But then they came out with Last

City. Yeah. Now, the Last City is basically...

All of the Windblade issues, we get all of the

first volume, which was the one through four

with Sarah Stone doing just the solid art on

that, where we first get introduced to Windblade.

And then all of volume two, which is the seven

issues minus the three Combiner Wars issues.

combiner hunters one shot the problem with that

is that there are really essential pieces to

what happens in the second arc the volume two

that got folded into combiner wars so the confusion

is is that when you read the last city you're

going to have missing pieces to how things pay

off in that because combiners happen And then

they suddenly just appear. And you're like, what?

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. When did

we get that? So you have to get the full story.

You have to get Combiner Wars. There's just no

way around it. And The Last City is the one volume

that kind of misses that. So I think the reason

why they made it was because people were out

there going, hey, I want a complete just Windblade

series thing. whatever. And so that's probably

why they put it together like that. I really

don't know other than the fact that it's very

confusing. If you, and, and here's the thing

is I stopped reading for a little while. Then

I jumped back in and I was like, wait, wait,

wait, wait, what issues are these? I'm missing

pieces. And so as I was reading to get ready

for this podcast, I was like, what am I missing?

And what she was missing at the time when she

was asking me about this, cause we had a whole

conversation about this off air. The fact that

she said, Combiner Wars, you need to read part

of that to finish off this story because the

Windblade epilogue is Robots in Disguise 42.

Yeah. That's the other one. If you've read Combiner

Wars, then you hop out of Combiner Wars and read

the next issue, which is the epilogue of Combiner

Wars. Also not traded in any of these as well.

So if you got like, hey, what was this thing

going on between Optimus Prime and Prime? Optimus

Prime and Prowl in that Windblade issue that

happens, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, you don't see

the payoff for that to the epilogue. And that

also is not traded in The Last City, even though

it's in that trade. Combiner Wars. Versus Combiner

Wars, the Combiner Wars. and then The Last City.

I mean, if you got Combiner Wars and then Last

City and you failed to get Distant Stars, then

you're going to be a little confused. So that's

the lowdown. I hope to God, I hope to God when

they eventually put this in the Phase 2 or if

it ends up being Phase 3, the actual reading

order hardcovers that they come out with, I hope

to God they fix this. The collection volume will

make sense. I love those collection volumes.

They're worth the money. Yeah, they are definitely

worth it. But if you decide to get the collection

volume, my guess is that they will put it in

the proper order and it'll all work out. Because

somebody done screwed up with this. Yeah, because

this was a little bit confusing. If I remember

correctly, when it first... got announced i thought

okay that's interesting will it have the combiner

war issues and i don't remember if i ever figured

out whether or not it was going to have it or

not i didn't get the last city i thought it was

kind of pointless i didn't get it although i

didn't like the cover i thought the cover was

really pretty the cover was cool but i there's

no there's no way in hell i was getting yeah

so if anybody else out there is like hey how

do i follow what you're saying it's like just

get distant stars it's called transformers wind

blade distant stars and that's the that's that's

issue four through seven and the combiner hunters

one shot um The Last City will not have Combiner

Hunter's one -shot. That's the other thing that's

important because it kind of follows around that

time as well. And it kind of is important because

that affects other things later. That's because

we will discuss it. But still. So if you wanted

to get the whole thing, let's say you're new,

but you're like, hey, I want to hear it all.

Get Transformers Windblade Volume 1. Then get

Transformers Combiner Wars. That'll be the one

through three arc with the extra red shoes. Then

get Transformers Windblade Distant Stars, and

then you're all set. And anything after that,

you'll go on to, I think, Robots in Disguise

or... it's the John Barber run of Transformers

that was yeah it was Transformers and now it's

Optimus Prime I gotta say before we go any further

Ryan aka Nightbeat and I are going to cover Optimus

Prime and Lost Light Volume 1 later this month

but reading that like I'm in the middle of reading

Optimus Prime right now so we can record that

episode and I feel so disjointed reading the

first volume of Optimus Prime because it's been

a year since I read the end of the Transformers

Not Red series that this used to be. And I'm

like, I feel so lost. I hear you. I hear you,

Mike. I ducked out of Optimus Prime for a while

because I couldn't care anymore and I'm ticked

off at IDW Prime. I finally dived back in since

everything was ending and I wanted to find out

how it was ending. If you read it in big, huge

chunks, it's a lot easier to deal with. But issue

by issue, it's really hard to track. I have the

volumes. I have the trades digitally. I was not

buying it single issue at all. I waited for the

trades on Optimus Prime and Lost Light. So I've

got the collections for it digitally. two or

three issues into it and i'm like uh okay anyway

so yeah i just to piggyback on that as well because

i it's i i've not been keeping up on either but

i've been trying to catch up on optimus prime

and i think i'm on issue 13 i got to the end

of that when there's so much i'm missing i need

to go back and reread all of this all over again

going uh I'm missing pieces. And that's the other

thing. I guess that's the only criticism I can

throw at it is that when they made it this huge

combined universe, I'm starting to get to the

point where I realize, oh, crap, I do need to

go back and read the G .I. Joe stuff. I do need

to go back and read all of the ROM stuff. I do

need to go pick up all of these extra stuff because

things are happening in those issues that are

coming in this direction. And I'm like going,

wait, wait, wait, wait. Where was that at? And

I'm kind of frustrated with it because I didn't

want to have to read visionaries. I didn't want

to have to read some of them because I thought,

well, I just don't feel like reading that. I

just I only care about Transformers and the Cybertron

story that was going on. I really don't. I'm

still I read the Costa stuff. I don't want to

go back to Earth. No slight to John because I

like what he's building too, but it's like, I

never really wanted to go back. I wanted to see

Spike get squished and he didn't. So I'm like,

I think, I think the majority of people wanted

to see that. Wow. Can you imagine the joy and

rejoicing? Sorry. I'm just going to take a moment

and meditate on Spike. We're all just envisioning

that like, oh yeah. Wow. Okay, so... You know,

that's what they... You shouldn't have ended

it with Unicron. They should have ended it with

that. Unicron's whole point is to squish Spike.

And he's like, never mind. Assist Unicron. He's

like, that's why you need to destroy Earth, just

to get to that one guy. Spike is kind of like

a cockroach. He'd probably survive. It'd be like

the... You guys like the cover of the huge Wreckers

compendium where there's just like the big pile

of bots, but it's a big pile of people all shoving

Spike up towards Unicron's mouth. And they strangely

look like fans. Yeah, all of us are like sneaked

in there. Weren't you? You were sneaked into

some issue. I was back in the ongoing. The cost

is run. Day. Yeah, that was one of the joy. That

was a few moments of joy that I had. And sadly,

I was picketing. The people that were in there

that were us were picketing against the Transformers

being on Earth. Yeah, I remember that was fun.

