Transformers: Last Stand of the Wreckers Review

Hi, this is Neil Ross, voice of many of your

favorite cartoon characters, and maybe some you

didn't care for that much, and you're listening

to the Geekcast Radio Network. Welcome to The

Pull Bag. Join us as we dig on our latest comics

and discuss them with a rotating panel of the

GCRN crew. So sit back and enjoy this week's

Pull Bag. For those of you that don't know this,

here on my right's twin -twist and cup, on the

left are Perceptor and Topspin. My name's Springer,

and I'm in charge! Welcome to episode 114 here

inside the pullbag. It is time to wreck and roll

with myself. TFJ and Mike and Jamie is Liddy

Wreck, hello. Wreck and roll! Beatles Diva, hello.

Bonjour, aloha, hi. We swear she's not on drugs,

folks, but as we all know it. I'm not. I'm in

a lot of pain. After midnight. But I'm not on

drugs. And also joining us is Haji Prime. Hello.

Hey. And I'm hopped up on hot chocolate that

I boosted with extra cocoa powder, so, you know.

Nice. Now, did you just sniff the cocoa powder

or just inject it right to your veins? Seriously,

in winter, I might as well just inject it. okay

so maybe i should have started out with this

thank you so much to neil ross for that opening

intro clip yes um wouldn't be the records without

springer no i'm just gonna get this right off

the just right off the top i'm just gonna go

ahead and say this I am not being a hypocrite

in this review when I say I actually enjoy Springer

because this is the first time in my entire lifetime

of being a Transformers fan where I've actually

enjoyed the character, where he's not being a

home wrecker like he was in Transformers the

movie. But anyway, that's a whole other situation.

My entire life, I have never liked Springer.

There was one time in G1 that I liked Springer

when he went through the garbage disposal and

came out in pieces. Wait, you can't - Tell us

how you really feel. You can't be a homewrecker

if you don't have a home. Well... Of course,

Nicole would be the one to take it literally.

No, no, no. Of course, Nicole would be the one

to take it literally. uh... and i guess i i guess

i do care i i think that you're really awesome

person now that you finally like springer because

now i think he only in this context we come to

the and that they are at that that cannot do

anymore your podcast that that that uh... so

this is the last end of the records this is the

stories No, this is not because I'm gonna strangle

all three of you This is not This is not the

condensed version. This is the overall story

from issue one to five. This is the digital collected

edition from Comixology, which released in June

of 2011. There is a hardcover edition that has

additional story bits and whatever else, but

these five issues are essentially the crux of

the entire Last End of the Record story. Uh,

uh, uh, wait, wait, wait. What? You if you are

a fan of records and you decide to buy it and

read it after this, if you are a fan of it, then

you have to go out and get the hardcover because

the hardcover has extra stuff in it that you'll

want to read before you read the next series.

Just saying that the Kindle version has the extras,

too. Oh, it does. All right. Good. Well, well.

For only $7 .99, I guess Comixology really did

chip us out of, what is it, $1 .72? Like, 50

-some -odd pages. Yeah. It's a lot. Wow. I have

bought almost every version of Last Stand of

the Wreckers, so... Let me get my surprise face

on. Whoa, Amy bought Last Stand of the Wreckers

stuff! Imagine that! More than once. Did you

buy, like, all three versions of the limited

edition? I think so. I'm pretty sure I have it.

IDW limited did too Three different versions

of that I just got I don't remember what I think

it was the black the black label. Holy crap.

Those were not cheap. Oh, it was not cheap, but

it was Let's just say this. Okay, you hear about

fans would go out and buy their plastic crack.

That is my plastic crack Yeah are my crack. Okay

That sounded so bad. Okay. Wow. We've seen some

really screwed up things on this podcast before,

but holy crap. Oh my God. So I don't go out and

buy all the plastic crack, okay? But I do have

my crack. And yes, I do have the springer. The

the triple changer toy that they had they came

out generations line a couple years ago. Yes,

I Make out with if I could. Oh, okay At a B's

on crack somehow she You know, set this to the

R rating. Oh my god. And you think I'm going

to be bad? I'm the innocent one. Yeah, sure you

are. Sure you are. You just made Nicole look

innocent. Let's just say that. That is terrifying.

You better dial it back, Amy. That is highly

terrifying. I'm the true angel of this podcast.

Right. Okay, story time. Story time. To the end

of the podcast, we'll make Nicole join the devils.

So we have cookies in the face shape of Springer.

Watch out, Heather will make out with those cookies.

Just eat them and are really enjoying it. What

did that take, 10 seconds or less for her to

join in already? It just got really bad really

quick. You guys can't make me laugh, my conditions

are really hurtin'. Okay, so the creative team

on the last end of the record is on the story

is Nick Roche and James Roberts. The script is

done by Nick. Pencils by Nick. Inks by Nick and

John Wyckoff. The colors are done by Josh Burcham.

Yay Josh! At least one of them anyway. This is

this is old IDW because back then the editor

was Andy Schmidt Yes, so props to him for green

lighting it cuz that was brave But you know what

it was an instant winner he just had to follow

the right thing that's all and We're not gonna

do the traditional uh pull bag review of we go

through every single page because there are in

the digital edition there are 125 pages people

yeah there's five issues and they're all glorious

we'd be here for five hours an hour an issue

if we do oh wait wait wait you've got amy on

here you gotta double that okay I would gush

about every little instance and I would point

out every little thing quite literally. I mean,

it'd be like, hey, last set of the records by

Lady Rec. Let's give an in -depth view. It's

a running commentary to people. It could be five

hours at least. So how do you want to run this

mic? Yeah, pretty much I have a page and a half

or about two pages worth of bullet points that

I wrote down as I read this and How I do this

is almost like a running commentary as I'm reading

through it. So I pretty much already said my

first note I'm so not a Springer fan outside

of this whatsoever, especially in that 86 film

But you're wrong, but that's okay. Everyone has

a mistake in their life and Your mistake is not

like in Springer. That's okay. I Don't like Starscream

half the time either. So there you go Okay, so

my first negative about this is it really It

goes back to when I was reading More Than Meets

the Eye. There was a couple of issues in early

More Than Meets the Eye's run where the time

jump happened and this does that as well. I hate

that effect. The, let's skip forward five bajillion

milliseconds. Let's skip backwards 10 bajillion.

Oh God, I can't stand that time jumping. It's

worse than - The thing is, that's for people

who are just barely getting into the story. I

understand that. You gotta know what happened

beforehand. And we also have to have what's been

set up. You know, the fact that you've got Garrus9

and Overlord has been there for a little while

and you have to see kind of how he set things

up. You can just jump into it. You're not going

to get the impact that, oh gosh, Overlord is

like a bad dude. And you know what? He makes

even some of the wreckers shake in their, you

know, boots. So. you know, which we get to in

one of the issues. We're like, oh, they're like

Overlord. They're like, what? You can practically

hear a pin drop because they're like, whoa, you

know, so. It's kind of important just to at least

have the setup of why. Why is this bad? Because

Overlord is a bad dude. And I think this is one

of the best introductions of an evil character

I've ever seen, frankly. He's not evil, he's

just misunderstood. Oh my gosh. Not even I will

try to redeem Overlord, and I will try to redeem

everybody. Come on, if you're going to bake out

with someone, it's got to be Overlord. He's got

the lips. Come on. I am really not that kinky.

Only for Springer. Heather's only kinky for Springer.

Just that one toy. He would probably kiss your

lips completely off, you know Yeah, it would

it would be painful No, what's really great about

this is it it's not just like them saying. Okay

overlords a bad dude. Just like no they prove

it. Yeah It's one of those show don't tell things

yeah, oh and they tell it all and they they tell

it even better than just a few short images saying

hey guys you'll do what I say because I'm the

you know anyhow I mean it and if they're extremely

memorable things like like Nick's really good

at getting to the heart of What's what's really

gonna stick in your psyche from that? reaction

shot of the Decepticons being like, oh crap,

that's repeated later too. And I always go off

to Josh Bircham about Overlord Red. That scene

where he flings Fortress Maximus to the crowd,

that's incredibly memorable. And the thing is,

it's so simplistic at the same time. Yeah. And

it's just seared into my psyche. I mean, Overlord

was a guy that most of us didn't even really

know who he was, because he's from the Japan

series. So introducing him as a villain we take

seriously takes a really skillful It's a skillful

introduction because because he goes from a nobody

to a oh crap this guy is bad news and has lips

so Three or four pages in let me let me look

at it Two three five pages in you're you're pretty

sure that he's like, oh my gosh, this is bad.

Yeah. Yeah. Oh, boy. Okay, Mike. Okay, Mike.

