IDW Publishing's Transformers: Beast Wars #16-17

This is artist Josh Burcham and you jumped inside

the pull bag only on the DCast Radio Network.

You've just jumped inside the pull bag. Join

TFG1 Mike and the rest of the comic crew here

at the GCRN as they make their great escape into

comics. From DC, Marvel, and Image to IDW, Bloom

Studios, and Xenoscope, we have everything right

here. We cover things like Transformers, He -Man,

Super Heroes, TMNT, and Radiant Black. Yeah,

we have all that and so much more. It's all inside

the pull bag here on the Geekcast Radio Network.

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 the pull bag

as we're also on All Things Transformers. That's

right, because it is in this that we unleash

the last of the beasts. Unfortunately. Yes. Written

by Eric Burnham. Art by Josh Bircham. We are

covering issues 16 and 17 tonight in this podcast

as the... That's all she wrote, folks. That's

it. Letters this time done by Nathan Wittek and

Jake M. Wood, even though he removed the M. Just

Jake Wood now. This is an editor Riley Farmer,

editor Jasmine Joyner, David Mariette is the

supervising editor on these as well. We get the

Story So Far page catching us up from Beast Wars

issue number 15. We get the Roll Call page which

features Dinobot Optimus Primal Rhinox, Cheetor,

Nyx and Rattrap on the Maximal side with that

Grand and Glorious Buffoon. Which Glorious Buffoon?

You're just not gonna give me anything there,

huh? Nope. Asshat. Then we have Skold and Tarantulas,

Blackarachnia, Waspinator, and Scorponok. Yep.

Yep. And this one is... yeah, it's them kind

of teaming up against the Valk. Megatron has

a lot of great lines. He's got a ton. Yeah, you

just might as well just read the comic as him

the whole time. I'm not kidding. You might as

well. Yeah, he's got a lot of narration. Oh yeah.

Yep. Yes, he does. And it gets electrocuted.

Mm -hmm. It gets electrocuted. Yeah, the Valkyr

are a major player in this, which is different

than in the past. Yeah. I mean, they showed up,

but they really didn't. They didn't show up like

this. No. No, not at all. And it's basically

the two factions having to come together to fight.

as a team against Avak. And I love the team trade

-offs here as they're meeting each other, where

you have Tarantulas and Dinobot, you have Skold

and Rhinox. I think that's super cool. I think

that's very neat. It's funny that they have to

make small talks just to kind of go back and

forth. Yeah. And in the skull, she doesn't want

to have anything to do with that. She just wants

to get this over with. And then Primal's got

a jet that he flew to the Predacon base. Yup.

And puts a limited access to the Axilon on the

Waspinator. You don't trust us? I do now. And

I do love that it is Waspinator that they chose

to do that. It's always interesting to see where

Waspinator falls into this. And I so want David

and Gary to do these lines. Oh, I know. I do

find it funny that Rhinox goes, I dissected a

Krimzik. And Scorponok's like, oh, what? But

it's on page nine at the bottom with the split

screen faces of Megatron and Primal. Oh God,

I can so hear David and Gary in my head. We only

have seven cycles to work before these beings

come for us all. And we're not going to just

roll over and die for them. Now let's get to

work. No ideas are off the table. And some crazy

ideas in this story. Yeah. It's kind of nice

seeing them kind of... helping each other. Yeah,

again, like it's a small team up to, you know,

and the Vok aren't even there yet. I mean, the

children of the Vok are there. And that's what

makes this so kind of upsetting. And I know I'm

going to jump ahead for this, but with one of

the characters that ends up being where that

character ends up being at the end of 17, I'm

like, damn it. How did we not get more scenes

out of that character? We'll get to that, folks.

We'll get to that in a little bit. We have Megatron

and Optimus and everybody working together. Did

you notice the page where Blackarachnia and Cheetor

are talking? Yes. The orange gun in front of

Blackarachnia looks like the one that comes with

Optimal Optimus. Yup. Intentionally so. Oh Of

course. I mean why why wouldn't it be and the

one cheetor's got looks like the one that he

shot at? The Dinobot clone Transmetal 2 driver.

