Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye Volume 3 – Primus, Shadowplay, and Annual 2012

Hey, this is Greg Berger and you are listening

to the GeekCast Radio Network. Everything is

proceeding as I have foreseen. Yes. Emperor Ender.

Ender Purata, anyway. Stop it. Should have recorded

that. Welcome to The Pole Bag. Join us as we

dig out our latest comics and discuss them with

the rotating panel of the GCRN crew So sit back

and enjoy this week's Colbag You figured a way

out of this or are we in big trouble we're in

big trouble Haven't been listening to the red

episodes because I don't I up until You know,

you basically twisted my arm, right? I haven't

read it yet. So Yeah, yeah, it's a sign that

you make shit popular Ender Purata Ender brings

ratings Hey, there you go. All right, let's do

it again Yeah, yeah, let's do it again. I like

this one. Oh my god. Alright. Hello and welcome

to The Polebag. This is episode 13. I am your

host, TFJU and Mike, and joining me for the final

chapter for now of More Than Meets The Eye Trade

Paperbacks is Ender. Hello, sir. I'm Pirata.

Do you need to change your shorts? No. I'll give

you a minute. and you're out uh... between that

injecting and what shadow play actually is the

uh... given the other two of our justice disturbing

the fact that it make up a word for the other

one the hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee

hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee

hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee

hee hee hee hee hee I wrote it down in some review

or something and my wife asked me what it meant.

She was like, she was okay after a few hours.

I love how you would take enjoyment out of scarring

your wife from Transformers to fiction. She asked

man, I don't know. Alright, so the cover comes,

I believe this is one of the annual covers, was

it not? I'm not sure which one, I think this,

was it the annual? I thought it was one of the...

I think it might have actually been from... Nah,

maybe it was the Annual. Let me see... I don't

know, I could've sworn it was one of them. Actually,

I bought it in this form, so... I actually didn't

see the Annual. I didn't read it the Annual,

so... I'm actually not certain. Well, I'm sure

I'll mention it once we... It's a cover. That's

it. Well, you know, you could put this cover

on any issue of more than I technically Yeah,

pretty much, you know, it's just everybody a

little line with some little you know, it's Good

that city at the bottom. Maybe that's the reference

to the crystal city. So maybe that is from the

annual Yeah, possibly I love how they do some

of this stuff though, because like the cyclonus

image at the bottom left Oh my god, that's creepy

as all hell. Oh, yeah It's just, it's nice. It's

a really, really nice cover. It is. These are

well done. I'm really enjoying the aesthetic

of these. Yeah. They just do amazing, amazing

work. They just do, the artists and all that

stuff. Alright, so volume three. Primus and Shadowplay.

Obviously written by James Roberts. Art by Jimbo.

Salgado Emil, I can't say his last name Shadow

play also by Roberts art by Alex. Is it Milne

or Milan? I always want to say Milan. I think

it's Milne. I'm pretty sure it's Milne. Yeah

But yeah, this is So we've got the We're at the

flashback cart by Guido greedy because they did

the g1 that's the throwback art to the first

issue of g1 from Marvel g1 I should say oh Cuz

that's to go with the other one where they had

that so all the flashbacks in these looked like

that That original issue that hit a fairly unique

look Yeah, very very cool. So it was a harkening

bag that worked for me because I go all the way

back to that So that was that's that was fun.

It's just a little note there It's a good annual

it ties into the other annual I think I was saying

to the other... The annual Rips and Robots in

Disguise? Right, this is sort of the prequel

to that. Okay. Or it's the sequel to this, depends

on how you want to look at it. The annuals are

one of the principal examples, I would say. I

saw we had someone disagreed the other day when

I said that the two titles were intertwined.

I would say maybe intertwined was too strong

a word, maybe I shouldn't have said that, but

they do influence each other. They don't exist

in a vacuum from each other. And these annuals

are a big example of that. You know things cross

over and shadow play even just being full of

prowl and stuff like that is an example You know

and even though it's a flashback it. I just mean

that you know the characters in one Go, you know

you can find them in the other sometimes right

yeah Well, you know I would say that if you start

with the death of optimus prime one shot That

basically puts you on the path of two Two roads

and you choose which road you want to go down

You don't want to go down the more than meets

the eye road or you want to go down the robots

and disguise road and then at some point during

either one of the ongoings they're going to as

you said and crossover and Yeah, you know I'd

say they don't technically, you know, it's two

roads, but they're really kind of best and I

think they're best enjoyed together Frankly,

it's kind of a point. They seem like two separate

things and maybe you like one better than the

other. And sometimes, you know, you go four or

five issues and neither will have anything to

do with the other. But overall, you know, these

guys are sitting down at a meeting every week

and hashing this stuff out. And, you know, if

you're not breeding both, you're missing in jokes.

You know, I think someone's referencing to, you

know, even some of the jokes about Prowl and

that sort of thing. So, you know, they are best

enjoyed together. They can be read separately,

but I'm not exactly sure why anyone would. Right.

Yeah, no. We'll get to this joke later, but one

of the jokes that you're talking about is not

necessarily an in -joke, but one of the just

really, really just insensitive, offensive jokes

in this is keep your hands on. I laughed so hard

at that. I will get to it at the end because

basically what I did was I have issues 12 and

13 digitally for more than meets the eye. I read

this first and then I've also caught up to the

point where I'm ready to get 17 on and on and

on because I had already bought up to issue 16.

So, we'll get to that at the end of the show.

Alright, so this starts out, Primus, you, me,

and other revelations. Hmm... Uh... Yeah... They

are, uh... See, this is why I'm kinda like...

What I don't understand about some of the collections

is, like... Specifically with this it's supposed

to be 9 through 11 of more than meets the eye

plus the annual right and Things just sort of

the chronological order of the things that annual

goes so that's where they put it Yeah, yeah,

cuz cuz the annual the annual is pretty much

all flashback, right? No, all right current.

No, it's no it's it's the rest of it. That's

pretty much all flashback technically This is

all real time this is just what happens here

they when they did their annual is is arriving

where they've been going for the whole series

up to that point they've been going to find and

it for years my explanation for you and for us

where they're going is where drifts miniseries

took place uh... all right this is where drift

stop being a decepticon and he came out and hung

out with uh... the atlas and and whatever these

guys call themselves, the circle of light. He

went and that's where he was hanging out then.

So he's been to this city before and when he

was there it was a city and it was proper and

he refers to the events there at some point earlier

on. but that's where all that comes from and

that's why drift is so ticked off when he's here

but that's what you know so the reason it's sort

of their annual is partially just because this

is the outcome of their theoretically this has

been where they've been going this is their first

stop they're hoping these people will be able

to help them figure out their you know snow globe

to the stars and figure out where they're going

to go find these mythical people that may or

may not exist I can my theory is that hot rod

is gonna remember one day We're gonna figure

out this is all just like on hot rods post -war

to -do list was go find Knights of Cybertron

But what he really meant was it was some bar

called Knights of Cybertron that he couldn't

remember where it was Because he was there and

he wrote it down wrong in his to -do list for

post -war He's not so he's this whole thing is

just trying to find some nightclub. There's nothing

to do with the Knights of Cybertron Till all

are dumb Yeah, if one is a One page I guess it's

page three or so at the bottom of page three

Why does ratchets chest look like sound waves

chest? Yeah, what looks like is it? That's just

sort of how he's drawn in these his his not windscreen.

It's just kind of flat Should we point about

most of these pages so far have taken place in

ultra Magnus's mouth Because that's the sort

of series. This is oh yeah, that's this is this

is what I was yeah, this is basically um The

microbots basically what this is yeah totally

So yeah, we were miniaturized and fighting things

in ultra Magnus's head Little little mini bots

which actually do tie back into the prep the

primary plot And they are they for they force

ultra Magnus to smile to kill That just looks

so wrong. Yeah He's not a smiler Well, they refer

to even when they're in there they refer to how

the Pistons to make him smile are all rusty from

disuse Yeah, this is what I was talking about

last week with this with this story is this is

where Was it wasn't it was a world wasn't it

that wrote what basically you're feeding on the

inside of all yeah Feeding somewhere in ultra

Magnus Well, oh my god, what a guy is nuts when

he finds out to a character. Oh It's so funny.

It's just I Love reading this book. This book

is just so fantastic Story is just yeah, it's

so fantastic. It's so awesome and just the dialogue

itself I mean just to just sit here and go through

it. I mean like you I could pick out a good joke

on just about every page it's like it pains me

not to me like we'd be sitting here for ten hours,

but you could just go through this and just you

know go through every other line of like great

dialogue and Little throwaways and just tremendous

amounts of enjoyable stuff and you know it's

a real uh testament to the idea that it kind

of all starts with the writing and every you

know everything will be great as long as the

writing is great not to say nothing wrong with

the art in any of these but oh no no no the art

is you know the writing keeps this prop is what's

holding this up oh yeah but but the thing is

the writing is what's holding it up but it also

is like the art influences that like oh yeah

i mean it is done well with it it complements

it it's It's a you know, like all comic books.

It's collaborative effort. But you know, I you

know, I read this because the writing so good

That's what I'm here for Yeah, that's just that's

just yeah, that's how I am and swerve is here

to look like he's shocked Is a zombie came to

life the zombies stuck halfway in the wall Maybe

they should dumb that scene in next -gen where

the girl fell into the floor or a creepy that

was Yeah, she started talking about it afterwards.

That would have been Yeah, where we're at here.

Yeah, oh more has been fused into the wall since

the first issue and now he's a Works he's fused

into the engines. That's right. So he's he wakes

up and hey, you know that old The him waking

up and the nanobots waking up all has something

to do each other I like to that really everything

that's happening here is for even as silly as

it is They're like an ultra Magnus's mouth and

they're making fun of Magnus for smiling and

or is waking up and think it all actually has

something to do with The with the rest of the

book. These are all actually plot points. None

of this is just stupid throwaway humor So I love

the whole thing of Rodimus everybody's like You

always say it. Stop saying it. We've got the

Talala 1 montage. Rob says Talala 1 about everything

all the time. Even that later on is going to

become a plot point. Yeah. Always. Yeah. But

it is going to come up. Yeah, no, it's it's it's

gonna come up and it's gonna be so interesting.

