Transformers Spotlights Part 6: Orion Pax, Thundercracker, and Megatron

Hi, this is John Barber from IDW Publishing.

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Hello and welcome to the pull bag this is episode

367 and It's the last episode for Autobot Lee

August well Transformers coverage will continue

here inside the the pull bag But it is the final

episode for Autobot Lee August and will continue

on in September like I just said twice I'm of

course TF2 on Mike joining me is ha he prime.

Hello Transform and rollout. That's right to

that dark prelude That was a good segue. Yeah,

exactly. We've been doing the spotlights because

this was right before the pullback started six

years ago. I originally was going to do a written

article on all 31 issues of the spotlights at

the time or however many that were out. at the

time six years ago i don't even remember i think

they were all out but i could be wrong um and

it just never came to pass and we've been doing

autobotly april and autobotly august for as long

as the pull bag has been around since episode

11 of the show so we're continuing on with the

spotlights this is spotlight part i don't even

know what part this is now uh part six which

features um That junior detective Orion Pax The

thank God he's not writing a play Thundercracker

and a really evil Megatron I'm not sure I like

that It's not it's only because I've already

read lost light and more than meets the eye and

everything else and you know going from more

than meets the eye to lost light it's like Megatron's

an Autobot and Megatron's had so much character

growth since this spotlight. Yeah, I felt really

weird reading Megatron as the leader of the Decepticons.

That is so fascinating that we've come to this

point. It's just bonkers. Yeah. What was it?

Oh, yeah. No, this is a kid's story. I was talking

to the kids the other day about, and they were

saying something like... Megatron is everybody's

dad. And I was like, yeah, we have now officially

come to the point where their roles, his role

and Prime's role have completely reversed. Whereas

in the eighties Prime was everybody's dad. Now

Megatron is everybody's dad. Yeah. Especially

IDW Megatron because he came so far. Yeah. Like,

okay, if you, if somebody worked, I don't know

who. And I know as soon as I say this, cause

here, here's the thing. You know how We as fans

will go up to a creator like James Roberts or

John Barber or somebody. Oh, hey, I got an idea

for you guys. And then you give them the idea.

Legally, they can't use that because that's your

idea that, you know, that kind of thing. So it's

like, don't ask create. Like nowadays, the thing

is don't ask creators to have Batman meet, you

know. Gears or somebody, you know You know, you

know would really be an interesting thing if

it was Batman and Pinkie Pie So it's like my

idea basically is You take the Transformers out

of Transformers You take what James Roberts did?

And I assume it was his idea. I'm pretty sure,

because it came out of more than meets the eye.

I want Old Man Megatron, but I want Hollow Avatar

Megatron. I want Grandpa Megatron. there's a

random person on tumblr who's got this like blog

of holomatter avatar crime and megatron just

like being old dudes in a house and i'm like

i'm so here for this like as soon as i saw the

holomatter avatars and as soon as i saw megatrons

and i'm like okay we need old man megatron we

need grandpa megatron because and i can hear

frank welker in my head You damn kids! With your

hipping and your hopping, pull up your damn pants,

you morons! Get off my lawn! I can so hear Frank

Welker Megatron in my head saying all that old

man stuff. I can see him being Thanos on the

planet in Blinkin' Endgame, just like, I've done

all the things, I'm just gonna sit here and chill.

And you know, then Thor shows up and cuts his

head off, but you know. True. Alright, so Orion

Pax, Thundercracker, and Megatron. Different

creative teams on each of these. James Roberts

wrote Orion Pax. Pencils were done by Steve Kurth.

Inks by Juan Castro. Colors by Jay Arbatov, and

I can't even pronounce the other name. Letters

by Sean Lee. Thundercracker for creative is John

Barber. Art by Chi. Colors by Rhonda Pattinson.

Hey Rhonda, I know Rhonda from - TMNT. She does

all the colors in the main TMNT mail going. Letters

again by Sean Lee. Go ahead. Oh sorry, that's

cool that it's someone who's doing other stuff

too. Oh yeah. And Megatron written by Amy's favorite

person, Nick Roche. With colors by Len O 'Grady

and Sean Lee is also the letter on that As I

said, this is part six of seven for the spotlights

We also have in here Bumblebee Trailcutter and

hoist, but that'll be next week's episode. So

we'll just ignore that Yeah, Orion Pax I know

you do See I I don't mind the art Yeah, it's

different. Yeah, it's not it. I mean Steve Kurth

is not any of the other artists that you know,

he Okay Okay, yeah, but like he's an artist that

are that is doing one or two things here since

we've been reviewing the spotlights and I don't

know his art all that well, so that's why I'm

like I'm kind of like you look at the cover I

don't know who did this cover off top my head,

but You got the main one with pack. Yeah, it's

the same dude. He did it. Okay. I love that art

That's some of the best optimist Orion art I've

ever seen it is yeah, the covers fun. Yeah, absolutely.

