Skybound Entertainment's Transformers Volume 2: Transport To Oblivion!

Hey, this is Frank Todaro, otherwise known as

Starscream, and you're listening to the Geekcast

Radio Network. This is Starscream, the true leader

of Cybertron, and consequently, all things Transformers.

Get it? That's the name of the show. For those

of you that don't know this, here on my right's

twin twist and cup, on the left are Perceptor

and Topspin. My name's Springer. And I'm in charge.

Constructicons, it's time to rise up. Oh, hi.

This is writer Tyler Bleszinski, and you are

listening to the Geek Cast 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, Boom Studios,

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We cover things like Transformers, He -Man, Super

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all that and so much more. It's all inside the

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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. You've just jumped inside the pull

bag presented by all things Transformers. I am,

of course, normally you don't hear my voice,

but first, but I am TF2 and Mike joining me as

always. Steve Megatron. Yo. Yo. This is a crossover

episode like it was last time as we continue

our Skybound Entertainment Transformers comic

coverage. Hello, Steve. How are you? doing pretty

good doing pretty good pretty good pretty good

pretty good that's good that's good today we

are discussing volume two transport to oblivion

oh i wonder where they got that title from from

an episode yeah i think so uh there was a lot

of oblivion in this one yes yes there was This

collects issues 7 through 12 of the ongoing comic

series from Skybound Entertainment under Image

Comics. First up, the creative team is as follows.

Writer is Daniel Warren Johnson. The artist on

this run of the series is Jorge Corona. The colorist

is Mike Spicer. Letterer is Russ Wooten. Editor,

as always, is Ben Abernathy. Publication design

was done by Andres Juarez. And the production

was done by Richard Mercado. Now, just as last

time, I went and I did something different. And

I went and I looked because I was curious to

see what Google AI Summary would say about these

trade paperbacks. Because I was just curious

to see what the artificial intelligence would

say versus what actual intelligence would say.

Actually, it was surprisingly accurate. In Skybound's

Transformers Volume 2, Transport to Oblivion,

collecting, as I already said, issues 7 and 12,

the conflict escalates and the war expands beyond

Earth in... to include a dying Cybertron. The

return of Shockwave. The plot centers on Shockwave,

who has remained on Cybertron. He initiates a

plan to harvest Earth's resources to revitalize

their home planet, regardless of the cost to

humanity. He initializes... a massive space bridge

to siphon energy creating a literal bridge between

two worlds that threatens to tear earth apart

a bridge between two worlds it's funny that that's

written like that because now all i have stuck

in my head is that hannah montana song for some

odd reason maybe that's just because sadly uh

ms dolly parton recently passed away Don't worry,

folks. This episode of The Pullback is going

up immediately, so that news is not exactly its

current. We have internal conflicts, Decepticon

leadership, Soundwave takes command of the Decepticons

on Earth, leading with more pragmatic and brutal

efficiency than Starscream. However, tensions

arise as Shockwave's directives from Cybertron

begin to clash with the ground team's immediate

survival. Meanwhile, the Autobot... Optimus Prime

faces a crisis of leadership. While trying to

protect humans like Carly and Spike, he realizes

that some of his own soldiers and humans they

protect question if his pacifist leanings are

making him too weak to win a total war. Hmm,

I wonder. We also have key plot points like Cybertronian

reinforcements. The story introduces Alita -1

and her resistance cell on Cybertron, revealing

the desperate state of the planet. We have the

bridge battle. A massive showdown occurs at the

space bridge. We have brutal consequences. The

volume continues the series' signature visceral

style featuring high -stakes combat where Transformers

suffer permanent gruesome damage. What does that

say? Emphasizing that no character is safe. The

fate of two worlds hangs in the balance as Optimus

is forced to choose between the survival of his

species and the protection of Earth. Done, done,

done. I think we said in the last episode, and

it's well documented and known when Daniel Warren

Johnson was writing on this series, because currently,

as of this recording, they are up to issue 35

or 30. Yeah, 35, 35, 36, something like that.

