Transformers: Requiem of the Wreckers Review

Turn up and shoot. About as fancy as it gets

with us wreckers. You want to spend all day calculating

tolerable margins of error? Call Prowl. You've

just jumped inside the pull bag. Join TFG1 Mike

and the rest of the comic reading crew here at

the GCRN as they make their great escape into

comics. From DC, Marvel, IDW, Boom Studios, Xenoscope

and more, we have everything you want to read

right here. Transformers comics? Yeah, we cover

that. He -Man? Yeah, sure. DC superheroes like

Batman, Batgirl, Nightwing, and Batman Beyond?

Yep, we have those too. How about TMNT from IDW

and I Hate Fairland from Image Comics? Yeah,

we have all that here. Plus, so much more. It's

all inside the pull bag here on the Geekcast

Radio Network. So without any further ado, it's

time to talk about the comics we are reading

right now here... inside the pullback. Don't

worry, there's lots more death in Lost Light

for you to enjoy. Okay, well, I knew that was

coming. That's a really big cast. For those of

you that don't know this, here on my right, Twin

Twist and Cup. On the left are Perceptor and

Topspin. My name's Springer, and I'm in charge.

Wow, what a way to wreck a childhood, right?

Yep. Speaking of wrecking, all right. I've got

better things to do tonight than die. Autobotly

August 2018 continues as we talk about Transformers

Requiem of the Wreckers. You can't talk Wreckers

without the Lady Wreck being here. Everyone say

hello to Amy. Woo -hoo! Good to be here. Yes,

yes, yes, yes. It's clobber time. It's clobber.

Oh, God. Joining us also is Ryan, the uneven

flow Merkley, aka Nightbeat, who apparently died

already. I don't know. Wow, you get a super cheerful...

She gets a super cheerful intro, and mine's like,

oh, also Ryan's here. Eh, whatever. Well, I couldn't

find anything to, like... We are back for another

week of Transformers comic goodness here inside

the pull bag on all things Transformers. This

is episode 321 of TPB and I am, of course, TF2

and Mike. Today we explore the final story of

the Wreckers Saga. And I will say this right

now, folks. Shit, I read Walking Dead issue number

202 for this. Okay, then. I'll say this right

now, folks. You all better listen to the entire

podcast because there's going to be a special

guest at the end of the episode. Wait, wait,

wait. I thought you were going to say because

there's going to be a quiz at the end. Okay.

Wait a second. Yeah, who's the special guest?

It's obviously not me. You didn't even tell us

before we started. Yeah, it's obviously not me

because you gave me the shitty intro. you'll

just have to listen to it when it goes online

it's a it's a special add -in piece okay no deal

what is no deal i don't like hearing my own voice

in person much less on the podcast you can skip

to the end you don't actually like i will give

you the time stamp like if i like if i owned

a podcast i wouldn't actually have me on it then

i'd have to listen to me and that's a problem

I'm just saying. Well, I have to listen to you

all the time when I edit, so it's like that's

even a bigger problem for me at this point. Yeah,

but I'm hilarious to you at least. Yeah, that's

true. How many podcasts have you been on, Ryan?

I don't know. It's been a lot now. Yeah. I was

going to say, yeah. Of course, you've known that

you had to edit, right? Hey, Deezy. Hey, do you

think you could get... Oh, no, I used to edit

TFYR and some of the other ones. Amy, do you

think you could get me a guest gig on some other

shows? Get my name out there? I don't know. Come

on, have your people talk to my people. Yeah,

my people is usually just me. Yeah, exactly.

Well, then talk to you later. Talk to me later.

I'll see what I can do. Alright, so Requiem of

the Wreckers. One thing I want to point out.

Stop, stop, stop. You're ruining my whole thing

here. This is what friends are supposed to do.

They ruin everything. Exactly. Just like Michael

Bay. Requiem of the Wreckers. Wreck and rule.

They've been beaten up, torn apart, betrayed,

and had their sins revealed. The few remaining

Wreckers are more lost and lonelier than they've

ever been, which makes it the perfect time for

them to come under fire from an anti -cybertronian

campaigner and an old foe. Remember them fondly

because this is the Requiem of the Wreckers.

Yeah, that's the back of the issue. No shit.

I'm just trying to be helpful, you know. All

right. If I had my passport, I would come up

there and beat the living crap out of you. That's

fine. I'd just have you detained at the border.

