Author's Reflections- Comic #450

#450

 

Lots of clichés here, and I didn’t feel like the buildup went on too terribly long…but the poor focus on the reveal panel of the upgraded Mini-Megs ruined the end result for me. It was absolutely disappointing, since the picture looked great on the camera’s screen. You win some, you lose some.

 

I got a lot of questions about how Maxi-Megs tied into Megatron from the live action movies, since that’s the leader class Megatron toy from the 2007 movie toyline, and at this point in time I knew I wanted there to be SOME sort of connection but I honestly had no idea.

Author's Reflections- Comic #449

#449

 

Here’s another easy comic that turned out well…all the main characters for the upcoming storyline were featured in this comic, all heading for the same destination. It also brought back Nemesis Prime and Galvatron, which I was really excited for.

 

“Tard Train” is definitely not the most PC thing but a cheap laugh is a cheap laugh. I’m fortunate that I don’t get offended very easily. Hot Shot’s comment about Cliffjumper insulting himself was supposed to be about Cliffjumper saying he wanted to be the caboose of the ‘tard train. It doesn’t even look good on paper, I have no idea why I didn’t change it.

Author's Reflections- Comic #448

#448

 

For not being a long comic, I enjoy the dialogue in this. Optimus was always really easy to write for. I also like Grimlock’s line “It lacks happy” and Hound saying that the weirdness in the main comic is tame compared to what he used to, and of course Cliffjumper’s reaction and Hot Shot wanting to bring strippers to Hound’s “surprise party”.

Author's Reflections- Comic #447

#447

 

Normally I’d use characters at random with a couple exceptions, but I went into this with certain characters and their abilities in mind. And secondly, most of these guys just got new upgrades so I wanted to start using them within the comic on a normal basis. My favorite part of this comic is when Hound corrects Optimus on what to call Maynard. I realized that up to this point the Autobots hadn’t had much interaction with the Decepticons during the big upgrading saga, and therefore wouldn’t know the robot had a name.

Author's Reflections- Comic #446

#446

 

There’s nothing exceptional about this comic, but inept Optimus will always be one of my most favorite things during the entire comic run.

Author's Reflections- Comic #445

#445

 

This effectively began the precursor for the next big storyline…I probably should have done some self contained comics in the meantime but I always felt like I was better at the big stories for the most part. Powerglide being white never quite sat well with me so I bought the Japanese version of the toy, which was properly colored red like the original character.

 

Hound leaving the commentary trio to warn Optimus about Maynard was a set up for a simple idea I had down the line, but the changeup helped recharge my batteries for the three of them and I had fun just dealing with Hot Shot and Cliffjumper for the bookend panel.

 

I had recently bought a new camera and this was the first comic I took pictures for with it. It wasn’t as great as I thought it would be, and I had major problems getting clear shots no matter how hard I tried for some of the panels.

Author's Reflections- Comics #441-444

#441

 

 

#442

 

 

#443

 

#444

#441-444

 

I had something big planned for Grimlock and I needed both Maynard and Ratchet’s upgrading machine to be involved to explain it. Masterpiece Grimlock was just too good not to use in the comic. It was an expensive collector’s item but I didn’t intend on doing anything too rough with it, and it’s actually rock-solid as a toy. To get an upgrade of that magnitude I felt Grimlock needed to be blasted by Maynard while simultaneously being upgraded by Ratchet’s machine. I’m really happy with the way it turned out. At this point I was over using upgrades as a plotline so blowing up the machine seemed like the thing to do. Fun fact: I still have the piece of the box with “Roborotica” written on it in a closet along with a few other artifacts I used for the comic. I left Maynard alive since there was always the possibility to introduce more upgrades in the future, and with Ratchet’s machine destroyed, he would be needed.