I think it has to do with um His line weights

Weird to me and his overall shapes are weird.

There's a there's a way to make Robots that are

soft and squishy that I like in a way that makes

them feel uncertain and he falls into the uncertain

category where he's like, I mean I Think it goes

kind of like this, okay kids you got it. All

right moving on. Yeah Well, it really surprised

me about this story and I'll let you kind of

synopsize it in a second, but That we see rung

on the Cybertron or wherever they are. Are they

on Cybertron? Yeah, they're on Cybertron. Yeah,

yeah, yeah. Yeah, Autobot headquarters. Yeah.

It really shocks me seeing rung on Cybertron.

I like it. I don't dislike it, but I'm like,

wait a minute. Isn't he supposed to be doing

the psychology gig on on the lost light that

was but a tiny portion of his life yes um well

you know he is primus after all hey don't uh

i like that it was cool yeah no it was cool you

know it made me feel right for the first time

ever gave him a higher purpose finally like i

guess did i win yep I'm just going to come out

and say it. I have never liked Optimus or Orion

or whatever. We're probably going to call them

both folks, so just get used to it. I've never

liked him face plateless. I actually hate it.

It's not this art. It's not Steve's art here.

It's just in general. I've never liked him with

an actual mouth. Well luckily he agrees with

you. Yeah, I used to back in the days when I

was on a little forum and I got to RP as prime

I'd always be like I don't have a mouth Quit

making weird fanfiction. I don't have a mouth

So the story here entails that Pax is Pax and

Zeta Prime is around. Yeah. Do you want me to

do this? Sure, go ahead. All right. This is the

story of manipulation. Orion Pax, Alpha Trion,

and Nightbeat go to rescue Ratchet from Bludgeon's

evil clutches, only to find out that Bludgeon

wanted to get Alpha Trion the whole time, and

it arranged the whole thing. And in the end,

he James Bond - bludgeon, James Bond villains

out and ties Orion Pax to a rocket ship sent

to explode. Yeah. Because he had watched all

the James Bond movies. Hey, at least this isn't

like that Bumblebee prequel. I love you, John

Barber, but I'm sorry. There were way too many

acronyms in that Bumblebee movie prequel, which

had nothing to actually do with the Bumblebee

movie. I never read it. Don't. It's... Oh, that's

too bad. It's a spy story that takes place in

the 60s, and when we reviewed it, I'm sure John

wanted to do a spy story, but it's heavily influenced

on James Bond and acronyms and spy stuff and

whatever. I don't know. See, that could be done

really, really well. Like if you do it kind of

tongue -in -cheek and we're all here having a

good time kids Yeah, I just not always super

great at humor like he's a little clumsy What

I said in the episode was that and people besides

Heather would have already heard this I believe

I'm sorry No, no, it's fine. What I said in the

episode. Well, yeah, this is episode 358 of the

show It It was one of those times where, as a

reader, I felt like, oh, Hasbro went to John

and said, hey, we have this movie, create some

sort of prequel that doesn't really tie, like,

you know. That's John's job, Hasbro. Well, right,

but... Okay, but you look at Robots in Disguise,

you look at Optimus Prime. That's John's story.

You look at More Than Meets the Eye and Lost

Light. That's James's story. Like... There were

toys made from the more than meets the eye characters.

It wasn't that they were having to like put,

you know, shark decons in any of these books

to get new shark decon toys. That's my thing.

Like that's the thing with the Bumblebee movie

prequel. Cause it really doesn't, other than

having Blitzwing in there close to the end of

it, it really doesn't tie into the movie at all.

Which Honestly is fine with me whether or not

yes, I just want it. I just want it to be a good

story I really don't care how closely it ties

in with the movie. It was okay. It's nothing

I would read more than once That's too bad Bumblebee

was the best part in the whole thing The humans

are horrible in that book. I'm sorry John. It's

so unfortunate We have just never I'm trying

to think if there's ever been okay Verity. I

like Verity There are very few human characters

in the Transformers comics that I like on their

own as people. Yeah, very true. So let's talk

about some robots. Yes, some robots that fight

other things. They fight weird slicer guys. I

find it weird that Nightbeat is green and yellow

in this. Yeah, the colors are weird in this.

He's kind of a... I'm so used to thinking of

things in terms of what marker they are. I'm

like, okay, yeah, he's that marker. It's definitely

in the green section. It's that Crayola color.

