#I need proto IDW

[gfl-neural-cloud]

[C-Doll Archive] //:_Betty

"What's your name?"

She blinked a few times in rapid succession. The rate-limited gears in her head began to turn. Right! In "Magical Girl Sigma", there was this one character with a cat tail named "Betty"! "Betty! I'm Betty, nya!" She blurted out.

[ariel-seagull-wings]

FICTIONAL CHARACTER ASK: EGON SPENGLER

Asked by @fleurviolettes​

@janeb984​

@spengnitzed @stantzed @bixiebeet @angelixgutz @thealmightyemprex @goodanswerfoxmonster @amalthea9 @themousefromfantasyland @professorlehnsherr-almashy @budcortfancam

Favorite Thing About Them: There was an excentric, always serious, socially awkward nerd character, played by a comedy actor who wasn't a big movie star like his screen colleagues Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver and Rick Moranis were, originally only meant to provide technological exposition, and he became the breakout character that audiences most strongly cared about. Egon Spengler showed viewers that just because we wored glasses, weren't muscular or trained in complicated martial arts, it didn't mean we couldn't be seen as heroes, even tough he initially decided to capture ghosts just hoping to earn a living like his friends. Also, while ocasionally awkward and a bit shy around women, he is never shown to be self hating. He talks with certainty about his scientificial knowledge, isn't much bothered by the teasing of friends like the more street smart Peter Venkman and Winston Zeddemore, and is shown that is because of his inteligence and seriousness that Janine Melnitz finds him atractive, without Egon ever needing to try becoming more "tough", "atletic", "cool", etc.

His lines about humans being like small bacteria are even complimented as romantic! There were moments where he would show an explosive temper, but its clear that its only in extreme circunstances where a dangerous treat is on the horizon and everyone's emotions are heated, and not before trying to present argumentations to better solve the problem first.

Least Favorite Thing About Them: Returning to a criticism I made on this post here, when the writers of Afterlife, a sequel made 37 years after the original film, decided to incorporate Harold Ramis death as a major plot influence, they also mixed the complicated personal life fact that Ramis was an absent parent to his second daughter for most of her life, wich was something he deeply regreted, into the character of Egon Spengler, using the cliche plot of a father who abandons his daughter without explanation (not even letting his friends know of her existence because she is suposed to be a "big reveal" even in universe) to fight the great scope villain, and get redeemed in the eyes of sayed abandoned daughter just because he is dead. That is not character growth, that is not a tribute to his creator, thaf is just cynical, unecessary melodrama (ignoring that the first was a comedy!) exploiting a complicated, painfull story of an actual, real family.

Three Things I Have In Common With Them:

* I wear large glasses;

* Like his portrayal in the live action movies and IDW licensed comics, my natural hair is dark brown and grows in agitated curls;

* I love chocolate treats;

Three Things I Don’t Have In Common With Them:

* I don't collect spores, molds and fungus;

* I alternate between physical and online books, so I would never say the phrase "Print is dead";

* I'm not born in the United States;

Favorite Line:

From the July 1983 Script Draft:

"I don't understand. What have I got?"

"And not a very precise one."

"I have trace PKE valences everywhere in the building and extremely high readings in the interior stacks."

"Good in what sense?"

"I'm patched into the Bell Labs computer in Boston. We should have an answer in a moment."

"I think we can catch one."

"I own an automobile."

"It's a 1957 Saab."

"Those are proton packs and that's a Nutrona wand. They're prototypes of new devices for putting proto-mater in stasis."

"It's 9.642.55 square feet."

"Not all of this is for the office telephones. I'm constructing a fiberoptic network to monitor microwave activity outside the commercial frequencies assigned to telephone and television transmission."

"This is amusing."

"What?"

"I think it's too early to tell."

"We're all animals, Venkman."

"Okay - It's ready."

"This is the proton pack."

"14.55 kilos."

"Thirty-two pounds."

"This is the Neutrona wand."

"I'm working on a self-contained version but for now we'll run off building current."

"Switch... ON."

"It's ready."

"I've heat shielded the entire pack and it's fully portable now. We'll each be capable of shooting an ion stream up to 12 feet. The stream will repel ectoplasm but have no effect in the physical enviroment. Ready?"

"Power!"

"Then we'll be virtually defenseless."

"Ecto-visors."

"GIVE ME TWO PURGES NOW!!"

"Don't worry. He isn't going anywhere. Now DON'T LET THE STREAMS CROSS BEHIND THE POINT OF INTERSECTION OR YOU'LL Q US ALL INTO THE TENTH DIMENSION."

"Easy... easy... open the trap now!!"

"DON'T LET THE PHOTON STREAMS GET NEAR THE NUTRONA BARS ON THAT TRAP!!"

"Watch it... watch it... now."

"It's getting crowded in there. We have to arrange some kind of spill-release system."

"I tought we'd be busy but I never expected this many. That's what bothers me. All my recent data points to something big on the horizon."

"I am Egon Spengler, human being of Earth, Master of Physics, Doctor of Philosophy. Greetings Vinz Clortho."

"Free him, Officer. I will speak with the Minion of Gozer."

"I like these dehydrated meals because they save time. And they have a long shelf-life."

