Transformers: Robots in Disguise Volume 5 Review

Starscream here, and I am the lord and master

of the Geekcast Radio Network. Don't tell Megatron.

Oh my gosh, this is so great! Welcome to The

Polebags Back Issue Classics. Join us as we talk

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and more. So open your ears to hear our discussion

of the older continuities. As the back issue

classics are also what's in the pull bag. Hello

and welcome to the pole bag This is yet again

another back issue classics and we are continuing

on in the world of transformers with IDW Publishing's

transformers robots in disguise of volume 5 I

am your host TF2 on Mike joining me once again

is lady rec. Hello. Hello. I fought floods to

be here I was gonna say the rain defeated the

reclet Sort of The racket. Uh, no, no. We've

had, we've had a little bit of rain here in Phoenix,

which is very unusual, but it's like rainy season.

So, uh, it rained. Um, this is usually how it

is. It rains in different spurts all over different

parts of, of, of the city. Right. So this morning

we got downpour like at six o 'clock, six 30

in the morning. So it rained. consistently for

a good 30 minutes and it stayed pretty cloudy

until about mid -afternoon. It's actually sunny

out right now, but then I had a doctor's appointment

on another section of the city and it came down

so hard when I left the appointment, I got soaked

just walking two, two or three yards to get to

my car. And there were floods. I had to wait

for 30 minutes before I could leave. And I was

like, Oh, I'm not going to get back in time.

The only thing I can think of is there was hard

rain, there was stinging rain, there was slow

rain. I don't think it was Forrest Gump when

he's over in Vietnam. It was drenching rain.

Let's just call it like that. Yes. Alright, so

this is Robots in Disguise Volume 5. This collects

issues 17 through 22. These are all preludes

to Dark Cybertron. Actually when Nicole and I

Nicole hailstorm and I did the more than meets

the eye volumes four and five leading up to dark

side return we actually stopped at 21 because

the only prelude there is the rewind issue issue

22 so we're gonna do that when we actually do

Dark Cybertron. Because I didn't feel like it

really deserved to be in the Remain in Light

episode. I don't know why, just one of those

things. It's kind of an off -color one because

it ends on such a different episode or issue

than what you expect. But the good thing is that,

and this is something that I, you know, reading

through volume five again, just kind of... pulling

it all together, going back and thinking back

what it was like. And it's a very odd collection

because you don't get the same consistency in

volume five as you did in volume four, where

it just seemed like it was one arching thing.

I mean, it quite literally is in ever since the

word prelude of Dark Cybertron, it's taking different

threads and pulling them all together. And it

kind of does make sense once you get to the end.

But throughout the issues, they just. It doesn't

seem to be like any cohesiveness to them. The

good thing about it is that while this was running

ongoing, we had more than meets the eye, which

was hitting off this really great arc of remain

in light. So if you were following the robots

and disguise issues and going scratching your

head going, I don't get it. At least you were

getting a really good arc in more than meets

the eye at the time. The other thing is that

it almost felt a little overkill because I think

for the year pre -looting Dark Cybertron, we

had the spotlights before this, right? And the

spotlights seemed to be building up towards something

as well because they had this ongoing theme with

Metro Titan in them. I mean, not all of them

did, but quite a few of them did. So it kind

of felt like, oh, we're getting more stuff building

up to this Dark Cybertron thing. We were already

kind of feeling a little, I think, overloaded.

with something that was coming, you know, we're,

we're waiting for this buildup of we're getting

to something big. And then we got the name Dark

Cybertron, like, okay, that's what it must be.

And that's why we've been getting all of the

Met the Titans. And so, yeah, it was pretty interesting.

Yeah, it really, really was. So Like last time

with More Than Meets the Eye, Volume 4 and 5,

Volume 4 of Robots in Disguise, I was doing it

via Comixology. Same thing with Volume 4 from

More Than Meets the Eye. This time around we

have, I actually have the singles still for RIDs,

so I'm gonna be looking through the actual issues

without having to go panel by panel on Comixology.

Amy has so graciously put together synopsis and

bullet point notes for these. Because we don't

want to spend three and a half hours doing this

like we did last time. So we start with issue

17. The one that I got was cover B with Shockwave

holding Dreadwing's head and the Crystal City

inside Shockwave's chest. The other covers were

cover a was just a regular shockwave shot And

the retail incentive was who is that? Well, that

is red wing. I think is that yeah Yeah, yeah

So you got that was by what Casey color yeah,

Casey I usually love Livio stuff. Yeah I love

his art. Yeah, I love the art it like like the

interior art I usually like it but I don't know

Casey's cover just spoke a little bit more to

me like it was a lot cool like the the difference

between the two for me is Livio's is more of

a matte finish and Casey's is more of a glossy

finish as far as how Shockwave looks on each

of them. Gotcha. I just enjoyed Casey's more.

I think I went with the the Livio cover on that

one. Um Which is kind of funny because I think

at the time, and I didn't think about this until

we actually started talking about covers and

went, oh, I did not check this. Um, but I think

if I remember correctly, there was another shockwave

cover that he did the year before that. But there's

something about this one just really popped off

the page for me. So I think I actually got it

as a poster at one of the conventions as well.

So, yeah, just it's really something about it

that really just. jumped at me. It's not that

I didn't like the Casey one because Casey is

just like does all, most of the time does everything

in the right direction. I'm like, oh. I've wanted

us to get through this to at least to have us

and by me meaning us the pull bag because you're

not going to be on the Dark Cybertron episode

but I wanted to get through at least to Dark

Cybertron before I brought in or tried to get

any more interviews. Gotcha. Because it's, I

need to get through this. I need to, I need to

be able to have the coverage so people can listen

to the coverage first before, like I cannot wait

to shoot IDW or request to interview Casey or

Livio or Alex or... anybody because I really

do dig the art. I think the only time I have

not dug the art is back in volume two or three

of one of them. Oh no, I'm trying to think. There

was one where they did a flashback and they did

it in the style of the old Marvel stuff. And

I'm just not, that's just not my cup of tea.

I think that might've been done by Guido. It

might have been. And no offense to him, he does

amazing art. It's just, it's not a style I like.

Yeah. Yeah, it's all right. I mean, you know,

the reason why I think I liked it is just because

I've since started, you know, podcasting with

The Underbase. I've, you know, kind of exposed

myself to things that I, like art that I wasn't

necessarily a fan of. But I've learned to appreciate

it since then, especially when Guido does it.

And I don't know anybody that's done an interview

with Guido. So if you're able to get one, my

hat is off to you. I am surprised you haven't

done the thing that I have not been able to do.

I've tried to contact him. He just, I, it's difficult

to get in touch with him. He's a busy guy. So

yeah. All right. So issue 17, we have, uh, this

is the shockwave history lesson. That's what

it seemed like to me because you know we get

we get the before and after of you know a shadow

played an emperata shockwave you know how he

pretty much became the Decepticon that we have

today and how he seeded the ores that come into

play in Dark Cybertron it's like it's the Opening

issue if you if you if you skip this whole volume

absolutely read 17 Because it kind of puts into

play it sets the tone of him as a character I

mean, I kind of look at it as like okay. We had

shadow play, right? Where we learned all this

stuff about shockwave that James had written

over and more than meets the eye I think it was

nine I think it was more than meets the eye nine

ten eleven if memory serves correctly And it

completely changed the character for me. I looked

at him as a different character So coming back

to this was almost kind of like coming back to

that to kind of recall Hey, remember that shadow

play thing that James wrote? This is where it's

gonna actually have something to play into robots

in disguise because shockwave is over with John

not James and something that James wrote has

greatly affected this character over in the robots

and disguise arc, so It was just really really

cool to come back to this and see it so no I

Think I mentioned this before with Ender at some

point when we did the original more than meets

the eye volumes where they did talk about shockwave

and everything else, but what do you think of

Livio and the team using the war slash fall for

Cybertron design for shockwave in the comics.

Oh, I thought I was fine. Um, it made sense.

I mean, it's been used already in the robots

in disguise, the other issues and stuff like

that. So I tend to kind of like that. I like

it. But when I see him, for some reason, I do

not hear the voice. You don't hear Cory Burke.

No, no, I don't hear Coy Burton and I don't hear

the war for Cybertron voice that they gave him

or the fall for Cybertron voice that they gave

him which was Steve loom they I hear the one

that's from Transformers Prime for some reason

David Sabalov just really sounds like sound wave

in these issues Yeah, I meant yeah shockwave

as I was reading through it the last 24 hours.

I heard that voice I really heard that voice

a lot. I love David Soboloff. He's an amazing

voice actor. If he changed that just a little

bit, if you think about it, Shockwave is really

depth charge. Which is really, really cool. I

love the opening page. Because the way I did

this was I read it on Comixology, but as we go

through it, as we go through the issues and talk

about the bullet points and the events that happened,

you know, I'm looking at the single issues, but

the bottom, on the first page, the bottom right

panel where he says there's always more than

meets the eye. That shows up as a single panel

on the Guided View on Comixology. I'm like, yep,

screen cap. That's a Facebook image. It's just

too cool. I mean, Livio and... Who's doing the

colors on this? Livio does his own colors, actually.

Oh, that's right. That's right. Yeah. I mean,

it's just amazing. I absolutely love it. um did

they i i i'm gonna ask this now and i know i'm

gonna be answering my own question a little bit

later did they use the same story title twice

because shock waves i think is used again when

we get to the sound wave issue or the that's

a good point to ask let me flip through that

real quick because i'm thinking they did i mean

it's not that big of a deal i think this one

was shock waves i think the other one was sound

waves so it's just a play on yeah i think it's

just a play i'm just flipping through it real

quick come on because i could have sworn there

was there was one where i saw it was the same

thing let's see actually it was shock point shock

point yeah and then and then and then sound waves

was issue 21 It was 22, I should say. Yeah, let

me look at them. Get them to the end of that

one. Yep, you're right. This one was shock waves.

And the other one was shock. 22 was shock waves.

Sound waves. Sound waves, yeah. The one about

shock waves, the one about sound waves is sound

waves. Is sound waves, yeah. But yeah. But no,

I mean, so we get... We get shockwave and dreadwing

and he basically kills him and he comes back

to life And the reason why he comes back to life

is because well and you know Is because he has

seeded this or in the crystal city and He did

this a long long time ago, which was incredibly

fascinating to me because it kind of gave this

dimension to this character that I thought he

was already, and this is a question I wanted

to ask you, is if Shockwave was always going

to turn out the way that he was, was it always

going to happen to him? Because he had already

been thinking about this long, long in his past,

way before Shadowplay and Imperata. way before

he even knew Optimus or then Orion Pax. Just

call him Optimus. Don't get me wrong. I love

John as a writer and I love that they homage

his old name, but unless they were going, unless

Livio and the rest of the team and whoever else

does other issues, unless they were actually

going to change him back. Bodies to the old Orion

Pax body or a very different body than what Optimus

Prime looks like he's friggin Optimus Prime.

I know and it becomes an ongoing joke pretty

much through this whole vault. Yeah Pretty much

Optimus Prime. I mean we we may not know Please

call me by a random packs. You're like shut up.

Just get over yourself already call yourself.