Nothing's changed. The more they change, the

more they stay the same. Let's discuss this comic

book so that poor Nicole can get to work on time.

I know. Windblade isn't too bad. I like Windblade.

Yes, Windblade's adorable. So in issue four,

Windblade and Starscream are essentially an old

married couple. Sure words have not been spoken.

Knockout is hilarious. Knockout is adorable.

I love Knockout. The best line in this entire

issue is, shut up, Rattrap, with both of them

finally getting on the same page and agreeing

on something. Let's see, what else did I write

down for this? Velocitron has too much Energon?

Really? You'd think the Decepticons would go

there instead of ravaging Cybertron. Yeah. Well,

nobody knew where it was. Obviously, yeah. What

else did you guys think of this one? Heather?

I liked the... It's all good. Okay, well, okay.

I kind of want to do a quick overview of the

entire series. Sure. Which is just... What do

we think of Kornhowl's art? And... the general

kind of this because this series is about finding

the different colonies and roping them into the

council of worlds so i would be like thoughts

and feelings on that that whole thing and and

rather than just like starting with diving into

individual issues i think it's useful just be

like what do we think of this trade this volume

I think it's good. I think it's interesting.

I think it somewhat slightly suffers from the

Combiner Wars thing, but other than that, I mean,

if you started issue four instead of issues one

to three, you're fine, because it basically,

like you said, starts on the hunt for the colonies,

and with Corrin's art, it's very, very cartoonish,

which is good, because it reminds me, like, it's

basically... her version of the G1 cartoon with

all of these other characters that she can then

put her spin on, like the Beast Wars characters

when we get to Yukaris and all that. Knockout

looks just like he would in the Prime cartoon,

so that's cool. I had an interesting experience

going for it, because when we were first figuring

out how we were going to run this podcast, we

were thinking we were going to do the Combiner

Wars issues. And so going from the way Livio

draws Cybertron, which is a place I do not wish

to go ever. And then switching over to Corin

Howell's art and Thomas Deere's colors was kind

of a whiplash, but also so much more welcoming.

And so this art for this story of, hey, let's

get everybody in this. Council of Worlds, making

Cybertron a place you might actually want to

come to is helpful. Because if it was still that

Combiner Wars Livio art, everybody would be like,

nope, I'm out. And I wouldn't blame them. But

when I first... This read -through was the first

time when I felt not quite as off -put by this

art style. It's so cartoony. that I have a hard

time taking it seriously. And I'm used to reading

these comics in adult mode. And this particular

trade is a lot more, feels a lot more like I

would pass this to my 11 -year -old daughter

and be like, here, check this out. Read My Little

Pony and then read this. I agree. At least until

you get to issue seven. Seven feels like it upsets

game a little bit because there's more manipulation

going on between the characters and how they

wrote it. It does improve as you kind of adjust

to the world. And honestly, the issue with the

big party, that's just phenomenal. And I love

everything about it. And it is joy and sauce

and winning. Once I kind of found my footing

in the way that Corrin was making the world,

I was like, oh, okay, okay, I know where I am

now. But it was such a switch. Even from Sarah

Stone's art, like if you just skip Combiner Wars

and go from Windblade Volume 1 to Windblade Volume

2, it still feels very, very different. But I

will say, because, you know, me and colors, I

will say I think this is Thomas Deere's best

fit for coloring in anything he's ever done.

Because somehow, due to his palette, this makes

it feel like a planet in space. And I don't know

any better way of saying that, but something

about the lighting. I feel like, at all times,

it is dark outside. And there are stars. You

can almost feel like the... Yeah. like the ozone

kind of like yeah it's it's got this kind of

really it's got a specificity to it that i that

i appreciate so yeah i think once i adjust it

i think they're a good art team it's just so

different yeah at first i was i'm not used to

the art style because i was like you i'm like

wow this is really really cartoonish like you

said But, you know, I think after the first,

you know, probably seven or eight pages, I got

past it because I realized, I don't know, I just

got sucked into the storyline. And so somehow

it worked. That's cool. See, I had actually a

hard time with the storyline, too, because these

were such one shots. Yeah. And yes, there was

political machinations, but it feels a lot more

day trippy. And that also took me a while to

get my head around. But can we talk a little

bit of spoilers for stuff that's happening right

now? It's been out for a while. Well, no spoilers

for issues that have come out recently, like

in the last month or so. Yeah, sure, that's fine.

Anything that's more than a week old is fine.

The one thing I want to point out about Corrin's

art on this... on Windblade specifically is at

the time the first issue even though Combiner

Wars issue was not her but okay let's say issue

4 so basically Combiner Wars Windblade started

in March of 2015 by the time we get to issue

4 where this picks up and she's on art that was

June 24th of 2015 at the exact same time around

there I think June 3rd or so She was doing a

six -issue series over at DC as well, Batmite,

with writer Dan Juergens. So I had read that

before I had read this. So I was already accustomed

to her art style. So when I saw her basically

drawing, like I said, the scene with... Starscream,

Windblade, and Rattrap where they're telling

him to shut up. I'm like, oh my god. It's G1

Starscream with a G1 version of Windblade talking

to Beast Wars Rattrap. I loved it. I thought

it was hilarious. Go ahead. Can I jump in real

quick? That way you can move on and we can go

to the next topic after this. I see what you're

saying because there are parts in here where...

I think she gets her feet, but like there are

parts and pieces where the, where like hands

don't feel like they fit because there's a, like

you said, it's, it's a little bit of a, the,

the cartoony, like you said. And while I really,

really like a lot of the expressions, there are

parts and pieces where sometimes even hands don't

look like they're attached. And so, I mean, just

a feeling of that. She gets her feet by the end.

And I really don't remember if she'd done the

Transformers book before this. I think she did.

I think we saw her in an annual, I want to say.

But I don't, I need to go look it up real quick.

And I didn't prep really well for the art like

I should have. But you're right. I mean, a lot

of things, a lot of the points. and that's just

the only thing I put on here but other than that

like yes if you go from Livio's art to this it's

a huge switch but in terms of what they do in

the writing I liked how they moved from Livio's

darker moodier style to this because the stories

are not really heavy they things happen that

make it like interesting i mean like marigrid

packs it she packs it as best as she can without

getting too much in there and making it feel

like oh there's so much going on it's like no

they have specific goals and you pay it off and

it gets paid off before the end you get those

goals met by then so like in terms of writing

i think she did great with that and we'll probably

get more into that later but like it worked for

what the art the art needed to do it pulled it

off And so I was like you. By the time I got

halfway into it, I was like, oh, yeah, this is

the art. Oh, yeah, that's right. This is not

the art that we had before that. And I think

that's also a criticism that I think a lot of

fans have thrown at a lot of these events is

that sometimes when you get these events and

you don't have the same artist on every issue

that goes through the event, it detracts from

your enjoyment of it because you're switching

from one mood to the next. And sometimes that

switch is. incredibly huge yeah so cool anyway

what i what i wanted to bring up in terms of

story was how much my perception changes of some

of the things that happen in this due to the

recent stuff with unicron and um the optimus

prime series Especially I remember when they

go to Eucharist and there's the bird titan Chella.

