Marvel Than Meets the Eye: The Transformers #1-40, Part 1 - Atop the Fourth Wall
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- Опубліковано 20 сер 2024
- Part 1 of 3. Part 2 here: • Marvel Than Meets the ...
Welcome to Atop the Fourth Wall, where bad comics burn. In this episode, Linkara begins his retrospective on Marvel's Transformers books!
Check out more AT4W shirts at Shark Robot: sharkrobot.com...
atopthefourthwa...
/ at4w
Originally released March 17th, 2021.
ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION: Make Mine Transformers.
#at4w #Marvel #Transformers
There are occasionally some green lines flickering in the video. This was not a problem on my part, but rather UA-cam experienced some kind of error while processing new uploads during that time across the entire site.
Team up with Phelous and you can get high together during a review?
@@smb-c3po *sigh* you’re gonna haunt me FOREVER! Stop thinking everyone is high!
UA-cam is….odd 😅
You overlooked a different problem with the Dinobot story... if they slept for 4,000,000 years, that is 61,0000,000 years or more after the END of dinosaurs. And as they represent 5 different genera of Dinosaurs, it gets even worse as not all these species were around at the same time. I think Stegosaurs are e.g. over 150 million years old...
Hasbro: Spike is too aggressive of a name for a human boy in a cartoon about robots engaged in a civil war
Also Hasbro: Spike is a completely fine name for a baby dragon in our series featuring pastel colored horses.
To be fair, the one from the franchise about pastel colored ponies is a dragon.
Dang! You bet me to it So... I will add
Also, Hasbro: We can't have Queen protagonists in our series featuring pastel-colored horses because ALL queens in fiction are evil
On the other hand, Sparkplug is a completely human name.
That’s The Great and Powerful Spike, the Brave and Glorious. Dragon Lord Emeritus and Ambassador of Equestria, thank you very much!
Clearly MLP is the most metal out of the two.
“Wait your entire race wiped itself out to turn Mars into a weapon, why?”
“Because it’s cool.”
Invader Zim Incase anyone doesn’t know the reference.
Well, in the Japan exclusive The Headmasters anime, the Decepticons _did_ actually blow up Mars...
@@muhaoai4693 But I'm right here.
As Simon Furman revealed during Generation 2, Autobots and Decepticons are actually two separate races. They just share the same planet.
@@muhaoai4693 Wait, the BFG-10000 was a Decepticon?
With the reference to Generation 1 in Beast Wars as The Great War, I've always imagined in-universe Cybertronians making war documentaries about the Autobot and Decepticon War of the cartoon, so they have these often goofy and out there stories like Blitzwing recruiting a sports coach, or Seaspray turning into a mermaid/man (yes really) being recounted in a very serious, somber and deadpan manner like the famous The World at War documentary.
“I have waited an eternity for this!”
Mechara:
Its over linkara
Linkara:
Never for I AM A MAN!
(Draws the magic gun)
It's over, Prime
"Who are you?"
"I'm Ray."
"Ray who?"
"RAY'D, SHADOW LEGENDS."
Okay, now that's clever 😁
Nick Fury: *mentions green, fire snorting lizard*
Linkara: Godzilla
Fin Fang Foom: Am I a joke to you?
Heh. I think Fin Fang Foom is Big-G’s replacement in the retconned version of the events. Haven’t read it in forever but it went something like: SHiELD and the Avengers fight a rampaging Godzilla in NewYork. G gets shrunk. Fights Pizza Rat in the sewers. Grows to about 6 - 8 feet and fights Ben Grimm in a museum? Has another growth spurt to small T-Rex size and gets time portaled to dinosaur times. Teams up with Devil Dinosaur and Moon Boy against Kirby aliens. Grows back to full size and time portals back to the present day Marvel U. Yeah, Marvel used to go real wild with those licensed books.
But it actually was Godzilla they're talking about. Marvel had a license for him too.
@@muhaoai4693 Right, at the time they did, but if they ever had to reference those events more specifically now, they’d have to sub in FFF for a retcon since they don’t still have the rights to Big G... although they could probably get GINO for the price of a Chalupa 😜
They are talking about Godzilla though
@@reggie1025 Nah, then they'd have to pay Taco Bell a stipend for what an utter failure Zilla was.
So fun fact: early on in creative process of the TF Marvel comics, it was planned for Cybertron to be organic as its core much like Beast Machines.
"Oh criminy, this is ridiculous, imagine if he used the Patton joke-"
*and then you used the Patton gag*
You magnificent bastard. :D
I was kinda hoping for an altered version of it, with Linkara in a Spider-Man outfit with a helmet on waving to people, depicted as if he was being viewed in binoculars before cutting to Patton. But hey, it was still good.