Yep, and and baked optimal Yep Yeah, that's that's

very much as yeah, that's a Scoped rifle Wow.

Yeah interesting cheetor likes the big guns.

Yep He makes the big gun noises sometimes so

I Love this whole exchange between Nick's and

scold I Think that's just fun. I wish I could

have seen them Together working together somehow

some way for some reason other than what they're

doing here in this issue. Yeah, it's funny they

They just, they figure out that there's, there's

Vok on the ships. Mm -hmm. Unspace. Affirmative.

Yes. Unspace. Yep. And as always, Tarantulas

is that treacherous spider. Yep. Tarantulas explain.

You didn't use the right voice for that. Tarantulas

explain. What? Why me? Isn't Dinobot the traitor

here? Dinobot wouldn't have used my code you're

the only one who might know and I would know

why yes well that is you see why are none of

you capable of the smallest bit of loyalty loyalty

why you only ever offered me a place under your

rule the fuck offered me the secrets of the universe

Tarantulus, I'm going to kill you. Do you think

that will save you? Yeah. Hello? Hello? What's

going on? Yeah, he escaped. Yeah. Well, it says

that it's not just me saying that. It says that

in the book. If only he'd... And then Dinobot

impaled him. No, he was mine to destroy. I didn't

destroy him. I hobbled him. A seer chamber will

allow an interrogation. Wouldn't you rather he

be useful than dead? I'm thinking it's over.

See this? It's almost like, are you pondering

what I'm pondering? Exactly. Yeah. It's like,

wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. How is it that

Dinobot is pinky and Megatron is the bra - oh

god. Oh god. I can never watch Animaniacs the

same again. Megatron, would you rather he useful

be useful than dead? Are you pondering what I'm

pondering? I think so, Megatron. But if I impaled

tarantulas too hard, he won't make it to the

CR tank. Oh, man. And then Waspinator eating

rat trap snacks. Yes. Well, I mean, he did do

a good thing, like, you know. And Waspinator's

like, oh, I get fed a treat. Yeah, he's good.

Well, well, well. Look who's awake. Yes. Tell

me everything you know before the Valk, or about

the Valk before I kill you. Don't you mean, or

I'll kill you? I do not. Not much incentive there.

Seems like my only leverage is what I know. Let

me go and I'll tell you. I am no fool tarantulas.

Yeah. I don't know about that. Undying loyalty.

I don't know about that. You did expect undying

loyalty from a group of insurgents. Xtermet,

ZT Omega, now online. Yep. The Tri -Preticus

Council. Yeah, talking about how he's a poor

leader. Yep. He says, all you want to do is make

speeches. You'd be a terrible ruler. Oh, really,

Tarantulas? I just have to wait a few more nanoclicks.

It doesn't take long to cover the distance between

my lab and here. TerrorSaur, but he's an undead

zombie. Oh, Lord. I... I don't... I'm just...

God, TerraSaur. And yeah, this issue basically

ends with Tarantula sending a data packet to

Cybertron. I do really, really dig this one.

I think this is really cool. Again, between the

team up and all of that, plus you have their...

And it looks like Scorponok dies from this issue.

I mean, you know, it is Scorponok. When doesn't

he die? If this was supposed to be the end of

season one of the comic, which the way they leave

it off, it really well could have been an episode.