It's that Crayola name. It's this, this, this.

I'm up to a page where they're in this battle

and... Pax gets injured. Uh, and he's all faceplate

would have stopped. Yeah. And I'm like, well,

no, duh. Like, seriously, you cut his face up?

Really? Like, I know he's not Optimus Prime yet,

but come on. You didn't like that? No, no, I

thought it was funny. That's what I'm saying.

Like, again, like this is why you Use the faceplate.

This is why pro plates, but it's pro faceplate

anti non faceplate Yeah, no, I liked it. I thought

it was funny, but I'm like Damn it people You

know going back to reread this I haven't reread

it in several years and it Really struck me that

this was just James being like I am now going

to have all the fun Yeah, it just it's off the

chain And at least he didn't cut anybody in half

-length ways this time. Yeah nice. He did he

does have that one line about ratchet where Orion

Pax shows up at He gets taken to bludgeon's base

and he's like ratchet if you've heard him in

bludgeon's all of course I've heard him I've

heard him in ways that only a doctor would understand

and that's been giving me trauma for I've never

liked torture scenes in movies, and I don't even

like it if they imply it It's weird to me see

I mean I guess cuz packs and the packs one shot

here and Thundercracker kind of tie into each

other a little bit. Yeah I was like, hey, it's

Thundercracker. But wait, this isn't his book.

What's he doing here? I Feel like they tried

to have a Through line in these particular issues,

but at the time it didn't come together for me

So it almost comes together better After we've

yeah experienced the full story and we know okay.

This is when this was happening This was in this

happening. I will confess that there was stuff

in the thundercracker spotlight that I'm like

I don't remember what this was about and I'm

too lazy to go find out because I don't care.

Yeah Which is you know bad of me I should have

been more dedicated, but I wasn't no, it's okay

because again IDW, when they started doing the

spotlights, they were, you know, kind of character

one -shots. There were certain things that tied

into certain things, but I thought the whole

point, and I've said this for every spotlight

episode we've done this year, I thought the whole

point of it was to spotlight a character and

not necessarily a one -shot story, but closer

to that than having to tie into whatever was

going on at the time. Yeah, I feel like these

later spotlights in general Were fairly successful

that because I I do want it. I Do actually appreciate

when it ties into the overall story just enough.

Yeah Well, just enough that like again somebody

like me who even though I've read At this point

what this you know dark prelude was obviously

lead up to dark Cybertron Obviously we've covered

that on the show before but because we're reading

this in spotlight form it's like I've read all

that stuff, but I don't remember it at this point

because hello that podcast was like at least

a year or two old Yeah Yeah, but you know It

yeah, it's just it's for whoever let me formulate

my thoughts here Anyone can read these however

they choose to. If they just want to read them

as a one shot, they work as one shots. If you

want to read them and dig into all the Easter

eggs, which, you know, it's fun to find Easter

eggs and be like, Oh, that's that. Then, you

know, go for it. And if you can't remember stuff,

go to the Wiki and, or go back and reread all

your old issues and that that's fine too. I feel

like these, these work pretty well in that. I

love his ending monologue after the rocket, he

ends up getting off it and he's like, and it's

a good body too, almost perfect, almost, oh wait,

look at that, there's a faceplate. I remember

people whinging about that and I'm like, you

guys hush, this is just a fun story, let it be

fun. And I mean he doesn't like he's still a

young prime like if you look at his what? I'm

gonna call his ears or oh, yeah, whatever there's

you know the sides of his face his antennae aren't

that's true. They're little baby ones. Yeah,

they're they're very short MP01 in this actually.

Oh, yeah very much so which I'm down with I actually

rereading this I was thinking this is I think

my favorite little smidgen of IDW Prime, because

I've gotten so sort of bitter about IDW Prime,

and I'm like, see, this is okay. Once he starts

becoming like an enforcer, I don't dig it. But

this kind of brash young punk Prime, I can say

bring it on in 4 ,000 languages Prime, by which

I mean Orion Pax. I'm down with that, because

he has fun. And that's my main complaint. I'm

like, let Prime play basketball. But yeah, so

this, I really do enjoy this Prime. Oh my gosh.

And I was trying to, I was of course laughing

at my favorite panel ever, which is the one where

he's... Trying to he's demanding that bludgeon

let him talk to me to Megatron and bludgeon says

he's busy But I'll tell him you you dropped by

he talks about you sometimes when he's tired

What does he say best not ask it would make both

of us feel uncomfortable? Which I cannot read

without dying laughing and my kids were like

why is that funny? And I'm like I don't want

to explain it to you No, not yet. Anyway Maybe

later when you know, they need the talk or something.

