Transformers: Combiner Wars Comic Event Review

Welcome to the pull bags back issue classics

Join us as we talk about comics from yesteryear

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hear our discussion of the older Continuities

as the back issue classics are also what's in

the pull bag? Hello and welcome to The Pull Bag.

This is Bag Issue Classics episode 83. I'm of

course TF2 on Mike, and joining me as always,

Ryan, the Iron Man Flo Merkley. Hello, sir. I'm

guessing you're using the word classics a little

questionably? It's to signify the fact that these

are not current issues. These are old issues

that we can spoil the fuck out of if we choose

to. I mean, not everything can be Hulk 181, right?

Anyway, we are here continuing on with Otto Bali

April here inside the pullback on the GeekCast

radio network, and it is time for something we

kind of forgot about, or I kind of forgot about

until Ryan actually mentioned it to me, that

issues 39 to 42 of RID, including I think the

first four issues of Windblade, were actually

combiner wars! So, yay, Combiner Wars. Oh my

god. So, this was going to be RID volumes 8 and

9, that'll be next week. But, Combiner Wars,

like I said in the, I think the last episode,

which was the RID 6 and 7, I enjoyed Combiner

Wars as an event more than I did Dark Cybertron.

I'm the opposite, I prefer Dark Cyber Tron. A

lot of it's because, well, I mean, we'll get

to it, but like, Livio's art in this does not

fit at all. I mean, if you can figure out what's

happening in a lot of these action sequences,

you're away. I'll point it out as we hit them,

so. So basically, this is parts one through five

of Combiner Wars. It was a five -part event series

through Transformers, not RID, XRID, and the

then Windblade series. As I've said before in

other Autobotly April episodes, Amy, myself,

and Nicole, and Heather will talk about the Windblade

trade distant stars in a later episode down the

line. But yeah, Combiner Wars. I think the main

reason why I enjoyed this so much was because,

and again, I know these comics are supposed to

get the people who were never into Transformers

into Transformers, but coming from someone who

watched the shows as a kid, at least the US -based

shows, we didn't get a whole lot of combiners

in the G1 cartoon series. We got them, but we

didn't get a whole, like, I think I can remember...

Three times off the top of my head where you

either had Metroplex and Tripticon or you had

Superion Defensor and Manasaur that was the search

for Alpha Trion episode So that's one of the

reasons why I liked this a little bit more than

Ryan did was because we actually get to see combiners

fight. Yay You want to synopsize either the whole

thing or... You realize how I grew up and watched

all of them too, right? Yes, I know, but still...

Your main contention is... That's not enough

to make up for a crap story. And that's the problem.

Alright, so part one, what do we got? So the

first issue basically is just an awful lot of

setting stage setting the enigmas The enigma

of combination ends up on Cybertron. So this

is right after the seventh trade in x RID or

the transformers Which is another one of my problems

with this whole thing is the enigma of combination,

which has never been mentioned before and Magically

appears and then the other issue I have or major

issue I have with it is you know all through

IDW combiners are exceptionally rare and Then

all of a sudden thanks to this one object. We

get a whole bunch of teams in a hurry, but anyway

They got to sell those toys Yeah, which is not

been good for the IDW comics as Hasbro kind of

takes a bigger Chunk role in terms of dictating

how things are going The ultimate evil stuff

that was voted on recently as we seriously concerned

anyway So an issue one enigma combination arrives

on Cybertron. We've got all the different factions

They're fighting for power, which you probably

hear more about in the wind blade and distant

stars Synopsis I've read them too, you know,

I know in the end Starscream Set now, you know,

we don't see this scene. We really don't see

these scenes until The second trade of till all

are one. But anyway Starscream sends swindle

to Kaminas one of the other The other colony

world we've met so far in this trade. We'll see

the other ones as it goes on and that's how we

end issue one and I want to say issue one was

very good All of the factions are sort of depicted.

Well, Livio's art is perfect for The sequences

here and the Just overall everything kind of

worked. Well, my only issue of course is the

enigma of combination is a stupid object It's

about on the same page as the matrix of leadership

honestly I mean, they're going to use... Which

is also a stupid object. Obviously. Obviously.

And that's what I'm saying. I mean, you know...

Every one of the Bay movies, one of the biggest

criticisms for it is every single one, they need

some sort of mystical object or mystical person

from the past that's never been referenced before

that all the sides have to fight over and gain

control of. And unfortunately these comics follow

that exact thing. There's actual characterization

and things happening in this that puts it above

any of those movies. And the factions, not necessarily

at war, but the factions definitely not at peace

against each other in this book. Like Starscream's

government, Windblade and her sort of... trifecta

of confidence, Optimus and his crew, Prowl and

the Constructicons. Nobody was really getting

along, and all of that is well depicted in this.