One thing I want to point out, the art duties

on this, like before we start, are split up significantly.

So it was written by and then some of the art's

done by Nick Roche, unsurprisingly. What I thought

was really neat, they get Jeff Sr., who longtime

Transformer fans will recognize from the Generation

1 UK days and the tail end of Marvel US, as well

as they get Brandon Cahill back, who is one of

IDW's many excellent people. But the art in this

is fantastic. And I want to point out... I want

to point out that each one of them has different

pages and different segments to do to in this.

So, I mean, Senior does the flashbacks, which

look perfect, especially if you're a longtime

fan of Transformer comics. And then Roach and

Kale are just fantastic. So, like most of the

IDW stuff, I feel like a broken record, but the

art is amazing in all of their books. yeah it

is i agree they have to do top -notch work we

demand a lot well it seems like everybody they

find right so you know cahill there have been

a few over the years have been kind of a few

missteps but yeah but especially recently though

i mean cahill i hadn't really heard of before

his transformer work and i like him i knew jack

lawrence from He did some really old work for

Marvel in comics that were pack -ins with pewter

figures, including the Punisher. So I knew his

work, but he has knocked it out of the park,

especially recently on Lost Light. And then there's

people like Kizama, who was just a... I shouldn't

say just, sorry. Oof, that was a really dumb

way to say things. Anyway, she had done... fan

or deviant artwork for transformers before this

and just was enamored now she was enamored with

last stand of the wreckers which is the first

part of this trilogy we're talking about and

she just kind of got signed on and does amazing

work so yeah yeah they they you're right he's

she's just amazing so yeah and running out this

group uh tom b long is one of the letterers uh

i have nothing more to say about him he is the

best in the business uh and sean lee as well

who does yeah and sean lee is the lead but it's

also like he's also excellent so Sean Lee, I

know he does other stuff at IDW, but mainly where

I know his name from is the TMNT books. I think

he letters almost all of the main ongoing for

TMNT, unless it's some sort of special thing

or something. Amazing, amazing work. There's

not enough love out there for letters. Good job,

guys. So, who's going to go first? Jeez. I don't

know. I've got to take the lead. Did we mention

the two Joshes on colors? Amy's talked to them

before. I've talked to almost everybody on this

list. Are you kidding? Except the letters, unfortunately,

because I just haven't had a chance to be at

a convention where they were at, doggone it.

Yeah. Two more. I don't really have more to say

about it. Josh Burcham is incredible. Yeah. Yeah.

And Josh Perez has, I know Perez, I can't remember

when else he does, but I know his Transformers

work, obviously, which is quite good. Yeah. All

right. Now my mind is blank. I can't remember

the other stuff that Josh is doing, too, but

just follow him on Twitter. Yeah, I feel bad.

Yeah, he's got stuff that he's always doing stuff.

He's always doing stuff. I'm sure that's going

to be the next intro Blanchard gives me on a

podcast. And he's always doing stuff. It's Ryan.

Well, doggone it. Let me hop over to his. So

anyway. Exactly what he's been doing. This is

part three of the Wrecker Saga. We started with

Last Stand of the Wreckers. As mentioned in the

intro by Mike, they preface it with that, and

they also bring up their sins, which, of course,

Sins of the Wreckers, which was part two, which

introduced Tarantulas and the concept of Springer

as the son of Tarantulas, essentially. Yep. And

we're now on to Requiem of the Wreckers, which,

if you've read the first two, then you know the

cast is a little bit smaller at this point. And

if you have not read the first two, if you haven't

read the first two, I can't recommend Last Stand

of the Wreckers enough. It is a terrific jumping

-on point for IDW books, and a great lead -in

to... Death of Optimus Prime, which is the launching

point for More Than Meets the Eye and Robots

in Disguise and all the other books that are

still running slash finishing up. But these are

really good individual standalone stories. Even

if you're unfamiliar with a lot of the Transformers

and the IDW stuff, I recommend these heavily,

as well as the... Not as much standalone, but

the Dinobots trilogy as well is quite good. But

this works very much as a standalone. You don't

really need to know anything about the universe.

Yeah, no. This is just the Wreckers and their

adventures, and it's so great. I actually thought...

when this was first announced or first shown

off whenever that happened, I forget off the

top of my head, that I thought this was going

to be another five -issue series or something

like Sins was. I was hoping, but I knew it wasn't,

yeah. Yeah, I saw it. I'm like, oh, it's just

a one -shot? Really? Well, two -issue shot, actually.