All right, you know Oh P we'll call you Opie

You can't make up your mind what you want to

be called So yeah, yeah, I mean it's you're you're

right He did, you know John did add a lot of

depth and for the fact that shockwave was thinking

about this long before anything like This is

the truly the definition of the long con Yeah,

I mean it really really is because if he's planning

on this audit you know they always say oh four

million years ago or eight million years ago

there was a war and we had before the war and

after the war well if he was thinking about this

when he was a senator or before he even became

a senator then and does that guy plan out so

far ahead of time that i mean i'm a guy that

plans out stuff i i had Right now I have the

pullback plan through probably over episode 200

I don't actually have it planned, but I have

it mapped to where I can see What I want to cover

when I want to cover it, but the first year I

had the first hundred episodes planned they changed

as you know they changed as it went along and

they they've evolved but So I'm a guy that does

plan for the future and does make plans to go

two three four five years Beyond what I'm what

I'm currently doing. But at the same time I don't

know if I'm ever gonna get to any of that but

the shockwave holy crap I mean, okay. So now

I know what character you are then, you know,

you call me world you call Nicole Cyclonus your

shockwave Yeah, but I can't be shockwave though

because I usually go by emotion and he goes by

logic. So you're the pre -shockwave. We haven't

gotten to the point where you've been Shadowplater

and Parata. No! But you hang around the world

long enough and something like that's gonna happen,

you know? Yeah. I'm sure. Oh, good times. So

yeah, I was very impressed. I guess I just, I

didn't know what I was getting when I got into

this. And I kind of felt like the character was

even deepened a little bit more because I felt

like, I mean, going through this, he does say

something about like, Dyatlos, like says something

to him that kind of. causes them to pause. So

I think there was something that did play a little

bit role in there, especially when they, you

know, after the shadow play and the emperata,

because he didn't have emotion kind of holding

him back, I think he took things a lot further

than he may have as a character. But it just,

it was really interesting to me to see how the

wheels were already turning way back when, and

it just took it to the nth degree when certain

things came into play for him. Um, the other

thing that I kind of thought was really cool

is that, uh, he saw what Jay Haxus had done and

he built on that. And so if anybody ever says

like, you know, Jay Haxus was a better scientist,

actually, I mean, I think in this, it kind of

illustrates just a little bit better that he

quite literally was supposed to surpass Jay Haxus.

And he actually does. I mean, the fact that he

even says that the reason why he did the whole

seating thing is because he foresaw that they

were going to end up having an energon crisis

down the line because of where they had built

things and how they had gone. Which, again, I

mean, just kind of ties into everything that's

been going on. I mean, it just kind of hit me

in the back of the head. Oh, geez, John has been

doing this for a while because the energon crisis

has been around and it just it was so subtle

that it kind of just didn't hit me until I read

this into it. Oh, my gosh. This is stuff that's

playing into stuff that's going on right now.

Wind blade and stuff that's going to go into

the future. It's just like nice. I didn't even

see that one coming. So. Jim john is not only

the captain of continuity. He is the shockwave

of the IDW universe I will say I do want to get

this out of the way really quickly here Between

volume 4 and volume 5. I don't know. I feel like

there's a huge disconnect Because the end of

volume 4 we end on the Starscream stuff, right?

and that doesn't come into well it comes into

play a little bit in in issue 18 but it just

it's I don't know it's kind of like um it's kind

of like John ended the season ended a season

of a TV show at issue 16 and then issue 17 starts

a whole new thing it's not I mean it all does

connect and tie in but I don't know. I don't

dislike issue 17 at all. I absolutely love it,

because I am a huge fan of Shockwave. And let's

face it, Shockwave in G1, while Cory Burton was

awesome as the voice, he didn't exactly have

a whole lot of room to grow as a character in

G1, because that's not how cartoons were written

back then. I think that the disconnect is coming

from the fact that I think that for you know

five issues the last issue the last volume it

was they were so connected they were moving towards

something whereas this one we actually this issue

uh specific at the very beginning we find out

that actually this is when shockwave disappeared

in in what was going on with the last the last

arc where you know megatron you know contacts

to see if Shockwave's there and he's not, and

Soundwave says that he's gone. We don't know

where he went to. This is where he went to. At

that point, he skipped out. So that's the tie,

at least between what happened the last five

issues and this one. Remember that part? That

one panel where Shockwave disappeared when he

was called upon? That's where he went. This is

where he went and this is what happened. I can't

remember. Did you already say that he shoots?

Dreadwing Dreadwing. Yeah, he kills him and he

comes back to life. Yeah scary stuff, man I'm

glad that it's not someone who Like don't get

me wrong. I'm sure there are a lot of dreadwing

fangirls out there or something I don't know

but it's like I'm glad he's with a character

that I don't Necessarily care about either way

as far as like him or dislike him I I think usually

when shockwave because shockwave is the logic

bots and usually when you know, he plans all

this out and has is After he's done his plotting,

you know, he gets to the point where it's time

for action and that's usually where Pun intended

here. It usually shocks me when he does stuff

because You don't see that Even though I was

reading along and I was you know, fine. I got

the story and everything else I didn't see that

he, I didn't really realize that he was going

to do that to Dreadwing. So that usually when

shockwave acts, that's when everybody needs to

be scared. You know, yeah. Cause stuff was going

to get real. Well, you always hear about all

the strong silent type ones. You got to, you

know, it's the quiet ones. You got to watch out

for it. Well, Yeah, that is true. And Shockwave

does do a lot of inner monologuing a lot of the

times and a lot of inner plotting. But when he

acts, you better watch the hell out. Yeah. Because

that means bad things, bad things are going to

happen. Especially for a character like him who

plays the long game. He just, yeah. A few more

points that I got out of this. I thought it was

pretty interesting because we kind of kind of

harken back to the chaos theory issues 22 and

23, because before he, before he becomes the

shadowplayed and emperated shockwave in here,

he's the emotional senator that basically stands

against the rest of the Senate. And that of course,

ends up getting him into trouble. But he's also

the guy that had Orion Pax the chest thing with,

uh, he'd make him more compatible with the matrix

after he got beat up in issue 20, 22, I believe,

or was it 20, 23, I think is the one. And that

of course, you know, caused this friendship thing.

It's also harkening back to the more than meets

the eye issues as well. Uh, but you know, it

was just really interesting, um, to see that

I wasn't quite sure at the time. I think maybe

it was revealed that he was the guy that changed

him. But I just thought it was really interesting

to see that he didn't like the Senate, and now

he's basically actively trying to find a way

to replace them. Yep. But to flip that around

is that once they had Shadowplate and imperated

him, he actually lied because he was trying to

manipulate the Senate. willing to allow certain

things to happen like even the energon crisis

to happen just so that he could get them in a

position where he could take them out and I just

thought he went from being that guy that probably

wouldn't have done that to the guy that did because

hey logic logic dictated that it must happen

so that he could get his own experiments to work

so yeah absolutely and Where does Optimus's trailer

go? I think that's the that's the one of the

Bafflements of the whole you know, yeah Transformers

universe. Yeah. Well, the only reason why I ask

is because I'm looking at the page here where

more Pax comes up to him You know where they

have the the little meeting that they have And

I just noticed that while Orion Pax is in alt

mode he does have a trailer and then boom disappears

Which page is that that's some page 17 It's the

top Know I think that when he's supposed to be

like in his legs or something. I don't know that's

good question I if I remember the alt mode for

It doesn't matter He does it does make it look

like you know, he's got the long trailer even

though it's not like the traditional trailer

that you know, but still yeah This those are

the big legs Yeah So What's interesting is that

You know in here that Megatron gives him his

hands back. Yeah because the emperata usually

took his head and his his hands and So yeah,

they make doing experimentation a little bit

harder. He's got pinchers a set of hands But

because at that point he enjoyed the Decepticons.

He takes back one hand and puts a weapon on the

other so which That's the MO for our shockwave

throughout IDW's one hand and one weapon. And

that is what makes him so awesome. Yep. I also

like the fact that he's like, oh, you know, hey,

eventually Orion Pax will give up on me because

he keeps on coming back and asking him, hey,

this is not you. I'm like, yeah, about that.

We'll find out the end of Dark Cybertron. well

you are predicting how soon rn packs is going

to change oh i love the bottom panel there one

day ryan packs would stop believing just that

he automatically knows absolutely love that does

he really though i mean the end of dark cybertron

does he ever really I honestly don't remember.

I'd have to reread Darkseid. I'll reveal it.

He doesn't There are just some things that can't

change and that's you know, Orion Pax I think

will always give everybody a second chance I

think he just mourns him if anything else and

you know He does take him out of his misery,

but it's it's not because he didn't think that

he couldn't change It was just that he put himself

in a position where the only way to stop What

he puts into play with Dark Cybertron is that,

you know, he's got to stop him, kill him, put

him out of his misery. Oh goodness. And then

that whole conversation between Optimus Prime

and Megatron afterwards, just brilliant. I just

think that there are just some universal consistencies.

Optimus Prime will always give everybody a second

chance. And Megatron won't even give people a

first chance half the time. We also in this issue

get a list of ores or at least some of them but

we find out that there are 14 of them that Soundwave

has seeded throughout the universe in different

places. So We don't get all of them. Like I said,

but Earth has one Yeah, and we've already found

about Ardra having another and LV 117 which was

the crazy time planet where we only got stuck

and Then of course Cybertron, the first one that

he seeded. I absolutely love issue 17. I love

that it continues the origin reveals for Shockwave

and how he became encamped with the Decepticons.

More so to fit his own ends, not necessarily

that he is one. You know, I did kind of put that

across is that he's not really the tree and I

think it nothing more than than seeing the last

two issues of this of this volume kind of put

that perfectly clear that he was one of them

only by choice. And because he was a means to

an end for him. So. Right, absolutely. And one

other little thing that I wanted to put in here,

too, about this issue is the. call out to a Marvel

cover with the one where it says all all are

dead. Because sound wave in this issue, he once

he becomes the sound wave that we all know and

love, he starts experimenting. And he starts

like, you know, blowing people up. Really morbid,

full page spread of him in kind of a all our

dead kind of homage that were in one of the issues.

I believe it was, I want to say issue one, but

I could be, I could be wrong. The Marvel issue

one, where you have all the Autobots hanging

from the ceiling. There's a, a Livio version

of that in this. So it was really cool. That's,

that's awesome. And the coolest thing about what

I noticed in this issue is that Livio, depending

on the timeframe of the events of the issue,

He constantly changes Shockwave's design. Not

the head, more so the body and the color, like

the color of purple. On page 17 that I was telling

you about, Ryan Pax, that middle panel there,

his chest and stomach look like they're pinkish

-purple, not necessarily full -on purple. Where

you look at that full page spread on 16, where

he says that... That effect should prove useful.

It's all purple because he's half in shadow.

Yeah. I just love how Livio did the colors in

this one. It's very, very moody. Yeah, absolutely.

And issue 18, I... This was back before I started

getting trades This is why I still have the single

issues for a rid from issue 17 to 22 Because

I was still I was getting the single issues and

just put it on my shelf Because I wanted to read

them later because I because I had yet to catch

up to the first three volumes of the series And

I got covered a because the RC cover just didn't

I, you know folks, I've done, we've done five

more of the Meets the Eye episodes, we've done,

well at this point we will have done five Robots

in Disguise episodes. If you can't tell by now,

I don't like RC's IDW design. It just, it's too

weird for me. I don't know, it's just... The

way that they draw her and the way that her character

is, I like her attitude, I like her personality,

I like how she is this crazy chick, but I don't

know, the design just doesn't... I don't know.

