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. You're

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Mr. Snodatron. I am Snodamus Prime. This is Optimus

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

the comics we're reading right now here inside

the pull bag. Hello and welcome to All Things

Transformers. Which is jumping inside the pull

bag. That's what she said. Hey 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,

my favorite one. Uh huh. of the volumes from

here on out is probably the last one. Volume

seven. 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 arc and things of

that nature and less on all the randomness going

on. Yeah. And I was really tired of seeing the

wikis. Yep. Yeah. So volume seven, the IDW Transformers

US Classics, IDW Publishing, that is issue 77

to 80. So it's the final four issues of the Marvel

US run. It also includes Headmasters, issues

one through four, and Transformers the movie,

issues one through three. 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

5 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 I you know

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

Tension span went out the window. I've seen things

Mm -hmm or like Christopher Lloyd and suburban

commando. I was frozen today Yeah, I love that

line. I love that line We should use that and

like a dump button whenever something's annoying.

Yep, and we have no response You know somebody's

talking about yeah. Yeah, I was I was enjoying

blah blah blah. I was frozen today Like there's

no comeback I have no response for what what

you just said so it's I'm frozen today I Know

this is sad. This is gonna 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 Witwickies 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 Cerebro.

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 going to go talk to this hot

red Autobot named Cliffjumper kind of thing.

But no, it's another human named Cliff. And sadly,

he doesn't know the bar your name is from and

all that. But yeah, Cliff is an idiot. I first

worse than that. Yeah, Cliff is. and my overall

actually titled yeah man in the machine it's

a lot on the slopes I titled it snow day because

they're going on a snow vacation 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 can't keep saying, I'm

sorry, I don't like that it's only five different

colors. Like it is what it is. I will say that

there's a lot more because they're in a ski lodge

and skewers. There's a lot more white in these

panels than usual. And yeah, I'm. So glad that

I have no nostalgia for this like I know you

kind of like later you'll you grew up on reading

some of the other Issues later on in a couple

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

the Marvel line Did you? Yeah, I used to find

them in the quarter bins like for the most part

Unless I 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's same 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 this comp 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 and New 52? No,

I wish. Yeah, we're going to end in some of the

weird. That's so issue 51 to 56. Is it 56 or

55? Where did I? Where did I write that note

down? Yeah, issue 51 to 55 were the last issues

that Bob Budianski wrote. Because in issue 56,

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

Really? Like what's next? Is Judge Dredd gonna

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 Kremsik, but

gross. Yeah. Thanks. 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 one panel in issue

52. Well, they were pretenders. I wish I pretended

I didn't read this damn book at this point, but...

Yeah, I... 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

that he probably 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 gonna cover some old

Transformers comics, uh -huh We have to go to

the beginning And the sad part is Agreed because

I'm always trying to start from the beginning

and most anything and man is this rough It I

yeah, I I forgot how rough I'm not gonna 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 but but but ansky 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 there's a cloud burst that gets caught

in the ladies web or something or other yeah

and this is like 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, you were... 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. No. 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

Skylinks around in space doing whatever Skylinks

is doing in space at the end of issue 53. Skylinks

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

the comics at this point in 1987 and the issue

were all they had to introduce new things after

87 since the cartoon was no more as far as like

introducing the pretenders introducing like into

actual media because the comics were the media

at the time other than just having the toys on

the shelves, but Don't know maybe seven years

old and going from Transformers the turtles is

too old as far as like 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. issue 54 King Kong or

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 ease it was not

really continuity driven It was one story. It's

it's you know 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. I Must depends on what it

is. Yeah. Yeah, you're right like like Trek Mm

-hmm. I 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 truck 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. Like

if you hate a non serialized comic, that's fine

because in 30 days you're getting a brand new

story which may or may not be related in the

slightest. 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, repeat myself all the time, but

I never like, this is my first exposure to these

and this is my reaction to them because I don't

have, there is no rose tinted glasses here for

me. This isn't me going back and doing generation

one all over 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 volumes

two, three, and four, even when it was bump,

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.