Oh gosh. I mean they've had that Oh fanfiction,

but I was just like right now. I don't want to

go into it They're all they're all like the youngest

is ten so they're all like, okay, they have discovered

the Internet But at the same time, we have a

very fragile way of being in this house with

all of our imaginary characters that live here,

too, and I don't want it to get weird. Thank

Primus, we did not grow up with the internet.

It was so different. I have this really, really

weird twisted story in my head that basically

okay take shockwave I think I have to make sure

that I'm not ruining my own rules of not you

know recording out of whatever so yes that'll

be coming up so anyone that's read lost light

or optimus prime volume optimus prime volume

for more specifically that's coming up later

here inside the pull bag in September I want

to say yes Anyone that's read Optimus Prime Volume

4 will know that Shockwave becomes a... He's

alive. He survived Dark Cybertron. He becomes

a time traveler. So basically, my story idea

is for all of humanity to travel back in time

to the 80s. Let's say... Seventy -eight, seventy

-nine. Basically, somewhere before 1980. Pre

-Stranger Things. Anyway. And basically have

someone come up with the internet in the eighties.

And somehow, some way, and this is just the stupid

part of it, is to show how God awful the 90s

and the 2000s and the 2010s will be. Donald Trump

has already been president, he assassinated Reagan.

But yet he can still become president because

he's so rich. Oh my gosh. So we have the internet

and we have Trump as president. I'm still having

the idea of Trump assassinating Reagan. That's

hilarious. Oh man. That's good stuff. He had

little Baron do it. He wouldn't have been born.

Right, I know, but the point is time travel.

Oh. This is either the worst idea for a book

ever or the best idea for a book ever. It's probably

the worst because it's not flushed out at all.

But the main part of the idea is because we as

at least for me I was born in 80 so me as an

80s kid and 90s kid and whatever up until 95

98 whatever it was like the first 15 16 years

of my life there was no internet there was like

you watched television you read newspapers you

read you had magazine subscriptions anyone have

a magazine subscription these days I don't think

so Mean unless you're a die -hard sports illustrated

fan you want that swimsuit issue You know nobody

really has magazine subscriptions anymore and

I'm sorry, I know we're on a huge tangent here,

but it's kind of what we do Yeah, exactly. I'm

sorry like I took a this is about a year ago.

I took a picture of I think it was like a History

Channel magazine in a grocery store. Basically

had Abraham Lincoln on it, on the cover. They

wanted 1699 US, like 1899 Canadian for a magazine

that is about as thick as a DVD case is. Yeah,

like they're doing a lot of instead of like monthly

or weekly or whatever magazines They're starting

to do like here's a special issue on blank. Here's

a special issue on blank And so if you're a fan

of that thing, you'll apparently I guess plop

down the $16 Not really. Yeah. I mean, I love

Honest Abe. Don't get me wrong. He's one of the

best presidents we ever had. But you do not require

that particular magazine version. No. I'll take

a picture with my smartphone and post it online

and say, why is this $17? Yeah. Orion Pax, zero

to five. What would you give it? I like this

one. yeah i have to give it a four just as a

really not a huge fan of the art but i love the

story i love everything about the story and everyone

who winches about it can bite me yeah i love

the story i do really like the art that's the

thing about going back to the spotlight seeing

all Going through the spotlights, you see IDW's

evolution at the time because the earlier spotlights

were mostly all done by Simon Furman. Uh, Andy

Schmidt was editor at the time kind of thing.

And as we go along, we see that, Hey, IDW is

changing. Um, but yeah, no, for me, I'll give

it a four and a half out of five. Oh, okay. I

forgot that we could do halves. Of course. Uh,

Thundercracker. Alright, here he is. Take it

away. Mr. Broody McBroodypants himself. Yeah,

thank god it's not opening with one of his crappy

narrations. I hate playwright Thundercracker,

I really do. I don't hate him, I find him...

I don't, like, I always laugh really hard. at

how ridiculous he is but i feel like he's become

a gimmick yeah i get that's the joke i get that

that's like no respectable writer whether you're

just a you know creator own like you're not attached

anyhow no hollywood writer or any other writer

in general would come up with like susan journeyer

or whatever the hell her name like That was the

point, Mike. I know that was the point, but it

still makes my head hurt. Okay. All right, take

it away. Um, uh, this one is harder to summarize

because I, at the time I remember reading it

and being like that, I don't even know what that

was. And reading it this time, I got it better,

but it's still kind of eh. The main story is

Thundercracker is part of a squad. that is searching

for Metroplex, but he is conflicted because it's

canon that he's conflicted. And he doesn't like

destroying civilians, but you know, Bludgeon

is a James Bond villain and he's the one leading

it. So he's like, kill everyone. And Thundercracker

finds a clue leading to Metroplex, but doesn't

tell Bludgeon everything he knows and ends up

Bumblebee and a group of guys kind of try to

stop and stop the Decepticons invading this planet

with just a few kind of survivors type population

and in the end it's basically Thundercracker

who has found Metroplex, Bumblebee resisting

him, and a little pig man who tries to get in

the way and is shot for his pains. And Thundercracker

has a little change of heart and lets them go.