Yeah, it's a little larger. So, yeah, it's larger

than normal issues. And, yeah, I'll point out

now, too, that Josh Perez works on Mega Man,

which is also for... Oh, yeah, that's right.

Yeah. I'm glad you saw that. Yeah, I don't know.

Mega Mana, my favorite of all the... No, anyway.

So, yeah, the price tag for this one's a little

higher. Don't be fooled. The trade slash issue

was $7 .99 up here. Yeah, that sounds about right.

Yeah. No, it wasn't. It was even more expensive

up here. Whatever, anyway. Nobody cares about

my problems with pricing. So, yeah, this ended

up being basically a two -shot or probably a

little longer because there's no ads than most

of IDW's other work. But it also makes sense

that this isn't a full series, because to be

blunt, there's so few of the cast members remaining

that it's not tough to focus on everybody in

one issue. Do they have anything else other than

just the three pages in the back that had the

now, and I think there's three pages. Yeah, it's

just the three pages of notes from Nick. There

were no other actual ads. On Comixology, it was

originally listed at $4 .99 here in the States,

and now apparently it's still on sale for $3

.99. Nice. Yeah, there's the usual IDW ads in

the back, but I don't generally, I don't really

count them. It's not the same as the Marvel or

DC stuff where they break it up. Yeah, and IDW

is not a company that will put ads in the middle

of books at all. Thank heavens, because it's

really frustrating when they do that. I hate

that. They don't do that in IDW. You're not going

to get that problem. It's not going to be an

interruption in the middle of your book. I mean,

that's only in the print issues that that happens.

Like the digital issues. I don't think Marvel

and DC does that either. Cause I've been reading

the new Tony Stark, Iron Man, and I've been reading

a couple other things. So digitally they don't

print wise. They do. I have like, I just, I can't

do print anymore. Yeah. Just can't. Um, So yeah,

we start out with Verity and Springer and...

I don't know if it's the lighting or what the

deal is, but Springer looks a little differently

colored at this point. It's the mood lighting.

Yeah, they're in hiding, and that's the whole

sort of point. So previous to Sins of the Wreckers,

Verity and Springer have stayed on Earth, and

they just kind of monitor what's going on. despite

the fact that Springer in particular didn't really

want to. But they've just learned that, and this

is a spoiler for Trance Warmers versus Visionaries,

apparently, issue one, which came out of left

field, but I knew it had happened. They learned

of the death of Cup, which affects both of them.

Cup was Springer's real father, essentially.

I know I mentioned that. The guy that pretty

much raised him. Yeah. So it affects him. Verity

was fairly close to Cup, despite Cup's near constant

verbal abuse towards her. He legitimately cared

about her. Yeah. That's probably why. It's like,

you know, when you're a kid and you tease the

person that you like, you know? Yeah. Yeah, and

we get flashbacks that show the relationship

between Cup and Springer. It should be noted,

I think, well, not I think, when we did our review

on Optimus Prime Volume 1, I talked about that

the flashbacks seemed fairly intrusive at points.

They're not in this book. They're not here at

all. I think they work really well. This is the

first time I have not had an issue with BW Transformers

flashbacks. Well, they also set the mood really

well to what's going on at the moment. And I

found some of the Optimus Prime stuff was just

sort of in there to get through certain storytelling

pieces. Which, again, I have a real hard time...

knocking it because barber does such a good job

with that but i read this and see how the flashbacks

are used by roach and it's really well done so

it feels like it slides right in when you need

it and goes right out when you're done i mean

it's it's really seamless Okay, thank you. My

mind went somewhere else. Anyway, we get back

to the issue. Okay, so with the flashback part

of this, the first part, is it just me or does

Cup look like he's on his last energy cube? Yeah,

so it's a throwback to Spotlight Cup where he

had this super old looking body that was broken

down and he refused to upgrade to a new one like

everybody else. Yeah. Well, that makes sense

for the continuity of it, too, because this is

supposed to be in the past. You know, speaking

that works really great for his character. He

didn't really get the upgrades until after this.

Yeah, so it's a callback to that and good continuity.

Variety doesn't like that there's no chopper

mode, obviously. They can't exactly fly around.

Well, they're supposed to be in cover. Yeah,

exactly. A little too inconspicuous there, right?

