Transformation 303: Three Fingered Thunderpunch.

1/3/2018

This week, Circuit Breaker is back! And this time she's brought her hat with her.

Plus, Starscream gives a speech, Blackrock gives a speech and Lee only just stops short of pulling down his pants and cock slapping a picture of a virtually naked woman.

All this and more in my look at ISSUE 303!

11 Comments

Colin H

2/3/2018 05:37:55 pm

Maybe it's just me, but there seems to be a hint of creative desperation in the cover caption just being a character's name split into two words.

Stuart

2/3/2018 06:03:42 pm

Well, in the lead up to Christmas the sub-editor probably wanted to knock-off early.

Ryan F

2/3/2018 06:01:20 pm

Is it the same hat she wore in ‘Christmas Breaker’?

Stuart

2/3/2018 06:05:21 pm

If it's the same coat as well, she Probably stinks a bit by now.

Tigerbread

9/3/2018 12:09:50 am

Btw, I found a link to a link to some of the later issues of TMHT UK. By this point, the comic was past it's prime, and stories are now just filler, but it still makes for an interesting read

Tigerbread

9/3/2018 12:15:23 am

Agh, forgot the link https://britishcomics.wordpress.com/2016/10/02/teenage-mutant-hero-turtles/

Tim Roll-Pickering link

2/3/2018 06:42:21 pm

Three weeks seems an amazingly short amount of time for the letterspage to receive and print a comment on an issue - was "Martin McClurg" actually an inhouse letter allowing the page to get a correction out immediately? Given the comments were they, perhaps, the designer?

My memory of both this issue and #251 is that they came out slightly earlier than usual, perhaps overcompensating for the holiday disruption. Maybe the adverts schedule was also prepared earlier than usual then got confused with last week's?

And this may be first example of just "G.I. Joe" as a brand name in the UK - the next (and last) annual uses just that as did the two specials in 1992. Does anyone know when the toyline finished changing over? (I suspect also that this advert is being run now as part of clearing out Hasbro obligations in preparation for the change?)

Charles RB

6/3/2018 12:45:52 pm

All props to whoever decided to blame the #300 answer on a human reading the back of a toy box.

Uraael

13/3/2018 12:16:59 pm

...I always thought Lee was supposed to be Australian given their popularity at the time. Big, brash, rude, sexist Aussie always worked well in my head, anyway.

Felicity

24/12/2019 10:33:33 am

On the cover, Circuit Breaker is slowly turning into Carmen Sandiego. But I do like the repeated motivic use of the trenchcoat, as she first stepped out of a green one back in “Dis-Integrated Circuits” (and apparently left it on the floor of GB Blackrock’s office!), then had a very nice tan one in “The Return of Circuit Breaker!” (the Skullgrin movie career issue). Here she has a red one.

Come to think of it, much like Chip Chase and Daniel Witwicky in the cartoon, Josie Beller is another character who could potentially be cured of her mobility issues (permanently, without the need for the metal tape) through the binary-bonding process. Of course, with her hatred of robots, I don’t think she’d appreciate that suggestion.

It also just occurred to me that maybe the reason nobody back at Decepticon HQ has noticed Starscream sneaking away is that he left his Classic Pretender shell there, and they assume he’s still inside (and just not talking or moving around very much).

Er, well, you see the reason Lee has three fingers is that he’s a mutant! It’s part of his powers. Yeah, that’s the ticket.

I like Hector Dialonzo too and while he may not have much choice but to go with GB Blackrock, I do like the idea of Blackrock’s group being a sort of shelter and save haven for storm-tossed misfits.

Like Uraael above, I assumed at the time (probably from all the “ays”) that Thunderpunch was supposed to be Australian. Unless he’s Fonzie, and he’s actually saying “Ayyyyyyyy!”

LiamKav

25/10/2020 05:45:59 pm

I've not read this issue so I dunno if it applies, but I always found it amusing that TF characters often seem to get upgrades by accident or external force. Very rarely do they go out specifically looking to become The New Toyline Gimmick. (The only other example that comes to mind is Blackarachnia trying to make herself a Transmetal in Beast Wars.)

It's amusing that to Starscream the 1988 Powermaster gimmick is apparently better than the 1989 Classic Pretender gimmick. Doesn't he know that these things have a shelf life?

Actually, is there any evidence in the comics that the Powermasters are "better" than regular Transformers? It seems to be a technology designed to combat a specific problem (the poisoned fuel on Nebulos) rather than increased power. Most of PM Prime's upgrades are due to combining with his trailer rather than anything Hi-Q does.

Transformation 303: Three Fingered Thunderpunch.

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