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Post by The Doctor on Dec 10, 2019 9:08:49 GMT
I don't know.
-Ralph
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Post by Pinwig on Dec 17, 2019 19:12:29 GMT
30 Years Ago This Week: Issue #249 Skin Deep - Part 1: Grimlock and Megatron go at it. Temporarily knocking the Dinobot aside, Megatron says Ratchet won't foil his plan, but Ratchet claims he has put a spanner in the works. Bumblebee exits his shell and discovers Ratchet has restored him to his former, pre-Goldbug, self. Bumblebee blasts Megatron and Jazz takes on the Sports Car Patrol, controlling his outer shell with his mind. On Earth, Starscream attacks. Whose Lifeforce is it Anyway?: Longtooth fearlessly attacks a Decepticon base to free some Autobot prisoners but his comrades question his sanity. Later, Longtooth worries when he learns his next mission regards the Creation Matrix. He remembers how in the distant past he cowardly kept a shard of the Matrix given to him by Optimus Prime to revive a fallen comrade and wonders if he has now been found out. Seeing a dead Autobot, he decides to secretly redeem himself by sending the shard to Earth to help save others. Elsewhere, the front and back inside covers are given over to promoting next week's big 250th issue; the A-Z reappears after a ten issue gap to cover Razorclaw and Red Alert; and on the letters' page, Dreadwind reveals that not only does Metroplex have the biggest gun of all Transformers but he's also more powerful than Scorponok, and also tells John Donohoe of London that Kup is so old he even remembers Max Bygraves.
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Post by Pinwig on Dec 17, 2019 19:13:28 GMT
Not convinced by the Longtooth story - if Pretender shells are a new invention, why does he have one in the pre-Earth past?
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Dec 17, 2019 19:16:38 GMT
Not convinced by the Longtooth story - if Pretender shells are a new invention, why does he have one in the pre-Earth past? I'm glad you asked. From tmukhub.proboards.com/thread/10750/who-mad-phil-theoriverseWHO'S WHO IN THE MAD PHIL THEORIVERSE 12. LONGTOOTH WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A DECEPTICON Historians assert that the first six organic Pretenders were created on Earth in 1988 by Scorponok, when he bestowed upon Bomb-Burst, Bugly, Finback, Iguanus, Skullgrin and Submarauder synthoplasmic exo-shells in the oversized likenesses of Battle Beasts encountered by the Decepticon Skystalker who first scouted Planet Beast in the year 1986. This is not strictly true, for before leaving Cybertron for Nebulos, Scorponok had already conducted secret trials of his Pretender process, constructing three semi-organic shells inspired by aliens described to him by Skystalker. One was a Battle Beast octopus with a skull on its belt. Another was the skeleton of a samurai chimpanzee from the planet Halfworld. And the third... was a Battle Beast walrus, also bearing a skull motif on its belt. Scorponok named the first Pretender shell 'the Octopunch'. He named the second 'the Skullmonkey'. And the third? It was - as you have rightly guessed - 'the Longtooth'. ___ The fearless Longtooth! Hah! If they only knew the truth! I still remember that terrible day, all those years ago - almost three years ago, by the humans' reckoning. After countless millennia of Decepticon rule - our rule - here on Cybertron, the unthinkable had happened. Optimus Prime had returned! And together with Ultra Magnus and the Wreckers, he now led the Autobot Resistance in a series of bold raids that left us Decepticons reeling! We possessed vastly superior numbers, but we lacked the leadership needed to counter Prime's lightning offensive. I learned later on that at that time Lord Straxus still lived on life-support, and Megatron was there with him - for all the good it did us. They were more concerned with fighting one another than with leading us in the field against Optimus Prime. Thousands fell in battle that day on the plains outside Polyhex, Autobot and Decepticon alike - but mostly Decepticons. I was terrified... "No! You can't die! I won't let you!" Don't leave me alone, I begged my fallen comrade. I can't make it alone! And that was the truth. I had seized the Longtooth armour to protect myself from the Wreckers' lethal firepower, but I didn't know how to operate it fully. And what was worse, I couldn't work out how to get it off once the threat had passed. Only the armourer had that information, and he lay at my feet, seemingly near death, stricken down by Roadbuster's linear blaster gun. Somehow, I had to save him! I was desperate to save him... And suddenly, he was there! My worst nightmare personified... Optimus Prime! I thought he had sensed my terror, but