We even get a brief sort of cameo of Magnus,

Megatron, and Hot Rod, or Tritrotimus. I love

that part. I forgot about that. When that showed

up, I was like, hey! The only thing I didn't

like was it was it's basically just an excuse

to get the protective bots on Cybertron because

they've been on the lost light. Yeah, basically

since it launched and so somebody realized that

and oh We need to get them back on Cybertron

so they can be a combiner And hey look mirage.

Yay Mirage and Ironhide later will you know bond

over having both have having had visions Issue

one I thought was very fun the writing Marigold's

writing style is very good For this she can you

know flow easily between being serious and having

serious moments and just the light fresh funny

moments And I thought that was really good, and

I still love Livia's art. I know you say it gets

a little bad later with the actual action. No,

it's great in this issue, and yeah, I'll get

into exactly why when we hit it. Yeah, but absolutely

love Livio's stuff. It looks so cool. Yeah, works

perfectly in this one. Issue two. Yes, issue

two. All right, so we have the artist change

in issue two, which, to be honest, it's not.

that bad. I don't find it as jarring as I did

with Dark Cybertron. Thank you. And I believe

this is one of the Sarah Stone issues. And I

really like her art because she puts so much

expressiveness in all of the characters. She's

become one of my favorites of the transformer

artists. I realize it's gotten, you know, some

people don't like the cartoony style. I'm okay

with it. I don't know that it works super well

with Combiner Wars, but it definitely works really

well in Till All Are One. But having said that,

go ahead. It works well in Combiner Wars with

specific characters. when she does like swindle

when she has a close -up of swindle you expect

to see those big bright purple eyes and you expect

to see him with that coy smile like you know

he's up to you know no good I find she does Starscream

really well yeah she does So anyway in this issue

just to sum it up the swindle has taken menasaur

to Caminus and they don't know what to do about

them because they haven't really seen a combiner

and Some of the Autobots sort of flood through

Metroplex's Gate and attack to not great results

And in the end they send the aerial bots through

who pretty handily defeat menasaur. Yep And that's

I mean the bulk of the issue here Aside from

I mean we get the this becomes much bigger, especially

in the 10th trade of robots in disguise, but

Optimus Prime and the Matrix set foot on Kamenus,

where he's essentially revered as a god. But

they don't get into that nearly as much in this

series as they do in the Transformers series.

Which is fine, this is meant to be a vehicle

to introduce the combiners. Well in this event,

half of the Windblade Optimus stuff is her. basically

not wanting him to come on to cam cam and us

because of that fact because she knows they're

going to look at him like a god and she eventually

does reveal that to him and he's like i don't

care i'm going anyway um... with issue two the

iacon news service really who named it that really

the i n s come on people I like the... I don't

know... Cybertronian News Network? Yeah, because

that won't result in... Then Starscream can call

them fake news, and they can start bombing Caminus

to no effect, and they can stop accepting nails,

and... build a wall between earth and cybertron

anyway it's a great idea so the question is who

would actually pay for the wall apparently america

suckers not my country so the art in this i brought

it up earlier one of the things i really like

is the action sequences here it's immensely clear

what's Happening you can tell exactly where everyone

stands of the positioning and the like And the

reason I say that is like I said, I'm gonna bring

up specific pages in the next Round but anyway

So I think that works well the dynamic and dynamics

and the writing and everything else are still

really solid here Everything works. Well the

page Pages are laid out well, which I bring up

because I'm about to bring it up in the next

issue. Like issue one, this one just works. My

final note for issue two. Prowse a dick. We already

knew this, but I mean, that was a complete and

utter dick move at the end of issue two. God,

all right, issue three, what do you got? So issue

three, Harley, this is not a good time, sweetie.

No, you're so cute, but you are not helping me

read this. Anyway, as I remove the cat, jeez,

anyway. So we get the Protect -a -Bots, Mirage,

everybody's headed to Cybertron. Mirage has a

dream slash vision, which he ends up sharing

with Ironhide. Sunstreaker as well, I believe,

sees it. Optimus, well, Optimus is seen, but

he doesn't, he's not asleep, or. sleep slash

recharging cities and see it anyway uh... we

get the sequences of everybody's trying to help

rebuild on cameras and it's interspersed with

the interviews by i have said uh... management

is expected there's a ryan s i have said that's

been a long time mixed it up and they were really

well depicted in that so anyway And finally we

get a lot of Prowl and Rattrap, which... What

did you think Prowl did in the last issue? Because

he first appears here. No, I could have sworn

he did something at the very end of issue two.