I almost wish I had the R .I. cover for this

one though, because it's a gold bug. Yep, it

is an absolute gold bug. Especially since this

is the issue that we see his new alt mode. I'm

kind of happy that this happened though, honestly.

I mean, I know it sounds probably pretty morbid

that I'm happy that Bumblebee got destroyed,

but you know, I've always loved Bumblebee. I

will never not say that I've always loved Dan

Gilvazan as the voice of Bumblebee, but... I

like the evolution of the character here as far

as his his body and the fact that they are That

they're not just ignore like oh gold bug. Everybody

hates gold bug. Nobody cares Just give us bumblebee

dammit It's not like we can have bumble baggage

anymore now that he's a gold bug Yeah, yeah,

we can't call him bumble baggage, but you know,

I think that's kind of the point He's not the

leader anymore. So he doesn't have the bumble

baggage True. The bumble baggage has thrown him

out of leadership. Very much so. So out of the

covers for issue 18, which one did you choose?

Or which one would you choose if you had to choose

again? I ended up with going with cover A. Probably

more just because it seemed to fit the issue,

even though I know it's very RC -centric. after

reading through this, I kind of look at this

as the it's honestly, it's like the Autobot like

soap opera. Because there's so much going on.

And it's just all in the Autobot camp. But it's

just the conflict between these guys is just

rich. And it's all coming. It's kind of works

around RC because she's the point of view character.

She's, you know, telling the story. But I Really

I thought after after seeing that that Cover

that I thought that it worked really great because

the Autobots really aren't the worst place possible

and they're you know arguing at each other's

throats and turning on each other and it's just

like That's one thing I've noticed and I'll mention

this a little bit more when we get to the shockwave

and soundwave issues But one thing I've noticed

reading this this entire arc these these issues

is that The Decepticons are the good guys and

the Autobots are the it's like we're living in

shattered glass without them actually calling

it shattered glass because When we get to you

know later when we get to sound wave and shockwave

it They say that the Autobot are they actually

say the Autobot oppression. Yeah, it's like really

Wow It's like well, you know technically It was

the Autobot oppression because they they were

the ones that were supporting the Senate at the

time even though there was corruption and Things

did need to change The point is that once the

Senate was taken out you think that Then then

the Decepticons kind of pushed for I think it

was just the fact that the Autobots were just

trying to put the same regime back together Yeah.

But that wasn't okay for the Decepticons. No.

And that wasn't okay for the Nails either. No.

Well, I mean, I think the Nails were just the

people that were, you know, stuck in between.

In between. And didn't want to have to worry

about this, especially since their whole world

had already been, you know, turned upside down

with the Senate being destroyed. But then they

had the whole, again, coming back to these threads

that have been there that we just kind of...

Really whacking me in the head now. Um, with

the, the energon crisis that was going on, it's

just like too much, too much. So it was understandable.

So. So we. We pretty much pick up right where

we left off in the last arc, except, you know,

everybody's getting kicked out basically. And

RC is kind of. narrating our scream is in power

Well, he said the right thing at the right time

Yeah, help that he killed his friend and it just

seemed to work out perfectly Well, that will

come back to bite him in the ass. Yeah his friend.

Yeah, it kind of does The only problem is that

if they're if Dark Cybertron wasn't going on

then he might have actually really kicked him

out of power. Oh Darn it. Yeah, that's true.

Um, but yeah, we get Basically, we pick up from

right where we left off and we see the division

of those who stay and those who leave and the

concerns of sending them out into the unknown

wilderness because, hey, there's that signal

out there. And although Starscream kind of tells

them, well, that was from Megatron and he's,

you know, he's indefinitely, you know, indisposed.

Yeah. So you have nothing to worry about there,

but you know, it's just like, well, you know,

there's just. The unknown, it's the wilderness

and basically they are cast out. They are not

just cast out by, by Starscream. Well, it's his

pretty words. I pretty much put them in there,

but you know, the, the Niles are kicking out

all of the people that are causing all the fighting.

And we see some that stay and some that don't.

And. Well, second Exodus, John's repeating himself.

because they kicked optimus out that's true that

was the first we do find out that jazz stays

uh we find out that the constructicons follow

prowl which i thought was brilliant i mean what

a way to kind of shake things up is that instead

of going with their own the you know we've got

some decepticons that like the way prowl thinks

so much that they decide to follow him and it's

just brilliant because even later on they the

the the septicons have no idea that these guys

have have gone with the autobots have no idea

i'm sure they'd be really ticked off what they

found out but it was just like they they didn't

tell anybody they just said you know what you're

gonna go where he is because guess what he's

got he knows where it's at But it gets even better.

This is where I say it's the whole soap opera

thing. RC admits to killing Ratbat. Bumblebee

then succumbs to his injuries. And it's just,

okay, then we get this whole Constructicon RC

standoff where they're punching each other, and

she's finally in her element. And of course,

it's encouraged by people like Cliffjumper who

are just standing by like, no, no, let him find

it out. This is entertaining. And it's broke

up by Ironhide because he's got to be the, there's

got to be a reasonable one and that would be

Ironhide, right? Thanks for noticing me. And

then and then he calls in the Dinobots to kind

of play his like bouncers And when slag offers

a hand a friendship and a drink to RC. She slaps

it away It's like oh my gosh the drama in this

issue was just hilarious What would happen if

the Transformers robots in disguise was an actual

soap opera on television? It really is it's there's

so much drama going on here The good thing is,

is that I really liked this issue because it

kind of showed that even after she's been, R

.C. has been for the last 12 issues living and

being among people, she still hasn't really integrated.

She doesn't know where her place is, to be honest.

I mean, she seems to be the most happiest when

she's fighting and duking it out with somebody.

She's got a smile on her face and she feels like

everything's right with the world. But when she

has to kind of navigate whether or not it's the

right time to admit, you know, killing bat, rat,

bat, or to go find a way to get in to see Bumblebee

and she's rejected and it's like, she's not quite

sure how to navigate that because she was pretty

sure that side swipe would let her in and it

just was not the appropriate time. And so she's

like, she's just kind of that outcast. It's not

quite figured out where her feet are in the Autobot.

group yeah and and what really shocks me a little

bit more and i guess this is me coming from a

background of just the cartoons not really the

old marvel stuff but the fact that they've set

up social structure among transformers like i

mean i've read the war for cybertron and and

uh follow cybertron the actual books The the

prose novels. Yeah, all right It's not fallen.

What the hell of the you know, you know what

I'm talking about the Exodus Exodus and exiles.

Thank you I have not read retribution yet. I

want to but I have because I haven't finished

the exiles yet, but then Chris McFeely told me

don't even just skip it. It's Basically, it's

like watching Armada all over again. I never

watched our motto, but when I was reading this

I was thinking this seems like it's been done

already Yeah, I mean though the other reason

why I bring the books up is because those set

up social structure in Transformers and this

is is doing that as the same thing and I like

it It's interesting. I just never thought of

it that way. I just I I guess I'm one of those

fans that Either you're an Autobot or you're

a Decepticon which that that The point of this

entire arc is for Starscream to throw all that

out and just be Cybertronians. So we get to Bumblebee

being touch -and -go. But he finally does pull

through. Surprise! Surprise! And he also gets

the whole, you know, gold bug repaint. So comes

out looking new and shiny out of fix it's what

is it? Trailer? Yeah. Yeah. I, and it's so weird

to me that it's not any medic rope, medic Autobot

that I know. Like I know ratchet and first aid

are on the lost light, but like, to till this

point i've never heard of fix -it i don't think

other other than the new upcoming cartoon series

where he'll be in that or some world was an animated

wasn't it he might have been is one of the characters

or something yeah uh... this one i'll say this

about sebertron itself It always surprises me

that this planet has a sun and a moon and they

have daylight and nighttime it really does because

I just I Don't know. I just can't see Cybertronians

having what Earthlings have as far as you know

sunlight moonlight and I don't know it's It's

not strange, but it's just one of those little

things that just it's a living and breathing

planet. You know yeah Issue 18, it was really

good. It was nice to see what happened to everybody

between the end of 16 and this. I really did

enjoy it. I love the art outside of RC, but that's

just my own personal issue, I guess. I'm not

a fan of what Attillo did with... with RC in

this issue. It just, I think the closeups of

her eyes looked fine. It's just that there are

parts where she just, it's odd. It's just, it's

odd. And honestly, I can safely say I prefer

Livio. Nothing against Attillo, but I, I just,

I like, I mean, if If Casey was gonna jump on

and do art because I think he he has it a couple

points as me I would love to have him do an art

in a whole issue or something like that. That

would be brilliant I know that he probably won't

but just because he's he works. He's got a couple

different jobs and Just uncovers because of that.

But still it's just we haven't seen him actually

do any any interiors I think since iron hide

mini Right. Um, I think he's done maybe a couple

splash pages. Oh, I take that back. He did issue

31 Oh With them Casa's last run that was the

that was yeah, that was his last one that he's

done was Issue 31 cost his last issue So which

was very pretty. I liked everything all of it

about it We could get Casey doing interiors.

I'd be like Occasionally, you know Bring back

the spotlights and we'll get a Casey issue. There

you go Right now I can safely say I like Andrew

and Andrew and Livio the best on rid. Yeah, honestly

They seem to really fit it really well. It'll

be interesting to see how Sarah stone Fits into

that dynamic Yeah, it's gonna be really interesting

to see how that happens But this issue wraps

up. Yeah, it wraps up with a distant fireball

with a shockwave preceding it. It's tying it

all into Dark Cybertron, but that's that's what

the Autobots did up until now, and then we'll

go find out what the Decepticons did in issue

20. Actually 21. 22. No, goodness. 20. Yeah.

Because 19 is Optimus. Yeah, 19 is the Optimus

story. 20 is the Starscream in the Iacon situation.

And then 21 and 22 are shockwave and soundwave.

Man, there's a lot of arcs for John to be juggling

here. It's like every little group is split off

and has their own little... But he does it so

well. Yeah, I mean, going back and reading it,

just, I mean, I know, like we said, this volume

was difficult at first just because the cohesion

just seemed so odd. But if you look at it, it's

like... It's pretty much putting all their ducks

in a row to be ready for Dark Side Return. See,

when I read through issues 12 through 16 in volume

four, I felt like that was taking forever to

get it. And I was sitting here, you know, at

my desk reading it on Comixology, and it just

felt like the story was taking forever overall.

When I said I couldn't believe earlier this morning,

I started because I'd started the night before.

I got through 17 and 18, and then this morning

I read 19 through 22. By the time I got to like

the second to last panel of 22, I was like, wait,

what? That's it? It's over? Holy crap. This arc

went so fast, and John juggles everything so

well. Yeah. Um, so issue 19. I'm thinking same

moment. Yeah. Issue 19, I have cover A, which

is Optimus pointing a gun at us. The other covers

are cover B is done by Casey It's optimus and

I can't I can't make it out inside the issue.

Yes. It's optimus. It's hardhead. It's okay They

can't remember the guy's name now Garrick. Yeah,

and wheelie with his trusty Sling shot. Yes on

garrison or not garrison Gorlim Prime. There

you go. Yeah, kind of rhymed a little bit there

And the retail incentive is waspinator. I feel

him it is Yep I've said this before I'm not too

sure why they're bringing in Beast Wars characters

I think it makes I think the origins of how Rattrap

showed up and and how Waspinator showed up are

fine as far as the story goes. I just don't know

why it had to be those characters. Like I'm not

sure why it had to be those characters from what

I generally know is from Beast Wars. I think

this had a lot to do with the toys to be honest.