Mm -hmm. 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 all right so we're up to the

interplanetary oh god 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

technical difficulties let's move on shall we

where was I what was I do 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 in the comic

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 about it. I remember

Weird Wolf, I know Scorponok, I know Minewipe.

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, but

the rebirth. And then you're like, I mean, I

cared about them there because I knew what the

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

hell's going on. So, yeah. And then not Furman.

Furman takes over in 56, 55. Buddy Gansky'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 I liked

the Microbots. I liked the fact that they were

basically getting the hot seat here. Just I don't

know like One they're the same size as humans

here. Mm -hmm, which was kind of cool Or they're

about the same size Yeah But I like the fact

that he he got in on the wrestling and then he

started to get his butt kicked by a human No

Until he's like, nope Then he transforms and

fights them, you know, it's kind of funny because

he kind of reminded me a cheetor Like the appearance

wise and some of the shots yeah, I can see that

But very cocky in that room and then you have

you know, the the pretender monsters and Lord

Zarek and All of them showing up in the ring

So I don't know. I just I think that it was a

different concept. Yeah. It's playing on the

the 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. Yeah. 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 something like that? Whatever

we have ma 'am 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

get out of it in the early 90s I got back to

it 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 in yeah, so I mean Yeah Anyways, I like

the fact that we got the Micro Masters of the

Autobots and Decepticons and Zarek is like mad

that the Autobots are getting popularity. So

he's like, I got to get in on this. You know,

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

he was. Oh, my. I like him in the comic, too.

Yeah, they did do that. I can still hear Vince

McMahon with Ric Flair. Yeah. Oh, 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. Oh, you're

gonna love... You're gonna love me a little I

think it's an issue 50 is it one of these issues

before we end this podcast tonight folks Steve

is gonna love me because I I can't believe it's

precedent before 2007 but we'll get to that later

oh boy so yeah Simon Furman is now on the the

creative team uh Jose del Bo 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 ratchets sanity when He Attempts

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 a Freak is the guy in the I'm like,

what is that suit? and then I realized 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 It does it does it remind

you hmm of another leader? Who has an infatuation

with his? traitorous second -in -command Beast

Megatron yeah and Dinobot oh Yes, yes, and 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 black arachnia is still traded on

him Well, yeah, I mean, you know she is a spider

so Never never trusted something with the eight

legs Sometimes we can't trust things on two legs

either no But yes Megachan back from the dead

and again We've been doing this all this time

over the lead over the years like volume one

was way back in 2015 volumes two three and four

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

the teaser at the end of 55 and I'm like somebody's

but I'm like who's back from all 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. Uh, but yes,

like I said before finally something to write

home about I really didn't 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 I really liked how

megatron returned at the end fully healed the

micro masters tricked ratchet ratchets having

like Just 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 oh you are the humour or however

they spell it over there Well, that was good

and funny you yeah, I am mr. Goodbar over here

What a bunch of crunch I'm Mike he's like 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 optimist 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

the? 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. Yeah, 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, geez. But again,

I like... 57 I thought 57 was cool. I thought

besides me, you know drawing analogies to You

know live -action optimist. I I did think this

was fun I did think this was was a little bit

interesting because again It's focusing on characters

some of what you know that I actually know that

I actually want to see what happens and it's

basically Generation one Megatron doing all the

evil things he does and then we have the 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.

That's always, you know, if you don't ever, if

you don't ever explain, like 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 this storyline

that came before in in Progressing it. Yeah But

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

is a love 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 but Seems ashamed somehow ratchet saying

Foreshadowing that he's got three friends that

are gonna be Joining those shells soon. Yep Absolutely,

and then prime just kicks the ever -living crap

out of some of them Just yes. He's just done.

Yeah, like I said 2007 give me your face. This

is where it started right here in this comic

book like this is the Fed up optimist 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 optimist face with the yellow yellow bubble

with the black text mechatron 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 land

mine. 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 then

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. Blink Slate so Megatron thinks.

