WEBVTT
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Thank you. Welcome to Audible Interlude, a G
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.I. Joe podcast. I'm your host, Dave West, codename
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Phantom Troublemaker. And I am your co -host,
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Noel Wood, codename Crapshoot. And I'm your Cobra
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intern that likes to race on a penny farthing,
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codename Legion Cub. And I'm the show host who
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has been banned from using soundboards ever again.
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If you did not catch our live stream on Monday,
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we had some tributes to Stone Cold Steve Austin.
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Since it was 316, you'll be able to catch the
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audio version of that wherever you get your podcasts.
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We had a lot of fun, but also, quite frankly,
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by the time it was done, even I was finding the
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Stone Cold sound bites kind of annoying. Follow
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us wherever you listen to podcasts. Click that
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follow button and leave a five -star review.
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And be sure you're sharing Audible Interlude
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Podcast. Go to the pinned stories. Check out
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our merch. We've got a TeePublic store with shirts
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free swag. We also have an Audible Army Facebook
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messages, audiblearmypodcast on Instagram, and
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we'll get you added to the group. Or check out
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a live stream, and we'll add you there. Our next
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live stream is March the 30th, where we'll be
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doing a normal show. But, Noel, as you pointed
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out when we were recording just a little bit
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ago, it will be the Monday after Toylanta. So
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we will potentially have some Toylanta stories,
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Toylanta finds. At the very least, Joe and Tell
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should be pretty exciting for that episode. But
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we are here tonight to review G .I. Joe. Number
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20 from Skybound's Inner John universe. There
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will be spoilers ahead. Our writers, Joshua Williamson,
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artist Andrea Milana, colorist Lee Loughridge,
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and letterer Russ Wooten. Thus far, or I guess
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recently, we really can't cover thus far because
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that's a lot of territory. Recently, Clutch and
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Hound's secret relationship is out and Duke wants
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to meet Optimus Prime. Meanwhile, Matt Tracker
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is on the run from Miles Mayhem and Scrap Iron.
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Very exciting last issue. I mean, every issue
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is exciting, but this cover, it's very simple,
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but what an iconic cover to this, or at least
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our copy that we got with Optimus, excuse me,
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with Optimus and Duke on the front, which I am
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way, as we've established. way behind on transformers
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and boy drivers i have thoughts but when we get
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to that moment i'll go into them okay okay as
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as we keep crossing things over i feel like i'm
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now obligated to go back and read both of those
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books because that's killing me yeah well and
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they're like the point i got to with but which
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i think no because i know i got a little further
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in transformers i'm way way behind but what i
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read like void rivals was actually my favorite
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out of all the comics but we're a gi joe show
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so i have to focus my time on keeping up with
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the gi joe comics so uh anyway once we get inside
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once we get past that striking cover of these
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two lead characters uh picking up from the end
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of issue 19 we have scrap iron and it's explained
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that he is an independent contractor he goes
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where the money takes him so he may be working
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for cobra but he takes contracts outside of that
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which i i appreciate because we had a little
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discussion about that at the end of like well
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wait a minute what is his status if he's like
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a bounty hunter yeah it surprised me um not like
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in a bad way but more in a oh okay that makes
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sense because it seems like a lot of characters
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involved with cobra are there because they're
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getting paid to give into their destructive side
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yeah i mean they're mercenaries but firefly blood
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um you know a lot of these well i mean really
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so many of of the the characters we think of
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as cobra are not technically cobra and we've
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talked about that over the history of the show
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times where it's almost kind of rubbed me the
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wrong way how much some of them seem to just
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get absorbed into Cobra. And it's not acknowledged
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that they are independent operators. Yeah. Like
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even like, even as a kid, when I was trying to
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like figure out Destro is the weapon supplier.
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And I, you even, not even before I was like reading
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the comic and saw that he was his own kind of
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independent person as well. I never really thought
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of him as a member of Cobra. I just thought as
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an associate of Cobra. um like really it's like
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cobra commander and the baroness and their underlings
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really that's pretty much it yeah yeah i i tend
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to my my head canon keeps destro definitely independent
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from cobra like he he works with them but he
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is not by any measure an employee yeah and even
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with like you know they mentioned scrap iron
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working for mars um in his file card or they
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say he's believed to be working for mars so um
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yeah uh so scrap iron says the money and his
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big ass truck uh have brought him to matt tracker
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and tracker says well you're not the only one
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that brought a ride and that was very exciting
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because we've seen matt tracker a few times now
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in these comics but we've seen no sign of his
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technology so that was a great way to end that
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opening page and sure enough we get a two -page
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spread uh for the next couple of pages and there
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it is the thunderhawk and i was so excited now
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look don't get me wrong i'm still excited it
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was great to see it it's great to see it out
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maneuvering scrap iron and his big monster truck
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but they saved, you know, the real secret sauce
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of the Thunderhawk for later. Apparently, even
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though like you could tell they were clearly
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teasing that he was going to, he was going to,
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to reveal it at some point, but that didn't chase.
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That didn't bother me. It was, it, it was weird
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because so in transformers, we have already seen
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miles. with the switchblade copter do what the
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switchblade copter does right okay so in here
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every single panel kept building this anticipation
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with me and this excitement of oh now it's gonna
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happen but when it didn't i never was like uh
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it was like my excitement has just continued
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to build and i feel like it's like when it finally
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does happen whether it's next issue or mask number
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one like it's going to be this hugely cathartic
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oh my gosh kind of moment well you know i wasn't
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i would say like 99 .9 percent of people reading
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this comic are aware of what the thunder hawk
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is they know that when they see that thing it's
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gonna so there's not any real point in like teasing
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it, but the way they're doing it is so... When
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he says, damn, he's fast, I'm like, oh, he's
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going to get even faster. I really like the way
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they did this. They don't have to tease it. We
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all know it's coming, but it's been delivered
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well. I wasn't disappointed. I was expecting
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it, and then it didn't happen. I was like, oh,
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well, you saved that for Mask. I believe Mask
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will be the next time we see him. Because it's
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coming out in June, which is not as far away
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as we'd all like to think it is. Because in this
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issue, well, we'll get there. We'll get there.
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So we have the Thunderhawk outmaneuvers Scrap
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Iron's big truck and escapes from the arena.
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And I had to go back and reread this page because
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they've got to chase through the streets. Missiles
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are launched. It's clear Scrap Iron doesn't care
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about collateral damage. And then we get to a
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point a couple of pages away. where they these
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kids playing soccer and my brain hadn't processed
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that they left that stadium or whatever it is
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motor speedway whatever it's called and i was
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like why are there kids playing soccer at the
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motor speedway and then i was like oh wait a
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minute no if you go back to that top panel you
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see they're leaving that area they're out in
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the neighborhoods now um so of course a couple
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kids playing soccer matt tracker does not want
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to run them over so he skids out stops in front
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of the big truck which i want that truck to have
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a name i don't know what it's going yeah with
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the big scrap iron rocket launcher on the back
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of it an o -ring scale toy yes don't need it
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in classified although mcfarlane put out a monster
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truck that could be reasonably customized to
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be this uh So things are looking rough. And at
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the end of that last page of this conflict, this
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chase and all these missiles fired and everything
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else, I didn't have any, you know, I've talked
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before about how to try not to think too far
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ahead and anticipate things. I just go with the
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story. But, you know, your brain throws things
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out like, oh, this might happen next or I could
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see this happening here. I just didn't have anything.
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I was like, I don't know what's getting ready
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to happen here because he can't he can't fly
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away at this point. Because then that truck hits
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the kids. If that truck hits the car, unless
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we're going to see some force field, I just didn't
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see what was happening. And what happens is freaking
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delightful because it's Hound to the rescue ramming
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into the side of Scrap Iron's truck. Hound with
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Duke and Clutch. And he does the old hit him
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and transform. And I could just... visualize
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this whole segment animated like what it's so
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cinematic like what it would look like uh so
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scrap iron's furious that somebody ran into him
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and now he's just determined he's going to destroy
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this whole city he doesn't care how many cars
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show up to save matt tracker until he realizes
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that jeep is transforming into a giant robot
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And the look on his face, Christian talked about
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the look on his face here. Yeah. So I, I really
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like it's stylized art and it's over exaggerated,
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but I don't find it cartoony. That's like the
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look of just shock on his face. It's it's. It's
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writing a fine line of being Looney Tunes, but
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it's not. Those eyes are just massive. It's almost
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like Judge Doomy. Yeah. Yeah. He just got hit.
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Well, I mean, he just got hit with a giant robot,
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but at the same time, his brain just got hit
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with a giant WTF hammer. of realization right
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because he is he is not in on all of the cobra
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talk like he may not aside from the world like
00:13:16.129 --> 00:13:18.009
everybody in the world knows about the giant
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robots right but he hasn't necessarily encountered
00:13:22.409 --> 00:13:27.570
one like this before right this way uh so i i
00:13:27.570 --> 00:13:30.830
it i think it's the cartooniest thing we've seen
00:13:30.830 --> 00:13:37.279
in joe so far but it works really well so i didn't
00:13:37.279 --> 00:13:39.919
it didn't phase me at all yeah and it like the
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way they've portrayed him in a lot of these panels
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um you know because we we think of scrap iron
00:13:46.279 --> 00:13:48.659
a certain way but like you know we've never really
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seen him as like this kind of maniacal like cackling
00:13:52.940 --> 00:13:55.500
as he's destroying things like we see him a little
00:13:55.500 --> 00:13:58.379
used a little more subdued um but like yeah even
00:13:58.379 --> 00:14:00.789
the the page before this where he's, you know,
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got you now smarty pants and he's drawn and it's
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very like anime style. The way his, his mouth
00:14:06.289 --> 00:14:10.549
is obviously a lot more exaggerated than it would
00:14:10.549 --> 00:14:13.029
normally be. So I really like what they've done
00:14:13.029 --> 00:14:16.330
with this by styling it a little bit in this,
00:14:16.330 --> 00:14:19.850
in this scene. Well, and you, you said it, it's,
00:14:19.850 --> 00:14:24.210
it is all about crafting his character for the
00:14:24.210 --> 00:14:27.970
inner John universe and, and showing us who he
00:14:27.970 --> 00:14:32.679
is. So Scrap Iron decides he's going to take
00:14:32.679 --> 00:14:35.940
off, and I think just to keep everything nice.
00:14:36.019 --> 00:14:39.120
Well, he's not their goal. They're there for
00:14:39.120 --> 00:14:41.799
Matt Tracker. So while Scrap Iron is a threat,
00:14:42.039 --> 00:14:45.519
their priority is to connect with Matt Tracker,
00:14:45.679 --> 00:14:48.740
who, by the way, not happy to be connected with.
00:14:51.100 --> 00:14:56.000
And I will reiterate again, we talked about it
00:14:56.000 --> 00:15:01.700
last issue. I'm so glad they sorted out the Duke
00:15:01.700 --> 00:15:05.940
clutch hound thing and didn't drag it out over
00:15:05.940 --> 00:15:12.620
the next like year. Yeah. And as we hear later
00:15:12.620 --> 00:15:16.120
on, it's not that Duke has just completely embraced
00:15:16.120 --> 00:15:19.039
it and is good to go, but he's being practical
00:15:19.039 --> 00:15:23.120
and working with what he has as opposed to being
00:15:23.120 --> 00:15:30.409
like a CW TV show. Right. Like. based off of
00:15:30.409 --> 00:15:35.190
last issue there's information that duke still
00:15:35.190 --> 00:15:40.110
doesn't have right up to this point so that duke
00:15:40.110 --> 00:15:45.610
is still harboring a lot of anger and resentment
00:15:45.610 --> 00:15:49.350
about these giant robots well he now knows there's
00:15:49.350 --> 00:15:54.149
autobots and there's decepticons but he's not
00:15:54.149 --> 00:15:58.529
i i don't think he's necessarily irrationally
00:15:59.240 --> 00:16:02.240
now blinded by it he's kind of like i have this
00:16:02.240 --> 00:16:06.919
information now these pieces of the puzzle are
00:16:06.919 --> 00:16:10.299
in and i have to go get these other pieces so
00:16:10.299 --> 00:16:14.879
it's like his goal has shifted but his end goal
00:16:14.879 --> 00:16:19.860
of star scream and revenge is i i think still
00:16:19.860 --> 00:16:23.799
bubbling under the surface but he's got a job
00:16:23.799 --> 00:16:28.279
to do yeah I love the size difference between
00:16:28.279 --> 00:16:34.840
Matt Tracker and Clutch. That was a nice. Clutch
00:16:34.840 --> 00:16:37.200
is clearly like a little bit of a shorter guy,
00:16:37.299 --> 00:16:40.299
and we don't always think about it because depending
00:16:40.299 --> 00:16:42.700
on how the panels are being illustrated or what's
00:16:42.700 --> 00:16:45.759
going on in them, we don't necessarily see the
00:16:45.759 --> 00:16:48.960
characters face to face like this. And I liked
00:16:48.960 --> 00:16:52.759
showing that. And this might sound silly to some
00:16:52.759 --> 00:16:59.019
of you. But it absolutely made my heart warm
00:16:59.019 --> 00:17:04.299
to see Clutch smiling in a panel. Because that
00:17:04.299 --> 00:17:07.380
was Clutch in the miniseries, at the beginning
00:17:07.380 --> 00:17:10.279
of this series. And this whole thing with Hound
00:17:10.279 --> 00:17:15.880
and the post -Cobra PTSD, he's put on kind of
00:17:15.880 --> 00:17:19.339
like a facade. But we've really just seen...
