Transformers: Bumblebee Movie Prequel Review

Hi, this is John Barber from IDW Publishing.

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time to talk about the comics we are reading

right now here inside the pull bag. Hello and

welcome to The Polebag. This is episode 358,

which is very late, but you guys wouldn't know

that. I'm of course TF2 and Mike. Joining me

is Ryan the Unevenful Merkley. Hello, sir. 358,

very late. It all rhymes, woo. That's right.

I'm very tired. You literally woke me up just

for this, so... Well, you know... At least I'm

not waking you up for you know transformers a

bold new era anyway I have not read any of the

bold new era not saying anything against it or

anything But I've heard a lot of people complaining

about the new Transformers iteration okay, so

the first little thing I want to do before we

get this going here is This is this cover and

this opening like cover and things like that

very very kid friendly i need to make sure yes

okay so the main cover here is just bumblebee

in an action pose except he looks like he's eating

something like it looks like he has a entire

bowl of cereal in his mouth because his cheeks

are all puffed out and i'm like what the hell

i didn't notice that before speaking of which

have you seen the movie Let's get this out of

the way first. Not yet. So I will finally sort

of mention this then, fine, just because you

haven't seen it. I didn't tell you this beforehand,

but this does not tie into the film. Just so

we're 100 % clear here, there is a minimal tie

into this. And also I'm OK with that. In the

long, long history of comic book tie -ins to

film there you really only have a couple different

types and it's pretty rare that one actually

affects the other there are some types that are

considered quote -unquote cannon that okay this

actually happened in this universe but then you

watch the movie and there's no reference to it

and it really didn't matter because then there's

yeah I'll go I was just gonna say and then there's

option two Which is, it's just a prequel comic

or sequel comic or whatever. It's still never

referenced or anything. It just exists. I can

understand sequel comics because the movie or

whatever... The movie always takes precedence.

Right, exactly. I can understand that. Prequel

comics unless it's going to be tied into the

film or unless it's going to lead like The film

doesn't have to reference the events in the comic

for me But it had the comic itself has to lead

the end of the comic has to lead into whatever

might happen Or leave it off like oh well this

was back. You know in the 60s with James Bond

and you know, 20 years later, Bumblebee wakes

up in the 80s or something like, it has to have

something at the end that points me to - Oh,

it certainly could have happened. And in the

film, there are relationships that play off of

the events here. It's just, it's not a - Direct

tie? I'm trying to think of how to say it, yeah.

We don't see, you know, John Cena's character.

For example, we don't see... Sorry, I mean, in

the... Yeah, that could have been a bad joke.

Har har. Now I realize why you're laughing. Anyway,

he is not in this comic book, for example. And

part of that is the era they chose. So this comic

takes place in the... How the hell does this

take place? There's not an actual year. It's

essentially like, you know... Sean Connery James

Bond. It's over in the UK. It's I assume it's

the 60s. I want to say 60s. Yeah That's what

I'm assuming again, you know as always John Barber

on writing Andrew Griffith I haven't seen Andrew

Griffith art in forever. I don't think Colors

done by Priscilla tramontano letters done by

Tom B long series edits by David Mariette The

only thing I fully enjoyed with this was So there

are four issues in this because this was originally

single issued. I don't know why. I have no idea

why this was single four issues at first and

then traded into what this graphic novel is.

Yeah, they should have just sold it as a graphic

novel pre -goal period. I'm not sure in the split

either. Reading it in, so I didn't own it, I

didn't get it in issue format. I just have the

graphic novel, have it digitally, and I just,

I couldn't imagine reading it broken down into

pieces. It's a very odd choice to have in issues,

so. Yeah, it very much is. We've talked about

it before that some writers write for trade,

but sometimes the stories are just pretty much

meant to be read in trade, and this kind of falls

into that. Absolutely. I only saw it as in trade

until I actually went to the page to send it

to... Another co -host of ours, Joe Reed. I only

noticed it then that it was done in issues. I

don't know why it was done in four issues. I

understand why it's done in four issues in the

trade, but why would you have a month of Bumblebee

comics come... I don't get it. Honestly, the

only things that I absolutely love about this

original graphic novel, prequel novel, whatever

you want to call it, honestly, are the covers.

