Nicole Hailstorm of The Underbase on Comics, Transformers, and Finding Her Way Into Geek Culture

podcast good so who the hell is hailstorm hailstorm

is my own creation because if you don't know

it my last name is hail yes i knew that and i

wanted to and i wanted to be a transforming name

but when i got like onto a lot of the transformers

boards there's most of the favorite characters

are taken uh taken up and i'm just like And I'm

like, okay, well, I don't want to be Starscream

fangirl number 13, you know? And so I made up

my own little character. I made up Hailstorm,

which basically, when I kind of like created

her in my mind and stuff, she basically had the

same coloring as Slipstream from Animated. The

teal blue and the purple put together. But wait,

didn't Hasbro put a toy out of that, though?

Yeah, well, Hasbro did and the TFN club put out

some. Oh, OK. Yeah. Yeah. So Hailstorm's been

around for a lot longer than Slipstream. I guess.

I don't know. That's funny. That's my, that's

my origin! Gosh, this is so great! Welcome to

The Pole Bag's Origins episodes. Join TFG1 Mike

as he grills this week's guest on just how they

cut into reading comics and more. So sit back,

relax, and enjoy The Pole Bag. Hello and welcome

to the pull bag this is yet another origins episode

here inside the pull bag I am your host TFG1

Mike and for those of you who might be finding

us for the first time might not know what an

origins episode is I sit down with One of my

friends one of the people that I might be interested

in learning to know of how they get into comic

reading And I basically raked them over the coals

for an hour and a half I will most definitely

be bringing up in this episode the fact that

IDW nearly teased a certain purple jet dying

many, many, many, many, many times because my

guest this time around, she has, I don't want

to say a hard on, but she has a love affair slash

sick. twisted obsession with Cyclonus from the

Transformers universe. You know her, you love

her, you've heard her on the underbase, you've

heard her on fanboy verses... What other... You

were already a pre -Cybertron for a while too,

weren't you? Yeah. I get around, you know. I

have my own podcast. Well, you might want to

rephrase that. In the podcasting area, I mean,

I used to have my own podcast, you know. Random

fandom. Yeah, and well. Many things in life took

over. It's been a very crappy two years. Let's

just say that I really do miss that but and then

I've done I substitute every once in a while

over at Moonbase to I've I've done a lot of things

on the nerd sphere and yeah, so Yeah, I get her

out of the podcast It is Nicole hailstorm a .k

.a. Beatles Diva, hello. Yeah, in case you didn't

know who I am, yeah. In case you didn't know

who she was. Alright. You should almost be called

Cyclonus's hailstorm or something like that.

Cyclonus's gal. Oh my god. I have him on my phone

as my screen. Most people have pictures of their

kids, maybe their dogs, oh I have Cyclonus's.

I bet the dogs are jealous pictures of my dog

All right, I'm trying to remember the first time

I had ever heard you on a show That's why I asked

if you had done stuff with Radio Free Cybertron

because I don't remember I was on Radio Free

Cybertron I was a regular for A few months And

again, it was that same time. It was a October

of a couple years ago where I didn't see much.

Some things happened in my personal life. I'm

just like, we can't do this. So yeah, it sucked.

You know, I gave a podcasting probably for a

good few months because of certain things, but

yeah. And so, so yeah, it was a regular on there

for a while. Yup. All right. So Was there a certain

person your mom your dad? sibling cousin That

got you into comics when you were a kid Nope

as a kid see I don't have that interesting of

an origin story because I kind of have to When

I was a kid growing up I lived in a very small

town I'm talking everyone knew everyone's business

and if you cussed You your parents heard about

it before you got home. Okay? That's that's the

small town life, you know, and so we used to

go to the grocery store you know, there's comics

there but at the magazine rack, but there wasn't

a whole lot and When I was younger, so you see

I'm the one that just got it into myself You

know because the comic the comic books was right

by the big video games, you know Super Mario

Brothers out that time aging myself So, you know

is right by each other so like when I'd play

Super Mario Brothers and see certain comics come

out, but there was nothing that really caught

my eye except for... I'm gonna be really geeky

here. When I was younger, I had an obsession

with vampires. I loved vampires. My two favorite

movies were Lost Boys and Monster Squad. Loved

it. I watched those two movies over and over

again. And so there was a comic book based on

Dracula. And I'm like, oh, I've got to get this

comic book, you know? And so every once in a

while, I would pick up the Dracula comic book.

I cannot remember who put it out. I'm pretty

sure I have a couple copies somewhere hidden

in my storage, but that was the first time I

got to comics was because of my obsession with

vampires. Well, at least you're obsessed before

the rest of the world was obsessed with sparkly

ones. Exactly. And so now that people are obsessed

with vampire, it's gotten a little crazy people.

When I was younger, I used to get made fun of

because I used to love vampires. They're like,

that's so stupid. I'm like, and now they're everywhere.

And they're not really vampires. Yeah. So like,

like I said, growing up in a small town, we were

very limited on what we had. And when I was very

young, even when I got older, And I finally got

my own car where I could actually travel to.

The nearest town to me was 50 miles away. People,

I lived out in the middle of nowhere. So comics

weren't really accessible. And every once in

a while I would pick up... Maybe a spider -man

or even very say the Superman just to see what

was going on super bad people You can pick up

and you'll always know what's going on Like a

soap opera, you know what he's gonna do, okay

Yeah, pretty much so and then um Years went by

that I didn't read comics and so so here's my

second little origin story Okay I love the series

Dark Tower that Stephen King put out. I read

it at least once a year, either listen to it

on headphones at work or actually read it. And

so I've read it eight times, and I'm just like,

I love characters. I love it. And so when I heard

that Marvel was putting out the Dark Tower, comic

book, I'm like, oh my gosh, are you kidding me?

I've got more reading. I've got more Dark Tower

read. Yay. You know, I was so excited. And so

that's where I started to get back into comic

book reading in my adult life. All because I

was obsessed with Stephen King. And then I had

the wonderful chance to interview John Barber,

who is the person that put that together. And

I got to thank him for getting me back into comic

book reading. Awesome. Yeah. Thank you, John.

All right. Sorry, that was a real drawn -out

story. No, no, no. It's perfect. It's fine. All

right. So DC, Marvel, neither, or somebody else?