@@roguishpaladin Or just the two-Spideys-point meme but one of them's in the black suit with the helmet on.
Linkara: "Optimus has been decapitated--"
Optimus: "Give me my face! ... wait..."
Buster Witwiky you are the Autobots last hope. Oh Primus you’re the Autobot’s last hope!!
Chris McFeely and RodimusPrimal will likely enjoy this.
This is The Basics on: Linkara!
...but that's a story for another day.
A bit more than the basics on the first few issues
The retrospective ended when Linkara was offlined by a cosmically powered Starscream.
@@benreilly9513 But he came back through the power of the Matrix.
Linkara was later transported into the Deeeeeeeeead Universe where he underwent an upgrade that was beast flesh and Transformer metal fused at the cellular level.
21:57 So iconic, Shockwave's most recent exclusive used the pose for its promotional art.
Fast forward to the 21st century where Hasbro makes an X-Men Transformer out of the Black Bird.
Sounds nice.
I like to think that the only reason Megatron keeps Starscream around despite knowing he's a duplicitous snake is for pure schadenfreude.
In Transformers Prime, he pretty much tells Starscream exactly that: He kept him around for so long because he found his constant embarrassing failures amusing.
I like the theory that Megatron likes to keep Starscream to remind himself to never get to complacent since their would always be other deceptions (like shockwave here) that would attempt to overthrow him. Starscream is there to remind Megatron that he must always watch his back.
There's that, but there's also the fact the Marvel Comics Starscream comes off as a lot more threatening and competent compared to the G1 cartoon version.
Remember, in the 80s on tv villains were outright forbidden from winning, which is why guys like Cobra Commander or Skeletor came off as such jokes... while in the comics Cobra Commander once buried a whole bunch of disloyal Cobra agents (including Zartan and Dr. Mindbender) alive and Skeletor punched out a goddess.
In Transformers Cyberverse when Starscream first tries to betray him he beat him to death and then leaves him for dead on the Moon. And that's the cartoon for smaller kids.
@@jlev1028 Yeah, but in Cyberverse it was unexpectedly brutal in the way it was framed compared to Animated where it was mostly played for laughs.
From what I remember hearing way back when, the "Great War" talked about in Beast Wars wasn't originally intended to refer to the Autobot-Decepticon conflict, but because they kept things so vague, fans naturally assumed that's what it meant (pretty sure I did, too), and the creators just went with it.
I thought they meant the cartoon's version, instead of the 80's comics.
@Louis Duarte
I think it's implied that in the Beast Wars continuity, the Great War was a mix of the cartoon and comics. Two examples are the Transformers having a Covenant of Primus, apparently their version of the Bible, and Blackarachnia revealing that Starscream betrayed Megatron, who came back as Galvatron, just like in the 86' movie.
Not all comics need to burn. Some need to be yearned, to be learned. This is one.
Well put.
"Drive Huffer in the lead"
HOUND!!!! THATS HOUND!!! Huffer is the orange truck transformer!!! Hound is the one who turns into the army jeep!
Otherwise great video.
Hahah. And even in the narration, Hound is the one mentioned.
I mean Linkara to be fair addressed this in the later parts but... honestly I forgive the dude. This is a franchise with hundreds of characters, each with a name so misnamings are bound to happen. Hell Transformers itself has been guilty of this beforehand.
@@the-aspiring-creator4249 Just to back this up in Transformers Energon there is a character that LOOKS like Wheeljack but is actually ANOTHER Transformer named Downshift because Wheeljack was already being used for someone else!
If anything Linkara is following the tried and true tradition of using a Transformers name on a completely random robot
@@the-aspiring-creator4249 To be fair (TO BE FAIR), even the guys writing the cartoon couldn't keep the guys straight after a while. To wit:
- In the first episode, they colored Cliffjumper yellow for a scene because they thought he was Bumblebee
- In "The Ultimate Doom" 3-parter, Ironhide is shown both going to Cybertron and remaining with Optimus on Earth. And this isn't even an instance of "We thought he was Ratchet" because he's shown next to Ratchet.
- There are hundreds of nameless Seekers in the pilot, yet none show up except Starscream, Skywarp, and Thundercracker later.
- Sideswipe is randomly shown standing in place of Soundwave in one episode.
- In another, the debut appearance of the Aerialbots, Silverbolt, their leader, is randomly shown flying with the Decepticons.
- Carnage in C-Minor. Just the whole episode.
The questions raised in issue 4, among other stuff later on, are addressed and dealt with in IDW’s “Secrets and Lies” miniseries.
My thoughts exactly. Two problems though.
1: Non of what was established in Secrets & Lies was explained/ex-posited in The Transformers #4, so it's still a problem with the comic Linkara was recapping.
