And We’re All Gonna Shine a Light Together.
Issue 197: The Flames of Boltax! Part 2. 17th December 1988.
Ah...I see a plot twist arriving outside the Underbase chamber!
That’s an atrocious cover this week. For a story that sees Optimus Prime grapple with the temptation of cosmic powers whilst fighting Megatron, the Anthony Williams and Steven Baskerville drawing is hopelessly generic. Indeed, it looks like it might originally have been drawn as a potential cover for the Crisis of Command! Collected Comics earlier in the year. The final Bryan Hitch cover looks as if he was working from a similar “Prime gets blasted by lasers” brief and frankly works much better.
Inside though, things are much more interesting. The framing device continues to provide good fun from Starscream and Ratbat as they effectively allow Uncle Bob to provide a snarky writer’s commentary on his own work, pointing out the unlikely nature of various plot twists and explaining why characters are behaving in the way that they do. As with the first half it doesn’t really make any sense, but it remains entertaining. Certainly more so than the straightforward plot device that is Buster getting to complete his escape from his cell so he can overhear the key information he’ll need to pass on in the new year. It’s lucky there wasn’t a Starscream standing over Bob’s shoulder when he wrote that, he’d have had something to say.
In the past we get an almost hilarious acknowledgement of how little regard Budiansky has for the Triggerbots as they are encouraged by the disciples to stay outside the temple so as to ensure he never has to write for them again. Oddly their opposite numbers with Megatron—despite never having featured in the comic before—don’t get the special skill show off scenes the Autobots were allowed last week. The poor old Triggercons will instead have to make do with developing actual personalities and taking part in interesting plotlines as a means of getting noticed.
Inside the temple Prime meets Boltax and we get a sudden and drastic amount of vital world building from Budiansky that goes almost completely overlooked by everyone because the subsequent writers who would build upon it (albeit probably be coincidence) would give these ideas different names.
Donald Trump reacts to the Pope's criticism of him.
As Circuitmaster Boltax (effectively the first religious leader in Transformers. Though Xaaron will come across as more of one when he makes the leap to American stories) explains it, each Transformer has an inner core of knowledge called a “Database”. Or as Beast Wars would later Christen it: The Spark. There’s a degree of irony in the fact it’s the author who created The Matrix as a sophisticated bit of programming rather than the essence of God who becomes the first to write about the Cybertronian soul. A well the franchise will return to again. And again. And again.
Even more impressive is the fact that Boltax had found a way to link all the Databases so their knowledge can be collated and linked in one place: The Underbase. That’s the later day Matrix (remember the TV version only went as far as saying it contained the personalities of Autobot leaders, not the whole species)/All Spark in a nutshell. As noted, a lot of this probably a coincidence (it’s unlikely the Beast Wars writers were aware of this story), but it’s pleasing that right at the end of his tenure when he’s oh so tired Budiansky can still successfully pre-empt years of Transformers fiction with big ideas.
As an idea, the Underbase is enough like the Matrix from Doctor Who as to make you wonder if Budiansky was a keen PBS viewer, come to that The Deadly Assassin even features a lengthy proto-holodeck sequence. Indeed (though this almost certainly has to be a coincidence) the interior of the Underbase with its narrow beams of light looks not unlike the web interior of the Matrix from Arc of Infinity. Or the fifth Doctor Clara scene from The Name of the Doctor if you’re a horrible young person.
As Prime bathes in the light of the Underbase (which will apparently impart its knowledge to him through absorption) Megatron and the Triggercons enter the temple and we get a fantastic bit of violence from the Decepticon leader as he puts his first right through the Circuitmaster’s body. It’s the most one sided fight since Scrounge lost his arm and is almost immediately followed by an equally violent moment created by the UK team.