Read a little bit of everything and when I say

every I do I read DC Marvel IDW image Dark Horse

Big red five. I mean I read pretty much everything

DC's gone downhill. I have actually back in the

day. I used to read tons of DC, but now I only

have two titles pulled And I'm even thinking

about taking both of them down. You know, it's

just like, I don't know. What are the two titles?

Green Lantern, just Green Lantern and Batman,

just Batman. OK, not Batman Incorporated, Batman

and Robin. Because I used to love Batgirl too,

but then it started getting a little soap opera

for me. No. OK, when did it get soap opera for

you? Once they got rid of Gail Simone. Okay,

no, wait, wait, wait, hold on, hold on, hold

on, okay, hold on. Start at the beginning with

issue zero, okay. Go to about 16. She's still

on it. Well, the part that got kind of soap opera

-y is when they introduced her mother. Okay,

yeah, but that had to do with the brother storyline

that doesn't last very long. There was only two

issues. I believe it was either 17 and 18 or

18 and 19. No, it was 17 and 18. There's only

ever two issues that Gail has not been on. Oh,

really? To the point of that she had gotten fired

and then rehired. Yeah, and I never picked it

up after that. For some reason when I heard that

Gail was gone, I'm like, nah. So I dropped it.

No, you gotta go back. You gotta go back because

she is back. Huh? Covers look awesome every time

I go to Yeah Alex Gardner is the main one that

does the cover on those for a lot of them and

oh my god He is just so amazing you you got to

go back and give that another try because so

far since Gail has been back since issue 19 or

20 she's only not been on two of them because

Don't know why but she is the main writer Marguerite

Bennett wrote the zero year tie -in which is

issue 25 and she just wrote the issue 30 But

Gail is still there Gail is back. So Yeah, you

got to go back and catch up Like I said, I gotta

wait till I get back to work second when I got

into my car accident I had actually take a lot

of things off my list that I knew I wouldn't

be able to get to. Hopefully, I'll be back in

the routine here soon. Yeah, DC. I find myself

that I can kind of keep reading the other properties

that really are their only like basically putting

out there that it's not actually their property

like Masters of the Universe. I'll read that,

you know. um... i killed my own amethyst that

was what they are here at the issue and that

was a very good at a good concept you know what

do you see at this point i'm I'm giving the first

four issues of Batman Eternal a try, but after

that I may not do it. I'm doing the same thing

with the new Future's End thing. I'll give that

four issues and then I may take that off. I cannot

wait to see what Snyder does after Zero Year.

Zero Year has been such a slow burn for me. There

have been two issues in Batman Zero Year that

I've actually liked, and it's had... It's up

to issue 30 now, or it will be up to issue 30,

20. It's had about almost 10 issues. Two out

of 10, that's pretty bad. When DC rebooted, Batman

was the best thing. I really like the court of

vals, that storyline. I would love to see that

as a movie. that would be because you know why

it's a different villain it's not a villain that

people know about I was just like when DC rebooted

that I'm like wow this is good and of course

spoiler people in case you haven't read it and

he goes good no the bad guy goes good don't know

no but um I really I really did like that storyline

I would love to see that on Yeah, I was I was

floored with cord of owls cuz see how I came

into it was I Started with death. I started at

issue 13 with death of the family. Oh, so I had

I'm sorry. Okay. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on I,

well, because it's the Joker and I'm thinking,

okay, Mark Hamill, okay, cool. He got his face

ripped off. That's, that's kind of creepy and

cool at the same time. I will give you this artwork.

Holy crap. The artwork was amazing. The storyline

ticked me off. It's called Death of the Family.

Someone should die. That's my point too. But

so I had been reading Death of the Family. I

did not go back to get the Court of Owls trades

until like the third or fourth. issue of zero

years old twenty three or twenty four i went

back and i record about some like all my god

corvallis is is the best thing that's that is

done so far in this on this thing and yet i understand

what's that i was going for the quote unquote

message is that although the joker is killing

off all his are going to kill off all his side

characters because they feel that he you know

that they hinder batman in this that i get that

message but david if you're gonna term your story

death of the family OK, I kind of get the message

of, oh, well, the family is not going to talk

to each other anymore. They're all going to break

up. Yet at the same time, they still all talk

to each other. The only one that died was when

Talia killed Damien, which was so frigging lame

that they let Grant Morrison do it instead of

letting the Joker do it. Well, the thing is,

the whole thing with Damien, that was even tied

into that story. That's Batman Incorporated is

a whole. whole different storyline compared to

the rest of that series. And I can't believe

they did that. I'm just like, wait. So you killed

off a character that these other characters should

have nothing to do with. And you spent the rest.

You made a dedication for all these issues when

these characters weren't even supposed to know

about Damien. Sorry. No, I agree. I'm like. And

I'm sorry, Damien is probably the worst character

in D .C. history for me. No, don't even give

me a start. Damien is a annoying little sh -

Oh, exactly. Oh, you can say it. We're explicit.

Go ahead, say it. No, he's just a little twerp,

and I'm just like, mmm. I agree. I'm in complete

agreement. I know a lot of people like Damien.

I'm not one of them. Me either. I'm happy he's

dead No, I did feel sorry for his father. I mean,

I can't imagine going through that but but see

I don't see Bruce as his father because Bruce

is so innate enamored and and Into the Batman

thing Bruce is the mask We all know that Bruce

Wayne is the mask and he's really Batman and

every time I read anything with Damien in it

I never really, the only time I ever really saw

Bruce bond with his own damn son was when issue

18 of Batman happened where, no, issue 18 of

Batman and Robin happened where it was just images.

There were no word balloons, no monologue, but

just. Complete art the entire book and you really

I felt the emotion there But I'm sorry Dick Grayson

was more of a father to Damien than Bruce was

he really was And I Just don't like the whole

thing of you know, okay sure Talia is his forbidden

love but Just because it's forbidden and it's

mysterious and you really want it doesn't mean

you should really have a child out of it. Especially

knowing with who that kid's grandfather really

is. Come on. Oh my god. Don't give me started

DC rants. It's sad when DC does a reboot and

in your top five storylines is Aquaman. That

was pretty good when it was rebooted because

he makes fun of himself and it's amazing What

about your spider -man obsession spider -man

did not come along until I started doing fanboy

verses Because I was I was one of that's why

I was on fanboy verses. I'm the one that reads

obscure comics. I'm the one that I was never

into the mainline superheroes. I mean, I basically,

I knew who Spider -Man was, I knew what was going

on. And I just kept on hearing about what the

rest of the guys were talking about, you know,

the onslaught, how amazing he is. I'm like, okay,

let's go check him out. And, you know, within

the first two issues that I picked it up, like,

this is really good storytelling, you know. I

picked it up, I want to say, Around 650 around

there issue 650, you know where you know things

were starting to change with Peter and Then you

come and find out spoiler people if you haven't

read it. I mean really this is a big spoiler

when Doc Ock takes over spider -man and I was

like that's when I fell in love superior spider

-man so they fell in love Oh, yeah. Absolutely.