Yeah. This gas station scene is just... It's

just too much. I just, like... I know Transformers

need gas and all that, but it just seems... They

didn't stop for him. They stopped for her. Yeah.

Right. No, I know, but I'm just saying that...

the whole thing with them at the gas station,

just that whole concept. Just seeing Springer

in his alt mode in front of a gas pump is just

like, wow. It's cool. Springer then gets nabbed.

Verity is not with him and he's got some problems

now. Oh yeah. And Springer disappears for a bit.

However, we sort of move forward to a humans

-first rally. Jeez, who does that remind me of?

Well, anyway. Springer shows up and tries to

kill the Speaker, which is a bit odd and out

of character for Springer. And we discover that...

That sounds something that Impactor might do.

And we discover that one of Springer's favorite

good friends is masquerading as an anti -robot

politician. It's Overlord. Somebody else can

fill this in. It's Overlord. So I was extremely

happy to see him again. I love pretty much all

of Overlord's appearances. Yeah. There's a piece

of me that's a little sad that Roberts doesn't

get the last word on him, but on the other hand,

Roche is the one that brought him into prominence,

so it's only fair. Yeah. Yeah. But in any case,

so everybody confronts Overlord. That goes about

as well as you think. Actually, it's the other

way around. I think he confronts everybody else.

Oh, yeah. At this point, I'd be like, run away!

Carnivax, yeah, a group of mayhems thinks it's

a great idea to attack him, which for anyone

who doesn't know, Overlord is a phase sixer in

the Transformers universe and is essentially

unbeatable. Except unless you're Megatron, right?

Yeah, so, well, whatever. Get into that a little

bit. Megatron, to be fair, one -on -one is a

Pretty bad. Pretty bad dude. So yeah, he mauls

the mayhems off panel and then just takes off

with Verity. Yep. I love the art in these panels.

I think that is super cool. It's been a year

since we did Sins, I think, or so. I forget when

it was like... It's been a while. I understand

things happen in people's lives and things like

that, but if they're going to do this trilogy,

I knew it was a while between Last Stand and

Sins, but did it have to be so long between Sins

and this? Yeah, because a lot of stuff happened.

Yeah! No, my point is that I think it had to

because there was a lot of other stuff and other

characters going on. Like I mentioned Overlord,

and they pretty much had to have the reckoning

slash meeting of Megatron, the Autobot, and Overlord

before this. Right, yeah. As well as some of

the other stuff that was just set up, not to

mention the things with Cup. I mean, I think

it ended up making this book stronger that Cup

was gone. which disturbs me to say because I

love the character. But anyway, go ahead. I kind

of want to say that I think, and maybe I'm really

not sure, maybe it would be a good time for me

to, you know, somebody ask Nick or whatever,

because it seems like this was announced, this

book was announced, and then like a month later

we also found out that things were also going

to be wrapped, that they were going to wrap things

up. So I kind of get the sense that... The reason

why he wrote a two -issue is because he knew

it was going to wrap up and this was his opportunity

to wrap things up, the story that he had started,

knowing that this might be the end of the last

time he's going to get a chance to do that. Yeah,

so why don't you just call your best buddy Nick?

I mean, I obviously can't. I'm not even important

enough to get a decent intro. Stop. Jeez. That's

all you, Mike. That's all you. I'm not going

to touch that one. No, it'd just be interesting

to be a fly on the wall to see how some of this

stuff kind of unfolded, you know, how long, you

know, from the time that he was told, hey, guess

what? We're wrapping things up to the point,

you know, to the time where he said, okay, you

know, this is what I came up with for the wrap

-up for the records. I just wonder about some

of that, you know, how that timeline goes. It's

quite interesting. And speaking of which, we

get a little bit of closure on Carnivac and his

squad in the next page, who are now all deceased.

But anyway, Impactor. Till all are dead. Yeah,

basically. So Impactor picks up Springer at this

point. Overlord brings Verity back to see the

guy who's pulling all the strings. Tarantulas.

Yep. Nice touch, by the way. Now, granted, they

mention it later on in the book, but Tarantulas

was the spider we saw at the end of Sins of the

Wreckers. Right. So he was keeping tabs on everybody

the whole time. Thought that was a nice touch

that they answered that question. Same with,

I mean, previously it was Streetwise at the end

of Last Stand. And that was confirmed in Requiem.