00:17:19.720 --> 00:17:22.900
mega stressed out clutch and now it's like oh
00:17:22.900 --> 00:17:26.339
this weight is off my shoulder my relationship
00:17:26.339 --> 00:17:29.140
with duke may not be the best but i can kind
00:17:29.140 --> 00:17:32.740
of smooth maybe smooth things over by cracking
00:17:32.740 --> 00:17:35.900
jokes and being my old self again because things
00:17:35.900 --> 00:17:39.779
should be normal And he is being his old, like
00:17:39.779 --> 00:17:42.859
slightly antagonistic self because tracker is
00:17:42.859 --> 00:17:45.460
furious yelling. He doesn't want to be found
00:17:45.460 --> 00:17:48.200
and clutch with that big smile on his face says,
00:17:48.240 --> 00:17:50.279
then maybe don't be racing in the streets. Like
00:17:50.279 --> 00:17:54.099
he's being a smart ass pushing buttons and it's
00:17:54.099 --> 00:17:57.299
good to see it. And we get to see a lot of that
00:17:57.299 --> 00:18:01.440
in this issue. And I really appreciate it. So
00:18:01.440 --> 00:18:03.700
he points out, well, look, we just saved your
00:18:03.700 --> 00:18:06.559
life. I think you owe us a favor in Matt Tracker.
00:18:06.660 --> 00:18:08.819
And again, the pacing of the way that they lay
00:18:08.819 --> 00:18:11.079
all this stuff out, like the last panel of this
00:18:11.079 --> 00:18:15.059
page is, what kind of favor? So it compels you,
00:18:15.079 --> 00:18:17.799
like, we've got to get to the next page. It drives
00:18:17.799 --> 00:18:26.500
you through the story. So next up, we've got,
00:18:26.539 --> 00:18:30.759
which I, there's so much action. And that's another
00:18:30.759 --> 00:18:32.599
thing I really like about the pacing is you get
00:18:32.599 --> 00:18:35.420
these really intense pages of action and then
00:18:35.420 --> 00:18:37.339
you get back to, oh, that's right. That's what's
00:18:37.339 --> 00:18:39.660
going on. And what's going on is they need Matt
00:18:39.660 --> 00:18:43.319
Tracker to repair Hound's transponder. And again,
00:18:43.420 --> 00:18:47.819
it's just a different feel from so many of the
00:18:47.819 --> 00:18:50.420
comics that I've been reading for so long, because
00:18:50.420 --> 00:18:54.099
I feel like if this were a lot of other comics.
00:18:55.180 --> 00:18:56.960
they would have hooked up with matt tracker and
00:18:56.960 --> 00:18:59.000
he would have been like well i could fix this
00:18:59.000 --> 00:19:03.480
but i'm gonna need x y and z and six issues later
00:19:03.480 --> 00:19:07.059
they've obtained x y and z and he fixes the transponder
00:19:07.059 --> 00:19:09.980
and then like the transponder gets fixed and
00:19:09.980 --> 00:19:13.059
hound's like oh well it's scrambled oh well we're
00:19:13.059 --> 00:19:15.220
gonna have to do this to unscramble it and that's
00:19:15.220 --> 00:19:19.099
a whole other story arc it's just the the and
00:19:19.099 --> 00:19:22.460
that's another reason why i stopped buying comics
00:19:22.460 --> 00:19:26.670
years ago is they just got so tedious with the
00:19:26.670 --> 00:19:32.809
pacing. It just felt like everything was so decompressed
00:19:32.809 --> 00:19:36.990
that so little was happening that it wasn't worth
00:19:36.990 --> 00:19:40.150
$4 an issue to keep up with the stories. But
00:19:40.150 --> 00:19:42.230
I think one of the strengths for the Skybound
00:19:42.230 --> 00:19:48.630
universe is like 99 % of the time when we have
00:19:48.630 --> 00:19:51.809
what I consider this to be like one of those,
00:19:51.910 --> 00:19:55.730
hey. This is a slow moment. We've had our big
00:19:55.730 --> 00:19:58.670
action. Now we're going to bring the energy down
00:19:58.670 --> 00:20:02.990
because we have some info dumping to do. But
00:20:02.990 --> 00:20:07.670
the way that they do it, it's so dense. It doesn't
00:20:07.670 --> 00:20:11.150
necessarily feel like they're just exposition
00:20:11.150 --> 00:20:14.430
dumping, but you also don't feel like, oh, I
00:20:14.430 --> 00:20:18.490
can just skip this page. There's still so much
00:20:18.490 --> 00:20:25.400
story that is in this part. And I think you're
00:20:25.400 --> 00:20:30.220
exactly right. They use, like, action -wise,
00:20:30.299 --> 00:20:34.720
they slow things way down, but they give you
00:20:34.720 --> 00:20:39.839
this amount of narrative where it doesn't feel
00:20:39.839 --> 00:20:41.619
like it's slowed down. Like, when you're done
00:20:41.619 --> 00:20:43.819
with the page, you feel like you took in just
00:20:43.819 --> 00:20:47.599
as much, just in a different way. They've been
00:20:47.599 --> 00:20:49.900
very successful with that throughout everything
00:20:49.900 --> 00:20:56.230
in the Energon universe. So Matt Tracker has
00:20:56.230 --> 00:21:00.390
fixed the transponder and Hound immediately tries
00:21:00.390 --> 00:21:03.450
to ping the Autobots. While he's doing that,
00:21:03.569 --> 00:21:06.730
Tracker talks to the Joes about their future
00:21:06.730 --> 00:21:13.589
and he gets the Joe job offer, which. I again,
00:21:13.670 --> 00:21:15.910
I kind of thought, oh, maybe he'll stick around
00:21:15.910 --> 00:21:18.650
a little while and then mask will kick off. But
00:21:18.650 --> 00:21:20.809
it looks to me here like, nope, he's leaving.
00:21:20.890 --> 00:21:23.029
And the next time we see him will be mass number
00:21:23.029 --> 00:21:28.369
one. Or perhaps because I have some theories
00:21:28.369 --> 00:21:30.690
about what might be in the free comic book day
00:21:30.690 --> 00:21:35.130
special. So I think we may get a Matt Tracker
00:21:35.130 --> 00:21:39.740
story in that to connect this and mask. And then
00:21:39.740 --> 00:21:41.900
we have another thing later on that I wonder
00:21:41.900 --> 00:21:46.539
if we won't get in that special, but so tracker
00:21:46.539 --> 00:21:52.700
takes his leave and hound is taking Duke, which
00:21:52.700 --> 00:21:55.579
we get a little, it's about as close as Duke
00:21:55.579 --> 00:21:59.099
gets to levity. Again, that page Turner at the
00:21:59.099 --> 00:22:02.019
end, I can't believe I'm about to say this, but
00:22:02.019 --> 00:22:07.259
take me to your leader. And not even, it's not
00:22:07.259 --> 00:22:11.319
even quite levity. It's just recognition of there's
00:22:11.319 --> 00:22:13.960
just no other way to say this. And maybe I'm
00:22:13.960 --> 00:22:17.420
even a little annoyed that I have to say this.
00:22:17.700 --> 00:22:23.220
Yeah. So we get a nice travel page, just kind
00:22:23.220 --> 00:22:26.440
of showing some distance. So I want to, I want
00:22:26.440 --> 00:22:29.180
to talk about the end of this travel page. Okay.
00:22:29.400 --> 00:22:33.759
Real quick compared to the cover, because when
00:22:33.759 --> 00:22:39.990
I saw the cover, I thought, oh, okay, this story
00:22:39.990 --> 00:22:45.250
is definitely taking place during X timeline
00:22:45.250 --> 00:22:51.049
for the Transformers because there's a reveal
00:22:51.049 --> 00:22:56.450
and that cover doesn't necessarily match the
00:22:56.450 --> 00:23:03.450
reveal. So I'm thinking, okay, so the way, you
00:23:03.450 --> 00:23:05.930
know, Skybound Universe has all sort of been
00:23:05.930 --> 00:23:08.470
interconnected. It's putting the pieces together,
00:23:08.609 --> 00:23:13.609
and I 100 % understand why you put Optimus Prime
00:23:13.609 --> 00:23:17.430
on this cover. Sure. Like, you want people to
00:23:17.430 --> 00:23:21.190
pick up this comic? That's comic book 101. Even
00:23:21.190 --> 00:23:23.869
if there's people that right now aren't collecting
00:23:23.869 --> 00:23:26.609
G .I. Joe or Transformers, if they see the two
00:23:26.609 --> 00:23:31.230
of them on a cover together, they might go, oh,
00:23:31.269 --> 00:23:34.059
this is going to be cool. Let me grab it. And
00:23:34.059 --> 00:23:37.380
if it's some off -model Optimus Prime, they might
00:23:37.380 --> 00:23:40.039
be like, oh, so this is some different thing.
00:23:40.700 --> 00:23:43.900
I don't think I care about this as much. Right.
00:23:43.960 --> 00:23:47.400
So we get this, thank you for agreeing to meet
00:23:47.400 --> 00:23:49.779
me in a neutral location. And I'm thinking, oh
00:23:49.779 --> 00:23:53.859
my gosh, oh my gosh. And then... Which, by the
00:23:53.859 --> 00:23:57.420
way, from what's behind Duke, I was like, is
00:23:57.420 --> 00:24:03.470
somebody about to see a head in a box? Because
00:24:03.470 --> 00:24:06.150
that's exactly what it looks like. Oh, my gosh.
00:24:06.210 --> 00:24:11.829
You're right. I did not notice that. Gwyneth
00:24:11.829 --> 00:24:17.009
Paltrow as cover girl. And you get this great
00:24:17.009 --> 00:24:24.829
page of Duke looking up, sort of, to give you
00:24:24.829 --> 00:24:29.589
this. grand like here it is he says the words
00:24:29.589 --> 00:24:33.809
optimus prime and then you get that i am no longer
00:24:33.809 --> 00:24:42.190
or i am prime no longer page turn well i mean
00:24:42.190 --> 00:24:44.730
it's a two -page spread probably yeah i think
00:24:44.730 --> 00:24:48.230
it's what oh okay yeah um oh yeah because there's
00:24:48.230 --> 00:24:51.150
a tiny bit of the speech bubble okay because
00:24:51.150 --> 00:24:56.250
i was thinking like great use of again the tease
00:24:56.250 --> 00:24:59.089
like you know from earlier in the history with
00:24:59.089 --> 00:25:05.089
the thunderhawk but starting with that slow moment
00:25:05.089 --> 00:25:10.549
i feel like this is where skybound's shared continuity
00:25:10.549 --> 00:25:18.890
without a little bit more editorial help hurts
00:25:18.890 --> 00:25:25.190
because earlier When Matt is working on Hound,
00:25:25.230 --> 00:25:30.170
he mentions Shadow Watch, which has had lots
00:25:30.170 --> 00:25:34.890
of discussion in Transformers with Miles. Here,
00:25:35.029 --> 00:25:41.069
you have Orion Pax, basically. I mean, it's not
00:25:41.069 --> 00:25:44.710
Optimus Prime. Why is it not Optimus Prime? There
00:25:44.710 --> 00:25:49.750
is nothing that says... see issue 27 of transformers
00:25:49.750 --> 00:25:53.769
for story that's that was my thought was if this
00:25:53.769 --> 00:25:57.049
was uh and not to necessarily say whether it's
00:25:57.049 --> 00:25:59.230
better or worse but if this was a marvel comic
00:25:59.230 --> 00:26:02.549
from the 80s there would have been a little text
00:26:02.549 --> 00:26:05.869
box that said exactly what you just said yeah
00:26:05.869 --> 00:26:09.750
but like even so me not reading the transformers
00:26:09.750 --> 00:26:12.559
comic currently and not being up to date There's
00:26:12.559 --> 00:26:15.200
enough exposition between Optimus Prime and Hound
00:26:15.200 --> 00:26:17.900
for me to understand everything here. Absolutely.
00:26:19.819 --> 00:26:23.799
I'm saying it not as a narrative necessity, but
00:26:23.799 --> 00:26:26.319
as a, hey, let's get a little cross -sell going
00:26:26.319 --> 00:26:32.920
on here. Bingo. Right. If I wanted to find out,
00:26:33.000 --> 00:26:34.799
if I wanted to go and find the issue where this
00:26:34.799 --> 00:26:39.490
happens. I mean, obviously you can ask your local
00:26:39.490 --> 00:26:41.690
comic shop and they'll be able to tell you, but
00:26:41.690 --> 00:26:45.329
it would be great if I knew specifically it is
00:26:45.329 --> 00:26:48.509
this issue that I need to buy and it will give
00:26:48.509 --> 00:26:52.029
me that story. It's worth mentioning, though,
00:26:52.069 --> 00:26:56.089
that the copy we have is not final and it's possible
00:26:56.089 --> 00:26:59.630
an editorial note like that may be added later.
00:26:59.950 --> 00:27:03.269
Right. So when I get the physical copy, I do
00:27:03.269 --> 00:27:10.539
want to compare. Yeah. Um, so yeah. And I had
00:27:10.539 --> 00:27:13.539
a note about that shadow watch and I forgot to
00:27:13.539 --> 00:27:15.200
mention it because there's so much else going
00:27:15.200 --> 00:27:17.519
on on that page. Uh, so we've, yeah, we've got
00:27:17.519 --> 00:27:20.240
Optimus prime, a little different shape, uh,
00:27:20.359 --> 00:27:23.259
only got one smoke snack and he's got a mouth,
00:27:23.339 --> 00:27:27.220
which I'm, I'm, I appreciate this difference
00:27:27.220 --> 00:27:29.819
because he's just Optimus now, but I'm never
00:27:29.819 --> 00:27:32.660
as big a fan of mouth prime, although it worked
00:27:32.660 --> 00:27:37.240
in transformers. What was transformers one? Yeah,
00:27:37.319 --> 00:27:40.359
they don't say Orion Pax here, but I presume
00:27:40.359 --> 00:27:44.099
that... Does he go by that name in the... No?