"Could I ask you a feel questions, Vinz?"

"Vinz, how will Gozer come?"

"I want you to look at these pictures, Vinz, and tell me if you see Gozer or anything that looks like Gozer."

"If I were to deactivate the grid generator, the facility could no longer contain the high-concentration of valences inside. You can see what's inside trough the monitor if you wish."

"I've plotted the location of our 99 confirmed manifestations. Look at the pattern and where it fits. Over the tri-state region we have many heavy industries responsible for the destruction of ozonic and other atmospheric layers. The random mesh of microwaves from telephone and telecomunication senders acts as a lens increasing the focus of all the sun's dangerous gamma and U.V. rays which otherwise would be filtered out if the protective atmospheric layers had not been destroyed. These rays are being focused raw on a region under which there lies buried many thousands of tons of chemical and radioactive waste releasing stripped electrons into the atmosphere.

Finally, even a casual glance at the map reveals this region lies within an almost equilateral triangle having at its intersecting points the Indian River Plant in New York here, the Three Mile Island Facility in Pensylvania here, and the Sands Creek Reactor here... two of which we know are leaking hundreds of roentgens per hour."

From the September 1983 Script Draft:

"Oh! This is big, Peter. This is very big. There's definitely something here."

"Two reasons. First of all, I found trace PKE valances everywhere in the building and extremely high readings in the interior stacks."

"That was both of them."

"Incredible. She was stripping ions all over the place."

"We were right about the proton count, Stantz."

"Raymond and I are convinced that we can trap a ghost and hold it indefinitely."

"Just for your information, Ray, the interest payments alone for the first five years come to over $75,000."

"Print is dead."

"Is that a game?"

"I collect spores, molds and fungus."

"I think it's the food of the future."

"This is the Proton Pack, Peter. The only problem with it at the moment is that it could cause sterility."

"Yes, well, I'm working on that."

"Peter, trust me. We are about to make scientific history."

"Raymond, the plug."

"She's telling the truth - or at least she thinks she is."

"Or even a race memory, stored in the collective unconscious. And I wouldn't rule out clairvoyance or telepathic contact either."

"You're a Scorpio with your moon in Leo and Aquarius rising."

"I blame myself."

"We'd better adjust our streams."

"Something was definitely here."

"Were you recently in the bathroom?"

"The wet towels, residual moisture on your lower limbs and hair, the redness in your cheeks indicating..."

"When you were in the bathroom, did you notice anything that was yellow and unusually smelly?"

"Wait! Wait! There's something I forgot to tell you."

"Don't cross the beams."

"Trust me. It will be bad."

"It's hard to explain, but try to imagine all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and finding yourself confined forever in another dimension."

"They're not guns. They're particle throwers."

"I couldn't do that. You might hurt someone."

"On Earth - no. But on Krypton we could slice him up like Oscar Mayer Bologna."

"Well, let's say this Twinkie represents the normal amount of psychokinetic energy in the New York area. According to this morning's PKE sample, the current level in the city would be a Twinkie 35 feet long weighing approximately six hundred pounds."

"I just met the Keymaster. He's here with me now."

"Die in what sense?"

"I don't care. I see us as tiny parts of a vast organism, like two bacteria living on a rotting speck of dust floating in an infinite void."

"You have nice clavicles."

"Oh, shit!"

"If you don't shut up I'm going to rip out your septum."

"Of course! Ivo Shandor. I saw his name in Tobin's Spirit Guide. He started a secret society in 1920."

"After the First World War, Shandor decided that society was too sick to survive. And he wasn't alone. He had close to a thousand followers when he died. They conducted rituals, bizarre rituals, intended to bring about the end of the world."

"Sumerian -- not Babylonian."

"I don't believe in luck."

"Thank you."

"It's Shandor - the architect!"

"I think he's saying that since we're about to be sacrificed anyway, we get to choose the form we want him to take."

"Full-stream with strogon pulse."

"No! Them! Shoot them! Cross the beams. Cross the beams."

From the 1984 movie final cut:

"That would have worked if you hadn't stopped me."

"Ray, it's moving. Come on."

"This is hot, Ray."

"Raymond, look at this."

"Venkman, get a sample of this."

"I'd like to analyze it."

"I'm getting stronger readings here. This way."

"I wouldn't say the experience wasn't completely wasted. According to these new readings, I think we have an excellent chance of actually catching a ghost and holding it indefinitely."

"I'm always serious."

"I think this building should be condemned. There's serious metal fatigue in all the load-bearing members. The wiring is substandard. It's completely inadequate for our power needs. And the neighborhood is like a demilitarized zone."

"I could look for the name Zuul in the usual literature."

"Tobin's Spirit Guide."

"Venkman, shorten your stream. I don't want my face burned off."

 "I looked at the trap, Ray."

 "I don't think he's human."

"Vinz, you said before you were waiting for a sign. What sign are you waiting for?"

"I think that would be extraordinarily dangerous."

"I'm warning you. Turning off these machines would be extremely hazardous."

"Try to understand. This is a high voltage laser containment system. Simply turning it off would be like dropping a bomb on the city."

"Clear the building!"

"Oh, come on!"

"Your mother!"

