Transformers Classics Volume 2 (Issues 14-25) Review

Hi, this is Dan Gilbazan, and you're listening

to the Geekcast Radio Network. This is Optimus

Prime, and you're listening to all things Transformers.

Yes. That's right, folks. Megatron is here, and

Megatron finally has his own Megatron, and he's

been playing with himself. Megatron? How do you

feel? Excellent. Yes. With a pleasant surprise.

Yeah. So this is a special intro to All Things

Transformers. Steve Megatron and I are here.

We are tackling this on top of the comic episode

from The Pull Bag and All Things Transformers

you'll hear later in the episode. But we've got

some news. But before that, like I said, Megatron

has received his Megatron. Oh yes, yes. And I'm

quite happy. So you don't need another Megatron

for another seven years, right? No, it just depends

on what they are. I've kind of looked at the

old alligator, but one, it's tiny and the cost

of it is stupid. And then there's this deluxe

figure that's kind of a Reimagining it was during

the 10th anniversary. They came out with like

the deluxe Optimus Primal and deluxe Megatron

that were right. Basically what they probably

could have looked like as transmedals. Mm hmm.

And I used to have both of them. And the Megatron

goes for and I think I paid like 15 a piece for

him at the time. He goes for like seventy five

dollars now. What size class is he deluxe? Oh

That's bad. Yeah, that's why I said I was like

And then And then the primal is like 30 to 40

and I'm like, well I don't really care about

primal enough like I didn't like the toy and

I the Megatron is interesting enough but Yeah,

I mean I wouldn't mind it but it's it's not like

a necessity. Yeah, like I don't I don't care

enough because I have the show versions. Yes,

exactly. And those are kind of where it's at.

So, yeah, I got the knockoff Megatron. Is it

a knockoff? I thought it was. Oh, no, no, no.

OK. No, the official is anywhere from three to

five hundred. Oh, yeah. Because you can't find

it. You can the the surefire telltale way of

looking is one the paint decor is slightly different

But you won't notice it unless you actually have

them side -by -side Mm -hmm to they replaced

some of the way the hip joint works on the knockoff

compared to the official like they fix some of

the quality control issues and then the the head

is lacking the Predacon logo. So that's the main

thing. And then they separated the part of his

back that kind of stands up, where it's part

of the beast mode stuff folded over. They separated

them into two separate pieces on the knockoff

compared to the official. Interesting. I think

it has to do with something like a load -bearing

weight balance type thing. When I took him out

of the package, you have to put on his hip blasters.

You have to put on the backpack stuff. Some of

them, there have been reports of having to put

on the shoulder pads. This was not the case on

this one. And then you have to put on his tail

add -on to his arm. And there's a little clip

that these things holster into. And so they make

it really easy to assemble. He doesn't come with...

They have the... the circuit board as far as

his light up capability is concerned. And they

have like a light up feature and I think you

have to take the head off. Maybe, I don't fully

know. The only bad thing about a knockoff, they

don't come with instructions. So I'm gonna have

to watch a video to find out where to change

the battery or to activate it. I know there's

a spot in the head. Beast head that you kind

of you pop it up and then you can get in there.

But yeah, I'm I'm unsure present how to because

he's supposed to have a light -up feature for

the eyes and the the blast effect used to come

with a light -up capability but because of just

the electronic shortage during all of the shutdown

and everything else They didn't assemble it with

that so they could still sell it So it's a little

a little sad But it's not it's not a huge deal.

But no, I mean, it's it's a spectacular figure

very weighted The the heels are die cast. There's

various other parts that are kind of die casts

I noticed the beast mode head is very heavy nice

And some of the balancing on the figure is kind

of bad, because when you lean his arm forward,

he kind of leans a little bit, unless you have

his feet in the right formation. And the toes

all move individually and everything. But it's

such an awesome figure, like the detail. That's

cool. I think I have a battery somewhere, and

I'm going to try and pop it in there and see

if I can light them up for the robot mode, because

there's a push button in the back of the head.

But he comes with the three different faces.

He comes with the one that's just kind of mouth

closed. He comes with the one that's like the

scowl, the angry face that he normally has with

the teeth showing. And then he has the yes face,

which the Transmetal do that as well. Very cool.

So, yeah, I'm very happy with it. And then seeing

him next to the kingdom figure makes him look

so tiny. Makes the other one look so tiny. There's

there's a lot of shared similarities in it, but

this this is definitely like Better. Yeah, I

mean the colors are correct even with a premium

finish version of the kingdom figure that's supposed

to come out Mm -hmm. It's lacking in the proper

paint decor. They showed promo images with the

proper paint decor and then they the release

photos are Still better than the kingdom, but

they're still not They're missing that metallic

sheen of paint. Yeah That they show on you know,

it basically they took the promo footage was

of masterpiece colors Right and then they gave

us budget colors So, yeah, so I'm very happy

with the the Proper, you know masterpiece so

and you know What I might do though is transform

the masterpiece one into beast mode. And then

have the other one is the robot mode. That makes

sense. That'd be cool. Because I hate the beast

mode on the other one. And this one just, I love

the dinosaur head. That's like the main part

that makes it for me is the dinosaur head. Always

make sure you love the dinosaur head, folks.

That's what she said. Anything else is there

did we have you missed anything anything else

you want to talk about this new? Masterpiece

Megatron you've gotten from the third party people's

I'm not sure I like how to transform it yet because

I'm gonna have to find instructions Yeah, we

can I'm sure somebody like PR somebody out there

on YouTube has a video of the thing maybe most

likely yeah, and I'm sure somebody has it I and

I know there's a way that I know roughly where

some of the stuff is at on the head, you know,

like for instance, the battery compartment and

things like that. It's just a matter of. So what

mode is it in currently? Robot mode, right? Robot

mode. It shows up in robot mode. OK, yeah. Well,

just leave that in robot mode for now and put

the other idiot in dinosaur mode, I guess, until

you can figure it out. Save some space. Exactly.

Yeah, but I I don't know. I really like this

and he goes so nicely with my my masterpiece

transmetal with sad is he's he's like a head

taller than than optimal optimus And in the Transmetal

Megatron, I felt like he should have been and

I get what they were doing They were trying to

scale with Takara's masterpiece stuff. Yeah,

so they made Transmetal Optimus primal taller

than the original Who's like crazy short? Mm

-hmm and Beast like optimus primal is like eight

eight inches. Maybe maybe if you're lucky maybe

seven and then the the transmo was like eight

almost nine and the Beast and transmittal of

Megatron is like ten almost eleven and optimal

is like Just shy of like either just shy of ten

or just over ten So he's like he's he's like

a whole head shorter and he's supposed to be

like this behemoth That's awesome, but either

way I love the detail I love the detail to shine

the the effects on it if like if like I absolutely

had to dump figures It would be None of my masterpiece

Yeah, I would keep the masterpiece I would dump

everything else if I had like no other choice

Right. So but yeah, the Megatrons are you know,

and my kid was like So why do you like the bad

guy? Yeah, I said can you do the voice? And he

goes no I says I can exactly I said that's why

That's why. He was like, so if you had to get

rid of some, what ones would you get rid of?

And I says the ones I can't do the voice for.

He says you can do almost all of them. Exactly.

Because like I have Scourge, I have, you know,

G1 Megatron, I have Grimlock, I have Prime, I

have, you know, the only ones I can't do are

the majority of the Maximals and majority of

the Preds that are kind of different. Yeah, like

you can't do black arachnia or Well, I mean technically

you could do quick strike you just got sound

like this You got to put a little country clang

on it with a quick strike like, you know Something

like that there. I guess I don't know. All right

I have stuff that I've had come in but I'm not

ready to talk about it yet because I'm waiting

for more my three zero orders came in so i have

the mdlx optimus nemesis and gold bug i actually

had to get the so the three zero mdlx figures

the gold the bumblebee gold edition which is

essentially gold bug was a show exclude some

sort of show exclusive i don't i had to go on

ebay to get that but The other two, the Optimus

and the Nemesis, I was able to get from Big Bad

Toy Store, and I am waiting on... I have the

Cliffjumper, but I'm waiting on... When does

second quarter begin? God damn it, I don't...