00:27:44.160 --> 00:27:46.940
No. In the issue that this happens, they just
00:27:46.940 --> 00:27:49.640
keep... Yeah, everybody kept calling him Optimus.
00:27:50.619 --> 00:27:56.160
Yeah, it seems like he's just Optimus. What is
00:27:56.160 --> 00:27:58.579
his... Because he looks a little different. What's
00:27:58.579 --> 00:28:01.839
his alternate mode now? So we haven't seen it.
00:28:02.220 --> 00:28:05.829
Oh, okay. In this issue. Yeah. Oh, do they? Yeah.
00:28:07.390 --> 00:28:09.210
Oh, that's right. Because he rolls out at the
00:28:09.210 --> 00:28:13.109
end. Cybertronian truck. But up to this page,
00:28:13.569 --> 00:28:16.750
we have not seen it. Okay. They didn't show it
00:28:16.750 --> 00:28:18.869
in the Transformers issue because it pretty much
00:28:18.869 --> 00:28:25.569
the Transformer issue. He gives the Matrix to
00:28:25.569 --> 00:28:30.250
Alita one. She leaves. And then it's like, see
00:28:30.250 --> 00:28:34.000
you next issue. And that issue doesn't even say
00:28:34.000 --> 00:28:38.680
CGI Joe number 20. Oh, yeah, for more about the
00:28:38.680 --> 00:28:42.380
story. Yeah, you're right. They should be dropping
00:28:42.380 --> 00:28:46.259
that stuff in here. So page 14 has lots of info,
00:28:46.799 --> 00:28:50.140
as you just referenced. Alita 1 is now the Prime.
00:28:50.839 --> 00:28:54.599
She's fighting the war on Cybertron. And Optimus
00:28:54.599 --> 00:28:59.380
stayed behind to battle Decepticons on Earth.
00:28:59.930 --> 00:29:02.230
To protect Earth and to stay with his fellow
00:29:02.230 --> 00:29:05.730
Autobots on Earth and protect them. A key thing
00:29:05.730 --> 00:29:12.670
that Alita, as Alita Prime, actually says at
00:29:12.670 --> 00:29:16.329
the end of the issue is any of the Autobots who
00:29:16.329 --> 00:29:19.269
stay behind with Optimus and do not go back to
00:29:19.269 --> 00:29:23.190
Cybertron, they are no longer Autobots. They
00:29:23.190 --> 00:29:30.789
are Cybertronians on Earth. Wow. So that brings
00:29:30.789 --> 00:29:35.930
us up to Duke asking, of course, about Starscream.
00:29:37.130 --> 00:29:41.349
And as someone who has not kept up with Transformers,
00:29:41.349 --> 00:29:47.190
this was a bomb drop to find out that Starscream
00:29:47.190 --> 00:29:53.029
is dead. And this happened many issues ago in
00:29:53.029 --> 00:30:00.039
Transformers. My note is Starscream is dead or
00:30:00.039 --> 00:30:06.299
more likely dead with quotation marks. I did
00:30:06.299 --> 00:30:10.720
not believe he was dead either from storyline
00:30:10.720 --> 00:30:15.000
he will come back because they just do that or
00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:22.359
Optimus thinks he's dead. He's dead. What they
00:30:22.359 --> 00:30:25.660
do different in the Skybound universe is that
00:30:26.119 --> 00:30:30.940
You can bring like they are machines, right?
00:30:31.160 --> 00:30:37.660
So they die and go offline. With enough Energon
00:30:37.660 --> 00:30:43.539
and the Matrix, you can bring them back. You
00:30:43.539 --> 00:30:48.519
can re -energize them, but it takes a crap ton
00:30:48.519 --> 00:30:51.640
of Energon. So like at the start of the Skybound
00:30:51.640 --> 00:30:53.880
universe, when the Decepticons like wipe out
00:30:53.880 --> 00:30:57.049
most of the Autobots. they've had to be very
00:30:57.049 --> 00:30:59.609
selective that's sort of how they kept the cast
00:30:59.609 --> 00:31:04.309
small right so as they've killed or damaged characters
00:31:04.309 --> 00:31:10.049
because there's a finite amount of energon on
00:31:10.049 --> 00:31:14.210
earth they're not able to just be like well let's
00:31:14.210 --> 00:31:16.630
you know take him back to nemesis and hook him
00:31:16.630 --> 00:31:18.890
up and pump him full of energon and bring him
00:31:18.890 --> 00:31:24.130
back it's like the story i have a feeling hunt
00:31:24.130 --> 00:31:27.670
of energon might Finally get it where we need
00:31:27.670 --> 00:31:31.750
to be. Well, and Optimus even says, like, General
00:31:31.750 --> 00:31:35.849
Flagg had a stockpile of Energon. I saved some
00:31:35.849 --> 00:31:41.450
of it for you, but that's it. Yeah. So Duke is
00:31:41.450 --> 00:31:45.450
shocked to find out that really his entire purpose
00:31:45.450 --> 00:31:50.630
in life has already died without his assistance.
00:31:50.809 --> 00:31:54.390
And he wanders off to a hill to think about this
00:31:54.390 --> 00:32:00.069
new situation. And I like Optimus saying no,
00:32:00.190 --> 00:32:01.730
because Clutch is going to go talk to him. And
00:32:01.730 --> 00:32:04.829
Optimus says, no, I'll go do it, which is really
00:32:04.829 --> 00:32:07.150
cool because it sets up what you know is going
00:32:07.150 --> 00:32:09.309
to be a significant moment of connection between
00:32:09.309 --> 00:32:14.210
these two characters. And Duke says, as before
00:32:14.210 --> 00:32:16.829
we move to the next page, for a long time, whenever
00:32:16.829 --> 00:32:18.769
I would close my eyes, I would see Starscream
00:32:18.769 --> 00:32:21.069
kill my friend. But ever since we started G .I.
00:32:21.109 --> 00:32:24.890
Joe, I saw something else. I would kill Starscream
00:32:24.890 --> 00:32:28.529
myself. Use the tech that Cobra created to take
00:32:28.529 --> 00:32:31.410
him out. But I wouldn't stop there. I'd kill
00:32:31.410 --> 00:32:34.269
all the robots on Earth. I don't care if they
00:32:34.269 --> 00:32:36.990
were Decepticons or Autobots. Nothing could stop
00:32:36.990 --> 00:32:40.089
me from eliminating you and everything like you.
00:32:40.490 --> 00:32:45.769
And I love this because I feel like we had a
00:32:45.769 --> 00:32:50.069
sense of that. But this feels like a confession.
00:32:51.400 --> 00:32:55.700
Like he's unburdening himself of this truth that
00:32:55.700 --> 00:33:01.900
he's been hanging on to for so long. And the
00:33:01.900 --> 00:33:05.319
visuals of it, we get three full panels of Duke's,
00:33:05.359 --> 00:33:14.180
what he thinks that would look like. And then
00:33:14.180 --> 00:33:16.099
he says, I lost sight of what matters most. I
00:33:16.099 --> 00:33:21.299
let my quest for revenge blind me. And at that
00:33:21.299 --> 00:33:25.460
point, I think as a reader, you sort of assume
00:33:25.460 --> 00:33:31.140
one thing. And Optimus says, I've lost so many
00:33:31.140 --> 00:33:35.559
in the name of War Duke, and there were, sorry,
00:33:35.759 --> 00:33:39.980
this is, my print is very faint here. Yeah. But
00:33:39.980 --> 00:33:42.319
anyway, Optimus says something wise about also
00:33:42.319 --> 00:33:45.779
being a warrior and losing friends on the battlefield.
00:33:46.339 --> 00:33:48.660
And then Duke says, no, you misunderstand why
00:33:48.660 --> 00:33:52.910
I'm telling you this. And Duke's point is basically,
00:33:52.950 --> 00:33:55.289
if you mess with us, I will destroy you all.
00:33:56.970 --> 00:34:02.569
Like that isn't necessarily my goal, but it could
00:34:02.569 --> 00:34:08.409
go back on the list if it needs to. Right. And
00:34:08.409 --> 00:34:12.329
then Optimus for his part says, if it were to
00:34:12.329 --> 00:34:16.099
come to that, I would fear for your safety. So
00:34:16.099 --> 00:34:18.960
I love that they're not having this like peace
00:34:18.960 --> 00:34:21.579
summit, that they're not super best pals now,
00:34:21.739 --> 00:34:25.880
but that they're establishing the facts of their
00:34:25.880 --> 00:34:32.739
relationship. Okay. I took what prime said is
00:34:32.739 --> 00:34:35.119
just as much of a threat as what Duke said. Yeah.
00:34:35.239 --> 00:34:39.659
Yeah. So I was, I was thinking with everything
00:34:39.659 --> 00:34:44.760
that Duke was saying, because of. what we have
00:34:44.760 --> 00:34:48.340
seen in the transformers comic since megatron
00:34:48.340 --> 00:34:53.659
came back to earth um that or came back online
00:34:53.659 --> 00:35:01.239
um that you know we have cities in earth in skybound
00:35:01.239 --> 00:35:03.840
continuity that are completely wiped out like
00:35:03.840 --> 00:35:08.079
you know gone wiped off the face of the earth
00:35:08.079 --> 00:35:11.170
because of the decepticons So my mind was going
00:35:11.170 --> 00:35:13.670
there. Like, if it comes to the point where G
00:35:13.670 --> 00:35:16.070
.I. Joe is going to attack all the giant robots,
00:35:16.469 --> 00:35:19.989
I fear for your safety because Optimus knows
00:35:19.989 --> 00:35:25.489
without them, they don't stand a chance. But
00:35:25.489 --> 00:35:28.789
I like Ural's take much, much better. Well, he's
00:35:28.789 --> 00:35:32.230
directly responding to Duke saying, I will not
00:35:32.230 --> 00:35:35.489
hesitate to use everything I have to destroy
00:35:35.489 --> 00:35:38.570
you. It's a direct response to that. So I took
00:35:38.570 --> 00:35:46.199
it as, Good luck with that, buddy. And Duke says,
00:35:46.320 --> 00:35:48.079
I'm glad we have an understanding. So that's
00:35:48.079 --> 00:35:51.579
how I think, that's what I think that was, was
00:35:51.579 --> 00:35:55.239
establishing parameters. And then they do have
00:35:55.239 --> 00:35:57.719
a little bit of a bonding moment where they kind
00:35:57.719 --> 00:36:00.420
of appreciate what each other said. Duke's spoken
00:36:00.420 --> 00:36:03.239
like a true war horse. And this is where I think
00:36:03.239 --> 00:36:07.340
we may get a little story is Optimus says, we
00:36:07.340 --> 00:36:09.820
don't have that phrase on Cybertron. Let me tell
00:36:09.820 --> 00:36:13.940
you a tale of my world. And I wonder if we'll
00:36:13.940 --> 00:36:19.019
get that tale in Free Comic Book Day. Yeah. Because
00:36:19.019 --> 00:36:22.260
then it cuts back to Hound and Clutch, and we
00:36:22.260 --> 00:36:24.900
get these two really wonderful panels of them
00:36:24.900 --> 00:36:28.099
making fun of Duke and Optimus taking themselves
00:36:28.099 --> 00:36:33.320
too seriously. It's just really, really good
00:36:33.320 --> 00:36:36.019
character stuff. And again, it's Clutch being
00:36:36.019 --> 00:36:43.699
Clutch again. Here they come. Probably my favorite
00:36:43.699 --> 00:36:45.840
moment in this whole comic. Because we've all
00:36:45.840 --> 00:36:50.900
done that. We've all done that. So Optimus returns
00:36:50.900 --> 00:36:53.860
with Duke and said they've come to an understanding,
00:36:54.079 --> 00:36:56.699
an alliance of sorts. They'll share information
00:36:56.699 --> 00:36:59.159
and resources on their enemies, but their missions
00:36:59.159 --> 00:37:02.599
will stay independent. Duke has informed me of
00:37:02.599 --> 00:37:07.380
this Cobra. And Clutch outlines how serious...