No, issue two ends with Prime opening and showing

the Matrix to Solus. Oh, okay, well then... Anyway,

so Prowl and Rattrap have a conversation to end

this off and Here's the problem. So this book

was problem or this book this miniseries was

too many issues and in terms of a lot of it is

this issue which is a just set up and B we get

all of the different interviews and everything

from INS And it wasn't entirely necessary. You

really could have done this a whole lot quicker.

And they just didn't. I think they needed to

stretch this out a little because in the end,

not a whole lot is discovered here. I mean honestly,

even the visions from, you know, Ironhide and

Mirage, how much does that really add to the

story? Not much no, and that's one of the issues

that One of the problems with IDW use events

so far Has really been that they? Overstayed

by an absolute minimum of one issue Yeah, some

of them more revolution in fact lasted five issues

too long Because it was five issues get it anyway

So yeah Yeah, you were talking about the INS

interviews and this happened in issue two I forgot

to mention this but I swear in Livio's style

with the INS Interviews looking at the mistress

of flame. She could almost be Rodimus's wife

Just the way she looks because they have similar

color schemes Yeah, um with issue three like

you're saying like How much setup do we need?

And you remember when they talked about six and

seven, Barber, I mentioned, you know, Barber,

I love his writing. I don't want to, you know,

make it seem like I don't like him or don't like

what he's done for the series. But sometimes

he gets too wordy and I'm not saying you need

a lot of action. It's just your words needs to

actually build towards something. For your words

need to actually mean something and in an issue

that is essentially completely expendable within

the rest of the stories And it kind of it doesn't

work well and I Don't know. I just you know my

big issue here is that This particular one just

wasn't necessary Yeah, it's nice to see I mean

some of the interactions are good, but I can't

get over the fact that It just didn't need to

be there. Yeah. I did enjoy Optimus in issue

three, and I did really enjoy the combiner battle.

The aftermath of it was interesting as well,

but overall, like you're saying, like I said

a second ago, we're three issues in. They should

not still be trying to set up stuff. They should

be... You can take the first two issues to do

all the setup. The remaining... three issues

two of those part three and four should be the

battle and then part five should be the aftermath

at least that's the way i think it should be

i could be wrong though that's general story

structure and i'm okay with booking it once in

a while but again it's gonna actually work i

mean you shouldn't be at issue three of the of

an event and have me going why does this exist

So part four, what do we got? Hey something sort

of actually happened I Mean it's still slow to

start but anyway this time Devastator shows up

or prowl estate or or however you want to call

it And just starts wrecking things The hell is

prowls plan on this by the way any who? Don't

know who the hell killed killed scavenger in

the first place anyway, what scavenger? That

was isn't that? Okay, that's what I say isn't

that why Prowl is the head of Devastators because

they lost one Sort of and then you know the other

reason is because he was mind -controlled into

it as a test run That's true, and then and then

Megatron was meant to be the head, but of course

he got cut off by Wheeljack anyway Devastator

starts wrecking everything and This time, you

know superior on merges can't bring him down

Devastator's just too strong They go end up fighting

through the space bridge again and This time

end up on Kamen as yet again They end up using

the enigma of combination to merge the protective

box new form, of course defense or they're able

to overpower Devastator and Prowl. Prowl is mostly,

I mean, trying to just keep the power of the

Enigma of Combination and everything else out

of Starscream's hand, and in the end ends up

creating another Gestalt slash Combiner out of

it in Defensor. What I liked about this was once

Defensor was created, how they define the combiners

by the, you know, you've said, I think it was

in our first More Than Meets the Eye episode,

how good Tom B. Long is at the lettering. Yes.

That's what I love about the combiner. Outside

of seeing the combiners actually do battle with

each other, having Each of them have their own

color and letter style to distinguish them from

each other. Like, Superions is like orange and

black, and Devastators is like greenish and purple,

and so on and so forth. I thought that was a

really neat and interesting way to be able to

distinguish each of those combiners. And Tom

Long keeps it all straight, which is one of the

most impressive things, especially in a book.

Mean you can tell it's not just you know the

gestalt. It's you can tell every character's

voice And it's one of the reasons why I think

you might be the best in the business because

you know with the exception of Basic errors when

you know the word bubble is pointing to the wrong

character in all comics But for the most part

you always know who's speaking and to be fair

even when that happens You can really tell You

know who it actually is so No, that's something

that's really well done. And yeah, you're right

good observation there And then by the time we

get to part five, which I'll let you synopsize,

but I don't want to forget this because I'm in

a very forgetful mood tonight Optimus maximus

all as I can think of is that stupid name for

that stupid adult thing transformers named Nexus

Maximus yeah don't look that up on the internet

kids actually I have no idea what the hell you're

talking about so back to issue four though this

was one of my ones where the hell is going on

in some of these panels so I love you know again

I like levio but man some of the work in this

one so during the Devastator superior on the

original fight I have no clue, you know, the

last few panels where Devastator is able to overpower

Superion. Exactly what happens. And, you know,

some of it's clear, like Devastator punching

him in the head and, you know, finish him off,

that kind of thing. But the lead -up is unclear.

