primenova
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Post by primenova on May 1, 2019 11:40:13 GMT
Also this should be printed in the partworks issue out today
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Post by Pinwig on May 7, 2019 17:56:48 GMT
30 Years Ago This Week: Issue #217 Recipe For Disaster! - Part 1: The Mecannibals extract Cloudburst and Landmine from their shells using an electro-magnet, but the canny Autobots radio control their outer cases and use them to cut the magnet's power cable. Mayhem ensues until Landmine and Cloudburst are overwhelmed by Mecannibal numbers. Race with the Devil - Part 3: Backstreet is injured by Starscream as the Triggerbots try to defend the humans, and the trio limp away from the fight with Starscream in pursuit. Powerless without the energon they detonated to escape Darkwing and Dreadwind, Dogfight is next to be cut down. Backstreet tells Override to take Dogfight to safety while he holds off Starscream. Meanwhile, Susan's group are confronted by locals and Hi-Test and Throttle reunite with their Decepticon partners, who plan to use the Nebulans to capture Starscream. Elsewhere, the increasingly erratic nature of the editorial shows again as Lee Sullivan is congratulated in Transformation for a cover he didn't draw; Dreadwind is unable to answer Carl Key's question about why Soundwave appears to be purple in the comics and also gives Robert and Mark Newman a completely different answer to the question, ' What does Scourge transform into?' than the one he gave Darren and cat of Birmingham eighteen issues ago; and Colin screws himself into the ground wearing his new propeller hat.
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on May 7, 2019 18:00:57 GMT
Don't forget to mention that Susan's pals are the Real Ghostbusters!
Martin
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Post by Pinwig on May 7, 2019 20:01:26 GMT
I'm finding myself getting really annoyed by the lack of interest shown by the editorial voice in these recent issues. Transformation is now back to looking right, but contains nothing worth reading, and Dreadwind's adoption of 'humes' grates when you're a Ro-jaws fan. Knowing we're about to go into reprint material in the main strip it amazes me we're not yet 2/3rds through the comic's run.
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Post by Pinwig on May 7, 2019 20:04:43 GMT
Hmm. Should have mentioned in this week's write up that Transformation claims Wanted: Dead or Alive is about to be reprinted to satisfy demands for more Death's Head.
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Post by The Doctor on May 7, 2019 20:48:13 GMT
I'm finding myself getting really annoyed by the lack of interest shown by the editorial voice in these recent issues. Transformation is now back to looking right, but contains nothing worth reading, and Dreadwind's adoption of 'humes' grates when you're a Ro-jaws fan. Knowing we're about to go into reprint material in the main strip it amazes me we're not yet 2/3rds through the comic's run. Indeed. It took a long time to die! -Ralph
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Post by Andy Turnbull on May 7, 2019 21:17:24 GMT
217 - one of the poorer covers.
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Jim
Thunderjet
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Post by Jim on May 7, 2019 21:19:50 GMT
My first thought too! It's not a bad layout, but the execution is awful.
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Post by Pinwig on May 7, 2019 21:41:42 GMT
New artist on the cover - J Hall, said to be Jez by tfwiki. Thing is if you Google Jez Hall artist now, the one that comes up has an incredible CV. Hard to know if it's the same person though.
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Jim
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Post by Jim on May 7, 2019 22:19:22 GMT
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tomwe
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Post by tomwe on May 8, 2019 9:58:51 GMT
Gotta break in somewhere!
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Post by Pinwig on May 14, 2019 17:59:46 GMT
30 Years Ago This Week: Issue #218 Recipe For Disaster! - Part 2: Landmine persuades the Meccanibals that they will taste a lot better if cooked properly, for which they need sulfide crystals. The Pretenders are bizarrely allowed to leave to fetch the crystals, with Berko remaining hostage. Throttle and Hi-Test follow the Pretenders, determined to stop them, and Sky Lynx then follows the Powermasters. The Autobots land on Femax to retrieve the crystals and meet the locals: warrior women who decide to' take them to their leader'. Race with the Devil - Part 4: Backstreet tries to reason with Starscream which helps the Underbase intelligence to assert control of the mangled Decepticon's body. Just as this happens, Hi-Test and Throttle attack Starscream and absorb the Underbase. They then escape with Starscream's body. Override helps Susan chase off the locals and in a final moment of peace, the Triggerbots are left to wonder who wanted Starscream's remains. Elsewhere, having thanked Lee Sullivan last week for this week's cover, Transformation this time thanks newcomer Jez Hall for last week's; Visonaries reaches its penultimate installment with the promise of the return of Action Force in issue 220; and on the letters' page, Carl Rowsome of Dublin learns that Hi-Test is around 65 Earth years old.
