Transformers Windblade Combiner Wars Review

No, it was actually fun because my birthday cake

today had one of the Optimus Prime pictures that

I've colored on it. I gave it to them and went,

transfer this onto the frosting. And I just randomly

happened to get the piece with Prime's face on

it. So everybody is like, give me your face.

Previously on pulling your bag under the base.

Well, my next question is, what are your feelings

about Swindle not being part of Minasaur? Think

it's kind of crazy Like how It's just he's always

been a part of the stunta cons every incarnation

and 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 it just 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 Menaceur 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 combined

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 promise 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 combiner.

I kind of see it as that he's kind of like the

handler of Menasaur because he knows what it's

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

know, one of the dudes. But 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.

Okay, perfect. Yeah, you got it. This is truly

pathetic. Hello, TF2 and Mike and the Team Angel

ladies. Just a quick audio message in response

to your review of Combiner Wars Windblade 1.

It is not in fact crazy for Swindle to not be

a part of Menacer, as Swindle is not one of the

Stunticons. Swindle is a Combaticon. In every

incarnation. Well, every incarnation was a Decepticon

combiner, anyway. I'd have thought Mike, at least,

as a G1 fan would remember which team Swindle

belongs to, as there was that one episode The

swindle sold all of the combaticons parts. Though

to be fair, this new age of combiners swindle

would be Puzzle's hips he paid him off, but I

digress. Anyway, looking forward to your next

review, thank you and bye. Amy and Heather and

Nicole so Just calling in I really enjoy your

wind blade reviews and the crossover between

the under base and the geek cast pull bag show

so keep keep keep up the great work and really

enjoying those reviews and Just wanted to call

in and give you just a little bit of details

on the whole combiner thing I know there was

a little bit of confusion in the last episode

So I'm just calling in to set the record straight.

Hopefully this will be some useful information

for you and all the listeners out there. So Just

to clarify some things You know, Swendle, he

is a combaticon. So if since G1 he's been a combaticon,

you know, they formed Bruticus. And he was never

a part of the Stunacon team. And in the IDW series,

he has always been kind of this lone... Kind

of arms dealer extra legal guy who yeah, I mean

he is a Decepticon But he has never really been

part of the main Decepticon army He's always

been on his own making deals, you know trying

to look out for number one as swindle usually

does so back in the ongoing he did get some combiner

technology and make the Stunakons turn them into

combiner, Menasaur, but didn't really work out

for him. And now with Starscream giving him the

Enigma, he was able to repeat his combiner. And

I think the reason that... menasaur is still

unstable is that they added blackjack to the

mix and since as you saw from the previous wind

blade issue blackjack is a was a secret agent

for starscream and he was a little bit mentally

unstable that made menasaur even more unstable

so that's the deal with him and they did swap

out one of the uh stunakons because of course

there's a toy coming out so they swapped out

wild rider one of the original sunakons and added

an off -road as one of the new members Same with

the aerial bots, so Superion, they killed off

Slingshot, again, because of the toys, and they

added in the new guy, Alpha Bravo, who turns

into a helicopter, so that's the new member on

the aerial bots, and Powerglide as well, but

Powerglide, they haven't really showed him as...

being part of superion they just made him into

a gun in the toy so in the toys you can turn

it you can turn power glide into a gun that superion

can hold so i guess that's how they're complaining

come uh that's how they're uh claiming that he's

part of superion anyway uh but yeah so basically

you know hasbro and idw are working together

to have the comics somewhat line up with the

toys so that's the reason why we get a couple

of new characters in the comics and uh The funny

thing is though, but now after all this drama

with swapping out new members, we actually are

getting the original members as toys. So Slingshot,

the original G1 aerial bot who was swapped out,

he's getting a new toy, just getting a new name

called Quickslinger. And Wild Rider the Stunacon

who got swapped out is getting a new toy called

Breakneck. Go figure. We're already getting those

new toys Anyway, so I don't know if that means

they'll come back into the comics Maybe a slingshot

will make a miraculous recovery after combined

wars is over. I don't know anyway, keep up the

great work on wind blade looking forward to your

review of wind blade number two and Keep on trucking

and I'll be listening Hello, bonjour, hola, and

aloha, Google listeners. Welcome to the Underbase

and the Geekcast Radio's Pullback Crossover for

our second review, the second installment of

Combiner Ward's Windblade. I am your host, Nicole,

aka Hailstorm, and with me is the person that

does more wreckage than a Decepticon Raider in

a King Arthur's Court, you got Amy. I'm as high

as a kite right now. We've had a wonderful, what,

power of talking before this? Oh, it's been awesome.

And then we have the girl who loves Powerglide

but just doesn't know it yet. Heather, how are

you? I was like, who are you talking of? Because

you can lean on me! Yeah, one shall stand and

one shall fall and the fall will be Powerglide.

Lincoln still hate him. So you just don't know

it yet. Well, I mean, you know Sarah drew him

and so for five minutes He was cute, but I was

still and then he still said away we go So I'm

like, no, no, I don't care how cute Sarah draws

you. I still hate you And of course we have our

dweller in the depths Mike, how are you? I think

you really should have used burden hardest to

bear for me. At this point, that would be me.

Poor Mike, you got stuck with the dweller and

the devs. It worked for me. Alright, so... We

live in the web world, are you kidding? So before

we start, I've got a confession. Okay, so last

podcast, I made a big mistake. I think we all

made the mistake. Don't take the oldies, you

know. We all wore that one real good. I was,

I'll admit, I was in a hurry to get to work.

I was a little rushed. And I said something that

the world will not forget. And none of us caught

you or stopped you. In fact, you joined in! So,

to clarify, Swindle is not a part of Minasaur.

Okay, I know that. He never was. But for some

reason, when I read the question, that's how

it came out. And I apologize. But, to help things

out, I'm gonna take an idea. for one of my other

favorite podcasts. And I'm putting myself in

a penalty box. Oh no. Okay, so this is what's

gonna happen. I want all of our listeners to

go onto Twitter and hashtag penalty box for hailstorm.

And you put down what my punishment is supposed

to be. First of all, there is some rules. I did

not make rules with Alex Milne and I'm suffering

for it. So... She's gonna make conditions. Yes,

I am. I learned. Rule number one, keep it PG

-13 or friendlier, okay? Rule number two, it

cannot break my bank. So I cannot go like swim

the gonjis or, you know, can't do that, okay?

It's got to be somewhat reasonable to my wallet,

okay? So it needs to be someplace local. It's

somewhat local. And it has to be within a reasonable

time limit. You can't say, hey, go watch all

800 episodes of Transformers so you can learn

your shit because you're a moron. Okay? As much

as I'd love to do that, I can't do that in a

much time. Okay? She's got to work, right? She's

got to sleep and she's got to edit this podcast

and start the next one. I will not do everything

that is suggested, but I will... pick out two,

maybe three. So in other words, if people say,

take a hammer and knock your hand with it, and

then somebody says something else, she's going

to take the less painful of the two. You never,

hey, you what? Maybe I'm having a bad day, pain's

good, okay? It's, it's, I don't know. If there's

a bad karaoke song you want me to try to sing,

I'll give it a shot, you know? Well, I would

just ask you to disavow your love of cyclonists.

I already did. I've already told her on... I

already said it on Twitter. Oh, that's funny.

As a suggestion, telling her to watch all episodes

of My Little Pony is not a... punishment so I

am doing this in good graces that we will all

forget about this horrible horrible mistake we're

good we're clear all right and Alex no you cannot

participate I'm already in your debt I don't

want to say what I indebted to him. Don't tell

us off here, folks. No, I'm not saying it to

anyone. He's probably sent her art. Nope. Oh,

I would love that. I would love that. No, he's

making me do something. No. Okay. We're leaving

it at that. We'll just leave it at that. Okay.

Yeah, from this we learn, do not mess with Alex.

Exactly. Not unless you want to have, like, you

know, you want to die a horrible grizzly bear

death. So, yes, go on to Twitter. You could,

you know, at me at Beatle Steve or at UnderBase

or at GeekCastRadio. And then the hashtag is

Penalty Box for Hailstorm. Penalty Box for Hailstorm.

Got it. I'm doing this. out of good graces, that

we'll never speak of this again. Especially for

Charles. And for all of the Twitter accounts

that have tweeted at the underbase as well. I

won't name them all off because there's quite

a few. My only excuse, my only excuse was that

I was severely sleep deprived. My excuse was,

it's not an excuse, I was rushed by the need

to get to work that I had to rush. And I'm sorry.

It was our fault though, because we went over.

But, guess what, who doesn't have to work tomorrow

and who has 36 hours of being awake? One. This

could be interesting. It already has been. Interesting

is one word for it. Like I said, I will not remember

this conversation in the morning. All right,

so we're going to get to our comic book here

and we're going to start off with some covers.