So let's see here. Wait, did he just rip rip

his head off? That's almost as evil as evil looking

as being cut in half lengthways. No, I think

lengthways gets to a different way. So I'm reading

more than meets the eye to the kids and we did

get to lengthwise and poor Seth was like, I think

I need my not be afraid medicine. Honestly, they're

having so much fun and we are having so so so

much fun, but you know, occasionally we have

to deal with serious stuff Speaking of serious

stuff Verity's on wheels. So she's a human Michael

Bay wheelie Well, let's not insult her like that

because Verity is like honestly so seriously

though the reason i'm reacting that way is because

i want those wheels so bad i want wheelie feet

but not wheelie wheelie feet i kind of looked

i looked at more like it was like roller skates

except transverse transforming yeah roller skates

well that's a way to get around the ship that's

like a mile long Yeah, that was the next thing

they had to make it make sense for her who is

just this little puny and they do a really great

job showing how huge these guys are next to her

because if she's the same size as say you are

Heather I mean they are huge Although I'm pretty

short so they're probably not quite as big as

you think there are if I'm Wondering, you know,

why why is there a human in there? And this is

something that Nick recently brought up to as

we're getting ready for the next series is Why

why human why is there a human in there? It's

like and that this is exactly the reason why

so you can show their their their size Because

now we have something that we can compare it

to because like an average human being is gonna

be I'd say around Whatever height that there

it is. So now we see quite quickly how huge these

guys are which sometimes when you don't have

a little human in there to show it, you kind

of forget that they are huge. So if you're that

size, though, would you be constantly looking

at Robocrotch? I mean, but it doesn't matter

because they don't have anything in there. I

know. Thank you for saying that, Heather. I have

firm opinions on this subject. Tumblr would disagree.

Tumblr disagrees with everything apparently.

Here's the thing for me, it's not that I dislike

the character of Verity. I think it's an interesting

character to put into this to ground the Transformers

a little bit. I just wish the design was a little

bit more G1 exosuit, a little less alien looking.

I'm so glad that it's not G1 exosuit. Those things

are obvious. Kind of, whoa. I have a quick question,

though, you guys, because I never even thought

about this until somebody brought it up. Actually,

probably on the gender podcast we did. How do

you guys respond to the fact that she's going

around in a sports bra and shorts? Because I

just assumed it meant I don't care. I'm on a

ship with robots. I'm going to wear what's comfortable.

But somebody was like, why does she have to be

wearing this? What do you guys think of that?

I did bring it up at one time on the back in

the day the IDW forum that I wasn't a fan of

what she's wearing but I mean it quite literally

looks like she's in her underwear Know what you're

saying. It's just like she's an outer space.

It's got to be pretty cold But then you guys

think if she's got to get into a suit She's got

to wear something that's kind of form -fitting

and easy to maneuver inside another sir Underwear

it reads as workout clothes. Yeah She looks like

she's going to a kickbox room. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah,

that's that that's good. That's that's That would

be that right there. Well, and then the other

the other thing that comes to mind is you remember

back in the day when we all watched Alien? Yeah.

You know, Ripley, Ripley in her whatever the

jumpsuit off. That's all they you know, whatever.

When they were getting into the the machines

and stuff like that. I don't know. Something

about that just kind of works for me, I guess.

After I mean, it was bothersome at first, but

I like I don't care anymore because I just got

to think that she's going to be cold. See, I

think the opposite. She's surrounded by a bunch

of dudes with engines that are gonna produce

heat. Yeah. That's true, too. Oh, there you go.

So I get the impression it's pretty darn warm

in that ship. In space, it's not nearly as cold

as you think, because if you get too cold...

That needs to totally be on some poster of, like,

a knockoff alien movie. In space, it's not nearly

so cold as you think. Because... You could be

close to a Sun that could you know, you could

be any hot area I mean you really and that's

the deception is that oh, it's cold in space

Well, actually you it could be any it could be

really really hot. It could be really really

cold. It's a vacuum It doesn't matter then we

get into the movie. Why did big truck freeze

on earth? Okay That was the movie Okay, so next

bullet point when Springer isn't trying to get

under RC's chest plate he's really a badass,

dude just really really at least i'm talking

about the good movie hit not the bad one that's

real but if you're going to be a knocker for

that with the the last point by the body of the

the the the the only one that's trying to get

her chest like come on really no it's not the

only one but that's the general gist of it anyway

um... when the records combine i'm like huh if

this was like like i don't know six months ago

the records could have been in combiner wars

dude i still kind of think a records combiner

would be sort of amazing well that's what made

that line so great yeah the fact that they didn't

combine and so when they said that it was like

that was probably one of the best lines ever

i know most quoted most quoted since you know

Wreckers combined. So, dude, are we already there?

Yeah, I think so. Yeah, what's in my notes anyway?

I skipped over a whole lot, but that's fine.

Well, I'm sorry. What did you have five hours,

Amy? Read the comics. Because I'm not actually

looking at the comics. I'm flipping pages right

now. Sorry. Can I make a quick confession, though,

while we're talking records? OK. So I was reading

this a long time ago, and it was so different

from all the other comics that I didn't really

know what to make of it. And it's already established

as willing to push things way, way farther than

we were used to things being pushed. Poor, what's

his face? Okay, so the two guys that are fighting

in the pit for Overlord's amusement, and the

one guy wins, and I'm sorry, I can never keep

track of what their names are. Oh, his name is

Kickoff. And he wins, and Overlord's like, come

to my quarters and I will allow you to choose

your reward. And I honestly thought, like honestly,

I was like, Nick. No, please don't make that

cannon And for like a year I totally missed That

he was the guy that had been killed later and

that you know you get to either fight him or

commit suicide I missed that and so I'm just

like Anyway moving on Yeah, and this is why overlord

is so evil It's cuz it's honestly cuz like I

I wouldn't put anything past him So she's like

yeah, okay if anybody's gonna invent horrible

slash crap. It'll be over lord That's that's

honestly a lot of what makes him so creepy is

the way he looks and acts because he's just so

smarmy and just like yeah you know you like it

but we're like no we don't like it yes you do

no we don't like it overlord if anyone ever in

animation puts overlord into a cartoon you need

to get heather to do his voice Okay, so obviously

in case anyone didn't realize this is my first

time reading anything pre Death of Optimus Prime

from IDW Sure, I had that whole episode with

Steve Megatron where we talked about the US classics,

but that's Marvel and that doesn't count at this

point Yeah, exactly. So this is my first thing

Pre more than meets the eye in the book formerly

known as rid my point here is I finally like

topspin and twin twist as a kid I thought they

were just gimmicky toys that I had a lot of fun

with So I didn't know about them they were the

jump starters You basically, you have them in

their vehicle mode, because I don't remember

what the hell the name is. You have them in the

vehicle mode, you pull them back, you let them

go, they roll over the kitchen floor and then

they'll eventually jump and transform into robot

mode and land on their feet. Oh, that's adorable.

Holy crap, that's adorable! This was actually

my first introduction to them, is having them

in Last Stand of the Wreckers. I didn't know

anything pre -before that, so I came in here

with, you know, no idea of any of these characters.

And you're right, I fell in love with all of

them as well, so. Because they're like the brothers

that are like, I could do better. No, you can't.

Yes, I can. Get slagged. You know? They're the

- Yeah. That's who they are, so. They're like

the fanon version of Sideswipe and Sunstreaker.

Yeah, yeah, I could totally I could totally see

that yeah What are you waiting for a starting

gun go get them damn overlord Is that your next

bullet point yes I know I'm skipping a lot of

stuff here, but as I when I take the bullet points

when I take when I take my notes down, it's only

It's pretty much, as I'm reading, if I find something

that I want to mention later. I know I'm going

over a lot of the plot, Amy. I'm sure in a moment

I'll ask you. When we get to the end of issue

three, OK, Amy, summarize the first three issues.

Do a summary? Yeah, we'll get to that in a minute.

OK, all right. Better flip ahead and see where

it goes to. Let's see. Saving lives? Yes. Dramatic

rescues? Yes. And having adventures? What's wrong

with just having adventures? I think, honestly,

we need to focus. I mean, at this point, people

can wiki the story. But the point that the main

lasting effect of Last Ten of the Records has

been the characters. So we totally need to be

like, these are the characters and why they have

mattered for so long. wowzers gadget the end

of issue three holy hell the end of issue three

was just wow and everything just comes into perspective

pretty much it's like okay and you this is when

you seriously wonder whether or not is anybody

gonna make it out yeah pretty much dude yeah

sorry i'm i'm flipping through and i'm seeing

The the prisoners in their cells and you've got

the one guy just kind of sitting there and the

guys hung by springs and The there was a part.

