Transformers Comics Bloopers

"Ah ha. Mighty Megatron, it's so good it see you again!"--Starscream, U.S. #78, "A Savage Circle"

Introduction

Bloopers are funny, people. That's all. Everybody makes mistakes, of course (some more glaring than others), and the world of comics is no exception--particularly a comic book like TRANSFORMERS with hundreds of characters and over seven years' worth of stories to keep track of. Nobody intentionally sets out to screw up, obviously, but when you're pressed for time, have three more issues to write that month, and you figure it's just a silly comic book for kids anyway... well, you get the idea. Part of the reason I like documenting bloopers, then, is because making mistakes is one thing that we all have in common. It's part of the human experience. It is not my intention to degrade the humanity of those who worked on the comics, but rather to celebrate it.
Like I said before, though, I also do this because sometimes it's impossible to tell just where the bloopers end and the real story begins. Transformers are so prone to dying and coming back to life that half the time it's tough to tell whether Heroic Autobot Mudflap was repaired and rebuilt only to be blown away that very issue, or whether some artist just grabbed his model sheet and it was never meant to be him to begin with. I hope to set the record straight on at least a few of these, though admittedly even I'm baffled by a few of them.
Submissions

If you are sending bloopers that you've spotted for issues of the comic I've already reviewed, I'll keep them on file until the next update and include them if you spotted something that I didn't (if I conclude that it is indeed a noteworthy blooper). If you're submitting bloopers for issues I haven't gotten to yet, I'll file them away until I get to that issue, and once I've finished my review I'll look your submission over and credit you for anything I missed. Be advised that it may take me a while to get to every issue, but thanks to AOL 6.0 I have a very convenient filing system, so rest assured that all submissions will be retained and sifted through in due time.
Categories

As always, bloopers are organized chronologically and are further broken down by category for easy identification. I've noted on what page a blooper can be found in most cases; I do not count advertisements as pages of the comic. The number in parenthesis before each section denotes the number bloopers an issue has in that category:
Plot Oversights and Changed Premises: Anything dealing with the storyline falls in this category, including plot points that contradict one another and information contained in a character's dialogue or narration.
Dialogue and Narration: Anything having to do with the mechanics of lettering, word balloons, sound effects, narrative boxes or editorial notes applies here, including spelling errors.
Art and Coloring: If it's got to do with the penciling, inking, or coloring of the comic, it goes here. I feel I should point out that I am very lenient when it comes to coloring mistakes for the comics, since the colorists tend to take a lot of creative license. A character might be painted entirely red for emotional emphasis or not painted at all because he's not a prominent part of that scene, but I don't count that as a mistake. Likewise, due to printing limitations, strong primary colors are frequently substituted for more subtle shades (the color blue frequently represents black, for example) but as long as there isn't a major, obvious goof-up (like one character clearly being colored like another character), I'm not going to worry about documenting it.
Junkionisms: Named after the group of Autobots whose entire culture is made up of quotations and slogans from TV, the category refers to any references to real-life pop culture within the comic itself.
You'll also find at least a couple of trivia questions per issue, some of the quotable and not-so-quotable quotes, and some general thoughts on the story that may not necessarily be bloopers in their own right.

