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Transformers Comic issue 23

2009-05-09T22:38:17Z

90.217.37.143: /* Errors */

{{Template:Comicnav | Transformers (Titan Magazine) | 23 | seriesname=Titan Transformers Comic | prev=Transformers Comic issue 22 | next=Transformers Comic issue 24 |series2=Transformers Animated (Titan) | seriesname2=''Animated'' continuity |issuenumber2=Divebomb | prev2=Animated Comic issue 3| next2=Megatron's Revenge }}

[[Image:Tf mag 23 2009.JPG|right|250px|thumb|"Hi, I'm a friend of... Doug's I mean Keith I mean... look, just let me in, alright?!"]]

'''"Autobots, transform and bugger off!"

''Transformers Universe #23 was published by [[Titan Books|Titan Magazines]] in March 2009.''

==Magazine Credits==
*'''Editor:''' [[Steve White]]
*'''Designer:''' [[Danny Preston]]
*'''Deputy Editor:''' [[Den Patrick]]
*'''Contributing Editors:''' Natalie Clubb, Andrew James and Ned Hartley
*'''Publishing Manager:''' [[Darryl Curtis]]

==Contents==
===Revolution Part 1===
*'''Script:''' [[Simon Furman]]
*'''Art:''' [[Lee Bradley]]
*'''Colours:''' [[Jason Cardy]]
*'''Lettering:''' [[Jimmy Betancourt]]/[[Comicraft]]

In ten major American population centres—including <strike>Devastator</strike> [[Brawl (Movie)|Brawl]] in Baltimore, [[Wreckage (Movie)|Wreckage]] in Pittsburgh, and [[Barricade (Movie)|Barricade]] in Cincinnati—the Decepticons attack without warning! Each time, mass destruction is caused with the message that the Decepticons are content to live in peace in their new homeland, but until the United States boots out the Autobots there shall be ''no'' respite from attack!

At [[Andrews Air Force Base]], Maryland, [[General Seward]] and the Autobots monitor the reports, with Optimus noting these lightning attacks are hard to police. But Seward reveals that [[Theodore Allen|President Allen's]] orders are to ''not'' take action for the time being. [[Bumblebee (Movie)|Bumblebee]] is surprised anyone would believe that the Decepticons won't simply re-conquer North America the instant the Autobots leave, but Optimus knows—and has Seward confirm—that the government has already secretly decided to give the 'bots the boot. But he's already anticipated this, and has [[Ironhide (Movie)|Ironhide]] head off (with a confused Bumblebee) to carry out a contingency plan...

The next day, Allen makes a speech to the American people, declaring there is a truce with the [[Decepticon Heartland]] and the Autobots are to leave American soil. Meanwhile, the Decepticons are massing for a full assault the instant the Autobots leave (SHOCK!). The [[Megatron (Movie)|Megatron]] in [[Starscream (Movie)|Starscream's]] head tells him everything is going to plan...

In Falls Church, [[Virginia]], [[Mikaela Banes|Mikaela]] wants to refuse to accept that Bumblebee is leaving but there's nothing she can do about it. As the two friends share a last moment, [[Dropkick]] appears to escort the stray Autobot to the launch site. Bumblebee immediately drives off at high speed, getting Dropkick to follow, and then lures him into damaging himself, because... well, cos he ''can'', really.

[[Image:Titan23_they'regone.JPG|left|250px|thumb|]]

Once Bumblebee arrives at Maryland, the Autobots depart from Earth in their ship. Seward is apologetic, and Mikaela considers the departure a terrible mistake. But as the ship takes off, Allen orders a Patriot missile—fitted with a nuclear warhead—fired at the departing Autobot ship! Mikaela, Seward and the Andrews Air Base staff have just enough time to identify what it is, plot the countdown, and note a second-long glitch on their monitoring equipment...

And then the Autobot ship is destroyed!

'''Continued Next Issue'''

{{-}}
[[Image:Tf mag 23 Animated Pullout.JPG|right|250px|thumb|Battle of the Furman faves!]]

===Divebomb===
*'''Script:''' [[Simon Furman]]
*'''Art:''' [[John McCrea]]
*'''Colours:''' [[John Burns]]
*'''Lettering:''' [[Jimmy Betancourt]]/[[Comicraft]]

On [[Dinobot Island (Animated)|Dinobot Island]], [[Grimlock (Animated)|Grimlock]] and [[Swoop (Animated)|Swoop]] are in mortal combat—Grimlock is tired of the challenges to his leadership, and violently evicts Swoop from the Dinobots! He then finds out Swoop was ''right'' about the quiz show on the telly, milk ''does'' come from a cow, but pettily refuses to take Swoop back anyway. Poor [[Snarl (Animated)|Snarl]] just sits there being told to keep his mouth shut.

