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singingcicadas · 2 months

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The way it's depicted, Cybertron's pre-war societal issues had a lot less to do with Functionism and more to do with unchecked government corruption, massive wealth disparity, high layoff/unemployment rates, and disenfranchisement.

People were starving, they needed work, they weren’t getting any. Those that were fortunate enough to have work didn’t get paid living wages, much less have anything to spare for health contingencies. Even then stability’s still the luxury of the top few tiers; they live one cut away from layoff. The government cared only enough to exacerbate these issues by coming up with new ways for exploitation. Any attempts to protest or lobby were shut down through political persecution. As a result the masses turned increasingly to crime, drug abuse, thuggery, and violence. Extreme acts of terrorism gets lauded as long as the collateral damage's suffered by someone else. Morality and caution are eroded in the face of desperation.

Meanwhile the many alleged restrictions of Functionism are just lip service complaints made by the characters which doesn’t match up to most of the stuff we’re shown. Like if Rung could become a psychologist, a specialized job that requires higher education, despite having zero background on top of such a weird alt that he had to be classified as an ornament, then wow the functionists must be open-minded. If Dominus Ambus could be a scientist/doctor/explorer/author/successful social rights advocator during the height of functionist control with a minesweeper military-use alt (assuming that his secondary alt's the same as Minimus'), then wow the functionists must be accommodating. If Tyrest could become chief engineer under Nova and later go into law, a complete change of profession, while being a jet, then wow functionism's flexible. If Ratbat and Momus could become senators in a society that discriminates heavily against beastformers and labor frames, then wow that’s progressive. If every Prime from Nova to Zeta (with the exception of Sentinel, his alt’s a tank, he only has wings in Megatron Origin as part of his Apex armour upgrade), every single named pre-war senator other than Proteus and Momus, and four out of five of Nova Prime’s buddy club (only Galvatron's a grounder) were wingframes in a society that supposedly discriminates against wingframes, then wow that’s… inconsistent worldbuilding.

Megatron didn’t get into bloodsports or start a war because he didn’t get to pursue his dream job. He got driven into the pits and down the slippery slope of moral degeneration because his only source of income was cut off by the mine closure incident. People wanted livelihoods above anything else, it's the failure to provide that that made the miners go off the deep end and resulted in the death of a guard. If Functionism actually ensured that everyone could be guaranteed a job or at least minimized the unemployment rates, then stratified castes or not, there would have been no war. People, or societies, are generally capable of tolerating an incredible amount of injustice as long as the majority still have a chance at scraping by at the end of the day. But the government, and later Megatron, kept yanking the rug out from under everyone over and over until they no longer even had a chance at that; there's no other choice left but fight or die.

#I get that all prejudices are full of contradictions and inconsistencies meant to cater to the needs of the ruling class #for the sole purpose of upholding the social stratification #and tokenism is a common thing #but when you can pull out two or more examples as shown to the contrary for every one of a character's complaints #about how they suffered from functionism discrimination #then it's just a really bad case of inconsistent writing with all tell no show #like you cannot expect me to take the 'flightframes are low caste' thing seriously #because the entire pre-war upper class is almost exclusively comprised of flight frames. it's the ground vehicles that are the minority #honestly it just feels like something made up on the spot for Starscream's sake #and Thundercracker Skywarp Jetfire got benefitted by association #when was functionism introduced as a concept in the comic anyway #was it in that Megatron/Optimus conversation in Chaos Theory?#b/c I'm getting heavy retcon vibes there #I got no impression that functionism was even a thing that existed when reading Megatron Origin #Autocracy's written later but still no functionism #The main social issue is widespread poverty like I'm sure a lot of those ppl would be pretty happy if someone could assign them jobs?#the miners in Megatron Origin weren't mad because they had to work in the mines #They were mad because of the layoff and automation and knowing soon there's going to be no mines for them to work. and then they'd starve #idw transformers #transformers #maccadam

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libermachinae · 4 years

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An Abundance of Prowls

I remembered the first time I read IDW, feeling like I couldn’t get a hold on Prowl’s character, like he existed as a general concept but I was never really sure what his goals were or why he did... anything he did. I mentioned it to my girlfriend, who was delighted to introduce me to the discourse of our local cop car/war criminal.

Months later, in anticipation of Prowl Week, I said to myself, “Well, I could read through all of Prowl’s appearances, in the order they were published in, and see how the writers developed him over time. That could help make sense of his character.”