"The structure of this roof cap is exactly like the kind of telemetry tracker that NASA uses to identify dead pulsars in deep space."

"It's not the girl, Peter, it's the building. Something terrible is about the enter our world and this building is obviously the door."

"Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes! Volcanoes!"

"Art Deco. Very nice."

"It's Gozer."

"It's whatever it wants to be."

"Ray? This looks extraordinarily bad."

"Look out!"

"Sorry, Venkman. I'm terrified beyond the capacity for rational thought."

"I have a radical idea. The door swings both ways. We could reverse the particle flow through the gate."

"We'll cross the streams."

"Not necessarily. There's definitely a very slim chance we'll survive."

"I feel like the floor of a taxi cab."

"We'd like to get a sample of your brain tissue."

"Janine."

brOTP: His brother (Lionel in the novelization, Elon in the Earth Day TV Special), Eugene Visitor, Ray Stantz, Peter Venkman, Winston Zeddemore, Dana Barrett, Tiyah Clark, Slimer, Buster, Louis Tully, Sherman Tully, Dytyllio, Walter Peck, Louise, Irena Cortez, Bryan Welsh, Kylie Griffin, Eduardo Rivera, Garrett Miller, Roland Jackson, Ilyssa Selwin, Jenny Moran, Dani Shpak, Lou Kamaka, Marie Laveau.

OTP: Janine Melnitz.

nOTP: Pink Mood Slime, Gozer.

Random Headcanon: Since Egon still consults literature about the supernatural (more famously Tobin's Spirit Guide) and the STEM fields, is believable that when he says the phrase "Print is dead", is not in the sense that he doesn't read anything and only uses TV and radio as sources of information (otherwise he would have failed academically) but in the sense that his only reading is preexisting titles for work research and he doesn't read new releases and/or literary fiction and poetry, compared to Janine.

Unpopular Opinion: As I commented on this post here, I don't imagine that his parents (specially his father) were complete cold monsters that despised the concept of love when prioritizing Egon and his brother's academic education. Maybe some fans mix his father's personality with Uncle Cyrus, an old, demanding and arrogang relative that appeared in the Real Ghostbusters animated series, but its more interesting to imagine that, while flawed, Egon's parents were still feeling human beings who genuinelly loved him and his brother and just tought that working hard to provide them with a good school education while sacrificing spending time with the children was their, understandable tough misguided, way of showing how much they cared.

Songs I Associate With Them:

Medic

The Gods Are Not Crazy

She Blinded Me With Science

Weird Science

I Believe in You and Me

Just The Way You Are

Time in a Bottle

Favorite Picture of Them:

Harold Ramis in the 1984 film

In the Real Ghostbusters animated series

 In the Extreme Ghostbusters animated series

In the IDW licensed comics

[soul-dwelling-not]

Ignorant ranting about Tales of the TMNT, the latest addition to the Mutant Mayhem iteration of Ninja Turtles, an iteration I never got into, and based on just rushing through parts of the series:

What's the point of stunt casting if all they are going to do is make pigeon noises? The payoff does not help.

If you're going to cast Jackie Chan for the film but not the TV series, or a voice double like James Sei, what is the point of now having him speak vermin? Are you trying to say something meaningful about assimilation, or did you just really not want to cast a Chinese actor and thereby erase Chinese representation in the cast or any

I really hate how much talking this series has: it's animation, focus on animation.

I know this is Titmouse, I know I enjoy recent Beavis and Butthead, but why do the humans have to look so much like Beavis designs? I can appreciate leaning into the Motorcity action and aesthetic--but that show at least knew when to have characters shut up for a minute and let the animation do its job.

We really needed to do stupid "pigeon poop" jokes over and over and over again?

I hate when characters do something foolish for the sake of an unfunny gag: that Leo didn't figure out the gentrified restaurant was indeed not Bishop's lair is a dumb gag.

"You're not paranoid--" I am admittedly entering into that joke out of context, but it didn't work for me: either really lean into April being the one to believe every single conspiracy theory, or just don't have her use that line.

I am so tired of the insult "Nerd!" as a punchline, especially to undermine anything heartfelt Leo says at the end of one arc. Just let a moment of sincerity stand, not every last moment has to be destroyed by, "LOL, you love to hear yourself talk, huh?"

The same nerd insult applies when talking about Don, to keep reducing Don to just "nerd" or just "anime nerd." I should be grateful that this is a step up from Jellystone levels of "LOL, body pillows, shut-ins, friendless losers" representations of animation fans (especially as none of this feels like the animators being self-deprecating: instead of "we are nerds, we can joke about ourselves," it's the same tired level of "nerds are losers, geeks are losers, fans are losers, how pathetic they must be").

Stop making Bishop anti-mutant. Please get back to 2003 Bishop in terms of motivation. I appreciated 2003 Bishop's entire attitude pretty much being, "Mutants? I don't care about mutants! I want aliens!" I would have so preferred that characterization: have her be someone fixated on one task, then have her just get annoyed that, instead of aliens, it's mutants. Think Dandadan levels of trying to one-up which is more engaging, the sci-fi or the mystical.

Also, all of this applies to the Earth Protection Force. Maybe additional stories will surprise me, seeing as it will resonate with an audience that an organization looks at native-born people--and still thinks they are "foreign," "other," someone to get rid of.