So he thinks, yeah, and then runs it. did what

ratchet did yeah yeah yeah so good i do love

in the uh 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, I'll

come out. Yeah, cuz we knew that I love the cover

of the next yeah of 59. Yeah 59 Grimlock and

Megatron and Who's Grimlock stomping on that's

I don't know. It's some decepticon, but But yeah,

it's basically and again, we know Simon Furman

has a thing for the Dinobots, which is awesome

Cuz I like the Dinobots to everyone likes it.

Well, I 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, you know, some

of these issues are, 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 We got the roof. Yeah.

Yep, but we'll be in a ratchet reuniting We've

got what else is his Starscream doing Starscream

things. What's he say here? Huh, perhaps then

Lord Zerg I am his ghost come to wreak dread

revenge on those who left me perish Starscream.

I just shake my head at Starscream. Or where

he goes, you're an idiot Starscream. Wouldn't

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

it's kind of sad, you know Bumblebee Manages

to basically taze 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 Mm -hmm. Yeah, welcome

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

writer on the thing as far as like Simon writing

though He was writing these ready. I think he's

writing them both now at this point in time.

I could be wrong Yeah, he was writing 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

running 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 guess 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 and becomes a coward again. Don't you hurt

me? Ratchet put an expiration date on this on

the stupid part. You know the brainless Starscream

Yeah, him back is cowardice. Yep You put a shell

program in He put a shell in a shell but Yeah.

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

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

Ratchet and Megatron, you know, 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 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, 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 inhabit Cybertron the other

one makes up his own monster plot 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

and the the quintessence and everything else

I do in this issue I do loves 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 that 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. 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 on this issue

for 62. I like night beat I like night beat 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 the

issue 62 I just It didn't drag on but it was

like, oh, okay Uh -huh. Well, it happened. Yeah,

it happened like night beat has a cool panel

on page 242 where he says We've got ourselves

a mystery like that's cool. I think that because

it's his character. I like that about him But

as far as what goes on in this issue, I don't

don't give a rep that 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 Backstreet.

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 mean,

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

like and it's a human story like I don't 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 Autobotly August 2023 is

Deadly Obsession. The Matrix Quest continues.

When do they find the 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 coverage put good I was gonna

say when Wildman and Furman get involved It's

it gets like more realistic. Yeah, like Andrew

Wildman comes anything another Couple of issues,

I think right after the matrix quest. Okay Cool,

yeah Yeah, no, I 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,

then these four Autobots I've never even heard

long toothed pincher doubleheader and Zaron never

heard of any of them well Zaron is like the Em,

right is the leader of the Autobot underground

resistance for movement Okay, and the council

the chairman of the Council of Autobot elders.

He's not a fighter but you know, oh He's a cerebrose

type. Okay. Yeah, he's he's more of a He's got

like a lot of confidence and wisdom and 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 Spinnister, never heard

of Wind Sweeper for Decepticons. And the other

characters, I assume Harbor Master'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

gonna lie. I didn't like any of it I'm not liking

it so far. I thought Furman taking over. I thought

like 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 and

These are not leads. 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. Like I said this whole

episode, it was with characters. The fact that

Senator, 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? 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

gonna finish this folks and I'm gonna try 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 major have

multiple storylines going on simultaneously That's

fine. As long as they're with characters. I'm

gonna care about and I will 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 gonna do it for us here

on All Things Transformers and inside the pull

bag. You can find us on social media at geekcastradio

.network at allthingstfv3 and at the pull bag

on Twitter or on Facebook. We're on all kinds

of stuff now. I am at TFG1 Mike most places.

It's at TFG1 Mike presents on Instagram and threads

He is at SCP 21 on Twitter. Where else can the

people find you now? They can find me on Instagram

and threads at Steve Phillips vo 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. No wait, but think of the fun. Yes.

Mm -hmm. I wonder what your your other voice

has to say about that Oh God you freaking know

It's a flavoring Dunster fire exactly right make

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

five of transformers classics join us next week

for volume six and the week after that for volume

seven 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 reader networks, All

Things Transformers, and the pull bag in the

future.