When he was writing on the series, he has said

that he was a huge G1 fan and it was a dream

come true for him to write the story and create

his own version of Generation One. And that's

kind of what he has done here. And this whole

arc of the story is essentially like the title

of the trade says, Transport to Oblivion. He

essentially tried to comic book form. what those

episodes of the old G1 cartoon were. Bringing

Cybertron to Earth. That's what this is. It's

like this one kind of mixed a bunch of episodes,

though. Yep. Yep, yep. What are your overall

thoughts on... I mean, we're going to go issue

by issue because I have notes. That was just

the Google summary stuff that I had gotten stuff,

but I do have notes for each issue. But what

are some of your – let's start with issue seven.

What did you think of issue seven? That's the

first one in the trade, correct? Yes, yes. Well,

I thought it was interesting. We had a big battle

with the Decepticons. Yep. especially starscream

sniveling and soundwave taking command yep and

then starscream being obliterated yes yes yes

yes yeah yeah it's so funny going back to these

because like i said i for three years i've been

doing uh another comic review jesse early aka

matrix prime his his Energon Universe podcast

with him, and we do it with Ryan, the uneven

flow Merkley as well. And we are current as to

whatever the current issue is. So it's so weird

for me going back to this now and rereading this

now versus when we originally covered it three

years ago. It's making me remember, oh yeah,

when Matt Tracker from Mask was first introduced

in one of the G .I. Joe issues, I was like, oh

yeah, that's when that happened. But yeah, Starscream

now versus where he is right now in this trade

versus where he is currently in the story, it's

crazy. We've got Starscream. Soundwave begins

to basically beat Starscream to a pulp without

hesitation. That's crazy. Some of my notes include

I love that Starscream calling out the cheating

when we all know he would cheat in a heartbeat.

He would have done it first, hands down. Yeah,

exactly. Yeah, he doesn't care about any of it

at all, whatsoever. I've waited for this moment

a long time, Megatron, and my time is now! I

love at the end of the issue what Optimus says,

Steal yourselves, Decepticons! We are coming

for you! Like, that's not, like, that's not even

the Bay -verse, like, I can't even, like, it

just, it's so... I don't know, man. They definitely

mixed some of... Yeah. They mixed some of the

movie and some of G1 and some of the 86 movie

just by some of the aesthetics, like the scene

where he's stealing herself. Yeah. I don't know

what the deal is with the baby thing. Yeah, that

was a little... Yeah, I don't know. It's like

the Matrix is giving him future visions or something

or past visions because, I mean, he's got his

arm back. Yeah, it's yeah, it's crazy. It's just

crazy. I will say, though, that between Jorge

Corona and Mike Spicer and even Russ Wooten on

the lettering, like the entire art team. I've

said this even up to today. I love the art in

this book. The art, it's just amazing. It's kind

of got that almost late G1 Marvel grittiness

to it without necessarily having the realistic

eyes. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I definitely liked

the artwork more than I liked it from IDW though.

Yeah. I mean, and again, IDW used a handful of

artists over their run. Like it wasn't always

the, and the same thing here. I mean, you've

got multiple, like, uh, the first arc, it wasn't

Jorge Corona. It was, well, the first arc actually

was Daniel Warren Johnson. He was pulling double

duty. He was doing writing and art. Uh, so Jorge

Corona is the artist here. And then when we get

to the next arc, I don't know if volume three

is Jorge Corona off the top of my head. I'll

have to look, I'll look maybe when we do the

ad break later in the podcast, but, um, I do

know currently the artist is Jason Howard. So

just like IDW skybound is changing artists as

we go through the series. Um, but I mean, you

know, Everyone has their own likes and dislikes,

but I never, I don't remember if there was any

like, I mean, obviously we've covered all of

IDW on the podcast. So I, it takes a lot for

me. And I said this on recently on, on an episode

of another comic review for me to stop reading

a comic, whether it's writing or art, it takes

a lot for me to, Oh my God, I can't read this.

It takes a lot for me to just completely walk

away from a comic book. And so far, Transformers,

G .I. Joe, Mask, Void Rivals, none of it has...

And you and I haven't even gotten... I don't

think we've gotten into Void Rivals yet. I hope

you're going to like that. I think you will.

They did change some art direction for the next

one. Because you get Ryan Otley, Jason Howard,

and then Jorge Corona. Yeah. But the colors and

the details are different. It looks more cartoony.

