Transformation 274: Wolf Down Your Food.

9/8/2017

It's the end of an era at the long running Survivors storyline comes to a close as Carnivac may or may not be dead (he is not dead).

Plus, in order to power their power station the Decepticons need to steal a power station.

All this, and which surprise villain is making a comeback to face Combat Colin once more?

It's all in my look at ISSUE 274!

5 Comments

Ryan F

10/8/2017 06:22:39 pm

Maybe the Ashes name change was the result of a confused stubbie? The 'ashes, ashes, we all fall down' variant of Ring-a-Ring of Roses / Ring Around the Rosie is predominantly American and very rarely heard in the U.K., especially in the south of the country. I reckon whoever did the lettering just didn't understand the reference and got confused...

Ralph Burns

11/8/2017 10:46:08 pm

Without a word of a lie I was genuinely excited by the return of the NEXT ISSUE BLURB back in the day! I had been well trained by comics to expect such a feature at the back of all UK publications and had keenly missed it! A picture was not enough!

SPECIAL TEAMS!

John D. link

14/8/2017 02:52:16 pm

This is an issue I never received, despite my newsagent subscription. The missing issues will increase as the run continues. Was distribution subject to savage cuts in order to finance the re-introduction of te Next Issue text? Really, when you think of it, how lazy was removing that text in the first place? Ten minutes work, and the opportunity for a free sales pitch to readers.

Cradok

18/4/2018 02:11:19 pm

Interesting, it was at pretty much the same time the same thing started happening to me, I missed the prior two issues and the amount I missed would, as you say, increase. I've always assumed it was just me losing interest, but maybe that was only part of it...

JeremiahEcks

28/2/2025 08:50:55 pm

One of my all time favourite Transformers stories, absolutely.

Carnivac was a favourite of mine growing up because of this story and I just found his want to stay a Decepticon of sorts a really interesting character beat. Indeed I once wrote a fanfic with a friend where he did turn back to being a Decepticon when a better more inspiring leader - G2 Megatron - came along.

And yes, the Marvel version of Bludgeon really does start here. He's amazing. Yes, his rage at not giving Carnivac a 'warrior's death' is in character but so is his glee in mocking the fallen warrior and taunting the Autobots about it. He isn't remotely a 'good guy' as he adores war and viciousness for the sake of it but he DOES have a code, and his nihilism is an unexplored, in Marvel, facet to the character that IDW picked up and put a vastly different spin on. He's definitely one of Furman's best 'non-cartoon based' characters and I can see why Furman kept using him whenever he could (Armada, IDW etc.).

Spinister and Needlenose dying and coming back for Matrix Quest just underlines to me why Earthforce *has* to be after the Quest. I just can't see Carnivac leaving anything left of Needlenose and Spinister getting shot and that being the end of him fits as a final character beat. He's dead, Jim. And I personally don't like the Mayhems swapping between Earth and Cybertron so frequently when Primal Scream goes out of it's way to properly deposit Bludgeon's lot on Earth, and Matrix Quest ends with Spinister's lot, save Snarler, also being stuck on Earth (sorta). I know you have to then buy Snarler coming to Earth from Cybertron but better his arc being 'Earth > Cybertron > Earth' and everybody else's being 'Cybertron > Earth' than if you try and run these stories in approx. print order (Everybody on Cybertron > Everybody on Earth > Everybody on Cybertron > Some on Earth, some with Thunderwing > Everybody on Earth > Some on Earth, some back with Thunderwing > Who knows what happens then').

And finally, Ashes, Ashes continues to annoy everybody except me it seems. I like how Serpentor and Mindbender are scheming away and I like the Larkin subplot. Not sure I'm feeling Baroness calling someone 'darling' and 'sweetie' even mockingly though.

Transformation 274: Wolf Down Your Food.

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