Or Sins. This is Requiem. yeah um yeah what i

love about this is when they go to basically

give the origin of how springer joined the records

i think that's cool um and this whole thing with

uh With him and Impactor and all that, that's

fun. I love the art on the page where he's like,

do you know how violated you feel after your

body is forced to change from one mode to another?

And his new power, like, the way that the art's

done on Springer's face, I'm like, wow, I've

never seen that character look that way before.

That's kind of cool. And we also get to my favorite

part in both these issues and this book, and

that is the delightful interplay between Overlord

and Tarantulas. I love Overlord. And Tarantulas

is a moron for working with him because the inevitable

occurs. I mean, as soon as you saw Overlord and

found he was working for somebody, you knew whoever

that was was going to die. Yeah. He's not the

most stable guy. Yeah, but you also have to look

at the fact that Tarantulas has been pretty much

working on his own for so long, he doesn't make

the best decisions. No. overlord's a terrible

employee though i mean he pretty much always

totally go postal on you yeah he's gonna kill

the boss or try to kill the boss at some point

that's really his mo uh and much tolerate you

to a point until it does not further his means

anymore and then that's it all all all deals

are off much like his appearance in uh the final

act of more than meets the eye where he teams

up and then completely undermines tarn and the

djd which was yeah delightful uh he does the

same here but not quite yet we get another flashback

to actually yeah this is the flashback mike mentioned

yeah And we jump to Springer is displeased with

Impactor. Surprise, surprise. This is the best

scene. I really like this. It's like, hey, punch

him in the face. Yeah. Yeah. So Impactor picked

him up and took him to the Mayhem HQ to basically

fix him because he got knocked pretty good. He

was the only survivor of the little smackdown

between Overlord and the Mayhem Squad. Yeah.

Only because he didn't attack. Because he was

brainwashed. Yeah, pretty much. He was just like,

ah, Overlord! Boom. Knocked to the face and you're

out for the count. Boom. So then we jump to,

we finally get Tarantulas' plan, which is to

go back in time and nudge events. and we find

out why Overlord was working for him, which is

to go back in time and try to beat the shit out

of Megatron again. Yep. Yeah, because he's singularly

focused on that, and seeing as how the one that's

in this time is not worthy, you've got to go

back in time to the one where he was actually

worthy, right? Yeah, to try to kill him. And

this is where the inevitable falling out happens.

I'm with Verity on this one. I think it's hilarious

that... I mean, they're both completely... Two

sides of the coin. They're both completely consumed

with one person, but in very different ways.

And Overlord's focus has always been even more

unhealthy. Well, Overlord's focus is just unhealthy

to everybody around him because he's the strongest

being in all of IDW, seemingly. Pretty much,

yeah. But... One of them. Yeah. I mean, well,

he's a walking planet destroyer, so... Yeah.

Yeah. So that goes about as well as you'd think

for Tarantulas here. He gets roughed up. Yeah.

Overlord gets roughed up pretty good, too. Because

Impactor's like, damn it, I was trying to get

the same eye as last time. Well, he gets him

in the eye again, but... Yeah. He just kind of

shrugs it off, as usual. Oh, yeah. And Overlord

can sustain some pretty major damage. But yeah,

Impactor and Springer intervene. They fight.

It does not go particularly well. No. The Springer

and Impactor end up separated from everybody.

Yep. Taking on Overlord by themselves, yeah?

Yeah, great idea there. We get more flashbacks

to another personal favorite character, which

is Prowl the Prick. At least he's not flipping

tables in this issue. No, that's true. They should

have found a way to throw that in. I know, right?

And I really like, so the next sequence is a

reimagining slash reversed role of what we're

told happened on Pova, which was... Impactor

fires through Springer to take the Decepticon

mayhem by surprise. Here we have the reverse.

Springer fires through Impactor killing him in

order to stun Overlord. Yep. And by stun, I mean

it basically just knocks him off his feet and

he gets back up anyway. It doesn't do too much

other than knocks him out of the way for a bit

and gives him a few seconds more to run. Yeah,

that's pretty much the most anyone's ever done

to the guy. I mean, Fort Max pummeling him when

he was incapacitated, even that just brought

him down to a knee. So yeah, it takes a lot to

hurt the guy. However, we learn what Springer's

plan is here, which is really smart, might I

add. Probably the one few things that they could

do to stop Overlord, to be honest. Yeah, with

Carnivac's help, they force Overlord to transform.