And then the other couple things I wanted to

point out. One, the magic enigma of combination.

Display is a new power, which is it also heals

transformers, which is the dumbest thing they've

introduced in this entire IDW run Because it's

something that's just completely forgotten about

Yeah with not wanting to get too far into it,

but for example Swindle is a huge part of till

all are one and he is rendered comatose because

of events in this series so the enigma just Doesn't

work or actually heal guys anymore because they

could have just used that to figure out what

he knows apparently but Okay It also fails to

Heal some of the other Characters when they merge

together as well. So it seems to just sort of

work when the writers feel like it. I mean Have

I mentioned that this is a crap object? Yeah

I really dislike it when you fail to display

the limits of something or later on you just

sort of add to them, add to its abilities. It's

a huge pet peeve and it's something that happens

too much in movies and IDW stuff is generally

fairly well -defined considering we're talking

about alien transforming robots. And it's kind

of annoying to have these events where they just

sort of pull stuff out of their ass basically

Yeah, I am honestly curious very curious to know

When an event idea comes to light is it John

Barber and the other editorial staff at IDW that

goes to Hasbro and says hey can we do this and

then Hasbro says yes, but only if you do this

this and this so we can have toys of this this

and this or Is it Hasbro that goes to IDW and

says okay? We want to do toys of these characters

so people can get these toys you need to incorporate

them and I Remember this is one thing a big thing.

I want to talk about because of combiner wars

I remember when I first read this and the beast

characters started showing up obviously Rattrap

showed up before this but I'm like Beast Wars

characters really in IDW come on now leave it

alone just because I always thought the IDW continuity

was strictly a G1 continuity now don't get me

wrong they're more than welcome to make homages

to other Transformers continuity's I have no

problem with that but including the beast characters

in the ways that they've done it so far to this

point, at least up till Combiner Wars, it just

seems like, hey, we want to be able to make a

toy of this character again. So that's what my

question is. Who approaches who when it comes

to these events? Is it IDW that goes to Hasbro

or vice versa? My guess is it's Hasbro. I'd be

amazed if IDW had really anything to... Do with

a lot of it. I'd be yeah, that would surprise

me. So anyway finishing off my problems with

four is So Devastator gets downed by getting

alpha Bravo shot through his chest. How the hell

does that knock Prowl's eye out? I don't know

the damage and everything else doesn't make any

sense and You know, the only one who we really

see takes heavy damage is Prowl, bafflingly enough,

despite the fact that, for the most part, he

doesn't get hit all that hard by it, so that

was a little weird. Yeah, I don't know. Just

a lot of the stuff in is not well -defined. Part

four! We open up with Prowl in prison, which,

man, he should have been in there. Isn't that

part five? Forever sorry five. Yeah, I was just

bitching about four whoops Yeah They all start

to run together now Yeah, actually, you know

it is part four because remember the sort of

first issue was a prelude again Opening salvo.

So anyway, whatever we'll refer to it as the

fifth part just to continue on But yeah, they

open up in prison The conversation between Prime

and Prowl is long overdue, but unfortunately

it's cut really short here, it's only in the

first two pages. After that, we essentially find

out that Starscream wants one of his own people,

in this case Scoop, to replace Prowl and be part

of Devastator. Which I guess that's another thing

the Enigma can do, it can replace characters

on the... combiner so Starscream wants scoop

in there so he can basically control it because

let's face it Starscream cannot control prowl

there's no way no i was too much prowl number

one is too much of a dick number two is too much

of a numbers guy to let starscream control him

well that's what you need is the septicons that's

that's that's that's that's that's that's that's

that's that's that's that's that's that's that's

that's that's that's that's that's that's that's

that's that's that's that's that's that's that's

that's that's that's that's that's that's that's

that's that's that's that's that's that's that's

that's that's that's that's that's that's that's

that's that's that's that's that's that's that's

that's that's that's that's that's that's that's

that's that's that's that's that's that's that's

that's that's that's that's that's that's that's

that's that's that's that's that's that's that's

that's that's that's that's that's that's that

and the concept that Scoop's not the sharpest

tool in the shed and Prowl had trouble controlling

Devastator. So when you let somebody in who's

basically dumb as a brick, the idea that somehow

you're gonna be able to control him, I don't

know, I'm not real clear exactly why Prowl would

think this is a good idea. So and whatever are

either So they replace each other or sorry they

replaces him and this time the back on Kamina's

or sorry the on Cybertron I don't know where

the hell they are anymore. They're on one of

the two damn planets and all of the combiner

start fighting and we end with rat trap runs

the enigma of combination in and ends up merging

together, Optimus... Ah, jeez, who is it? It's

Optimus... It's Optimus, Prowl, Ironhide... Ironhide,

Sunstreaker, and Mirage, I believe. Yes. Yeah.