00:37:07.820 --> 00:37:14.260
uh cobra commander's threat is and i like the
00:37:14.260 --> 00:37:18.860
the fact that everything doesn't become widespread
00:37:18.860 --> 00:37:21.679
knowledge as soon as the reader knows about it
00:37:21.679 --> 00:37:24.900
because we know about what cobra commander did
00:37:24.900 --> 00:37:28.440
to megatron duke just says i suspect he conducted
00:37:28.440 --> 00:37:33.079
experiments on one of yours uh and optimus says
00:37:33.079 --> 00:37:36.139
well it wasn't an autobot so that's interesting
00:37:38.750 --> 00:37:41.210
And, of course, they part with, well, if you
00:37:41.210 --> 00:37:43.530
need help, let us know. Same to you with the
00:37:43.530 --> 00:37:47.409
Decepticons. And then we get to Hound. And I'm
00:37:47.409 --> 00:37:49.889
not going to lie. I was a little emotionally
00:37:49.889 --> 00:37:54.809
stopped here. I was like, oh, no, is Hound going
00:37:54.809 --> 00:37:59.349
to leave now? Same. I was legitimately a bit
00:37:59.349 --> 00:38:02.710
dismayed, thinking that's probably what they
00:38:02.710 --> 00:38:06.349
were doing. And Optimus says, I'm no longer your
00:38:06.349 --> 00:38:08.929
superior officer. It's up to you. you know, what
00:38:08.929 --> 00:38:10.909
you do. Where do you think you're of the most
00:38:10.909 --> 00:38:12.750
use? And Hound says, I'm going to stay with G
00:38:12.750 --> 00:38:18.269
.I. Joe, which filled me with joy. Yeah. Because,
00:38:18.289 --> 00:38:24.969
like, him and Clutch are the buddy cop movie
00:38:24.969 --> 00:38:32.590
that I need in my life. So this is where Optimus
00:38:32.590 --> 00:38:34.889
explains the limited stockpile of Energon. He
00:38:34.889 --> 00:38:39.019
hooks Hound up with some Energon. And then we
00:38:39.019 --> 00:38:43.679
get another great little buddy smiling characters
00:38:43.679 --> 00:38:47.340
actually getting to just have a moment of joy
00:38:47.340 --> 00:38:50.300
where Hound says, Optimus, I know you're no longer
00:38:50.300 --> 00:38:54.880
my leader, but for old time's sake, may you still
00:38:54.880 --> 00:38:58.300
say it? Of course, but in honor of our new allies,
00:38:58.380 --> 00:39:00.519
and this is where, as Noel said, we actually
00:39:00.519 --> 00:39:03.699
do see his alternate form. It just wasn't alternate
00:39:03.699 --> 00:39:07.400
enough to register in my brain at the time. because
00:39:07.400 --> 00:39:11.059
it is it is very similar uh but optimus says
00:39:11.059 --> 00:39:15.760
gi joe roll out which is just delightful and
00:39:15.760 --> 00:39:21.900
i'll tell you if they put this image well i would
00:39:21.900 --> 00:39:23.539
want to see duke and clutch a little better i
00:39:23.539 --> 00:39:25.320
was going to say if they put like a version of
00:39:25.320 --> 00:39:34.119
this image on a shirt like maybe with do the
00:39:34.119 --> 00:39:38.940
gi joe logo but with an Autobot head instead
00:39:38.940 --> 00:39:42.820
of the star. Oh yeah. And then in front of it
00:39:42.820 --> 00:39:47.440
is this Optimus and this hound with the GI Joe
00:39:47.440 --> 00:39:49.739
rollout word bubble. I'd buy that in a second.
00:39:50.739 --> 00:39:53.119
Something like that. Brett White, get on that.
00:39:59.690 --> 00:40:02.469
so clutch little follow -up here says that he's
00:40:02.469 --> 00:40:04.369
getting a lot of pings on his communicator hawk
00:40:04.369 --> 00:40:06.250
is pissed they took off what are they telling
00:40:06.250 --> 00:40:08.969
him about his new friend and i love this also
00:40:08.969 --> 00:40:14.150
duke says let's just keep this to ourselves and
00:40:14.150 --> 00:40:17.530
we as the knowledgeable reader are left wondering
00:40:17.530 --> 00:40:21.110
well we know why you shouldn't tell hawk about
00:40:21.110 --> 00:40:25.750
hound but is duke starting to have some suspicions
00:40:25.750 --> 00:40:28.489
and on the next page he says we can have secrets
00:40:28.489 --> 00:40:31.690
too because Duke knows Hawk straight up told
00:40:31.690 --> 00:40:34.269
Duke there are things I'm not telling you and
00:40:34.269 --> 00:40:40.329
I like that Duke is uh taking some agency here
00:40:40.329 --> 00:40:46.289
and saying you know what I need I need to to
00:40:46.289 --> 00:40:49.010
have some information to look out for my people
00:40:49.010 --> 00:40:54.880
to to have my own thing going as well And then
00:40:54.880 --> 00:40:58.679
we get the big surprise of the issue. I thought
00:40:58.679 --> 00:41:01.179
that the issue was over at this point. Nope,
00:41:01.340 --> 00:41:07.079
we got more. The end of page 20 or of our page
00:41:07.079 --> 00:41:10.659
20 could have been the end of the issue. And
00:41:10.659 --> 00:41:14.219
the way that the issue flows. The way the issue
00:41:14.219 --> 00:41:16.260
flows is because you start with Matt Tracker
00:41:16.260 --> 00:41:19.119
and you're following him. And then we meet up
00:41:19.119 --> 00:41:22.019
with Hound and Clutch and Duke. And then we follow
00:41:22.019 --> 00:41:24.960
them. And then we meet Optimus. So it's all kind
00:41:24.960 --> 00:41:27.059
of one converging story. And so it would have
00:41:27.059 --> 00:41:28.800
been very satisfying for that to be the last
00:41:28.800 --> 00:41:31.659
panel. And they're literally writing off into
00:41:31.659 --> 00:41:36.960
the sunset. Right. But as is often the case,
00:41:36.960 --> 00:41:40.340
we get that little tag. of what's to come but
00:41:40.340 --> 00:41:44.039
this is a huge what's to come because we've been
00:41:44.039 --> 00:41:47.519
talking about where the heck is scarlet what's
00:41:47.519 --> 00:41:50.380
going on with jinx but we did get that teaser
00:41:50.380 --> 00:41:53.360
i guess it was last issue uh that cover girl
00:41:53.360 --> 00:41:55.659
was going to go meet up with snow job and as
00:41:55.659 --> 00:41:59.280
we found out cover girl and snow job have met
00:41:59.280 --> 00:42:04.579
up before which i thought was a fun little piece
00:42:04.579 --> 00:42:09.039
of information So they're talking about what
00:42:09.039 --> 00:42:11.219
is going on. Stalker has been sent on a mission
00:42:11.219 --> 00:42:15.239
to Badikistan. Before he took off, he filled
00:42:15.239 --> 00:42:17.619
me in on, and this is basically the Scarlet,
00:42:17.639 --> 00:42:21.559
a very, very swift recap of the Scarlet miniseries.
00:42:22.199 --> 00:42:24.800
And I'm trying to remember, did we speculate
00:42:24.800 --> 00:42:27.300
that that sword might be Energon? I feel like
00:42:27.300 --> 00:42:29.579
we did. I feel like we did because of the way
00:42:29.579 --> 00:42:32.099
that they drew it. Right. Because it was like
00:42:32.099 --> 00:42:38.559
purple energy. So, she found the ninjas possessed
00:42:38.559 --> 00:42:44.900
a powerful weapon. And Snowjob... Let's see.
00:42:45.800 --> 00:42:47.659
I don't want to just sit here and read every
00:42:47.659 --> 00:42:50.760
line of dialogue. But the bottom line is that
00:42:50.760 --> 00:42:53.539
Scarlet is now out of touch. Snowjob has not
00:42:53.539 --> 00:42:55.219
been able to get in contact with her. She has
00:42:55.219 --> 00:42:58.460
not checked in with her superiors. And the superiors
00:42:58.460 --> 00:43:02.059
are not happy about that. And I wonder... And
00:43:02.059 --> 00:43:05.099
that's why... uh cover girl has been sent to
00:43:05.099 --> 00:43:12.360
meet up with snow job so we get a flyer which
00:43:12.360 --> 00:43:15.099
i find it a little weird that a wanted flyer
00:43:15.099 --> 00:43:17.320
has been printed up but whatever it's a great
00:43:17.320 --> 00:43:21.239
visual uh hawk says we have a flyer that also
00:43:21.239 --> 00:43:24.340
contains the real name and code name of this
00:43:24.340 --> 00:43:28.079
you know top secret agent right right well so
00:43:28.079 --> 00:43:31.829
like just remember Cover Girl, and it didn't
00:43:31.829 --> 00:43:36.230
hit me until just now, Cover Girl helps Hawk
00:43:36.230 --> 00:43:39.349
in the office, right? We've seen her in there
00:43:39.349 --> 00:43:43.070
doing files. Yeah, right, right. Whatever. Administrative
00:43:43.070 --> 00:43:48.150
stuff. Right. So this may have just been something
00:43:48.150 --> 00:43:53.989
that Hawk slash Zartan was just kind of toying
00:43:53.989 --> 00:43:57.989
around with and putting together. And she found
00:43:57.989 --> 00:44:00.889
it and then gets this information. And she's,
00:44:00.889 --> 00:44:04.190
you know, because I would like to think that
00:44:04.190 --> 00:44:11.170
G .I. Joe does not do such a Photoshop job for
00:44:11.170 --> 00:44:15.829
their posters. Yeah, well, that second picture
00:44:15.829 --> 00:44:17.429
doesn't even make any sense. Like, if you're
00:44:17.429 --> 00:44:19.889
trying to identify her, why do you have a picture
00:44:19.889 --> 00:44:22.690
where, like, part of her face is obscured? Like,
00:44:22.690 --> 00:44:27.039
this is... This, to me, is a more questionable
00:44:27.039 --> 00:44:29.760
artistic decision than Scrap Iron's face earlier.
00:44:30.380 --> 00:44:36.699
But it gets the point across and they have 24
00:44:36.699 --> 00:44:39.039
hours to find her before she's branded a traitor.
00:44:39.920 --> 00:44:44.280
And I wonder, is this because Zartan knows something
00:44:44.280 --> 00:44:48.260
or is this just a standard AWOL situation? Because
00:44:48.260 --> 00:44:54.710
it could be either. Like, does Zartan know we
00:44:54.710 --> 00:44:58.710
got to get her back because or is this just we
00:44:58.710 --> 00:45:00.389
haven't heard from her in this amount of time
00:45:00.389 --> 00:45:04.389
and that's not acceptable i was taking it more
00:45:04.389 --> 00:45:10.050
as the first but not not not like oh we have
00:45:10.050 --> 00:45:13.030
to get her back for the joe team specifically
00:45:13.030 --> 00:45:17.889
i feel like well just as an agent she can't just
00:45:17.889 --> 00:45:20.829
be incommunicado for that right but i also feel
00:45:20.829 --> 00:45:24.960
like zartan is at a point where He's losing control
00:45:24.960 --> 00:45:29.460
of the Joes. Like, we've seen this, right? Everybody's
00:45:29.460 --> 00:45:32.119
running off and doing stuff. Right, right. And
00:45:32.119 --> 00:45:35.039
he's getting ticked off. So now, okay, I need
00:45:35.039 --> 00:45:39.860
to throw some chaos into the mix. Or she's going
00:45:39.860 --> 00:45:44.039
to be an example. Oh, yeah. All these Joes running
00:45:44.039 --> 00:45:46.760
off on their own, not respecting my authority.
00:45:47.320 --> 00:45:50.559
Right, because he's building nine floors behind
00:45:50.559 --> 00:45:55.400
everybody's back. right what does he need with
00:45:55.400 --> 00:45:59.039
with them for you know with with code name scarlet
00:45:59.039 --> 00:46:01.920
so it it could be a little column a a little
00:46:01.920 --> 00:46:05.920
column b that there is something he knows about
00:46:05.920 --> 00:46:09.219
what she's doing but also it's a convenient excuse
00:46:09.219 --> 00:46:11.719
for him to make an example of her and show the
00:46:11.719 --> 00:46:13.480
rest of the joes like i'm not messing around
00:46:13.480 --> 00:46:16.500
you better do what i say you better jump you
00:46:16.500 --> 00:46:21.719
better say how high when i say jump uh and that
00:46:22.429 --> 00:46:27.070
is the actual last story page of the issue. Christian,
00:46:27.150 --> 00:46:28.710
did you have an opportunity to take a look at
00:46:28.710 --> 00:46:30.690
the letters page? I did. There wasn't really
00:46:30.690 --> 00:46:35.210
anything in there. Well, there was the last bit,
00:46:35.230 --> 00:46:39.769
which we said next month we're going to be paying
00:46:39.769 --> 00:46:42.710
a visit to the Arashikage. Next month, of course,
00:46:42.769 --> 00:46:47.840
is issue 21. Ah. i presume we're getting a silent
00:46:47.840 --> 00:46:50.559
issue in the regular series along with all of
00:46:50.559 --> 00:46:54.219
the other silent issues because every other yeah
00:46:54.219 --> 00:46:57.199
every other series is issue 21 has been silent
00:46:57.199 --> 00:47:01.960
good point yeah i i and i'm wondering if we get
00:47:01.960 --> 00:47:06.679
snake eyes next next time i'm sure they've already
00:47:06.679 --> 00:47:09.960
said what it is, but I try not to look too closely
00:47:09.960 --> 00:47:11.860
at their announcements because they give too
00:47:11.860 --> 00:47:14.599
much information about the issues in their press
00:47:14.599 --> 00:47:17.880
releases. And I don't want to know anything until
00:47:17.880 --> 00:47:21.059
I read the comic. I don't want those four pages
00:47:21.059 --> 00:47:24.320
that they put out every month. I don't want the
00:47:24.320 --> 00:47:26.360
previews. I don't want the synopsis. I don't
00:47:26.360 --> 00:47:28.079
want to know until I'm reading the comics. I
00:47:28.079 --> 00:47:30.380
don't pay too much attention. They've probably
00:47:30.380 --> 00:47:34.619
announced whatever 21 is, but I haven't looked
00:47:34.619 --> 00:47:37.380
at it. i presume we're getting this extraction
00:47:37.380 --> 00:47:40.940
story with cover girl right in the next issue
00:47:40.940 --> 00:47:43.239
it's just going to focus on that it's like the
00:47:43.239 --> 00:47:45.059
roadblock issue where it does not tie into the
00:47:45.059 --> 00:47:47.380
rest of the story really yeah yeah it's mostly
00:47:47.380 --> 00:47:50.159
well i guess that that did a little bit but um
00:47:50.159 --> 00:47:53.320
well they all do but they're different degrees
00:47:53.320 --> 00:47:56.539
of of how much their main story but yeah if they
00:47:56.539 --> 00:47:58.719
if they just decide to do that as a straight
00:47:58.719 --> 00:48:04.159
kind of this is a one shot And it's 21. We're
00:48:04.159 --> 00:48:06.159
dealing with the Arashikage. That's a perfect
00:48:06.159 --> 00:48:10.800
chance to introduce a certain silenced ninja.
