It's a One Way Ticket to a Madman Situation.
Issue 214: Guess Who the Mechannibals are Having for Dinner? Part 2*/The Fall and Rise of the Decepticon Empire* Part 2. 15th April 1989.
Bah, I’d sooner kiss a carnivorous poly-slug than help a human!
*The titles of both stories are badly mangled and reduced here (to The Mechannibals for the former and Decepticon Empire for the latter), presumably for space reasons, though the UK story has problems with it’s title page as we’ll see. However, it’s been fairly common to for the second half of American stories to slightly alter the title—usually removing exclamation marks—and the Mighty Marvel Checklist refers to the British strip by its full title so we’ll go with the intent here.
Before we jump into the issue itself, I should clarify two things from last week that Tim Roll-Pickering pointed out in the comments on 213. First—and I knew this and simply forgot to mention it in a very stupid way—splitting 12 American issues into four parts each will not fill an entire year of the British comic. Even if a shrunken page count wasn’t going to force some stories into three parts, the new format would still need some sort of make-weight. Which makes the fact some of the reprints we’re going to see wind up feeling as much a surprise to the book as the reader all the odder.
Secondly, and what I didn’t realise, the bimonthly/fortnightly/whatever the correct term is dates on the early Furman American issues were just a device to bring them more in line with the actual date, the comic itself remained a monthly publication.
John Stokes’ cover (which only feels compelled to promote two of the three strips this week) promises two things that don’t quite happen with the same prominence in the comic itself.
Bah, I’d sooner kiss a carnivorous poly-slug than help a human!
*The titles of both stories are badly mangled and reduced here (to The Mechannibals for the former and Decepticon Empire for the latter), presumably for space reasons, though the UK story has problems with it’s title page as we’ll see. However, it’s been fairly common to for the second half of American stories to slightly alter the title—usually removing exclamation marks—and the Mighty Marvel Checklist refers to the British strip by its full title so we’ll go with the intent here.
Before we jump into the issue itself, I should clarify two things from last week that Tim Roll-Pickering pointed out in the comments on 213. First—and I knew this and simply forgot to mention it in a very stupid way—splitting 12 American issues into four parts each will not fill an entire year of the British comic. Even if a shrunken page count wasn’t going to force some stories into three parts, the new format would still need some sort of make-weight. Which makes the fact some of the reprints we’re going to see wind up feeling as much a surprise to the book as the reader all the odder.
Secondly, and what I didn’t realise, the bimonthly/fortnightly/whatever the correct term is dates on the early Furman American issues were just a device to bring them more in line with the actual date, the comic itself remained a monthly publication.
John Stokes’ cover (which only feels compelled to promote two of the three strips this week) promises two things that don’t quite happen with the same prominence in the comic itself.
We've all had nights like that.
First up in Guess Who the... oh fuck it The Mechannibals, we resume the flashback to Prime’s orders (oddly last week these panels had Flashback style curved edges but are normal squares here). This basically just repeats what we’ve already learnt about the importance of their mission and the need to hide their robot natures. Though the reveal that energon is now a universally accepted currency is something of a surprise, even ignoring Shockwave’s fairly recent invention of it, there’s been no indication anyone else uses it as a fuel source and as far as I’m aware there never will be. So what value does concentrated energon cubes have to anyone else?
Back in the present, our two bland heroes decide to leave the bar, with the fact C3Pn0t isn’t floating outside any-more not seeming important at this stage. We then spend a couple of pages on the equivalent of Luke trying to sell his land-speeder, though as the Pretenders don’t have Jedi powers they get nowhere fast. The real surprise though is the least likely returning character of the entire comic’s run: Berko! It’s not something I would have expected, but it’s surprisingly effecting to see him having fallen on hard times (and the booze) since Sky Lynx mysteriously vanished after they arrived on the station and tried to do business with the bosses of the two mysterious characters who dress like Hi-Test and Throttle. Who by amazing coincidence are also the only people who can get the Pretenders their microchips.
There’s a nice straightforward dramatic conflict here: Keep their secret and do the deal that will revive dozens of Autobots or try and save one presumably captive colleague. In the end they compromise, with Landmine deciding they have to at least look into it by insisting on dealing with the Two Mystery Men’s employers directly. That’s because his personality trait is being the Impetuous One, Sensible One Cloudburst is more worried, but has to go along with a cunning plan that sees him only sending his remote control shell into the ship used by the people with the chips whilst he pretends to be a spaceship outside.