Friends. It did not. Here’s a summary, plus my thoughts. [Spoilers ahead!]

Infiltration: Prowl’s first appearance in IDW is him yelling at Ratchet for exposing the Autobots to the humans. We’ll call this guy Rule-Abiding Prowl, and he’s very steady/boring throughout the rest of the -ation series. His main function is to try to stop kids from being involved in the plot. Thanks Furman.

Spotlight: Kup: Our first glance of Spec Ops Prowl. Though he’s not physically present for most of the issue, Nick Roche still delivers a Prowl who is behind the scenes, pulling the strings. I was honestly surprised by how early on this was set up, considering everything we’re about to trudge through.

Megatron Origin: More Rule-Abiding Prowl, this time by Eric Holmes. He has a job, he does as he’s told, he clings to the chain of command like a padlock.

All Hail Megatron: Seven instances in which we’re victorious! It’s number-cruncher Prowl time; also anxious, war-weary, slightly hopeless Prowl. Maybe Shane McCarthy was trying to do a combination Roche and Furman? It’s all for naught, in the end, because Roche got brought back in to follow up on Kup’s story and he dove all the way in with Prowl being a sneaky bastard.

Spotlight Prowl: Can’t get too far ahead of ourselves, though! Mike Costa wanted Prowl to be a hardboiled detective with a a spark of gold SO BAD. Also the point at which Prowl falls into his terrible cycle of learning a lesson only to learn the opposite thing in the next issue. In this case, it’s between doing what’s right regardless of the rules, and sticking to the rules because order is paramount. Is this unresolved internal conflict going to haunt our boy for the rest of the continuity? Mmmm. Transformers V1 is more of the same, except now Prowl has a little buddy. Can’t lie, Streetwise delights me and I wish he’d stuck around.

Death of Optimus Prime: Co-written by Barber and JRo, so it’s tricky to say who exactly was responsible for what, although I have a feeling JRo was all over that Peaceful Resolution backstory. This does provide a perfect bed in which to sew the seeds of who Prowl will be in the coming arc.

MTMTE: Okay, full disclosure? I jotted this guy down as Warm Prowl in my notes. Through flashback, JRo gives us a gentler version of the character whose blunt nature and vow to regulation are underscored by a hidden concern and appreciation for his partner, Tumbler. Don’t look at me, I think about the conversation about the coming war and them leaving together all the goddamn time. Also, JRo waves at his buddy Roche’s Spec Ops Prowl from afar.

RID: War’s over, everyone can (literally!) go home! Prowl? Hey, bud, did you hear the news? No, ofc not, because this is Endless War Prowl, the guy who is convinced the Neutrals are out to murder everyone and also that Bumblebee sucks at his job. This is also the arc where Bombshell happens :(

Dark Cybertron: Prowl Buries His Trauma

Spotlight Bumblebee: Rude boy. Doesn’t like Bumblebee? Doesn’t respect the chain of command?

Autocracy/Monstrosity/Primacy: Prowl wants to follow rules! He trusts Optimus’ judgement! Babey Prowl.

RID Pt 2: It’s hard to classify this Prowl because so much of what he does in this arc is in response to things that have been done to him. The Decepticons mind controlled him, so he has to keep them from getting the Engima. He’s been saddled with gestalt coding, so now he needs to have the Constructicons along wherever he goes. Spike Witwicky betrayed him years ago, so dammit, now he’s gotta spend a Saturday trying and failing to squish one tiny human. He’s Renegade Prowl in my notes, because this is definitely the point where he stops giving a shit about rules. (Get a teeny bit of Warm Prowl, tho, when he calls Bumblebee his best friend. Kinda comes out of nowhere, the guy could have used your support like, any time over the last few years, but it’s a nice moment.)

Combiner Wars: Absolutely loses his goddamn shit. It’s like Spec Ops Prowl, going behind everybody’s backs, making the “hard choices” (he’s literally deciding to kill off the Cybertronian species; please keep this detail in mind), but he does it all as a giant combiner who solves problems by smashing them, so we’re gonna stick with Renegade Prowl. Barber wants to blame this on gestalt coding. I shrug and say sure, though I do raise a hand to question it when Optimus proceeds to beat him up for it.