We're in the second quarter. We are? Oh, well

then it should be coming soon. I have the MDLX

Megatron, and then I have the MDLX Rotimus. Pre

-ordered and cliff jumper is in my pile of loot

on BBTS. So I am NOT ready for like Technically

we could do three and three Cliff jumper Megatron

run on this in the second episode and optimus

nemesis and bump and gold bug in the first but

yeah, that'll be for another day because we have

news to talk about before we get to the comics

Yay news. Oh my god So we are finally getting

the this was can confirm from the Decemberist

on the 2005 TF2E 2005 boards that the Megatron

design we 3A30 received assets of while we work

in development for the DLX figures for the B

movie. So this design that we have on this Megatron

box art was originally supposed to be the Bumblebee

movie Megatron. And this is new box art for Rise

of the Beast packaging Megatron. Yep. So yeah,

I'm going to say again. It's. I love how it's

the wrong figure in the box, though. Yeah, it's

the wrong. Well, no, it's isn't it the right

figure in the box? I mean, it looks totally different

than the picture. No, it's similar Because what

way like the other ones like super robo kibble

and in the face and this one looks like something

Maybe the second head is maybe the second head

is is is mixed somewhere, but the robo kibble

on the front Like I see the red thing Like that

whole red underside thing underneath the Decepticon

the stuff that's on the box art. I that's on

his toy right there So maybe it's just they decided

to put a normal Megatron head on there so they

didn't scare the kids away with the monster face

Megatron on the package. I don't know. But this

is new, new packaging for Rise of the Beast Megatron.

Very, very cool. Absolutely dig it. I think it's

great. I'm not buying it. Now if they had a Beast

Megatron, I'd have to change my tune. Well, obviously,

yes. If it was the Beast Megatron, you would

have to change your tune, but it's not. It's

Bumblebee Movie Megatron. Up next, we have the

Transformers Generation V &R Optimus Prime in

-hand images. Now, this is basically Holiday

Prime, but in Generation 1 colors. That is affirmative.

I love this figure. So, they... They come because

I'm looking through all the comparison photos

they compare this to I forget which other optimist

that is is that they show laser and Earthrise

Okay, it's Earthrise optimists. That's yeah,

that's yeah. I knew they showed laser because

hello That's the laser optimist primes cab is

three times longer than any of the other cabs

and one of the other cabs doesn't even have a

nose at all it's a flat nose, but what I love

about this is the I love the robot mode more

than the alt mode because I think personally

for that design, the candy coated G2 color scheme,

the holiday prime is a better paint job. However,

in robot mode, I love this thing. The only thing

I'm looking at, I forget what the name of the

picture is, but it's the one where he's standing

inside his open trailer and he's got the gun

and he's pointing the gun. Okay, so that that

picture the only thing that's missing is a little

roller in between his feet in the trailer That's

the only and I know that's a little nitpicky

thing of them Like this is how I would display

this figure if I had it in robot mode standing

in the trailer With the gun pointing out. That

would be awesome. I I really like the the aesthetic

of the figure No matter what way I don't care

for them as much in vehicle mode. Yeah, I don't

either. But the robot mode, something about it

just does it for me. I don't love the legs. Yeah,

the legs are... So the problem with the legs

is because... It's the cab flipped around. Yeah,

that's the problem. And the problem with that

is because the cab is all red. It throws off

the color. Optimus's legs are always supposed,

I'm not saying they can't change color. Hello,

look at candy cane optimus, but that's a whole

different thing. But like, when you think of

optimus prime, you think red, white and blue,

you think yellow for the headlights, maybe a

little bit of gray for the hinges for the shins

or whatever. But his general truck legs have

always been all blue. And this red is throwing

us off. But it's okay. It's it, you know, you

can get used to it, I guess if you were going

to have it. I love the Matrix look. I think that's

cool that, you know, all the Matrix folds down

instead of just opening up from the chest. Like

it kind of gives a different look. And it's this

translucent red when you open it. And the other

thing I think I really like is the head sculpt

is probably the most accurate. Yeah. Whereas

like the Earthrise, like the War for Cybertron

stuff, the head the head sculpt was not It left

a lot to be desired like the head sculpt on the

earth rise stuff and on the war for Cybertron

was more of a g2 head Yeah of prime whereas this

is more like canonical g1. Yeah, and The details

in the mask and in the helmet just make this

figure honestly and they have the You know the

the waist yet the the yellow paint job there.

They have the paint on the the lights on the

cab, whereas like the original, like the the

War for Cybertron release doesn't have that.

Yeah. Like I had to manually paint some of that

stuff in there. And I love the wheel base folding

over behind his back. Like I love how it looks

over his shoulder. Yep. That looks cool as hell.

And I was like, you know, I think like the torso

and the head of Prime alone make this figure

for me. Like I don't I could give a rip about

the the trailer and honestly like with having

You know, I have an ultra magnus that I you know,

the white prime I turned into um ultimus and

then I have the the netflix prime that I turned

into um G2 prime and so like this if I had this

it would be like the g1 prime Although I i'm

wondering if they're going to come out with a

studio series 86 prime and have like proper Deco

and then use this head sculpt again. Yeah, I

don't know that would be cool I don't think yeah,

I would be all over that I mean if they did they'd

have to come out with two versions of them, you

know a real color and then a dead color I am

denim as prime Mean the trailer is what the trailer

is but like I said that picture with him standing

inside the trailer in the battle pose That's

why I love the trailer and I would not use this

for any other pose other than that But you're

right the the head sculpt on it the colors everything

about it looks looks absolutely fantastic and

Finally well there was one little thing so I

noticed this on a I follow a tech YouTuber called

his name is Mark Spurl. He's a Canadian and He

does a bunch of tech stuff. I've been following

him for a couple years now and He was doing one

of these mail call videos where he opens up all

the packages that he's had You know piled up

for whatever and it's things that companies have

sent him or whatever else. Well, apparently Nebula

is a company who specializes in smart projectors.

They sent him the Optimus Prime Capsule 3 laser

projector. Now the only reason why we're even

talking about this and then we're immediately

gonna move on to the Rise of the Beast poster

and I don't know how I don't think Mark's a huge

Transformers fan because he didn't like he knew

it was the nebula laser nebula capsule 3 laser

projector he opened the box before he realized

that it was transformers base he got the thing

in his hand and he's like oh Optimus Prime closes

the but you know he closes the box oh I didn't

even notice the Autobot load that's so cool and

whatever else but Yeah, I thought this was kind

of cool that they did a Transformers collaboration.

And it's just a laser projector. You got to have

a wall big enough to project the stuff onto it

and whatever else and all that. And they're cool

for like camping trips and things like that,

but... The battery only lasts two and a half

hours. Yeah, I mean enough for one movie. That's

maybe 90 minutes. But I mean, you know... Again,

it's a little tiny thing that I think is cool

that you don't often think of the Transformers

brand collaborating with a laser projector. And

then we have the finally we have the Rise of

the Beast new promotional poster. Wow. Wow, this

thing is cool. Yeah, say what you will about,

you know, the rise of the bees. I do like that

they have prime kind of as the center focal point.

And then they have, if you look at it, the proportions

are about the same because you have prime, primal,

Rhinox Mirage, Air Razor RC, Bumblebee, Cheetor.

Yeah. Yeah, it's very cool. it I love the background

of it because it's a combination between like

the the mountains and the The whole beast side

and then obviously the city for all the the car

robots and all that Very very cool. And of course,

I'm gonna give it a shot Hmm when it comes out

you like that they went back with the original

Transformers logo almost Because at least that

makes it look Like it's in -universe, regardless

of what the story turns out. They're kind of

trying to call back. Yeah. And they did say it

is a direct sequel to Bumblebee. So something

in the beginning of this movie, I'm betting,

is going to have Bumblebee going to... I'm very

curious and very, very excited to see how this

movie starts compared to how Bumblebee ended.

So... I'm very excited for this. So that's the

news. Anything else you want to say before we

head on over to the full Transformers Marvel

Classics Volume 2 part of the episode? I think

I'm good. All right. Well, folks, we're going

to join us from the past as we are recording

this in the present. Because we recorded the

other thing in the past is that's where all the

seeds are buried. So you're hearing us from the

future. So it's just confusing Mm -hmm as they

as they often say Seeds of the future are lied

buried in your ass It's time for an all -new

all things transformers as we are crossing over

with the pull bag for Autobotly April 2023 Yes

No, that's not! I like to mess with you. It's

fun. Autobotly April? No. Yes, Megatron. It is

Autobotly April. And we're going back to talk

about something that you absolutely love, which

is Transformers the Marvel U .S. Run. As you

know, folks, I'm TfU and Mike. Joining me is

Steve Megatron. Hello. Hello. And we hope you'll

enjoy these episodes as we are making our great

escape into comics and we board the arc as we

talk about all things transformers and after

Eight years we find I think we did volume one

of this series back in 2015 Wow Yeah, it seems

like it was more recent than that No, it wasn't

I went back and I because that whoever that person

was that I tagged you in the comments on Facebook

Whoever that person was, it was Jim Black. Jim,

hi Jim. I think I had posted the link to episode

101 of The Pull Bag when we did that first volume.

