Transformation 232: Micro-Fisting.

21/10/2016

It's a big moment for the blog as we come one step closer to the end of the series with 100 issues left to go.

To celebrate, Road-Handler does his handy party trickl; Hi-Q goes trucking; the Battle Patrol are totally smaller than any Transformers ever and the Sleeze Brothers are out to impress.

All in my look at ISSUE 232!

And are you impressed that I didn't do a "As a Micromaster Road-Handler's fist is in the Trump scale compared to other Transformers" gag?

12 Comments

Alex Smith link

21/10/2016 03:21:57 pm

It never occurred to me as a child that the Micromasters are human-sized, yet turn into cars that humans can drive (which really ought to put them in the same size-range as the Autobot cars). I wonder if the toy 'gimmick' of them being small was actually meant to be ported across to ancillary media at all.

Regarding the Powermasters' ability to transform sans partner - Slapdash is stuck in vehicle mode in 'Prime Bomb' because he left his partner behind...

Stuart

21/10/2016 03:25:41 pm

Hi-Q is probably the only nebulon awesome enough to not need the costumes.

The scale thing hadn't occurred to me either, I guess I'm just too jaded by size issues in Transformers now. If they're using whatever the likes of Soundwave do but in reverse, you have to wonder how energy efficient they actually are.

Tim Roll-Pickering link

21/10/2016 04:39:15 pm

I think there's a letterspage coming up that explains/excuses the Powermasters on the basis they were a solution to the poisoned fuel on Nebulos and on Cybertron (and presumably Earth) there wasn't a problem. The Annual text stories have a frustrating habit of not always singing from the same hymn sheet as the weekly continuity.

The Micromasters are yet another gimmick that just doesn't translate well to the existing fiction. They would probably have been brilliant for the pre TF Microman (?) ideas of toys & other household items being impersonated by tiny robots, but making them human size opens up all manner of problems. Being the big (Hah!) new toy of 1989 that Hasbro were pushing like mad meant they couldn't so easily be dismissed even if Budiansky was on the way out and Furman clearly more interested in that year's Pretenders.

Felicity

22/11/2019 06:26:34 pm

Great point! They could be compact cars, but even then they’d be at least as big as Bumblebee.

As we will see, in robot mode they’re taller than humans, so not exactly human-sized. Able to move through spaces humans move through, though.

Simon Hall

23/10/2016 05:22:10 pm

Micromasters have exploding hips?! :O

I like to think that the Micromasters downsizing was the start of the energy efficiency technology that we see in Beast Wars. I agree that the fiction here is a bit wibbly, but don't the likes of Prowl and that turn into 20ft tall robots, rather than the 7ft odd the Micromasters do?

Works for the Micros who are cars, less so for the ones that are jets and boats...

RiD at least had the Spy Changers just be small robots that turned into small cars.

Ralph Burns

23/10/2016 08:54:33 pm

I must politely disagree with your opinion of the cover. I quite like it. Indeed, it is one of two covers from TFUK that I was able to acquire the original art for (the other being #236). It has a certain sillyness to it. I also got a bit excited by the magnifying glass at the time even if it was a bit rubbish.

Fond fond memories of this issue. Cover to cover Transformers action! The Micromasters were also quite exciting to me and heralded the last hurrah of me buying TF toys until I was An Adult. The competition was very exciting (alas I did not win anything) and it was fun to hunt the symbols!

SPECIAL TEAMS!

John D. link

25/10/2016 10:50:06 pm

I'm with Stu, the magnifying glass was a shocker. I don't think it even magnified! I have a vague memory of a skin transfer that looked like circuitry, was that a free gift at some point? I'm sure a megatrachet-monster inspired bookmark I'd still to come too? Ralph - great shout about final TF Toys. I got the Autobit Micromastet cars - they were maybe my last toys! Worse, one was STOLEN from my desk by some scumbag class mate. Had totally forgotten that til now. I was pleased to see Fixit (?) get a role later on. The scale problem with them never really occurred to me. In Bayformers they don't have size shifting do they? So the Decepticon jet robots are huge? One of the few plus points, along with Megan Fox..

Stuart (Not that one)

26/10/2016 10:35:30 am

Micromasters. Eh, whatever. Should've made them 1:1 scale with the toys for a laugh. Kids could've had fun imagining their Micros coming to life and having adventures when they weren't looking. As they were shown? Dullsville.

Anyway, Stuart Prime (AKA Dalek): is Podcast Maximus dead? It has been a loooooooooooong time since the last podcast. Occasionally dodgy audio aside, I enjoyed listening to that a lot. Terome and Marion are great. That other bloke (Steve? Simon?) is OK too.

Stuart (That One)

26/10/2016 10:59:15 am

There's an episode catching up on Titan Wars and Revolution and our wacky lives in the bag and being edited right now.

Busy times for all of us, but we should get one more in before Christmas and we have a promise of at least one more interview (though from someone with an even busier schedule than us).

Thank you kindly good namesake, always good to hear from listeners to know we're not broadcasting in a vacuum.

Stuart (Not that one)

26/10/2016 11:07:44 am

Cheers, Stuart (That One). Good to know more is coming.

I'm sure Donald's schedule should free up a bit in a couple of weeks or so, so that interview asking him about his appearances in IDW as "Sentinel Prime" could be fitted in then. ; )

Stuart (That One)

27/10/2016 08:00:45 am

Here you go Stuart (Not That One):

http://tfarchive.com/fandom/features/podcast/?name=podcast_maximus_episode_19.mp3

Felicity link

22/11/2019 06:37:08 pm

It’s good to be back with José Delbo art and IIRC this is the first issue lettered by Jim Massara, whose lettering I enjoy. Once again the mood and atmosphere of the opening with the three hunters is a perfect place for Nel Yomtov to indulge in some monochrome colouring.

Wasn’t People’s Gas at least an abandoned truck stop? There’s a chance some humans might be driving past down the highway but at least there wouldn’t be any customers.

And here we have the second piece of my theory that being a Powermaster is a great way to get in shape (the first being that Hi-Test and Throttle eat ten times as much as normal): Hi-Q is looking lean and rugged.

Even more confusing is that when we (the North American audience) first saw Thunderwing, he was *Lord* Thunderwing of Polyhex, which implies a Decepticon aristocracy. Previously it was *Governor* Straxus of Polyhex, although I doubt he was elected. Appointed maybe?

I can honestly say that one-page preview was the first “Sleeze Brothers” comic I have ever read. Until now I’ve only ever seen ads for it (like the one with them coming out of the toilet). And you’re right; it doesn’t look very good. There’s potential there—I might be interested in a comedy about a couple of low-life detectives in a gritty future—but the art is ugly and the humour is a little mean for my tastes.

Transformation 232: Micro-Fisting.

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