Our first cover, the regular cover, is a Defensor

showing his mighty guns off there with a tiny

little animated wing blade on his shoulder. And

she's like saying, go hit her! Alright, and that

artwork is by Casey Coller, and Coller's by Juana

La Puente. We have this subscription cover. It

has Devastator doing what he does best, you know,

causing trouble. Artwork by Livio Remendelli.

and we have a retail incentive cover which has

superior on like flying over a city looking all

nice and bright with no like damage to him and

this says artwork courtesy of Hasbro so yeah

so this is like what's on the the toys I'm pretty

sure yeah I believe Marcello had something to

do with them, but I'm not quite positive on that.

Yeah, I still did this artwork and I'd like to

know. It looks really good. So, okay, Helen,

let's start with you. Which one would you choose?

I gotta go with the first cover, the Casey one,

because it's pretty and the colors are awesome

and it's fun and I love Wim Blaine. But yeah,

it's just fun and it makes you want to be there

but you know armored up so that you don't die

in the next second What about you Mike? I'm gonna

go with Livio's because I just really love when

he does covers because as I said last episode

I don't think his art style is seen enough of

course, you know, we'll talk about that in a

moment But yeah for as far as the cover to go

I like Livio's the best And that cover is on

fire, man. It is on fire. It's like, it's burning.

That could be literal. I am going to go, because

of the great intro to this issue, this cover

that Nicole went and he's showing him his guns.

I like that. That's cool. I'm going to go with

the Casey cover, because that's too awesome,

man. Yeah, this is one of those ones. I enjoy

all three, but I'm gonna go with Livio this time

because Devastator looks great. He looks really

cool. Devastator or Prahlostator? Prahlostator,

yeah. Yeah, I love my bad guys, you all know

that. So this story is written by Margaret Scott.

Story by Margaret Scott and John Barber. Art

by Livio Remendelli. What? What? What? And I'm

like, wait, where's Sarah? What's going on here?

I didn't realize this until somebody else on

Twitter was talking about Livio being on this,

this issue. And I went, no, no, no, no, no, that's

gotta be wrong. And I tried to correct them and

I went, are you kidding me? I was like, no, it's

Livio's not on this, isn't it Sarah? Yeah. I

rushed, I got this, I got this issue. I ripped

it open as fast as I could, and there was no

Sarah. And I just went, no Sarah? Wait, you ripped

it open? Isn't this on your computer? Well, yeah.

I opened it as I was just trying to illustrate

how fast I was trying to open it, to read it,

because I wanted to see. I was like, no, no,

no, Sarah's on it. I was in that little Twilight

Zone where I was believing that Sarah was actually

on this. And I went, what? Oh, cry. We also have

letters by Tom B. Long and editor Carlos Guzman.

So, we go to our first page and it says previously,

which goes back to Transformers 40, am I right?

Or is it 39? It's 40. Yeah, that's 40. I will

not make that mistake, okay? So, we've got Starscream

here in his pretty new body. And basically, he's

welcome the colony of Cheminus. Did you guys

read 40? Yes. I did. You didn't? No. Oh, am I

the only one that read it? I read it. Did you

read it, Nicole? I did too. Okay. Well, let's

just say this. I started reading Windblade and

I hadn't read 40, and after reading the intro

and going, huh? What? Feeling like I completely

missed something important. Yeah, I said, okay

I got like three or four pages into it and I

couldn't I couldn't get over my I don't I'm missing

something I know I am and It wasn't really bothering

me the first three pages. It was just the because

of the previously page I said, okay, I have to

go and read 40 before I go any further. So I

stopped reading I was like two pages in, I hadn't

gotten past Ironhide and Chromia talking, and

I went, nope, nope, gotta go do it, gotta go

find out what that previously page was hinting

at because I know I missed something important.

Yeah. Yes, you did. A lot happened in issue 40.

So basically it says right here, Starscream got

a new body because it's a new era and, you know,

he's a girl like that. Hey, there's nothing wrong

with some good fashion sense. I just lack it.

So I mean, you know, he does have that second

job as a seamstress. So basically Starscream

took the credit superior on saving the day. And

we also have a fix it and the so called protect

bots traveling. But that's error because it's

not fix it. It's first aid. I like super double

-checked that because I didn't want to be a dork

because now I'm super sensitive about being a

dork But yeah, totally first aid. That's that's

cool. So maybe it's maybe they'll fix it for

I mean, I'm sure they'll fix it for the trade

They might be able to fix it for the actual comic

who knows. Fix it, eh? Fix it, fix it. Yeah,

they might be able to fix fix it So and they

have they have a comatose guest who's having

nightmares about prime and spoiler alert that

comatose patient is Mirage. That made me chuckle.

I was so happy about that! I loved the Mirage

spotlight and no one has done anything with it

until now! It just reminded me, it reminded me

the last time that I remember, I think it was

at BotCon where John said something, no no no

it wasn't, it was some convention somewhere.

I don't think I was there, but I remember reading

about whatever and he was... talking about how

no one's done anything with Mirage. Who's seen

Mirage? Mirage hasn't been around for a long

time. That came rushing back and went, ah, now

I know why he said that. Because he was probably

writing that episode, probably writing that issue

at the time. Well, I remember like years ago,

John being like, I've been trying to write a

Mirage centric robots in disguise issue for ages,

and it just keeps. not happening. And so I'm

really stoked that it's finally happening. I

like to think that he's been throughout this

whole thing, he's just been hiding. He's a little

shy these days, Mirage, you know. You wake up

and you think that you're Decepticon. He's the

one that's been taking care of Buster. Oh lord,

no. I want to talk about Starscream for a minute.

Because this opening pose of his, why am I reminded

of the movie? My fellow Decepticons, as your

new leader, I - That was the whole point. Well,

we also find out that Prowl learns that Optimus

Prime and Windblade have stamped with Starscream.

Guess what, Prowl - He flipped a table over this,

I'm sure. He flipped a building over that. He

flipped a starship. And then we come to find

out that his secret agent has been none other

than Rat Trap. So, there you go. There we're

all caught up from issue 40. Almost. Mostly all

of us. Yeah. Yeah, just go read it Just you know,

so I have to say something here because like

it's the perfect time to say it because we're

gonna You know open up one blade go for it. Okay

now my Expectations for one blade because we

talked about it last episode last episode last

podcast Okay, one of my expectations was that

wind blade was going to be kind of contained

in itself and and do its thing alongside, you

know Transformers, formerly titled Robots in

Disguise. Now I opened this issue and read it

and went, oh, I see, it's taking place of what

Dark Cybertron did with More Than Meets the Eye

and Robots in Disguise. And Windblade has become

the other comic that's getting folded into this.

And so I'm like, I'm not like, at first I was

like, And I kind of had to get over that because

I thought, okay, well, you know, it makes sense.

They did it last time with the last event that

they did. This is supposedly another event, so

we're doing an event and that's what it is. I

just had to get over that and I went, but, but,

but, but I wanted to have Windblade like I had

the first Windblade. And yeah. So if you're not

reading the other half, the Transformers 39 and

40 alongside Windblade, you're missing half the

story. Yeah, you are. You have to read it. See,

I guess that doesn't bother me because I know

I'm picking up every issue of Transformers. You

know, so I'm not in that camp, but I could see

where if someone was just wanting one title,

we could kind of set you off because so much

happened in 40. I mean, previous page doesn't

really cover the whole. Yeah. Well, we have we

have a two page spread here that in case if you

kind of missed out on. Windblade, you kind of

get why the tensions are so high. We have people

on Achaemenus trying to pick up the rubble of

the devastation of the last battle that has taken

place. We have, is that Tall Tankor? I can't

tell over the watermark. It's one of them. No,

that's Tall Tankor, right? Okay. Well, they also

have new names in this too. That's true. So he's

insulting a damn bot. How rude. You're not going

to get anywhere with her. And then we have a

good little conversation here of Ironhide and

Chromia. And it's kind of like, okay, we agree

to be friendly. We agree that we all did things

wrong. Past is past. Okay. I think this is what

was needed just to have a conversation with these

two to get the loose ties out of the way. So

what do you guys think of their interaction?