Issue 18 could have been the start of season

two for the comic, obviously. It was not the

lights. Yeah. No, I know but I'm just saying

yeah the way that this one Goes into the final

issue and the way the final issue ends which

we will talk about in a few moments Like that

could have been like, okay that was season 17

issues season one of Beast Wars comic done Issues

18 to 25 or 18 to 28 or whatever, you know could

have been season two if there was going to be

a season two, but there's not. Issue 16, what

are your overall thoughts and rating? I really

enjoyed it. I would probably give it a 4 .5 out

of 5. Yeah. Just because I don't like necromancer,

pterosaur. Yeah, you got to take that one point

off for dead pterosaur walking. Yeah, I I'm right

there with you with a four and a half. It's the

dead pterosaur is the only thing I don't like

But a comic that like I've already said basically

has the two factions teaming up Even though it

was only for a short amount of time But you know

it has them teaming up. It'll have them continue

to do that team up a little bit later but Basically,

this is Megatron pontificates issue because it's

Megatron versus tarantulas and it's awesome.

It's great. It's yeah, it is so, so fun. So if

anyone wants to read Transformers Beast Wars,

the entire series, not just to hear it here at

issue 16, go check it out. We're going to take

a quick break and come back with issue 17, the

finale after this. Like science fiction? Of course

you do or you wouldn't be listening to the GeekCast

Radio Network. Well, the Mark Who 42's universe

podcast is an award -winning sci -fi radio show

that's been around for over 10 years. We cover

everything from Doctor Who to the MCU to pop

culture and everything in between. A new show

drops on Tuesday mornings on the GCRN website

and all of the major podcast platforms. So listen

to the Marku42's universe podcast from the universe

and beyond. What was that universal greeting

again? Never mind. I remember. Hey guys, it's

Rodimus Primal, and be sure to check out my YouTube

channel. Join me as I have Transformers discussions,

retrospectives, toy reviews, and more. You can

also follow me on Twitter at Rodimus Primal,

as well as Facebook and Instagram at Rodimus

Primal Show. Transform and roll out, and be sure

to check out my content. Till all are one. Hello

Geeks and Geekettes! Looking for a podcast that

covers a vast array of topics? Then check out

Altered Geek Unleashed, where we discuss our

thoughts on this week's geeky news, tech, gaming,

television shows, movies, cartoons, comics, and

more. So get Altered Get Geeky with the Altered

Geeks, every Friday on the Geekcast Radio Network.

All right, folks, this is the end of the road.

Yep, unfortunately. Unfortunately, Eric Burnham,

Josh Bircham, Transformers Beast Wars, number

17. Final issue. The M is back in Jake M. Wood.

Like, I wish I could keep track of that. But

Jake was the one doing the lettering on this,

obviously written by Eric, art by Josh. Riley

Jasmine and David are all on the editing side.

We get the story so far page. We get the crew

page. And nope, Scorponok isn't dead. He's in

the crew page. So he's in the roll call. So he

would be dead if he wasn't in the roll call.

True. And what's interesting to me about the

roll call is we basically have all of the same

characters on both. Maximal and Predacon side

with the changeover in design for Dead Pterosaur,

but we have the addition of... The Vok and the

Children of the Vok. Yep. Saberback, Polar Claw,

and Inferno. Tigatron and Eraser. Yep. So you

have the entire Season 1 cast. Yep. Yes, the

entire Season 1 cast, as you said, and... Man

these battle scenes in the beginning of this

are great. Yeah, I I think it's funny how you

get like the reboot complete and then they're

you know, kind of just You know Rhinox is waking

up and Dinobots having to fight and then just

it's just an all -out brawl Because you're kind

of seeing it from like Rhinox's perspective almost

Yeah, initially Yeah Yeah, and it's so good while

being vines hard to digest Do not turn your back

on me maximal scum Poor Rhinox. Mm -hmm. He and

Dynabot are having this conversation and the

reinforcements were the survivors. Every other

crash protoform pod apparently. Yep. Yes. You

see Insecticon. You see Cybershark. You see Transquito.

Yep. You see Ty - hey, there's Tigatron. Yep.

You see Megatron and all of that. I think this

is the first time in two issues that we've seen

him in his Toronto mode. I don't think we see

he never transformed in the last issue. I know

that for a fact. I don't remember. Well, in that

scene where he's in beast mode, where Megatron

is, you see Armadillo and Snarl, which I owned

both of those when I was a kid. Nice. And I love

how Armadillo goes, if we don't, if we don't

kill you, the Valk will. And you think you'll

be here to see it. And then he destroys them.