00:48:11.699 --> 00:48:16.159
That seems like a really fast turnaround, though,
00:48:16.199 --> 00:48:18.519
for Risk to get blown up and then become Snake
00:48:18.519 --> 00:48:21.400
Eyes. It just seems like one issue. There's not
00:48:21.400 --> 00:48:22.300
enough time for that to happen. They've said
00:48:22.300 --> 00:48:25.019
in some interviews that we do have the origin
00:48:25.019 --> 00:48:29.719
of Risk. coming up. Issues 27 and 28 are going
00:48:29.719 --> 00:48:34.639
to be a two -part story. I thought this was a
00:48:34.639 --> 00:48:39.159
nothing burger of a comment in the letters column
00:48:39.159 --> 00:48:41.159
because, of course, it's sort of become a running
00:48:41.159 --> 00:48:44.679
gag. They always pick at least one letter where
00:48:44.679 --> 00:48:47.380
the person mentions Snake Eyes and they play
00:48:47.380 --> 00:48:50.760
dumb and they did the exact same thing here where
00:48:50.760 --> 00:48:56.730
they're like, who is Snake Eyes? Yeah. noel you
00:48:56.730 --> 00:48:59.530
might be onto something i don't think they're
00:48:59.530 --> 00:49:03.050
gonna let it at this point don't let us know
00:49:03.050 --> 00:49:05.090
when you're gonna do it just yeah i don't want
00:49:05.090 --> 00:49:07.750
to know but they will they'll announce it like
00:49:07.750 --> 00:49:10.969
three months out like snake eyes coming soon
00:49:10.969 --> 00:49:12.969
and i don't want to know that stuff you know
00:49:12.969 --> 00:49:15.730
but i i you know you got to do what you got to
00:49:15.730 --> 00:49:18.769
do to sell comics uh one thing i did notice is
00:49:18.769 --> 00:49:20.829
in that character spotlight section they have
00:49:20.829 --> 00:49:24.559
after the letters They kind of fully explained
00:49:24.559 --> 00:49:27.300
Scrap Iron's situation. While currently employed
00:49:27.300 --> 00:49:30.079
by Cobra, the obsessive and violent man known
00:49:30.079 --> 00:49:32.179
as Scrap Iron won't shy away from a contract
00:49:32.179 --> 00:49:34.360
killing if it means he gets to blow something
00:49:34.360 --> 00:49:37.440
up. So that's the really succinct explanation
00:49:37.440 --> 00:49:42.280
of his employment situation there. Much like
00:49:42.280 --> 00:49:46.260
me, he's an independent contractor. I did not
00:49:46.260 --> 00:49:51.969
read these, but now this quick scan. with the
00:49:51.969 --> 00:49:55.809
Optimus one. But this meeting, three years in
00:49:55.809 --> 00:49:58.489
the making, did not disappoint. Talking about
00:49:58.489 --> 00:50:01.769
Optimus and Duke meeting each other. Maybe next
00:50:01.769 --> 00:50:04.690
time Duke will be shirtless and Optimus will
00:50:04.690 --> 00:50:10.969
have the Matrix of Leadership. Skybound! Well,
00:50:10.989 --> 00:50:15.789
that's... Is this the ship we didn't know we
00:50:15.789 --> 00:50:19.349
needed? And I specifically pun intended with
00:50:19.349 --> 00:50:25.369
the word ship. I mean, but I think shirtless
00:50:25.369 --> 00:50:28.829
Duke, whether it was their intention or not,
00:50:28.949 --> 00:50:32.150
has kind of become a Nightwing's butt kind of
00:50:32.150 --> 00:50:38.889
thing. Yeah, exactly. So another fantastic issue
00:50:38.889 --> 00:50:42.070
just had a blast. It did feel like a little change
00:50:42.070 --> 00:50:43.929
of pace. While there was still plenty of action
00:50:43.929 --> 00:50:46.789
and tons of story, I did feel a little like it
00:50:46.789 --> 00:50:52.820
was a relaxed read. But April 15th is issue 21,
00:50:52.940 --> 00:50:55.460
where we will find right smack dab in the middle
00:50:55.460 --> 00:50:59.239
of all the silent stuff going on, which by the
00:50:59.239 --> 00:51:01.800
way, I mentioned this on our last episode, or
00:51:01.800 --> 00:51:03.980
I guess our next episode, depending on what order
00:51:03.980 --> 00:51:07.360
you're listening to things in. I have four interviews
00:51:07.360 --> 00:51:12.579
coming up with some of the silent creators. Very
00:51:12.579 --> 00:51:16.900
excited about these. One of them is... crazy
00:51:16.900 --> 00:51:18.960
unbelievable so if it happens everybody should
00:51:18.960 --> 00:51:21.519
be really excited and they're all great and i
00:51:21.519 --> 00:51:25.420
love talking to these creators but i will be
00:51:25.420 --> 00:51:29.820
talking to a living legend uh later this week
00:51:29.820 --> 00:51:31.920
and that'll go up sometime probably sometime
00:51:31.920 --> 00:51:34.880
during april because it's four interviews you
00:51:34.880 --> 00:51:37.699
know you gotta space those out a little bit so
00:51:37.699 --> 00:51:40.659
anyway That's everything about G .I. Joe number
00:51:40.659 --> 00:51:42.500
20. Noel, why don't you tell us a little bit
00:51:42.500 --> 00:51:45.059
about The Finest? The Finest is an international
00:51:45.059 --> 00:51:47.440
G .I. Joe costuming club raising money for a
00:51:47.440 --> 00:51:49.980
fantastic charity called Canines for Warriors.
00:51:50.119 --> 00:51:51.900
Check us out at Toylanta. We'll have a booth
00:51:51.900 --> 00:51:54.340
there and we'll be giving away some cool swag
00:51:54.340 --> 00:51:59.460
for some donations. Christian, where can we find
00:51:59.460 --> 00:52:02.519
that toy photography you do so well? You can
00:52:02.519 --> 00:52:05.019
find me on Instagram and Blue Sky under the name
00:52:05.019 --> 00:52:10.559
Legion Cub. Our next live stream is March the
00:52:10.559 --> 00:52:13.840
30th on the Needless Things YouTube channel.
00:52:14.119 --> 00:52:16.539
Be sure and put it on your calendar. And until
00:52:16.539 --> 00:52:41.710
then, yo, Joe. You have been listening to a Needless
00:52:41.710 --> 00:52:44.329
Things production. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram,
00:52:44.469 --> 00:52:47.130
and YouTube for the very best in toys, movies,
00:52:47.349 --> 00:52:50.909
music, and pop culture. Until next time, be kind
00:52:50.909 --> 00:52:52.349
and like what you love.
00:00:00.720 --> 00:00:32.579
Thank you. Welcome to Audible Interlude, a G
00:00:32.579 --> 00:00:36.320
.I. Joe podcast. I'm your host, Dave West, codename
00:00:36.320 --> 00:00:40.340
Phantom Troublemaker. And I am your co -host,
00:00:40.420 --> 00:00:44.439
Noel Wood, codename Crapshoot. And I'm your Cobra
00:00:44.439 --> 00:00:47.079
intern that likes to race on a penny farthing,
00:00:47.299 --> 00:00:53.820
codename Legion Cub. And I'm the show host who
00:00:53.820 --> 00:00:56.880
has been banned from using soundboards ever again.
00:00:59.739 --> 00:01:04.480
If you did not catch our live stream on Monday,
00:01:04.579 --> 00:01:07.439
we had some tributes to Stone Cold Steve Austin.
00:01:07.519 --> 00:01:09.459
Since it was 316, you'll be able to catch the
00:01:09.459 --> 00:01:13.099
audio version of that wherever you get your podcasts.
00:01:13.200 --> 00:01:15.040
We had a lot of fun, but also, quite frankly,
00:01:15.140 --> 00:01:18.079
by the time it was done, even I was finding the
00:01:18.079 --> 00:01:21.709
Stone Cold sound bites kind of annoying. Follow
00:01:21.709 --> 00:01:23.689
us wherever you listen to podcasts. Click that
00:01:23.689 --> 00:01:26.430
follow button and leave a five -star review.
00:01:26.609 --> 00:01:29.790
And be sure you're sharing Audible Interlude
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shows and videos on socials. Spread the word
00:01:33.189 --> 00:01:35.530
about Audible Interlude. It is the only way we
00:01:35.530 --> 00:01:39.569
can grow. On Instagram, follow Audible Interlude
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Podcast. Go to the pinned stories. Check out
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our merch. We've got a TeePublic store with shirts
00:01:45.209 --> 00:01:47.549
and hats and shorts and all the stuff you would
00:01:47.549 --> 00:01:51.140
expect from TeePublic. Wait for a sale, buy some
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Audible Interlude merch, wear it to a live event
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free swag. We also have an Audible Army Facebook
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group. You can send your email address to the
00:02:04.519 --> 00:02:07.120
messages, audiblearmypodcast on Instagram, and
00:02:07.120 --> 00:02:09.419
we'll get you added to the group. Or check out
00:02:09.419 --> 00:02:14.099
a live stream, and we'll add you there. Our next
00:02:14.099 --> 00:02:17.479
live stream is March the 30th, where we'll be
00:02:17.479 --> 00:02:20.520
doing a normal show. But, Noel, as you pointed
00:02:20.520 --> 00:02:22.000
out when we were recording just a little bit
00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:24.919
ago, it will be the Monday after Toylanta. So
00:02:24.919 --> 00:02:27.840
we will potentially have some Toylanta stories,
00:02:28.139 --> 00:02:32.139
Toylanta finds. At the very least, Joe and Tell
00:02:32.139 --> 00:02:37.939
should be pretty exciting for that episode. But
00:02:37.939 --> 00:02:42.539
we are here tonight to review G .I. Joe. Number
00:02:42.539 --> 00:02:46.419
20 from Skybound's Inner John universe. There
00:02:46.419 --> 00:02:51.419
will be spoilers ahead. Our writers, Joshua Williamson,
00:02:51.460 --> 00:02:54.759
artist Andrea Milana, colorist Lee Loughridge,
00:02:54.939 --> 00:02:59.879
and letterer Russ Wooten. Thus far, or I guess
00:02:59.879 --> 00:03:02.580
recently, we really can't cover thus far because
00:03:02.580 --> 00:03:06.500
that's a lot of territory. Recently, Clutch and
00:03:06.500 --> 00:03:10.099
Hound's secret relationship is out and Duke wants
00:03:10.099 --> 00:03:13.379
to meet Optimus Prime. Meanwhile, Matt Tracker
00:03:13.379 --> 00:03:17.180
is on the run from Miles Mayhem and Scrap Iron.
00:03:18.539 --> 00:03:20.960
Very exciting last issue. I mean, every issue
00:03:20.960 --> 00:03:25.259
is exciting, but this cover, it's very simple,
00:03:25.319 --> 00:03:28.159
but what an iconic cover to this, or at least
00:03:28.159 --> 00:03:30.759
our copy that we got with Optimus, excuse me,
00:03:30.780 --> 00:03:36.599
with Optimus and Duke on the front, which I am
00:03:36.599 --> 00:03:40.500
way, as we've established. way behind on transformers
00:03:40.500 --> 00:03:43.819
and boy drivers i have thoughts but when we get
00:03:43.819 --> 00:03:48.400
to that moment i'll go into them okay okay as
00:03:48.400 --> 00:03:51.520
as we keep crossing things over i feel like i'm
00:03:51.520 --> 00:03:54.400
now obligated to go back and read both of those
00:03:54.400 --> 00:03:58.699
books because that's killing me yeah well and
00:03:58.699 --> 00:04:01.340
they're like the point i got to with but which
00:04:01.340 --> 00:04:05.319
i think no because i know i got a little further
00:04:05.319 --> 00:04:08.990
in transformers i'm way way behind but what i
00:04:08.990 --> 00:04:11.409
read like void rivals was actually my favorite
00:04:11.409 --> 00:04:14.689
out of all the comics but we're a gi joe show
00:04:14.689 --> 00:04:16.930
so i have to focus my time on keeping up with
00:04:16.930 --> 00:04:22.389
the gi joe comics so uh anyway once we get inside
00:04:22.389 --> 00:04:25.410
once we get past that striking cover of these
00:04:25.410 --> 00:04:30.569
two lead characters uh picking up from the end
00:04:30.569 --> 00:04:34.009
of issue 19 we have scrap iron and it's explained
00:04:34.009 --> 00:04:37.699
that he is an independent contractor he goes
00:04:37.699 --> 00:04:40.600
where the money takes him so he may be working
00:04:40.600 --> 00:04:44.839
for cobra but he takes contracts outside of that
00:04:44.839 --> 00:04:46.819
which i i appreciate because we had a little
00:04:46.819 --> 00:04:49.120
discussion about that at the end of like well
00:04:49.120 --> 00:04:50.879
wait a minute what is his status if he's like
00:04:50.879 --> 00:04:56.959
a bounty hunter yeah it surprised me um not like
00:04:56.959 --> 00:04:59.939
in a bad way but more in a oh okay that makes
00:04:59.939 --> 00:05:03.730
sense because it seems like a lot of characters
00:05:03.730 --> 00:05:08.490
involved with cobra are there because they're
00:05:08.490 --> 00:05:11.230
getting paid to give into their destructive side
00:05:11.230 --> 00:05:13.790
yeah i mean they're mercenaries but firefly blood
00:05:13.790 --> 00:05:18.029
um you know a lot of these well i mean really
00:05:18.029 --> 00:05:22.949
so many of of the the characters we think of
00:05:22.949 --> 00:05:26.930
as cobra are not technically cobra and we've
00:05:26.930 --> 00:05:28.670
talked about that over the history of the show
00:05:28.670 --> 00:05:31.490
times where it's almost kind of rubbed me the
00:05:31.490 --> 00:05:34.399
wrong way how much some of them seem to just
00:05:34.399 --> 00:05:37.800
get absorbed into Cobra. And it's not acknowledged
00:05:37.800 --> 00:05:41.259
that they are independent operators. Yeah. Like
00:05:41.259 --> 00:05:43.459
even like, even as a kid, when I was trying to
00:05:43.459 --> 00:05:45.980
like figure out Destro is the weapon supplier.