Do you think all is good with them or is tension

still high? Between Ironhide and Chromia? Oh,

I think this actually needed to be done because

the fallout for what Chromia did in the first

Windblade, they do need to talk a little bit

about that. I'm kind of glad that they do that

just because And this isn't the first I think

we actually mentioned again a little bit later

in the in the issue too where they you know people

make mistakes such as how it goes and I mean

especially in Where we go with that, but it's

just you know I think it's good because it I

like those parallels because you know Chromia

made a mistake and it's been handled according

to wind blade So yeah I would think that even

after, you know, the leadership is kind of, you

know, whatever kibosh that they, it's been handled,

you know, between friends, I mean, these guys

have started to become friends, like, because

we saw how, what role he played in The First

Windblade, the, you know, these two, he kind

of was getting out of his shell a little bit

because he was, you know, pouting. The fact that

these two have kind of created a little bit of

a friendship now at this point, I think it's

good that Ironhide is that guy. He's like the

seasoned dude that's like, hey, look, I know

you made mistakes. It's okay. We all make them,

you know? And he would know that because like

in previous story, he's been punching people

in the face for their mistakes, you know? That's

true. Yeah, there's a lot of callbacks to All

Hail Megatron. with other stuff that happens.

There's a lot of cool parallels set up in this

issue between, wow, I'm sleep deprived too, something

that we'll get to later between Chromia and somebody

else, but I like what Ironhead says at the end

of their conversation, and it's a very kind of

real conversation, the way they talk with each

other, where they're not quite safe with each

other. I mean, Chromia's like, are you blackmailing

me? and and he's like no but he's also saying

you know i i know what you did and um and i thought

about reporting you but but i like what he says

about i saw the way you looked at wind blade

even after and it was the same way a lot of bots

looked at optimus the same way i did and the

fact that he he recognizes that she has such

a strong feeling of loyalty and friendship because

she knows what that is because he has it himself

for Prime. Yeah. And that's a cool way to sort

of resolve a lot of that kind of stuff that had

been hanging over Chromia is to just have sort

of an honest conversation with someone who's

kind of a no -frills guy like Ironhide is. And

he's been there and done that. Yeah, and he's

not going to sugarcoat anything. He's just gonna

deal with it, yeah. It's the wisdom of, hey,

I've been where you are and I had to deal with

it by myself, so I'm like a friend and, you know,

I get it, because I've been there. I didn't have

no stinking Matrix to help me. Channel in your

ear, Ironhide. Oh, oh, but guys, I love this

joke, where Chromie is using the gigantic wrench

and she's always nautica when you need her that's

hilarious it's awesome oh nautica we need the

world needs more nautica meanwhile it's nice

that they still remember each other that they're

still friends that they're not just like we have

now that she's not in our series she's gone and

forgotten right exactly and i'm glad that they

did that too yeah Yeah. They have Facebook. They're

keeping up with each other. Today on The Lost

Light. Yeah. Nautica sends copies of crap. What

is that called? The Lost Light Insider or whatever

it's called? Yeah, The Lost Light Insider. Yes.

No, she sends secret notes. Skids lives up to

his name. Okay. Is this guy's swerve for real?

Yeah. Onward. Onward. While this is taking place,

there's some things going on in Cybertron where

there's a council on what needs to be done. And

we have Starscream, Windblade, who are the leaders

for the two worlds. And Mistress of Flame decides,

well, if there's a tiebreaker, Optimus will take

it. And of course, well, Starscream being the

lovely guy heals. He kind of doesn't like that

because he thinks that, you know, he's gonna

side with Windblade. But Windblade's like, I

don't know. But you know what I like about this?

This page right here, Windblade shows that she

can be a leader. She steps up, she proves her

point, she doesn't take sides, and... She throws

his point back in his face, which is awesome!

Just a little bit of setup here if you, like

I said, haven't read 40... must, they basically

started a little council thing and it kind of

like, I like that this is kind of the natural

evolution of what they're going back to. They're

creating a council and they're going to make

sure that every person, every community, that

every off world group that comes back will have

a place, they will have a vote, they will have

a person on this. Which is awesome because it's

so time for a new style of government in Transformers.

Yeah. if they're going to continue this post

-war thing. Yeah. I don't think someone's happy

with that. No, no, he's not. And he says, oh,

this is going to come up as another primacy.

It's like, oh, yeah, I see what you did there.

But you know what? And then Windlay throws it

back in her face. It's like, well, you know what?

If you're going to be the one that's going to

be like, no, my vote is the only one that counts,

then that turns into a dictatorship of its own.

That's a dictatorship. Yeah. I don't think, though,

that that's the Mistress of Flames there. I think

those are the yellow one and the red one that

have been hanging out. Oh, the other city speakers.

Yeah, the other two cities. Yeah, because I didn't

even think they're city speakers because A, they

don't have the eye markings and B, they were

just kind of soldiers. I was looking for the

eye markings and they're not there either. I

apologize. That's all good. She'd be standing

higher than crime. Yeah, but in the top panel

you see them, and yeah, she is a girl because

she has golden lips, but yeah, her body type

is different. I apologize. The bottom panel,

it's like, this is not what the therapist told

us to do. They are the old married couple of

this book. I'm wondering if there's a typo because

this doesn't quite make sense. Windblade and

Starscream are getting in each other's faces

and Windblade says, only the very stupid or very

blunt speak everything they say, Lord Starscream.

And I'm like, what? Because everybody speaks

everything they say because they're saying it.

So I'm betting that Jon meant everything they

mean. Okay, but that's another one that I'm like,

hey anybody wants to edit that that would be

good I need that was gonna hire you girlfriend.

I I've done so much editing for people So the

problem that means you're good at it Got it from

my mom. Well, it could just be that like, you

know, maybe she's like, you know, she's Little

nervous, frustrated, and she just, you know,

kind of like I am on this podcast now. I'm not

nervous and frustrated, though. I just can't

talk because I can't talk. See what I mean? See

what I did there? Yeah. Between the four of us,

we have one mind. Yeah. Oh, wow. That's scary.

Did you just say that we are the hive? No, I'm

the queen. She's the blort queen. Resistance

is futile. I love this next page. I love Waspinator

so hard. Ow, Waspinator not see anything. He's

always at the wrong place at the wrong time.

So we do go back to Kamiya. Did I say that right?

Is there somebody in some issue lately who goes,

came here and then like, no, it's him. I read

40 and circuit does that. So now it's just like,

it's in my head, nice and fresh. So anyway, we're

back to Ironhide and Chromia. Things start to

get a little personal with the two, but a friendly

little bud comes screaming for his life, and

he's brought a big friend. A big friend with

a big mouth. Prowl and the Constructing Conns

tell the Cybertronians to leave for their safety.

Unfortunately, Spark Sucker gets a face full

of cannon blaster there. I feel sorry for him.

The firecon's getting the best of us. The core

firecon. Yeah. Oh man. Who is it that like absolutely

loves the firecons? Adam. Yeah. He should have

been a little quieter because apparently people

are listening and are just like, if we do this

we'll torture him. Ah ha ha ha. Marigold's like,

ah ha ha ha ha. It's kind of like Marigold with

her insecticon killing. Well the thing is he's

a fire con. He's built out of fire. He is fire.

You can stand heat so This cannon blast was gonna

hurt, but it's not gonna destroy him. I hope

not He's later on into issue as well True I just

had to say that though because you know gotta

get my digs in for the scrounge, you know killed

him We've got Waspinator back. He was the one

that was the whole Metroplex key. Now he's bringing

Devastator. He was in Windblade 1, you know,

he was the guy that was, you know, loving on

the sludge of the... Thank you so much for putting

it that way. He was so adorable in that. I mean,

come on, you know. It was good. It's like he's

loving it all the way. I loved how Rats were

like, I can't see anything, and Ironhide's just

like, oh no. And Chromia's just like, I'm not

feeling a lot of warm fuzzies about Cybertron.

Well, just to put a little bit of, like again,

back in issue 40, Prowl comes back to Cybertron,

doesn't tell anybody, and he's really upset that

when he got on the phone to Prime, that Prime

lied to him. Yeah, so. I've omitted some information.

I'm sure that doesn't help the situation because

now he's like, I will fix it myself. I just got

a question. Do you think Prowl's ever been happy

in life? Not this version of him, no. Only when

he's flipping tables. Yeah. Yeah, I really can't

think of a time when Prowl was happy. I got a

great idea. You know what? After all this is

said and done. They're gonna have him weight

tables. That would be brilliant! At Swerve's!

That'd be Swerve who's boss! That would be amazing.

No, because Blur would be not in my place! Uh

-uh! Uh -uh! Go put him somewhere else. And Rodimus

would be like, oh gosh, please don't put him

on the lost light. And he's on Swerve's. I would

love to see Swerve at the boss morale. Oh my

gosh, that'd be awesome! And Prowl can't really

accomplish anything because Swerve never stops

talking. Exactly. He keeps showing off his little

blaster. Okay, so... We were talking about Prowl,

you know. So anyways... Again, we go back to

Cybertron. Again, this is one of those issues,

like last issue. We went back and forth between

worlds. So it's like... Yeah, it's easy to get

lost. I sometimes just like, it works. Yeah,

it is. So we have the O fortuna. I love that

they say that. It rides back on Cybertron with

Mirage and the rock crew. Mirage... After a long

time in a coma, wakes up just like, ooh, wow,

that was a good rest. He just needed a good nap,

apparently. This little jump off the gangplank

is adorable. Well, he just barrels out of the

ship and he runs to a face. A face we haven't

seen for a while. Why, hello Sunstreaker, how

are you? Where's Bob? I know, where's Bob? Well,

cuz those two have got some history from back

in All -Hell Megatron So it's still it's just

kind of fun to even just have people bump into

each other to be like, ah, I know what happened

I'd like to believe this because my guess that

he's here now because he wasn't a lost light

He came here after Dark Cybertron that type of

thing. I'd like to kind of believe that Bob dumped

him Bob is still in the lost light. There you

go I love that little guy. He's so cute. Bob's

like, greater chance of finding Turbo Fox friends.

