Transformers Classics Volume 5 Review

Hi, this is John Barber from IDW Publishing.

You are listening to the Geekcast Radio Network.

Come on, man. See, look, you had to do that,

too. Of course, that's on mic now. Yep. Just

not off of me. All right. Whenever you're ready,

Mr. Snotatron. I am Snotamus Prime. You've just

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and so much more. It's all inside the pull bag

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further ado, it's time to talk about the comics

we're reading right now here inside the pull

bag. Hello and welcome to All Things Transformers.

Which is jumping inside the pull bag. That's

what she said. He's Steve Megatron. I'm TF2 and

Mike. And it is Autobotly August 2023. Where

did the time go? I don't know, but I wish it

would speed up. These are the most I'm consuming

comics I have ever read. My favorite one. of

the volumes from here on out is probably the

last one. Volume 7? Yeah, but that's more so

because I had a lot of the issues in there. And

it seemed to kind of stabilize and focus more

on Prime and on what's going on with the Ark

and things of that nature and less on all the

randomness going on. And I was really tired of

seeing the Witwickies. Yep. Yeah. So Volume 7,

the IDW Transformers U .S. Classics, IDW Publishing,

that is issues 77 to 80. So it's the final four

issues of the Marvel U .S. run. It also includes

Headmasters, issues 1 through 4, and Transformers

the Movie, issues 1 through 3. We will be covering

all of that in a few weeks or a few months or

whatever. But, man, oh, man, these. This is volume

five. It consists of issue 51 through 64. That

is 13 or 14 comics in a collection. I'm used

to trades being five issues, six issues. Like,

you know. I said it 15 years ago. I don't mind

sitting here for two hours and talking about

whatever. 15 years later, I'm old. I've seen

some shit in podcasting. I'm done. Yeah, that's

kind of how most of us are anymore. Well, you

were kind of like that from the beginning, but

that's because, you know, attention span went

out the window. I've seen things. Or like Christopher

Lloyd in Suburban Commando. I was frozen today.

Yeah, I love that line. I love that line. We

should use that on, like, a dump button whenever

something's annoying. Yep. And we have no response.

You know, somebody's talking about, yeah, I was

enjoying blah, blah, blah. I was frozen today.

Like, there's no comeback. I have no response

for what you just said. So it's I'm frozen today.

I know this is sad. This is going to be sad and

whatever else. But every time. So I have, this

was from the DC Masters of the Universe crossover

that DC did years ago now. There's a comic panel

where Batman actually says the line in the comic,

and for the longest time, and may the man rest

in peace, I so wanted to get Kevin on audio.

Get off my lawn. But we're here in Autobotly

August 2023 to talk about Transformers Classics

Volume 5, as I said before, issues 51 to 64.

And yeah, not only am I tired of the humans in

Transformers, you're right. The Witwickys in

this comic, they can all go to hell. They're

just whiny. Yeah, pretty much. I did kind of

like Spike and Fortress Max. It kind of continued,

you know, from the cartoon. It didn't continue

from the cartoon, but it reminds me of Rebirth

when he became Cerebros or Cerebros. He was the

head of whatever the hell it was, you know, all

that. So I did kind of like that. But he's basically

taking his buddy Cliff, which originally I thought

he was like. cliff in quotes like i'm gonna go

talk to this hot red autobot named cliff jumper

kind of thing but no it's another human named

cliff and sadly he doesn't know the bar your

name is from uh and all that but yeah cliff is

an idiot my first note in other words i was frozen

today even worse than that yeah yeah cliff is

And my overall note for this issue for – I don't

– what is this actually titled? The Man and the

Machine. Yeah, Man and the Machine, Slaughter

on the Slopes. I titled it Snow Day because they're

going on a snow vacation. I'm like, okay, not

really my thing. But like I said, the things

with Spike and Fort Max I like. the art is the

art at this point for me. I, I can't keep saying,

I'm sorry. I don't like that. It's only five

different colors. Like it, it is what it is.

I will say that there's a lot more because they're

on a ski lodge and skiers. There's a lot more

white in these panels than usual. And yeah, um,

I'm, So glad that I have no nostalgia for this.

