Transformers Windblade Combiner Wars Review

Hi, this is Margaret Scott, the first female

writer in Transformers Comics, and you are listening

to the Geekcast Radio Network. Previously...

Transmission is go. The pullback crosses over

with the Underbase Podcast to review the four

-issue miniseries. Transformers Wingblade. Join

your hosts, the long -suffering TFG1 Mike, the

committed Lady Rek, the amped Tailstorm, and

the pretender Haki Prime, as they bring you in

-depth analysis of the mostly all -female team

of Margaret Scott, Ryder, and Sarah Stone, artist

as Wingblade takes IDW publishing to new heights

of awesomeness. Get ready to pull your bag under

the base in this first ever crossover event.

That's it. It ain't yours until you put a ring

on it, just saying. Oh my gosh, Mike is like,

just let me die. He's like, this is where I do

not want to get involved, angels. Thank you.

I'm not even saying anything. I said this so

many times, I like Rotibus, but I like it when

Rotibus is being beaten. And now one year later,

Team Angel rejoins and is reviewing Transformers

Windblade Combiner Wars. Have fun. Also, I know,

I screwed up Swindle. Maybe we can fix it in

the editing. Again, it's after midnight. I can't

be held accountable. It's always after midnight.

Exactly! So I can never be held accountable.

Ready? And three, two, one. Is it on the one

or is it on the three? I had a feeling. I had

a feeling. I love getting you back. Oh, what

you punch right in the gut. Okay, all right.

All right. That's fair. I'm muting right now.

Oh, that's what I always say too. See, I know

what you're up to. I play this game very well.

Okay, three, two, one. Hello, bonjour, hola,

and aloha to you good listeners, and welcome

to the second installment of the Underbass and

the Geekcast Radio Networks show, The Pull Bag.

The crossover, which brings you Team Angel, has

reunited to cover the new Windblade miniseries

involved with the new Transformers Combiner Wars.

And since the combiners are the latest rage,

we have to get on the bad wagons, so it's time

to pull the bag under your bass. How's that?

Yes, that's right. That's so wrong. Hey, I don't

even know who came up with it. It was you, Mike.

I don't think it was me. It was totally you.

You sent the memo. That's because I remember

the joke, but I don't remember who actually,

when we were... He has no memory of this, Your

Honor. Well, as you can tell, this isn't your

usual host. I do not have the centralness of

Adam. I do not have the sweetness of our Amy

here, and I don't have the gruffness of our messenger.

So, yes, the concept is fun. At least you have

good taste with Angry Birds Transformers, unlike

a certain other podcast host on the underbase.

The cons have finally won. Uh, Hailstorm has

finally taken over! Woohoo! Okay, well, don't

worry. Your little Autobot mind's smudged. We

have our belated - beloved? Belated? That's horrible.

We have our beloved Lady Rex still with us. Uh,

she may be tied up and elbow deep in diapers,

but she's here. Say hi, Amy! Hi. I make really

good milkshakes. She brings all the boys to your

yard. They bring at least one boy to the yard.

Yeah, exactly. And of course, there's nothing

like a triple thread of the lady kind. So next,

we have the prime mama in pajamas. Here we have

Hihi Prime herself. Heather, say hi. I'll have

you know I'm wearing a hoodie. And unfortunately,

it's not my Optimus Prime hoodie, so I have failed.

Next week, Optimus Prime. That's all right. I

make it by wearing my Autobot. pajama pants right

now nice and i make up for not wearing pants

there we go hey there's got to be one in every

podcast right exactly and of course team angel

would be at a loss to work for a man to abuse

say hi mike hello angels if it wasn't so true

it wouldn't be so funny okay so I gotta derail

this just for a moment here, just to let everybody

know. Just to let everybody know, Amy, Nicole,

and I have a new podcast. It's pretty much already

launched. It's going to be coming out weekly.

It's our gym review podcast over at Geekcast

Radio Network. Every week we pre -recorded most

of this stuff last year because we weren't sure

how much time Amy was gonna have once her new

protoform came and I swear to God Every evening

at 6 p .m. I needed to have my jaw realign from

laughing so hard and it's it's doing it again

So I'm charging all of you for my medical bills

if my jaw falls off You just need to wire it

on Because that's not creepy looking at all Okay,

so well before we get started with review I just

like to know what each of you wanted to know

before the start of this issue What were you

hoping for as a storyline? Let's start with you

Heather. What would you were hoping to get out

of this story? Oh see this I was not even sure

what to expect because You know, I knew it was

gonna be mostly this big Combine their wars event

so I guess I guess what is what I was hoping

for is that It would still have kind of the the

fun that Sarah and Marigold bring there's their

specific tonality and it wouldn't get kind of

subsumed by By a larger event, but that it would

also fit in well if that makes any sense so I

want it to be itself and also work as part of

the whole and and But yeah Margaret and Sarah

goodness, I need all of it. I will eat it all

There you go. What about you Mike? Do you want

Sarah? I apologize people I wasn't sure what

to expect out of this because I'll be honest

much like last time we did this the first time

we did the wind blade stuff I was at this point

in transformers I am so behind I am even more

behind than Amy I'm not behind anymore I caught

up last well you well you were but only by five

issues John's heart And he cried these sweet

sweet tears, which I would love to look up he

owes us so many tears I just I'm so far behind.

I knew Combiner Wars was coming. I was excited

for Windblade, and I think what really has me

excited for the most part for the three issues

is that they are actually going to her home world,

and we are actually going to see her home world,

because I thought that was the logical place

to go after how the last series ended. I think

two things disappoint me about this so far. Number

one, it's only three issues. And number no, it's

three. No. Yep. It's only three. Well food along

that I'm flipping a table right now I want to

flip a table too. That's not more issues, man

You just need to have a line of miniature tables

just all set up for flipping you what I need

to do is get those little pizza box things Like

tiddlywinks. As much as I love the main Transformers

artists that do the book formerly known as RID

and more than meets the eye, this is Margaret

and Sarah's characters. It's their stuff. So

what really disappoints me, and I'm just going

to say this right now, is the fact that Sarah

Stone is not doing any covers, as far as I know,

on this series. Everything I've seen from Solicits

has Livio and Casey Caller listed And does not

have Sarah Stone listed on any of them. So that

is kind of disappointing because I just Maybe

she was working little her little hard out on

the whole so much so many things that you know

Maybe it because I mean, I know she was even

she was even asking for help with flats on this

so I know she's got to be up to her eyeballs

in something. But I mean, that doesn't stop us

from being, you know, completely ever hungry,

never satisfied art. Oh, yeah. That has absolutely

happened with her art. Like, yeah. I mean, if

you think about where she was a year ago, we

were just I think we haven't even heard of her

this time this past year. Yeah. community look

where she's gone amazing no I know and it's and

you know I'm very happy for her but I'm just

saying as like this is their series this is their

characters this is what they started with and

I just wish at least one of the covers even if

it was just a the regular cover would be something

that she would have done it's like it deserves

to be by her in a way is that what you're saying

Yeah. Yeah, I agree. Well, maybe we can hope

that like the trade when it comes out that it's

got, you know, a Sarah on it. Yeah. Yeah. There

you go. That would be a great. We'll put our

dibs in now. Sarah, if you listen to this, can

we have a cover for the trade? What about you?

What about you, Amy? I'll pay with cookies. Uh,

for me, uh, I really, the only thing I remember

is like my, all the expectations just were, I

basically with the last thing that I remember

Margaret saying that, you know, she talked about

possibly, you know, just, just continuing the

story of Windblade. And I was curious as to how

that would wrap into robots in disguise. formally

known as Robots in Disguise. It's going to be

known as that forever. I cannot stop saying it.

I tried. You'll never take that off. It will

always call it formally known as Robots in Disguise.

Kind of like Prince, formally known as the artist.

The comic formally known as RID, yeah. We'll

always call it that, the comic formally known

as RID. So I just remembered that. And then when

we found out that it was going to be you know,

in the Combiner Wars track, then I was like,

hmm, curious as to how this will happen. But,

you know, opening the first issue and knowing

that we are actually going to Kamenest, I was

like, yes, yes, yes! I was like, ooh! And she

calls herself an Autobot with that laugh, whatever.

That's another good soundbite that we can use.

Whirl, he could have been a Decepticon if he

hadn't beat up Megatron. He started the war.

He started it all. Because he couldn't keep his

hands to himself. Oh, believe me, there's a whole

lot more than just that. That's just the tease.

Go and read More Than meets the Eye as well.

If you're not, you're a bad fan. No one can see

it, but I'm raising my hand, because I have not

read either book since issue 35. Yes, but you

started it. That's the whole point. You know

what you're in for when you open up a Roberts

or a Barber comic. You know what to expect to

a point, you know? I mean, they can blow expectations,

because they always do. My mind was blown with

issue 38. Or was it 39? No, no, no, it was 38.

38. 38. I was like, oh my. Gosh, he's not leaving,

is he? That freaked me out. I was like, you're

tying up all the loose ends. I'm feeling really,

you know, weird because I'm not used to that.

I'm feeling like he's going to announce next

week he's leaving. And I'll be like, no, don't

you dare. Don't you dare jinx. OK, Heather jinx

this podcast already. She's like, we need to

start early just in case if it goes wrong with

the computers. guess who got a 20 minute start

late because of her computer i want to know who

jinxed auto auto assembly then it was probably

me saying i can't wait to go to auto assembly

because i'm going this year and literally i was

looking at hotels the night before and i'm like

okay i'll put uh next paycheck i'll reserve my

next my hotel next day boom i'm like no yeah

Back on track. Okay. So yes, those are my expectations

and and of course, oh go ahead Oh, no, go ahead.

Go ahead. Oh, and and of course like opening

up the pages and reading it was just like Send

them a little note say bless you. You just made

my day. I read the first issue you know, it's

nice and comfortable but there's that little

breeze in the back part that gets you kind of

scared, right? Yeah. And I'm going to gush. I'm

going to gush about Sarah's art because it is

so pretty. Oh, gush away. Gush away. As for me,

I want more of her stuff. Oh, for sure. For sure.

Please. Please. The only expectation I have is

I want to see my prediction about Chromia come

true. If you guys don't remember She goes bad.

She teams with Starscream, and that's what I

want. I doubt it's gonna happen, but that's what

I want. No, no, no, no. There's enough fan fiction

about when Blin Blade and Starscream, Chromia

will have to find her own. Oh, Swindle. Oh my

gosh, Swindle's adorable. I could just see Derek

J. White just gushing over this series. Swindle

is... Okay, I keep... wanting to say stuff, but

we need to let you just like be orderly about

this. But I do have stuff to say about Swindle

later. Okay, okay. So let's get started then.

Right now we are on issue one. Well, it's definitely

not issue zero. Well, yeah. Are we gonna do any

covers? Yes, that's what I'm going for. We're

going into covers here shortly. First, we're

going to let know it's written by Margaret Scott,

but the story is also by her and John Barber.

Art by Sarah Stone, the lovely, lovely Sarah

Stone. Letters by Tom B. Long and editor is Carlos

Guzman. And we do have like a barrage of covers

here. We'll start with our main three. Okay.

So at the regular cover, it is Superion in the

background and Windblade with their arms open

wide right in front of them. Artwork by Casey

Collier. I know. And colors by Joanna Lafuente.

I finally got to say that right. Good job. I

love saying her name. She has got a full name.