Probably. I think it was something that it was

probably discussed. Maybe they knew ahead of

time which ones were coming out, and it just

made sense. They found a way to work it into

the story. I think Waspinators is probably one

of the only ones that's the most veiled. That's

just like, you really had to really push it there,

didn't you? It's because he has a special stinger

that can control Titans. That one is probably

the thinnest explanation out of all of them.

But I remember I remember when Dark Cybertron

was going on and we will get to this ladies and

gentlemen I'm so you know a little bit of a spoiler

warning here But I remember when Dark Cybertron

was going on and the issue came out about him

being You know his stinger being the control

rod for for whatever the hell was going on in

Dark Cybertron I remember Ender going off He

he went off on a tirade about it's like oh Great

waspinator stinger. Oh, and he was he just it

was a little far -fetched to say yeah classic

ender fashion of making things, yeah. That being

said though, I do like what they have done with

the guy since then. I mean, maybe his origins

at this point were a little weird. And it kind

of did make sense only to the point that, you

know, at the very beginning of Robots in Disguise,

everybody starts coming back and they've been,

you know, spread out all over the universe. Skybite

was probably the easiest one to accept because

everybody likes Skybite, but Waspinator? Him

showing up, it's just... yeah. But... You know

that being said, it all worked out. So. So this

issue we have, the art is done by... It's done

by Varma. Diraj Varma. Thank you. Thank you.

The colors are done by Joanna Lafuente. Diraj

Varma, the first time I saw him was I think it

was fall of Cybertron? Yeah, it was the fall

of Cybertron Mini. Good tie -in with the game,

basically. And then did he do stuff? He has rage

no did oh no, it's that's um That's this was

the second time that we've actually seen him

do work in I I looked it up of you. I looked

it up to make sure um It's on the wiki. This

is the second time that he's that he has worked

on transformers at this point I think he may

have done a cover, but I can't recall It's been

a good year since we've seen him. I think but

yeah, he's This was the second issue that he

had actually done where he's working in IDW verse

and not just the game verse. I do have to say,

I know we skipped it, but I will say that I did

pick up his cover for this issue. I know that

it's kind of wonky and the proportions are kind

of strange, but there's just something about

it that really I liked. Maybe it's the coloring,

maybe it's the way that it looks kind of painterly

or even sketched like he used pastels or something

like that. You mean the Optimist cover? Yeah,

the Optimist cover. This issue is such an odd

one because there are moments where I kind of

like it for its artistic license of just taking

and doing the stuff that it does. But then there

are a lot of moments where it's just like, it

just kind of really odd. And the proportions

look kind of strange. And even in moments where

we even see like, you know, later on on the issue

where we have two Titans fighting and the proportions

are so off. Um, I think there's a, there's a

stretch to artistic license. Yeah. I mean, yeah.

Optimus looks, he's in a weird pose. Like we

see his left leg, what we did. It's like, Somebody

cut off his right leg. Honestly, I mean like

we don't like we don't even see it because there's

a shadow but Yeah, I mean I like the whole gun

pointing at at the at the reader thing I like

the gun pointing at the camera thing. But if

you look at his His left side under his under

his cab here. It reminds me of Transformers the

movie when Megatron slices him and he and he's

holding his stomach When and then Megatron, you

know goes up and and comes down on that's what

it reminds me of a little bit I like out of out

of the covers. I like the optimist one the best

and that's the one that I have Because I thought

it was the coolest And getting into the issue

The art is At least the first page. It's okay

because it's a different It's a bar. It's a bar

scene. Which, you know, it's kind of funny because

even the last issue that we saw of Optimus Prime

before he goes to LV -117, he meets these guys

in a bar. So it's like, hey, bar scene. When

you're part of the universal galactic community,

you just go hang out in bars. There you go. Hey!

That's what you do. Do you want me to summarize

this one really? Yeah, you can. So Orion Pax

basically, we saw him in issue 10, now he's back

in issue 19. Orion Pax returns to Goron Prime,

which played a role in Heart of Darkness, as

it had the active portal to the dead universe.

But it's pretty much a dead world at this point

now because like all that's gone. Jehaxis and

company show up there as well, which we find

out actually, you know, a couple of issues from

now that he was Jehaxis was just hanging out

in space waiting for him to show up. So two oars,

I believe, or no, actually not two oars. One

of the oars is found here because it's one of

the places where shockwave C did stuff and the

planet. basically collapses in a nuts on itself

and Orion and company and to access or they follow

to access and company back towards Cybertron.

So it's basically putting in play a thread that

I didn't even consider the whole idea that and

we'll get to it. And basically bringing Optimus

Prime back to Cybertron. This is the catalyst

that brings him back. But one of the things that

happens here is that you know, they they're they're

basically at the bar to just to nab waspinator

because He's got that whole stinger thing and

they need that for what they're about to do.

The whole point was to lure Orion Pax back to

the planet get in a fight so that you know He

would basically call forth another metro Titan

because while he's there they have a battle with

monstructor and things look pretty weird and

waspinator says the right thing at the right

time says you know you can sense it right and

he says oh that's right there's a metro titan

here he wakes it up and that's exactly what they

wanted him to do so now this metro titan is not

is not metroplex no this this metro titan is

not metroplex okay yeah Just want to double check

and make sure that because at first when I saw

it, I thought it was so it kind of has the design

kind of looking like, but it is not. It's the

one that's going to be used in Dark Cybertron.

If you remember right, they find Metroplex in

more than meets the eye. Right. The more meets

the eye issue. And then this is the other one

that they have dark reasons for bringing him

back. Because he's already been infused with

one of the ores and him going back to Cybertron

means that he's bringing back an oar and That

oar is gonna combine with the next or and that's

what we see at the very end of of this of this

volume of Issue 22 is what we see with him. So

Oh, the other thing I want to say about this

too is that that whole conversation that we had

in the last volume about, you know, Bumblebee

saying, hey, Optimus Prime has taught me that

it's not a trap if you know it's a trap. Yeah,

we have that conversation again here where Optimus

Prime is like, I encourage all my friends to

know that. Again, there's no army. Where's your

army then if you know it's a trap? Oh, goodness.

It's crazy. Yeah. As I read this issue, I got

to liking the art a little bit more as it went

along. I still think Andrew and Livio do a better

job, but this is not bad. I would say for me,

this is in between as far as being good or being

god -awful. Yeah, I'd say I would take this over

the heart of darkness, artist. In fact, the fact

that we're at the same place where the Heart

of Darkness guy had to be. I mean, you know,

I liked it better because of that. And Optimus

Prime looks like he has toes in the last panel.

Oh, second to last panel. Yeah, it's... He needs

to go pick his toes, make sure that they're clean

and clean. Sorry. It does. If people... The listen

to the pull bag remember way back when when superior

spider -man started I had I'm not usually one

to just comment on how feet look but the way

that they made superior spider -man look as if

he would he basically looked like he had Teenage

Mutant Ninja Turtles as like what it wasn't just

it wasn't just one like foot Like, it wasn't

just one boot. They actually showed one toe and

then the rest of his foot. It was just too weird

for me. It was just too weird. But yeah, this

is a little crazy. So, Optimus, you know, does

his... And Hardhead does not look like a robot.

He looks like a dude with metal on him. Yeah.

Doesn't look like Hardhead at all. Will say about

this issue. I was actually hoping that John would

do something else with wheelie But we got to

keep the you know the classic wheelie rhyming.

I It's I don't dislike it here. It's not as bad

here as it is in transformers movie and another

anchor it just I was hoping that they would Take

away the one thing that a lot of people don't

like about wheelie is that he rhymes all the

time And you're a poet and you didn't know it.

I thought another thing that was interesting

in this issue too is that they find there's a

city in the catacombs whereas before it was filled

with basically the portal. It predates, it looks

like it looks to be part of the era of the Titans

as if when the Titans left this might have been

where one of them came in. And that was only

just kind of building up to the point that hey,

guess what? There is a Metro Titan there after

all. It's been dead for a long time, but not

when you have a Prime around. A true Prime can

wake anything up, right? Yeah, a true Matrix

bearer. Waspinator should have never said that.

Yeah. Talk about saying the wrong thing at the

right time. Goodness. Yeah Overall, I mean this

issue is interesting. It's nice to see You know

where optimus is and what he's doing When I think

of hardhead I always think of Rebirth and headmasters

and all that stuff. So it was interesting to

see a little bit Not a soy a different take on

him, but a different version of him. Yeah And

overall, I enjoyed this issue, but not as much

as I enjoyed the previous two. Yeah. Yeah. It

was kind of like one of those issues that, well,

you know, we've got Prime out there too, and

we know that he's going to play a role in something.

So we've got to bring him back. This is that

issue that just brings him back. In fact, it

just seems like it goes by so quickly. That I

mean we've we've only we've probably spent the

least amount talking about this on this one Because

it yeah, there's the whole point was just to

basically wake up tighten up bring them back

Yeah, that's all we really need is just wake

it up. We could tighten up bring it back Oh and

make sure that waspinators in control too. So

yeah, just had to grab a few people throw it

together boom We're bringing now. We've got a

motivation for optimus prime to come back. He's

just he's following Jax's he wants to stop shockwave

And that's kind of then that's a theme that's

already been kind of set up already because of

the first issue that we got with this guy, so

You know, I will say I don't know who does like

I'm not sure like I know who does cut I know

like, you know Griffith or Casey or you know

They do the actual covers. I'm not sure who does

like the the letters and all that stuff on the

covers i'm not sure if that's if that would be

chris maury or somebody else there are sometimes

on some of these covers that i wish um uh that

i wish they would use like the purple and blue

like the old purple and blue decepticon colors

from the old toys yeah um so i really wish that

they would do that We are going to take a quick

break here. You're going to hear some Transformers

audio and we will be back with issue 20 after

this. We are back and it is time to talk about

issues 20 through 22 of robots in disguise issue

20 Heavy is the head that wears the crown Carnation

Starscream. This is bad comedy. Yeah, no kidding.

And then on top of that, you know, he does I

mean quite literally He has several things to

to jungle a junk jungle to juggle in this issue

it's just it's crazy i mean you know hey you

wanted this job right so we go back to iacon

to find out what's going on with uh starscream

having usurped all the power and killed his friend

to be the boss so what happens when you start

doing that dude you start killing friends you

lose friends you start getting minions Minions

that you have to keep in line, you know, hey

ask Megatron about keeping minions in line He's

had to do that for a while too, how many friends

does he have? Well, I'd have to say we'll get

to that in the next issue What I love about and

I they've done this several times in both on

goings I love it when they do interlocking covers.

I really do Because Livio has the retail incentive

and it's Starscream. Casey has cover B, which

is the crown cover and then Andrew has cover

A. I couldn't get the retail incentive, but I

get cover B. That was the one I liked the most

out of the three. Yeah, I think if I had a choice,

I think I ended up getting cover A. But if I

had a choice, I probably would have gone with

cover B because it's perfect for this issue.

Not that the other one isn't it's just that there's

something about having a crowned Starscream.