I was wrong! "At ease, Autobot." He thought I was an Autobot! Presumably because I was trying to repair a wounded comrade on the field of battle rather than strip him of salvageable component parts while he lay helpless. And it was true, the prototype Pretender shell I now wore concealed my Decepticon body design and insignia. "It never ceases to amaze me that even when staring defeat in the face, the Autobot spirit prevails," proclaimed Optimus Prime. "Such dedication to preserving life deserves a reward..." And there it was - our sacred lifeforce, the Creation Matrix! Little did I appreciate at the time that Prime was revealing to me its physical location within his chest cavity, while his most trusted confidants on Earth remained ignorant of this fact. Perhaps he had had some fleeting precognition of his approaching demise, and wanted someone, however lowly, to share his burden, before it was lost to all. For before my optics, and with considerable effort - and pain - Prime drew off a fragment of Matrix energy and handed it me, saying: "There is life. It is the greatest gift of all. Use it wisely!" And then he was gone, back into the thick of the fighting! I was left alone, holding a chance - a chance not to be scared any more! To my eternal shame, I gave in to temptation and kept the Matrix energy. My wounded comrade - or should I say former comrade - lived, but no thanks to me! I still carry the Matrix energy with me - my spare life, my courage... my shame! For I followed Prime and returned with him to Iacon Autobase, posing as an undercover Autobot who had captured a Decepticon Pretender shell. And since that day, I have fought bravely as a member of the Resistance. Why? Because it seemed like a good idea at the time... and perhaps also because the Matrix energy has infected my Decepticon programming, altering who I am. I sometimes suspect that that was Optimus Prime's intention all along - that he knew I was a Decepticon, but sensed that I was susceptible to change, either through my own strength of character, if I used the Matrix energy to save the wounded technician, or else by subtle reprogramming if I chose to keep it for my own benefit - which, to my shame, I did. Now Emirate Xaaron has summoned me, along with Doubleheader and Pincher, to discuss the Creation Matrix. Have I finally been found out? Part of me hopes not... another part hopes so! He goes on to talk of a mission, a quest to search for the missing Creation Matrix. I should feel relieved - I don't! Am I such a coward I can no longer fight on without this? If so, I may as well give up now! This isn't mine! I've been living a lie! I wonder if it's too late to change - again - to start over? I'd heard of the many Autobots lying deactivated on Earth, so I load the Matrix energy into a flight pod and send it back to its rightful owner, returning the life I stole... and perhaps reclaiming the life I lost. I can never undo what's been done - that shame is mine - and perhaps also Prime's - to bear. At least now I can return to the struggle reborn! But on which side, good or evil, now that I am freed from the Matrix fragment's influence, only time can tell... THE END Martin
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Post by The Doctor on Dec 18, 2019 7:43:40 GMT
The worst cover in the history of Transformers comics.
-Ralph
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Post by The Huff on Dec 18, 2019 14:56:04 GMT
Not convinced by the Longtooth story - if Pretender shells are a new invention, why does he have one in the pre-Earth past? I always thought of it as artistic licence. Longtooth is recalling the past but as he is now. I don't think that was the intention but how I deal with it. Transformers obviously wouldn't have encountered biological life at this point so wouldn't have made Pretender shells resemble it.
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Post by The Doctor on Dec 18, 2019 15:30:43 GMT
Unless you retcon it to show that Pretender technology was rediscovered circa 20th Century Earth time and that the knowledge had been lost millenia ago. It arguably makes more sense for it to be past technogy when the TF universe is crawling with more organic than mechanical life.
-Ralph
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Post by Fortmax2020 on Dec 18, 2019 16:41:12 GMT
Do we really think Scorponok was a genius enough and his crew of reject jail guards were so competent to invent the Pretender process out of thin air??
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Post by The Doctor on Dec 18, 2019 16:43:01 GMT
Exactly!
*bends over backwards and waves giant claws in the air*
-Ralph
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Post by The Huff on Dec 18, 2019 16:47:56 GMT
It's only a posh suit of armour.