And then the crab that's fighting Blackarachnia

is Razor Claw. And Buzzsaw is fighting Cheetor.

And then Insecticon gets ripped apart by Cheetor.

I wonder if that was bombshell or kickback or...

His name was literally Insecticon. I know, but

it's an Insecticon joke. Yeah. And then I think

it's funny that Rat Trap ripped the information

off the golden disk. Oh, that's just amazing.

I mean, come on. He says, you may have two astro

-metrics degrees, but I majored in making stuff

do things it wasn't exactly designed to do. Yup.

And I like that Mossbrenner is still somewhat

engaged in the friendship. Yeah, he's still engaged

in the team up aspect of it, like he wants to

help. Obviously, he wants to help so he can stay

alive so the universe isn't against Waspinator.

I love scold in the past tense. We could have

been friends. Not now. And then Rhinox takes

out Terrorsaur. Thank God. About time. And then

Airazor and Transketo. That's not actually Transketo,

I can't remember the name of that one. Are fighting

against Nyx. Yep. Oh yeah, I don't know what

the name of that character is. Yeah, I... Some

sort of mosquito thing. Yeah, it's not Transketo,

it's another character. I can't remember who

it is right now, I can picture it. No, but it

didn't fly. It was like an earwig, but it looks

like transito Yeah, and then tarantulas, you

know, look at the beautiful chaos Yes, so for

Okay, so the Predacons we only have listed. So

yeah, all of the other ones are the children

of the wok. So there's Inferno air razor polar

claw wolf hang cyber shark It is Transquito.

It's what it says here. Like you said, Buzzsaw,

Razor Claw, Tigatron, Insecticon, Saberback,

Spittor, Retrax, Armadillo, Jetstorm, Snarl,

Snapper, Clawjaw, and Power Pitch. Yeah, that

was Jetstorm, I think. Yeah. But yeah, I mean

I like seeing this battle progress the way that

it is I like seeing all of the character like

literally because this is their last Issue You

know, it's like It's like Wolverine used to say

in the superhero squad show, you know giant monsters

everybody plays And then the floating island,

Megatron is calling them cowards for not facing

them on their own terms, on equal terms. And

then they say, despite the small amount of damage,

our energon powered reversion device is still

operable and ready to wipe all life from the

face of this world. I still say we should have

put the device in one of the moons. Every world

you come to you want to put a failsafe into the

moon. It's impractical But I'm sure in some universe.

It's been wait. I can hear something approaching

Yeah, cuz like they did it. Yep, and then they

used the the axel on to destroy one of the the

vat completely They can't possibly have known

how to do that I learned. Yeah, it's like Rat

Trap. And I just love how Rat Trap is just super

cocky about it. Oh, yeah. He's just like, yeah,

oh, we can know. All right. It's not your it's

your fault for the spying on the good guys. How

can we hear them so clearly? Maybe whoever's

in charge of our reality has lost their mind.

I'm just kidding. Our external sensors are top

of the line. Now that we're sure our weapon works,

let's take care of these other two. No. I didn't

expect it to be over so quickly. Hey, what do

you want? We didn't get paid by the minute. We

get paid? And then everybody's kind of relinquished.

Yep. Tigatron and Eraser walk away and Primal

and Megatron continue their searchers is over.

Oh, yes prepare to and then Ratchap, what did

you just do? What you didn't want me to atomize

your mortal enemy? Gee my bad atomize. Come on.

What did you really do? Fine. You got me there

were two You were too close to get any of the

fun guns, so I just zapped him with the same

unspace energy I used on the Vok. He said he

was too close to use the fun guns. Yeah. Since

ol' Maggie's not an energy monster, he'll just

reappear a few cycles into the future after we're

long gone. He'll be fine, I think. Probably.

