Rocksolid Light

Welcome to novaBBS (click a section below)

mail  files  register  newsreader  groups  login

Message-ID:  

What one fool can do, another can. -- Ancient Simian Proverb


interests / alt.toys.transformers / Comics Reading Club: Zob's Thought on Marvel Comics THE TRANSFORMERS #28

SubjectAuthor
* Comics Reading Club: Zob's Thought on Marvel Comics THE TRANSFORMERS #28Zobovor
`* Re: Comics Reading Club: Zob's Thought on Marvel Comics THECodigo Postal
 `* Re: Comics Reading Club: Zob's Thought on Marvel Comics THEJoseph Bardsley
  `* Re: Comics Reading Club: Zob's Thought on Marvel Comics THEZobovor
   `- Re: Comics Reading Club: Zob's Thought on Marvel Comics THEJoseph Bardsley

1
Comics Reading Club: Zob's Thought on Marvel Comics THE TRANSFORMERS #28

<5a49579e-59fc-408b-a35f-71ca89002f28n@googlegroups.com>

 copy mid

https://www.novabbs.com/interests/article-flat.php?id=6951&group=alt.toys.transformers#6951

 copy link   Newsgroups: alt.toys.transformers
X-Received: by 2002:ac8:5716:0:b0:39c:c97e:ccea with SMTP id 22-20020ac85716000000b0039cc97ecceamr2490743qtw.192.1665851350298;
Sat, 15 Oct 2022 09:29:10 -0700 (PDT)
X-Received: by 2002:a05:6808:1821:b0:355:2c04:6a2b with SMTP id
bh33-20020a056808182100b003552c046a2bmr999557oib.286.1665851349988; Sat, 15
Oct 2022 09:29:09 -0700 (PDT)
Path: i2pn2.org!i2pn.org!usenet.blueworldhosting.com!feed1.usenet.blueworldhosting.com!peer03.iad!feed-me.highwinds-media.com!news.highwinds-media.com!news-out.google.com!nntp.google.com!postnews.google.com!google-groups.googlegroups.com!not-for-mail
Newsgroups: alt.toys.transformers
Date: Sat, 15 Oct 2022 09:29:09 -0700 (PDT)
Injection-Info: google-groups.googlegroups.com; posting-host=73.131.216.167; posting-account=VatO8goAAADkHr1F3eCw5I8LKv1LHntN
NNTP-Posting-Host: 73.131.216.167
User-Agent: G2/1.0
MIME-Version: 1.0
Message-ID: <5a49579e-59fc-408b-a35f-71ca89002f28n@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Comics Reading Club: Zob's Thought on Marvel Comics THE TRANSFORMERS #28
From: zmf...@aol.com (Zobovor)
Injection-Date: Sat, 15 Oct 2022 16:29:10 +0000
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
X-Received-Bytes: 15254
 by: Zobovor - Sat, 15 Oct 2022 16:29 UTC

THE TRANSFORMERS issue #28 is entitled "Mechanical Difficulties!" and was printed on February 17, 1987 with a pull date of May 1987.  It features the return of The Mechanic, the human villain recently introduced in issue #26.  

Bob Budiansky wrote this issue, of course, with Don Perlin penciling the art, Akin & Garvey inking the pencils, Janice Chiang doing the lettering, and Nel Yomtov coloring the art.  The cover was also illustrated by Ian Akin, and showcases Blaster and Goldbug (in his first TRANSFORMERS appearance) being whacked by a giant tree.  "The Mechanic strikes again..." the teaser text reads, "...and the Autobots strike out!"  The baseball metaphor is loosely appropriate, given that the way the Mechanic is swinging the tree is not entirely unlike a very large baseball bat.  Also of note is that the cover price for the comic book jumped up beginning with this issue, from $0.75 to $1.00 USD.

As our story opens, The Mechanic is using his stolen power booster rod to steal a gigantic radar dish from the local airport, carrying it away and loading it into a truck driven by his trusty assistant, Juan.  When a couple of security vehicles arrive to stop the theft, the Mechanic lets loose with the guns he had previously swiped from Ratchet, easily immobilizing the vehicles. As ever, he's a force to be reckoned with, especially with the aid of his stolen Cybertronic technology.

 Elsewhere, Goldbug and Blaster are covertly monitoring the Mechanic's headquarters, waiting for his arrival.  When Blaster switches on some rock music to pass the time (just about the only time in the comics his love for rock n' roll is demonstrated), a couple of punks (named Fuzzy and Deadhead) happen by and decide they want to liberate the boom box from its spot inside Goldbug.  I know Budiansky says he never watched the Sunbow cartoon, but the scene plays out similarly to the beginning of "Make Tracks.."  They try to jimmy Goldbug's doors and then try to smash his windows with a rock, before Goldbug finally decides he's had enough.  When he drives off, the punks flee and bump into a couple of cops, who offer to take them for a ride downtown and talk about what's gotten them so spooked.  

At the Ark, Blaster and Goldbug return from their surveillance mission to find Grimlock trying on an assortment of shiny crowns.  Wearing a crown is definitely something that somebody as vain and arrogant as Grimlock would do, and it seems to perfectly encapsulate his attitude towards being Autobot leader.  It's become so strongly associated with Grimlock's role as leader in the comics that they have even produced modern-day Grimlock toys that came with a crown accessory, like the Takara Masterpiece MP-08 toy.

Something interesting is that Grimlock's speech pattern has changed a bit.  Up until now, the Dinobots have been informal and gruff, but have otherwise spoken like normal Autobots.  Beginning with this issue, Grimlock has shifted to the stilted speech patterns the Dinobots used in the cartoon.  He's not quite in "me, Grimlock" mode yet (he still uses the word "I" to describe himself) but he's well on his way. It's an indication of how the more popular cartoon series continues to influence the comic in subtle ways (along with the "roll out!" battle cry and the introduction of energon cubes).