On his way to [[Detroit]], Swoop buzzes a USAF jet, causing an angry [[General Macadam]] to call up the Autobots and give [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus Prime]] an earful about keeping his men in line. Optimus wants to sort this out to keep good relations with Earth's armies, and the Autobots wonder how they'll find Swoo— oh, wait, he just turned up outside. Optimus gives the guy a very stern rebuke... just in time for [[Bumblebee (Animated)|Bumblebee]] to work out Swoop turned up to join and help them, and for an affronted Swoop to fly off. Whoops!

The next day, at [[Battle Creek Airforce Base]], Macadam oversees the launch of the automated stealth bomber [[Wraith-X.]] The instant it's launched, [[Starscream (Animated)|Starscream]] attacks, hacks the plane, and sends it to destroy Detroit! Macadam immediately calls up an amused Optimus to ask for help, and mentions the Wraith-X will probably be targeting the ''exact'' location of the Autobot base—as ''someone's'' been sending encrypted transmissions from that vicinity. The Autobots decide to look into that, while also wondering how they can possibly find the Wraith-X... until Bumblebee hits on the idea of using Swoop!

[[Image:TitanSwoop.jpg|left|200px|thumb|''He'' started it.]]

A sulky Swoop is met by Bumblebee, both hanging upside down from a bridge, who tells the Dinobot that he ''does'' owe them for [[Afterburn]] saving him [[Animated Comic issue 2|from the Rage virus]]. If Afterburn wasn't on some super-cool [[Cybertron Elite Guard|Elite Guard]] Special Ops mission, why, he'd be there himself! Bumblebee then switches tactics to saying Swoop could be part of a big family... and that it'd be a good chance to show off what he can do to the other Autobots...

''That'' gets Swoop into action, making visual contact with the Wraith-X and flying in to board it and manually access the guidance controls. He just barely manages to board and, struggling in the slipstream, just manages to reach the guidance in time... causing the Wraith-X to crash down in water and explode! Has Swoop survived?! Of course he has! Optimus Prime congratulates his heroism—yay Swoop!

Much later, at the Autobot base, Afterburn is back from his ops mission... communicating with [[Megatron (Animated)|Megatron]], stating himself to have been the one behind the mysterious transmissions, and even referring to his special ops work as "special ops"?! Bumblebee walks in and has just enough time to be confused ''when Megatron personally attacks''...
{{-}}

===Articles & features===
* Character Profile: [[Magmatron]].
* Cybertronian Residency Exam: Starscream tests us to see if the Decepticons want us to emigrate. (Get them all right and they kill you for being a square)
* Bumblebee's Way Past Cool Reviews: Video game reviews.
* Top Gear: Transformers competition and product placement, as well as other competitions.
* Competitions to win Transformers bedsheets and a Sonic video game.
* Transdoku: A Transformers Animated puzzle
* Art Envelope: A pull-out page that folds into an envelope addressed to Titan, and which will have on it a caption competition, a blank space for your drawings, and a reader's survey on the comic.
* Star Screams: Letters, art and photos from readers, answered by Starscream..

===Free Gift===
* "'''2''' FAB FREE GIFTS!!!"—a pen and two lots of stickers

===Reprints===
''Reprinted stories are only a portion of their respective issues.''

* [[Megatron Origin|Megatron Origin, part 3c]] (7 pages)
* [[The Ascending|Beast Wars: The Ascending part 3c]] (8 pages)

==Errors==
* The "Previously" sections for both strips ''mentions plot points of this issue's strips''. Gah!
* We're used to artists drawing the characters differently in this comic, but why does Allen now have glasses?
* How does Starscream hack the Wraith-X? Er... it's not shown at all, he just says things to it and it flies off for no reason.
* Prowl thinks Sari is the only non-Autobot who knows their HQ's location. Er... [[Transformers Comic issue 17|Starscream knows, and you know he knows]].
* Optimus is missing his nose in one panel so what i done is drawn him a nose!.

