Transformers Classics Volumes 6 and 7 Review

1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, punch! This is Optimus

Prime, and you are listening to all things Transformers.

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

the comics we're reading right now, here inside

The Pull Bag. You've just jumped inside The Pull

Bag on... The Geekcast Radio Network. But what's

the other show? All Things Transformers. That's

right, we're back, finally, finishing up Autobot

League August in October. Autobotly October.

Octobotly. There we go. It's got spider legs,

people. So, yes, we are back. I am, of course,

DFG and Mike. You are? Steve Megatron. Absolutely,

absolutely. It is comic book time. What the hell

was that? Skybound. Yeah, all right. So we are

talking about Marvel Comics. AEW Publishing's

reprinting of Marvel Comics Transformers Classics,

the US run. This is volumes six and seven tonight.

So we have got a fully loaded night, but as always,

we will just give you our half -ass opinions.

Because that's how we roll. That's right. Or

as Optimus Prime would say, Autobots, transform

and roll out. Autobots, roll out. So Volume 6,

the trade, the collected edition cover from IDW

has Blitzwing on it. G1 Blitzwing, very, very

cool. In Volume 6, it collects issues 65 through

76, which were published April of 1990 through

March of 1991. Wow, there's almost a whole year's

worth of comics in here. Holy crap. And as always,

for the creative, original series edited, done

by Don Daly and Rob Takar, cover art by Guido

Guidi on the IDW stuff. Obviously, Bob Budiansky

on the writing. Actually, no, not Bob Budiansky.

It's Simon Furman now. That's right. I can remember

that. Simon Furman is good. He definitely gets

a little bit better in some areas and not so

much in others. Yeah. And the art changes. Pretty

much. Yeah. Yeah, they are changes. Well, because

so that's this crazy. Andrew Waldman joined with

Simon Furman. Yep. Which they are a great team.

They are. And they I mean, eventually we'll have

to do the return of the G1, you know, issue 81

through 100. Oh, yeah. But not today. Not today,

not next year. Who knows if it'll be in two years

that we do that. It's going to be a while. There's

so many other things. We got Skybound's new series

because Skybound Entertainment under Image Comics

has the Transformers license now and Transformers

number one was pretty damn good. I'll have to

check it out when I can get my hands on it. Yeah.

Yeah, we'll figure that out. But yeah, I did

a I did a matrix prime youtube thing with jesse

for his his youtube channel so because yeah the

pullback has been in flux lately and i was just

like yeah let's just do it on your thing and

just make it a part of your thing so the problem

that i have with this trade is that uh parts

four and five of the matrix quest start this

off and by the end of part three i just didn't

care you're like i've checked out Uh -huh. Like,

just get the Matrix back to the person it's supposed

to be at, and then we'll go from there. Put it

in the prime. Nope, not the red truck one. He's

dead. Put it in the one true prime. No. You and

your blasphemy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hey, at least

I'm not a cryotech fan. I don't like cryotech.

I know, but that's my point. Instead of being

a Megatron fan, at least, because I'm not an

Optimus fan, I'm a Rodimus fan, at least I'm

not a cryotech fan. At least I go with the right

Predacon. So, yeah, where do we want to begin

with this? Because Matrix Quest. Well, it starts

out with the cover. Which looks like aliens and

yeah. Has Grimlock found the Matrix or has it

found him? It's found him. And then it shows

Prime's dead body in the Creation Matrix calling

to the beasts. It's the call of the primitives

that showed it better. I'm all primitives. Hey,

something's happened to me too, and it's not

on the top 40. This madness must stop. Me Grimlock

must answer call. Yeah, so they show Thunderwing

and various others, which I never cared for the

Thunderwing. When I was collecting these, because

it was, you know, ages ago, and yeah, these came

out in either late 80s, early 90s, something,

but I loathed the Matrix Quest. Absolutely hated

it. I hated Thunderwing. I didn't like Nightbeat.

Nightbeat's cool. I like Nightbeat. It's not

often you have a Cybertronian. Okay, outside

of Prowl, it's not often you see a Cybertronian

cop. No, I mean, well, you get him in, he's more

of a detective than a cop. Well, same thing.

You have to come up into the ranks, but yeah.

True, but Prowl was more of a, you know, street

cop, and Nightbeat was more of your detective,

like, undercover. Yep, yep, yep. I will say I

do like this art. As much as I don't care about

the story for the Matrix Quest, this art is really

damn good. That was something that I enjoyed

with Andrew Wildman taking over. Yep. I liked

the detail. Yes, there were aspects that had

just colors. There were aspects that had... you

know, kind of more emotion in their face. And

you'll get to see more of that as this goes.

Yeah. And that's what I like about these last

20 or so issues is that because the artists constantly

are changing. And even though for the most part,

it's still reliant on the same five, six or seven

colors. It doesn't feel like the earlier issues

felt where it's just like, same color, story's

okay, get rid of the humans, but the story's

okay. And now it's almost like a reverse of that,

where I don't give a, at least for these first

two issues, I don't give a crap about the damn

story. But I love the art, because the art's

really cool. One of my favorite moments is, you

know, you have Jazz, Bumblebee, and Grimlock,

and they're pretenders, and, you know, Thunderwing

is a pretender, and Grimlock gets fed up, gets

out of his... armor and goes think you tough

Decepticon leader me Grimlock me eat Decepticon

leaders for breakfast and then he goes you amuse

me Grimlock but that he's like you know he's

like is all and then throws him you know just

takes him out and then Thunderwing takes out

the pretender shells causing pain to Bumblebee

and everybody else. Yep, absolutely. Thunderwing

is basically sniffing out the Matrix, almost

like Nemesis Prime or like Unicronus. Rodimus

Unicronus. Yeah. It gets really weird. Yeah.

I'm not a huge fan of it, but I like that Prime

is kind of involved with this, but he's a Power

Master. Yeah, I love that they used Power Master

Optimus in the comics. I think that's great.

That's awesome. I think if they were going to

bring him back in G1, they should have gone that

route. Oh, 100%. Give him an upgrade. I mean,

he's not your same Autobot. Tommy Kennedy reporting

for the Autobot City News. I'm here with Paramaster

Optimus Prime. What's all this about, Tommy?

I have to interview someone important for the

Autobot City News, and you're the most important

person for a robot I know. Okay, what would you

like me to tell you? Tell us the real scoop,

the behind -the -scenes super -secret story of

how you came back from the dead. Well, it all

began in the outer reaches of the galaxy. The

Autobots, led by Rodimus Prime, were being chased

by the Decepticons. Instead, they gave him crappy

ACOM colors in the Rebirth. I know. I was like,

oh, for crying out loud. Optimus Prime was never

that white. No. And then we get to the next issue.

Thunderwing punching Prime's lights out. And

then Unicron. Yeah. Showing different dimensions

and Galvatron in one. Yeah, that was cool. Showing

the different dimensions. That was really cool.

And I think that's probably kind of where they

got the idea for War for Cybertron. But in part

of War for Cybertron with Galvatron and the whole

time travel thing, maybe it was from here. Again,

I don't want to speak for anybody who worked

on War for Cybertron. Now that I'm reading this,

it makes perfect sense where they got it from.