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Post by Pinwig on May 21, 2019 17:53:26 GMT
30 Years Ago This Week: Issue #219 Recipe For Disaster! - Part 3: Landmine and Cloudburst are brought before the First One, who offers them the crystals they seek if Cloudburst can pass a series of tests to prove his worthiness. He does this, and is rewarded with amorous advances from the First One. When she moves to kiss him, he decides to come clean and reveal his inner robot. Survivors! - Part 1: Skids stumbles through the fence surrounding a Californian power plant while being pursued by terrible beasts. They gain on him, but he breaks into the plant to escape them. Nearby, Springer, Broadside and Inferno encounter Carnivac, Catilla and Snarler. The Decepticons show off the pretender shells created for them by Scorponok. Elsewhere, The last part of Visionaries runs to seven pages, meaning there's no space for letters; on the back page an advert for Nerds promises 10,000 volts of flavour for 20p; and the Sports car, Battle and Rescue Patrols feature in the comic's first Micromasters advert.
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Post by Benn on May 21, 2019 18:04:16 GMT
I did like the absolute shiftiness of Carnivac explaining both Snarler and the new Pretender get-ups.
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on May 21, 2019 18:09:28 GMT
It always bugged me that the Survivors never quite matched the Classic Heroes toy line, though there was no way Simon Furman could know that Sandstorm (dead) would be re-released in the UK and Broadside would not. And Classic Hero Sideswipe never got into the comic (except on issue #300's front cover), while Skids got lots of coverage but no re-released toy.
I also wondered what was up with the Pretender Beasts. Did Furman make a mistake in 'Time Wars' and think Catilla was a Decepticon toy? And then when he realised it should have been Snarler in 'Time Wars', did he cover it up by making both Carnivac and Catilla defect, with Catilla becoming an Autobot but Carnivac insisting he was still a Decepticon, to match the toys?
Has Phil got a mad theory that Catilla was originally going to be a Decepticon toy? I mean, Attila the Hun wasn't a good guy.
Martin
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Jim
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Post by Jim on May 21, 2019 21:53:51 GMT
30 Years Ago This Week: Issue #219 Recipe For Disaster! - Part 3: Landmine and Cloudburst are brought before the First One, who offers them the crystals they seek if Cloudburst can pass a series of tests to prove his worthiness. He does this, and is rewarded with amorous advances from the First One. When she moves to kiss him, he decides to come clean and reveal his inner robot. The whole Pretenders thing with Cloudburst playing nervously along with the beautiful woman and then feeling he should reveal what he really is inside is potentially an amazing metaphor, and I'd never thought about it like this before. I must reread it.
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Post by Pinwig on May 21, 2019 22:01:51 GMT
I can't get over Skids in this issue. I know he's got some kind of alternate/unused head but it makes him look like Soundwave. And why on the cover does he look like he's sucking a lemon?
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Jim
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Post by Jim on May 21, 2019 22:07:25 GMT
I can't quite get over the jazz hands. It looks like a freeze frame from the end of a some kind of avant garde jazz show where he's turning to face the audience.
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Post by Philip Ayres on May 22, 2019 6:55:10 GMT
I can't get over Skids in this issue. I know he's got some kind of alternate/unused head but it makes him look like Soundwave. And why on the cover does he look like he's sucking a lemon? Skids face in this story drove me up the wall!
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on May 22, 2019 7:18:49 GMT
Skids face in this story drove me up the wall! Though he joins the ranks of Dead End, Crosshairs, Cerebros and others who had human faces as a toy but then lost them in stories. Maybe Skids's face hologram was broken. Or something. Martin
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Post by blueshift on May 22, 2019 7:27:31 GMT
That story was my main exposure to skids so that's his default face to me
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Post by Benn on May 22, 2019 8:38:06 GMT
His face bugged the life out of me, especially as he had his normal face before he went to limbo.
Too long in Limbo changes a man...