Something else of note is that even though Goldbug has a character design that is supposed to be separate and distinct from Bumblebee. We've already seen this design in the G.I. JOE AND THE TRANSFORMERS mini-series.
In this issue, though, Goldbug is just being drawn identically to Bumblebee, except for his new head.  It's possible that this issue was being written and illustrated during, or even before, the G.I. Joe crossover in which Bumblebee's body is destroyed.  It seems unlikely, though, since Bumblebee's absence from the regular TRANSFORMERS comic seems perfectly timed to coincide with the G.I. Joe crossover.  

Nonetheless, Goldbug's head appears pasted on top of the Bumblebee body in many scenes in this issue (it's not even attached in the right place—in one early panel, his head is on top of Bumblebee's back window, not the top of his body) which suggests to me they might have drawn Bumblebee, realized their error, and just pasted the Goldbug head on top as a course-correction.  (I mean, they've gone back to replacing Blaster's animation head with a drawing of his toy head in every panel, so what's one more head replacement at this point?)

When Goldbug and Blaster explain that they failed to locate the Mechanic, Grimlock goes berserk, shouting at them and smashing things, including several of his shiny new crowns.  "Why you not destroy humans?!" he demands when the Autobots explain about their encounter with the punks.  At the police station, Detective Greco is discussing the Mechanic with his police captain.  They suspect the Mechanic might be using Transformer technology, and believe they might even be colluding together.  Greco's orders are to apprehend the Mechanic, but the robots are considered even more dangerous.

It seems that the reason nobody has found the Mechanic at his old headquarters was because he's actually taken up shop inside an abandoned canning factory in Portland.  He's been making modifications to criminals' cars, at the hefty price of $50,000 per unit.  When one client, a Mr. Bigalow, refuses to pay, the Mechanic responds by retrieving the car with a huge electromagnet. He allows the automated factory robot arms to strip the car down to its bare chassis and deposit Bigalow into the driver's seat, after which the mechanic picks up the entire car with his power booster rod and throws both the car and his former client into what I assume is the Willamette River.  

At the volcano, Wheeljack has zeroed in on the frequency emitted by the power booster rod, and Grimlock orders Blaster and Goldbug back out to retrieve it, promising punishment if they fail.  As they near its location, a tractor trailer passes by, and Juan uses Ratchet's laser to knock over a tree and block the truck's path.  Inside is what the Mechanic describes as a "256 thousand kilobyte Formax computer, the most powerful of its kind" which he intends to incorporate into his machine shop.  (The computer itself looks like a jukebox, actually, but that's neither here nor there.)  I'm sure the schematics sounded impressive in 1987, when home computers were in their infancy.  The floppy disks being used at the time could store about 1.44 megabytes of data (a few dozen small text documents) so I'm sure 256 MB sounded like an excessive amount of data.  But, now it seems woefully unimpressive.  That jukebox can only hold, like, eighty songs at most!

The computer was bait to lead the Mechanic into a trap, and the police and S.W.A.T. teamove in to apprehend him.  When they spot Blaster and Goldbug, however, they shift priorities and immediately open fire.  The Mechanic uses the power booster rod to pick up the fallen tree, knocking the Autobots down and escaping in the truck.  

Now, the science fiction behind the power booster rod is kind of glossed over.  We learn that it's an energy enhancement machine, but not much more than that.  Of course, its true storytelling function is to make the Mechanic an actual threat to the Autobots, and the fact that it's shaped like a wrench is kind of funny.  He's the Mechanic, with his dangerous futuristic space wrench.  The Autobots escape, and the police attempt to follow, but Ratchet's cryogenic tool has iced the road and makes police pursuit impossible.

So, now we finally find out what the Mechanic is up to.  He's gathered together an assembly of prospective clientele, demonstrating how he's used his mechanical expertise to transform their cars into battle weapons with pop-out guns that can counter any police resistance.  Again, Budiansky says he never watched the G1 cartoon, but this feels like the battle taxis from "City of Steel."  Maybe it's just the nature of writing stories about transformable robots that people naturally gravitate towards inventing cars with pop-out guns.  I don't know.

So Goldbug is peering through the factory window, taking this all in, and knows it's bad news.  Juan spots him outside and is able to eavesdrop on his radio transmissions with Blaster.  He also uses the stolen radar dish to detect the police helicopters that have landed nearby.  Despite what Grimlock would probably want, Blaster isn't about to allow the police to walk into a trap.  He transforms to robot mode, revealing himself, at great personal risk to himself. The police could have opened fire right then and there, but they don't.  After Detective Greco says he's been ordered to destroy robots, and Blaster says he's been ordered to destroy humans, they both realize some commands are not supposed to be followed, and together they come up with an alternate plan.  An incredibly goofy plan.

Goldbug sneaks into the factory but is immediately ensnared by Juan using the electromagnet. He's in serious danger of being stripped down to his components.  As this happens, Greco waltzes into the place, boom box on his shoulder like the world's most unconvincing punk rocker ("how do you do, fellow teenagers?") and singing along to the music.  If the intent is to confuse and perplex the den of crooks that he's stumbled into, it works..  They also complain about the rock music.  But, then he goes and immediately identifies himself, whipping out his badge, at which point the thugs and hoodlums are all ready to draw their weapons.  Since they're not music lovers, Greco switches off his boom box.  This is evidently part of the plan, and it's a sign for Greco's partner, along with the S.W.A.T. team, to barge in.  It's a highly convoluted plan, and there's no real reason for it to have accomplished anything.  Greco should have been shot down as soon as he entered the factory floor.  But, I'm sure Budiansky was looking for a way for Blaster to be part of this scheme, so this is what we get.