And Optimus decides that he's gonna control the

situation, and... So... Optimus tries to decide

this, but he cannot decide this because... Optimus

has never been a part of a combiner before. Prowl

has. Prowl knows more about being a combined

form than Optimus does. So at one point during

this, Prowl basically tells him, look, you're

in my mind. We're all in my mind. Let me do this,

essentially. That's yeah, that's basically where

we open with the next issue they get thrown or

they're frozen by optimus's indecision and As

you can tell this is starting to fall apart because

I'm having trouble figuring out Actually, I know

what goes on I just have trouble figuring out

why a lot of it's going on and some of it's and

Some of it is because they've kind of lost control

of the situation That swindle and the Decepticons

charge the space bridge to open the final issue

of this and Get sort of promptly stopped by chromia

and her team getting through But not before Starscream,

you know fatally We believe anyway Fatally shoot

swindle The important part of this is swindle

tells retrap something about the important Something

very important presumably, you know the fact

that all of this was Starscream's fault Right

and then we rejoined the combiner Royal rumble

match with optimus and Prowl chatting inside

optimus maximus Which It's good to have interaction

between them and it's about time But they basically

kind of push the others away It would have been

nice if, you know, we actually got some characterization

and stuff from Mirage, Sunstreaker, and Ironhide

here instead of just, they're shunted to the

side. And by the way, Ironhide basically never

brings up his time as a combiner after this either.

Like, it's just kind of a throwaway to put these

guys together to advertise the toys. Which again,

I'm not a fan of so anyway, they continue fighting

all of the combiners and they continue fighting

through the space bridge Which causes them to

visit each of the other colonies which can you

know have a Titan? Well, the reason why it does

that is because Metroplex we find out through

wind blade that Metroplex is at the same time

as keeping the bridge open between Cybertron

and cannabis Or how do you say the damn name

of the planet? he's also trying to contact and

create bridges to the other worlds at the same

damn time so he's multitasking and that's how

they end up going to all these different worlds

yep yeah it's not really yeah it's not put in

here but anyway so we finish off with the shots

of each of the colonies trying to figure out

what the hell just happened And in the end, Optimus

and Co. are able to down the rampaging Devastator

in particular. Menasaur is stopped basically

by the forces of the different cameons and Starscream,

but anyway. And, you know, that's pretty much

it for Combiner Wars. We don't get a lot of fallouts,

which is another issue I have here. If you're

gonna do an event, I would prefer you actually

contain sort of one issue to deal with the After

Effects. That's just me. I mean, obviously in

this case, we're not talking about Marvel or

something like that, where there's 40 different

series to follow. In this case, it's just, you

know, the Transformers series minus More Than

Meets the Eye. And yeah, in the end, I should

issue, and this issue is another Sarah Stone

issue. Yep. The ending to this, where they show

the different planets, I like seeing Velocitron,

because I like seeing Knockout again, because

again, this is back in the time where... Sorry,

part five was Koren Howell and Marcelo Ferreri.

Whoops. Yeah, part five was Koren Howell. I think

Sarah only did the one. Yeah, she only did the

earlier. Yeah. Yeah. What I like about the ending

to this is we get to see like Velocitron and

I think it's Eukaris that's the Beast Wars planet

and things like that. So we get to see Tigatron

in Air Racer. We don't get to see much of the

other beast characters and we get to see Knockout

and whoever the hell is with him. and at this

point in time when this came out, I think Transformers

Prime the animated series either was just canceled

or was getting ready to be canceled or had already

been canceled. I believe it had wrapped up, yeah.

Okay, okay. I could not remember what was going

on because I remember when they said, oh, Knockout's

gonna appear in the comics, and they're like,

whoa, huh? And they're like, yay, Knockout! If

corn howl was still doing this stuff because

right now I think I think till our one is Sarah

p -tiered Dora Shay. Yep. I'm probably saying

her name wrong. I'm sorry picture of Dora Shay.

There we go If corn was still doing the stuff

with marigold I would love to see an all -beast

planet issue just to see what the Beast Wars

characters were up to I don't mind so much at

the end of this that Rattrap and a bunch of the

other Beast characters were in it because I think

it makes sense now. I originally thought they

were just throwing them in there just so they

can get new toys of those characters and obviously

most of them are all going to get Masterpiece

editions at some point or another. At the end

of Combiner Wars, you're right, there isn't enough

fallout to it but... Overall, I still kind of

enjoyed it for the most part. There are elements

I liked. I liked the introduction of the colony.

