Transformation 257: Sexy-streaker.

13/4/2017

This week, Sunstreaker is back!

And he's a right bastard.

Plus, the début of Combat Kate!

All this and racist Action Force in my look at Perchance to Dream 3!

18 Comments

Ralph Burns

14/4/2017 07:33:30 pm

I always found this the poorest and most disposable chapter of PTD back in the day so I am afraid I cannot share your enthusiasm. I just didn't care about Sunstreaker at all and the instalment for me is part of the UK strip's slow degradation into just writing silly crap for the tots rather than the audience who grew up with the title. This approach will find its nadir in the Earthforce nonsense before the strip was kindly put out of its misery. From this point onwards, gone are exciting and darkly brewing epics and in is simplistic slapstick for 5 year olds (strangely at the point the US strip upswings in quality quite significantly!). DAAAAAARK RODIMUS was the last gasp of glory for the UK strip, for me.

BUT WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO IS THE WATCHER???!!!

Much more exciting to have Combat Kate appear as the Combat Colin strip enters its glory phase when all the characters we remember are up and running about.

SPECIAL TEAMS!

Stuart

14/4/2017 08:05:59 pm

You are so contrary Ralph! ;)

SII

14/4/2017 11:02:12 pm

Ah ha! I have it now. The watcher is clearly not Ferak (silly me!). It is OBVIOUSLY The Navigator, resurrected after the events on Man of Iron! He is back, he's pissed off, and he is searching for Jazz. He is going to show that fly talking prat what it is like to have a missile fired at you when you are asleep...

Simon Hall

14/4/2017 09:01:51 pm

Wooo Sunstreaker! I like this story. I'm always interested in the more er, slippery, members of the Autobot ranks. Mirage is another I like for similar reasons. The idea of Sunstreaker's vanity being played totally straight and something that informs his personality and actions is great. I get bored with morality lessons and the good guys being the goodest of the good - its just not interesting.

The f**k ups and bastards always have more mileage so this my kind of TF story :)

John D. link

15/4/2017 10:18:55 pm

The black and white strips are now definitely on an unenviable trajectory. Without any cheating or recourse to the TF wiki I thought it might be fun to nominate the "Dregs of Earthforce". I distinctly recall a "bad guys ball" which involves Megatron and Shockwave and some constructicons having a party, in a way that couldn't be squared with even the loosest interpretation of the then existing continuity unless you were on magic mushrooms. I also recall Powermaster Prime and Grim lock having some kind of undignified scuffle, which improbably ends a draw. I understand in Star Trek TNG there is a trope where the Klingon guy in the crew gets beaten up by whatever new enemy there is - to demonstrate how strong the enemy is. This however has the unwelcome side effect of making the Klingon guy look weak. Grimlock is surely the Klingon Guy of transformers, meaning Powermaster Prime should have just knocked him into place with one blow. I am rambling. Earthforce has that effect. Please nominate your own Dregs of Earthforce..

Tigrrbread

16/4/2017 10:47:59 am

That's the "Worf effect" for when the tough guy gets beaten so much it diminishes his credibility.

Tim Roll-Pickering link

16/4/2017 07:40:52 pm

Fortunately for Grimlock, TNG hadn't made it to British television at that stage - in fact it launched the same week as the last of the British stories - so that trope wasn't yet standard over here.

Snowkatt

17/4/2017 11:08:44 pm

The "bad guys ball "is indeed erhm called "the bad guys balls "
and its one of the nadirs of Earthforce.
Another I personally loath is the one with Starscream and the fly swatter on the cover.

I dont like Starscream to begin with.

John D. link

18/4/2017 11:10:41 am

Ha ha "the Worf Effect". Great chat Tim. Snowkatt - I have no recollection of this Starscream cover. But it sounds horrendous.

When Earthforce was plumbing the depths, why didn't they get new writers in? Could they not afford to? Grant Morrison for example had recently done great things on Zoids, a similar toy franchise (admittedly it was somewhat derivative, but I didn't know that at the time). In general the finances of comic books are a mystery to me. Are artists paid per issue? What happens when they fall behind and some pages have to be drawn by somebody else? I got the distinct impression during Regeneration One that Andrew Wildman felt the gig wasn't valuable enough and was rushing panels.