THE TRANSFORMERS

1. "The Transformers."
2. "Power Play."
3. "Prisoner of War!"
4. "The Last Stand."
5. "The New Order!"
6. "The Worse of Two Evils!"
7. "Warrior School!"
8. "Repeat Performance!"
9. "Disintegrated Circuits!"
10. "The Next Best Thing to Being There!"
11. "Brainstorm!"
12. "Prime Time!"
13. "Shooting Star!"
14. "Rock and Roll Out!"
15. "I, Robot Master!"
16. "Plight of the Bumblebee!"
17. The Smelting Pool!"
18. "The Bridge to Nowhere!"
19. "Command Performances!"
20. "Showdown!"
21. "Aerialbots Over America!"
22. "Heavy Traffic!"
23. "Decepticon Graffiti!"
24. "Afterdeath!"
25. "Gone But Not Forgotten!"
26. "Funeral for a Friend!"
27. "King of the Hill!"
28. "Mechanical Difficulties!"
29. "Crater Critters."
30. "The Cure!"
31. "Buster Witwicky and the Car Wash of Doom."
32. "Used Autobots."
33. "Man of Iron" parts 1 and 2.
34. "Man of Iron" parts 3 and 4.
35. "Child's Play."
36. "Spacehikers!"
37. "Toy Soldiers!"
38. "Trial By Fire!"
39. "The Desert Island of Space!"
40. "Pretender to the Throne!"
41. "Totaled!"
42. "People Power!"
43. "The Big Broadcast of 2006."
44. "The Cosmic Carnival."
45. "Monstercon From Mars!"
46. "Ca$h and Car-nage!"
47. "Club Con" (The Underbase Saga Part 1).
48. "The Flames of Boltax!" (The Underbase Saga Part 2).
49. "Cold War!" (The Underbase Saga Part 3).
50. "Dark Star" (The Underbase Saga Part 4).
51. "The Man in the Machine!"
52. "Guess Who the Mecannibals Are Having for Dinner?"
53. "Recipe for Disaster!"
54. "King Con!"
55. "The Interplanetary Wrestling Championship!"
56. "Back From the Dead."
57. "The Ressurection Gambit!"
58. "All the Familiar Faces!"
59. "Skin Deep."
60. "Yesterday's Heroes!"
61. "Primal Scream."
62. "Bird of Prey!" (Matrix Quest part 1 of 5).
63. "Kings of the Wild Frontier" (Matrix Quest part 2 of 5).
64. "Deadly Obsession" (Matrix Quest part 3 of 5).
65. "Dark Creation" (Matrix Quest part 4 of 5).
66. "All Fall Down" (Matrix Quest part 5 of 5).
67. "Rhythms of Darkness!"
68. "The Human Factor!"
69. "Eye of the Storm."
70. "The Pri¢e of Life!"
71. "Surrender!"
72. "...All This and Civil War 2."
73. "Out of Time!"
74. "The Void!"
75. "On the Edge of Extinction!"
76. "Still Life!"
77. "Exodus!"
78. "A Savage Circle."
79. "The Last Autobot?"
80. "End of the Road!"

G.I. JOE AND THE TRANSFORMERS

1. "Blood on the Tracks."
2. "Power Struggle."
3. "Ashes, Ashes..."
4. "...All Fall Down!"

THE TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE

1. "The Planet-Eater!"
2. "Judgment Day!"
3. "The Final Battle!"

TRANSFORMERS UNIVERSE

1. TRANSFORMERS UNIVERSE #1
2. TRANSFORMERS UNIVERSE #2
3. TRANSFORMERS UNIVERSE #3
4. TRANSFORMERS UNIVERSE #4

HEADMASTERS

1. "Ring of Hate!"
2. "Broken Glass!"
3. "Love and Steel!"
4. "Brothers in Armor!!"

G.I. JOE

138. "Unfoldings!"
139. "Realignments."
140. "Goin' South."
141. "Sucker Punch."
142. "Final Transformations."

TRANSFORMERS: GENERATION 2

1. "War Without End!"
2. "All or Nothing!" and "Ghosts."
3. "Primal Fear!" and "Old Evils."
4. "Devices and Desires!" and "Tales of Earth" Part One.
5. "The Power and the Glory" and "Tales of Earth" Part Two.
6. "Tales of Earth" Part Three and "The Gathering Darkness."
7. "New Dawn" and "Tales of Earth" Part Four.
8. "Escalation!" and "Tales of Earth" Part Five.
9. "Swarm" and "Tales of Earth" Part Six.
10. "Total War!" and "Tales of Earth" Part Seven.
11. "Dark Shadows!" and "Tales of Earth" Part Eight.
12. "A Rage in Heaven!"

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This Page Created 2/28/2001
Last Update: 2/28/2001