I mean, and it doesn't just happen to Superior

Spider -Man. It happened like 10 issues before

because you see the change in Peter and you're

just like, what's going on? It was such a brilliant

storyline because... You had to go back and find

out, okay, when did Doc Ock start planning this,

you know? Because it wasn't just, hey, let's

just do this. No, it was so well written. You're

just like, ah, yeah. I love it when writers do

that. They plan years in advance and they get

ya. You're just like, wait, wait. You know? I

asked my buddy, I think you know this one too,

I asked my buddy Spada of Vault Matrix on Twitter.

Oh, yeah, I asked him I asked him so do I really

need to read all 700 issues of amazing to really

get Superior and he said read 698 to 700 and

you'll be fine It was like okay cool for just

a little bit more. I may be like 694 because

that's when the change starts to happen really

big time because you're just like, Peter's acting

really weird, you know? Yeah, I was so happy

with Superior happening because I'm sorry, there's

only so many times I can see Peter Parker go

up against the Rhino, go up against Electro,

go up against the Doc Ock, go up against... Norman

Osborne, you know, there's only so many Peter

Parker stories I can see over and over and over

and over again and Doing superior and putting

Tocac in his body It was just simply amazing.

Yeah my only real complaint about Superior and

this is just a nitpick on my part because I have

an unhealthy obsession with the black cat in

issue 20 In issue 20 her appearance was not long

enough at all. It was like two seconds and done.

I was like damn Do what Yeah, yeah, but no I

With superior I have to read that final story

arc the goblin nation I have to read it in trade

because I just I couldn't keep up with the issues

If it was a once a month. Yeah, they come out

every other week Yeah, I can't I couldn't keep

up. I just couldn't keep up and of course because

of the new movie They have to bring Peter back.

Yeah I mean, I get it. I'm not down on slot for

doing this and I understand that they're trying

to bring in new readers because of the, you know,

they're trying to bring in the movie audience

that's going to go to see the movie and then

they want to see a comic book with Peter Parker

in it. So I get it. What other Marvel stuff do

you read besides Spidey? Oh, but let me just

say this, you know, OK, so I was talking to my

comic book guy. I love my comic book guy. He's

amazing. And I was talking to him. I'm like,

oh, I bet you you really loved it when DC with

a DC 52 reboot came out because everyone was

getting every single issue print art, many issues.

Everyone wanted to start with the new, you know,

he's like. He's like, yeah, between that and

all the movies coming out, he's like, I'll probably

never go under business because whenever a new

movie comes out, people get interested in reading

comics, especially like my friend that I went

to see Captain America with. I mean, I was telling

her like backstory of certain people and and

even characters that weren't even in Captain

America. And she's interested now in these these

storylines. And I'm like, you got to go read

this. And I keep on telling people Gotta read

the Infinity Gauntlet before the year, I mean,

like in the next couple months, okay? You know,

if you're gonna start watching the Marvel movies,

you've got to get, or even the DC movies, if

you're gonna do DC movies, just stick with the

animated ones. And again, again, we agree because

the one thing I've said for years now, DC does

animation well, whether it's the animated series

or whether it's the animated films, and Marvel

does live action better. um you know sure the

kid in me still loves batman 89 but the adult

in me sees the problems with that movie same

thing with returns same thing with forever even

though i'm probably one of the few people that

actually that i know that actually enjoy batman

forever for what it really is um batman and robin

Alicia Silverstone in the Batgirl suit is pretty

much my only saving grace. I hate Alicia Silverstone.

She is the most stone -faced actress ever. Here's

Kristen Stewart has more emotion than her and

that is really bad for me. That's saying something.

Wow. I'm sorry. She's not my cup of tea, as the

British would say. Here's the thing with DC and

Marvel when it comes to the films, is that DC,

because their parent Warner Brothers didn't in

the past want to take a lot of risks, we've only

had, well, to this point we've had six Superman

movies and seven Batman movies. Oh, you forgot

Green Lantern. They did do Green Lantern. well

but yeah I'm getting to that but that's what

I'm saying like in the past what is it 30 something

years since Superman came out 78 in the past

36 years out of those 36 years seven Batman movies

and six what I say Yeah, seven Batman movies

and six Superman movies a Green Lantern a Jonah

hex a failed Wonder Woman television series that

never even made it to TV You know, they don't

want it. It's probably because of warners that

they won't let DC take chances like this and

Honestly stuff like Green Lantern and Jonah hex

that didn't really do all that well But you know

I'm to the point now where I just wish that they

would just Say it already that Batman versus

Superman is going to be the Justice League movie

and then break off into character movies after

that But have you have you ever read like the

storyline of Batman versus Superman? I've seen

the films. I haven't read at all, but I yeah,

I Pretty much could tell you exactly what's gonna

happen I wish they're gonna have too many too

many as big Characters on the street that people

really don't know about besides Batman and Superman

Yeah, people know who wonder what what where

who Wonder Woman is and I asked people this and

this is what we've done on fanboy versus as well

Everyone knows who Wonder Woman is but go ask

people what her origin story is pretty much no

one knows it, you know, and you know, just like

exactly and I'm just like a lot of people don't

know that they're like what are you talking about

i'm like she was made from clay from the gods

and you and you you try to tell the story people

look at you like are you serious and i'm like

yeah that's her origin story and i think it would

be great because people don't know i think it

would be really interesting if they took the

justice league origin um what i mean by justice

league origin i mean the cartoon oh yeah the

fact that that Hippolyta and Hades were the ones

that made her from both. That's true. I forgot

about that. Let me talk about DC here. DC had

some really good storylines and they canceled

them. Dial H, that was such a sad thing when

they got rid of Dial H. That was such a creative

comic book. Go read it and trade, people. I think

there was only eight issues. Secret six that

killed me when they cancelled like wasn't that

a Simone book too. Yes secret six was yeah, that

was such a good storyline. Oh my gosh Love secret

six got rid of that and I'm like, ah DC. What

are you doing to me? And DC is basically because

this is Batman's 75th anniversary, which don't

get me wrong. I do enjoy Batman. I do enjoy different

versions of Batman. Obviously, my main enjoyment

is the Kevin Conroy incarnation, but because

it's Batman's 75th, they're killing off all the

sidekicks. I'm really surprised that news that...

