TFtember: War of the Dinobots

 "War of the Dinobots", The Transformers, November 24 1984. 

And thus we end another feature here at Geekademia.

TFtember: Transformers#10

"The Next Best Thing to Being There" the Transformers#9 (November 1985) with credits to Bob Budiansky (script), Ricardo Villamonte (pencils), Brad Joyce (inks), Nelson Yomtov (colors), Janice Chiang (letters), and Mike Carlin (editor)

Given this is the end of the comic reviews, seems funny we end with the introduction of Devastator.

TFtember: Downshift

 Downshift 

Well, this is the last character lookback for 2021. And we have the Paul Blart of the Transformers

TFtember: Fire on the Mountain

 "Fire on the Mountain", The Transformers, December 22 1984. 

Skyfire returns!

Tftember: Transformers#9

 "IDS-Integrated Circuits!" the Transformers#9 (October 1985) with credits to Bob Budiansky (script), Mike Manley (pencils), M. Hands (inks), Nelson Yomtov (colors), Rick Parker (letters), and Jim Owsley (editor)

TFtember: Deceptor

We're getting into the final round, so let's take a look at another Time Warrior.

Deceptor is one of those toy only characters. The toy is, like Autoceptor, goes from robot, to vehicle, to watch. The vehicle is a sort of bird themed jet, where as the watch is the same as Autoceptor with a 'Five Function' (namely month, day, hour, minute, and seconds).

As far as the character goes, the only detail we have is from the Ask Vector Prime section from Facebook. The only we thing we have as a character is Deceptor was a quantum scientist before getting with the Time Warriors. Unlike Autoceptor, Deceptor didn't even rate a cameo in a comic, much less the cartoon.

TFtember: SOS Dinobots

"SOS Dinobots", The Transformers, October 27 1984. 

And now we see the animated debut of the Dinobots

TFtember: Transformers#8

"Repeat Performance!" the Transformers#8 (September 1985) with credits to Bob Budiansky (script), William Johnson (pencils), Kyle Baker (inks), Nelson Yomtov (colors), Rick Parker (letters), and Christopher J. Priest (editor)

TFtember: Cliffjumper

Cliffjumper 

Or, the Not Quite Bumblebee 

TFtember: Fire in the Sky

"Fire in the Sky", The Transformers, December 8 1984. 

First appearance of one of the more confusing characters in Generation One.

TFtember: Transformers#7

  "Warrior School!" the Transformers#7 (August 1985) with credits to Bob Budiansky (script), William Johnson (pencils), Kyle Baker (inks), Nelson Yomtov (colors), Rick Parker (letters), and Christopher J. Priest (editor)

TFtember: Camshaft

Camshaft

Yeah, going deep on this one where we take a look at the Omnibots.

Tftember: Divide and Conquer

   "Divide and Conquer", The Transformers, October 20 1984. 

The first episode written by Donald F. Glut.

TFtember: Transformers#6

 "The Worse of Two Evils" the Transformers#6 (July 1985) with credits to Bob Budiansky (script), Alan Kupperberg (pencils), Nelson Yomtov (colors), Rick Parker (letters), and Christopher J. Priest (editor)

TFtember: Buzzsaw

 Buzzsaw 

One of the mini spies working for the Decepticons, and certainly the meanest.

TFtember: Roll for it

  "Roll for It", The Transformers, October 13 1984. 

TFtember: Transformers#5

  "The New Order" the Transformers#5 (June 1985) with credits to Bob Budiansky (script), Alan Kupperberg (pencils), Nelson Yomtov (colors), Rick Parker (letters), and Christopher J. Priest (editor)

TFtember: Bumper

Bumper

Yeah, technically not a proper Transformer but since I'm trying to do as many as I can, why not include him?

TFtember: Transport to Oblivion

 "Transport to Oblivion", The Transformers, October 6 1984. 

So, with the pilot out of the way, what is the new status quo?