And does not report that he has actually found

Bludgeon and he ends up getting kicked off the

squad which he finds a relief. Yeah, so we've

got Knight beaten his real colors. We've got

cyber, like, I want to say this was around the

time of War for Cybertron or Fall of Cybertron

because Bumblebee is in his super Cybertronian

mode. Oh yeah, he is in his Cybertronian. For

me, the aligned continuity is still... I know

they tried to rope it in with IDW, but I just...

My brain can't accept it That's so well. I saw

bumblebees outfit. I'm like, okay, you know this

Games outfit, but I didn't be like, oh, that's

what's happening. I mean because I I only played

war for Cybertron. I liked Like for a Cybertronian

mode what they gave him for that games. I absolutely

love it. It is awesome But yeah, yeah, it's fine.

Yeah, so Thundercracker kind of does the right

thing? Obviously not, not really, you know, telling

bludgeon about Metroplex. I find it strange that

Waspinator is here. As much as I like Waspinator

in Beast Wars, I find it very strange that he's

in this specific comic. Now I know they brought

a lot of the Beast Wars characters into IDW,

which is fine. I have no problem with that. Just

this comic specifically, I'm like, why is Waspinator

here? Did feel but they had a bunch of the if

I were cooler I would know what they're called

the Insecticons that are not the g1 show insecticons

the insecticons But it does people Random and

weird and they they never quite fit in with a

bunch of jets Yeah, I do love the thundercracker

and be find find Metroplex more Thundercracker

than Bee finds him and I just I love the way

that this kind of plays out with Thundercracker

like I said before kind of doing the right thing

by you know letting Metroplex escape I love that

once the energon hits Metroplex or whatever that

is, I assume it's energon, liquid energon or

water or whatever. Yeah, there's some pool that

they're partying in and I never quite get why

Metroplex didn't already drink it. I guess they

say that the people living there have been refining

it and living off of it, but it's kind of a mess.

Yeah, it is. Uh, he's like, ah, I must go. I

have a mission. Goodbye. And Bumblebee's like,

yeah, see you later, Metroplex. Yeah, he's basically

like, peace out, glitches. Yep. And as you said

earlier, you know, Thundercracker goes and reports

back and, you know. Yeah. Yeah. It's wine is

just really whiny. there's like a there's a whiniest

quotient that you got to be really careful with

sorry i'm actually holding the real book so you

may get some sound effects but it goes a little

over the line for me or i just kind of get tired

of him whinging i'm like just do something you

dweeb and if it were written slightly better

i would Be a little more convinced of how stuck

he is because I feel like we're meant to Experience

how a thundercracker is stuck in his situation

He doesn't feel like he can be or do anything

else. So even just this small rebellion is is

quite major but it doesn't really accomplish

much. I mean, I guess it does. But Bludgeon wouldn't

have found out where Metroplex was at all if

Thundercracker hadn't said, maybe we should go

this way. Yeah, really. The final line on the

final page, I'm like, okay, we get it. Cue you

two, because I still don't even know if I found

what I was looking for. And I'm like, oh my god.

Thundercracker's theme is, I still haven't found

what I'm looking for by U2. Oh my gosh, it totally

is. It totally is. Okay, headcanon accepted.

That is his theme song. That's just... Oh my

gosh. I think I just broke my own brain. That's

hilarious. Yeah, Thundercracker. I really did

dig the story. I wanted to know more I wanted

to like I dug his perspective. I dug his internal

monologue I love the whole mystery thing with

with Metroplex I still feel it's kind of not

necessarily disjointed, but Like they're obviously

looking for they're on this mission. They're

trying to accomplish something and You know we

don't we only see like one part of that story

here, so I'd give it a three and a half I'd give

it a two and a half. I think it's slightly less

than okay Fine Because to me a three is it's

fine Yes, and finally up today we have The creepiest

single issue Well, I mean I would say wait wait

James is here but it's written by Nick so Yeah,

he has his own brand of creepy. I kind of knew

this, but like this is James Roberts level of

creepy for me. They each have like their own

specific types of creepy. Like Nick is very...