Yeah, it's been a long time since we've done

this and yeah, it was... April fit wow We're

so close April 15th 2015. We're recording this

March 20 20th 2023 The March of the Transformers

comics Oh Lord So yeah, I read these and then

I read the Wikipedia the the TF wiki I should

say articles so for me as a legally blind person

as someone who reads the stuff on his phone,

the guided view with comixology has to be just

right, and it has to roll the way it's supposed

to draw your eye to certain things. And the way

these comics have been laid out, and I know these

comics are 40 fucking years old at this point,

but just the way the technology is working with

it, it just didn't work for me. So while I liked

the visuals and I read half of the book itself,

for issues 14 through 25, I actually went back

and read all of the issue pages on TFWiki just

so I could get the story without having to. I

kind of am going to cheat on these things, folks,

because I'm legally blind, damn it. Well, and

what's funny is I read them not when they first

came out, because obviously I was too young.

You were too young or you weren't even born yet.

Yeah. But I caught them at used bookstores. Like

used comic shops in their like quarter bin and

there was another comic shop that had them and

they sold them for like, you know, two to seven

dollars depending on the rarity of the issue.

And for the most part, I found them for about

a quarter, which used to drive the one comic

shop guy nuts. Yeah, well. Because I would come

in there and I wouldn't buy anything of value.

I would go in there and raid the quarter bin

and it's like, dude, I don't have money. Yeah,

you're a kid. Even when I was working at Applegate,

I still was collecting, when I first started

working there, I was collecting the comics still,

trying to find them. I never did complete it.

That's what's funny. Well, I was completed now.

I was well, I was 10 issues shy. Yeah. Of having

the physical copies. Oh, wow. And same thing

with G2. I was like three issues shy of having

the complete G2. But some of the issues were

so hard to find. Yeah. Or they wanted a stupid

amount of money for them. Yeah. Which both were

not an option. So. Let me preface this before

we go in. How would you rate this compared to

some of the more obscure IDW stuff? It just obviously

bounces all over the place. When you say obscure

IDW stuff, do you have a specific example? I

do not, because I did not read most of the IDW

stuff, although in the future, because I'm forcing

you to go through the Marvel run as we work our

way back to IDW's and the eventual next holder

of the license. It'll be interesting to see how

we rate things as we progress along. or how much

we're like, yeah, this is so much better, or

yeah, this is so much worse. So I don't think

there is a comparison. Now, people listening

to the sound of my voice, I say it all the time

on shows now. But if you're listening to the

sound of my voice, if there is a comparison between

the Marvel US run and the IDW, I'm going to say

2 .0 run. Starting with the death of optimus

prime and then going to more than meets the eye

and and and robots in disguise which then became

lost light and optimus prime There is no direct

comparison because they are two very different

animals released at times that are very different

from each other and The thing is this was transformers

Marvel comics this was Transformers like and

like you said again to preface this thing I was

a cartoon kid. I have never, until eight years

ago when we did the first volume in April of

2015, I had never read this stuff. I had no interest

in it. I was all about the animation. I was all

about the toys as a kid. Now this issue 14 released

November 26th. Well, it was first published November

26th of 1985, which is pretty much a full...

Almost Eight months before you were born or so

in June of 86 so Yeah, and it has a cover date

of March of 86 and it went on sale December 17th

of 85 for issue 14 So yeah, I had no real For

me the biggest thing every time I would see these

these covers and these interiors is oh my god

They're using five colors, and that's it. Coming

from IDW, where the colors and the art is explosive,

is in your face, is so high detailed, going back

to this Marvel 80s style is like, it's not jarring,

it's just weird. And you talk about the prices

of the books. Every single cover in volume two,

because it's Transformers. Classics volume to

volume to done by adw is what I'm I'm reading

these from All of the main covers that they show

before each of the start of the issue has a 75

cent price on it so the fact that some of these

books were going for seven dollars in the 80s

or 90s probably what you were getting them cuz

you know, whatever but like just boggles my mind

well in And there's things I like about these,

and then there's things I don't. Like, it's very

80s aesthetics, for one. Two, the coloring, I'm

not gonna lie, it gets better as it goes along,

but I feel like you have to hit like issue 42

to get to anything halfway decent looking. And

then it takes until like the mid, like 50s 60s

to get to Almost what they look like in g2, right?

And then it kind of holds that until the end

because they changed they they changed artists

Yeah, and the writers. Yeah when when we got

Simon Furman Yeah, that's when things kind of

changed in a different direction. The stories

got bigger grander more cohesive Yeah, a lot

of the little separate sidelines stories actually

play into the main, whereas this, there's a lot

of separated stories. And I feel like until the

almost headmasters era in this, they really don't

have much continuing stories. Yeah, I mean, so

the way I look at it is episodic television.

in comparison to serialized television. This

kind of starts off as like your comic list. OK,

obviously these comics are not running weekly,

but this is your Transformers comic of the month.

This is your adventure of the month. Next month,

you are going to come back and you are going

to get like in. What the hell month are we in

now? March. In March, you might get an issue

of the comic where Shockwave is the main villain

and he's the leader of the Decepticons. In April,

you may get Megatron taking control back or you

might have the plight of the Bumblebee. We'll

get to that, folks. And again, using TFWiki for

the creative. As you've said, Bob Budiansky on

writing. I'm going to go through these issue

by issue for the creatives so everyone gets credit

because no one should not get credit if they

had, you know, whatever. I don't want to not.

So Bob Budiansky on issue 14. Penciler was Don

Perlin. Anchor was Al Gordon. Colorist was Nell

or Neil Yomtov. The letterer was Janice Chang.

Editor was Michael Carlin. Is that really? Is

that who I think that is? No way. I don't know.

Yes, it is. Editor -in -Chief Jim Shooter. Yeah,

Editor -in -Chief Jim Shooter, but... Wow! Yeah,

Mike Carlin. I'm friends with him on Facebook.

He's currently the Executive Editor at Dix. Wow!

Yeah, I know Mike. I don't know Mike, but...

He's currently at DC Comics. Yeah, that's what

I just said. Yeah. Wow, that's right. Because

Mike Carlin is just a name that you just know

because of Marvel. So as I often do on my phone,

I will take screenshots and post them on social

media in preparation for the podcast. And the

first panel that I hit here in issue 14 was the

panel where Optimus Prime is explaining something

to these newly made Autobots. Your engrams were

encoded in a pattern of light within crystalline

containment vessels. The Decepticons ambushed

us, causing the Ark to crash land here on Earth.

Our war continues and now your presence is needed.

The Ark built these five bodies into which I

have just placed your minds. Now all of you live

for a second time. Well, so basically... Yeah,

well the panel before when They're all time prime

takes jet fire to ratchet you can see all the

downed Autobots Yeah, I'm volume one that in

some part he had to do with yeah But it's all

the main season one casts that are down for the

count And then you get the season two people.

Yeah that are in these crystals and these guns

that look like primes ion Canon rifle. Yeah,

but what I love about this this this prime panel

here is So basically either Optimus Prime is

Jesus Christ or he's Noah Because if the Ark

is making the bodies for these these encoded

personalities let's say if the Ark is making

the bodies then Optimus Prime is Noah I keep

telling the rabbits only two only two only two

well like he I mean it's it's kind of just recreating

their bodies I know yeah I know the memory and

Graham crystals is almost like the sparks mm

-hmm yeah sort of before they had sparks yeah

but we get grapple We get hoist, we get smoke

screen skids and tracks. And. They're very green.

Oh, yeah, all of them are. And then they have

to learn about, you know, their their disguises

and transformations and bumblebees kind of, you

know. Chief among them to teach them. Earthlings

would call me a tour guide. Yes, yes, they would.