As you mentioned it before, you weren't huge

on it. I think it's a great way to introduce,

basically just do sort of a best of different

Transformers characters. Like, Knockout's a terrific

character. Obviously, everyone loves the Beast

Wars characters. I was really happy to see Dinobot

in the next appearance of Eukaris. So, stuff

like that I really liked, and... I'm trying to

think, like, eh, that's about it. I mean, there

just wasn't enough to recommend this, nor to

have it sort of interrupt things. Now we get

way worse next, because Revolution was just...

It was bad from start to finish, and there's

no elements of that. I enjoyed and so this is

an improvement on that but At least with Dark

Cybertron there were more individual moments

I could enjoy stuff like prowl and chrome dome

finally meeting and kind of having it out Even

though it didn't last nearly as long as I would

have liked was something I really liked And true.

I mean I did mention it earlier their character

moments from the early stuff early couple issues

of this that I really liked but Don't know the

ends the last few issues, you know, there's some

good action that kind of thing But it just kind

of falls flat for me. Yeah, I would probably

give it a High two and a half low three out of

five I'm with you on the rating. I mean I enjoyed

it but there were times where I just wanted like

At first I really enjoyed the the Iacon news

service and then I just wanted to get on with

the damn story because it just Took too damn

long to get through some of those interviews

What else you know the again for me one of the

reasons why I liked it was because How long has

it been since we've had a cartoon series or anything?

depicting combiners full -on Denistator was in

the amazing Revenge of the Fallen film. I said

cartoon series, not Michael Bay abominations.

Yeah, I mean we didn't have combiners in Prime,

we didn't have combiners in Animated, well we

kind of did, but not really. I mean the real

reason is I mean they're expensive to produce

in terms of toys and that kind of thing so yeah

they've really been left out and you're right

I did really like that and it led to some really

good toys like I have the Japanese version of

Bruticus for example and I loved him like it

led to some really nice figures out of this like

especially if you were a fan of these guys because

uh... listen i love generation one and i still

have a fair amount of stuff from it but i mean

the combiner's you know the were pretty short

overalls even when it when compared to the rest

of the line and then they didn't have a lot of

possibility in that kind of thing the new ones

are a lot more versatile and They just kind of

you know, they stand up better for the most part

There are definitely issues with some of them

there, but I don't know it just it worked well

so I mean Yeah, there is a lot of good that came

out of this that I do like but in terms of the

actual comics and the storytelling and what it

does to IDW's universe It's almost a throwaway.

I mean, aside from introducing the other colonies

in the end, in terms of lasting effects, there's

not a whole lot here. Yeah, no, there isn't.

You could almost take this out. We almost did.

Until you mentioned it, we almost didn't do this,

because like I said at the very beginning of

this podcast, this was originally going to be

read eight and nine. And then you said something

and I looked at him like. Oh yeah, you're right,

we have to do a Combiner Wars because that's

39 through 41. Oh, great. And I think the reason

why we don't get an epilogue or an aftermath

here is because the epilogue issue is issue 42.

which is in volume eight of Red. I mean, in terms

of breaking it up, though, I feel like it would

have been better served to, you know, you eliminate

one of the middle issues here and then have the

epilogue in this. So it's all self contained

or even add combiner hunters or something instead

of combiner hunters has not. I have all the transformer

trades and unless I'm completely insane. It has

not been reprinted yet Yeah, combiner hunters.

I don't think was ever meant to be reprinted

because it specifically states. It is a one -shot

comic Combiner hunters sorry, but to be fair

though compared to this Giant event which was

a number of issues six issues total There's more

in combiner hunters that had long -term effects

than this That's true. Like the introduction

of Victorion, which is fairly major. For those

that don't know, as I said, Combiner Hunters

was a one -shot story written by Margaret Scott.

Basically, Windblade RC and Chromia, I believe,

go searching for... Marcy steals the enigma of

combination my favorite my favorite item in all

of the IDW books and yeah she steals it they

end up chasing her out to the sea of rust and

you know in the end ends up merging the torchbearers

who have been hanging out there And they form

Victorion and there's sort of a brief kind of

fight before Victorion is able to control herself

enough to break apart and You know, that's kind

of it they return the enigma of combination RC

realizes gee this thing kind of sucks Maybe it

should just put it back even though giving it

to Starscream is a dumb idea too, but hey She

probably should have just destroyed it. I mean,

yeah, I mean honestly giving anything to Starscream

is a dumb idea And actually what didn't didn't

they just destroy it actually they like at some

point You should probably just break the thing.

