IDW Publishing – Transformers: Beast Wars #13-14

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Hello. For The Pull Bag, we are 20 podcasts away

from 500 episodes. And for all things Transformers,

this will be episode, I think, four something?

No to something to 75. So yay, you're 25 away

from 300 Yay, and we are here to talk about two

of the Transformers Beast Wars IDW publishing

comics. This is issue 13 and 14 I Wasn't sure

where they were gonna go after the maximal battle

Royale triple parter thing And this was a surprise

with issue 13. Issue 13 also has, it has three

covers, but the main cover is of Cheetor. It's

the only one that actually matters story -wise.

Okay. Okay. Yes. Storyline wise, it's the only

one that. Yeah, but come on. You know, you love

guns of doom Rhinox. Come on. I wasn't saying

that I was just saying as far as the story is

concerned Yeah, yeah chain guns of doom Rhinox

is awesome And that's okay. I mean, it's a little

swerve and they're alternate covers. So it's

not like it's the end of the world Creative on

this Eric Burnham on writing art in this one

is done by Winston Chan with colors by Sidman

blue letters by Jake M wood And yeah, Cheetor

is gonna have a fever dream. Yeah, it's a weird

one. Yeah, it's very, very strange. Very, very

strange. But I love the art and I love the colors.

The colors in this. I like the character page.

Yup. The roll call. It says cat scan, also Cheetor.

Wait, what? Yeah, cuz yeah. That is so cool.

And IDW will do that every now and then on the

roll call character pages. They'll change up

various things. But essentially, it's Rhinox,

Optimus Primal, and various amounts of the Cheetor

multiverse. Nobody else. That's okay. I mean,

it's not a bad thing at all. I absolutely dig

it. And like I said, these colors, man, wow.

So yeah, we have a cheetah or fever dream and

he doesn't know where he is He thinks the Beast

Wars are over because he seemed he's seemingly

back on Cybertron Even though he's Not no, he's

not at all And I don't remember why this happened.

I know we have the story so far page And I think

it's because as he get injured at the end of

the story so far page, because I know Optimus

gets the disc, but I don't remember if it doesn't

show Cheetor getting injured in the story so

far page. It just tells you what has already

happened within the main part of the story. So

I don't want to say this is a jumping on point,

but this is a character point for Cheetor. Which

yeah And if there was if there was ever a Freddy

Krueger of Transformers, it would be that cat

scan character. Holy crap Yeah, he is pretty

creepy yes, yes he is He kind of at first looks

like Like his chest and stuff kind of looks like

ratchet a little bit like a medic or something

but Yeah, no So as we go through this Cheetor

is basically having to face himself and face

multiple versions of himself What's weird is

even with CAT scan it starts out asking a question

Mm -hmm, like it's pumping him for information.

He's like what? Yep Yep, yep And again, I love

the read, you know what? I've said it for years,

just a bunch of fucking repaints. They can give

me these repaints all they want. Well, these

aren't even repaints. These are different. Right.

Right. No, no, no. I know. But like the I know

they just released. We had talked about it on

all things Transformers previously with the Knight

Prowler coming out the toy for Knight Prowler.

And I know that's technically not what this blue

looking Cheetor is, but That's the first thing

I thought of was because that was the most recent

cheeto repaint I had seen. Yeah, so he basically

has to have a conversation with himself and I

love the the two of them. And where are we supposed

to race? I can build a course from your memories.

They'll feel as real as life. Do we have an agreement?

The only thing that. Kind of, I don't know. The

only real negative I have on this is when he

wakes up, because what is really going on is

the Valk are trying to basically get information

out of him, but he wakes up in the maximal base.

It isn't like they have him. Well, they're in

his subconscious. That's true. He's like, you

know, that this is a dream or incorrect that

this assumption that this is a dream, but yeah,

you know, he's he's kind of forced put him in

stasis to infiltrate his mind. And this is one

of the VAC in a very cheetor body. And then we

get. Something Transformers fans have been waiting

for for maybe 25 or almost 40 years. Who's going

to win in a race? Cheetor or Blur? And yes, I

know technically, like you just said, it's not

Blur. It's one of the Vox dressed up as Blur.

It's like, you know, when other characters dress

up, you know, do the whole mind fake out thing.

