Transformation 289: The Long and Winding Road.

24/11/2017

So the time has come my friends, for the end of the British era of the comic! Will it go out on a high, or will we come down with road rage?

Plus Longtooth makes the most important decision of his story off-panel.

All in my 3-D look at issue 289!

24 Comments

Tetsuryu

24/11/2017 08:47:34 pm

No matter how many times I see it, and even at such a low resolution, the "hero" in "Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles" never fails to look sloppily tacked on.

Also you could easily misinterpret their horrified expressions as their pizzas being a Tesco product than someone else eating them.

Alex Smith link

26/11/2017 04:39:42 am

I once made my parents buy me the one with bits of apple on it. Weren't nice!

Tetsuryu

1/12/2017 11:45:06 pm

Apple on a pizza!? And people say pineapple is the worst pizza topping!

Felicity

18/12/2019 08:38:30 pm

Good call! The word “Hero” looks totally tacked on at the last minute!

Charles RB

24/11/2017 11:41:14 pm

If this was the intentional ending, what _does_ it mean that Furman ends the UK strips with "the Decepticons win, the Autobots beaten up for nothing, that's it"

Simon Hall

25/11/2017 05:49:09 am

If we're reaching for metaphors, the usual workplace shenanigans when things aren't going well at a business, I'd imagine. The evil management triumph over workers struggling to do the same job with less resource and being put in an awkward spot if they speak out that this trying to do too much with too little...?

It is a downbeat ending for the UK strip, and whilst there's some truth in that trying to discredit the Autobots seems very silly, it does sort of work with the b&w stories making out on some sort of positive human-Autobot relations.

As for Matrix Quest, agree that Thunderwing's affinity with the Matrix is something that I've always felt was a really interesting idea that's not really explored. And the forth-coming strip kind of makes it look like this is all the Matrix' doing too, which is a shame. How boring.

Turtles Pizzas. You forget that 1990 was a big year for the Turtles in the UK (is my memory failing, or was this actually the year they got imported to the UK? Those 'I <3 '80s' shows correctly places the Turtles being a big deal in 1988 - which is when the cartoon made a big splash in the US - but seemed a bit of a retcon as far as the UK was concerned) - with the live action film and what have you (with even teen magazines like BIG! having some Turtles features).

Snowkatt link

8/12/2017 12:35:56 pm

The original mini series is from 1987 though.
and the game is from 1989.

1991 is most likely the time when the tmnt mania reached its zenith and pretty much exploded all over the place.

Felicity

18/12/2019 08:41:14 pm

As Snowkatt noted the “TMNT” cartoon debuted in 1987, and the torch was passed to the next big thing with “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” in fall of 1993. So 1990 would be right in the middle of Turtlemania.

Tim Roll-Pickering link

18/12/2019 11:17:52 pm

The UK was often a bit behind the US on these things - whereas Transformers had launched in 1984 here, a number of later toylines launched later (including later incarnations of Transformers from Beast Wars onwards).

Consequently Turtlemania arrived en mass in the UK in 1990 because there was so much product already available including plenty of episodes of the cartoon (notably the first season/five part mini series was skipped altogether here) and lots of merchandise to drop onto the market all in one go.

This delay could also bring story confusion, particularly with TV versions that lagged behind and movies that ran ahead. Given your example, I remember SFX magazine running a quick guide for the Power Rangers movie and suggesting waiting a few weeks after its UK release before seeing it so that GMTV's screening of the TV series could catch up on a) the Green Ranger becoming the White Ranger and b) about half the cast being replaced.

Tim Roll-Pickering link

25/11/2017 05:33:30 pm

According to the BBC Genome project, Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles debuted here on 3rd January 1990. And for those wondering, it ran on the BBC on & off until April 2004. (None of the later shows, or the original "Ninja" edit, seem to have appeared on the BBC.)

