Star Trek vs Transformers Review

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So without any further ado, it's time to talk

about the comics we are reading right now here

inside the pullback. Hello and welcome to The

Pull Bag. This is episode 375. I'm of course

TF2 and Mike. Joining me is Steve Comic -Tron

Phillips. How are you, sir? Hey, you don't want

to be known as that other guy? On this show you're

the Comic -Tron. Well, I still technically am

Megatron. Yes, yes, yes. You can tinker us, old

fool. That's right. I'm three or four... Yeah,

three or four and a half months away from being

40 years old next February. Yay! And tonight

we're talking about the 375th episode... That's

right, 375th. Yeah, 375th. I gotta say that right.

We are talking about the IDW publishing... crossover

event star trek versus transformers uh... basically

transformers eighty four versus star trek seventy

three because these are the animated series designs

for both uh... cartoons here very very cool i

thought that i thought these designs were great

i thought the story was kind of predictable but

Most of those animated series plots are kind

of predictable. Yeah, I mean, any of the animated

series kind of are, but I liked the way that

they meshed them together. And before I get too

far into this... John Barber and Mike Johnson

are the writers on this. John Barber has written

a lot of stuff for Transformers and IDW's 13,

14 year history with the franchise. Mike Johnson

does a lot of the Star Trek stuff that they do.

Philip Murphy is on art for issues 1, 2, 4, and

5. And Jack Lawrence did art for number 3. Colors

are done by Priscilla Tramontano, Leonardo Ito,

and Josh Burcham. Letters done by Krista Meisner.

So very, very cool on the creative. I love all

of the covers. They're so cool. I love that we

start with Star Trek and then the Transformers

kind of just show up because the Star Trek people

kind of just They think they're in Klingon space,

but apparently it's a slightly different world.

Oh Yeah, and it's it's it's actually kind of

funny how it all plays out to be honest and again,

it's It's what we grew up with Especially the

transfer I mean I swear Philip Murphy basically

You know every artist wants to put their put

their own interpretation on a character this

dude basically rips the the cartoon characters

for both franchises out of the Original animated

series for both My only nitpick here for most

of this, at least on the Transformers side, is

they included like Arachnid. She wasn't in the

G1 cartoon. I understand for the plot point why

she was included, but I kind of could have done

without her. I mean, I guess to each their own.

I mean, I didn't really care either way. But

yeah, I mean, I get it. But everybody that's

present for track was actually in that animated

series. Yep. Absolutely. And the designs look

amazing. The story flows very well. Wind blade

is also in here on the transformer side And I

know there's a lot of people out there that are

not fans of wind blade and there are a lot that

are But again if you're going for the original

Animated series look and feel and store not storyline,

but creating an original story using those things

I'm like why put the a couple of the modern characters

in there. That's a little strange This was originally

supposed to only be four issues due to, I guess,

extreme popularity. It was able to extend to

five. It kind of reminds me of some old 80s G

.I. Joe of where the Autobots intercepted G .I.

Joe because Bumblebee has blown to bits. And

they're like, what did you do to Bumblebee? And

they're doing the same thing with Prime. even

though Prime was not hurt by the track crew.

So I mean it's kind of very similar to that in

my opinion based on that but I loved how they

kept the detail from the animated series for

the Autobots and they kind of gave them some

of the more modern, comicistic looks of where

they are more detailed. And then kind of added

that in with the animated series bits to kind

of throw them into the Star Trek world. Although

the Star Trek stuff looks exactly like the animated

series. Yeah. Yeah, the Star Trek stuff is awesome.

Very, very cool and interesting. I love the backgrounds

and the colors. The colors just pop. Oh yeah.

And it's the styles of the two anime series,

to be honest. That's what makes it pop. And then

they just add some shine to and some added textures

that weren't visible in the originals of either

to enhance it. And it's so much more in depth.

I mean, Megatron and Soundwave on the outer...

hall of the enterprise that's just hilarious

for megatron says as you say commended curie

for the glory of the klingon empire indeed okay

maybe it's a klingon ship he's there is the klingon

ship that's fine uh... you're the star trek person

i'm not i fully recognize that but uh... but

yeah everything here is very very cool I'm normally

not a fan of multiple writers on things but I

think both John and Mike, John Barber and Mike

Johnson do a excellent job of basically John's

writing the transformer side and Mike is writing

the Star Trek side I assume I don't know I wasn't

a fly on the wall when they were doing their

writing but Both sides, hero and villain, for

both Transformers and Star Trek, they interact

with each other so fluidly and so interestingly.