Sins of the Wreckers: NAUGHTY SPIDER TIME. Roche takes all of Barber’s Bitch Prowl energy and embellishes it with those sweet spec ops tactics we’ve been missing so dearly. Gone are giant combiners smashing shit: now it’s just Prowl having ideas, making deals, and twisting morality to suit his own needs while desperately trying to avoid the fact that he has a conscience. Roche also makes the fascinating move of highlighting Prowl’s shittiness while subjecting him to Tarantulas’ arguable shittierness. There’s a nice moment at the end when he decides he wants to do better going forward, though Roche leaves it open for other authors’ interpretations via violent interruption by Impactor. Nick Roche never writes Prowl again, and an infinitesimal part of the internet grieves.

MTMTE Pt 2: AKA the misadventures of Luna I, AKA the one scene where Prowl’s helping with the dishes and actually seems comfortable for the first time in centuries. JRo takes a comedic approach to the character which is evocative of his Warm Prowl invention. Just one thing. Remember that detail I told you to remember earlier? About how he was entirely ready to bring Cybertronians to extinction? Here to Sentinel, Prowl says, and I quote, “And unlike you, I don’t feel the urge to kill the rest of my species.” I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this, so rather than risk turning this into an actual literary essay, I’m going to leave it at that.

Optimus Prime: Two versions of Prowl in here: one from the past, where he describes himself as “unpopular” and beats up Jetfire, and present-day, where he somehow ends up in a ship with Stardrive, Garnak, Wheelie, and a vamparc gun from Autocracy. No one bothers to explain how this came about, the same way no one explains how by the books, rule-driven Prowl started battering prisoners before the war ever started.

Unicron: The most bizarre. Prowl does his whole logic thing, gotta sacrifice Devisiun so we can save everyone else, y’know. But then, in the showdown with Shockwave, he gives a whole speech about how the real battle is within the self, to make sure goodness prevails or something like that. It comes out of nowhere and I guess is a follow up from the Wreckers, but honestly idk?

Lost Light epilogue: Rule-Abiding Prowl! Hey dude, how you been? Work for Windblade now? Have an official job reviewing Functionist Cybertron and establishing ties with the Galactic Council? Neat!

Optimus Prime epilogue: Giving this one its own thing because it’s one of Prowl’s most memorable moments for me, personally. He begins by acknowledging his own multifaceted nature through an argument with Shockwave, arguing that every one of an individual’s identities are “real” and rendering this entire exercise moot. After I dragged myself off the floor from that realization, I went straight into the line that has always stuck with me, “We are our actions... not our hopes.” Barber wraps up Prowl’s character by having him acquiesce to the criticism he’s been facing since the beginning of the continuity. It places a heavy emphasis on Spec Ops Prowl, the one who made “hard choices” in hope of possibilities that rarely came to pass, but is not entirely bound to that identity. Every aspect of Prowl I’ve described here performed actions that influenced the overall plot of the comic, though his motivations throughout are rarely transparent. What do we make of it, now that the character himself is now saying they didn’t matter? Is Prowl the sum total of the crimes he committed, friends he betrayed, and lives he sacrificed? In our calculations of Prowl, is there any variable that represents an unclaimed seat on the Peaceful Resolution?

Answering that question isn’t what I set out to do here, though, and I’ve already had to stop myself from writing an English essay once. I hope someone finds this useful, because putting it together was like building a puzzle of pieces that don’t quite fit together. You could even argue that not all of them are important, and that some bring down the integrity of the whole. They’re all in the box together, though, so we’ve gotta make something out of them.

#maccadam #idw tf #prowl #my writing

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historical-revolution · 5 years

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The Russian Revolution

Probably one of the most shocking and important events of the 20th century the Russian Revolution shows us two sides of extreme politics and how much influence the common people have over the establishment.

What was the Russian Revolution?

The Russian Revolution was a series of events between 1905 and 1917 ( however this has been a topic of historical debate) that brought down the autocracy of the Russian Tsar and lead to the rise of a strict communist rule in Russia for the next 70 years.

Who were key figures?