Click here to read the complete article
Re: Comics Reading Club: Zob's Thought on Marvel Comics THE TRANSFORMERS #28

<5d15ee92-541f-4112-a7d3-aa62d5fa4523n@googlegroups.com>

 copy mid

https://www.novabbs.com/interests/article-flat.php?id=6976&group=alt.toys.transformers#6976

 copy link   Newsgroups: alt.toys.transformers
X-Received: by 2002:a05:620a:191c:b0:6ed:88c5:e839 with SMTP id bj28-20020a05620a191c00b006ed88c5e839mr22339531qkb.627.1666587523654;
Sun, 23 Oct 2022 21:58:43 -0700 (PDT)
X-Received: by 2002:a05:6870:63aa:b0:13a:fe6c:5ed0 with SMTP id
t42-20020a05687063aa00b0013afe6c5ed0mr12020665oap.257.1666587523378; Sun, 23
Oct 2022 21:58:43 -0700 (PDT)
Path: i2pn2.org!i2pn.org!usenet.blueworldhosting.com!feed1.usenet.blueworldhosting.com!peer02.iad!feed-me.highwinds-media.com!news.highwinds-media.com!news-out.google.com!nntp.google.com!postnews.google.com!google-groups.googlegroups.com!not-for-mail
Newsgroups: alt.toys.transformers
Date: Sun, 23 Oct 2022 21:58:43 -0700 (PDT)
In-Reply-To: <5a49579e-59fc-408b-a35f-71ca89002f28n@googlegroups.com>
Injection-Info: google-groups.googlegroups.com; posting-host=2601:14f:8300:8310:419e:dce0:e97e:88cc;
posting-account=ZVajBwoAAACrfyXPyso8LQSIO8Xek1JN
NNTP-Posting-Host: 2601:14f:8300:8310:419e:dce0:e97e:88cc
References: <5a49579e-59fc-408b-a35f-71ca89002f28n@googlegroups.com>
User-Agent: G2/1.0
MIME-Version: 1.0
Message-ID: <5d15ee92-541f-4112-a7d3-aa62d5fa4523n@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: Comics Reading Club: Zob's Thought on Marvel Comics THE
TRANSFORMERS #28
From: codigopo...@gmail.com (Codigo Postal)
Injection-Date: Mon, 24 Oct 2022 04:58:43 +0000
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
X-Received-Bytes: 15477
 by: Codigo Postal - Mon, 24 Oct 2022 04:58 UTC

