Classic and new Christmas specials and longer videos. See what I add all year and see if one of your favorites is on the list.
I don’t think I’m going to go through all of the production notes. You can get it from the Sunbow Marvel Archive, unlike the Doctor Who notes we have documents that will be going over everything in there anyway. I do want to focus on a few things of interest. For example we’ll be checking out the Autobots and their human allies in this section. I think we’re still on the first draft’s notes going in. Whomever put this file together opted to put them all in one big file rather than separate between drafts.
We already know some to most of what’s in this because we have the “final” results, but I’m still hoping for some interesting curiosities going in, and we have official Hasbro and CBS notes in this at some point. Sadly, we won’t be going over those today, but these are the notes going into the first draft, and hopefully we’ll learn something interesting.
That’s all the padding I can come up with for an intro. Unless this is your first installment, and I do recommend to at least read the article series intro to get caught up, you already know everything going into this. Let’s just roll out already.
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You’re welcome, ladies.
Fight Comics #2
Fight Stories, Inc (February, 1940)
I wasn’t exactly impressed with the first issue. Picking this up is more of a curiosity. So many of the stories in the first issue ended so definitely I wasn’t sure how to make a series out of them. So I want to see how many stories fro mthere have a continuation here. I also want to see if I’m going to continue past this issue. Most of the previous issue was about one time of fighting, and I’m not into boxing. Only one way to find out.
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Catch more Transformers: The Basics from Chris McFeely on YouTube
I have a fan translation of two pages of the manga, where we meet the first female Decepticons. I did the lettering based on Doug Dlin’s translation. You can see it in a really old article, but the piece was originally for my old Transformers fansite based on a posting at the alt.toys.transformers newsgroup.
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I usually do something for Thanksgiving, but honestly, after 16 years I’m not sure what to add. There’s always new Christmas music and specials, but Thanksgiving specials now tend to lean towards the food and not the origins. It’s not hard to do a search for Thanksgiving posts I’ve done in the past, including specials. Some of those videos might actually still work! Maybe. This year I decided to do something different, which may be a relief to my non-American readers. Plus I was never heavy into Thanksgiving, important as it is to US history.
So…YouTube recommends the above video, or rather a recent repost by The Line, a YouTube animation channel without the closing credits. Well forget that. Give me more of that rockin’ intro, and I’ve made clear that I love my suit-up transformations. So I was going to make it a Daily Video and call it a day, but then I watched the documentary by the animation group for the short. Super Turbo Atomic Ninja Rabbit wasn’t just showing off. It was a passion project based on the creator’s history watching the same cartoons growing up that I did. It’s probably why I gravitated to it so much, as apparently have many others.
This sent me down a…pun totally intended…rabbit hole into the short. Not only was work put into the intro, but they made a whole experience for it. Like, there’s a lot of effort in this, and me being me, I just have to show this stuff off. Note that there is occasional cursing in the documentary.
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“Another reboot? Now I know how the Legion Of Super-Heroes feel.”
Valiant Beyond–Preview Edition
Valiant Comics/Alien Books (July, 2025)
FLATS: Ludwig Olimba
LETTERER: Ezequiel Inverni
EDITORS: Lysa Hawkins & Clara Bartolozzi
From the Drive Thru Comics description because they know more than I do about this:
If you missed this year’s San Diego Comic-Con and are a Valiant fan? Well, then you missed picking up the Valiant Beyond San Diego Comic-Con 2025 Ashcan.
But what if you didn’t? Because we have the full, 32-page preview issue!
Featuring looks at what’s coming for new takes on Bloodshot, Shadowman, X-O Manowar, and Harbinger, you’ve got some lettered pages, some black and white pages, and even some other teases of what’s next for the storied imprint.
I believe this is the third or fourth version of the Valiant Universe. The first was created by Jim Shooter, whose investors basically stole it from him. Then Acclaim bought it for their Acclaim Comics/Valiant Heroes re-imagine of most of the characters. Someone else brought back in the early 2000s, and now it’s owned by Alien Books. A lot of acquisitions for someone outside the big two, and I might be missing one. This is an anthology of stories so let’s take a look.
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Catch more from Taylor Talks on YouTube
Plus the same concerns that almost kept Franklin out of the comic almost kept him out of the special. It was a different time back then. I discussed another reason for Franklin’s position oddly enough in Jake & Leon.
Seriously, Linus and Franklin are the only two people I would trust to have Charlie Brown’s back, and one of them is on the opposing baseball team. He’s also the “straight man” and probably the most sane character. Which is tough sitting near Peppermint Patty in school.
BW Media Spotlight 
BW’s Saturday Article Link> The Real Culture/Politics Power Dynamic
What does this have to do with the topic? Admittedly little. I just needed an image and it’s Aquaman riding dolphins to chase the Penguin. I need no other reason.
We’ve heard that “politics is downstream from culture”, the idea that affecting the culture may in turn affect how people act politically. Making a case against that expression is author and commentator Brian Newmeyer, who makes the case that politics has more control over culture than you might realize. I’m not saying it’s necessarily wrong, but it may actually be more cylindrical, an oryborous of political culture. Culture can affect people when it sneaks past politics while the current climate will affect what draws people in culturally. So everybody’s right…except the people who are wrong.
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Posted by ShadowWing Tronix on November 29, 2025 in Uncategorized and tagged commentary, Politics, stories and culture.
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