I love this after he's been accused of saying

to all or one too much He's been sitting there

playing with this ridiculous knife and he's still

holding the knife, but he's looking at his reflection

in his big ridiculous knife Yeah, yeah Optimus

used to say it like what like I said optimus

used to say You know, epic circumstances, yeah.

So, yeah, well, there's critical, you know, that's

what Rodimus Prime does best, is not be as cool

as Optimus Prime. That's sort of his, that's

his, you know, his place in life. I am Rodimus

Prime, not quite as cool as Optimus. Watch me

go to this thing, not as well as Optimus did,

and you'll know because I'll start talking about

it. That was the hard thing about being a kid

when they tried to replace Optimus Prime is like

there You know only one person on earth thought

they're you know, Rodimus Prime shouldn't be

in charge more than I did and it was Rodimus

Prime He all the time constant constant, you

know Insecurity which was like so not what you're

looking for from that show Oh, man. I could go

on about that, but I won't. I love this whole

panel at the other side of the page. At the bottom

of that page where you're talking about Optimus

and he only used to say it every couple of decades

in a very epic fashion. I love that second panel

at the bottom. We need a new crew. I'm serious.

Either the crew goes or I do. Is this about the

nanocon thing? It's being mocked openly and in

front of others. with their shoulders they've

given ultra -magnus to i know who they both go

into the next panel you know i know it's this

is so well you know it man this is the most of

all this page there's another there's another

quasi lifted red dwarf joke it's which i approve

of i like i like throwbacks to red dwarf i don't

want to make it sound like i'm complaining about

that i'm just i'm just pointing it out It's so

interesting to me how like because being a I

guess you could say almost first -time comic

reader in a long time because like I October

of last year is when I dove in and I hate to

sound like I'm dumb as hell when it comes to

this stuff, but Explain to me the point of an

annual because the way the reason why I ask is

because they basically have three stories within

this they had this first story which ends with

Well, you know an annualist I have frankly I'd

have to look up the actual origins of thing or

the or the Express purpose that they originally

had I'm quite used to them a lot Lots of comics

it seems things used to have annuals more than

they do now and for instance I think for IDW

these are the first Transformers annuals I've

when I was rereading the Marvel stuff I don't

think the transformers in the states ever had

an annual this not a proper one But there they

had an annual every year and it would actually

have some new little stories And they'd have

like prose stories in there as well and games

and little stuff. So It seems like maybe it was

a bigger Thing there than here or a different

thing, but basically it's just like a bonus issue

every year It has a it's usually a one, you know

an encapsulated story and it's a thicker issue

You know, I've certainly I've you know, they're

for the other world I remember whatever X -Men

X -Men had annuals every year for a good long

time and I you know, they did You know some big

thing would happen to them I mean like the changeover

to From the original X -Men to like Wolverine

and storm and Colossus that was an annual that

might have been their first annual You know just

to for an example that you know, you've probably

seen but so it's I'm not sure why they decided

to do it. Maybe just as a bumper for the story

Maybe it's sort of you know, this these two annuals

were connected Maybe it was just sort of a story

event. They wanted to do so. I'm not sure I'm

not sure exactly Why they've started to do it

again. I don't mind it I don't I think it's a

fine idea, you know, you get to have a no issue

here and there is good, you know, I've been reading

the monstrosity ones that little online ones

that are like, you know, eight pages long. Yeah.

And the trouble with them is that they're kind

of like this thought line. I'm in the middle

of saying. Hmm. Yeah. Like that Oh, you're gone,

you know I'm sorry. I just started reading that

Well, the thing is is the reason why I asked

what the annuals is because it they had they

they have like And you ever I don't I don't remember

if you ever picked up or seen any of the Batman

Beyond Unlimited stuff The stuff that DC's currently

doing. I haven't seen any of the news. Basically,

Batman Beyond Limited is... As of this moment,

it's three stories in one issue. The title of

the... It's... three digital issues in one print

book because they released a digital issues first

and what it is is that is a story for batman

beyond the story for justice league beyond as

a story for superman beyond i think they're going

to be getting away from that here in a couple

of months thank god but what the the reason why

i said the animals is because of the simple fact

that they have two or three or four different

stories even though it's all the same it's a

continuation it's not like like the end of this

page here where is that I can't tell who's on

the roof um standing on the roof before we get

to the the the coronation or the sacraments and

ceremonies scene oh might be maybe it's supposed

to be drift maybe it's okay a lot of those guys

there look alike and have swords but yeah but

um but that that bottom panel on that page before

we get to the ceremony stuff it doesn't say at

the bottom to be continued you know what i mean

it's like it's it's still a fluid story but it

still has two sacraments and ceremonies and it

has a little little blurb i love how they're

taking bets on how yeah how long it'll take him

to how long it'll take him to say till all are

one eight seconds eight seconds wow These guys

do the crew not respect him or the crew not respect

like it seems like they You know, they they tease

ultra Magnus. They basically make fun of Rodimus

for the two and don't get me wrong He does say

it way too damn much. I understand but it's like

it doesn't seem like they really respect the

chain of command at all You know, I'm kind of

torn. I mean I feel like I should use my you

know reviewer status see if i can't just ask

james roberts this but i wonder if it just doesn't

like hot rod erotimus or whatever this just reminds

me of like someone really accurately writing

a character and it doing a great job of it but

like doing it out of like total spike like fine

you want rotimus here's rotimus perfectly accurate

here it's like oh wow What isn't it an accurate

Rodimus? It's like no, I just I just never reached

realize we're out of a suck that much But he

does He's very good at being hot Rod. He's terrible

at being in charge. It's always been terrible

at being in charge But it kind of plays that

way it reminds me of like I You know people are

gonna I hate we certainly the old scooby -doo

shows. I hate scooby -doo But I like the movies

and I felt like it was because they were very

clearly made by someone else who hated scooby

-doo Like I laugh my way the whole way through

that Yeah, make fun of that I hated that Just

to let the listeners know what I found out through

podcasting with Ender over the last three weeks

in these episodes is he and I don't stand on

separate sides of the fence, but there's a clear

line between us because i am a huge ron is fanboy

and you are a huge optimist fanboy i do not dislike

optimists i don't think you know i don't have

the same i don't share the opinion of all one

is a better leader than the other yes ron is

is a screw up i will admit that he cannot lead

very well and when he does it's by the seat of

his pants but at the same time i look at this

book and i can just Either laugh or smile or

enjoy what he's doing because I'm a fan of the

character So I can laugh or smile and you know,

I'm not I wouldn't say I'm not a fan of the character

even but I do you know, I mean like His principle,

you know, but when he's in a leadership role

what he principally does is suck it leading It

almost like it's become By virtue of the fact

that the attempt to replace optimists in the

80s was unsuccessful, just by the nature of the

fact that that has happened, Rodimus Prime seems

to now exist to validate Optimus Prime's eternal

leadership. Like any time it's like, oh man,

maybe we have too much optimists, maybe we're

a little optimist -centric, and then they take

him away for a while and you get Rodimus, it's

like, oh, oh yeah, yeah, maybe we, okay, yeah,

we can have optimists back now. as long as it

isn't smoke screen, that's all that I'm happy

with yeah, I know, that worried me too a little

bit just a little bit, I didn't think they were

gonna go for it, but it worried me well no, because

okay, what's gonna sell more? I know it's a story

plot point for the cartoon and the writers in

the cartoon are absolutely amazing for Transformers

Prime, but Let's be honest, what's going to sell

more? A new version of an Optimus toy or a new

version of a Smokescreen toy? I was worried they

were going to have Smokescreen just be Optimus

after that or something. Because they already

made the Optimus toys. I mean, there was no chance

of it not being Optimus Prime, technically. But

I wondered if they were just going to like literally...

Have smoke screen be optimist from then on like

he was just pretending to be optimist I would

worry about that because of some promotional

images that had everyone from the cast in there

except smoke screen Yeah, that's what made me

worry about it Apparently he just didn't fit

in the frame So apparently tailgate is having

a ceremony or something or other but before we

get to that That that last panel on the right

on the bottom right of the page let me get this

straight you left graffiti inside ultramagnes

yeah don't pretend you're not impressed what

does it say? it says the duly appointed inverser

of the tyrus accord can duly appoint my shiny

middle because world is a merge between deadpool

and bender yeah world is is crazy And world is

also world along with another character design

and we'll get to later biggest red herring ever

and you know what I'm talking about So did that

on purpose I This is this is the right of auto

brand. This is this is tailgate getting becoming

an Autobot. It's supposed to be idea Yet another

thing, you know, in more ways than one that Rodimus

can't do right next to what Optimus does. Could

his speech possibly suck more? Could what? Could

his speech, could Rodimus's speech possibly suck

more? Yeah, yeah, that's, he's... He references

how Optimus's speech was better, basically. Yeah,

this is what I'm saying, this is what he does

best. He is not, he is good at leaders, Optimus

Prime. Apparently Drift didn't write that speech

for him. Yeah, he probably should have. Yeah,

he probably should have. Sadly, Rodimus seems

to be like the George W. Bush of Primes. Rodimus,

Rodimus W. Prime. I think we'll start calling

him that. Alright, so if we're - That was Ridley

of Prime. We're naming transformers as presidents

who would optimist be Lincoln certainly Ronald

Reagan Lincoln. Oh Yeah, that's that's right.

I'd love to say something clever that would make

kind of a laugh it up But it's like yeah, no,

it's just obvious Yeah, just stop. Yes It's it's

nice seeing perceptor That was kind of cool background

color lately Yeah, he kind of has He talks about

optimist's speech. He goes to be honest. I can't

remember what he said It would have been very

very wise tailgate. I hope my words will resonate

with you in this way like Somebody gave you a

good speech you got yours Wow, you've got a call

it's the galactic It's not as good as Optimus

is, but at least it's over. Thank you. That's

about it. It was short. Yes, it was very short,

so... Short, but pointless. It's the Galactic

Telegate, so it kind of goes with him. And then

he can't, you know, due to circumstances admittedly

beyond his control, he can't even put the auto

brand on right. No, I know. No, it's so funny.