Oh yeah, and it's, it's, and I like how they

captured a lot of their dialogue elements, like

such as, like, you know, Dr. McCoy and, um, you

know, I'm a doctor, not a mechanic. Mm -hmm You

know among other things, but it's still funny

how they they matched everybody's personas Absolutely

Yep, I love that Starscream is still a schemer.

He always was I love seeing Spock interact with

Soundwave and Starscream, there is only one prudent

course of action left to us. Optimus sends his

new human pet to do battle in his place. Spock

is like half human. I do not seek battle. It

is obvious you maintain a superior advantage.

On behalf of my compatriots, I surrender to you.

You know, again, Spock with the logic and all

that. I love how they and I said this when Ryan

Merkley and I did the The Green Lantern Star

Trek stuff. I know you're not a huge Green Lantern

fan I think you would really like those two trades

from IDW and DC though because it's more IDW

than DC kind of I read them. Okay, they just

weren't I just I don't know. I don't I don't

get the whole love of the Green Lantern core

I like certain characters. I like certain characters,

but like honestly I feel like Green Lantern has

been shoved down the comics world's throat So

I just can't stand it anymore But what I love

about this is basically the the way that they

you know have the The enterprise be kind of Star

Trek and the Autobots is that they put the Autobot

insignia between USS Enterprise and NCC 1701.

That's hilarious. I like how they cloned it.

Yep, that was cool, too And then they have it,

you know battling the Klayon ship which is trypticon

and then the this enterprise is The bridge is

makeshift to the Enterprise along with a few

other subtle nods, but it's bigger because it

has to be Fortress Maximus or Fortress Tiberius,

although Kirk is constantly trying to suppress

Fortress Maximus. Yeah, that was the one thing

I felt was a little difficult for me, is Kirk

in this mental, almost Autobot -spike -like kind

of thing. uh... trying to figure this all out

i thought that was a little strange i really

really did uh... so therefore in one of the g

i joe comics and then the enterprise transforms

really like look like you said fortress tiberius

uh... little silly but again think of where these

come from this is not to just sell toys at this

point or even back then this is hey let's make

a cartoon series at least in star trek's case

because obviously they had already had the original

series but you know in transformers case it's

like well we got to figure out a way to have

kirk and whatever try you know cross over into

our world so let's make a whole new transformer

Hey, it works. I mean at some point, you know,

they've got to do a transformers vs. Batman and

the batmobile Transforms don't do that to me.

They've actually had I yeah animate. Yeah stuff

so Yeah Absolutely Um, I love Megatron Disappearing

into there won't I do from my vengeance Carrie.

This is your doing We were allies on our demands.

You led Starscream with your cloaking device.

What's funny is, going back to Fortress Tiberias

punching Trypticon, the way that he punched him

is a Star Trek, it's like a signature Star Trek

punching move, like where they do the double

fist smash into the face. It's it's it's funny

because they even caught that nuance Yeah, very

cool. Yeah, that's the one thing the and then

there's many other things as well the attention

to detail of Like you said the nuances and everything

else all of it works. Well You know Like you

said, we have the clone ship, we have Uhura,

we have all these other people working to basically

make sure nobody dies. Yeah, and they almost

had Kirk almost killing somebody because Fortress

Maximus is just like, must smash Trypticon. And

Spock's like, hey, Captain, you know that you're

a Starfleet officer. I know I'm trying to get

control. I love Megatron's scheming with Soundwave

and you know obviously I have honoured, I have

humoured Starscream's ambitions long enough it

is time to put an end to them once and for all

and deliver him to his fate dun dun dun so yeah

Starscream, this book ends up becoming a sort

of a Starscream story here at the end a little

Well, they've been doing that honestly with like

all of the different things like even the the

recent like prime wars You know combiner wars

and all that stuff. They they had Starscream

You know steal all the stuff and you know, he

was an upstanding citizen for a minute and then

he wasn't anymore Yeah, same thing in this Again,

love the visuals, love the, you know, Starscream

where it says, you have never heard anyone more

serious. You will do my bidding or you and your

people will die. Starscream can be threatening,

but here I just find him comical. Like, you know,

again, and I can hear Chris Lada's voice in my

head where he's like, Ow, hey, that hurts. Quit

it. Well, what's funny about this is, you know,

the Klingons are always about trying to one up

and kill each other to become emperor or leader.

