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Post by Pinwig on Dec 18, 2018 20:12:22 GMT
I think that week must have been a mistake. The covers went back to the normal paper a week later. This was about #188 being newspaper stock cover to cover and not just the inner pages. It does indeed seem to have been a mistake. I'll admit I was daft enough to cut the Tango coupon out back in the day, so I went to eBay to buy a replacement copy to keep my collection complete. When that turned up the other day, I realised the cover was on the shinier thinner paper. So my original #188 with the newsprint cover must have been a mistake. I would guess that was because the change from all shiny to the outer two pages only being shiny was the week before with #187, so the printers might have messed up a batch the week later thinking the comic had changed totally. From #189 onward it was always outer two sheets shiny, rest newsprint. Not that this is really very interesting, but it does explain that oddity.
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Post by Jaymz on Dec 18, 2018 21:23:31 GMT
My childhood 188 was all newspaper stock, but I got one with a shiny cover in a collection I bought a couple of years back. Kept both as I had no idea which was the error.
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Post by The Doctor on Dec 18, 2018 22:07:46 GMT
My childhood #188 was newsprint cover. I had no idea there were shiny cover variants!!!
-Ralph
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Post by Pinwig on Dec 25, 2018 10:08:12 GMT
30 Years Ago This Week: Issue #198 Cold Comfort and Joy: (Script by Ian Rimmer and featuring Andy Wildman's first Transformers strip art) Optimus Prime stands on Earth once more, but wonders why he felt such compulsion to defend its inhabitants in the past. Meanwhile, the Powermasters bemoan the cold weather from inside their shuttle. A newsflash alerts them to the fact the nearby town of Border Flats has been destroyed by giant robots and they depart without Prime to investigate. While Prime relives his first moments on Earth, the Powermasters discover the damage was accidentally caused by Inferno, Broadside and Sandstorm. Prime arrives, claiming the incident has reminded him the Transformers do not belong on Earth and that it was his actions that brought them to the planet in the first place. His resolve to defend the Earth from the Decepticons returns. Elsewhere, There's a competition to win one of twenty-five annual bundles featuring Transformers, Action Force and Visionaries; Colin and Steve set aside their weaponry to embrace the spirit of Christmas; and on the letters' page, Dreadwind offers readers the opportunity to purchase a copy of the Transformers Universe, packed with over 100 character biographies, for the princely sum of £1.99 - although the offer expires in just seven days.
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Post by Pinwig on Dec 25, 2018 10:11:12 GMT
By this point I had the four issue comic version of Transformers Universe and the American trade paperback, so I didn't buy this one. It occurs to me now though that I don't actually know what this one is. £1.99 seems very cheap for the Universe book - was this the actual US trade paperback, or was it something more cheaply produced? Was there anything in it that isn't in the American versions?
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Post by Pinwig on Dec 25, 2018 10:20:58 GMT
Christmas Day reading 30 Years style...
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Post by blueshift on Dec 25, 2018 10:23:09 GMT
Christmas Day reading 30 Years style... Awesome
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Post by Andy Turnbull on Dec 25, 2018 10:27:08 GMT
By this point I had the four issue comic version of Transformers Universe and the American trade paperback, so I didn't buy this one. It occurs to me now though that I don't actually know what this one is. £1.99 seems very cheap for the Universe book - was this the actual US trade paperback, or was it something more cheaply produced? Was there anything in it that isn't in the American versions? I'm honestly not sure. I think it might have been stock of the US trade, as my memory recalls the planned A to Z UK collection was shelved for reasons.
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Post by Pinwig on Dec 25, 2018 10:32:43 GMT
Feels odd at this point though having an annual that has Scorponok on the cover and a Headmasters story in it. Worlds Apart was fifteen months ago at this point, yet Scorponok is still angry with Highbrow. I have also just used the WD40/Panini comic trading card cellotape gunk removal trick to remove thirty year old price sticker residue from this annual. This has made me very happy.