Tsar Nicholas II

Tsar Nicholas reigned from the 1st November 1894 to his abdication on the 15th of March 1917

He was unfortunately a weak and out of touch autocrat kept in the dark about the state of his country and was ill equipped in mind and temperament to rule the Russian empire through the early 20th century. He loved his wife Empress consort Alexandra and his children dearly hardly being able to part from them, Unfortunately his obliviousness and stubbornness to change caused him to lose his throne, The Tsar along with his wife and children were brutally executed in 1918 by the Bolsheviks

Vladimir Lenin

Lenin was leader of the newly formed Soviet State from 1917 to his death in 1922. Lenin was a staunch Marxist and revolutionary who formed the Bolshevik party which eventually overthrew the Tsarist government in the February revolution of 1917. He was a very well educated and manic man who believed strongly in the Marxist worldview.

Grigori Rasputin

Rasputin is probably one of the most infamous and mysterious figures in all of modern history, a lowly peasant monk became one of the most politically powerful men in all of Russia. It was his close relationship and power over the Russian royal family that brought their downfall as well as his own.

Leon Trotsky

Trotsky was a key figure in the Bolshevik party although his beliefs weren’t as radical as Lenin’s. He was a well educated and highly rational intelligent man who initially sided with the Mensheviks in 1905 before switching to the Bolshevik party where he frequently clashed with Lenin’s extreme ideas.

So what caused this revolution?

Historians generally believe these were the issues that brought about the Russian Revolution...

Discontent Urban workers

Russia had just hit the Industrial Revolution in the late 19th century behind the rest of the world by about 150 years or so. The concept of factory work was new and therefore working conditions were terrible many workers got sick and severely injured. As a result they eventually got sick and tired of working 12 hours a day and barely being able to survive and support their family and so they rebelled and easily had hatred towards the autocracy

Discontent Peasants

Russian peasants still lived under feudalism in the 20th century, when there was poor harvest and lack of food year after year and their young working men were forced to fight and be brutally slaughtered in the Russo-Japanese war in 1905 and then in the First World War in 1914 they pretty much had enough of the establishment and combined with them being uneducated easily indoctrinated

The social structure promoting privilege and autocratic rule

Only 1.1% of the population controlled the population and lived in luxury while everyone else lived in feudalistic conditions. The peasants and working classes also had no legal protection no government body to represent them to the nobility and have their point of view considered. The newly educated urban worker also had to deal with limited civil liberties and disgustingly low wages. The Tsar and the other nobels refused to consider social and political change that may make the scales of Russian power more equal. To add to this the Tsar wasn’t a very charismatic or competent leader

What were the main events?

The revolution of 1905

Also known as Bloody Sunday this revolutionary event started as a protest march and petition the first strike was at the Putlov steelworks in St Petersburg on the 16th of January. The protesters hoped to achieve a guarantee of civil liberties such as freedom of speech, Measures to alleviate poverty, the introduction of an income tax, better working conditions such as a eight hour work day. However Nicholas II opposed every bit of that aim, he believed the Tsar’s word was law he made all decisions as a result he used censorship and his secret police to quash any ideas of political reform during his reign. The Revolution of 1905 was no exception and became known as ‘Bloody Sunday’ when a bunch of the Tsar’s soldiers went into the protest killing 92 people the backlash was two political parties against the status quo the Mensheviks and the more radical infamous Bolshevik party lead by Lenin.

The October manifesto and the Dumases

After everyone started calling the Tsar ‘Nicholas the bloody’ the government thought it was a good idea to give the people what they want or at least appear to. So the October manifesto was written as a sort of constitution. The Tsar also created the Dumas a representative government of which he had complete control. The first two Dumas in 1906 and 1907 were critical of the autocratic government and were quickly disbanded. The Tsar had been given the chance to hear the people and make social and economic amendments that benefited the majority. Instead he chose to remain ignorant of the people’s discontent. Before the third Duma was created the Nicholas altered electoral law and significantly reduced the representation of peasants, land owners and urban civilians. As a result these Dumas were more conservative and in favour of the Tsar. The third Duma was allowed to run its full term from 1907 to 1912 as was the fourth Dumas from 1912 to 1917.

World War One

The outbreak of WW1 put huge pressure on a country that was not equipped to deal with modern warfare let alone on that immense scale. Initially the country banded together to support the motherland the nobility and the impoverished alike this was not to last. In late August 1914 the Germans issued a devastating assault, the Russian army had lost 3.5 million men by the end of 1915. The war was the tip of the iceberg for a already discontent nation yearning for change, the massive economic toll the war took on the people was devastating with Fathers, sons and even horses being lost to what seemed to be a pointless war.