that news of Batgirl being canceled hasn't come

down yet. I pray to God this never happens because

if they cancel Batgirl, I will most decidedly

dump everything from DC. But they killed off

Nightwing, supposedly, and this is the other

thing that really pisses me off. In issue 30

of Batgirl, which just came out a couple weeks

ago or something or other, and she actively says,

She talks about Dick Grayson in the past tense.

Because Nightwing number 30 and Forever Evil

number seven were supposed to have already come

out, but no, they're going to be pushed back

till the end of May! And it's like, oh my god,

DC editorial, get your heads out of your - asses.

I'm sorry about bringing DC up again, but my

gosh. No, it's fine. It's not that big of a deal.

But see, here's the thing. They've effectively

either killed off or ended every single Robin

series. I don't even know if Red Hood and the

Outlaws is still going. I think that is. Is it?

I haven't seen it on the shelves. I don't know.

But they got rid of Teen Titans, or they're going

to relaunch Teen Titans. I saw some cover where

Wonder Girl, who she's supposed to be some 14

or 16 year old... Chick and she's got boobs of

a 40 year old woman. I don't know. I don't know.

It was some weird cover It's on Facebook somewhere.

I'll see if I can find That's another one that

a tiny Titans. They got rid of tiny Titans, which

is and they got rid of Little Gotham, too Yeah,

Little Gotham all of all the like the the young

kid young readers and yeah Superman Family Ventures

the only Superman book I really liked okay, because

they made Superman at family Very interesting

even though I even though when they cancel it

it had a really good ending Just because it's

a young readers book people. You need to go read

Superman's family adventures. It's really fun.

You're gonna love it See I'm the same way with

Beware the Batman because Cartoon Network screwed

that cartoon over DC is ending that book and

that was an all -ages book You know it just DC

curse you DC. All right, let's um, let's let's

talk about giant robots You asked me about Marvel

what else? I'm reading really good. I've been

telling people I was never gonna get into this

character because he had so many books out there

I'm like, I will never read Deadpool because

there is just way too much Deadpool out there

Deadpool this then they relaunched it Go read

it, people. It's so funny. Deadpool and the Dead

Presidents. It's a number one. If you've never

read Deadpool in your life, you'll catch on.

It's an amazing story. So that's one of the Marvel

ones that I'm really obsessed with, is Deadpool.

And I never thought I'd be a Deadpool person,

because before he used to be everywhere. He used

to pop. He's kind of like Wolverine. He's everywhere.

I can never read Wolverine stuff because he's

everywhere and that's just killed my heart. Another

Marvel one that I did read but I had to cancel

for money reasons, which was surprisingly good,

was Hawkeye. Hawkeye is really well done. I didn't

think they'd be able to pull off a whole comic

book series with him, but it's really good. Well,

when you don't have him do any superheroing type

stuff, sure, you can show people in their everyday

lives. You can have a dog that goes and eats

his own damn pizza. I read the first two volumes,

the first two trades, and the story was good.

I was expecting more superhero antics out of

him with that. That's really all I was expecting.

It's not like I don't find it to be bad I don't

find that I dislike it to the point where oh

my god I'm going to rant about how I don't like

it, but it just I like it I like it another one

is journey into mystery and Before okay, this

was way back when when fear itself was going

on four years ago When Loki was like the main

I'm a Loki girl people. I've always I was a little

girl before everyone else knew about Loki. Okay

So it was like his main storyline and then he

was turned into a young child Love I love little

Loki Storylines, but now journey into mystery

has has taken over as sif storyline, which I

don't think a lot of people are reading it. I

don't know why, because it's really well done.

Again, it's one of those titles that I kind of

had to put away for right now. But I really like

that they're taking Sif into a character. She's

like the Wonder Woman for Marvel right now. I'm

trying to think of other Marvel stuff. I'm looking

through my comics right now. Sorry. What are

you reading from Image? Image. Oh, God. Are you

reading Satellite Sam? I'm not. I'm trying to

think. Image, what have I been reading? Oh, my

gosh. Thief of Thieves was one of my favorites.

Again, that's one of those titles, but I really

love that one. It's basically about a thief that

wanted to go under retirement and he's he's just

like but I bought that one big One big heist

to end it on you know and of course things are

not going well So but basically he's you can

start to see where he's starting to become the

good guy Yeah, it's really good. I really like

thief of thieves What else from Image? This is

driving me nuts. I'm really interested in checking

out Satellite Sam because it's a, you know, murder

mystery television in the 1950s kind of thing.

But I've seen several previews and it's by Fraction

and Howard Schenken, or however you say his name.

But it's all black and white. Oh, I don't mind

black and white. I mean, that's walking deads

like that. Zombies, no thank you. Skulk Kickers

is really good from Image, the savage Skulk Kickers.

If you like your comics with a lot of humor.

One that I really enjoyed that's supposedly done,

I don't know, it was planetoid. I enjoyed Planetoid.

It's really one of those gritty comic books where

this man gets stranded on a pretty much a barren

planet and then he starts to run into people

and they're not nice. Things go wrong there while

he's trying to save himself. Yeah, those are

about the only ones I could think of. I know

I read some more image but... Those are the ones

I can think of off the top of my head. Like I

said, the - Oh, oh! The big one! The big one.

Saga. Oh, okay. Saga is image. And that was really

good. I'm still reading that. Well, I'm still

picking it up. I'm a few issues behind, but it's

really - Now, just a little heads up, people,

if you're gonna read Saga. It's not one that

you read in the workplace or out in public. You

turn a page and sometimes you're like, Oh, okay.

Um, did I expect that? So you're trying to read

it like in a crash. I took one of the issues

with me to work. I'm like, oops. Um, they probably

shouldn't be doing about the planet six Chile.

