I remember when this trailer first dropped that people on alt.toys.transformers, the Transformers newsgroup I was part of at the time, freaked out. While some were on board with this possibly being the theme song (at the time I think I was one of them but at this point I’ve changed my mind and I’m glad they didn’t) a lot of voices were really hoping it wasn’t. They got their wish, but this was how the show, previously in syndication in the US, was announced as coming to Fox Kids.
The show was really controversial at the time too. You can do a full read-up of the series here, but here’s the short version. Bob Skir took most of the punishment from fans because he had a Q&A series on the fansite BigBot.com, which was itself occasionally controversial, but he and Marty Isenberg, who went on to work on the more well received Transformers Animated, had been told to ignore previous continuity despite being a direct spinoff from Beast Wars which was in the G1 universe. This should not surprise you when I tell you who their boss was…Dan DiDio. It was also a darker take on the series, which I am willing to also blame on DiDio given the horrors he’s unleashed on DC comics and their characters. However, it was Hasbro that wanted a more spiritual element, which led to the Oracle, the concept of technorganic Maximals versus drone Vehicons and Megatron’s generals, Megatron for some reason now hating all organic life while the Maximals were trying to create a balanced world between organic and technological, and was a big source of that same controversy during Optimus Primal’s brief journey into extremism. Also, it gave us Nightscream, the only Transformer who can join Kicker, Fred & Billy, and Miko on the list of I NEVER WANT TO SEE THIS EVER AGAIN! (Miko has her moments but I still find it hard to like her. I like more than Nightscrap or the other losers though.)
All that said, it was a well-told story that built on the idea of what a “spark” is in Transformers, was some of Mainframe’s best CG at the time as they continued to evolve as animators, and in the end is a pretty good show. While “Evolution Revolution” isn’t the song they went with what we got wasn’t too bad.
Why We Need Comic Stores
The above tweet by Comics Explained set off a firestorm. At a time when comic stores are on the decline he’s apparently part of the all digital way of thinking. There’s a group who believes that digital comics aren’t just the future but the only future, and print comics in any form are a waste of time. I disagree with that. Print comics don’t require electricity beyond maybe a light to read by, are harder to accidentally delete, and offer up its own reading experience. I don’t mind digital comics obviously given that I make them and read quite a few but there are advantages to print comics.
There are also advantages to a comic book or any physical store that apparently the tweeter realizes. I’m going to start with a video by Just Some Guy but I have some thoughts of my own I want to add to it, including one disagreement I have with his video response. As soon as you hear it, you’ll probably know what it is if you’ve followed this site long enough. Note that he does drop a few curses, and the N-word but he’s black so he’s fine.
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Posted by ShadowWing Tronix on October 23, 2019 in Comic Spotlight and tagged comic stores, commentary.
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