Raw Danger!

I finished reading the original Marvel run of Transformers the other day, issues 1-80. It left me with questions that I mentioned in my post about the series. I’d heard of something called Regeneration One, so I looked it up and came upon a wiki with a synopsis for each issue. It ran from issue 80.5 until issue 100, and it sounds like an incredible nod to fans of that original series. Simon Furman wrote the issues and tied together damn near every plot question from the old series, and apparently even touched on things he was planning on covering in the original run but didn’t get page space to do so. Original artists returned and worked on the books, and every issue had multiple covers with different characters featured in each. Really cool stuff. They also did things like, in the event of a flashback, the colors or designs would be in line with how they appeared in the Marvel run. So for example, Soundwave is purple in flashbacks, and in flashbacks they use the older coloring style instead of the newer methods that provide richer color. Nods are made to many different parts of the Transformers franchise, and it sounds like the story wraps up with a final bit that ends Generation One, but ties it to the Beast Wars/Machines bit of the timeline.

I’m not the most diehard Transformers fan, but I liked that old show and the old toys were neat. I know that younger fans are more familiar with the movie designs, or the various animated shows that have come since. But to see Generation One not just given a proper ending, but to do it in such a way that shows the people working on the book were actually invested in making sure it was done right, is a cool thing and they should be applauded. I’m sure they were, when these issues initially shipped. But when I got done, it made me think how jealous I am of people who’d followed the original run, probably reread it multiple times over the years, and then received more content to tie the story up, over two decades later. To have been in the middle of that probably would’ve been awesome. Even as a casual fan, I think this is an awesome thing. It gives me hope for the new Twin Peaks content that’s supposed to be coming, and makes me wonder which other properties could be given their proper endings. Cool stuff to think about, for sure.

In other news, I only sneezed twice today, so I think I might be done being sick. Best news all day.