Which I'm not opposed. Yep. Yep. Absolutely.

Let's see. Other notes I had. Let's see. In issue

eight, we got Astrotrain. That was a highlight

for me. Love seeing him in this series. I love

in issue nine, I love Optimus basically calling

out Shockwave. He's like, did you forget the

beatdown I gave you last time, Shockwave? I absolutely

love that. While I do love Shockwave overall

as a character, I love when Optimus ends up...

Yeah, just that was cool as hell. Yeah, I think

part of my main highlight for this arc, honestly,

was seeing the scenes with Astrotrain. Those

were my main... highlights like seeing Beachcomber

rescue Spike from Astrotrain. I thought that

was cool. But yeah, no. Well, then we get Ultra

Magnus. Oh, yeah. And Ultra Magnus, man. Oh,

man. Huh? I didn't even know that was him. Yeah,

no. Like, I mean, Daniel Warren Johnson did that.

Did that dude dirty? Like, I mean, just coming

back. Yeah. Just like coming back from almost

nothingness. It was just crazy. Just crazy. And

I like how the humans are here. But they're not

like it. I would say this. This trade specifically

is like something like 60 -40, like 60 % robot,

40 % human. The humans are here, but the humans

aren't always in the, like the humans don't take

away from the robot stuff. They work with it.

Like Carly and Cliffjumper have their own thing.

you know, Spike and Beachcomber start to have

a thing, but that's because he's rescuing him

for Master Train. But it's one of those things

where it's not... Daniel R. Johnson is not writing

this to, oh my god, we have to have the humans

interfere with the robot war. It's not like freaking

Kicker. Or, you know, oh my god, I want to get...

Get in the middle of this and get hurt. Stupid

Armada. Stupid 2000s cartoons. And again, I'm

just cycling through these pages. And the giant

page, the giant splash page of Cybertron and

Earth, where it says, what does it say? Why not

bring our home to the source when the blah, ha,

ha, ha, ha. Just, oh, man, that page is amazing.

I love the little intricacies in comics sometimes,

but when they do giant splash pages like that,

I love that stuff because it just looks so cool.

You'll hear coming up in the podcast episodes

591 and 592, which is Eduardo M. Fryer and I

doing G .I. Joe Volume 1 and Volume 2 from Skybound.

And in those, we talk about giant splash pages

for that comic series. And I say the same thing.

So it's very cool, very cool. How do you feel

about Skybound's presentation of trade paperbacks?

What is your opinion of that? Because I don't

particularly like how they start with volume

one, volume two begin, and then they just have

the whole story. You can't tell the breakup between

the issues. So it's kind of a double -edged sword.

Like if you're reading it, you know, like you'd

read a regular comic, it's confusing in the sense

that you don't know where one ends and one begins.

Right. If you never read the originals. And then

with their trades, it's nice from the perspective

that you get the whole comic, the whole storyline

not broken up. But again, like I said, there's

no way to know. I almost wish there was some

kind of a footer on the pages that say which

issue it was from and which page number. Yeah,

exactly. So that you can kind of reference it,

but it's not blatantly like the covers on the

front of it. Yep. Yeah, see, that's the thing.

That's what I've always liked about other companies,

how they, again, say what you will about IDW

and how whatever, whatever, whatever, whatever,

or DC or Marvel, but specifically how IDW did

it was, and this is what I loved about them.

This is a way for us to get. either the main

cover or a variant cover. Let's say you get to

the end of issue seven, and it's the last page.

They would put an alternate cover for issue seven,

and then the back of that page would be either

the main cover of issue eight or something, and

then issue eight would start kind of thing. DC,

Marvel, whatever, same thing. What I always liked

about the split up and using the comic pages

was you got the comic pages of art, and that's

the other thing that they don't do. What I noticed

at the end of the trade here is that they do

not, like volume two end. The only thing that

they do, the Energon universe has arrived and

we see an advertisement for Duke, Volume 1, Cobra

Commander, Void Rivals, Scarlet, and Destro.