And then the coloring. One thing I'll note is

the coloring on a lot of the characters are all

over the place. Specifically, when you get to

like Starscream in the next, you know, on the

next kind of page, he's like a blend of Starscream

with Thundercracker with who knows what. There's

a where is it there's a close -up of Starscream's

face. This is another screenshot. I took Where'd

it go? Maybe it was before Maybe it was before

the Autobot thing. I know where is it? There

it is. Yeah, it's before It's the next it's the

page right after prime brings them back to life.

It's the final panel on P Whatever page it is,

but he says I didn't accept the job of heading

this energy procurement operation to become Shockwave's

fool on Thundercracker. We must do something.

And I'm looking at Starscream's face and it is

all black with basically prowl -fired dying eyes

from Transformers the movie. He looks horrible.

He looks like Rap Jet. for at least the first,

like, 24 issues. But, yeah, okay, well, we're

only in issue 14, so. Yeah. This is not, and

I'll preface this with, this issue is not one

of my favorites from this. No. I, because I never

really got into the rock band thing, I never

really got into all that. I find it entertaining,

you know, when they're at the gas station filling

up. Yeah, that was funny. Where how are you talking

without moving your mouth? And, you know, and

they're like, hey, you know, here's my Blackrock

gold priority card. And then his wrist flips

around in an unnatural, you know, and G .B. Blackrock

is, you know, kind of their. He's kind of their

guy. He's kind of the benefactor and he's kind

of all over the place and you know through the

end of this series Along with some others, you

know, like circuit breaker and some of those

that they'll live until the end But yeah, I mean

And thankfully we're not covering the UK comic

No offense to them because it goes even all over

the place even more because it lasted longer

and Simon Furman was writing those way before

he started writing the American one. Yep. Wasn't

Simon the original writer? I think he was. I

could be wrong on the UK books. I think he was,

but I think some of these got ported over. Not

all of them, but some of them did. Yeah, some

of them did. You said you don't care about the

rock band thing. I find that hilarious. Not that

you don't care about it, but I found that really

hilarious because I'm not the most diehard Bruce

Springsteen fan, but I know people who are, and

I've done podcasts with people who are, and I've

done podcasts with a guy who actually runs a

Springsteen podcast. I just found that so hilarious

that it was a Bruce Springsteen knockoff. concert

and that is so 80s because that you know, like

I said, this was published around 85 or 86 and

Obviously born in the USA was huge as it released

in 84. Yeah, I have so the thing the major Separation

for me is Between Marvel US and IDW is and I

know again It's a 40 year span between the two

continuity as I get it fine. But like I need

all of the colors everywhere you know people

i remember some of the guys on transmissions

were saying about the beast wars comic the the

the one that just ended the the one we liked

that the backgrounds were all bland these backgrounds

unless it's a building right next to the robots

they're so freaking bland they're like one note

colors like one panel could have Okay, so there's

a panel right before... It's the the one right

before Bumblebee says, track stop admiring yourself

in your rear -view mirror. So the panel right

before Bumblebee says that. It is a yellow road

with blue cars and red cars with purple buildings

and like a light bluish sidewalk. Well, and there's

a lot of white space in this and a lot of yellow

backgrounds. Yep And there's just not a lot going

on. Yeah, no and I don't want us to spend like

every inch of this episode just on issue 14,

but But yeah, this is rough Well, and then and

then we get to the Decepticons breaking out of

the concrete. Mm -hmm, which is absurd And You

know the new Autobots taking stuff down jamming

and then you know the bumblebee Taking out shockwave

and the crew and then them Bolton and then Prime

at the end, you know You know bumblebee is very

much in character to the animation stuff, you

know, yeah. Yeah and But I mean it wasn't it

wasn't too bad. I didn't I didn't mind this one

as much But I absolutely hate the next one. I

robot master Yes, I I liked when like it started

getting good for me in this trade when we hit

issue 17 and 18 and 19 Yeah, and then it started

kind of going back down for me and then issue

24 and 25 were about where it started kind of

getting better. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I would

definitely agree with that. And what I find funny

is, as we're reading this, as we're looking through

this, issue 15, which is, like you said, like

I said, I roll out master. The only change is

Keith Williams is the anchor on issue 15. The

credits are all the same, other than that. But

what I find funny is as we're going through this

and looking at the specific TFWiki articles,

the stark contrast sometimes in each issue between

the characters as far as how many Autobots and

how many Decepticons. Or just how much the...

how much they don't look like. Oh yeah, no, no,

no, but I'm like looking at a list of characters

for this issue. For Autobots, you have Hoist,

Bumblebee, Track, Skids, Optimus Prime, and Wheeljack

for the Autobots. Decepticons, Megatron, Shockwave,

Soundwave, Decepticon, Jet, whatever the hell

that was supposed to be, Ravage, Laserbeak, and

Buzzsaw. So the last issue, the first one we

talked about, the Autobots actually outnumbered

the Decepticons, and now... Just by what, two?

The Decepticons are outnumbering the Autobots.

These comics are interesting. They're interesting.

I love the page where Optimus is giving them

their mission and they're all transforming and

rolling out. They're all red when he says, and

roll out. Like every single, even Bumblebee.

Like and bumblebees not read like always cliffjumper

and always straight -up bumblebee Red with black

wood. I'm like, oh my god the color You're never

not gonna hear us talking hear me talk about

the colors folks because yikes Well the colors

in this In this series in general like until

later when they get better quality are just horrible

Yeah by comparison like people were complaining

about the Beast Wars comic Evidently, they aren't

too familiar with the Marvel run. Oh, I think

they are. I think they just forgot. Yeah. But

yeah, I mean, so this issue Megatron, you know,

becomes frozen. Yeah. Seized up. And then they

have the robot master and they're trying to spin

it. And then he's run out of fuel. And then you

see Megatron open up and he's got like a metal

cage in his mouth. Yeah. Soundwave feeds him.

And then he goes bananas and starts crushing

everything. And Prime's like, yeah, if the humans

won't listen to us, let's go. And then the robot

master guy is like trying to spin it and like

he's, you know, important. But then he lights

a match on Megatron's foot and Megatron's like

Yeah for the next cigarette you like could could

change that equation, you know of his death and

oh God and you would find that smoking can indeed

be hazardous to your health as he like smashes

it in his mouth She's yeah Megatron. I don't

know like Just didn't like this issue plus the

the imaging like horrible unless it was a human.

Yep Yeah The imaging was bad. The colors were

like I said like every time the Autobots were

in Like I don't want to say silhouette, but essentially

silhouette like I I see Optimus Prime as a red

truck Like two times in this issue and I just

don't like it And Megatron having a metal mouth

is just weird. It's kind of creepy. It's very,

very creepy. The next issue, issue 16, Plight

of the Bumblebee. OK, I guess you got to give

your scout a starring issue at some point, but

this one, I did not like the Deceptica. Like,

first of all, Bumblebee is like, oh, the Autobots

don't like me or all this or all that. And I'm

just like. Bumblebee come on, you know better

and then he gets kidnapped and I Don't know Thoughts

on polite of the bumblebee sir, I liked the intro

page Mm -hmm where it shows an actual like drawing

of the figure Yeah, that was original toy. Yep

And then you see, you know shockwave essentially

doing like Shockwave thing, you know shockwavy

stuff There's wires all over the place kind of

reminds me of Beast Machines Megatron in a sense

and shockwaves kind of running the show Yeah,

shockwave is the leader of the Decepticons right

now Well, and that's kind of funny because they

take this same thought like this, you know the

shockwave and is the leader of the Decepticons

and kind of ruthless and everything. And he's

very much like that in the Dreamwave comics.

So it's not that much different. But. You know,

then you get the Decepticons all looking kind

of blandish and then the Autobots kind of sharing

similar colors. And then we get to Bumblebee.

You know playing the boohoo card sitting under

a tree. Yeah Then he gets blown up real good,

yep Has to hide at a car dealership, which is

probably where they got the idea from the transformer

movie Yeah, probably and then Oh, no, they weren't.

No, you mean to that? Okay. Yeah. No, you weren't.

No, they're not that smart. Michael Bay ain't

that smart. No, somebody else was. Yeah. But.

