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Transformation 103: High Octane Humour.

2/5/2014

10 Comments

 
Picture
This week we have a smart well thought out issue that works on multiple levels and with a champion gurning contest between Megatron and Straxus.

But it's Tall Tankor who really steals the whole issue, though Megatron is left in two minds as to if this is a good thing or not.


All in my look at Resurrection! Part 1.

10 Comments
Ralph Burns link
2/5/2014 01:25:07 pm

The 'unreliable narrator' aspect of Octane's tale was a relatively new story concept to my young mind and another example of how the title did not talk down to its target audience when it was on form. Contrast the bravery of storytelling with the current UK kiddy TF comic and the gulf between them is vast.

I also must agree with the nightmareish images of the Straxus/Megatron mind duel. Easily one of the most distinctive, imaginative and unique 'battles' featured in the comic up to this point.

Reply
Alexander Smith link
2/5/2014 01:30:33 pm

Yeah, some top Will Simpson this ish. That bit where the Straxus head is crushed...ooh, nasty!

Reply
Harry
2/5/2014 01:54:21 pm

I love how the line, on the last page, 'As I promised...you die' was deliberately vague, as both Megatron AND Straxus had threatened the other with termination. Just one of those touches that elevate this beyond standard fare.

Reply
Tim Roll-Pickering link
2/5/2014 04:24:55 pm

I'd never thought about it in these terms before but I guess Straxus's plight, or for that matter Circuit Breaker's battlesuit, are a sign that's there more to a Transformer's body than a metal frame housing a brain unit. This would make a body an almost-organic, living thing with new metal on repairs absorbed into the organism but which needs a sufficient base and can't just regenerate by adding metal to as small a thing as a head. It's something similar to the protoform concept that came a decade later. And it's one of those far-out sci-fi ideas that only hangs around long eough to advance a particular plot.

Of course leaving aside the events of issue #244 (where you're probably going to need an entire separate post for comments on a certain matter just to allow the rest of the issue to get any look in), there's probably no end of counter examples where a Transformer survives their body being destroyed and a new one being built from scratch with no Matrix to hand - the Throttlebots spring most readily to mind.

Reply
Harry
3/5/2014 02:51:40 am

Plus, by this stage, Optimus Prime had existed as a disembodied head held captive by Shockwave for many issues (a few even in the US run, but, between each US issue being two UK ones, plus with the original UK material such as 'Wrath of Guardian' in that gap, it seems more monumental again in the UK comic), and, a little later in 1987, we get the whole Headmasters mini adopted as a back-up strip. I'd let the inconsistencies roll, however, as, at the time, and even now, the whole 'body horror' angle of this story, and the implications in next week's conclusion (of which more next week), are presented with such confidence as to sweep the reader along.

Reply
Stuart
3/5/2014 08:22:11 am

@Ralph, agreed the use of the unreliable narrator is impressive for a kid aimed comic (or kid aimed anything for that matter, it's an odd coincidence that the cartoon did something similar in Madman's Paradise not long before this).

Considering Straxus is himself not the most stable of people (he spent a lot of the Return to Cybertron arc punching Insecticons for daring to give him useful advice) I wonder if a little bit of politics is behind his head not simply being plonked on a new body? Ratbat doesn't seem that bothered about losing him next week...

Reply
ralph burns link
3/5/2014 03:24:28 pm

Oh, Marvel Ratbat is a marvelous creation, many aspects of which flew over my head as a kid.

Reply
Tim Roll-Pickering link
3/5/2014 04:46:25 pm

The video competition brings back memories - when a university rep many years later I often had very early start to long journeys on Saturday mornings. Some of the old TF videos were a great light way to pass time while sitting up before leaving at c05:30 to catch a long train from Canterbury to London (High Speed 1 has transformed the journey for the odd alumni or other event) and the Key to Vector Sigma/War Dawn was one of my favourite tapes of all.

I'm not actually sure what "on any of the... videos" actually means though - appearing on the covers or on the actual episodes contained within? And it was only "open to all readers in Great Britain" - what did these competitions have against the rest of the UK?

Reply
Stuart
6/5/2014 02:48:13 am

There you go, you thought it was an easy competition but it actually has all sorts of subtle layers beyond your comprehension.

Reply
Felicity
14/10/2016 11:13:09 pm

The “Surrender! / Never! Never! Nev…” panel foreshadows Megatron fusing with Ratchet…

I watched “Inhumanoids” on TV when it first aired and, as a 12- or 13-year-old, I didn’t know what to make of it. It was fast-paced to the point of being exhausting and stressful; it felt like every single moment, the characters were in jeopardy and the world was about to be destroyed. The villains were surprisingly scary, if you suspended disbelief and really thought about them, which as a child I would have. Beautiful animation, though.

IIRC the comic was from Marvel’s Star line (children’s comics). The darkness of the monsters doesn’t fit in all that well with the rest of the line, but oh well. Kindertrauma is part of our retro nostalgia now. :-)

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