It's just perfect Yes, yes it is so we've got

So Starscream talks with the dead mech. I was

gonna say Mechaneck Wow, that's a whole other

universe the dead metalhawk And he also has a

chat with Megatron I find it really funny, I

mean it's not really ironic, but whenever Megatron

is incapacitated, Starscream is how we always

know Starscream to be. Yet when Megatron, I believe

Megatron was, when he was in the Metabay, wasn't

he clamped down? Last time when we... Yes, he

was behind bars and he had, he was clamped down,

you're right. But he was also looking the worst

for wear as well. And he was completely disarmed

and they had verified that. Exactly. And then

as soon as he smiles, Starscream just, blah,

freaks out. He smiled, you know. Yeah. Yeah,

big baby. I also find it wasn't very interesting

that here we see, like at the very beginning,

um, you, you know, he's cause he's talking at

the very beginning to, to Metalhawk. Um, I find

it really funny that one it's, He's got like

energy beams around it to like to protect it.

But also on the wall is a picture of Starscream

and Metalhawk. Nothing could be totally further

from the truth of that. Yeah, no. Not at all.

I mean, that is funny, though. Oh, wow. Yeah,

that's... First page. No, yeah. It looks like

a headboard, honestly. It's like a giant headboard.

The title for this one, three monologues, one

long night. It's gonna be a long one, Starscream.

It's your first day and you already have things

stacked against you. All I can think of is Tom

Kenny's Starscream animated once he meets all

the clones and asks about... slipstream and he

says it's going to be a long orbital cycle that's

all i could think of after seeing that title

um at this point even though i don't like the

armada body that he was given at this point i'm

ready for him to get a new body because having

an exposed cockpit just looks weird it does look

a little bit odd but it also it's kind of interesting

because we also have one liter Out of the three

that we remember at the very big, you know, in

the first year of, of robots in disguise, robots,

robots, robots. Um, yeah, the frogs in disguise.

Um, we had three that represented like three

different factions. We had the Autobot, which

was Bumblebee. We had the Decepticon, which was

Starscream. And we had the nail, which was Metalhawk.

And I find it really ironic, not ironic, but

really interesting that both the two that are

surviving still are the ones that get the redesigns.

I just thought that was kind of funny. Like in

his own way, Starscream is doing exactly what

somebody else is already doing, which isn't necessarily

a bad thing, but I guess I expect him to be doing

that because he wants to one -up somebody. But

here it's just like the irony is he doesn't realize

that bumblebee has gotten a redesign and Then

he decides to have one too. I mean he's already

done that but yeah Yeah What is interesting about

this issue this Directly ties into wind blade

without it even really directly tying into wind

blade. Yeah Power outages all over Iacon Yes,

but then we also find out something about those

power outages, right? Mm -hmm that somebody might

have done them and although somebody tries to

pin it on someone that We find out in the end

actually was actually completely altruistic and

wanted to do the right thing. I After reading

this issue, especially getting to the very end,

I'm like, I wonder if a certain rat had something

to do with that. Of course he did. I mean, you

know. Yeah. I mean, he wasn't just setting somebody

up for just nothing. You know, I think he was

doing that. He was manipulating obviously, but

thank heavens that Starscream can see through

that. But it makes me sad for Scoop because.

Yeah, he really was actually trying to do the

right thing You know and too bad Yeah, it's it's

a really funny way how they politically turned

that around on his ass because for me I thought

you know Wow rat trap We get rat trap we could

scoop new character. Well not new characters,

but new for IDW I mean, I don't think scoop is

new but I think he's been one of the background

characters. He takes a step forward here. And

he continues to do so throughout Dark Cybertron,

at least for a while. But the thing is, is that

Rattrap shows up. Power outages start happening.

Scoop is the proactive one that... You know tries

to do the thing the right thing to you know fix

things And he genuinely is that guy and but then

you actually start talking with him and you find

out that he's just a religious zealot as well

Spouting out prophecies and you know and I think

in a sense it's it's kind of sad because Starscream

really could use one of those guys that really

believes in him even if it's a zealot Because

he doesn't have friends the friends that he has

are usually people that he ends up backstabbing

in one way or the other or he just having one

of those people is just like very difficult for

him um probably because of his really bad relationship

with Megatron he can't ever have real friends

um but he distrusts a lot of people so so it's

like he has to have around he has to have people

around him that he distrusts more than people

that he can actually trust, which is really odd.

But hey, you know, he likes the abuse. Yeah.

And I think I could be wrong, but I think this

is the first and only time I've ever seen rat

traps rat mode IDW style. I'm sure it is the

only time. I think it's the first and only time

that we've ever seen that. All right. It's interesting.

I still... As much as I am a die -hard, well,

I wouldn't say I'm a die -hard, Steve Megatron

is the die -hard Beast Wars fan, but as much

as I am a fan of Beast Wars, I'm just not sure

about... Like, I wouldn't have had a problem

if they... put rattle trap in here. I honestly

wouldn't have had a problem with that, but I

don't know. I mean, I'm going to get used to

ratchet by the end of this issue. I have gotten

used to him, but my first reaction is just like,

uh, this is too weird. Yeah. I guess I can understand

that because again, it's, it it's odd whenever

you see the, uh, an animal ish transformer. Um,

guess It'd be just because nobody else transforms

into that first I don't know why it is that shark

and that shark sky bite is just so easily accepted

because It kind of breaks your brain, too But

for some reason it's it's it's comical and I

like it because of that but then you get more

characters in there you're like It just kind

of breaks my brain a little bit. But yeah So

we get Starscream meeting rat trap and I do love

how, I don't think Starscream screamed this,

but he's like, ah, what is that smell? I do love

that. I thought that was hilarious. Yeah. Especially

for, you know, those of us that can't really

smell what he's smelling, but you know, the fact

that they bring it up twice, actually. One, when

he just said, actually three times, one where

he says, what is that smell? Two, Join me and

I will make you you know clean up and three he

goes to the place where he's supposed to like

You know kind of his pad and says it smells worse

than you do So it's just like the fact that they've

said it three times kind of some solidifies the

fact that rat trap you stink man you stink So

we get Megatron still in his energy fortress

field force field bubble prison yeah it makes

me wonder if he was actually like able to listen

at all because that looks pretty bad yo I don't

know if he's I mean like if there's like it if

he can actually hear in that body or not because

it looks like he's like landlocked or you know

spark locked or something yeah and I mean It's

a cool design on Megatron. I mean, it's basically

the same design we had earlier when he got his

new body, but Having the blue all around it and

everything else. It is really cool. Yeah, I totally

agree with that. That's it's a very cool It doesn't

look like he's escaping that anytime somebody

else is gonna have to turn that off to fix that

It's kind of like the plasma energy chamber and

rebirth plasma energy it is raw energy yeah well

another thing that happens in this again coming

back to this whole issue that you know Starscreams

has with friends is he goes to talk to dirge

and they have this nice little spat and it almost

it almost pretty much throw what am i trying

to say okay it almost flies in his face basically

and luckily for him he uses his politician skills

to kind of smooth it over because Could have

been a bad thing. Yeah, it very much could have.

Um, cause it looked like he was going to basically

just punch Durge in the spark there for a little

while. Yeah. Especially since the public perception

at this point is because Durge played a hand

in stopping Megatron, he's a war hero now. And,

um, that means that the, the long tooth and circuit

are, you know, doing their journalistic interviews

and keeping an eye on all of the people that

they deem as heroes. So you gotta watch it there.

That's the only thing about being a politician

is that now you've got a public perception to

keep up. And if you blow it, those guys, those

journalists will, those paparazzi will destroy

you easily. Yes, they will. And who knows, maybe

Scoop would be the next guy in charge. Oh god.

I can't, I honestly cannot see them putting any,

like, non -familiar Transformers character in

charge of Cybertron. I really can't. I mean,

hell, have Grimlock come back and have him be

in charge. That'd be better than having Scoop.

Yeah. Yeah, he's still off playing Jenga. I also

think that was kind of really cool that we find

out that blur was also one of the guys that stayed

behind He said no not gonna do it not gonna get

into the whole war thing again He's a bartender

now, and he likes doing that He's pretty quick

to point out to Starscream that yeah, you're

the lesser of two evils The only reason why we

voted you in is because we didn't like the other

two even worse So it's like hey, yeah But that

doesn't mean that you don't have issues and that

you can't be replaced. So, yeah. And the power

outages, of course. I like the fact that he asked

him, hey, let me use the bar to get to know the

Cybertronians. Kind of laughs at him for that.

Like, really? You're calling them Cybertronians?

It's like, hey, I've got a good idea. You want

to get on their side? Do something about the

power outages. So, yeah. There you go get something

done and people will like you Yeah, I Do love

the art. I the only thing that really kind of

bugs me and it's not just because of this being

Griffith I don't think transformations work that

well in this it I don't know like sometimes when

they Maybe it's me Honestly, maybe it is me but

like the page where rat trap transforms for the

first time into his his robot mode Yeah, like

if you look at I mean you see He still has that

thing in his mouth He has whatever the coupling

coupling. Yeah, and you see it as he's transforming

it on the next panel as he's transforming it

moves out of his mouth and embeds into his face

as he's transforming to get I know and actually

it's like it's like he let it go and transformed

and it fell into his hand Conveniently, you know,

I Don't know just that That upper panel of of

the rat face with the thing in his mouth face.

Yeah, it makes me And then that's what I mean

like the art overall I absolutely love it. I'm

not saying I dislike the art at all I'm just

saying like the transformation sometimes they

are a little strange to me. Mm -hmm I always

thought it was kind of odd whenever they try

to draw transformations in here because I mean

there are some places where I've actually seen

it that I think it kind of works, but I've always

been kind of, why did they do that? I mean, I

know that they were doing what they're doing,

but I've always kind of looked at it as like,

really, it's just an odd transformers thing.

You're not going to find that that much in other

comics, right? Of course, there are not that

many other characters that like transform like

that in front of you. Yeah, true. And maybe it's

just me with that panel with Rattrap, because

I didn't have a problem earlier when Starscream

transferred. I think it's just, it depends on

how it's drawn, honestly. Maybe it's just that

panel then. Yeah. I think the one person that

does it amazingly is Sarah. Sarah Stone. She

does them really good. She gives it movement

in a sense. I mean, this one where he's just

standing there, I think it might just be that

panel. because he's not really doing anything.

He's just talking and they're using the talking

to transform. And there's not a really a lot

of action. It just seems like I said, it's like

he could very easily be a talking head at this

point, but to make it different there, they put

a transformation in there. So Don't know I guess

it just depends on maybe what the the writer

wanted him to write You know to to draw on there

I mean maybe that maybe that had a lot to do

with it, too And he couldn't think of anything

better than or he may just thinking oh well You

know it's been a while since I've seen a transfer

transformation. Let's throw that together. See

what it does so Overall issue 20 is a nice look

into Starscream, and I do like how John is doing

these things where it's One character point of

view and everything else happens around him.

Yeah, or or her in RC's case or her And I do

really like that and I gotta say if if I was

when did When did this come out this came When

did when did 21 and 22 come out it was oh I know

was a while ago the wiki honestly if I was gonna

say like if I was gonna make like a top five

list of my favorite five favorite issues from

rid probably tied for number one or maybe number

two and number one would be 21 and 22 the shockwave

sound live issues because like it just they're

so good this came out in August of 2013 last

year. So yeah, I would have made a top list for

last year. I didn't, but I would have. So we

get issue 21. I have cover B, which is done by

Casey. It's Shockwave and Dreadwing with Soundwave

in Shockwave's little chest window there. And

this honestly is really the true, I mean, everything

with Shockwave to this point has been a prelude

to Dark Cybertron and the stuff with the Autobots

and Starscream has been kind of like a finisher

to the Volume 4 arc. But these next two issues

are the actual real preludes to Dark Cybertron.