Okay while we're skipping around there's a part

much later that returns to that where overlord

has all the prisoners killed and Nick drew the

first guy totally dead with his Autobot symbol

stuck in his mouth And as I was reading this

for the first time honestly That was the part

where I lost it and started bawling. And Nick

is like, I laughed so hard drawing that. And

I look at it and I'm like, OK, I see why that's

funny. But I I can't deal with that. Well, because

it's such a. It hits too many real life things

for me. Of taking how many times have you gone

down the street? Well. No, but currently it's

a very ISIS thing to do. True, that's true. The

thing that is the symbol of everything they are,

which for American, which for an American would

be the picture of the American flag or something

like that. You know, anything that's that's them

and just like kill them and shove it in their

mouth. Yeah, that got to me. And, you know, I

felt a little silly when everybody else is laughing.

That really gets to me. There's there's a lot

of stuff in this that honestly. I will I usually

get to the end of this book and feel a little

sick to my stomach. Because it's not a Happy

yay gay heroes gay story, but we'll get to the

end later. But yeah But it says it right in the

title either. That's the point. It's their last

stand It's not supposed to have a happy ending

It's not just that people die. The thing that

makes me sick is that you get to the end of it

and what was all that really for and I am I'm

not sure that I think it was worth it. And that's

some real life crap. Yep. And that's kind of

the whole point. I think that that people get

to is at the very end. I mean, what makes records

so great is the fact that bad things happen,

really bad, dark things, but it's wrapped in

humor. Yeah. And the only way we can read it

is because it is wrapped in that humor. Because

if you take the humor out, it's so incredibly

dark that we would not be able to read it You

wouldn't find any reason to read it Yeah, because

it is hitting on things that are like, you know

bad things terrible things I mean just go through

history and pick out all the worst things that

could possibly happen and that's kind of what's

happening here and we're reading it for entertainment

but the reason why we can read it is because

of the humor and the camaraderie The camaraderie

meaning robots that don't exist but yeah people

gosh dang it camaraderie between the characters

Yeah, that's why we love it That's why and it

was really smartly done in that that they were

able to write about such dark Evil things and

get you to that end where you like was it really

worth it? Yeah, and the reason why and I still

don't know I still legitimately do not know if

I That's the best thing of all, is the fact that

here we are five years later, and we're still

thinking that. Yeah. In Transformers, we're still

thinking. They've never answered that question.

Was it really worth it? It's still having an

impact in the comics, too. Yeah. I mean, Overlord's

impact in these five issues has been dealt for

the last five years then. Yeah. You know? Yeah.

It's the thing. They hit on the theme between

the Autobots and the Decepticons and everything

that goes on in here. What makes an Autobot?

What makes a Decepticon? And is it worth it?

You know, all of the war crimes, all the things

that have happened all the times where they compromise

their values. I mean, those are all things that

are hit on in Wreckers. I mean, you get the...

you get the first layer of the actual story.

But if you actually think about what's going

on, that's the second layer. And all the questions

that follow after that, you know, lead you down

to the third layer. And this is why Wreckers

was so great and why we loved it so much is because

it wasn't just a story. It was on the surface.

But then it came to these darker and deeper themes

that needed to be discussed. And that's the reason

why Transformers, if you can get into it and

you can really like it and you really love it.

really into it. That's what keeps us coming back,

is the fact that they have these things you want

to know. Are they able to solve their problems?

Are they able to do that? Are they able to get

past this thing that is there? I mean, and I

think part of that is because as human beings,

I think that's where we are in our society, because

we want to say we're civilized, that we're all

of these things. But are we really, are we just

on the brink, just like the wreckers are, of

just destroying ourselves? And I think that's

the reason why Wreckers speaks to us as human

beings. They are robots, but, you know, it says

something about us as well. So it's the fact

that they are doing fairly brutal things in order

to keep the Autobot name looking still pure to

hide bad stuff. I'm just like, yeah. You know,

it's throwing cannon fodder into this thing to

make the Autobots look good. And then you realize

that these cannon fodder guys are people that

you love. See, well, that's the whole reason

why Nick wrote this is because he just wanted

to take a bunch of no names and make you love

them and then make you free for them. And I want

to see Nick cry himself because of that. I really

do love that note at the beginning where he's

like... Want you to be like, I don't care if

springer dies as long as iron fist lives So we

come to the end of issue three here and wow just

This final scene for issue three is just creepy

Endoscopic claw people. Oh my gosh The endoscopic

claw is not okay. Every six months when I go

in to see the dentist, I say, the endoscopic

claw. I would not let anybody forget it either.

And now all I'm thinking of is the aliens from

Toy Story, the claw. Yeah, I've never done well

with torture scenes. They're something that I

have to kind of avoid in movies, because they'll

keep me awake, because I have an experiential

imagination. So even this with robots, I'm like,

oh, good, you know, like feeling crap, just like

drilling down through my esophagus, reading this,

I'm just like, this is not okay. I have a problem

with teeth, too. It doesn't matter if it's fake

or real. in Walking Dead, I could watch that,

no problem. But there was one time I had it turned

away, and they were curbed stomping a zombie.

I can't even watch that. Not even for a zombie,

I can't even watch that. So this has one of those

effects on me, too, like... Because we've all

been to the dentist. Well, at least I hope...

everyone has been to the dentist at least once

and they know how comfortable you are. So people

can put themselves into that position and be

like, hey. I think what makes it worse is the

fact that it's happening to one of the wreckers

at the same time because of the spark. Shoot,

now I can't remember what it is. The shared spark

they have. Yeah. I can't remember what the effect

is. They say it in the comic, but I can't find

what page, so I'm not going to go flipping through

it crazy and going, by curious perception, I

think. Yeah, yeah, something like that. So it's

like you're seeing he's just walking along there,

you know, doing their thing. And then all of

a sudden, like, oh, crap, what's going on? I

think. fact that you only sees certain parts

our imaginations go wild because you see how

he's in so much pain and you're like going ah

yeah so what are some of the story bits you wanted

to point out amy do you want me to summarize

the first three issues if it doesn't take two

hours sure no okay quite literally you we we

get an introduction to overlord Like we have

already mentioned the Rutgers gather and Then

they're told what their mission is and they pretty

much shot themselves They're not the hero type

yeah Well that it's that like I said, it's that

repeated reaction where the Decepticons and the

Autobots both have exactly like Yeah, panel layout

words everything the exact same reaction to overlord

of oh crap Even there even his own kind or like

oh crap overlord word so much crap here. Oh,

no They're not the hero type and all I can think

of is Tony Stark from Iron Man 1 I'm not the

hero type clearly I thought you're gonna start

singing we don't need another hero So, once they

know what their mission is, they get on it, they're

on their way there, and we find out more stuff

about what's going on, how they're building up

Overlord, and each end of each issue, they've

got a little... At the beginning of the next

one, you get to see a little bit more about what

Overlord is, how he's set up and whatnot, but

at the end of issue one, we get a... impactor

returns to the ship so they get to have impactor

show up to help lead the forces and then they

basically show up at garris 9 and drop down to

the surface only to get their backsides caught

and that's about right where we finish up in

issue number three is the torture scenes when

they have we reveal that the guys have been caught

and they're in the spark X So they're about to

be, um, tortured. So, but we find out there is

a secondary. reason for being there as well,

not just to save the people that are trapped

in Garrus nine where Overlord has come and said

hey, this is my playground and all of you are

gonna be my little minions and do what I say

and Take his toys and make them kiss he takes

I don't think I could see Overlord being a Guru

-like leader to the minions. I just can't see

that. This would be the twisted, uh, shattered

glass version of Guru. Another cool story thing

that they do is that we get to see a lot of the

characters doing truly awesome stuff at the beginning.

They each kind of get a moment to be awesome,

so that when they get taken apart, We feel it

more because we've seen them each do awesome

things. It's like wait And each one of the characters

have something going on like with iron fist,

you know at first he's got he's doing these blackout

things You don't find out till later why that

is Yeah, each each there was just little pieces

that all fit together and you get a different

thing in each issue and then in another bit after

that and each time it's like oh crap you know

so it builds this up to this point and then at

the very end you're like oh that's why you care

about this characters because he's built up through

the whole thing and then when what happens to

him in the end you're like yeah that does another

thing like you you can read this trade and go

dang and then I think honestly it takes about

three more rereads to pick up everything yeah

because i remember there's a little bit of behind

the scenes stuff folks i remember when we were

originally trying to schedule doing this episode

yep i i read the thing i took my notes i was

like okay we can't do it now crap So I went back

and I read through the thing twice You kind of

have to read through it. You're right About three

times to really really get it and then read all

the other stuff after that and then you know

Everything just begins and ends with records

So Mike, what was it like rereading it? It was

kind of weird I noticed because when I reread

it I wasn't rereading it to do notes was just

rereading it to catch myself up on the story

and Some of the like the like just some of the

little bits. It's like oh wow that's just not

as we get to Issue four and I look at the cover

I assume everyone here has seen a night's tale

with Heath Ledger Yes, okay Issue number four

cover a is the five Yeah Yeah, it's fun. Oh the

guys are looking at right. They're all looking

down all as I can think of is the end of a night's

tale where the The five characters each have

a line. You have been weighed. You have been

measured. You have been absolutely been found

wanting. Welcome to the new world. God save you

if it is right that he should do so. You said

cover number five? No, number four. Oh, okay.

