The Solar Pool
Follow Me For Updates On:
  • Blog
  • Revisitation
  • Transformation
  • Book Shop
    • Heart of the Pool
    • Disclaimer
    • Links

Transformation 84: Merry Christmas

20/12/2013

10 Comments

 
Picture
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’.

Reply
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

Reply
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.

Reply
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.

Reply
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!

Reply
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!

Reply
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

Reply
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.

Reply
Stuart
23/12/2013 01:08:27 pm

@Snowkatt:

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

Reply
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

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Stuart Webb. Who knows everything about nothing and not a lot about that.

    Archives

    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    March 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011

    Categories

    All
    Action Force/G.I. Joe
    Animated
    Announcement
    Armada
    Audio
    Avengers
    Baker
    Bay
    Beast Wars
    Big Finish
    Brosnan
    Capaldi
    Carpenter
    Carte Blanche
    Cartoon
    Combat Colin
    Comedy
    Comics
    Computer Games
    Costa
    Cullen
    Davison
    Death
    Discworld
    Doctor Who
    Dragon's Claws
    Dreamwave
    Dynamite
    Eccleston
    Ellis
    Fantasy
    Film
    Fleetway
    Frost
    Furman
    Generation 2
    Generation One
    Generation One
    Holmes
    Horror
    IDW
    James Bond
    James Roberts
    Jeffrey Deaver
    Ladybird
    Machine Man
    Marvel
    McCarthy
    Mccoy
    Mcgann
    Mosaic
    Nick Roche
    Nimoy
    Nintendo
    Panini
    Pegg
    Pratchett
    Prime
    Rescue Bots
    Revisitation
    RID
    Rincewind
    Science Fiction
    Science Fiction
    Shatner
    Signature
    Smith
    Sponsored
    Spy
    Star Trek
    Su
    Tennant
    Tipton
    Titan
    Torchwood
    Transformation
    Transformers
    Tv
    Visionaries
    Weatherwax
    Witches
    Wizards
    YouTube

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.