Transformation 144: Walk the SPACE Plank.

13/2/2015

It's the culmination of the Blaster Vs. Grimlock arc (for now), with both sides playing a cunning tactical game against each other.

Oh, and look, the kids are still having hi-hi-hilarious adventures with their teddy.

All in my look at issue 144!

Next Friday will kick off a run of three entries wrapping up 1987 (though as issue 146 would have spent most of its time on sale in 1987, do I put it after the Annual even though that's the thematically best one to end the year with? That's the sort of question that keeps me up at night). Plus, the James Roberts interview will be coming, I'm just waiting on him to sign off on it.

11 Comments

Ryan F

13/2/2015 03:42:05 pm

Brothers in Armour art error: Stylor's armour is drawn as Chromedome's body in that last panel. So close!

John D. link

13/2/2015 04:01:59 pm

I rememer being really pleased they were looking out for the teddy bear! These kids were far less annoying that the blinking n*o kn*ghts would be. As for Cyclonus I am looking forward to the explanation already as I always forget it. I assume in reality Hasbro wanted to re use the moulds - which is why Kup, Blurr & Hot Rod also became Targetmasters?

Stuart

13/2/2015 04:23:15 pm

@Ryan: So close!

@John: That's the dull real life reason. It happened surprisingly rarely in G1, the pre-Transformers toys with multiple colour schemes got used more than once (though not in every case and not in every colour), but between that and the Micromasters the Targetmasters are the only new toys to get reused.

snowkatt

13/2/2015 08:04:11 pm

and another bloody awfull tf uk cover
urgh
grimlock just looks liek alump metal ...thing
the angle is awfull and the cover text ?
well the least said about that the better

as for the issue itself ( and the story as a whole )
i rather like delbo's art ( think i made that clear by now )
and i dont mind the kids too much

but thats all i have to ay abotu the issue im getting tired with grimlocks pricktitude
and the autobots complete and utter ineffectiveness

a band of battle hardend autbots including omega supreme who took out 7 decepticons and nearly killed megatron cant take on and eject the dinobots ?

give over !

its quite obvious budianksy is running on empty here and his heart seems to be more in to the headmasters mini series

and this story as a whole is rather bland though for the most part i want grimlock's ineffectual reign to be over and done with

the next 2 US stories ( baptism of fire and the desert island in space ) will be at least much better but then the us series goes in a rut and it doesnt recover untill the underbase saga
with totalled being a passable story befote the whole damn thing comew crashing down with things like monster con from mars and cash and carnage

at least on the UK side of things we can look forward to a certain six parter

speaking of headmasters
well er not much to say to be honest
its better then the main storyline but that doesnt say much
and the chunks are too short to really get invested in it
this story is best read in a collection or the 4 issue that comprise it

on to 145 and the annul then
and the closing of 1987
wonder what 1988 will bring us

John D. link

14/2/2015 04:18:23 pm

I remember kind of ignoring the head masters story at the time, I just couldn't get into it. I think the problem might have been there seemed to be absolutely no continuity with the story to date. I can't be the only kid who just thought these were a totally different bunch of robots on an alien planet that they just weren't into.

Lee Gannon

15/2/2015 06:05:52 pm

Sandstorm and Twin Twist could on the Ark recruiting Inferno for the Wreckers.

Ralph Burns

19/2/2015 01:36:30 am

It is worth noting that we are almost at the end of the longest run in the comic's life of cover-to-cover Transformers strip action. 16 weeks, which was an eternity back in the day for the target audience and quite different from what readers expected in Marvel UK weeklies of the time ie the main feature and a random back-up strip about something different. Late in the comic's life it would go back to all Transformers strips though partly compose of reprints.
So that is why I Iook fondly on this era of the comic which ran the Headmasters story in it.

SPECIAL TEAMS!

Stuart

19/2/2015 02:49:51 am

Yeah, the cover to cover stuff has been nice, and Headmasters has been pretty solid support.

Harry

20/2/2015 03:18:03 am

While the rule of thumb that the UK-originated material is superior is generally fairly safe, especially by the end of 1987, I find it amusing how the 'Next Issue' box basically pimps up a lightweight Christmas-themed standalone UK story and refers to the conclusion of the Headmasters storyline almost as an afterthought!

Tim Roll-Pickering link

20/2/2015 06:56:59 am

I guess it's an extension of the whole "this the right continuity and thus good, that bad and so not worth promoting" attitude that mainly manifests itself with the cartoon. It may not have reached the letters page yet but the contradictions between the annual and the end of the limited series can't have been pleasing to the editorial team.

Felicity link

5/11/2019 10:54:21 pm

I don’t like Grimlock to be too smart, because then there’s the danger of getting into Furman territory where Grimlock is an asshole but we’re still supposed to root for him because he’s cool and bad-ass. And I hate that. However I did enjoy Grimlock’s moments of intelligence in this issue, making his opponents believe that he was going to harm the humans and using their limited air supply to get Blaster to surrender. That was clever and I didn’t see it coming.

The impression I have is that the Autobots are so demoralised by Grimlock’s “leadership” that they can’t stand up to him without a strong personality like Blaster to rally behind. Perhaps in theory they could overcome their Dinobot bullies with sheer numbers but that takes organisation and that takes a leader. Hey, imagine if Prowl led a mutiny against Grimlock! That would karmically balance out the way Furman later has Grimlock wrest leadership from him and keep taunting him about it.

Another possible option would have been for the Autobots to reach such a point of disenchantment with Grimlock that they all go AWOL from the Ark, leaving Grimlock with no followers but the Dinobots. Each Autobot or cluster of Autobots could then find a human or humans to get involved with, something we know the writers like doing anyway.

With the Autobot army in chaos the Decepticons would have a field day, which would be a good reason to have a new Autobot leader (or, if you really want to try the same thing over and over and expect different results, you could have Grimlock learn his lesson and promise that this time will be different) go looking for them to re-recruit them. As the leader starts puttin’ the band back together, Budiansky could satisfy his desire to show off various parts of the country, where the Autobot diaspora has landed.

Calling Zarak the true hero of the story is a bit of a stretch. That’s giving him credit for solving the problem he himself created. Where have we seen that recently? :-)

Transformation 144: Walk the SPACE Plank.

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