That's number five is the... the gravestones

yeah yeah no spoilers there but wait wait wait

gravestones so you're telling me this is 90s

x -men all over again oh boy bishop went back

to the past and screwed every night you're screwed

up for everybody um I just love the way Nick

crafts the dialogue for some of these guys. Hold

this, stay there, and get ready to take notes.

Oh damn, he hit him in the head. Oh crap. Bullets.

Did you, Mike, did you know why Guzzle hates

Cup? No. Cause that was something that I didn't

pick up on, and even though I'd like read the

issue, there was a whole, there was a Cup spotlight

that came out. where Yeah, and and guzzle is

mad because a ton of his friends Were some of

the guys who went to try and retrieve cup and

cup killed them. Oh Yeah, cuz he was going crazy

because of the other that's why he sucks on the

Saigar because he kept on hearing these crystals

sing and so that's and that's Yeah, yeah, the

Cygar is like a low -level drug. Yeah. Yeah,

but yeah Yeah, yeah, there's there's a whole

messed up. Yeah, I Mean you want to know about

rotors stores back story. Oh, oh man. That gave

me such trauma That was why I hated world so

bad like when I started reading more than meets

the eye and I had a I was Behind and a friend

of mine was got to issue six and was like it's

gonna make you love world I hate Whirl, I hate

Whirl hard because that crap that he did to Rotostorm,

ugh, that just like pushes my hate buttons. Because

I love Rotostorm. He's my favorite character

in the record records. I know, he is a precious

cinnamon roll. He's the first one to go. Yeah.

Because I love that he has such a smart mouth

because I feel like, I feel like if I was in

that same situation. I would try to lighten it

up, like Rotostorm did, like, oh, okay, I'll

be the funny one. I'm dead. He didn't even get

a chance to even think it. He was laughing. That

was it. Brain grade matter all over the place.

Nicole says that, and all I can think of is if

he were still alive today. No, no, no, no, not

Rotostorm, but... if the person of the reference

here is still alive today he would be perfect

for roe sturm's voice rodney danger field i don't

expect uh... uh... uh... other one big nitpick

that i had for this series was sorry nick and

james but i find this water next bus names to

be very lame That was something that was already

done in in previous stuff actually I don't think

they I don't think they chose all the names.

I think that squadron X was might have something

from Marvel Because this actually happened before

casa was actually on the Doing that the same

thing with squadron X that he did with The main

characters in this series where he just grabbed

totally random like D list decepticons And went

these guys are gonna be squadron X, which is

why they all look super weird But no it wasn't

cost because at the time when this came out cost

is ongoing and wreckers to I believe Like CASA's

issue number one and records number two, I think

were out the same month. So at that point, there

was no sharing between writers. They weren't

like, hey, Kasa, are you using this character

in this character? They were just given a list

of, hey, these are the people we want to use.

And somebody would green light it or say, no,

you can't use that. No, you can't use that. And

that would be it. They wouldn't know that it's

like, oh, this other writer is actually using

that character, you know? Actually, Squadron

X, this is their first appearance. This was their?

OK, yeah, right. Sorry people to disappoint you

if your other way Hey, I'm not Chris McFeely

Yeah, remind me to tell you a funny story later

about that Okay, well fine. I would say my my

my littlest son Magnus still says self -indulgent

Pish as a swear word I told them I'm like here

is a great swear word that you guys can say something

that came out of Chris's mouth Is that what that

it's totally yeah, it was it was yeah, and I'm

like oh my gosh I'm giving that to the children

to say cuz boy they need some swear words they

can say Oh my gosh. So it's going to be laughing

his arse off at this point. Shearing a six -year

-old doing an imitation of my bad imitation of

an Irish accent is pretty amazing. You didn't

let him hear the sound bite of that? No, because

it was too hard for me to go back and find. Like

I know which podcast it's in. Gotcha. But I didn't

feel like, you know, you have children, you got

to grab like, like there was, you know, this

weird time where I'm like, okay, uh, here, as

it's wherever you may say, say this, you'll get

a kick out of it. He has just glommed onto it.

Wow. Anyway, moving on, just had to share. Thank

you, Chris. Yeah, I'm sure McFeely listens to

this show. Oh, I'll make sure he does. I'll make

sure he does. I'll let him know. He's like, hey,

we mentioned you in this podcast. You'll get

a kick out of it. Oh, boy. So let's see. We get

the... Where the hell am I here? Just talked

about the background of Cup. Yeah, the background

of Cup. And why Guzzle hated him so much. Which

you're right. It wasn't really explained in there,

but you really didn't need to know too much You

just need to know that guzzle had a thing I had

a bone to pick with him and there's there's a

lot of layers to this one little Okay, and then

yeah, you just dig there's only one little quip

between the two of them That was kind of like

really loaded which if you knew you understood

why oh here it was I hope it was worth it. Yeah,

yeah Oh, yeah, where he's talking about some

good friends. Something's happened to some good

friends of mine as they were killed trying to

save another bot's tailpipe. And he's like, hey,

I hope the guy was worth it. Yeah, depends on

who you ask. And he's got this dark look in his

eye. You're like, oh, man. Yeah, that was an

issue three, by the way. OK, super random thing.

Does anybody else get confused at the picture

of Topspin and twin twists kind of death I Have

never been able to figure out what the heck I

was seeing in that Because it's just like I mean

I can sort of tell but it's just weird Yeah,

it is kind of odd it's one of those odd things

but I think part of it is because And I hate

myself for never remembering which one is what

one but the guy who shoves his arms into the

sewer sidewalk is standing up and the guy who

poor little dude on the table being endoscopic

Claude is lying down So there's like somebody

sort of standing and doing the arc shield eyes,

but I can't even tell What I'm looking at where

he is. Yeah, okay anyway it's supposed to be

kind of like a i have spent because way too much

time looking at that panel and it's like a big

panel it's like eight by eight and i'm still

just like i don't get it biggest one on the page

yeah yeah uh you know it was really an odd one

but it probably took more time looking at it

for me to go oh now i get it it's like cut in

half And half is one and half is the other. It's

like, I get it. But it's exploding and it had

to kind of be a little bit of a conceptual thing

because they are like right next to each other,

like distance from each other and poor guys.

We must love them. Gosh dang robots. That was

one of my notes was that they finally again,

because I only know them from the jump starters

from the toys. They finally made those characters

emotionally jarring. I mean, that's the whole

purpose of this book, though. I know. I'll give

this series one thing. The cliffhangers from

issue to issue are just getting better and better.

Agreed. Agreed. What else did you want to say

about the remaining issues, Amy? Because I know

you have a lot to say. Do you have any more bullet

points? Um, I've got a couple but they're mainly

lines from the end of the book. Okay. All right

Well, I'll just kind of the subplot of what they

were there to find they were supposed to be there

to help save the people that were the Autobots

that were left on garris 9, which is the Prison

that they were there to help get the Autobots

that are left there. Well, they find out that

There ain't nobody left But the secondary mission

was that there's this thing called Equitus, and

they are supposed to go there and get something

from it, and that's orders from Prowl, who is...

Up until now, we thought, oh, Prowl's a bad guy.

Well, we read this, and we're like, oh, golly,

Prowl is bad. Prowl's just a douche. Wait, what

did you say, Nicole? He's a douche. So, they

find out what Equitus is, which I'm not going

to spoil it. If you know what it is, you know

it. So if you don't, then go read Last Stand

of the Record's dog on it. If we haven't gushed

around it enough, if we haven't given you this

podcast to prove that you need to go read it,

then I don't know. If you've never spoke to Amy

for more than five minutes. I would phrase that

as less than five minutes, because I mean, come

on. I have been to so many. conventions where

I brought random issues of Last Stand of the

Wreckers. If somebody comes up to me and says,

hey, I don't know anything about Transformers.

I said, are you reading the comics? No, what

are those? Like here, read this. I have so many

one time instant like join up fans like with

one, one or two issues of Last Stand of the Wreckers

that It's been fun. I have a whole bunch of them

that have started to follow me on Twitter right

afterwards. I say, OK, here's your issue. Here's

my. Yeah, my Twitter and here's where you can

go and read more stuff or hear more reviews about

it at the under base I'll just give all my credentials

and say okay. Have a nice day. I'll see you in

a couple days a Couple months and usually they

find me and yeah, we we get back into comics

after that But so but yeah, it's been my calling

card just like I always bring a couple issues

of records Of course, I say that now and I'll

probably have somebody come up to me the next

convention say where's my last end of the records

issue? just say you gave it away. You're too

late. Yeah. Now I'll have sins of the records

to give. So, but the thing is, yeah. So we find

out about equities, right? We find out what that

is. Um, the guys find a way to release the, the,

the, some of the records didn't get caught. So

let's just say that. And, um, they get their

friends out and then they go crazy on overlord

or is, is it overlord crazy on them? But we also

find out that the past things between Impactor

and Springer, why they are kind of at odds to

each other and why bad things happened back in

the day, you know, why wreckers are kind of,

they're cool, but they have a dark past. And

part of it is because of Impactor. So you find

out about that. And then some people die, some

people might download a certain equitous trial,

all of the equitous files to their brain, and

then some people might lose their face. A lot

of people lost their faces in this. True, true.