But that was really cool that they that they

did that very fun again the colors absolutely

love it i love and it's he tries to cheat or

though blur does yeah no well i mean even going

back a little bit further with okay the cheat

or fuzz body yep and he's using the vox powers

which we haven't really previously seen since

since the primeval dawn yeah promo with yeah,

with with primal prime and tarantulas and Tigatron

and a razor and Yeah, I just I love the fact

that he has to go to the blur body Yeah to loosen

up Cheetor's mind To do a race Yeah, well, I

mean it was like you're gonna lose lose situation

here pal Yeah, I mean like if I'm going to Invade

Steve Megatron's mind and try to fool with your

subconscious. Why would I go as you? Because

you know yourself, you know something would be

wrong. So then obviously I would transform into

Transmetal 2 Barney, the greatest living transformer

ever, you know, kind of, you know what I mean?

Like, yeah, you have to do something different

and not. The person you're trying to invade because

hello, they know themselves way to like I Love

when they do the whole question thyself. Are

you really sure this is what you want to do?

Are you really sure you want to go down this

path and and everything else, but you're right.

I mean the only way to get him to lower his defenses

is to Go into blur and then he really realizes.

Oh, this is a race and it's not against myself.

It's against somebody else Even though he knows

that He knows but he doesn't know because that's

the other thing when he wakes up He briefly mentions

the Valk and then when primal asks him about

it he's like what who where and then the little

floaty Valk skull is like hmm I guess we got

away with that. I Love how they showed them running

across a circuit board Yes, that was really good

really fun and cool because he's like, you know,

you know The course is clear if you look I see

it now, you know and They're racing across the

different memory chips and everything if you

know Cybertronians actually have those parts

and then you have primal and Rhinox discussing

his consciousness and the fact that he should

be awake. Yeah. Again, very ingenious of the

art and of the landscape that Cheetor and Blur

are in with the racing. Yeah, you're right. I

hadn't really... I kind of sort of figured it

was something by the time I got to the bottom

panel here where it actually shows part of the

circuit board as they race through it. I was

like, oh yeah, that's so cool. Very, very cool.

And man, Cheetor just can't catch a break. And

then they outsmart him. Yep. And they basically

erase his memory. I've never heard that word

in my life. To be continued. Dun, dun, dun. Well,

and then Yeah, it was it was really weird that

they they reset him Mm -hmm, but he still got

the information out Yep Yeah, they reset him

a little too late He told them every told primal

everything but they're planning on using the

stasis pods true. Yeah Absolutely, I Gotta say

for a character that's not Done by Josh the creation

of CAT scan because in the back of the book it

shows you Winston Chan's art design for For CAT

scan and he looks amazing Kind of wish we saw

an alt mode, but I mean you can clearly tell

he's some sort of Cybertronian Ambulance or something

or other. Yeah Or some sort of rate. I mean,

it's basically the the animated blur body with

the wheels and the feet and whatever not the

animated blue But you know what? I mean, it's

it's that kind of Car design so very very cool

this issue. I dig it. I I think this is fun I

think this is an interesting issue again. We

went through this past, you know three -parter

with with maximal strike back And we've had this

battle with Megatron and Primal and all the characters,

even the ones that we're introduced to and things

like that. And then I'll, let's put the brakes

on and give you a speed dream with Cheetor. What'd

you think overall? I think it wasn't bad. It

wasn't one of my favorite ones just because it

was kind of a mind, like it was just, it was

mostly just pushing the story along. Right. So.

Don't know if I would give it a five Well, I

enjoyed the while I enjoyed the the premise of

you know back in Cybertron and the you know having

blur and having You know cat scan and dark blur

and you know some of the other stuff. I Don't

know if the VAC is really something I wanted

as a cord that was pulled on Yeah, well I can

tell you from What's going to happen just from

what I've heard and from what I've seen Josh

tweeting and stuff the Valk is going to be the

big bad going into the end of the I've read the

solicits. Yeah, which I figured I figured that

as much the other the other aspect is Is is that

I've also read that they're not going to do the

Planet Buster. They're not going to do the Transmetals.

I guess Hasbro was adamant from something I read

that there are absolutely no Transmetals. I don't

know if it's because IDW only has the rest of

2022 for the comic license. The Transmetals,

I understand as far as they don't want to muddy

the waters with Kingdom and with the Rise of

the Beast. Yeah, no and that and that's fine.

That's that's the toys. I'm specifically saying

the comic Why does the comic have to end at issue

17? which is I believe supposed to be out in

July or June or July or something or like we

still have six whole months left past that like

you could put out 18 19 and That's when it's

not just because of IDW and them losing the Transformers

license. It's not because it's any time in comics

when a comic book ends, why does it have to end

on issue 17 issue 14 issue this? I mean, unless

the license is going to be gone by the summer,

which from what I've read and from the press

releases I've seen IDW has until the end of 2022.

