About all I remember about this one is that it's a fill in,and it has that neat drawing of Bumblebee on the splash that looks like it was made in an early version of CAD by Marvel's blueprints guru, Eliot R Brown. Dude always tackled the drafting / blueprints for weapons and vehicles or stuff like Avengers Mansion in the Marvel Handbooks.

 

Hope you don't mind me jumping in.

The "3d Bumblebee" is a cool addition and it is quite a fun comic, but man those Decepticons have a bad aim. They need some serious tactics, what are you playing at Shockwave.

Also love the airforce encountering "a flying gun!!"

And please someone get Optimus a remote for his TV.

 

#16 Plight of the Bumblebee… Another story that was skipped locally to catch up with the USA releases, and thus one I have no nostalgia for.

The crux of this story is the techspec/bio for Bumblebee that describes him as insecure, admiring the bigger Autobots and thinking himself unimportant compared to them, while at the same those bigger Autobots admire him for his optimism and perseverance.

And that’s basically the story in a nutshell. Thinking himself useless to the Autobot cause Bumblebee leaves, while at the same time Shockwave has a new plan: capture Bumblebee, install some device inside him and make him their puppet to destroy the Autobots. (Remember when Shockwave had solid plans?) For some reason this doesn’t prevent them from attacking him in the open and shooting him several times. While Bumblebee hides and is hijacked (and fixed) by some humans, the Autobots become aware of Bumblebee’s peril and come to his rescue. The result is a big chase with the police, the military and the Autobots. And thus when Shockwave finally catches Bumblebee he concludes that all this attention means his plan for Bumblebee won’t work. Duh.

The art by Graham Nolan (according to TFwiki) is okay and in some places even good for its time. I absolutely loved the use of the toy schematics for Bumblebee on the opening page. But then the outside of the Ark with Bumblebee peeking in through the window, was bad. Bad art is perhaps also the reason why we see Prowl (who was seriously injured and offline since they tried to free Optimus Prime) and why Wheeljack was being repaired even though his last fight with the Decepticons was around the same time. (They likely just needed to use some Autobots.)


Maybe it’s because I never cared for Bumblebee, or maybe it’s because this story serves no other purpose then to tell a story around a character description, but when I finally read it some 15 years ago in the Titan TPB, I found it utterly redundant and forgettable. Character stories are nice and important, but they’re even better when they’re part of a bigger story. This isn’t the case. Worse, it makes Shockwave who was such calculating bad ass in the first 12 issues, a joke here. Very clearly a filler issue: it goes nowhere and does nothing for the overall narrative. No regret it was skipped locally.


(Note. TFwiki also mentions that Peter David wrote an outline for this issue, but that it eventually wasn’t used because the art took too long. Such a shame, because I would’ve loved a Peter David written issue.)

 

Welcome to this thread!
The more the merrier!

 

Key points: Definelty a filler issue. Important to note that Uncle Bob takes this issue off. He returns with a bang next ish!
Agreed that some art is good, some is .....not so good.
Great points above about Shockwave. Which, by now I'm really missing Megatron as being Decepticon leader. He's not even back with the 'Cons until issue 19! Sheesh.

 

TransFormers Marvel US #17
"Return to Cybertron: Part 1" is live to discuss!
Roll out!

 

Bob's vision of Blaster is why my handle is "DJ Convoy." Love that Blaster becomes such a central figure.

 

#17 Return to Cybertron: The Smelting Pool

After the local publisher had skipped two issues in order to catch up (at the end we would still be some six months behind), this issue fortunately was not. However, it’s not just pure nostalgia that makes me love this issue and be the start for me, similar to @dj_convoy II, to making Blaster a favourite character in the Marvel run.


As the title says, we visit the planet Cybertron. First shown in issue 1 and a completely different beast now. Four million years have passed and the Autobots are in deep trouble. Where once they were an army, now they’re small groups of guerrilla fighters defending themselves against the ruling Decepticon army.

One such group is officially lead by Perceptor, but his XO Blaster is clearly the one who inspires his troops and has their loyalty. When Blaster’s friend Scrounge (who turns into a wheel) is captured after spying on the Decpticons, Blaster strikes out on his own to rescue his friend. His plan is all bravado and little thinking, though, since he allows himself to be captures and thrown into the smelting pool. Fortunately, the other Autobots (save Perceptor) have followed and rescue him. Sadly, Scournge is too far gone and the reality of war is that Blaster's friend dies a horrible death. However, in the end Scrounge has given the Autobots the most important thing of all: hope, as through his spying they now have learned that their leader Optimus Prime is still alive.


