Transformation 299: Hung Up On Rodimus.

2/2/2018

It's the calm before the storm this week, as the iconic Icepick meets his end; Galvatron can't let go of his ex and Lisa and Slog battle it out for the title of best new character.

Plus, the end of Dreadwind and pizza!

All in my look at ISSUE 299.

Next week of course, is issue 300. So keep your halfshell on for a special Addendum, plus various bits of silly fun on Twitter (where I hope you all follow InflatableDalek). Plus, a special announcement about the future of Transformation!

18 Comments

Tim Roll-Pickering link

2/2/2018 08:46:07 pm

For some reason this issue seemed to have a distribution error in (at least) my part of the world. That Saturday we were out of town all day and I never got a chance to go to Menzies or indeed any other newsagents that week and it wasn't in my hold folder the next. So I thus missed the original origin of the Transformers, the final fate of Rodimus Prime, the outbreak of the Cobra Civil War, the last Dread Tidings and the conclusion of the Combat Colin story - it's amazing how much is in this issue and it would be the one to miss wouldn't it?

Then I bizarrely found a stack of the issue in Asda when we doing what must have been a Christmas shop after #301 had come out. Had there just been a hiccup in our area? (Did Menzies play any part in the distribution to their own shops?)

Stuart

2/2/2018 08:49:28 pm

This is definitely one I remember from the time, so any issues didn't affect my copy. Bad luck there!

Colin H

9/2/2018 02:47:28 pm

I missed ##33 and #51 for the same reason.

Well over 30 years later and it still hurts.

Tigerbread

2/2/2018 08:55:45 pm

Have to admit, that "disgusting pizza" jibe killed me.
Those things really did look cheap and revolting.
Also just wondering, if you're covering the Turtles next week, does that mean you read the fortnightly uk comic reprints back in the day?
And if so, can i have them all sent to me immediately? It's a small favour, I know ;)

Stuart

2/2/2018 08:57:54 pm

Sadly I never read the comics. I'll be covering the main Turtles experience I had, thanks to the magic of VHS...

J'mie

2/2/2018 10:44:28 pm

At the time I wouldn't eat tomato, and so the Turtle apple pizza introduced me to the whole idea of pizza. I suspect my modern tastebuds would be horrified, but at the time it was a revelation. As a massive fan of pizza now (tomato and all) that advert was life-changing for me!

Stuart

2/2/2018 10:52:02 pm

At least some good came out of it!

Tetsuryu

2/2/2018 11:40:00 pm

TMNT has a bit of an odd release history in Europe since not every country got the "Hero" edit. Even in Finland we actually got both, the show on TV started with season 2, used the censored UK version and was subtitled, while the home video releases used the uncut version, featured season 1 episodes but were dubbed. No idea if the tape covers used the "Hero" title or not tho.

I think at least Denmark and Spain and France got the uncensored version.

Stuart

2/2/2018 11:50:28 pm

As I understand it (not having researched it yet), the UK started with season 2 as well. Hence the first video being a badly edited version of a later clip show explaining the origin.

The videos were the edit as well here though, the BBFC wouldn't have it otherwise.

Tim Roll-Pickering link

5/2/2018 10:37:54 am

The earliest Radio Times listing appears to be this one from 3 January 1990: http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/00d40f161ba64c7a99dccf704dd6df94

Return of the Shredder is the first episode of the second season so this would support it.

(Also it's my recollection that the Foot Soldier was a pegwarmer despite the voracious appetite for Turtles toys at the time. At least some of that may be down to being Sir Not Appearing On Your TV Screens.)

Simon Hall

3/2/2018 12:04:11 pm

You forget how the Turtles license was slapped across so much stuff, including revolting foodstuffs. I don't recall much of the cartoon, just whatever the BBC showed. I did like that April O'Neil continued the great trend of the Witwicky's of having only one outfit. Beyond all the controversy of the "Ninja" phrasing (really?), the thing I enjoyed most from the world of Turltes was the first live action film, which is pretty decent and has that excellent Partners In K.R.Y.M.E theme ("Keeping Real Your Motivational Energy", apparently). I didn't good in for the apple pizza, which surely makes it more of a weird desert than a savoury foodstuff. Custard anyone (probably green, if it was Turtles custard, like the ooze) ...?

