Transformation 43: Throw Your Hands Up At Me.

8/3/2013

This week, I give Prowl an apology and drool far too much over Geoff Senior's art as Optimus reveals he's the world's greatest detective in:

Crisis of Command! Part 2.

8 Comments

Rack 'n Ruin

10/3/2013 01:55:33 pm

Good read again, Mr. Dalek.

I loved that a typo made me laugh in this one. The thought of a conflicted and doubt wracked Prime throwing himself into a spring clean of the Ark to clear his mind is hilarious. That's how I interpret Prime "mopping" rather than "moping" anyway.

Looking forward to the coming blogs. We are now entering a rich vein of form in the comics. Keep up the good work!

Nick

13/3/2013 08:50:26 am

Wicked little blog, Stuart, one of my online highlights of the week. Reminds me of my Sunday mornings heading down to the newsagents with my dad and picking up the latest copy of 'Transformers' with my bag of cola pips and Dairy Milk bar. I bought the comic religiously up until around the Headmasters time, when I thought the brand was getting too gimmicky and moved onto more adult stuff ('Action Force'). I never had a letter published but I remember winning a set of Marvel UK annuals in a competition, even after getting 1 of the 3 questions wrong. Anyway, thanks for the continued entertainment and do carry on what what what

Nick

Stuart

15/3/2013 08:10:20 am

@Rack and Ruin: Curse ye Sir. It's amazing how I will always miss at least one obvious typo no matter how many times I go over it. Though as a tribute to your pleasure, I shall leave it unchanged.

@Nick: Thank you Sir. You may be pleasantly surprised/horrified by this weeks entry when it goes up.

Harry

16/8/2013 05:00:00 pm

Much as Budiansky's Blaster has been likened to Wolverine, I think that Prowl, when written properly, is a lot like Cyclops, at least how Cyclops had been written up to and including the introduction of the Transformers. Master strategist? Check. Uptight? Check. Not exactly Mr. Popularity? Check.

Felicity link

29/10/2019 02:36:15 am

I’ve drawn the same comparison before but not in praise of it. Between Cyclops/Wolverine, Prowl/Grimlock, and Raphael/Leonardo, there’s a definite problem with writers giving the more lawful-good character an unlikeable aspect so the badass character will have a foil. Prowl and the other characters I mentioned deserve better.

Jeremiah Ecks

21/9/2021 08:06:44 am

It's odd how so many things we deem iconic about Transformers as a whole now were just absent from most of the Marvel run, at least until Furman got the US gig. Seriously, think about it.

* Optimus vs. Megatron: it's THE iconic feud but as Stuart already painstakingly pointed out, they fight one on one very few times. It's not like the G1 cartoon or any other continuity where they're always at each other's throats. In fact one could argue that Ratchet has more influence on Megatron and Scorponok certainly interacts with Optimus more than he does with Fort Max!

* Starscream: what is he in almost every continuity except Bayformers? "Now I Starscream am now leader!" And yet for huge chunkw of the Marvel continuity, almost the first *half* of it in fact, Starscream isn't vying for power with anybody beyond the odd tokenistic reference (and I'll grant you The Enemy Within). Target: 2006 is the only 'classic' Starscream moment and that is it until Underbase. Although once he becomes a Pretender, he becomes Classic Screamer in both US and Earthforce quite quickly... and what DID happen to his Pretender shell? O_o

* Bumblebee: although he has a few moments, due to surviving Uncle Bob's Prime Time massacre, he isn't the 'main character' he is everywhere else. Arguably Grimlock gets a bigger push. 'Bee does get a big push in the US as Goldbug however! But that's not the classic 'Bee everybody remembers. Interestingly he seems to be elevated briefly when he becomes a Pretender but it's weird how almost immediately he's sidelined again. Except for a cameo in Exodus, he doesn't appear at all past Matrix Quest! And this at a time Furman was writing 'classic' Transformers.

* No set rosters: people have a memory of who is with the Ark and the Decepticons on Earth for G1 continuity. Marvel doesn't ever have a 'classic' set up though. Most characters are deactivated or dead out of the gate. It doesn't follow the 'Classic, Super Teams, 2006 cast, Headmasters' etc. format in the same way the cartoon did, not in the same way at all. For example there are only four issues of the Marvel comic at all where the cast is comparable to the G1 cartoon. After that you never get the Decepticons led by Megatron alone with guys like Starscream and Ravage in his service, and nor is the G1 Autobot cast ever complete (due to Sunstreaker being knackered and many Autobots being taken out by Prime Time or Dinobot Hunt).

* Some characters are totally unique in their portrayals here: Grimlock, Shockwave and Ratbat as full on leaders for a time, Blaster as Wolverine, Scorponok being the opposite rival for Optimus, Two Megatrons, or more like Galvatron being written like G1 Megatron and G1 Megatron being written like cartoon crazy Galvatron most of the time...

Marvel Transformers might appear to be G1 cartoon similar on the surface but it's very interesting how different it actually is! And the lack of Bumblebee in proportion to everything else is one of them. Yes he gets his own story but so does Gears. It's only Goldbug who gets real air time, and when Bumblebee is back and the nostalgia wave hits, he still plays second fiddle to Grimlock, Prowl and Wheeljack!

Snowkatt

17/5/2024 07:47:23 am

And that's one of the reasons why the TFUK G1 run is still readable and head and shoulders above the cartoon.

It skews older towards the 12 year and older crowd and isn't afraid to be more mature in its storytelling rather then the infantile cartoon which is extremely basic and simple.

The comic stil holds up for adults the cartoon not so much.

Snowkatt

17/5/2024 07:54:30 am

Considering Tim never picked up on this, i'll tackle it, Marvel Fanfare started off as a high quality title.
But during it's 60 issue run it started to become an inventory clearing excersize to publish all the inventory backlog marvel had build up and paid for.
Including pin ups and portfolio's

issue 8-11 10-13 29 and 51 for example were inventory stories.

It ran for 9 years from 1982 to 1991.
The quality of the series being an anthology of random stories is mixed at best.

Transformation 43: Throw Your Hands Up At Me.

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