Acknowledging that Leo was on a shaggy dog hunt does not change that the story is stretching out the plot for the sake of the streaming era.

Bringing back the proto-Rat King intended for the film as a gangster is kind of boring. Granted, TMNT adaptations keep struggling to make the character work or have some core qualities beyond "sway over rats": Mirage was a force of nature but vague enough that you can read him a number of ways; IDW leans too much into godlike power; 1987 was just a guy; 2003 was just an extension of Bishop; 2012 should work with Combs in the role but still takes too long and keeps abusing the Kraang mutagen as a plot device to get whatever result you want for the sake of the story.

[thanksjro]

More Than Meets the Eye #28- I Sure Hope Y’all Like Megatron

“Dark Cybertron” is finally over! Woohoo!

Who’s ready for a return to hijinks and mild peril?

I know this guy is!

Hold on a second-

We start our foray into Season 2 of MTMTE with a little meta-humor-

-and then it’s right into the swing of things, as Brainstorm uses the thin, fragile wine glass of faction-based morality to hold his personal need to make instruments of violence. Nautica disapproves, but then why wouldn’t she? She’s not been steeped in the militant ideologies of the Autobots for millions of years.

It’s six months after the convoluted events of “Dark Cybertron”, and our beloved ship, the Lost Light, is back on track for the Knight Quest. Nautica’s joined the crew, which is neat, but there are far more interesting things going on.

Like Rung actually doing his fucking job for once.

Wow, look at that little creamsicle man go.

It would seem that in the last half-year (by Earth standards) Megatron’s somehow gotten himself into the esteemed position of Captain of the Lost Light. This likely means that Rodimus has been defeated in battle, or perhaps fucked off on yet another space yacht to run away from his responsibilities. I suppose the narrative will have to fill us in on just what exactly happened.

Or, at least, I hope it does. Wouldn’t be a terribly good story if I had to guess on how exactly this dude’s in charge of a whole-ass Autobot crew.

Yes, yes, I know he switched sides, but goddammit, it takes a little more than saying sorry and changing your wardrobe to excuse the murder of half of NYC.

I mean, we can do both. Both is an option. I’ll break out The Communist Manifesto right now, let’s fuckin’ gooooooooo-

Six months prior to Megatron’s therapy appointment, Rodimus is ready to high-tail it off of Cybertron yet again. This is because, as established in previous posts, Cybertron kinda sucks butt. He bursts into the meeting Optimus Prime called- even though he’s really not leader of anything anymore, Starscream is- bids everyone farewell, and is about to run back out of the room when he’s stopped.

Turns out that the populace of Cybertron want Megatron to stand trial. That makes sense, given what all he’s done. Of course, the Autobot pals we’ve got in the room want to skip due process and go straight to the part where Megatron pays through the nose for the last four million years.

Which doesn’t feel terribly heroic or good guy-ish, but I think by this point you’ve probably caught on to the fact that everyone in IDW Transformers is morally gray at BEST.

Because Megatron’s had a rough time the last few years, in relation to his bodily integrity, spark extraction- that thing that High Command lied about in relation to Overlord- isn’t an option. It would just kill him dead.

Uh, excuse me? Optimus Prime, sir? Monsieur Premier?

Guess Optimus hasn’t been keeping up with exRiD.

Anyway, yeah, since Tyrest fucked off in “The Sound of Breaking Glass” and also tried to commit a genocide, we’re gonna need someone to cast judgement.

Course, a military trial isn’t exactly ideal, but as long as it’s open to the public, it should be fine.

Probably.

Anyway, Prowl’s also going to help. Ultra Magnus has been assigned the task of representing Megatron in court, a job which he’s positively delighted to have, if his face is any indication.

The gang breaks for lunch, and Rodimus and Optimus touch base on how the Knight Quest is going.

Because Rodimus’ half of the Matrix had the map for finding the Knights of Cybertron in it, they’re gonna have to go with Plan B.

Oh fuck yes, I love Plan B!

Unfortunately, finding the ideal romantic partner for all Cybertronians is going to have to wait until after the trial, because Optimus really wants Rodimus here for this. Though perhaps there’s a way to make things move a little faster…

Back in the present, Megatron’s had just about enough of Rung being a psychiatry joke, and is about to walk out of his appointment. Ravage is here, which is neat. Rung asks Megatron about the three most important people in his life, and how he met them. One of these people is, funnily enough, Rung.

Rung, if you’ll recall, was thrown into Megatron and Impactor’s table at Maccadams waaaaaay back in The Transformers #22, the first issue of the IDW run that Roberts wrote solo. It would seem that getting arrested and subjected to police brutality ruined his once-idealistic worldview. This is just a lightning-round recap of the events of the “Chaos Theory” storyline.

Being reminded of how hard he got dunked on makes Rung break out his copy of Megatron’s autobiography, Towards Peace. Of course, Megatron has to be “that guy”, and makes it out to be far more than it actually is. My dude, you used your writing to tell all your proto-Decepticon buddies to go beat up Whirl in prison. Let’s not make things sound more grandiose than they are.