Because Galvatron... kind of struck out on his

own to do his own agenda and undermine Unicron.

Yep. Even at the point of threatening to destroy

his past self. Yep. Which even happens in this.

Yeah. Yeah, it does. And that was the one thing

I enjoyed about, and we've already talked about

that at length. We're not going to rehash it

here, folks. But that was one thing I did enjoy

about the War for Cybertron storyline was the

whole Galvatron coming back from the past or

from the future or whatever the hell, the whole

time travel stuff. I really did enjoy that. And

plus, it is a classic purple Galvatron. So, of

course, I'm going to enjoy it. I love that Starscream

comes back. Mm -hmm. Yep. Starscream comes back

and starts creating all kinds of chaos, like

always. And Thunderwing, yeah, I could be, and

I'm sure I'm going to piss off a lot of Transformers

fans. He seems like a poor man's bludgeon. He

was. I don't know. And then they bring bludgeon

again after this point to be a poor man's thunder

wing. So they're twinsies. Yay. It just, yeah.

Yeah. And I love the, I love the end of this

issue where there's been enough killing for one

day. We surrender and we accept. What a dark

day. Ten or more injured, three deactivated,

and we lost the Matrix. True, Hot Rod, but perhaps

not all is as bleak as it has first seemed. We

have faced the dark side of our own souls today

and triumphed. What happened to the Matrix could

happen to any of us. And then we go into the

next issue. The war is over and the Decepticons

have won with Galvatron. Yep. I don't know. I

like this paint deco of Galvatron. Yeah, I do

too. It's very cool. He looks very cool. I like

that cover. Yeah, he does. I like that cover.

I haven't liked a lot of the covers, but that's

a damn good cover. Well, that's a testament to

Wildman. Oh, absolutely. His stuff got really

good. A lot of his covers from here on out are

really stellar. A lot of the stuff that came

before, it's kind of hit or miss. Like, a lot

more miss than hit. Yeah. And a lot of this stuff

is more hit than miss. Yeah. Because the colors

are all... They complement. And not that they

didn't complement each other before. They really...

Whatever. It is what it is. We've already hashed

it out on all the other episodes of this. Like,

looking at this first page where you see the

sea, you see Galvatron popping up out of the

sea, like, from that first panel to the second,

third, and those four panels, that's the way

you do color in a story like this, where you

have the sky be a pinkish -purple with the grayish

-blackish type cloud lines, and then you add

the water in, then you add Galvatron in, and

it's like, oh, okay. That's cool. Then this entire

issue takes place in the year 2009. Different

timeline. Right, yeah. Where Galvatron has succeeded

and he's like brutally destroyed Rodimus. Yep.

Like ripped his head off and gutted him like

a fish and then blew away Scourge and Cyclonus

blew away Cup and Blur. And then you've got old

school Prowl and Jazz hanging out. Yeah, I was

going to say, at least Jazz is still around.

Yeah, and Prowl. Yeah. Then you have Inferno

and Powerglide. Powerglide. Doesn't he have some

Astoria to go save? But, yeah, it was nice seeing

Scourge and Cyclonus. Yep, that was cool. And

then you have Getaway, who's, you know, in the

forest. Yep. among other Autobots and stuff.

So, I mean, it was definitely interesting seeing

this one because you get a lot of old -school

Autobots still stuck in the fray. Yep, that and

the Decepticons, too, because there's Laserbeak.

This story I liked. I like the story. I like

the art. Again, it's a... alternate reality story

where, like you said, the Decepticons have won,

the Decepticons have taken over kind of thing.

And then Jazz gets ripped in half and Spike wins.

Yeah. Poor, poor Jazz. He's always getting ripped

in half. And then it's funny that you get Hookline

and Sinker coming for Galvatron. Yep. And they're

servants of Unicron. Yeah, well, you know, I

mean, he pissed him off, so he's going to send

his servants after him. And he says, I served

him faithfully. He gave me Earth. Different Unicron.

Oh. Yeah, that's the tricky thing about these

multiple universe things. It's different events

happen in different ones. Then the Autobots.

in Humans Take Back Cybertron. And the next issue,

Circuit Breaker, GB Blackrock, Starscream, there's

a new side in the Autobot Decepticon war. The

human... Yeah. Again. Blackrock was okay. The

rest of this crew, I... One, I don't like the

art. for this episode or this issue. You get

Starscream and he's kind of dipping in here a

little bit. But overall, I just don't care for

this issue at all. Whenever the humans showed

up in this much capacity, I just was like, alright,

barf, please. And the savior at the end is Shockwave.

Because that's the only logical choice, right?

He says, why do you bother with petty revenge

when together the two of us can rule the Decepticons

and then two worlds? Shockwave, but you're dead,

aren't you? And then the next issue just looks

cool on the cover. Oh, yeah. Question mark. Grimlock.

Yeah, the gathering storm. Dun, dun, dun. Ravage,

Shockwave, Starscream, Galvatron, Optimus Prime,

Grimlock, and the center is the question mark.

Yeah, this one was cool. Well, I mean, you have

multiple Autobots. You have multiple Decepticons.

You have just crazy odds all over the place.

Yeah, and it all looks great, too. Even though

Grimlock's face is more blue than what he was

colored in the cartoon, like that to me, that's

Grimlock. I know that that's Grimlock. I can

hear Greg Berger coming out of his face. The

same thing with Optimus Prime. He's a little

bit more red here than I would like. So that's

the thing. You've got to balance the, I don't

know. So it's Paige. page 100 where Optimus has

the thought look at them they laugh they joke

and though it does my fuel pumps good to see

my warriors happy like that design it just I

don't know like first of all his eyes were never

red and second of all there's not enough definition

and they cut off his his um His ears, his smokestack

antennas, or maybe they just moved them to his

shoulders. But, like, I'm pretty sure. No, the

smokestacks that you're talking about, those

antennas that are on the side of his head. Yeah.

They're underneath that enclosure around his

head. Oh, okay. Because he has a special helmet

when he's Power Master. Oh, okay, that's right.

No wonder he looks so weird. Look, I only remember

seeing Power Master Optimus Prime as the toy.

I loved Power Master Prime. 100%. He was the

coolest. He still is. And then we get Unicron.

Unicron! Unicron! XMA! Yeah, and then... Yeah,

then they... Explain. Yeah, he's like, guys,

you speak of a future that may or may not come

to pass. I may or may not become. Yeah. And then

he's like, no, I serve you more. No more. Die.

Ha ha ha. Would you care to reconsider? And then

he transforms or not transforms, but like electrocutes

him. Yeah. He's like, you will serve me. Shut

your face. Then we get Grimlock trying to resuscitate

the Dinobots and Cup's like, nuh -uh. Then Grimlock

pulls a silver bolt here, like clobbers Cup,

knocks him out, and then he stows away all of

his Dinobots. Yeah. Man. Wait, what's he putting

them into? It's like a stasis pod. Okay. For

a second there, I thought it was Prime's trailer.

Yep. Then we get Scorponok and Ratbat, two of

the different leaders that have been Decepticon

leaders here in this comic series. And Starscream.