Mean for a second there, you know, I was wondering

if he literally had just like got distracted

and doodled something on tailgates chest Well,

that's what it shows around to be like Rodimus

was here. Yeah Or what's his face in an Autobot

symbol kind of fashion? It's the Galactic Council

they're hailing us On screen, I'm not in the

mood for this. Hello, Star Trek ripoff. This

is about the first time we've really seen the

Galactic Council. I think there's been some reference

to the rest of life in the galaxy and how it's

not fond of them. But I think this is the first

time we've really seen them. And I love the name

of the Galactic Council ship. The Benign Intervention.

Yeah, that's a giant warship. The Benign Intervention.

That's a loaded ship. Yeah, yeah, it is. That's

a cancerous ship. Yeah, that's the second of

the notable ship names in here That was the other

one the Decepticon just a ship. That was uh,

oh So tyranny Yeah, yeah. Yeah, peaceful tyranny.

Yeah, I love that As I suspected Cybertronians

as I suspected a fleshling in a stupid ass I

do love Rodimus for those moments You see, if

Optimus were here, what he'd be doing is like

leaning over, like, Rodimus, you're supposed

to think those things in your head and say...

Magnus is there for, though. I mean... No, but

that's just that Rodimus... Magnus isn't even

thinking that. Optimus, that's the thing, you

know, people write Optimus all wrong. He's not

that straight -laced. He's just under control.

Rodimus... Hot Rod says, you know, a fleshly

and a stupid hat. Optimus is just thinking. Okay,

fleshly and a stupid And then hot rod says shut

up So is rewind a lawyer as well Is rewind a

lawyer as well. I think he's just got a lot of

information Okay, I was thinking he turns into

a memory stick. He just he just has a lot of

data The subsection seven defense sneaky Don't

pretend you know what they're talking about.

He's like, you know Magnus is strangling him

with his own red tape Magnus comes out and just

starts talking in like, you know In treating

language, you know subsection 12. Oh, yeah. Well,

you know paragraph 14 of subsection 8 It's like

Rodimus is just like I'm still in charge, right?

Okay Just so we all know It's like, yeah, it's

like, who the hell leads these people? I mean...

Yeah, well, nobody. That's the thing. Artemis

is magic paperweight. That's about all he's got.

So we get a little background on the Galactic

Federation. Yeah. It seems entirely possible

that the reason the galaxy has any sort of unification

factor at all is being unified against Cybertrodians.

I clearly just don't like them. I can see if

they were unifying against evil and against the

Decepticons. It's been reflected more in modern

versions, but think what actually happens when

the Transformers show up here. They bring their

giant robot war to your planet and step on everything

in sight while they're shooting at each other.

Not even necessarily at you. And the fact that

one side is trying not to step on you as opposed

to the other one that isn't. The fact of the

matter is there's still just a bunch of giant

assholes stepping on your species. You know principally

we're defined in the galaxy by our four million

year civil war. I mean like these these Creatures

these giant robots have been shooting at each

other blowing up planets for like longer than

our species has existed Yeah, and probably several

you know most of these people probably feel the

same In the time it will, you know, we'll have

invented warp drive a few million years back

by the time we have time for these people to

fight their war from now. You know, we'll have

12 fingers by the time that, you know, these

people, you know, got to the first phases of

their shit. So it's understandable that nobody's

happy to see them. Yeah. Okay, history lesson

over. Who wants to go to Crystal? Yeah. Boink.

And they get beamed down. Yeah, it's really,

you know... Let's just skip, you know, I think,

frankly, I mean, at least we're gonna go through

page by page in this whole thing, which we're

not gonna have time for. No. No, we're not. We

beamed down. We beamed down. There are some other

interesting things in here. We beamed down. The

Crystal City is wrecked. Yeah, somebody destroyed

it. The Constructicon has destroyed it. Wait,

I think I think the inhabitants had habits blew

it up and ran after drift left in the hope that

he wouldn't come back Just cut and ran So drift

wouldn't come back and irritate them with more

driftness Yeah, okay with drift. I mean, I've

gotten used to him. But even this I feel like

he's good in these books because they're making

fun of him properly Yeah, I love ratchet giving

him crap Don't believe in anything. Yeah, but

you believe in everything I know I love I love

ratchet in the in this series. He is a whole

fun like every you know, we talked about this

beforehand, but every incarnation of ratchet

he's either old and crotchety or He's whiny about

hey, I needed that or but this ratchet. No, it's

old and crotchety Yeah, that's true. I think

in every incarnation Ratchet is either old and

Crotchety or Crotchety and old I'm not sure there's

a valid or there dude. Yeah, he's I Mean he's

I'm not getting a young vibe off of him in here

No, no, no, not at all. But at least he had like

The writing for him is like, it's just, it's

so, and it kind of, you don't expect it because

you think you, in your mind as a reader, you

think you know who Ratchet is, you think you

know his character, and then James Roberts will

do something like what you just said, you know.

You believe in everything. Well, you don't believe

in any, you know what I mean? He'll do something

like that. I can see him being cynical, and I

don't know, he doesn't seem, I mean, he seems

very accurate to me. He seems like a very good

amalgamation of all the Ratchets that came before,

which Ratchet is actually one of the best Explored

characters in transformers them really he was

big and not huge in the G1 show But he was big

in it. He was tremendous in the G1 comics the

Marvel ones I mean, he's just all over the place

in there in IDW. He's the first Autobot you see

So there's been a lot of time for ratchet I mean

if anything his personality shifted some in IDW

a little bit. I think but that's just between

writers Yeah So, I love the origin of the matrix

in this, how they explain the matrix. Well, this

is the mythical origin of the matrix. It may

or may not be exact. This is how it is cited

in religious text. But it's the origin for this

series. Well, it's the religious text read verbatim

in this series. The literal truth may be slightly

different. I just love the idea. I'm just pointing

that out for anyone really like I don't think

this is This may or may not be the literal I

mean the Transformers is not it's not uncommon

for them to say well actually it was a little

more like this or this came from here the even

just for someone to change their mind but what

this is this is cyclonus where you know basically

recites the religious creation myth he as an

ancient Cybertronian was brought up with Right,

you know, I know but what I'm saying is I even

if this isn't the Actual or I wouldn't put it

past IDW to come back. It's like nope. This is

what the quintessence told him it was Right,

you know what I mean? I'm just saying I wouldn't

Don't get too caught up in it. It is you know

The text pretext they are moving on from all

these people looking for the Knights of Cybertron

such are are harkening back to a more religious

thought process here so at the very least this

is important to them right i'm just saying i

like the idea of one of the you know sebertronian

by all about being trapped in a prison and he

turned it into the matrix and and basically stabbed

himself in the abdomen right and enter john leaking

out and that became the wisdom of it i think

that's not who was really interesting here is

the uh... concept that deity of death Died and

hence. Yeah, that's why transformers don't die

Or there's you know, they don't age Yeah, you

know which could easily also be explained just

that they're big robots But but just that their

myth has a representation for why we don't die

like everything else does They don't have a cycle

of life and death necessarily that outside the

war there just be a billion of them all walking

around, you know They were in a car accident.

Which apparently still does kill you. There's

a bunch of references in here, too. They show

the Titans and stuff. Now, this, not as badly

as in the spotlights, this of course is their

Metroplex ad to some degree. I'm sorry, I'm feeling

cynical about that. that just as i see here i

don't mind it it goes with what's going on you

know the metro titan they find here it is what

ties it to the other annual and you're any gives

has what it is the metro titan does come into

play on on severson this one too he teleport

but yet that that's the same he got the once

they freed him in this he teleported to cyber

so again These two series, these two ongoings

are interlinked with each other while at the

same time still remaining their own story. You're

gonna see Rodimus reference Starscream going

up to Bumblebee and giving him a robo wedgie.

Here's the thing I would say about the two series

is that they're not divergent except at the beginning

they diverge, but then they are parallel. You

know what I mean? They are two stories very much

happening in the same universe with the same

characters in the same time frame. And they're

connected, you know. They go together. Yeah,

they go together. I'm really surprised that Swerve

actually had an honest and non -comedy moment

when... Oh, yeah. Swerve has his shame for having

blown Rung's head off. We were discussing that

last week. Yeah, yeah He holds it against Rodimus

to bit too. Yeah, I thought that was nice. I

want to point out very quickly There's a panel

back here when you first see ultra Magnus on

the other ship I like the idea of you know, cuz

I was you see if some like, okay flesh things

Like what are they gonna do? I love how this

guy like towers above ultra Magnus That even

you know organic or not. This this species does

that look like something that couldn't fight

a transformer Yeah, they remind me of Human versions

of the shark decons, but they're purple and green

instead of purple and gray It's just the way

that they look like all the soldiers I like how

this guy is you know is one set of arms behind

his back kind of menacingly But has his gesturing

with the others Sort of like doing a Darth Vader

pose and gesturing at the same time Yeah, I will

force choke you ultra Magnus I just meant to

be like looking out the window pose, you know,

he's got his arms behind his back there. Yeah.

So the annual pretty much ends with, oh my god,

everybody's gonna die. Yeah, everybody looks

like they're gonna blow up. And then they don't

because they save the Metro Titan who saves everybody,

including pulling ore out of the engines. Oh,

but they were worth our note of, you know, Rodimus

being the worst leader ever when his little argument

with Swerve is pretty good. Yeah, that's why

I said like I'm coming around to swerve swerve

is one of those characters where oh my god Shut

the fuck up, you know, it's like he's he's always

joking. I get it He's supposed to be a jokey

character, but there's just sometimes in some

panels I just can't stand swerve and I was I

was kind of right the the main cover of the trade

is the annual cover be By Milne and Joanna La

Fuente That's cool. All right moving on to it's

nine Well, that's a shattered cover right there

The pieces of the puzzle Well now this isn't

nothing now we're this issue is gonna be like

lots of flashback II everything now everything

we're doing here This is basically, you know

We're talking about how if you think you're gonna

pick this book up and just see what people are

doing on the lost light. You're wrong Because

now for the next three issues, we're essentially

having I mean they're doing it as a story told

on the bar But really what the issues are about

is, you know four and a half million years ago

on Cybertron you know, so we spend all that time

really, you know, just the Exploring backstory

for the Transformers universe, which is great.

I kind of felt like if you're gonna when they

said they're gonna have two Comics, I was like,

how about one is after the war and one is during

the war So we don't always have to be after the

war So, you know now this is before the war.