SFW. It's an epic like space. saga you know there's

some things that you're just like that's crazy

looking creature they you don't have to explain

it because it's just accepted and they've got

prince robots yeah it's really a good yeah a

saga i'd say that'd be the one to pick up yeah

the one i'm most looking forward to only because

i've seen the short film that it's based off

of is kyle higgins who doesn't who did nightwing

um and does the current Batman Beyond stuff.

He's doing his creator own called Cowl. That's

kind of come out from image later this month.

Is it Chicago organized? It's basically what

happens if there was a superhero labor union

in the 1960s in Chicago. That would be interesting.

Yeah. So that's, that's going to be an interesting

read. Um, all right. Let's, let's jump in. I'm

trying to think. Should I talk about the giant

robots first or the weird, the weird and from

anthropomorphic ponies? I, okay. Let me say,

let me say this for you. Get into it because

I never was, nor will I ever be a brony. I And

yet, I'm the guy that defends Jim, okay? Here's

the thing. Okay, My Little Pony, generation one

in the 80s, that strawberry shortcake, hell,

even Care Bears, were more girl cartoons. Jim

has cars exploding, people falling off of cliffs,

bombs. I will disagree with you there. My Little

Pony, when it first came out, they were trying

to get... It's for both genders for both boys.

You go over watch Nightmare at Midnight Castle

It's creepy. I mean, it's basically a demon kidnapping

ponies and turning him into dragons. I Mean,

it's really kind of a scary show, you know Well

for it, you know for the age And you what? Oh

What was the second one? They had a I think it

was just my little pony the movie, you know,

they had like slavery and stuff with the Bush

willies and stuff. You're like, it kind of got

a little gritty. It wasn't until after the big

epic movies started to get really girly. But

go watch the three -parters. They're really good

back in the 80s. And my problem with Friendship

is Magic is it's not a bad cartoon. I don't dislike

it. I don't even dislike it because of this uprising

of this brony movement at all. There are just

certain things that Horses and ponies do not

like I understand that Rainbow Dash is a flyer

in that universe. I get it That's what she does,

but I'm sorry ponies do not jump up and spread

eagle when they're excited It just looks I don't

know I just Basically by the pony is the Looney

Tunes of today. It doesn't have to make sense

Peaky pie has no bone in her body. She bends

in ways that that's not possible. It doesn't

have to make sense. I know it doesn't have to

make sense, but I've made it through the first

last year. I made it through the first, I think,

16 episodes of season one on Netflix. And I just

kind of like, OK, you missed out on probably.

My favorite episode of all time because you didn't

go far You need to watch party of one Okay, so

what I'll give you I'll check it out. I'll check

it out I'm not I'm not opposed to some watching

more of it I do there are just certain things

when I'm watching it that that that the ponies

do that. I'm like Okay. Yes. I know I need to

have some sort of suspension of disbelief, but

I'm sorry. There are certain things that horses

cannot do regardless of its animation or not.

There's two episodes I want you to go watch.

Actually three, because there's one this episode.

These three episodes, if you don't like these

episodes, fine. You're just not going to like

ponies. Go watch Party of One, which is season

one. Go watch Read It and Weep, which is season

two. That was a Rainbow Dash one. And then this

season was Power Ponies, where the ponies actually

become superheros. I remember hearing about that.

They had to take on the Maniac, get it? Maniac,

who basically was the Joker. Like I did like

I did see the season 2 opener I don't know I

saw it on you down. I saw it is before I found

it on Netflix With discord and I thought that

was pretty cool. John Delancey John Delancey

is awesome Doesn't he turn good or something

or other doesn't He doesn't he's kind of like

Loki you're just like oh what he screwed him

over again Like you think he's gonna be good

and you did he pull something out of his hat

you're like Dang it Are you reading the the current

ongoing from IDW? Picking him up. I'm a few issues

behind but I do have it and then they have a

new series called My Little Pony Prince forever

Friends forever and I saw that there's two and

then of course they're like the Transformers.

They're doing spotlights They've done spotlights

and so yeah And then they're doing a little crossovers

where they take two ponies and have their own

little adventures What's the difference between

the friendship is magic comic compared to the

cartoon um the comic um I Would say it's a little

more gritty if you want your darker pony stuff

It's still kid -friendly, but the one comic that

I've read, I'm still debating with people. They're

trying to defeat Queen Kristalus. The queen gets

a little upset. She is the queen of the changeling.

So changeling is pretty much changing to anything,

you know? And she gets upset. I think she killed

a kitten by throwing it against the wall. And

I was just like, she just killed a kitten? And

I was just like, that kind of threw me back a

little bit. The only thing I could think of is

friggin' Tito. If this is torture, chain me to

the wall! It's a little bit darker. You get to

know the villains a lot more in the comic books.

How intertwined is the comic and the show? Is

it intertwined at all or is it completely separate?

It's a completely separate thing. I mean, okay,

if you basically know who the characters are

Right, very basic stuff. You'll you'll you'll

you'll get a hang of it. So like I said the the

first Four issues with the Queen Kristal is it's

really good and plus Optus Prime makes an appearance

Yeah, I remember seeing that cover Oh the BotCon

one Optimus Prime makes an appearance and it's

so much fun. That's how random ponies is because

they have these little things here and there

all the time. The second issue, they have this

two -page spread. Was that a two -page spread

or was it just a... Splash page anyways, and

they just have some like random Pony ponies pop

culture ponies like they have a my name is real

pony So I mean they just put all these little

fun things that some people may get some people

may not It's that's what's fun about it. You

just like try to figure out what random thing

is gonna be happening in each issue Are you...

Okay, before we get to the giant robots, are

you reading anything else from IDW? I am reading

tons from IDW. I'm reading Ghostbusters, which

is an amazing series. I don't know why people

don't dream more of it. I need to get into that.