I know you kind of later, you grew up on reading

some of the other issues later on in a couple

weeks that we'll get to. I collected all of the

Marvel line. Did you? Yeah, I used to find them

in the quarter bins for the most part. Unless

it was really unfortunate. But I would find them

for dirt cheap at this one comic shop. And nobody

ever had them. And there were issues that I couldn't

find. And so some of the issues that are here

I didn't own. But that seemed to be true for

the later ones. What's funny is the older it

was, the easier it was to find. Yeah. And it

still shocks me that all of these, of course,

this is back in the day, back in the 80s, 87,

a dollar US for each of these comic book single

issues. Holy crap. That's kind of cool. But,

yeah, I mean, the issue 51, it's basically Spike

realizing, I have a destiny. I need to follow

my destiny and kick Cliff off a cliff or something.

Make him jump or something. I don't know. All

right. So we get to issue 52. New 52? No, I wish.

Yeah, we're going to get some of the weird. So

issue 51 to 56, is it 56 or 55? Where did I write

that note down? Issue 51 to 55 are the last issues

that Bob Budiansky wrote. Because in issue 56,

Furman takes over. 52, my notes. First off, mechanicals?

Really? Like, what's next? Is Judge Dredd going

to come out of the, you know, trans time portal?

I wish it was just called a freaking space bridge.

It's so much easier. Yeah, so they're mechanicals

or mechanicals or robot eating mechanical life

forms. Okay, so. It's basically Kremzik, but

gross. Yeah. And I gotta say, the cast of characters

that they're using, and I know that part of this

is because they were doing the pretenders, as

we'll get to later, and things like that, and

they were doing the microbots and the micromasters

and all of that. I don't care about a single

one of these robot characters outside of Optimus

Prime. I don't care about Groundbreaker. I don't

even care about what little gold bug is in this

issue. I don't care about him. I don't even remember

seeing Blaster or Grimlock. It must have been

in like one panel in issue 52. Well, they were

pretenders. Oh, well. I wish I pretended I didn't

read this damn book at this point, but... Yeah,

I don't know, man. I'm not trying to crap all

over this. I know this is some people's jam,

but this is just not my jam, and people will

be like, but TF2 and Mike, you've been saying

for years you don't cover stuff unless you actually

want to cover it. Well... This is Steve Megatron's

choice. Yeah, this is Steve's. After a decade

of me making him do everything on this podcast,

some of the stuff he didn't want to do, most

likely, this is his revenge. Well, I told him,

I said, if we're going to cover some old Transformers

comics, we have to go to the beginning. And the

sad part is... I agreed, because I'm always trying

to start from the beginning in most anything,

and man, is this rough. I, yeah. I forgot how

rough. I'm not going to lie, I did. I forgot.

Yeah. I mean, there's issues I like, and there's

issues I don't. Yep. Yeah, and the funny thing

is, is other than some of like the toy bios or

some of the other like biography stuff that Bob,

Bob, but he did, I don't think he was on the

cartoon at all. He was on the comic. So yeah,

he was on the comic. He helped build the continuity.

Yep. So like for me, I never, this is my first,

like doing volume one to volume five here is

my first, like, Because I wasn't a comics kid,

I was a cartoon kid. I'm sure people are tired

of me saying that, but that's what it was. But

yeah, issue 52, what are the Mechanimals having

for dinner? Oh boy, guess who's coming to dinner?

And then we get to 53, recipe for disaster. Landmine

and Cloudburst are about to become the Mechanimals'

next meal. Oh boy. I will say that I do like

the smaller cast. In this issue specifically,

you have three Autobots, three Decepticons, one

human, two Nebulans, and four other characters.

They're just other characters. They're not human,

they're not Nebulan, they're not robots. They're

Master Mouth and Cruncher. first one and all

that. So smaller cast actually works for me.

I think that's good. But at the same time, like

as a cloudburst that gets caught in the ladies

web or something or other. Yeah. And that's the

other thing, this whole pretender thing by 1987,

when this issue came out, I was already out of

87. I was turtles bound. I was already in the

sewers. I was eating pizza. I was hunting the

technodrome. I know crap about Transformers,

so pretenders, I never really got into them.

Yeah, I was a toddler. Yeah, he was a year old

at this point, folks. I was seven. Yes, I know,

I'm old. But the basic part of the story that

I kind of focused on for this issue was the whole

lady and Cloudburst and... But I'm really a robot.

You filthy robot. You lied to me. I am the queen

of the ugly, bald people who have purple hair.