And then we get to the very end where they finally

get off, they get off of Geras 9. The survivors.

We find out who's alive and who didn't, yeah.

And I'm not gonna say what happened to some people

because like, hey, you need to read it. It's

just epic. Yeah, you need to read it folks. That

last page is very haunting. Because you look

through Verity's eyes as well, you know. Yes.

You're just like, it's just heartbreaking. It's

just, it really is. I agree. Well, there's a

couple of things that would break your heart

of the very end. But in the very, very, very,

very last page, we find out that everybody's

gone back their way. The equitous files have

been given to their Autobots that need to be

given. They need to be given to and Verity goes

back to Earth and she may or may not have a.

She may or may not have a copy of it Doesn't

show that I don't think it shows that in the

comic I think you only get that in some of the

extra stuff. Um Cuz I'm looking at I'm trying

to see I'm not I don't see any image of her having

Yeah, I know that but I don't know how big is

that jump drive though I mean, it could be like

the size of a briefcase. Yeah, it is like a small

tribe for the robots. Let me find the little

extra comic that shows. Yeah, it's it's huge.

It's like the size of a laptop. She's got it.

Yeah. So maybe that's a laptop. Oh, no, it's

totally not. It's the thing. Before Amy said

it was the files, I was like, oh my god, she

has an early draft of Thundercrapper's script.

I'm sorry, I want a whole comic of that. I don't

even specifically or particularly love Thundercrapper

more than I love most dudes. But for some reason

you're like a thundercrapper and I felt myself

leaping to his defense It's an inside joke that

Amy and Nicole probably don't even remember Yeah,

and I think I was actually saying it in defense

of him. It's just, he looks like a crapper alone.

It's really funny. He kind of does, that's his

special place. This happened during a Showtime

synergy. We were supposed to be starting to do

the, I think it was either the plot point or

whatever for hollywood jim part two i think report

what i forget off the bank on the clip and i

might actually put it at the end of this just

to give people a laugh and see what what michael

was like a year and a half ago yeah i've had

surgery again and i'm i'm not drunk right now

she's built up a tolerance they practically put

her down with a big iron One of those those ah

tire iron to be able to get her to you know,

yeah exactly I'm none of those down I have so

much stuff. I want to talk about and I'm trying

to keep the lid out. No, well pertains to the

comic Okay. Before you start, where is it? Does

it show it in the comic that Verity has a copy

of it? It's not in the actual comic. I went back

and checked. It's in one of the extra... This

is one of the extras in the hardcover. It's the

one called in Word Indeed in the hardcover. It's

the very last one. Gotcha. And it's... Yeah.

So it just shows that she's got it. But it's

written by Nick. So yeah, it was written by Nick

lettered by Transformers fan and Colors by Chris

card. Okay, right. Yeah, you're right. So that

was an extra so that's what you find out later

is that she had a copy of it and if you don't

know that don't worry because Lasts in sins of

the records. I'm sure that he's gonna make sure

they'll address. Oh, yeah. Yeah I'm wondering

and I haven't seen any previews or well, I've

seen the previews and stuff for back on for sins

the records and all that but i'm wondering how

is nick going to open that first it like is that

you know review the preview of sins i've seen

the the the vodka stuff yes but i haven't seen

the actual idw preview is not out yet but it

was out and that new york comic con and those

that we've done onto the internet you haven't

read it yet I'm seeing bits and pieces, but I

didn't actually read it because the images weren't

that great. All right, I'll hit you up afterwards.

Okay, but what I'm saying is, after reading this,

and this was what? This comic was what? Longer

than five years ago that it came out? Five years,

yes, and at least once. It's been five years

since this was originally released, so it's one

of those things where... five years later they're

now going back and telling not necessarily I

don't want to say a follow -up more of a sequel

a continuation kind of thing and it's like holy

crap how are they gonna rake in the new readers

that's that's what I'm wondering here they'll

rake in the new readers because Amy and the rest

of us will grab them by the throat and like shove

comics on them okay so somebody's like fan turned

on or something and through my headphones it

was full endoscopic claw, and I could not stop

shuddering. I'm like, oh my gosh, what is that

noise? Stop, stop, stop! I'm like, I can't deal

with it, you guys! Heather is getting her real

life torture scene right now. Yeah, OK, OK. OK,

because I opened to this page, I've got to tell

you guys about this. So. Remember, I didn't read

this when it first came out. I waited to buy

the trade and seeing all this stuff online and

being like, so anyway, the panel that has overlord

ripping impactors harpoon out of his eye. All

I saw was just like that panel zoomed in that

I think Josh Birchum did as like wallpaper that

he posted on Deviantart. I legit thought that

it was Overlord just, like, slicing his own eye

open to prove how hard he was. And I was just

like... Because it was eyeballs and knives! And

I'm still slightly disappointed that he was just

ripping it out, like, that impactor stabbed him

in the eye and all he was doing was ripping it

out, because it was so much cooler when he was

just like, yeah, I'm this hard, I can, like,

slice my own eyeball. Just to prove how hard

I am. He's a sadomasochist. You would not put

it past him! That's the truly creepy and masterful

thing about his characters, like, oh yeah, totally,

he does everything. But, like, okay. Was I supposed

to feel that? But also, can we talk about the

part where they make the decision Do we blow

everybody up, including Impactor, or do we not?

And I still, to this day, am not sure they made

the right choice. Because, you know, more people

I care about died than would have if they had

done that. But at the same time, it wouldn't

have killed Overlord. No, it wouldn't have. You

would have survived that. I'm conflicted. There's

so many like... Really hard moral questions in

this is a very challenging book It's a very fun

challenge, but yeah, it's just one of those things

where you know You know people in general people

will look at transformers and be like oh those

Explosive Michael Bay movies no character depth

people you want character depth stick with the

comics because actual character building happens

kill them and make you cry yeah you care about

every single one of them only to make you cry

when they are gone but it's not just it's not

just like It's not just haha, I'm gonna manipulate

you into thinking it's not, you know watching

a chick flick type of gonna make you care and

then making cry it's a No, it's really stuff

and and you know, I'm gonna do things that Trouble

you You know, it's it's it's cause -and -effect

like, you know twin the twins worse than Topspin's

death you know all that stuff that happened with

that the whole thing with with aquitas and all

that but it's just you know it's not you know

what well like you said Heather it's not a chick

flick kind of feeling it's one of those things

where okay think of it in terms of action movies

and I know I've referenced one of I know I've

referenced the Bayverse several times in this

episode, but I'm going to reference another Michael

Bay movie. Think of it when Bruce Willis died

in Armageddon. Of course, you cared about the

character through the whole damn movie, and he's

sitting there making that sacrifice so everybody

else can survive. Yeah, but there was an element

of cheese, I think, in that. There was like this

element of cheese. Think of Band of Brothers.

They're going in to save people, and then on

the way out... people die and you've gone through

half the movie trying to like you falling in

love with all these guys are like they're total

bros with each other and now they're dying at

each other's feet just to just for a mission

and that's what that's what this is is that they're

quite literally they went in on a mission to

get to do two things save their fellow autobot

brothers knowing that they probably they're not

even sure if anybody's left and two to get the

files from the equities Right and I mean it's

like top secret files. Just think of it top secret

files. Okay, and What happens who's left standing

at the very end? You know, there are a few we're

not gonna say who cuz you gotta go read it but

yeah people make it out, but a lot of people

die and Just like in Band of Brothers, they made

you love the characters because they were bros.

They were there. They were doing a job. They

were doing their duty. These guys are doing the

same thing, too. And so on the way out, you know,

there's no cheese. There's no, I love my daughter,

so I'm going to give up my life for her. No,

it's like, dude, you know, we came in here knowing

this is probably a proof that we're all going

to die. But they did it anyway. So I was more

so meaning the scene after they got home and

they showed the pictures of who died. That's

what I was more so meaning from Armageddon, not

the actual, you know, scene where it's saying,

sorry, sweetheart, I'm not coming back. And you're

like, yeah, yeah, there was a little bit of melodramatic

in that. But yeah, overall, I love this story.