I need to get into the VIA trades, though. The

coloring and the artwork just pop off the page,

you know? Yeah, it does look really awesome.

with fanboy versus when we did our best of a

couple years ago, that's who my best self for

art and coloring was was was Ghostbusters because

it the artwork never really changed and it was

always beautiful. Especially, you know, they

had the like a series where they went around

to like haunted places in America. So they went

to Roswell and Area 51 and stuff. So that was

pretty cool. Uh, yeah. Uh, Ghostbusters is really

good. Uh, Turtles, Ninja Turtles, I'm reading

both, um, the new adventures and... Don't spoil

the main. Don't spoil the main. I'm only up to

issue 16. Okay. I won't. I won't, but... Now,

the animated adventures, that is awesome because

those are like mini -sodes in between the cartoon

stuff. Oh, I love those. That's an all -ages

one. Um, the new turtles one... There's you guys

I mean people always keep on talking about oh

the movie's ruining its origins You know how

many different origins turtles have blocks, okay?

But go read go read this new origin, okay? If

you don't read anything from turtles, I just

want you to read one thing and that spotlights

winter Which was my number one issue? Two years

ago my number one single issue that issue still

kind of tears me up It's amazing. The story in

the TMNT ongoing with Eastman and Walt writing

it, it's so well done. Like, I was, my biggest

fear in the beginning was, oh no, they're all

wearing red bandanas, damn it! No! And then my

buddy Joe who does the because we've reviewed

the first four volumes volume four will be already

out by the time this goes out or it's gonna come

out after this episode We've already reviewed

the first four volumes in trade and Joe's been

doing his via his single issues because we're

reading them, we're trying to cover them in the

chronological time order. And that's really my

one complaint about IDW, really my only complaint

about them. I wish that they would do the micro

series a little bit differently and do it via

story versus, hey, this is micro series volume

one, two, whatever. There's nothing I can do

about that. That's their decision as far as the

company that they are. But no, I read that and

I was like, reincarnation Okay, I can kind of

get behind this a little bit like like I really

liked it. I dug it I thought it was great and

I'm still loving it The splinter micro that's

winter a little spotlight. Yeah gosh, I think

about I still think about that storyline It's

one of those comics. I have right by my bed because

I love reading it and rereading it because it

There's so much into it. There's a love story.

There's a family story. There's a revenge story.

You're just like, oh, I didn't think I'd love

Splinter so much until that little hyper series

came out of him. Oh, so amazing. It's such an

amazing story. I mean, I tell people just go

read that one. If you read anything from IDW,

go just pick up that one. Is that good people?

The only complaint that I've had so far out of

the turtle series that Eastman and waltz are

writing When it comes to the art splinter does

not look like a rat half the time That's my only

complaint, you know, I'm not gonna really he's

a mutant rat. So you Know I'm up to the point

now where they've Splinter has basically shocked

Raphael and told him that he was angry too once

When they went to go beat up Casey's dad. Yeah

second time so that's that that's where I am

now and I'm absolutely I'm absolutely loving

it and I Love this Casey, too Yeah, yeah Yeah,

this Casey is awesome. The micro series is really

well done when it does come out, like I said.

I like the individual storylines. Yeah, yeah,

it's so good. Such a good series, people. Yeah.

All right, let's talk about the giant purple

jet. We're going to talk robots. Yay! Oh, boy.

OK, now, not any other stuff. When you first

came to the IDW Transformers, did you start with

Death of Optimus, and then did you pick a path,

whether it was more than meets the eye or robots

in disguise, or did you go in with both of them?

Oh, are you talking just about the new reboot,

right? Because I read Transformers way before.

Oh, right. Yeah, we'll get into that. But the

current stuff, when Death of Optimus Prime came

out, and it led you on two paths, whether you

could go to more than meets the eye, or robots

in disguise. Did you pick one, or did you pick

them both? No, because to me, they're like two

sides of a muffin. One's a little bit better.

One's the top, one's the bottom, but you enjoy

both of them. And they go together so well. You

have your favorite characters and you want to

know what they're going on what they're doing

But each series is giving you new characters

that you're just like I never thought I was like

this guy and I do Yeah, oh, yeah, well see here's

my thing death of optimus set it up to where

you could pick and I was like I can My biggest

fear was outside of optimus Megatron. So I was

like am I really gonna like what they've done

with any of these characters? Am I really gonna

like what they've done with basically the legacy

characters? And do I really wanna invest my time

into finding out about new characters? That was

my real apprehension. And then Ender, of all

friggin' people, Ender, said, oh my god! That's

the best shockwave origin I've ever read. And

I'm like, Oh God. And I asked him, I said, so

do I have to read the first 10 issues of More

Than Meets the Eye to really get it? And he said,

yeah, you kind of do. So, you know, I went out,

I got the trade and I caught up and then I got

the next trade and the next trade and the next

trade and then so on and so forth. And I was

only reading More Than Meets the Eye for a while.

My choice happened because it was okay You can

either go off with Rodimus in this ragtag group

and search for the Knights of Cybertron Or you

can stay on on Cybertron and watch Bumblebee

try to be Obama With all his bumble baggage that

he has I'm not just Bumblebee anymore, I'm a

gold bug! But no, I was like, okay, politics

or adventure? Let's go with the space adventure.

So I went with that first, and then I think it

was the Soundwave origin, the Soundwave shockwave,

this is 17 through 19. Shadowplay. No, no, no,

no, no, no sound wave. Oh sound wave not shock

sound. Sorry. Yes The sound wave shockwave rivalry

with with sound waves origin. I think it was

like 17 to 19 or 18 to 21 or something or something

like that There was three issues. I think it

was 17 to 19. So that kind of got me interested

and I went back and I read RID from the beginning

and I'm up to volume three as far as coverage

here in the pullback volumes. We're going to

be doing volumes four and five eventually here

soon. And I'm liking it at first. I'm trying

to get where you're at now. I'm not going to,

I'm not going to try to spoil anything. Have

you been introduced to Pharma? Yes. Okay. Have

you seen his interaction with ratchet yet? Yeah,

and more than meets the eye, you know, no, I'm

all caught up. I'm okay. I'm to the end I thought

that was robust. No, that wasn't robust in disguise.

No, it's more than meets the eye. That was more

than meets the eye. Okay. Oh, no, I'm all caught

up I just what I'm saying is like in the coverage

of what we've done so far in the pullback I've

only been able to cover up to oh gotcha, but

I've read everything through dark Cybertron And

it was like, okay, I'll stick with both and I'll

see what happens. And then Dark Cybertron hit,

and I was really excited for Dark Cybertron to

see what Shockwave's ultimate plan was. And I

was like, okay, part one, okay, I got it. Part

two, okay, I got it. Three four five six seven

eight nine like okay What the hell does waspinators

tail have anything to do with this? Rat trap

come into any of this and I know it's you know,

you know where rat trap comes in. It's called

hi Hasbro Let's put our little fingers into it.