Even more impressive is the fact that Boltax had found a way to link all the Databases so their knowledge can be collated and linked in one place: The Underbase. That’s the later day Matrix (remember the TV version only went as far as saying it contained the personalities of Autobot leaders, not the whole species)/All Spark in a nutshell. As noted, a lot of this probably a coincidence (it’s unlikely the Beast Wars writers were aware of this story), but it’s pleasing that right at the end of his tenure when he’s oh so tired Budiansky can still successfully pre-empt years of Transformers fiction with big ideas.
As an idea, the Underbase is enough like the Matrix from Doctor Who as to make you wonder if Budiansky was a keen PBS viewer, come to that The Deadly Assassin even features a lengthy proto-holodeck sequence. Indeed (though this almost certainly has to be a coincidence) the interior of the Underbase with its narrow beams of light looks not unlike the web interior of the Matrix from Arc of Infinity. Or the fifth Doctor Clara scene from The Name of the Doctor if you’re a horrible young person.
As Prime bathes in the light of the Underbase (which will apparently impart its knowledge to him through absorption) Megatron and the Triggercons enter the temple and we get a fantastic bit of violence from the Decepticon leader as he puts his first right through the Circuitmaster’s body. It’s the most one sided fight since Scrounge lost his arm and is almost immediately followed by an equally violent moment created by the UK team.
"Though I'll actually forget it pretty quickly and need an extensive recap to remind me of it if needed"
At this point it should be noted that the American issues have been getting shorter—presumably for cost reasons—for some time at this point, with the remainder of the 22 pages taken up with Transformers Universe profiles for new characters not included in that series. This will become a serious problem when the comic tries to break American stories into even smaller chunks, but for now The Flames of Boltax! being a mere 18 pages was clearly seen as an issue. The result is that Delbo’s original cover is turned into interior art. So whilst Americans merely saw Megatron shot Prime and then wander off, here we get to gleefully gloat over Prime’s guts-out body. The UK team having recoloured it does mean it stands out, but it works (even if Prime’s damage reduces afterwards. But that at least explains Megatron thinking him dead) and is the start of a vein of entertaining body horror from Delbo that will climax in his own take on zombie Transformers. The full page can be seen at the bottom of this piece.
Prime of course isn’t dead, and instead sneaks off outside to fetch the Triggerbots so they can...
Ah no, wait. He doesn’t.
Instead it’s Sophie’s Choice time. Prime’s brief exposure to the Underbase has shown him it’s knowledge it too dangerous for anyone to possess as it’s just too much and will lead to madness and death with a lot of destruction along the way. But equally he cannot simply destroy the Underbase as it’s the accumulated knowledge of his race. So to both stop Megatron taking control of it and to keep it intact he uses some jiggery-pokery and convenient heat vents to turn the temple into a rocket, blasting the Underbase into space. It’s the same thinking that would later see him crash the Ark into Earth: Snatching a no-score draw from total defeat.
If there’s a flaw here it’s that Prime’s angst over what he’s done doesn’t quite ring true. Regardless of his own—as he puts it—pride and glory Megatron’s actions here are not his fault. The Decepticon was coming to Boltax anyway and it’s unlikely the traps outside would have provided them much trouble even without Prime beating a path for them. So the Circuitmaster would have died horribly anyway, possibly just half an hour later. Sending the Underbase into space wasn’t ideal, but it was the best solution to a crisis he had no part in creating. It’s unsurprising that Starscream then reveals that this was actually what made Prime as it solidified his reputation.
Prime of course isn’t dead, and instead sneaks off outside to fetch the Triggerbots so they can...
Ah no, wait. He doesn’t.
Instead it’s Sophie’s Choice time. Prime’s brief exposure to the Underbase has shown him it’s knowledge it too dangerous for anyone to possess as it’s just too much and will lead to madness and death with a lot of destruction along the way. But equally he cannot simply destroy the Underbase as it’s the accumulated knowledge of his race. So to both stop Megatron taking control of it and to keep it intact he uses some jiggery-pokery and convenient heat vents to turn the temple into a rocket, blasting the Underbase into space. It’s the same thinking that would later see him crash the Ark into Earth: Snatching a no-score draw from total defeat.