And Shockwave. And Ravage. Yeah. So, I mean,

they've all had a turn at leadership and they

all sucked at it. Yeah. And then Grimlock stole

a shuttle and headed out. Then Nightbeats on

a special assignment from Prime. And then we

get a really weird looking Ratchet Megatron.

Yeah, okay, that's... Alright. Because they jumped

into a trans -dimensional portal. Right. Right

as the Ark was damaged or destroyed or blown

up at a certain point. Right. And so it mixed

them together in a weird way. Yeah. I was looking

at this page earlier and I was like, wait a minute.

What the hell? And then I noticed the Chevron

and I noticed the Fusion Cannon. And I was like,

oh, it's... mega ratchet or ratchetron or whatever

and i love at the bottom don't you dare miss

the next issue the price of life yeah this one

was kind of creepy a little bit the price of

life well just yeah yeah it's very very monstrous

but again like we've come so far from some of

this stuff where And again, this is what I think

Simon does well is, yes, he gave us the Matrix

quest, which is fine. It is what it is. But,

you know, we get here and we get back to the

point of, oh, this is what happened to Megatron

and Ratchet. We left them off at some point.

And now, hopefully here we will find out what's

going on with them. Yeah. And then Nightbeat

basically mentions how he found them, and then

they're damaged after they hit Prime, and Cup

shot him. Yep. Then he's just kind of wandering

around the Ark aimlessly. Yep. Until... Oh, youse,

youse guys, what are youse guys doing over there?

Until... Sorry. And then we get to Grimlock on

a dump. Yep. So for those that, and I know hopefully

a lot of people listening to All Things Transformers

and The Pull Bag know this already, Simon Furman,

huge Dinobot fan. Oh, yeah. Huge Dinobot fan.

He gave Grimlock a pretty big arc. Which is more

than fine. I like Grimlock, like I said before.

Give him a redemptive arc, though, because he

was kind of a dirtbag in the beginning of this

series. Absolutely. Be Grimlock King. You not

tell Grimlock what to do. You not allowed to

leave base. We do more crimes. What a dump. But

now he's more intelligent and he's looking out

for his Dinobots first. Yeah. Yeah. So he's talking,

oh, he's talking, that's right, he's on Earth.

What a dump. Thought Earth was the pits, but

this place got it beat. Me dirty, corroded, tired,

and very ticked off. I love this art panel. This

art panel of the character for Grimlock is, he's

got the gold sword, he's got, you know, all his

colors in the right way that they're supposed

to be. Oh yeah, he just looks good. Looks so

good. Absolutely love the art of this page. And

on the next page, where we get the top left panel

where he's cursing, where'd dumb guy go now?

Paid enough for him. Expect good service. Great

in -profile face, upper torso shot of, and again,

colors and shading. Finally, we actually have

colors, shading, and definition. If this was

Grimlock 40 issues ago, he'd be a yellow blob

with no nothing. That is what it is. And then

Cup chews out Prime for surrendering to Scorponok

and for allowing the monstrosity to go through

and beat the crap out of the Autobots as he goes

through. And then Cup's having second thoughts

about it, but Prime just goes in and destroys

the fusion cannon. And he does. Just starts ripping

him apart. And then right as he's about to be

merciless, he He can't do it. And then Ratchet

moves the gun to his head and says, please. Yeah.

And this is an interesting commentary, I think.

You know, the whole put them out of their misery

kind of thing. Because they're both like Megatron

and Ratchet are melded together. Their existence

is not a happy one. But it also speaks to kind

of like, you know, just crimes. Murder should

be nothing anyone wants to do at all whatsoever.

And Ratchet, if he could have, probably would

have found a way himself to basically commit

suicide. Which it is what it is. It's a very

heavy thing to, you know, I talk about. suicide

prevention all the time I was not expecting that

to kind of come up here at all but it does and

it's you know it is what it is but Optimus you

know does you know like Cup says would you want

to live if you were like that I can't tell you

guys I've told you about this and I've told the

audience about this too about 30 years ago, there

were plenty of times in 1994. We're not to 30

years ago directly, but we're a few months away

from it being 30 years since 1994. There were

a couple of times in 94 that I did not want to

be where I was because of life circumstances

and everything else because of the disabilities

and all that. So I understand that. Yeah. The

next panel. Oh, my God. What the hell? Okay.

Grimlock going surfing? No. Optimus Prime. Oh,

no. This is the panel where he's beating them.

Okay. All I see is Optimus saying, be resolute.

And all I can think of is, where's Duke and Cobra

Commander when you really need them? Oh, my God.

Yeah, so Grimlock goes, Grimlock surfing in the

USA. That's, wow, Grimlock. Well, and then we

get Grimlock getting attacked by what looks like

some kind of a Sharkticon thing. Yep. And then

there's this other robot that goes, welcome,

welcome to the island of spilled tears and the

land of crushed illusions and broken promises.

And Grimlock goes, hmm. you sure lousy tourist

guard uh and then uh you know he's like let me

guess none must feed right me getting the hang

of this now we supposed it would be too much

to ask we don't fight um he says fight me oh

no i wish to warn you about nucleon um Yeah,

he's like, it, you know, affects, what will it

do to Transformers? And Grimlock's like, don't

care, make it strong. Yeah. You know, he says,

oh, they didn't cure me, they brought me back

to life so I could die again. And then he's just

talking about it with the Nucleon and then Grimlock's

like, you know what? Don't care. Yeah. So he

tested it on himself. Yeah. The Nucleon looks

like a really, really bad design of T -Bob from

Mask. The face. Oh, God. And then Grimlock gets

electrified with it. And then you see Prime with

Ratchet, Megatron, you know, might be able to

save Ratchet's life. They can separate them.

It's first aid sitting there screwing around

with them. On a molecular level, they can separate

them. One cannot survive without the other. Do

you still wish me to proceed with the operation?

Do it. Yup, yup, yup. And I love this. I love

this at the bottom. Next month. The issue you

thought you'd never see. Heck, we didn't think

we'd see it either, and we produced it. Surrender.

I love that. And then the art for the next one's

really good. Yeah, it is. At cover. The rain

and just everything. And it's so hard to use

rain, but it works, and it... I wasn't really

bitching earlier about this, but I mentioned

about his red eyes. Here it works. Everywhere

else in the comics so far, Optimus having red

eyes has not worked for me. On this cover, it

works. So where are we starting here? We're starting

on Cybertron, home of the Transformers. That's

your cue. Yeah. And then we get the Autobot shooting

and fighting and you can see Cup in green and

Prime without his battle suit. And Prime's not

wearing his armor. Nope. And then when he gets

off the ship. Because at the beginning, it's

showing the beginning of the war where he's like,

never surrender. Uh -huh. And then he's getting

off the ship and he's like, I surrender. Yes,

I surrender. And then Scorponok's like, I accept.

And Cup's refusing to stop. Yeah, Cup is like,

no, we don't surrender. What are you doing, Optimus?

Get off your taster. And Prime's trying to enlighten

Scorponok about Unicron and Thunderwing and everything

else. And he's like, don't lecture me. I know

of Unicron. Bludgeon told me here. Yeah. And

then you see him take off his head and become...

Zarek. Zarek. Yeah. And... I mean, I get it.