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Post by Pinwig on Dec 25, 2018 10:36:42 GMT
Stuart doesn't have an actual picture of it, just the US one, but Transformation Vol 2 says: So, with the basic content being so well known, what is there new to say about this collected edition? I think the most important thing to note in terms of its impact on British readers is that—despite a a price in pounds and the odd overtly optimistic addition of a “Volume 1” to the title—this is identical in every way to the American version published a year earlier. Indeed, it stands a good chance of being unsold American stock that has been re-covered.thesolarpool.weebly.com/transformers-universe.html
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Post by Philip Ayres on Dec 25, 2018 12:19:28 GMT
30 Years Ago This Week: Issue #198 Cold Comfort and Joy: (Script by Ian Rimmer and featuring Andy Wildman's first Transformers strip art) Hurrah, that's a decent Christms present. Easily the best of the latter TFUK artists.
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Post by Philip Ayres on Dec 25, 2018 12:22:12 GMT
By this point I had the four issue comic version of Transformers Universe and the American trade paperback, so I didn't buy this one. It occurs to me now though that I don't actually know what this one is. £1.99 seems very cheap for the Universe book - was this the actual US trade paperback, or was it something more cheaply produced? Was there anything in it that isn't in the American versions? IIRC it's the first Marvel US trade to get a UK distribution. Pretty sure it's the US edition with a UK price label & bar code slapped on.
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Post by Philip Ayres on Dec 25, 2018 12:29:24 GMT
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Post by The Doctor on Dec 25, 2018 13:29:11 GMT
By this point I had the four issue comic version of Transformers Universe and the American trade paperback, so I didn't buy this one. It occurs to me now though that I don't actually know what this one is. £1.99 seems very cheap for the Universe book - was this the actual US trade paperback, or was it something more cheaply produced? Was there anything in it that isn't in the American versions? I'm honestly not sure. I think it might have been stock of the US trade, as my memory recalls the planned A to Z UK collection was shelved for reasons. IIRC it had the price in sterling printed on the back. I will have to dig out my copy to check! -Ralph
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Post by The Doctor on Dec 25, 2018 13:30:48 GMT
Feels odd at this point though having an annual that has Scorponok on the cover and a Headmasters story in it. Worlds Apart was fifteen months ago at this point, yet Scorponok is still angry with Highbrow. The time gap plus Annuals being something that would be re-read to death is probably why I remember the Scorponok/Highbrow rivalry being a bigger thing than it actually was. -Ralph
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Post by Philip Ayres on Dec 25, 2018 14:50:53 GMT
I'm honestly not sure. I think it might have been stock of the US trade, as my memory recalls the planned A to Z UK collection was shelved for reasons. IIRC it had the price in sterling printed on the back. I will have to dig out my copy to check! -Ralph See picture above! £3.50. So if it's the US edition, it's been rejacketed
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Post by Pinwig on Dec 25, 2018 14:52:43 GMT
It's a product of the process they go through. Although annuals are traditionally a Christmas thing, obviously they came out in the late summer, and we know from Grim Grams letters that the content was already being mapped out at the end of the previous year. So if you're planning the 89 annual at the tail end of 87, it's hard to make the stories relevant to the issues on sale Christmas 88. But then we know all that. Altered Image is a bit more relevant and Prime Bomb has at least got Powermasters in.
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Post by Pinwig on Dec 25, 2018 15:13:07 GMT
My universe trade is exactly the same as that, but it has US $5.95 / Can $6.95 on the back where the UK price is. The insides are the same. So basically it's a reprint with the price changed.
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Dec 25, 2018 18:06:51 GMT
The TFU trade (whether US or UK version) was one of the best TF books ever, spoiled by the omission of several characters who were included in the mini-series (from memory, Broadside, Inferno, Jumpstarters, Pipes, Tailgate and three of the Autobot Cassettes). But some of the missing characters do appear on the cover!
But my mint copy signed by Bob Budiansky remains a prized possession.