If there’s a flaw here it’s that Prime’s angst over what he’s done doesn’t quite ring true. Regardless of his own—as he puts it—pride and glory Megatron’s actions here are not his fault. The Decepticon was coming to Boltax anyway and it’s unlikely the traps outside would have provided them much trouble even without Prime beating a path for them. So the Circuitmaster would have died horribly anyway, possibly just half an hour later. Sending the Underbase into space wasn’t ideal, but it was the best solution to a crisis he had no part in creating. It’s unsurprising that Starscream then reveals that this was actually what made Prime as it solidified his reputation.
Ohhh, foreshadowing!
The lead in to the next part in the saga that we won’t be seeing for eight weeks is the reveal that the Underbase is coming to Earth...this week! That’s convenient considering Grandslam and Raindance have been waiting to deliver this message for centuries. Imagine the impact if Soundwave had exclaimed “It will be here in 2356!”. Then as the watching Buster is discovered, Ratbat warns reminds him of the dangers of too much knowledge...
I was actually surprised at how much I enjoyed this second part. There’s some serious and unfairly overlooked mythos building here coupled with a nice tense action plot that avoids the padding of the Triggerbot scenes in the opening. Add an entertaining Greek chorus and you have a fine story for Budiansky to finish—the rather uneven for him—1988 on.
On art Delbo gets to show for the first time that he can actually do a very good Megatron, helped by the fact he seems to have access to the full character model for him rather than just the Transformers Universe book. Starscream, as usual, provides a good example of the pitfalls of the later as we get a rare (because his pose is almost always at an angle as in the profile book) straight head shot of him that makes it really clear for the first time that Delbo seriously thinks he only has one ear, rather than the right hand one just being obscured by his ‘80’s should pads.
It might also be worth mentioning that this is the most blatant issue yet for Delbo’s giving Soundwave a mouth because he misunderstood a squiggle on his faceplate in his Universe art. Though if you’re reading the most recent IDW reprint this has been “fixed” along with his purple colour, because whomever remastered the material didn’t understand the difference between mistakes caused by the limitations of time and intentional (if misinformed) creative choices.
Transformation briefly tries to excite you that Optimus Prime might be about to die again as promised by the cover, which would make more sense if they’d used the original American cover as the cover as that actually made THE END OF OPTIMUS PRIME a more overt selling point. Meanwhile it’s again emphasised that Time Wars is going to be culmination of years worth of plots as it provides the grand finale for the Galvatron saga.
I was actually surprised at how much I enjoyed this second part. There’s some serious and unfairly overlooked mythos building here coupled with a nice tense action plot that avoids the padding of the Triggerbot scenes in the opening. Add an entertaining Greek chorus and you have a fine story for Budiansky to finish—the rather uneven for him—1988 on.
On art Delbo gets to show for the first time that he can actually do a very good Megatron, helped by the fact he seems to have access to the full character model for him rather than just the Transformers Universe book. Starscream, as usual, provides a good example of the pitfalls of the later as we get a rare (because his pose is almost always at an angle as in the profile book) straight head shot of him that makes it really clear for the first time that Delbo seriously thinks he only has one ear, rather than the right hand one just being obscured by his ‘80’s should pads.
It might also be worth mentioning that this is the most blatant issue yet for Delbo’s giving Soundwave a mouth because he misunderstood a squiggle on his faceplate in his Universe art. Though if you’re reading the most recent IDW reprint this has been “fixed” along with his purple colour, because whomever remastered the material didn’t understand the difference between mistakes caused by the limitations of time and intentional (if misinformed) creative choices.
Transformation briefly tries to excite you that Optimus Prime might be about to die again as promised by the cover, which would make more sense if they’d used the original American cover as the cover as that actually made THE END OF OPTIMUS PRIME a more overt selling point. Meanwhile it’s again emphasised that Time Wars is going to be culmination of years worth of plots as it provides the grand finale for the Galvatron saga.