The story was not my favorite at all. So the

story, just to sum it up quickly then, it's a

James Bond story with a living car, essentially.

Bumblebee works with an agent who is in a James

Bondian 007 style, works for Her Majesty's Secret

Service, etc. up against an evil agency. Clearly

meant to be a play on specter and It's their

adventure as they're betrayed from within seemingly

and We've got the Decepticons who are working

for the rival agency essentially Although they're

they're really working on their own First of

all, I love you, John Barber. I do. I love your

writing. This is a time where I personally believe

that, oh, Hasbro was like, hey, we need a prequel

or we need something to make more money off this

movie if it doesn't make a billion dollars by

itself. I hate... I'm an acronym freak. All the

acronyms get annoying. I hate all the acronyms

in this. I don't remember them either. That's

why I skipped over them when I was doing the

summary just now because I can't even remember

them. They weren't funny enough to stand out

for me. Yeah, at least specter and You know 007,

you know the short forms used in the Bond films

are are memorable These are just long for the

sake of being long. Yes And as I said, I can't

even remember them, which is a bad sign, especially

when you consider I reread this, let's see, two

hours ago. That's not good. My memory's not that

bad. I'm not quite that old. I'll say this, I

would tend to agree with what you said, that

this kind of reeks of somebody saying, well,

you know, we need a prequel comic or we need

a tie -in comic. But having said that the thing

I like about it is and I guess it's because I'm

a fan of Barbara like this I like that he had

fun with it to me it fee it reeks of a writer

who He's wanted to write a stump a spy story

But didn't necessarily get the chance to when

he did the Transformers comics that we talk about

regularly. Yeah And it feels like this is him

getting to play with just was something he always

wanted to try. So I don't have a problem with

it from that. I, you know, I trying to think

of how to say this nicely. It's not great and

I'm not a huge fan of it, but I'm happy it exists

because I think writers deserve the chance to

kind of break out of their mold and especially

Barber who wrote What geez seven oh god, no,

probably a hundred and some odd Issues of Transformers

now. Yeah, and just didn't get the chance to

break out of yeah the The mold the universe that

he set up Yeah, and so I'm happy that you know,

he gets the chance to bust out of that But this

to me is similar like like I said before I think

this is Hasbro Saying hey John wouldn't it be

a good like yes, I agree. Maybe he absolutely

wanted to write a spy story That's that's awesome.

I just wish he had more I I hope that a lot of

this wasn't like his idea of what his spy story

should be because it reeks of nothing but one

line, just really bad one line, not even the

good one liners. It reeks of the really bad ones

and I really hope it's not because Hasbro said,

hey John, we need something. I don't know. I

don't work for Hasbro, I don't work for IDW,

I'm not a fly on the wall in any of that stuff.

I can just assume and make an ass out of myself.