Which you'd think, because it has purple hair.

Or she has purple hair that I would actually

like. That's one bald, purple -haired chick I

can do without. But yeah. Am I missing something

here, folks? I don't think I am. I mean, I get

what's going on in this issue, but, like, I'd

rather follow Skylynx around in space doing whatever

Skylynx is doing in space at the end of issue

53. Skylynx in space! Space, space, space, space.

Yeah, my one note about Pretenders. Pretenders

hurt my head. Stop pretending, pretenders. Exactly.

I will say that there is one good thing about

the comics at this point in 1987. In the issued

were all they had to introduce new things after

87, since the cartoon was no more, as far as

introducing the pretenders, introducing into

actual media, because the comics were the media

at the time, other than just having the toys

on the shelves. I don't know, maybe seven years

old and going from Transformers to Turtles is

too old as far as, like, I don't remember. From

87 to 92 when I was 12, I don't remember a lot

of it. I mean, I know Transformers was kind of

on its way out, but, I mean, it wasn't on its

way out, but it was transitioning into things

that I didn't care about having as a kid, almost

teenager. Yeah. Any notes from you for 53? You

know, I do feel bad for torturing you with this

now. Well, it's almost over, I think. There's

torture for all of us. Yes. Issue 54, King Kong,

because that's essentially what it is. Oh, Lord.

And then Micro Machines. I mean, Micro Masters,

yay. My one note of positivity on this, because

I know it's something that comes up later in

other French, I was like, hmm, Iguanas, huh?

Nice. Yeah, I did like that part. Yeah, that

was cool. My last note. But other than that.

Other than that, yeah, my last note on issue

54 was I feel like these stories are just there.

There's nothing that's getting me excited about

them yet. And the thing of these issues, issues

51 to 55, is that I have to remember in the 80s,

late 80s, early 90s, and pretty much the whole

80s, it was not really continuity driven. It

was one story. It's issue 51. Beginning story,

middle story, end of story, get to the end. There

isn't a the end, dot, dot, dot, question mark.

It's the end, period. So it's a single story,

and then you come back 30 days later to get another

single story. And I am so way past that when

it comes to consuming media. It depends on what

it is. Yeah, you're right. Like Trek, I love

the one -offs. Like I love when the characters

have the the overarching storylines that kind

of evolved with the character, you know, where

they do like a character focus and things like

that. But when it comes to like serialized TV,

Trek is not one of those ones I love having serialized

because there's always even in the serialized

serialized or not. Yeah. Most of the series have

episodes that are basically filler or just throw

away or you absolutely hate aspects of it. And

the same can be said for comics. Yeah. Like if

you hate a non serialized comic. It's fine because

in 30 days you're getting a brand new story,

which may or may not be related in the slightest.

Yeah. And I don't. I don't actively hate this.

This isn't me looking back on this because I

can't look back on it. Like I said earlier, and

I know I repeat myself all the time, but this

is my first exposure to these and this is my

reaction to them because there is no rose -tinted

glasses here for me. This isn't me going back

and doing Generation 1 all over again. Again.

Again. Again. Yes, yes, yes. But it's one of

those things where I just can't get into these

stories. And the other reason why I can't get

into these stories, I don't care about these

characters. These are not characters I know.

None of – even when we were doing like volumes

two, three, and four, even when it was – the

only time I perked up in any of this so far is

when something happens with a – Top tier character

like Optimus, Megatron, Soundwave, Hot Rod, Cup.

Characters I know. I don't know. Even when Blaster

was involved. Exactly, yeah. And, you know, fighting

the Decepticons on Cybertron. Yep. Even though

I didn't give a rip who any of the Decepticons

were. Yeah. Or know who they were. Yeah. Yeah,

but like, I don't know. Any of these, like, alright,

so we're up to the interplanetary, oh god. Alright,

we'll get into that in a minute. Yeah, so issue

54, I know none of these characters at all. Did

my screen just freeze? Holy crap, hang on. Son

of a bitch. In technical difficulties, let's

move on, shall we? Where was I? What was I doing?

I don't remember. All right. About the characters

you don't care about. Yeah, if I don't care about

the characters, then why am I going to be interested

in the comics? So issue 54 has a larger cast

than 53 did. Optimus, Powertrain, Highjump, Mugslinger,

Tote, who the hell Tote is, I have no idea, Tailspin,

Freewheeler, Roadhandler, and Swindler. Swindler?