2: Secrets and lies wasn't written until the late-2010s, so there was no way anybody could have justified what happened in #4 (and onward) for a couple of decades; as well as no way Linkara would have known about it (and he might not even know about it write now, since I don't think he's been keeping up with IDW's transformers offerings - appart from what he's already reviewed that is).
That said, Secrets & Lies is still a fun read, glad somebody else here has read it
When Nick Fury mentioned a giant fire-breathing lizard, I honestly thought he was talking about Fin Fang Foom. Anyway, there are a lot of details in here that I never knew about. It's really pretty impressive how much thought the Marvel writers put into this.
Honestly, watching these videos does kinda hammer home to me that I ultimately prefer how Beast Wars handled its characters, by focusing on a smaller cast and the personalities within it.
Though here's a question for anyone who feels like answering: If YOU could choose which Transformers made up the initial Autobot and Deception teams, with the focus being to start small and put more emphasis on character, who would you pick?
Starscream
*Autobots*
Optimus Prime (obviously)
Bumblebee (duh)
Jazz
Ironhide
Arcee
Wheeljack
*Decepticons*
Megatron (You saw this coming)
Starscream (No need to explain myself)
Skywarp
Soundwave (My favorite)
Thundercracker
Ramjet
That's a tough question. I'll probably change my answer later, but for now:
*Autobots:*
Optimus Prime
Bumblebee or Hot Shot (the latter could be a mix of Bumblee and Rodimus)
Wheeljack
Jetfire or Windblade (both are good foils to Starscream, but I'm not sure who I'd start with)
Grimlock (though it might be weird to start him without the other Dinobots)
*Decepticons:*
Megatron
Starscream
Soundwave
Lockdown (I like the idea of him trying to be a solo bounty hunter, but Megatron more or less Shanghaing him into staying with the cons)
Like I said though, I'll probably change this later. There are so many ways to do a Transformers retelling.
Issue 3: that’s not Spider-Man it’s just, night monkey!
Whenever I need to say offbrand Spiderman I shorten it to night monkey. IE the Scouts in AoT and the Pilots in Titanfall 2 are psychotic night monkeys with how they parkour and swing around the battlefield.
It's definitely Spider-Man. Death's Head and Circuit Breaker are two more Marvel characters that also appear in Transformers. Basically Cybertron exists in Marvel, and by extension, so does GI Joe.
@@Rocket1377 That's the joke. In Spider-Man Far From Home, Peter didn't want Spider-Man popping up around the world so as a cover he worse an all-black suit and they would say he was Night Monkey.
THE TRANSFORMERS, the series that start me a fan of Giant robots/Mecha in general
Comic Universe:
(Hologram dies)
Optimus prime: I have dishonored my family!
Bayverse universe:
(Kills human)
Optimus prime: Honor to the End!
It was SEVERAL simulated inhabitants of the Metropipe zone. I still don't know why he didn't just ask him to blow them both up though. Megatron still lost. Not to mention that he used a cheat code. (AFTERDEATH)
I'm not a big fan of Bay anymore (glad I grew out of that phase), but he went through a LOT of needless suffering before he wanted to kill a human, a human who was hunting his brothers down.... for profit. And if memory serves, he never did.
Also here's a crossover idea:
RWBY/Transformers Crossover
It's about dang time!
@@the4thwallkid132 *Raises hand to protest*
*Reconsiders*
If Hasbro can make not one, but TWO crossovers between Transformers and My Little Pony (Seriously, that's a thing, and the sequel IS happening), I see no reason why they can't-
*Remembers RWBY is owned/supervised by Warner Bros*
Never mind.
@@TF2Fan101
Dangit, But still it would have been an awesome crossover
This was the book that got 7 year old me into comics. My mom bought me issue 10 at a convenience store. Kept up with it to the end and even managed to get the first 9 issues later on to complete the whole series. Got most of that referenced Godzilla series off a quarter rack at my local book store too, and Devil Dinosaur. Micronauts, both series. Eventually started picking up X-books and some Batman and it was all downhill from there 😀
Well...my dog died and my computer's power supply decided to commit seppuku. It's nice to be able to just unwind with a Linkara video.
Sorry for your loss. 🙏
@@jamcalx Thanks. He blessed my life with fourteen years of love and joy. I miss him so much. TT_TT
so sorry that your battery died, i know how hard it is to lose a battery
@@TheAllSeeingEye2468 Lol, I needed that. XD
My condolences for your loss. It's never easy when you lose a pet.
Love when I'm watching Linkara and there's a new Linkara
"I would have waited an eternity for this."
These have been my most anticipated AT4W episodes since... well, every Clone Saga video.