Not on Cybertron. Well, their interaction is

pretty short, and we find out that the nightmare

vision that he's having of Optimus is coming

true. He hates being right. We found that out.

But before he could get the word out, Chromia

sends out a stress call. and saying that Caminus

is under attack. Even though they have help,

more backup is needed because Devastator is running

amok. So, I mean, okay, let's talk about this

last panel, foreshadowing a little bit. Optimus

has the protect bots basically standing behind

him. Yep. Yeah, so you kind of see where this

is going. I gotta say, do you love that panel?

My favorite panel is the Perhaps, but it is not

my panel, where Prime's just like, anger eyes.

Yeah, the wheels are turning. What is Prowl doing

now? Yeah, she's like, Prowl is, and it's Prowl's

own darn fault, because he just will, he is not

a team player. Not anymore. People stop trusting

him. Yeah. Optimus has got that look like he's

the babysitter, and it's the problem child over

again. That was one place where I actually like

really heard like even almost like the movie

verse Peter Cullen voice where he's just like

angry prime So every time I see Powerglide all

I can hear in my head is and away we go It's

a bad thing It's a good thing. Remember, you're

the girl who loved Paraglide, you just don't

know it yet. I will find a way to get revenge

on you for giving me that nickname. Uh oh. Everyone

has revenge to speak. That's true. Put in, you

know, penalty box for hailstorm, and there you

go. Exactly. What a way to plug your own hashtag.

Oh, I can't wait to see what people come up with.

Again, PG -13 people. Okay. Okay, so, Ironhide

and Prowl. Well, Prowl's in Devastator, but we

all know that he's the one in control. Those

other bots I really feel sorry for. They don't

care as long as they're smashing. I think if

anything they're just, like, you know, giving

the subliminal message to Prowl. Be angry. Be

very, very angry. Well, that's actually, that's

the point of this whole entire series, is that

The construct icons know that once they merged

they're not in control proud doesn't understand

that and he's slowly being subsumed in the Devastator

identity. Yeah, he doesn't recognize that's what's

happening to me. I mean we you know, he has the

red eyes now on occasion and Yeah, I like it

the last panel of the previous issue of 40 he's

got red eyes and and he's just does not get it

I mean superior on has that conversation of I

think, yeah, this was last issue, too, with Prime

about, no, this is a oneness that I don't think

you understand. Yeah, when he was talking to

Silver Bowl and he was like, no, no, I'm not

Silver Bowl, I'm superior. I genuinely think

that at this point, Ironhide's talking to Prowl,

but it's probably mostly Devastator talking back

to him. Prowl thinks he's in charge, but he is

not in charge anymore. I really hope he becomes

one, and the Devastator personality comes out.

They actually color the head in green and purple,

because the red and white just look stupid on

a green and purple body. I like it! You hush.

It just looks stupid. I think it's necessary

to put it there, specifically because it is growl.

Because maybe at some point they might bring

back... Well, you never know. No one stays dead

and, you know... Tresmores forever, so my guess,

but for right now, I think it's kind of necessary

just because if not, you'll forget that it's

proud. Well, maybe not forget. No, no, no, no.

I know. But I'm saying I want to see a if the

Devastator personality takes over more, I want

to see more of a color change as we go along.

I'm not saying I don't want to see it here right

now. I mean, it's fine right now, but still.

The colors just look weird to me. I like it.

I like it. Because that needs me some pathos.

I live on that stuff. So it's just like, yep,

there's Prowl, part of Devastator. You have feels

about this, children. Go. Yep. Well, we have

Ironhide and Prowl here having their test. It

has a wasp in there, and that tank or bring on

some comic relief. It's too adorable. One wants

to change his name to Better Tankor, the other

one says Fast Tankor, and then Ironhide says,

uh, that's not what they call you behind your

back. Well, we find out that Prowse like duty

doubles duty as he's also talking to Wasp the

neighbor. This guy's very talented with all the

communications he can get out. And then during

this... What? What's that in the background?

What do you hear? Oh, it's Superion. He makes

his entrance. I guess it's gonna happen. Booyah!

Here we go. Bot action. You know what's really

funny about this whole thing? Because like, and

I forgot to mention this, and I just remembered

I was gonna mention it. Okay, so at the very

beginning, they're talking about the Decepticons

being helpful, right? Okay. Yeah. Prowl, Prowlestator

comes - Barging in there and says, okay all the

decepticons and all you people get off here,

you know He's basically saying you can't trust

the decepticons and that's the reason why I'm

here to get you guys off this planet because

I'm gonna protect it I don't know what logic

you're using but you're getting on about the

decepticons. You are a decepticon I can't wait

for one of the people there to call him out on

that. Wait, really? There's one of you that's

a Autobot the rest of you are decepticons Where

did you think that you were, like, immune from

this, Devastator? Wait, so this is kind of like

what I tell everyone, I'm a good girl, and no

one believes me? We don't believe you. No, it's

not the same thing, because he's way more destructive

than you are. I'm just waiting for an Elaine

to come to his George and, you know, take the

chapey off and throw it out the window, please.

I hate this thing. So, can I say, for the next

couple pages, we've got this huge, big bot fight.

This is comic book porn to me because I love

when robots fight. Okay? I have to say I agree

with that. This is really fun. And there's a

lot of good hits. And really destructive, but

you know, it's all in the name. Olivia does destruction

well. He does, yeah. So, and like I said, the

onomatopoeias, love it. Like that. Okay, here

we go. Oh, but he won't be down for long. We'll

get to that. Meanwhile... I should just say back

at the ranch, back on Cybertron. Back at the

ranch. The robot ranch. The robot ranch. They

are notified that Devastator is looking up to

his name and is taking down the space bridge.

So after Devastator has taken down Superion,

he's going to go towards the one tool they could

get to get more help. I was honestly worried

that he was going to take off Superion's head,

just saying. Okay, this is another thing. He

keeps on talking about decapitating people. You

notice that? You're right, yeah. Because he brings

it up again. And I think it's because that's

his main fear, because he is the head. Cool,

I hadn't really thought about that parallel,

but I had noticed that he brings up decapitation

a lot, but that's an interesting - Yeah, because

if he didn't take off his head, Devastator's

not Devastator. In my personal opinion, that's

not Prowl either, because I think Prowl gets

off on being in the combined mode. He probably

doesn't think about it. Prowl has always been

the guy who works in the shadows and doesn't

ask for any recognition. I mean, I'm thinking

back in the issue that I think Nick wrote about

Prowl and Cup and Springer. and Prowl kind of

reworking Cup and using him as kind of almost

a mouthpiece. I'll have number 15, you mean?

Yeah, thanks for knowing the number. I have to

memorize that one just because it's so good.

It is good. But this idea of the Constructicon's

influence allowing him to let loose that thing

that he never ever has of just taking what he

wants instead of having to plot for it and work

behind the scenes. And that's just interesting

that I could see how he could really become sort

of addicted to that. Just being like, fine, power,

take what I want, do what I want. You guys are

all crazy. Well, power is a very addictive drug.

That's true. That's very true. That's why I'm

never allowed it. That's why I'll probably never

be in charge of it on the podcast. So, all right,

so we've got him destroying the space bridge.

People are trying to figure out what to do next.

And Prowl is basically saying, we're all gonna

die. He's taking on rat traps. There's no hope

for any of us. Together we shall die. And it's

just like, wow. For a guy who... His main motive

is like a police vehicle to protect and serve.

He's really thrown that to the wind, you know?

So, do you think that there's still hope for

Prowl at this point? Him taking down the spray

strip, him saying that we will all die together.

I think he needs to have a session with Rung.

He does. He's like, he's talking about dying.

He's like, are you depressed? Is that the reason

why you're doing all of this? Really dude all

you had to do is just go talk to wrong Okay,

not that that would fix things right away, but

still I mean kind of you know is he having a

hard time just to sing Seeing where he will be

in a you know post -apocalyptic Yeah, the the

end of yeah post -apocalyptic the world that's

trying to rebuild itself cuz like that's You

know I mean if I were primed I'd be like hmm.