Okay, then we got the subscription cover which

has Minasaur leaning over the destruction and

Windblade and Starscream running away from him.

That is by Olivia Ramandelli. And we also have

a retailer incentive cover of Superion picking

up Windblade in his hand and giving each other

fist bumps. Okay. This is horrible. I love that

cover. Okay, I guess you guys know which one

I'm going for. Mike, which cover? Oh, I guess

I should talk about the other guys. There is

also retailer exclusive covers, which shows Devastator

taking down specific comic book stores, which,

you know, the comic book stores could have commissioned

to have them done. The artwork was by Travis

Senghas. Is that how you say it? I think so.

and colors by Josh Burcham. So, and there's what,

six different stores? So, Buy Me Toys, Giant

Robot Comics, MidTile Comics, Four Color Fantasies

Comics, Saint Mark Comics, and G &B Comics. So,

Mike, you're first up. Well, let the guy go first,

for once. Which of these covers would you like

to hold in your hand and say, this is beautiful?

It's not Sarah, but it's beautiful. It's it's

gotta be it's gotta be the sub cover for Livio.

I've always every time Livio does anything Recently,

I remember when Nicole and I had done in the

pullback episode 86 when we did Dark Cybertron

and like Livio's art needs to be in the books

more like it just as Sarah's does but Like every

time Livio does colors covers. I just love when

he does them because they look so cool Awesome.

What about you, Amy? Well, I usually go with

Casey because, hey, I like Casey's stuff. I love

it. I love it. But really, I'm kind of interested

in this new artist that we have here, this Sarah

Petrie. Oh my gosh. I'm such an idiot. You can

tell it's my first time. I forgot to mention

the artist. So, yeah, go ahead and say your name.

I'm going to screw it up. I know I am because...

Okay, Sarah Petrie Dorsier? Dorsier? I think

it's Dera Share. Dera Share. But I'm not sure

if it's Pitch Ray or Pitch Ray. Yeah, I'm, yeah,

no. I like fist bumps. I like fist bumps. And

to see, like, you know, Windblade giving Superion,

who is awesome, a fist bump? Yeah, that does

it for me. Not that, you know, the others don't.

It's just that... Just really like it and you

know wind blade looks so incredibly cute. I just

want to pick her up and cuddle her I know she's

got the cutest little smile. Okay, Heather. What

about you? Okay, actually like all three of them

are pretty even I love the dynamism and especially

wind blades pose in Casey's one I kind of would

like to see the colors in real life because they're

kind of washed out on the PDF So I can't really

but you know, and I love menace or sneery sneery

scalp face Not such a fan of the one legged run

of Starscream and Windblade, but you know, it's

a cool cover and the Sarah's one is just adorable.

Like I can't even look at it without just being

like. So I'd probably go with that one just because

I mean, even I as like a girl, I'm still getting

used to the idea that we can have semi -cute

Transformers art and that it's not instantly

dismissed like I struggle with having this really

somewhat messed up attitude that girly art is

somehow bad or not as legit as boy -y art Which

is silly, but I really do fight it. Like I even

fight it with Sarah's art. So yeah, I'll choose

this one, the fist bump one, just to prove that

it can be done. Gosh darn it. And not everything

has to be male centric. Internet high five. Fist

bump. It just makes you love them. Let me, yo,

gosh. Okay. Moving on. Yeah. I agree with every,

all three of them are gorgeous and it pains me

to not actually pick. Casey's cover, because

I love Casey's work, but Sarah's is just, like

I said, adorable. Windblade is smiling and she

looks friendly and she looks happy. She finally

is happy for once. And I like that. I like to

see people get a little bit of happiness in their

life. Sure, they might be destroyed 10 minutes

later, but it works out. Living in the moment.

You know what? It's really, it's kind of got

that big hero six flavor. So now we have Sarah

with the H and Sarah without a H. So if your

name is Sarah, you could wear a dress. I like

the idea. Okay. Okay. So we come to our fashions

and the Josh's. Yeah, that's right. Josh and

Josh. They do the colors. Yeah. They were just

born with pencils in their hand, you know, part

of their extensions, their six fingers pencil.

So we come to our previously page. And if by

chance you didn't read formerly RID number 39,

it kind of tells you what happened there. So

Windblade tells Optimus Prime, he and his team

on Cybertron about the 13 colonies and how they

were established and how the 13 Titans were looking

for the new worlds for their race. Sounding very

Star Battlestar Galactica. I know I heard the

13 colonies. Wait. It gets you. Yeah. Battlestar

Galactica, just wait. Yeah, exactly. So they're

just not searching for a planet called Earth.

Exactly. So Starscream prepares for his first

contact with Cheminus, mostly looking for the

perfect outfit. But he also Oh, yeah, he also

has that enigma, enigma, a combination in his

hands. But we got to worry about an outfit first,

OK? Yeah, yeah, you got it. You've got the gimmick.

Now you need the outfit to go with it. Yeah,

I loved that part. It really did. It can be a

belt buckle piece. Exactly. So Starscream doing

what he does best goes to swindle and tempts

him with he loves most and he bribes swindle

giving him the enigma and to establish his old

gang of stunta cons so i take it mike you did

not read number 39 did no did you chewed yeah

i totally yes it was awesome Okay, Mike, so did

you find yourself lost on the previous page because

you didn't read? No, okay. Okay, cool. I didn't

know that because there was so much that happened

in 39 I Mean they open this with a previously

page, but it's one of those things where it's

still For someone who hasn't read Transformers

39 It's still one of those things where it's

kind of fresh. It's kind of like okay. This is

what's going on And here's where we're going.

So, I mean, it was fine for me. I wasn't, I wasn't

lost at all. So there wasn't anything that could

help you like catch up. The previously page kind

of, you know, does that for you. Yeah. There's

so many, there's so many good little bits and

bobs in number 39. So much fun. I literally laughed

out loud at a couple parts. We have got to go

over the roll call page. Okay, roll call. Roll

call. Okay, so we have Optimus Prime, former

leader. Whatever. Just laugh at that. Just laugh.

Former leader, my foot. We all know who's in

charge. Me. So, yeah, even if he even if he chooses

not to be in charge, he is in charge just because

he just has it all together all the time. He's

the prime. Are you together all the time? Well,

not completely. Remember when he was on. Yeah.

Yeah, and he's but that's the thing is he's just

fighting his true nature. That's all he's just

like oh I have to overthink things so I gotta

go put a dunce hat on Remember and he went like

a whole year saying I'm not optimist prime. I

know that was just him pouting Yeah, I'd rather

I'd rather have him pouting then give me your

face This is why, if he hasn't been the center

of attention, he would just like, okay, we're

gonna put you over here in a corner, you're gonna

pout, and we're gonna move on with the story.

And when you're done, you can come out of Time

Out and look into the story. Time Out Prime or

Emo Prime, or, you know, give me your face, Prime,

I wanna murder you. That's crazy. But yeah, I

will throw out a little thing. Everybody who

hasn't read Punishment, go get Punishment. It's

really important, especially since it - It there's

little bits in there because this happens this

issue happens like right. Yep after So you gotta

gotta oh wait. No, no, it was trance. Sorry I'm

getting transformers 39 and this issue confused

my brain because they're like right after each

other. But yeah There's crap that happens in

punishment that makes the stuff that's happening

in these issues a lot more meaningful Especially

in regards to wind blade. So just you know throwing

that out there everybody go spend money and give

it to IDW So Nicole essentially lied to me then

what I Asked Nicole like a day and a half ago

if If I you know if punishment had anything to

do with what's currently going on. She said no,

it's a story There's yeah, there's some things

that happen but overall I think you could pick

up punishment and just enjoy it Okay, I have

a confession. Yeah It's the whole pregnancy and

having a baby and I just I haven't had a chance

to get it. Put that baby down and read, girlfriend.

After doing this for four years straight, it's

kind of nice to take a little break. I know some

people out there might be gasping. It's like,

you're not a true fan. It's like, no, no, really.

I just needed a break. You know, sometimes you

need to eat and sleep and all of that stuff too.

Well, I understand. I have a family. My house

is in so much trouble. I really am giving you

love, Amy. I do not put down the underbased responsibilities

very lightly, okay? If you've been listening,

I have not been on the show for two months. This

is a switch for the four or five years that I've

been running it. Exactly. Is Adam running it

right now? Yes, Adam and I jump in every once

in a while and give my kudos and say, woohoo!

Because you're contractually obligated to say

woohoo. No, no. Well, not contractually. I'm

still very much a part of the underbase. I'm

just not running it right now. Yeah. Okay. It

exists because I'm - We're in good hands, people.

Yes, you are in good hands. We also have Starscream.

Cybertronian ruler. Rattrap is lackey. Okay.

Yeah. Scoop x Autobots. who I still don't understand

at all. I'm like, John, what is his character

arc again? I do not get it. He just waffles back

and forth. He has no. He's a it's like he's a

samurai with no master. The thing is, he's not

cool enough to be a Ronin. I know. No, no, no,

no. Scoop in three years when you will realize

how important he was to the story. That's how

James works. This one is John. Well, you don't

have to work. He is becoming increasingly important.

I just don't know him at all. Like, one day he's

like, I'm totally, I love Starscream. And the

next day, I hate Starscream. He betrayed me.

Galvatron, I love you. And now he's like, Starscream,

I brought you a present. He just wants to get

on medication. He sounds like a fool. Okay. And

then next we have Ironhide, the old vets, Chromia.

And he's never around when you need him. Exactly.

He needs to be on Earth right now giving somebody

a big knuckle sandwich. Exactly. Chromia, the

brash warrior. Will Jack, the conflicted scientist.

Superion, the comatose combiner. I love that.

Swindle, the former Decepticon. Minasaur, combiner.

And Blackjack, secret police. Blackjack is the

secret police. I love it. And Superion is not

going to be comatose after webpage. Here shortly.

He's not going to be comatose for very much longer.

Next time I'll say badass combiner. Sorry, I'm

just picturing it actually saying that. That'd

be pretty awesome. I would love to see that.

Because Superion is so chill. He's like, I'm

chill. Anyway, moving on. Okay. Here's my can

of whoop ass just saying Just carefully places

it down in the middle Okay, everybody walk away

if you're not want to get it, you know Was there

some sort of copyright thing that they didn't

reinforce Why are some of the aerial bots not

named what I know they should be named because

they're actually different dudes Mike Okay, they

had to replace some of them I think probably

to be honest partly because maybe Hasbro had

lost the rights to the name or something but

all of the combiners and I actually think John's

probably gonna do something with this because

he started to mention it all the combiners have

at least or okay menace or as far as I know has

got one new person obviously because swindles

not in there and There was something about So

-and -so left and we got this other person and

I wasn't paying attention even though I should

have been because I was reviewing the comic But

I'm one of the one of the characters of superior

on was killed Yeah, wait, it was dark Cybertron.