Yeah, they do have the sense of... They do have

the sense of they are pretty much the real prelude.

I think it's good to have the Shockwave issue,

which would be, what, 17? And then these two.

um really just seemed to you know fit together

really well um but you're right i think your

21 and 22 seem to be the real genuine um preludes

the other stuff kind of put over all of the ducks

in the row that needed to be there so we can

have optimus prime um you know what the autobots

are up to you know that type of thing yeah so

we've got cover a which is done by andrew It's

like a vignette kind of feel to it. Yeah, as

much as I like Andrew's covers, and as much as

I like the sound wave and the cassettes, I don't

like the white background. Cover B is done by

Casey, which is the one that I do have and the

one that I really like out of the three, and

then the retail incentive is done by Livio. The

only bone I have to pick with the the Casey cover

is the fact that it feels like their shoulders

are so huge that they're like Ripping out of

the comic and I almost want it to be just a little

bit wider so I can actually see them both him

and Dreadwing Yeah What I oh good? Maybe I won

again. We have another shockwave. I think maybe

that's what I was getting at the last shockwave

cover that we had was a little it's funny you

know it's in the same chapter it's in the same

trade because the 17 was the one that had another

shockwave on it too so yeah I know it's kind

of hard I think it would have maybe sound waves

would have been cool I don't know maybe the next

one has a sound wave on it I'll go look real

quick but yeah it just seems like we're getting

a lot of shockwave in this so Yes, I'm looking

at 22 right now. It is all all wave. Yeah Which

is really cool because The cover bees for for

both issues are done by Casey and they're basically

a mirror reflection I mean it it's almost like

you couldn't put these two covers together and

it would be a battle scene between Shockwave

and Soundwave. Yeah Because in 21 you've got

sound wave and shock waves chest piece and in

22 You've got shock wave and sound waves chest

piece reflecting nice. So it's so So good. It's

very subtle but very nice. Yeah Absolutely And

issue 21 and 22 So much to talk about so much

happens So many good things, yeah That's why

I broke it up into two different sections. I,

I love the monologue from sound wave. I like,

I just, I love that. I think that's great. And

I love how they worked in the fact that he can't

talk, but it's because he has his something wrong

with his. They basically bumble beat him. If

you really want to think about it, they, they

movie bumble beat him where, Oh, something is

wrong with your voice box. It's not like I think

it would have been a little different and a little

strange if it was sound waves choice not to talk

But I would have been really odd the other thing

that I like about this we get kind of a really

We get a really good look as to how incredibly

unique he is as a character the fact that at

the very beginning Well, and we find that it's

it's funny because the second I can't I'd have

to look at the first 21, but as I was reviewing

22, I kind of noticed that we were going backwards.

While we're going forwards in time, like from

the present moment to the end, where we get the

end result, we're also going backwards in time,

like the earliest being the time that they were

having the whole chaos. Chaos the chaos event

to the next time when they were on the asteroid

and we're going like backwards in time so we

actually get his past at the very very very very

end and His clothes, you know the closer Like

I said the chaos event was at the very very beginning

then we go back to the next step Which was that

the asteroid and the next one after that, you

know, it's so it's like we're Gradually going

backwards as we're also going forwards in time.

It was I kind of liked that it was very unique

but we find out just how incredibly unique he

is as a as an individual because he Like he gets

overloaded with like so much like sound and stimuli

that he basically becomes outcast out of Need

to be able to function And I really liked that

because I thought it's almost showing that his

ability was also at first a disability. And he

had to learn how to control that. And it was

through the help of Laserbeak, Ravage, and Buzzsaw

that he was able to do that, which... I mean,

I know I'm really skipping ahead here, but that's

what makes him a Decepticon is the true brotherhood

of having that support, validation and friendship

with these three other characters that happen

across him because they've also been discarded

for whatever reason as well. I mean, well, they've

been discarded because of the functionalist kind

of attitude. It's also something that could be

very relevant in today's society because there

are a lot of minorities and people for whatever

reason that have, in a sense, feel outcasted

or, you know, discarded like that. And when they

meet other people that feel the same way as they

do, there's this really, you know, you can create

this really great community of individuals that

understand that. And so it almost to me, it made

Soundwave incredibly vulnerable, but also relatable.

And because of that, I just, it's such a new

look into him as a character. I really dug these

issues because of that, because I think that

is very relevant for any reader of today, because

I think we see that a lot. Oh yeah, you need

to be able to get into the character and these

two issues are essentially Soundwave's origin.

Yeah. And I love that. I wish it didn't take

John 20 issues to get to it, but I understand

why and I, you know... Oh, this is the perfect

time because now Soundwave, I mean, according

to these two issues, he's seeking to be the leader

next. Yep. And, you know, of course he does.

He's the next leader. He's the next dude that

wants to take the responsibility. Even if the

other Decepticons are like, hey, we're not going

to just give it to you. It's earned. Blah, blah,

blah. Because I like that too. Decepticons for

you. Because yeah, leadership is not given. It's

earned. You have to earn it. I have no doubt

that Soundwave will earn that, but it's just

he desires to be the leader. And I love that

it's Astrotrain and Blitzwing that basically

oppress him or are against him leading the team.

I'm glad it's Astrotrain and Blitzwing because

if it was anybody else it would be a little strange

because certain other characters that question

his leadership. you know, Soundwave inferior.

Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. It's like,

it's a nice reverse to what I know happened in

the movie. Uh, you know, nobody would ever fallen

on charismatic bore like you. Um, it's, it's

so nice to see that it's AstroTrain and Blitzwing.

And is this the first time we've seen AstroTrain

and Blitzwing in this? No, he's been in there

because remember he hit, uh, Swerve, not Swerve,

uh, Swindle in the last, uh, That's right. That's

volume. That's yeah, that's right. He's been

around He was one of the thugs, you know running

around hitting and killing people with turmoil,

you know Yeah, I'm glad they didn't make him

white and black Yeah, I'm glad they kept true

to the Decepticon gray purple and pinkish red

thing Cuz that white and black reissue just that

toy yeah, it's just the colors One of the biggest

things that happened in issue 21, like I said,

we want to talk about, you know, we were the

flashbacks where we're starting at one point

and going backwards. I liked the fact that we

kind of get like a little bit more information

that we didn't have before. Like about the chaos,

the chaos event that happened. During the joining

of Devoid where he like took in all of the Decepticons,

they were all one. Shockwave was not with them

when that happened. And I don't recall that being

a thing. I don't remember reading Chaos and seeing

Shockwave not among them. But I really liked

that because it illustrated pretty quick that

not only is he, I mean, he's one of the Decepticons,

but he's not really one of them. Soundwave to

me in this... continuity he's he's swindle without

being underhanded where swindle is mercenary

he's only out for himself but he'll you know

work for anybody for the right like he sound

wave specifically says you know I am employed

by Megatron you know I don't serve him I am NOT

one of his Decepticons so I like that. At the

same time, I'm also kind of craving that old

G1 loyalty. You know, I mean, I'm fine with it

not being there, because as you said earlier,

this story makes him so interesting without needing

to be a true Decepticon. Yeah. Well, I mean,

I guess. And while you feel that way, I feel

exactly opposite. I think that he is that guy

that's the loyalist. He's not loyal to Megatron

because Megatron is, you know, decreeing it and

demanding it. He's loyal to the ideal. And as

long as Megatron is also loyal to that ideal,

he will have a loyal follower in Soundwave. And

in fact, I'd even go as far as to say Soundwave

is probably one of the only real friends that

I think Megatron really has because of that goal.

When he does, of course, he's kind of lost vision

in that, I guess, right now, because he's gone

back on that, in a sense, which, I mean, for

Soundwave being the next leader, she should be

feeling pretty betrayed about that. Because out

of everybody, It's Megatron that's given him

the ability to become more than what he was at

the time. And, you know, for me, I just feel

like Soundwave is the guy that, because of his

experience, because of the ties that he made

with the Laserbeak buss on and Ravage, because

of where he came from and where he's come to,

because of that relationship that he had with

those guys, That he is this loyalist because

it means that much to him it means that much

to the people or to these individuals that helped

him out and Megatron was that guy that helped

gave it basically gave them the voice and The

ability to move from where they were in their

station at life to where they are now Someone

that can aspire to leadership and take it Before

I just noticed this on the page before the before

the flashback where we see Soundwave and Shockwave

When Soundwave in I assume it's the present Is

fighting Dreadwing Dreadwing says don't wear

it out Soundwave nice punch for a lame -o I have

Headmaster's voice in my head for Dreadwing Some

animated. Oh my god Oh, cute. I can totally see

it now that you pointed it out. I love what they

did in the flashbacks though. I love that they

did the G1 body and that they had him in order

for him to work with Shockwave or be employed

by Shockwave or whatever. Had to get unstuck

from his cassette deck Because I know that's

the like the post sound wave Spotlight that they

did the first one. This is like a the spotlight

2 .0 version. I Love that. I thought that was

great. Oh, especially since it's like this whole

manipulation thing going on He's trying to find

out this deal of what you know shockwave has

been up to of these years and all he has is a

word Regenesis, but he doesn't get the information

because Shockwave one -ups him and I thought

oh, that's brilliant. It was so brilliant. You

know, I was like, no, I won't give it to you

because if you don't help me I'll die and you

won't get any information anyhow. And I was like,

dude, you just got one -up by Shockwave! Oh,

goodness. And this is why I can, out of the regular,

out of the season one, season two, G1 characters,

this is why I can safely say Shockwave and Soundwave

are my two favorite Decepticons. Because of having

read this, the story, these two issues, it gives

so much more depth to both of them. Yeah. It's

really good at, at, at subtly. Throwing the stuff

in there To get to the very end the clincher

when Megatron is the one that says keep your

eye on him because Soundwave can't read his thoughts

for whatever reason. He's got you know Whatever

it's because Soundwave reads off of emotions.

Oh, that's right And he and he is emotional with

shockwave is not so he doesn't trust him from

the get -go And because of that Megatron is the

one that says follow him Find out what he's up

to. And all of this time, that's exactly what

Soundwave has been doing. And that's why I say

he's the loyalist. It's because Megatron gave

him that edict way back when the war was just

new and everything. And he's been watching him

with all of his eyes for this long to find out

what's been going on. I do love Soundwave's line,

though, when Megatron says, Soundwave, keep an

optic on him. Yes, Lord Megatron, only one. It's

a nice little pocket at Shockwave. I do really

love that. I wish we had more of the flashback.

I want more of the G1 design. I don't mind the

War for Cybertron design they're using in the

present day. I like it. But, I mean, this last

page where the story title is revealed, you know,

he says, I will not fail you, my lord. We need

more old G1 Soundwave in comic form. We really

do. Yeah. Good times. We'll see what John has

planned for us now that, you know, Soundwave

is kind of the guy that's trying to take over.

Mostly mm -hmm Yep, he's gonna earn it like from

Galvatron or something. Oh Lord, that's all other

bag of worms. That's another podcast to Galvatron.

