Transformation 254: Future's End.

23/3/2017

This week, we say goodbye to the 21st century as Rodmius and his oddly familiar arch foe battle within the Matrix.

Plus, Emirate Xaaron! In a whole new colour scheme! sharing the hugs and the entirely coincidental name dropping of Primus!

All this and Combat Colin IN SPACE as I look at ISSUE 254!

10 Comments

Burstingfoam

24/3/2017 03:01:22 pm

A strange and sad note to end things on with regards to the signature UK storylines - one wonders whether there was mandate from above to leave it all alone, or if Furman simply felt that he had nowhere else to go, especially if it was going to tread on US toes with he who shall not be named. I'm not convinced it was a good idea to come back to the whole future saga post-Time Wars, but perhaps this was an attempt to forge out a whole new identity for the UK strips, being totally focussed on this storyline and therefore not having to fit in with the US stories. In an alternative universe, this is what we got instead of Earthforce (and that's a pity for them, I love Earthforce, Night Lights and all).

To get all Whovian, I always can't help thinking 'Jamie at the end of The Web of Fear' when Kup ruins Rodimus' plans.

Ryan F

24/3/2017 06:46:54 pm

Aw, I love Nightlights! For me the worst strips of the Earthforce run are Mystery and Bugged, which are both horrid.

Stuart

24/3/2017 07:02:50 pm

Sounds like it...

Bugs you.

Stuart

24/3/2017 04:54:21 pm

I almost wrote that exact same thing about The Web of Fear!

Tim Roll-Pickering link

24/3/2017 10:04:58 pm

Ah the last appearance of Roadimus. It's a pity as putting the Classics in the future timeline could have been the solution to all the forthcoming continuity problems though going back to basics would have conflicted with telling a series of quite dark adventures in such a dystopia. And Aspects of Evil has already given away too much of the struggle to come.

But just as the UK strips go away from all that, it comes in in the US strips. I'm someone who first encountered Primus and the origin story from these printings so it never struck me until later that Furman was refining existing ideas - but for longer running readers just how many times could he get away with a Unicron story?

And Combat Colin in space. The strip has truly entered its Golden Age - handy as the two TF strips will soon hit their low points almost simultaneously in a few months' time.

Ralph Burns

27/3/2017 11:50:51 am

At least Longtooth stayed dead.

SPECIAL TEAMS!

Felicity link

4/12/2019 06:40:47 pm

That cover makes Unicron’s wings look like spider legs, which makes him extra-scary.

I like Xaaron’s all-gold paint job. His mouth still bothers me.

Also I like the metal skirt hanging off the back of Bumblebee’s Classic Pretender shell’s waist. It reminds me of when people tied their plaid flannel shirts around their waist.

Primus looking like Rodimus seems a little arbitrary (Why Rodimus?) unless you also fold in the scenes from the third season of the cartoon where we see in Matrix flashbacks that there have been several Autobot leaders over the millennia that look like Rodimus.

Was Reflector ever in the comic? Offhand I can’t remember seeing that. Was it in a UK-only story? Was it during the original four-part mini-series?

This is the part of that “GI Joe” story where it gets more depressing. Most of the mission team is trapped in a prison behind the Iron Curtain and everyone back at the base hates Outback. Small silver linings: the imprisoned Joes refuse to let the prison change them and even try to encourage the other prisoners; Outback casually takes out a knife to discourage one of his bullies. Grim times.

Tim Roll-Pickering link

4/12/2019 08:04:23 pm

Reflector's only comic appearance is in The Last Stand (US #4, UK #7&8). The three robots aren't named but are shown serving as part of the Decepticon medical team, then Viewfinder turns up amongst the Decepticon casualties at the end.

Felicity

5/12/2019 06:48:05 am

Oh right! I can picture that first panel you mentioned in my head now. :-)

LiamKav

12/10/2020 02:36:49 pm

I think Primus looking like Rodimus is supposed to tie in with the implication in the Movie that Hot Rod is "special" and has a "destiny". It makes a bit more sense when it's revealed in The Legacy of Unicron when Rodimus was the current Matrix holder.

Transformation 254: Future's End.

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