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Dec 18, 2019 17:51:48 GMT
It's only a posh suit of armour. You have a strange understanding of the word posh. Now a penguin Pretender in a tuxedo, that would be posh. Anyway, what's wrong with my theory that the Longtooth flashback occurred during Prime's time on Cybertron with the Wreckers in 1987? Isn't that more realistic than Longtooth agonising over his secret for FOUR MILLION YEARS? Martin
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Post by Fortmax2020 on Dec 18, 2019 18:42:33 GMT
An interesting.. hypothesis. I feel it undoes 4 000 000 years of deep character development though.
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Dec 18, 2019 18:47:19 GMT
An interesting.. hypothesis. I feel it undoes 4 000 000 years of deep character development though. Character non-development, you mean! Martin
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Post by The Huff on Dec 18, 2019 21:56:27 GMT
It's only a posh suit of armour. You have a strange understanding of the word posh. Now a penguin Pretender in a tuxedo, that would be posh. Anyway, what's wrong with my theory that the Longtooth flashback occurred during Prime's time on Cybertron with the Wreckers in 1987? Isn't that more realistic than Longtooth agonising over his secret for FOUR MILLION YEARS? Martin Posh as in expensive. And yes, it does make more sense if the flashback was during Primes return to Cybertron un 87. There is no reason it couldn't be actually as the Transformers on Cybertron would have encountered biological life by then too. I will now go with that. I also like the idea that Longtooth was an ex Decepticon. And there is a Pretender Penguin running around. OR Longtooth had to wear his shell otherwise no one would recognise him.
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Dec 19, 2019 6:29:49 GMT
I also like the idea that Longtooth was an ex Decepticon. That was Phil's idea - reckons the toy (or at least the shell) was designed to be a Decepticon because it's not human and has a skull on its belt like Octopunch. Martin
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Post by Philip Ayres on Dec 19, 2019 7:53:13 GMT
The Skull theme is continued with Bludgeon, it's like Octopunch and Longtooth are wearing their leader's face on their belts as a badge!
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Post by The Huff on Dec 19, 2019 8:11:25 GMT
Hmm. I don't think Bludgeon (the toy) was ever intended to be a leader. It was just something that gradually happened in the comics/Simon Furmans writing.
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Post by The Doctor on Dec 19, 2019 8:48:20 GMT
The Skull theme is continued with Bludgeon, it's like Octopunch and Longtooth are wearing their leader's face on their belts as a badge! No, Phil, no! -Ralph
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Post by Pinwig on Dec 23, 2019 8:56:08 GMT
30 Years Ago This Week: Issue #250 Skin Deep - Part 2: On Earth, Starscream rants as Prime realises how he has been played. He is attacked by Starscream's Pretender shell and the Decepticons come to his aid. On the Ark, Kup tries to defuse Blackjack's bomb. On Cybertron, Megatron fends off the new Autobot Pretenders and orders his troops to finish them off while he finds Ratchet, who is elsewhere trying to contact the Ark. The Greatest Gift of All: Optimus Prime stares at the Matrix shard sent to him by Longtooth. He ponders who to resurrect with it, knowing there is only enough for one Transformer. The Rescue Patrol report they have Whisper surrounded, just as the other members of the Air Strike Patrol come to the Decepticon's aid, causing fire in the surrounding forest. Learning that the Transformer war on Earth is causing previously unrecognised ecological damage, Prime releases the Matrix shard into the atmosphere to help restore the planet. Elsewhere, Transformers reaches 250 issues with a special wraparound cover by Andy Wildman to celebrate; Snap, Crackle and Pop help to save a damaged submarine; The Incredible Hulk wants to boogie with the Giggly Sisters at Colin and Steve's Christmas party; and in the Stock Exchange, Philip Robins of Linthouse, Glasgow rather curiously would like a Bombshell (with weapons and accessories) in exchange for his Blob (with weapons and accessories).
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Post by The Doctor on Dec 23, 2019 12:24:54 GMT
The last proper Christmas issue was 30 years ago??
TIME TO JUMP IN THE SEA!