It seems like an IDW worries before the war or

after the war The war is always just about to

start hers always just ended Well now see I have

a theory about that Something interesting happened

during the period where they were actually shooting

at each other just Well, see you got to think

though you got to think in IDW's terms where

they can tell stories for before the war And

after the war, because the war technically was

Transformers. None of those things happen, not

even remotely. Really? The arc never, there was

no arc. It never crashed into Mount St. Hilary.

They were never in Oregon shooting at Megatron

for well. There was no period where there was

no period where Optimus and Megatron and some

crew were dormant at all. Nothing. This is not

related to any other G1 in any way. So none of

that happened. So literally when I say it's like

it's either just after the war. or just before

the war except for like a little bit in the beginning

of IDW which was also like all on earth basically

except a few random parts but like we've never

seen the war the war apparently was really boring

just just nothing just they were just shooting

each other over a hill for like four million

years just nothing they just they cannot be bothered

that does kind of bug me that's the one thing

that kind of bugs me about the IDW verse right

now Yeah, I would think that eventually like

one lakes So the lost light journey is is after

the war. We don't know who won. We're about to

but it's hard to say Yeah, because they didn't

it felt like there was some deciding Conflict

and thing they said listen. They said the war

was over at the beginning of all hail Megatron

They said the war was over the end of all hail

Megatron Then they said the war was over at the

end of chaos and now they're saying the war is

over at this midpoint in robots in disguise So

if you think just then over and over and over

again IDW needs to stop They need to like ban

themselves from using those words in a row Like

any anyone at IDW whatever you think like you

want to make a promo or do something or some

storyline You want to go the war is over now

that just roll up a few back issues and smack

yourself in the back of the head Just just don't

let it happen So do you think at all? Okay The

question I'm going to ask you here pertains more

so to Batman than it does to the IGW verse, but

it ties in. Currently, next month in June, June

12th, they're going to release Batman 21, which

is Scott Snyder and Greg Coppolo, and Snyder

is writing the new 52 Origin of Batman, where,

yes, it's going to have the same, you know, the

basic... road to him becoming them and it's gonna

have different it's going to be a slightly different

version of it what i'm not gonna ask you is do

you think it anytime in either one of the books

runs of the on goings that they would actually

do an arc of stories where they are in the war

i don't know i'm starting to wonder i've been

saying literally for years now i would i would

love to read a big you know miniseries or something

that was about like You know, Prowl and Ironhide,

the platoon of guys trying to take a hill. You

know, it strikes me that, like, there's this

whole genre of storytelling that comes out of,

you know, what I think is probably, storytelling

-wise, the most similar kind of war would be

like, you know, just World War II movies, books,

video games. I mean... Band of Brothers, where's

where you know, I've been having where is the

Transformers like Band of Brothers series? You

know, and we haven't been getting that I'd really

like to see it and I really like I generally

say do you ever see that happening? It's like

I would think But there's certainly been no sign

of it. It just seems like comic books especially,

you know are and it seems to have bled into this

where it doesn't need to be in some ways are

Obsessed with this sort of event culture Yeah,

what's the next event gonna be and there's I

mean, I understand that that makes sense to a

degree But you can't just go from event to event

to event And I don't see that I don't see the

appeal of it as a reader Now if you're getting

people who are coming in and reading like two

events and then not coming back to the comic

shop For three years if that's the model that's

happening. I mean, I can't blame them for it.

But for me as a long -term reader I don't mind

a little while where we're just Do going with

the characters where I'm reading a serial, you

know where yeah This is what happens in between

and that's just okay. There's you know, it doesn't

mean nothing should be happening There should

be good stories, but it doesn't have to be like

Like literally chaos ended with all the decepticons

merging into one giant amorphous mass called

deceptive God You know, and that's what the event

culture brings. They're not doing that in these

books. I don't want to accuse it of that being

where it's going. But that's where the mentality

goes. Where like, all Batman's foes get sucked

into Arkham Asylum and it becomes like, you know,

the Joker Titan, you know, and smashes Gotham

City. And it's just like, you just don't have

to do that. You know, this week you can fight

the Joker and this week you can fight the Penguin,

but they don't have to have a Voltron team up.

Yeah, there is no joker that can form a blazing

sword Yeah, you know so I first heard of Decepticon

I first think in my head was just like all a

bunch of Decepticon standing at one of those

like pyramids like cheerleaders do on each other's

backs I'm on a jet All right, okay now we're

in we're in this is what I dragged you out here

for this is this is shadow play Yeah, shadow

play is its own little world here. So we got

like now we're this is shadow play is a like

a noir mystery Heist movie kind of thing Which

say so it's like its own little encapsulated

story. It's it's a noir heist thing in ancient

Golden Age Cybertron To give you some idea of

the time frame. We start out here. We're at Macadam's

new oil house Did you notice that? Yes, I did

notice that. Isn't that brilliant? Yes, it is.

And this harkens back, you might not have noticed

this. We start out with Nightbeat, and it's not

for no reason. Nightbeat is the poster child

for Transformers New Our Stories. Because in

the old comics, they did a, there was a section,

I think they were. There where he was he was

like investigating the location of the matrix.

They were playing it like Like a Chandler novel.

There was lots of Maltese Falcon references and

stuff like that Yeah, so that's it's not for

no reason. It's nightbeat here. No, and you know,

I was gonna say that like I got a buddy of mine

who's gonna be on the show a couple episodes

the number of episodes between now and you know,

what whatever and his one of his favorite characters

is night be his actual twitter name is at night

beat uh... and i was like me being the ignorant

fanboy that i was two years ago i was like the

fuck is nightbeat why do i care about this damn

character and after reading this he's pretty

cool yeah well he's it's a great it's a great

establishing shot they got with him or the other

you see these other Cybertronians around there's

a little Death Star droid there But even better,

you see a Beast Machines rat trap, basically,

on the corner? Which corner? On the corner, when

they're standing in front of Macadam's in the

first panel, in the right -hand corner, about

to cross the street. He's got a little data pad

under his arm or something. Oh, yeah. Beast Machines

rat trap. That's awesome. And that weird two

-legged ding on the other side of the street

looks familiar to me, too, but I'm having trouble

placing it. It's a great little crouch shot there.

And if I'm not mistaken, the one guy... Are you

talking about the one by NightBeat's leg? Are

you talking about the one by NightBeat's leg?

Yeah. Kind of reminds me of a... Ad -Ad. It does

remind me of an Ad -Ad, but something about its

head looks specifically familiar to me. Maybe

it's like a Metal Gear thing or something. I

don't know. It's kind of got that feeling. Metal

Gear Rex on Cybertron. Nice. The mini mini conmail

gear racks there you go, right? So the story

I always want to see is someday the they need

to show how the Vager probe from Star Trek one

found Cybertron and got sent back That's random

other stuff on Cybertron humor So yeah night

be here. He's hanging out with another guy who

he looks a lot like you know Is it just me or

is he animated perceptor? Doesn't he look like

animated perceptor did? Yeah, a little bit he

turns into a microscope Yeah, I'm thinking he's

kind of he seems to be a kindred spirit to that

in any case I think I think the glasses and animated

perceptor looked like a lot like that So they're

hanging around at Macadam's new oil house having

a great conversation establishing the political

side, you know status of Cybertron The clamp

down and sentinel primes it's complicated. I

mean like I've you know, a lot of this stuff

harkens back to Megatron origins and some of

the like autocracy So there's a lot of background

here that it's clear. You know, if you read the

full spectrum, I love them. There's a What's

his name rung building that ship we keep singing

as you know Oh God, that's right. Yeah, it's

building that ship and You know a lot of the

signage in the back. This is I want to point

I'm just pointing out all this stuff because

in like a few pages here They really get through

a lot of complicated political situations that

are the origins of the war in this universe That

really hadn't been gone through as thoroughly

before in some ways So they really in two pages

managed to get through a lot of exposition without

Yeah, make you feel like it's exposition. Yeah.

Yeah, you know And of course the title of the

book Shadow play a totally epic story based on

real events that definitely happened right I

Can already tell just by reading that title even

before I read this I could already tell that

was something that swerve came up with I Love

to this flight, you know, I think it's really

kind of hashes down So that you know who the

Decepticons are these people but I love who they

are Come to love revolution the Decepticons will

force everyone to change shape They were that

a drill bit or a scoop will be shot on the spot.

Anyway, it all goes south when one of them figures

out that their drink isn't tasting so good because

there is a dead senator dripping energizing into

it from above them. Which is not a good thing.

It came from up there. He refers to, you know,

the last time somebody would call this the inter.

you know state bridge or something because there's

been there's been many times the shirma bridge

has been referred to clearly it takes its name

because that's where they hung the dead senator

shirma so now then we go into what oh so it's

basically like a um oh uh clinton ravine Back

to the future three for the win two pages in

at the cap. It's already blown. It's red lock

much. Yeah, and Then so we go now we're four

million years later now We're gonna connect to

this story to what the comic is supposed to be

about theoretically the crew lost life And they

are telling this story They have all they're

all in in in swerve's bar you're in McAdams new

new oil house and They're telling the story to

wrong because he has just had his head put back

together because we're blew it off by accident

and It's not working just yet. So they they're

hoping telling him stories will force him to

create the mental connections. He needs to have

Yes to you know, be a person again. So that's

that's the the the lost light thrust of our story

and basically serves as a fantastic excuse to

go tell a golden age noir story on Cybertron

Which is great and we immediately reap the benefits

of that in the first like 10 seconds Because

now even though he's not in this comic book we

get prowl I don't know. I just love prowl The

four million years page, um Just I really enjoy

rewind in this I really do and I was sadly I

I know what's coming later which again we'll

talk about the end of the podcast but um we're

gonna Repair wrongs brain and it's wrong, you

know, I don't think I've seen chip chase I've

seen humans and I don't think I've ever seen

an Autobot or Decepticon in a friggin wheelchair

before You know, I hadn't noticed before he's

clinging to one of his little ships there I've

given him one of his little ships to hold Yeah

Jog his memory, yeah He has his little zones

of influence maps so he's trying to tell a story

that will involve everybody So and that's that's

where we would brings us to Prowl and chrome

dome chrome dome being the connection here to

the lost light in this scene with the Predatorized

senator Yeah Yeah, it's only gonna lead to more

people hanging upside down it is There's lots

of jokes about Prowl being a dick because you

know Prowl's a dick Yes, the long line of you

know, 1980s dicks Brainy Smurf Leonardo Don't

even bring up Brainy Smurf out my head. Oh my

god that we hate them because they're right So

I love and again, this is another tangent that

we're on but I love the 87 Leonardo voiced by

Cam Clark You guys do this you guys do that.