Back in the present, our two bland heroes decide to leave the bar, with the fact C3Pn0t isn’t floating outside any-more not seeming important at this stage. We then spend a couple of pages on the equivalent of Luke trying to sell his land-speeder, though as the Pretenders don’t have Jedi powers they get nowhere fast. The real surprise though is the least likely returning character of the entire comic’s run: Berko! It’s not something I would have expected, but it’s surprisingly effecting to see him having fallen on hard times (and the booze) since Sky Lynx mysteriously vanished after they arrived on the station and tried to do business with the bosses of the two mysterious characters who dress like Hi-Test and Throttle. Who by amazing coincidence are also the only people who can get the Pretenders their microchips.
There’s a nice straightforward dramatic conflict here: Keep their secret and do the deal that will revive dozens of Autobots or try and save one presumably captive colleague. In the end they compromise, with Landmine deciding they have to at least look into it by insisting on dealing with the Two Mystery Men’s employers directly. That’s because his personality trait is being the Impetuous One, Sensible One Cloudburst is more worried, but has to go along with a cunning plan that sees him only sending his remote control shell into the ship used by the people with the chips whilst he pretends to be a spaceship outside.
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes!
The irony is, the two Mystery Men are actually Hi-Test and Throttle, with Dreadwind and Darkwing also pretending to be a ship for the same reason (the UK corrects the name of the combined form to its proper title of Dreadwing, badly), it’s also emphasised they’re paid great deals of money for capturing robots.
It also turns out the two Nebulons can breath and talk in space. The Powermaster process is extraordinary.
Things sadly end just as they’re getting interesting with the introduction of the Mechannibals, and their leader Master Mouth. Hugely indebted to the Killer Tomatoes, these pure B-Movie red balls with leg are clearly something Jose Delbo is having a ball with and are probably (along with the fun web layout of their base) his greatest design success during his time on the book. We’ll see next week that this look perfectly fits with what Uncle Bob has planned for them. But for now Mr Master Mouth makes a great impression, especially on our two leads.
Apart from Berko and the Mechannibals there’s not much here, as it simply provides a bridge between the cantina and Mechannibal sequences. As part of a larger whole it’d be fine but it can’t sustain much interest by itself.
It also turns out the two Nebulons can breath and talk in space. The Powermaster process is extraordinary.
Things sadly end just as they’re getting interesting with the introduction of the Mechannibals, and their leader Master Mouth. Hugely indebted to the Killer Tomatoes, these pure B-Movie red balls with leg are clearly something Jose Delbo is having a ball with and are probably (along with the fun web layout of their base) his greatest design success during his time on the book. We’ll see next week that this look perfectly fits with what Uncle Bob has planned for them. But for now Mr Master Mouth makes a great impression, especially on our two leads.
Apart from Berko and the Mechannibals there’s not much here, as it simply provides a bridge between the cantina and Mechannibal sequences. As part of a larger whole it’d be fine but it can’t sustain much interest by itself.
Hi Quake! Bye Quake!
As a sign of how last second the new format and the decision to cut Fall and Rise of Decepticon Empire in half was, the title page and recap is a complete mess. As well as the shortening of the title and the sort of recap border normally reserved for the American stories (with the character dead the long serving Will Simpson drawing of Galvatron is replaced by a Megatron that looks Lee Sullivan), the credits from the US strip are reprinted. This is not a great start.
The story itself though continues to impress. To destroy Megatron’s credibility Seizer pushes him into the arena and orders Quake and a Constructicon looking guy to fight him. Despite the promise of the cover Quake lasts exactly one panel, which must have disappointed his fans.
The meat though is the epiphany Megatron undergoes. Briefly the fight consumes him and he greatly enjoys getting his hands dirty. But then he realises this is the same mistake he made before, that led to his previous defeats, anger before thought. So in a move he will repeat in More than Meets the Eye a quarter century later he refuses to kill and renounces direct violence to avoid the descent into madness. It’s a proud, bold move and effectively completes the character arc he’s been on since Time Wars.
Unlike in More than Meets the Eye though Megatron isn’t averse to general violence and—making a nice bookend to his casual reaction to the Autobot in the first half—he doesn’t even flinch when the Triggercons decide they’d rather die on there feet and shoot the trinity in the back. Though season 2 of MTMTE has yet to conclude at the time of writing, maybe the Triggercons will show up and shoot everything there?