And I at the time was like, this seems so just

random. Why is there this bird titan that is

against regular Transformers? And then we've

just found out that Shockwave went and lived

there with his fursuit Onyx Prime outfit on and

made them be against Transformers. You know,

people who turn into cars so that he could have

his own kind of group. And, you know, somebody

on the Internet, correct me if I've got this

wrong, because I'm still trying to figure it

all out. But so there's that. And then the fact

that Unicron has eaten all these guys by now,

like all these guys are dead. Velocitron is dead.

Eucharist is dead. And it's so different going

back and reading this now. There's this weird

sense of nostalgia. I'm like, oh. They're dead.

Wow. Somebody replaced Heather with Shattered

Glass Optimus. That's what they've done now at

this point. You get that. You get this when reading,

at least because that's the only volume I've

read so far, is Unicron, the zero issue, the

comic book free, the free comic book issue that

came out this last May. of 2000 may of 2018 you

read that and that's where you get the oh crap

everybody's been gulped and eaten and yeah that's

it i was like well that sucks yeah it just it

made it made unicron weirdly real going through

and reading this because that those issues are

so packed and huge and wild and crazy but all

of a sudden Just taking a moment to be a little

quieter and being like, here, meet these people.

And meanwhile, I'm like, oh, they're dead. That's

why that reviewer. Oh, yeah. It made no sense

what he said, because I'm like, yeah, if you've

been reading and you find that certain big, bad,

you know, Unifron has eaten people, that makes

him an incredible, huge. That makes him, like,

the ultimate villain. He just gulped places,

and they didn't catch it until now. Huh? What?

Yeah, and if anyone goes back and listens to

Nicole and I on that episode of All Things Transformers,

I did contact the guy, and I just wasn't mean

or anything like that. I just said, have you

been reading for the last 12 years, or is this

something you're just jumping onto? Or pre -read

anything. And he basically said, no, I love the

original franchise. I love the franchise in general.

I wanted to see what Unicron was going to do

since he's coming in. And he just felt that it

was a lackluster issue. And that's fine. That's

his opinion. It's understandable. I guess if

you haven't read anything else, you don't feel

the impact of what's going on. And not that I'm

going to try to review Unicron right now. Cause

that's way later. Yeah. But it's just, again,

like some, and maybe this is a criticism as well.

Cause now I feel like, and I've mentioned this

before that I have to read everything else coming

into getting ready to read Unicron and see the

end of everything. It's the whole purpose why

I'm currently reading Optimus Prime and Lost

Light right now. Because within this month of

Transformers comics here inside the pull bag

on all things Transformers, Ryan and I are doing

both volumes one of each, Optimus Prime and Lost

Light, and volumes two of each. So we're not

going to get to Unicron until next year. We're

just not. Am I going to read it to find out what

the heck happens? Oh, yeah, I am. It's not going

to be covered here on the podcast until next

year. I just, yeah. Cause I, there's too much

to do. It's just way too much. It is what it

is. Yeah. It's crazy. Yeah. You know, not that

we want to drag this, this one down. Cause this

was really a fun read to be honest. Oh, it is.

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And I will say just to

close off, I find every time I read any sort

of story that goes over multiple issues, the

first issue feels a little iffy. And then when

you read the whole thing over again, you're like,

oh, I get it. And it's cool. So we just have

to give ourselves time to kind of bed our roots

down into the story. And then we kind of. That's

the challenge of being a reviewer, though, is

the fact that you have to review such a small

portion of a bigger whole, and sometimes you

can't really do that until you have the whole

whole. Everybody just does their best. Yay, the

internet. Just the fact that we do live in a

society now where people just demand instant

thoughts. we can't even have completely formed

thoughts. So we just kind of go the thought,

but anyway. Yeah. All right. It's kind of like,

Oh shit. What are we going to do now? Okay. Oh

my God. The internet is Unicron. We're being

sucked into it. Talk about the walking dead.

God, please, no. Well, the reference, maybe you

know what the reference I'm talking about. It's

not the zombies who are the walking dead. It's

the survivors. Yeah. Of course. Okay. Nicole,

you've been awfully silent over there. Oh, I'm

just listening. I know you are. What do you want

me to say? I don't know what else to say. Whatever

you want to say. I don't know. I don't know.

When you were reading through this, because we've

all been kind of keeping up with the, well, sort

of and not sort of, with how the universe is

going to end later this year. When you were reading

through this, did you have the same feelings

that Heather had? Like, oh, they're dead now.

I didn't even put that together. so it was really

weird I'm like oh yeah that is kind of true isn't

it the first time I read through it I didn't

like I read through it like the first time a

while ago then when when you told us hey we're

reading this we're reviewing this this month

I read it right after I'd read the Unicron issue.

So I did kind of have that cognizant in my brain,

but then I just, I kind of flipped through it

again, this just today before we started the

pot. Well, you know, earlier today, cause I knew

I was going to be getting on the podcast. I wanted

it fresh in my head. And I didn't even think

about it because I tried to focus specifically

on what's just happening in the story. And what,

what do I bring out? I was like, it is easy to

think about, let's just be present in what's

going on right here. But you know, if you just

read Unicron and then you come. back to read

this, you're going to be like, but everything's

dead! It's like I said at the end of the last

episode of All Things Transformers that Nicole

and I did. The way this universe ends, the only

thing that's left to say is, till all are gone.

Exactly. Well, they would be one in somebody's

stomach. Oh my gosh! That is such... You know,

Blinkin' James would write something like that.

Blinking well would. So you're saying the well

of all sparks is inside Unicron's stomach? Blinkin'

Pete, man. Sorry. I'm now swearing incoherently.

You're welcome. Issue 6 is my favorite out of

this because it's been a long time since I've

seen Beast Wars. I mean, I know there are other

Beast Wars comics and things, but, like, Corrin

did an amazing job with the Beast characters,

I felt. Like, I saw and heard young Season 1

Beast Wars Cheetor in this comic. I heard Ian

James Corlett's voice in my head as I'm reading

this stuff. Same thing with Dinobot with Scott

McNeil's voice and things like that. Agreed.

They did a good job. It really did capture it.