On Saturday, October 15, 2022 at 12:29:11 PM UTC-4, Zobovor wrote:
> THE TRANSFORMERS issue #28 is entitled "Mechanical Difficulties!" and was printed on February 17, 1987 with a pull date of May 1987. It features the return of The Mechanic, the human villain recently introduced in issue #26.
>
> Bob Budiansky wrote this issue, of course, with Don Perlin penciling the art, Akin & Garvey inking the pencils, Janice Chiang doing the lettering, and Nel Yomtov coloring the art. The cover was also illustrated by Ian Akin, and showcases Blaster and Goldbug (in his first TRANSFORMERS appearance) being whacked by a giant tree. "The Mechanic strikes again..." the teaser text reads, "...and the Autobots strike out!" The baseball metaphor is loosely appropriate, given that the way the Mechanic is swinging the tree is not entirely unlike a very large baseball bat. Also of note is that the cover price for the comic book jumped up beginning with this issue, from $0.75 to $1.00 USD.
>
> As our story opens, The Mechanic is using his stolen power booster rod to steal a gigantic radar dish from the local airport, carrying it away and loading it into a truck driven by his trusty assistant, Juan. When a couple of security vehicles arrive to stop the theft, the Mechanic lets loose with the guns he had previously swiped from Ratchet, easily immobilizing the vehicles. As ever, he's a force to be reckoned with, especially with the aid of his stolen Cybertronic technology.
>
> Elsewhere, Goldbug and Blaster are covertly monitoring the Mechanic's headquarters, waiting for his arrival. When Blaster switches on some rock music to pass the time (just about the only time in the comics his love for rock n' roll is demonstrated), a couple of punks (named Fuzzy and Deadhead) happen by and decide they want to liberate the boom box from its spot inside Goldbug. I know Budiansky says he never watched the Sunbow cartoon, but the scene plays out similarly to the beginning of "Make Tracks." They try to jimmy Goldbug's doors and then try to smash his windows with a rock, before Goldbug finally decides he's had enough. When he drives off, the punks flee and bump into a couple of cops, who offer to take them for a ride downtown and talk about what's gotten them so spooked.
>
> At the Ark, Blaster and Goldbug return from their surveillance mission to find Grimlock trying on an assortment of shiny crowns. Wearing a crown is definitely something that somebody as vain and arrogant as Grimlock would do, and it seems to perfectly encapsulate his attitude towards being Autobot leader. It's become so strongly associated with Grimlock's role as leader in the comics that they have even produced modern-day Grimlock toys that came with a crown accessory, like the Takara Masterpiece MP-08 toy.
>
> Something interesting is that Grimlock's speech pattern has changed a bit.. Up until now, the Dinobots have been informal and gruff, but have otherwise spoken like normal Autobots. Beginning with this issue, Grimlock has shifted to the stilted speech patterns the Dinobots used in the cartoon. He's not quite in "me, Grimlock" mode yet (he still uses the word "I" to describe himself) but he's well on his way. It's an indication of how the more popular cartoon series continues to influence the comic in subtle ways (along with the "roll out!" battle cry and the introduction of energon cubes).
>
> Something else of note is that even though Goldbug has a character design that is supposed to be separate and distinct from Bumblebee. We've already seen this design in the G.I. JOE AND THE TRANSFORMERS mini-series.
> In this issue, though, Goldbug is just being drawn identically to Bumblebee, except for his new head. It's possible that this issue was being written and illustrated during, or even before, the G.I. Joe crossover in which Bumblebee's body is destroyed. It seems unlikely, though, since Bumblebee's absence from the regular TRANSFORMERS comic seems perfectly timed to coincide with the G.I. Joe crossover.
>
> Nonetheless, Goldbug's head appears pasted on top of the Bumblebee body in many scenes in this issue (it's not even attached in the right place—in one early panel, his head is on top of Bumblebee's back window, not the top of his body) which suggests to me they might have drawn Bumblebee, realized their error, and just pasted the Goldbug head on top as a course-correction. (I mean, they've gone back to replacing Blaster's animation head with a drawing of his toy head in every panel, so what's one more head replacement at this point?)
>
> When Goldbug and Blaster explain that they failed to locate the Mechanic, Grimlock goes berserk, shouting at them and smashing things, including several of his shiny new crowns. "Why you not destroy humans?!" he demands when the Autobots explain about their encounter with the punks. At the police station, Detective Greco is discussing the Mechanic with his police captain. They suspect the Mechanic might be using Transformer technology, and believe they might even be colluding together. Greco's orders are to apprehend the Mechanic, but the robots are considered even more dangerous.
>
> It seems that the reason nobody has found the Mechanic at his old headquarters was because he's actually taken up shop inside an abandoned canning factory in Portland. He's been making modifications to criminals' cars, at the hefty price of $50,000 per unit. When one client, a Mr. Bigalow, refuses to pay, the Mechanic responds by retrieving the car with a huge electromagnet. He allows the automated factory robot arms to strip the car down to its bare chassis and deposit Bigalow into the driver's seat, after which the mechanic picks up the entire car with his power booster rod and throws both the car and his former client into what I assume is the Willamette River..
>
> At the volcano, Wheeljack has zeroed in on the frequency emitted by the power booster rod, and Grimlock orders Blaster and Goldbug back out to retrieve it, promising punishment if they fail. As they near its location, a tractor trailer passes by, and Juan uses Ratchet's laser to knock over a tree and block the truck's path. Inside is what the Mechanic describes as a "256 thousand kilobyte Formax computer, the most powerful of its kind" which he intends to incorporate into his machine shop. (The computer itself looks like a jukebox, actually, but that's neither here nor there.) I'm sure the schematics sounded impressive in 1987, when home computers were in their infancy. The floppy disks being used at the time could store about 1.44 megabytes of data (a few dozen small text documents) so I'm sure 256 MB sounded like an excessive amount of data. But, now it seems woefully unimpressive. That jukebox can only hold, like, eighty songs at most!
>
> The computer was bait to lead the Mechanic into a trap, and the police and S.W.A.T. teamove in to apprehend him. When they spot Blaster and Goldbug, however, they shift priorities and immediately open fire. The Mechanic uses the power booster rod to pick up the fallen tree, knocking the Autobots down and escaping in the truck.
>
> Now, the science fiction behind the power booster rod is kind of glossed over. We learn that it's an energy enhancement machine, but not much more than that. Of course, its true storytelling function is to make the Mechanic an actual threat to the Autobots, and the fact that it's shaped like a wrench is kind of funny. He's the Mechanic, with his dangerous futuristic space wrench. The Autobots escape, and the police attempt to follow, but Ratchet's cryogenic tool has iced the road and makes police pursuit impossible.
>
> So, now we finally find out what the Mechanic is up to. He's gathered together an assembly of prospective clientele, demonstrating how he's used his mechanical expertise to transform their cars into battle weapons with pop-out guns that can counter any police resistance. Again, Budiansky says he never watched the G1 cartoon, but this feels like the battle taxis from "City of Steel." Maybe it's just the nature of writing stories about transformable robots that people naturally gravitate towards inventing cars with pop-out guns. I don't know.
>
> So Goldbug is peering through the factory window, taking this all in, and knows it's bad news. Juan spots him outside and is able to eavesdrop on his radio transmissions with Blaster. He also uses the stolen radar dish to detect the police helicopters that have landed nearby. Despite what Grimlock would probably want, Blaster isn't about to allow the police to walk into a trap. He transforms to robot mode, revealing himself, at great personal risk to himself. The police could have opened fire right then and there, but they don't. After Detective Greco says he's been ordered to destroy robots, and Blaster says he's been ordered to destroy humans, they both realize some commands are not supposed to be followed, and together they come up with an alternate plan. An incredibly goofy plan.
>
> Goldbug sneaks into the factory but is immediately ensnared by Juan using the electromagnet. He's in serious danger of being stripped down to his components. As this happens, Greco waltzes into the place, boom box on his shoulder like the world's most unconvincing punk rocker ("how do you do, fellow teenagers?") and singing along to the music. If the intent is to confuse and perplex the den of crooks that he's stumbled into, it works. They also complain about the rock music. But, then he goes and immediately identifies himself, whipping out his badge, at which point the thugs and hoodlums are all ready to draw their weapons. Since they're not music lovers, Greco switches off his boom box. This is evidently part of the plan, and it's a sign for Greco's partner, along with the S.W.A.T. team, to barge in. It's a highly convoluted plan, and there's no real reason for it to have accomplished anything. Greco should have been shot down as soon as he entered the factory floor. But, I'm sure Budiansky was looking for a way for Blaster to be part of this scheme, so this is what we get.
>
> Blaster uses his electro-scrambler on the modified cars, which end up firing on each other instead of the police, as the Mechanic intends. There's a moment where Blaster is forced to choose between saving Goldbug from the car-stripping machines and saving the police from the Mechanic chucking one of the cars at them. It could have been played out for pathos, certainly, but it's a quick decision that's over in an instant. There's some real storytelling potential here that I think was left completely untapped. In an alternate telling of this moment, I could certainly see some major Blaster angst over having to choose between saving Goldbug and saving the police. It's almost what the entire issue has been leading up to, especially with the introduction of the electromagnet and the car-stripping machines. It's like this was all set up specifically to put Goldbug in danger. Or maybe it was to put Bumblebee in danger? Maybe this was Budiansky's original plan, to have the Mechanic demolish Bumblebee in the factory, before the decision was made to move the Goldbug story to the G.I. JOE crossover? This could be related to the reason why Goldbug is being drawn with Bumblebee's body throughout this issue. There's probably no way to know for sure.
>
> Budiansky is usually very good at setting up story elements beforehand, though. For example, the operation of the power booster rod is clearly explained early in issue #26 so we can understand later why it's so significant when the Mechanic steals it. The use of the electromagnet and the car-stripping machine is presented in the same manner. We see what it can do, so we know it's a huge threat when it grabs Goldbug later in the issue. But, instead of leading to a pivotal moment in the story, Blaster is just, "aw, Goldbug can wait" and then the story beat is over. It feels like a waste of a set-up for a story moment that we never get. It really does smell like editorial interference.
>
> So, in the aftermath, the crooks are rounded up, Greco saves Goldbug from Juan, and the mission is a success. The Mechanic sneaks away, but we never hear from him again. Budiansky allowed him to sneak away, setting him up for a return appearance, but that never happened. (One supposes readers just didn't respond to him too favorably.) Meanwhile, Blaster and Goldbug realize they can't go back to Grimlock empty-handed, so they head in the opposite direction of the Ark, seemingly abandoning the Autobots (and setting them up for their next adventure).
>
> Next issue promises the introduction of the Decepticon Triple Changers. It's strange how we already saw Springer, a 1986 toy, but we still haven't seen Blitzwing, a 1985 toy. The only reason we've seen Astrotrain already is because he was part of the movie adaptation. How positively backwards. Well, next issue will fix that. It's also the beginning of the Scraplets story arc, which I happen to think is one of the most compelling storylines in the comic book. We'll look at that next month, as well as the first issue of the HEADMASTERS mini-series!
>