Yeah. I mean, I was like, we need to go save

him. I love Bumblebee. I just did not like Bumblebee

in this comic because. Like I understand he's

at times going to feel like he's the smallest

guy or you know the one who's always getting

picked on and things like that, but I Don't know

This just kind of hit me the wrong way where

it's like I just don't care what happens to him

and that sucks because I shouldn't I Shouldn't

not care what happens to bumblebee Yeah, and

he's trying to go to the rescue of jetfire and

then Shockwaves just want to take him down, which

I can't see shockwave This was a very much a

Megatron move not a not a shockwave move because

shockwave is more calculated Yeah, there was

no reason to attack him by himself So And then

the entire army of Autobots is coming. Yeah,

and they all look very similar and you know Then

they all fly off and then bumblebees, you know,

just kind of sitting there as the the guys kind

of get arrested So, yeah, I don't know. Yeah,

I mean the entire army of Autobots and Yeah,

the entire army of Autobots and like, yeah, what?

Like, you guys really like me, oh my god, you

like me, you like me. You know, you're gonna

rescue me, of course they're gonna rescue you,

you idiot. You're the little scout that could.

I think I could, I think I could. I suck. I think

I could suck, I think I could suck, really? Really,

could you? We don't want to see that movie. No.

You get to issue 17 into the smelting pool with

you. Yeah. This is where I started to enjoy it.

Okay. So tell me why you enjoyed this. Cybertron.

Yes. Exactly. Humans. Exactly. Um, and I love

the generic robots and then you, you had the,

the kind of flyers going on and then. You get

to see blaster. Yep You know and then Doing something

other than just playing a boombox and then you

see scrounge. Yeah, it was basically just a wheel

But I didn't dislike the character I liked him

because he was he was a spy he was kind of Sneaky

he could break in and then Think they gave too

much credit to the Decepticons and having a trip

alarm in the wall With in his finger hit it,

you know for the camera in the microphone and

Then you have I forget which insect icon that

is the Scrapnel Probably shrapnel. Yeah, no And

then he you know, he folds up he bolts he goes

to He's heading towards Blaster mm -hmm and gets

caught by shrapnel Yeah, which was sad yeah scrounge

has a really impressive death in this yeah, and

And then you see perceptor and cosmos and you

know warpath Beachcomber And power glide all

the season two Autobots yeah, and so they're

all there and I really enjoyed that because you

got the variations, new characters in there.

And then you have Blaster and Perceptor very

much kind of leading the crew there. And seeing

the smelting pit and all the bots being dumped

into it. And then you see the bombshell kickback,

dirge, thrust, ramjet, and straxus. And I thought

Straxus was pretty robust for a villain on Cybertron.

Yeah, he's very sadistic. Yeah, and then the

insecticons are there and the other jets that

Megatron didn't take because they're coneheads.

Exactly. And then, you know, Straxus ripping

his arm off, his special arm. Mm -hmm my arm

my arm my special arm. There's no other like

it now. There's not even one like it. Mm -hmm

dispose of him, you know, they're dragging him

away and Blaster going through the the wreckage

of damaged bots and heading in and then Blaster

breaking in and then they think they're gonna

throw him in the smelting pot and he starts to

go in but jumps and then He finds scrounge who's

basically dead and Partially melted and he's

trying to save him and then scrounge gives him

a data disk With information which was great

and then you see him escape with the other Autobots

blowing in and destroying stuff Yeah, because

Powerglide comes in to get Blaster after Blaster

gets the data disk from Scrouge, and Scrouge

basically just sinks into the smelting pit. So

yeah, that smelting pit, if it had a cover on

it, I would make a Unicron joke. No, he sprays

the insecticons and the jets with it. No, I know.

Yeah, no, that was amazing. That was awesome.

That was great. But you know knock down the acid

cover Like that there's no cover to that smelting

pool, so I can't make the unicorn joke again

Autobots versus Decepticons Smelting pool the

Decepticons as far as featured characters according

to TF wiki The Decepticons outnumber the Autobots

in this issue because you have blaster scrounge,

which obviously scrounge dies. Spoiler, sorry,

it's been 40 years. Power Glide, Cosmo, Sea Spray,

Warpath, as you already mentioned, all the season

two guys. And then the Decepticons, you got the

Insecticons, you got Ramjet, Durge, Thrust, Straxus,

Megatron, Laserbeak, Soundwave, Ravage, and Starscream.

And Prime. I mean, yeah, they've listed all these

guys, you know, just in cameo. Yeah, I mean cuz

they're they're featured characters and you know

Otherwise if they didn't list these they would

be even Yeah, pretty much. Yeah But yeah, and

and then they find out primes alive and then

it Gives him alive then he's gonna die again.

Yeah, so it gives him hope and then And then

it's the next one Blaster and Strax's battle

between two worlds. Yeah. You say it gives them

hope. All I can think is all hope is gone. No.

The Matrix. Where is it? Galvatron has it. Then

we have to get the Matrix. We have to. Yeah,

that's all I can think of is, you know, all hope

is gone. It's like, not really. So yeah, so we

get to the next one and I love the I Do love

the the cover Blaster you said battle you said

battle between worlds. I love that cover that

that was so fun and the bridge to nowhere I I

Really dug this for some odd reason. I like the

story in this I did too despite the human stuff

It was kind of entertaining to see, you know,

Decepticon guardian bots trying to come through

and then at the same time, dematerializing and

exploding. Decepticons go boom. Decepticons go

boom. You know, soldier, go on the bridge and

find out what went wrong. But Lord Straxus, the

body of Crosscut seems to be lying in pieces.

You dare question my order, soldier, go. I'm

not questioning his orders you soldier because

if you do you gonna end up like like crosscut

there and I think it's either the last I don't

know when he actually first debuted but the human

character of Donnie Finkelberg as I'm reading

this comic on my phone every time his name pops

up all as I'm thinking is this was 1985 What

is a young Donnie Wahlberg doing in a Transformers?

Come like it's not anything to do with the way

the character looks or how he's drawn or how

it has nothing to do with It's just seeing the

name Donnie Finkelberg makes me want to replace

the last name with Wahlberg Talk about a new

kid on the block well, and then and then we get

to What's funny is the the last panel we see

straxas before I mean, not the last panel, but

the last page where it's with the space bridge.

They're starting to add these colors and these

definition to the robot faces. A little bit,

yeah. And then the Autobots, when you get to

another two pages in, are very shiny and have

a lot of the kind of more detail. Yeah, there's

a panel. In the trade here, it's on page 113

out of 285. It's the panel where it starts off.

It's where you, as one of them uses the distraction

of the explosion, so that page there. The last

panel on the page, Blaster. Huh, who said that?

Looking at Blaster's face here. He's either a

metallic Funko pop or he's an early version of

Judge Dredd Yeah, I got the Judge Dredd vibe

on yeah. No, absolutely The only reason why I

say metallic Funko pop is the metallic Funko

pop design is supposed to be it's supposed to

look shinier than normal Funko pops are So that's

the only reason why I said that but yeah, very

very Judge Dredd with that And again, I'm having

fun with this. I'm getting over the fact that,

like you said, there is becoming more definition.

They are doing more than just your standard five

colors. But still, there is still the standard

five colors to a panel or a page kind of thing.

But it's getting better, so that's good. Only

took them 16 issues to get better. And then we

find out the space bridge is actually Spanner

yep He's like, please just destroy me the fate

of two worlds, you know relies on that And Yeah,

so It's entertaining to see you know blaster

in his Autobots Going on this bridge. Yeah Yeah,

that's yeah, that's very entertaining It's very

and straxas fighting blaster Yep almost causing

blaster to kick the bucket Almost except blaster

has the moves Of course he does and he kicks

straxas into the transport and he disintegrates

as spanner allows the Autobots to go through,

which shows that he's been torching the Decepticons

the whole time. Yeah, so he's clearly chosen

a... So I just quickly looked up, as you were

talking earlier, I looked up... I basically just

clicked on Spanner's name here on the TF Wiki

and just opened his article just to... He's essentially...

What cerebrose is in rebirth where cerebrose

doesn't want to fight He doesn't want to be a

part of the war. He just wants to be at peace

kind of thing Well, apparently the war chose

spanner and spanner chose the side of the auto,

but you know, it's like that old an old x -men

line You got to choose a side are you sure you

chose the right one from Wolverine it's like

yeah Like you said, he's just been nuking Decepticons,

and yeah, that's crazy. Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm. But

yeah, it was cool. And then you find that the

Autobots end up on Earth. Yep. Then they tease

Omega Supreme. Yeah, which the next cover I love

this cover. I love this cover I love the detail

and I love the the shine that they put on it.