That's the one thing that I don't care that IDW

has to deal with this Hasbro because that every

once about you'll have just random things because

Hasbro wants to sell a toy You're just like,

wait, that has to do with the storyline, but

they have to... I feel sorry for the writers

because they have to do it, you know? The only

thing I didn't mind was the introduction of Tankor,

because we're actually getting a real Tankor

toy. That's the only thing I did not mind. I

don't know if you got to this part yet, but they

have two Tankors in the... In the room together?

Yeah. I love it. This is hilarious. You know,

the middle of Dark Cybertron really was dragging

for me, and then it got to like 11 and 12, and

I was like, okay, let's wrap. Oh, wow, that's

where they're... I cannot wait for season two

at this point. Yeah, the thing is Dark Cybertron

was like one of those slow birds. I did not care

for the beginning of it. See the funny thing

is that you had to set it up for yeah Yeah, yeah,

you had to set it up, but the funny thing is

is Dark Cybertron was only six months because

you had it going between the two books Whereas

you want to talk about slow burns read Batman

zero year for crap sake that's a long event that'll

just but uh... but you know i mean i i i agree

there that there there were times and i i actually

have to go back and get the two trades that are

coming out for dark cybertron to actually go

back and read it at my leisure i was just i guess

i'm turning out to not be a single issue kinda

guy anymore because it just doesn't read just

like it just doesn't register with me as much

as it does with trades. I don't know. It's just

weird. So when in your life did this unhealthy

obsession with Cyclonus start? Well, it really

hasn't come out. But I remember when I was younger,

I really liked him in the cartoons. I don't know

if it was the voice or he was just the stable

Decepticon. I'm I'm the girl. I've always liked

the bad guys. Okay. They're just more interesting

to me. I'm sorry. Optimus Prime. He'd be wonderful

in real life. Just like Superman. He'd be wonderful

in real life. But you know exactly what they're

going to do. They're basically very predictable.

With the bad guys, you just don't know. And for

some reason, when I was younger watching the

cartoons, Well, again, like I said, I grew up

in a very small town. We didn't have a movie

theater. So when the 84 or in the 86 movie came

out and that was kind of like I wasn't able to

go to the theater and then season three came

out. I'm like, who are these new people? I don't

know who these people are. What happens? And

I don't know. I kind of related to Cyclonus just

because he was the stable Decepticon. I don't

know. So, I've I've I've liked him since I was

really young but my sick obsession basically

came out with the more than meets the eye. There's

just there's just something about him. He's just

that mysterious warrior and you're just like,

oh, I can't tell. You said you're all cut up,

right? Yeah, I'm all cut up. Right? Yeah. When

it was him and No, you're not gonna do this.

You can't do this. I really put the comic book

down because I'm like, I gotta prepare myself

because I love tailgate too. I really do. I just

think he's one of the cutest, cutest little guys.

One of my commissions I have is tailgate and

swerve together and I love it, you know? Two

little mini -bots there. And so... when cyclist

is going to have to do his dirty deed with tailgate

i was like i can't do this he can't do this to

me i really was upset i was just like it was

a that's what i do i had a healthy relationship

with cyclist you know i saw the issue when i

was reading through it i saw the one where he

scratched his face and i was like oh man wow

A lot of those bots have issues. Yes. Yes, they

do. Especially the bar owner with a gun. As soon

as I saw that gun, I was like, oh my god, that

is so swerve. Friggin' gun. Let's talk about

Swerve. He is so fun. I love Swerve. Oh my gosh.

Any time you... He's one of those characters

that you just gotta love, but you can't use them

all the time. Because you're just like... It's

just so much fun. His little bar, his obsession

with blur, you know, the whole thing with him

and rung, you know, oops. Rung, rung, rang, yeah.

Well, no, you remember, because he's the one

that pretty much took off his head. Oh, yeah.

Rivet gun, oops. Yeah, that's true. I just love

Swerve. He's just one of those fun characters.

Quest? Let's go to quest. Quest. Quest, quest,

quest. We need to do a quest. Let's go questing.

You would be an awesome guy to play Dungeons

and Traps. I was very happy with this, but I

was very surprised that they did this. The whole

Ultra Magnus turn. You know, that was a really

good storyline. It was a very good storyline,

and the reason why I'm happy with it is they

didn't just say, oh, he's a repaint of Optimus.

That is my one biggest complaint in all of my

Transformers fandom. I get it, okay? You have

to do a repaint of the G1 Optimus, and you have

to make it white to make it Ultra Magnus, and

then give him all these extra parts to give him

the G1 toy, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

But... Ultra Magnus and Optimus are two very

different damn characters. Don't just make them

repaint stuff each other. They are very different

characters. Optimus is John war optimus is Abe

Lincoln ultra Magnus. He's stickler for the rules

I'm trying to think I'm trying to think what

pop culture reference I can make here stickler

I Don't want to say he's Batman because he's

not that dark No ultra Magnus Optimus is Abe

Lincoln ultra Magnus is I'd say ultra Magnus

is more like Like you said you were almost gonna

say John Wayne. He's he's the kid. Yeah, he's

the cowboy, you know, that's No holds bar, you

know He he's kind of like John Wayne mixed with

Sheldon Cooper because he's got a lot of OCD

Because he's so by the book, you know, but he

doesn't take crap Because he's so by the book

I'm sorry sir, you'll have to come by and You'll

have to come back tomorrow and buy one of them

That recent episode where Sheldon was trying

to figure out a PS4 or Xbox One Rodimus, Rodimus,

I've always loved Rodimus I've always loved Hot

Rod ever since he was introduced in the film

And the IDW version of him is just... He's more

ego than anything else. I love Rodimus, too.

Just because... But I really like it when Rodimus

gets hurt. I don't know why. Because I like the

characters. But for some reason, like, when Optimus

decked him, I was like, yes! Yes, because I know

he deserves it. Because he has, he's like that

lovable, arrogant jerk. You know, you're just

like, I don't know what it is about him. I like

him, but he's so arrogant. The whole Rodham's

batches, you know, handing out Rod pod. Oh my

God. I love that. I, once I get some extra money,

Callie is making me a Rod Pod Puggle. I don't

care what she says, she's doing it. That would

be the perfect Puggle for her. I know! Both are

very good storylines. Now that RID has gotten

away, well, since Dark Cybertron, they've had

to get away from the politics of it all. The

politics will always be there, especially because

of a certain character dying. I'm not spoiling

that one, people. That changes the whole story.