The biggest bright side of this series is that even if they didn’t give that much spotlight to the well-known characters like Ironhide, Sideswipe or Thundercracker, they give the spotlight to a lot of lesser-knowns like Kup, Bludgeon, Krok, Goldbug (Bumblebee’s upgraded form), and Thunderwing. It’s pretty interesting how the cartoon created some fan favorites while the comics created some cult favorites.
Did you just call Kup lesser-known? That guy was all over the place.
@@roguishpaladin Not necessarily. While he was a major player in IDW, and made an appearance in Cyberverse season 3, he only appears frequently in toylines, but barely shows up in any TF shows or movies nowadays. In fact, Cyberverse Season 3 was his first comeback to TF shows since the G1 series. And even then, he only has like, 3 toys in the 21 century, such as the Generations figure, Titans Return, and most recently with Studio Series ‘86.
@@tannerprice2018 But the marvel comic we are discussing came out the same time as the cartoon. Kup was one of the regulars in the movie and season 3. The Pretenders came out after the cartoon was canceled. You make a good point but the examples aren't the best.
Not to mention Nightbeat. Tons of cult fan favorite characters came from Marvel G1
21:52
Indeed, "The Transformers Are All Dead" would hold the title of the greatest comic cover in Transformers history... Until September 2, 2020, where it was overthrown by the cover of Transformers/My Little Pony #2, which features Pinkie Pie throwing a pie in Shockwave's face.
Well, the comic's introduction of the Dinobots may be confusing and stupid, but it's still a lot better than Wheeljack saying "I love these dinosaur things, better make some robots with primitive brains on purpose because 1980's scientist character goofiness."
Grimlock was a faker though. His Tech Specs showed Int 7.
That's because Grimlock is completely different in the comics, where they made him more cunning but slyly speaking with a primitive syntax. The cartoon he's just slightly smarter than primitive because Wheeljack upgraded the Dinobots' brains after they rampaged the Ark. The Cyberverse cartoon cleverly plays with this, making Grimlock a well spoken genius in robot mode, but a more primal G1 cartoon version of himself in Dino-mode.
YEEEESSSS! I’m right in the middle of a massive Transformers binge, so the timing of this is just PERFECT!
Also canon to the Marvel Universe: Conan the Barbarian.
Where's my Conan vs. Transformers crossover?
I'm still waiting for my Doctor Who/Transformers crossover. Marvel's bounty hunter character Death's Head appeared in both Transformers and Doctor Who comics, tieing their universes together. I would kill for a transforming TARDIS Hasbro toy.
@@Rocket1377 As cool as that sounds, I'm not sure it's a good idea given its nature. Besides, that would mean the Tardis punching things, and the Doctor generally tries to be a pacifist.
Maybe a Dalek ship turning into something like their biological bodies though....
We have had a crossover with Maziger Z the classic Super Robot where Boss Robot was in the same league as Grimlock, it is possible, lol.
The best I can give you is a wrath-Amon/Serpentor team up. You good with a GI Joe crossover?
@@Loremastrful
That sounds fun!
My god. I had those same Sailor Moon Stars filles and seeing them again flashed me back 20 years. Damn you, Linkara! I wasn't ready to feel old!
I remember those to, Wild and excited time pa to see ANYTHING like those as a Sailor Moon Fan! I like that Linkara was doing the exact same thing! 😃👍
I remember the final issue saying "Issue #80 of a 4 issue series"
Linkara might have missed the part where it says that the Dinobots were not created on Earth, but existing Ark crew members who were rebuilt into their new forms just as the rest had in present day... but if the Ark _had_ somehow built them without the Matrix, it would actually be consistent with the cartoon's origin for the Dinobots, which showed them being built by Ratchet and Wheeljack on Earth, despite the cartoon's second season later establishing that creating new Cybertronian life required the Vector Sigma supersomputer back on Cybertron. Not being able to keep its lore straight has long been a proud tradition of this franchise.
It's not just Marvel Comics that helped shape the 'Transformers' mythology for Hasbro, but also their animation arm, Marvel Productions. Also, Marvel writer Larry Hama helped shape the 'G.I. Joe. mythology we know from the 80's.
Your discovery of the G1 comics was exactly like mine. I was downloading cartoon real player episodes of the original cartoon when I found them on the same site and read through the entire series probably within a week. Cool to find someone with such a similar experience.
I talk about this a little last week but not kidding Marvel Transformers comic helped me learn to read. I was really interested comics but I have a learning disability. It made harder for me. But I grew up with G1 and still remember my mom helping me read the comic. I still remember leaving the theater in tears after the seeing the movie. Still have some of my G1 toys. I still collect the toys and comics.
This came at the perfect time for me. I just started reading IDW’s 2019 transformers series. At the time of writing this I’ve gotten through 3 issues and it seems alright.