It's cool. It's weird, though, because I'm so

used to Zarek being this green -faced, green

-haired design from the cartoon. Because you've

got to remember, folks, this is the first time

I've ever read this stuff. Yeah, they made that

alien race. Instead of green, they're just humanoid.

They're just humanoid, yeah. And that's fine.

I get it. You've got to simplify for the... For

the comic. Oh, the next page. Oh, man. The fourth

panel down, all I can see is color forms. We

must take command where it's shockwave and it's

like magenta, purple, red, yellow, red again,

red, lighter red, orange, whatever. I'm like,

look, color forms, everybody. You can buy yours

today at Benny's. Yeah, we're back to single

color for bots now. I don't like that. Like,

all these bots that are in these panels, like,

I mean, the multicolor thing is fine, but, like,

the next page, like, I can't tell Bumblebee from

whomever, and I don't even think Bumblebee's

there. No. Yeah, like, but they're all, like,

either silver and white. It's all Decepticons.

Yeah, it's all Decepticons, and that's fine,

but, like, come on, man. Give them definition.

Don't just paint them gold. You can't just paint

everything gold. Megatron isn't a gold member,

don't you know? Then you get Prime hanging out

with Soundwave. Love this. Locked up. Love it,

love it. And then they cut to Galvatron just

blowing the crap out of Cybertron. Yeah, that's

not good. And Emerite Zaron. Was he in IDW? Emerite

Zaron? Yeah. Let me look here. Here he's kind

of like a guardian, you know, on the planet.

You mean Zarek? No, this is Zaron. Is he Decepticon?

Autobot. Oh, Autobot. Let's see here. I did not

recognize the name. He's kind of like one of

the acolytes of Primus. Yes, he was good. I was

going to say, and then you get Galvatron with

Hook, Line, and Sinker and they're trying to

capture him and kill him. Okay. In the 2005 IDW

continuity, first appearance, last stand of the

records, number two, mentioned, number five,

cameo, Transformers volume one, number 22, full

appearance. Advocate Zaron was one of the Autobots'

chief legal... Oh, he's a lawyer. Okay. He then

went on to be in the 2019 rebooted IDW continuity.

He was in Tread and Circuits, number two. as

official consult to the Senate. So yes, he was

in IDW. Then you get Prime after all of that.

And he throws Soundwave into a wall, knocking

him unconscious, rips the doors off, and then

frees the Autobots. And my favorite part about

freeing the Autobots is we get to a... Really,

really, really cool. Like, I almost want you

to make this the banner art. The Hot Rod driving

in like a wrecking ball with the Transform grabbing

Zarek. What, uh, shall we dance? Like, yeah.

And then he's holding him like a stick figure

in front of him like a shield. Yeah. I love that.

He's like, you know, he's like, before I pull

the arms and legs off this puny flesh creature,

I think not. And he's like, hey, not bad. No,

she's your sword bludgeon now. We're just taking

a nap. Yeah. I will say on that same page where

Hot Rod has Zarek, where Cup says that line,

I think this is the first time I've seen his

alt mode where it actually looks like his alt

mode, like the windshield, the rest. It's not

the exact colors from the animation, but it's

close enough where it's like, oh, right, Cup.

Nice to finally see your alt mode in the right

design. So then we get to, let's see here. We

get Optimus Prime and Zarek talking. There for

a moment, we trusted each other. We must build

on that. Work together. The Chaos Bringer. Is

real, Zarek. It will not stop until it has destroyed

Primus' children and whatever we call ourselves,

we are all Primus' children. Dun, dun, dun. Mm

-hmm. Yup. Yeah, I just can't take Zarek seriously

looking like a human. Like, I wish he had his

robot head on all the time. But he and Optimus

finally shake hands, claws, whatever. Yep, they

get to that point where they're like, all right,

we're going to team up. And then the other Decepticons,

Civil War, kicked in. Yep. Shockwave. And then

you see Zaron, sadly, fighting from Galvatron.

who looks spectacular in the sewer. Yeah. I was

like, hey, Galvatron, you see any turtles down

there? Tonight I dine on turtle soup. And the

next issue, The Wrath of Galvatron, The Return

of the Dinobots, The Coming of Unicron, all this,

and Civil War, too. This cover I'm not a fan

of. No, I mean, it's pretty bland. Yeah. Yeah,

I... And I know Wildman did the art in this,

but, like, man, it just... It feels like we're

going backwards. I don't want to go backwards.

I want to go forwards. Going back in time. Yeah,

though. And I guess I should blame... Stephen

Baskerville and Neil Yamatov more than Wildman

because they were the inkers and colorist, respectively.

I need to see who was the... I believe it was

them two on the... Yeah, it was those two on

the last issue, too. Interesting. So maybe there

was another note or something like, hey, change

it back to bland -ass colors. At least on this

first page. Like, it's a yellow sky. It's a brownish,

tannish, dirt -like color with some water around

it. And, I mean, I get it. All the bots are in

shadow or in whatever. Like, they're not defined,

which is fine because it's not a close -up shot.

But I hope this is not a, oh, it is. Hello, Blackface

Starscream. How are you today? Okay, technically

his face is bluish, but whatever. Well, and then

we get Scorponok, you know, grabbing Starscream.

Oh, this is how it is. You want to fight? You've

got it. And Prime is damaged, you know, and Autobots

are damaged. Yep. And then it has to be relied

upon the ugly humans to save the day. Not really,

but... I do love every time Ravage shows up,

because he's always been... I mean, Ravage's

design usually always has black and silver, but

I don't mind it with the blackish -bluish, with

the lighter blue outlines on that page. Between

Zarek and when he goes to attack Zarek. But I

like that design on Ravage. I don't think there's

any Ravage design I don't like in any iteration.

And Scorponok single -handedly taking out everybody.

Yeah, pretty much. And then we cut back to Cybertron.

Yep. With Galvatron doing his Here's Johnny line.

There you are. Mm -hmm. Finished running? Good.

Now you can... I'll die like an Autobot. Nope.

If I'd wanted you dead, you would long ago have

embraced your maker. I simply want to know how

to kill Unicron. And then he's like, I'm running

out of time. Help me. Yeah, you want to know

how to kill Unicron? Go ask Optimus Prime. He's

got a thing in his chest that'll do the job right

quick. You know, it's that circle, green circle

thing they spent five issues looking for. And

I will say that as we're going through this issue,

even though the background colors are kind of,

like, bland because it's supposed to be daytime,

it's supposed to be lighter colors in the background,

the character colors, now that we're, they look,

it looks much better than I initially thought

it was going to. Like, any time we have Shockwave

or the close -up on Nightbeat here, Um, when

they get to New Jersey, that's, that looks nice.

Close up on shockwave on the next panel where

he says, Oh, something moved, but what? Um, that

would be Scorponok. And then we cut through to

prime by the end of this one, stopping shockwave

and Scorponok's battle only to have the Neo Knights

show up. Yep. The Neo Knights show up. Yeah,

who the... Oh, right, the Neonites. I mean, I

know they're humans, but super humans. Hi. Super

fighting robot. Mega Man. Yeah, I'd rather have

Mega Man. Yeah, me too. Next up, Unicron's on

the last leg of his journey to Cybertron, and

that means that it's just about everyone is out

of time. Yep. Done. And then the next issue covers

kind of lame Transformers disappearing and the

humans standing there. And then you get Galvatron

with spit -faced fire. Yep. That cover would

be so much better if the humans weren't standing

there because it's like, hey, look, we're all

Ultra Magnus. Because, you know, he's white repainted

Optimus Prime. And then we get Zaron standing

in front of Primus. Yep. With Galvatron standing

there. And... He's basically pleading and Galvatron's

throwing a tantrum. Of course Galvatron's throwing

a tantrum. He's mental. And then Unicron is like,

Galvatron's gone beyond my sight, beyond my reach.