Click here to read the complete article
Re: Comics Reading Club: Zob's Thought on Marvel Comics THE TRANSFORMERS #28

<e34d40a9-42b3-4d8a-8d72-6f559f3d86b2n@googlegroups.com>

 copy mid

https://www.novabbs.com/interests/article-flat.php?id=6980&group=alt.toys.transformers#6980

 copy link   Newsgroups: alt.toys.transformers
X-Received: by 2002:a0c:8041:0:b0:4af:b13b:2624 with SMTP id 59-20020a0c8041000000b004afb13b2624mr30344481qva.92.1666665600027;
Mon, 24 Oct 2022 19:40:00 -0700 (PDT)
X-Received: by 2002:a05:6870:51a:b0:130:ae8d:daaf with SMTP id
j26-20020a056870051a00b00130ae8ddaafmr37254487oao.103.1666665599665; Mon, 24
Oct 2022 19:39:59 -0700 (PDT)
Path: i2pn2.org!i2pn.org!usenet.blueworldhosting.com!feed1.usenet.blueworldhosting.com!peer02.iad!feed-me.highwinds-media.com!news.highwinds-media.com!news-out.google.com!nntp.google.com!postnews.google.com!google-groups.googlegroups.com!not-for-mail
Newsgroups: alt.toys.transformers
Date: Mon, 24 Oct 2022 19:39:59 -0700 (PDT)
In-Reply-To: <5d15ee92-541f-4112-a7d3-aa62d5fa4523n@googlegroups.com>
Injection-Info: google-groups.googlegroups.com; posting-host=2001:569:7d28:5900:69af:b635:4bca:2302;
posting-account=Q1jukwoAAAAuXPUk8WgqyjjICnXP71XD
NNTP-Posting-Host: 2001:569:7d28:5900:69af:b635:4bca:2302
References: <5a49579e-59fc-408b-a35f-71ca89002f28n@googlegroups.com> <5d15ee92-541f-4112-a7d3-aa62d5fa4523n@googlegroups.com>
User-Agent: G2/1.0
MIME-Version: 1.0
Message-ID: <e34d40a9-42b3-4d8a-8d72-6f559f3d86b2n@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: Comics Reading Club: Zob's Thought on Marvel Comics THE
TRANSFORMERS #28
From: joe.bard...@gmail.com (Joseph Bardsley)
Injection-Date: Tue, 25 Oct 2022 02:40:00 +0000
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
X-Received-Bytes: 16170
 by: Joseph Bardsley - Tue, 25 Oct 2022 02:39 UTC

I'm really loving these comic reviews, Zob. Thank you!

It's actually among my favourite era of the comics: so much flux and change, and Budainsky at his best. "Afterdeath" and "Gone But Not Forgotten" were ambitious, high-concept stories, and I appreciated them for that.

I also loved his creation of Rachel Becker (#27), which was, in part, the impetus for Nicole Bradley, of TFDD and "The 2005 Chronicles" fanfic fame.

Speaking of high-concept - what do people think of the G2 comics these days? Have they held up in a similar fashion?