Go ahead, Nicole. I think we just need more party

scenes. See, that's my personal favorite, is

the party one. I love that one. But yeah, isn't

Marigrid, didn't she grow up on Beast Wars? That's

her G1. And so you can really tell, she just

brought all of her love of Beast Wars to that

issue. And that, anytime you get somebody writing

who's bringing all their love, you know it gives

you the warm fuzzies to read it like yeah it's

that guy i know that guy but this um this series

was even with the combiner wars stuff and having

to follow it in that this series was like if

this had been able to stand alone away from combiner

wars it Would have been even better than what

it already is, but this series still explores

so many facets of all of these characters. Mergrid's

writing, like, there was one note I had, I think,

in issue five about how she, I don't want to

say colludes, but she brings characters together

in a way where in the writing it makes so much

sense that they would do something. together

than they would go off on their own and do something

stupid what what give an example what do you

mean specifically like when she and rat trap

start talking to each other and rat trap we find

out yeah yeah and rat trap you know and rat traps

pretty much like well I'm just out to cover my

own ass because I'm Ratchet kind of a thing.

Yeah. He doesn't really, like, he assists her

in going through the space bridge. And, you know,

he knows Starscream's going to kick his ass,

but... Yeah, he's got his own motivation. He'd

rather have his ass be there to be able to be

kicked than not have his ass be there to be kicked.

Yeah. It's quite interesting because up until

this series... we're not quite sure who Rattrap

is with. At first, we think he's with Starscream,

but in this one, you definitely get this feeling

that he's working on his own. He definitely is

working on his own, but he's also working against

Starscream, which is kind of a good thing, because

when you see he goes, I think it's in issue six,

when he goes to Icarus by himself. Oh, yeah.

And then he comes back, gives her a tip. lean

on you know yeah spider and the spotted one yeah

you know it's just like it's the little things

like that and you're like it's what makes me

really like rat trap because he's a wild card

you don't know where his loyalties really lie

and they really kind of just and this is the

character this is very true of the character

that we got in beast wars it kind of just is

his own self he's got his own motivations and

sometimes they line up with everybody and sometimes

they don't Yeah, I agree. I'm actually glad you

guys brought that up because I hadn't really

put it together. But the way John Barber writes

Rattrap, I never really quite grokked him as

a character. But then as soon as Merigrid got

him and through this trade series of issues,

we really start to be like, oh, yeah, that's

who Rattrap is. And it makes all of the other

stuff that he does really coalesce into a character

that we're like, yep, we get it. Because he's

working. He's kind of being Prowl's sort of man

on the inside, too. He feels like the guy who's

saying he'll work with anybody just to try and

stay alive, like you were saying. And yeah, I

think this really serves his character well,

this series of issues that we're reviewing. And

even the stuff that we got previously with him,

it's kind of like... he was getting to know how

things function like i haven't been on cybertron

for a while so let's see how the political atmosphere

is let's see how people and he just kind of observes

and does what he's supposed to do until he gets

to a point where he's got all the pieces that

he needs and now he starts playing his own game

and that's where i kind of feel like that this

he started playing his own game when we i think

i think he's been in here as long as far back

as dark cybertron Yeah, he's been... Yeah, so

he's been here for a while. It's like he's been

staking out everything and finding how things

work and function, and now he's becoming a playing

piece, basically, in the chess game. And I love

that about his character. Yeah, so, yeah, you're

right. This is really good Rattrap development.

So, yay, Rattrap! He's always been a complex

character. He's a good character. Yeah. Yeah.

This story was just so good, and how they wrapped

this up. I was wondering why the hell, when this

first came out, I'm like, why the hell is Alita

on the throne? I'm like, oh no. This is why I

love issue 7. And then I looked at the picture

more, and I'm like, ugh. Josh Freeman and Blade's

heads on a pike. The thing that I was surprised

with Alita is how big she was, because she's...

bigger than Starscream, and I was just like,

ah, this girl's massive. But can I give a shout

-out to my girl Stryka? Come on. Oh, heck yeah.

I was so happy to see the Stryka love, because...

Stryka's the bomb. I love that woman. God, I

love it. What is she... She's got, like, some

good lines. I'm trying to, like, not be loud.

I do not attack. I terminate. because that was

her line in Beast Machines obviously oh I'd forgotten

about that yay see Beast Machines is such a forgotten

series I wish people would love that series more

not you I'm not talking about you specifically

I'm just saying in general like You know, you

ask somebody, what's your least favorite Transformers

series? They're either going to say the Unicron

Trilogy or Beast Machines. And I'm like, why

don't you like Beast Machines? Come on. It's

not that bad. It was too touchy -feely. Oh, shut

up. Now, Beast Machines had Jet Storm. Come on,

it's worth it. Exactly. I think Beast Machines

is the Livio Ramondelli of Transformers. It is.

It very much is. it's like you either love it

or you hate it i liked the music oh yeah the

music is the sauce yeah the music is the sauce

so this is the reason why i liked issue seven

is because it's so dark and gritty and there

are pieces to it that you're like what did she

just oh my gosh everything there is made out

of pieces of people that's another thing that

that becomes more meaningful as you go along

and read steps that follows their whole like

no we if you lie it's punishable by death we

do not put up with lying and you're like whoa

these guys are intense and then you realize that

the reason they have that rule much later you

realize is because they were manipulated by liege

maximo and they're like nope we are not going

to listen to loki anymore yeah i love the way

all of these characters and stories have continued

to be developed it's just good good groundwork

yay marigrid marigrid just amazes me she does

such good character development and yeah you

know just when i think i'm like Okay, I think

because we've watched, you know, Windblade in

different forms here and there. You know, she's

been on the various TV series and stuff. And

for some reason, I always go back to how Margaret

always writes her, you know, because she's been

on Robots in Disguise and not a huge fan of that

character. Yeah. wind blade is just like okay

it's however you want her to be basically but

this is the character i like you know she's doing

good for the the being good for the right reason

you know yeah and that's true because in such

a short time we've gotten almost three different

iterations of her we've gotten what IDW and Marigrid

have built, what Robots in Disguise has built,

and then what the Combiner, whatever, the Macama...

The Prime Wars trilogy. The Prime Wars trilogy

has built. I just finished that, and I am now

convinced that after all these years, 30 years

or more... Megatron's not a bad guy. He's just

a misunderstood good guy. I have to admit that

I did not... That was my least favorite version

of Windblade was what they did there. And I'm

glad that I'm not watching that. I watched the

first one and it was enough. And I said, nope,

no more for me. Okay, but listen to me right

now. You need to finish it. You really do. Just

for the Megatron? Well, not necessarily Megatron,

but just for the whole story. For the other fact,

okay, so I forget off the top of my head who,

it's not Frank Welker. It's somebody else that

voices Megatron. But it's really good. I've heard

good things about the Megatron. The fact that

you have Luke flipping Skywalker as Megatronus.

And yeah, you need to watch it just for that.

I heard that the final series was pretty. Power

of the Primes is the final series. You don't

necessarily have to watch Titans Return, the

second series, but you should. Only because,

you know... You get to know the places. Yeah,

you get to know that and... Shut up, Nicole.