I don't remember who but I know that Power glide

is gonna be replacing. Yeah, we have power glide

and Alpha Bravo is the new people in superior

on yeah, so it's our glide really seriously I'm

totally on your team about this Mike. The only

thing is that Sarah's drawing him and so we take

deep breaths and we go Yeah, and America's writing

him deep breaths. Yeah, but I Hope to God they're

writing and drawing can save power glide from

the awful history. He has because I'm sorry that

Oh god. If he dies, I won't cry all that much

except for I will because Sarah will have drawn

him and Maragood will have written him and then

I'll say, you guys made me like him. I just look

at it as this way. What has paraglide done up

until this point? Not much. Fell in love with

a human. Yes, that was G1. He hasn't really done

much so this is the time for him to become awesome

because he becomes part of superior on yeah We

need to take him on John needs to take him on

a little mini character arc where he learns that

he doesn't Have to impress everybody with sound

effects all the time This isn't he the one that's

like in here we go As long as he doesn't pull

up pipes, that's all I care about Well, John,

do we have to put our foot down? Yeah. Oh, speaking

of being our freak down. Speaking of being our

freak down, we have something that happens like

that in this issue. So onto the first page. Yeah,

poor Nicole's like, I have to go to work, guys.

I have to dush about this. The first image. It

is Dawn and Caminus. Lost Cybertronian Colony.

I love that panel. Oh my gosh. I opened up this

page and I went, oh, so good to have Sarah back.

Just like, it was just like, give me a screensaver

of that right now. I want it on my computer,

on my big widescreen monitor. I want that. Sarah,

if you're out there. You know my email address.

I wouldn't mind to suddenly have this on my computer

screen. I will tell no one. The thing that makes

it awesome is how Sarah put all that little detritus

floating around. Because all that does is just

be like, it's not an okay place. It looks all

beautiful and pristine, but there's crap floating.

And it's like, no, things are not quite happy

there. It's not as pretty as you want it to be.

The grass is not always greener on another planet.

Do they have grass there? Well, they don't have

metal. Yeah, that's true. The rocks are not always...

Prettier on another side of the board. Well,

we find ourselves looking at Caminus and with

a bunch of unknown bots, at least I don't recognize

one of them's hot shot because probably walkie

was like, put hot shot in. Do we know that for

sure? That's what hot shot. Well, he's not named,

but he's totally hot shot. Yeah, that's yeah,

that's true. So, well, they're having a bad day.

Things are going awry and many sectors of Kamenists

are shutting down that even the Titan doesn't

even can even identify what's going on. Well,

come to find out Swindle and his buddies have

come through the space bridge. And it looks like

Swindle is having a rough day as the Kamenians.

How do you say it? Kamenians? Kamenians? Something

like that. Yeah. It looks like he's having a

rough day as they are. As long as they're not

clones, you know. You know, Star Wars, Camino

is where all of the clones would be. Spoilers!

Well, he has encountered the law enforcement,

but like Swindle, that doesn't stop him from

shooting his mouth off. I love this line. As

soon as I heard, as soon as I read this, it -

Don't know it reminded me of the line that cup

says to hot rod in in transformers the movie

All the circuit blown glitch IO dim wittery and

he says Justice when was the last time anyone

expected a decepticon albeit a ex decepticon

to give a rusty fender about justice And so I'll

go ahead Okay, I was I was just gonna agree but

you know, yeah Swindle is like he is the icing

on this issue He's the icing and the cherry Yeah,

can I can I go off about swindle right now actually

cuz I've done massive like whiplash about him

lately because, you know, Sarah and Marigrid

do this very specific, very transforms animated,

very cute swindle. And when he first showed up,

I was like, wait, what? Cause I'm used to swindle

being, you know, swindle, the jerk that you can't

trust and really completely not adorable, you

know, used car salesman. You kind of got to wipe

your hands after you shake his hand with him.

And then he shows up here and he's adorable.

And then the Previous issue the transformers

38 he instantly jumped back into that used car

salesman mode and I was like, ah You know, I

just I just got used to cute swindle and then

here is the sort of John and Marigold writing

Yeah, but but here he is being kind of this really

interesting balance of the two where he's still

that kind of Selfish just out to you know not

watch the world burn in a joker way, but watch

the world burn in a popcorn eating way and and

so you know it's a good balance here but it has

been really tricky to wrap my mind around where

I'm not quite sure I always pictured swindle

as a chameleon he always changes with what his

environment gets him because he wants to do what

is whatever is going to give him the advantage.

So if he's going to be cutesy and friendly, he

will. If he's going to be that swindly little

car salesman, he'll do that. So that's just swindle.

That's just swindle. As long as he's got those

beautiful little purple eyes, it's... And there's

another really cool thing that I hope you bring

up. I love that they've got kind of a team of

city speakers here because there's Hotshot -ish

guy who... It can't be hot shot because he totally

died in this other issue. And the other girl,

this other girl who I don't know her name yet,

but they both are city speakers because they're

both reading Caminus right there. And I'm like,

that's pretty cool. Yeah. Oh my God. I kind of

get the feeling though, like when I was reading

this, that, that wind blade is of a different

caliber because I don't know, maybe it's because

they, she got there and it was like, they call

her city speaker. Yeah. And there's just something

about it that just I don't know. Something about

it just seems like they sent their best one.

I don't know. It's weird. They show her a level

of respect. Yeah. Yeah, you're right. But then

at the same time, I also get the feeling too

that there aren't a lot of them. Yeah, no. These

two might be the only ones that are left there.

Yeah. Isn't that what happened in the very first

when we first got introduced to wind blade way

back when in the very first issue of the very

first series She said she is from a I believe

I could be wrong But I swear that she said she

is from a very rare species From Kamen as where

she is a city speaker. It's like I don't know

I could be wrong though. Yeah Well to go back

and look I think she was trained or something

now. I'm curious. I'll go look But yeah, it's

interesting. There's another thing like where

Swindle's punching the wall and being like, they

don't even have any metal here, which is interesting

that they don't have metal. I mean, what is it

made out of? But there's like this person that's

been killed in a splatter of blue and it looks

vaguely female and that makes it somehow worse.

I'm like, you killed a girl! This is how they're

getting Rock Lords in there. They're all made

out of rock. God, you stole my line because you

already said, you already said, oh, it's made

of rock. And I'm like, oh, sure. Now that's the

way they're going to bring the Rock Lords in.

That would be awesome. All right. Well, then

we got, we get onto our next page, which we have

our title page here. The sum and its parts. Well,

we have the first look of a combiner for the

main series and we got the... I love this guy,

Menasaur, my favorite combiner. Thank you. I

had to tell everyone that. And well, he knows

how to make one hell of an entrance as he finds

out he doesn't take too well to law. Biggest

party crasher ever. Exactly. As he takes his

massive foot and decides to put the law underneath

of him and make it go swish. And he swishes somebody,

doesn't he? Yep, that's what makes it most squish.

That's all that blue liquid is, is that guy with

the face that was like, huh. I didn't think that

Cybertronians were so squishy. They are when

you have something that big squish in them. Well,

we also get a little swindled, a little fumed

up as well. So let's just talk about this one

little panel. What do you think of the violence

so far? This is work we have, we have a dead,

well, I guess it's a female, female, Camion?

Camion? Camion? I thought it was the head dude.

Well, no, she's talking about the one at the

top. Yeah, the previous panel. And then we got

the violence of him just doing the pipes. so

yeah except we didn't have that guy's name so

i'll you know he's like gone forever he has a

cool face though i really like his face in the

way his eye visor thing he goes down the middle

of his face plate that looks cool yeah Agree,

he's like some sort of sentinel like a souped

up sound wave or you know I'd like to believe

that there's actually that's it. That's a that's

their version of the face plates And he has a

face underneath there, which will never see you

now. Yeah, it's dead That's really like it's

the splash of blue like ah I love it. I love

it. It means business. I Saw this and I went.

Oh, yeah My next question is, what are your feelings

about Swindle not being part of Minasaur? I think

it's kind of crazy. Like how? He's always been

a part of the Stuntacons, every incarnation.

I understand they're going for something a little

different here, and he's kind of pulling all

the strings, but I don't know. feels weird that

he's not a part of something he's usually a part

of. I think that if he was a part of Menasaur

we wouldn't be getting all of these really great

insights to him because he would be part of a

whole and they've they've already kind of shown

combiners once you're in combine mode you're

not yourself anymore you are part of the whole

and I think Swindle is one of those characters

that I, he kind of is wasted a little bit to

put him in with the combiners in that, in the,

under that premise. Um, because he, he can, he

has carried this issue and he has carried, you

know, anytime that we've had him a couple other

times in the past, he seems to be standing up

in front because of the way he's being written.

He's such a dynamic character that it's almost

a waste to keep him in a combiner. So I honestly,

I'm kind of glad that he's not part of the combiners.

I know. I kind of see it as that he's kind of

like the handler of Metasaur because he knows

what it's like to be, he knows what it's like

to be, you know, one of the, one of the dudes,

but he, he's kind of like, Oh, I'm off the hook

right now. I can like be myself and I can, you

know, tell them, okay, come this way, big guy.

Okay, stop right there. Just like, okay, perfect.

Yeah, you got it. Did he actually combine with

them in that first time in the ongoing back a

long time ago where the cost is ongoing I believe

yes. Yeah, okay Because he's still even then

I picture him as being kind of the guy who made

it all happen But yeah, cool. Yeah, I I it's

much more fun this way because it makes menace

or bigger when you've got this little guy sort

of carrying and it's You know, it's so much more

fun having Swindle sitting there being like,

and by the looks on your faces, I'm assuming

we're free to go. And, you know, just being snarky

and fun. Cause Manasaur, all he can do is be

like, you know, and it's much less fun. So I'm

kind of, I'm really glad that they've gone this

route. I loved what he said there by judging

the looks of your faces. You're not even seeing

their faces, but I'm like going, Oh yeah. I can

just imagine those guys going, Oh my. you know

yeah and menace or just like stoop here you go

this is the first time they've ever seen something

this huge be like check out the heck is that

the poor blue guy that gets squished he he actually

you care about him for a second because yeah

he looks up and he sees menace or and then he

still stands there and he's like nope you're

under arrest too and even swindles like well

that's pretty cool You're gonna get squished

Law enforcement dudes like we're out of here

man. They ain't paying me enough Well, yeah,

they also get backhanded Yeah, this way they

know the you know, Minnesota serious, you know,

you know They have no idea what to expect cuz

like see if they walk if a combiner like that

walked onto Cybertron What would they do run

away? These guys are like standing there. Okay,

you're both under arrest. So like, yeah, because

they have no idea what they're getting into.

Oh, and I'm remembering something remember how

wind blade was like on our planet. We don't shoot.

Yeah, because you might hit something and we

don't have anything to waste. So they're coming

from that society. It's like what is the joke

this horrible joke about an American policeman

says stop or I'll shoot and a British policeman

says stop or I'll yell stop again. You know,

so, so these guys are much more, you know, stop.

We have nightsticks and they're facing, they

have giant feet. Yeah. They're facing somebody

who's just, we shoot each other all day, every

day, just for target practice and fun times.

Yeah. We just got done with the 4 million year

war. And we're bored now. We want to go stomping

and tromping through the city. Yeah. She said

stomping and tromping through the city, all I

can think of is frigging again, it's Cup stomping

and tromping down the mountain. I just want to

see after she said that, I just want to see Minasaur

with an umbrella in his hand singing. Well, for

the next two pages, we kind of go back and forth

between swindle. freaking out. Because he's worried

that he knows that Starscream has betrayed him.

And we also go back to a couple days ago. Star

scream. Yeah, exactly. Come on. How did you not

get the memos window? And so we go back a couple

days. where Starscream has set up a side plan

of hiring Blackjack as part of his security.