The strength of this issue lies on multiple levels. First visiting the TF homeworld. It’s not so much that it’s alien (because it’s not really), it’s that Cybertron is still a fully populated planet with the Autobots, our heroes, on the losing side of the war. This is a complete departure from the cartoon where, although it was under Decepticon control, it was either completely deserted otherwise, or the few Autobots still present (female Autobots) were even in hiding running circles around the Decepticons.

The biggest strength, however, is in the characters thanks to, like BW after it, a much smaller cast. The entire comic is filled with new characters, two of which are comic only: the lamented Scounge and the Decepticon leader, Straxus. With established characters absent, it is Blaster who gets the spotlight. He carries the issue: his rebellion, his loyalty and in the end the sacrifice he hast to make. And although the others take a clear backseat to him, they do get some exposition.

This was an issue that was world building and character developing. Two very important elements in fiction.

 

Agreed. This issue is still amazing to me all of these years later. I'm sure it was mind blowing on initial release.
Taking a page by page look: this is an excellent cover. Very dark as well, with the horrible deaths presented here. Trimpe again showing he is an excellent artist for Transformers. Though, he is cover only as Don Perlin continues his run on interior. No matter, I enjoy Perlin as well.
Page 1 gives us possibly the first glimpse that Cybertron has 2 moons. Though sadly this is not the Cybertron we grow to love with its "open skin". This one appears just solid and smooth. Maybe it's a side we're not used to seeing? Maybe it's one of Jhaxius' Cyberformed planets? I sense a Furman/Guido TF '85 #16.5 coming.....
This opening action sequence is very well done. From the Decepticon jets to the harvester units, this is a Cybertron reminiscent of a Skynet future Earth in Terminator. As on Earth we see a more "sunbow" good guy vs. bad guy storyline, here we see a very dark and gritty planet. Ravaged after Prime and Megs left some 4,000,000 years ago. It is such a contrast to Earth and it really adds a layer of the stakes to this war that we hadn't seen before.
Enter: Blaster! Hero, if not a grump. Way to kick that nameless Bot while he was down.
Now we meet Scrounge. His first line or so: "why the Decepticons would be interested in a scientist that works on inter dimensional engineering is beyond my logic circuits"....maybe that's why the Autobots see you as such a junkyard joke. Come on, Man. It's obvious.
As Scrounge spies on the Deceps, we eventually learn that this message that they are decoding is the one sent by Soundwave in issue 10. Enough real time has passed that you may have forgotten that even happened. Very nice continuity and payoff there.
Speaking of continuity, a couple of these empties show up again much later, in or around issue 57. A nice call back, or one of Jose Delbos infamous swipes. You be the judge.
As Blaster enters Autobase, we meet the next group of toys ..I mean Autobot heroes. Preceptor leads this group, but as pointed out in the previous post its Blaster who's charisma has the heart of this group. Favorite line of this entire scene: "you can sit here and rust with your statues." Fantastic! Blaster is the Kylo Ren of the Autobot Cause. "Let the past die. Kill it, if you have to."
Also, apparently the colorist wasn't sure if this would be mouth preceptor or plate face Perceptor. That has to be the reason for the odd coloring going on with his face.
Now we meet the next batch of toys, I mean Decepticons. Man, Straxus is cruel. What he does to Scrounges special arm 
Shrapnel is now getting a little annoying, even to the reader. The cons should of pushed Blaster in, but Shrapnel takes him instead to Straxus. Funny thing, that's completely pointless to the story. Straxus didn't care and ordered him to the smelting pool anyway. I guess it does show us a glimpse of the project Straxus is working on.
As Blaster lands in the pool and jumps out, we might be led to believe that the smelting pool takes a lot longer to do its dirty work. But as Blaster pulls Scrounge out, man, that's brutal as half of his body is now gone. As Powerglide is now here to help save Blaster, and Scrounge tosses the tape to Blaster, I can't help but think "good thing this screw up didn't just drop it into the pool."
As the Autobots transform, its cool to see their Cybertronian forms. Though a couple things to point out, why didn't Cosmos ever get an "Earth" form? And is Beachcomber basically the same vehicle as "Kup?"
As we end this first part of the story, the Autobots learn of Optimus Primes survival and are now given hope, where before there was none. Scrounge did good, after all.

 

TransFormers Marvel US #18:
"The Return to Cybertron Part 2" is love to discuss.
Roll out!