Hey, he gets the elevator to the last. Well,

kinda sorta. Kinda sorta. He, um... He gets the

Matrix of Chaos basically put inside him, and

he becomes Shattered Glass Rodimus. He becomes

Rodimus Kron in the cartoon, but it's the Shattered

Glass coloring. It's the black and purple. He

wasn't that... You know, the Lost Light version

of that is not a Shattered Glass version of him.

Oh, no, no. I know it's not. It's just a repaint.

I understand that. But I'm saying, in Prime Wars,

he turns evil because he has basically the essence

of Unicron inside of him. Okay. Nobody deserves

that. Not even Roddy. Yeah. Not even Roddy. Come

on. All right. Well, I'll think about it. You

haven't changed my mind completely, but just

for the voice acting alone, I think I'll think

about it. It's just that it was so off -putting

seeing Windblade act the way that she was. And

I just was so, I was not a fan. I just, I'm sorry.

These are characters that have been built up

in other. iterations of the brand and they've

been done better and when you have so much better

to compare it to it just that's why i didn't

i didn't watch it because of that i didn't what

ivw is building is is good enough for me at this

point but still i mean so coming back to the

comic what did you guys think because we get

how many different worlds in these four issues

let's see Well, we don't ever get to see the

Devazen place. Yeah, we didn't. We get Yukaris,

Velocitron, and... The ship of Elita's people,

and four different places. Yeah, four. With four

different things set up differently. We haven't

really talked on how the variety of that... That

was one of the things I put in my notes. I was

like, hey, we should talk about the differences

between the different... Not everybody seems

like they've done well since they all split from

Cybertron. Even though Cybertron did the worst.

It almost feels like Cybertron isn't as worse

off as some of these other places. Yeah, I don't

know. They all have bad things that happen to

them because they all split off. and and part

of my thing is like when is someone marigrid

or whomever when is which they're not going to

do that now because hello till all are gone unicron's

here and we're dead but when is someone going

to go back and give us like a three or four issue

miniseries spotlighting the actual planets and

like that's what i wanted after issue six and

reading all about eucharis i'm like oh I want

to know more about this planet. I want to know

more about this history. Well, it sounds like

there is more about Yukaris that we can learn

later with shockwave and stuff. So there's that.

It does still, and I think maybe that's why,

going back to my sense that this book just felt

light, so many of these worlds feel, can continue

to feel like untapped potential, like never fully.

fleshed out in ways that you really, really want

them to. And Mike, your idea of having spotlights

would be so awesome because we're introduced

to these characters who seem like they'd be really

fun to really dig into, and then we just never

get... There's a little bit done in Optimus Prime

with the little binary people from that Devizen

place, but not a lot. And it'd be... interesting

to you know find out more about them um obviously

we would all go and hang out with the beast wars

people forever because they're fun um even the

cell is crazy yeah oh man and guys we got to

talk about titans i have opinions um but like

go ahead but yeah like who else am i forgetting

yeah just yeah you know, untapped potential.

I think that's it. My train of thought just went

nearing off the cliff. No, no, it's good, though,

because I kind of got the sense of other fiction

kind of inspired some of this stuff. Like, you

know, you go to Velocitron, and it's pretty much

an ice world that's running away from the sun

all the time. Which is cool! That's my concept!

I love that, especially for Velocitron, where

they're always racing. They're literally, their

whole life is racing against not being burned

by the sun. And I thought, wow, that's kind of,

that's unique. I like that. That was very cool.

It was even cooler when Windblade actually took

a hold of the city to win. That one, the art

kind of got in the way for me, but yeah. Okay.

Really fast. The page where you first see the

city and they're like, oh crud. You see the giant

city rolling towards you and the fire in the

background. That's the one where I most desperately

wanted another artist on that page. Because can

you imagine Alex Milne? Oh, yeah. That'd be awesome.

The weight of this city was not big enough. Yeah,

it wasn't big enough. And even just the background,

the way the background is done and the way the

colors are done, it doesn't quite feel like I

was like, is it just a really bright sunrise?

there's not that sense of oh crud we are all

going to die yeah there's multiple cities that

are like this so it's like it has to be i i i

wanted the size to be double that or you need

to take the shadows of the characters and put

them down to little specks so that you have you

guys the weight of how huge this place is. It's

got to be twice that size. Yeah. Have you guys

seen, there's a preview for a movie coming out

called Mortal Engines or something? Yes. Something

like that, where I'm just like, oh! But yeah,

that would have been cool. Okay, so really fast.

Titans, especially the one that is the city on

Velocitron. You guys are missing all of my hand

gestures right now, but they're good. Navitus?

Yeah, thank you. That's his name. The thing that

continues to bug me, especially as I go back

and read this, is just how sad the Titans make

me. Yes. And especially this one. Oh, yeah. Where

he feels like an abused and neglected child.

Oh, it's more than that. He's barely holding

on to consciousness. Halfway through the conversation,

it's like he forgets what they were talking about.

And says, oh, who are you again? And I was like,

oh my gosh. The fact that he is. They did that

in a page. Marigrid did that within a page. Yeah.

That's, oh, you know. Yeah. That's the thing

that Marigrid does is Marigrid makes the Titans

people. Yeah. Yeah. Even if they're broken people.

Yeah. Marigrid makes the Titans people that you

want a plushie of that you can hug. No. That's

very true. That's funny. You're right. I mean,

cause like within a page, within two pages, you're

like, so when we get to the end and you don't

see when blade put them all back together and

fix them, you're like, but I need that. Yeah.

You know, Mike, Mike, please put ratchet, like

a little soundbite of ratchet in right there.

But yes, I needed that by the end of this issue.

And then we don't get it. And I was like, but

what about Nautus? What about him? Is he going

to get fixed? So somebody has to come back and

fix this guy, even if he's going to get eaten.

That falls into the stories that you want to

see and never quite get to see. And maybe that's

why we love this version of Windblade so much,

because right now the world is so gray. See,

and this is another thing about, about Magritte's

writing. You feel for this character, even though

you don't see a face with it, you see this, like

the orb. My gosh. Oh yeah, his brain. Yeah. Yeah.

There's the brain capacity and you're just like,

you feel for this just structure. You're just

like, oh my gosh, this is. the being right here,

and you're not seeing the face or the emotions

that are coming out of it. That's how good the

writing is. You just see this little dialogue,

this little dialogue thing going round and round

and round and round and round. You get the buzz

of that, and I thought that was brilliant how

just with a word, writing it over and over and

over again like they did, you got an instant

idea of exactly what's going on. I know. I mean,

to be able to make an emotion Or makes you feel

for just this sphere of metal. You're just like,

oh my gosh. Yeah, that's good writing right there.

Very good writing. But what I was going to say

about what makes Windblade stand out so much

in the IDW universe is that we see her over and

over trying to help. Genuinely caring about people.