I love Just the fact that he's torching the Decepticons

And I love and I don't remember off the top of

my head who handles most of the TF wiki net stuff,

but if you look at the at the at the article

on there for this Let's send this to you really

quick. But if you look at this on here under

the caption for the cover it says As is handed

to Decepticons Yeah, pretty much because it's

fucking omega supreme, I mean how can you not

like oh God, it's so good and I love All of this

this this is probably my favorite issue out of

the entire trade for this volume. Oh, I agree

I mean, I know we've kind of been negative and

I've kind of been a lot of negative with this

stuff, but again I, this is my first experience

with it and I'm so used to a completely different

writing and art style coming from reading the,

the IDW stuff, but I'm not holding them in comparison.

I'm trying my, my only Again, my standard complaint

is, oh, the five colors are, oh, like the writing

is good. I mean, there are a couple of lines

here or there where it's like, not really. But,

but overall it's, it's good. But man, this Omega

book, this Omega issue and so many Autobots and

so many Decepticons and thankfully only three

humans. But, but yeah. I do want to say about

this issue, issue 19 here in the U .S. for Transformers.

Again, same creative team except for the inkers.

Ian Ackin and Brian Garvey were the inkers on

this one, along with Don Perlin being the penciler

as always, Bob Bodeganski being the writer, Neil

Ernell, Yom Tov being the colorist. And man,

Omega looks so good in comic form. Yeah, I really

like Omega Supreme. Yep. Yeah, absolutely. So

fun. And you actually get a shot of, again, you

were talking about how the... how the colors

and backgrounds and things were getting more

defined and changing so it's on the like the

sixth or seventh maybe it's like the ninth or

tenth page into the issue you get this this top

panel here with the autobots blasting out of

somewhere and you see optimus prime with a red

cab and a white slash grayish sort of trailer

with bluish wheels so he's kind of he's not just

a all red truck like he was before in certain

silhouettes because he's he's being character

defined as his alt mode here so again yeah it

i'm loving this art and these colors even though

it's still mostly like five or six colors per

panel they're more defined and they are more

interesting than they were in the previous 18

issues. Yep. Yeah, but Omega Supreme, Devastator,

Constructicons, Shockwave, Soundwave, how can

you not look? Like, this is an issue I would

read over and over again just by itself. Forget

the rest of the trade. Megatron. Oh my god. I

have never liked the Marvel comic design of Megatron

because I'm used to Megatron having a All -grey

head not a black helmet with a gray face It's

on Page 142 out of 285, but it's the panel where

it's shockwave and laser beak and Shockwave is

telling Megatron something about begging Megatron

says beg it is you who should beg me Shockwave

for my forgiveness. I look at his face here and

I'm like Hmm he kind of reminds me of a rock

soldier from T at the TMNT cartoon a little bit

just the way his faces I love how the Autobots

take out Devastator. Mm -hmm and then You know

Omega supreme Comes in and just wipes the floor

with the Decepticons. Yep, and he takes he takes

out, you know some of the jets he you know blasts

laser beak he he takes down all of the the Decepticons

and Omega is looking at Megatron. I am the number

you cannot compute Decepticon No, you're nothing

more than another Autobot coward, you know and

then You know Omega just knocks him right out

blast him down damages him, you know the He basically

bitch slaps him. Oh, yeah, and then And then

Megatron Complains to shockwave just ridiculing

him and then shockwaves your argument is sound

I failed and you have succeeded commander. Yep

But it's funny because an Omega is just kind

of camped out sitting there next to the the arc

and then The Autobots are standing there skids

is missing. Yeah playing music and Yeah, it's

just Kind of interesting to see damage working

its way through yeah And I love I Love the issue

20 cover This time big enough for the both of

us Autobot draw I love that and again the the

captions Brokeback Cybertron, I'm like Oh no,

they did. They did, but they shouldn't have most

likely. I don't know how many people are reading

these Wikipedia articles, but I was like, oh

crap. And this issue 20 was first published May

of 1986. The cover date on it was September 86

though. And this is complete change in Penciler.

It is Herb Trimpe this time along with Ian Akin

and Brian Garvey back as inkers. Colorist Neil

Yamtov is also there. Obviously written by Buddy

Ansky. But yeah, the fact that the pencil has

changed for this issue and you can clearly tell

because this is the showdown and the first two

giant zoomed in guided view Pieces I have on

Comixology's app on my phone is ravage. Oh boy.

That's one hell of a bad kitty He looks great,

but yikes that's scary oh Boy yeah, and this

issue surprisingly It's like we've been talking

about so far from issue 14 to issue 19 for the

most part It's been all robots with a few humans

now. It's literally three robots and Six humans

I feel like we're in this this issue with the

the showdown that mm -hmm. We're watching the

girl who loved power glide Pretty much. Yeah

It's basically the same thing it's pretty much

the same thing except it's the the the Texan

who loved skids. Yeah Yeah, and literally though

the best part of this entire issue is Everything

that ravage is doing I love ravage in this so

good And that's pretty much all I have to say

about this one I just Yeah, it was an interesting

issue I'll say that mm -hmm Is there anything

you want to highlight from this Megatron's like

King Kong holding a girl pretty much. Yeah And

then Megatron just blows away skids or skids

yeah And I mean skids is the only auto body You

couldn't have had, like, skids and tracks and

cosmos or not cosmos. Like, you couldn't have,

like, an Autobot trio or somebody, you know,

something or just have him have a regular part

like Prowl or Bumblebee. Like, throw somebody

in there to give him some sort of backup. I mean,

I guess, I don't know. Did it work for you that

he was completely outnumbered? Mean, it's fine.

I've seen stuff like that before I did the hot

rod took out ravage. Yeah initially, yes and

And then there's you know, the whole fight that

ensues there, but they did make ravage look pretty

He's badass in this comma. I know he looks ferocious

and then he falls down the pit. Yep Can you go

down the hole? Can you go down the hole? That's

what she said. And then, you know, and then Skids

is basically like, yeah, I need to leave. And

then they tease the aerial bots, which the cover

for the next one, again, I enjoy. Yeah, that

cover, man, this is again. Don Perlin is back

as the pencilers same anchors rest of the crew

is the same but this cover This had a first published

June of 86 Cover date was October of 86. So this

was This was first published two months before

the movie Hmm and the only reason why I'm bringing

that up is because that cover Look at the cover

look at the main cover with all the aerial bots

and then thing firing up at them Yeah, it's okay.

There's no giant planet there, and it's the wrong

color It's a green font color on the transformers,

but like seriously. I'm like hmm I wonder like

I'm just now noticing this as I'm looking at

this on my computer. I'm like holy crap That's

kind of sort of shades of the movie poster And

I should know the movie poster's right behind

me, about to be put up on my wall. This issue,

I don't know. I think, does this go, yeah, so

this has like, I wanna say five acts in it. We've

got stuff with Megatron and the Insecticons,

and then we've got Skids, who's returning to

the Ark with Finkelberg, Wahlberg. uh with Wheeljack

using the combiner technology stolen from the

Decepticons and we get introduced to the Aerial

Botswars I think is cool and I like them kind

of you know showing off ramjet thrust and dirge

because you know as much as people crap on the

Coneheads I do like parts of their designs I

don't know if they had enough personality but

Do like some of their stuff, but you know we

get superior and we get this we get that but

it just seems like it It seems like this one

issue is like a five -act play. There's so much

going on here Yeah, I'm This is this is where

it starts kind of getting all over the place

for me except fading for you. Yeah, I I Really

didn't Care about this issue You know and you

see the the Megatron pistol and the guy's hand

and you know you get superior and Essentially

he's taking command of the human And then you

know towards the end of the issue I Really hates

circuit breaker Yeah, hi. Because there's a lot

of faces ripped off, sitting on the wall, and

they've scrapped essentially everybody that came

from Cybertron. OK. So for people like me who

has only really heard about the name and seen

the design, I'm sorry in advance, but I'm going

to do this for myself. I am reading from a Wikipedia

article, folks. It's okay. In this one instance,

it's okay. She is a villain whose pathological

hatred of robots knows no bounds. She refuses

to make the distinction between Autobot and Decepticon,

blaming the Transformer race as a whole for the

attack which left her crippled. As such, she

is more likely to do harm to the Autobot's cause

than... That'd be it then to be of assistance.

