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April 26, 2025

Saturday Night Showcase> Transformers: Enter The Nightbird–Which Ninja Edition

I was going to use Gaijin Goombah‘s latest Which Ninja episode on Nightbird, from the original cartoon, for a Daily Video, but then he ran into some trouble with not being able to use voiced clips due to Hasbro complaining. That’s the first I’ve heard of them doing that, but that’s YouTube life for you. So why not allow you to see the context he had to put in text by showing you the actual episode from Hasbro Pulse‘s official channel? (I’d use the official Transformers channel but YouTube also has an issue with letting you scan kids entertainment channels because they totally don’t understand why they got in trouble with the government for data mining kids.)

For the uninitiated, “Enter The Nightbird” was an episode of the original The Transformers. Airing in season 2 of the syndicated cartoon, a roboticist in Japan creates a Cybertronian sized robotic ninja named Nightbird. Why? He was bored. Megatron sees potential despite lacking the ability to transform, making Starscream worried about his job because it’s a safe bet. Thus the Autobots must retrieve two pieces of stolen property; the one stolen by Megatron and the one stolen by the other stolen property.

Meanwhile, Gaijin Goombah’s audience requested a ninja analysis of Nightbird because even now 80 robot ninja fans just really like her. I wonder if I can get him to do an episode on Ninjzz from The Bots Master, if only as punishment for being part of the crowd that gets Batarangs confused with shurikens thanks to Christopher Nolan. First we’ll watch the episode, then the analysis, and as a bonus, Chris McFeely‘s history of Nightbird after this from Transformers: The Basics. I think I posted that one before, but it came up in YouTube’s suggestions so why not make this a Nightbird festival? Enjoy.

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Posted by ShadowWing Tronix on April 26, 2025 in Animation Spotlight, Saturday Night Showcase, Television Spotlight and tagged 1980s, 80s cartoon, 80s television, Chris McFeely, Enter The Nightbird, Gaijin Goombah, kids TV, Marvel Productions, Nightbird, Saturday Night Showcase, The Transformers (cartoon), Transformers, Transformers: The Basics, Which Ninja.

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April 26, 2025

BW’s Daily Article Link> Netflix Vs. Movie Theaters

It’s not like Netflix hasn’t made clear their intention to get rid of movie theaters. One of the co-founders has it as a goal if memory serves, and of course less money in theaters in favor of home viewing potentially means more money for Netflix if they don’t stop chasing people off with terrible adaptations, constant price hikes, and other things that have led people away from Netflix and towards free ad-supported streaming sites. That’s why CEO Ted Sarandos insisting Netflix is “saving Hollywood” or “(w)e really do care that we deliver the program to you in a way you want to watch it, and it’s a program that you love and desire” is easily countered by everything from Rebel Moon to Avatar: The Last Airbender to any anime adaptation and translation they seem to put out lately if the source material creator isn’t involved. “They made the better Daredevil adaptation.” They also made the Iron Fist adaptation people hated. Netflix isn’t even saving Netflix right now.

Posted by ShadowWing Tronix on April 26, 2025 in Movie Spotlight, Streaming Spotlight and tagged Hollywood, Movie theater, Netflix.

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April 25, 2025

Free Comic Inside> The Sectaurs’ Waspax Has One Of Those Days

Kind of interesting that two of the Nacelleverse’s recent acquisitions are currently next to each other in my old pack-in minicomic list. It’s also the only other one currently on the list. Last time we checked in with the classic Robo Force, and now it’s back to Symbion…one of the continuities that shouldn’t fit into a shared universe because it takes place on Symbion, a planet where technology has been lost and thanks to a plague accidentally created in a lab (sound familiar?) the planet all mutated into bug people with telepathic giant bug friends. The question of how they got to Detroit can, as of this writing, only be told in a joke at Detroit’s expense.