Now, for anybody who doesn't know this, Overlord

in Generation 1, and actually in every toy since

then, he splits into two pieces. The top piece

is a jet, the bottom part is a tank. And Verity,

working the controls, and Springer using the

portals, throws his jet mode into the future.

And his tank mode into the past. Into the past.

Yep. Which, by the way, could he survive that?

I always wonder about this. I'm not sure, though,

because, I mean, if his tank mode just sort of

hangs out, won't his jet mode eventually... I

don't know. He's really tough, so... Yeah, but

you're also talking about it's not just... They're

not in just two different places. They're also

in two different times. Yeah, and potentially

two different timelines. There's only so far.

I mean, my guess is that you get so far, it just...

It snaps. Like, he's half the man. He's half

the bot he used to be. Yeah. Like, quite literally.

I mean... They quite literally... You would diminish

him in half. Yeah, they quite literally time

jumped him lengthways. Yeah. The other thing

right before that happens is Verity goes and

takes some money for herself. Yeah. Oh, that's

right, yeah. Through the hacking on the terminal,

yes. I love the... the end bits of this i'm not

the biggest tarantulas fan in the world but this

was really cool the um the goodbye between him

and springer oh the casualty of prowls though

i mean the whole reason why he didn't go look

for a springer to begin with was because he was

told that springer was dead and so it's kind

of like you don't know it just kind of He feels

bad because you're like, hey, it's like the kid

that I never knew I had, but I had, but I'm,

yeah. So it's very tough. I've said it before,

all of the IDW universe boils down to decisions

and strings being pulled by either Prowl or Shockwave.

Yeah. They are literally the two most important

characters in all of the IDW universes. Yeah.

It always comes down to them, so... Yeah. And

then we have the touching... Frangelist bites

it. Yep. We go to the touching moment between

Verity and Springer. So there's that. Yeah, so

Springer decides to go back to the past in an

attempt to kind of... Nudge things into a better...

So that it doesn't have to be Wreckers. There

would have to be Wreckers. Yeah. And I guess

we'll never know if he succeeded or not, which

is fine. I think it's an excellent ending for

the Wreckers in general. He's the last member

left. There are former members kicking around

like Whirl, but they're few and far between.

He got kicked out. Yeah. For trying to kill Springer,

yeah. Oh, yeah, you're right. It was Springer.

That's right. Tried to give him a spark eater.

Zero point. That's right. Okay, gotcha. But,

yeah, so... Yeah, and we close with... So since

Sins, this has very much been... Actually, sorry,

since the beginning of Last Stand of the Ruckers,

the story of the series has essentially been

children and their parents. Right. We started

with Overlord. We went back to it with Tarantulas,

and now we have the two of them here. And Springer,

and his unresolved issues with Cup as well. And

we close with Verity seemingly going to see her

parents, who she kind of ran away from her family

way back. At the very beginning of IDW's run,

it was an infiltration, yeah. The first arc of

the entire franchise. Yep. Yeah. I love the last

line from Springer. That's just so great. But

to wreck your past and rule your future? Yep.

I just love that. And then, obviously, at the

end of the book, we have all the behind -the

-scenes stuff, which I love that they do this,

even in a one -shot. I love that they do this

stuff because it's so fun to see. Like you were

saying earlier, Amy, you want to see the behind

-the -scenes and this, that, and the other thing

and everything else, and that's what's so cool

about them doing that is they kind of give you

a little glimpse of the whole behind -the -scenes

thing. Yeah. Wrecking Home of the Wreckers, I

really enjoyed it. I did kind of have to go back

and read the last four pages of Sins, of the

last issue of Sins, to kind of remind myself

of some things, but other than that, just reading

this as a one -shot, I'm glad, now that I've

read it, I'm glad they did it as a one -shot,

but like I said earlier, I thought it was going

to initially be like a four -issue mini or five

-issue mini to kind of... give it all a grand

ending, but this really does, in one issue or

one and a half issues or two issues, whatever

you want to call it, it really does give a great

ending to the saga. Yeah, I feel like it ends

pretty much the way it should. Again, a lot of

that's because there's next to no cast left at

this point. True. I just, I wonder, I feel like

it would have been stretching it out if they

had tried to do five or six issues. Yeah. you'd

end up with a lot more kind of angsty Springer

out of it, and I don't think that's necessarily

a good thing. Actually, I know it's not a good

thing. No, it's not a good thing. No, they left

it in a really good positive light, which kind

of makes you feel hopeful that he will maybe

find some sort of, I don't know, place in the

past, you know? Yep. Or at least find some peace

for himself. Yeah. After everything, I mean,

because at the beginning of this, he's still

kind of reeling at the revelation of everything,

which is understandable. Who knows how much time

has gone by, but Verity is definitely the right

person for him to be paired up with. Maybe he

can go back in time and prevent the IDW crossover

so Gough doesn't go into Visionaries Issue 1.

