For the 40th anniversary of The Transformers: The Movie (the name mistake is easy given that the trailers in the day just called it Transformers: The Movie, but the TV series was The Transformers), Hasbro has decided to have a bit of fun with the part of the movie most 80s kids talk about, the death of Optimus Prime.
At the time, Hasbro didn’t realize how important the character has become to kids. One kid even grew up and legally changed his name to Optimus Prime because the character was more of a father than his biological one–and as far as I’m concerned a firefighter and Iraq War veteran has earned the right to call himself whatever the #$%^$# he wants. For kids in the 1980s, Optimus’ death, and that of other G1 characters they come to know and love, was a huge shock because it was nothing we were used to. For Hasbro, it was just a way to send off the old character and make the war look serious so they could sell new toys that kids didn’t own yet. The thought was everyone who wanted and could afford an Optimus Prime already had one, so it’s time to install a new leader, moving the series forward to the far off year of 2005 and introducing a new generation of Autobots and Decepticons to continue the war.
The plan was such a backfire that they brought Optimus back, first for a better attempt at torch-passing to Rodimus Prime in the episode “Dark Awakening”, and when that wasn’t enough just brought him back for good in “The Return Of Optimus Prime”, even giving him a brand new figure as one of the new Powermasters. Unless you were in Japan, which was more used to dead mentors, where they killed him off again in The Headmasters and used the Powermaster Optimus Prime mold to create the new character God Ginrai in Super God Masterforce. Their Optimus, or “Convoy” in Japan, would still get resurrected as Star Convoy, the inspiration for the final 13th Prime in current Hasbro lore, in the Battlestars manga and Return Of Convoy toyline from Takara we never got in the West.
I wasn’t going to write about it, maybe use the trailer for a Daily Video to go alongside my continuing look at the pitches for bringing the cartoon to CBS. Then came an article from That Park Place contributor HT Counter (like I’m one to question screennames). In his commentary he made the case that the apology, which is all in fun, wasn’t necessary, that killing Optimus was actually a good thing narratively. I wouldn’t go quite that far. Do I hate it? I have mixed feelings. I didn’t get to see the movie until it hit home video and TV, so between the comic adaptation and season 3 episodes I was already prepared for the big moment. On the other hand I don’t think he really has a grasp on what the problem actually was in the 1980s and how it affected the kids who sat through the movie. So allow me to add a different perspective.
Two books? These anthologies are long enough at one!
Military Comics #1
Comic Magazines, Inc (August, 1941)
I can tell right now from the list that I probably won’t review further issues until they show up in the Friday rotation, like with National Comics. Maybe not even that since I was never interest in war comics, not even G.I. Joe. This is a curiosity since the only thing that fits pre-DC Tuesday is on the cover. This is the debut of the Blackhawks, or at least the origin of their leader. DC has tried more than once to make them mainstream but as far as the DC Universe goes I think they work better historically, one of those experts the heroes call upon now and then, with side stories of their adventures. Back when World War II was heating up, however? I expect this to be more interesting, especially in an actual war comic. Let’s see if I’m right.
Chapter by Chapter features me reading one chapter of the selected book at the time and reviewing it as if I were reviewing an episode of a TV show or an issue of a comic. There will be spoilers if you haven’t read to the point I have, and if you’ve read further I ask that you don’t spoil anything further into the book. Think of it as read-along book club.
How can we have the villain defeated last chapter and still have about four chapters to go? Well, these two are short enough to review together to meet quota. That helps.
Plus we have had added scenes not just with the TARDIS crew and Vicki but actually seeing what’s going on with the rescue ship. That has to be to pad out the book. “The Rescue” is made of two episodes, where most serials are maybe four to six arcs. I miss those days. The serial made me want to come back for the next episode more than the current seasonal subplot. Plus, while there were longer stinkers in the serial format due to being the same story, you had less single episodes you could just ignore and less stinkers overall due to the good stories also taking up a good part of the season. Even when it was good, new Who just never grabbed me the same way the old shows did because of that one change.
Of course if you never saw those serials, your experience might be different and you prefer the subplot arcs around done-in-one episodes with the obligatory two-parter somewhere in the middle. That’s fine, too. I’m not saying they made the new shows bad (I blame the people making it, especially for more recent takes like Chris Chibnall and Russell T. Davies’ second run), just it doesn’t click for me in quite the same way. It does make this arc a bit harder to adapt into the usual Target novel length, while the new books I don’t think do novelisations. All I’ve seen are brand new stories, like they did during the “wilderness years”. All I know for sure is we have two chapters and it’s time to get to them.