TFtember: Transformers#4

  "The Last Stand" the Transformers#4 (March 1985) with credits to Jim Salicrup (script), Frank Springer (pencils), Ian Akin and Brian Gravey (inks), Nelson Yomtov (colors), John Workman (letters), and Bob Budiansky (editor)

TFtember: Bumblebee

Taking a look at probably the most popular spy in the entire franchise.

TFtember: More Than Meets the Eye, Part 3

"More Than Meets the Eye, Part 3", The Transformers, September 19 1984. 

And thus the pilot ends.

TFtember: Transformers#3

 "Prisoner of War!" the Transformers#3 (January 1985) with credits to Jim Salicrup (script), Frank Springer (pencils), Kim DeMulder and Mike Esposito (inks), Nelson Yomtov (colors), Janice Chiang (letters), and Bob Budiansky (editor)

TFtember: Brawn

Brawn

Moving into the mini vehicles portion, we take a look at the most macho Transformer of them all.

TFtember: More Than Meets the Eye, Part 2

 "More Than Meets the Eye, Part 2", The Transformers, September 18 1984. 

And we move into the second part of the pilot. 

TFtember: Transformers#2

 "Power Play!" the Transformers#2 (November 1984) with credits to Bill Mantlo (plot), Jim Salicrup (script), Frank Springer (pencils), Kim DeMulder (inks), Nelson Yomtov (colors), Janice Chiang (letters), and Bob Budiansky (editor)

Part Two in a four issue miniseries!

TFtember: Bluestreak

 Bluestreak 

Moving into the figures that actually showed up in the show, we see a character that has been in nearly every line since the first one, yet what do we know about him?

Chilean Gothic (2000)

 Chilean Gothic (2000) dir. Ricado Harrington, Kaos Producciones

And thus we end the Summer of Love(craft). 

TFtember: More than Meets the Eye, Part 1

"More Than Meets the Eye, Part 1", The Transformers, September 17 1984. 

So, this is it. The very first episode of the Transformers. Very similar to the first issue of the comic, we open on Cybertron. The war between the Autobots and the Decepticons has ravaged across the metal surface. 

We see Bumblebee and Wheeljack as they scavenge some energy conductors. They run into a Decepticon patrol and barely escape to their hidden base, which isn't hidden for much longer as it seems Decepticon Soundwave has been spying on them, disguised as a street lamp. They up their plans to leave the planet.  

Reporting back to his leader Megatron, the Decepticon commander puts Shockwave in charge and orders his troops to stop the Autobots from leaving Cybertron.

The two ships exchange fire and end up crashing on an isolated planet in the Sol system, Millions of years later they get woken up. 

From the plot diverges. The Decepticons attack a power station leading to humans discovering the Transformers. Another attack focuses on an oil rig, where Sparkplug Witwicky is showing his teenage son Spike around. The Decepticons attack while the Autobots arrive, but Optimus Prime ignores the fighting to save Spike and Sparkplug from the now blazing ocean water...

Pretty good. The script by George Arthur Bloom does a good job of setting up nearly every character of series one or at least introducing them. We do some odd bits, with some character not quite matching what they would look like later. Plus some how Reflector can print out his own photos. 

Something I just noticed, just how old is Spike supposed to be? It's implied that he's working, yet other episodes suggest he's a teen (and a young one at that). Is it legal for a teen to work on an oil rig? Not to mention Spike can take a swat from Rumble and somehow not die. 

Also, we'll be taking a look at the cartoon in production order, not order of airing. 

 

TFtember: Transformers#1

 "The Transformers" the Transformers#1 (September 1984) with credits to Bill Mantlo (plot), Ralph Macchio (script), Frank Springer (pencils), Kim DeMulder (inks), Nelson Yomtov (colors), Michael Higgins and Rick Parker (letters), and Bob Budiansky (editor)

So, the first issue of the first Transformers comics. 

TFtember: Autocepter

And welcome to a new feature. Yup, every day this month we'll be taking a look at a different part of the Transformers franchise. 

And taking a cue from Half the Battle Timmer, we'll be taking a look at the toys, comics, and cartoon of Generation One.