Maybe. Don't open this letter. Don't open this

transmission until blah, blah, blah, blah time.

Don't start a new mask series. It'll get canceled.

Oops, too late. Darn it. It failed. Shoot. But

no, I absolutely love this. I thought this was

great. Art is interesting on this because this

is so different. That's one thing about doing

Autobotly August the way we're doing it this

year, folks. We're covering so many different

books this month. and so many different parts

of the IDW Transformers universe that all of

the art is so different and so cool and so interesting.

It's not just the same thing over and over. You

know, you've got Amy, Nicole, and I doing the

Windblade stuff with Till All Are One and Distant

Stars and all that. Ryan and I are doing Optimus

Prime and Lost Light. You know, and this is especially

special, I think, this final chapter. I think

the reason why it's just so satisfying is the

fact that we've gotten a backstory of all of

the characters, too. I mean, Verity's been around

for the longest time, pretty much since the first

issue that we saw. I mean, I think issue zero

of the IDW run had her in it. So it makes sense

that since this is kind of the wrap -up of the

records and she's kind of been tied with them,

that it would have a satisfying ending for her.

Oh, yeah. That was really, I have to say, I had

a really hard time getting through these two

issues because I've gotten emotional about other

stuff before, but this one was just above and

beyond. I was just like, every single time I

turned a page, I was like, ah! Or, you know,

the one panel that you have Springer and Verity

hugging, it was just like, ah! I had a hard time

not crying at that because that was really, really

good. Yeah, it was. Alright, so we have to do

this because it's just the way it is. What would

you rate this, Amy? Zero to five. I would go

five. I know it's my sentimental side. But you

get a wrap -up of the characters. There's some

finish to it. It's just so good. No, it's mostly

in English. I didn't see any finish. What? There's

so much I want to say, but it really, what it

comes down to, it's just, it was so satisfying.

It was so satisfying. So it was the story that

I didn't think that we'd ever get that. I didn't

know I wanted until I got it. And then I was

like, Oh, I'm glad we didn't end it since I'm

glad that we've had one more, one more two issue

arc here that gave us the last of it. I mean,

I will. be happy every single time they announce

anything Wreckers. But this is a high standard.

Whatever they decide to do in IDW world after

this year, they have a high standard to keep

because this is pretty excellent. And if it doesn't

get to this level, I just won't like it as much.

Yeah. What about you, Ryan? Five out of five.

If it was individually, I'd probably have to

rate it maybe a bit lower, but not much. And

it's more than the sum of its... Sorry, it is

the sum of the... Damn it. The sum of its parts

is much greater than the individual ones. I think

of the three, Last Stand is still probably the

best individual story, but that's also a high

watermark. I would say it's the best individual

trade of the Transformers series, period. IDW,

Marvel, Marvel UK, whatever. Because I own them

all. But I would definitely put it at the top.

trilogy that just works really well. And I talked

about it a little bit when we did Lost Light

Volume 1 that it's pretty rare that you get an

actual ending to comics. It's happening more

and more now as we see independent books finish

up. But the fact we got a pretty much self -contained

trilogy with ridiculously high quality overall

is really impressive and nice. And yeah, I can't

give it anything less than a five. Yeah, same

here. Five out of five. I absolutely loved it.