But, yeah, I don't like any of the humans in

this. Bumblebee is cool. Bumblebee gets a lot

of stuff done. Bumblebee is very interesting

here considering, again, you're playing with

movie Bumblebee. We actually get a reason to

why he doesn't have the voice box. I've been

waiting since 2007 to find that answer out. So

that's one thing I will say for John. Thank you

for giving me an answer on what happened to Bumblebee's

voice box. Bumblebee comes off as a good character

here. I agree. The humans aren't super relatable

or enjoyable here. The Decepticons come off pretty

poorly, too. Dead End in particular, which whether

you like any other version of Dead End or not,

you're probably not really going to like this

one. You're heading down a dead end road there,

Ryan. Blitzwing is the only one that comes off

with any real sort of character or development

to him. And this is despite the fact that most

of the book is spent with Diablo, who is a female

Decepticon who switched sides, apparently under

the orders of Megatron, worked with the Autobots,

and then was revealed to be a Decepticon. Yeah,

that's about it. We've seen that plot done a

few times in transformer land I'll say that Diablo

is a better pretender than Alice ever was oh

Anyway, oh It's not mentioned revenge of the

fallen characters But Ryan that film is ten years

old this year. We got to work it in. I hate that

movie so much It's only movie. I still remember

it well my girlfriend at the time So badly wanted

to leave the theater and I kept going like oh,

maybe I'll get better it did not get better it

just found new lows and What's weird is the movie

was so bad even before then and it keeps finding

new ways Yeah, it's a time It's one of my least

favorite films ever and I would still argue to

this day. It is a worse movie than Age of Extinction

But that's a tough one anyway anyway to this

which is way better than either of those thanks

for cheering me up though that Because man that

reminded me that yeah, you know what this isn't

so bad It just it just kind of exists there's

no I feel bad. I'm really happy it exists I'm

glad that you barber. I assume anyway just from

reading this He had a lot of fun writing it.

It's just there's not a lot to recommend it if

you're a fan of the movie And you're a huge fan

of bumblebee then I can understand that But aside

from that Like if you watch the film and you

enjoyed blitzwing I don't know that I would recommend

it and if you just want more Transformers, I'm

gonna be blunt. I mean you're better off with

the standard IDW stuff So My okay, so not just

not just the old joke of my favorite part was

the fact that it ended was like I'm not saying

that here, but my favorite like Andrew Griffith

and Priscilla tramontano do an amazing job with

the colors with the design with Everything and

you're right by the way the the covers are absolutely

gorgeous and the artwork here the artwork is

great they took the mishmash of the bumblebee

design aesthetic, which is somewhat similar to

the Bay movies, but with a little bit of G1 essentially

mixed into it. And it should be ridiculously

difficult to draw. They make it look easy. They

do a fantastic job here and another thing humans

in Transformers comics Dreamwave Have not always

looked great Dreamwave and there have been some

issues with expressions Dreamwave and emotions

in in Transformer books that have humans in them

Dreamwave But no, they do a fantastic job with

the human characters as well. Everybody's You

can clearly see the expressions and the emotion

on them be they transformer or human and it's

really well done And yeah, that is another reason

that if you really like actually that's a good

point If you really like the design aesthetic

from the bumblebee movie Then yeah, maybe check

this out at least where they are Yeah, I my favorite

two panels of the art all the art is amazing

the story is it's good but it's not it's not

my favorite as you've already said it kind of

is there it exists it's a prequel comic i can

think of movie prequel comics i would say are

very good very true um my favorite two panels

are the end two panels where bumblebee says You

know, turns out Diablo was right. I owe you Blitzwing

and then the mask comes down and I'm here to

pay my debt. I love those two panels of the up

close of his face. That is amazing stuff right

there. Absolutely love that. But yeah folks,

Transformers Bumblebee kind of finishes off June

here inside the pull bag. What would you rate

it zero to five? Two and a half I'm gonna give

it a three Going back and rereading it it the

story is hokey as hell, but I understand it's

supposed that's the point That's the that's the

joke especially with the acronyms and everything

else I wish it kind of did a better job with

the bumblebee characters like blitzwing and things

like that like like I said earlier to lead into

What this is supposed to be a prequel of? So,

you know, I'm right in the middle on there. It's

tough for me, too, because, yeah, I'm just not

sure exactly who it's for. So you just read this.

Does it make you want to see the movie more now?

I had already wanted to see the movie. Yeah,

this is tough, too, because, I mean, we're both

Transformers fans. I already wanted to see it.

I wanted to see the movie as soon as I saw the

images on TFW 2005 about how Soundwave and Optimus

and actual G1 Transformers are in the film. I

wanted to see the movie as soon as I discovered

there was somebody new doing a live action Transformers

movie who didn't share a name with one of those

people that did all the other ones. Exactly.

I was excited at that point. That's when they

had me. So I guess, yeah, this isn't that's the

other thing to preface all of this with. I'm

not 100 % sure we're the audience. This is for

right. You know, we already know these characters.

We already know our Transformers and love them

for the most part. We brought up a movie neither

of us love. But anyway, And honestly though,

I, you know, I still love all the Bumblebee moments

in this. Bumblebee is obviously the starring

character here. I think the other one we did,

the other Bumblebee original graphic novel that

we did in episode 349, When If You Dare, oh no,

that was me and JT that did that, that wasn't

you. I wrote it. Okay, well, point is... These

two original graphic novels, I think, is Hasbro

and IDW trying to reach out to general fans.