Isn't that supposed to be? Anyway. And then,

like I said, the only reason why I perked up

at Iguanas is because it's this giant, like,

Iguana -looking, alligator -looking thing, and

plus you have a, like, that's the only reason

why I know the name is because you kept talking.

I remember Weird Wolf, I know Scorponok, I know

Mindwipe. But these are not characters I care

about at all. They were kind of the ones that

showed up in season four. Yeah, I mean, they

were. The rebirth, and then you're like, eh.

I mean, I cared about them there because I knew

what the hell was going on here. I don't know

what the hell was going on. So, yeah. And then,

not Furman. Furman takes over in 56. 55, Budiansky's

final... Final issue here. Transformers WrestleMania.

I didn't mind this. All right. I like road handler.

OK, you talk then. Well, I'm just saying, like,

I liked the microbots. I liked the fact that

they. They were, you know, basically getting

the. The hot seat here. And. I just, I don't

know, like, one, they're the same size as humans

here, which was kind of cool. Or they're about

the same size. Yeah. But I like the fact that

he got in on the wrestling and then he started

to get his butt kicked by a human. Yeah. Until

he's like, nope. And then he transforms and fights

them. You know, it's kind of funny because he

kind of reminded me of Cheetor. Like the appearance

-wise in some of the shots. Yeah, I can see that.

But very cocky in that realm. And then you have,

you know, the pretender monsters and Lord Zarek

and all of them showing up in the ring. Yeah.

So, I don't know, I just, I think that it was

a different concept. Yeah. Not so much playing

on the robots in disguise aspect, but playing

on the, just kind of having fun with it, and

having them just mingle like normal with the

rest of the people. Plus, I was into wrestling

when it came out, so, like, not when it came

out, but when I read it. yeah yeah so yeah i

mean i used to be into wrestling all the time

i mean we have a whole how long did that podcast

go four or five years stuff like that whatever

we have mayhem mics and all that which people

probably can't listen to anymore unless they

can find it but it is what it is and you know

i've i've Love WWF when I was a kid. I kind of

got out of it in the early 90s. I got back into

it the late 90s, early 2000s, and then I stopped

about... When did I stop again? No, I got out

the late 90s, early 2000s. I got back in 2007,

right before you and I met, right before the

network started up and all this and all that.

And then, yeah, so, I mean... Yeah. Anyways,

I like the fact that we got the MicroMasters

of the Autobots and Decepticons, and Zarek is,

like, mad that the Autobots are getting popularity.

So he's like, I gotta get in on this. He was

playing Vince McMahon here. Oh, God, yes he was.

It looks like him in the comic, too. Yeah, they

did do that. I can still hear. Vince McMahon

with Ric Flair. Yeah. Oh, God. Woo! Yeah. Oh,

boy. And then issue 56, Furman takes over, and

my first note is that here's hoping I can actually

get into the stories now. Well, it says back

from the dead. Yeah. Finally, something to write

home about. Megatron lives. Attack the Airstrike

Patrol. Uh -huh. In Ratchet's nightmares, the

dead walk. Because he has failed. Yep. Oh, you're

going to love. You're going to love me a little.

I think it's an issue 50. One of these issues

before we end this podcast tonight, folks, Steve

is going to love me because I can't believe its

precedent before 2007, but we'll get to that

later. Oh, boy. So, yeah, Simon Furman is now

on the creative team. Jose Delbo did the pencils

for issue 56. along with Dave Hunt on inks and

Neil Yamatov on colors. Letters were done by

Jim Massara. So, yeah, 56, Back from the Dead.

And I always tend to question Ratchet's sanity

when he... Attempt to bring Starscream back for

Megatron? Oh, boy. But Megatron, like, Megatron

always wants this. Megatron wants Starscream

to be a puppet. And I'm like, what the freak

is the guy in the... I'm like, what is that suit?

And then I realize it's the pretender shell of

Starscream and Megatron wanting him to just be

compliant and not have his own personality. Well,

the other thing that's kind of funny about it

is... Does it remind you of another leader who

has an infatuation with his traitorous second

-in -command? Beast Megatron. And Dinobot. Oh,

yes, yes. But at least Dinobot was competent.