I wasn't sure how it is. I'm so. i have this

big a version of any kind of classic style art

like art before the year two thousand it's just

not my thing whatsoever because i just like i

said that uh... in marvelous march this year

steve megatron i covered uh... the all of the

idea of you volume one of the marvel Which is

the first 13 issues of Marvel and the red white

yellow black and blue got all those damn printing

press is a little different back then so yeah

I know I know and I and I can't fault that I'm

just saying I can't read comics like that. The

reason why comics like that were read is because

there wasn't anything else. I feel you, Mike.

I get it, because I have a hard time dealing

with that style of art, too, because I'm spoiled.

Yeah, I think it's because I had a problem with

it because I was reading comics back in the day.

That's true. If you have if you have practice

at taking in that, I really do notice a difference

in even different artists working today. There's

some that I'm better. at reading and internalizing

their art than others right and and the the older

comics they they they exercise a few different

mental muscles that i haven't honed yet yeah

and and so it's harder for me to you know dive

in experience but every so often there will be

some that i'm just like oh man like yeah there's

this one panel in the old Marvel books and when

they were doing the the um the anniversary special

covers um I think it was Casey and JP did like

an homage to that I'm like oh my gosh it's the

one where like Primes like kneeling over Scorponok's

dead body and like that one panel in Marvel I

was like And then like they do this whole poster.

I'm like, I need it. Oh my gosh, guys. Here's

money. Give it to me now. What? You're only charging

five bucks. You could have go at me for 20, you

know, that type of thing. Oh, they were charging

20 and I gladly over. Yeah. Okay. Awesome. There

you go. Yeah. So yeah, last time the records,

it's pretty epic. If you don't read it, um, I

can't convince you. That's all right. It goes

like, yeah, it's all right. No, it's a really

good read. I mean, how many times have we read

this? And it still has that same, okay, probably

won't have the same impact as the first time

you've gone through, but it still has meaning.

It pulls at your heartstrings, even though you

know what's coming, you're just like, no, it's

got to change. I certainly look at overlord a

little bit differently because after this we

you know more than meets the eye the issue where

he gets loose on the lost light there were other

things in there there are you find out other

things like you find out you know what fortress

maximus went through you find out just how I

mean all of the little stuff where they're like

okay you've got overlord he does the bad things

but then you break away to other stuff and your

imagination kind of stews on it well then more

than meets the eye they kind of showed one of

the rooms and how he like kind of disemboweled

people and I was like there's stuff all over

the walls I mean They kind of took it to the

next level in the sense that like, hey, let's

get a little peek of what that looked like, right,

for like one panel. And that just brings the

whole thing flooding back going, oh, gosh, I

knew Overlord was bad. But then I saw that and

I knew even more. He was just like that much

more demented. And then we find out the backstory

of Overlord as well in More Than Meets the Eye.

So it's like it's you've come you this is like

the starting point. And then you read all of

More Than Meets the Eye and you go. Oh yeah,

there's a whole lot more to be revealed. And

it does, it gets revealed. So it's like, yeah,

this is the place to start. This is why I always

give out issues of it. It's funny. Honestly,

that bit in more than meets the eye didn't really

add anything to me because it was almost like

I'm just showing the thing that my imagination

had already filled in anyway because the one

panel in in records where you see Oh gosh, like

it is so disturbing to me where you see poor

fort max like plugged into the door and He's

like had his arms and legs ripped off and he's

just like this horrible scream face on between

That and the scene where he gets flung to the

crowd and Overlord's like, just try not to kill

him. Ugh. All I can do is make sort of horrified

sounds. But I, oh man. Yep, I have a great imagination.

It works really well. And it wasn't helpful to

me at that point. It was just like all that stuff

totally happened that was in fact like slightly

milder than what I was picturing Like I don't

even know what I was picturing but like just

Much more death of by a thousand cuts than just

oh here. I'm just gonna rip off an entire limb

I'm like, oh good. That's better than like finger

at a time creeped the hell out of heather that's

basically what this book exists for just uh...

yeah apparently all right so let me ask you ladies

this who's better at uh... making every transformers

comic fan cry nick or james james let's say they're

the same okay here's i actually was putting thought

into this So when I was in the shower, I was

like, okay, because I was asking myself questions

and I always get all my best ideas when I have

like, you know, water falling on my head. So,

um, I was thinking about it. I was like, you

know what? James goes for the heart. Nick goes

for the jugular. Whether you're dead. So yeah,

like they're two different sides of this same

exact coin. It's just pick your poison. Which

do you like to go out with the heart? A shot

to the heart or a slash to the jugular? Which

is it? See, yeah, I would kind of agree with

Amy. I think honestly, okay, so James will do

stuff that will make you sad and make you cry

and like, yeah, go for the feels. But he tends

to leave you at the end of his story arcs with

a good feeling, for which I'm grateful. Thank

you, James. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Still super grateful that 21 ended the way it

did. Thank you for not killing Tailgate. Oh my

gosh, okay. But he almost killed Rung and I remember

the sick feeling I had and how everything all

of the heat and their life was cold and dark

and yeah Yeah, so James is fully capable of making

you cry but he will end it okay Nick Will give

you stories that are really messed up and leave

you in the messed up place So you'll have nightmares

forever more. At the end of Wreckers, everything

is not okay. They showed up to rescue prisoners,

and because they showed up to rescue prisoners,

all the prisoners were killed. And their other

mission was basically, like I was saying, just

to make sure the Autobots didn't have their pristine

image tarnished, which really is another real

-life not -okay thing. I also like I keep bringing

up the Megatron spotlight, but that is And not

because I'm like a megastar fangirl cuz I'm not

but I'm just like Actually, I'm really not cuz

I wrote those guys and they are not okay I have

audio proof that you are a mega fangirl. No,

I am, but I'm not a fan of those two getting

it on. I'm not, I don't think they get it on.

But yeah, just like - Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,

whoa. Who on? What? What? I'm saying I'm not

like the whole like - I'm such a nerd, you guys.

The whole like - terms for different pairings,

so I said I'm not a megastar fangirl, I'm not

a person that ships Megatron with Starscream.

some blessed person on the internet for like

an English assignment that was how to do dialogue

wrong, wrote this amazing story about Nick, or

not Nick, about James Roberts and John Barber

riding bikes together. And it was the funniest

thing. I'll have to find it and send it to you.

It is hilarious. Like, it's not like a slash

thing. It's just a horrible dialogue, like. My

name is John Barber said John Barber. I am riding

a bike. He said type. So basically it's thundercrapper.

Yes. Exactly. It was. Yeah. Every so often the

internet will cough up something that I'm just

like, thank you people for making my day better.

I might remember that somebody out there might

have wrote a real ship of real people, which

I think is. Yeah. I know it exists because I've

never read it. I've never seen it either, but

I heard rumors and I have kind of, you know,

bashed it a little bit. So, yeah, it's one thing

if you do it to characters that are not real.

It's another to people that are actually real

people. So that's why I was like, yeah, there's

got to be a line in the sand somewhere. Yeah.

I will totally claim and own that. of being the

mega fan. I love Nick. I love James. I love John

too. I mean, I'm not gonna leave him out of it

either. I love them all equally. But yeah, completely

thrilled. I've met them several occasions and

I totally claim that I'm a pretty big fan of

theirs. See, well, I'm a huge fan of John because

he's the one that got me back into comic book

reading. So it's all his fault. I am a fan of

his for driving the ship. But not that ship,

not that kind of ship. So you're the first mate

then. I wish I was the first mate. I like hardcore

wish I was the first mate. If I'm the captain,

then you can be my first mate, Heather. Oh my

gosh, Amy, I'm such a snot. I'm like, no, you

can't. I'm just as cool as you. I'm such a snot.

I don't follow well. It's why I pretend to be

prime, and I don't pretend to be like one of

the other Autobots. I'm like, no, no, no. Take

your own ship. There you go. Yeah, all of my...

I'm Papadour. I have rule over all of them. Oh,

man, you guys. I said, ahoy, shme. All's I can

think of, and I know this is bad at all. All's

I can think of is, may the man rest in peace.

All's I can think of is Bob Hoskins. Shme, shme.

What about me? What about me? What about me?

Oh man. Dude, it's terrifying how old that movie

is. 1991? 25 years next year? Awesome sauce.

