Black Oracle? Damn, I haven't seen your name here in aggggggeeeeees.

Anyhoo, I've not picked the new issue up yet.

The other day I was archiving all my comics, including all the UK TF ones, (from Armada onwards) and the latest issues with the weird expanded covers are a nightmare to archive.

Is the new smaller size just less pages, or actually physically smaller, like the GI Joe comic?

 

Its the same size just less pages. I use box files to keep them in as they are to big for going in clear sleeves in ring binders.

 

I was wondering if you'd remember me, tikgnat! He! He! Been a long time. Good to speak to you again.

And on storing the comics, i find it more of a hassle finding a place for all those useless free gifts.

 

I just toss them in a Transformers rucksack I have. Dont really know why I keep them at all I doubt I will ever look at them and they are worthless to sell, not very collectable or desirable. Most of it is only Transformer related because it has a TF sticker on it or on its packaging and thats it.

 

got the jolt one today. Story was okay, better then the twins strip i read anyway...

I don't get why ironhide and bludgeon are fighting on the cover, and the toy doesn't work   but yeah jolt story was kinda cool  

 

I used to holepunch my UK comics and keep them in binders. Then when I moved I got hold of a load of those boxes office paper comes in and they were perfect size for storing them.
The current UK run I'm storing in a box I nabbed from Asda. Perfect width and with a few extra inches in length which was great for when there was that issue with the extra bit at the top for the ROTF Devastator competition. Still got a third of the box left to fill even though it's got all this run of issues (including the three Animated ones) in it.

 

Pardon my double post but I just picked up the new issue.

First off I wish they'd stop doing the expanded covers. I had to dig through a load of issues at the shop before I found one where the extra bit wasn't bent, creased, ripped or all of the above. I seriously doubt this little extra banner makes people more likely to buy the title. It's supposed to make the comic stand out above other comics but that purpose is defeated as the supermarkets just chuck them all on the rack as-is so they're often upside-down or face to face, hiding the cover and banner.
Yes, I'm nit-picky about this small stuff.  

The Jolt story was okay, with a slightly better quality of artwork than usual (although I wish the UK strips were less bright and had some atmospheric colouring and shading to them). Nice to see Bludgeon, even though he wasn't very much of a standout character beyond your basic standard baddie. Wasn't fond of Jolt's characterisation. Another character that is all 'go for it' and doesn't think of the damage he leaves in his wake and doesn't seem to learn? Highly original. Didn't we just spend half a dozen issues with a pair of Twins that were almost the same as that?
And can't we for once have an original UK strip that isn't BayFormers? Not counting the Animated ones.

Really missed the IDW reprints. Went cover to cover a bit too fast for my liking. The puzzles and fact pages and whatever are still pretty underwhelming and unimaginative. Letters page is the usual. Were the old Marvel UK letters pages as ho hum as these? Maybe I've just become a jaded old git.

And that dart pump toy on the cover seems very familar. Have we had that one before?

I really do wish we'd gotten the promised revamp of the title. It needs - if you'll pardon the weak pun - some spark.

 

Anyone else got issue 10 yet? The price is £2.50 now so down a little.

Did anyone else feel really sorry for the guy who wrote in saying in his 40s years of life seeing TFROTF was one of the only days he remembers fondly? Damn if seeing ROTF was the highlight of my life id top myself right now let alone if I was 40 lol.

The next issue with Deadend looks pretty cool.

 

Yep, i got it. Haven't read the letters page yet.

I think it was kinda nice to have a new writer (instead of Furman) for once. Very Chumley/Prime Target-like story. And the cover was nice. But i really don't know how Tyler White thought he was gonna hack off Optimus Prime's head with a little knife. *L*

 

Cheaper price is nice. Pity they dropped those reprint pages to do it as it still seems too costly for what's there.
That dart laucher seems strangely familiar again.
And was that a Roger Rabbit reference at the end of the comic strip?

That Dead End artwork is definitely cool. Transformers sure does get its fair share of zombies, doesn't it?  

 

Well the comic seems to be carrying on long after it's natural life ended!  

 

 

I'm surprised the cost of an issue isn't now Braaaaaaiiiiinnnnnns!

 

The inclusion of Dead End in next issue sounds promising. I enjoyed the strip in this one, just wish there was more comic strip and less of everything else.

 

I wish they'd drop the cover-mounts but I know it won't happen. I remember when the earlier issues had some variety like playing cards, dog tags, notepads with lenticular cover... now it's dart and disc shooters every month.  

 

Bardges, stickers, note pads and pens etc are things old and young readers can enjoy so it would make more sense to me if they had gifts like those rather than disk/dart launchers EVERY issue! How many launchers does a kid need! CHeap little toys like that just get thrown aside after one of two plays anyway usually. Id rather the comic was cheaper and didnt have the gifts every issue.
I guess they get some kind of payment fopr including reviews (adverts) for new games and things in their aint it cool section but obviously id much prefer more comic on those pages instead.

 

I wish they'd fill the pages better. Look at the two page spread for Soundwave's profile. Does it really need to be two pages for the tiny amount of information presented? I remember the good old Marvel days when we'd get a full page for a profile but it had more to the text than just fluff and we'd get a cool piece of character artwork. What with official promo artwork supplied by Hasbro or the movie, all the writer has to do is run off a couple of short paragraphs which don't even tell us anything we couldn't already discover by seeing the film. Even the page layout isn't very ambitious. What are we looking at? Ten minutes work and then off down the pub? It's annoying as, with just a tiny bit of extra effort and some obvious changes, the magazine could be improved tenfold.
They'll never get rid of those covermounts as without those more people might see the title doesn't have much actual content value at all and stop buying it. Except us. We see the faults and still get it. But we're Transformers fans. We're used to pain.  

 

UK comics seem so partronising towards children now, just a load of flashy images thrown on the pages rather than the better profile layouts of old and contents page etc.
I guess its aimed at the ADHD generation lol.

 

Just got my last issue I think, it was cool with Dead End. Nice story with him. Made me like him more and want the toy.

 

I got the new issue today, anyone else notice the price has gone back up. Its now £2.75. Each issue seems to be a different price now!? They put it down for one issue then sneak it back up to 5p higher than it used to be when their were more pages! I wishthey would stop it with the oversized covers. They just get in the way and get bent in the post.

 

I couldn't help thinking of the Doctor with Dead End's lines of "Need parts!". Nice that Jolt got a little more action with new recruits as well in this issue.