Burstingfoam

18/4/2017 01:11:13 pm

This is of course a trick question. There is no dregs of Earthforce. It's brilliant. I really mean that. I can get my 'serious' stuff from the main US strip, and I can have huge fun with these. The Bad Guys' Ball - marvellous. And even The Living Nightlights was fun.

For the life of me, I really can't work out why you all take it so seriously.

And the value of continuity really is massively overstated.

Snowkatt link

19/4/2017 12:06:03 pm

Weebly doesn't allow me to respond directly to your comment,
but artists are paid by the page.
Most of my data is old, but in the 1980's the going rate was 150 to 300 dollars per page. ( in the 60's it was 15 to 30 dollars per page )
Depending on the turn over, popularity of the title and the artist.
This sky rocketed when McFarlane became hugely popular.

If an artist falls behind, and somebody else has to fill in, the other artist is paid for the pages they draw.

So with G2 issue 2 Wildman, Senior and Galan all got paid for the work they did.

As for why no new writers stepped in, most likely because the title was on the verge of cancellation they couldn't afford anybody.

But here is the bad guys ball
http://tfwiki.net/wiki/The_Bad_Guy's_Ball!

And the aforementioned Starscream one
http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Bugged!

There are good black and white stories.
These are not some of them

Tim Roll-Pickering link

16/4/2017 08:32:28 pm

I'd guess that the reference to the French may have been part of a general comment on long-term French foreign policy. During his time in office, Mitterrand oversaw France increasingly aligning with (West) Germany and stepping away from the US. There was also the general problem that many USians in those days never really understood how they were viewed by the outside world and countries & leaders that didn't come running in support of US initiatives (and yes, the bombing of Libya was a key one - the French government refused to allow US bombers based in the UK to fly through French airspace) were viewed with suspicion.

Combat Colin has a nice bit of commentary on how the public easily swallow whatever the media tell them buried beneath a battle of the sexes. Was there a major scandal about "fake news" around this time?

As for Perchance to Dream, I think this is the story I remember the least. Ultra vain characters often descend into parody and are often just not interesting, even if it leads to such messes and lies. That cover really doesn't help.

Felicity link

6/12/2019 05:37:52 am

“Sometimes I’m so clever I even amaze myself” is reminiscent of what Dirk Manus said in the cartoon episode “Money Is Everything”: “Sometimes I’m so clever I can’t stand it!”

Is Mr. Mystery Soundwave? I haven’t read the story in question, am reading these reviews without knowing the ending, and haven’t seen the “familiar-looking” body parts. But it would make sense given the mind-probing.

Since it was the 1980s, that jab at the French in “GI Joe” may have been more light-hearted than it seems in today’s world of George W. Bush and “freedom fries.” From what I recall of the time, the popular perception was that the French were rude in general but especially to American tourists, who may have not helped their image by acting pushy and entitled, like America was the centre of the universe. (Here in Canada, we’re on much friendlier terms with the Americans but occasionally we do get the proverbial “ugly American” stereotype showing up and being rude and argumentative to customer service workers who can’t instantly convert from Canadian prices to American money in their head. Not that I’m speaking from personal experience.)

I never knew Combat Colin was balding. This must be the first time I’ve seen him without his combat toque!

Tim Roll-Pickering link

7/12/2020 01:37:18 am

Colin had his head blasted by the Gunge back in issue #241(?) which left him bald and he remains that way for the rest of the run.

LiamKav

11/1/2022 11:50:43 am

Do you see him with hair before that? In my memories, he was always bald?

(For that matter, do they ever say how old he is?)

Tim Roll-Pickering link

11/1/2022 01:01:59 pm

Colin has hair from his very first appearance which can be seen at:

https://downthetubes.net/happy-30th-birthday-combat-colin/

(And the original art is at: https://lewstringercomics.blogspot.com/2021/02/the-birth-of-combat-colin-1987.html )

Without checking through I think he's more likely to have his Combat Hat off after the Gunge story than before.

LiamKav

11/1/2022 01:59:55 pm

That makes sense. I only started reading with #199 so most of my memories are of black and white Colin.

John D. link

20/1/2022 11:58:57 pm

Earthforce is still a great big steaming pile of poo! Seemed a big "up yours" to anybody still trying to follow the continuity. 😂

Transformation 257: Sexy-streaker.

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