Oh So we also about halfway into the issue we

get the Titan Oh, yeah, that's right we get the

Titan on on Cybertron So Dark Cybertron Plan

is set in motion. Yep. Can't remember, was that

on 21 or was that on 22? Maybe it is 22. Maybe

it is 22, I'm sorry. I'm just looking through

my notes real quick to see here. back look of

that's huh I'm not sure honestly now man I can't

remember I'd have to flip through the pages real

quick it's probably 22 honestly though 21 as

as an origin for sound wave and you don't like

By the covers for 21. That was in 22. It was

in 22. It was? Okay. Like, yeah. Then I jumped

ahead in the notes. That's okay. I'm used to

it. With the covers for 21, because they're all

shockwave, you would think it would be more about...

I mean, it does have shockwave in it, but Soundwave

is narrating it for 21. Yeah. So, you know, this

is the... first part of his origin and on 22

we get the second part. I love how they did this.

I really do. For 22 we have cover A is by Andrew

and it is a sound, no it's shockwave. Shockwave

with all of the people that have been helping

him to build this whole Cypertron. We've got

Dreadwing but we also have Gehaxis and monstructor

Yeah, and then cover B, which is the one I have

by Casey. It's sound wave and the cassettes with

shockwave in his window and Then the retail is

done by Livio, which is just sound wave and laser

beak. Yeah Yeah, yeah in the war for Cybertron

design. Yep I love cover be I like this is one

of the reasons why I want Casey to do interiors

I love his designs There's just a work about

his stuff that seems so It's kind of hard to

it's like the proportions are all so equal Like

they're very if they're not too bulky and you

know buff But there it's just like this right

balance between between not being too buff but

not being too skinny and you know bitty and you

know having all this little little detail and

stuff on it it's just i don't know it's kind

of it's like every single time i see it i can

i can pin it really really quick because of how

consistent it is But it's it's not overly detailed

like Alex Milne's it doesn't have the organic

kind of feel to it that Andrew Griffith stuff

has it's definitely not Levi's so it's like it's

just It's got this feel to it. That just seems

like it's so equally balanced and They look like

robots not that the other ones don't it's just

there's just something about it And I think it's

also because of, it's a mix of Soundwave's G1

and War for Cybertron design cover, plus how

the cassettes look. I think Laser Beak is a little,

at first I thought that was Ratbat, I know it's

not, but I don't know, maybe it's the way his

wings are, maybe it's because they were going

off of War for Cybertron. It's the disc feel

to it. Yeah. It's really more bulky than it should

be, but that's because it's the disc look. Which,

as ingenious as it was that they made that into

a disc, it does seem a little bit bulky. I know

I said that twice, but... So this one starts

off and we have sound wave confronting Shockwave

and This is where I said that Ravage it this

guy bothering you boss that is The way that I

hear it in my head, I hear Scott McNeil saying

it as Rat Trap to Starscream, I don't... I'm

not used to, as someone who hasn't read a lot

of the Marvel stuff or any of the Marvel stuff,

and I don't even remember reading it as a kid,

I mean, IDW was my first, like, the spotlights

in this, and this and more than meets the eye

and all the other IDW stuff I've read, was really

my first foray into Transformers comics. The

only time I've ever heard Ravage talk is when

he was reporting back to Megatron inside Soundwave

and he had some robotic voice by one of the old

G1 voice actors that was probably Welker or somebody

so yeah Seeing him talk here in comics. I don't

have a problem with it. I just It just threw

me for a loop when he says this guy bothering

you boss. Yeah I'm not saying it's a bad thing

that he talks and as you've said he you know,

he is the spy So he is he's the spy at it. It's

it's one of those things that as a spy He's only

gonna be reporting when he gets the information

and it's kind of hard to bring that into the

story Usually you act after you have the information

So as a character whenever I kind of look at

him as the guy Ravage is the guy that doesn't

say much because he only says important things

when it's needed, you know what I mean? He just

doesn't seem like that guy that's just gonna

rattle off stuff like swindle or, you know, chat

at the bar like blur or whatever. He's just silent

and watching and always watching, you know? So

whenever he does say stuff, you kind of want

to listen because he's that guy, you know? doesn't,

he says things that are important when, when

it's time to say them. So, and just in the last

couple of, you know, just in the last year, he

seems to have been given a little bit more of

a voice because John has been great about finding

ways to pull him into the story, even though

he's just that spy that is always silently watching.

And he's been really good at finding ways to

give him a voice. give some characters a voice

that we'd like to hear from. I know that people

would be like, hey, let's hear more from that

Ravage, you know? He's always been a fan favorite.

Let's hear him talk some more. Let's give him

something to actually latch onto. Something that

we can latch onto. So I'm really glad to see

it. And you're right. It's just like, oh, Ravage

is speaking. Will listen then because he's that

guy that doesn't like talk a whole lot so The

one thing I'll say about issue 22, and I don't

know if this will happen in the future I don't

I don't honestly remember like Dark Cybertron

was a blur for me So I'm kind of gonna glad we're

gonna be going back to it eventually I Wish I

would see them more in tape form Couple of times.

I know it's like okay outside of his chest. It's

a little strange, but I don't know I just I Mean

I get it, but so we've got we go back to the

present where Soundwave basically shot She punches

shockwave, and they have this whole battle I

don't mind the back and forth here, but I do

like the art in the past a little bit more than

the present. Yeah. There's something about the

mood that just seems to the mood of the past

that maybe it's just the fact that because there's

so much going on in the past, just giving little

bits of payoff, I guess, that they just you really

want to know you want to eat up all of these

little past bits that are telling this story

about Soundwave and why he is motivated to be

the character that he is. The present stuff is

still setting up Dark Cybertron, basically. Soundwave

basically is finding out and confronting Shockwave

in what he is doing. And he's trying to stop

him. But at the same time, while they're having

this little battle, Ravage is shot. and killed

is like, oh, the last time we saw something like

that was one of the was a rumble in All Hail

Megatron was like shot and killed or whatever.

And he was carrying his body. And, you know,

there's this moment where you're where I remember

quite a few people saying it was just like this

huge moment because you never see him reacting

like that to one of his guys being killed. But

that It's just like, oh, Ravage, no. I mean,

we're sitting here talking about how we're so

happy to have Ravage and he's got a voice and

all of a sudden he's been killed on the page.

But because it's happening in Crystal City where

the Regenesis Ore has been seeded and we've already

seen Dreadwing die and come back, that's what

happens to Ravage. I was actually concerned at

this point that he'd have some sort of power

over Ravage. Oh lord. I really hope not, you

know, but and it turns out that there was no

real power there, but it was just the fact that

it's a stalemate. If you can't, if he's going

to shoot ravage and come back to life, if Soundwave

kills Shockwave, he's just going to come back

to life too. And I think at one point he does

shoot him and it just, it doesn't really hurt

Shockwave, but it's like, I think he realizes

that, you know, there's nothing that can be done

here because if I kill him, he's just going to

come back because of where he's standing. Yeah,

I do love this. This is on page four. After we

get the the one page two and three of the past

and then the present I do love page four for

the present buzzsaw laser big rumble frenzy ravage

eject. It's just so classic Yeah, I love it and

I love what ravage does you made the mistake?

No nose for this time for you to lose. He just

bites right on his gun. I Love that. Yep It's

brilliant. That is so awesome. Very, very brilliant.

Yeah. I honestly think if the right story was

done, you know, building off of Soundwave's origin

here, Soundwave could carry his own miniseries.

Oh, absolutely. He totally could. It would be

really cool to kind of go inside and see this

whole thing play out how, especially if it was

just from his point of view, how he found...

his footing with the cassette characters, how

he had to learn how to control his powers, how

Ratbat comes and finds him because of his skill

set. basically hires him to be one of his dudes,

you know, in a sense, like a mob boss basically

hiring somebody that has a specific kind of skill

set is what he was doing. And then how he slowly

turns on his master. I mean, that pretty much

is the flashbacks. I mean, we find out like,

backwards. But you know, you find out that's

that's that's what he was he became Ratbat was

the senator that found him. He could have been

No, I don't care, but he saw an opportunity to

get himself out of a hole. Um, and he, he took

the job, but he was also not completely 100 %

on Ratbat's side either, which is why he was

susceptible to Megatron and impressed by him

when the first thing that Megatron did was, you

know, kind of point out, you know, are these,

you realize that these other creatures that are

with you are living, breathing, you know, beings

that deserve freedom as well. And he was like,

of course I do. But he was impressed with that

because most people wouldn't even have thought

that, but Megatron did. So, and then, and then

of course, at that point, he conspires to basically

kill the senators. And it was his idea, which

I thought, oh my gosh, wow. he was like he was

the shockwave that was there before shockwave

was there the whole you know turn yourself in

and they'll come to kaon and when they're here

we'll have all the decepticons pounce on them

and kill them that was all his idea and i i just

really really liked that i thought oh that that's

cool that the that the guy that they tossed in

the trash was the one that really usurped them.

And it worked. And then he turns Ratbat, his

master, into his own slave. Out of all of the

cassettes, it was always a friendship thing,

right? They became friends and they had their

loyalty given to Soundwave, specifically because

of... how things started at the very beginning,

except one, and that was Rap Ad. I liked that.

I really, really liked that. I love that. I know

the IDW continuity doesn't have... Obviously

Rewind's a separate thing, and Blaster, to my

knowledge, doesn't have cassettes, but I would

love for them to do a mini -series with just...

The cassettes. Blaster's cassettes versus Soundwave's

cassettes. Even if it was just a two -issue miniseries,

like just something really fun. That would be

amazing if they did that. I don't think they

ever will, but that would be awesome. So let's

see here. So we get almost to the end here. The

Titan... arrives and kind of rises we get so

we get we go back to astrotrain and blitzwing

what happened I saw the pursuit of information

without limit and found it wanting a lesson I

had learned long ago okay enough of this did

you stop him Well that answers that and Yeah,

super giant sound wave I What I don't get about

the designs and I'm not trying to nitpick this

at all But like laser beak has the disc thing

yet buzz saw has more of a bird slash pterodactyl

wing I Don't dislike it, but I just yeah And

then we get to the really cool part the flashback

and how I I Can't see sound wave with a face.

I just can't yeah, I don't dislike that way if

it was yeah, I don't dislike this I believe Livio's,

I believe this is Livio's art, right? Yes. In

the fly, in the past. All the past stuff is Livio's

stuff, yes. Is Livio, yeah. I don't dislike Soundwave

actually having like a face of Mirage or a face

of Blue Streak or you know, I don't dislike this,

but it just... It's too weird. I'm used to him

having the faceplate, or I'm used to him having,

in the case of Prime Soundwave, no face at all.

Yeah. Cause Soundwave is not a ordinary Decepticon.

He's not an ordinary Transformer. And I think

that's what the story proves. He is very extraordinary.

Yes. I just think giving him like a younger version

of him, just giving him an actual mouth and nose.