And then it's just the last page. They don't

even include any other alternate art for Transformers

for any of the covers. I don't like that because

I'm like, if I'm spending, let's say, I forget

what, The MSRP on Volume 2 even was. But yeah,

it's like, let's say a trade paperback is $12

.99, $13. If I'm spending $13, $14, $15 on a

five -issue comic book collected edition, I want

a little bit something extra in there. Because

I love... Yeah, something like that. I don't

know. Uh, but overall I liked volume two for

the most part. Okay. So I'm looking at the cover

price for volume three on image comics .com 1699

at that price. I would want to see the variant

covers in the back of the book. So that price

is not terrible compared to what? I've seen other

trades at. Yeah, no. Then some of the other trades,

like some of the other ones start at $19 .99,

and then they kind of go up from there to like

$24 .99. Yeah. So it's not terrible. No, it's

not terrible. But again, other trades, and I've

seen other trades at this price that do include

variant cover art in the back of the book. So

I don't know. Whatever it is that it is, I guess.

But volume two. for transporting to oblivion.

I think my, I think one of my favorite images

is, uh, I forget what page it is. Earth needs

me. Earth needs us. Please. Your people need

you. I need you. Uh, Alita pushing against, uh,

his Megatron arm, Alita and Optimus. I just like

the composition of her trying to push against

his Megatron arm there. Because this was still

at a time when he had Megatron's arm as his right

arm. What a way to sell toys, folks. What a way

to sell toys. Oh, I know. And they charge $90

for that. And it's not even with the trailer.

That's the worst part. I know. I'm like, I can

3D print that arm. Yep. Which I probably will

if I want to. Yeah. Honestly, it doesn't matter

to me. I do think it's funny how this issue kind

of played out. You got Magnus rebuilt. You got

Cliffjumper kept getting in the middle of the

fight. Beachcomber was stranded on Earth. Yep.

Or on the moon, actually, and then ended up on

Earth during the moon landing. He hitched a ride.

Yep. And they keep killing Ratchet. You can tell

they don't like Ratchet. Yeah. I like the fact

that Devastator got his butt kicked. Yep. Which

was cool. And the other part that I kind of found

funny was you ended up with a section of Cybertron

on Earth. Yeah, the Cybertronian shard, which

will come back because, again, as I said, currently,

at the current time, that's Wheeljack's lab.

I know it ends up in the next issue. Yeah, issue

35. Yeah, the interesting thing about the end

of this trade was that Because of Optimus having

Megatron's arm, supposedly Megatron's personality

is starting to rub off on him. So the Autobots

have to beat the ever -living shit out of Optimus.

And I will edit this episode, but it's one of

those things where they have to beat the ever

-living crap out of Optimus to get Megatron's

arm off of him. It made sense in the moment to

take it off. Yeah, no, I know, but it's like,

oh my god. And at the end, Optimus chooses Earth

over Cybertron. The old fool. The old fool. Any

other thoughts on Volume 2, Transport to Oblivion,

sir? No, I mean, I enjoyed it overall. I would

probably give this a 4 out of 5. On our reading

scale, just because the artwork was great. There

was a lot of action, a lot of fun moments. I'm

not particularly fond of some of my favorite

characters getting decimated. I'm not, and I'm

also not a huge fan of Alita, but I get there

are people that like her. It gets worse and worse

as it goes on. And I, there was a point, I think

it's by, uh, when we were doing, when we were

doing the single issue reviews on another comic

review, I think by issue 18, I wanted her dead.

So trust me, I know how you feel. I think I'm

at that late. I'm already getting rubbed wrong.

And this is here in volume two. So, yep. Yep.

Yeah, I'm right there with you. Four out of five

on the Geek Meter, GCRN Geek Meter. So with that,

we're going to take a quick podcast ad break.

Here's some podcast ads and some other stuff.

We'll come back to close the show right after

this. Hello, geeks and geekettes! Looking for

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Then check out Altered Geek Unleashed, where

we discuss our thoughts on this week's geeky

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on the Geekcast Radio Network. What's up, folks?

