Detroit Powell Press

The Detroit Powell Press is a newspaper from the Animated continuity family.

The Detroit Powell Press is a newspaper published by Porter C. Powell in the city of Detroit.

Fiction

Transformers Animated

The Detroit Powell Press covered the story of The Wraith's misadventures in their July 20th issue, written by Irwin Spoon. Other stories in this issue involve the Sumdac Systems / Detroit sanitation dispute, information from Surgeon General Arkeville about how to fight off the Hate Plague and pictures of a celebrities Mont Porte vacation. Advertisements in this issue include the movie Monster from Mars, Wyatt Toys, Circiut Guys Electronics, the Dancitron and Roadhog Horton's Motorcycle Show. The AllSpark Almanac

During Dirt Boss' various raids on Detroit oil sources, several editions of the Detroit Powell Press came out featuring headlines like "Oil Profits Dry Up" and "Pain at the Pumps!" Three's a Crowd

Transformers references

The article text of the Detroit Powell Press included in the AllSpark Almanc contain numerous references.

• Irwin Spoon was a journalist who appeared in a three-part story in Marvel UK's Generation 1 comic.
• Quake-Maker is a supervillain from the UK's Animated comic.
• The Mechanic is a human criminal who battled the Autobots in two issues of the Marvel's original Generation 1 comic.
• The Jack Boys are a motorcycle gang from the Super-God Masterforce cartoon.
• Jake Lomax is a mob boss from issue #13 of Marvel's Generation 1 comic.
• Jacob Lee Bonaventure is an industrialist from IDW's Hearts of Steel mini-series.

The sidebar on the page also makes numerous references:

• “Defensor United” refers, of course, to the Generation 1 Protectobot combiner. The team is thrashed by real-life football team West Ham at Tigatron Stadium, the venue named for the Beast Wars character, which appeared in the Animated episode, Five Servos of Doom.
• In the Animated universe, the Generation 1 Decepticon ally, mad scientist Doctor Arkeville, is the surgeon general! He recommends Ding Dongs (favored by the President of the United States in the live-action movie!) as a cure for the Hate Plague, a rage-inciting disease that appeared in the Generation 1 two-part episode, The Return of Optimus Prime.
• Racing queen Junko Shiragami is a human female from the Binaltech Asterisk toyline (who was in turn based upon Kelly from Robots in Disguise). Here, she is dating scientist Michael Avery, who appeared in the 2007 movie prequel novel, Ghosts of Yesterday.
• Street Demon racer Roxy Sparkles (earlier named on page 105) is here noted to be a member of the band Purple Fungus, who were a favorite of Buster Witwicky in the Find Your Fate Junior novel, Attack of the Insecticons.
• “Princess Ringo” was the nickname by which Kiss Players character Ringo Chikuma preferred to be known. Here, she has recently visited Mont Porte, the country that is home to the Super-God Masterforce Headmaster Junior Minerva.

Adverts refer to:

• Dancitron, a musical event named for a dance club from the Generation 1 cartoon episode Auto-Bop. Cold Slither is playing here, a band from the G.I. Joe cartoon episode of the same name, created as part of an evil Cobra plot. The piece of music composed as their signature tune was used as incidental music in several Transformers episodes.
• Wyatt Toys, the toy store named after Animated art director Derrick J. Wyatt which appears in several episodes of the cartoon. The advert notes that the store sells Diaclone and Microman figures, the two toylines that were Transformers' progenitors.
• Roadhog Horton's Motorcycle Show, named after Randy “Roadhog” Horton, a member of the bounty-hunting motorcyclist Roadjammers from issue #46 of the Marvel Generation 1 comic. His show also features autograph signings from Rorza, a reference to the Rocket-Cycle Racer from Rigel III of the same name from issue #44.
• A horror movie named “Monster from Mars”, an elaborate reference to the movie of the same name that was the central plot element of Monstercon from Mars!, issue #45 of the Marvel comic. In said issue, Decepticon Pretender Skullgrin starred in the title role; this poster features a monster designed to look like Skullgrin in the style of Meltdown's fusion creatures, in reference to the fact that Skullgrin's fellow Pretenders Submarauder and Bomb-Burst were the base for the two fusion creatures in the cartoon. In both the original comic and this version, the movie is directed by Rollie Friendly and stars Jake Colton and Carissa Carr; this version also adds Karen Fishook, an actress from the Generation 1 cartoon episode, “Hoist Goes Hollywood”. The movie's soundtrack is by the High Rollahz, a band featured in the “Keepers Trilogy” novel, Hardwired.

Real-world references

Real-world references are also present in the text of the article:

• The Assisant District Attorney mentioned in the article, Harrison Schweiloch, is named for a friend of the authors, who is thanked for his proofreading help in the acknowledgements of the two Ark books, as well as this one. There is also a real ADA named Harrison Schweiloch... same guy?

• Hannah and Sarah Rose Isenberg are (one would assume!) the real-life daughters of Animated writer Marty Isenberg.

The advertisements contain numerous real-world references:

• The Dancitron is located in St. Nick's Hall, location of Iron Maiden's first concert; author Bill Forster is a big Iron Maiden fan. This theme is continued in the location of the hall - 22 Acacia Avenue, the title of an Iron Maiden song. The phone number of the hall is “KL5-3226” (the number of Homer's Mr. Plow service from The Simpsons). Musical acts attending are all fictional groups from other shows, comics, books and so forth, and include: The New Originals from This Is Spiral Tap, Vitaly Chernobyl from Neal Stephenson's “Snow Crash”, Dingos Ate My Baby from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Shag Carpeting from Ben 10, King Thunder from Quantum Leap, Jerrica Benton from Jem and the Holograms (misspelled – perhaps deliberately? - as “Jessica”), Josie McCoy of Josie and the Pussycats, Scrantonicity from The Office, Mystik Spiral from Daria (misspelled “Mystic Spiral”), Billy and the Boingers from Bloom County, The Lords of the Underworld from South Park and The Electric Insects from Life on Mars.

• Wyatt Toys is located on the “corner of Winslow and Arizona”, a reference to the Eagles' song Take It Easy, which includes the lyric: “Standin' on the corner of Winslow, Arizona”.

• At the same theater as "Monster from Mars!" are the following fictional movies: “Happy Scrappy Hero Pup” from Clerks, “The Flower That Drank the Moon” from Ghost World, “Jack Slater II: Above Reproach” from The Last Action Hero, “Who Dat Ninja?” from 30 Rock, “Colonel Dracula Joins the Navy” from The Simpsons, “Where Apes Fear to Tread” from King of the Hill (misquoted as “Where Apes Dare to Tread”), “Bikini Party Summer” from Futurama, “Coupon: The Movie” from Mr. Show, “Shao Pai Long” from Macross, “Exploder: Evacuator Part II” from Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, “Tinfins” from Sealab 2021 and “Prognosis Negative” from Seinfeld.