Anyway, it turns out that Rung is actually just as much a nerd as he looks, as he reveals that he’s in possession of one of the only few copies of the original version of Towards Peace. And then he takes off his glasses and the fans go bonkers, even though he’s just got that Milne Same-Face going on, just like everyone else.

There you are, you animals.

Rung discusses Revisionism, I’m reminded that the first publication of Eugenesis had a dedication to Roberts’ son of all people, and we get the question of who Terminus is to Megatron.

But alas! The X-ray vision’s been turned on, and it’s time to see… nude robots? An in-depth anatomy lesson?

Robots are confusing sometimes. Anyways, major props to Milne for drawing all that detail. Dude does the technical stuff with a ferocity that must be awe-inspiring to behold.

Megatron’s decided that it’s time for lunch, and then he’s going to do captain stuff.

Because he’s captain of the Lost Light.

I’m convinced Rodimus is dead. That’s the only way this is happening.

Six months ago, Swerve was being awful Swerve-like, with his new buddy Crosscut- guess he finally learned the guy’s name- and Riptide, who we’ll get to a little later on. These three wonderful lads are holding a sort of “crew try-outs”, and it looks like the requirements needed for entry on Megatron’s Lost Light are stiff.

Still, maybe our new friend Nautica will make the cut.

Oh, you are simply delightful!

Despite Nautica having interest in nearly every topic in the universe, on top of having impeccable taste in booze, she just misses the cut. It’s at this point that Nightbeat bursts into the room to stop this farce from going any further. The fact that nobody mentioned anything prior to this is surprising, given that portmanteaus don’t really seem the type of thing Ultra Magnus would approve of.

Back six months ago, we see what Optimus Prime’s super great idea was to expedite the judicial process- Chromedome. It’s always Chromedome. He’s gonna do that thing he promised his late husband he’d stop doing. I suppose it’s a good thing- for Rewind, anyway- that Megatron is wholly against the idea of having his memories torn out of his head. Guess we’re gonna have to do the trial the normal, non brain-pokey way.

Optimus leaves the cell, because I suppose he’s remembered that there’s a conflict of interests here, but Rodimus stays behind to let Megatron know he deserves everything that’s coming his way.

Then Megatron breaks out the puzzle-box from Hellraiser.

In the present, Chromedome isn’t so much spiraling in his depression as he is circling the drain. Nightbeat doesn’t give a shit about that though- he’s more concerned with the fact that one of the numbers on the door to Chromedome’s room is missing. But I’m sure it’s fine.

It’s fiiiiiiiiiiine.

While Nightbeat’s busy being insensitive to his fellow man’s distress, Megatron’s arrived to his room to find his door’s been vandalized by a bunch of idiots who must have just discovered what a thesaurus is. Then he gets shot in the fucking hand with an arrow.

As you do.

Whirl’s gotten ahold of a bow, and he fully intends to use it for Megatron-directed violence. And also his fists. His very pointy fists. He punches Megatron through the fucking floor into the fuel furnace, and they fall what’s probably a good 200 feet to the ground below. Whirl yells about evening the score between the two of them, and then knees Megatron in the dick.

Turns out, Megatron remembers Whirl even better than originally thought, having gone so far as to order his forces to not kill Whirl, because, in a way, he was grateful for the lesson he learned back before the war in Rodion.

Oh man, I hope Rung’s somehow listening in on this. Like, eavesdropping is obviously bad medicine, but we’ve already established that he sucks as a professional, and he needs what few advantages he can get.

Whirl, enraged by the implication that he’s been fighting fixed battles for the last four million years, punches Megatron in the gut… and his arm gets swallowed up by an errant portal leftover from all of Shockwave’s tampering. Since you can’t really fight with only one arm, Megatron wanders off to do captainy things.

Walking back the timeline slightly, we revisit Megatron leaving Rung’s office, and the idea of personal revisionism, the conversation becoming parallel with the strange happenings going on within the ship, as Rewind’s final message is altered so as not to end with “I love you” but instead a blood-curdling scream. Chromedome is, understandably, upset by this turn of events.

Over with Whirl, it’s revealed that the little fight we saw was intentionally set up. For what purpose, or by whom, is left a mystery.

Please see a doctor.

One last flashback to the trial, as Prowl lists off everything that’s standing in the way of our Sympathetic Megatron Redemption Arc.

Good fuckin’ luck, James.

Back in the present, Megatron’s slapped a bandaid on the hole in his torso, as he checks to see what’s happening on the bridge. It would appear there’s a coffin floating around in space.

Pretty fucked up.

[ducktalkspodcast]

IDW has become one of my favorite comic book publishers over the past few years. They first caught my attention with their Transformers series. In the past couple of years they have become Disney Comics number one publishing arm. They put out Disney Comics almost weekly. Most of what they publish are comics from Europe that have never been published in the U.S.

When we first found Disney Afternoon Giant listed on IDW’s solicitations for this year… we may have lost our minds. In the beginning we did not know much about this comic. I have personally wanted a compilation style book that would include rotating stories about our favorite Disney Afternoon franchises. Maybe we get a story about Darkwing Duck, then TaleSpin, followed by Rescue Rangers. Upon first finding Disney Afternoon Giant I thought IDW was answering my pleas.