And we get that so rarely from anyone. I mean...

I would say, I mean, James does his schmoopy

people, but John Barber is a lot less about here's

a person trying to be kind. He's a lot more about

here's everybody trying to get things done. What

he doesn't realize is you have to be cruel to

be kind. Well, see, Marigrid shows that. She

shows Windblade having to make compromises. And

we feel her being lessened by them. Yeah. She's

a very empathetic. Empathetic? Empathetic, yeah.

There we go. Empathic? Empathic? Whatever. I

think that's true. Yeah, I love it. This is her

character, too. Because, I mean, not only she's

the only one that can speak. Well, she's one

of the few city speakers that can speak to Titans.

And so. She's more empathetic than any other

character, I think, in the whole series, to be

honest, that I've seen, besides Rung. Bless Rung.

And even Rung's not always super great at it.

Sometimes he's wrong. Yeah, he tries. But, you

know, you're right. I mean, Windblade is... And

maybe that's the reason why she's such a standout

character, is because Merigrid has... gotten

in her and created this so well that i i don't

want anything else i want that because in all

of the characters we have she's probably the

most empathetic and you're right everything that

she does takes a piece of her everything that

she does like every every plot every conflict

that we see from here until until marigold jumps

off um is taking a piece of her it's taking a

piece Every single time. And it's slowly happening.

Every single time you see it, you're like, what?

But then she's stuck between a rock and a hard

place. You're like, ugh. But, but, and yeah.

So it'll be interesting. Because the next stuff

that's coming with Till All Are One is going

to be interesting. I really want to talk about

it with you guys so bad. Not until next week.

Next week, yeah. Hold your horses. That's next

week. I'm holding them. I'm holding them just

barely. They're fighting me. They're bearing

on, guys. I'm hauling all the reins. I think

it's also cool to not just talk about Navitus,

but we've got Chella, and we've also got Carcerare.

Who is it? Carcer. Oh, man. I'm keeping my mouth

shut. It's really hard. I'm like, our urge to

speak, 98, 99, fist in mouth. strongly advise

anybody that's going to listen to our review

of till all are one volume one and volume two

read it before you listen to the podcast oh gosh

please do it because we'll just read it it's

good fantastic yeah not that i want to stop and

say hey let's plug another podcast the crazy

thing is is i did not know because like all of

us i have i've been keeping up but i haven't

been keeping up I just now realized Till All

Are One has three trade volumes. I did not realize

that at first. I thought it was just going to

be two because I thought it was only a 12 -issue

series. Wasn't it only two? No, it's three. It's

three. Oh, okay. Because there were 12 issues.

Yeah, there was more apparently. The first part

feels a little disjointed because it was still

being roped into other events. Gotcha. So. Anyway,

now I'm like second guessing myself, but yeah,

I feel like the first, I feel like the first

volume was a little bit of cleanup after whatever

the heck it was. Was it Titan? I don't care.

There's like, there's some weird thing that happens

where I'm just like, I don't care. more john

it was a combiner something there was a lot of

combiners a lot of big people and titans and

yeah it just got a little crazy for there i got

a little lost as well so we'll we'll cover this

again next week but volume for till all are one

volume one is one to four volume two is five

to eight and then volume three is nine to twelve

with the uh 2017 annual so good yeah Are we going

to talk about combiner hunters in this one? Oh,

yeah. That's the next thing we should talk about.

I have very little to say about it except for

one tiny thing. What's that? It's very pretty,

but I don't care at all about the story except

for one tiny little exchange, which is pretty

good and even awesomer now. So, you know where...

And Arcee, you know, all the crap goes down that

I really legit don't care about. But Arcee's

talking to Windblade and being all, you know,

combiners are bad and an abomination and blah,

blah, blah. And Windblade says, you sound like

Galvatron. And Arcee says, you know, yeah, whatever.

But I just don't like it when people are changed

against their will. And I'm like, ooh, ooh, ooh,

ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh. That was good. Because A,

Arcee used to be Galvatron's twin brother. And,

you know, it depends on who's writing her, whether

that was against her will or not. Or like it

was against her will and now she's okay with

it or whatever. But that part was good. Everything

else was just like, look, we made Victoria. Yeah,

another combiner. Yeah. And even like Sarah's

art is kind of not quite up to par yet. But Yamaishi's

colors, I want her to color absolutely everything.

Please let her color all the stuff. Yeah. There

we go. That's all I have to say about that. No,

I agree. That ending when they're actually having

their moment together, because that's still one

of my favorite spotlights is the Arcee spotlight.

It's so good. Gosh. It's one of those ones I

go back to when people say that Transformers

are for kids. I'm like, you go read Spotlight

Arcee. You go tell me if that is for children.

No, it's not. yeah and then just to know that

even though it was what six seven years later

it's still having an impact on the stories i

love that love that so well what i will say about

combiner hunters other than the fact that it

had a job and it did it like we needed victorian

to be a combiner and we needed an excuse to paint

everybody differently and it's the only purely

girl issue all the females are in this issue

and I liked that so I mean there are a few guys

like Ironhide makes a panel and and I think some

dude that gets knocked out makes a panel who

has no name so um but it was literally about

the ladies in this one it also shows that RC

still has her own motivations for things and

and you're right after all this time like the

stuff that happened spotlight RC her past is

still controlling a part of her she's still motivated

and again she's another wild card like we've

talked about with rat trap she's she's she's

a wild card as well she has her own motivations

for doing things and part of that was to take

the enigma of combination because she doesn't

trust anybody and so this that that was the other

thing is she has to kind of again she takes something

on faith because she sees that wind blade is

again doing this Little pieces, she's conceding

these little pieces of playing dirty. She's having

to learn how to play dirty. And I like that,

that we get that moment in this issue, even though

it was like, hey, you know, it's all girls and,

you know, combiners. There were other things

going on. I mean, the conflict is just a vehicle

for what's really going on with the characters.

And that's why I really loved this issue. So

you really liked it? I did. I liked it. I mean,

I didn't care about the conflict. What I cared

about is what's going on with the characters.

What I cared about was the fact that, you know,

Arcee is doing something that she feels very

strongly about. And they're having their first

meet of all the ladies in the same issue. That

it just kind of like, it made sense to me that

something like this kind of had to happen because...

somebody was pulling the strings with the combiner

or with the enigma of combination and who wouldn't

be like, Hey, like she's been, Prowl has been

in her head to a sense because she's the one

that was like his assassin back in issues gone

past. And so she doesn't trust what's going on

on Cybertron, but she's also not on Cybertron.

So it's like, she has to, you know, if somebody

else is going to, is not going to, get rid of

this item that Starscream should not have access

to, then she's going to do it. And I like the

fact that she was going to be that person who's

going to go in there and say, I'm going to steal

it and it'll disappear and nobody will know what

happened to it and it'll be done and dusted.