The first revolution of 1917

On the 8th of March civilians hungry for bread took to the streets of Petrograd (St Petersburg) supported by 90,000 men and women on strike, the protesters clashed with police and refused to leave the streets. By the 10th of March the protest had spread to Petrograd workers, mobs destroyed police stations, several factories elected deputies to the Petrograd council of workers following a model devised during the 1905 revolution. The army garrison was sent to quell the uprisings, there were some occasions where they opened fire killing demonstrators. Despite this the protestors stood their ground and eventually the army grew frustrated and began supporting the protesters. The imperial government had no choice but to resign and a provisional government was established, the Tsar formally abdicated three days later ending four hundred years of tsarist rule.

The October Revolution

The provisional government set up was still run by the nobility who hoped to prevent this revolution going any further and although the socialist soviets who represented the lower classes had a voice and control over some militia the government still had capitalist and aristocratic interest at heart. This period of dual power was very chaotic for Russia as a whole there were many strikes during this time. When Lenin called for an end to Russia’s involvement in WWI and the leaders of the new government decided to keep fighting this unpopular war the Bolsheviks and other socialist factions were able to exploit virtually universal disdain towards the war effort as justification to advance the revolution further. The Bolsheviks turned workers' militias under their control into the Red Guards (later the Red Army) over which they exerted substantial control. the Bolsheviks led an army of workers and soldiers in Petrograd that successfully overthrew the Provisional Government, which gave all its authority to the Soviets the was capital being relocated to Moscow soon afterwards. The Bolsheviks had secured a strong base of support within the Soviets and, as the now supreme governing party, established a federal government dedicated to reorganizing the former empire into the world's first socialist republic, practicing Soviet democracy on a national and international scale. The promise to end Russia's participation in the First World War was honored promptly with the Bolshevik leaders signing the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany in March 1918. To further secure the new state, the Cheka was established which functioned as a revolutionary security service that sought to weed out and punish those considered to be "enemies of the people.” Soon a civil war broke out between the red army (Bolsheviks) and the White army ( counter revolutionaries) and other less extreme socialists this lasted many years until the Bolsheviks took complete control and therefore rebranded themselves as the communist party, paving the way for the for the creation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in 1922.

Sources:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17910046

https://youtu.be/KOK1TMSyKcM

https://youtu.be/VHQWpcpJVM0

https://www.netflix.com/title/80145290?s=i&trkid=13747225

https://youtu.be/zXHybEb4b_o

https://www.netflix.com/title/80158770?s=i&trkid=13747225

And my own Essay lmao

#mine #20th century #wwi #the russian revolution #european history #history #1900s #romanovs #communism #socialism #revolution #royalty

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transformers-art-showcase · 6 years

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P.A.T.C.H. #7: "Starscream: The Movie"

Most often in comics, continuity is a problem for newbies. If you don’t know what the characters are talking about and what in-jokes they make, is there really a point in recommending the book? Yes, I hear you; this here feature is supposed to help with sorting those messes out, after all. But what if something has such a killer concept you can’t help but blabber on about it? Even to people not into the comic series?

Case in point: a Cybertronian tries to make a movie about Starscream for humans. My mom was sold. Be as cool as my mom!

“Thundercracker in: Starscream: The Movie”

“Optimus Prime” Annual (2018)/“Transformers: Optimus Prime” Volume 5 (upcoming as of this writing) Written by John Barber, pencils by Priscilla Tramontano and Andrew Griffith, colors by John-Paul Bove and Josh Burcham, letters by Shawn Lee

SO WHAT’S IT ABOUT? Starscream, Lord of Cybertron, fed up with his notoriety amongst his subjects, decides on a solution: good old-fashioned propaganda! Having learned of his old wing-mate’s passion for writing, he tasks ex-Seeker Thundercracker with scripting, casting and directing a movie about his life. Who cares if said ex-comrade has only written human soap opera fan fiction and unpublished screenplays so stilted, they would make “Birdemic” green with envy? He’s really into it! Surely, nothing can go wrong!

WHAT DO I NEED TO KNOW? Given that this issue came out in the last year of the IDW Generation One continuity, there are various bits and pieces to consider before diving in, but probably the most important has to do with the evolution of Thundercracker, from Seeker repaint to real boy fleshed-out character. While his goofy and hopelessly optimistic personality is well-established in the series and this here issue completes his origin story, it can’t harm to go over it and pick some highlights.