Martin
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Post by Philip Ayres on Dec 25, 2018 18:47:04 GMT
I always wanted this in oversized Marvel UK format despite buying the US issues when they came out.
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tomwe
Protoform
Tom reads comics
Posts: 990
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Post by tomwe on Dec 27, 2018 21:09:45 GMT
My copy of TFU was used as a checklist of G1 toys, along with notes at to the extent of damage the toys had suffered. The book was recently significantly battered by my son’s burgeoning interest in TF. If I knew where it was I’d check whether it was a £/$ edition. (Merry Christmas everyone)
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Post by Pinwig on Jan 2, 2019 13:05:14 GMT
30 Years Ago This Week: Issue #199 Time Wars - Part 1: Earth 2009: The Terrorcons wreak havoc beneath a broiling sky as Soundwave leads a plan to drain the desperate planet dry of its resources. At Autobot City, Kup demands Rodimus assigns troops to deal with the situation, but the Autobot leader instead is preoccupied with news from Cybertron that the source of the disturbance threatening Earth originates in 1989. Kup leads a squad to destroy the Decepticons' energy leech. Soundwave and the Terrorcons follow Kup's team back to the city and discover a time corridor through which they seem to have escaped. Elsewhere, Transformation formally welcomes Andy Wildman to the fold while also pointing out (before anyone complains) that this week's Action Force story, Hush Job, is supposed to have no lettering; the whole of the inside back page is given over to promoting next week's landmark 200th issue; and on the letters' page, Dreadwind informs Darren and cat of Birmingham that Scourge is a futuristic plane, not a hovercraft.
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Jan 2, 2019 17:29:22 GMT
Hush Job was amazing.
Martin
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Post by The Doctor on Jan 2, 2019 20:34:07 GMT
THIRTY YEARS SINCE TIME WARS????!!!
*jumps in the sea*
-Ralph
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Jan 2, 2019 20:49:26 GMT
Or ten years, depending on your preferred timeline.
Martin
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Post by Pinwig on Jan 2, 2019 21:34:08 GMT
Where are we placing this one in the pantheon of UK stories? Most important after Target 2006? Where we go after this in the UK stories I'm pretty hazy on; is this Furman clearing the decks before trying to merge the stories when he takes over the US book? He must have been writing it by now given his first US book went on sale in April.
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Jan 2, 2019 21:50:08 GMT
Time Wars was a mess. Apart from not featuring present-day Ultra Magnus in the final showdown with Galvatron as promised, and apart from the future Autobots and Decepticons under Rodimus and Soundwave being completely pointless and not doing anything useful in 1989, the stuff with Megatron and Galvatron made no sense. Galvatron claimed to have memories of being Megatron in 1989 and witnessing his future self vanquish Optimus Prime's Autobots, but if that were true how could the Movie happen, and anyway the Megatron present in the Time Wars was the Straxus clone, and not the real Megatron. Time Wars used bright colours and a high death count to distract from the complete lack of internal logic.
Other UK 'epics' such as 'Wanted: Galvatron Dead or Alive' made more sense, but I think the best ones were the non-time-travel ones - the 'Icarus Theory' / 'Dinobot Hunt' six-parter, the Special Teams origin seven-parter, the 'City of Fear' six-parter, etc.
Martin
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Jan 2, 2019 22:02:28 GMT
Oh, and the other thing that bugged me was the way it kept implying that Cyclonus dying before he was created was a paradox that worsened the rift. It wasn't a paradox. Cyclonus killing his past self before he was created would have been a paradox, but there's nothing paradoxical about a time-traveller himself getting killed.
Martin
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Post by Fortmax2020 on Jan 2, 2019 22:03:21 GMT
That Galvatron. Totally unhinged. It's like we saw the whole story through his mind. As intended no doubt.
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Post by The Doctor on Jan 2, 2019 22:03:55 GMT
Time Wars is brilliant.
-Ralph
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