-Ralph
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Post by The Doctor on Dec 23, 2019 12:28:19 GMT
I was so shocked I just threw my hot chocolate over myself!
-Ralph
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Post by Pinwig on Dec 23, 2019 12:40:19 GMT
The cover of this issue has always troubled me. I know it's supposed to look like that, but I've always felt that it looks like the inks are missing.
And more importantly... who is Blob?
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Post by The Doctor on Dec 23, 2019 12:50:53 GMT
Wow. Weekly comics were 40p thirty years ago.
-Ralph
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Post by Pinwig on Dec 25, 2019 20:57:40 GMT
Pinwig is on the 1989 annual. The Quest is quite a nice adaptation of the Robot War! idea, but what the actual fuck is Destiny of the Dinobots all about? Is this what happens when Furman leaves the writing to others? Is this random knobbling of Snarl some vague excuse for his absence in the film?
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Dec 25, 2019 21:11:23 GMT
Pinwig is on the 1989 annual. The Quest is quite a nice adaptation of the Robot War! idea, but what the actual fuck is Destiny of the Dinobots all about? Is this what happens when Furman leaves the writing to others? Is this random knobbling of Snarl some vague excuse for his absence in the film? Maybe, but Furman does tie in with this plot in the comics a year later on. Martin
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Post by Pinwig on Dec 25, 2019 21:19:55 GMT
You speak of the future...
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Post by Fortmax2020 on Dec 25, 2019 22:03:49 GMT
Pinwig is on the 1989 annual. The Quest is quite a nice adaptation of the Robot War! idea, but what the actual fuck is Destiny of the Dinobots all about? Is this what happens when Furman leaves the writing to others? Is this random knobbling of Snarl some vague excuse for his absence in the film? Maybe, but Furman does tie in with this plot in the comics a year later on. Martin He does? Refresh my memory...
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Dec 25, 2019 22:23:18 GMT
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Post by Pinwig on Dec 27, 2019 16:08:35 GMT
Aside from the silliness of putting Snarl's brain in a real dinosaur, that's a pretty good annual that. It's very noticeable that this is independent to the comic and not like the last few that have used crossovers and continuations to link them. The usual problem of the stories feeling six months behind the curve because of the lead time on the annual production also isn't as noticeable as the headmaster stories in the last one. Aside from the Scoop mistake, all the stories are good, fun autobot/decepticon clashes and it's really nice to read stories with Prime and Megatron sparking off each other. It felt much more like the first couple of annuals to me. Good stuff. It's a shame there aren't more simple stories like this at this point in the history of the fiction. The text story by Dan Abnett almost felt like a ladybird book.
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Post by Pinwig on Dec 31, 2019 9:32:30 GMT
30 Years Ago This Week: Issue #251 Skin Deep - Part 3: Starscream attacks without mercy until Hot Rod hits his Pretender shell with a photon blast. Zarak orders Scorponok to attack too, and the combined effect shocks Starscream's original personality back into being. He pleads for mercy and departs with the Decepticons. On Cybertron, Megatron chases Ratchet to the trans-time portal. Ratchet reveals how he left Starscream's true identity intact, which stalls Megatron long enough for Ratchet to transport Black Jack's explosives through the portal. Megatron tries to escape, but Ratchet tackles him just as the explosives go off. The Void: 2009. Rodimus Prime commands an Autobot shuttle deep in hyperspace. He ponders how his recent return to Cybertron from Earth's past led him to discover an altered timeline in which Galvatron reigns. Double-header reports from the engine room, explaining that he has found sabotage and a dead guard. The shuttle is about to re-enter normal space blind. Kup scans the ship - Rodimus has gone missing, but there are no additional life-signs: the saboteur is one of the Autobots. Red Alert brings the shuttle out of hyperspace and finds they are too close to the planet, but the emergency retros won't fire. Elsewhere, Transformation looks forward to two new titles launching in 1990: Strip will feature the very best in comic strip action, and Avalon will be printed on recycled paper and feature the adventures of Captain Britain; Runabout and Runamuck feature in the A-Z; Colin foils Bankrobber Man with a farting bullet; and in the Stock Exchange, Oanis Rawbone of Warminster would like to swap his Roll Barm for a Rumble.
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