JB

On Sunday, October 23, 2022 at 9:58:44 PM UTC-7, Codigo Postal wrote:
> On Saturday, October 15, 2022 at 12:29:11 PM UTC-4, Zobovor wrote:
> > THE TRANSFORMERS issue #28 is entitled "Mechanical Difficulties!" and was printed on February 17, 1987 with a pull date of May 1987. It features the return of The Mechanic, the human villain recently introduced in issue #26.
> >
> > Bob Budiansky wrote this issue, of course, with Don Perlin penciling the art, Akin & Garvey inking the pencils, Janice Chiang doing the lettering, and Nel Yomtov coloring the art. The cover was also illustrated by Ian Akin, and showcases Blaster and Goldbug (in his first TRANSFORMERS appearance) being whacked by a giant tree. "The Mechanic strikes again..." the teaser text reads, "...and the Autobots strike out!" The baseball metaphor is loosely appropriate, given that the way the Mechanic is swinging the tree is not entirely unlike a very large baseball bat. Also of note is that the cover price for the comic book jumped up beginning with this issue, from $0.75 to $1.00 USD.
> >
> > As our story opens, The Mechanic is using his stolen power booster rod to steal a gigantic radar dish from the local airport, carrying it away and loading it into a truck driven by his trusty assistant, Juan. When a couple of security vehicles arrive to stop the theft, the Mechanic lets loose with the guns he had previously swiped from Ratchet, easily immobilizing the vehicles. As ever, he's a force to be reckoned with, especially with the aid of his stolen Cybertronic technology.
> >
> > Elsewhere, Goldbug and Blaster are covertly monitoring the Mechanic's headquarters, waiting for his arrival. When Blaster switches on some rock music to pass the time (just about the only time in the comics his love for rock n' roll is demonstrated), a couple of punks (named Fuzzy and Deadhead) happen by and decide they want to liberate the boom box from its spot inside Goldbug. I know Budiansky says he never watched the Sunbow cartoon, but the scene plays out similarly to the beginning of "Make Tracks." They try to jimmy Goldbug's doors and then try to smash his windows with a rock, before Goldbug finally decides he's had enough. When he drives off, the punks flee and bump into a couple of cops, who offer to take them for a ride downtown and talk about what's gotten them so spooked.
> >
> > At the Ark, Blaster and Goldbug return from their surveillance mission to find Grimlock trying on an assortment of shiny crowns. Wearing a crown is definitely something that somebody as vain and arrogant as Grimlock would do, and it seems to perfectly encapsulate his attitude towards being Autobot leader. It's become so strongly associated with Grimlock's role as leader in the comics that they have even produced modern-day Grimlock toys that came with a crown accessory, like the Takara Masterpiece MP-08 toy.
> >
> > Something interesting is that Grimlock's speech pattern has changed a bit. Up until now, the Dinobots have been informal and gruff, but have otherwise spoken like normal Autobots. Beginning with this issue, Grimlock has shifted to the stilted speech patterns the Dinobots used in the cartoon. He's not quite in "me, Grimlock" mode yet (he still uses the word "I" to describe himself) but he's well on his way. It's an indication of how the more popular cartoon series continues to influence the comic in subtle ways (along with the "roll out!" battle cry and the introduction of energon cubes).
> >
> > Something else of note is that even though Goldbug has a character design that is supposed to be separate and distinct from Bumblebee. We've already seen this design in the G.I. JOE AND THE TRANSFORMERS mini-series.
> > In this issue, though, Goldbug is just being drawn identically to Bumblebee, except for his new head. It's possible that this issue was being written and illustrated during, or even before, the G.I. Joe crossover in which Bumblebee's body is destroyed. It seems unlikely, though, since Bumblebee's absence from the regular TRANSFORMERS comic seems perfectly timed to coincide with the G.I. Joe crossover.
> >
> > Nonetheless, Goldbug's head appears pasted on top of the Bumblebee body in many scenes in this issue (it's not even attached in the right place—in one early panel, his head is on top of Bumblebee's back window, not the top of his body) which suggests to me they might have drawn Bumblebee, realized their error, and just pasted the Goldbug head on top as a course-correction. (I mean, they've gone back to replacing Blaster's animation head with a drawing of his toy head in every panel, so what's one more head replacement at this point?)
> >
> > When Goldbug and Blaster explain that they failed to locate the Mechanic, Grimlock goes berserk, shouting at them and smashing things, including several of his shiny new crowns. "Why you not destroy humans?!" he demands when the Autobots explain about their encounter with the punks. At the police station, Detective Greco is discussing the Mechanic with his police captain. They suspect the Mechanic might be using Transformer technology, and believe they might even be colluding together. Greco's orders are to apprehend the Mechanic, but the robots are considered even more dangerous.
> >
> > It seems that the reason nobody has found the Mechanic at his old headquarters was because he's actually taken up shop inside an abandoned canning factory in Portland. He's been making modifications to criminals' cars, at the hefty price of $50,000 per unit. When one client, a Mr. Bigalow, refuses to pay, the Mechanic responds by retrieving the car with a huge electromagnet. He allows the automated factory robot arms to strip the car down to its bare chassis and deposit Bigalow into the driver's seat, after which the mechanic picks up the entire car with his power booster rod and throws both the car and his former client into what I assume is the Willamette River..
> >
> > At the volcano, Wheeljack has zeroed in on the frequency emitted by the power booster rod, and Grimlock orders Blaster and Goldbug back out to retrieve it, promising punishment if they fail. As they near its location, a tractor trailer passes by, and Juan uses Ratchet's laser to knock over a tree and block the truck's path. Inside is what the Mechanic describes as a "256 thousand kilobyte Formax computer, the most powerful of its kind" which he intends to incorporate into his machine shop. (The computer itself looks like a jukebox, actually, but that's neither here nor there.) I'm sure the schematics sounded impressive in 1987, when home computers were in their infancy. The floppy disks being used at the time could store about 1.44 megabytes of data (a few dozen small text documents) so I'm sure 256 MB sounded like an excessive amount of data. But, now it seems woefully unimpressive. That jukebox can only hold, like, eighty songs at most!