What has he found? What does he plan? I must

know. This is not the Galvatron you are looking

for. And he's like, ah, there's nothing they

can do to stop me. And everybody's fighting,

and the humans come in and try and attack. And

to some level, succeed against Scorponok. Shockwave

just sits down and lets it happen. Yep. Until

Shockwave shoots Circuit Breaker. Yeah. Galvatron's

always yelling. Yep. This Galvatron, anyway.

Yep. Well, and the cartoon one, too. I mean,

he always yelled because he was crazy. The shot

of Galvatron where he says, the true meaning

of power. It looks like the reformatted colors.

So when they, you know this because we all know

this, Hasbro loves to. do as much with one mold

as they can. When they repainted the War for

Cybertron Kingdom Galvatron, they did an exclusive

reformatted all purple colors, and that's what

this reminds me of, because the figure's sitting

right next to me on my desk here. So that's cool.

And then Ratbat. Is that Ratbat or Mindwipe?

No, it's Mindwipe. Mindwipe. Yeah. I... They're

both bats, folks. And it's after 11 p .m. In

Manhattan, Optimus Prime is like, because he

gets blasted. By Circuit Breaker. Yep. Traitorous

humans. Yep. And then she attempts to take out

Shockwave. Yep. Only to fail. Oh, yeah. Very

much so, thank God. And then she falls, and Prime

and Scorponok call a ceasefire, and then we get

to Galvatron back on Cybertron, and Zaron woke

up Primus in speaking through him, and Galvatron

has managed to break the fourth wall as he calls

for Primus to bring his children home. Yep. And

then they're all being transported without a

second thought. Yeah. Then we see the Creation

Matrix leaving Thunderwing. We are Creation Matrix.

We are hungry for revenge. And no next time on

this one. There's nothing. There's usually something

at the bottom of it, but there's nothing. In

the thing, it does say editorial note for 73,

page 7, panel 4. This issue marks the first time

that the human Hector D 'Alonzo adopts the codename

of Dynamo as a member of the Neon Knights. Page

16, panel 1 through 5, Circuit Breaker. recalls

the damage that Decepticon Shockwave inflicted

upon her human guys as Josie Beller, a flashback

that took place in Transformers number six, the

worst of two evils. So, and then we get to the

next issue, which is issue 74. And that cover

is kind of cool. It was one of my favorites when

I got it as a kid. Yeah. It's Optimus Prime with

multiple Unicrons next to Scorponok. So it's

Transformers against the hordes of Unicron. This

cover is cool. It is very awesome. But all these

Unicrons, it just makes me think of like Chibi

dolls. Like it's a Chibi Unicron or whatever.

Because he's supposed to be like a... planet

size, not a transforming... Unicron shouldn't

be the same size as Optimus Prime, but I get

it for the cover and for what they're going for.

Well, it's the Acolytes. Yeah. So, and then it

opens with showing Unicron. The Void. Yep. And

doing a whole history lesson of the Transformers.

Yeah, which is nice because, again, if you're

coming into this new back then in the 90s, then

you go into comic shops, you see the 74th issue,

you want to be able to learn the history without

having to read the other 73 issues. I think that

might be my favorite panel out of this. The history

lesson? Yeah. Well, then you see that Primus

learned how to trick Unicron by shoving their

life essences into barren metal asteroids. And

then Unicron figured out how to morph his instead

of Primus. But I find it funny Primus looks like

Rodimus. Yes, he does. The prodigal son returns.

Well, Rodimus was the last Prime. That's right.

Oh, that's... Wait, that's a short issue. Oh,

maybe it isn't. Okay. I don't know, I'm cycling

through this, and I'm like, oh, very cool, very

cool, like that, like that, wait a minute, what's

that? And then the next thing I know, we get

Unicron himself, and then poof, gone. Yeah, I

like the scene that it opens up with, they're

you, they're the Transformers, and then you see

all of them in their various disrepair, as he's

speaking through Zaron, and then you see one

of those Acolytes. worming his way off like angry

Autobot. And then Grimlock has all of his Dinobots

back online. And he's like, ah, my hand's locked

up. And then they pump Nucleon into every stasis

pod, including Ratchet and Megatron. Oh boy,

that can't be good. Nope. Nope. And then the

human, when Zaron leaves, he's like, ah, seems

like your god isn't interested in us mere mortals.

It would seem not. And then you see the Acolytes

underneath putting on helmets of Unicron. Death

to Optimus Prime! I agree! Scorponok and Prime

have a moment. If I'm going to die, I'd prefer

not to, but I will do it by your side. And then

they all start cutting down the... Acolytes.

Scorponok wonders, you know, oh, they're not

attacking me. They're attacking Prime. Then he's

like, well, I could let him die, but... And he's

like, no, I want to take him out. And then one

of them's about to bomb Optimus Prime. Yep. Galvatron

sneaks up and shoves a grenade down his throat.

Yep. And then blows his head off. And then...

sets the warning beacon for Unicron. Yep. And

then Thunderwing wakes up with the Matrix. Of

course he does. Yeah. And all the Transformers

are just fighting back and forth until Zaran

shows up. And then at the end, the last panel,

we have Unicron. Yep. Hungry and more sinister

looking than he was in the movie. I mean, you're

talking about the page where it says, did you

miss that? Yeah. Yeah. It's the only design of

the character in this comic that is closely to

what the movie design ended up being as far as,

like, the sides of his chest, the arms, the fingers,

the things on his stomach. The head, not so much,

because he's got more of the Megatron helmet

on than anything else, the Megatron comic helmet.

But as we get into the next issue, I'm looking

at this and I'm like, oh my god, there's so many

versions of Unicron they're using, because on

the Edge of Extinction, that panel, that opening

panel here, that's not the same Unicron we saw

earlier, but it looks cool. And then they kind

of went more with the original toy design, the

toy that never happened. Pretty much. Yeah, on

page 258, or not 258, 239, where he says, and

these bonds cannot hold me. Like, literally,

the shape of it is what the old toy was going

to be, which I think Super 7 put one of those

out or something like that recently. I could

be wrong. Possibly. Yeah, Super 7 does a lot

of weird things. And then he blows up Zaron.

Mm -hmm. And Galvatron sees his opportunity.

Yep. And he goes to seize it. Powers himself

up. Yep. Tapping energy from Cybertron. Die,

monster, die. What? Swat. Yeah. insignificant

worm and just chucks him through some stuff.

