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Post by Pinwig on Oct 21, 2019 21:54:48 GMT
30 Years Ago This Week: Issue #241 Back from the Dead - Part 2: The Air Strike Patrol destroy a new American refueling plane just as it is unveiled and take over the air base it was stationed at, threatening to kill anyone who tries to stop them. Hot Rod is monitoring the Earth from the Ark and sees this. Optimus decides to go to help, leaving the already depleted Autobot ship barely defended. Ratchet hears the Sports Car Patrol arrive on the Ark using a new trans-dimensional time portal, but thinks he's just over-tired and hearing things. Blackjack reprograms the repair bay's computer and behind Ratchet, Jazz's arm begins to move. Rage!: Thunderwing resurfaces after being beaten by Nightbeat and friends in issue 231. He isn't happy and quickly realises a shuttle craft is heading toward him. He forces it to crash land, but finds Ruckus and several other Decepticons inside sent to return him to Cybertron. They reveal that the Autobots who beat Thunderwing are now back on the Ark, and Thunderwing requisitions the Decepticons to help him attack the ship in his bid for revenge. Elsewhere, Transformation announces that Collected Comics 14 is on sale now, featuring the stories Enemy Action and Ark Duty* as well as more A-Z entries for Headmasters characters; Grandstand advertise a new game system called 'Light Games' that can project a 32 inch LCD image onto walls; Colin drills to the centre of the Earth to release a volcano that stops the rampaging Gunge; and on the letters' page, Dreadwing explains that although the Matrix sits in a shell in a chest cavity, it doesn't work unless channeled through the mind of the Transformer housing it. *TFwiki claims it's actually Victory and not Ark Duty, but I don't have #14 to check
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Post by The Doctor on Oct 22, 2019 9:38:55 GMT
The water must get deep VERY quickly from the edge of the sand there if Thunderwing's helmet is just peeking up as he walks inshore.
-Ralph
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The Huff
Thunderjet
Hufferlover
Posts: 4,071
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Post by The Huff on Oct 22, 2019 12:36:51 GMT
Those naughty Micromasters buried him in the sand when he fell asleep sunbathing, then the tide came in...
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Post by Pinwig on Oct 22, 2019 18:49:37 GMT
The water must get deep VERY quickly from the edge of the sand there if Thunderwing's helmet is just peeking up as he walks inshore. I BEG YOUR PARD- Oh. oh I see.
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Post by Pinwig on Oct 29, 2019 8:26:38 GMT
30 Years Ago This Week: Issue #242 Back from the Dead - Part 3: While the Air Strike Patrol occupy Optimus and the other Autobots on Earth, Blackjack's program brings the dismembered corpses in the Ark's medical bay to life. Ratchet comes face to face with this nightmare and he shuts everything down, forcing the Micromasters to switch to plan B. Pretending to be Autobots, they persuade Ratchet to accompany them to Cybertron. Ratchet reluctantly does so, thinking he can fix his friends more quickly, but instead he comes face to face with... Megatron. Assault on the Ark!: Thunderwing launches his revenge attack on the Ark and breaks into the ship, eventually coming face to face with Optimus Prime. Overwhelmed, Thunderwing is forced to retreat. When he returns to Cybertron, instead of being berated for his failure by the Decepticon High Council, he is praised for his ruthlessness and made the new Decepticon leader. Elsewhere, St Ivel bring an exciting Halloween themed Fiendish Feet competition to the pages of Transformers, offering prizes of fun packs (containing spider desk tidies, rubbery snakes and hairy scaries) for spotting the difference between two ghastly images; Gilbert the Alien discovers the joy of Sun Pat Peanut butter and finds that three tokens from special labels will net him a pencil case; and on the letters' page, Kevin Barron of Driffield bemoans the lack of stories featuring older characters - something Dreadwind promises will soon be rectified.
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Post by blueshift on Oct 29, 2019 8:38:04 GMT
Is this this worst contest prize ever?