==Quotes==
===Revolution===
"There are those who... see you as part of the ''problem'', rather than the solution." 
"I understand. I take it our ultimate fate has ''already'' been decided?" 
"Well... the President is due to address Congress in an emergency session this evening. But, yeah, the die is cast. I'm ''sorry''..."
:—'''Seward''' and '''Optimus'''

"Our great nation has endured much these past two years, and we owe our current liberty—in part—to the valiant Autobots who fought alongside us. But the war is ''over''. We have peace now, a truce. And we can allow ''nothing'' to threaten this newfound stability. And so, with deep regret, we feel it's time for those selfsame Autobots to ''move on''."
:—'''President Allen''' to the nation

"Since Sam d— since Sam, you've been a friend. Every time I needed you... you were there." 
"And I will be ''again''."
:—'''Mikaela''' and '''Bumblebee'''

"If you ''need'' us... we'll be back.
:—'''Optimus Prime'''

"Impact in ''three'', ''two''..." 
"... They're ''gone."
:—'''Seward''' and '''Mikaela''' witness the end...

===Divebomb===

"So you right about ''quiz show'', Swoop, you still not right about ''many other things''. Fly away then! Fah. ''Good riddance''. ''Looong'' list of applicants for Dinobots position. *turns to completely-silent Snarl* Shut up, Snarl. When Grimlock ''want'' your opinion, he ask for it."
:—'''Grimlock''' to a silent '''Snarl'''

"Finding Swoop's easy, Bumblebee." 
"Oh? And where ''exactly'' do you suggest we look, old timer?" 
"*points out window at Swoop* Try... outside, ''kid''."
:—'''Ratchet''' and '''Bumblebee'''

"I should have realised a ''sparkless drone'' would never get the job done. Luckily for you, I always intended to finish things in ''person''. Let me ''start'' by cleaning up my ''mistake''..."
:—'''Megatron''' to '''Afterburn'''

===Star Screams===
"I can say nothing on the subject of the [second] film due to the official secrets act. Any information I give away now could harm the Decepticon war effort. Careless talk costs sparks."

"The issue you are referring to is '[[scale]]' and how different robots compare to each other. Clearly, the pitiful humans at Hasbro are so overwhelmed by the awesomeness of Cybertronian life forms that they can't get the scale right."

"When my toy was in production I offered Hasbro a free interview—I even offered to sign the first 100 boxes, but no one returned my calls ... they're now on the list..."

"Seeing [[Optimus Primal toys|that]] [[Optimus Prime (Armada) toys|many]] [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus]] [[Optimus Prime (Movie)|Primes]] in one place has made me feel distinctly queasy. It's enough to make any self-respecting Decepticon blow Energon cubes."

==Items of note==
* The Animated strip comes in a "pull out" section, complete with cover, allowing it to turn into a smaller comic.
* G1 homages in this issue include the [[Wrecker|"Wreck and Rule"]] plate on Wreckage, the Autobot craft looking like the Ark, and General [[Maccadam's Old Oil House|Macadam]].
* The Previously section for "Revolution" hints that Megatron may just be a delusion of Starscream, rather than the guy's mind actually being in his head.
* We know it's Brawl and not Devastator solely because of the cover text. Where Devastator is remains unknown.
* The Decepticons are said to be capable of "re-taking the entirety of North America!", which implies [[Canada]] and [[Mexico]] may have been conquered before as well even though we haven't seen or heard of their post-occupation rebuilding. Nor France or any other nation, come to think of it.
* Allen outright places the first film as being in 2007 and the comic as being in 2009, making it sort-of real time. This is not uncommon in British comics.
* The Animated Autobots, or at least Optimus, appear to be familiar with Macadam and have had some dealings with the military.
* Swoop and Snarl ''have'' talked in previous Titan strips and are presented as talking, unlike in the cartoon where they seem mute. Here, Swoop only talks once off-panel, while Snarl stays silent for humourous effect.
* Starscream isn't being nasty to the letter writers. Is he ill?
* The cover says that "Brawl causes a scene!". Brawl appears for all of one page.

[[Category:Comics]]
[[Category:Movie]]
[[Category:Transformers Magazine issues]]

Transmutate (BW)

2009-05-09T13:11:55Z

90.217.37.143: /* Trivia */

{{disambig2|the Beast Wars character|the Beast Wars cartoon episode|Transmutate (episode)}}
:''Transmutate is a non-aligned Transformer from the [[Beast Wars]] [[continuity family]].''