It's kind of a silly object to just have sitting

around Also, if you're the Transformers Going

forward oh man so i haven't been buying the individual

issues and so if i'm wrong about this i apologize

but i just buy the trades when they're out and

currently you know cybertron comes under attack

by a whole group of undead titans the enigma

combination still there why don't just make an

army of gestalts to fight against them true or

you could use the in the middle of the mall and

make them better again yeah each time they fight

will be used to heal anybody when they just use

it on bumblebee to fix him and a little blah

blah blah i'm serious you're you're right you're

right but that's it's ill -defined so i mean

they need to come up with a reason why you know

you can't just resurrects characters or anything

else because right now it's sort of a plot hole

It reminds me of arrow where everybody's dead

and it finally occurs to somebody like three

seasons later Hey, we could use the Lazarus pit

to resurrect this person that died way before

and then no it doesn't occur to anybody to resurrect

Oliver's mom or anyone else that kicked the bucket

in the series and then About three episodes later.

They just go like that Lazarus just don't work

anymore. You fuck them up. We can't use them

I did like that 100th episode though where they

basically, you know black -merced everybody and

Sent them into the alternate timeline and and

where the parents are a lot. I did think that

was a really anyway That's all other those fun.

That's a different fog. Yeah Combiner Wars, I

don't think I'll read this ever again. I enjoyed

it for what it is, but I just Yeah, I mean in

terms of the trades I reread More than meets

the eye one to ten I pluck out pretty much any

of those with the exception of I think nine is

probably the one I read the least And then in

terms of the transformer series, which really

this is a part of I really only reread one to

five Yeah, and I mean it's something we'll get

to but there's Again, I loved you know, I think

Barbara was in his element with those first five

trades and you know, they have issues. They're

not perfect, but They're so much better than

the stuff that's come after and then you add

into that the fact that Margaret Heath Scott

I think is doing some really interesting and

good stuff and Till all are one. Yeah i don't

know ends i mean i have not and i think i've

read like the first two or three issues of solar

one i've not read a lot of it uh... i have not

read any of lost light or optimist prime yet

because i want to be able to go through all of

the season two of the other was the original

one that is uh... is the only lost light more

than meets everyone call it is there one you

know i guess yet single issues uh... yes very

few series now just by the trades uh... i'd love

margaret stuff since she started on the original

wind blade four issue miniseries i'd just love

her writing and her writing is amazing i think

it's a fun and interesting and she brings a lot

of difference Voices together to make an excellent

comic series and it'd be fair to combiner wars

Windblade has a bit of the same issue in terms

of it doesn't quite stick the landing because

the consequences are Very much far -reaching.

Yeah, they don't go into it, you know immediately

and I'm Okay with that But it does hurt that

as an individual sort of story or self -contained

story, which it was originally kind of advertised

as. So... Well, I think the problem here is,

and I'm not saying anything negative against

IDW, their creative staff, their editorial staff,

their writing staff, whatever. The problem was,

was you had Notrid and Windblade mixed together

to tell Combiner Wars. So Combiner Wars for Windblade,

I think, was the first four issues of that eight

-issue series. I think that's what it was. I

could be wrong. If I'm wrong, speak up. I'm pretty

sure you're wrong, by the way. Continue on. I'm

just saying. Where I'm saying, it was either

the first four or five issues of the second Windblade

series that eventually got traded as Distant

Stars. So you have Combiner Wars on the one hand

with the first, you know, two or three issues

of the Windblade series or whatever it is. And

then you've got Distant Stars, which is the whole

second Windblade series as one story. So... Where

are people supposed to go if they want their

Windblade fixed? Are you supposed to go to Combiner

Wars or are you supposed to go to Distant Stars?

