The official Transformers facebook page has a nifty creator commentary on the first 5 pages of Regeneration One #81. You can check it out here.
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The official Transformers facebook page has a nifty creator commentary on the first 5 pages of Regeneration One #81. You can check it out here.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 11th, 2012 at 4:16 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
simon furman
Hi Simon, that was a great read. Really nice to see that the creative cameradarie between you guys still burns bright. I do have one question though – is Roadbuster not very dead? You wrote him getting blown to smithereens with the Pathblaster weapon, after he removed half of Galvatron’s head in Timewars. It made me sad when he died, so pleased to see him back regardless.
I know it’s strange, because the UK stories and US stories were intertwined for UK readers, and so formed one whole, but because this is (primarily) a continuation of the US series (and so many readers would be completely unfamiliar with the twisted timeline of Target: 2006–Time Wars) we have to sideline those stories, and any resultant casualties, into their own pocket UK universe. Not popular I know, but I think it’s fair to say the majority of RG1’s readership will be from the US side of the equation, so it seems unfair to bring in a whole other backstory they know little or nothing about. Can you imagine trying to encapsulate those stories into a flashback. We’d need a whole story arc. So, for the purposes of RG1, Roadbuster is alive and well. But I am drawing on individual elements of the UK stories, such as Rack ‘n’ Ruin (and indeed the Wreckers themselves).
For me, I always felt that the UK stories were stronger and more memorable than a lot of the earlier US ones, so it’s a shame that they have been pushed aside slightly, although the decision made is entirely understandable. time to engage personal canon! I guess the wreckers could have been patched back together, they are a tough bunch. Perhaps Wreck-gar got the Junkions on the case!
Glad to see that 80.5 was made available digitally also today!
Me too!
Hi Simon.
Ok, You say UK stories are still in continuity but You are not going to refear to them, right? If yes, That suits me, but what will happen when Optimus Prime meets Galvatron (alternative future- from ‘Rhythms of darkness’). It will be the SECOND Galvatron he encounters. The first one (from THE MOVIE) died in TIME WARS. Will He remember elements from Time Wars or He will just think it’s HIS FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH GALVATRON?
Same thing is with MEGATRON/GALVATRON. Megatron met Galvatron three times.
First time ORIGINAL MEGATRON/ORIGINAL GALVATRON (target 2006)
Second time: MEGATRON CLONE/ORIGINAL GALVATRON (time wars)
Third time: ORIGINAL MEGATRON/GALVATRON FROM RHYTHMS OF DARKNESS. Of cours in their ‘last’ encounter Megatron was screwed so I guess He didn’t remember that He ever meet Galvatron before.
So how are You goint to handle it?
p.s
sorry for my english, I live in Poland and my english isn’t preety good 😉
RG1 #1’s Galvatron is definitely Galvatron II, from Rhythms of Darkness. Once again, it’s about keeping the US and UK stories distinct. As far as the US audience is (largely) aware, there never was a Galvatron I, just the character we introduced in #67.
Yup I know it’s Galvatron II. It’s a shame that UK stories are no longer in continuity 😦 Galvatron FROM the movie was and still is one of my greatest movie/comic book villains. Oh did I mention I absolutely love Death’s head, yes?
I think that the US audience KNOW who was a Galvatron I. You see,Target 2006 or Time Wars were reprinted a few years ago by IDW. I guess that every true fan of Transformers should know that. I know that it’s hard to get original UK issues (hey I bought a lot of them on ebay.co.uk some time ago) but it’s easy to get cheap US reprints of them 🙂
Simon, I think You shold ask fans about connecting REGENERATION with UK issues. I think fans will love this idea, yes?
Hey Simon, thanks for helping to make this comic a reality. I am one of those kids from the 80’s who grew up with this comic in the USA and was very sad to see it cancelled after issue #80. I remember back when you were building up to the end of the Unicron arc in #75 thinking that the comic was going to be canceled after that since at that point in the early 90’s Transformers was waning in popularity. I was very happy to read in the letters page that the series would continue … only to see it end only 5 issues later. So it’s great to have it back and we’re going to go all the way #100! And the ending to this issue was a shocker! I have a question though. With the 21 year gap, are you going to explain why the Autobots never cleaned up the mess of their Ark crash landing again with big bads like Galvatron, Megatron, Shockwave, and Starscream aboard (with Ratchet)? At the end of #80, Prime said he was going to return the Neo Knights to Earth before they went home to Cybertron. Will we get a flashback as to what happened on Earth after that, and why they didn’t collect the Ark? Thanks again for bringing back the good ol’ days!
