Transformation 99: Mindbender.

4/4/2014

We're almost at the big centenary party, but before everyone can have their cake and punch a family feud needs to be patched up as Ultra Magnus and Optimus Prime have a big falling out.

All in, Under Fire!

Also, Addendum 4: Full Force! covers, very briefly, the history of Action Force before Marvel.

12 Comments

Tim Roll-Pickering link

4/4/2014 12:07:18 pm

I have very fond memories of the Transformers story from this issue from the Collected Comics reprint which I took on holiday to Yugoslavia. And typing that name feels like a similar piece of archaeology... Prime is so often firm and in command so seeing him a desperate fugitive on the run makes for a strong change of tone.

Your Action Force summary is quite good and it only gets worse from here on - in particular the weekly, and later the annuals and the Incredible Hulk Present, would sometimes run stories from G.I. Joe Special Missions and the Yearbooks that are chronologically completely out of sequence. For instance the aftermath of the Cobra Civil War was shown over a year before the start and then there's Fred VII being shown in his new job before the vacancy is even created let alone taken up... The lack of a regular writer, let alone a Furman and/or Rimmer to get a grip on the title and weave it all together meant that the British oiginated European stories rarely really fitted the American reprints and all combined to create a continuity nightmare that dwarves any of the matters Transformers fans try to solve.

I think the basic problem for a lot of Action Force's failure at Marvel is that they started too late. The momentum of the toyline's early years was gone, the transfer from IPC & tonal shift probably alienated an existing fanbase and starting reprinting the American stuff midway cut off introductions whilst at the same time they were running old stories with no longer available toys and they never quite caught up. But I'm not sure when in the toyline's history would have been a good time to get going with reprinting the US material.

Stuart

4/4/2014 03:00:17 pm

I also don't thinks it helps that the Marvel UK team seem to have been fairly disdainful of the Joes, they're all cheerful now the the comments in Transformation when the "Sqaudies" depart for good basically boil down to "Good riddance".

Transformers does seem to be unusally well edited for a book that attempted to merge American and British content, apparently the British Turtles and Ghostbuster comics were similarly all over the place in their treatment of the reprints.

Heinrad

4/4/2014 07:28:55 pm

Ah, issue #99..... The first issue of Transformers UK that I ever got. And for several years, the only issue of Transformers UK I had. I love this issue. My only real complaint is I had no idea what was going on.

Simon Hall

5/4/2014 05:26:21 pm

I wonder if Transformers just benefitted from having an editorial team that were just passionate and inspired by the idea of these space alien robots that turn into cars and jets? That said, I think things might have turned out very differently if Ian Rimmer hadn't come aboard.

I can't really remember much about Action Force. It never really grabbed me. I remember Ancient Relics being alright, as was the US format monthly full of UK stuff that ran in the late '80s alongside Death's Head and Dragon's Claws but wasn't an ardent enough fan or reader to bother about the continuity and what have you.

Similarly, Marvel UK's other licensed boys titles Ghostbusters and Thundercats were of no interest so I can't comment on those. Although with hindsight, there is a bit of a whiff of Marvel UK having had huge success with Transformers, so giving some other licenses a whirl to a greater or lesser extent. Thundercats must have done alright though - I seem to recall that had a fairly substantial run...

Anyway! Issue 99! Yes. Good story, and some really nice and rather dynamic art from Jeff Anderson. Er...that's it. Colours are again a bit brighter this issue, but looking again across the colouring for the artists on this story, it is very much tailored to each individual artists style, which is lovely to see.

Tim Roll-Pickering link

6/4/2014 02:35:12 am

I think the brightness is partially affected by the choice of paper - the Collected Comics reprint uses a cheaper courser paper but IMHO it absorbed the ink more effectively and could make quite a difference in tone.

And Thundercats had a major advantage in that the cartoon was picked up by the BBC so got weekly after school screenings and at on stage even the Holy Grail of daily holiday morning screenings.

Auntie Slag

6/4/2014 02:23:53 pm

Having Jeff Anderson come in for art duties after the incredible Senior work last issue was a real smack in marth for us kids at the time. All the dark shadows and dynamic action replaced by dentist room lighting and static panels.

Only Will Simpson could have equalled/succeeded Geoff for this issue. I still feel robbed now.

Apart from that and the Guardian droids being modeled on a robot version of Prince rather than the hulking great mass from the Wrath of Guardian/Grimlock story, this issue is still very well written. Lovely and dark, layered, grim. You could hear the emptiness of Cybertron around Outback as he smiled quietly and transformed.

Ralph Burns link

13/4/2014 12:45:48 pm

All these years later and I am still bitter about the lies regarding the Zoids Monthly comic that never existed! I scoured newsagent shelves for months looking for that bloody thing!

Stuart

13/4/2014 01:37:20 pm

It never happened? Well now I feel let down as well :(

Cradok

17/8/2015 08:20:04 am

It's because of this issue, or its reprint in Collected Comics, that Ultra Magnus with a hammer always feels off to me. He's supposed to have a sword!

Stuart

17/8/2015 08:28:49 am

Damn right!

Felicity

9/10/2016 03:50:12 am

We all had such similar experiences! From 1989 to 1991 this was the only issue of the UK comic that I had, and it was also the “Collected Comics” version, and that was thanks to my parents going on vacation and bringing it back from the UK.

LiamKav

9/1/2022 02:19:40 pm

You're definitely right about one thing... The Action Force theme tune arrangement absolutely pees all over the GI Joe theme arrangement. Although as far as I can tell although the animation changed the theme stayed the same for GI Joe. It never got the glow up that the Transformers theme got between season one and two.

Transformation 99: Mindbender.

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