You said you wanted to die Okay, let's talk about

that Where's wrong when we need him, right? You

know? It's like, okay, well, there's a place

for Prowl. He just needs to learn to be able

to let it go. Because, and this is something

that we get to at the very end, so maybe I should

reserve my comments for then. Because we do have

a point. Yeah, we're going back to Kamenis, where

Ironhead and Chromia are noticing that they're

destroying the space bridge. I could talk. And

so my girl Chromia, yep, she's stepping it up

and she gives a great like war speech. She rallies

up the troops and she wants to make sure that

this Devastator doesn't destroy this bridge.

Ironhide, all of a sudden he becomes the 19 year

old bot again and he has great memories of taking

down a combiner. Beautiful look on his face like,

oh yeah, it's on. I love this next page as they

come running through the space bridge, taking

down the prowl stater there. Okay, this is really,

it's just gorgeous. But yet we have Optimus in

the background here. I don't think he gets what's

going on. Optimus, I think he's kind of lost

right now. He sees his friend and he wants to

help his friend, but then that excludes everyone

else around him. So he's get trying is getting

torn by saving an old friend, but wind blade

being the awesome gal She is she steps in it

kind of confronts him. Do you think that was

the right move? Yeah, because she Optimus needs

to be gut -checked Optimus doesn't know what

the hell is going on. Like you said I mean He

can't just be out to save his friend don't get

me wrong saving a friend is one of the most noblest

things you can do But if it's going to be at

the cost of two planets, you need a bitch slapping.

You know, the thing is, is he's like, I can still

reach him. He's like, that that might be true.

But in the meantime, devastation. Hello. I kind

of get it. Like he's this is absolutely personal

to him. I mean, in the past, he's even said this.

And, you know, superior is on the ground right

there. Poor superior, especially after, you know.

We know that Optimus Prime was like, you know,

don't use him as a weapon. And he's obviously

been used as a weapon. Prowl is just one of those

other people. And I think the thing is, is that,

and this is very Optimus Prime, is the fact that

he knows that Prowl has been struggling and he's

tried to give him his opportunity to deal and

he hasn't done it. In fact, every single time

Prowl, every single time Optimus is turning around

and walking away and then turns back, Krell is

doing something that he shouldn't be doing and

he should be sidelined. And I think at this point,

it's kind of like the crap. I should have done

something. I should have seen the signs. He's

being guilty. He feels guilt because that's what,

you know, Optimus Prime does in the past. He's

very much on par on that, but he's still got

this idea that he can reach him. And I think

at some point he's just going to get to a place

where he's unreachable. And I don't think Prime

has realized that yet. And I think he is at that

point. He's very much borderline on that. It's

an interesting contrast. You see a cool contrast

between Starscream's way of handling it, Windblade's

way of handling it, Ironhide's way of handling

it, and Prime's way. Because they all have kind

of their different ways. And Prime has always

been the guy who's going to deal personally with

people as individuals. Ironhide's like... I know

it works to go up and punch the combiner in the

face, and it's really fun. And Windblade's still

being the diplomat, but she is coming at it from

the outsider stance, where she doesn't really

revere Prime the same way, especially the rest

of the cameons do. You know, she's very separate.

from everything else. So she's able to look at

it very clinically. And you know, Starscream

is Starscream. Where he's kind of in panic mode

at this point. But yeah, he just wants, as usual,

he kind of has shaken the dice and really hopes

that they come out his way. Well, speaking of

Starscream, we'll continue on with him here.

He likes to show up his body very well. As he

has hidden the enigma away somewhere in his body.

He's pulling it out. I don't know where he hid

it. That's just his little secret, okay? I like

how in that panel he's like, speak to the hand,

Windblade. He's like, I don't know if I can handle

this. Apparently this relic isn't just combining

magic, but it has healing powers. And it brings

the boys of Superion back standing in good force.

So, aha! But wait, there's more! Yes, Wendell.

Oh, there's more. With a smirk and a little plan,

Starscream dressed the old fortuna crew, willy

or not, to become Devastator. And we get this

beautiful cast. No, no, no. Not Devastator. We're

not gonna make any mistakes this time. Defensor.

Defensor, yeah. I did it again. It's okay. We

caught you this time. I actually have it in my

both start with D -E. D -E -F -D -E -V, get it

right. I'm deaf. We'll call them F -E and D -E

-V just to confuse people. It just ticks me off

that I have it written down and I still didn't

read it correctly. 36 hours without sleep is

an adequate excuse. It happens. It happens. Things

look the same. Amen to that. You guys are all

looking the same to me. I love how Starscream

just does not care. He's like, you guys have

worked together for a while, right? No, we just,

you're in sync with each other, maybe. Good,

this might work. Here you go. He does not care.

Yeah, so so with this beautiful panel, he said

he's just like, okay Let's try let's put you

guys together and let's get the fist to the face

on Okay, consider yourselves drafted. I loved

that line. I love that line, too So what you

guys think of just Starscream taking this drafting

mode and just shoving few bots together saying

hey go for it Do you think this would work with

other bots? I'm sure it would. Starscream doesn't

care. All the power that Starscream has is terrifying

right now. Prowl's right that that's a massive

problem. That is a massive problem. He doesn't

care. He just wants to win. He just wants to

win and he wants to yield the power the way that

he does. The whole combiner, the enigma of...

What is it called? Okay, I was gonna say, it's

not the power of the Sword of Power, okay? He

has the power. Oh, sorry. Anyhow, it's this little

gimmick thing that heals people and combines

them. There you go. You know? Powerful, fun,

but why does Starscream have it? Again, Scoop,

why did you do that? Carl does have a point,

but he didn't have to go all Destructo -Man.

Get his point across. And here we have our second

major fight of big bots just duking it out. We

got three this time, so it's leveled up. Now

I know why they called it Combiner Wars, huh?

It's a big war. I love when Defensor comes online.

Target Devastator mission destroyed. Superion

agrees. Of course you would agree. Yeah, so with

several exchanges about strategy, it all comes

down to the new boy, Blades, who flies right

through the torso of Devastator. That was awesome!

How awesome is that? I was like, you guys got

it, he's won me over. Booyah! I love that panel.

Through the chest. I love how surprised Proudly's

like, ah! Didn't expect it through the chest,

did you? It's all fun and games until somebody

gets plowed through the chest. I hate it when

that happens. You know, that's when a good sports

bra comes in handy. Or, in their case, a good

sports bro. Yeah, fancier. So, I can't tell from

this watermark on the next page. But is Prowl's

head completely detached from Devastator? I think

Prowl is detached from Devastator. But he's not

in head mode, though, right? No. He's just falling

apart. Okay. I can't tell. That's what I wanted

to ask. In fact, this top panel, which I will

totally go off about when we get to the art,

you see Devastator falling apart. Yeah. And then

there's Prowl kind of lying on the ground. I

just could tell if it was just his head, because

he's been talking about decapitating people.

I thought that would be ironic at first. In a

second another life, Prowl is the queen of hearts,

off with his head! Again, here we have Optimus

having a hard time explaining, with the expectations

of crime, that he's still wanting to help Prowl.

Again, Windblade steps in. She shows her authority.

This is why I like Windblade. This girl, this

woman, has definitely changed in the year that

we have known her. She's grown to be such a big

character. But Starscream matches her authority.

He's like, no. If he's going to be tried on this

world, he's going to be tried on ours. So, poor

Prowl. It's not looking good for him, because...

Yeah, everybody wants a piece of him now. I'm

pretty sure lifetime sentences for Cybertronians

is a long time. And he's done a lot, so... Do

you think that Prowse should be tried in both

worlds? No. Not two separate trials, but he should

be tried. He should be tried on Kamenous, because

that's where he actually did something. Here

he hasn't really, you know, he's fighting a lot

of people, but I think his first offense is the

fact that he showed up on a planet where he had

no authorization to do so. And I think that that

seems to me where the problem is. Starscream

wants to do something to him just because it's

Starscream and, you know, power to his head.

Optimus Prime wants to give him a chance because,

you know, it's his friend and he knows better

and, you know, he knows him, but he's like, you

know, dude, why are you acting like this? But

I think what really is important is the fact

that he says, like, one of the other chameleons,

like, they say, you know, Prime, you would defend

this monster because, hey, he's a monster. Why

are you defending him? Those poor chameleons

are in for a really bad letdown when they realize

that Prime is not God. Yeah. Yeah. Because that's

going to happen. that. Hustog could be disappointed

with that. Really. Yeah, I agree that Prowl should

be trying on Caminus, but I hope to God they

don't show a friggin' trial again. Why? That

was so boring the first time. You mean Megachan's

trial? Yes. I would watch it just for the Tyresti

crown. No. I doubt they're gonna have a chance

because... Yeah. There's too much craziness going

on. I will say that Starscream was screwed up.