And then we also see Metasaur going a little

nutty as well. So I got a question. So is this

a side effect of being a combiner? You just go

completely... psychotic and heavy because Devastator

has the same kind of side effects. Yeah. Well,

hasn't it always been like even in G1 when they

combined, they become much simpler and much more

my fist your face. Yeah. Like it's not like the

combiner sit down and have diplomacy. Well, no,

but in in specifically the G1 cartoon, Devastator

was always more destructive. Minasaur. and Superion

and the other two. Crap. I never remember either.

You know, Minasaur and Superion always usually

trade. Are you talking about Bruticus? Yeah,

Bruticus. You got Computron? Yeah. Defensor?

Yeah. Between Bruticus and Computron and Minasaur

and Superion, those four bots, when they're each

facing off against each other, they're always

trading barbs and G1 and quick quips and whatever

else. But I think here, what's more interesting,

and Amy's kind of talked me into the whole thing

of liking Swindle outside of being part of the

combiner, is technically, he's Dr. Frankenstein

and Minasaur is the monster. Oh, that makes sense.

Well, and Superion comes off as much more. Oh,

sorry, yeah. Anyway, we'll get to that later.

Well, and then I've just got to say before we

continue. How adorable is Swindle trying to kick

Minasaur? My gosh! I love this panel. It's so

adorable. Which panel is that? The one where

I wish Swindle was trying to kick Minasaur, and

he's about the same size of, like, a rivet. I

love it. Love it. Oh, yeah. I was happy to see

that Starscream's secret police are not just

a forgotten thing. They're still creepy. But

I love that now we've got a face to at least

one member of it because it's that what is his

name? Black Jack. So we know he's kind of a member.

And then he shows up later with his creepy mask

on. And so I like to think that Black Jack is

like the voice of Jack Black. With Swindle and

Minasaur here, you gotta love Swindle, and I

can only hear Fred Willard in my head saying

this, Minasaur, Minasaur, are you even listening

to me? So, well, we head back to Cybertron where

our pretty boy leader is still picking out a

new outfit. Can I just say, if Starscream, because

he's talking about colors, if he is in his armada

body and he paints himself blue, I will flip

a table so hard. Because, oh gosh. There's redoing

armada and then there's like hardcore redoing

armada. Just imagine if he goes green, like in

G2. I think we lost somebody. Yeah, I think we

did too who'd we lose? Yeah, we're gonna get

her back Damn it. Okay. Now I see where you guys

are at. There we go. Yay. There we go All right,

are we all back? All right, hold on a second.

I need just a little edit right there. Yeah 159

14. All right So Starscream and his outfits and

yeah I want it to be blue. Really? Yes! I think

that would be such a slap and I would love it.

Have you guys seen Armada? Yes, and that's why

I like it. Like where he looks down and he's

like in his Armada voice, which is amazing, and

he's like, I look like Thundercracker. He's just

so disdainful. That's what I wanted to happen.

And then we can have the whole sleeping beauty

debate. It should be pink. It should be blue.

It does say a lot about him for the past two

issues. He's been sitting there going, I don't

know. What should I wear? I don't know. Oh my

gosh. And there was this amazing thing last issue

where scoop was like, What are you even doing

with your time? And Starscream's like, who am

I, Scoob? And Scoob's like, I hate you. Well,

Optus interrupts his play time. As he should.

As he should. And he looks awesome! Yes, he looks

really awesome. Who's the leader? Who's the leader?

Come on, man, who's the leader? Someone's activated

the space bridge and he needs to get down pronto.

Well Starscream, being Starscream acts like,

oh well I'll be right down there. This is the

most important thing we need to do. As soon as

Optimus hangs up, he goes back to his color scheme.

I swear Starscream is worse than any girl getting

ready for Paul Knight. I'm not kidding. It's

just like, oh my god. I really like this panel

right here where he says especially in a crisis.

Yeah, that's very much Sarah's Starscream. So

devious. And I love that panel. It looks so beautiful.

It's beautiful by the way. So wait, I'm gonna

pull a Starscream here myself. What body type

do you think he should go with? I love how he's

just sitting there flipping the little hologram

image. He's just... I don't know. And Scoop is

like, you're incorrigible. Scoop's just like,

my life is pain. You're the one that said you

loved him. He's so vain. We finally have our

fearless leader meet up with the rest of the

Cybertronian crew. And the tensions are a little

high in the room. Starcy, Star - Starcy. He should

be a seamstress. Starscream, well, he's thinking

it's very convenient that the space bridge, I

put it very convenient in air quotes, because

come on, Starscream. He's saying it's very convenient

that the bridge opened up to wind blades and

world. And words are passed and Starscream makes

a call to someone to assemble a team. Okay, who

do you think he called? Because if you haven't

read 39, it might be confusing. I don't know.

What about it, Mike? Do you know who he called?

No. I don't know. I'm more concerned about why

isn't Chromia in jail? Because she's awesome.

And I tell you, she's asleep with Starscream.

She was the villain of the last series though.

No, I still think There is some lasting tension

between her and Windblade that has carried over.

Oh, yeah. Windblade didn't turn her in either.

Yeah It was one of those things that she it just

it's like, okay one of your bodyguards basically

Betrayed you and you're keeping it to yourself

because you know what's gonna happen if you do

and then of course with Starscream being the

way that he is, she needs to have somebody on

her side. And who can she trust? Even though

she can't trust her in some things, she can trust

her, at least to the fact that she's not going

to, Chromia is not going to leave Windblade to

Starscream, period. Well, and it's not even just

that. It's the fact that Windblade's own position

on Cybertron, along with Metroplex, is extremely

precarious. And if she allows Starscream to broadcast

what Chromia did, those two will get kicked off

Cybertron so fast. Yeah. And she does not want

to leave Metroplex. She seems to really love

him. Well, it's more than just that. You know

what I mean? She doesn't want it. She's also

there for her people, and I think she honestly

believes that Metroplex being a part of her life,

which will in turn be a part of theirs at some

point, will benefit both. Yeah. So she, she wants

to stay there and she's willing to kind of that.

That was, you know, the whole arc of last series

was her going from kind of squeaky clean, unfortunately,

to being willing to play a little bit of the

Starscream game. She's playing politics basically.

Yeah. Yeah. She's, I mean, Optimus is, but Optimus

has let more More important things slide by him

before so I mean even if they did broadcast what

chromia did All as I'm saying is I wish there

was a little bit of consequences is all I'm really

saying Yeah, yeah, I actually really like how

right now especially in this scene All the characters

are intelligent. They're picking up unspoken

cues like you know Starscream of course is is

being kind of a jerk and catching people out

but There's that interplay between Chromia, who's

like, yeah, I wonder how they even knew the space

bridge down here worked, Starscream. And he just

throws right back at her. Probably the same way

Swindle knew the codes you used in your little

jailbreak. And so they kind of know what's going

on. And then later, Prime's like, yeah, I see

how your timing here is really convenient for

you, Starscream, of this little crisis. And everybody's

really aware how everyone's got their own individual

agenda and they're very much watching each other

and so no one no one is looking like they're

being led around by the nose which is nice because

sometimes that happens especially to blinking

prime but at least here he's like no I see what's

going down and I'm not just gonna stand around

and look red and impressive I'm gonna actually

pay attention I'm just going to hover over your

shoulder. Yeah, no kidding. Prime is doing the

one thing that pisses me off with a lot of things.

Hovering over your one shoulder while you're

trying to do computer work. I was like, go away!

Yes, but in this instance, Starscream deserves

it. I'd be watching too. I'd be watching every

move he makes. Oh, but you don't trust Starscream?

Come on. Oh, with that face? His little last

grin right after that panel with Prime. I love

how huge Prime is. Sarah just does great stuff

with everybody's relative sizes. That's just

awesome. And we'll get to that later too. He

should be huge and intimidating. Well, and so,

well, it looks, we go to the next page, and it

looks like Swindle is having a rough day. Poor

Swindle, it just got worse for him, as the team

of fliers makes its way through the space bridge,

and along with Ironhide and Chromia, who gets

some flirting on, hello, bow chick bow wow, okay.

And well, the fliers try to take out Minasaur,

as they try to learn their right from their left.

Yeah, I thought that was pretty funny like which

right which which left And so a lot of things

happen they go back and forth from cyber China

and Kamen is so it's Really quick. I just picture

how quick this would be if it was on the movie

screen so back on Cybertron Wind blade makes

her way through the space bridge as well as to

keep optimus back, and she's like I can't tell

you right now Just stay here say put so optimus

prime is taking orders from one place So what

if she knows it's her world he better pay yeah,

that's true He's doing exactly what he should

be doing. You know he's he's take he's taken

a backseat basically to being in charge and he's

very good at playing, being the team player.

So of course he's going to go to the, the next,

you know, head of authority, even though we all

feel like, Hey, prime, you're in charge. He knows

how to take charge. He's making it a point to

put other people on a charge. I think his little

jaunt out, you know, in the universe when he

was, I'm not prime anymore. I'm a Ryan Pax, you

know, I think. This is kind of showing without

actually Showing without actually having to tell

us they're showing us but it's just like without

having to actually define it That's exactly what

he is. He's he's the guy that he gets it He's

like if I'm going to take a step back. I have

to let other people be in charge and make mistakes

Well, this is what makes Optimus Prime the Optimus

Prime we've known since 1984 in the cartoon series

is he wants to like He wants to go to Kaminas.

He wants to meet their leaders, but Windblade

knows better because Windblade knows something

that he doesn't and she's not ready to share

it just yet. And he is willing to allow her the

time. And it is one of these situations where,

you know, the head of the FBI says, well, you

have 24 hours to close this case. No, he's going

to give her the time. And when the time is right,

she will say, okay, you can come see this, our

planet's leadership. And she's doing this for

a purpose. And I think it's really great how

Merigrid and John have written this to a point

where it's kind of shocking when she, it was

to me a little bit. I mean, I know we're not

there yet, but what she reveals to optimists

as to how, how her - You know what I mean? It's

like, I love this issue. It was like, yes. Yeah.

And, and that's the good thing about Optimus

is that, you know, as you already said, Amy,

he can sit down, delegate and take a backseat.

He doesn't need to. Optimus has always had for

the most part, the greater good as, you know,

what's going to, what's going to do me the best

good for. everybody, not just like, you look

at Optimus, you look at Starscream. And that's

why you can trust him. That's why you can trust

Optimus Primus because you know he has the greater

good. Exactly. If you look at Optimus and Starscream,

especially in this issue, Starscream, we all

know he's a schemer. He's a quote unquote, I

guess, former Decepticon. I don't know what the

hell he is anymore, but it's one of those things.

Yeah, there you go. Yeah, he is so self -serving

that he has his own agenda. He has his own needs

and wants. Optimus never has any needs and wants.

What his want is to make sure that everyone...

Oh God, Optimus Prime is Phineas and Ferb. He

wants everyone to have the best day ever. When

he's written right, that's who he is. Amy, don't

you dare break out your pizzazz voice. Well,

we get a lot of good action scenes here. when

we're back on Kamenous. So you see Minasaur just

pretty much run on a muck, and I love it! He's

beautiful, he's so colorful, and he makes a lot

of boo -wahs. Kaboom! And I love it! And he has

awesome robot teeth. Oh my gosh, he does! He

does! I think Minasaur looks so beautiful! I

love - Again, my favorite combiner. That one

page when we had the whole thing of Metasaur

where he's taking a shot to the face and he's

standing there and they're shooting his leg.

That was such a good panel. It's like, oh, it's

a full screen shot of Metasaur. Holy crap, man.

