Transformation 104: Happy 30th Optimus Prime.

9/5/2014

May the 8th was the 30th anniversary of the first publication of the American Marvel comic, effectively the début of all Transformers fiction.

Luckily it's a really good issue for the blog this week, making an effective celebration. Put on your party hat as I look at:

Resurrection! Part 2.

8 Comments

Harry

9/5/2014 12:14:19 pm

I've always loved the whole 'He is Megatron/He is Straxus' pages in this. The art and narration combined so well, and Ratbat coming off as sly and shrewd here helped make his forthcoming takeover as Decepticon leader a little more believable than it otherwise would have been.

Simon Hall

9/5/2014 03:05:14 pm

Battle Beasts/ Battle Beasts/ They Battle For Fun!

...I wonder if anyone involved in Transformers stuffs at the time knew of their heritage as part of the Japanese Transformers line up...?

Totally unrelated to the comic, but such is my mind today.

Happy Birthday Transformers Comic! Whoop

Tim Roll-Pickering link

10/5/2014 03:58:13 am

I guess nobody knew. Heck in later years even the comic staff had no idea about the Japanese TF cartoons and names. Maybe some kid came back from a holiday in Japan and told their mates only to be totally disbelieved - perhaps there's a letter to Grimlock in weeks to come.

But yes, it's hard to get excited about a toyline that is basically Scissors-Paper-Stone.

This issue is one of the biggest "resets" in the run so far - along with issue #65 the gap before the next is a very popular place to place just about any flashback or annual story with the early cast because it's one of the few times so much of the cast are freely available on Earth. Perhaps that explains some absentees at the funeral.

Harry

9/5/2014 03:42:16 pm

I certainly never knew a thing about any link between Battle Beasts and Transformers back in the day. If someone had even suggested one, I suspect I'd have laughed. Shows what we knew!

Stuart

10/5/2014 01:17:58 pm

Yeah, the thinking behind Battle Beasts (and I suppose Visionaries which took the basic idea to the next level) feels like it was "Kids like the rub signs on Transformers... we'll make a toyline based entirely around that!"

On the one hand it's very prescient as it predicts the craze for those battling games like Yu-Gi-Oh by over a decade, but the game itself is so dull (as Time says, how many variants can you get out of rock-paper-scissors?) it's no wonder it didn't take off.

Ryan F

13/5/2014 02:31:09 pm

You're right in saying Thundercats aped the TF format. The back-up strip was Power Pack, and there were weekly A-Z-style profiles of the characters

[email protected]

19/5/2014 12:10:06 pm

I remember being endlessly puzzled by the Battle Beasts competition as I never saw the toys at all. Imagine my surprise many years later to see their AMAZING appearance in the (covers mouth with hand) Headmasters cartoon show. What's that you say! Haven't I seen you somewhere beforrrrrrrrre?

LiamKav

11/1/2022 02:35:42 pm

There's always two thoughts that come to mind with this issue (and the last one, I guess):

1. Was anyone in Straxus's head when it was crushed? Or was it completely empty?

2. At what point does Straxus's mind flee in to the clones? Are we to assume that it actually splits in two and he doesn't realise? I mean, despite what Two Megatrons does, this issue definitely ends with Megatron-proper having at least some of Straxus mixed in with his psyche, presumably for the rest of his Marvel appearences.

Transformation 104: Happy 30th Optimus Prime.

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