Transformation 84: Merry Christmas

20/12/2013

Happy holidays everybody! The last entry before Christmas sees Impactor make new friends, Galvatron spoilerising the film for Jazz and Shockwave returning from taking tea with Omega Supreme, all in my look at:

Target: 2006 Part 6: Trios!

Also, don't forget the Christmas Quiz, which still has two weeks to go!

10 Comments

Ryan F

21/12/2013 11:35:05 am

Given that the next story is set on the 4th July, I think we have to ignore the date on Hot Rod's time machine, especially given the line about "late summer air" in Part 1. Also we know this story only takes place over the course of around five days, thanks to Ultra Magnus' ticking clock.

I like to think this story is set late June / Early July.

Astronomically, summer begins in early May; the solstice is the mid-point of summer, not the beginning as is sometimes claimed. (Shakespeare got it right, his MID-SUMMER night's dream is set on the solstice.) Given this definition, early July can indeed be reasonably described as ‘late summer’.

snowkatt

21/12/2013 02:02:14 pm

personally i always felt this story took place in late august or september

summer usually starts at 21 june so mid summer would usually be placed late august early september

and you also touched on the other big problem i have with this story ( other then the end ) hwo exactly does galvatron expect his unicron buster to remain un molested and un touched for 2 decades ?

that little tidbit is never adressed not is it even attempted to hide it or explain how it could kill mr nicron

Tim Roll-Pickering link

21/12/2013 02:41:25 pm

Thanks for the namecheck! I'd not noticed the significance of that date but I guess these things often only leap out when looked at in the original context. Though I've long felt the main problem with the next few stories is the close proximity of July 4th and Christmas. On the occasions I've tried to pull together a chronology of the series I just felt specific given dates were more of a problem than a solution. Without delving into the clash of cultural and astronomical definitions of summer, perhaps Galvatron's time jump has confused local weather conditions for longer than just the arrival?

I've got a feeling, but would have to check back to be sure, that Target 2006 was initially announced as a ten week saga. That could be counting ten weeks with issue #78 as point zero (though that's not the usual way to count these) or equally it could be a further sign that it was originally planned to end in issue #87.

And yet a further possibility for filling-in is that by ending at issue #88 rather than #87 it would allow #93 to carry a Christmas story rather than the second part of a regular tale.

Finally on the whole question of the movie's UK release date, the TF wiki says December 5th but with no source; however a contemporary advert goes for December 12th. http://starlogged.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/1986-transformers-movie-uk-print-advert.html I don't know if it was one of those films that was released a week early in the West End which might be the cause of confusion.

Ryan F

21/12/2013 04:46:15 pm

With regards to Marvel dating headaches, I find the biggest problem is Buster's age. One of the US comics (I forget which issue, but it's part of the story arc where he's trapped on the Decepticon island spaceship) gives his age as 17, which counting backwards makes him 13 in 1984, which obviously can't be right. Most of the dates in the comic sort-of work, but that one line about Buster's age is the only thing that's really impossible to reconcile, IIRC.

Nick

23/12/2013 02:27:06 am

Aie, showing your age with that title, Stuart. How I hated that little girl.

Merry Christmas, one and all!

Tim Roll-Pickering link

23/12/2013 04:39:03 am

I think a lot of us did but wasn't that the point of the adverts? (I haven't seen one in years.)

Merry Christmas everyone!

snowkatt

23/12/2013 01:06:12 pm

which little girl ?

i never read these comics in single issues always in collections or tpb's

Stuart

23/12/2013 01:06:31 pm

Indeed, a very merry Christmas to all of you at home! Except Nick for making me feel old. I'll say more in my Battle Beneath the Ice/year wrap up piece, but all the musings and ramblings in the comments are always very much appreciated.

As far as dating goes, Ryan is indeed right that the most sensible thing would just to be ignore the Time Machine dating (though from the man who worked out a year time jump in order to make the on-page dating work for 1985 that's almost lazy ;), even if that still does leave the problem that July and Christmas happen right on top of each other. It is still an interesting error though when it would have been so easy to edit A Over A so that it was a Thanksgiving celebration rather than July 4th.

I'm not sure if Americans do fireworks for Thanksgiving, but I bet most of the readers wouldn't have been either and it's the best patch.

Of course, part of the overall problem is the UK treat the book as happening in Real Time whilst the US go for the sort of more general and less specific "Marvel Time Scale", hence the aforementioned oddity about Buster's age. Indeed, I think the next Bob story is one of the very few on the American book to be tied down to a specific date.

Stuart

23/12/2013 01:08:27 pm

@Snowkatt:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFoROD-sKQU

snowkatt

23/12/2013 01:19:33 pm

...yeah i can see where the hate comes from

and now i wish that chocolate bar was still in production
it doesnt look half bad

Transformation 84: Merry Christmas

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