Dinobot was doing it because of his honor. Dinobot

is smart. Starscream is not smart. Starscream

is just... Power mad. Yeah, that's why Blackarachnia

is still traded on him. Well, yeah, I mean, she

is a spider, so... Never trust something with

eight legs. Sometimes we can't trust things on

two legs, either. No. But yes, Megachon, back

from the dead. And again... We've been doing

this all this time over the years. Volume 1 was

way back in 2015. Volumes 2, 3, and 4 were earlier

this year in April. I had completely forgotten

that Megatron was even freaking dead. I'm like,

looking at the... Well, he blew himself up. Yeah,

that's true. But I was looking at the teaser

at the end of 55, and I'm like, somebody's back.

I'm like, who's back from... Oh, right. The one

true leader of the Decepticons. So yeah, I liked

this issue because I thought it was really fun.

I thought it was interesting. Again, you have

characters here that I know that I really, really

dig. But... There's... Wait a minute. Where was

my other note? Oh, that's later. That's in issue

59. I'm jumping way too far ahead. But yes, like

I said before, finally, something to write home

about. I really did. And if we were doing this

individual, like individual issues, I would probably

give issue 56 four and a half out of five. Most

definitely, because I really did dig this one.

This one was cool. Yeah, I really liked how Megatron

returned at the end, fully healed the Micro Masters,

tricked Ratchet. Ratchet's having like. Ratchet's

having a bad day. He's just having a bad day.

Dude just can't. Catch a break. Nope, not at

all. And we get to 57, and man, oh, 57. Heinz

57. That's right. Come on over to All Things

Transformers and the Pull Bag where you can catch

up on your comics. You don't get catch up with

your comics. That joke made somebody mustard,

you know. They must relish the humor. Yeah. The

humor with a O -U -R. The humour. Or however

they spell it over there. Well, that was good

and plenty. I am Mr. Goodbar over here. What

a bunch of crunch. I'm Mike. He's Ike. No, not

Turner. Anyways, we get to issue 57. Yes, the

Resurrection Gambit. Bum, bum, bum. Megatron

returns. And he pulled a fast one on Ratchet.

Oh, yeah. And this is the issue. I forget where

it is. I'm going to have to scroll through here.

So talk to me about what you think of the beginning

parts of this issue, and then I'll interrupt

you later. Well, I think it's funny that it was

just a diversion to get Prime off the arc. Mm

-hmm. And Ratchet's realizing, yeah, I'm in way

over my head. Yeah. So we get to... So we go

to Optimus. Why didn't he answer the radio? I

repeat, Decepticons, surrender or face the consequences!

Okay, that's page, according to this trade, that's

147, the very next page. All Optimus panels,

perhaps not Whisper, but then my communicator.

Oh, this is Ratchet calling. So that's we see

where Ratchet was calling him. And then the very

bottom of the panel. Why this brazen open assault?

Why a human built refueling planet? And now why?

All I can hear in my head is 2007. Give me your

face. So give me your face was a precedent before

the movies. Yeah. Optimus is really mad in this

issue. He's mad. Why are you so keen from protecting

me? You're preventing me from communicating with

my ship and my surgeon. Ever heard the expression

physician heal thyself? Yeah. Yeah. And then

he realizes it was a trap. It's a trap. It's

a trap. Yeah. Jeez. But again, I like. 57. I

thought 57 was cool. I thought, besides me drawing

analogies to live -action Optimus, I did think

this was fun. I did think this was a little bit

interesting. Because again, it's focusing on

characters that I actually know, that I actually

want to see what happens. And it's basically

Generation 1 Megatron doing all the evil things

he does. And then we have the final Pretender

shells. And Ratchet being forced to work for

Megatron. Yep, absolutely. Yeah, this was a good

issue. And then it explains how Megatron survived.

Yeah, it does, which is good. If you bring somebody

back and you never explain it, that's not good.

But you're bringing them back, you explain how

he survived, that's cool. That's good storytelling,

which is really awesome. It was nice seeing Furman

kind of draw back to the well of the storyline

that came before in progressing it. Yeah. But

there's a lot of foreshadowing in this. Yes,

there is a lot of foreshadowing. Especially when

Megatron finishes his pontificating. Yes. You

know, and he goes, Just one patient? You mean

those outer shells are going to waste? Except

that was probably Ratchet that said that. Seems

a shame somehow, Ratchet's saying. Foreshadowing

that he's got three friends that are going to

be joining those shells soon. Yep. Absolutely.