Tim Roll-Pickering link

25/11/2017 05:38:26 pm

h the end of the UK strip stories. I suspect news of the axe came after this storyline was picked but before the conclusion (at least) was written, which would explain both the odd way to go out and having an actual End of the Road in the story. Though it does at least hark back to Furman's early work as once again we get an explanation for why there's no Autobot/human alliance. But otherwise this is dire - when summarising it for the TFwiki I was amazed at just how little the robot modes appear compared to normal. It just feels like a chase for the sake of it.

Did Euan Peters actually start the three strip then black & white format? I don't know where I saw it but I thought his editorship covered issues #219-#286 - which would be just after the format came in but in time to have to respond to the reader backlash. This may also explain the frustration "Dreadwind" exhibited as he found himself having to defend decisions that he may not have been in post for (not helped by the character's established personality not being the best for answering letters).

Deadly Obsession limps to a conclusion in all its weird coloured glory and I wonder if it would have benefitted from the different paper used on the middle pages - let's see what a difference it makes next week.

The origin of Combat Colin - was the timing of this down to Lew Stringer perhaps covering bases in case either the strip or the comic as a whole ended sometime soon? It does rather change things from the early Action Force years, perhaps responding to changing attitudes to military nuts? Was there some real world development around this time that might have made the original depiction awkward?

That 3D competition - at a glance it really does imply these episodes have been 3D treated and I suspect the copy was written by someone who hadn't actually seen the prize. I wonder if there were complaints from misled consumers. The TF video covers really are odd, often highlighting characters who aren't at the forefront of episodes if appearing at all.

Charles RB

27/11/2017 02:01:17 pm

It does happen a month or so after the Gulf War started, so maybe that was it - it could just be Lew Stringer had an idea and figured most Transformers readers wouldn't know/remember the old Action Force strips, where Colin's a vigilante because Action Force rejected his application ("NO WAY- Flint")

John D. link

26/11/2017 07:16:28 am

I can't recall reading deadly obsession closely at all, the inks were muddy (did Stu say there, oddly, by Dan Reed?) and the colours garish. The black and white art was also weird, surprising as Staz was some drawer. Staz can't really do cars; Leonardo Da Vinci couldn't really do hands (allegedly).

1990 was indeed the peak of turtle craze, I only had 1 turtle toy so I think my enthusiasm was limited to the cartoon (which i loved), the computer game (which gets laughed at by The Angry Video Game Nerd, but I would maintain was quite a clever wee game), clothing, and the vinyl single of "Turtle Power" (4 (four!) weeks at number 1 in the UK - astonishing). I remember the "ninja" stuff coming as a shocking revelation in the school playground.

Lastly Tim - do you know who maintains the TF wiki for MTMTE? Whoever they are is my hero. I read an issue then read the wiki for it to see what I have managed to spot. I think IDWas actually missing a trick not printing the wiki entries along with the comic. MTMTE is so intricate, readers who don't consult the wiki must be missing lots of stuff! The wiki must be written with input from James Roberts himself.

John D. link

26/11/2017 07:19:38 am

Usual iPhone typos! There should have been they're! Obvs. And there are others. Sorry! Don't want folk on here thinking I am illiterate - Simon Furman didn't make me the best essay writer in school for nothing! 😂

Felicity

18/12/2019 08:43:42 pm

“Turtle Power” by Partners in Kryme was a great song! It deserved to be a hit. The band later went on to provide music videos for a pro-social teen show called “Way Cool” (1992), which I wish I had saved on tape.

Jon Talpur

26/11/2017 02:26:53 pm

The writing may have been on the wall for the UK strips for a little while; the 1990-published Annual, which was released close to #289's printing, was the first Transformers annual containing no new comic strip content, only reprinted strips and an original text story. I suppose at least in presenting the first reprinting of "Fallen Angel", Marvel UK were able to ensure the colours were correct on the two misprinted pages from #101, but otherwise, it was a much lower-key affair than previous volumes.