What are you gonna do? I'm gonna go up the middle,

you know, just like the classic, you know 80s

here But no this this this page before we get

to really the flashback part where rewind is

is Projecting his little video camera thing.

I I'm just surprised at the art and certain angles

of rewind They got his cassette bucket head right

from the toy. Yeah and just really really Buckethead

but pinhead, you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah

flat cuz he still he transforms and I'm basically

a memory stick So yeah, his bits are flat in

the inside It makes it kind of make it makes

sense with the way he is I mean, I'd say that's

the thing here You know, you look at these characters.

They're the designs make sense for who they are

You know, it's not like chrome domes head is

like still the little uniform square that a headmaster's

thing at be so they're not just doing it uniform

to the toys, but I mean It's part I think it

and it kind of plays as part of his personality.

It feels it feels right for rewind have that

head. Oh Yeah, I think I'm just saying, you know,

I don't think you're They're like slaving to

the toys or anything by any means so no no no

I'm just saying like that whole you know original

g1 toy design was some of the toys were were

pinheads Or little skinny heads that especially

the cassettes I love this flashback and in sports

news blur has won the ibex cup for the tenth

cycle running That's right. That's reference

think we've seen that in other comics So that's

literally actually a throwback to an actual comic

occurrence Wow, that's most of these things are

that little dude in the corner there. That's

senator rat bat Getting hauled off by those guards.

Oh Wow So there's I mean, these are all things

that happened. This is actually all reference

Yeah, I mean no, it's it's very cool. Um and

Yeah I'm trying to figure out what the hell Rewind

and Chrome Dome are talking about in the bottom

right -hand panel. He's talking about where he

worked. Basically, he's a forensics guy. He's

partnered with Prowl. Apparently he had some

other name. I'm trying to remember if they've

told us what it was before. but they'll get to

it later. But they just call me unlucky because

it's assigned to be partnered with Browell. So

there's some Magnus line they give, they say,

you know, it means like, you know, rules obsessed

something, you know, just imagine Ultra Magnus

without any of the charm. I love what a dick

bro is He's so mean to everybody they deserve

it So they're they're they're cops basically

this is little transformer CSI going on here

Okay, I think it was the Decepticons and prowlers

all these complicated theories about where the

shadow lies or which way is hanging or who it

Was and he's like there's also this purple insignia.

They slapped on his back Take a little more obvious

Imagine ultra Magnus without all the warmth and

people skills because kids in his forgetfulness

is not forgetfulness is Amnesia has actually

forgotten who Prowl is. Right, yeah. And then...

Make a joke about him throwing tables around,

which you have seen. Yes, I have. Let me move

on to Drift, who at this point apparently was

some junky schmucko. Which I think we saw...

Everybody's a... between Drift and Chromedome,

they're the two junkies of the ship. Well, it

seems to be a very different kind of junky. Junkies

a junkie, even though it has different connotations

to it Chrome dome injects stuff and yeah, no

chromium injects stuff into other people though

But he also does it to himself Well, he did that's

true But I think well, that's a different story

Yeah, that's a different kind of thing. I don't

think that's the injecting that that Rewind objects

to I think when he does that and he's sifting

around in other people's brains, it hurts him

in some way, or it can. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's not quite, it's not like a drug thing. It's

just a skill or a talent he has that's not healthy.

He's not getting like some kind of benefit out

of it that isn't like just doing the job. So

I don't know, I just don't make sure those are

quite comparable, but Drift here is definitely

a junkie. He's got something you can see it.

It's stuck into his brain Sort of it's a nice

analogy there cuz it's sort of like, you know,

if you wouldn't do this Why would you? Yeah,

exactly and he's saved by officer Orion Pax Who's

ultra cool on this but it's like he's already

optimist prime this way I still it still bugs

me how before he's prime. He's prime. He just

Has a slightly different like his yeah, here's

a different name He's when he's running a minute

is and his chest design is different. It's not

yeah Well, it'll be it when he first gets the

matrix. It'll still be like that Really? Yeah

is his his Cybertronian optimist primeness is

pretty unilateral I'm sorry. I'm a prime fan

just like you are but I'm sorry. This looks like

to me that And I know this issue happened probably

before fall of Cybertron This looks to me like

a comic version of the fall of Cybertron redesign

in the game And I hate the fall of Cybertron

game design for optimus Yeah, I don't I don't

mind though, so I don't mind this so much I'm

just saying this what I just don't like the idea

that prime was just some dude. I don't know Yeah,

I just never it never sits right with me because

no matter what they do It's like he then it makes

it seem like he's just some dude afterwards and

he's not He's really not. Prime and Megatron

both should have some sort of force of nature

equality to them. Yes, they should. And that's

half the reason. I mean, they can't always, I

don't think they should always be in the stories

because they just flatten any story they're in.

You know, you got to make sure it's about them

and there's a reason for them to be there. And

there's not always, but you shouldn't make them

smaller to fit into the story anyway. And see,

that's why I like more than meets the eye. Because

it has nothing to do without yes, it has to do

with Rodimus and I'm a Rodimus fanboy, but like

it's pretty much at this point I am really enjoying

this book because it's Pretty much new characters

that I don't like I I can go in reading this

without any preconceived notions Other than the

fact of you know people that I know like, you

know, like you said prowl shows up Pax shows

up You know blasters there, you know, but like

people like world people like rung people like

right there the stars even though I don't know

I don't care and I don't want to go back and

read all the stuff but that being said, you know

Prime is still in this issue and the next two

and he's in a couple issues of robots in disguise

as well despite not being on Cybertron. So You

know, it's not even though he's left. It's not

like he's not in these comics. It's kind of it

He almost feels snuck in there this way, you

know, it's like oh and now Optimus primes in

this book. Holy crap. I Always find it really

funny Well, you're the generation where you grew

up watching reruns of Batman 66, right? Yeah

Lately in comics, I've been finding it really

funny when they make action action poses in the

drawings and there's like this next page here

after we see the page where Optimus or Orion

comes in. Coom! Runch! Scaff! I just want to

hear those little like trumpet blasts behind

them. Wham! Wham! Wham! Wham! Right? It's like

what the hell does Runch mean? You know my favorite

I've been pointing this out when I find it in

comic sometimes. I'll put it in my reviews I'll

put a little picture or it says crying They make

it say crying and I quote that first Ninja Turtles

like crying. Did you say crying? Yeah Chris he

says clang in that but I was the reference goes

both ways I feel like And again it goes to And

it might just be me from having watched animated

and watching Prime. But this whole thing where

Prime and... Pax and Ratchet are pretty much

partners in this. Or sort of. At least in this

flashback. Okay, just say Prime. I don't think

we should dignify the pretence. I know. I know.

I love this. I love this next part. Here. Where

is it? You're staring at my hands again, Pax.

And yes, I have to say Pax in that case, because

that's what he says. Sorry, I find them rather

hypnotic. The speed. I know. I'm blessed. Adeptus

be praised. What? I did not say that. You said

something like that, Drift. Let me finish. He

goes on. He's like, guide me, promise, protect

me. And then Ratchet just puts his hand over

his mouth. He goes, unreliable narrator alert.

I know. I love it. I love it. It's so great.

Anyone that hasn't read these books needs like

Right now stop this podcast go to your comic

shop and find these trades or go online And and

get them because if you're a Transformers fan,

I don't care There are some Transformers fans

out there who are I used to be like this a long

time ago very close my g1 that's it g1 cartoon

i don't care about anything else those kind of

fans i'm telling you if you like any part of

transformers you will love this book for just

these are the g1 characters the way you remember

them as opposed to the way they actually appear

yeah exactly and i still like the old show i'm

not one of those people like you remember the

old show like it's good it sucks no it doesn't

it doesn't suck it's old and it's for five -year

-olds You know in my five -year -old watches

it gleefully Like today it has not changed for

five -year -olds and this thing, you know Actually,

technically TV shows don't age you do They're

not old. You're too old for them Just keep that

in mind everybody They're not old. You are. Oh

my god. That is so funny. We come around to this

whole plot point of... Some of you are too fat

to enjoy cartoons. Admit it. Wow. Well, I guess

I fit into that. But you've overcome your struggle.

That's what I mean. You're over it. So then we

get this whole plot point and design of swapping

bodies. Which is illustrated beautifully by some

old instructions. Oh my god, it's so beautiful.

You don't want to be nose code anymore. You can

turn yourself into blur It's even you know, it's

even still got the little like lines above the

little arrows that would have pointed you to

the next instruction They just left them in there.

Oh, it's the grid. It's just it's just fantastic

What a great throw away there's tons of that

stuff in here just tons of it, you know That's

the you know, these comics are so great because

James Roberts really really knows what he's talking

about If he's listening, I'm sorry about that

hoist review. I couldn't help it. It was, it

pained me. It pained me. I'm sorry. I do want

to get him on here. It's the problem with me.

I wrote that review and then I flipped the desk

over. Okay. Ultra Magnus. No, no. Ultra Magnus

doesn't flip desks, man. Ultra Magnus runs in

from down the hall and puts Paul's desk back

over and puts all the stuff where it was because

he could feel it was out of place So we're still

we're still telling the story here and they're

talking about yeah, it's basically body -swapping.

Yes the red dwarf reference Sorry it is it's

the name of an episode So which is done because

there's there's lots of lots of the political

debate as they portray it is about people who

is Apparently, you know the high -ranking Cybertronians

basically are professing that your ultimo determines

your job so If you're you know built with a shovel

on your head that shovels, you know excrement

That's what your head's for apparently and you

don't get a choice so understandably a lot of

people are not happy about that and Hence we

have some political unrest But there's there's

a big big thing here about body swapping is you

can have your spark put in someone else's body

all these things lead into the kind of Noir mystery

element. We're getting into right now So and

then we hear on the news that nominous prime.