But who cares, right? Now, the only thing, since

we are at the finale of this... The only thing

rat trap rat trap never got a chance to use was

the the giant Suit that he used in beast machines

Okay, there's that but no no no no no no it's

even better He didn't read him and weep he didn't

use a belly bomb at all Like come on Like if

this is supposed to be Beast Wars season one,

I know technically, technically the belly bombs

weren't used until the agenda, but I mean, come

on. No, he used it before that. Oh, did he? Yeah.

Well, those were, that was the, that was the

main like, all right, let's do it. Yeah. So we

get the Maximals and the Predacons that are left

together and You know, Prime was trying to convince

Black Arachnia and she's not convinced at all.

And you have Waspinator, Black Arachnia, and

Skuld. And Waspinator thanks them for the fruit.

What do we do about Megatron? We worry about

him if he ever comes back. And the character.

As we all know now that I wish could have like,

I mean, come on. It's inferno because yes, my

queen, like, oh God, inferno. Yeah. And then

we get an epilogue 114 cycles later. Take it

away. This is all you. Yeah. I feel incorrect,

and this is clearly not the battlefield. Computer,

location and diagnostic. Form saturated with

unspace energy, but otherwise system's normal.

Location readings indicate this is the same uncharted

planet on which the dark side crashed. No details

available. Unspace energy suggests I was sent

through time. Yes, but not space. The planet's

revolution would Continue it caused me to return

to a different location at least it wasn't in

one of the oceans Still there's no telling how

long I've been away until I return to the dark

side need water At least the valk are dead removing

the largest threat to my power on this world

I shall have to remember to overwrite my message

on the Golden Disk to preserve the timeline.

But for now, I have the element of surprise and

time to plan the perfect attack. The Beast Wars

will not end until I have won, no matter what

fate throws at me. The war may continue, but

for us, for now, this is the end. Hey, Megatron,

still got away? I'm good. What an ending I know

Like you don't even know when like he really

is. Well, I mean, it's a cycle. It's 114 cycles

in the future. It's not that long. Yeah, so what

were cycles in Beast Wars vernacular? Hours?

Let me see. I'll look that up real quick. Okay.

Well, anyway, yeah, no, it's a great ending to

the first season of the comic. It's not a great

ending as being this is the last we're ever going

to see from these two creators at this time for

this story. Like, I am sure Eric and Josh had

so many other ideas that they wanted to perpetuate

onto us with this comic series. And it just sucks

that it's not going to happen now. Oh, do you

know what cycles are in Beast Wars? What's that?

They're equivalent of about a minute. Okay. Maybe

more, maybe less, but something of that magnitude.

Okay. In the G1 UK comics, it was 12 hours. Oh,

well, either way. Yeah. Or you go and animate

it, it's 1 .5 minutes. Or an energize a year.

So, it varies depending on what continuity you

want to talk about. IDW continuity, as of 2005,

it was one hour and 15 minutes. In the 2019 continuity,

it was one day. So, we don't know. We don't know.

We don't know. So, I love this and I think this

is great. This issue... he's obviously getting

a five. Yeah, I'm giving it a five. I really

enjoyed it. Yeah, there's just no way that we

cannot give the final issue a five overall, because

between the art, the story, everything was great.

And I'm sure everyone who's listening to the

sound of my voice can read this for themselves

in the comic issue, but I am going to read the

letters that Eric Burnham and Josh Bircham wrote

at the back of the book. Dear Beastie Bot Besties,

this is Eric. Hi, as Jim Morrison once sang,

this is the end of our elaborate plans the end.

Yes, there were lyrics between those two bits,

but just go with me here. Beast Wars was a lot

of fun to work on with Tom and David and Riley

and Jasmine. Josh and Winston and Sid and Jake

and... our entire cast of characters the realities

of publishing changed some of the plans we had

but even so i think we put together a fun little

epic even if we did have to cut some of the pure

character stories or beats want to know what

some of those were going to be i think i can

share Let's do it. First, Rattrap's love of fruit

was going to cause a glitch in his system. Just

when his expertise was needed the most, and it

would be a race against time to save him. Scorponok

was going to find a rival in one of the Unleashed

Protoform pods. Which would be quick strike apparently.