Nacelle put out their Sectaur toys last year while I wasn’t paying attention. However, we’re going back to 1985 (cue Bowling For Soup song) and the original Coleco toyline. They actually had minicomics, which we’ve look at before thanks to the website Sectaurs.com. (Please don’t hit them, Nacelle. I have reviews to write and this isn’t a toyline for me to collect even if I had money. Plus these are old, out of print minicomics and shouldn’t affect you.) It’s the fifth comic in the group, focusing on the Dark Domain’s elite warrior Waspax and his loyal companion Wingid. Wingid is not one of the rideable puppet bug but a smaller giant insect, like his own puppy pal if the puppy were a giant insect. Most dogs aren’t.

Sectaurs comic E (as listed)

Featuring: Commander Waspax & Wingid

Coleco (1985)

It’s too bad there are no credits in these comics. The art is pretty good for not using DC, Marvel, or Dark Horse. Unfortunately I’m not working with the highest quality scans. Just to read them I had to open them in a new tab and zoom in. You can try to read along but that’s what I’m working with when it comes to the images.

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Posted by ShadowWing Tronix on April 25, 2025 in Free Comic Inside and tagged Dargon, Dragonflyer, Free Comic Inside, mini-comic, Minicomic, Prince Dargon, Sectaurs, Waspax, Wingid.

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April 25, 2025

“Yesterday’s” Comic> Fantastic Comics #1

“There’s a door two feet to your left!”

Fantastic Comics #1

I’ll be the judge of that. 😀

Fox Publications, Inc (December, 1939)

We have a new title to catch from the beginning, and this time it’s actually starting with a #1. We have 23 issues, since the 24th issue isn’t in public domain. It was done by Image Comics as part of something I wasn’t aware they did. Might be interesting to look more into someday. There will be a few origins here, but since none of these characters made it past this series outside of the Image special, or at least not out of Fox Features Syndicate comics that I’m currently aware of (that might change in the comments), so we get to find out why over time. Blue Beetle was the only one to make it, and even he didn’t exactly come out the same way he went in.

[Read along with me here]

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Posted by ShadowWing Tronix on April 25, 2025 in Yesterday's Comics and tagged Captain Kidd, Flick Falcon, Fox Features Publication, Professor Fiend, Samson (Fox Features), Space Smith, Stardust the Super Wizard, Sub Saunders, The Golden Knight, Yank Wilson.

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April 25, 2025

BW’s Daily Video> What Is Killing Comic Conventions?

Catch more from The DOOMCAST on YouTube

Posted by ShadowWing Tronix on April 25, 2025 in Convention Reports and tagged comic convention, commentary, Conventions and Organizations, Fan convention.

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April 24, 2025

Writing Clips Versus Writing Movies

This a clip from The NeverEnding Story, my all-time favorite movie. Yes, I acknowledge it’s an inaccurate adaptation of the Michael Ende novel and I probably wouldn’t enjoy the book because it has a counter message to this movie. I didn’t know that at the time I saw this movie, or for many years later. I don’t “deserve” my version but I will enjoy it since it’s here. That’s not being a hypocrite. I believe the fans of the book and the author have the right to be upset and I’m not against a proper translation. Sorry, where was I?

It’s also one of my favorite scenes in movies. It goes into why I enjoy stories so much, not just books. We’re with the heroes on their adventures, whether it’s winning a true love, conquering a mountain, or defeating a great evil. However, the clip only works because I did live the adventure through the movie, following Bastian as he was drawn into the story of Fantasia, then with Atreyu as he searched for the human child, and then Bastian again as he restored Fantasia through wishes and imagination, to dream of something better. The second movie does note that wishing isn’t enough. You have to make it happen and follow through rather than just wishing everything to happen. The third movie is not worth existing.

I’m seeing a growing trend that writers now seem to be more interested in scenes than full stories. They want people talking about the clip on social media, sharing that big moment with everyone, as a sense of personal validation perhaps. Perch of Comics By Perch even has noted that writers in comics talk about wanting to tell a particular scene, like Superman having lunch with Lex Luthor, and just want to do that rather than Superman doing some superheroics. They want to write scenes people talk about, but I don’t think they understand why those scenes work.

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