Oh, I didn't notice that. That's cool. It's a

full screen, but it's been broken up into separate.

That's cool. Awesome, so beautiful. And so, well,

once through the bridge, Windblade picks a hitchhiker.

Yeah, that's kind of awesome. Yeah, and here

we could tell there's still a lot of tension

between her and Chromia. So there's also things

heating up between both worlds. Backup is needed

from Cybertron, but who is the one leading the

team? Is it Optimus or Starscream? And we also

get a lovely panel here. I love this. This is

one of my favorite panels. We get a lovely panel

of Starscream getting reamed like a school kid

by his teacher, Optimus. I love this little panel.

I love this panel. So basically saying, you may

have the title, but we all know I'm in charge

here, okay? Well, it's not even that because

what he's threatening, he says, Do you want me

to have Prowl look into how convenient this situation

was for you? So he's basically he's not saying

I'm telling you he's just saying I know what

you're up to and I can pull the rug out from

under you if I want to. But I'm still going to.

You know, he's still letting him quote unquote

be in charge. He's just telling him he's not

going to take any more of his crap. And then

I love how the next panel, it's like all that

like black art and Starscream's wings are all

droopy. I love it. It's just so adorable and

I love it. This is what he wanted though. I mean,

if you look at it, he perpetuated this whole

thing. He's playing prime like a drum. Someday

someone's gonna write Prime not being played

and I'm gonna throw a party. But that's the thing.

I think Prime knows that he's being played. Yeah.

That's the problem. At least he knows. It's the

rock in the hard place. It's the tension between

that. He knows. Starscream knows. They're not

admitting it. They're not saying it. He's, you

know, he's been put into a corner by Starscream

and he knows it. That's why he's like, so does

Superion function? yeah because he knows that

he needs that now even though he didn't want

to now he does yeah so it's like it also goes

back to when prime came back somewhere way back

when in dark cybertron or something or other

and he finds out that starscream is the quote

unquote elected ruler of cyber chosen one yeah

Well, to hell with the damn chosen one thing.

I'm so sick. I'm going to put that on a bumper

sticker, Mike. To hell with the chosen one. Seriously,

but it's one of those things where when Optimus

came back and he found out that Starscream was

the elected ruler of Cybertron, again, it goes

to my point earlier. Optimus knows that's not

going to be the best thing, but he's not going

to go against the people. He's not gonna... Optimus

is not a dictator. He's not Megatron. Yeah, or

Galvatron. And it's one of those things where,

yeah, in these panels, Optimus knows he's being

played, like Amy said, but it's one of those

things where he's letting it play out, so eventually

Starscream can probably see the error of his

ways, or so Prime can somehow find a way to defeat

Starscream and show the people of Cybertron and

Kamenous and whoever else that, hey, look, This

is the guy you really want leading you. But he's

not the guy. Yeah, he's not even thinking that

far ahead at this point. I don't think he's just

like, no, that's that's me thinking that. Yeah,

that's me thinking that for a piece that we are

missing here is and I don't I think it was in

39 that they did this where Optimus Prime and

Starscream are talking about Superion. And did

they have they have the conversation? pretty,

I'm pretty sure it happened to 39. What are you

talking about? The conversation that happened

where Prime tells Starscream that he doesn't

want his friends used as a weapon. Oh yeah. Okay.

Yeah. That I think actually happened in 39. So

I just wanted to bring that out real quick. If

you haven't read 39, I'm at least I'm pretty

sure it did. Um, because that isn't illustrated

here. That was another reason why he's a little

frustrated with, with Starscream because just

not too long ago. They're not at Starscream.

They're the Aerobots. They're my friends, not

a weapon. Yeah. Yeah. So the fact that he now

has to use them as a weapon to help out to stop

Metasaur is grating as well. Extra ticked off

at Starscream. Because I'm sure... Which is why

he's so short with him. I really get the feeling

that he knows Starscream is behind this. To the

point that I think he knows Starscream at least

nudged the whole Metasaur thing to happen in

the first place. But see, to me, now I'm thinking

Starscream -wise here, to me Starscream, yeah,

he's getting reamed right now, but in just a

few minutes, he'll have three other steps to

a new plan. That will benefit him, of course,

you know. Oh yeah, he thinks he's ahead of the

game for quite some time, this issue, but then.

Well, on the next page, we have... Enter the

aerial bots and the new member alpha Bravo And

then of course a bunch of planes and make them

look adorable planes looking at a helicopter

And so and then we have a great look here of

superior on and It's just a cool dude, man. He's

all shiny. He's like I am it Yep, and it's game

on. I am the best. I am the best. He doesn't

need to say it, he just is. And it's Superion

versus Menasaur for a few pages here, and it's

great. I love this fight. It's beautiful. And

they have different styles of fighting, which

is cool, because Superion fights smart, like

he trips Menasaur. He doesn't just go in and

punch him. He trips him, and he's got the next

move planned, like he trips him, and then he's

ready with his gun. Whereas Menasaur would just

be like... Well, I think that's because they

had Wheeljack involved in the making of Superion.

And Jack's fairly smart, you know. Okay, he built

dumb dinosaurs, but... Not in this continuity.

Just kidding. And so... But I think that has

to have something to do with the intelligence,

whereas Menasaur, they kind of mismatch with

a bunch of meatheads. You're done destroying

this nice little city. Hasn't Menasaur always

had that problem where Motor Master tries to

force everyone to do what he wants? And so Menasaur

doesn't work well as a combiner? No. That's fine.

Going back to the combining page when we see

Superior on combine the bottom right hand corner.

It shows menace or in a silhouette I meant to

bring this up earlier when we're talking about

covers I don't necessarily like them turning

menace or into unicorns head as far as the horns

go. I love it. I think it's cool It's very devilish

So we get the battle Okay, so yeah, we've got

this battle going on for a few pages and I love

that this like Mike Heather was saying they've

got the different fighting styles They also have

a different speaking style as well. Yeah, you

know They still both use very short sentences

and very few words, but Minasaur is more of the

grunt, and Superion's like, okay, dude, really.

I love when he's like, well, Superion tried.

Although when I first read that, I totally thought

he was giving up already. I'm like, what? But

then I read on and was informed. I love this

part where it says, dead bots talk useless. That

didn't even make sense. He's he's so Frustrated

because he's not getting paid that he can't talk

like today My my seven -year -old just completely

went unglued because we were trying to get him

to do homework I'm not kidding when I say this

on Twitter that that homework is the bane of

my existence Yeah, but he got to the point where

he was so upset that he just could not He could

not form a coherent sentence or anything. And

I kind of look at menasaurus being that he's

so frustrated because he's not going to get paid

that he just can't function. So, you know, superior

on comes in here all cool headed and like, dude,

stop now. And it's like my husband telling my

son, just quit, just don't, you know, just sit

there, take a deep breath in and do your work.

And he just cannot function. He can't sit, you

know, it's like, well, I tried. I just love this

dialogue right here between the two is a man

of stores like crush you, you know, and then

superior and psych. So you keep on saying, but

superior on isn't afraid of you. Superior on

a superior and you ain't superior on. I love

that line. So cool. As he just pretty much takes

out his face. Oh yeah. He double -punched him.

That's awesome. Yeah. Check it out, man. You

just, whoo sandwich. Love it. Love it. So basic.

So do you think that's the end of Minnesota?

That is no No lights out. That's all Yeah, they're

gonna they're gonna be a little sore for a while,

you know, yeah, they just got handed theirs,

you know Yeah, and and and superior on is still

really cool -headed, you know superior honest

and control yet And he's like, maybe you should

have called Superion sooner. I like the fact

that he talks about himself in the third person.

Third person, I was going to bring that up. That's

interesting because it really reinforces the

whole, because like we have Windblade being like,

are you okay? Are you in there? And you know,

Superion is fine. Superion is in control. And

it just, it reinforces the idea that Superion

is his own being. And also, Marigold, of course,

has managed to do yet another big bot that is

now adorable. Because I'm like, I kind of love

Superion now. He's fuzzy. I've never really been

a Superion fan, but yeah, he's pretty cool. I

gotta admit it. So, and here we start off with

our actory, I guess you would say, actory. Yeah.

Windblade is finally home, and she's encountering

some of her other... Camino. Her other people.

Her other people. There you go. It's her hometown,

man. Yeah, it's her home. It's her home. So and

she's some of the council with the Forge Fire

Parliament and the Mistress of Flame. That sounds

sexy. Yeah, because you know, at this point,

I must speak with them all. So it's like. Oh,

she knows. So if Starscream was to show up, he

would just talk with the council. She's actually

asking for somebody even one step further than

that because she knows who to talk to. Yeah,

well, they have to get ready for Cybertron to

come by one way or another. Poor Swindle. Poor

poor Swindle. He has to be dealt with on both

sides, both Cybertron and Kamen. Poor guy. I

really do feel sorry for him. Next time Starscream

gives you a call, say no. Nope. He's actually,

I worry for him because he gets captured by a

creepy mask dude and he's like, Lord Starscream

gave specific orders about you. And basically

Starscream has to silence Swindle because Starscream

came to Swindle, offered him money and sent him

there. So Swindle knows that Starscream's the

one that started this, and Starscream does not

dare let that get out. Oh, of course he wouldn't.

So yeah, our poor cute little purple -eyed guy

is in trouble. I know. But hey, he knows all

the codes. His fatal flaw is witches, so he knew

how to say the right words, so I was like, you

know what? Dude, you need to cure yourself of

that. Yeah. Go get rushed somewhere else. Leave

Cybertron. Don't take calls from Starscream.

Yeah, exactly. Block all calls from him. Well,

after after Windblade calls the council and everyone

to come by, she actually does return to Cybertron.

Man, this girl is getting frequent fire miles

between the two. Yeah, no kidding. And she lets

Starscream go to Kamenous, you know, to make

first contact. And and then why he is making

his way over there. We learn why Prime wasn't

to go before, and basically she explains to Optimus

that he would be seen as a god, kind of like

how Heather sees him, you know? And of course

she talks about the origin of Caminus, and this

is what's really cool, you get the first look

of the 13 Primes, you get Solus Prime here. and

she looks gorgeous she looks beautiful and the

history of it because we always heard about the

13 and all the history is going to come up we

finally get a little glimmer of what the history

is here and i really like that i really do so

it starts to at least weave it into all of the

other possible pasts that we have that have been

lost and Cause I was, I was a little worried.

I'm like, John, what are you doing? Yeah. I'm

still worried to be honest. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

This, this, because it is presented as these

guys as memory of the past, it allows it to be

on an even footing with the other alternate pasts

that we have instead of John being like, nah,

yeah, you know, I'm changing it. It's going to

be this now it's more of a This is these people's

creation myth. Yeah. So I can deal with it a

little better. Yeah, I like it. And I think it's

beautifully done. And it's pretty. Yeah. Yeah.

We can go on and on about the art. So, well,

Starscream, he's Uncaminous and he's doing what

he does best. He's still in the room with joy

of his presence. He's only been interrupted by

someone with a little more charm. Windblade introduces

Optimus. very medieval -like with all her fancy

words. And she puts out a challenge to someone

to claim to show him the title of Prime. So one

does come to the challenge, and surprisingly,

it's not Starscream. It's the Mistress of the

Flames. So we get a gorgeous look of who this

big figure is of their world. And then we get

Optimus here being all showy. And I love this.