Okay, there might be some confusion here between the Grand Comics Database and the…scan source, but it could just be me. This one appeared in Wizard magazine and serves as a preview for the Ultraforce’s upcoming existence and comic series, of the Ultra version of the Avengers or Justice League. The one at GCD seems to be just text introducing the characters. I’m only doing the Wizard one because it actually has a story, not just describing what’s coming with the occasional image. And so we review:
Oh, they got stuck with THAT Prime for their debut? That’s unfortunate.
It should be noted that there’s a bunch of shows already on Tubi, and some of this list have been there in the past or might be there now. Others are available on MeTV Toons and there is a WB Cartoon Rewind freestreaming channel on Amazon Prime that binges a handful of their library offerings. Still, that’s one impressive list and there are some I’m looking forward to be able to see again.
I didn’t get to do a Jake & Leon comic this week, and my Sunday came with word of a blizzard coming to Connecticut. I decided to focus on getting as much content as I can in case we lose power. That way you get something during the week, though if there’s a day without comic reviews and feature articles, you know why. The Daily Videos got filled out just by chance, so there will be something to come here for during the week. More on that in a moment.
First, this week’s Clutter Report. I was going to go to a local mini comic con on Saturday but I was too tired and at that point I wasn’t sure what the snow was doing. We didn’t get proper warnings until late Saturday night. So while I did more “paperwork” with the goal of giving myself a written down work detail, I posted a video from a home design enthusiast going over decluttering and organizing from that perspective. Then I made an article out of it because it’s not a Daily Video type site.
Back here, depending on the weather, I need to get TWO chapters in to make a decent review for this week’s Chapter By Chapter review o f the novelization of Doctor Who: The Rescue. Will there be new scenes in this one? Meanwhile the second draft of the CBS Transformers cartoon includes possible episodes, so we’ll start going over that. Later on we’ll have a full episode to review, which should be different, but these are just plot summaries, which should still be interesting. They usually are for the shows we actually got, but what about the show we didn’t? Did they save a plot for the syndicated show we received?
Otherwise I’ll see what I’m able to get in. I hope to have all five comic reviews and main articles all week, but it depends on the snow, the power lines, and the clean-up crews. Have a great week, and if you’re joining me on planet Hoth, stay safe out there.
BW Media Spotlight 
BW Vs That Park Place> The Optimus Prime Death Problem
For the 40th anniversary of The Transformers: The Movie (the name mistake is easy given that the trailers in the day just called it Transformers: The Movie, but the TV series was The Transformers), Hasbro has decided to have a bit of fun with the part of the movie most 80s kids talk about, the death of Optimus Prime.
At the time, Hasbro didn’t realize how important the character has become to kids. One kid even grew up and legally changed his name to Optimus Prime because the character was more of a father than his biological one–and as far as I’m concerned a firefighter and Iraq War veteran has earned the right to call himself whatever the #$%^$# he wants. For kids in the 1980s, Optimus’ death, and that of other G1 characters they come to know and love, was a huge shock because it was nothing we were used to. For Hasbro, it was just a way to send off the old character and make the war look serious so they could sell new toys that kids didn’t own yet. The thought was everyone who wanted and could afford an Optimus Prime already had one, so it’s time to install a new leader, moving the series forward to the far off year of 2005 and introducing a new generation of Autobots and Decepticons to continue the war.
The plan was such a backfire that they brought Optimus back, first for a better attempt at torch-passing to Rodimus Prime in the episode “Dark Awakening”, and when that wasn’t enough just brought him back for good in “The Return Of Optimus Prime”, even giving him a brand new figure as one of the new Powermasters. Unless you were in Japan, which was more used to dead mentors, where they killed him off again in The Headmasters and used the Powermaster Optimus Prime mold to create the new character God Ginrai in Super God Masterforce. Their Optimus, or “Convoy” in Japan, would still get resurrected as Star Convoy, the inspiration for the final 13th Prime in current Hasbro lore, in the Battlestars manga and Return Of Convoy toyline from Takara we never got in the West.
I wasn’t going to write about it, maybe use the trailer for a Daily Video to go alongside my continuing look at the pitches for bringing the cartoon to CBS. Then came an article from That Park Place contributor HT Counter (like I’m one to question screennames). In his commentary he made the case that the apology, which is all in fun, wasn’t necessary, that killing Optimus was actually a good thing narratively. I wouldn’t go quite that far. Do I hate it? I have mixed feelings. I didn’t get to see the movie until it hit home video and TV, so between the comic adaptation and season 3 episodes I was already prepared for the big moment. On the other hand I don’t think he really has a grasp on what the problem actually was in the 1980s and how it affected the kids who sat through the movie. So allow me to add a different perspective.
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Posted by ShadowWing Tronix on February 24, 2026 in Animation Spotlight, Movie Spotlight, Television Spotlight and tagged BW versus, commentary, Hot Rod, Optimus Prime, Rodimus Prime, The Transformers: The Movie, Ultra Magnus.
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