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primenova
Fusilateral Quintro Combiner
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Post by primenova on May 22, 2019 11:35:43 GMT
He got his mouth back later. Maybe he needed Prime in mind to keep him safe in Limbo?
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Post by The Doctor on May 22, 2019 18:48:46 GMT
I can't get over Skids in this issue. I know he's got some kind of alternate/unused head but it makes him look like Soundwave. And why on the cover does he look like he's sucking a lemon? It really confused me at the time! -Ralph
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Post by The Doctor on May 22, 2019 18:49:29 GMT
That story was my main exposure to skids so that's his default face to me No, Blueshift, no! -Ralph
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on May 22, 2019 19:08:24 GMT
I reckon most TFs have faces like that, or variations of it, underneath, but after experiencing Earth/Nebulos/etc. they sometimes put human hologram faces on top of them, better to communicate with us.
Martin
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Post by Pinwig on May 28, 2019 15:28:50 GMT
30 Years Ago This Week: Issue #220 Recipe For Disaster! - Part 4: The First One quickly beheads Cloudburst for his treachery and finds Landmine to do the same, but when he follows his friend's example and refuses to fight, the First One realises she has been a little rash. Cloudburst is reconnected to his head and the Pretenders are allowed to leave with the crystals they came for. They are accosted by Darkwing and Dreadwind, who in turn are captured by Sky Lynx. The Pretenders return to the Meccanibals. Berko is freed as promised and the Autobots are allowed to leave when they reveal Sky Lynx has Throttle and Hi-Test. Before they depart, the Autobots reveal that the Nebulans are binary bonded to Transformers. Feeling tricked, the Meccanibals chase after their former henchmen. Survivors! - Part 2: Carnivac suggests a truce with Springer, feeling that the remnants of the Wreckers and the Mayhem attack squad should join forces. Before the conversation concludes, the Autobots leave to follow a trail of emergency services vehicles. They arrive at the power plant and believe it to have been the subject of a Decepticon attack. Inside, Skids wonders how the creatures he encountered in limbo have followed him to Earth. He decides to detonate the power plant's core to try and kill them but is stopped just in time by the other Autobots. Meanwhile, Snarler berates Carnivac for talking to Springer. Elsewhere, Combat Colin reveals that it was the evil machinations of Professor Madprof that caused the June and May calendar pages to be mixed up; the May calendar reprints Robin Smith's cover to issue #136; Omega Supreme features in the A-Z; and on a barely readable pink on purple letters' page, Neil McClean of Brixham does a far better job of explaining the time paradoxes in Time Wars than Dreadwind ever could, resulting in the petulant letter answerer saying he isn't going to talk about that story any more.
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Post by Shockprowl on May 28, 2019 16:57:20 GMT
How can Cloudburst have his head chopped off and be repaired easily enough and is fine, whereas -I'd say usually - a Transformer having his head chopped off is portrayed as being terminal?
It was good to have Skids back.
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on May 28, 2019 17:23:50 GMT
How can Cloudburst have his head chopped off and be repaired easily enough and is fine, whereas -I'd say usually - a Transformer having his head chopped off is portrayed as being terminal? No, it's normally fine to take a TF's head off. I give you: In Budiansky: Prime's head as Shockwave's prisoner in the early US issues. Circuit-Breaker putting the heads of Skids, the Aerialbots, Blaster and co. on her trophy wall. Fort Max and co. taking their heads off to show their peaceful intentions. In Furman: Straxus's head living on after Blaster destroys the rest of him on the Space Bridge. Highbrow ripping Scorponok's head off in the 1989 annual. It was just in 'Dry Run' when Megatron ripped Cyclonus's head off that the normal rules of Transformers were suspended for the sake of dramatic effect. Cyclonus's weaknesses are missing from his TFU entry: www.ntfa.net/universe/english/index.php?act=view&char=CyclonusIn my opinion, they would read: "Cyclonus has a design flaw which means that if his head comes off, it causes a power surge that somehow kills him." Martin
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Post by Shockprowl on May 28, 2019 17:27:51 GMT
Dry Run was what I was thinking of. And Twintwist in Time Wars.
Fort Max and friends more removed their heads, and I'm sure I read a Grimgrams or Dreadtidings were the process was described, indicating it's ok to disconnect and remove one's head, but to have it simply ripped or chopped off, I dunno, isn't.
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