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Post by The Doctor on Oct 29, 2019 8:45:54 GMT
I wanted to win a Fiendish Feet Fun Pack.
-Ralph
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Post by blueshift on Oct 29, 2019 8:47:07 GMT
I wanted to win a Fiendish Feet Fun Pack. -Ralph I genuinely keep thinking about doing a fiendish feet fanzine Fiendish fanzine But literally no-one would care
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Post by Pinwig on Oct 29, 2019 8:54:30 GMT
It concerns me a little that the prize includes finger puppets, yet the Fiendish Feet have no arms. Bit unfair on them.
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Post by The Doctor on Oct 29, 2019 9:19:32 GMT
I wanted to win a Fiendish Feet Fun Pack. -Ralph I genuinely keep thinking about doing a fiendish feet fanzine Fiendish fanzine But literally no-one would care I am The Other. -Ralph
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Post by Pinwig on Oct 29, 2019 9:32:00 GMT
Long time back, Ralph suggested I did a zine about the products/advertising in TFUK. I thought at the time it was a mad idea, but it's never gone away.
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tomwe
Protoform
Tom reads comics
Posts: 987
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Post by tomwe on Oct 29, 2019 10:10:37 GMT
Strong nostalgia vibes from that advert!
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Post by Pinwig on Oct 31, 2019 20:38:51 GMT
Do we know if there's a reason for the sudden drop in page count in the US comic when Simon took over? 22 to 16 pages!
One thing I did like about reading Back from the Dead in the context of the UK stories is realising that Simon could switch into writing in Bob's style very easily. You can see at this point Simon is trying to get both narratives aligned, but the tone of his first US issue is seamless with what went before, whereas the UK stories are much darker and more violent with a focus on character instead of action.
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Post by Philip Ayres on Oct 31, 2019 20:43:08 GMT
Do we know if there's a reason for the sudden drop in page count in the US comic when Simon took over? 22 to 16 pages! Yes. They had the TFU2 pages ready for use and rather than waste them printed them and saved on the cost of paying for new pages.
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Post by Pinwig on Oct 31, 2019 20:44:13 GMT
Ah right. Is that where that kicked in. I see.
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Post by Philip Ayres on Oct 31, 2019 21:12:21 GMT
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Post by Pinwig on Nov 4, 2019 20:25:46 GMT
30 Years Ago This Week: Issue #243 The Resurrection Gambit - Part 1: Ratchet can only stare in disbelief at the Decepticon leader he thought was dead. Megatron toys with him, claiming to want to help him heal the injured, and shows him a new improved Pretender shell. On Earth, Optimus is goaded by the Air Strike Patrol and his wrist communicator is shot by Storm Cloud just as Ratchet tries to contact him. Enraged, Prime demands to know what's really going on. Mind Games: On Cybertron, a shadowy figure seeks Megatron, intent on killing him. Meanwhile, Megatron is haunted by images from his past, including that of another robot being deconstructed and rebuilt into him. He also sees Lord Straxus and cries out. Ravage hears this and questions Megatron as to whether Straxus is beginning to assert himself in his mind again. Ravage ponders this and wonders if he has it in him to kill his leader to protect the Decepticons. An alarm takes both Transformers outside, where Ravage finds Megatron attacking other Decepticons. Thinking Straxus has taken control, Ravage attacks, but quickly discovers it is the intruder he is fighting - another Megatron, and that the one he had just been talking to is behind him. Elsewhere, Transformation begins the difficult job of trying to explain what the heck is going on in Mind Games by aligning recent stories into chronological order; the November calendar replaces Dread Tidings, reprinting Jeff Anderson's cover to issue 135; Colin takes a week off as the Giggly Sisters present their 'Nice Page', including tips on knitting bobble hats; in the classified ads, Mediaband advertise a set of 'stunning' images of Sophie Aldred, inviting readers to send 50p for full details; and on the back page, Asda recommends readers 'fly down' to their local shop to pick up the new Real Ghostbusters Ecto-2 airborne vehicle.