He's like, if you won't even provide me with

a bit of support, I shall have to simply destroy

it. And then he's like, as everybody starts taking

him out with cannons and everybody starts firing

off at him, like everything. This whole panel

reminds me, and this is so funny, this reminds

me of The A -Team movie from 2010, at one point

when they're falling out of the plane, they end

up in this tank and Hannibal, played by Liam

Neeson, is like, you know, turn the turret to

blah, blah, blah and wait. And then we get to

a certain point, get to a certain point, and

then he's like, fire everything! That's what

this is. Then you have all the youngsters making

noise. Oh, my God. This page, man. Like, come

on, Hot Rod. Yeehaw. Or yeah. What a yeah. You

had Nightbeat going loud, brash, and totally

braindead. Think Primus Siren's one of a yeehaw.

Blasted youth. Yep. Blasted youth. Yep. That's

hilarious. Then Unicron's back and we got fighters

fighting him. I will say Unicron on page 247,

the top panel there, where he says, yes, this

is more like it. Again, it's very close to what

the movie design would end up being like, but

it's not. exactly there, but I still like the

design on that panel. That looks really good.

I think it's funny that, uh, Scorponok starts

cutting away at his ankle. Yeah. Until he breathes

fire on him. Yup. And then, uh, Grimlock whacks

the arc on Unicron's face. Does it drive by?

Yeah, pretty much. That's hilarious. I think

it's funny. Prowl's like, the time since our

last meeting hasn't increased your capacity for

sound tactical analysis, has it, Grimlock? You

not changed either, Prowl. Still think you hot

stuff. Think you always no right thing to do.

You think you leader. You not. You soldier. So

go fight. Kicks him out the door. He's like,

Grimlock, was that wise? I mean, we've all just

come out of a state close to death, reanimated

by an untested and highly unstable form of energy.

Perhaps we should, should what? Have holiday?

Put feet up? And then they all jump out. Grimlock

has the best lines in this issue. Then you see

Scorponok dying. Like his body burned to a crisp.

And then Prime mourning him. I'm really digging

the story now. I'm loving the art for this issue.

It's so fun. And I never thought I'd say that

about this series. But I've said it a few times.

And then the creation matrix shows up. It just

starts sucking the energy force out of Unicron.

Yep. Which is not exactly the most elegant way

to destroy him, but it's what they had to do

in the comics. He's like, no, I felt the Matrix

destroyed. I sense the demise of its purity.

This cannot be. And then he transforms and tries

to go feast. My God, Unicron. And Circuit Breaker,

I'll kill them all. every single one of them.

I swear they'll pay for this. If you're going

to do something, Prime, do it now and make it

count. All the progress I'd made towards curing

Circuit Breaker is gone. I bought you this chance

with her sanity. I don't know how... That just...

You don't want to sell somebody sanity, really.

That's not good. And of course, the whole thing

at the end of it is that goodness will prevail.

Primus! And we get a depowered circuit breaker.

We get basically the destruction of Unicron.

Comic over. That's it. Wait 40 years. Yep. And

then Prime opens it up and he's like, you must

die. Primus, so that all might live. And then

Unicron cries, too much, too much, too much,

and then goes boom. Yep. But life goes on, and

the story of the Transformers is far from told.

Yeah, I never had issue 75. That was one of the

few that I was missing. Oh, really? Yeah. Man,

that was a great issue. It was. Yeah, I went

from 73 to 76. Ooh, that's rough. Or 74 to 76.

I was like, I'm missing 75, man, and then I never

got 80. Oh, no. So, like, I had to read them

in the trades, like, later. I was like, crap,

man. I was missing, like, I think eight issues

out of the whole series. Yeah. But, yeah, I mean,

overall, not terrible. No, and I wish that this

collected edition trade that we have from IDW

Publishing, I wish this stopped at 75 and 76

through 78 were in. or 76 through 80 were in

the next volume, because just looking at the

cover to 76, I don't care. 75 was so amazing.

I don't care about 76 and Grimlock and these

weird -looking demons, and I tell you, there's

something moving out here. Well, it's sure not

me, the big freeze. You like that Prime went

from fully functional in the top left panel above

the issue number to what remains of him after

the creation matrix? Yes, that's awesome. That

is so cool. So. Did you see the bottom left part

of the cover with the water pail and the screws

and the nuts and the bolts? Yep. Are they trying

to say that they have a screw loose? Because

I don't get that one. Oh, well, technically it

would be the Marvel. Oh, but this is still Marvel.

Yep. That technically should be the Spidey watermark.

Or whatever hero they want to put... Oh, that's...

Okay, that's interesting. They had fun with a

lot of these issues doing this. If you go back

and look at any of them, they were doing this

the whole time. Yeah, I gotta go back and look

at it, because I didn't catch that. Huh. Interesting.

Yeah. Overall, Volume 6, I dug it. I thought

it was fun. You see Prime dead there and this

issue and laying there as a ripped apart carcass.

Yeah, it gives Dark Awakening a run for its money.

And then Haikyuu inherits Prime's memory. Oh

wow, that's cool. he's like it's starting the

change can't stop now gotta keep block it out

keep moving and yeah he says it's not even just

my life at stake Prime never realized neither

of us did but then how could anyone have known

what binary bonding Nebulon and Transformers

as a power master would eventually lead to I

mean, little by little, and then they're all

arguing who gets to lead and Grimlock's having

issues. I love, I love, man. Other than the panel

where we first see Ratchet and Grimlock, because

Grimlock in the close -ups of that panel just

looks, his eyes, his visor looks weird to me.

It's a it's a whatever doing thing. But man,

you get to like page almost the last page. Page

283 where Grimlock is standing there again. Very

Grimlock colors. He's got the gold chest. He's

got the blackish bluish helmet with the red eyes.

Very, very cool. A nucleon. It's accelerated.

My own metamorphosis. What if it happened without

Prime? Oh, Lord. Shut up, IQ. You got some low

-Q IQ. No, because there's about to be a transformation.

That's true. But Grimlock has new powers, but

he can't transform. Oh, yeah. He lost his transformation.

Yep. Dang. And IQ, I am Optimus Prime. It has

an exclamation point here, but it looks, just

the way it's said, it looks like a question mark,

even though it is an exclamation point. Yeah,

overall, I dug this trade. There wasn't many,

like, I complained a little bit about the art,

but generally, I really did dig this. Yeah, this

one I enjoyed. Yep. All right, folks, I think

we're going to go to a quick ad break. We're

going to come back with issues 77 through 80.

Now, that is the end of the Marvel run for now,

but that is only half of what is in Volume 7,

Transformers Classics Volume 7 from IDW. because

the rest of it is the Transformers the movie

adaptation, and then I think is also Headmasters

in there. Those will be two separate crossover

episodes between three shows, The Pull Bag, All

Things Transformers, and the TFG1 podcast. See,

the Transformers the movie one here that's in

the original Marvel run, I honestly would skip

it because IDW did one later. One later, that's

much better. That's much better. Yeah, I think

we covered that on the pullback. I think we did,

too. I'm pretty sure we already covered it, but,

you know, maybe we'll skip it. Who knows? We'll

be right back right after this. Hey, welcome

to the Last Comic Shop Podcast. A comic book

podcast that actually talks about comics. Yep,

each week we open the shop up and read and discuss

a comic. Sometimes we pair that up with comic

book movies or TV shows. Or not. Lots of times

it's just comic books. And sound effects. Oh,

yes, definitely lots of sound effects. So tune

in on all the major podcasts and platforms to

the Last Comic Shop podcast, or check out our

library of evergreen shows at www .lastcomicshoppodcast

.com. Like science fiction? Of course you do,

or you wouldn't be listening to the Geekcast

Radio Network. Well, the Marku Fortitude Universe

podcast is an award -winning sci -fi radio show

that's been around for over 10 years. We cover

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to the Marku42's Universe podcast from the universe

and beyond. You are receiving this transmission

from The Rod Pod. Upload pending. Stand by for

soundtrack transfer. I am Maggie. And I am John.