Military life is horrible and you have to do

bad things. Yeah, and James is all relationships

will slag you over Yeah, and sometimes people

do horrible things for no reason Yeah But yeah,

yeah, so your pal Megatron I know man I Liked

him better when he was an Autobot. It's okay.

So so here's my response to what you said earlier

about it's hard to read this when we're used

to Dad Captain Megatron. Yeah, you'll like this

is actually Let's see. When did this come out?

I'm gonna flip to the end and see what issues

are coming out next Yeah, this came out the next

issues listed in the back are number 14 so we're

jumping into the overlord story in lost light

and things disappearing and turmoil coming back

in our ID and So at the time we didn't necessarily

Need a reminder that Megatron was evil because

he was still evil like in our ID He was about

to come back and try to take over but he just

never quite manages it. So he's still evil, but

he is sort of somewhat weak and ineffectual in

the next few arcs until he completely switches

and goes Autobot, and in this he is not weak

and not ineffectual. He's, yeah, very ruthless.

I feel that especially when you're used to best

buddy wooby face lost light Megatron, who I do

love, that it is a good reminder That he also

has been this especially when you get to the

end of his story in lost light where he is condemned

and You have to have things he does need to deserve

that and This is like yeah, he's Personally horrible

in this not just like, you know, there's the

two issues in Chaos theory where he and primer

talking and he's like I would just wade through

a pile of corpses If it would get me where I

wanted to go and I would enjoy it And then you

know later on we find out that he didn't necessarily

that that tripped him out when he said that but

He needs to be shown to have become truly horrible

in fact, it's it's really funny I always I was

Talk about Megatron in terms of his arc and I'm

like and stealth bomber Megatron is evil Megatron

He's just known as evil Megatron. He's just so

bad and then it's a place for him to come up

from and I think that adds power to his character

to have this this much of an arc mmm, yeah, no,

absolutely it does I never thought I would ever

feel this way, even though except when like Marigold's

writing him. I really feel sorry for Starscream

in this. Yeah. Starscream gets brutalized. This

is excellent, excellent, excellent Starscream

writing. Yeah, it is. There's, you know, there's

again, the Tumblr contingent, but there's a lot

of people who are truly angry that IDW never

had Megatron. Reconnect with Starscream and make

some sort of amend slash apology slash acknowledgement

of the things that he had done to him and I'm

like, you know That is a fair complaint. Mm -hmm

I don't know how they could have done that in

story, but I would have loved to see James write

that Yeah, that would have been cool. And it

would, or even like, you know, hand it off to,

you know, while we're dreaming, hand it off to

Nick and be like, all right, write a mirror issue

to this. Yep. That is because this is a, and

this is a really powerful and really real portrait

of abuse. And it's, it's still kind of shocks

me at how far it goes. The writing is occasionally

a little, I always try to say this wrong, it's

a little pedantic. You know, Nick loves Simon

Furman and it shows. But between the art, which

is phenomenal, I'm going to say this again, but

Nick does amazing characterization via the shape

of people's noses. But like the way he draws

Starscream is amazing. Yeah, it's like G1 Starscream

coming off the page, like both in robot and alt

mode. It's very, very cool. It is, it is amazing.

But like, cause he is, he is Starscream, but

he's also like every single pose I recognize

in my, like, I'm really, really grateful that

I've never had anyone treat me this way, but

I still recognize it. That yeah, just really

specific responses to being abused like this

And it's yeah, it's really serious business.

Oh, it's very serious business. Yeah Yeah See

I feel that and I said this earlier and I'll

say it again I feel that IDW has spoiled us.

Mm -hmm because at least for me I jumped on with

death of optimus prime and then you know people

told me okay you can go one of two ways you can

go you know in the stars with the lost light

crew on more than meets the eye or you can stay

on Cybertron and you know watch Starscream Donald

Trump ruin everything no that's not what they

said but you know basically what I was told was

more than meets the eye is the adventure in space

uh... robots in disguise is cybertron but with

politics uh... i just realized that i was about

to fervently defend star scream as a better leader

than donald trump and well he is calm that is

where we have come in real life this is so sad

i know it's so sad and trust me star scream is

ten times better later okay sorry moving on i

mean Rack and Ruin would be better leaders. Anyway,

um, but we've been spoiled because Megatron has

this arc. Like, by that time I think they were

working up to the trial and whatever. Because

I think the first 27, 28 issues, yeah, because

issue 28 is when everything changed. Cuz yeah

Megatron became the Autobot. Yeah, yada yada

yada So they were working on the trial of Megatron

because of everything that he has done all the

evil and don't get me wrong I can still look

at the generation one cartoon and see oh super

evil Decepticon Megatron and like him but IDW

Megatron because He is so resigned in that part

of the story And like, yes, I did all of this,

yes. He is basically like, if you ever watch

an episode of Law and Order, any Law and Order,

but specifically Special Victims Unit, and one

of the perpetrators is really remorseful about

it, he is so remorseful, like, I deserve this.