Bang -a -bang! Yay. Yay. Oh god. Amy, what are

your overall final thoughts for Last Stand of

the Wreckers? You have to buy it. You have two

versions of it. I don't care if it's digital

and a hard copy, whatever. But I'll try to tempt

you a little bit. There is a hardcover that is

available on Amazon for. Go find like the used

price because you can get some for cheap. 20

bucks for 20 bucks. You can own it. And there

are two really awesome short stories that are

in there that continue flesh out a little bit

more. uh one called bullets the other called

zero point you have to read it it's so good they're

they're really good and not just filler yeah

they actually continue the story and fill it

all the little questions like well how do these

guys meet each other what what's going on you

know what what's all this deal with this and

that yeah it'll explain more um then they of

course have like you know a couple mosaics they

have some the toy Declassified of each of the

characters. I think most most of them I don't

remember all every single one of them But you

have to read those too because there's little

tidbits of stuff in every single one of them

and they're quite hilarious They're not just

like throwaway. They're really pretty cool And

then of course they have all of the covers from

every single issue And then they have a whole

bunch of art that they kind of put in there and

some script extracts So basically quite literally

they have everything in here the promotional

artwork pinups They have a couple drafts They

have good stuff. If you don't get it, you're

going to be sad. I like the little character

pages that they have. Yeah, like character profiles

as written by Rung. They're amazing. Oh, that

was the other question I was going to ask, even

though I already asked Amy for final thoughts.

Can you imagine the entire Wreckers team in a

group session with Rung? Would be amazing if

someone needs to write that. You would have to

write that to be honest Yeah, but yeah, there's

there's a lot of really great stuff in here I've

got I've got prints of most of the prints that

they have actually in here to be honest a Couple

of artists that have liked the overlord one by

Nick Roach. I think quite literally I got the

original for the overlord that Andrew Griffith

put an art piece in here and He scanned it in

it did some stuff in on the computer. I got the

original sketch that he did. Holy dang. Yeah,

so it doesn't have everything on there, like

the offline and all that stuff. But yeah, it's

it's pretty nice. I like it. But yeah, they're

and you can still find every once in a while,

a couple of pages of the records out there. I

bought like six or seven of myself. That's awesome,

Amy. Going to have a small jealous moment, but

I'm glad you own them. You can clearly tell.

Are you surprised of all the people you know

that? Oh, I'm not surprised at all. You know,

hey, I might know a few other places where you

might be able to get some pages, so contact me

on Twitter, it's Lady of Rack. Dude, my favorite

random bonus thing in here is the part where

Nick's like, yeah, okay, so you know the part

where Impactor was walking down the hallway?

I totally threw him dragging his harpoon along

the wall, but he didn't get it until the next

page. So they had to like, so the page looks

a little bit weird. He's just kind of walking

with his arm out because they had to take out

the harpoon dragon along the wall. It's really

funny. It's just nice to be like, you know what?

They're not perfect. Occasionally they go, oh,

no. Yeah, it's cute. They're not perfect. That's

right. Seriously, everybody just like the rest

of us. You know, when you're talking about the

part where he was laughing, you know, they shoot

up the guy and all that. I that's such a Nick

thing, because, you know, he's thinking, you

know, how many people are going to be out there

going, oh, my gosh, he did it for the, you know,

for that. Yeah. And yeah, that's that is the

thing about Nick's art is that even when it's

like truly horrific, there's such a joy in it.

That there really is. And even even in his writing,

when it's horrific, it's not. Grim dark He's

he's a very silly funny young man. No, my love

Humor is yeah all about the humor you can take

the terrible stuff because the humor Factor kind

of it lightens it and you're like it doesn't

make fun of it, but it just makes it except you

can accept it a little bit better like at the

very end while he's like well people died but

it was funny yeah and like not to trivialize

it but it really does make it so that you can

get through this and deal with you know really

putting some pondering into you know deep moral

questions yeah in a way that you can't when you're

reading like you know the killing joke or something

which i've read once and i don't go back and

read it because it's dark And not fun. You do

know, you don't have to go back and read it after

next year. Because you can just go watch it,

because they're making the killing joke. No,

they won't make it correctly. Just go and read

it. I don't care. Oh, come on. I don't watch

stuff. Because I don't joke. OK, so this is the

thing, and I'll get Nicole and Heather's final

thoughts in a minute. This is the thing that

I had a thought of while we were doing this.

Everybody knows of the DC Universe animated original

movies that they've done over the last eight

or nine years, right? Yeah. Imagine, and you'd

have to have a pretty big damn imagination because

let's face it, Heather can do it. Well, yeah,

Heather can do it, but Hesworth doesn't want

to do anything for the fans when it comes to

certain things. Instead of rebooting or having

new cartoon series every couple of years, imagine

them allowing whatever studio they want to use

to do animated films, animated Transformers films

adapted from the comics. I know, it'd be cool.

it would be really cool at least something that

they have to target to hands i know that it will

be yeah that's the whole point of the dc universe

films are all pg -13 most part of their all that

they're not for kids are not for it was that

uh... you know and there are kind of scared and

glad you read more than meets the eye of your

kids but i'm sorry i would never read less than

the records to any of my kids i i have read that

i think maybe an issue Or two with the whole

the whole thing. Yeah, but my kids are younger

than her kids. So yeah, and it really matters

like Your kids and what they can handle and yeah,

cuz there's yeah, there's definitely people that

I don't know if I'm gonna Yeah, there's a lot

of things where I'm like, you know, this would

be fun to read but you know that I mean, you

know, we we spice it back and Every so often

will it will intersperse something else and so

I've been like throwing in some of the spotlights

when we need a dose of humor So tonight we read

the spotlight Orion packs, which is funny you

need a real does it here we get that get the

new series based off the cartoon series written

by georgia uh... ball and uh... and done by all

i know i sure that's really funny and i i'm also

negative yet yeah i i think that's quick quick

funny story though about reading so we got to

the end of sixteen and when i read that it like

sort of destroyed me i just kind of lay there

going i can't do it anymore this jim i really

can't next issue you've got it is but at that

time Cause I'm done with the feels, bro. And

so I get to the end of reading that and I read

it like, like literally hugging various children.

Like I've got the little ones snuck in beside

me, the big one reading like sitting on a chair

behind me. I'm sitting on the floor and everybody's

kind of snuck in and we get to the end of 16

and everybody's literally just like lying on

the ground being just dead. And my daughter's

like, Next time can we read a funny one? That's

when you bring out forcefield face. Yes, that

is what we did. I'm like forcefield face next

time It's really good go buy it like it's used

for 12 bucks on Amazon go buy it I know that

you're like, go buy it cheap, but at the same

time, I'm like, it's so worth it to buy it full

price, too. Just saying. Well, the only reason

I say that is for people. The only reason I bring

it up is to be like, you know, I spent a lot

of years not being able to afford comic books

at all. So like here, it's not, you know, you

can get it cheap. And if you don't want to get

the hardcover, I'm sure that the regular one

is even cheaper. I bet you buy it. Yeah, it is.

The trade paperback is also available still.

There are a lot of good comics. This one is worthy

on a lot of levels. The writing is amazing, the

art is amazing, and the story is not. just giant

robots punching each other and We say that about

a lot of transformers comic books lately because

we are living in a glorious age But it is really

worth some thought There's something for everyone

in transformers days. So yeah, and this one is

well, but at the same time I will tell people

don't just dive into this thinking that you can

read it like a regular comic book because it

it asks a lot of you you got to really pay attention

and it's gonna kind of rip you open a little

bit and Yeah, so it's a very demanding comic,

but it's really rewarding despite the whole trauma.

So yeah good stuff Nicole final thoughts Pretty

much repeat what the other two said it's it's

one of the best comics out there I'm not talking

just transformer comics. I'm talking DC IDW Marvel

image This is one of the best series you're gonna

pick up When I when I was doing fanboy versus

this is one that was one of those ones that we

put like to a standard That we pretty much based

a lot of the other comics on Because we knew

Well, this is what they can produce. Why aren't

they producing this sometimes, you know? And

again, if you don't know anything about Transformers,

here's your perfect cast, because even Transformer

fans, unless you're a McFeely, you really didn't

know who a lot of these characters were. And

you were coming in and we were learning just

like anyone else. Hey, you might come out with

a favorite. They might not make it out of this

story, but you'll still have a favorite. No,

it's very well produced. The art is wonderful.

The coloring is beautiful. I know, man. Bad props

to Josh. Bad props. And I love the retro kind

of like style covers that they came in. as well

you know that like the three tone covers the

ones that hot propaganda style one yeah the propaganda

i love that i mean i mean i mean they're you're

going to come out liking something about it if

if you don't comics turn up for you then i don't

know what is you know so yeah it's it's awesome

that's all Why are we talking about it? Because

it's awesome! Especially after five years later,

we're still talking about it. Yeah. I don't know.

I think we should allow people to read it and

not like it. Because I could see how it could

be a little too much for some people. But I still

think... They're gonna take something away from

it, I'd still say. Yeah, it's gonna, if nothing

else, it's gonna make you go, ooh, wow, ha ha,

ow, cry, think. And maybe not in that order Let's

say it's the thing that got me into podcasting

and here I am five years later and I'm still

loving it So and I'm definitely looking forward

to what is it three weeks from now? getting sins

of the records So are we gonna talk about that

on this podcast before we end or you know it's

now that you know okay i thought i heard you

say the second sequel like wait a second what

the hell but yes so i don't know We'll listen

to it in post folks. Alright, so here's the thing

We have one more clip from the amazing Neil Ross

as Springer I wish I got him to do a few more

lines from this because when I Originally when

I and this is again behind -the -scenes stuff

folks, whatever I know some people don't care

about this but initially when I Sent him lines

to read as Springer from last in the records

I had only really gotten up to the point where

he introduced where Springer introduces, you

know, himself and tops. He introduces the records.