Hmm. Who's only goal was to replace him? Well,

of course that would be his because technically

quick strike did replace the Scorponok. Yep Let's

see here right ox was going to be suspected What

does it say as a Predacon mole black arachnia

was going to take over the Predacons for a little

bit when Megatron was taken off board we at least

hinted at that at the end of the last at the

end of this issue and there's a bunch of other

things that he's talking about here by the way

I'm not complaining I might regret not getting

to do all the character stuff But show me a storyteller

that doesn't itch a little when there's more

story to tell Thanks for opening your hearts

to scold and nicks Thanks for the enthusiastic

letters and tweets and fan art and above all

Thanks for coming along for the ride Now go forth

and maximize nice Start paraphrasing at the end

because I'm like you I just let my voice get

raspy without taking a drink of whatever I'm

drinking. But then again, I'm not putting on,

you know, a giant Shakespearean dinosaur. Well,

you know, I can't talk like that. I can try,

but it sounds like Connery. That's kind of the

point. I know that's the point. You can tell

Josh loves a certain character. Which one? Oh,

for bootin' up cold, where to begin? Or I guess,

how to end? Yep. Rattrap. Rattrap. I suppose

that. First off, I really want to thank the teams

of both IDW and Hasbro. You know, it goes on

to that. I can't express well enough what a trip

it has been to be able to revisit it in some

ways. Reinterpret both in a story and visual

sense these characters. I don't know. I really

enjoyed this the episodes Of yeah of the comic

and it was just I don't know it was so satisfyingly

done Yeah, it really was it was so fun. It was

so interesting. It was so awesome I absolutely

love it. Like we said, it's easily a five easily

a five. Yep So folks, coming up inside the pull

bag as this is episode 489. I don't know what's

going on for 490. I think Hahi Prime is going

to come join me to talk about Livia Rumdeli's

The Kill Lock. And then I don't know if, I don't

remember if you said you were interested in this

or not, but Transformers versus Terminator is

episode 491. So another IDW -Transformers crossover.

And then September is fully loaded. We've got

three different Origins episodes, and then in

the middle there we have got Tom Zoller's Long

Distance and Tom Zoller's Warning Label, which

most of that has already been recorded. So you'll

be hearing that. Anything else you want to say

about this? comic series or anything else you

want to say in general about Transformers comics,

Beast Wars? I'm going to miss this comic. Yeah.

Just mostly that. I'm hoping whoever gets the

license next will revive either this exact line

or just do a Beast Wars comic. Yep. That's what

I hope. Yeah, absolutely. Honestly, I know this

is probably is not going to happen, but they

are freelance creators. Whoever the next company

is, hire Eric and Josh. Yep. And the whole team,

honestly, not just those two, but Eric, Josh,

Winston, everybody. If you can. I don't, I don't

know. Sometimes it is what it is. All right,

folks, I think that's going to do it for us.

Make your wait. I forgot. We're going to be able

to find you online, sir. They can find me on

the Twitters at SCP -21. I'm at TF2 and Mike,

you can also follow at GeekCast or anyone at

the pullback as well. Make your greatest game

in the comics and we will catch you next time.

You've just heard the latest episode of The Pull

Bag, the GCRN's first comic review and discussion

podcast. There are several ways to get in touch

with us and leave feedback for the show. You

can visit the website geekcastradio .com where

you can comment on the episode and all of our

different podcasts. You can rate and leave a

review for the show on iTunes. Be sure to leave

us feedback. Become a fan of us on Facebook,

facebook .com slash The Pull Bag. Send us an

email, feedback at GeekCastRadio .com, follow

us on Twitter at ThePullBack and at GeekCastRadio.

So until next time, make your great escape into

comics and unleash the geek in you.