Simon Hall

26/11/2017 09:39:00 pm

I really like the cover on the 1990 Annual - lovely bit of dynamic Geoff Senior art. It is probably the best thing about it.

John D. link

30/11/2017 01:26:58 am

What was the Geoff senior art? I can't remember!

Snowkatt link

8/12/2017 12:44:39 pm

This https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/transformers/images/b/bc/Transformers_annual_1991.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20071209163039

That is the 1991 annual though, the 1990 annual has PM Prime fighting Megatron, done by Sullivan.

http://tfwiki.net/wiki/File:Transformers_annual_1990.jpg

It's the teefers that give it away.

Snowkatt link

8/12/2017 12:42:30 pm

Are you sure your not thinking of the 1991 annual ?
Cause this is the 1991 annual cover, by Senior:
http://tfwiki.net/mediawiki/images2/thumb/b/bc/Transformers_annual_1991.jpg/230px-Transformers_annual_1991.jpg

While the 1990 cover was done by Sullivan:
http://tfwiki.net/wiki/File:Transformers_annual_1990.jpg

Tim Roll-Pickering link

10/12/2017 03:23:04 pm

Will we ever have a clear answer as to which year is which for annuals?!

Uraael

28/1/2018 01:05:44 pm

While this is technically the end of the Marvel UK originated material, I personally don't believe it ever ended. It Never Ends!

No, my take on it is that the UK WON the battle of who produces the best Transformers work, with Simon Furman taking Messrs Senior and Wildman with him to finish the US comic, it...Transformed? Combined? ...into a US produced comic with Marvel UK's heart and soul transplanted into it. Like some kind of warped Headmaster, the US comic's post Budiansky run was the best of both worlds. UK talent powering a lacklustre US product to new heights.

So while there is sadness looking back at what could have been I remember at the time being quite happy to see what Furman had in store. I didn't miss the black and white strips, IRWIN SPOON, or the Diet-Transformers Earthforce run. Considering the wonderful epic the comic was soon to embark on I don't think we as fans had anything at all to complain about beyond cover prices (and, I think, decreasing availability in Newsagents). I cried at 332. Not at this.

Felicity

18/12/2019 09:09:25 pm

Motormaster seems out of proportion to the other Stunticons on that cover.

“Deadly Obsession” may have been a more effective story in its original form, all in one issue…I remember being quite moved by Longtooth’s character arc in this issue, from his trauma at having his leg eaten, to his understandable desire for vengeance, to his decision to not kill the Klud and how that is a victory for him as an Autobot.

In that last panel of Irwin Spoon he looks like a friend of mine looked in university.

Presumably the ambassador wanted a deal with the Sierra Gordans himself, one that would make them the US’s proxy in that area, and not a country independent of obligations to the US. I guess they remember what happened with Prince Ngoto of Kalingaland.

New leader El Jefe did strike a deal Destro and his MARS corporation, but then switched back to the NABM, then back to MARS again, causing battles that cost some characters their lives.

Then the Sierra Gordo government, which now answered to Destro’s relative Darklon, sold the sacred rainforest to a multinational corporation. Despite a joint GI Joe/October Guard mission, it was all cut down and the natives lost their land. One of several times in the series that the characters did all they could and put their lives on the line only to find they were at the mercy of larger forces.

Between the unflattering portrayal of the corporations wanting control of the resources, the co-operation of the US and Russian forces, and the save-the-rainforest element of the story, I would chalk this up as another non-right-wing “GI Joe” comic, FWIW. ☺

John D. link

19/12/2019 01:32:31 pm

Nice to see new comments here! I think I have exhausted my Turtles Chat. I am still genuinely intrigued as to who writes the TF Wiki. Years later and I am still no clearer. Without it I would have found MTMTE much less rich - I kept leaving too long a gap between reading the volumes of the trades to remember the story in adequate detail.

Transformation 289: The Long and Winding Road.

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