And there'll be one less thing for me to have

to worry about. And yet, you know, by the end

of the issue, she's, okay, fine. If you're going

to play dirty, I guess I can take a few things

on faith. Woo! Good job, Amy. Well done. I should

not be the one to bring out the fan fiction here,

but essentially Starscream and Windblade, Archie

and Prowl, Double Date Night, they both are married

couples to each other. Hang on, hang on, hang

on. Oh my gosh. It makes sense. And I have to

say there are a lot of people that have shipped

these characters because of that. But I also

see there's a love -hate relationship there.

There is a game going on and it's all Starscream.

And because he set it up the way that it is,

Windblade is having to learn how to play it.

But I think that also makes her a stronger character

because what happens in the next couple, until

all are one, where we get what happens to her

and where it's moving, I think she needed to

be on that path so she could be a stronger character

to lead further down the road. I like the journey.

I've enjoyed the journey. It's good stuff. Yeah.

Is there a shipping going on between those two

characters? What? The internet, Amy. Of course

there's shipping. They ship everyone. They ship

people with Star Wars and Star Trek all the time.

Sometimes they even ship real people. oh yes

oh that oh my gosh have you ever talked to alex

about that i have not i've heard my fair share

of stuff about james and nick so just saying

oh my god of course i go absolutely not they're

both they have they have lives apart from one

another they have wives and kids so get over

yourself oh my god it's i would love to read

a tongue -in -cheek Nick slash James fan fiction,

like a fully tongue in cheek wild. There was

like, like the one that somebody found for me

a while ago that was like, I think it's James

Roberts and John Barber ride bikes is like the

title of it. And it is just very tongue in cheek,

mocking absolutely everything. And it is joyous.

And yeah, 100 % would read, sign me up. Hit subscribe.

Pass. Not for me. I'll read the characters. I

won't read the real people. I'm sorry. I have

to have standards. I draw a line of the sand

on that. Apparently. It's crazy that Whirl has

standards and Optimus Prime doesn't. That's because

we aren't really those characters, silly. I'm

now sitting and, like, hyperanalyzing this. Okay,

moving on. That's funny. Now, this series, even

though it has the Combiner Wars kerfuffle and

all that, this series was, between the two of

them, between Corrin's art and Merrigan's writing,

it was a really, really fun series. I agree.

I agree, too. I think it's very... Sorry, go

ahead. I just want to see more of Windblade.

When Windblade first came out, when she was the

fan vote and everything, I'm like, ugh. I thought

it was forced that, okay, we got a female, so

they're Autobot. You know, I'm like, when are

we going to get this? You wouldn't have said

that if it was slipstream on the Decepticons.

Exactly, because I want the Decepticon love.

Come on, you know? But I honestly am in love

with this character. She is amazing to me. Like

I said, her character is someone that I would

strive to be. Yeah. Yeah. I agree. Well, and

here's another thing to think about, too, is

when this you talk about how, you know, kind

of the kerfuffle of of having Combiner Wars and

Windblade. At the time when we got this, we didn't

have the go ahead, at least that had been announced

that Marigold was going to be doing till all

or one. And so. We got the first Windblade volume.

We didn't even know if we were going to get anything

more of Windblade. And then this happened, and

it was kind of combined in with Combiner Wars.

And I think because of what Marigrid was building

with that, we got the, hey, do you want to do

a third ongoing? And that's what was next announced

after that. So we got the end of Windblade. We

got the Till All Are One ongoing, which ran for

12 issues until that. went away as well for reasons,

which we will go into in the next podcast. But

the whole point is that we didn't know if we

were going to get anything else. I know it was

kind of frustrating that it was kind of combined

with Combiner Wars, but I'm bummed. at least

we at the time it was like oh at least we're

getting more wind blade and we really liked what

was going on at least in the first volume to

see more of that and i think i was really glad

that we got it and yeah it it is kind of frustrating

that the the trade is it's just kind of a little

weird but yeah i mean it's probably one of the

only ones out there that i think to date that

i can remember besides having combiner wars and

then titans return and everything kind of boom

boom all at once um it's the only one that i

think it's kind of confusing that i'm like okay

what happened during that time so much was happening

at the time it was like ah hard to keep everything

straight but i mean for the most part i'm glad

that we still got it i'm glad that what this

built i'm glad that we got what we got um but

you know it was kind of also set up for what

happens with till all or one. I mean, you can

already see the seeds knowing what I'm expecting

to get in the next. couple volumes here with

the taller one they she laid a lot of ground

within these four oh yeah or four to five issues

and it set everything up and i i kind of like

to think that because she was working with john

and he was saying oh you're really building this

you're really into this you've got a lot of energy

because she does margaret has a lot of energy

she's very i would say um She's very motivated

and she has a lot of ambition. And you can't

tell me that she wasn't saying, John, so when

am I going to get the next one? When am I going

to get the next one? Come on. I want to get that

next one. Come on. Oh, I'd love to have an ongoing.

Is there an ongoing for me? Yeah, I can totally

tell that she probably did that. And because

of her energy, you know, sometimes that does

have a good effect on, you know, if you've got

a lot of energy, a lot of ideas and ready to

go, right, right, right. and people see that

you have the ability to do it and do it well,

why would they not give it to you? So, yeah,

and it's been fun. Merrigan's been great. I hope

she comes back. Oh, I hope so, too. Guys, isn't

she doing, like, an actual Marvel Girls cartoon

now? Oh, no, no, no. Marvel Rising. Oh, really?

Yeah. Well, then she's really busy. It's got

Squirrel Girl in it. I know. I just picked it

up this week. I'm excited. She's been really

busy then because as of April... April... What's

the date on the... April 16th of this year. So

DC Comics July 2018 solicits just came out. I

can now say that I am currently working on the

next arc of Batgirl starting with a short story

in issue 25. She's a very busy woman. Oh yeah.

Absolutely. I'm going to grow up and be her.

I loved what you were saying about Windblade's

character, Nicole, and to riff off of that really

fast before you run to work. I was thinking a

lot because the cover for The Trade of Distant

Stars is this really interesting and unique image

of Windblade with every last bit of Japanese

influence on display. And it's done by a Japanese

artist, as far as I can tell by my totally white

girl knowledge of names, which is Nil. This is

getting expensive! Okay, so going off of what

Nicole was saying about our feelings about the

fan -made design of Windblade and how at first

it felt really kind of hacky. And, you know,

of course she's a red and black seeker that is

teamed up with Starscream and has a sword. Ta

-da! But anyway, the... the cover for Distant

Stars is by a Japanese artist and it's very very

it's got all these Japanese kind of I guess iconography

in it and I was thinking about how Windblade's

sort of visual influences have been used to deepen

her character because as far as I can understand

she has elements of samurai and elements of geisha

in her character my personal knowledge of samurais

is very small and based on like board games and

my knowledge of geishas is from reading memoirs

of a geisha so you know take what I say with

a grain of salt but Windblade's character is

so much about honorable service to the greater

to the lord of the land and trying to do that

with integrity which is kind of a samurai thing.