I thought it was fun. I thought that the story

basically is the... best bookend that they could

give it where it isn't wrapped up all nice neat

in a little bow you do have a conflict in this

story you do have an actual story here with moving

parts that are going on around Springer and all

of that and Overlord and Tarantulas and everything

else and you also have basically the wrap up

with you know even though bots have died, you

still have basically a robot and his human friend

basically, you know, leaving each other on great

terms and, you know, hugging it out and, you

know, she's going back to where she started with

her parents, which is great. This is probably

one of, if not the only, Transformers comic stories

with humans in it that I actually did not mind

the human. Yeah. Well, that's because she's a

real person that has like i mean even from the

very beginning she's been running away from her

life to go hang out with the transformers i got

the real sense of this is a conversation that

both her and springer have had a lot because

you find they don't say it's per se that well

they kind of hint at it they just say she would

not if they hadn't gotten the array they wouldn't

have been able to find her tie to her human life

here and the fact that springer gets kind of

The only wrap -up that he's had in his past with

people he's connected to is her. He didn't get

a good wrap -up with anybody else. Impactor's

dead. Cup, he didn't even get to talk to. Had

to face Overlord again. Got his face, well, got

knocked out. And now he's putting himself in

danger because he really cares about Verity.

And finally gets a wrap -up, sort of, with...

With the father he never really knew. Who was

kind of nuts. Yeah. He just ignores. There's

no good wrap up for any of his relationships.

Let's just say that. And it makes sense to me.

That he wants the best for Verity. And he's pushing.

He's trying to push her to say. Hey you should

go do that. Because I'm not going to get that.

And I like that. The contrast between the different

characters. And some of the. emotional fallout

for some and what what the what other characters

go to because of that it's just it's just such

a really well told story um i i yeah what else

to say i mean we can sit here and gush for the

next couple hours over this but yeah There's

so many good things about this. Oh, look at the

time. Well, that's it for this episode. Hey,

how do you not know what show you're on? Oh my

god. Anyway, I'll say this right now, folks.

I'll reiterate what Ryan and Amy are saying about

the Wreckers saga, about Last Stand, about Sins,

and about Requiem. Get, I will try to find and

put in the description of the episode if it's

out yet, but go get The Wrecker's Saga. It's

coming. It's available. Oh, it is? Okay. I'm

pretty sure that it's available. I think they

have. I think it was just last month that they

came out with it. Okay. So basically, instead

of buying Last Stand Sins and Requiem by themselves,

just get the full, quote -unquote, omnibus of

all three of these. Came out July 31st in paperback.

That's right. Yep. There you go. That's right,

yeah. So I will put that in the show notes, folks.

You can go check that out on Comixology. Transformers,

the Wreckers saga, Last Stand, Sins, and Requiem

of the Wreckers. Cuff and Hot Rod just bought

it. I can't deal with that now. Last Stand of

the Wreckers, Sins of the Wreckers, and Requiem

of the Wreckers, the Transformers Wreckers saga

is available on Comixology right now. Best of

the Wreckers, Dining with the Wreckers. Shut

up. How to date a wrecker. Oh, God. How to lose

a wrecker in ten dates. Oh, my God. Written by

Verity Carlo. For a minute there, I thought he

said how to lose a Rebecca in ten dates or less.

No, that unfortunately took me seven years. Ouch.

It's a bad inside joke that no one's going to

get, folks. Lawsuits and all. No, that was somebody

else. wait anyway uh amy where can people find

you online you can find me on twitter lady of

wreck that's me one and only yes ryan what about

you i am at night beat i'm not followed by uh

the joshes and nick and pals with everybody just

a lowly host on mike's podcasts trying to make

my way in this tough tough world God, stop. You

can find me at TFG1Mike on Twitter. You can also

follow at GeekCastRadio and at ThePullBag on

Twitter. Check us out on Facebook. Coming next

time around here in Autobotly August, we've got

the Fembots back with me to talk about Transformers

Till All Are One, Volume 2. I wonder what that

old married couple Starscream and Windblade will

be up to now. I thought you were going to say

Starscream and Blitzwing, because we all know

they're the same person, apparently. Apparently.

Yeah. No. Is Blitzwing even still around in the...

I don't even know. In IDW, he was dismantled

by Venom. Or Venom? Who did Mask fight against?

Venom. Yeah, okay. So yeah, he got dismantled

by Venom for their vehicles. That was his last

appearance. Darn. That's depressing. Why do I

know all this stuff off the top of my head? What

is wrong with me? Anyway. There's nothing wrong

with you. You just have a really good memory.

Whatever you say, Jeff. So until next time. All

righty then. Make your great escape into comics

and we will catch you next time here inside the

pull bag. So your mission is wreck our past.

Rule your future. And be better. Springer out.

Become a fan of us on Facebook, facebook .com

slash thepullbag. Send us an email, feedback

at geekcastradio .com. Follow us on Twitter at

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time, make your great escape into comics and

unleash the geek in you.