Transformation 308: This is Mutiny.

6/4/2018

This week, it's the final weekly issue. Optimus barely pauses between speeches, Triggerhappy and Mindwipe try to get away from Starscream and Nightbeat's attempt to rescue Racthet is 50% successful.

All this and Machine Man Update Updated in my look at The Eye of the Storm part 3!

7 Comments

Anonymous X

7/4/2018 05:57:05 pm

I have to agree that the Machine Man backup strip did feel quite the relic when it was reprinted – I hadn’t remembered it from the first time round given my young age during the early days of the comic, but I could tell straight away that the story was old material. Did read every part though, literally the only non-Headmasters backup strip I ever bothered with in during the comic’s run. It’s still memorable to me as the first cyberpunkish-themed fiction that I remember being exposed to.

Simon Hall

8/4/2018 08:47:56 pm

I wonder if budegtary problems were the reason Machine Man was pressed back into service, rather than a (relatively) contemporary Iron Man or similar story. Easy to keep costs down when there's something you've already bought and paid for to hand.

John D. link

8/4/2018 09:18:09 pm

Yes I remember being very confused by Machine Man and wondering if it was some kind of Iron Man rip-off. Then a bad Iron Man actually appeared. And (spoiler) they had a terrific punch up. All incredibly confuding. But finally a back up strip that thematically matched the main feature. Megatrachet is indeed Nightmare Fuel! Fixit did well to reassmeble two separate robots from the pile of poo he was left with...and I liked Fixit being involved as I actuallty had his Micromaster team!

bouncelot

9/4/2018 08:40:26 pm

The change to fortnightly meant that I forgot to go to the newsagents a couple of weeks running. Fortunately I had my copy on a regular order, so I didn't actually miss an issue.

And I remember really enjoying the rerun of Machine Man 2020. I remembered some details from one installment of the original (#36, my first ever issue), but none of the later ones I must have read (#40-42), it didn't help that my copies of everything before #50 disappeared at some point before or during our house move (circa. #89).

Auntie Slag

9/4/2018 11:11:56 pm

I remember reading Machine Man 2020 the first time round. The art style made it seem much more adult, and the theme darker. It was probably about two years before I gave it a proper read, but what a story.

And the art was incredible. Certain panels are etched forever in my tiny mind, and the level of detail was so appealing, all those little wires and bits when he removed his helmet (Oo-er)!

Tim Roll-Pickering link

18/4/2018 03:30:53 pm

Can you really threaten a Headmaster by the neck?

The big shock on reading this issue (well apart from the frequency change) was seeing an early story with so many Transformers drawn in their toy forms, something I'd not seen much of outside of the Ladybird books. It was quite a revelation just how far things have come. The Enemy Within was a good choice for a reprint though because it focuses on what's become a classic theme of the franchise, the Starscream-Megatron relationship, that the comic generally didn't do too much with. So it offered extra authenticity and stability at a critical time.

Felicity link

25/12/2019 08:38:36 pm

I can only think of two possible puns the cover was trying to make, neither of them very good. “Chill-out” [sic] because these are the Decepticons believed to be dead, i.e. in cold storage? Or “Understand?!” because Shockwave is literally standing over him? Neither really works.

I can’t help but feel sorry for Mindwipe and Triggerhappy from this point onward.

And so it begins: everything Grimlock does is supposed to enhance him as a character, while everything Optimus Prime does erodes his character.

However I do love the line “I told Hot Rod not to leave the oven on” (I hope I quoted that right; I don’t have the issue handy and my Google fu has failed me) so a hearty well-done to Simon Furman for that.

That’s twice that Nightbeat has gone “fishing.” Once to get rid of Thunderwing, and once to bring back Ratchet.

Transformation 308: This is Mutiny.

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