I'm not sure... And I'd have to look it up, but

I don't know that any of this trade carries any

of Windblade's issues. I think they were self

-contained as the first four. And this just happens

to lead into Distant Stars. I don't know. I'm

looking at the... Anyway, I'm looking at the

issues list on... the wiki and Yeah till all

our one started at one Coming out of yeah wind

blade. Yeah wind blade was self -contained I

Should have just cheated and went and got my

trade you should have yes According to the Combiner

Wars opening title page in the Combiner Wars

trade, it says that it is Windblade written by

Marigold Scott, Art by Sarah Stone, Part 1, Livio

Remdeli, Part 3, and Marcellio, Fiera, and Cornhowell,

Part 5. So Windblade's portion of Combiner Wars

was her first issue. Her third issue and her

fifth issue, but it's not her first issue. Okay,

one second the Transformers wind blade number

one Is contained in the trade so it looks like

they're naming on this is shit Yeah, that's the

problem. The naming on this is really confusing

Uh -huh. Yeah, cuz wind blade number one is a

boss in her city and happens before this We're

yeah, that's the first wind blade series. I'm

talking about the second wind blade series Okay,

yeah, there it is volume two number one is yes

part one. Yeah, there we go. Yeah, fuck. This

is dumb numbering Yeah one in that one and then

up to three and this is According to the thing

on Yeah, I got the whole list here the IDW Originally

originally published transformers wind blade

volume two issues four to seven and transformers

combiner hunters number one so Wait a second

Wow, so it was only the first three issues that

were combiner wars No, it's the first four the

the epilogue is the fourth The first of the epilogue

issues was volume two number four Right, which

is not in this trade though. But what I'm saying

is in the distant stars trade It lists on the

IDW at the very bottom of the main thing That

the distant stars trade includes wind blade volume

two issues four to seven and the transformers

combiner hunt to see Thought the distant stars

trade included everything one through seven It's

not it just is or on the yeah, it is for sure

why I got confused because I have those Yeah,

that's wow. Oh my head hurts even more now, and

this isn't even time travel folks. Holy crap

Okay, I think we got to get the hell out of here

So basically a low or a high two and a half low

three for both of us on combiner wars Join us

next time for rid volumes eight and nine, which

is way less confusing Numbering and combination

of issues. This is why I hate crossovers and

this is why You know, this is one of the biggest

reasons why I think Marvel is struggling not

I think I know this is one of the biggest reasons

is the sort of consistent crossovers they're

doing one event ends and then they start another

one and it always encompasses all these characters

you never get to see any sort of the after effects

because as soon as one event ends the next one

begins and it makes it hard as hell to follow

if you enjoy these particular characters and

this is my issue with IDW is I'm worried that's

what their slow heading towards I mean yeah I

don't like these sort of constant you know it

seems like they've already started to set up

well I mean they have already started setting

up the next series of events and I guess the

question is why I mean There's not a nice way

to put this but revolution really tanked the

sales When they you know, whenever it ended they

decided to restart at number one. They renamed

the Transformers became Optimus Prime and we

Restarted, you know wind blade Wind blade or

distant stars. It was mostly just called wind

blade though We've restarted that as till all

are one which is sort of viewed as well and The

sales numbers for each of those now granted.

It doesn't you know include digital which is

where the bulk of IDW's sales have been coming

from but still they're really low and I Don't

know constant renumberings are another thing.

That's hurt Marvel. So Why Why would I tell you

not why would IDW be following that now to be

fair? I mean DC relaunched recently, but that's

Basically, I mean they were relaunching to fix

a relaunch that didn't go well for about two

years. So I Hope that IDW does not start doing

a bunch of relaunches. I like I understand why

Robots in disguise and more than meets the eye

became Optimus Prime and the lost light I get

it and Like with more than meets the eye becoming

the lost light. I really have no No negativity

towards that because it's still part of what

James and his team are doing I don't know if

changing from Robots in disguise to just the

Transformers to now Optimus Prime. I don't know

if John Because I don't know because I haven't

read the series is The core of that series now

solely focused on what optimus is doing. Yes

Yeah, which so It's one of the issues and it's

something I hinted at here with combiner wars

that it's really hard to fix Something when its

basis or its storyline slash reason for being

is poor And the optimus prime series while I've

enjoyed what I've read of it One of the issues

I have with it is it came out of revolution,

which is a crap basis for the series not to mention

it tends to include a lot of the characters who

are in it and we talked about this with xrid

volume six and seven the human characters in

the transformer series from IDW from start to

finish yeah they've been written really poorly

they're not interesting they are essentially

depicted as complete idiots uh... hey megatron

like killed you know ten percent of the planet's

population let's sign a treaty with the decepticons

well that's a great idea hey this galvatron guy

who constantly threatens us and is clearly a

complete nut job and keeps like beating the crap

out of his own troops yeah let's sign up with

him he seems pretty on the ball all right folks

like i said join us next time when we talk about

robots in disguise volumes 8 and 9 where are

we going to find you on social media sir? at

nightbeat that's on twitter folks and hey james

roberts retweeted the more than meets the eye

episode did he? because i didn't see it i asked

him to oh really? yeah oh yeah you know he did

i didn't even see it i'll have to look at that

or you'll have to send me the link anyway i am

tfguandmike at tfguandmike on twitter You can

also follow at Geekcast Radio, at The Pull Bag,

all that other good stuff. We're going to get

the heck out of here, because I need to head

to Swerve's, because I need to have a fun night.

Oh my god, ow my head. Transform, transcend,

all that other happy horse stuff, and we will

catch you next time here inside The Pull Bag.

You've just heard the latest episode of The Pullback,

the GCRN's comic review and discussion podcast.

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