The fate of Thundercracker –or TC to his friends- has long been intertwined with that of two more famous Decepticon fliers: OG bad boy Starscream and official stair-pusher Skywarp. The first years’ worth of stories weren’t different: the three met Megatron together for the first time in the mini-series “Megatron: Origins”, written by Eric Holmes, penciled by Alex Milne and colored by Josh Perez. His most interesting beat in that story was expressing doubt over burning the city of Kaon, only to be pacified by Skywarp –“Don’t think. Just do it.”, he said. After that, and for the longest time, from the “Autocracy Trilogy” to the “–ations”, the blue jet remained a constant if discreet presence in the Decepticon forces. He was always there, often under Starscream, never in a major role, sometimes uncomfortable with his place.

Still, there were a couple exceptions to this. In “Spotlight: Orion Pax”, written by James Roberts, he was a reluctant underling to mad scientist Bludgeon. He crossed paths with the creepy samurai again much later, in “Spotlight: Thundercracker”, written by John Barber with art by Chee Yang Ong, this time while searching for the original Titans. In that story, he had a change of heart when he found Metroplex, and lied so the ancient Transformer wouldn’t fall into Decepticon hands. In both cases, the further away he stayed from bad influences, the more functional his moral compass became.

The great break from all the above –ironically, inspired by his original toy bio– came with his rejection of the Decepticon cause. In “All Hail Megatron” (written by Shane McCarthy and with art by Guido Guidi), after witnessing the brutalities and monstrosities his side was capable of –namely, razing human cities and creating the Insecticons-, he prevented the detonation of a nuclear bomb and briefly worked with the Autobots. (His reward? Getting shot in the face by Skywarp. Some comradery.) In the next ongoing (look for the stand-alone issue #4, written by Mike Costa, penciled by Don Figueroa, with colors by James Brown and letters by Robbie Robbins), it was revealed that thankfully, he survived, kept barely online on Earth and scavenging for fuel. He also picked up a new best friend: human television! Laugh all you want, but it gave him a new appreciation for humans and their adaptability –couldn’t his own species be like this? While he turned into a reluctant ally to the Autobots, he stayed out of intense battles...

... until he got to work with his new best friends in Season 2 of “Robots in Disguise”: Earth people! Between the regeneration of the planet and Starscream’s rise to power, TC stayed back on the blue marble and got in touch with human anti-Transformer forces, who provided him with fuel and a home. (A gift puppy named Buster sealed the deal and immediately became fealty.) In return, they wanted his services against Autobot invaders, but his love of Earth got in the way of that. What also got in the way was his new calling: writing! Inspired by the years he spent watching TV, he then went on to create totally original and very high quality screenplays, hoping they would lead to a career in film. (They haven’t so far. There’s a reason the Wiki has quotes from “The Room” in his personal page.) Still, eventually things turned out well enough: he helped untangle the mess of allegiances between the Earth Defense Command and Cybertronians and formed an enduring friendship with female Earth human Marissa Faireborn. Not bad for someone whose biggest claim to fame was being the answer to a trivia question –“Who was the first Decepticon shown in active combat in IDW continuity?”

Finally, some minor bits of backstory to make a few character beats land easier. An institute protecting Transformers with “abnormal” powers was first introduced in “More Than Meets the Eye” #11, by James Roberts and Alex Milne. The re-discovery of the Cybertronian Colonies started with the people of Caminus –Windblade, Chromia and Nautica- in “Dark Cybertron”, and they were all immediately integrated into the books –we’ve talked about the first “Windblade” mini here. The dead colony of Prion, shown in “The Transformers” #57 (by Barber and Livio Ramondelli) wasn’t nearly so lucky. The creation of the Council of Worlds for the governance of the surviving ones was detailed in the “Windblade: Distant Stars” mini-series, written by Maighread Scott, with art by Corin Howell and colors by Thomas Deer. After that, colonists such as Aileron (“The Transformers” #44, by Barber, Griffith, Perez on colors and Tom B. Long on letters) joined the action on Cybertron, though not without problems. Oh, and that huge dinosaur was brought online in the “Salvation” one-shot and has been used as an embassy since “Optimus Prime” #13-14 (by Barber, Ramondelli and Long). As it happens.

WHERE DO I GO FROM THERE? Why’d you think I listed all those previous stories above? So that you can go and get ‘em!