That's a fair assessment. I think it's fair to

say that even he knows that his power on Cybertron

is limited to Cybertron. Which would be good,

but the more he struggles... Here's another.

reference for you. The more he tries to tighten

his fist over Cybertron, the more it'll go right

through his fingers. Yes, that's exactly what's

happening to him. Well, we also see that things

are starting to cool down. Chromia steps in and

she says what could be wrong with Prowl. It's

not hate, but it's fear. She starts talking pretty

much about herself. We have this great interaction

with Chromia and Windblade, not just an actual

you know communication but there's also non -verbal

communication which is greatly exchanged here

and you can see the devastation both their eyes

and they both understand each other so at this

point do you think wind blade has totally forgiven

chromia for what's happened i don't think that

it was ever i don't think there was ever in question

whether or not she forgave her i mean because

she still has her by her side she didn't send

her back she could have she didn't She could

have said, I don't want you on my detail anymore.

You're, you're going to, you're confined to Metroplex.

She didn't. It just, it just seems like to me

that like, you know, she had to put her in her

place, but that's as far as she went with it.

I don't think she went like overboard because

when it all comes down to it, they're still almost

like sisters, right? Yeah. and so like she made

a mistake and she gets it but you know and that's

the thing is that i think that that that is another

thing that kind of is important here is that

she's willing to forgive chromia to a point i

think that you know that there's still a little

bit of a gap between the two of them over it

because you know feelings and all that they're

willing if she's willing to forgive chromia are

they willing to forgive prowl the same reason

for the same reasons. I mean, it's kind of like

the same way that Prime is probably going to

have to face with Prowl. A longtime friend, pretty

much brother -in -arms guy that he thinks probably

has a brother, he's going to have to go through

the same emotion as Chromia and Windblade have.

Yeah. Well, that's how it works in families.

I mean, sometimes someone does something that

really destroys your trust in them. But that

doesn't mean you're not family, it just means

that you're a little more wary around them. Yeah,

that you have to rebuild trust. And yeah, that

seems to be what's going on. I think there's

nothing more telling than having a panel that

we're, you know, prowl is screaming, things don't

change on this. But he has, he has so changed.

Oh yeah. He has so changed. I love that panel

too. Devastation again. Livio, awesome. I honestly,

at this point, especially with the last two issues,

I kind of think Prowl is gonna be dead by the

end of this arc. Like, straight up dead. Because

he is unwilling. He is stuck in the same mode

Chromia was stuck in, in the Windblade thing,

like Chromia's talking about, where you are so

hung up on a threat that you can't see anything

else. You know, you're saying that Prowl has

changed, but in a way, he is the one that hasn't

changed. He has not been willing to change his

viewpoint. And he's just like, these are dangerous.

I can't accept that anything might have changed.

So I'm going to continue on in my course. And

he's not willing. to let go. Now, granted, he's

still kind of right. Starscream still has way

more power than he should, but Prowl is not dealing

with it in any way that's good. In a healthy

way. It's not healthy at all. Not for him. But

I think that's the whole point. If anything that

comes out of all of this is that it makes Optimus

Prime, and I think it does, because, you know,

you get the panel of the last, well, second to

last page, that last panel just before you get

the big full panel. Where Prime says, I do see

the cause of his concerns, and he's looking at

Starscream. And we also have our fellow bodyguard,

I guess. I thought that was the Mistress of Flame,

but it's not. I don't know their name. I don't

think they have names yet. Yeah, I don't think

they do. They're asking Starscream to help. to

help him by lending one of the combiners to stay

on the probe. And of course, it's like he's more

than willing to help because that Starscream,

he's a helper, right? Yeah. Okay, what I like

about this last page is you can't see Starscream's

fingers. I like to think that he has them crossed

when he's saying that. That's awesome. Oh sure,

I'll help you. Not a problem. He was the one

that made that problem. Just saying. So we have

the end of our comic, and we have this gorgeous

panel with the two combiners and Starscream and...

And the fire! And the fire! Yep. So... Flame

of fire! Ring of fire! There you go. So, now

that we've gone through it, let's talk about

Livio's artwork here. We've talked about a couple

panels here and there, but... Overall, Mike,

let's start with you. What do you think of? I

know it's not Sarah, but it's Livio and so...

It's not that it's... I love Livio's art. I love

his designs. It's just, as I said in the last

podcast that we did on this series, these are

characters and this is a setting that Marigret

and Sarah came up with together last year. And

I think it's a disservice. I don't know what

Sarah's doing. like when she's not on this issue

I do know just by solicits if solicits can be

believed that she'll be back for issue number

three but it just I've gotten over the fact that

it's not Sarah in this issue and I still in very

I mean Livio does Livio does art like High Moon

Studios does video games I mean seriously every

time I read a Livio book I'm thinking okay High

Moon Studios can take this artwork and make a

video game out of it it is that beautiful but

it just Bugs the hell out of me, and it's just

a little, little thing that just bugs the crap

out of me that it's not Sarah. I think if this

is good, if they all put them all together back

-to -back like they're supposed to in train,

I think it will work out. That's just me though,

so. It's gonna be fine. I think honestly... I

don't actually miss Sarah in this because this

is still, it's like when it was Dark Cybertron

and it was still very much John's story. Like,

I mean, you'll notice I messed up earlier and

I was saying, you know, John, you might want

to fix your wording right here. And then I forgot

that this was actually written by Marigold. Between

the fact that Livio's drawing it and it is this

Minor Wars story and not a focused Windblade

story. I had just, you know, We just kind of

lump it all under the umbrella of John Barber.

So yeah, it'll work. I do really, really, really

hope that if and when they continue on with Windblade

as its own series, independent, that we can get

back to Sarah, because she does bring something

that no one else does, and I really enjoy what

she brings to the table. This was beautiful.

what Livio did there were there were a couple

of of Parts in the fight where I honestly can't

tell what's happening and that kind of irks me

Like especially on on the pit like if you guys

can tell me this would be awesome. Okay, so for

instance, there's the page when the two good

combiners are teaming up a Devastator and he's

all by all means try and then there's the panel

that says old moves, Devastator, Superion learns,

and I can't, there's like this big whoosh, and

I gather that he missed, but it looks like Superion's

head has sort of split in half. Maybe that's

actually what's happened. Maybe like, I forget

who forms the head, but maybe that person is

sort of transforming around so that the fist

goes past. but it's confusing. No, and that's

exactly what happens. I think his face splits

apart and it goes through so he's like, he's

shooting for his head or he's punching for his

head and he misses because Seperion learned how

to deconstruct his face and then reconstruct

it together. Yeah, and that is kind of fun because,

you know, Marigold is awesome at making us love

big guys who don't say much. Which is cool, and

how many times if it has a transformer done that

you know they are a transformer why not? head

tries to crush it yeah, all I can think of is

allura and hunk form the legs Lance and pitch

form the arms and Keith forms the head And I'm

still thinking about how when we're trying to

transform something and it won't go together,

right? It's like, she really are, come on, I

can't transform his head. What about you, Amy?

What do you think of this art style? You know,

I love Livio and I'm not gonna say that I don't

love it because I do. I was going to make this

big thing about, oh, we don't like it when we

switch artists on things and blah blah blah,

but you know what? Like I said, I'm coming back

to this whole my expectations thing. When I first

started this, I didn't read a lot of the things

that were on about it. I didn't know what, I

knew it was an event and that was it. That was

all. And I didn't really have any expectations

other than I expected Windblade to be like, you

know... like the first one Blade was, where we

have four issues that'll be traded on its own,

and then when I suddenly read, hold on, we read

this, and I realized that no, that's not what

we're getting, I kind of went, okay, so what

are we getting? And I went back and I looked

at 39, then the first one, then 40, then this

one, I went, okay. So basically, we're getting

a an event that just happens to be called, part

of it is called Windblade, because Windblade

is in it, and we go to her hometown. And I'm

like, oh, well, I guess I should be a little

disappointed, but I kind of, but I am getting

exactly what I wanted. I wanted to go to Kamiya,

Kamina, Kamina, Kaminus. I wanted to go there.

You can do it Amy. I'm sorry. You know, I am

channeling my inner circuit. Um, apparently,

apparently I'm too, because I can't, I don't

even know the name of the planet anymore. Yeah.

Starts with a C. The point is, I know that people.