Rhythms Of Darkness remains generally great to this point. Didn't care for Slog's horrible Yoda speech pattern - would that really extend to his thoughts too? The defeated Autobots are great, but I'm not loking forward to the daft plan to save New York (what's left to save?) that's coming up.

Charles RB

3/2/2018 01:18:44 pm

Now I can't stop thinking of All Hail Megatron as a very long Rhythms remake. If I still had my AHMs, this would be compare-and-contrast time, but what definitely works better is the handful of Autobots with the human rebels instead of seperate humans and Autobots. Lisa isn't that much more of a person than Bridge, Sarah-I-Think, Wing Commander Thingy, and The Amazing Shirtless Spike* (though this is less of a big deal for a 20 page story than over 200 pages) but if she's with the Autobots, she 'matters' more. The human cast can never 'matter' to the readers if we know the Autobots, the people we paid to see, are somewhere else doing their own thing and the plot is clear that the Autobots will end things when they arrive. (And neither 'Con nor stubbie know this is going to happen, so you can't have a 'ticking clock' scenario - as Rhythms has) But when the Autobots are just as battered as the humans, then it's different.

* Colonel Daniel Sparkplug has a personality, he just sucks. "Haw haw I'm deliberately baiting my wife's co-workers while pretending I'm a rustic blue-collar dude in my mansion."

Snowkatt

6/2/2018 11:32:10 am

That's giving AHM waaaaaay too much credit.
Sadly I have AHM multiple times thanks to humble bundle.

Alex Smith link

5/2/2018 10:20:50 am

I can vouch for that apple pizza being quite, quite disgusting.

While Furman clearly couldn't care much for the Pretender Monsters, it's interesting to note that they 'phase' out of their shells rather than just popping them open like previous Pretenders - perhaps Furman was implying that this is an advancement of the technology.

Stuart

5/2/2018 10:58:29 am

I guess that, as they just pull out a hole in the back of the shell, that was as close as toy accuracy Delbo could get to being faithful without it looking totally silly and Furman just handwaved it when it came to putting the dialogue in.

Tim Roll-Pickering link

17/3/2018 06:51:05 pm

And in tribute to the original delay I had in reading this issue...

There's something odd about the way that Rodimus Prime, who was presented as the comic's lead hero for a good year plus, is last seen either as a strung up corpse or in reprints, somewhat symbolic of being a lesser replacement.

Bye bye to Dreadwind. Was there no better Decepticon toy to pick as the new letters answerer? His personality really wasn't the best when the comic needed a reassuring friendly voice to explain the changes.

Felicity

23/12/2019 08:52:14 pm

I didn’t know the character’s name was Slog, but I fondly remember that character, with his unusual word order, sad thoughts, melancholy lighting, and (as mentioned above) phasing out of his shell with a nicely-drawn energy-rings effect.

I love the way José Delbo draws Prowl in the panel you showed. It reminds me of those episodes of the cartoon with the squarest art style.

Very Furmanistic dialogue! Can I do less? Better to fight and die!

Leonardo is holding his sword suggestively.

I wonder if anyone’s done a map of where, geographically, those are called rucksacks, knapsacks, and backpacks.

JeremiahEcks

5/3/2025 06:30:20 pm

Doesn't the US issue of Rhythms have the highest count of Furmanisms in any single issue? Can we do no less?

The Slogliloquoy is very interesting considering he's never going to be seen or used again. Also wouldn't it have meant more if Scourge had died and Cyclonus mourned over his old partner? I know they have their moment later but I think it might have worked better here.

I like Rodimus but this feels like a very ignoble tragic end for him. Feels fitting somehow.

The apple pizzas were disgusting. Absolutely disgusting.

Transformation 299: Hung Up On Rodimus.

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