I love that name because he's kind of not involved

in anything. He's just nominal Yeah, like some

prime Some prime is dead and he's very he's gonna

clearly be replaced soon by sentinel prime The

great tradition of sentinel primes is in fact

a dick Yes, I think and I think it's sentinel

prime who Megatron kills in Megatron origin From

several years back. So if you're wondering what

happened to Sentinel Prime anybody, that's that's

what his deal is He is he is destined to be Megatron's

first Prime victim And Zeta Prime is gonna be

added in from the video games in between because

I don't think he existed when Sentinel Prime

got off Times they are changing Yes, they they're

definitely a change as opposed to some of the

extremely graphic things we see in these comics

that usually would be too gross to show a Cybertronian

autopsy looks pretty clean and tidy, doesn't

it? Yeah Now if you correlate it to its Organic

component it would not be so pleasing to the

eye but considering how like, you know People's

decapitations have looked in the past. It kind

of seems. It's it seems disturbingly like a product

development meeting Yeah, pretty much it's like

Okay, we need to get this much out by this date

and but yeah, it's it's a very force chrome dome

to turn that dude into a build -your -own -senator

-hobby kit The tree doesn't it Yeah, we're proud

to ask him like so to shave all the little things

off the sides little tabs And then in Sherlock

Holmes in style despite having him take it this

whole dude apart Apparently Pearl has gained

what the information he needed from some dust

and the guy's boots Yeah, which probably could

have been obtained without removing his spleen,

but you know moving right along Yeah, okay now

Optimus and ratchet go to see our new friend

Now we've seen him he was in a part of it wasn't

part of chaos proper They call it chaos theory

there are two issues where we met this senator

before And I'd noticed even as I read these books.

I did notice I always kick myself afterwards

Well, I have this done to me. I noticed that

I didn't know his name, but I assumed I just

missed it uh... the center of the center here

is green and white don't let me mention how often

he changes his paint job which he doesn't have

to use it which i'd see him in other books he's

actually into other issues i still didn't know

his name and i was trying to remember there are

a number of produce that proteus it's not and

they say get the repainted to which is confusing

cuz a lot of senators kind of look like this

But I did notice that he was nameless, but I

assumed it was me. I didn't think the book had

named him. I presumed somewhere in the terms

they were giving me and the new senator names

and this and that that I had just read over.

No, it's definitely not you. They don't name

him. They don't name him. I realized that, but

only when it was too late. the the the the the

the the the the the the The killer from the glass

of the boots now if you check if you look here

Is it just me or does probably seem to be riding

a bike not entirely unlike what his action master

came with? Yeah, it does again. Like I said,

it looks like the artists are it's like they

are like the Transformers and are familiar with

them in some way Which is just such a new concept

who would have thought yeah I'm sorry. I got

something caught in my chest Whenever I mention

a writer who doesn't know anything what he's

writing about Costa Costa anyway So this one

This one kind of freaked me out at the end. It's

not as freaky as is what it will be at the end

of this book, but it did kind of freak me out

because Red Alerts dead. Well ish Yes ish, but

I mean waking there it's ish No, I know but when

it's like committed suicide ish. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah disturbingly disturbing Transformers way

Well, we'll get there before he commits suicide

as soon as prolin and then him arrive This is

another very noir thing you get there and the

person you're looking for is already dead in

this case He does a swan dive out of the window

as they approach Yeah, you know, you're in the

right place when Yeah, yeah Earlier there's sort

of they alluded to this Hot Rod threatens to

annul the amnesty act, which is why he gets to

be at Autobot and Because of you know, they found

red alert's body in the oil reservoir Missing

its head. Yeah, what I love about this ending

is I'm glad you're here to see this, Drift. It

saves me the trouble of having to justify what

I'm about to do to Cyclonus. Now, why is, why

is, why is Rodimus, I can't remember, is he just

assuming it's Cyclonus because he's the only

quasi -decepticon on board? Probably, yeah. I

don't remember him and Drift having any particular

issue. Yeah. Um, and then the alternate, one

of the alternate covers for issue 9 is Optimus.

Doing his police procedural stance. That's a

cool cool The other one's pretty good too. Just

the very very police II very on the chase kind

of thing I think it plays really well into how

this story is I think that Chrome dome riding

the bike Shot, you know, he really seems to move

doesn't it? That's a very alive little looks

like he's riding a scooter Know it's a it's an

armored Cybertronian bike, but if you just look

at it from the front it Just I don't know to

me the way I guess but it's because it's got

that sort of fat head Yeah from the from the

toy, but it's got a lot of guns to be a scooter.

I don't know No, hang on first panel first page

here. I just noticed this He's got a juice box

You know, it's got Kremsik on it Wait, oh Yeah,

holy like I saw that he had something but I didn't

realize that there was a Kremsik. That's awesome.

Haha I don't know what's weirder that it's got

Kremsik or that it's a juice box. It's like ecto

cooler Kremsik cooler and then we see senator

proteus senator proteus is notable I suggest

because in in this version of the transformers

Everything is his fault. Just everything What

a dick when there's gonna be some issue when

they get a time machine somebody is gonna get

the bright idea You know if I just went back

and blew proteus is that off? Everything would

be okay, you know, I'll just get on with our

day I'm just saying root cause wise this guy

pissed everybody off. He screwed everything up

I'm not sure, you know, besides just random power,

like, what are you even getting out of this?

I don't know. Serious asshole. And this page,

again, this gives us our nice political spread

because this is a noir thriller. It's got an

overcomplicated story. And this is this is all

our political background. And these things, every

one of these little panels is full of relevant

information. Oh, it is. Yeah. And sort of some

of it's buried in some other stuff. But and then

it gets back to the chase. that we were, you

know, looking at five seconds ago. Yeah. And

it's shadow play part two patternism. Yep. And

now we're in this. It's also Attack of the Clones,

part one, Anakin chasing the bounty hunter is

flying through Cybertron Street, you know, not

so streets and little building holes and stuff.

So, of course, there'd be building holes to go

through. And yeah, I didn't crash, it was, it

went right into the sign for the clue. Why walk

when you can fly? Change your alt mode. And then,

Prowl's up there being Sherlock Holmes. Yeah.

In a very messed up room. Pretty much, yeah.

Stay back, I don't want you disturbing anything.

Trying to frame the Decepticons. Which you'd

think would be harder to do, but, you know. Yeah,

really well, you know it's not that hard when

there's a you know black light version of a decepticon

symbol on a wall Let's see So you got the crime

scene there who is Is that's not cyclone is standing

outside the doorway is no no in fact it doesn't

matter who it is because he's not in his own

body These dudes are body are body traded to

do this. Oh, okay. Yeah, I Don't know for a second

there. I saw purple and I was like, ooh, how

did cyclones get into the flashback? No, he just

looks sinister. Yes all sinister all sinister

transformers look alike, you know that yeah Galvatron

is Megatron Megatron is Galvatron. They're the

same guy Astro train said so a little Again,

you know Sherlock Holmes and Watson moment Prowl's

doing his little like square with his eyes and

looking around and like what's he doing? Cromwell's

like showing off These books are so damn good

now they're magnificent then we get to another

here's them blaming cyclonus Yeah Lost Light

Shuttle Bay 3. I love, again, the art. I love

what they did instead of calling it Perceptor's

Lab. It's there, but it's read it out. Makeshift

Interrogation Room. I thought that was so awesome.

Perceptor's Lab. Yeah. Oh, it's brilliant. And

does Cyclonus look awesome in this book? Oh,

man. And then if they piss him off and then he

attacks drift and there now do you see what was

suspicious and? Magnus just says I see as a suspect

reacting to extreme provocation. It's like yeah

poke Congratulations, you poke cyclones with

a stick until he hit you in the head Not that

tough I love cyclones is excuse if I wanted to

kill him he would be dead As opposed to red alert

who is we've discovered No, well, they're not

gonna say who it is yet, but they're about to

tell us who who removed red alert head And so

let's see now that you got problem number being

shot at Optimus Prime shows back up. I'm not

calling him a Ryan Pax and they beat the crap

out of this guy who Kills himself. This is such

a noir book They should have given they should

have given a crime or prowler somebody needed

a fedora Come on gotta be a robot. I think they

worked a cigar in for cup at one point They can

work in a fedora, right? Come on. Yeah, they

should be able to I Just can't see prime with

a fedora though. Maybe one of the other character

not prime. I'd just be too strange So be like

bizarro world or something. Oh Boy, so we get

the we get to go see he goes and visits Green

face where world gets to go in. Oh Yeah, he's

in prison And Free in 63. I don't know what that

means, but wreck and rule. Hey, he's gonna be

a wrecker Yeah, I think this scene is is largely

to remind us We don't know why yet, but to remind

us of the tendency of the Senate to take people.

It's not happy with And, you know, it seems so

abstract here. When they say it the first time,

you're just like, oh, that's weird. And yeah,

I guess it makes sense. Drift does look like

that. To remove your head and give you a crappier

one and remove your hands and replace them with

like clamps or scissors. And it just seems like

a weird thing to mention here at the time. We

also get to see that how he's going to end up

in the rectors is he's a new cellmate, his impactor.

So we're heading there. That's a whole other

story Then we go back to swerve. Yeah, that's

a story for it. Yeah. Yeah, I love I love it

when it's one of the greatest things in this

book Like I said last time I you know, I keep

coming around to swerve as a character I didn't

used to like him because I just I didn't really

get it But like, you know swerves like but that's

another story And then we have a table shot of

all of them telling stories We're telling the

story Like the sort of construct economy looking

You know, yeah you understand on there I wonder

if it makes you what are those actually supposed

to be the construct icons? It's hard to say but

uh Yeah, we have a little decepticon, you know

Riot thing going on And there's just you know

the political unrest thing and then they go to

look at this place where the people swap bodies

because that's the people they found And they

find something much more disturbing they find

the place where they go to alter your brain when

the Senate like doesn't like you My favorite

those little those little ping -pong balls. They

got on those trays there those forearm dudes.