The simple answer is neglect. They detected no lifesigns and left it as a tomb. But it was a mistake. A big one. One of many that Optimus is going to have live with.
Re: US/UK – think about it this way. Even when I was writing both comics in the late 1980s, I couldn’t presume that US readers had the faintest idea what was happening over in TF-UK. So while I might make the the odd reference to a UK story (such as in #65, when we link up to the Deathbringer story in flashback), I can’t presume knowledge of Time Wars and other UK story arcs. So even back then I had to proceed as as if the UK stories hadn’t happened. Same case here. This is a continuation of the Marvel US 80-issue comic series, NOT the 332-issue UK comic.
Simon, I’ve just read #81, and it’s like meeting an old friend (one who’s a couple of decades older, admittedly). This was the Transformers I grew up with (being from the UK, watching 5 minute segments of the cartoon over the course of a week interspersed with Timmy Mallett’s buffoonery meant that the comic was the only viable option. Oh, the fun I’ve had on message boards over the years).
I understand fully why the UK continuity has to be papered over, but do appreciate the nods and winks here and there. Having said that, I would like to see Carnivac making an appearance along the line, perhaps as a deserter (for unspecified reasons). He and Springer made a good double act during the Survivors arc. I don’t expect to see this, for the same reason I don’t expect to see Professor Peter Morris or Centurion, but one can dream. 🙂
Anyway, keep up the fantastic work, and thank you so much for returning to the best TF continuity in its history.
(Addendum: are you or IDW aware that #100 will roughly tie in with the 30th anniversary?)
Re: addendum. Yes we are.
Okey dokey. Just checking. 🙂
Simon, Excellent issue 81. Bold, daring ending. I have but one question: Are we going to find out what happened to Ratchet? As far as I remember, Ratchet and Megatron couldn’t live without the other being alive, so it wouldn’t be very practical of Megatron to simply do away with him.
Yes to the question. No to the supposition.
I hope that the rumours of Megatron getting killed in 85 are not true! Please don’t kill him off! I’ve bought the original UK comic all the way through & even when it looked like Megatron had been destroyed you always knew that he would return at some point. But now it seems that he would be killed off for ever!
Thank you Simon and everyone else involved!!!!
*bows down*
Thanks, Kent — and thanks to everyone for the overwhelmingly positive response to #81. The number of ‘I wasn’t expecting to enjoy this – but did’s I’ve read is considerable too. Hope you stay with us for the whole ride. It’s going to be a hell-for-leather rollercoaster!
Huh, I was thinking of what Fixit said when he saved their lives, but maybe I had it wrong. Oh, regarding Berko — after 20+ years, he’s aged even better than Patrick Stewart. What’s his secret? Diet and exercise?
Fantastic to see Transformers return! It’s been worth the wait, well done to all of the team. My question is simple though. What happens this becomes so successful (and I hope this happens) that IDW want it to continue beyond issue 100? As it is now going to conclude at 100 with the story ending is there anyway that it could continue to 101 or would you have to change the ending of the storyline you have currently planned?
I have just read the issue ,again ,and again .I have many questions ,as you know ,but for now I just want to see how this all folds out .No matter what the one thing I can depend on is a great read from Simon Furman .I would also like to say it is awesome to see some G2 characters ,and I hope for more .
Hey Simon, I just picked issue 81 up today. Really enjoyed it and I look forward to seeing how the whole series pans out. I loved the nice little touch of the Berko appearance and the rather familiar looking shape behind Bludgeon, in that last panel, when he’s talking to Soundwave. Bearing in mind that this is a continuation of the US continuity, are you planning on chucking in a few UK-centric Easter eggs at all? One particular thing I’d love to see (*cough* not very subtle hint *cough*) would be some sort of reference to, or even better an appearance by, lunatic-Autobot-scientist Flame from ‘City of Fear’. He really was one of my favourite non-toy based characters – I just loved the fact that he was a genuinely evil Autobot and the fact that he had this massive grudge with Emirate Xaaron going on.
Best wishes for the future Simon, I really hope the series does well!