Transformation 133: 150 Not Out.

28/11/2014

It's the 150th Transformation!

Oh yes it is. I counted.

Thanks to everyone who has read all 150 of these, you deserve a medal.

This week it's a special story as Death's Head starts his road to his own book and Furman starts moving towards the actual issue 150.

Plus, Fortress Maximus takes his head off.

For peace.

All in my look at issue 133!

16 Comments

Chris Chapman

28/11/2014 08:38:55 am

I do love Headhunt. Great, concise storytelling, fab art in both issues, and frequently really nasty!

A side question tho - by this time in the comic, has the annual with the ending of Fire on High actually come out yet? Just whether readers have actually had chance to resolve the last Death's Head story yet?

Stuart

28/11/2014 08:57:34 am

Yep, IIRC it was published at the start of September. Though realistically Marvel would have to be working on the assumption no one would read it till Christmas, just to be fair.

Tim Roll-Pickering link

29/11/2014 05:35:55 am

Others may disagree but I think the next two stories were indeed written on the assumption, perhaps unrealistic, that readers had already read the annual. Next year they seem to have realised the mistake and only follow the book up after Christmas.

There's a trope in fiction of the really awesome and/or title characters being able to do the seemingly impossible. So one freelance peace-keeping agent infiltrating the trench lines is just one of these great moments that defies the premise. And there's some real horror to the attack.

One Cat and his Cod? Are there any ThunderCats readers who can tell if this was anything good or just the equivalent of Matt and the Cat?

I see the cover doesn't highlight the extra pages, perhaps realising that four extra pages of adverts and competitions would have felt like a con (and I have seen other comics do this trick by shouting about increasing the page count just to add house ads).

Stuart

30/11/2014 01:08:21 pm

I don't know, this story only follows up on events seen in the comic and makes no reference to what happened in 1987 after Rodimus and Death's Head left it, whilst Grudge Match can be read quite comfortably without reading the Annual as it covers the events of its flashback in a couple of lines quite neatly (it might even work better without having read it first, creating more of a sense of mystery as to what has Swoop's goat, I can't recall off the top of my head so that'll be interesting to see).

Ladies Night is the odd one out for so cheerfully blowing the ending of the Annual story, and almost at the very last second before the intended date kids would get the book as well.

snowkatt

28/11/2014 06:54:46 pm

yes i am actually one of those loonies ..erhm loyal readers who has read all of these

almost from the start i believe

do i get a rodimus star ?

Simon Hall

29/11/2014 01:14:39 pm

One Cat And his Cod was IIRC, by Lew Stringer...so should have proved at least pun-tastic fun. As no remembers it though...

Headhunt is another of my favourite UK stories. I do kind of like stories like this, that are all setting the groundwork before it all kicks off. I wonder why Furman is so cool on Reed now? I like his horrific looking artwork (like Jeff Anderson, he can't draw a good Death's Head though).

So, are the Headmasters like a Traveller settlement then..?

Ralph Burns

4/12/2014 11:03:52 am

Well done on reaching entry #150. Have some Auto-Cake.
Young Ralph almost shat his pants at the end of this issue. I really was utterly convinced Rodders was dead as a plank. To a modern reader of franchise fare it's obvious he's going to make it but remember this was aimed at kiddies.

snowkatt

4/12/2014 10:05:37 pm

and dont forget that the franchise was still young
and it killed optimus prime and megatron off already so who is to say they werent going to kill rodimus off either ?

i mean who liked rodimus compared to optimus back then anyway ?

i know that as a kid i disliked rodimus for being a whiny resposibility shirking ungratefull twat instead of the multi facetted layred non optimus clone he really is

because that waht we wanted as kids for him to be an optimus clone

the fact that both the comic and cartoon went against the grain with rodimus's characterisation and showed him to be a tortured leader mentally straining under the weight of the war and the legacy of the leader he was following was a smart and bold move

Stuart

5/12/2014 04:22:30 am

Oh yes, it's entirely credible they'd have blown up Rodimus for real. The whole thing is pulled off with aplomb (and it's nice the resolution doesn't cheat too much either).

Simon Hall

5/12/2014 03:02:44 pm

Er... I liked Rodimus over Optimus. I found Rodimus more relatable, largely through his portrayal in the UK comics, where still has doubts, but he has enough get up and go about him to not be crippled by inertia, like Optimus ends up...

snowkatt

6/12/2014 12:50:00 am

okay MOST kids then there is always one isnt there ? ;p

seriously though these days i tend to like rodimus'portrayal he isnt a carbon copy of optimus nor is he the faultless dogooder of the japanese leaders

he is fallable and that makes him more interesting

but at this point in the franchise it was entirely reasonable to believe that marvel could and would kill off rodimus too

wonder how things would have gone if they did

Stuart

6/12/2014 08:07:08 am

We all know Ultra Magus was the real power behind Rodimus' throne anyway.

Auntie Slag

10/12/2014 06:31:09 am

I wish I'd been able to see Season 3 of the cartoon in this country, because I also felt Rodimus was a bit of a whiny nonce. Around '88-'89 I saw TRoOP and Headmasters: The Rebirth on tape, but those didn't go in any way towards helping me see Rodimus in a different light. It was all the other episodes from Season 3 when I picked up the boxset a few years ago that finally made him interesting.

I agree with Simon & Snowkatt that the cartoon did a good job of handling him, making him sarcastic & spiteful as well as whiny and defeatist. He could also kick ass and I liked that he needed a team around him that were effective (Springer, Magnus etc) rather than near pointless cheerleaders like Ironhide & co. who never stood a chance even against a wet paper bag should Optimus be off having a strop.

So yes, after years of hating him, I was completely turned around on the subject. Still prefer Pax, of course! :-)

Cradok

21/8/2015 06:45:21 am

Thundercats 30 was a big relaunch of the title - a free gift, a pull-out poster, wrap-around cover, start of an epic storyline, the works. It's quite hard to find info on Thundercats Uk comics, so I'd have to dig out my own copies and check this, but it may also have been the first major work of Andy Wildman.

One Cat and His Cod? Didn't even remember it existed.

Cradok

21/8/2015 06:47:57 am

Oh, and on the actual subject of the issue, I always liked how Furman wrote Rodimus; kinda out of his depth, pragmatic and not yet great leadership material... yet.

Stuart

21/8/2015 07:10:50 am

Cool info, sounds a bit like Star Wars Weekly in there isn't as much detailed information as you'd expect.

Transformation 133: 150 Not Out.

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