I feel like the series peaked with Lost Light
@@ThePageofRage I’m currently reading the newest series IDW did that I’ve been told is supposed to be a reboot that starts before the Autobots and Decepticons even start the war. It seems okay so far to me. I do like seeing the process of a cybertronian growing up as well as some of the different factions of Cybertron. As for the stuff before like more than meets the eye , I’ve been thinking about reading it, but don’t really feel like I have the time or expendable money to catch up on all the lore. Plus I’m not sure how much of it I can find it online for free.
@@paxtonstewart8042 Pretty much all of it.
I'm working on the third trade compilation of the series. I like it so far since it's giving a lot of insight into pre-war Cybertron and making the characters distinct from their previous incarnations (Prowl's nicer to people, Shockwave is emotional, stuff like that) and also incorporating characters from all different previous Transformers settings.
The big issue is just how slowly the plot is advancing, which has been the major complaint among readers.
I strongly recommend picking up the Transformers: Galaxies books as well (they're included in the hardcover compilations) as they expand on what's happening and fill in minor plot details. And some are pretty hilarious, like Cliffjumper traveling to a planet of aliens that can't see color and therefore keep mistaking him for Bumblebee.
I feel a lot tend to be harsh on IDW 2019 because IDW 2005 did so well.
But if there is one IDW 2019 line I hope does well, it’s the new Beast Wars.
It was my understanding that the Ark simply reformatted 5 existing Autobots to make the Dinobots
Right, it even says so in the panel - "adapted"
Yep that whole tirade is bs. The Ark computer behaving inconsistently can be explained by the fact that it was explicitly glitching the hell out too.
@@HashbrownMashup Turns out he does mention that in the end credits of part 3
Bob Budiansky: hey so I came up with these characters and have this story I want to tell with them...
Hasbro: *ok but you better advertise at least 14 new toys every issue or we're pulling the plug*
One point towards the show in this aspect: The show didnt go overboard in this kind of shilling until Season 2.
@@myriadmediamusings And the characters at least got a few spotligth episodes to shine
@@jesusramirezromo2037 But don't forget, the real stars where the voice actors. When you only have, like, 5 lines but you still stand out due to a unique talking style or voice, you've done your job well.
You can kind of tell when Budiansky's mind just broke at a certain point and he started writing the first thing he came to his mind everytime they told him to shill a particular toy or set of toys. Furman dealt with it better by basically going ultradark and have characters die in droves, but it's evident that Budiansky was disappointed to throw away so many characters he wrote detailed biographies for at the behest of toy execs.
@@det.bullock4461 Bud’s mind breaking may actually explain why the story of Transformers No 50 happens the way it does...
8:40 Who’s gonna tell him that Cybertron is not only heavily armed already, but the literal god of the Transformers?
Oooh, Hot diggity dog a new retrospective! Probably my favorite thing Linkara puts out on a semi-regular basis. Quite excited for this! :D
My childhood! Later issues and UK stuff was my fave (australia got both series). Simon Furman all the way! And that Andy Wildman art!
20:14 I can actually imagine Starscream saying this in this context.
As a transformers fan and ATFW, I have only one thing to say....
YYYEEESSS!!!
You gotta say it like Megatron!
@@ChristianNeihart No... like M.Bison.
@@ChristianNeihart your right I really should've
@@li32150 Surely more like Death's Head, yes...?!
Atop the fourth wall, more than meets the eye
I've been waiting for a long time for this, Linkara! Marvel Transformers, along with Walt Simonson's Thor, and ROM were my favorite comics as a kid. It's why I am such a huge Blaster fan.
Linkara: [mentions Shockwave operating on pure logic and usurping Megatron]
Me: [unknowingly ends up syncing with "there is logic in what he says"]
I love the bit about Optimus Prime's ethical subroutines being deleted. Hilarious.
Also, one kind of neat thing is that the Autobots' numbers are gradually whittled down as more and more of them are disabled, culminating in a tense standoff where all the remaining Autobots channel their fuel into just five of them to fight the Decepticons at full strength. I always thought that made for a very good, tense standoff.
Spider-Man teaming up with the transformers was really awesome and tons of fun 🤩
There's also a one-shot continuity crossover between Transformers and the Avengers. Apparently meta-human blood can juice energon.
@@bthsr7113 ooh that sounds really interesting
@@bthsr7113 And they've done more crossovers since then. They've crossed over with Star Trek, Ghostbusters, Back To The Future, The Terminator, etc. Frankly I don't know why they haven't done another crossover with Marvel given how intertwined the two are.
@@Webshooters1 yup that's right and honestly a lot of those crossovers have been tons of fun. :)
One of these days we need an animated crossover between the Transformers and GI Joe.
It will potentially happen in Live Action too. Given you know, boths past film franchises sucking ass.