And then Prime just kicks the ever -living crap

out of some of them. He's just done. Yeah, like

I said. 2007, Give Me Your Face, this is where

it started, right here in this comic book. This

is the fed -up Optimus, doesn't really give a

rip. I mean, he cares, but he doesn't care because

he's going after the Decepticons because of what

they're doing to his people and all of that,

which leads us into 58, which leads me to my

favorite cover in this trade. Yeah. The red Optimus

face with the yellow... Bubble with the black

text, Megatron alive, Ratchet a prisoner, Optimus

out of control. And all the familiar faces. And

Starscream returns. And also what I love about

issue 58 is this kind of mirrors the movie a

little bit. How so? Just a tiny bit. So on page

168, we have Hot Rod here. Prime? Decepticons,

take him, Prime! Hot Rod, where do you think

you're going? Prime's orders were... Blast. Leave

him landmine. So basically, Hot Rod goes to try

to save Optimus, just like he did in the movie.

Kind of thing. And... One side, boys. Hot Rod's

coming through. Oh, Hot Rod. So again, you put

characters in a comic book that, you know, I

care about and that I want to read, then I'll

enjoy it. So Megatron goes to Ratchet, and Ratchet

is working on this Pretender Shell, and we find

out that this Pretender Shell is a hollowed -out

version of Starscream, because, like I said before,

Megatron wants a Starscream he can control. He

does not want Starscream doing his normal scheming

stuff. I think it's funny that Ratchet double

-crossed Megatron without Megatron really realizing

it. Yep, absolutely. That is always good. The

last panel of this issue. It's payback time.

No! And just Grimlock and everybody's showing

up and that's cool. I absolutely love that. I

think it's funny that Starscream is in an automaton

blank slate so Megatron thinks. So he thinks,

yeah. Did what Ratchet did, yeah. Yeah, so good.

I do love in the next one, in issue 59, my notes

were basically, Hot Rod saves the day and Megatron

and Ratchet lab time. I liked at the end of the

last one where you got the Pretender shells opening.

Yep. And Jazz Grimlock and Bumblebee. Yeah, all

come out. But I love the cover of 59. Yeah, 59

Grimlock and Megatron and who's Grimlock stomping

on? I don't know. It's some Decepticon. But yeah,

it's basic. And again, we know Simon Furman has

a thing for the Dinobots, which is awesome because

I like the Dinobots too. Everyone likes it. Well,

he did give Grimlock a rather significant role

from here on out. Oh, absolutely he did, yeah.

And I love every moment of it, which is funny.

Yeah, I agree. It is so good, yep. Yeah, I mean,

like I said, even though some of these issues

are drags and some of them are picking up, now

that we have Simon on and we get some continuity

-type stuff a little bit, it's starting to pick

up for me. So we get Skin Deep, which, not so

Skin Deep. We get Grimlock basically destroying

everything. Nothing new. Yeah. Bumblebee and

Ratchet reuniting. We've got, what else is there?

Starscream doing Starscream things. What's he

say here? Ha! Perhaps then, Lord Zerg, I am his

ghost. Come to wreak dread revenge on those who

let me perish. Starscream. I just shake my head

at Starscream. Or where he goes, You're an idiot,

Starscream. When we slip by the early warning

systems in their own shuttle. But yeah, I love

how... Grimlock. And gets his butt kicked, like,

immediately. Yeah. Like, Megatron is like, enough

of this! Yep. But it's kind of sad, you know,

Bumblebee manages to basically tase Megatron,

and Megatron just kind of stands there. Yeah.

And he goes, he doesn't hear as well as he used

to, does he? Oh, man. Bumblebee. Yep, yep, yep.

Then he asks why he was, you know, turned back

into Bumblebee. Call it a personal preference.

Yeah. So like they basically reset all of the

stupid changes to the original cast and yeah.