With the license as far as I know what I'm thinking

is they're trying to tie up the storylines as

quickly as possible and just I I understand that

and I get that I mean, I wish that they could

just get to the solid 20 and just call it good

Yeah, but yeah, like really seriously why could

like okay? And I guess technically the thing

will have 18 issues because of the annual and

I don't even know what the annual is gonna be

I haven't really looked into the annual at this

point, but I I don't I don't know. It is what

it is. Alright, we're gonna take a quick break.

You're gonna hear some ads and some other stuff.

We're gonna come back with issue 14 of IDW Publishing's

Transformers Beast Wars after this. Talk about

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that's just prime. We are back and you said you

don't think you can give it a five. What would

you give it zero to five? Probably a four. Yeah,

I like the visuals the most But as for the story

I was kind of taken out of it Yeah, yeah, I'm

right there with you. I think you know four to

five is not bad, especially for a character driven

Thing more than an overall You know this base

versus that base or whatever Issue 14 we get

on the main cover we get polar claw Strangle

Holding Optimus Primal. Yep. And this is entitled

Primal Rage written by Eric Burnham, art by Josh

Burcham. So Josh is back on this issue. Letters

by J .K .M. Wood. And yeah, I'm trying to see

if there's anything interesting in Roll Call.

It doesn't look like it. It looks like it's just

the traditional credit cons, maximals. Which

the roll call thing always makes me laugh because

the first time I ever saw that was in the rebooted

Spider -Man comics in the late 90s, early 2000s.

I mean, it makes sense here for Transformers.

IDW has been doing it for the longest time. It's

kind of nice to see the characters that you're

going to be reading about before you actually

read about them. And we basically pick up where

we left off at the end of issue 12 pretty much

Megatron looks like he's having some problems

though. Oh, no, that's not Megatron. That's the

new characters. That's um Polar Claw, who is

that? Well, it starts out with Scorponok and

Waspinator And then you see Tarantulas and Megatron

with them. Yep. Yes, yes. I really dig what Josh

and what Winston and what everybody has done

with the art style between the bots and the beasts.

Because the bot modes look so cool and the beast

modes look even better. Although Megatron has

a protruding chin on his hand half the time,

but that's just the way Megatron is, I guess.

Yeah, kind of. Yeah. So as we go through this

one, Tarantulas and Blackarachnia and it seems

like everybody's pairing off, like hero to hero,

villain to villain kind of thing. Because you

have... Tarantulas and Black Arachnia up at the

top there on page 9. Well, they're merely a distraction

for Primal and Dinobot. Oh, yeah. And then they

pulled the episode with the rage cyberbeak. Yep.

With putting the thing on Dinobot's back. Yep.

yeah this issue by the end of it it's very guerrilla

warfare pretty much and what's funny is the the

screen where primal is looking at rhinox the

maximal logo on the left hand side with the green

and the purple you know what that's reminiscent

of waspinator beast wars game beast wars game

from the 90s wow because yeah you're right they

had the logo and then the green was the life

bar That's right. And the purple was the energon

resistance So it's kind of funny Yeah, it's kind

of awesome when you think about it again, they're

throwing in so many references that they don't

necessarily have to but they are and The writing

is really good the attention to detail Poor rat

trap You want to fight you wait until I get my

swag Just a look on his eyes like oh my god rat

trap. He just got punched in the back of the

head She'd are get slapped in the face. Yep.

He tells the bat what what's for Shut up. It's

your fault Everything's your fault. Why are you

so incompetent? And then we get to the dark side,

and Megatron is doing Megatron things. I think

it's funny, Dinobot talks to him and sics him

on Megatron, and then he steps beating up the

Maximals and Leaves. Yeah. And then they're like,

you know, the radiation will burn itself off

and, you know, probably be completely gone before

he ever reaches Megatron. Yeah, and But I think

it's funny that they you know, eventually find

out that it doesn't you know affect Dinobot Yeah,

because he's still technically a Predacon. Yep

You see Megatron working on the the component

getting mad Chucking it across the floor and

he's wearing the the goggles Yeah, those goggles

are amazing Those goggles are just wow. Yeah.