@@PowerRangersLostGalaxyFanFilm Bumblebee: Am I a joke to you?
@@TF2Fan101 Nah Bee. You're movie was a great throwback to the '80s and what TF always has and will be. At least your movie had less Bayisms and more what Transformers really should've been in live action films.
Can't wait to see you cover this stuff, ESPECIALLY the Simon Furman era
I was introduced to the G1 series by the ROTF PS2 game, it had the 3 part episode special "Ultimate Doom" when they're unlocked
Hey same with me
Ugh.. so many crossover possibilities?!? Transformers and Power Rangers! Transformers and TMNT! My geek brain is going into overload!!
There even a Transformers vs Mazinger Z.
A couple of things I want to get off my chest:
1) I really like how Megatron dealt with Stascream in that sequence about the power plant. He acknowledged Starscream had a good idea, but still made it clear who was in charge by announcing they'd be sending in Ravage instead of Buzzsaw.
2) What Linkara says about not really needing to bother to remember the names of most of the characters really brings home how much the voice actors of the G1 cartoon managed to give them life. Like Brawn's macho tone of voice, or Powerglide's "And awaaaay we go!", or most famously how Corey Burton based Shockwave's talking style on Sark from Tron.
Yeah, but the thing is, the T.V. series has the luxury of cranking out stories on a weekly basis, but the comics don't. Especially since the latter is on a monthly basis, it's really hard to keep track of all 28 characters, let alone give them their own arcs with the new characters that are introduced monthly.
@@CosmoShidan I would've thought that having more time would make it _easier_ to keep track.
Plus, I was more talking about how the cartoon managed to give nearly all the initial set of characters something that made them stand out, like Sunstreaker complaining about his paintjob after rescuing Trailbreaker. The way the comic Transformers are written, many of them pretty much feel interchangeable personality-wise.
@@muhaoai4693 The thing is, the comic gives only a handful of its Autobot characters storylines, such as Mirage having to come through with his pacifist ways, Huffer's homesickness, Ratchet's self-doubt, Bumblebee's out-of-nowhere problem with his height and Prowl serving as a foil to Grimlock.
I'm not sure about the cartoon Autobots though, mainly because all I can remember is that Wincharger has a magnetic forcefield, Wheeljack is a scientific genius, Brawn is what his namesake suggests, Mirage can go invisible, Hound can produce holograms, Prime sounding like John Wayne, Ironhide having a ridiculous Southern accent, and Bumblebee being the smallest. I do agree with the cartoon giving the characters more characteristics, even if they are 2-dimensional.
I think what I was getting at is, the comics can only focus on a handful of characters, since they come out monthly. But the cartoon being a weekly 22-minute series has the ability to give the limelight to its original 28 characters in the first season.
"No war or traffic accidents. "
Thank you for that reference! LOL
Gamera suddenly cringed inside and he doesn’t know why.
Oh, I didn't know Transformers Vs. The Terminator was based on THIS origin. Cool.
Ahem:
Underbase powered Starscream.
If you know you know.
*Cosmically Powered Starscream intensifies*
19:48 ok, megatron stepping out just to show how ineffective human weapons are against him is maximum disrespect and I love it.
7:38 I heard that Gamera vs Guiron reference, you sly devil!
Galvatron: "This is bad comedy!"
13:34 "Help me, please! I'm dying!"
"Hi dying. I'm dad."
I don't know why the first thing that came to mu mind was an "Azir making a dad joke" meme.
Man, Prime planning a kamikaze run shows not only how great and cunning a leader he is, but how that flew over my head has me just scratching it. Plus it shows how dark the Marvel US TF0 series was.
Eh, kinda I guess. But there is one thing you should know before you go all in on that perspective. For some reason Linkara skipped over the scene where, just before the Decepticons attack the Ark, Optimus says that when the Autobots get back to Cybertron they must make peace with the Decepticons. Seriously, that was something which was writen in the vary same issue that went great lengths to establish that the Decepticons (in this continuity) wanted nothing to do with peace.
@@seventhbracken4466 I do think that in that case he was thinking, "We almost all died because our war sent our freaking planet headlong into an asteroid field which would've destroyed it. Can we _please_ at least talk things out so that doesn't happen again?"
Wanna go even darker? There was a sorta-prequel IDW made (written by Simon Furman) that reveals Optimus deliberately made himself a target in the hopes Megatron would take his best warriors in pursuit. When that happened, Optimus planned to slam the Ark onto some lifeless planet hoping to either kill Megs or strand him forever, thus giving the remaining Autobots space to recover.
It didn't work, because a) the remaining Decepticons were still ruthless killing machines, b) the remaining Autobots were almost useless without Optimus leading them as a unified army, and c) the planet he picked to crash into was lifeless... if you define 'life' as robotic or mechanical.