00:05:46.579 --> 00:05:50.220
And I, you even, not even before I was like reading
00:05:50.220 --> 00:05:52.600
the comic and saw that he was his own kind of
00:05:52.600 --> 00:05:55.600
independent person as well. I never really thought
00:05:55.600 --> 00:05:57.600
of him as a member of Cobra. I just thought as
00:05:57.600 --> 00:06:01.439
an associate of Cobra. um like really it's like
00:06:01.439 --> 00:06:05.399
cobra commander and the baroness and their underlings
00:06:05.399 --> 00:06:09.319
really that's pretty much it yeah yeah i i tend
00:06:09.319 --> 00:06:14.079
to my my head canon keeps destro definitely independent
00:06:14.079 --> 00:06:17.240
from cobra like he he works with them but he
00:06:17.240 --> 00:06:22.019
is not by any measure an employee yeah and even
00:06:22.019 --> 00:06:23.959
with like you know they mentioned scrap iron
00:06:24.480 --> 00:06:28.180
working for mars um in his file card or they
00:06:28.180 --> 00:06:33.339
say he's believed to be working for mars so um
00:06:33.339 --> 00:06:39.079
yeah uh so scrap iron says the money and his
00:06:39.079 --> 00:06:44.540
big ass truck uh have brought him to matt tracker
00:06:44.540 --> 00:06:46.860
and tracker says well you're not the only one
00:06:46.860 --> 00:06:50.019
that brought a ride and that was very exciting
00:06:50.019 --> 00:06:53.600
because we've seen matt tracker a few times now
00:06:53.600 --> 00:06:58.000
in these comics but we've seen no sign of his
00:06:58.000 --> 00:07:02.720
technology so that was a great way to end that
00:07:02.720 --> 00:07:06.139
opening page and sure enough we get a two -page
00:07:06.139 --> 00:07:09.879
spread uh for the next couple of pages and there
00:07:09.879 --> 00:07:13.600
it is the thunderhawk and i was so excited now
00:07:13.600 --> 00:07:15.600
look don't get me wrong i'm still excited it
00:07:15.600 --> 00:07:17.720
was great to see it it's great to see it out
00:07:17.720 --> 00:07:20.180
maneuvering scrap iron and his big monster truck
00:07:21.259 --> 00:07:25.579
but they saved, you know, the real secret sauce
00:07:25.579 --> 00:07:28.399
of the Thunderhawk for later. Apparently, even
00:07:28.399 --> 00:07:30.620
though like you could tell they were clearly
00:07:30.620 --> 00:07:34.459
teasing that he was going to, he was going to,
00:07:34.500 --> 00:07:38.819
to reveal it at some point, but that didn't chase.
00:07:40.139 --> 00:07:44.420
That didn't bother me. It was, it, it was weird
00:07:44.420 --> 00:07:47.740
because so in transformers, we have already seen
00:07:47.740 --> 00:07:52.730
miles. with the switchblade copter do what the
00:07:52.730 --> 00:07:56.449
switchblade copter does right okay so in here
00:07:56.449 --> 00:08:01.750
every single panel kept building this anticipation
00:08:01.750 --> 00:08:05.269
with me and this excitement of oh now it's gonna
00:08:05.269 --> 00:08:09.509
happen but when it didn't i never was like uh
00:08:09.509 --> 00:08:13.689
it was like my excitement has just continued
00:08:13.689 --> 00:08:18.470
to build and i feel like it's like when it finally
00:08:18.470 --> 00:08:22.850
does happen whether it's next issue or mask number
00:08:22.850 --> 00:08:26.709
one like it's going to be this hugely cathartic
00:08:26.709 --> 00:08:30.310
oh my gosh kind of moment well you know i wasn't
00:08:30.310 --> 00:08:33.730
i would say like 99 .9 percent of people reading
00:08:33.730 --> 00:08:37.129
this comic are aware of what the thunder hawk
00:08:37.129 --> 00:08:39.350
is they know that when they see that thing it's
00:08:39.350 --> 00:08:43.700
gonna so there's not any real point in like teasing
00:08:43.700 --> 00:08:47.000
it, but the way they're doing it is so... When
00:08:47.000 --> 00:08:50.519
he says, damn, he's fast, I'm like, oh, he's
00:08:50.519 --> 00:08:54.720
going to get even faster. I really like the way
00:08:54.720 --> 00:08:58.080
they did this. They don't have to tease it. We
00:08:58.080 --> 00:09:02.539
all know it's coming, but it's been delivered
00:09:02.539 --> 00:09:05.080
well. I wasn't disappointed. I was expecting
00:09:05.080 --> 00:09:08.580
it, and then it didn't happen. I was like, oh,
00:09:08.600 --> 00:09:10.399
well, you saved that for Mask. I believe Mask
00:09:10.399 --> 00:09:14.230
will be the next time we see him. Because it's
00:09:14.230 --> 00:09:16.330
coming out in June, which is not as far away
00:09:16.330 --> 00:09:19.850
as we'd all like to think it is. Because in this
00:09:19.850 --> 00:09:22.049
issue, well, we'll get there. We'll get there.
00:09:23.090 --> 00:09:25.909
So we have the Thunderhawk outmaneuvers Scrap
00:09:25.909 --> 00:09:29.690
Iron's big truck and escapes from the arena.
00:09:29.889 --> 00:09:32.470
And I had to go back and reread this page because
00:09:32.470 --> 00:09:35.250
they've got to chase through the streets. Missiles
00:09:35.250 --> 00:09:37.990
are launched. It's clear Scrap Iron doesn't care
00:09:37.990 --> 00:09:40.750
about collateral damage. And then we get to a
00:09:40.750 --> 00:09:44.029
point a couple of pages away. where they these
00:09:44.029 --> 00:09:47.470
kids playing soccer and my brain hadn't processed
00:09:47.470 --> 00:09:50.470
that they left that stadium or whatever it is
00:09:50.470 --> 00:09:53.169
motor speedway whatever it's called and i was
00:09:53.169 --> 00:09:56.450
like why are there kids playing soccer at the
00:09:56.450 --> 00:09:58.610
motor speedway and then i was like oh wait a
00:09:58.610 --> 00:10:00.570
minute no if you go back to that top panel you
00:10:00.570 --> 00:10:03.870
see they're leaving that area they're out in
00:10:03.870 --> 00:10:09.110
the neighborhoods now um so of course a couple
00:10:09.110 --> 00:10:10.870
kids playing soccer matt tracker does not want
00:10:10.870 --> 00:10:15.120
to run them over so he skids out stops in front
00:10:15.120 --> 00:10:17.500
of the big truck which i want that truck to have
00:10:17.500 --> 00:10:22.279
a name i don't know what it's going yeah with
00:10:22.279 --> 00:10:24.559
the big scrap iron rocket launcher on the back
00:10:24.559 --> 00:10:28.960
of it an o -ring scale toy yes don't need it
00:10:28.960 --> 00:10:32.340
in classified although mcfarlane put out a monster
00:10:32.340 --> 00:10:37.299
truck that could be reasonably customized to
00:10:37.299 --> 00:10:44.379
be this uh So things are looking rough. And at
00:10:44.379 --> 00:10:48.179
the end of that last page of this conflict, this
00:10:48.179 --> 00:10:50.100
chase and all these missiles fired and everything
00:10:50.100 --> 00:10:54.559
else, I didn't have any, you know, I've talked
00:10:54.559 --> 00:10:56.259
before about how to try not to think too far
00:10:56.259 --> 00:10:58.480
ahead and anticipate things. I just go with the
00:10:58.480 --> 00:11:00.919
story. But, you know, your brain throws things
00:11:00.919 --> 00:11:03.159
out like, oh, this might happen next or I could
00:11:03.159 --> 00:11:06.480
see this happening here. I just didn't have anything.
00:11:06.539 --> 00:11:07.779
I was like, I don't know what's getting ready
00:11:07.779 --> 00:11:10.340
to happen here because he can't he can't fly
00:11:10.340 --> 00:11:13.029
away at this point. Because then that truck hits
00:11:13.029 --> 00:11:17.990
the kids. If that truck hits the car, unless
00:11:17.990 --> 00:11:20.389
we're going to see some force field, I just didn't
00:11:20.389 --> 00:11:24.389
see what was happening. And what happens is freaking
00:11:24.389 --> 00:11:30.210
delightful because it's Hound to the rescue ramming
00:11:30.210 --> 00:11:33.529
into the side of Scrap Iron's truck. Hound with
00:11:33.529 --> 00:11:37.509
Duke and Clutch. And he does the old hit him
00:11:37.509 --> 00:11:41.500
and transform. And I could just... visualize
00:11:41.500 --> 00:11:47.100
this whole segment animated like what it's so
00:11:47.100 --> 00:11:53.340
cinematic like what it would look like uh so
00:11:53.340 --> 00:11:57.840
scrap iron's furious that somebody ran into him
00:11:57.840 --> 00:11:59.720
and now he's just determined he's going to destroy
00:11:59.720 --> 00:12:01.919
this whole city he doesn't care how many cars
00:12:01.919 --> 00:12:05.399
show up to save matt tracker until he realizes
00:12:05.399 --> 00:12:08.679
that jeep is transforming into a giant robot
00:12:09.389 --> 00:12:11.850
And the look on his face, Christian talked about
00:12:11.850 --> 00:12:17.049
the look on his face here. Yeah. So I, I really
00:12:17.049 --> 00:12:23.649
like it's stylized art and it's over exaggerated,
00:12:23.870 --> 00:12:29.809
but I don't find it cartoony. That's like the
00:12:29.809 --> 00:12:36.559
look of just shock on his face. It's it's. It's
00:12:36.559 --> 00:12:39.120
writing a fine line of being Looney Tunes, but
00:12:39.120 --> 00:12:47.779
it's not. Those eyes are just massive. It's almost
00:12:47.779 --> 00:12:57.299
like Judge Doomy. Yeah. Yeah. He just got hit.
00:12:57.340 --> 00:12:59.379
Well, I mean, he just got hit with a giant robot,
00:12:59.480 --> 00:13:02.240
but at the same time, his brain just got hit
00:13:02.240 --> 00:13:06.690
with a giant WTF hammer. of realization right
00:13:06.690 --> 00:13:11.809
because he is he is not in on all of the cobra
00:13:11.809 --> 00:13:16.129
talk like he may not aside from the world like
00:13:16.129 --> 00:13:18.009
everybody in the world knows about the giant
00:13:18.009 --> 00:13:22.409
robots right but he hasn't necessarily encountered
00:13:22.409 --> 00:13:27.570
one like this before right this way uh so i i
00:13:27.570 --> 00:13:30.830
it i think it's the cartooniest thing we've seen
00:13:30.830 --> 00:13:37.279
in joe so far but it works really well so i didn't
00:13:37.279 --> 00:13:39.919
it didn't phase me at all yeah and it like the
00:13:39.919 --> 00:13:42.899
way they've portrayed him in a lot of these panels
00:13:42.899 --> 00:13:46.279
um you know because we we think of scrap iron
00:13:46.279 --> 00:13:48.659
a certain way but like you know we've never really
00:13:48.659 --> 00:13:52.940
seen him as like this kind of maniacal like cackling
00:13:52.940 --> 00:13:55.500
as he's destroying things like we see him a little
00:13:55.500 --> 00:13:58.379
used a little more subdued um but like yeah even
00:13:58.379 --> 00:14:00.789
the the page before this where he's, you know,
00:14:00.809 --> 00:14:02.830
got you now smarty pants and he's drawn and it's
00:14:02.830 --> 00:14:06.289
very like anime style. The way his, his mouth
00:14:06.289 --> 00:14:10.549
is obviously a lot more exaggerated than it would
00:14:10.549 --> 00:14:13.029
normally be. So I really like what they've done
00:14:13.029 --> 00:14:16.330
with this by styling it a little bit in this,
00:14:16.330 --> 00:14:19.850
in this scene. Well, and you, you said it, it's,
00:14:19.850 --> 00:14:24.210
it is all about crafting his character for the
00:14:24.210 --> 00:14:27.970
inner John universe and, and showing us who he
00:14:27.970 --> 00:14:32.679
is. So Scrap Iron decides he's going to take
00:14:32.679 --> 00:14:35.940
off, and I think just to keep everything nice.
00:14:36.019 --> 00:14:39.120
Well, he's not their goal. They're there for
00:14:39.120 --> 00:14:41.799
Matt Tracker. So while Scrap Iron is a threat,
00:14:42.039 --> 00:14:45.519
their priority is to connect with Matt Tracker,
00:14:45.679 --> 00:14:48.740
who, by the way, not happy to be connected with.