[[Image:Transmutate.jpg|right|250px|thumb|MU-tilate. MU-tant. Hm. I wonder. Oh well.]]
'''Transmutate''' is a mutant Transformer, partially [[Transmetal]], born from a heavily-damaged [[stasis pod]] (likely due to it landing in the seismically-unstable [[Grid Deltron]]). The creature possesses very little intelligence and is utterly innocent in personality, curious and childlike.

However, it also contains inconceivable destructive power (i.e. super-sonic screams and somewhat strong force fields) to boot, making it extremely dangerous to keep unsupervised and uncontained. Though it has no alternate form or beast mode, it does have the ability to flyyyyyyyyy.

==Fiction==
===''Beast Wars'' cartoon===
:''Voice actor:'' [[Susan Blu]] (English), [[Haruna Ikezawa]] (Japanese)

Both factions considered Transmutate to be too dangerous to recruit. [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] decided to have it destroyed as without enough intelligence it was useless to him, while [[Optimus Primal]] felt that it was a danger to itself as well as those around it and suggested putting it into [[stasis lock]], presumably until a solution could be found. This caused considerable concern for both [[Silverbolt (BW)|Silverbolt]] and [[Rampage (BW)|Rampage]]. Silverbolt felt it was a [[Maximal]]'s duty to protect all sentient life, and Rampage simply found a kindred spirit in Transmutate's tortured existence.

Transmutate managed to befriend both Transformers, which caused some friction between them. Eventually, they came to blows. Transmutate sacrificed itself in order to prevent the two Transformers from killing each other. {{storylink|Transmutate (episode)|Transmutate}}

==Toys==
===Beast Wars===
[[Image:BW10 Transmutate.jpg|thumb|150px|Not wanted anywhere but eBay.]]
Transmutate was never sold as an individual toy. Rather, it was only available with the first two waves of Beast Wars 10th Anniversary toys in 2006; each of the first six releases had a part to "Trans-Mutate" packaged with it. All six parts combined to form a non-transformable figure with limited articulation... but the simple fact that an official figure of a one-episode show character got ''made'' is itself an extraordinary occurrence.

*Head - [[Waspinator (BW)|Waspinator]]
*Torso - [[Cheetor (BW)|Cheetor]]
*Waist & right leg - [[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]]
*Left leg - [[Tarantulas]]
*Right arm - [[Rattrap]]
*Left arm - [[Dinobot (BW)|Dinobot]]

==Trivia==
* A minor point of argument among fans is exactly why the Maximals were so quick to stasis-lock Transmutate instead of transferring its spark to another body like Rhinox did with Optimus Primal following the latter's unintentional sacrifice. It was stated only that its core consciousness and body structure were mutilated beyond recovery; no mention was made about the condition of its spark. Of course, the euthanasia metaphor of the character's titular episode would fall apart if they did that, but hey, semantics.
*In regard to the previous bit of trivia, the script for this episode explicitly states that Transmutate's spark was unstable: "Energy ERUPTS throughout Its body as Its own unstable spark begins to tear It apart." Although stage direction and narration from scripts are only [[pseudocanon]], this may nonetheless satisfy some fans that the spark was indeed as damaged as the body. The script, like many ''Beast Wars'' scripts, can be found on [http://bwtf.com/bw/tvshow/episodes/seasontwo/ BWTF.com].[[Image:Transmutate Facepic.jpg|right|150px|thumb|A face only the noble or psychotic could love.]]
* Also from the episode script comes this character description in the cast listing section: ''TRANSMUTATE: a being with no beauty of form nor logic of shape, massive, made of unmatched parts: bits of Predacon, pieces of Maximal, chunks of Fuzor and Transmetal, heavy-duty weapons, and a face that vaguely indicates it is female.'' This wording lends some credence to the fan notion that Transmutate was originally a female Protoform. However, Transmutate is consistently referred to within the script using genderless pronouns, confusing the issue.
* According to [[Ben Yee]] on [[Madman Entertainment]]'s ''Beast Wars'' Season 2 DVD commentaries, Hasbro attempted to replicate Transmutate's sonic scream attacks first as a spring-loaded projectile, then as a static decoration. Fortunately for the sake of good taste, they abandoned those plans.
*Transmutate's face is friggin' creepy. Look at it. ''Just look at it.''

'''Bold text'''

==External links==
* [http://www.tfu.info/2006/Maximal/Trans-Mutate/trans-mutate.htm Trans-Mutate at TFU.info]

[[Category:Beast Wars characters]]
[[Category:Neutrals]]
[[Category:Transmetals]]