Author's Reflections- Comic #52

#52

A small continuation from the previous strip, it features Optimus being the neurotic mess he is (in my characterization anyway), and going to any means necessary to find out what they’re saying. When I found R2-D2 for strip 38 I also found C-3PO and thought I could use it in a future strip and thought there was no better time than this. I wrestled to try to come up with something hilarious for his failed ‘translation’ but sadly couldn’t come up with something better than I did. It’s random but not the quality I was gunning for. It also provided me weak material to write the Peanut Gallery panel. I think the main overlying joke of the strip worked out alright, but the final punch line left a lot to be desired.

Author's Reflections- Comic #51

#51

I didn’t want to jump right back into a long storyline, so I just went with something easy. The Minicons in the Armada cartoon didn’t talk…they communicated through beeps and needed to be translated by the kids who somehow understood them (ugh). I wanted to portray them as very intelligent. I think my favorite points is Optimus peeking in from the side of the screen and the Minicon’s translated dialogue in the Peanut Gallery panel.

Author's Reflections- Comic #50

#50

The first panel here got a unanimous “WTF?” from readers. That’s really what I was going for anyway, since the Mel Gibson face was just randomly chosen. I put one of my South Park Season Disks into my laptop and cut out the head to paste it into the strip. I thought strip 50 would be as good a place as any to bring the Primes together and go in a new direction. I thought for a long time about just what could bring the characters together and finally realized there was one thing the Transformers can almost agree on: the annoyance of Wheelie. So I put that to good use. I really like the way the panel turned out with all the Primes chasing after him, Freakboy and Fratboy in their fire engine modes. I was a little disappointed that Doughboy was blocked from view a little but overall I was happy with it. Ultra Magnus II’s one-shot was just thrown in for the fun of it.  I was worried I’d have to rewrite the Peanut gallery panel since when I wrote the script I wasn’t sure if the Menasor head would be able to be used as a mask for Hot Shot but I was relived when it worked out perfectly.

Author's Reflections- Comic #49

#49

Optimus Prime is supposedly the begin all end all Transformer…having few faults and someone to pattern your life after. I think one of those faults in the inability to sing on key! Fans of Transformers will recognize the lyrics as being from an 80’s metal song from the 1986 animated movie by the band Specter General. Again I threw in the gigantic insignia joke to make fun of the original cartoon. Menasor was one of my favorite combiners from the original toyline so that’s really the main reason I chose to use it. It worked out great for future strips though so I’m glad I played favorites here! I wrote the entire strip around the idea of Optimus transforming with Ultra Magnus II’s trailer still attached and a pseudo-combination occurring because of it. I find the gigantic feet hilarious personally. In the panel with Optimus looking down at his feet, I drew a squiggly line to symbolize angry cursing but on the chat board it was pointed out that it looked like a penguin on skis. It was unintentional but it makes me chuckle every time I look at this panel. “Super Flying Shoe” is just me making fun of the constant finishing attack moves in every Japanese animation cartoon. I originally had a completely different ending in mind but I remembered Menasor’s face slipped over [combined form’s main body] Motormaster’s face making is more of a mask than a head. I didn’t know exactly where I’d go with it, but I tacked the “A mask?” ending on just for the hell of it. The Peanut gallery panel reveals just how much the trio respects their writer…

Author's Reflections- Comic #48

#48

This strip featured probably one of my best ideas that I sadly never expounded upon again. Using the leg components from the G1 Aerialbot Combiners went over pretty well with the people on the chat board and it was something I wanted to do again, but it was very unstable and required the use of the wall as balance. I really wish it would have worked out a little better because I more than likely would have used the haphazard combination permanently. The Crippled Ultra Magnus II has never been overly popular but has worked to my advantage as background comedy more than once so I suppose it’s for the best. Hot Shot’s line is one I used many years ago after several adult beverages. It made my friends laugh and I’ve probably over used it in real life but it worked perfectly for the panel.

Author's Reflections- Comic #47

#47

This was a transitional strip as an attempt to lead the four new Primes to Optimus in order to wrap up the storyline and continue on to something new. Nothing particularly funny here, but it was the first of many to feature a legless ‘crippled’ Ultra Magnus II. Hot Shot is still portrayed as pretty innocent in this era of the strip, and I love the fact he was stooping to tearing off the leg of a Minicon simply to amuse his friend. His character has evolved to be equally vindictive towards both Hound and Cliffjumper but in my eyes back then he was really just trying to please everyone in his own special way.

Author's Reflections- Comic #46

#46

The G1 Jetfire is a highly popular item by collectors for several reasons. One is its poseability and size is vastly greater than most of the others from that era, but most notably is the fact the design was actually from the Robotech/ Macross line of cartoons and toys and was licensed from rival company Ban Dai so a reissue in modern times is impossible due to legal issues. In the G1 cartoon the design for the character was drastically changed and renamed ‘Skyfire’. This design never saw a toy form. The Classics toy may not have the sheer size the G1 toy had, but fans were elated to see elements from both the Jetfire toy and Skyfire cartoon model. I thought having the two meet face to face would open up comedic doors. It’s placed randomly in the chronology of the strip but I needed a break from the multi-Prime story. Nothing else notable to say for this strip, though the reuse of the actual strip’s punchline worked very well for the Peanut Gallery punchline as well in my opinion.