Welcome back. Well, I mean, you got a new, you

got a new writer on the thing as far as like

Simon writing the, he was writing, he's writing,

I think he's writing them both now at this point

in time. I could be wrong. He was writing in

the UK already at this point. Yeah. Yeah. And

yeah, I knew that, but I wasn't sure if he, I

didn't think he left UK. I think he was doing

them simultaneously. Oh yeah. Both now. And Simon

wants to bring it back to a classic, you know,

normal beginning kind of thing. And what are

you going to do? You're going to take the gold

out of Bumblebee and make him Bumblebee again,

make him Mustard. So, but like I said, I'm digging

the writing on it. I think it's cool. I think

it's fun. I read issue 60, but I don't remember

what the hell happens in it. Yesterday's Heroes.

December 1989 is the cover date for this one.

That's crazy. Yep. So, yeah, I literally have

no notes for this because I know I read it while

I was reading through this whole thing. I do

think it's funny that Starscream gets knocked

back to his senses, though. Yep, then he gets

his senses back. He becomes a coward again. Don't

hurt me! Ratchet put an expiration date on the

stupid part. Yep. The brainless Starscream. Yeah.

Gave him back his cowardice. Yep. He put a shell

program in. He put a shell in a shell. But...

Don't hurt me. It wasn't my fault. It was Megatron.

Take me back. I do think it's funny that Ratchet

and Megatron jumped into the temporal portal

there. Well, they had to do something. I mean...

How do you take out the most powerful Decepticon?

You throw them in a portal. That's right. Absolutely.

Any other issues on 60? Any other notes on 60?

I don't like Bludgeon. No, I've never liked Bludgeon.

I like getting to see all of the stuff with Prime

and the other guys, but then you see Bludgeon,

you see Thunderwing. I absolutely hated Thunderwing.

and and bludgeon in this just because i i just

was not a fan of the pretenders at all yeah same

here sadly they don't go anywhere no yeah and

so i find this absolutely hilarious and i wasn't

running out of steam reading these last 61 to

64 here but like My notes get less and less.

Like, I have two notes for 61, one for 62, one

for 63, and one for 64. Once again, I don't remember

reading 64, but I did go back and look at it.

Oh, yeah, I remember this now. But 61, the really

real origin of the Transformers. Boo, I prefer

the origin in the cartoon better. Well, they

have to change it, you know. No, no, no, I know,

I understand that. And I like the whole Primus

is a god, Unicron is a dark god or whatever,

and they're warring factions and they're giant

heads and they inhabit, one inhabits Cybertron,

the other one makes up his own monster planet.

Like, I like all of that, but just, I don't know,

again, cartoon kid, not a comic kid, so the origin

of the whole Primacron and Unicron and Tornatron

and all that. The quintessence and everything

else. I do, in this issue, I do love Starscream's

scheming face where it says, So, is all the answer

the listening Starscream needs. He recognizes

seeds of dissent and rebellion and knows exactly

how to sow them correctly so he can reap the

rewards. I do love that panel in this issue.

That is cool. But yeah, I mean, 61 kind of goes

by in a flash for me. Yeah, there's not much

there that I really cared about. No, the last

page is freaking cool, though. And it is chaos

and fury given form. It is Unicron. Dun, dun,

dun. The only thing that can save them is the

thing they haven't got. The Matrix quest begins

in issue 62. Yeah, this was annoying. Yeah, it

really was. My notes on this issue for 62, I

like Nightbeat. I liked Nightbeat when I was

fully introduced to him in the IDW books, so

I figured I would like him here. I really do,

but I just couldn't get into this book. Issue

62, I just... It didn't drag on, but it was like,

oh, okay, uh -huh. Well, it happened. Yeah, it

happened. Nightbeat has a cool panel on page

242 where he says... We've got ourselves a mystery.

Like, that's cool. I think that is his character.

I like that about him. But as far as what goes

on in this issue, I don't don't give a rip. Sorry,

folks. And of course, me being who I am and what

I've gone through in my life, I read the final

page here in the next issue line where it says

the Matrix quest continues as the Backstreet

Boys override and dogfight become kings of the

wild. Street. No, no, no. Just don't. No, don't,

and stop. So yeah, Kings of the Wild Frontier.

So the Matrix quest is continuing, but this feels

like a one -off issue with these characters.

Pretty much. Okay, I didn't think I was wrong

in saying that. It continues beyond this, but

yeah. Yeah. I was totally uninterested in this

when I read it the first time. And I was totally

uninterested when it got done. Yeah. Yeah, see,

again, you have four humans, five Decepticons,

and, like, seven Autobots. And it's a human story.