Okay, to be less abrasive and more specific, there isn’t that much to get into after this story, but there’s plenty to jump back to. Almost all these minor characters have had memorable stories told about them, so I’m only going to single out some personal favorites and let you decide what you might be into. Fat Fast Tankor’s most memorable outings have been at the hands of Maighread Scott, and it was in the first “Windblade” mini that he and his bestie, Tall Tankor, started getting some attention. For another visit to Alpha Trion, Adorable Old Man (And More), see “Optimus Prime” #10, by Barber, Zama and Burcham. For the amazing life of Richard Ruby, film producer and ex-superhero (no, really), check out “Revolutionaries” #3 by Barber, pencils by Ron Joseph, Sebastian Cheng on colors and Long lettering. Finally, for a story that demonstrates Marissa’s own issues (and just how much of a sweetspark TC is), “New Cybertron” (“Optimus Prime” #1-6) by Barber, Zama, Milne and Burcham has you covered.

But clearly this isn’t why you’re here. You want more of The Artist’s work. For that, head over to the “Transformers Holiday Special” (which we’ve visited before here), for the ten-page story by Barber, Burcham and Long. It is a Christmas story that is children’s storybook by way of Frank Miller, and it might be the best thing in the whole line. In the same trade you’ll find the “Revolution” tie-in issue for the “Robots in Disguise” series, written by Barber, with pencils by Griffith and colors by Thomas Deer. While it’s connected to a much larger event, it’s valuable for seeing how TC evaluates his own work and how he works with Marissa. It is a Hollywood action movie pastiche with a failed screenplay layered on top, and it’s a sweet little tribute to the character. Both of these stories work with similar themes to this one, but expand them in different directions.

IS IT ANY GOOD? It was the culmination of a few years’ worth of stories with an endearing secondary character taking center stage. It offered a sideways look into a fascinating time in “Transformers” comics, through its less important players. It was a funny and poignant look into what can go wrong with any piece of art we create, consume, curate and love (or, more importantly, ignore). It had some exceptional so-bad-it’s-good writing and art. It had a cute puppy in it.

PUPPY! WHO’S A GOOD PUPPY, WHO’S THE BEST PUPPY?! BUSTER IS! YES, SHE IS! Stop baby-talking one of the main characters and concentrate! Here, this should keep you busy!

LIKE A MOVIE STAR WITHOUT MOVIES | THEME AND CHARACTER Strip away all the superficialities, and what is this story about? An artist attempts to create a work of art, and Poe’s Law comes into full effect. His source material is controversial –few people have kind things to say about Starscream. His sources lack credibility –the subject of the movie himself is a liar with a ton of guilt on his shoulders. His production value is low -seriously, I’m having “Pop Quiz Hotshot” flashbacks here. He himself lacks training and discipline, and he and his crew aren’t on the same page –oh, and one of them isn’t paid. He gets preoccupied with details -Megatron had a different frame in “Robots in Disguise”! There goes the suspension of disbelief! He has so little faith in himself that he blindly follows whatever advice he’s offered –is it a commercial or personal work, then? And in the end, no matter his passion and drive for the project, he fails for reasons beyond his control, not even his own mistakes. This kind of story can work only if we’re invested in the mad ambition of its main creator, and TC’s unlucky, stubborn and likeable enough to pull it off. The annual, then, becomes a love letter to art creation in general: a whole lot of people with conflicting ideas try to create something meaningful against all odds. Even if the end product isn’t great, you have to feel for all the effort, the time and energy spent (or wasted) on it, right?

There’s also an extra layer to all this, and it’s specifically about Cracker’s relation to his work. At this point in the series, TC has officially renounced the Decepticons and wants to leave a peaceful life on Earth. This project about one of his former associates makes him ask all sorts of questions: what drove Starscream to do the things he did? How does he handle the unstable political climate after the Autobot victory? Did the War ever mean anything to anyone? And what is there to do after the War? These aren’t easy questions, and the ex-Seeker’s own stance on these issues is complicated by his personal feelings and involvement. This might be a movie about Starscream, but deep down, this is a story about Thundercracker. (This becomes even more apparent when one remembers the two share the same mold.) While the theme of failed or doubtful artists is universal, the specificity of this million-year-long War informs it with extra nuances that enrich an already interesting character portrait.

“Oh man, I just can't figure Starscream out. Sometimes he’s just too smart. Sometimes he’s just flat-out stupid. Other times he’s just evil.”