We later found that the comic would be a reprinting of the DuckTales and Rescue Rangers comics published by Boom! Studios. These comics are considered very controversial by many who read them because of the characterizations of many of the franchises characters and because the license was abruptly pulled without the storylines being resolved.

I have been pretty excited by the prospect of collecting these books re-published by IDW. The stories took place during a time when I was not reading comics, and I missed out on these stories. I have read all of Boom! Studios Darkwing Duck comic when it was re-published in the Definitively Dangerous Edition by Joe Books Publishing.

Issue #1 of Disney Afternoon Giant kicks off the series with two comics bound in one giant-size issue. The stories contained in Issue #1 are DuckTales: Rightful Owners Part 1: Many Happy Returns and Chip ‘n’ Dale: Rescue Rangers: Worlwide Rescue Part 1. Both stories were four-parters so it is safe to say we will be enjoying these stories through issue #4 of DAG.

Of the two, I was most excited to read the Rescue Rangers story. I have read many outstanding reviews of this comic, and it has been on my list of back issues to collect. I had seen samples of the art before, and Leonel Castellani and Jake Myler were a wonderful team on the book.

The first issue was released in October and it truly excited me for the new series. The art of the DuckTales story reminds me of the Italian duck comics and you all know how much I love how expressive that art is. Castellani’s art is great throughout the story, but I do notice the coloring changes from page to page. I’m not sure what the time frame on this comic was, but it appears rushed at times (especially at the end). The differences were not a huge distraction from the story. 

As I began reading the story I was surprised that I had read so many negative comments on the story in the past. The setup reminds me of many other Disney Duck comic stories. The characterizations may have been a little updated, but I did not notice the huge departures… Then things began to change. Warren Spector and Ian Brill did portray Webby very differently from the character we knew from the classic DuckTales show. That is not inherently a bad thing. In fact, of all the characters in OG DuckTales Webby is the one who gets on my nerves the most. There are times when she is cute, but she mostly annoyed me. 

Another difference that I noticed may have more to do with my recent introduction to the Carl Barks and Don Rosa comics. I really enjoy these master duck writer’s depiction of Scrooge McDuck. Their Scrooge loves his wealth because of it’s connections to memories and experiences of his past. I feel this aspect of Scrooge is missing in this story. Overall, I enjoyed the first issue of the story and looked forward to the second part.

The second story was a Rescue Rangers story. The art, also by Castellani, and colors are gorgeous in this issue! Every page was dynamic and every panel had me drooling. Castellani knows these characters and his style is perfect for the Rangers. The panels are full of action and the story moves very quickly. In fact the pacing may be my only complaint with this issue. The story begins with a flashback and then jumps into the action before going back to a flashback… I’m not a fan of flashbacks in storytelling. I believe they are difficult to effectively utilize without making the story feel… choppy. I love the art and the fact that my favorite team appears to have continued rescuing even though I have not been able to watch their exploits. But I am afraid the story telling in this issue seems jarring.

I know this series has received rave reviews by Disney Afternoon fans, and I look forward to reading the rest of the story. I believe I will need to know all of the story before I can decide if I like how it was told. Overall, I enjoyed the first issue of “Worldwide Rescue” and I can’t wait to continue the story.

  Check out IDW’s Description of Disney Afternoon Giant #1:

Disney Afternoon Giant #1—Cover A: James Silvani

Warren Spector, Ian Brill (wr) • Leonel Castellani, Jose Massaroli, Magic Eye Studios (a) • James Silvani (c)

It’s the first issue of a brand-new series featuring stories from your favorite Disney Afternoon shows! It’s a blast from the past in the present as we feature classic DuckTales, Chip ‘n’ Dale Rescue Rangers, and Darkwing Duckstories, all together in one place for the first time!

FC • 48 pages • $5.99

  IDW’s solicitation included these bullet points which indicated that the series would be bi-monthly and that it would include stories from the Darkwing Duck series that was published by Boom! Studios. We hope this means the controversial story “Dangerous Currency” may be available in it’s entirety! 

  Bullet points:

Brand-new title featuring your classic Disney Afternoon TV favorites: DuckTales,Darkwing Duck, and Chip ‘n’ Dale Rescue Rangers!

Bi-monthly issues featuring rotating serialized content that will have you hooked from the start!

Classic tales from beloved characters that will appeal to readers of all ages!

  The second issue of Disney Afternoon Giant #2 came out this month, December. It does continue the stories of “Rightful Owners” and “Worldwide Rescue.” Issue #2 of Disney Afternoon Giant switches things up by beginning with “Worldwide Rescue” Part Two instead of DuckTales’s story. The art continues to impress, and I love every panel of this comic. I love the opening scene and it’s obvious callback to the classic Rescue Rangers video game.

My only complaint with the first issue was that the story seemed to jump around in the timeline too much without a good reason. This issue moves away from that form of storytelling. The opening pages are a flashback, but it serves the purpose of introducing new readers to a character they may not know. After the flashback the story continues at a rapid pace, and we learn that this adventure may have real consequences for our small heroes. 