Okay. So if people just rewind the podcast a

little bit on your cassette decks and listen

to what I just said, pathological hatred of robots.

It's essentially Dr. Swalford and Dr. Morgan.

It's essentially the two guys. from The Hate

Plague, from Return of Optimus Prime. It's essentially

those characters into one female. She is a combination

of those male characters and a combination of

Jessica Morgan, Dr. Morgan's daughter, who got

paralyzed. Like, oh my god. Yeah, no. I'm not

a huge fan of circuit breaker anyway, but they

eventually do this to spike too. Well, yes, I

mean this spike after all Which kind of sucks

but This issue the Autobots outnumber the Decepticons

as far as featured characters Which is interesting.

I do love the main cover I got to check and see

if one thing No. Oh, this is this is interesting.

This is really strange Most of the main covers

have included the the UPC on the bottom left

-hand corner This issues cover has black suited

spider -man's head. Yep, but I don't like wait

what I Know it's Marvel. I understand I get it

but like that kind of confused me Well, it's

not that much confusing because issue three like

way back in right one had a black suit spider

-man Spider -man and the funny thing is the the

comic cover I have shown here in in in comics

ology in the trade issue for IDW Just has a blank

white spot there does not have It's the same

cover. It just doesn't have the spider -man face

on the white piece interesting So are you still

fading or are you liking it again? Still kind

of hit or miss for me. Yeah Yeah, the the This

particular issue because it's got circuit breaker.

I'm not like a huge fan and I really hate Donnie

Fiegelberg Who thankfully goes away in not too

distant future. Yeah but Yeah, I find it too

funny that they they do the brain module thing

with prime Which is probably where the idea for

optimal getting taken over But yeah, I mean you

have skids here you have Megatron controlling

prime All the Autobots sitting there and Megatron

channeling to bring Minnesota life. Yeah. So

there's a lot in this that I do like conceptually

wise. When Circuit Breaker shows up, anytime

her and Donnie show up, I'm like, please remove

them. And then you have Forsyth, which is their

Barnett showing up, which is I don't have a problem

with him per se, because he kind of reminds me

of The guy from Transformers Prime Oh Fowler

Fowler he kind of reminds me of that. Mm -hmm.

So I don't have a problem with him I just don't

like the other two people and then I like when

menace or shows up and fight superior and That

was good. Yeah, that that was kind of cool and

you know crunches up cars and chucks them at

superior and Yeah, that's what I like about this

issue. It's basically the aerial bots versus

the Come not no not come such a cons god How

the hell am I a Transformers fan? I almost screwed

that up Yeah, and I like that that's pretty much

all okay, you have a few more on the Autobot

side but basically the Decepticon list is bombshell

Megatron sound wave and then Stuntagons with

with Minnesota. That's cool It's a nice fights

a nice few fight scenes in this too Yeah, and

then in the Marvel run has a lot of that. There's

there's definitely a lot of talk. Mm -hmm crowding

the scenes, but there's also a lot Story -wise

going on and I mean they're starting to be more

serialized now, which is kind of nice i'm not

a huge fan on serialized stuff in general but

it's not terrible where they're going with it

yeah for me i have to have serialized continuity

driven things in most comics i do for television

i don't depends on the show like comedy no you

really don't but like something like something

like star trek you need continuity You know that

better than anybody. Well, yes and no. That's

a debate for another show at another time. You

need continuity. You don't need serialized. Sure.

We get to issue 23 and Decepticon Graffiti. Okay

then. So yeah, this issue happened. Yeah, I'm

not a huge fan of this either. And then they're

dissecting skids. Yeah, dissecting skids. You

know, let's get to the death folks because issue

24 Well, I mean there is a wall of of transformers

stuck to the wall. They've got all the aerial

bots. They've got all the yeah Cybertronian ones

that came from Cybertron. They got blaster. I

mean, it's just it's sad Yeah, it's very sad

But yeah, I I hate this issue so So issue 24

I've got my super zoom in on comixology here.

75 cents in the US, 95 cents in Canada. 95 cents

for the after death. Oh my god. I... Surprisingly

by this point now I'm so used to the limited

color palette. That I'm kind of liking it like

the first few pages here with the purple like

the machine color purple stuff. I like that I

like some of the other backgrounds the human

stuff I could do without but it is what it is

And yeah The comic death of Optimus Prime Well,

and then there's the Cerebro shell in Prime and

Wheeljack pulls it out Mm -hmm. And then Megatron

and Prime meet. Yep. Right outside of this lab.

Yep. And we have Defensor in the Combaticons,

because, you know, when one is trying to sell

toys. Yes. And then they're going to have this

huge battle. And there's this video game. that

they see the guy, you know, hey, let's have a,

you know, no destroying, let's just do this.

And it's funny that it just happens to be compatible.

And they plug it into their head. And then they've

got the controllers, which look like Atari. Yeah.

And they're showing the different maps and the

different things and. The all the Autobots and

Decepticons are hooked up. Yep to fight in the

game. Yeah. Yeah, it's it's a virtual reality

robot rumble and I love The panel with shockwave

It's not it's Megatron saying this but it is

so I Waited four million years to destroy Optimus

Prime And a fleshling does it for me? Shit, that

hurt. He's mad. He's a danger to all our plans

for conquering this world's energy resources

as long as he is in command. Yeah, it's so...

And the one thing I noticed about this issue

is that... I don't know if I've noticed it before,

but Megatron's Decepticon symbol, first of all,

and I know the art team has kind of changed and

that's fine, but his helmet is darker blue -black

or whatever it's supposed to be than it ever

has before previously to this. And they kind

of keep it that way for the comic. Yeah, no,

and it's fine. I'm just noticing the change is

all I'm not saying it's bad. I'm just saying

that I'm noticing the stark contrast between

the dark colors on his head versus the grayish

white of the rest of him. And then in these two

panels here where Megatron's like, hmm, he's

thinking about what Shockwave says and then he

says, he lives, Optimus Prime lives. He's got

a red Decepticon symbol. It's not bright red.

It's very muted But it's look like I might be

legally blind, but I ain't colorblind folks I

know the difference between red and purple. I've

eaten enough skittles in my 43 years on this

planet. Thank you It's a red Decepticon symbol.

I'm like, yeah, why? I Think they just did it.

Yeah, it's a close -up. It's a whatever. Yeah,

you're right. I think they just did it And then

it's kind of crap what happens like yeah towards

the end primes like I killed imaginary people

Kill me Yes, I must and look when I say this

line folks I don't want anyone coming after me

because if you've listened to any of my podcasts

in the last 15 years, you know how much of a

proponent of suicide prevention I am but Please

kill me now put me out of my misery because I've

killed another fictional character Remember folks

fictional characters Prime wanting to commit

suicide is is It's Oh No I'm going to sit here

and say it definitively. In TF2 and Mike's personal

opinion, Optimus Prime wanting to commit suicide

versus going on because he killed fictional characters

in a game, it's the single worst character thing

Optimus Prime has ever had done to him more than

any bad writer in the Bayverse has ever done.

I will give him my face every day of the week.

This right here is insulting to us as fans of

this franchise and to those people who are fans

of Optimus Prime. I'm a fan of Optimus Prime.

This is by far the worst character thing I think

I've ever seen in 43 years on this planet with

Optimus Prime. You weren't talking about things

Optimus Prime would never do. He would never

tell you to sacrifice himself or want it. Him

actually wanting to kill himself. This almost

makes me want to give this entire thing a zero.

I'm not going to do that, but literally that's

that's so infuriating. Yeah, I. And then he's

blown up, of course, and then he's like, I killed

Optimus Prime and then he's there and then You're

a really dead old friend. I can't say I'll miss

you You know and then he leaves and then Ethan

Zachary had copied prime You a floppy. Yep a

floppy Yeah, there's no way The multitude of

Optimus Prime is on a floppy. There's no fucking

way You couldn't even put kit the night industry

is 2 ,000 on a floppy disk Yeah, there's no This

last issue man or the second whatever the second

to last or whatever the hell this is And gone,

but not forgotten Yeah Yeah, no, no the next

one the last one is gonna Megatron's last, okay

Yeah, issue 24 is is is the one with the floppy

and it's like wait what? I'm glad the trade doesn't

end on issue 24 because if it did I would have

even more problems, but we get issue 25 Megatron's

last stand Oh, and the other thing I didn't like

is this is completely separate from all this

crazy Optimus Prime stuff. I understand the name

of certain bases is fine, whatever, the Ark,

the, the, the, what's the stupid, the Nemesis,

the whatever. That's fine. But the, was, is it

the base on Cybertron, the auto base? Like, okay.