It's a beautiful, mostly black and white and

yellow toned page. And you see him opening up

the matrix and he proves to himself, yeah, this

is who I am. And then they all bow down to him.

Look at his little eyes. He's not super excited

about that. I know he's worried for him, you

know, and so Like he's kind of nominally hunchback

bowing, but mostly she's just glaring at prime.

Yeah, he's just like oh girl I have to do this

now This is why I wanted to have my new look

Yeah. Nothing outshines the Matrix. This part

is so... This is why he needs his crown too.

Wait, what if his new look is the Optimus Prime

body? He did say something about red and blue.

Exactly. He's gonna paint a Matrix on him. There

you go. Have He's gonna get one of those little

matrix necklaces that came with a few of the

toys a couple years ago When he actually had

it and he had it chained around his neck. Yes

knockoff made Okay, but can anybody help me with

this how come prime has the matrix now and exactly

this is the reason why this i have a few things

of negativity because i've been like this big

you know because i care about prime i've tracked

this okay so bumblebee had half and and rodimus

had half rodimus still has his half except he

broke it yeah shattered is and bumblebee got

sucked into the shockwave singularity thing no

one It never showed his half of the matrix being

taken away from him Maybe he didn't maybe he

wasn't carrying it around in his tummy, but so

I guess I guess that makes sense You know, maybe

you had it in his bedroom in a locked cabin,

you know But but but I know I don't know but

Nicole so So, okay. All right. I'm really trying

not to be like so then I go. Okay, so then prime

goes and He gets you see in robots in disguise.

He's kind of got his hand on like the half of

the matrix and then he's got it in punishment

when he goes back for like the anniversary to

where he got it but it's still only half and

it shouldn't have glowy bits it should still

be not really there and so that that really needs

to be clarified for me because there's never

been an explanation as to why it's functioning

again anyway Absolutely mirror everything that

you just said now. I have a red punishment, but

still I know that Rodimus is half was shattered

Yeah, because they he used that to fix everybody

from like the kill switch that whatever yeah

in more than me see I so like if anything potentially

Prime has at least half a matrix Yeah, so again

Why is it that it and you know the only thing

that because I was thinking about it was like

maybe he's making it glow like that Because it's

not blue. It's yellow The matrix usually glows

she better not have just like a little LED light

So this is this is my take on this because this

part where where where wind blade she she comes

clean with him basically where she's saying You

know, she needs him to be this figurehead that's

going to usurp Starscream because She says it

right here. It's like if you don't actively counter

him with the full might our faith will give you

Starscream will play Caminus like an instrument

and And then she goes on and she says that and

that and that can be okay optimist. It can be

enough Yeah, I just want you to make this choice

with open eyes. So she's asking him I want you

to lie to my people and act like you're a god

because if you don't Starscream is gonna come

in here and he is going to screw them all over

and I do not want that to happen So she's been

basically putting him in a position where she

wants him to play a role if that means that he

has to play it up and he Lies then that's what

it is and that's basically what she's asking

him to do and so that's why I'm like, well I

Get it. I know why I mean this is gonna be one

opportunity for optimists just kind of kind of

have fun a little bit to be honest well and again

it goes to the greater good yeah and and that's

why i think that he'd be willing to do that is

because if he doesn't starscream is going to

kill the or not kill these people he's going

to rape this community over the cold oh god wait

wait wait did you say rake or rape oh because

he will he'll take everything and rob them of

mind and then leave them in the cold Because

that's who he is Right So yeah, I mean, yeah,

maybe that maybe I could have chose better words

I was trying to go for an angle here. Okay That's

why I'm like he comes in and that's why I'm like,

okay That's why when I see this with him with

the light and I'm going okay, potentially he's

got half a matrix He's playing a role. I don't

think that he really has the full matrix. I think

it's just enough that he's got half a matrix

and he's making it glow like that with something.

I don't know. I'm willing to give Margaret a

couple more issues to explain because I'm kind

of hoping that she does. But you know, if she

does, she does. If she doesn't, she doesn't.

I'm just going to assume that because usually

whenever the matrix is glowed, it's usually been

blue. That's why I'm like going, okay, well maybe

that's the difference of the whole thing. Huh?

I was what? You were correct with Drowl's eye

color. Yeah. Back when he was mind controlled.

I really - Oh, oh yeah, we were talking about

- Okay, yeah. Well, I might have cheated a little

bit there. Oh yeah, that's right. I'm guessing.

I'm just guessing. Who has secret knowledge?

I have secret knowledge. And I kept it silent

for a whole year. There's a lot of heavy stuff

going down here at the end. Oh, yeah for sure.

We're sure All right. I think it's brilliant

to be honest I am so just in love with what's

going on because we remember the end of wind

blade where we're like going She knows she knows

who she's dealing with with Starscream But she

has no footing because she's just a city speaker

and she's the new girl on the block She has had

a little bit of time to think about this because

like she said like like Optimus pointed out You

could have said something about this sooner.

She kept that to herself specifically because

she doesn't have a lot of cards in her hand to

play and Starscream has already played his deck

and he's got a few things, you know started up

as well because he put them on this path sooner

than they were ready for So he pushed them all

into a position where they he made a problem

and then he had the solution to fix it We should

probably go around the room and give final thoughts

ratings and all that good stuff on the art and

the writing How about how about Nicole do that

first? Yeah, that's where I was going Yeah, sorry,

it's all good it's all good The artwork, can

we gush anymore with the artwork, really? Sarah

is just amazing. The colors, I mean, it's just

so vivid. I love that woman. Never met her, but

I love her. She does such great work. As for

the storyline, it's a really good start. It's

got me intrigued. It's got some good fighting.

I love it. Starscream's being a douchebag, which

I absolutely adore. I don't know why I like to

cry. And Squindle, I want to see something good

happen for Squindle. He needs it. He so needs

that. I know. It's his cute little eyes. He's

just like, but, but, but. But look at me. Set

up a shop somewhere like off Cybertron and Kamina

and just like, you know, somewhere in the, the,

the, the, the alien district of the galactic

council or something, just to, you know, get

rich somewhere else. Just don't do it. Somewhere

else. That's, that's the, the get rich quick

slogan that never quite took off. Get rich somewhere

else. Swindle can get rich somewhere else if

he heads over to Nexus Zero. Open up his own

McAdams somewhere else. What's your rating, Nicole?

I'll give this a good solid four. I love it.

It was great. Again, there's a few issues, but

nothing that I would say totally destroyed the

storyline. Yeah, good solid four. What about

you, Amy? Um, I think I agree with that. I will

absolutely give it a four. The art is just gorgeous.

I'm loving it. I mean, it's Sarah. I just about

cried when I saw the opening panel, because I

was like, not cry in a bad way, cry tears of

joy, because it's just so pretty. And I was like,

I miss Sarah. You never know how much you miss

somebody until you don't see them for a little

while. And all of a sudden look back and you're

like, I missed you so much. They want to just

like, you know, go through my computer screen

and give her a big hug and say, Oh, yes, I love

all of the stuff that she's doing. And the art

was just great. I love this. Here's the thing

is that, you know, she makes the the big, the

big bots look big and intimidating. But then

there's this fluidness to it. So she also does

this. You know, the movement looks so easy. It

doesn't look too clunky. It actually looks like

they could move that way, even though they're

huge. And then, you know, she does the ladybots

really, really good too. So it's like, they need

to be like the big bots are big and intimidating

when they need to be and the ladybots are very

lithe and you know, they're going to take your

face off if you're not careful. Yeah, we should

discuss the design of the Mistress of Flame.

Oh, yeah. That's gorgeous. She's tall. She's

like taller than Prime. Yeah. She has the hammer

of power and the cape of power. And the spiky

tyress collar of powers. Didn't anyone learn

anything from Edna? No capes. What about you

Heather? What are you gonna rate it? I'm gonna

give it a four. I really, really, really enjoyed

the writing. I do question about the Matrix.

And, oh, sorry, my Adobe has stopped working.

Wait. But I remember what it looks like. There's

one little bit in the fight where the action

is... Slightly confusing. It's where Minnesota

grabs chromia and then she cuts his hand with

her axe And I'm like, I don't quite believe that

you could maneuver your axe quite that well from

that panel for this panel But that's me being

it Becky But then you know, there's the panel

of Starscream checking his nails and being like

yeah prime I'm sure you have something to do

like cleaning duty or something Yeah, can't wait

to see more so I can't visualize optimus in in

a French maid's outfit. Oh, wow. No, no, thank

you. No. For me, outside of the whole matrix

question thing, I'm going to give it a four and

a half. I have to. It's just so good. And it's

so refreshingly. This is what I said last time.

Why and I know it's I know why is because of

sales and people wouldn't be able to keep up

but when they originally after dark Cybertron

they started on this path of Book formally known

as rid was gonna be on earth more than meets

the eye was gonna be the space opera I wanted

wind blade to be a full -blown series just set

on Cybertron. I didn't want rid to go between

earth and Cybertron because I wanted Marigold

and Sarah to have a steady gig and because Honestly,

this is some of the best writing I've read from

transformers since Since the last wind blade

series You know, I really start a lot to conversion

Like seriously, they're also say we all at the

end there So so here we all yeah And so we all

here so and so we and so we hear it's like all

I could hear is and so say we all Alright folks,

uh, Combiner Wars - It's a good idea, it's a

good idea, I'm sorry. Yeah? No, it is, it is.

Uh, Combiner Wars Part 2 takes place in Transformers

Number 40. Combiner Wars. The combiners have

arrived. Starscream wrestles for dominance with

Optimus Prime as surprising reinforcements approach

from the lost light? Hmm. Oh, that's right. Okay.

Because then because they are shipping Yeah,

they're shipping some guys in a shuttle back

because there There was a conversation last issue.

Yeah And then combiner wars part three is wind

blade number two The first strike is against

wind blades homeworld and she is not happy about

it. Her long -lost Cybertronian colony is is

found, and the only thing that can protect it

is Superion. Yay! I love Superion. Alright folks,

that's gonna do it for this episode, this first

crossover episode for the Underbase and the Geekhaster

Rated Networks The Pullbag Show. We've gotta

get going. I have been TF2 and Mike with Lady

Rect, Hihi Prime, and Nicole. Who had to suddenly

leave because she's got to go to work? Yeah.

And we ran over, of course. We always do. That's

what we do. We always do. We try not to, but

we always do. This is getting expensive. Sayonara,

aloha, and farewell, dear listeners. We hope

you enjoyed this installment of the crossover

of the GeekCast Radio Network's Holebag and the

Underbass. After the show ended, we did have

a little bit of a talk. Well... The other three

did. I had to be the responsible adult of the

group and head off to work. They're going to

kill me. But they did have a really good conversation

after I left. And I wanted to include it into

this podcast because they had some really good

insight about some stuff that I kind of glossed

over in the review. I didn't think we were going

to have enough time to put everything in. uh

we did so we hope you enjoy uh the next few minutes

of which i found interesting i love when a plan

comes together okay so my take for the solace

prime thing i i like what you said heather about

how you gave it a pass because of of you know

it's something new and it's it's it's it's a

new community this is their new belief system

but i'm still thinking back because i've been

following Everything since it started the more

than meets the eye and the robots and disguise

annuals of over two years ago now It'd be different

for me if that had been another writer like previous

like previous ongoing like Mike Costa ongoing

It had come way before Then I would easily be

like, okay, I get it new new writers, but these

are the same writers that wrote that It hasn't

been very long It's it's it's the same group

of people that have been doing it for the last

two years working on three now three years That

they wrote that and now they're coming and changing

things and kind of making it toward the 13 primes

and stuff like that I've never I have still not

been able to resolve that because it comes with

previous stuff now I know that other comic book

companies have been retconning their own stuff

for years and years and years, but IDW has had

a really good track record for not doing that.