I enjoyed the direction that “Rightful Owners” has taken. I do not have a problem with Webby’s characterization, but that may be because she feels like a proto-2017 DuckTales Webby. She is competent, smart, and confident. I enjoy that the story included a globe-trotting adventure, and that *spoiler* was revealed to be the villain after Scrooge’s treasure. This was very fun, and has me very excited about seeing where this story will go.

The abrupt changes in the art in this issue made me double check to see how many artists worked on the book. I was at least relieved to see that there had been multiple artists. I’m not sure how much deadlines hurt this comic, but it seems that the art was rushed. Don’t get me wrong it’s not horrible, but with a little polish I believe the panels could have been something special. The art itself isn’t bad, but the colors go from fully fleshed out to flat colors from panel to panel.

Overall, I am still interested in this story and I look forward to continuing the story in 2019.

  You can read IDW’s description of the issue below:

    Disney Afternoon Giant #2

Ian Brill and Warren Spector • Leonel Castellani, José Massaroli, and Magic Eye Studio (a) • Leonel Castellani (c)

Our brand-new series continues with two second chapters as we present part two of Chip ’n’ Dale: Rescue Rangers’ “Worldwide Rescue”and part two of DuckTales’ “Rightful Owners!”

FC • 48 pages • $5.99

  IDW has also provided us with previews of the issues that can be found HERE and HERE (for issue #2)

  Oh! And check out those gorgeous covers below! 

  IDW’s Disney Afternoon Giant #1 & #2 – Review IDW has become one of my favorite comic book publishers over the past few years. They first caught my attention with their Transformers series.

[bitegore]

Chapters: 1/? Fandom: Transformers - All Media Types, The Transformers (IDW Generation One) Rating: Not Rated Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Characters: Megatron (Transformers) Additional Tags: Wrongful Imprisonment, or. rightful imprisonment, but for wrongful reasons, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Pre-War, Brainwashing, Shadowplay (Transformers), Fuck the Senate, Megatron needs an energon cube, like right now, feed my proto warlord, can i reiterate: the senate fucking sucks, tags are subject to change as shit gets worse Summary:

Pre-war Megatron knows that going against the will of the Council is far from a safe or good idea, but he didn't expect quite this much attention from them.

Because the Council is expanding on the Institute, and they need a suitable test subject...

BOOM chapter one is DONE

@travellinglemonworkshop

@mllemusketeer

come pay attention to me it took me until 3:30 am to write this

[thanksjro]

Eugenesis, Part Six Scene Four: Xenon Info-Dumps For Five-And-A-Half Pages

Alright, back to bullshit.

Galvatron is being a rude little turd to Xenon, calling his robot collection old and dusty, but Xenon’s too wrapped up in the Quintesson/Cybertronian lore to be bothered. Ultra Magnus just wants to know what the fuck he’s done with the Matrix.

You heard the man, out with it.

So, back when the Quintessons first started out, they were known as the Progenitors- yeah, I know- a quasi-organic race who went from caveman-level intelligence to full-blown hard sci-fi sons of guns at an incredibly rapid rate.  

Problem is, they didn’t get any further than that. They tried, sure. They tried real hard, for millions of years. Then, once their inspiration had run out, they started looking to other races to try and figure something out.

This just in, god is dead and James Roberts killed him by turning him into a glorified OS.

So, P.R.I.M.U.S. is encoded onto these geodes, and they become sentient. Sometimes they think they’re god.

Just like everyone else in this story.

Now that the Quintessons knew about these little god-doodads, they wanted one for themselves, to try and reverse-engineer the secret to immortality. They hired some guys called the Weavers to nab one for them.

This is some serious nerd shit, y’all. Galvatron agrees with me- he’s never even heard of any of the things Xenon’s droning on about. Neither have I- this is all Roberts at this point.

The Weavers brought back two geodes to the Quintessons, who promptly hid them away until the Masters cooled off a bit, since they were a little miffed about the thievery and whatnot. Then they noticed a couple problems: A) the geodes were encrypted to the moon and back, and B) if you so much as looked at the thing wrong it would purge the Lifecode completely.

Didn’t Optimus throw this thing at Unicron a couple times? Maybe the geode just doesn’t like you, Xenon, ever thought of that?

In order to decode the geodes, the Quintessons needed massive computers. Y’know, like God. But before they could really get a head start on that, the Masters’ nanobot enforcers showed up, blocking out the sky like a giant swarm of angry wasps. They wrecked shopped on Quintyxia- the old one, not the new one- and the Quintessons ran for it. They headed for the planet where they’d buried the other geode, but something went wrong with their hyperspace drive, and they didn’t arrive until two million years after they’d set off.

They dug for the geode, hit something metal, and that’s when the quakes started. The Quintessons left, thinking the planet was unstable.

At this point, Magnus is begging Xenon to just get on with it.

The Quintessons headed back to Quintyxia, to find that their lush, green world had been turned into one made of metal. Cybertron. Quintyxia is Cybertron. New Quintyxia is Quintyxia. It’s like that time Prince named himself the Artist Formerly Known As Prince.

Of course that leaves the question of why the nanobots didn’t just destroy the planet instead of… doing whatever they did to make Cybertron Cybertron.

So, Cybertron is a planet-sized computer, tasked with the sole purpose of decoding the meaning of life.