Well, it almost looks like what's on Nick's his

forehead. Yep I love that Waspinator tries to

Get him to which he does I mean, but it's not

really Waspinator. Oh, I know out of all the

Predacons you could impersonate of all the ones

that would actually get Megatron into a position

of Almost losing his head Yeah It's just well

and then he zaps Megatron's head yeah, he does

and then goes back and he's saber back which

is one of the I think he's like one of the the

Dinobot type things that they had for Beast Wars.

Yes, yes, yes. The Beast Wars release. Yep. Absolutely.

Yeah, I actually went and I looked on the TF

Wiki so I could make sure I got these characters

right and things like that. But you're right,

it is Saberback. Saberback and Polar Claw make

their debuts in this issue. Again, I have to

say, even though I don't know these characters

for the most part, I love their inclusion into

the story that's being told. Oh, yeah, totally.

And how, like, this isn't just a Vox spy, like

with Cheetor thing, obviously, because Megatron

wouldn't be that... The Vox aren't going to be

able to trick Megatron. But that there are these

other characters that, you know... So fun This

is why I don't want this to end I Think it's

funny primals like kicking his butt for a minute

there. Mm -hmm But this guy keeps like polar

claw because he has no previous personality Yep,

he and ants ends his question or his main statements

with his questions. He ends with a yes or no

Yeah, when he does a question mark though, yeah,

yeah Yeah, that is so fun and again, you know

as to how I found you what I Was sent by the

gods And then he taps his head this is polar

claw optimus primal as ours, you know next the

children of the valk I Do love the cover for

the next issue issue 15 With all the VAC and

then Megatron in the Megatron. I love that that

looks so damn good Not a fan of the art style

To be honest It just looks it has that goofy

look to me Yeah, no disrespect against those

that did the art. Yeah, I just I don't find it

appealing But I like what it's trying to portray

yeah Do love the one of the all this is the retail

incentive cover for this issue done by Camilo

Fortuna. Yep. That was my cover. Yep. I love

the level of detail. Yep, and I Love the fact

that it's got both the leaders on it and just

I don't know I like the 3d the standout the the

deal is present there Yeah, absolutely So good

Yeah, like and Like this issue like okay. Yes

polar claw says this is polar claw optimus primal

is ours and blah blah blah, so he's probably

Maybe in league with the valk. I don't know.

No, he is okay. Well Because he says he was sent

by the gods That was one thing I didn't really

like about the main cover of this. No offense

to Winston Chan, but Polar Claw in robot mode,

Strangleholding Optimus Primal with the Valk

in the background. If I had to pick, it would

be Camillo Fortuna's retail incentive cover for

this. The Valk was pulling the strings of Polar

Claw. That's true. It made sense. Very true very

true So and then like I said issue 15 is coming

It will be here digital released on May 20th

May 24th May 4th 2022 Mm -hmm is when issue 15

will be here So very very cool, yeah these issues

I mean Wasn't really trying to put them back

to back, but I figured out what the heck. And

with the annual coming, you know, I don't know.

I don't know what's, I get a look at the annual

and see what they're going to do. Cause sometimes

the annuals for IDW, they just tell a completely

different story. I'm hoping that's not the case

with Beast Wars, but who knows. Overall issue

14. I'm still right there at a four out of five.

That's not bad. Yeah. I think I'm about the same.

I'm waiting for the next one where the payoff.

Yeah. Overall, even though we have only a few

issues left of this, this has been awesome. This

has been fun. In the future, here on the pull

bag and on all things Transformers, we will be

going back into Transformers comics from Marvel

US and UK. That's coming up in the future. So

there's that what else you've got going on? Just

working on Transformer related items Your Beast

Wars pre -beast Megatron. Yes, you've got the

detail and then there's some there's some spots

I got a kind of repaint cool cool, but Yeah,

he's coming along. Awesome. Very cool. Very cool.

Alright, folks, I think that's going to do it

for us. Where can the people find you online,

sir? On the twitters at SCP -21. You can find

me at TF2 and Mike and you can hear all the other

stuff in the outro. We will catch you next time

here on... The Pull Bag, All Things Transformers,

Beast Unleashed, whatever we end up doing the

next Beast Wars comics issues. As far as the

Pull Bag goes, I know I've got the long -lost

episode of Matt Martin for The Origins, and then

JT and I just recorded the finale to Dan Juergens'

run of Batman Beyond, so we get Volume 7 First

Flight and Volume 8 The Eradication Agenda coming

up in May. Make your great escape into comics

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