00:14:51.100 --> 00:14:56.000
And I will reiterate again, we talked about it
00:14:56.000 --> 00:15:01.700
last issue. I'm so glad they sorted out the Duke
00:15:01.700 --> 00:15:05.940
clutch hound thing and didn't drag it out over
00:15:05.940 --> 00:15:12.620
the next like year. Yeah. And as we hear later
00:15:12.620 --> 00:15:16.120
on, it's not that Duke has just completely embraced
00:15:16.120 --> 00:15:19.039
it and is good to go, but he's being practical
00:15:19.039 --> 00:15:23.120
and working with what he has as opposed to being
00:15:23.120 --> 00:15:30.409
like a CW TV show. Right. Like. based off of
00:15:30.409 --> 00:15:35.190
last issue there's information that duke still
00:15:35.190 --> 00:15:40.110
doesn't have right up to this point so that duke
00:15:40.110 --> 00:15:45.610
is still harboring a lot of anger and resentment
00:15:45.610 --> 00:15:49.350
about these giant robots well he now knows there's
00:15:49.350 --> 00:15:54.149
autobots and there's decepticons but he's not
00:15:54.149 --> 00:15:58.529
i i don't think he's necessarily irrationally
00:15:59.240 --> 00:16:02.240
now blinded by it he's kind of like i have this
00:16:02.240 --> 00:16:06.919
information now these pieces of the puzzle are
00:16:06.919 --> 00:16:10.299
in and i have to go get these other pieces so
00:16:10.299 --> 00:16:14.879
it's like his goal has shifted but his end goal
00:16:14.879 --> 00:16:19.860
of star scream and revenge is i i think still
00:16:19.860 --> 00:16:23.799
bubbling under the surface but he's got a job
00:16:23.799 --> 00:16:28.279
to do yeah I love the size difference between
00:16:28.279 --> 00:16:34.840
Matt Tracker and Clutch. That was a nice. Clutch
00:16:34.840 --> 00:16:37.200
is clearly like a little bit of a shorter guy,
00:16:37.299 --> 00:16:40.299
and we don't always think about it because depending
00:16:40.299 --> 00:16:42.700
on how the panels are being illustrated or what's
00:16:42.700 --> 00:16:45.759
going on in them, we don't necessarily see the
00:16:45.759 --> 00:16:48.960
characters face to face like this. And I liked
00:16:48.960 --> 00:16:52.759
showing that. And this might sound silly to some
00:16:52.759 --> 00:16:59.019
of you. But it absolutely made my heart warm
00:16:59.019 --> 00:17:04.299
to see Clutch smiling in a panel. Because that
00:17:04.299 --> 00:17:07.380
was Clutch in the miniseries, at the beginning
00:17:07.380 --> 00:17:10.279
of this series. And this whole thing with Hound
00:17:10.279 --> 00:17:15.880
and the post -Cobra PTSD, he's put on kind of
00:17:15.880 --> 00:17:19.339
like a facade. But we've really just seen...
00:17:19.720 --> 00:17:22.900
mega stressed out clutch and now it's like oh
00:17:22.900 --> 00:17:26.339
this weight is off my shoulder my relationship
00:17:26.339 --> 00:17:29.140
with duke may not be the best but i can kind
00:17:29.140 --> 00:17:32.740
of smooth maybe smooth things over by cracking
00:17:32.740 --> 00:17:35.900
jokes and being my old self again because things
00:17:35.900 --> 00:17:39.779
should be normal And he is being his old, like
00:17:39.779 --> 00:17:42.859
slightly antagonistic self because tracker is
00:17:42.859 --> 00:17:45.460
furious yelling. He doesn't want to be found
00:17:45.460 --> 00:17:48.200
and clutch with that big smile on his face says,
00:17:48.240 --> 00:17:50.279
then maybe don't be racing in the streets. Like
00:17:50.279 --> 00:17:54.099
he's being a smart ass pushing buttons and it's
00:17:54.099 --> 00:17:57.299
good to see it. And we get to see a lot of that
00:17:57.299 --> 00:18:01.440
in this issue. And I really appreciate it. So
00:18:01.440 --> 00:18:03.700
he points out, well, look, we just saved your
00:18:03.700 --> 00:18:06.559
life. I think you owe us a favor in Matt Tracker.
00:18:06.660 --> 00:18:08.819
And again, the pacing of the way that they lay
00:18:08.819 --> 00:18:11.079
all this stuff out, like the last panel of this
00:18:11.079 --> 00:18:15.059
page is, what kind of favor? So it compels you,
00:18:15.079 --> 00:18:17.799
like, we've got to get to the next page. It drives
00:18:17.799 --> 00:18:26.500
you through the story. So next up, we've got,
00:18:26.539 --> 00:18:30.759
which I, there's so much action. And that's another
00:18:30.759 --> 00:18:32.599
thing I really like about the pacing is you get
00:18:32.599 --> 00:18:35.420
these really intense pages of action and then
00:18:35.420 --> 00:18:37.339
you get back to, oh, that's right. That's what's
00:18:37.339 --> 00:18:39.660
going on. And what's going on is they need Matt
00:18:39.660 --> 00:18:43.319
Tracker to repair Hound's transponder. And again,
00:18:43.420 --> 00:18:47.819
it's just a different feel from so many of the
00:18:47.819 --> 00:18:50.420
comics that I've been reading for so long, because
00:18:50.420 --> 00:18:54.099
I feel like if this were a lot of other comics.
00:18:55.180 --> 00:18:56.960
they would have hooked up with matt tracker and
00:18:56.960 --> 00:18:59.000
he would have been like well i could fix this
00:18:59.000 --> 00:19:03.480
but i'm gonna need x y and z and six issues later
00:19:03.480 --> 00:19:07.059
they've obtained x y and z and he fixes the transponder
00:19:07.059 --> 00:19:09.980
and then like the transponder gets fixed and
00:19:09.980 --> 00:19:13.059
hound's like oh well it's scrambled oh well we're
00:19:13.059 --> 00:19:15.220
gonna have to do this to unscramble it and that's
00:19:15.220 --> 00:19:19.099
a whole other story arc it's just the the and
00:19:19.099 --> 00:19:22.460
that's another reason why i stopped buying comics
00:19:22.460 --> 00:19:26.670
years ago is they just got so tedious with the
00:19:26.670 --> 00:19:32.809
pacing. It just felt like everything was so decompressed
00:19:32.809 --> 00:19:36.990
that so little was happening that it wasn't worth
00:19:36.990 --> 00:19:40.150
$4 an issue to keep up with the stories. But
00:19:40.150 --> 00:19:42.230
I think one of the strengths for the Skybound
00:19:42.230 --> 00:19:48.630
universe is like 99 % of the time when we have
00:19:48.630 --> 00:19:51.809
what I consider this to be like one of those,
00:19:51.910 --> 00:19:55.730
hey. This is a slow moment. We've had our big
00:19:55.730 --> 00:19:58.670
action. Now we're going to bring the energy down
00:19:58.670 --> 00:20:02.990
because we have some info dumping to do. But
00:20:02.990 --> 00:20:07.670
the way that they do it, it's so dense. It doesn't
00:20:07.670 --> 00:20:11.150
necessarily feel like they're just exposition
00:20:11.150 --> 00:20:14.430
dumping, but you also don't feel like, oh, I
00:20:14.430 --> 00:20:18.490
can just skip this page. There's still so much
00:20:18.490 --> 00:20:25.400
story that is in this part. And I think you're
00:20:25.400 --> 00:20:30.220
exactly right. They use, like, action -wise,
00:20:30.299 --> 00:20:34.720
they slow things way down, but they give you
00:20:34.720 --> 00:20:39.839
this amount of narrative where it doesn't feel
00:20:39.839 --> 00:20:41.619
like it's slowed down. Like, when you're done
00:20:41.619 --> 00:20:43.819
with the page, you feel like you took in just
00:20:43.819 --> 00:20:47.599
as much, just in a different way. They've been
00:20:47.599 --> 00:20:49.900
very successful with that throughout everything
00:20:49.900 --> 00:20:56.230
in the Energon universe. So Matt Tracker has
00:20:56.230 --> 00:21:00.390
fixed the transponder and Hound immediately tries
00:21:00.390 --> 00:21:03.450
to ping the Autobots. While he's doing that,
00:21:03.569 --> 00:21:06.730
Tracker talks to the Joes about their future
00:21:06.730 --> 00:21:13.589
and he gets the Joe job offer, which. I again,
00:21:13.670 --> 00:21:15.910
I kind of thought, oh, maybe he'll stick around
00:21:15.910 --> 00:21:18.650
a little while and then mask will kick off. But
00:21:18.650 --> 00:21:20.809
it looks to me here like, nope, he's leaving.
00:21:20.890 --> 00:21:23.029
And the next time we see him will be mass number
00:21:23.029 --> 00:21:28.369
one. Or perhaps because I have some theories
00:21:28.369 --> 00:21:30.690
about what might be in the free comic book day
00:21:30.690 --> 00:21:35.130
special. So I think we may get a Matt Tracker
00:21:35.130 --> 00:21:39.740
story in that to connect this and mask. And then
00:21:39.740 --> 00:21:41.900
we have another thing later on that I wonder
00:21:41.900 --> 00:21:46.539
if we won't get in that special, but so tracker
00:21:46.539 --> 00:21:52.700
takes his leave and hound is taking Duke, which
00:21:52.700 --> 00:21:55.579
we get a little, it's about as close as Duke
00:21:55.579 --> 00:21:59.099
gets to levity. Again, that page Turner at the
00:21:59.099 --> 00:22:02.019
end, I can't believe I'm about to say this, but
00:22:02.019 --> 00:22:07.259
take me to your leader. And not even, it's not
00:22:07.259 --> 00:22:11.319
even quite levity. It's just recognition of there's
00:22:11.319 --> 00:22:13.960
just no other way to say this. And maybe I'm
00:22:13.960 --> 00:22:17.420
even a little annoyed that I have to say this.
00:22:17.700 --> 00:22:23.220
Yeah. So we get a nice travel page, just kind
00:22:23.220 --> 00:22:26.440
of showing some distance. So I want to, I want
00:22:26.440 --> 00:22:29.180
to talk about the end of this travel page. Okay.
00:22:29.400 --> 00:22:33.759
Real quick compared to the cover, because when
00:22:33.759 --> 00:22:39.990
I saw the cover, I thought, oh, okay, this story
00:22:39.990 --> 00:22:45.250
is definitely taking place during X timeline
00:22:45.250 --> 00:22:51.049
for the Transformers because there's a reveal
00:22:51.049 --> 00:22:56.450
and that cover doesn't necessarily match the
00:22:56.450 --> 00:23:03.450
reveal. So I'm thinking, okay, so the way, you
00:23:03.450 --> 00:23:05.930
know, Skybound Universe has all sort of been
00:23:05.930 --> 00:23:08.470
interconnected. It's putting the pieces together,
00:23:08.609 --> 00:23:13.609
and I 100 % understand why you put Optimus Prime
00:23:13.609 --> 00:23:17.430
on this cover. Sure. Like, you want people to
00:23:17.430 --> 00:23:21.190
pick up this comic? That's comic book 101. Even
00:23:21.190 --> 00:23:23.869
if there's people that right now aren't collecting
00:23:23.869 --> 00:23:26.609
G .I. Joe or Transformers, if they see the two
00:23:26.609 --> 00:23:31.230
of them on a cover together, they might go, oh,
00:23:31.269 --> 00:23:34.059
this is going to be cool. Let me grab it. And
00:23:34.059 --> 00:23:37.380
if it's some off -model Optimus Prime, they might
00:23:37.380 --> 00:23:40.039
be like, oh, so this is some different thing.
00:23:40.700 --> 00:23:43.900
I don't think I care about this as much. Right.
00:23:43.960 --> 00:23:47.400
So we get this, thank you for agreeing to meet
00:23:47.400 --> 00:23:49.779
me in a neutral location. And I'm thinking, oh
00:23:49.779 --> 00:23:53.859
my gosh, oh my gosh. And then... Which, by the
00:23:53.859 --> 00:23:57.420
way, from what's behind Duke, I was like, is
00:23:57.420 --> 00:24:03.470
somebody about to see a head in a box? Because
00:24:03.470 --> 00:24:06.150
that's exactly what it looks like. Oh, my gosh.
00:24:06.210 --> 00:24:11.829
You're right. I did not notice that. Gwyneth
00:24:11.829 --> 00:24:17.009
Paltrow as cover girl. And you get this great
00:24:17.009 --> 00:24:24.829
page of Duke looking up, sort of, to give you
00:24:24.829 --> 00:24:29.589
this. grand like here it is he says the words
00:24:29.589 --> 00:24:33.809
optimus prime and then you get that i am no longer
00:24:33.809 --> 00:24:42.190
or i am prime no longer page turn well i mean
00:24:42.190 --> 00:24:44.730
it's a two -page spread probably yeah i think
00:24:44.730 --> 00:24:48.230
it's what oh okay yeah um oh yeah because there's
00:24:48.230 --> 00:24:51.150
a tiny bit of the speech bubble okay because
00:24:51.150 --> 00:24:56.250
i was thinking like great use of again the tease
00:24:56.250 --> 00:24:59.089
like you know from earlier in the history with
00:24:59.089 --> 00:25:05.089
the thunderhawk but starting with that slow moment
00:25:05.089 --> 00:25:10.549
i feel like this is where skybound's shared continuity
00:25:10.549 --> 00:25:18.890
without a little bit more editorial help hurts
00:25:18.890 --> 00:25:25.190
because earlier When Matt is working on Hound,
00:25:25.230 --> 00:25:30.170
he mentions Shadow Watch, which has had lots
00:25:30.170 --> 00:25:34.890
of discussion in Transformers with Miles. Here,
00:25:35.029 --> 00:25:41.069
you have Orion Pax, basically. I mean, it's not
00:25:41.069 --> 00:25:44.710
Optimus Prime. Why is it not Optimus Prime? There
00:25:44.710 --> 00:25:49.750
is nothing that says... see issue 27 of transformers
00:25:49.750 --> 00:25:53.769
for story that's that was my thought was if this
00:25:53.769 --> 00:25:57.049
was uh and not to necessarily say whether it's
00:25:57.049 --> 00:25:59.230
better or worse but if this was a marvel comic
00:25:59.230 --> 00:26:02.549
from the 80s there would have been a little text
00:26:02.549 --> 00:26:05.869
box that said exactly what you just said yeah
00:26:05.869 --> 00:26:09.750
but like even so me not reading the transformers
00:26:09.750 --> 00:26:12.559
comic currently and not being up to date There's
00:26:12.559 --> 00:26:15.200
enough exposition between Optimus Prime and Hound
00:26:15.200 --> 00:26:17.900
for me to understand everything here. Absolutely.