And also, she is very much a facilitator. Especially

in this series, this trade, she's very much the

person who's bringing people together. what's

like, I hate the word networking, but you know

what I mean? Like bringing people together and

that's a geisha thing. And you get a Facebook

and you get a Facebook and you get a Facebook.

But, but you know what I mean? Like trying to

help people get along and work together. Right.

Yeah. She's the, she's the calm voice amongst

all the infighting. Yeah. And I just, I love

how these elements that could have been very

cheesy. have been used to deepen her character.

And I appreciate that. Yeah. That's good, though.

I mean, this, again, it goes back to Merigrid

as the writer. She is in the headspace of Windblade.

She took that. She had literally an unused, uncreated

character was created. She made this character

who she is. I think she made the strongest version

that we're probably going to get of her. Her

character identity that we read on the page is

very specific. And that's why I can't read anything

else other than what they've got in IDW right

now because that's who she is. That's her identity

to me because of that. And I don't want anything

else. That's what I want because that's what

I love. So, yeah. kudos to marigrid you go girl

i think she's won us all over yeah pretty much

i knew that when she wrote the the dinobot version

what was it uh the rage of the dinobot yeah that

was awesome oh my gosh she did so good with those

guys and she just pulls it in from there as if

it was like that's easy i can do that uh -huh

yeah just watch me flex my muscles There you

go. Yeah. Uh, all right. So let's wrap this up.

Amy, what would you rate a distance star zero

to five, five being the highest and zero being

the lowest. Okay. Um, I'd give it a solid of

four and a half. It's not perfect, but I like

a lot of stuff that's in it. A lot of it makes

me happy. A lot of it makes me smile. So yeah.

Nicole. I'm going to mimic Amy. I'd say a four.

I mean, actually, I'm going to give it four and

a half because it has Knockout in it. She'd probably

give it a five if it had a boyfriend in it. No,

I really liked... I just think the thing that

throws me off is throwing the Combiner Hunters

series in there. It just seems like... It's out

of place, but it does have its moments. Overall,

I really do appreciate. I mean, Marigold does

just an amazing job with her storytelling. I

really had a fun time with it. I had a fun time

visiting all the different planets. It's kind

of like the Unicron series done well. And to

see. to, you know, relive characters in a different

view that we're familiar with and to be introduced

to, to new characters. And, and like I said,

her writing wind blade is just so amazing. I

love it. Heather, what about you? I'm going to

give it a very workman, like three and a half.

It's doing hard work and it's there and it's

present and it's gotten the job done. It's not.

carried up into the higher echelons of things

i would give to people and press upon them and

be like read this now yeah but it's it's a really

solid foundation yeah and i think the i think

you could do that once it gets put into the phase

two like store like actual storyline hardcover

collection you could do that this now and everything

that we went through at the beginning of this

podcast of trying to figure out we're all because

by the time we got to the end of Combiner Hunters

I'm like wait that's it you just leave us there

or was it issue 7 that basically just leaves

it and and doesn't say anything like it essentially

ends on a cliffhanger yeah and i'm like really

seriously that's it and then you have to go because

if you go from issue seven you have to go from

issue seven issue 42 of not rid because that's

the epilogue yeah and it's like god no we need

this in story form right now i'd say no the next

one that happens is at least if you read the

last, like the last issue seven, the next one

would be till all are one. This doesn't follow.

This doesn't follow to what John's doing. That

would be right in the middle of, I'd say that

was, that was combiner wars. But the thing is

you have to read combiner wars to get to distant

stars because what happens in combiner wars is

very important. I want to give a standalone wind

blade issue or standalone wind blade story. I

would be giving somebody wind blade volume one.

yeah absolutely yeah most definitely that's probably

the biggest criticism that i can say against

this right now is is how it was traded was kind

of eh but again if you look at the timing and

you look at what we were getting we were lucky

just to be getting more wind blade at the time

and we didn't know we were going to get till

other ones so um i i just didn't think i i don't

think that that I don't think that it, that should

play a role in how I vote. Oh, no, no, no, no.

It's not. Yeah. No. Yeah. That wasn't my point.

It's not going to affect the, I wouldn't let

that affect a rating of it, but I'm just saying

in order to recommend it to somebody, you're

going to have to wait until it's collected in

the phase two full on story order thing. Yeah.

Yeah. All right. You know what guys? I gotta

throw out a dissenting opinion on this. I would

be absolutely fine handing someone Windblade

Volume 1 and Windblade Volume 2 and not even

bothering with the intervening story. I think

the trades on their own are okay. I mean, I can

pick up Windblade Volume 2, Distant Stars, and

start at the beginning and just kind of infer.

everything else and i don't feel lost however

the the last city version i'm sure i would feel

lost if it's got those yeah that'd be lost but

so if we if we don't get too hung up on one trade

that was poorly put together out of all the trades

that idw have done which i say really they do

a pretty good job yeah you know just just make

sure everybody knows don't bother with this version

get this other version and then you'll be fine

yeah so anyways i was just like you know what

i'm gonna throw this out there yeah no that's

that's completely fair though because i mean

the loss the last city seems to be like the only

misstep that i think i've ever seen them trade

so other than that you know but yeah yeah All

right, for me, I'm probably going to give it

a, between all of your all's ratings, I'm going

to give it between a three and a half and a four.

It was really good. I really enjoyed it. I felt

that you could follow along. They opened each

issue with, you know, following along fine. You

didn't really have to read the first three, like,

at all. I read this in single issue. Like, it

was. At least a year before I bought the... Whenever

the Distant Stars trade came out, it was a year

after that that I probably bought it. I had originally

had it as all seven single issues, and I read

it fine. So yeah, three and a half or four for

me. I'm trying to think. Coming up next, we've

got... Oh boy. More of us, folks. Lovely. We've

got Till All Are One is next week. So that's

what's happening inside the pull bag then. Amy,

where can the people find you online? Best place

to find me is on Twitter at Lady of Rack. Nicole,

what about you? Just Google Beatles, Stephen.

That's Beatles like the band, not the book. Heather,

what about you? Google Hahi Prime and it's always

me. I am at TFG1Mike on Twitter. You can follow

at GeekCastRadio for all the other network updates.

Also follow at ThePullBag for all those updates

on Twitter. We're also on Facebook. Make your

great escape into comics and we will catch you

next time here inside ThePullBag. Till all are

gone. Or in your stomach dirty. That's not dirty.

That was the point. I had my finger on my Adam's

apple. You've just heard the latest episode of

The Pullback, the GCRN's first comic review and

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