I said we were going back to Robo Force and we are, but not the story intended. I can only find one website with the minicomics and it’s missing the third one in the series, “Showdown In Space”. I could go to the fourth one and make it another unfinished review line, like the DC Mini-Buns or Legions Of Power comics, but I’ll give it one last chance before we get there in the next rotation because they added something interesting.
“Reflections Of Danger” came from a Robo Force mailaway fan kit, according to Google AI, and that’s about all I know about it. For those of you who only know Maxx Steele and company from the recent Nacelle revival…remember that prototype robot, the one that looked like they ripped off R2-D2’s legs and shoved a suction cup on the bottom? That’s the original design for Ideal’s toyline, produced by CBS toys. I’ve already reviewed two other minicomics in this series and the TV movie.
And this fan club inclusion, making it still a free comic inside, is set in the story of the TV movie, meaning it also features their original creators, the Fury family. I don’t think the toy pack-in minicomics version even had creators, or at least we aren’t shown any. Both take place in the city of Celestia on the planet Zeton instead of Detroit on Earth, and even if they didn’t have legs they were probably better off. This 5 page story was written by Jay Itzkowitz and drawn by Frank Springer.
No cover, as they just jump into the adventure, so let’s do the same. The Old Robots requires scrolling to find the separate images and even more scrolling to reach the PDF download, so come read along.
“Somebody’s already built a Starbuck AND a Five Guys. No Carvel!”
We open on Mark Fury and the Robo Force studying a new asteroid that popped up in the planet’s orbit. It’s full of all sorts of really good stuff and they don’t want to wait until it crashes to Earth Zeton to get to it. S.O.T.A, the only one with an acronym for a name, thinks something is off, sentiment concurred by Maxx Steel when he takes Coptor to get some mineral samples. The asteroid is a funny color, so they aren’t blaming the colorist for a yellow asteroid. Still, Coptor goes digging for samples using the helicopter blade on his head (apparently they didn’t think to bring an actual drill) while his lawyer talks to the enemy GoBots over a character with a similar name.
Instead, Coptor finds himself falling into a cavern and being knocked out from the fall. It’s a trap by the evil Robo Force, who still have the branding on their bodies. Vulgar and Cruel, who sound like descriptions of social media before it existed, trick Maxx into joining them and capturing him as well. They strap the two robots down and rather than pull their CPUs right now, plan to use a mirror to melt them down as soon as they’re positioned with the sun. I didn’t realize Zeton had their own version of James Bond, but they’ve clearly been watching the villains in action without finishing the movie. They even leave and assume everything goes to plan, though that could be just not wanting to be there for the heat wave.
Coptor is able to get an SOS to S.O.T.A., and Mark takes Wrecker and Blazer to the asteroid to rescue them. Wrecker actually has a drill, which apparently isn’t as strong as that beanie spinner Coptor calls a helicopter blade…which I guess is why Maxx didn’t take him instead…but Blazer’s laser face manages to help soften the rock and metal. The trio save their friends, and Mark’s thoughts turn to capturing Vulgar and Cruel, sure that Hun-Dred is behind this plan because he does lead the bad bots. Wrecker calls for more backup.
Mark comes up with a plan to do something with the mirror the villains were going to use to melt Maxx and Coptor. S.O.T.A. likes the plan so much he starts making mirror jokes. Meanwhile, Hun-Dred isn’t happy to see them flying towards them with the “hidden” mirror. I mean, does this…
I’m not even sure it qualifies as “amazing”.
…look hidden to you? Maybe from straight on, and even then it’s poking out. Hun-Dred calls out Cruel, who asks if he can use the big laser to blow them up. Yeah, whether you know science or science tropes in fiction, I think we all know what’s about to happen.
Frankly I’d be more surprised if they were going to do literally anything else with that.
Hun-Dred manages to escape, swearing to rebuild his troops…from scratch and data back-ups I imaging because there can’t be too many bits left to start with. Or any. One last pun from Maxx, and end story.
So we have promotional material within promotional material, and for as short a story as we have, it’s actually pretty good. I can think of a few Golden Age creators who could benefit from time travel to see it done right. It’s got a few cliches but it’s for an audience that was never exposed to them, or at least as much, so it would be new to them. The art’s pretty good. Overall a neat little tale. As for the actual third comic in the toy pack-in minicomics, hopefully it’s available by our next trip to Zeton.
Next time, however, we’re going to another not-Earth planet. Symbion awaits to see another recent Nacelle resurrection in its original form, a very bugline form in the shape of the Sectaurs.
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