Transformation 211: Cliff-Hanger.

27/5/2016

And Uncle Bob is still here. So he writes a story about a guy desperate to get away from Transformers. What can it mean?

Yes, this week it's the last time we see the Witwicky's, the first time we see Snarler and the only time we meet Cliff. Don't go off the slopes in my look at:

The Man in the Machine! Part 1.

13 Comments

Nathan

27/5/2016 04:15:40 pm

I feel foolish for never noticing that Catilla was a Autobot in toy format. I own the toy but he doesn't have any stickers on so couldn't tell but I just assumed he was a deception.

Stuart

27/5/2016 04:17:31 pm

I never saw the toy, so was equally fooled for many years (which is odd as it must have come up on the letters page at some point).

Ralph Burns

27/5/2016 06:58:21 pm

I suspect the 'new look to Transformers' in two weeks time will go down just fine with me as it did in 1989. Until the black and white strips appear. AND INNOCENCE DIES.

SPECIAL TEAMS!

Simon Hall

27/5/2016 07:42:46 pm

Blimey. Marvel UK really got their money's worth out of Visionaries. Although with it being released many times over, why would anyone buy the special...? Especially as the toyline hardly set the world on fire over here (no one at my school had them, we were far too impressed with Centurions).

As for the main TF strip, yeah I like this one. Its just a nice morality piece on power and responsibility without rubbing it in your face like Spider-Man does all the time (seriously, him and Batman really need some counselling over their dead family members).

I have a few issues from the three strip format from around the time of Aspects Of Evil and the Death's Head reprints and its very obvious that editorial aren't as invested in the world of Transformers as Rimmer and Furman were and that really starts to sap the life out of the comic and it becomes just another licensed comic, which is a shame. Sad face.

tigerbread

27/5/2016 09:54:51 pm

I actually owned almost all of the original wave of Visionaries, including the Dagger Assault, which was a beast of a machine(!)
Back to the editorial and Dread Tidings, which from now on gets a lot more slapdash in answering questions.
Worse than that, the page will eventually degenerate into an endless
line of queries from kids, which sound more like complaints than anything else, no wonder Dreadwind ended up hallucinating those 3 Christmas ghosts

Stuart

28/5/2016 01:01:23 am

I had the Visionaries vehicles one Christmas, I made my poor mother spend the whole day clicking them together...

Dave

28/5/2016 08:43:56 am

I remember being really excited by the change in format, and getting more Transformers. Although it's a really obvious cost-cutting measure now, it really felt to me like 2xTransformers stories was better value than one.

In fact, every one of these cost-cutting measures went down fine with me; the black and white comics represented greater value as it meant I had a Transformers story to colour myself every week, which was great fun, and the reprints were from before my time reading the comic, so not only was it new material to me, but also emphasised how ancient the saga was. I mean, these were stories about BRAWL AND STARSCREAM IN THE DISTANT PAST OF TE MID 80s!!! So exciting.

Only the GI Joe crossover felt never-ending and boring, but it seems from comments in previous weeks on this blog that everyone felt like that.

Tim Roll-Pickering link

28/5/2016 09:31:31 am

From recollection, the Visionaries special is actually one of the later issues being reprinted, rather than a fourth printing of the origin.

The poor handling of Dreadwind and Hi Test is going to be a real problem beyond insufficiently researched answers - with the changes to the comic about to come there was a real need for a good spokesperson to explain why they were happening and sooth feelings. Instead we'll get the 1989 equivalent of how not to run the company Twitter account.

Nathan webb

29/5/2016 09:53:51 am

I can see why visionaries failed despite being a decent cartoon/toy line and comic. The market was swamped at that time and many of the brands had loyalty that still resonates today, transformers was huge, action force/gi joe had been going steady for years, thunder cats had just got started but was very popular. There was mask, dungeons and dragons possibly more all competing for the same shelf space aimed at the same demographic. I remember toy shopping and having to choose between a visionary figure or a sparkler mini bot. Transformers toys were a bit tired by then and I was really torn but I still went for the transformer. My poor mum was tired of waiting for me I took so long to choose. In the end my decision was based on if I bought the transformer it would play with my other transformer, if I bought the visionary it was on its own.

Snowkatt link

11/4/2017 02:42:24 pm

There were SO many toys in the 80's.
He-man was stil going strong at the time.
Cops was gaining traction.
Real Ghostbusters was at its height.
Tmnt started to gain a following
Starcom was on.
Robotech was still doing well
Jayce and the wheeled warriors was in syndication.
Teddy Ruxpin was a thing and so were the Poppols.

And that's just what I can think off right on the spot.

Tim Roll-Pickering

13/8/2020 01:18:29 pm

IIUC there had been a deregulation in the US that made it much easier to do the franchise model of toy, cartoon, comic, books, merchandise etc... that supported and sustained a toyline. Combined with the way Star Wars toys had been such a big thing and so suddenly there was an explosion in the toy industry as everyone started looking for the next big thing.

Felicity link

18/11/2019 05:17:37 pm

As a nice bit of symmetry, an early Budiansky issue took place on the ski slopes when Ratchet fought Megatron, and we return to the ski slopes for this issue in Budiansky’s last lap. Maybe it’s even the same ski slope!

We don’t hear all of Cliff’s spiel—we drift in and out of it over the course of the issue—but I suspect that if you wanted to, you could read subtext into it that he is coming out of the closet to Spike. This ends up working both ways as Spike has an alternative lifestyle to reveal to Cliff too.

The panel at the top of this comments page is another example of Nel Yomtov’s minimalist colouring actually being used well to create dramatic lighting, in this case the lamp in Spike’s room at night. The placement of that sound effect makes it look like there’s something inside the lampshade.

Carnivac and Snarler have a Rocksteady and Bebop vibe on the cover above.

IIRC this is our last issue lettered by Bill Oakley, but his style has begun to change here. It’s pointier and I miss the way it was a few issues ago.

Presumably Spike is still bio-engineered to be a Headmaster even when he’s retired; I wonder what advantages this has in everyday life. If you think about it he could probably transform even when he’s not wearing the armour; what that would look like (a Cerebros head made out of flesh? a human with his limbs folded into a box shape?) is probably pretty disturbing!

Snowkatt

13/8/2020 11:43:06 am

Honestly I wouldn't call Spike a flake.
He is just a ordinary human being and a student that suddenly got roped in an intergalactic war.

No wonder he wants out this is way too big for him or most humans.

It's just odd that Prime lets him, and that Fort Max gets retired and not paired with somebody else.

( We all know why. Max isnt the hottest toy anymore and Hasbro doesnt care anymore, but in fiction its odd.)

Transformation 211: Cliff-Hanger.

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