please punish me give me my you know whatever

and then he becomes a lot of button does all

these kind of heroic things and i'm sorry i don't

care what anyone says any of you anti rodimus

people michael uh... yeah i know she's like to

see runs gets her whatever uh... uh... rodimus

and megatron are single -handedly the best to

space ship captains i've ever seen They're better

than Kirk and Spock. That's the relationship

I see between Rodimus and Megatron, is Kirk and

Spock from Star Trek. They do evolve through

the course of the story into really amazing,

great leaders, and it is cool to see. Yeah, and

going back to this, it's like, my skin is crawling.

It's like, he's not this, but it's the only thing

I can equate him to. It's like, ugh, Megatron

the rapist. Ugh. Yeah. Yes. Yes. That's what

it feels like. Ugh. I'm like physically shaking

after having read this. And it's not anything

against Nick. It's not anything against the artist

at all. The story is great. It's just because

of where we have come to in this IDW universe.

The first universe or whatever you want to call

it the first 13 years It's like because of the

direction that the character went going back

and reading it now is like And I read this when

it first came out. I was super fresh with IDW.

I had never read much of anything and I didn't

feel this way back then. I'm like, okay, it's

evil mega, you know, it's just like Watching

an episode of the G1 cartoon. It's evil Megatron.

He's the leader of the Decepticons. He's beaten

the hell out of Starscream now He basically brutalized

and victimized Starscream in this comic Yeah,

oh that is fascinating that you had that experience

because I have never ever Had the experience

of being able to read this without feeling it

in my stomach It's it's rough you know when people

say stuff about how well I'm very glad that this

happened that the RC thing was kind of fixed

you know later in Optimus Prime but going back

and reading that spotlight as well is another

one of those things where it's like but she's

so much more than what and i get it it's a time

progression it's this is what the story was and

this is where that character ended up later in

the universe um i need to go back and read that

i haven't in a long time and i i should megatron

i Mean three and a half out of five is not bad

on our scale at all I mean technically it's a

ten point scale because we use half points, but

just we were thinking Oh zero five stars like

you know like like you know Zero to four stars

or whatever movie ratings are given yada yada

yada so I'm gonna give Megatron a three and a

half because okay, I It's not for me like obviously

five is like I would read this endlessly You

know, the art is amazing, the writing is amazing,

I love the story, I could read this story forever

kind of thing. Four is like, I really liked it,

but there's just one or two things. Three and

a half, three is like middle ground for me. And

like nothing is bad about, I mean, obviously

being victimized by a stealth bomber is horrible,

but like... there's nothing wrong in the writing

it's just the way or the art it's just the way

the character is anything lower than that for

me would be like saying that the comic itself

is bad and it's not it's not it's not it's just

yeah interesting so so you rate in terms of your

own personal how much you enjoyed it Kind of

we have a rating scale at GCRN and I would go

through the whole thing on air, but it's been

done before and I'll tell you about it later.

We have a whole system and it's the system that

we use so it's not like it's you know It is what

it is, but like just for me That was my personal

rating, the way I personally rate something.

Um, I would still use it as a, I would still

say it is a three and a half out of five though.

That's interesting. Cause I, I always try to

rate things as objectively as I am able to. And

you know, if I'm not able to be objective, I'm

like, I'm not able to be objective. I love this,

but yeah. Okay. So just really quickly without

having to like, Our good buddy movie revolt Dan

who's been you know? Working with us here at

the GC iron for years now He came up with this

system, and I'm not gonna go through the descriptions

on air I will go through what the ratings actually

are it's 0 to 5 with half points 5 .0 is a masterpiece

4 .5 is remarkable 4 is really good 3 and a half

is good Three is average two and a half is below

average two is bad one and a half is really bad

One is terrible zero point five is abysmal Zero

itself is pure garbage. Yeah, like please do

the world a favor and throw this away exactly.

Yeah, and That's not what the Megatron spotlight

is as I said, I feel it's three and a half. It's

good it's just the story and where I am in the

IDW universe, like going back and reading this,

like I've already said, it's a little jarring.

