Titan TF Animated UK Comic

[charlesrocketboy]

Afterburn's deliberately being a git to poor Bumblebee, but this is nothing compared to Ratchet 'pretending to be dead.

It's alright, but there's some big weaknesses - like Ratchet doing that!

[Hero]

Afterburn is still alive? Kill him off already I say.

[The Doctor]

I only just got round to #2. It was ok. I think whether I stick with it depends how often the Furmanator is on it.

-Ralph

[primenova]

Why is it that the sub's copy of TFA is always late in the post while TFM is early?

[The Doctor]

Unicron hates you.

-Ralph

[primenova]

Unicron's not turning up in this title & i'd be not expecting to see Unicron in the TFA line at all.

But got it in the post today.

[KnightBeat]

An Animated Unicron that destroyed planets with hugs would be excellent.

More dinobot action on the cover of #4.

[The Doctor]

So I see. And a free pencil pod!

I thought #3 was ok. John McCrea is a good fit for the strip, the free decoder tat was a nice gimmick for the kiddies and I like that each issue now runs part of a 'versus' game. Decent title for younger readers.

-Ralph

[chrismcfeely]

It got cancelled!

[Bogatan]

Kind of surprised that it happened so soon, but not that it happened.

I do wonder if they expected it wouldn't work as even after a year and a half the movie comic seemed to have more effort put in to it. I think I just didnt like the back up strip much. screencapped episodes were the the action bits arent screencapped wasn't very interesting to me.

Andy

[Andy Turnbull]

Who knows this could have been a preemptive decision based on the current economic climate.

Andy

[grahamthomson]

Perhaps Titan had very specific sales figures in mind for Animated based on how their other TF magazine was performing?

[andrewbcalculating]

What Titan could do is use the TF Movie comic to publish new Movie and Animated material in one UK comic. They could drop the current reprints of Megatron Origin and Beast Wars from the Movie comic and replace it with the original UK only animated material that would have gone into the UK Animated comic. This could then mean that Titan has one TF comic containing origianl UK material for both the Movie and Animated.

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[charlesrocketboy]

Oh blast! That's a bit of a bugger, isn't it? And right after promising a fourth issue...

Maybe they will merge it with the movie comic, or at least run the remaining Animated strips (they must have one or two left over) in it.

[Hero]

I assume there's been material drawn up in advance for future issues of the Animated comic which could be just used in the Movie one. Using that possible material would be better than reprinting stuff like Megatron: Origin anyhow.

I hope if there is a more bumper mag the cover price won't be racked up higher than it already is.

[blueshift]

Wow that was quick!

[The Doctor]

Balls!

Only 3 issues? Awww, even shorter a run than Fleetway G2.

Letter of doom:
www.tfw2005.com/transformers-news/attachment.php?do=fullview&attachmentid=12468

-Ralph

[charlesrocketboy]

Jan 6, 2009 17:23:31 GMT The Doctor said:

Awww, even shorter a run than Fleetway G2.

How humiliating is that?

[The Doctor]

I know! I had hoped that was one record never to be broken.



-Ralph

[grahamthomson]

If only this last issue had an advert for TMUK like the last issue of Fleetway had.

[primenova]

Jan 6, 2009 14:35:02 GMT andrewbcalculating said:

What Titan could do is use the TF Movie comic to publish new Movie and Animated material in one UK comic. They could drop the current reprints of Megatron Origin and Beast Wars from the Movie comic and replace it with the original UK only animated material that would have gone into the UK Animated comic. This could then mean that Titan has one TF comic containing origianl UK material for both the Movie and Animated.

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I like that idea - but we know that they use reprint before new stuff due to cost. Wasn't very happy when i opened th eletter today. #4 looked good going by the cover & the nice free gift

[The Doctor]

Now we'll never get the 'cool TFA Pencil Pod, including pencil with rubber and pencil sharpener!'

The comic may have been dead on arrival sales-wise to be canned so sharply. I'm scratching my head trying to remember the last time a new comic launch died on UK newsstands so quickly.

I would say it's not unreasonable to expect any strips which were already completed and paid for to turn up in future 'bumper' issues of the TF Movie comic. If material is sitting there, I can imagine Titan wanting to use it and the format of occassional 'bumper' issues with extra Animated content is already established. It wouldn't be fair to bump the Megatron: Origin and BW: Ascending strips to make room for any such material though. After all, the comic is not aimed at, well, us, who had previously bought the IDW editions. These strips are new to the target audience and it's their first printing in the UK.

Sad to see a UK comic go so quickly, in any event. I may have to bury my issues at sea.

-Ralph

[Andy Turnbull]

To be honest launching the animated title was not a smart move from Titan. It was only ever going to harm the main title and didn't need to be launched especially as it wasn't all that different in presentation and style from the main book, sure the stories were dumbed down a bit but not a distinct enough animal to survive on it's own merits (see Doctor Who Magazine and Doctor Who Adventures for the perfect blueprint - yes I know they are from different publishers but the analogy is sound).

Andy

[legios]

Jan 6, 2009 20:45:41 GMT The Doctor said:

The comic may have been dead on arrival sales-wise to be canned so sharply. I'm scratching my head trying to remember the last time a new comic launch died on UK newsstands so quickly.
-Ralph

I'm not aware of anything dying that swiftly either. I wouldn't be surprised if it had crashed and burned right out of the gate to be honest. I can only judge by sales in my neck of the woods but on that basis it certainly wasn't flying off the shelves.

They will almost certainly find away to use any strips that have been completed for future issues. They will likely have been paid for by now so it would be foolish not to do something with them. I wouldn't be surprised if they showed up as spacers between IDW reprints whenever something reached either a natural breakpoint or between series.

I hadn't bought the most recent issue of Animated, mostly due to cutting back discretionary spending before New Year due to some hefty expenses, but I shall mourn its passing.

Karl

[primenova]

How long did the 1991 X-men Marvel UK comic last? Marvel Action Hour UK only lasted 4 issues.

[charlesrocketboy]

Jan 6, 2009 21:48:47 GMT Andy Turnbull said:

To be honest launching the animated title was not a smart move from Titan.

Thinking about it they could've just bumped up the page count permanently and run an Animated strip permanently from #17.

[Andy Turnbull]

Jan 6, 2009 21:59:10 GMT primenova said:

How long did the 1991 X-men Marvel UK comic last? Marvel Action Hour UK only lasted 4 issues.

You mean 1992/3 X-Men comic surely Pete.

Andy

[Dave]

Never read it (though an #1 has been lost in the post) but it didn't sound like my kind of thing what with the screencap stuff. Not that surprised it didn't last. I haven't seen many Animated toys about. What channel is the show on over here?

[The Doctor]

The screencap stuff may not be popular with adult readers, but maybe the kids like it. The IDW screengrab books (of which one story was printed in UK Anmated #1-3) are up to volume 6 now, and earlier volumes have been reprinted. I forget which volume it is, but I did see a 3rd reprint of one being solicited (compare this to Escalation TPB, only now getting a 2nd printing). I can't see why IDW would keep pumping them out if they don't sell.

-Ralph

[Andy Turnbull]

The Animated show is on Nicktoons over here and given what's going on with kid's tv I can't see it being aired on terrestrial for quite some time, if at all.

Andy