Those are people's brains That's freaky Part

of you know, there's a certain degree that I

don't like of how justified Megatron is Mean

like if there was ever a society that had a justifiable

revolt coming To some degree I'm surprised prime

doesn't find out about the room where they go

to alter your brain This is just like I'll be

right back where you're going. I'm going to go

kill the entire Senate See in half an hour I

will say, gee, isn't it odd how our fiction keeps

portraying, both here and in Star Wars, keeps

portraying how the greatest evil in the universe

is some kind of horrible, corrupt, useless Congress?

Gee, I wonder what part of society that's mirroring

in art. Where could we be getting that idea?

So issue 10 as we didn't say although for people

following along if you didn't realize this was

issue 10 something wrong with you issue 10 basically

ends with Optimus saying we still have to steal

the matrix Yeah Yeah, they well they figure out

there should be a they're gonna use the fake

matrix as a bomb Yeah to basically to just to

make the decepticons look bad so they could run

them all up and kill them. Isn't that basically

it? I can't. Yeah, pretty much. I have to go

through all this again. It's complicated. It's

good. Yeah, pretty much. But that's the important

part. They have to go steal the Matrix. Frankly,

it's all a big excuse to steal the Matrix. Yeah,

pretty much. And while I was sad to see him go

at the beginning of the next issue, I'm just

sad. I'm a little sad that Prel is just like

very much like Prel. It makes sense. Just like,

actually, no. Yeah, what's going on you guys

that's we have officially reached my too dumb

threshold screw you guys. I'm going home And

he does Does he says to keep chrome dome out

of it cuz he likes him and then he says screw

you guys. I'm going home Taking my ball and I'm

leaving And then the issue for all issues the

issue why this all this three -part podcast episode

started as far as episode 11 12 and this one

here in 13 Begins with more than meets the eye

number 11 with Optimus Prime reenacting Tom Cruise

as Ethan Hunt I Was trying to block that out,

but yeah, that is exactly what I'm sorry. I'm

not gonna let you because it's the same damn

thing It's optimus it is dangling from a ceiling

trying to reach and get some just like it's just

like mission impossible. Yeah It wasn't even

that cool then Yes, so distracted thinking horrible

thoughts about mission impossible Like some of

those movies actually I do enjoy watching them

all but if I was You know as far as a review

reviewer there are probably tons of issues with

those movies Well, you know the first one would

have been okay if they didn't show the climax

the trailer Sure, and the second one. I don't

know it wasn't bad, but it was a little convoluted

and dumb and I watched about five minutes of

the third and I was just like That's what this

just seems off and then it was like Ortsy and

Kurtzman. I'm like, oh, yeah Okay, as it turns

out I have something better to do for the rest

of my life So issue 11 starts out with a flashback

before the war Just in case you didn't know cuz

there's no reason you would know cuz this book

isn't set then but since we're doing that Yeah,

since we're doing that in in a flashback. Yes

We're back in the bar, we're talking about the

stuff. Yeah, Optimus talking to Prowl. I love

how they said this isn't the first story they

told Rung. I'd love to see some of the other

ones. Oh my god. I'm scared to see. With this

crew in the lost light. Outside of Rodimus and

Magnus, the rest of these bots, I'm scared to

even find out what the hell any of them has told

them for stories. You know, Prowl throws that

big sniffit when all those people want to leave.

I kept waiting for him to like let them go, and

when they get away, just be like, oof, that was

close. And Pummel would be like, what do you

mean? I thought you were going to stop them.

Like, stop them? That was my idea. I just got

every useless person off the planet. I was like,

find some listed pros of it of all the people

who are dead weight and they're all on the ship.

It just reminds me of like the Hitchhiker's Guide.

I don't think it's in the first one, it's like

in the third, or in the second, but the ship

full of telephone cleaners and insurance salesmen

where they tell everyone the world's gonna blow

up and they need three arcs and all the important

people are on two ships and all the unimportant

in the third, but really they only launch the

third. That's what I so thought the lost light

was gonna be it's like there's every person I

don't want on the planet I'll make make them

think I don't want them to leave That's cool.

Yeah, so the matrix and they go that you this

is a reference again to last stand of the records

Yeah, it's iron fist here. He's a big deal in

last stand of the record. So Visiting him is

sort of a little Easter egg gift for for records

fans Well now iron iron fist isn't the one -eyed

orange guy is he No, he's the guy who makes them

that matrix. He's orange and blue Okay, okay

cuz there he's got all the replicas and stuff

Between yeah beat well between world and this

other there's a panel on the page before before

we see blaster It's on the opposite page of where

we see blaster that I believe it's ratchet talking

or monologuing You're talking about that's that's

our our unnamed senator again Okay, that's see

But he's got a good job. They make it so obvious

Well, they make it so obvious. They make it seem

like it's they did that on purpose. I know Let's

recolor him like this in this issue I know, but

that's what I'm saying, it's like he was green

in the last issue, and then you have Whirl walking

around looking like a descendant of that character,

and then you've got the actual character who

is basically a orange version of long arm prime

version of shit, yeah. But yay, finally Blaster

loves seeing him. Even if it is for only a couple

panels, I just love seeing them. That's awesome.

We'll get some more blaster one of these days

Yeah, I think it's coming. I I think we need

to have a blaster sound wave fight an actual

blaster sound wave fight That would be so awesome

a nice one in the uh Is when the old and the

japanese headmaster cartoons they had that they

fought to the death Yeah, they did us. Yeah,

I remember seeing that. Yeah, so a great bandub

of one of those the other day Oh, did you yeah?

Like the seventh episodes, I guess somebody did

one through six recently I remember where it

was but it's uh, I don't know veil of something

veil of shadows something Yeah, it's on YouTube.

It's really good the music. I thought just just

really well done actually I mean, you know the

voices it's they're amateurs. You can tell you're

there but overall, it's certainly the best way

to watch those episodes Yeah, exactly So you've

got swerve Gone back to his old douchey self.

How's ring? How's ring? How's wrong? you know

It's funny. Don't get me wrong. I like it. It's

funny, but I Know I'm telling you the eyebrows

just need their own issue. Oh My god watch read

a whole issue of those eyebrows talking to the

ticks antenna Well, that would be a spoonful

Moving right along right All right, who the heck

is is the blue the blue and white guys not mirage

is it that's talking on chrome dome. No, it's

not it's um Page numbers Like the yellow guy?

Yeah, it's on the page with Chromedome. It's

after the... Crap. It's right after the page...

What's the first word on the page? Uh, it's after

the page with rung in the eyebrows. It's, uh...

Yeah, that's Iron Fist. Oh, okay. Okay. Yeah.

Okay. That's iron fist. All right. Cool. Okay.

Okay. Yeah See I I didn't see the orange at first.

I only saw the blue and white and I'm like wait,

what's mirage doing here? Yes Iron fist has weird

eyes fans love iron fist because what iron fist

actually doesn't for the most part the Transformers

universe is what we do in the French Transformers

universe He collects crap and writes about it

on the internet uh... so he's a fan favorite

you know i had this some third -party companies

make it so i am right now just look at the other

day and they made an animated version for one

of the uh... for the bot contour a couple years

back that was uh... yeah it was twenty eleven

yeah uh... i think it's based off the cybertronian

ratchet mold from animated getting so that with

a different head Yeah, well, yeah, and then they

use that they made those like Auto Rupert things

It was like auto trooper. It's like you shouldn't

even be acknowledging that section of the fiction

I Don't know how that ever cleared. It's just

like Who told who told somebody it was okay to

make like vaguely child porno transformers comics

really? How did that ever get made I never understood

and then just I don't know why they made toys

of it again I just would think like, let's just

put that enough. We'll try to forget about it,

Box. Yeah, pretty much. Okay, so we've got this

whole mission with me - I'm so afraid of transformer

sex, but then it's like, but like making out

with little girls? Yeah, let's - That's all Powerglide's

fault, I swear. I know you say, oh, take away

all the cheesy - I still hate that episode. I

tried. Is it - I'm trying to remember. It's one

of our episodes. I forget which one, but I did

put a clip from the girl who loved Powerglide

in one of our podcasts. Yeah, you did. You did.

You put the, it's my party, you know. Yeah, it's

my party, don't cry. I just... Humans and Transformers,

just, no, no, no, no. All right, so we got the

whole mission for the Matrix, replace it with

the - First part, I agree with you on that front.

Thank you. I say for the most part. I mean it

only in that episode. I don't think the way it's

done is that Bizarre though in general. Yeah,

what the fuck? I think it's much weirder in the

one with sea spray. Oh No, I know but this water

guy should sound like he's gargling You know

the difference make it sound like Donald Duck.

Let's break down Yeah The difference between

the power glide episode and the sea spray episode

is that hey Jump in this magic water and you

can become human for a little while that's that's

the difference but yeah but they were they were

like still cool when they weren't doing that

they made it pretty clear that that went both

ways yeah that's that's that's the one that that

one bugged me more maybe just because it's sea

spray maybe just when he turned human he still

had the feet and the voice yeah oh god yes it's

so strange Oh my god optimus is alt mode. I don't

think I've noticed it until now. Yeah It's very

Topic there Yeah, we're looking at his alt mode

It's the page the matrix is just hovering there

it's the page next to that Bottom of it is remember

me as I was well, that's like way ahead. You've

skipped like the whole issue You skip the whole

heist I Know what because it's impossible. Yeah,

they get the matrix. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it's a

matrix humor and like blah blah blah Anyway,

it comes down to yeah. Oh, there's his alt mode

Yeah, but they really want they decide the end

is they're gonna kidnap our senator friend who

has no name yes, and Take him to have all that

horrible stuff done to him and you start to like

oh man really gonna do that. That's terrible

and they try to find him but the Institute that

they found before is only one of them and We

get a little reminder of what I'm pirata is in

case we'd forgotten after having talked to to

whirl and the story ends and And yay wrong talks

because they keep saying his name wrong Kids

goes and talks you for it. So it's a big deal

here that you're like rung is now definitely

alive and it has survived having his head blown

off by swerve Yes, and prime meets Zeta and then

we go to somewhere where they're talking about

the horrible things They're gonna do to somebody

really just to be assholes. They're going to

do and pirata the removing of the hands and head

and they're going to Do shadow play the literal

changing of the mind? That's what we're playing

with all the brains these and they talk about

how they're gonna make him unemotional So basically

they're gonna totally violate this person in

every conceivable way. They're gonna, you know

remove and change his head take away his cans

and Rewrite his personality. They're gonna mess

with his actual person The Autobots are doing

this. Well, I don't know if these are technically

Autobots This may be sort of pre Autobot decepticon.