And we are trapped, hurtling through space in

a ship shaped like Rodimus' head. The ship, for

reasons we haven't been able to determine, contains

the entire run of the IDW Transformers Phase

2 comic. Which chronicle the events following

the end of the war between the Autobots and Decepticons.

So we figure we may as well read them all in

order and report our findings to you. Stand by.

Stand by. Upload complete. Now. The Rod Pod.

Look for us at marriedwcomics .libson .com, at

iTunes, at Stitcher, or wherever good podcasts

can be found. So, uh, till all are one. Till

all are one. Till all are one. All right, we

are back here inside the pull bag, only on all

things Transformers here at the Geekcast Radio

Network. And it is time for Transformers Classics

Volume 7 from IDW Publishing, which does collect

Transformers The Marvel Years from Issue 77 to

80, which was the final issue. It also collects

the four -issue Headmaster miniseries, and as

we said, the Transformers The Movie adaptation.

As I just mentioned a moment ago, we are only

finishing up Issue 77 through 80 in this podcast

episode. Issue 77, it's Ratchet and Bludgeon,

or is that Thunder whatever? I think it's Bludgeon?

Yeah, it looks like Bludgeon to me, too. And

Exodus, Transformers, one race of sentient mechanoids

ever divided into two warring factions, heroic

Autobot. and evil Decepticon able to transform

their bodies into likenesses of vehicles, machinery,

and weapons. These proud warriors have fulfilled

their destiny, battling and defeating a malignant

force from beyond time, but their victory is

not without cost, and the Aftershocks continue

to ripple. I love the symbols on the mountain.

That's cool. And then the, uh... And then the

entire government. Yeah. And then there's a part

where Mindwipe is kind of getting a little feisty.

And Grimlock chucks an oil barrel at his head.

He says, he's like, dumb con, shut up and we

tell you. And then he's like, I'll kill you,

Grimlock. Rip your, tear your, nope. You will

sit back down. Oh, it's Fangry. You will listen.

And then he's got another one in his hand and

Prowl's like, don't even think about it, Grimlock.

Yep. Yeah, it's Fangry. It's not Mindwipe. Because

if it was Mindwipe, he would just, you know,

control Grimlock's brain. Grimlock's brain. It's

not a nice place to be. Nope. Oh, man. And yes,

that is definitely Bludgeon. That is not Thunderwing.

And Bludgeon says, I demand you tell us exactly

what you're planning, what we can expect of this

alliance. We want assurances and we want them

now. Oh, boy. Right there, bludgeon. And then

we get to more human Autobot stuff. Yeah. I understand

why humans have to be in the Transformers, folks.

I just don't like it in this comic book series.

Because they all suck. Other than maybe one or

two times Spike did some cool stuff, all of the

humans in these comics suck. I do like the part

that we get to the glass being kicked. You see

Fangry getting tossed outside and they're like,

what? And then you see Grimlock walking. You

know, you're obviously too dumb to know when

just to shut up and obey orders. Attacking me

like that, don't you listen? We at peace. And

then, uh, a peace? He's like, a peace is all

that'll be left of you when I'm finished. For

daring to strike me. And then, uh, Bludgeon's

like, hey, well, I'm gonna let this go. And then

it cuts to the arc with Starscream and... Shockwave

walking by and Megatron puncturing his arm through.

Yep. And then Grimlock getting tossed against

a wall and Fangry shooting him and he just keeps

going like walking right towards him. Yep. And

he's like you're like all cons Fangry. Full of

self. He's like and a lot of hot air. Yep. No

you can't you can't and then he just punches

him right in the mouth. He just punched me right

in the mouth. Oh, God. Grimlock, you are awesome.

And then the way this issue ends, we get something

I never thought we would see. Megatron versus

Galvatron. Yeah. And I love the shocked look

on their faces. Galvatron was more of blind anger.

And Galvatron is more of shock. Yeah. But I'm

looking at these faces. They're not the exact

same, but they're... Oh, I know what it is. It's

the color reverse. Yep. Galvatron has the blue

helmet with the brown face. Megatron has the

blue face with the brown helmet. That's cool.

I like that. That's awesome. All right. Issue

78, Transformers past and futures collide as

Galvatron battles Megatron. I wish they were

still the same guy, but I get it. The second

page of this issue, that is a really cool shot

of Galvatron on the right. After he's... changed

from being Megatron into Galvatron. That is cool.

Where he's holding his cannon. Oh, yeah. That

is so cool. And then he just starts, like, punching

him right in the mouth. Punching him right in

the mouth. It's like, it is the year 1991. Yep.

He says, break myself by destroying Megatron.

Like, dude, you'd stop existing too. Yeah, don't

you know? Didn't Doc Brown teach you anything,

Galvatron? You can't go back in time and change

the past or the future or whatever. Savage circle

that leads only to madness and death. That's

an awesome page. Then we get after, you know,

the scene of Megatron and Galvatron pummeling

each other. Yep. We get Shockwave and Starscream.

Then it cuts back to more of the Cybertronian

stuff and Bludgeon heading towards their little

war worlds. Ratchet waking up. Hey, at least

Ratchet is alive and in his own body and not

a part of Megatron anymore. And then Starscream

sees Megatron on the floor when Galvatron goes

to hide. They actually have to keep him alive.

Yeah. And he goes, no, not him, not Megatron.

Mighty Megatron, it's so good to see you again.

And he's like, oh, shockwave. And then Ratchet's

going through a crisis, too, until Starscream

gets him awoken. Yup, yup. Yeah, that is awesome.

I love the panels with Ratchet. No! I love that.

That is so cool. Then we get back to the humans.

Ugh. Snoozefest. And then we go back to Shockwave

trying to kill Megatron. Yep. And then Ratchet

beating the crap out of Starscream. He deserved

it. And then you get Galvatron finally taking

out Shockwave. Ooh, that's cool. Together we

could rule the galaxy! It is my destiny! And

it's funny, too, because, you know, they just

start both beating on Shockwave. Yep. And, uh,

yeah. It ends on the next few panels, and next

month, the last Autobot. And Ratchet blows up

the Ark with Nucleon, crash -landing it back

on Earth again to start the cycle all over. Yeah.

Which kind of comes into play in G2. That's cool.

This whole last Autobot thing. Like, 79 and 80

I didn't have when I was getting those. And so

I never knew the conclusion of this story for

the longest time. I was like, well, this is crap.

Well, we will find out tonight. Is that Spike

or is that Buster? I think it's supposed to be

Buster. Yeah, because Spike has brown or dark

hair. Buster always had the blonde hair. But

it's, well, this is Spike. Is it? Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Okay. Huh. Why? Why has no one come? Is it true

what the authorities have been claiming? Have

they really all left Earth? Am I the last Autobot?