> >
> > The computer was bait to lead the Mechanic into a trap, and the police and S.W.A.T. teamove in to apprehend him. When they spot Blaster and Goldbug, however, they shift priorities and immediately open fire. The Mechanic uses the power booster rod to pick up the fallen tree, knocking the Autobots down and escaping in the truck.
> >
> > Now, the science fiction behind the power booster rod is kind of glossed over. We learn that it's an energy enhancement machine, but not much more than that. Of course, its true storytelling function is to make the Mechanic an actual threat to the Autobots, and the fact that it's shaped like a wrench is kind of funny. He's the Mechanic, with his dangerous futuristic space wrench. The Autobots escape, and the police attempt to follow, but Ratchet's cryogenic tool has iced the road and makes police pursuit impossible.
> >
> > So, now we finally find out what the Mechanic is up to. He's gathered together an assembly of prospective clientele, demonstrating how he's used his mechanical expertise to transform their cars into battle weapons with pop-out guns that can counter any police resistance. Again, Budiansky says he never watched the G1 cartoon, but this feels like the battle taxis from "City of Steel." Maybe it's just the nature of writing stories about transformable robots that people naturally gravitate towards inventing cars with pop-out guns. I don't know.
> >
> > So Goldbug is peering through the factory window, taking this all in, and knows it's bad news. Juan spots him outside and is able to eavesdrop on his radio transmissions with Blaster. He also uses the stolen radar dish to detect the police helicopters that have landed nearby. Despite what Grimlock would probably want, Blaster isn't about to allow the police to walk into a trap. He transforms to robot mode, revealing himself, at great personal risk to himself. The police could have opened fire right then and there, but they don't. After Detective Greco says he's been ordered to destroy robots, and Blaster says he's been ordered to destroy humans, they both realize some commands are not supposed to be followed, and together they come up with an alternate plan. An incredibly goofy plan.
> >
> > Goldbug sneaks into the factory but is immediately ensnared by Juan using the electromagnet. He's in serious danger of being stripped down to his components. As this happens, Greco waltzes into the place, boom box on his shoulder like the world's most unconvincing punk rocker ("how do you do, fellow teenagers?") and singing along to the music. If the intent is to confuse and perplex the den of crooks that he's stumbled into, it works. They also complain about the rock music. But, then he goes and immediately identifies himself, whipping out his badge, at which point the thugs and hoodlums are all ready to draw their weapons. Since they're not music lovers, Greco switches off his boom box. This is evidently part of the plan, and it's a sign for Greco's partner, along with the S.W.A.T. team, to barge in. It's a highly convoluted plan, and there's no real reason for it to have accomplished anything. Greco should have been shot down as soon as he entered the factory floor. But, I'm sure Budiansky was looking for a way for Blaster to be part of this scheme, so this is what we get.
> >
> > Blaster uses his electro-scrambler on the modified cars, which end up firing on each other instead of the police, as the Mechanic intends. There's a moment where Blaster is forced to choose between saving Goldbug from the car-stripping machines and saving the police from the Mechanic chucking one of the cars at them. It could have been played out for pathos, certainly, but it's a quick decision that's over in an instant. There's some real storytelling potential here that I think was left completely untapped. In an alternate telling of this moment, I could certainly see some major Blaster angst over having to choose between saving Goldbug and saving the police. It's almost what the entire issue has been leading up to, especially with the introduction of the electromagnet and the car-stripping machines. It's like this was all set up specifically to put Goldbug in danger. Or maybe it was to put Bumblebee in danger? Maybe this was Budiansky's original plan, to have the Mechanic demolish Bumblebee in the factory, before the decision was made to move the Goldbug story to the G.I. JOE crossover? This could be related to the reason why Goldbug is being drawn with Bumblebee's body throughout this issue. There's probably no way to know for sure.
> >
> > Budiansky is usually very good at setting up story elements beforehand, though. For example, the operation of the power booster rod is clearly explained early in issue #26 so we can understand later why it's so significant when the Mechanic steals it. The use of the electromagnet and the car-stripping machine is presented in the same manner. We see what it can do, so we know it's a huge threat when it grabs Goldbug later in the issue. But, instead of leading to a pivotal moment in the story, Blaster is just, "aw, Goldbug can wait" and then the story beat is over. It feels like a waste of a set-up for a story moment that we never get. It really does smell like editorial interference.
> >
> > So, in the aftermath, the crooks are rounded up, Greco saves Goldbug from Juan, and the mission is a success. The Mechanic sneaks away, but we never hear from him again. Budiansky allowed him to sneak away, setting him up for a return appearance, but that never happened. (One supposes readers just didn't respond to him too favorably.) Meanwhile, Blaster and Goldbug realize they can't go back to Grimlock empty-handed, so they head in the opposite direction of the Ark, seemingly abandoning the Autobots (and setting them up for their next adventure).
> >
> > Next issue promises the introduction of the Decepticon Triple Changers. It's strange how we already saw Springer, a 1986 toy, but we still haven't seen Blitzwing, a 1985 toy. The only reason we've seen Astrotrain already is because he was part of the movie adaptation. How positively backwards. Well, next issue will fix that. It's also the beginning of the Scraplets story arc, which I happen to think is one of the most compelling storylines in the comic book. We'll look at that next month, as well as the first issue of the HEADMASTERS mini-series!
> >
> From the header, I expected only one thought, but instead we got several. False advertising?
> >
> > Zob (tried to wash my van's headlights with toothpaste today)
> But did you arch your body lovingly over its hood, then agree to wash its hubcaps again?