I only get up to that page and. And I had already

asked the guy, so I wasn't going to sit there

and go back and email again. Oh, can you also

do this? Can you all, you know, so I wasn't going

to do that, but I got to the page in the book

where it's like, you know, your first day in

the records might also be your last day in the

records. I'm like, oh damn, I really wish I got

him to say that too. But here's the other line.

From Springer, Neil Ross, thank you so much.

We will be back after this. Turn up and shoot.

Not as fancy as it gets with us, wreckers. You

wanna spend all day calculating tolerable margins

of error? Call Prowl. But I want wreckers, but

I want hungry. Hungry for wreckers. Dude, while

Mike is looking up stuff, I have a thing. that

i did not remember to say and that is that nick

does amazing noses for showing character and

springer's nose is amazingly broken i know i

was gonna say it looks like it's been broken

a couple times i had an art teacher back in college

that had a nose just like that yay that's awesome

and we're back okay so we the whole purpose of

me even doing this and even going back and even

reading this besides out of sheer enjoyment was

because this november they are coming back they

are going to be debuting transformers sins of

the wreckers and i have on the 18th first november

18th unless diamond screws up the shipping or

a volcano explodes Don't shut up. November 18th

at 12 o 'clock when my shop opens I'll just be

like pounding on the door be like give me a little

bit of background I think when it was issue 2

when issue 2 came out the the original there

was a volcano that exploded in Iceland and it

delayed This is why I say I hope the volcano

doesn't explode Or do you remember when like

the boat with all of the issues in it was? Involved

in the strike at the docks. Oh, yeah Sitting

there floating on the ocean. I was like I need

more than baby. I come on you guys just unload

the boat, please Okay, so Transformers sins of

the record is number one of five the records

return somebody's kidnapped prowl. Thank God

A lifetime of messing with everybody's lives

comes around to haunt him. Fortunately, he's

always got a plan. In this case, the one team

of brutal broken heroes, the Wreckers. The one

group of people that he's screwed over the most.

The most, yeah. For bullet points for this one,

we have the single last day of the Wreckers,

one of the most acclaimed comics in Transformers

history, Prowl gets his comeuppance, features

RC and Cup, and the Wreckers, the secret history

of Prowl revealed, leaving everybody hurt, and

apparently Alex is going to be doing a variant

cover. And Springer needs to hit Prowl in the

face again, just like he did last time. While

Mike is reading this solicit I can feel my stomach

clenching and my shoulders slumping Also in November

when sins gets released IDW is going to offer

less we were talking about this earlier about

cheap ways to find last another records They're

gonna be offering both the trade paperback and

the hardcover The trade is going to be 20 bucks.

The hardcover is going to be 30 bucks in November.

That's a whole lot more than what they're projecting

on Amazon right now. Although Amazon does tend

to be cheap. I got it right off the media. Just

looking at the document that IDW wrote up. Okay,

so quick, people. If you're listening to the

sound of our voice, go on Amazon and get it.

I know I'm such a cheap, cheap, cheap, cheap,

cheap, cheap person. And I love IDW. They are

definitely worth worth giving them the money

But if you don't can't afford it because like

I understand the whole cheap and can't you know

afford much anyhow Then Amazon has got a really

good price. So go get it there. Sorry. I Love

you IDW The money still gets to them unless you're

buying it used true and then the money is getting

to the people who Yeah Bought it first time so

Transformers last day to the records number two

of five Frosty reception the records journey

to gnome Alaska to track down the number one

suspect in Prowl's disappearance their former

human ally Verity oh That'll be interesting Let's

see bullet points for this one. I already read

sequel to one of the most blah blah blah Secret

Equitas is in danger of being leaked, but who's

to gain? Introducing the Chimera Cons. Oh nice.

That'll be interesting. That's issue number three.

And the final solicit we have is Sins of the

Wreckers number three. Oh, I said issue number

two. This is number three. Secrets and sins prowls

past shrouded in mystery begins to come to light

and the revelations aren't pretty But to get

a hold of the missing Autobot the Wreckers will

have to face the noise maze No Cybertronian is

safe and no readers heart will be unbroken This

is the issue where everything falls apart and

you would get to the end go why Caught in the

web of lies and betrayals, written and obviously

drawn by Nick Roche. Variant cover for this issue

is gonna be done by Priscilla. So that's gonna

be interesting. So that is what's coming up for

Sins of the Wreckers, the sequel to Last Stand

of the Wreckers. Let's go around the room and

rate the overall five -issue trade not counting

Are you serious? Yes, I'm damn dead serious because

I know what you're gonna give it So don't ask

me I still have to ask zero to five stars. What

do you give it Amy? Why don't you ask everybody

else first? Why are you stealing way too much

time here, you know? This is your thing, girlfriend.

Just go ahead. Amy gives us five. Audience, what

do you think I'm going to give it? And that would

be the answer. She's going to give it a six out

of five. I legit was going to say 5 .5 because

this makes the scale for me. It legitimately

breaks the scale because think about it. How

often do we get an entire mini series that is

this quality out? I mean every so often will

be like this issue of a series is really amazing,

but this is five issues that are all Killer good

quality and the entire story is paced really

well, which doesn't always happen and it's all

drawn really well and it's all colored really

well and the entire effect of the entire thing

I mean there's also sometimes where we'll have

an event or a mini -series where it wobbles either

at the front or the back there are no wobbles

the entire thing is ridiculously cohesive and

powerful it breaks the scale I'm gesturing wildly

to the empty room what she said That's cheating

Amy come on now Look, I have been I have reviewed

this so many times. I've done the written reviews

I've done the podcast reviews on like four different

podcasts. I think this is my fifth podcast that

I've You know when it gets to that point, it's

kind of like hey, can I say it any louder? Like

break your microphone screaming Yeah, exactly.

So there you go. I don't have to say it. You

guys are going to say it for me, because I've

already gushed about this on so many podcasts.

My name. Come on. It's in my name. You don't

get named after the Wreckers unless you are totally

in love and obsessed with the Wreckers. I am.

Nicole. Like I said, it's one of the most awesome

comics. Well, a series of comics put together.

As a series, I give it a five. Same here. Five's

all around. Oh, that's a spoiler effect right

there. What? Slash sarcasm. Oh, God. Alright,

folks. So, we have a double shot of the pull

bag this week. We have a special Thursday edition

coming out tomorrow because... Thursday, November

5th, 2015 marks the 60th anniversary since Doc

Brown fell and hit his head and created the Flux

Capacitor. Steve Megatron and myself will be

reviewing IDW Publishing's Back to the Future

number 1 in episode 115 of The Pull Bag. And

then after that, I think hopefully Joe Reed and

I can get to TMNT issues 47 to 49 and then issue

50, I hope. So that's what's coming up inside

the pull bag. Amy, where can the people find

you online? Best place to find me online right

now is Twitter. That's where I usually stomp

the most. And yeah, so you find me there. Lady

of rec. Nicole, what about you? That's Beatles

Diva. Beatles like the band, not the bug. And

if you want to find me any place else, just Google

that. There's only one Beatles diva And there's

only one hockey prime and yeah, so go find me

on Facebook Heather Smith hockey crime. Go find

me on Deviantart hockey crime go I'm on Twitter,

but good luck Yeah, cuz cuz I check my email

more often it always emails me It's like guess

what someone talked to you and I like follow

her and then I go. Oh my gosh. Let me talk to

me Yeah, I was gonna say you always tweet back

to me when I tweet it to you Like I say it I

will get your message. I just never sent anything

out. Yeah, I because Twitter we're often because

she's worried for James Talk to me on Facebook

because Facebook lets me type as many blinks

characters as I want, and that's why I can't

do Twitter, because as you may have noticed,

I'm fairly verbose. See, if you just confine

yourself to the 180 characters, you actually

learn how to use them. You just gave it 140 of

them. It physically pains me to try to get them.

Short and sweet works for me. I don't have that

much time. I just have way too much to say. I'm

like, I have stuff to say and it's a And everything

you say is so unique too, so I'm kind of glad.

Unique is definitely one word for it. You can

find me on Twitter at TF2 and Mike. You can find

the poll bag on Twitter and Facebook. Just search

the poll bag as well as GeekCast Radio Network

on Facebook and at GeekCast Radio on Twitter.

Until next time, make your great escape into

comics. We'll catch you later. You made it Mike,

you made it! At least it's not 3am like it normally

is. You've just heard the latest episode of The

Pullback, the GCRN's comic review and discussion

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