He's literally heading to Fortress Maximus. Yeah.

Well, he and Fort Max have that connection thing.

Yeah, they get taken out in G2. And then we have

so much human. Oh, the people. Get the people

away from my eyes, please. And then you get Prime

in Haikyuu's body now that the bond is over.

Oh, God. And it's like it merges together, the

parts becoming one whole, but when I die, the

only way the process could complete itself was

in Haikyuu's body. I'm the leader of the Autobots,

and I'm... trapped in this tiny body. Yeah, right.

You know what it reminds me of? When a certain

purple dinosaur got his spark removed and it

ended up in a drone. Yeah, among other creatures.

Okay, yes, but like, hello, from going from being

Optimus Prime, giant red truck leader of the

Autobots, to Optimus Prime. Haikyuu Minicon.

Like, come on. Then you go through a bunch of

other stuff with Bludgeon and his crew, and then

you finally get Spike putting on the armor to

become Fort Max. Yep, absolutely. And then we

get Galvatron getting in a fight with Fort Max.

Yep. I kind of wish Fort Max and Scorponok were

bigger. Yeah, I mean, I get it. It's a comic

book. You need to whatever, but like, man fort

max and and and scorpion ox should not be the

same size as the rest of the transformers just

like bumblebee should not be the same size as

optimus prime or anybody kind of thing like yeah

like come on people use that mass shifting to

your you know positive sides and then they're

beating on each other and uh Then Spike finally

gets enough control to start shooting and taking

up Galvatron until he knocks Galvatron out and

into the ice which actually happened in the Headmasters

cartoon. That's cool. The Headmasters actually

trapped Galvatron in ice and there he stayed.

That is very cool. yeah he's like your history

and then he goes back um you know there's the

last page where the autobots or the last autobot

is with the humans yep you're like all good things

all good things must come to an end and then

it's funny because uh the last issue says number

80 in a four issue limited series Yeah. Kind

of playing a joke on the fact it was supposed

to be a four -issue limited series. Yeah. Because

that's what it said in the beginning. And it's

like, epic conclusion. And then you get away

being targeted before being destroyed by the

Decepticons. The end of the road. Which road?

The low road? Nobody's farting around here. Then

you get the Autobots doing their thing. Yep.

And... Everybody's back to fighting. More humans.

And then out of nowhere... There's a... The last

Autobot in Prime is dropping down. Decepticons,

consider your reign of terror over. And then

everybody's like, no, it can't be. It can. It

is. Optimus Prime is back. And this reminds me

so much of season three, the return of Optimus

Prime, part two, when Skylynx is like, can it

be? Our leader is back. Yes, Sky Lynx, I'm back.

And no force in the universe is going to stop

me. And I think it's funny when Prime, he's like,

where the last Autobot is concerned, even death,

it would appear as an abstract concept. Last

Autobot. Why don't Cybertron is a last Autobot?

Yeah. And then Prime explains it all and he's

got the Autobot symbol right on his face. Yeah,

he does. He's like, I've slumbered. Yeah, it

shows him converting Alpha Q into Cybertronian,

and then he starts grafting in a weird way, starts

putting real Cybertronians exoskeleton over him,

recreating him, and made them one, and then all

of a sudden the Prime armor starts going over

top of him. That's cool. That is so cool. And

then Prime's just taking out the Decepticons

with the fight. Without even, like, so much as

breaking a sweat. And Bludgeon's like, hear me

Autobots, we are destroyed, whipped like curs.

We have failed, and in that failure, shamed ourselves

beyond redemption. We leave you now to begin

the solitary exile that honor demands. Farewell,

Autobots. I salute you. It's over? It's really

over? Yes, it's really over. And Optimus Prime's

final words? You are in error, Prowl. Cybertron

was not destroying itself. The final battling...

Final bathing of the Matrix power after Unicron's

destruction began a planet -wide recreation.

Guided by the last Autobot's power, that process

is now complete. Cybertron is reborn. We will

help the Closians rebuild, take Neonites back

to Earth, and then, my brave warriors, finally

we can go home. The end. That was like a quick

wrap up. Yeah. I love the bottom here. I'm under

the end brought to you by brought to you with

lumps in our throats by Simon Furman, writer,

Andrew Wildman, penciler, Steven Baskerville,

anchor, Rick Parker, letterer, Neil Yamatov,

colorist, Rob Tokar, editor, and Tom DeFalco

editor in chief for Marvel comics. The end. Overall,

my favorite issues of the series. Are the last,

like, ten? Yeah, pretty much. We should have

started there. I mean, if you go back and listen

to some of the other episodes we recently did

this year, folks, there were certain parts of

those that I liked, but there were also plenty

more parts, more negatives than positives for

me. But once we got past the Matrix quest, Simon

Furman, great. Dinobots, great. Shockwave, great.

I'm not the biggest fan of Thunderwing or Bludgeon.

That's fine. Whatever. Galvatron versus Megatron,

great. Hey, wait a minute. I'm you. You're me.

What are you doing here? You know, that's awesome.

I love that. I think that's awesome. The stuff

with Optimus Prime and the Power Master, the

little whole switching of the body, you know,

the whole Freaky Friday. Haikyuu was Optimus

Prime, Optimus Prime is Haikyuu kind of thing.

That was a little weird, but other than that,

overall, at the end of the day, I walked away

enjoying the end of the series. Who knew it could

happen? Any final thoughts from you, sir, before

I kick it to a break? I don't think so. All right,

folks. Well, that's going to do it for us. Like

I said, you're going to hear some more ads and

other stuff, and we'll come back to close the

show. right after this discover a world of vintage

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here on All Things Transformers Inside the Pull

Bag. Oh, boy. Well, then. We're going to have

to start planning for Autobotly April and August

next year because I am wiped out with... Other

than the new one from Skybound, I am wiped out

with covering old Transformers comics. As much

as I love that ending, I just... Wow. Just wow.

In the end, I'm glad I finally read it all as

far as the Marvel U .S. run. I know there was

a sprinkling, a smattering of the U .K. run in

there, but yeah, at the end of the day, I still

prefer the cartoon over the original comic, but

that's just me. This whole back half, this final

10 or whatever it is, 15, I'll probably give

it a 4 .5 out of 5. I would definitely agree.

Yeah, absolutely. All right, folks, you can find

us on all kinds of social media from X to Facebook

to whatever. All things TFV3, The Pull Bag, Geekcast

Radio. I'm TF2 and Mike, you are? Steve Megatron.

And join us next time when we will be. transforming

and jumping inside the pull bag with something.

I have no idea what's coming up on all things

Transformers. Steve and I will have to discuss

that, I'm sure, at least one new news episode.

Other than that, we've got to figure out the

next big coverage thing we're going to be doing.

The pull bag, I'm probably going to spend the

holidays rejiggering the whole schedule and making

it more feasible. That's what's coming up. Would

you like to give us some closing lines, sir?

No. I love it throwing you a curveball. For now,

I'm TF2 and Mike with The Idiot, and we will

catch you next time on this podcast on the Geekcast

Radio Network. No. Yes. You've just jumped inside

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