 

Glad you're still doing this.
I may need to visit a bit more often....Sounds like fun.

 

Trimpe continues on covers, and though this one may seem a little rushed, I do still get those warm fuzzies when I see it. I just love this storyline.
Our first page takes a little break from Cybertron and puts us right back on Earth. But not for long...
Enter: The Space Bridge!
The splash page showing one half of the materialized Bridge is great! Don Perlin still knocking the interiors out of the park.
By page 3 we are reminded just how awesome and fearful this situation is to the human couple seeing it first hand.
As we shift the focus back to Cybertron, Uncle Bobs narration goes to great lengths to explain to us that Cybertron has two moons. It won't mean anything in the comics, ever. But it certainly adds a little connecting layer to the forthcoming Movie.
The Straxus/Shrapnel relationship continues to strain, though now the roles have flipped. Shrapnel uses sound logic in recommending asking Spanner why the bridge isn't working, but Straxus would rather send another trooper to his certain death. Great line here by Blaster:
"Another Decepticon turned to spare parts, courtesy of the wisdom of Straxus."
Back to Earth we go, as we visit the Decepticons new base and meet up with Robot Master, who seems pretty confident here. Telling Soundwave to "stuff that overgrown antennae up your exhaust" and threatening to "reprogram the big bucket head." (Megatron).
As Donny visits Megatron, he "interrupts" him ......sitting. I guess.
Shockwave arrives! And now the Decepticons on Earth can be united, although Shocks and Megs will battle eachother for dominance. With a fight about to break out, Straxus contacts them! The first message FROM Cybertron.
As Donny ponders a way to warn the Autobots of the Decepticons plan, we venture back to Cybertron, where Perceptors team of Autobots attack Darkmount!
Straxus' Alt-Mode is decent.
As Blaster lays explosives to the Bridge, Spanner reveals himself to BE the bridge.
Story wise, doesn't make sense. Spanner wants Blaster to blow him up, and that's what he was setting out to do. Just stay quiet, Spanner. Now Blaster is going to try to save you. But, it's a cool scene.
As the Deceps and Autobots converge to the Bridge, it activates and Blaster gets his first look at Earth. Again this is cool. Bob does a great job of showing how strange Earth is to the Transformers.
"Spare me the Details, Straxus!" Blaster kicks ass!
The story closes out with the Autobots escaping to Earth. A very cool ending and a great way to intro these new characters. Can't wait to see them meet up with Prime and the others.
Next issue: Optimus Prime vs. The Decepticons! Megatron vs. The Autobots! And the coming of.....Omega Supreme!

 

This is Issue 18, then?

 

#18 "Return to Cybertron: The Bridge to Nowhere"

Another issue that fortunately was not skipped, but since previous issues were I had no idea who Robotmaster was or how/why Megatron and Soundwave were now a thing.


As the title makes clear, this is another issue that takes place on Cybertron with the same group of Autobots and Decepticons from last issue. This time, however, we also have some scenes on Earth and although there is no grand conclusion, everything from the past issues does come together: Megatron and Shockwave have a short standoff, Robotmaster is present and the earlier send communication is referenced again and the events from the previous issue.

Most of the story takes place on Cybertron. Blaster is spying on the Decepticons where Straxus proofs to dispose of his troops with the same ease that Galvatron would do in the cartoon (which, considering Straxus’ story in the UK comics does make one think); he coincidentally also has a flying space gun altmode (with wheels and a gun barrel that’s only present in altmode). Based on the intelligence gathered by Blaster, the Perceptor lead Autobots attack the Decepticons with many non-toy casualties as a result. All for a diversion so Blaster, who’s more concerned with rescuing the civilian scientist Spanner, can plant explosions. When Spanner reveals himself, showing that he’s been converted into the space bridge itself, Blaster’s guilt over the loss of Scrounge in the previous issue finds him unwilling to commit. (Although @Grimlock528 rightly comments that if Spanner hadn’t revealed himself Blaster would’ve planted the explosions, the explanation given is that it would be easier to plant these when Spanner was in robotmode...which he can’t maintain so it was indeed pointless -- also, did nobody on the battlefield notige this large robotbridge?) At the end we have a fight between the two main characters, Straxus and Blaster, which the latter wins although they are now stranded on Earth (meaning that the Autobots in that district suffered a huge loss for nothing, including their commander and best fighter).