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Post by The Doctor on Nov 4, 2019 20:28:34 GMT
At least it's not pics of Sophie Aldred in her NA costume from a few years later.
-Ralph
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Post by blueshift on Nov 4, 2019 20:29:32 GMT
At least it's not pics of Sophie Aldred in her NA costume from a few years later. -Ralph Ha ha ha ha ha
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Post by blueshift on Nov 4, 2019 21:05:21 GMT
At least it's not pics of Sophie Aldred in her NA costume from a few years later. -Ralph To be fair, that WAS cool and exciting at the time. No, really.
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Post by Pinwig on Nov 4, 2019 21:21:11 GMT
God it was.
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Post by Pinwig on Nov 4, 2019 21:22:09 GMT
So were those random pictures of her in a towel that DWM published.
I'll stop there.
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Post by blueshift on Nov 4, 2019 21:41:22 GMT
So were those random pictures of her in a towel that DWM published. I'll stop there. Ha ha ha. Those were covers for those BBV audio dramas weren't they?
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Post by The Doctor on Nov 4, 2019 21:46:59 GMT
I was not excited by any of these various Sophie Aldred photos at the time.
-Ralph
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Post by The Doctor on Nov 4, 2019 21:48:08 GMT
Now I am reminded of the photo book DOCTOR WHO: THE COMPANIONS. Some unfortunate camel toe in there.
-Ralph
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Post by Pinwig on Nov 4, 2019 22:16:32 GMT
Meanwhile, that flying chopper looks absolutely rubbish.
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Post by Pinwig on Nov 4, 2019 22:23:26 GMT
I commented last week on how Furman adopted Budianski's style writing the US strips. This week really does highlight the difference. I had to read Mind Games twice just to work out what was going on, yet the Megatron in Gambit is almost a pantomime villain.
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Post by blueshift on Nov 4, 2019 22:27:28 GMT
I was not excited by any of these various Sophie Aldred photos at the time. -Ralph But it was the New Adventures being real!!!
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Post by Pinwig on Nov 11, 2019 19:34:28 GMT
30 Years Ago This Week: Issue #244 The Resurrection Gambit - Part 2: Optimus is about to beat the truth out of the Air Strike Patrol when Scorponok arrives with the rest of his troops. Meanwhile on Cybertron, Megatron explains to Ratchet that he wants him to monitor the rebuilding work his newly enhanced Pretender shell will carry out when Dreadwind and Darkwing return with the test subject. Ratchet refuses, but relents when Megatron reveals the Sports Car Patrol have rigged the Ark to explode if he doesn't. Megatron then chooses this moment to reveal how after the explosion of the space bridge he came round in a region of Cybertron called Dead End, where he found Blackjack being menaced by Autobots. Mind Games: The two Megatrons fight as Ravage tries to guess which is the real one. One explains how after Blackjack led him out of Dead End, he discovered Straxus' old base. There he found records of the building of a second Megatron implanted with brain patterns of both the real Megatron and Straxus. This body was sent to Earth and hidden under London, where it was discovered by Action Force before Straxus' brain print could activate. Straxus' mind begins to assert itself in the other Megatron. Accepting the truth of what he is, the fake blows his own head off to stop Straxus taking control of his body. Elsewhere, Transformation outlines upcoming stories from the UK side of the writing; after being gassed by Professor Madprof, Colin comes round without his trousers in a familiar looking Village; there's a full page advert for Marvel Comics' original Beauty and the Beast graphic novel; and on the letters' page, Dreadwind reveals that Playback, the Autobot found dead at the start of The Big Shutdown, transformed into a cassette, and James Murtagh of Ayreshire asks for stories to make more use of the unique features of individual Transformer weaponry.
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Post by The Doctor on Nov 11, 2019 21:43:23 GMT
30 years and still no Playback toy.
-Ralph
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