Yeah, it kind of does, considering that character

died and the other latte character took over

again. I was half -waiting for a certain crown

to be put on his head. The complete paradigm

shift though that's gonna come in season two

and these are not spoilers people They've been

in trade solicits and everything else the fact

that Megatron is Joining the lost light. Yeah,

you're just like that's gonna be have you seen

this little fam? I don't know. It's a little

fan comic about Megatron being swerve's roommate

Okay, because Because Swerve is always looking

for a friend. He's like everybody's friend, but

he doesn't really have a true friend. And he's

always looking for like a roommate. And there's

like this little comic where it's him and Megatron

as roommates. And you know, there's like that

awkward silence, you know, as Swerve is looking

up to him and he's like... Can I ask you something?

Like in the next panel, you see Megatron in his

gun form and he's like, I am death! So Serum

is using Megatron in gun mode. I would love to

see that. Oh my god, this is hilarious. But no,

season two, the complete paradigm shift where

you have Megatron on the lost light, you have

Optimus going back to Earth. I don't know if

I'd like that, but we'll see. Well somebody to

kill spike oh Come on leave spike alone No, leave

spike alone. I mean if any human and transformers

history needs to be killed its kicker for crap

sake Any of the humans from the unicorn trilogy

actually but But yeah, no and then the the new

right now for right now a miniseries new miniseries

with wind blade That's gonna be interesting that's

gonna be it because it's pretty much and it's

like it's based the main characters of females

Spotlighted and it's written in drawn by females.

It's and I think John's John's the only guy that's

on it. I believe Think John's editing. Yes. Yeah,

I think the rest of the crew is females, you

know, so that's that's really Be really good

Yeah, it's it's gonna be an amazing four issues

because I really love how How Margaret writes

as far as that goes? I'll make her it make her

it will do a great job I mean she did such a

good job on Rage of the Dinobots and then that

was a good series that really was It was. Because

it finally gave the Dinobots real character.

It gave other Dinobots besides Grimlock. Actual

characters, yes. I wish that they would go back

to that. I really do. I know they're not going

to. I hope they don't just because of a certain

age of extinction. I'm still keeping my mind

open for Age of Extinction. No, I am. I just

hope they don't. Like, I hope Hasbro doesn't

ask the IDW people to, because of Age of Extinction,

to then do more Dinobot stories that are not

already the Dinobots we've already built the

characters for in the IDW. No, my mind is completely

open for Age of Extinction. As long as Shia LaBitch

isn't there, I'm fine. All I'm saying is... Okay,

when the trailer came out and optimus was writing

Grimlock I I squee really hard And because we

were watching Super Bowl when it came out and

people like what just happened I'm like you do

not just see that like I'm like you do not just

see a giant robot riding a giant robot dinosaur

really How can you not squee about? And all I

can think of is um God who sings that stupid

song get on the floor walk I think it's walk

like a dinosaur god I can't think anyway but

yeah all right your what are your top three recommendations

for the listeners for them to really get into

reading doesn't matter if it's superheroes robots

whatever like I said go read micro series splinter

like I said it will give you the a taste of the

new or turtles origin plus if just a really good

story in itself. I just recommend this is fresh

in my mind because I just recommended it was

the new Deadpool, Deadpool and the dead presidents.

That was really like I said, because that was

a good reboot. You don't have to know anything

about Deadpool. That's what got me into Deadpool.

Let's see. And I'm trying to think of a DC one.

Okay, I will recommend court of vows It's it's

been out for a while. You could get in trade.

It's What part of vows and then nice city of

owls city vows? It's it's court of vows city

of owls night of owls What night of owls is is

everybody else's stuff? City of owls is Batman

8 through 12 night of owls is like what night

wing was doing what? So those kind of first two

trades you don't have to worry what everyone

else was doing really. Oh, yeah I would say I'd

say those are some I Feel bad that I didn't recommend

I'm gonna put a fourth one out there you go read

the the starts of you know death of optimus and

This the the more than me ci and robust and disguise.

I talked to my like said my comic book guy and

I'm like About transforming. She's like I have

ordered the exact same amount of transformers

and ever he's like I've never had to take it

down or bring it up because people are reading

it They really like it. No one wants to get into

it Because and I'm just like why it's such a

good city He's like I hear that from everyone

that reads it, you know, and so it's so good.

It is it really is and so Yeah, I'm throwing

in the fourth one. Sorry. No, that's fine. I

also want to give a little recommendation for

younger readers. If you have little young ones,

Bodhi Troll is a four issue series, which is

so dang cute and hilarious. If you read it with

your kid, you're going to enjoy it too. Bodhi

Troll, it's by Big Five Comics. Big Five, I think

it is. Yeah, it's a very small comic. But company.

But it's so cute and fun. Like I said, it's all

ages. Everyone will enjoy it. Awesome. Awesome.

Because I want to get little kids into it. Because

I had a friend that asked me. She's like, my

little four or five -year -old wants to get into

comics. And she's like, what do you recommend?

And of course, I went off. She's like, yeah.

She's like, oh, OK. OK, then. Back away slowly

from Nicole. It's just a little four -issue series.

It's on trade right now. It's really fun. Go

get that one. Don't even start me with recommendations.

Well, I think I can find one. I remember this

from a friend of mine a while ago. She mentioned

it a number of years ago. Owly. Yeah. It's top

-shelf productions. Alright, so that's gonna

do it for Miss Nicole's origin story. I'm not

sure what's gonna be coming up next because depending

on if my galaxy books came in, and I don't mean

Guardians, I mean far, far away galaxy books,

if those came in, you'll hear episode 66, if

those... didn't come in, you'll hear something

else, I'm not exactly sure. For now, I am TFD1Mike

with... Oh, Nicole Hailstorm. Hey! Speaking of

Guardians, go rock it! Make your great escape

into comics and we will catch you next time.

Bye! Starscream here, and I am the Lord and Master

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

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next time, make your great escape into comics

and unleash the geek in you.