When I read this issue for the first time in the 80’s I had never heard of the term “Chekov’s gun”. I do now and this issue is an exercise in it. So many elements from the start of the issue are important for the solution: Blaster intercepting the message about the broken conduit that causes the bridge to fail (which he uses to ensure Straxus destroys this), Blaster seeing what happens when a TF crosses the unstable barrier (he uses it to destroy Straxus), the search for Spanner (first indicated as missing in part 1) and the final discovery of him at the end, and of course the guilt over Scrounge that causes Blaster to hesitate to destroy the bridge and Spanner.

I found this to be another well written issue that’s enjoyable for more than nostalgia. Maybe not as good or impactful as the previous, but still solid. (Too bad I wouldn’t learn what would happen next for the next twenty years, since the next couple of issues would again be skipped locally. Then again, it went from a high to a high, without some lesser issues in between.) And although some of the TF’s are a bit blocky (more than they should be), the art is good and conveys the conflict and the alien planet.

 

Yes.

 

Transformers Marvel US #19 is live to discuss! "Command Performances"
Roll out!

 

It reads like your parents decided to go out, but they didn't want to leave you alone, so they got you a heretofore unseen pedigreed and super trained watchdog with resources you didn't know they had.  

I enjoy this issue and the Omega beatdown, obviously, but the always resource-strapped Autobots just have Grapple whip up a default powerful being? Huh.

 

They're much less strapped after GB starts to help them. At least for fuel. I think they've got plenty of parts lying around the Ark but it's always been fuel that's the primary issue.

Parts shortages do come up but only after massive casualty counts.

I'm gonna go ahead and fanon that Omega is made from Ark parts lending to his graymetal colors and gargantuan stature.

 

I mean, we're gonna see Ratchet scavenging lights in a junkyard in a few issues...  

 

# 19 Command Performance (The start of a consecutive run of issues that were skipped locally, so there’s no nostalgia for me when reading these.)


The story starts with the introduction of a new character, Omega Supreme, and a continuity nod back to when the 1985 Autobots were introduced. Grapple has been working on creating Omega Supreme, yet Optimus Prime immediately talks his work down by stating that the technology behind him is inadequate (well, Grapple is an architect so he builds buildings, not Transformers). They need to gain the combiner technology. For this he has a plan, a plan that will require all his troops. Since his plan is to prevent casualties on their side, the Dinobots walk out on the Autobots to return in a later issue.

The plan is…simplicity itself and incredibly stupid: attack the Decepticon base in full force (and full force is not too many) without any apparent intel. If not by incredible coincidence that Megatron and the Seekers were absent to greet presumed new Decepticons at the Space Bridge, they would’ve been decimated. Now, they succeed: Shockwave (who’s apparently no longer the leader) orders the Constructicons to combine and Bumblebee monitors this and takes his reading, which is apparently enough to learn the technology (sure). When the Autobots return to their headquarters, Skids is hit by Ravage (who’s tracking the escaped Robotmaster) and crashes…and is left by the Autobots for dead (apparently, the no-casualties rule was only during the attack).

Meanwhile, Megatron has attacked the Ark and is stopped by Omega Supreme in what must be the only time he’s truly beaten in physical combat in the series. The seekers and Buzzsaw are damaged and Megatron is only saved when Laserbeak flies him away. Yet he emerges victorious because he makes clear to Shockwave that he scored a victory (the Autobots know they can never let their guard down) while Shockwave must have suffered a defeat because the Autobots got what they wanted. And thus Shockwave admits defeat and acknowledges Megatron as the leader -- albeit the leader of a severly decimated army.


It’s an okay story. Nothing special, except that it shows the Autobots in an active role and perhaps their biggest victory since on Earth. However, the true stars of the story for me are the Decepticons and those interactions. If only this issue wasn’t skipped I might have had an interest in Omega Supreme, because of his guardian role in this comic. The art by Perlin is at the same level, which is pretty okay and continues to emphasise the very machine nature of the Transformers in the Budiansky scripts.

An issue of course is, as @dj_convoy II rightly critiques, that it’s strange that the Autobots are so deprived for parts that they’re unable to repair all their wounded -- Ratchet even confirms this by stating that he has over a dozen injured Autobots (Sunstreaker is still not repaired since issue 5, and future issues will show other Autobots waiting for parts) -- but here they again have succeeded in building a new TF and a large one at that. A possible explanation could be that Blackrock handed them all the unfinished Decepticons from the factory and that these new Autobots are built from those parts, while at the same time these are unsuited for the existing Autobots since these parts are from Earth (but then, this would be discredited later when Ratchet salvages parts from a junkyard to fix Prowl).