And it's funny that he's just like, Smash, meet

your new ruler, Emperor Starscream the First.

You know, and he just sits there like. Oh, look

at me, I'm gonna gloat. Which is what Klingons

do too. Was there anything in this that you didn't

particularly care for? Was there any moments

between the Transformers or Star Trek that just

didn't sit right with you? Not really, other

than Kirk basically running the Enterprise with

a brain console. Although... It's funny because

I've been watching a lot of Trek, like TNG, TOS,

DS9, Voyager, and even some Enterprise, just

jumping between episodes, either ones that I

really enjoyed or ones that I just don't remember

ever seeing. There was one where Barclay gets

zapped while he's on a shuttlecraft. and gets

insane mind powers in order to boost efficiency

and save the ship. It later turns out he's possessed

by another alien, but it turns out that he kind

of hooks himself up into this weird mental array,

kind of like what Kirk's wearing there on the

holodeck, and is able to control the entire starship.

So it kind of reminds me of that in a sense,

but if I hadn't have seen that episode, that

would have been the most bizarre thing I've seen.

Yeah, I think the most the strangest, like all

of the lines I can hear Frank Welker, Peter Cullen,

whomever did the Trek voice acting from the animated

series for Trek, I can hear all of those characters

in my head, except at the very end. And this

is not going to like me being. Like, me take

a point off or anything for it, but, um, when

they end the story, Indeed we do. Well, keep

that hailing frequency wide open. Now, if you'll

forgive me, I'll say goodbye with a twist on

my first officer's preferred saying, Live long,

Autobots, and roll out. I rolled my eyes at that

ending. Pretty dumb. Yeah Don't don't mix the

catchphrase Sometimes it works and sometimes

it doesn't and I like I said, I just rolled my

eyes at it It wasn't like I was upset about it.

It wasn't like again I'm not gonna take points

off for it or anything like that. It was just

a little bit too Corny and I am a very cornball

type person I do a lot of corny crap, folks,

and that was a little bit much for me. There's

a little bit of cornbread there. Any other thoughts

on this? Do you want to see more Star Trek Transformers

crossovers, whether it's this style or other

styles? I honestly was fine with what they gave

us here. Like, I wouldn't mind returning to it.

Okay. Cool. Yeah, I'm the same way. I really

enjoyed it. I thought it was great. I thought

it was cool how the Decepticons You know started

working with the Klingons and everything else

with the Decepticons are always you know Schemers

as they are Same thing with the Autobots. I love

how they came to help Optimus Prime the Kirk

and the crew and all of that I'm trying to remember

because I don't remember off the top of my head.

Did Scotty do any kind of... I can't bloody do

it, Captain. He had a moment. Yeah, that's what

I figured. I just can't remember off the top

of my head. But they used more of a Scottish...

...ism... ...instead of a Scotty -ism. So it

was a little bit different. Very cool, very cool.

What would you rate this 0 to 5? I'd probably

give it a five. I really enjoyed it. I didn't

really find anything I disliked about it. The

storyline was very cohesive, the way that they

tied the two universes together. The art was

great, the dialogue, the attention to detail,

so I would definitely give it a five. I am right

there with you, even though I have a couple of

reservations on it. It is still very, very cool.

I'm so glad they did it. Philip Murphy's art

is amazing. John Barber on writing, Mike Johnson

on writing, did a really good job blending and

making sure that the story and the character

traits from both sides shone through brilliantly.

I thought that was really, really cool. I can't

wait to see what IDW does next. And I've said

that on the other Star Trek crossover things

that Ryan and I did with Green Lantern as well,

if they ever go back to that. So I know this

is kind of a short episode, folks. These are

kind of going to, most likely going to be short

episodes for the rest of October. Coming up next,

we've got the Edge of Spider -Verse, so Ryan

Merkley, Jonathan Todarian, and I will be doing

that. After that, Joe Reed and I tackle Superman

year one number two. And then to end October,

Ryan and I go back to the Star Wars Marvel Universe,

the 2015 Star Wars series written by Jason Aaron.

We're going to cover volumes one and two in episode

377. So that's coming up here on the pull bag.

Where can the people find you online, sir? Is

there anything else you want to pimp out? They

can find me on the twitters at scp21 and Nothing

major yet But there will be some awesome stuff

coming Very cool. Very cool. Very cool. Make

your greatest game in the comics and we will

catch you next time folks here inside the pullback

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