The story itself though continues to impress. To destroy Megatron’s credibility Seizer pushes him into the arena and orders Quake and a Constructicon looking guy to fight him. Despite the promise of the cover Quake lasts exactly one panel, which must have disappointed his fans.
The meat though is the epiphany Megatron undergoes. Briefly the fight consumes him and he greatly enjoys getting his hands dirty. But then he realises this is the same mistake he made before, that led to his previous defeats, anger before thought. So in a move he will repeat in More than Meets the Eye a quarter century later he refuses to kill and renounces direct violence to avoid the descent into madness. It’s a proud, bold move and effectively completes the character arc he’s been on since Time Wars.
Unlike in More than Meets the Eye though Megatron isn’t averse to general violence and—making a nice bookend to his casual reaction to the Autobot in the first half—he doesn’t even flinch when the Triggercons decide they’d rather die on there feet and shoot the trinity in the back. Though season 2 of MTMTE has yet to conclude at the time of writing, maybe the Triggercons will show up and shoot everything there?
"Except I'll forget all this and it will be exactly the same"
The final page then sets up the future: Megatron has a base on Cybertron and troops and is now ready to do things differently in preparation for his future as Galvatron. He also sends the Triggercons and three others on a mission to Earth.
Sadly, this will not be followed up on. Even though next week’s story merges perfectly into Furman’s American story, none of this will be used again until the awkward and desperate retcon in Two Megatrons. The fact the basic set up here is clearly done with an eye on Megatron’s return to the American comic makes the fact that—even ignoring the continuity issues—Megatron will be written as firmly the Bob Budiansky “I’m mad me” approach rather than this more mature and nuanced version is one of the great shames of the book. Expect more on this when we reach the transition between Budiansky and Furman.
By itself though, this has been a good romp with great (albeit nullified) character development and Lee Sullivan in his element. It’s just a shame the colouring isn’t better, everything remains orange. Though some black and white stories will end up being reprinted in colour, this is the last original British story to benefit from it. Over the last four and a half years we’ve had some stunning work from the colourists, especially in the painted era. Its loss will be keenly felt, especially as we’ve got a couple of months to go through before we get a comic actually drawn for black and white.
Of course, with this drastic budget cutting measure coming, you’d expect Transformation to prepare the readers who are already reeling from a massive format change in a respectful and mature fashion.
Except of course it doesn’t, instead it just recaps the events of the two strips in last week’s issue at great length. With most of the sidebar given over to a recap of Visionaries, with barely any room for Dreadwind to plead for letters. Even the Next Week page—which will remain in colour and so we’ll get a chance to see one panel from every British strip that way in future weeks—uses a panel from this week’s story. This head in the sand approach is going to misfire badly in the coming weeks.
Sadly, this will not be followed up on. Even though next week’s story merges perfectly into Furman’s American story, none of this will be used again until the awkward and desperate retcon in Two Megatrons. The fact the basic set up here is clearly done with an eye on Megatron’s return to the American comic makes the fact that—even ignoring the continuity issues—Megatron will be written as firmly the Bob Budiansky “I’m mad me” approach rather than this more mature and nuanced version is one of the great shames of the book. Expect more on this when we reach the transition between Budiansky and Furman.
By itself though, this has been a good romp with great (albeit nullified) character development and Lee Sullivan in his element. It’s just a shame the colouring isn’t better, everything remains orange. Though some black and white stories will end up being reprinted in colour, this is the last original British story to benefit from it. Over the last four and a half years we’ve had some stunning work from the colourists, especially in the painted era. Its loss will be keenly felt, especially as we’ve got a couple of months to go through before we get a comic actually drawn for black and white.
Of course, with this drastic budget cutting measure coming, you’d expect Transformation to prepare the readers who are already reeling from a massive format change in a respectful and mature fashion.
Except of course it doesn’t, instead it just recaps the events of the two strips in last week’s issue at great length. With most of the sidebar given over to a recap of Visionaries, with barely any room for Dreadwind to plead for letters. Even the Next Week page—which will remain in colour and so we’ll get a chance to see one panel from every British strip that way in future weeks—uses a panel from this week’s story. This head in the sand approach is going to misfire badly in the coming weeks.