My name is Mike, and I am the host of the Mike

Seibert Radio podcast, your favorite Transformers

-adjacent podcast, and I've got 60 seconds to

tell you all about my show. Good thing I've got

a catchy theme song to do most of the work for

me. I also talk about the Transformers the movie

about as much as I talk about Boba Fett. My guests

are independent artists who tell their stories

and give terrific advice about pursuing your

creative interests, and I encourage you to do

the same thing, even if I can't take my own advice.

Revity is not my first best strength, but you

can subscribe to Mike Seibert Radio on most podcast

apps so you never miss an episode. Make good

choices. We brought the entire convention center

to the brink of an inter -genre geek war. Okay,

Michael, if we're going to tackle this podcast

thing, we've got to do something really special.

It has to be cool, daily, in audio form, and

undetectable by radar. Something that screams

summer. I know, let's do a Phineas and Ferb review

podcast. We'll call it the Podcast Organization

Without a Cool Acronym, or PALCA for short. What

do you think? I think if we're not careful, Candace

is going to bust us. You can find Pauka on the

Geekcast, Radio Network, iTunes, Blog Talk Radio,

and all of the other methods you find podcasts.

We'll give you the whole seat, but you'll only

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future tales. The Beast Unleashed podcast is

over, not gone. You can hear more of this great

podcast discussing all the episodes of Beast

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We include voice actor and writer interviews

with stellar hosting by Steve, Mike, and Michael.

Head on over to iTunes or the net, or else I

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more, be it nostalgic or current. Whether you're

a seasoned collector or a casual robot enthusiast,

all are welcome. Triple Takeover ToyCast. Hi,

welcome to UpNerd. What is UpNerd? UpNerd is

a podcasting network of shows hosted by me, The

Uneven Flow. People have told me I like to talk

at them about a pretty wide range of topics.

Comics, games, movies, books, whatever. And now

I'll be able to talk at you. Along with the weekly

show will be two bi -weekly shows. First we have

Fine You Pick, a show where one host picks a

movie, then both hosts have to watch it. Then

the next episode, the other host picks the movie.

Each show will have a breakdown of why it is

that movie was picked by that host, after which

will be a discussion about what it is we just

watched. Lastly, we have the show Top 3, Bottom

3. Similarly to Fine, You Pick, one host picks

a television series, and the next week, the pick

alternates to the other host. Here, the episodes

of the show are chosen by the top three episodes

and the bottom three episodes, as rated on imdb

.com. Yes, this is probably the worst way to

watch and review a television show, and yes,

that's the idea. On our shows, I'll detail out

how you can suggest things for us to watch. You

can reach out and talk with the hosts and maybe

even appear on an episode. I hope you'll join

me for this exciting new podcast adventure. I

swear we're going to make it more than eight

episodes. On the Simplistic Reviews podcast,

we talk movies. We talk TV. We talk... Hello,

Julie, what the heck are you doing? Trying to

make our spot sound more exciting by adding explosions.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure you could have got the

point across with sound effects, not the real

thing. Car, car. Download the show on iTunes

or at simplisticreviews .blogspot .com. I'm sure

your insurance company will cover that. No, they

won't. No, they probably won't. Why'd I have

to be the chosen one? All right, folks, we are

back here inside the pullback. This is episode

586. We got, I don't know what the math is, something

like 14 episodes to 600. Yeah, I think that's

correct. Something like that. I don't know. Steve

Megatron, what in the hell you got going on?

Working on a lot of new articles and features

for the website still. Things to bring new community

features and functions and just trying to iron

things out there. Very cool. Very cool. All right,

folks. Well, that's going to do it for this episode

of The Pull Bag. Next time. I believe it will

be myself and Dave McElvenny. We are going to

head down to Krypton because we're going to talk

about Krypto, the last dog of Krypton. That's

right, folks. We recorded that months and months

and months ago, but it was a five or six issue

miniseries that DC did. Krypto, the last dog

of Krypton. where Lex Luthor finds crypto first

before Clark did, before Kal -El found crypto.

So very, very interesting, fun series. So my

buddy Dave McIlvenny joined me for that. So that's

what's coming up in episode 587 on the show.

Thank you for joining us here inside the Pull

Bag. If you'd like to get in contact with us

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For now, I am TFG1Mike with... Steve Megatron.

As always, make your greatest game of the comics

and we will catch you next time. Autobots, roll

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