Yeah. Okay. So far, if you look at it that way,

then Sarah is the one that's been. the guest

artist for a minute because she's she was doing

the one that did the last issue now i know like

in the past you know when we've done events and

things like that when they do things like that

and they put an artist on you know different

things and different issues you know fans don't

usually react well to that and i'm like going

yeah that's the only thing i want to bring out

is the fact that i wish they would just make

up their mind and have one artist and that artist

do the event but that being said it was really

great to see Sarah, I want to get more, but I

understand. That would destroy any artist. I

know, I know. It's like the whole thing should

be done by Livio and not anybody else. What I

think Livio is trying to say is that, I could

be wrong. When this is traded, basically you're

gonna get two issues of Livio, then one of Sarah,

39, then Sarah. So it'll be Livio, Sarah, Livio,

Livio. No, number three is Sarah. What I'm saying

is that 40 then wind blade then 40 no wait 39

then wind blade then 40 then wind blade 2 Then

the next one 41. So see what it's it's it's gonna

be like one issue here Switch artists two issues

here switch artists, you know, it just that's

actually way better than when it was switching

artists multiple times in one single issue Yeah.

Well, that's true. I just think that, and don't

get me wrong, when we get to that epilogue issue,

that issue four or whatever it's supposed to

be for Windblade, and I know it's that new, those

new artists coming on, that's all well and good,

but I don't think that should have, like, the

events, the way I, and, you know, I don't work

at RDW, I can't tell these people what to do,

but the way I see it is, each book has its own

creative team. that creative team should be working

on whatever book there is, huh? You know what

I mean? I don't know. It's just too weird. What

you're basically saying is that the creative

team for Windblade should be the creative team

for Windblade on this, too. But we're not really

technically getting Windblade. I mean, we are.

It's like, it's titled Windblade. We're getting

combined intervals and it has different titles.

Yeah. It'll be interesting to see if it continues

after Combiner Wars, as you have so found out,

you know, from Mergrid that she's working on

issue six. That's what Mergrid said, I mean...

Will Sarah be the artist on that? Yeah, I don't

know. And that's what I really want to know,

because I really want to hear that news. That's

what I really want to hear coming out of Combine

Awards. I worry that she's got some other gig

and that we don't get her anymore. Don't say

that! I'll have to put my hands through my microphone!

Stop jinxing us! Geez, it's your birthday, you

shouldn't be jinxing the podcast! I was gonna

say, don't make me, you know, have to kill you

on your birthday. I don't want to have to pull

a prowl here. I'd rather flip a table. My brain

is flipping tables right now. I love, I love

Livio's work. I think that, you know, he is like,

especially if you're going to be like, grr, Combiner

Wars, things, punching stuff. I mean, you know,

just devastation and all of that. You're right.

He does the best. at showing destruction. So

the fact that this is a war, we want to see destruction.

That dude going through Devastator's chest was

so awesome. Oh, blades! Rock on, blades! We're

not getting the rescue bus blades here. We're

getting a blades that knows how to crash things.

I have a thing for helicopters. So wait, if you

were an Autobot, your boyfriend would be Springer?

Come on, Springer's hot, man. He's a circle changer.

I'm like, dude, I really admit that the new Springer

toy is, like, make -out -able, and it's a piece

of plastic, so... Yeah, it's hot. It's make -out

-able. Alright, folks. What Heather got for her

birthday? Talk about some top spinners. Back

to the art real quick, okay. I'm not done gushing

about Lidio. It's great. It's colorful. It's

awesome. I want more of it. And I would be fine

if we get all Livio for the rest of it, but I

know that's not going to happen. So there you

go. That's true. Livio would work really well

to do this whole event. We'll just have to see.

Like, this ending really gets to my little heartstrings.

That panel where Prowl has finally detached,

and he's just lying there, and he's like, this

is wrong. And that feels so real. like he he's

in himself again and he's he's confused and he's

like something is not right i'm like you know

i i have not really been best friends with prowl

for a long long time but right there i'm like

i just want to pick him up and hug him oh no

it's not only that it's everything is wrong like

in the inside and the outside for him it's like

you know He's just... He needs therapy! He needs

wrong! Darn it, why did you have to go all the

way to the other side of the planet, or the universe?

Come back, we need you! So, we'll retest what

happens to you. You can't get the Decepticon

version, come on, that would be like adding salt.

Why not? Why not? Because he's all against the

Decepticons right now. Now, yes, he's been part

of a combiner who is a Decepticon, I get it.

But, that being said, I don't think he would

react well if you had a therapist that just happens

to be a deceptical. I don't know. That would

be so wrong. Alright, so let's give our final

thought -centered rating here. Who wants to go

first? Heather, you're the birthday girl. You

go first. Let's see. I'm trying to even formulate

anything. Not quite sure what to rate this final

thoughts are that it this is really good And

I really enjoy the storytelling and there were

a couple of confusing arts But I do think Margaret

is really Margaret is just really good at getting

me to care about people and I love that about

her writing It's not perfect I'll probably give

it a four But I'm really enjoying a lot of the

directions this story is taking. I really, really

loved the parallel between Chromia and Prowl.

That was just fantastic. I love bringing Mirage

back and all of his weird visioniness and linking

it up with Ironhide's visioniness. That was granted

last issue, but it's continued in this issue,

so I can still say I love it, as I do. It's just

good. So yeah, four. It's good. All right. What

about you, Amy? I knew you were going to say

me next. Um, I'm still percolating over this

one because, like, I want to say that I read

this like, you know, two days ago, but when I

got it and I didn't until today, so my brain

is like going, hmm. What do I want to rate it

because I had a completely different reaction

to it because like when I found out that I was

like It wasn't until this issue that I realized

what they were doing So when I found out that

Livia wasn't gonna be on I was like, oh no, it's

gonna be too You know, and I was like no, it's

not there because now that I've kind of accepted

what this is and what it what we're getting and

and I've gotten over that and I'm like, okay

Okay, this is what we're getting and this is

what it's gonna do and these are the writers

and this is really the reality here Okay. Oh,

okay. All right. Okay, I guess I can Deal with

that, then. I'm doing what Prowl couldn't do.

I'm accepting. Okay, so I think because I love

what's going on here, I know what's going on,

and all of the stuff that Heather already mentioned,

I think that I'm going to rate it a three and

a half? Almost a four. Yeah, I'm like - Three

and a half? Yeah, I know. See, that's the thing

is I need to percolate on it. I'm like, uh...

I'll give it a... I'll give it a four. I'll give

it a four. There you go. Alright. Alright, what

about you, Mike? I gotta give it a four. As much

as I love Livio, as much as I love Margaret's

story, I still can't get past it not being Sarah.

So it loses one point for that. Oh, fruck, man.

What about you, Nicole? See, when I first read

this, I was going to give it a 3, but it really

does help discussing it with other people. I'm

giving a point just for Blades being kick -ass.

Because, hello, that was the kill of the year,

I'd say. Right? It was pretty cool. Don't say

something is the kill of the year, though, Nicole,

because it just tempts James. Especially when

it's like, okay, they killed somebody over in

the other one. I gotta kill somebody now. You're

just challenging him. That was just really cool.

Yeah, James, live up to that. Go for it. Challenge

down. Boom. You better be careful saying that.

He might kill your purple boyfriend. I don't

think he will. I think they have plans for him.

Famous last words. Jesus, Lazarus, please don't

kill him! Alright, so, uh... It's like you're

challenging Prel, you know? Dare you! I dare

you to try to kill him! And he's like, okay!

You know what's sad? I can't relate to Prel in

so many ways. That scares me! I think all of

us can in some way or form. There have been times

where I've said I just want to flip a table.

It's become the thing now, you know? The thing

that Pearl does is like everybody's thing. Flip

a table! Talk about daring to be stupid. I tell

ya, I just flipped a table not that long ago.

Are you at? I understand. It feels good. It feels

really good. It's like breaking glass. Oh, that

does feel good too. Anyways, I will go and I'll

make it across the board. We'll do the Quattro.

Four, four, four, four, four, four. It's a solid

four. Got sixteen, sixteen stars. No, I really

did enjoy it. I like how these characters are

progressing. Gwynblade, just in the past year,

I cannot believe how she's changed, and she's

matured, and she's becoming her own, and she's

becoming a great leader, and I'd like to see

where they're going with her. Primes kind of

scares me right now. He's so conflicted of do

I save one or the many, you know? He's not in

charge anymore, and it's almost like it's like

running his brain now. It's messing with his

head, yeah. And then I'd like to see where Starscream

is getting all this power because I do love Starscream,

one of those fangirls. I love seeing him being

a douchebag and getting the power. The thing

is, I would like it if just one person would

just tell him, like, you know... when he's done

and walks out and goes to like down to his like

room to recharge for the night you know on his

recharge slab somebody says dude if you keep

this up you're gonna lose it you say okay i'll

pull it back a little bit just for a millisecond

and then he goes and you know looks in the mirror

just says you're just so awesome aren't you i

didn't get a new outfit So I liked how Chromia

is rewriting her story. I really want to see

her go bad, but I like her interaction with Ironhide.