Don't call it the That's... I don't know. Final

issue, what are your thoughts? Well, I like that

Megatron gets bored. But it seems a very Starscream

-y thing to do. Oh, yes! Like, he's sitting there

throwing a tantrum on a pile of junk. Yep. And...

And he's still worried about Optimus Prime. Yep.

The fact that Prime's dead now. So he's like

paranoid. He knows we're here. And then he like

crushes Brawl's head. Yeah. And then chucks his

body. Yeah. No body for Brawl. And then he shows

up on Shockwave. Yeah, and then shock waves making

preparations with something wave. Yeah And then

they have Megatron throwing an even bigger tantrum

and then shockwave is like hey Predacons, we

got a job. Yeah, he's like take out Megatron

Yeah, and then Megatron's like freaking out because

every time he sees a tractor trailer that looks

like prime He thinks it's prime. He thinks it's

prime. So this issue Megatron's Megatron's last

stand It's essentially web world for Megatron

And he's having a nervous breakdown. Yeah, that's

what I'm saying. This whole issue is essentially

Galvatron going insane and going to the web world

planet and You know all of that like Megatron

is like you said having a nervous breakdown and

again So many Decepticons, and you really only

have Streetwise, Hotspot, and First Aid. And

then Prime think, or Megatron, because he's never

met the Predacons, and they have Autobot symbols

on them. Yes. He's like, we're your doom, Megatron,

the Autobot symbol. You're Autobots. Prime sent

you to kill me. And then they're ripping them

apart, like just bashing in parts of them, ripping

parts of them off. Yep. And he's still holding

his own. Yeah. And then his face is like torn

up. Yeah. And he still throws all of them. And.

They're like, all right, this is enough. They're

like Predacons combined. Yeah. And then. Fighting

Megatron as he's falling apart. And it's just

entertaining how the whole thing goes. And then

Megatron goes nuts. And Megatron is too clever.

Yes, too clever. Megatron will go where no one

can ever follow him. He's speaking in the third

person like Waspinator. Yeah. Where Optimus Prime

can never follow. And then he blows himself up

in the space bridge. Yeah, he's like you did

it you destroyed Megatron congratulations corrections

on wave. Although everything went precisely as

I planned I did not destroy Megatron a memory

did and And that's the end of the trade like

yeah, that's the end of this part of the story.

It's like Holy crap. What's next? And it's all

over the place Yeah, no, it really is And yeah,

I, I don't know. I really don't know. By the

end of this trade, I, even though I'm still going

to complain and say, Oh, it's five colors or

whatever. It's just a standard complaint for

me. Like I'm not gonna. I'm going to take points

off more for Optimus Prime wanting to kill himself

than I'm going to take points off for only having

five colors in a comic. But by the end of it,

the story's got a lot better. As much as it is

a very much cliffhanger -ish type of thing to

do with Megatron and his web world stuff. Yeah.

Oh man, this kind of wackadoo. Yeah. Yeah, it

kind of was. And I don't honestly start enjoying

it until probably volume four. Oh, well. Just

just prefacing that. Yeah. Now volume four is

gonna be the last one here in Autobotly April

and then we're gonna come back with Autobotly

August later this year And finish it off with

volumes five through eight Eight volumes for

this entire run crazy crazy volume two zero to

five. What do you give it? The whole thing. Yeah,

I'll probably give it I'll probably give it a

2 .5 because there's more I don't like than what

I like Yeah, I'm right there with you it's a

two and a half easily It Even though the stories

got better close to the end there Some of the

rest of it is just like this is not good stuff

like I'm not sure how people enjoyed this back

then, let alone now. I know there are several

podcasts out there that are doing the same thing

that we're doing, even though we're doing it

in a shorter form type of stuff, even though

we've spent an hour talking about these issue

14 to 25, 11 comics. 11 comics in under two hours,

folks. That doesn't happen on the pull bag. Half

the time. when i talk comics in the pullback

with anybody and i'm not calling him out specifically

just because this is it's just because this is

what happens jt from saskatoon and i can talk

about five issues of batman beyond will be here

for two and a half to three hours the fact that

you and i have just covered sort of 11 comics

in under two hours shocking and i have not like

One of the things that we always ask over on

studio 2009 is like when we talk about movies

like if we talk about say Lethal Weapon the first

film and one of the questions is are you itching

to watch the next film now or something or whatever?

so if it's a sequel obviously weapon 2 3 4 whatever

and Sometimes we say yes. Sometimes we say no

at this point now that even though I read volume

1 like eight years ago at this point, but now

that we've covered the first 25 issues of the

series, I'm not itching for more of it, but I'm

not as jaded as I originally was because I didn't

grow up with this. So I'm okay when we get to

doing volume three next week, I think, unless

another stupid choice is made and Bumblebee commits

suicide. No, but no, I know yeah, I'm saying

like, you know Something like that happens. I'm

like like I haven't like reached my point of

okay, Steve I'll record the intro you can talk

to yourself in your voices or you can talk to

whomever you like I'm not to the point of abandoning

these episodes of my podcast here. I Hope that

doesn't happen at all actually There's some interesting

stuff that happens in the next trade for sure.

Alright folks, we were both giving this two and

a half, correct? Yes. We're gonna go to a quick

ad break. You're gonna hear some ads and some

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right folks we are back here inside the pull

bag on all things transformers What a month this

is going to be Overall are you enjoying going

back? I know I know you enjoy this stuff Anyway,

and I know you know it more than I know it and

I'm experiencing it for the first time but Did

you enjoy this? Um, you mean going back? Yeah.

Yeah And finally talking about it, or did we

skip anything? Is there anything more? I don't

think we skipped anything. I think we hit all

the right notes. There was definitely a lot more

to be desired. But it wasn't horrible. But some

of these are best left in the past. Think that's

why I other than the whole story of wire why

everyone knows why I went to IDW I think that's

why I like most comics I can't read in general

any comic book before the year 2000 it's just

The 90s were completely different the 80s the

70s and then you get even further back into 40s

50s 30s, you know all that like it's really It's

rough. But yeah, I like I've said in this in

this episode of the show, there were moments

in this that I absolutely like I laughed at the

Bruce Springsteen knockoff thing. I thought that

was hilarious. I laughed at certain like Bumblebee

trying to teach the other Autobots the stuff

with the street signs and the traffic signals

and no transforming and You know, all that. That

was fun. I enjoyed the Megatron Shockwave. Power

dynamic? Yeah, because normally Shockwave is

Mr. Loyalty. Shockwave is, I'm going to stay

on Cybertron until you come back. Kind of loyal.

Like, he's as loyal, if not more loyal, than

Soundwave has always been. Like, Shockwave is

not Starscream. But yet Shockwave shows in his

logic why he should lead at times instead of

Megatron. And same thing with Megatron. Megatron

shows him, okay, this is why you should... Okay,

Commander. It was interesting seeing that. It

was fun experiencing that for the first time.

It was interesting. So I'm slightly looking forward

to the more of it, but I don't know what's going

to happen. Agreed. Anything you want to promote

or anything before I run through the closing?

I don't think so. All right. Thank you for joining

us here inside the pullback on all things Transformers.

If you'd like to get in contact with us, leave

feedback for the show. There are several ways

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Volume 3. Here, inside the pull bag on all things

Transformers, for now, I am TF2 and Mike Whiff.

Steve Megatron. Close us out, Megatron. And until

next time, transform and transcend into the Marvel

Universe. So where did I put the other shit then?

Fuck. In the toilet? No, well, that's where the

other shit goes, but that's not where I put the

other shit. So it's funny because Google Pixel

whatever can, obviously all phones can take screenshots,

but Google Lens can copy text. I love that feature.

I love that feature too. except it completely

fucked up the text. So the picture I sent you

or the screenshot I sent you of the table of

contents showing issue 14, March 85, blah, blah,

blah, blah, blah. Well, it also had the writers

in the art. It fucked up all, like, bleh, bleh,

bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh,

bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh,

bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh,

bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh,

bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh,

bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh,

bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh It's a straight

copy and paste. Like, how do you fuck it up?

I wish to speak to my lawyer.