@@seventhbracken4466 There are some more examples, like how Shockwave held up the Autobots' corpses like slabs of meat in the Ark, Josie Beller getting electrocuted and paralyzed during Shockwave's invasion of Blackrock's oil rig, in issue 5, and the Decepticons being more menacing insofar as they are a robot warrior race, just gives the US Marvel series its dark atmosphere. Even the idea that Ratchet is the sole Autobot left who has to rescue his teammates and need to find the Dinobots, and if he doesn't act earth is doomed, makes it all the more somber, at a juvenile level that is. Seriously, I would go as far as to say that, it's as dark as Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, where the villains are winning in the first 12 issues.
@@muhaoai4693 That was in the first issue! Seriously, the planned kamikaze run by Optimus Prime is from comics. I can't believe I need to point this out again:
"I had anticipated such a move by the Decepticons. The Ark and its secrets must never fall into enemy hands, so I plotted an alternate course that would take us on a suicidal heading...directly into the third planet of this solar system. Farwell, my friend [Prowl]. Though we die, at least our enemies are take with us." -Optimus Prime, Marvel TF, issue #1, p. 8.
That sounds like a reboot if Furman told the story in issue 1. Seriously, why is it here and the G2 issue 1 review Linkara did, that everyone keeps saying the IDW comics are 'darker" than the Marvel US series? It was already dark from the get-go, unless you are talking about the age of the audience that would make the tone seem different.
Imagine if the Transformers appeared in the MCU.
I Wonder how they'd incorporate Them into the lore Especially with The events of Avengers, The Winter Soldier, Age Of ultron, Civil War, And infinity war and endgame. Maybe they would have a show focusing on the war between the autobots and decepticons with The Street level heroes such as Spider-man and Daredevil Being the autobots Allys fighting in the war. Maybe the guardian's of the galaxy would have a movie in which they fought unicron.
I do remember people comparing the Chitauri creatures to the ships from the Dark of the Moon
1:43 I grew up with Generation 2 and Beast Wars, but the Generation 2 TV show was just the Generation 1 show with new scene transitions, so there you go!
Grew up on G2 too in the '90s. Nearly 30 years later and....boy how cringe it was but of course I was born in the '90s so that G2 "cartoon" was my introduction to Transformers since I wasn't even alive yet when Transformers - and other trends and brands of the '80s - was in it's prime (pun intended).
"Godzilla took a bite out of Optmus Prime" - Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny
"Eat it, geology! MY planet is made entirely out of ROBOTS!!"
"Spike is too aggressive"
*looks at IDW 1 Spike*
YUP!
I hope this review is never OVER... FINISHED!
in your tangent at 20:42, all those questions are answered in the Transformers Secrets and Lies, a comic that was realsed last year by IDW
His symbiote suit has as much chance of saving Aunt May’s life from a simple bullet wound like you can with magic. Oh wait.....
Yare yare daze.😑🤦♂️
they can still retcon one more day as mephisto altering the future of universe 616 into one where secret empire happens.
Ok. This is definitely the next series I'm collecting. I mean, I already have near-complete runs of ROM: SpaceKnight and Micronauts.
20:44 at least now the 2019 marvel g1 comics prequel, transformers 84 has shown that the ark didnt build the dinobiots from scratch but rebuild them
Fun fact: we actually have a box full of the original Transformers comics that my Dad had (since he was big on the series as a kid/young teen; I kinda grew up with G1 as a weird consequence).
It also has some Punisher comics in there, so make of that what you will.
Punisher mixed with TF is normal for an 80’s kid reading comics. Late 80’s/early 90’s you couldn’t go two issues without a crossover with Punisher, Wolvie, or Danny Ketch Version of Ghost Rider. They were omnipresent.
I actually got into the series with Transformers Armada or The Unicron Trilogy for those in the know. I didn't grow up with Frank Welker and Peter Cullen but Gary Chalk and David Kaye. However I did have an awesome relative who would pass along tapes that had some of the old G1 episodes on them like "Transport To Oblivion", "Roll For It", "War Of The Dinobots", and the 86' movie. Once he got the old Rhino DVDs he would show me more episodes as I was watching Armada. Season 3 became one of my favorites to watch when it leaned into full-on science fiction. "Webworld" was always my favorite episode.
All this to say, yeah been a fan and still am. I now own all of the US G1 series, Beast Wars, Armada, Energon, Cybertron, Animated, and Prime. Now getting to see the comics is even more of a treat. I love that famous cover of Shockwave and the "ARE ALL DEAD" lettering.
Didn't know what to expect when I saw the title but so far I'm not disappointed.
This was probably my favorite franchise growing up in the 1980's. G.I.Joe was a strong second, but if I had to choose one, this was it. Interesting hearing why they used Buster instead of Spike initially. That's bugged me for 30 years now!