Get your human stories out of my robot stories,

please. Please. So that's 63. And then the final

one for this episode of the podcast, for all

things Transformers, and the pullback for Autobot

League August 2023, is Deadly Obsession. The

Matrix quest continues. When do they find this

stupid thing? It's a while. I know, I know. I

will say I love the art in this issue specifically.

I think it's really cool. I think the cover is

cool. Go ahead. I was going to say when Wildman

and Furman get involved, it gets more realistic.

Yeah. Andrew Wildman comes in, I think, another

couple of issues. I think right after the Matrix

quest. Okay. Cool. Yeah. Yeah, no, I did like

the art in issue 64. I thought it was really

good. Again, you have a small cast of Autobots,

a slightly larger cast of Decepticons. You have

two others. And again, these four Autobots, I've

never even heard. Longtooth, Pinscher, Doubleheader,

and Zaron. Never heard of any of them. Well,

Zaron is like the... Emerite is the leader of

the Autobot underground resistance movement.

Okay. And the chairman of the Council of Autobot

Elders. He's not a fighter, but, you know. Oh,

he's a Cerebros type. Okay. Yeah, he's more of

a... He's got a lot of confidence and wisdom.

He's kind of the... Yeah, I don't know. Yeah.

Again, I've heard of Thunderwing. I've heard

of Needlenose. I've heard of Ruckus and Spinister.

Never heard of Wind Sweeper for the Decepticons.

And the other characters, I assume Harbormaster's

probably a human. Don't care. I wish I could

care more about this. I really, really do. But

I don't. This issue, like the whole Matrix quest,

I'm not going to lie, I didn't like any of it.

I'm not liking it so far. I thought Furman taking

over, I like him bringing the Dinobots back.

I like him doing some other stuff with some other

characters. You know, all of that and everything.

So, but yeah, everything else, no, not so much.

These are not – the reason why the IDW stuff

got to me was because it was things I had never

seen because I've never been a Transformers comic

person before at the time. And it was with –

like I said this whole episode, it was with characters.

I thought I – like the fact that Senator – what's

his name? Whatever his name is. Eventually becomes

the one -eyed, one -handed -with -a -gun character,

purple character we know kind of thing. And it

had concepts that were like, holy shit, they

did what in Transformers? This is... I can't

even say this is so 80s, because it's so not.

It's just there for me. I can see that. You know

what? We're going to finish this, folks, and

I'm going to try my best. Hopefully when the

Matrix quest is finally over and they actually

have the stupid MacGuffin, it'll be better because

they'll stop hunting for the damn thing. Do they

find the Matrix? Well, maybe you have multiple

storylines going on simultaneously. That's fine

as long as they're with characters I'm going

to care about. Well, they are. Okay, well, we'll

find that out as we go. Any other things you

want to say or mention or whatever else? Not

that I can think of. Okay. All right, folks.

Well, I think that's going to do it for us here

on All Things Transformers and Inside the Pull

Bag. You can find us on social media at Geekcast

Radio Network, at All Things TFV3, and at The

Pull Bag on Twitter. We're on Facebook. We're

on all kinds of stuff now. I am at TFG1Mike most

places. It's at TFG1MikePresents on Instagram

and threads. He is at SCP21 on Twitter. Where

else can the people find you now? They can find

me on Instagram and threads at StevePhillipsVO.

Awesome, awesome. Next time around, Transformers

Classics Volume 6, Issues 65 to 76. Shoot me

now. Don't wait till you get home. Shoot me now.

Shoot him now. Shoot him now. But think of the

fun. Yes. I wonder what your other voice has

to say about that. Yes. Oh, God, you freaking

know. It's a flaming dumpster fire. Exactly right.

Yes. Flaming dumpster fire of a podcast. I've

been doing that for 15 years. Nobody knows. Anyway,

thank you for putting up with my idiocy, folks.

I hope you enjoyed Steve Megatron's thoughts

on Volume 5 of Transformers Classics. Join us

next week for Volume 6 and the week after that

for Volume 7, which is the end, sort of, but

we have a plan for some other stuff for now.

I hope to God Regeneration 1 is better than this.

Oh, it is. Good. All right. Megatron, say something.

Something. Yes. Make your great escape into comics

and join us here on the Geekcast Radio Network's

All Things Transformers and the Pull Bag in the

future. Sucker.