And that look that both her and Wind Blade gave

each other at the end there, it hit kind of at

home to me. It was kind of personal. I loved

it. There's a lot of things that did happen in

this issue after I've discussed it with you,

and I'm like, ah. There really was a lot going

on here. The good thing is that it shows how

easy it is to slip down that slope. You know,

Chromia did in the last trade, basically, in

the last story. Chromia slipped down that slope.

And so suddenly now it makes it, instead of somebody

saying, how could this possibly happen? It's

like now, oh, yeah, this is the reason why it

can't happen. Is, you know, somebody close to

home. recently did that to you. And, you know,

there you go. That was another theme that I really

appreciated was bringing up how many people have

blown it and how many people are still assumed

to be jerks because of stuff like I love how

the Decepticons have just shown up kind of en

masse in Kamenest and are all helping out and

everybody's like hey thanks for coming and the

Decepticons are like oh cool and there's a lot

of Autobots being like these creep decepticons

and taking our jobs but you know having someone

to show up and say just because they wear a certain

badge you think these things about them but they're

not necessarily true look and see what's actually

happening maybe that's maybe that's like a real

theme of this story you know look and see what's

actually happening not what you think and assume

the next time i actually have to go through two

of these because it makes more sense if i do

but um next time around in part four for combiner's

wars which will be transformers from number 41

as the space bridge reaches across the stars

will anyone stand against our scream the answer

is yes but the cure might prove worse than the

disease now when i first saw the cover for 41

i'm like Oh no, he's got the crown back. Heavy

is the head that wears the crown. Holy crown.

I love it when he has his crown. It makes it

so pretty. He's got his crown back. And for Windblade

number three, which is Combiner Wars part five,

it says, Combiner Wars conclusion. The last of

the combiners face off, but who is in control

of the ultimate combiner and who will emerge

with the key to dominating the galaxy? This cover...

I just gotta roll my eyes at that, folks. The

regular cover here has Prowl on it with some...

I don't know, giant -looking sword orb thing.

And I'm like, I know this is an overall event,

it's Combiner Wars, I get it, but this is friggin'

Windblade. She needs to be on her own comics

cover. Again, expectations. I know, I know. I'm

sorry, I'll take my Starscream with a crown.

No, no, no. I'm saying on the Windblade regular

cover is Prowl. What I'm saying is I take another

Starscream with a crown. Well, maybe they're

working more towards what you were hoping for,

Mike, where Windblade is focused in a certain

location and the Transformer series is in a different

location. And so it's because a series about

one character can only last so long. I mean,

I've even gotten a little bit sick and tired

of not robots in disguise anymore being all prowl

all the time. Yeah. And maybe so. We'll have

to find out. I hope in the end of all of this

that we end up getting a prowl that's like, in

therapy, behind bars, for a little while. With

wrong. Yeah, with wrong. Is it bad that I actually

hope he dies? Not that I hate him, but I think

he's been so big for so long that he's almost

reached Bumblebee proportions, and it'd be nice

to have him gone for a bit. See, I was just gonna

say that's exactly what happened with Bumblebee,

and as much as I like the little guy, it's kind

of nice to not see him, you know? Yeah. I didn't

think it was good that they killed him, but,

you know, we know how that ends, right? You know?

No one stays dead, we hope. Stepscrapper. And

Mike. He - he - I doubt - And scrounge. And scrounge.

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Marigret has not

got ahold of him in discontinuity yet, so don't

spoil it. We could still have a scrounge, just

saying. I don't want to see her, like, coming

- stomping on the guy before the end of Windblade,

okay? I just don't want to see that, because

it's Combiner Wars, you know? I want to see because

I want to hear the paints and screams of your

gruff walker. I'm evil. I am sorry. I tried to

be good. It just doesn't happen. Anyways. You

heard her first, folks. She actually admitted

she's evil. I tried to be good, and that counts.

Okay. She is the Decepticon on the podcast, just

saying. Yeah, don't judge me. I'm not judging

you, I'm just pointing out a fact. Okay, so,

well, that is the end of our show. Oh, does it

have to be the end already? Uh, yeah, you know

what? It's almost midnight, and you know what

happens at midnight with me? There's all - it's

always midnight. This show is always on midnight,

just perpetually. We stop the clock and everything,

it's always at midnight. Alright, where can the

fine folks find you, Amy? You can find me online.

Besides in your bushes. You can find me on Twitter,

Lady of Wreck. Nice. Because that's where I pretty

much hang out right now, is like, you know, Lady

of Wreck. Or the Underbase, but mostly Lady of

the Wreck. What about you, Ms. Taddaf? I haven't

really figured out Twitter yet. I'm technically

on there, but I'm not very good at it. Basically,

if you Google Hagi Prime, it's me. I'm on DeviantArt.

I have, like, my own dorky fanfiction .net account,

on which I have stories I care deeply about.

That's good. I've read them. What? What? I've

read them. I've got your book. You're awesome.

That's what friends are for. Yeah, so mostly

DeviantArt and I'm on Facebook and I tend to

hang out there a lot. Yeah, that's me. I'm everywhere.

She's everywhere. She's behind you. Just this

place. She's the one that's hiding in Amy's bush.

I'm doing my best to imitate that creepy look

that Overlord has when he stoops into the med

bay behind Ratchet. There we go. And what about

you, Mr. Mike? We can find folks to find you.

Find me on Twitter, at TF2 and Mike. You know,

also follow at Geocast Radio as well for all

the G -Seren updates. There you go. And I am

Nicole. You can find me at Beetles Diva on Twitter.

Just Google Beetles Diva, that's me. And I'm

Hailstorm in all the Transformers forms, so.

Make sure you're not looking for the insect people.

Oh yeah, beetles like the bad, not the fun. Of

course. So with that little piece, we'll say

goodbye. I'll need to say sayonara and aloha

to the listeners. Until next time, remember,

two combiners through a space bridge is better

than one egotistical table flipper at the controls.

Brilliant. Thank you for tuning into our broadcast.

Be sure to follow us on Twitter at The Underbase

or interact on Fullmetalhero .com. Cease transmission

I apologize. I'm gonna try to mute myself when

I cough so hopefully Okay, and Smoke em if you

got em I have the mic on this time so I can look

up stuff. I'm sure I'll blow a few things, but

you know, it's all right On that note, this has

officially become middle school, 1987. Oh, you

wish you knew me in middle school. No, you're

scary enough now. Okay, and three, two, we ready?

Yes. I interrupted myself. Now we really have

seen it all. You don't need anybody officially

interrupting her. She interrupts herself. I didn't

know if you guys were ready or not. Well, interrupting

yourself is your special talent, Nicole. Her

special. Oh, Nicole, she's special. My mama tells

me so. Life is like a box of chocolates. You

never know what you're going to get. Unless you

bite into them, just spit them out. Then you

can pretty much figure it out. Just bite everyone.

Okay. That's my, that's my, that's my advice

to everyone. Just bite everyone. Okay. Just bite

everyone. We keep trying to pretend like we know

the future. That's right. We're laughing. We're

laughing. I saw it, but it didn't come true.

I don't think they listened to us last podcast,

and I know this issue was probably done by the

time we put out the first WindBlade podcast,

but um, Superion! He's not a badass combiner,

he is completely missing from the roll call page.

Oh, we were going back there? Sorry. Yeah, but

he's completely missing in the roll call. That's

right. Cause I did say that, you know, it's going

to say bad ass. I was the one that coined that

phrase. Oh yeah. Did I say that I sleep deprived?

Yeah, it happens. Trust me. It happens. 37 is

rough. I'm like, Oh no. Now I'm like, man. I

hit 40 and that's what I'm gonna feel. That's

what I'm gonna feel when I hit 40. I'm just so

used to just being me and age doesn't matter

and I'm the doofus that loves giant roblox and

at like at some point like I always say I'm gonna

be like 95 and still being like hey imaginary

Megatron you're my best bro and I love you but

like Love imaginary Megatron. He's my best pal

but um Like at some point when does that become

so ridiculous that it's obscene and I'm like,

I'm just gonna make it not ridiculous Okay, I'm

just gonna do it The only thing you have not

injured yourself like the Candy Crush guy I don't

think any one of us are ever going to do that.

So, you know, I think we'll be good for a very

long time Wait, wait time out. Is that a challenge?

The thing with Waspinator is, he's, um... Amy

said he's the key. And all's I can, no, all's

I can think of is, I am the key master. I am

the key keeper. Oh no. Wow. Oh my gosh. Wow.

Just goes her when you need her. He can play

that role now. Oh my gosh. I'm gonna... those

two oh goodness this is what happens i've been

up for 36 hours i oh my gosh really yeah wow

oh my gosh i will not remember this conversation

in the morning okay we need to record it for

proof it's a good thing we record stuff for proof

then i did not say that yes you did all right

and three two one