You know, I remember reading somewhere- and don’t quote me on this, because I can’t for the life of me remember where exactly- that Roberts has never read The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Now, either he’s lying- which I don’t know why he would, the guy loves references- or this is just a weird thing the collective brain of the English population does, where they all jump to the same ideas in absurdist sci-fi.

When the Quintessons showed up on Cybertron, they were met with the results of the cracked Lifecode- the first Transformers (but they couldn’t transform, that was a thing that developed alongside the war.) They couldn’t do much of anything, really.

Well, now we know where the protoform babies in IDW come from.

The Quintessons, not ones to squander an opportunity, decide to use these fragile, helpless proto-beings as slaves.

Yeah, the Quintessons have kind of been the worst since day one.

They build brain modules, stick them in the ground- Seedlings, Xenon calls them- and watch as the planet wrapped living metal around them and built bodies.  

The Quintessons get pretty good at making the Auto-Bots, and get to a point where they’re drafting up blueprints for each solitary one. Blueprints that Xenon apparently kept, since he’s got all these copies in the pods right now.

If you couldn’t tell already, we’re going with the “the Quintessons made the Transformers” creation myth.

Of course, you make a big enough species, they’re going to need some corralling- that is, if you want to be an awful, controlling, overbearing parent. And the Quintessons definitely wanted that. So, what’s one to do?

…Look, it’s not that I necessarily disagree on a base level, but-

Xenon, you fucking neckbeard.

Because the Quintessons forgot that religion is not a one-set-outcome game, they were surprised to find that it had given their creations hope and will, things you really don’t want your enslaved masses to have.

The Covenant drove off the Quintessons, then fucked off into deep space to spread the message of Primus, with Maximo at the head of things. Maximo was the leader of the Cybertronian Empire and Megatron’s progenitor in the Marvel UK comics. They did leave someone behind to keep the masses within the faith- Primon. He’s important in the comics, just trust me on that.

Oh man, we’re finally getting some answers.

Xenon admits that the Quintessons didn’t come up with everything; there were parts that they just straight-up ripped out of the geode’s owner’s manual.

Oh. Well. That’s… underwhelming. Xenon’s really just dumping the entirety of the Cybertronian religion into the trash at this point, isn’t he? This info-dump has been going on for five pages, and we still aren’t done.

Turns out that kill switch code was pulled from the geode too- 4/11.002983712 is its serial number. That’s like if you called your dad by his first name and then immediately died afterwords.

But whatever happened to that second geode the Quintessons buried on the other planet?

Yeah, that turned into Unicron.

Turns out the virus that wipes the Lifecode from the geode messed up, and made the geode want to kill literally everything in the universe just for being alive.  

Well, isn’t that all just fine and dandy~!

Because the Quintessons didn’t realize what Unicron’s whole deal was at first- the vore-planet had learned how to lie at some point before they met up- they worked together for a time.

At this point the Quintessons had gone from being quasi-organic to something more cybernetically-dependent, so that might have also made things a little difficult in the baby-making department. Or not. I don’t fucking know, things are just happening at this point.

MOTHERFUCKER DO YOU KNOW WHAT BOOK YOU’RE IN

THERE WILL BE NO HAPPY ANYTHING

Storytime’s over, back to the present day. Xenon’s going to take these podded robots and populate New Quintyxia with them. They won’t fight, they’ll be actual, normal people who don’t wage war.

Xenon must have gotten some new glasses, because that’s one hell of a rose-tinted worldview he’s got there.

Ultra Magnus at this point just asks for the Matrix back so they can go home. Xenon says “nah, but check this out tho” and powers on the pod-bots.

Xenon, that’s gross. Don’t make Galvatron and Magnus watch you be weird with the power of granting life, man.

All the robots wake up, stand, and stare up at Xenon, who’s floated up to the ceiling on his power trip. They… aren’t supposed to do that.

Turns out the Matrix is a friggin’ liar, and only promised power because it’s actually Unicron in there. Well, damn.

Galvatron shoots Xenon. Good.

Shoulda sprung for the waterproofing on your Uggs, Mags.

Galvatron’s on a roll, now. He aims at one of the zombies and fires, and they all go down, thanks to their interlinked minds. Crisis averted, I guess.

Magnus, though not happy with Galvatron’s wanton destruction of innocents, has bigger fish to fry at present; he’s convinced that the Matrix is still inside God. Boy oh boy, is he wrong, but the narrative demands he at least tries. He sticks his hand into the computer, up to the shoulder. That’s not good heavy-duty machinery safety.

Well, shit. He’s been possessed by a higher power.

You know, now that I think about it, there’s a good chance that Xenon putting the Matrix into God messed up the killswitch code, and that’s why Prowl had to use a wasting disease to try and end it all. Not really relevant at this exact moment in the story, just a thought I had.

Galvatron, having had enough mystical bullshit for one day, shoots his arm clean off, severing the connection. Magnus drops like a stone, and Galvatron bolts as everything starts coming down around them.

Oh no, Magnus is gonna be our first victim, isn’t he?

Magnus follows after Galvatron, leaving his arm. Hope he doesn’t run into any aqua fortis on the way back to the Trident, because his Pretender shell is beat all to hell.

Then Xenon pulls himself together and stops being dead.

Sigh.

This was ONE section.