It's trying to get them into the Bumblebee character.

I do wish this story here in the movie prequel

was tied in a little bit, like a lead up. Like

you know like an after credit scene at the end

of the cover gallery in the in the trade or something

But yeah, I'll say it before too. It's gonna

be tough because bumblebee has For better or

for worse. He has become the Transformer as in

he's probably the most overexposed transformer

again aside from prime and Meg's but It's got

to be tough coming up with new stories and new

things for him to do When he's a character that's

been focused on really heavily as far back as

1984 When you know, he was one of the first Autobots.

He's one of the first Transformers we were ever

introduced to He yeah in that opening that opening

scene with Ian Wheeljack And ever since then,

we've seen Bumblebee in different incarnations

over and over again, and he's kind of been the,

he's one of those characters that's supposed

to get us into watching whatever, watching or

reading, whatever it is, Transformers related.

So it's gonna be tough coming up with new stories,

that kind of thing, for him. And trying to kind

of nail down. the character without just rehashing

the same character, so. I recently, I don't know

if it was a new clip or an old clip, I assume

it was a new one. I recently watched one of the

TFCon videos with Dan Gildazan and Alan Oppenheimer

where they're, you know, somebody's asking them

a question, things like that. And I've always

known this because I interviewed Dan, Michael

Wilson, and I did a number of years ago. I think

it was right before his book came out. I know

Dan hates the fact that they turned him into

Gold Bug. Part of me, as a child and even as

an adult, the reason why I absolutely love...

Hey, look at me, I'm just not plain old Bumblebee

anymore. I'm a Gold Bug. Part of me, the reason

why I love that is because Bumblebee didn't die.

He's still alive, yes he's got a new body, yes

he's got a new name, but it was still Dan Gilvazan

as the voice. As much as Dan hates them changing

the name and changing the body and doing all

of that, I understand and I do kind of agree

with Dan on it, but as a fan of it, Bumblebee's

not dead. Bumblebee is going to continue to live

on even though he's named differently and he's

a different alt, you know, different. body type

kind of thing. And this to me, this movie prequel

and from what I've seen of the Bumblebee movie,

hey, this is an early day thing of Bumblebee's

adventures. Again, like I said, this is like

before he lost his voice. I think he has his

voice in the movie, doesn't he? He has a voice.

It's not Radio B, is it? tell me already because

I need to end this podcast that's a combination

okay so we possibly get how he lost his voice

or something like that or whatever anyway uh

like we said this is for general audience fans

I think this is for like hey you like that movie

that you just saw go read this because this kind

of sort of but not really happens before it kind

of a thing all right folks coming up in july

peace girl there uh we have an episode 359 superman

year one number one with myself and joe reid

and then uh i just edited this i just put it

together it's just under two hours uh steve myself

lady wreck nicole beetles diva hailstorm Joe

Reed and JT from Saskatoon tackle the IDW 2020

books these are five supposed one -shot stories

but some of them do tie into other events kind

of thing this is IDW celebrating their 20th anniversary

this year and then after that we've got Batman

TMNT 2 with Joe and myself for July and then

TMNT 81 to 84 of the main ongoing which is the

Kingdom of Rats storyline will close out July

And then AutobotlyAugust kicks off with Ryan

and I continuing on with the Transformers spotlights

in part three. We've got Blaster, RC, Mirage,

Grimlock, and Spade is favorite, Wheelie. It's

true. Where can the people find me? I don't know.

Where can the people find you online? Jeez, I

always give the same answer. I thought you were

going to reply. I'm at nightbeat on Twitter.

I'm at TF2 and Mike on Twitter. You can also

follow at The Pull Bag and at GeekCast Radio

as well. Also check us out on Facebook. Facebook

.com slash GeekCast Radio Network and Facebook

.com slash The Pull Bag. I don't know, Steve

will have all that stuff in the outro. Make your

greatest game of the comics and we'll catch you

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