Also, the "unethical Optimus Prime" voice is a pretty solid rendition of J. K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson.
Been eagerly awaiting this one for quite some time. Much as I’m a big TF fan and have quite a number of figs now through the recent War for Cybertron line (including one of the best G1 Soundwave toys in ages), I know very little about the Marvel Comics run.
"This IDW trade had to omit issue 3..."
Fortunately the *second* run of Transformers Classic trades included issue 3 unmodified.
The Titan Books reprints from before IDW had the license also has the issues with the Marvel characters. However those omitted the few non-canon issues from the series.
I need to get my hands on those trades.
@@MegamanNG The good ones that are currently available in stores, or the shitty ones that have written descriptions of comics they didn't have the rights to?
So what I'm hearing is that Marvel really built the foundation for my childhood outside of the properties they're really known for. Sigma 6 and Armada through Cybertron (animated if I stretch it) in case you were wondering.
18:30
I asked Matt Frank on his Tumblr blog a question similar to that since he did draw Transformers/Godzilla crossover art. To make a long story short, Toho (the company behind Godzilla) didn't want that because they're very particular about what comes out of their franchise. So, no Toho, no Godzilla, no crossover. Although, considering Godzilla's recent stuff like the Godzilla/Evangelion promotion, here's hoping that Big G crosses paths with the titular robots in disguise.
"These fools worship Transformers!!" - Blitzwing
Linkara:goes over the history of the comic industry, making it sound fascinating and fun to try. Spotlighting great characters like rom and Cassandra while being entertaining and funny, then gets you personally interested in comics.
Comics industry: let’s kill of beloved characters, retcon a universe, do try hard Uber violence to be taken seriously, and other horrible things that turn fans away.
*hides copy of Transformers The Movie* 😥. Also, maybe don’t watch when Linkara gets to issue 50... 😂
I stumbled across the same website with the comics as Linkara in the early 00's. It's funny to see the comic character designs start with the toys (cuz that's all they had) and gradually move toward the cartoon ones.
The Dinobot origin in the comic is way better also. The cartoon origin was way more stupid.
Linkara! More than meets the eye!
I actually own the originall issue in which Spidey shows up in the transformers comic in allmost every language it was released in. I started with the originall american one, but since then people gifted me different language versions of it to the point I have allmost all of them. Funny thing to note: The German version is way larger because around the time comics like Asterix and Luky Luke were popular there, so every other comic printed by the publisher called "Condor" changed the size of them to the same as Franko-belgians comics, including DC and Marvel titles.
My favorite AT4W episodes are the ones where your enthusiasm shines through almost the entire time.
The biggest problem, IMHO, with the Transformers series was the sheer volume of characters that were in it, in combination with Hasbro insisting that they be introduced one after another after another. It gave almost zero room for characterization. Hell, Starscream never actually *did* anything traitorous in the US books until around issue 47, just making snide remarks or thinking about it. Though the whole series, it was pretty much just Optimus, Grimlock, Ratchet, and Shockwave that really got to show their personalities (or lack thereof, in Shockwave's case).
Good to see you again Linkara
I am Optimus Prime and Linkara is the best comic reviewer on UA-cam
Great, now I am envious of the universe where Transformers got integrated into the Marvel Cannon.
I was born in 1990 and I still watched Transformers G2 as a kid. It was what introduced me to the franchise. The 'Cybernet Spacecube' and the CGI opening with Prime fighting Ramjet will always stick with me. I guess I was lucky to be born when I was as I got the best parts of the 80s and 90s with cartoons.
0:53 - Whoa! Talk about blast from the past! I did the same thing with watching Sailor Stars too!
The US Transformers and GI Joe comics take place on Earth-91274... The UK Transformers comics take place on Earth-120185...
I've been looking forward to this one!
21:12 It says right there on the next page that it revived five autobots and gave them dinosaur modes. It didn't build five brand new ones. The Dinobots in the comics were always pre-existing Autobots that got altered. The cartoon is what had them being built brand-new on Earth.
It's funny Butch would show up in a bizarre kids' picture book.
This was the first comic series I collected back in the 80s. Went all the way into the #50s before I moved on. I reread these issues so many times over and over.
18:30 - _"Oh my god, why have we not had Transformers vs Godzilla?!"_
You're right, Linkara, that *_would_* be quite the showdown... an *_ultimate_* showdown, per se... one that would shape our ultimate destiny.
Just imagine it: Autobots and Decepticons duking it out, waking Godzilla with the ensuing chaos-good guys, bad guys, and explosions as far as the eye could see...
♪ . . . _and only one will survive-I wonder who it will be? This is the Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny!_ ♫ I'm sorry, I just could not resist.