Sixth Doctor Vs Janeway!
The letters this week are simple enough not to provide much ground for Dreadwind Fails to Answer Questions Properly!, mainly agreeing that the colours on page 1 of issue 201 were wrong and pointing out that even if Flint was British (as Hasbro were still lying to us about at the time) he’d still object to being called a “Chappie” in Action Force in issue 204. However, there’s a late in the day example of Dreadwind failing to answer questions properly as Jonathan Martin from Staplehurst wonders where he was during Time Wars. Rather than pointing at the lead strip here he claims to have been having an oil change.
The Visionaries reach –The Beginning!, and the Knights of the Magical Light actually get to appear this week. The fall of civilisation and the rise of the two different groups of knights is well done, and a fight between Leoric and Darkstorm’s groups nicely sketches in the main characters. It ends with a mystery summons by Merklynn to come get unimagined power.
Combat Colin meets a new recurring villain in the shape of Mountain Man, though here he’s used for a simple gag where he tries to ruin Colin’s picnic only to have Steve put literal ants in his pants. It turns out the Giggly Sisters love terrible puns nearly as much as I do.
One surprising thing in the issue is the Mighty Marvel Checklist. Not only does it get the name of the British strip right, the Don’t Miss... focus on Doctor Who Magazine issue 148 makes the bold claim that Silver Nemesis was a popular story. And of all the things Eric Saward did on the show that could be used to promote an interview, writing Attack of the Cybermen is a strange one to pick. Especially as he officially didn’t write it.
On a final, serious (though hopefully not pretentious) note, I’m writing this with just a week to go till the EU referendum in the UK. As I suspect is the case with many of us I’ve found the entire campaign fairly horrible with neither side actually focusing on the issues of the EU (with Leave basically repeatedly lying and fostering fear whilst Stay runs around like a headless chicken), but this is the most important political moment of our lifetime and I hope everyone reading this who can, will be voting, in whatever way they honestly think is best. There is innocent blood on this referendum now, the least we can do is use our basic democratic right. Personally I’ve been genuinely terrified of my country this last week and certainly hope Leave will be thwarted (I find the idea of that vile monster Boris Johnson as Prime Minister horrific), but follow your best instincts. Because the so called experts are mostly useless.
The mood next week will obviously depend on how things go. But join me to discuss the shift to black and white. Plus don't forget your chance to be on a PODCAST.
ISSUE 213
1989
COMMENT
The Visionaries reach –The Beginning!, and the Knights of the Magical Light actually get to appear this week. The fall of civilisation and the rise of the two different groups of knights is well done, and a fight between Leoric and Darkstorm’s groups nicely sketches in the main characters. It ends with a mystery summons by Merklynn to come get unimagined power.
Combat Colin meets a new recurring villain in the shape of Mountain Man, though here he’s used for a simple gag where he tries to ruin Colin’s picnic only to have Steve put literal ants in his pants. It turns out the Giggly Sisters love terrible puns nearly as much as I do.
One surprising thing in the issue is the Mighty Marvel Checklist. Not only does it get the name of the British strip right, the Don’t Miss... focus on Doctor Who Magazine issue 148 makes the bold claim that Silver Nemesis was a popular story. And of all the things Eric Saward did on the show that could be used to promote an interview, writing Attack of the Cybermen is a strange one to pick. Especially as he officially didn’t write it.
On a final, serious (though hopefully not pretentious) note, I’m writing this with just a week to go till the EU referendum in the UK. As I suspect is the case with many of us I’ve found the entire campaign fairly horrible with neither side actually focusing on the issues of the EU (with Leave basically repeatedly lying and fostering fear whilst Stay runs around like a headless chicken), but this is the most important political moment of our lifetime and I hope everyone reading this who can, will be voting, in whatever way they honestly think is best. There is innocent blood on this referendum now, the least we can do is use our basic democratic right. Personally I’ve been genuinely terrified of my country this last week and certainly hope Leave will be thwarted (I find the idea of that vile monster Boris Johnson as Prime Minister horrific), but follow your best instincts. Because the so called experts are mostly useless.
The mood next week will obviously depend on how things go. But join me to discuss the shift to black and white. Plus don't forget your chance to be on a PODCAST.
ISSUE 213
1989
COMMENT
The page with the wrong credits.