Click here to read the complete article
Re: Comics Reading Club: Zob's Thought on Marvel Comics THE TRANSFORMERS #28

<75234f95-0fa5-4054-801e-cf36a5927c31n@googlegroups.com>

 copy mid

https://www.novabbs.com/interests/article-flat.php?id=7019&group=alt.toys.transformers#7019

 copy link   Newsgroups: alt.toys.transformers
X-Received: by 2002:a0c:e449:0:b0:4b9:cfc3:b31a with SMTP id d9-20020a0ce449000000b004b9cfc3b31amr4671336qvm.35.1667067030304;
Sat, 29 Oct 2022 11:10:30 -0700 (PDT)
X-Received: by 2002:a9d:5888:0:b0:66c:4557:d05 with SMTP id
x8-20020a9d5888000000b0066c45570d05mr667062otg.136.1667067030036; Sat, 29 Oct
2022 11:10:30 -0700 (PDT)
Path: i2pn2.org!i2pn.org!usenet.blueworldhosting.com!feed1.usenet.blueworldhosting.com!peer03.iad!feed-me.highwinds-media.com!news.highwinds-media.com!news-out.google.com!nntp.google.com!postnews.google.com!google-groups.googlegroups.com!not-for-mail
Newsgroups: alt.toys.transformers
Date: Sat, 29 Oct 2022 11:10:29 -0700 (PDT)
In-Reply-To: <e34d40a9-42b3-4d8a-8d72-6f559f3d86b2n@googlegroups.com>
Injection-Info: google-groups.googlegroups.com; posting-host=73.131.216.167; posting-account=VatO8goAAADkHr1F3eCw5I8LKv1LHntN
NNTP-Posting-Host: 73.131.216.167
References: <5a49579e-59fc-408b-a35f-71ca89002f28n@googlegroups.com>
<5d15ee92-541f-4112-a7d3-aa62d5fa4523n@googlegroups.com> <e34d40a9-42b3-4d8a-8d72-6f559f3d86b2n@googlegroups.com>
User-Agent: G2/1.0
MIME-Version: 1.0
Message-ID: <75234f95-0fa5-4054-801e-cf36a5927c31n@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: Comics Reading Club: Zob's Thought on Marvel Comics THE
TRANSFORMERS #28
From: zmf...@aol.com (Zobovor)
Injection-Date: Sat, 29 Oct 2022 18:10:30 +0000
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
X-Received-Bytes: 2339
 by: Zobovor - Sat, 29 Oct 2022 18:10 UTC

On Monday, October 24, 2022 at 8:40:00 PM UTC-6, Joseph Bardsley wrote:
> It's actually among my favourite era of the comics: so much flux and change, and Budainsky at his best. "Afterdeath" and "Gone But Not Forgotten" were ambitious, high-concept stories, and I appreciated them for that.

Budiansky got a really bad rap as the lesser, inferior writer on the book as compared to Simon Furman. The more I dive into the Budiansky stories, the more I've come to appreciate them. Furman had a completely different writing approach, but I'm not sure it was objectively better.

> Speaking of high-concept - what do people think of the G2 comics these days? Have they held up in a similar fashion?

I'm still immensely fond of them. But, I love pretty much anything G2, even the cartoon series. It was better to have Transformers come back again, if only temporarily, than to be dead and buried.

Zob (pruning some trees today, and I have no idea what I'm doing)

Re: Comics Reading Club: Zob's Thought on Marvel Comics THE TRANSFORMERS #28

<1e5fb15a-b896-40d8-b6da-cc38e7df5304n@googlegroups.com>

 copy mid

https://www.novabbs.com/interests/article-flat.php?id=7033&group=alt.toys.transformers#7033

 copy link   Newsgroups: alt.toys.transformers
X-Received: by 2002:a37:96c5:0:b0:6f9:ff10:519 with SMTP id y188-20020a3796c5000000b006f9ff100519mr44547qkd.465.1667270857268;
Mon, 31 Oct 2022 19:47:37 -0700 (PDT)
X-Received: by 2002:a05:6870:47a8:b0:136:db1c:57b7 with SMTP id
c40-20020a05687047a800b00136db1c57b7mr18470633oaq.52.1667270857020; Mon, 31
Oct 2022 19:47:37 -0700 (PDT)
Path: i2pn2.org!i2pn.org!usenet.blueworldhosting.com!feed1.usenet.blueworldhosting.com!peer03.iad!feed-me.highwinds-media.com!news.highwinds-media.com!news-out.google.com!nntp.google.com!postnews.google.com!google-groups.googlegroups.com!not-for-mail
Newsgroups: alt.toys.transformers
Date: Mon, 31 Oct 2022 19:47:36 -0700 (PDT)
In-Reply-To: <75234f95-0fa5-4054-801e-cf36a5927c31n@googlegroups.com>
Injection-Info: google-groups.googlegroups.com; posting-host=172.218.243.94; posting-account=Q1jukwoAAAAuXPUk8WgqyjjICnXP71XD
NNTP-Posting-Host: 172.218.243.94
References: <5a49579e-59fc-408b-a35f-71ca89002f28n@googlegroups.com>
<5d15ee92-541f-4112-a7d3-aa62d5fa4523n@googlegroups.com> <e34d40a9-42b3-4d8a-8d72-6f559f3d86b2n@googlegroups.com>
<75234f95-0fa5-4054-801e-cf36a5927c31n@googlegroups.com>
User-Agent: G2/1.0
MIME-Version: 1.0
Message-ID: <1e5fb15a-b896-40d8-b6da-cc38e7df5304n@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: Comics Reading Club: Zob's Thought on Marvel Comics THE
TRANSFORMERS #28
From: joe.bard...@gmail.com (Joseph Bardsley)
Injection-Date: Tue, 01 Nov 2022 02:47:37 +0000
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
X-Received-Bytes: 2672
 by: Joseph Bardsley - Tue, 1 Nov 2022 02:47 UTC

On Saturday, October 29, 2022 at 11:10:30 AM UTC-7, Zobovor wrote:
> On Monday, October 24, 2022 at 8:40:00 PM UTC-6, Joseph Bardsley wrote:
>
> > It's actually among my favourite era of the comics: so much flux and change, and Budainsky at his best. "Afterdeath" and "Gone But Not Forgotten" were ambitious, high-concept stories, and I appreciated them for that.
> Budiansky got a really bad rap as the lesser, inferior writer on the book as compared to Simon Furman. The more I dive into the Budiansky stories, the more I've come to appreciate them. Furman had a completely different writing approach, but I'm not sure it was objectively better.
> > Speaking of high-concept - what do people think of the G2 comics these days? Have they held up in a similar fashion?
> I'm still immensely fond of them. But, I love pretty much anything G2, even the cartoon series. It was better to have Transformers come back again, if only temporarily, than to be dead and buried.

Agreed. And there was something so specific about its time and place for G2 (and, for that matter, G1). Not sure if the same can be said for the other series.

JB
>
>
> Zob (pruning some trees today, and I have no idea what I'm doing)

1
server_pubkey.txt

rocksolid light 0.9.7
clearnet tor