These aren't these are definitely not good guys

I don't think if given the choice between sides

these guys would be called Autobots. I think

Okay, then we turn the page and oh boy This this

is what this is the page that got you to read

this whole thing because I was convention about

how disturbing it was and it totally caught me

off guard What's his name? Oh wait his name is

shockwave! and it's a scooped out head his hands

have been removed and they're holding shockwave's

head they haven't even put it on yet and it's

just you just realize how horrible it is for

this cool senator character who was like a decent

guy to get turned into shockwave and it is just

really horrible and disturbing isn't it yeah

it's very horrible and disturbing You got I told

you you read them sort of going through the maze

backwards because I The first what got you to

read them is I just complaining about how screwed

up shockwaves origin was So you were like, well,

where is it and I told you and I was I wasn't

lying It is in here, but it is the last fucking

page So I've been sitting here with glee just

thinking like any minute now Mike is gonna be

reading I could get right to the back edge of

this trade paper back going What the hell is

Ender talking about? Shockwave isn't even in

this Yeah, exactly. Well, that was my reaction

when I read it You know, at like 11 o 'clock

at night, I was like, OK, I want to finish reading

this volume. I want to, you know, because I'm

telling you, you know, we've been saying this

for the last three episodes of the podcast. These

books, reading them in trade form. You cannot

put them, like, the only time I put this down,

any of these three trades that we've talked about

in this episode and the last two, the only time

I ever put them down is to go to my Facebook

fan page, which is linked to my Twitter account,

and to post something about what I'm reading.

And it's like, holy crap, I did not see that.

You still see it, like, if you really look for

it, like I was saying earlier about, oh, he continues

to change colors. You said it too. and i'm like

okay okay okay it's gotta be something to do

with shockwave because of the one i and everything

else and and it's but it's just like oh what's

his name senator shockwave and it's like it's

so So dramatic honestly, it's like that's a dead

page turn is just like even though, you know

It's coming even though they're talking about

the disturbing crap when you turn the page and

it's shockwave which hasn't been any other part

of it There's no hint. It's him. I mean really

I mean just like And you know who shockwave is

so everything about shockwave kind of comes back

at you from the other side Yeah, exactly. You

know, you don't need to be told who shockwave

is or what shock waves like Or what his what

it's gonna. What's it? He's you know what he's

gonna be like there afterwards This is like what

the Darth Vader origin should have been like

you know Just this like ah Yeah, oh god At least

shockwaves arms and legs weren't you know burnt

off by volcanic rock well They're at least getting

a repaint here partially replaced Yeah All right,

so that's more than meets the eye volume three.

We're gonna take a quick short break and then

we're gonna come back with kind of final thoughts

and to talk about the issues since issue 11 since

I've also caught up on those. We'll be back after

this. Coming to Grand Rapids, Michigan on September

21st and 22nd is Grand Con Gaming and Comics

Convention presented by Celebration Cinemas.

Join us in playing or chatting it up with fellow

enthusiasts in a community that understands your

passions. Get lost in the adventure of your favorite

role -playing game. Admire costumes and art from

vendors and attendees. Meet the creators behind

your favorite mainstream and independent games

and comic books. Check out unpublished games

and sneak peek at things to come. You can get

all this and more at Grand Con. For more information,

please visit www .grand -con .com. I am Alana.

Thank you for saving my life. Um, is Sea Spray

here at your... service? Is something wrong your

face is turning red we are back and final thoughts

on the volume three trade It's fantastic buy

it like two of them. I want to give it to a friend

I love I love all of more than meets the eye

and I'm a big fan of James Roberts in general

and I gotta say this is my favorite one so far

of the trades Yeah, it's because of shadow play

shadow play is just fantastic I'd really love

to see more done in that time period in general.

I think it's a really ripe area. There's just

a ton of stuff to do there. Roberts goes back

there. I think the IDW verse is trying to move

forward chronologically. It's provided this fantastic

excuse. And now, in the guise of telling a story

in a bar, I'm going to write a pre... Pre -war

story, you know like way to go man And for good

reason because it's it's an awesome story Yeah,

it's an amazing story and you can always have

a flash. Sorry good. Well, you can always have

flashbacks Yeah, you can always you know, even

though you need to keep the adventure of the

lost light going You can have them sit around

telling stories to make rung come back to you

know come back to light you can do that and it

would be alright because That's the that's that's

the main issue is you're trying to get your your

your crewmate your friend You know to actually

respond to you and telling this flashback story,

and I and I really loved how each one of them

have something to do with The story this not

just right swerve narrating the entire time.

It's not just Chrome dome. It's not just you

know. I love how all of them. I love the interruptions

The interruptions just asked? Oh yeah, no, they

keep the dialogue humorous and grounded. They're

great interjections. They're great for transition.

It's really well crafted. It's fantastic. You

know, it's funny too, we're talking about it

today, because just this week, Robots in Disguise

17 came out. Don't spoil it. I haven't gotten

started on Riz yet. Spoiler -wise, I'm going

to say it's from the cover, but it's really the

sequel to this issue. Right because it's mostly

flashback and it's gonna you know Ever since

I turned this page and saw it, you know shockwave

on that slab I mean, it's kind of been like good,

you know, how did what happened right after that?

What happened with his relationship with prime?

How did he end up a decepticon? Where you know,

where's you know? How did this even begs the

question further back? Where did he come from?

What was he like before? Why, you know, how did

he get to be a senator? What's his connection

to G -axis? Because they said Shockwave was G

-axis's student. G -axis has already gone by

this point, which means it was young pre -op

Shockwave that was his student. So it's, you

know, all those questions that have been in my

mind since I turned that page. That's what Robots

in Disguise 17 is really about. So, you know

once you've read this you go jump straight into

that if you if you want to skip to those answers

because You know that that has been praying in

my mind since that yes. Yes. I'm that much of

a dork, you know since last week since episode

12 And since your RID 17 spoiler -free review

came out and basically just said hey you You

need to be reading this." And I'm like, is that

directed at me? He's like, no, no, it's, yeah,

mostly you. That is, well, no, not just you.

Maybe mostly you, but not just you. Well, I have

since gone to the comic shop and they are holding

volume one and vol - My comic shop is so weird.

More Than Meets the Eye. I was able to get volume

two, volume three. They still to this day have

never called me about volume one. Obviously I

had to get volume one through my friend Jeremy

Fine, actually got it for me as a belated birthday

present on Amazon. And I show up at the comic

shop one day and in my thing, in my pile, was

Robots in Disguise volume one. And I'm thinking,

oh, okay, I guess I'll start reading this now.

you know and and i'm like okay you guys have

volumes two and volume three and they're like

we have volume three we'll have to order volume

two so i honestly have no idea what's going on

but yeah no rid 17 i think my local comic shop

gets just enough transformers trades for me to

buy yeah they've got a whole lot of cost to sit

in there they don't understand why yeah let's

yeah okay all right so We're done with the volumes.

But I'm not bitter. Sure you're not, Ender. Sure

you're not. Just like, you know, six -year -old

or seven -year -old Ender wasn't bitter when,

you know, a lightsaber went into Optimus Prime's

gut. What else can you call that? Energy Blade

Megatron. It's a lightsaber, Dan. It even made

the noise. Yeah, I know it did. If it makes the

noise, it must be. Make it so. All right. So

volume three, we both love it. It's great. Since

then, I have issues 12 and 13 digitally. I read

those 14, 15 and 16. I read those. So I'm caught

up. I'm ready to go. And what's going to happen

is how we're going to do this is I really like

doing them in trade form. I'm not going to have

us go back and do individual issues of these

so next time that you're here from us with more

than meets the eye will most likely be after

volumes four five and six have come out so we

can make it a three episode arc but before that

uh... coming up next week i will have had uh...

later act from the underbase on talking about

her comic origins and all that good stuff and

apparently the underbase they split the duties

up amongst who reviews what comics she is on

the more than meets the eye side so she has yet

to talk about robots in disguise so coming up

I think it's I think I have it planned for issues

21 to 23 we're gonna do you and myself and Lady

Rek are gonna do the robots in disguise trades

I am totally excited about Lady Rek and I go

way back so Well, way back internet -wise. Yes.

You know what you meant. As far as people go

back on the internet. Exactly. And then after

that, as far as other Transformers coverage,

I do have plans for you and I to do spotlights.

I do have plans for you and I to do Rage of the

Dinobots and most likely Beast Hunters, eventually.

So yeah, there's plenty of stuff coming up here

on the pull bag. I'm going to talk you into doing

Legend of Zelda with me. The comic book? No,

the cartoon. Oh, yeah, that's another show. I

know it's a completely other podcast. Yeah plug

them where you can get a man. Yes. Yes Yeah,

June 21st. I don't want people to lose track

of the ender brand, you know I seriously doubt

that will happen June 21st this year. We are

premiering a brand new podcast here at the GeekCast

Radio Network called Pixels in the Animation.

We are going to be reviewing nine, every episode

of nine different video game cartoons. Super

Mario Super Show, Legend of Zelda, Mario 3, Captain

N, all three seasons, Super Mario World, the

two Sonics, Mega Man, the real Mega Man, the

94 Mega Man, not that N .T. Warrior bullsnot.

and i don't country so you know we've got uh...

a full plate for that show uh... and will you

know will old for me to wait for you to know

what i'm going to take a shot every time he says

excuse me princess what we're we're we might

not survive in that case he's missing you'll

definitely be drunk on this So alright, well

that's gonna do it for us coming up next on the

pull bag Actually, the lady wreck episode is

two weeks from this episode. It's episode 15

coming up next My buddy a desk Baron and I talk

about the six -issue miniseries of DC's Masters

of the universe Or apparently Adam is a farmer

and not a prince No, no, no, no, no, no, no,

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, So we will

catch you next week with the Masters of the Universe

12... 12? Jesus Christ. Six -issue mini -series

from 2012. Emperata! Keep re... God damn you!

Keep reading those comics! You just heard the

latest episode of The Pull Bag, GCRN's comic

book review podcast. There are several ways to

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until next time Unleash the geek in you