And maybe it's just because they've only had

the license for so long, you know, a decade and

like, you know, maybe 12, 13, 14 years, something

like that. So, um, but the thing is, is it just,

it's, I, I, I'm, I get it. It might have been

a call that was out of their hands. It might

just be the product of the working. It might

be a product of the, of the relationship that

IDW has with Hasbro, that type of thing. And

if it is, it is, it is what it is, but it does

kind of, it doesn't get too confusing for me.

It's just, I liked the idea and I've always liked

what IDW has been able to build on their own

without IDW having too much say. Yeah, well and

them just giving them the leeway to do that and

I'm sure they still have that but there are some

calls I think that might Because of the product

of their working relationship, which is a good

working relationship It's the whole reason why

we're getting toys that look like some of the

ones that are in the comics And I'm not complaining

about that. I just I kind of wish that that that

this small bit of that was not falling into it,

but It's not enough for me to completely dislike

it or to say, oh, this breaks me and I can't

read it anymore. It's like, yeah, okay. It's

it is what it is. And I'm all right with that.

But, you know, so that being said, it doesn't

make me not like it. I do like the idea of solace

prime. I she's really cute or not cute She's

a she's a she's a chick with an axe and she's

awesome hammer. Yeah hammer Yes, but she you

don't mess with a with a woman with you know,

and she's a blacksmith, which is awesome Yes,

I mean we only got a first glimpse of her here

though, right? I mean this is only so who knows

what's gonna happen in the next issue or Maybe

this is all we're going to get. It's just a little

history story and then we're moving on, which

is fine because that's what we've done in the

past too. I think John did one of the issues

where he did that and I was not a fan of that

issue because of that. I need to get back and

read it again because there were parts of it

that some people took out of it that I listened

to under base review and went, oh, okay, I can

then think of it that way, but I guess I should

go back and read it again then. I just had such

a not -so -happy reaction to it when I read it

that I put it back in the sleeve and back in

the comic box and said, okay, I'll never read

that one again. See, I think the whole thing

with Solus Prime here is it's an introduction.

We may get more of it, but this is why, and I

don't know why IDW or Hasbro or whatever, this

is why the spotlights need to still go on freely.

if you look at idw and you look at their transformers

and their turtles titles with the main ongoing

turtles title they used to do micro series where

they would highlight one character but it also

fit into the rest of the story the events of

that issue and If we want to explore soulless

prime more, I don't see why they wouldn't do

a spotlight issue, but apparently the spotlights

are dead. So I hear what you're saying. And then

I think if I had a choice between a Rutgers two

and a history lesson, I would pick Rutgers two.

Yeah. I'm just saying for the ones like for this

little glimpse that we get of her and who knows

if she's going to I'm sure she's going to play

a little bit more into the rest of these other

two issues that are going to come from Windblade.

I'm just saying that For characters that are

that we may enjoy or we may want to know more

about but aren't necessarily In the main body

of the story. It would be nice to have a Spotlight

showing you you know, it would be nice to have

a separate issue showing you more of that character

So you can get more of that at the same time

getting the full story here Well, let me just

throw out some stuff that I've picked up over

the last little bit in regarding this whole history

thing. Part of it is from the interview that

the transmission guys did with James, and they

were talking about the different continuities,

and James said, if I remember right, something

about there's kind of an order and progression

to it where it starts out with the guiding hand

and all that, and then it goes... Knights of

Cybertron and then it goes 13 primes and all

that and there can be a progression and this

happened and then this happened and this happened

and that all works and then the thing that helps

in this issue is that it is specifically presented

as there were 13 primes who left Cybertron on

these Titans and formed colonies and we've also

had Galvatron talking about 13 tribes and I wonder

if maybe Those are the groups that were led by

these 13 primes. So, you know, if that's the

way they explain that, then I'll be like, Oh,

okay. See, that would be okay with me. It's I'm

getting convoluted with the idea of, of, of.

The 13 primes being like the guiding hand kind

of version of the things and we already have

that for Transformers prime and so it's it's

Confusing because it's not made very clear and

so when they start saying it's this and then

it's starting to sound like that It's just yeah,

that's that's another reason why I'm kind of

like well I maybe I just need to hold my horses

and let them Tell the story and get to the point

where they explain it to the point where I understand

what they're actually doing so I'm like And there's

that too. That's why I'm like, I just, I have

questions that haven't been answered yet. And

so until I have those answers, I'm kind of wishy

washy going, I don't know. I'm not sure if I

like this, but it doesn't really impact the rest

of the reading. So I'm going to say, here's this

little part right here that I'm not a fan of.

It's like, you know, Hey, when you're, when you're

eating food in, you know, like a salad and you

have peppers in your salad and you're like, I

don't like peppers. And you take them and you

take them out of the salad and still eat the

salad. Do you throw the rest of the salad away?

No, you just take out the peppers. Well, that's

what I'm doing. I'm like, okay, these guys are

the peppers. I need you to go up to John and

be like, John, I'm taking out the peppers. And

if he gets that reference, I'll say, oh good,

you've listened. Oh man. Yeah, no, I hear you.

I've used food in the past. to do a review, so

it seems to work. People get it really quick.

Yeah. Well, we'll see. It's always fun when they

start dealing with these really kind of deep

and profound ideas, when it's about more than

just robot A punching robot B, but when it becomes

kind of societal and socio -economical and lots

of other multi -syllabic words that I don't exactly

know what they mean. I mean, what Winslate is

doing to Optimus Prime. Yeah, all that stuff.

Yeah, all the interactions on Caminus and the

way they are shown as having a very sincere religious

-based society, which is going to be interesting

to explore. They are sort of what would happen.

They're the unfunctionist society. Where it's

a very strict Like I don't get the feeling they

have you know so much strata as Everybody has

their role everybody It's sort of Korea Maybe

like you do this and you do this and you do this

and these are the people in charge of this and

we all believe this So, are you trying to tell

us that Starscream is Kim Jong -Un? No, I'm actually

talking about Caminus and how it's very strict,

but I don't get the feeling that it's just completely

destructive. I don't want to say it's a religious

narrative, but I think Caminus is supposed to

be, in this first issue of Windblade, the whole

point of her holding Prime back was... because

they would see him as a god. And that's fascinating.

Yeah, it is. It is very much fascinating. And

it's one of those things where I just don't.

I just don't think three issues is enough. Yeah.

To give us more background on Caminus. It'll

never be enough at this point. Because we see

how Margaret is writing and we love how she's

writing this. We love the last one as well. And

she's doing a good job. She's got a really great

story. I'm really interested. I want to know

more. She's got enough of our imaginations with

what she's written and how the characters are

and whatnot. that we know that she can write

a good story. It would be great to see her write

more, but we get what we get and we just have

to not throw a fit. Exactly. Sorry. That's like

a thing my kids learned at kindergarten. Exactly.

It just doesn't make sense. Sorry. For all those

non -people out there that don't have kids and

say, oh, they're being corny now. Hey, my children

know Transformers. Mine do, too. Exactly. We

haven't had those debates yet, but we will. I

can guarantee it. Oh, man. Well, cool. I await

the days where I can have debates like that with

my kids. Like, yeah. It's like, I should take

you. I want you to meet a couple of my friends.

Here's Chris McFeely. Go. Yeah, it's fun. My,

my oldest is just big enough now that I can,

I can do that. I can be like, Liam, come look

at this. We need to discuss. I need someone who

cares. In terms of like the religious religiousness,

I like it. The fact that, like I said, it feels

very much like. Battlestar Galactica kind of

feel to it. But it's not overly done, you know

what I mean? It works just enough. And I get

the sense instead of them being more religious,

it seems that they're just more spiritual than

anything else. Well, that's what I meant about

it being a religious narrative. I was kind of

making a Beast Machines reference. was, you know,

right. I mean, that's, that's, we've, when we've

interviewed Margaret, she grew up on Beast Wars.

So she's a Beast Wars girl, which is not a bad

thing. No, not at all. Oh, I know. One thing

I'd like to bring up. Um, so last issue, I actually

really kind of flipped out a little bit when

39. Yeah, when Swindle and Menasor popped through

the portal and are like, yeah, we're on Kamenas

and we're going to clean house with it. And I

wrote in my review about how much I appreciated

that this was the first time in all of this whole

storyline of the bad guys go and ravage other

poor innocent planets that I've ever cared. Because

Marigold has made Kamenas a real place that I

care about and I care about their flights. And

we've never even been there and she cares. Yeah.

care about it because Windblade cares. In a way,

okay, I'm glad that Swindle and Menace didn't

actually succeed in going and completely ruining

these poor people. I'm glad it didn't happen.

But in a way, I almost missed that continued

sense of gut punch realism, pay attention, war

is not fun. Because every so often it's good

to be reminded that war isn't fun. I think that

guy that got squished Yeah, there was there was

yeah, there was some good stuff and but the the

sense of You know because because the end of

39 it felt like somebody going and you know Raiding

this, you know that this is cliche but raiding

the starving Ethiopians, you know and And I was

just like no And then once we got into this issue,

it was more big bots fighting, woo, ah, which

was cool. But it went back into, it went instantly

back into being, yay, fun, robots fighting, which

is kind of okay, because I didn't enjoy the feeling

of the rock in my stomach that I was carrying

around for three days going, huh, this is awful.

Yeah, just, you know, something worth bringing

up. That the narrative instantly changed and

turned to a completely new and very interesting

direction. Like, you know, it's like Windblade.

You know, she knows her people. She's seen enough

of her reaction on Cybertron on how, oh, Prime,

he's a god, but she doesn't like, kind of like,

you know, she has a fangirl moment. But she keeps

it to herself. She's like, I'm having a fangirl

moment. I'm hyperventilating. Hi, Prime. How

are you? We've all had those moments, right?

So she's had her moment and she's taken that

as, okay, now that I've lived on Cybertron for

a while and I see how disrespectful people are

to Optimus Prime. and who I like can't even fathom

why they would be disrespectful to him. Now,

now I'm realizing that, okay, the fangirl moment

has passed. Yeah. And I can actually talk to

him without hyperventilating going squee in my

head. And you know, Metroplex saying, what are

you doing? She's actually been through quite

a journey with Optimus Prime, especially in punishment

where she gets very, very disappointed in him.

And she calls him on the carpet. And she's like,

yo, what you're doing is not okay. That's not

what you're supposed to be doing. And she's always

been this outsider who looks at the way Cybertronians

interact and goes, you guys are nuts. And I think

that's what we need. And we need more of it.