The times they are a changing.
Dreadwind has a letter from Gavin Smith asking about a Sun article covering “Dangerous” Mexican Transformers swamping UK shores (whether because of the lead paint or because the Sun are horrible racists is hard to say) and expressing concern about his own Mexican Constructicon boxset. Dreadwind basically can’t help (long gone are the days when Hasbro were on hand to answer questions it seems) beyond advising people to be careful and take their toys back if their parents are uncertain because real Decepticons are the only ones allowed to harm humans.
Dreadwind also, surprisingly, misses an opportunity to put the boot into Grimlock as Neil Bland from Rochdale points out he was wrong in issue 173 when he said Pretenders couldn’t control their shells independently. Instead Dreadwind simply says Circuit Breaker was controlling Skullgrin’s shell, suggesting someone wasn’t paying close attention to Monstercon From Mars!.
Action Force regains some momentum in more ways than one as the team have to disassemble the Terrordome and get the most important pieces down a hill and onto a train with little in the way of equipment. The discussion of levers and slopes might be trying a bit too hard to be educational, but it make for a nice change of pace and lets Tripwire do something other than amusingly trip over things. The reactions of Tomax and Xamot as they watch their A Team style improvisation is priceless as well.
Pausing briefly to mention that the second promotional Death’s Head comic is pressed into service for a third time—presumably to bump up the page count—we arrive at one of the best Combat Colin strips to date. It seems Colin has the flu, meaning Steve has hired a small weedy stand-in actor to try and keep the strip going. As well as being fourth wall breaking and surreal (thanks to the actor fluffing his lines we’ll never know what the giraffe has to do with anything) it’s just plain funny. It also feels as if it nods at the “Billy Fluffs” from early Doctor Who and Patrick McGoohan’s replacement due to unavailability by Nigel Stock in the cumbersomely titled Prisoner episode Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling.
Next week, the chronology starts to get bit confused as we see Optimus Prime return to Earth just in time for the final colour Christmas story. Plus the 1988 Annual and Collected Comics. And Transformers Universe.
Blimey, that's going to be a hell of a Friday...
ISSUE 196
1988
COMMENT
Dreadwind also, surprisingly, misses an opportunity to put the boot into Grimlock as Neil Bland from Rochdale points out he was wrong in issue 173 when he said Pretenders couldn’t control their shells independently. Instead Dreadwind simply says Circuit Breaker was controlling Skullgrin’s shell, suggesting someone wasn’t paying close attention to Monstercon From Mars!.
Action Force regains some momentum in more ways than one as the team have to disassemble the Terrordome and get the most important pieces down a hill and onto a train with little in the way of equipment. The discussion of levers and slopes might be trying a bit too hard to be educational, but it make for a nice change of pace and lets Tripwire do something other than amusingly trip over things. The reactions of Tomax and Xamot as they watch their A Team style improvisation is priceless as well.
Pausing briefly to mention that the second promotional Death’s Head comic is pressed into service for a third time—presumably to bump up the page count—we arrive at one of the best Combat Colin strips to date. It seems Colin has the flu, meaning Steve has hired a small weedy stand-in actor to try and keep the strip going. As well as being fourth wall breaking and surreal (thanks to the actor fluffing his lines we’ll never know what the giraffe has to do with anything) it’s just plain funny. It also feels as if it nods at the “Billy Fluffs” from early Doctor Who and Patrick McGoohan’s replacement due to unavailability by Nigel Stock in the cumbersomely titled Prisoner episode Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling.
Next week, the chronology starts to get bit confused as we see Optimus Prime return to Earth just in time for the final colour Christmas story. Plus the 1988 Annual and Collected Comics. And Transformers Universe.
Blimey, that's going to be a hell of a Friday...
ISSUE 196
1988
COMMENT
This would make a good poster actually...