It did seem kind of odd. I guess I accepted it

a little bit more just because it is such a young

sound wave. It's a sound wave that's incredibly

vulnerable and like I said, he's in the dumps

because he's completely overwhelmed and it can't

even function. as a normal Cybertronian because

of his abilities. So I kind of looked at it and

went, okay, well, for him to take on a faceplate

and to become the character that he's about to

become because of the support that he's had and

in learning to control and hone his abilities,

it's like he becomes who he is. This is like...

the version of him before he actually becomes

that really awesome dude that he becomes so i

kind of looked at it as like oh this is he's

almost made in the image of Cybertronians but

when he becomes who he is he's made himself into

the image of who he really is you know what i

mean right so for me i i accepted it in the fact

that it's like he's he looks like he's supposed

to like every other Cybertronian But he's going

to become Soundwave and when he does That's when

he becomes the familiar character that we all

know and enjoy So I guess I accepted it on that

just because I was like, okay This is he's supposed

to look like a Cybertronian. So but Yeah, he

really doesn't look like he just looks like a

non -descript Cybertronian because you get this

last page where Ravage tells him to focus and

tells him to focus on anything or anything you

can this last page and you get Laserbeak and

Buzzsaw and like I can't even see his like his

chest isn't even it's kinda like animated sound

wave where every time sorry played the music

or use your every time she used her key on it

it would grow and become what we want it to be

I mean I like it I think it's interesting I just

sound wave having a face is just it's breaking

your brain right yeah pretty much just like you

know Optimus Prime taking the faceplate off and

having one as well at first it broke my brain

as well He doesn't have another like I know I

know I know there's this big debate online about

Transformers having noses and all this and all

that and everything else. Why have hands? Why

have anything? So I know there's this big debate

about you know, what whether transformer should

have noses or not and honestly when prime when

transformers prime optimus Took his face plate

off and he has no nose. It just makes his mouth

look even stranger. Yeah, it does overall Transformers

robots in disguise from IDW publishing volume

5 Amazing stories. Yeah, I mean coming back and

reading them really kind of I don't remember

they're being incredibly like I remember what

was going on in more than meets the eye because

that that had some stuff going on but coming

back and reading this and seeing how it fits

now knowing what we get in Dark Cybertron it's

really kind of brilliant to see how things are

paying off and and just the mindset behind what

John is trying to do as he's like setting it

up the way that he is and to be honest I think

in a sense robots in disguise is the more complicated

situation because he's got he's not just dealing

with characters and social structures. He's dealing

with like complete like social, not just on a

on a on a on a ship. He's dealing with different

culture backgrounds and everything. Like, you

know, the Decepticon, the way the Decepticons

are the way that the Autobots are. even the nails,

how they're all getting together and meshing.

I mean, the social structures, and I think this

is something we talked about before, the social

structures of the Autobots, we're getting to

know them a little bit more, like how their social

structures set up. We're getting that with the

Decepticons as well. And they're all groups that

are like completely, like, in a sense, they're

trying to come together, but they're also staying

separate. Where the nails are trying to get them

to come together, they're still struggling. to

come together and because of that they're rejected

and you know thrown out and and those structures

are not they're not breaking down as fast as

like say on the lost light where they have a

confined area of where they're supposed to be

because they're traveling on a ship and those

that are decepticons as much as they kind of

meet them with you know not being a little bit

very trusting of them those boundaries are blending

and, and, and ending basically, and they are

accepting like, you know, cyclone is the deceptive

on, you know, they are accepting him as one of

their own. And it'll be really interesting to

see how that, how that will be changing and how

that the challenges that will be involved with

having Megatron and ravaged on the ship now,

because, you know, they're more prominent. And

would they be willing to break down these boundaries

that the Autobots back on Cybertron have really

struggled with? So it's really interesting to

see. I mean, he's got all of these different

groups kind of set up and, you know, even Optimus

Prime, who's halfway across the galaxy, is finding

a way to bring them all together and in one volume.

And, you know, it just seems like a lot could

be going wrong with it. But yet it works. Mean

going back and reading again. I really appreciate

it a whole lot more Maybe it's just because I

have it all in in my hand right now, and I can

see it all on the page Big picture now because

of it I mean John has done amazing writing in

the series the art Even though I didn't like

the Vermis art that I mean I liked it, but I

didn't like it as much as I like like Livio or

Andrew, but Yeah, so Throwing in one that we

don't usually see all that much, you know, especially

since like he's only done one other one so no

Overall volume five I Outside of the transformations,

I'd probably give it a four out of five stars.

I think it's a fair assessment right there. Yeah.

And I mean, I know, I know that's a little bit

of a nitpick, but the whole point of the series,

I mean, both of them is that it has in big, you

know, blue and red letters, transformers. You've

got to be able to see the transformations. Little

bit not you know it doesn't have to go into great

detail, but a little bit I I love seeing the

flashbacks with the sound wave story and seeing

that they that they don't just ignore the cassette

mode That they use it to their advantage in the

writing and John does that amazingly with the

writing Overall it was a damn fine issue. Oh,

yeah, this is a as a whole the volume is really

really solid and I would definitely give it a

four and a half. I think it's definitely earned

that. So yep, gets us all ready for Dark Cybertron.

Yep. So where can the people interact with you

online, Miss Lady Rek? They can find me on my

Twitter at Lady of Rek, and they can also find

me over at the Ender Base, where I kind of run

and edit Transformers. Issue by issue review

page by page We don't take three hours though

at least most of the time we don't But yeah,

we're getting a little bit better about it Like

you know if you included all the outtakes I guarantee

you each episode would be three and a half four

hours Alright, coming up on the pull bag next

week you're gonna get one episode The pull bag

after dark discussion on we're gonna dish on

digital and print comics Which one do you prefer

digital or print or do you prefer both? And then

coming up in September. This is tentative as

of right now, but I'm hoping to do Dark Cybertron

in episode 86 Joe Reed and I will have the TMNT

UTROM EMPIRE issues 1 through 3 in the Back Issue

Classics episode. We've also got DC Universe

versus Masters of the Universe issues 1 through

6. And potentially I'm going to have two giant

-sized episodes. It'll be one podcast, but episode

89 and 90, they're going to be top 20 favorite

comic series and top 20 favorite comic characters.

And then the fourth week in September episode

91 and 92 giant size top 20 favorite comic writers

and top 20 favorite comic artists So that's what's

coming up in September for the pull bag join

us next week when we've got Where we're gonna

dish on digital and print So make your greatest

game into comics and we will see you later This

is bad comedy. Megatron? Is that you? Here's

a hint. latest episode of The Pull Bag, the GCRN's

comic review and discussion podcast. There are

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So until next time, make your great escape into

comics and unleash the geek in you. Wait, you're

still here? It's over. Go home. One thing I wanted

to put in here, just real quick before you wrap

up, you can find a way to throw it in there.

I think it's interesting because we didn't hit

on this, but a lot of talk on combiners, Megatron's

whole motivation for asking a sound wave, shock

wave to help it was because he wanted combiner

tech. I find it really interesting that they

keep name dropping combiners, combiners, combiners.

I mean, we had the combiners. But yeah, in the

last volume and everything, too. But especially

now that we've had combiner wars announced, it

just seems like, you know, at first, when we

had the spotlights, we started doing this whole

Metro Titan kind of vibe and it built up to something

called Cybertron, where they played a big role.

And we've been getting that a little bit with

the combiners. So it'll be really interesting

to see how much that he's kind of laid in. like

groundwork for Combiner Wars. So I'm really looking

forward to seeing how that plays out. It'll be

really cool to see in a year as we look back

to see how he did that, how John like, you know,

built that up and then we got the payoff with

that. So. I think that's the interesting thing

about this whole thing with the combiners in

the, in, you know, in volume four and five. And

then we just, I'm trying to find the link, we

just had the announcement of Combiner Wars, and

what's interesting about the announcement is

that it's gonna be Transformers by itself, and

then Windblade is becoming ongoing. Yeah, no,

I did tweet about that, and... Sarah kind of

acted a little surprised about it. So I wonder,

I wonder if it might have been something that

news or Rama kind of put in there as they interpreted

that as the next ongoing. We'll see. We'll see.

I'm kind of little reserved and waiting for somebody

to call me and say, no, no, it's actually not

going to be an ongoing, but no one has said anything.

So I'm like going, Hmm, I guess we'll just have

to wait and see, see what happens. Well, okay,

um, if you don't want to take news aromas, um...

Let me see, here's... Is there somebody else

that did too? Well, I'm trying to see if... I,

um, Transformers, uh, TFW2005 has, Transformers

Combiner War. A new Transformers event, Transformers

Combiner Wars, will start March 2015 from writers

Margaret Scott and John Barber. artist sarah

stone and levie remondelli it is an arms race

of truly titanic proportions is long lost ancient

artifact allows the cybertronians to unite into

more powerful gigantic forms will cybertron or

the galaxy be able to withstand the onslaught

and find out with prologue and five issues running

in transformers number 39 to 41 and the new transformers

wind blade number one to three which will be

packed in with select transformers generations

toys so i Don't know what's gonna happen here

because it seems like It seemed like when we

got wind blade We weren't sure like depending

on popularity if it was gonna be an ongoing or

it's gonna be a mini obviously it ended up being

a mini and Now they're saying we're not gonna.

We're only gonna have two titles. We're gonna

have transformers Straight title. Yeah, no not

no rid. No MMT MT whatever and wind blade so

What's gonna happen to more than meets the eye?

Are they gonna know it? I think more than meets

the eye is it's gonna continue on its own thing

that that's gonna be it's it's it's not ending

That's definitely gonna continue to run on its

own I think what's gonna happen to robots in

disguise and I think this is something that we

might have even talked about like at the very

beginning because John became writer and then

he became senior editor And that's a lot of work

to juggle. And Robots in Disguise, I mean, especially

more that I read it, I'm like, wow, brilliant

that he's juggling so much and pulling it off.

Maybe it would be good to kind of share writing

responsibilities with another writer. And maybe

that's what's working out. I don't know if Robots

in Disguise, I think maybe Robots in Disguise

is going to... not necessarily end, but maybe

for a while, I'm not sure. Maybe it will evolve

and turn into just something. But I would guess

that since Dark Cybertron came along, and I think

they learned a few things when they did Dark

Cybertron, because they basically took over more

than ECI in Robots in Disguise. They're not pulling

story away from James. So he's going to continue

on more than ECI from what I understand. But

my real question about this is why? Why are they

no longer calling it robots in disguise? Or is

it just going to? Are they just saying for these

for these issue 39 to 41 or issue 39 to whenever?

Is it just going to be Transformers Combiner

Wars for this storyline? That's what I'm really

worried about. Confused about is why are they

taking away the robots in disguise title because

we've had it this entire time Yeah My my guess

is it just just to you know highlight combiner

wars That way it doesn't get confusing Because

I think in a sense Sometimes it was a little

confusing like when I when I when I picked up

dark Cybertron on the digital I got them, I didn't

get them as a trade. I got them all individual

issues. So half of them are showing up in one

place and half of them are showing up in another

place and they're not together. And it's kind

of frustrating because I'm like, okay, now I've

got to bounce around between the two. And I remember

even when, when I was talking with people, they're

like, what one is it this time? It's dark Cybertron

volume five. But what one is that? Is it's, is

it robots in disguise 20 something or is it more

than easy, I had 20 something and it was kind

of hard to keep track. And maybe they just learned

a few things out of doing that. They decided

to make it less complicated and just call it

something straight that way. I'm not going to

say at this point that robots in disguise is

ending because I don't think it is. Maybe it's

just evolving for a little while and maybe they

will go back to that when it isn't, you know,

when it's relevant to go back to that and make

sense. That means that it's possible that their

issue order will be off, but that's okay. I don't

know. We'll see how it goes. We'll see. Yeah,

we will see. Alright, we will catch you later,

folks.