Because if you look at the current state of the

Transformers series, specifically what's going

on on Cybertron and on Earth, We don't need humans

as the outsiders looking in. We need another

We need another Robot another Cybertronian that

is from one of these colonies like as wind blade

is we need that person to basically Smack us

around and say hey, what are what the hell are

you people doing? Yeah, it's interesting It works

because Instead of going to because there's issues

when you go back to earth because one it's a

completely different species to Human should

not be able to knock around transformers. I'm

sorry. No, we've had issues of this in the past

So that has has definitely played or played its

role and people have you know, given it a hard

time because of that. But the fact that we're

getting a new group, and here's the thing, is

that every single time they've introduced there

being another group of people that have been

separated from Cybertron coming back, everybody

has been pretty open to that. And so where you

have most of the audience saying, oh, we don't

want humans, now we've got this opportunity of

having a group of... Cybertronians who have been

separated from from the war and everything Coming

back and being the compass of the rest of the

group, you know They do they have to read they

need to they need to do a compass correction

and this group of people could be that people

and and wind blade is a really good a Point person

for that because of the position that she's in

and the fact that she's the first one that's

been there Well, and we've also had Drift and

a few other people, but people are not as receptive

to Drift as they are to Windblade. And I think

the reason why they are receptive to Windblade

is because one, she was a clean slate that was

written in a way that I think we all liked at

a time when we were ready to receive it. And

we didn't have people saying, oh, you will like

this person because they're awesome. It's like,

it's a fan made character because we voted it

that way. Right. And that's the thing, but they

never made a big deal. Exactly out of the fan

vote. Yeah, they said okay You need to vote once

you vote a winner will you know a winner will

be chosen or whatever you call it? They'll create

what we've given to the choices. They'll create

a character given those choices And yeah, there's

a few little hums and haws about you know What

should we look like and stuff like that for the

most part? I think people have been pretty okay

It's a it's a it's a female chick and she's got

swords and okay All right, we'll take this. How

often, okay, in the history of Transformers since

specifically 1984, how often outside of RC, Chromia,

Moon Racer, and Firestar, have we ever had a

female, I guess, well, she's not really an Autobot,

but a female Transformer to kick ass and take

names and also look at it, as we've already said,

in a very different light. Like, I'm waiting

for Marigold to write a line where it says, you

went through a four million year war. Why? You

know, I mean, because if you really think about

it, other than the Decepticons always need for

control and dominance, there was really no point

to the war because neither side has ever really

truly won. True. There were casualties on both

sides. And any time you have a casualty list

like that, I mean, you're both loose. You both

lose. After four million years, even thinking

about making a casualty list is futile at best

because there's going to be too many names on

it. They've decimated their planet, and I would

like to even say their culture. Those that left

them still have their culture. Were the wise

ones but those that stayed behind they were so

bent on killing each other that they everything

Everything fell by the wayside. It's gonna take

centuries to be able to build it back up and

they might actually Fold other people's belief

systems into theirs and change from then on so

it'll never be the same again And it would be

rightly so that way but yeah That is one one

thing too that I really It's interesting that

now we're going to have robots fighting again,

and it's been fun so far. But every time John

starts veering back toward the status quo of

good guys and bad guys fight, fight, fight, I

get nervous because I so desperately want to

avoid going back to that because we've had it

for 30 years and these guys have shown that they

can write new kinds of stories and I want them

to continue to do so. So the interesting thing

with wind blade the original series and When

I'm just gonna say when blade returns, I know

it's not the title of the series, but I just

like that The interesting thing is during the

course of this podcast we you know I was looking

for the whole thing where I said I think that

wind blade said that she was the You know one

of the last city speakers or one of the last

of the you know, whatever and I didn't find that

but what I found really interesting is we open

combiner wars wind blade number one with you

know dawn on on Kamenis and Wind blade number

one opened, you know dawn on Cybertron. Yeah,

so what what Margaret has done with the writing

and what Sarah has done with the art on both

series is they're starting their series, even

though they're very short, you know, four and

three issue series. Yeah, they're starting it

like, and I hate to make this, this pun is going

to make people grow. They're starting it as if

it's a brand new day. for the new readers coming

in. So not necessarily someone like, you know,

like you, Amy, who has read all of more than

meets the eye or robots in disguise or has been

following it for the last five years. Right.

Yeah. You know, someone that might just go into

a comic shop saying, Oh, transformers. I used

to like those as a kid and knew I want to see

this new story. Oh, it's a female transformer.

Okay. Let me pick this up. You can pick this

book up. And like Nicole asked me in the beginning

of the podcast, like Did you get confused at

all? No, because Margaret knows what she's doing.

And she does the point where she starts it with

being a new day and takes the story from there.

I have to believe that when they announced last

year at BotCon that they were going to do this,

like that night, like the day that, you know,

the hour, two hours before the panel started

is when they got the, they got the, Hey, we're

going to do it. And she's like, yay. So I'd like

to believe that she went back to her hotel room

that night and started sketching out an idea.

And this is the product of that a year later.

Yeah, I have no, I mean, I know we're already

kind of done with the podcast or anything else,

but I have no idea what to expect from the next

two issues in this because I mean, you leave

it off with. Optimus Prime is the god of Caminus.

It's like, you know, even if he is a quote -unquote

lying false deity to, you know, make the Chameans

believe, it's one of those things where I don't

know how the issue two is gonna start now. I

just have no clue. I wouldn't say that they're

trying to make them believe. They already believe.

They're just kind of using a little bit of that.

Well, I'm saying, like, since we pointed out

that Windblade is basically lying to everybody,

About Optimus and the Matrix and all that stuff.

She is making it look like he is or some I don't

care Well, I'm saying that's what that's what

my take was is that he's that he's just using

their beliefs and just kind of hyping it a little

bit so that they'll Pay more attention to Prime

than they will Starscream because on Cybertron

He is the elected leader but on camey Kamenis

I almost said Camino, sorry. Too much Star Wars,

you know, blaring in the back of my head. Okay,

so on, on Kamen, Kamenis, sorry, on Kamenis,

he's just part of their belief system, you know,

because he's a prime. Now he hasn't been elected,

but if they see him as that, he has a role that

he can play there without actually hurting anybody

because like, it's not like I'm He is in a sense

taking advantage, but he's doing it for a good

reason because if he You could trust that he

won't take advantage of them the way that Starscream

will Starscream will Make it so these guys want

to go like crawl back under their rock and never

see any you know other Cybertronians ever again

But the way that prime if he can not do the thing

that I guess wind blade reamed him over and you

know punishment if he's learned his lesson and

not do that here then you know everything's good

but you know i i have a sense that you know who

knows maybe wind blade will be there kind of

you know coaching him along the way say okay

please don't do this she has so far that's been

her you know my guess is that she's putting him

in like i said she says I want you to know I

want you to make a choice before I actually put

you in this position because I'm gonna put you

in this position because you're the You're the

lesser of the two evils To be honest that that's

what it is. It's it's true because she she really

has Unfortunately, you know because I'm always

like I want the Peter Cullen prime, but she has

seen him kind of at not miss necessarily his

worst but at She's seen him be flawed, and she's

still come to accept him. The bubble has burst.

She's over the past, especially the previous

Transformers issue and this. She has come to

be like, you know what? I'm going to trust you.

And it's a decision. And it's kind of cute in

a way, like, OK. Yeah, I think I think the the

interesting thing is I think what I'm going to

admit what I'm still missing at this point and

I hope I know most of this story is going to

take place on Caminus but I miss seeing Windblade

with Metroplex. I need some, I need to see some

Metroplex Windblade interaction because that

was one of the magical things about the first

series. Maybe we'll see something like that where

she's like doesn't know what to do and she turns

to him and he's like, you know, helps her find

her center so she knows what to do. I want to

see, I want to see those two. And then I also

want to see, um, Kamenous in Metroplex. Oh, that

would be awesome. Yeah, because those three issues

because we never get to see we never get to see

Titans have each other. Yeah, to be to be pals.

It's like, yeah, that'd be cool. And, you know,

as always, Alita one, you could do that. No,

no, I would like her to be somewhere else. I'm

shooting that down right now. I'm only throwing

that out because of just like. It's in my contract.

You know what? I think I would like to see them

do something different with her. Like, you know

how they've done a different thing with Arcee?

Maybe Alita One is the city. City former. I'd

love to see her be like on another colony, like

another colony's leader. That would make sense.

Oh, okay. Yeah. Or, you know, the Mistress of

Flame is really Alita One. On that note, I think

we need to go ahead and shut down because Jesus

Christ the crazy theories are flying That's what

a podcast is Okay, so final thoughts everybody

final thoughts Okay, all right Well, I look forward

to what we will get. I'm sad that we're only

going to get two more issues, but I will take

whatever they write and be happy with that because

it's better than not having it at all. But hopefully,

I mean, as things progress, maybe we'll see more

in the future from these guys. So, I mean, I'm

going to enjoy the next two issues that we get

and cross my fingers that there's more. Well,

you know, the other thing is, is that Oh, wait,

I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Oh, I am wrong. There

are four issues. It is four because it's it's

combiner wars epilogue. I'm just this is the

June solicitation. So folks, spoilers in case

I'm just saying June solicitation, Marigred on

writing, Corrin Howell on art. and Priscilla

Germantano on cover. More worlds, more problems

after the events of Combiner Wars, Windblade

and Starscream race to recruit the lost Cybertronian

colonies to the Council of Worlds, but which

of them will control the fate of Cybertron? Okay,

so maybe it's we're getting three issues of Sarah

Stone, and the final issue will be the new girl.

And that answers your question about the new

artist. Yeah, because I saw tweets going out

saying, oh, it looks great. And I thought, well,

she's not on this. Is she supposed to be a colorist?

What's going on? Yeah. Right. Right. Follow her

on Twitter, people. Everybody 42 for both series

or just no. 42 for Transformers and 42 or not

42 for Transformers and number four for Windblade

are the Combiner Wars epilogue stories. There's

a subscription variant here for this. Let's see.

What does it say here? The Combiner Wars are

over. A new universe opens to the Transformer.

Will a new Cybertronian Empire follow? Featuring

the art debut of the new Transformers Superstar

Korn Howl variant cover by Nato Tashuma? I probably

butchered that, but... Yeah, these covers look

pretty cool. I still miss Sarah, but these covers

look pretty cool. Maybe she'll have a cover for

that one since she's not doing the interiors.

Maybe. Cross our fingers. We love you, Sarah.

I wonder what she's up to, that she... because

it feels like she's got another project going

or something. I think she's been working on other

IDW things. Yeah. I want to say Dungeons and

Dragons, but I'm not sure. Really? They have

her on other titles. Oh, you bet. Her talent?

Yes. No, that wasn't me being like, what? She

has another job. That was me being like Dungeons

and Dragons? Okay. Although she'd probably do

amazing. See, I'm so jealous. I'm so jealous.

I'm like, how dare the blinking Dungeons and

Dragons come and get her when wee wee wee wee.

Yes, we need more of her on our robots. I'm completely

reasonable about this. Yeah. It's funny because

you get these, you know, new artists that come

on and they do a great job. You're like, we want

to see more of their stuff. And then they put

them on other IDW titles and you're like, wait,

we had them first. Yeah. We called dibs. Oh God,

it's like Sheldon. Thus I placed it in the spot

of eternal dibs. Our inner Sheldons are coming

out. We were here first. Just saying. Yeah, all

right guys, I'm starting to go cross -eyed yeah,

we're gonna yeah Thanks for joining us Oh gosh

Mike, I'm totally okay. Have any of you guys

read any Terry Pratchett? The idea of Starscream

being a seamstress is really funny, and this

is horrible, but because seamstress in Terry

Pratchett is code for a prostitute. Okay folks,

Starscream is a prostitute. Yeah, I think we

need to end the show now. Oh crap, I fail as

a human for bringing that up. Okay, moving on.

Alright, love, bye! See you later folks. Call

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