Interesting. Because see, I would drop a five

on this without even a second thought. Well,

this is why I would do it because the art is

phenomenal. I'm looking right now at the pages

of just two airplanes flying and you can hear

the images. They, of course, have Star Wars sound

effects, but like you can hear and feel and see

the movement and like it's amazing. And that's

just, you know, Nick drawing airplanes. And there's

just like there's a couple. things of just really

subtle, powerful expression. And then of course,

you know, horribly non subtle expression. And

the writing is so real. I know I said it sometimes

is pedantic, but I think that's, I mean, I can't

cut enough for the few times when I'm like, all

right, guys, seriously, because the times when

it gets into like, really, really, really real

and perceptive crap. And I'm like, Nick, how

did you have to learn this? I'm very sorry if

you had to learn this through personal experience.

But it's just really, really excellent. So I'm

like, that's a five. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

All right, well that's gonna do it for us join

us next week. We'll get the Twitter and all that

stuff in a second in episode 368 we finish off

the spotlights in part 7 with Bumblebee Trailbreaker,

I don't care what copyright says yeah and hoist

why hoist was the last one is beyond there needed

to be more me more spotlights at that time So

that's us coming up next week, week after that

in September we've got Lost Light and Optimus

Prime Vol. 4 with myself and Ryan in the Indian

Flu Merkley. Week after that. Kids, we hope you

already had the talk with your parents because

episode 369 we finally return to the series after

four years. Sex Criminals, Volume 3, from Matt

Fraction and Chip Zdarsky. So, parents, put some

earmuffs on your kids. Because, uh, yeah, no.

That is not safe for work. And then in Episode

370, Ryan and I will hit that Chaos Bringer himself,

Unicron, in the Unicron trade. And then, Episode

370 .5 ends the IDW universe with Optimus Prime,

Volume 5. oh 13 years and it's it's over I mean

I'm glad it had an ending even though I haven't

really read the ending yet I'm glad like I'm

one of those types of people that beginning middle

and end if you know it has a good story throughout

those three parts and it doesn't leave anything

like it doesn't leave you wanting more it leaves

you satisfied with what the story is told I'm

fine Like, you can't have, you can have, because

we've had 35 years, I almost said 34, wow. How

the hell did I not do that? We've had 35 years

of Transformers overall at this point, but Transformers

does not need to be Batman. There does not need

to be, although I hope there is in the future,

there does not need to be, from 1939 to now,

80 years of Transformers, because just like in

80 years of Batman, well where do you start?

Yeah. It's already probably quite intimidating

to jump into. But, you know, people can just

jump in. Yeah, there are certain points and there

are certain stories and series and whatever that

you can jump in on Batman. It's not as hard as

I make it sound to be, but, you know, you think

of 80 years of Superman and 80 years of Batman.

Just hearing that, it's like, hmm, I wonder.

I don't know. I'm down with people telling good

stories, however they choose to tell them. Oh,

absolutely. No, it's not about that. It's about,

again, it's about, like, where to, like... You

mean 80 years of a single continuity you can't

imagine? Yeah. Okay, yeah. No, that, that, yeah.

That's, yeah, that's what I'm saying. Universe

imprint, the one that they did, it did need to

end. It was starting to get stale. So, yeah,

it needed to. So. Ah, we miss it, but it never

leaves our hearts. Yes. And they do have a lot

of good things coming up that are in this bold

new era. I have not read any of the new comic

yet, but I do know Transformers Galaxies is coming,

which is gonna be really cool. I believe they've

got 1984 coming, which is, I guess, retelling

the old... regeneration once i don't know it

sounds like it's the g one story that all the

transmission guys have been asking for forever

not maybe exactly but they're they're like here

you guys who's a g one story fine i think for

me what draws me to the upcoming transformers

galaxies is that it's a anthology series and

anything can happen with you but you can walk

into that without having to read The last 13

years of Transformers comics because this is

now a new universe Mm -hmm kind of thing and

hey the first the first our Focuses on the constructor

cons and Crystal City. Yay. Yeah, it's I'm Interested

I want I you know as always I want these things

to be good. I want the creators to succeed I

want it to be memorable and something we can

really latch on to I don't Always feel quite

as latched on yet, but I also feel really really

intrigued with some of the ideas that they're

bringing in so I'm I'm behind them. I really

am Absolutely Where can the people find you online

or have I already asked you that? No, but you

can ask me I'm hockey prime everywhere. You can

find me on Twitter at hockey prime and Anywhere

else that uses that name is me i have to if you

like on twitter you can also bought the full

bag and that the cast radio for all the other

network updates make your greatest in the comics

and join us next time as i said earlier we will

be getting into the final three spotlights bumblebee

trail breaker and hoist for now i am t if you

like with how he prime make your greatest in

the comics and we will catch you next time Bye!

Bye! Send us an email, feedback at GeekCastRadio

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