ENHANCED BY BRAND NEW SPECIAL EFFECTS| ART This whole examination could have ended up dry and boring, but in the hands of penciler Priscilla Tramontano, it gets a life and energy it would otherwise lack. Her greatest strength is the expressiveness she lends to the characters, and so she’s the perfect fit for a story with lots of quick, fully dialogue. Little casual touches and details, like reading glasses or cups of coffee, make the world of alien robots a little more approachable and help ease us into its confused protagonist’s mind. John-Paul Bove’s colors are bright and poppy, but moody in the more serious parts (like TC’s meeting with Dirge and relaxing at the beach near the end). Andrew Griffith and Josh Burcham contribute pencils and colors respectively in two key scenes, one flashback to just before the War and the trailer for a rival production. Their more detailed, somber yet action-oriented style helps draw attention to them, but the overall tone doesn’t shift from the fast-paced comedy and introspection of the whole issue. In any case, the story never loses its sense of wonder: this is a charming, strange little world, and in the increasingly serious main title, this can sometimes fall through the cracks.

However, this is the rare case of a comic whose artistic failings are also interesting in their own way. The scenes shown from “Starscream: The Movie” itself are bad on purpose, and so multiple movie mistakes are recreated in comics form. The lighting is almost always off in most scenes, and in some cases, it’s easy to make a green highlight around the actors –the result of cheap color correction. In another scene, the focus is all wrong, and so “Megatron” and “Starscream” are blurry or stick like sore thumbs from the background. When Thundercracker cannot stage the Decepticon uprising from the first storyline of “Robots in Disguise”, he ends up using archival footage for it –and so the same panels that Andrew Griffith drew for issue #13 are re-used wholesale! While it can be distracting at first, these mistakes become doubly fun when spotted and only add to the joke. (They can also make all amateur filmmakers out there check their equipment twice before starting filming. Never go with auto-focus, people!)

“Hey, everybody! I have an announcement to make!”

AN AWKWARD PAUSE, THEN “WHAT'S MY LINE?”| PLOT AND DIALOGUE But forget pretty much everything I’ve written so far, because the number one reason to read this story is how damn funny it is. And that’s not just for the guilty pleasure of mocking Thundercracker’s work. Sure, the tone-deaf, repetitive dialogue, the hammy acting and the flubs of the final film (poor Waspinator, always a victim) are extremely enjoyable, but that ignores the real back-and-forth of the characters. Even better is how the movie scenes are staged alongside the rest of TC’s discussions and efforts. The issue is expertly paced, each page functioning as a scene into its own, with set-ups and payoffs. When read all together, it’s like a very well-edited movie: it remains fast and doesn’t sag, and the connections between the disparate scenes become apparent on a second read-through. The cyclical flow of the story –it begins and ends with a very similar scene- can be seen as bittersweet and uplifting at the same time, and it made this here reader want to re-read the issue the moment it was over.

One of Barber’s greatest gifts as a writer –owing to his experience as an editor- is his mastery of continuity, but here he also demonstrates a firm understanding of Transformers and pop culture. His cheeky world-building –giant robots make movies, too!- combines satire and Trans-fan practices -repaints are totally a thing!- into one whole. Humans get a lot to do in this world, too, being both friends and potential business partners, in a co-existence that might even bring to mind the days of the original cartoon. My favorite example might be TC’s interactions with a former superhero, prospective film producer and distributor. The practicality of creating and curating a movie clashes wonderfully with the insanity of a sci-fi world and some obscure pop and high culture references. It’s this level of detail and care for all those losers that gives the story a beating heart that is often forgotten when talking about this specific writer’s work.

“You know what they say, ‘Love is blind’!”

THE CREDITS ROLL, THE CAMERA PANS | FINAL THOUGHTS Going over all the things I’ve written so far about this annual, I see that I could still go on. This here read focused on the story from a newbie perspective, because with continuity in mind, there’s a whole other essay’s worth of stuff to unpack! (One could re-interpret it as a Starscream and not a Thundercracker story, in fact!) But even with all that aside, this is a really fun, sweet diversion from the political drama of “Optimus Prime”, a great tribute to the bit players of the franchise and a love letter to the creative process as a whole. Oh, and there’s new jokes to find in, like, every new read! I literally just today remembered Fake!Ironhide’s Southern accent! That stuff’s amazing!

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