00:26:19.819 --> 00:26:23.799
I'm saying it not as a narrative necessity, but
00:26:23.799 --> 00:26:26.319
as a, hey, let's get a little cross -sell going
00:26:26.319 --> 00:26:32.920
on here. Bingo. Right. If I wanted to find out,
00:26:33.000 --> 00:26:34.799
if I wanted to go and find the issue where this
00:26:34.799 --> 00:26:39.490
happens. I mean, obviously you can ask your local
00:26:39.490 --> 00:26:41.690
comic shop and they'll be able to tell you, but
00:26:41.690 --> 00:26:45.329
it would be great if I knew specifically it is
00:26:45.329 --> 00:26:48.509
this issue that I need to buy and it will give
00:26:48.509 --> 00:26:52.029
me that story. It's worth mentioning, though,
00:26:52.069 --> 00:26:56.089
that the copy we have is not final and it's possible
00:26:56.089 --> 00:26:59.630
an editorial note like that may be added later.
00:26:59.950 --> 00:27:03.269
Right. So when I get the physical copy, I do
00:27:03.269 --> 00:27:10.539
want to compare. Yeah. Um, so yeah. And I had
00:27:10.539 --> 00:27:13.539
a note about that shadow watch and I forgot to
00:27:13.539 --> 00:27:15.200
mention it because there's so much else going
00:27:15.200 --> 00:27:17.519
on on that page. Uh, so we've, yeah, we've got
00:27:17.519 --> 00:27:20.240
Optimus prime, a little different shape, uh,
00:27:20.359 --> 00:27:23.259
only got one smoke snack and he's got a mouth,
00:27:23.339 --> 00:27:27.220
which I'm, I'm, I appreciate this difference
00:27:27.220 --> 00:27:29.819
because he's just Optimus now, but I'm never
00:27:29.819 --> 00:27:32.660
as big a fan of mouth prime, although it worked
00:27:32.660 --> 00:27:37.240
in transformers. What was transformers one? Yeah,
00:27:37.319 --> 00:27:40.359
they don't say Orion Pax here, but I presume
00:27:40.359 --> 00:27:44.099
that... Does he go by that name in the... No?
00:27:44.160 --> 00:27:46.940
No. In the issue that this happens, they just
00:27:46.940 --> 00:27:49.640
keep... Yeah, everybody kept calling him Optimus.
00:27:50.619 --> 00:27:56.160
Yeah, it seems like he's just Optimus. What is
00:27:56.160 --> 00:27:58.579
his... Because he looks a little different. What's
00:27:58.579 --> 00:28:01.839
his alternate mode now? So we haven't seen it.
00:28:02.220 --> 00:28:05.829
Oh, okay. In this issue. Yeah. Oh, do they? Yeah.
00:28:07.390 --> 00:28:09.210
Oh, that's right. Because he rolls out at the
00:28:09.210 --> 00:28:13.109
end. Cybertronian truck. But up to this page,
00:28:13.569 --> 00:28:16.750
we have not seen it. Okay. They didn't show it
00:28:16.750 --> 00:28:18.869
in the Transformers issue because it pretty much
00:28:18.869 --> 00:28:25.569
the Transformer issue. He gives the Matrix to
00:28:25.569 --> 00:28:30.250
Alita one. She leaves. And then it's like, see
00:28:30.250 --> 00:28:34.000
you next issue. And that issue doesn't even say
00:28:34.000 --> 00:28:38.680
CGI Joe number 20. Oh, yeah, for more about the
00:28:38.680 --> 00:28:42.380
story. Yeah, you're right. They should be dropping
00:28:42.380 --> 00:28:46.259
that stuff in here. So page 14 has lots of info,
00:28:46.799 --> 00:28:50.140
as you just referenced. Alita 1 is now the Prime.
00:28:50.839 --> 00:28:54.599
She's fighting the war on Cybertron. And Optimus
00:28:54.599 --> 00:28:59.380
stayed behind to battle Decepticons on Earth.
00:28:59.930 --> 00:29:02.230
To protect Earth and to stay with his fellow
00:29:02.230 --> 00:29:05.730
Autobots on Earth and protect them. A key thing
00:29:05.730 --> 00:29:12.670
that Alita, as Alita Prime, actually says at
00:29:12.670 --> 00:29:16.329
the end of the issue is any of the Autobots who
00:29:16.329 --> 00:29:19.269
stay behind with Optimus and do not go back to
00:29:19.269 --> 00:29:23.190
Cybertron, they are no longer Autobots. They
00:29:23.190 --> 00:29:30.789
are Cybertronians on Earth. Wow. So that brings
00:29:30.789 --> 00:29:35.930
us up to Duke asking, of course, about Starscream.
00:29:37.130 --> 00:29:41.349
And as someone who has not kept up with Transformers,
00:29:41.349 --> 00:29:47.190
this was a bomb drop to find out that Starscream
00:29:47.190 --> 00:29:53.029
is dead. And this happened many issues ago in
00:29:53.029 --> 00:30:00.039
Transformers. My note is Starscream is dead or
00:30:00.039 --> 00:30:06.299
more likely dead with quotation marks. I did
00:30:06.299 --> 00:30:10.720
not believe he was dead either from storyline
00:30:10.720 --> 00:30:15.000
he will come back because they just do that or
00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:22.359
Optimus thinks he's dead. He's dead. What they
00:30:22.359 --> 00:30:25.660
do different in the Skybound universe is that
00:30:26.119 --> 00:30:30.940
You can bring like they are machines, right?
00:30:31.160 --> 00:30:37.660
So they die and go offline. With enough Energon
00:30:37.660 --> 00:30:43.539
and the Matrix, you can bring them back. You
00:30:43.539 --> 00:30:48.519
can re -energize them, but it takes a crap ton
00:30:48.519 --> 00:30:51.640
of Energon. So like at the start of the Skybound
00:30:51.640 --> 00:30:53.880
universe, when the Decepticons like wipe out
00:30:53.880 --> 00:30:57.049
most of the Autobots. they've had to be very
00:30:57.049 --> 00:30:59.609
selective that's sort of how they kept the cast
00:30:59.609 --> 00:31:04.309
small right so as they've killed or damaged characters
00:31:04.309 --> 00:31:10.049
because there's a finite amount of energon on
00:31:10.049 --> 00:31:14.210
earth they're not able to just be like well let's
00:31:14.210 --> 00:31:16.630
you know take him back to nemesis and hook him
00:31:16.630 --> 00:31:18.890
up and pump him full of energon and bring him
00:31:18.890 --> 00:31:24.130
back it's like the story i have a feeling hunt
00:31:24.130 --> 00:31:27.670
of energon might Finally get it where we need
00:31:27.670 --> 00:31:31.750
to be. Well, and Optimus even says, like, General
00:31:31.750 --> 00:31:35.849
Flagg had a stockpile of Energon. I saved some
00:31:35.849 --> 00:31:41.450
of it for you, but that's it. Yeah. So Duke is
00:31:41.450 --> 00:31:45.450
shocked to find out that really his entire purpose
00:31:45.450 --> 00:31:50.630
in life has already died without his assistance.
00:31:50.809 --> 00:31:54.390
And he wanders off to a hill to think about this
00:31:54.390 --> 00:32:00.069
new situation. And I like Optimus saying no,
00:32:00.190 --> 00:32:01.730
because Clutch is going to go talk to him. And
00:32:01.730 --> 00:32:04.829
Optimus says, no, I'll go do it, which is really
00:32:04.829 --> 00:32:07.150
cool because it sets up what you know is going
00:32:07.150 --> 00:32:09.309
to be a significant moment of connection between
00:32:09.309 --> 00:32:14.210
these two characters. And Duke says, as before
00:32:14.210 --> 00:32:16.829
we move to the next page, for a long time, whenever
00:32:16.829 --> 00:32:18.769
I would close my eyes, I would see Starscream
00:32:18.769 --> 00:32:21.069
kill my friend. But ever since we started G .I.
00:32:21.109 --> 00:32:24.890
Joe, I saw something else. I would kill Starscream
00:32:24.890 --> 00:32:28.529
myself. Use the tech that Cobra created to take
00:32:28.529 --> 00:32:31.410
him out. But I wouldn't stop there. I'd kill
00:32:31.410 --> 00:32:34.269
all the robots on Earth. I don't care if they
00:32:34.269 --> 00:32:36.990
were Decepticons or Autobots. Nothing could stop
00:32:36.990 --> 00:32:40.089
me from eliminating you and everything like you.
00:32:40.490 --> 00:32:45.769
And I love this because I feel like we had a
00:32:45.769 --> 00:32:50.069
sense of that. But this feels like a confession.
00:32:51.400 --> 00:32:55.700
Like he's unburdening himself of this truth that
00:32:55.700 --> 00:33:01.900
he's been hanging on to for so long. And the
00:33:01.900 --> 00:33:05.319
visuals of it, we get three full panels of Duke's,
00:33:05.359 --> 00:33:14.180
what he thinks that would look like. And then
00:33:14.180 --> 00:33:16.099
he says, I lost sight of what matters most. I
00:33:16.099 --> 00:33:21.299
let my quest for revenge blind me. And at that
00:33:21.299 --> 00:33:25.460
point, I think as a reader, you sort of assume
00:33:25.460 --> 00:33:31.140
one thing. And Optimus says, I've lost so many
00:33:31.140 --> 00:33:35.559
in the name of War Duke, and there were, sorry,
00:33:35.759 --> 00:33:39.980
this is, my print is very faint here. Yeah. But
00:33:39.980 --> 00:33:42.319
anyway, Optimus says something wise about also
00:33:42.319 --> 00:33:45.779
being a warrior and losing friends on the battlefield.
00:33:46.339 --> 00:33:48.660
And then Duke says, no, you misunderstand why
00:33:48.660 --> 00:33:52.910
I'm telling you this. And Duke's point is basically,
00:33:52.950 --> 00:33:55.289
if you mess with us, I will destroy you all.
00:33:56.970 --> 00:34:02.569
Like that isn't necessarily my goal, but it could
00:34:02.569 --> 00:34:08.409
go back on the list if it needs to. Right. And
00:34:08.409 --> 00:34:12.329
then Optimus for his part says, if it were to
00:34:12.329 --> 00:34:16.099
come to that, I would fear for your safety. So
00:34:16.099 --> 00:34:18.960
I love that they're not having this like peace
00:34:18.960 --> 00:34:21.579
summit, that they're not super best pals now,
00:34:21.739 --> 00:34:25.880
but that they're establishing the facts of their
00:34:25.880 --> 00:34:32.739
relationship. Okay. I took what prime said is
00:34:32.739 --> 00:34:35.119
just as much of a threat as what Duke said. Yeah.
00:34:35.239 --> 00:34:39.659
Yeah. So I was, I was thinking with everything
00:34:39.659 --> 00:34:44.760
that Duke was saying, because of. what we have
00:34:44.760 --> 00:34:48.340
seen in the transformers comic since megatron
00:34:48.340 --> 00:34:53.659
came back to earth um that or came back online
00:34:53.659 --> 00:35:01.239
um that you know we have cities in earth in skybound
00:35:01.239 --> 00:35:03.840
continuity that are completely wiped out like
00:35:03.840 --> 00:35:08.079
you know gone wiped off the face of the earth
00:35:08.079 --> 00:35:11.170
because of the decepticons So my mind was going
00:35:11.170 --> 00:35:13.670
there. Like, if it comes to the point where G
00:35:13.670 --> 00:35:16.070
.I. Joe is going to attack all the giant robots,
00:35:16.469 --> 00:35:19.989
I fear for your safety because Optimus knows
00:35:19.989 --> 00:35:25.489
without them, they don't stand a chance. But
00:35:25.489 --> 00:35:28.789
I like Ural's take much, much better. Well, he's
00:35:28.789 --> 00:35:32.230
directly responding to Duke saying, I will not
00:35:32.230 --> 00:35:35.489
hesitate to use everything I have to destroy
00:35:35.489 --> 00:35:38.570
you. It's a direct response to that. So I took
00:35:38.570 --> 00:35:46.199
it as, Good luck with that, buddy. And Duke says,
00:35:46.320 --> 00:35:48.079
I'm glad we have an understanding. So that's
00:35:48.079 --> 00:35:51.579
how I think, that's what I think that was, was
00:35:51.579 --> 00:35:55.239
establishing parameters. And then they do have
00:35:55.239 --> 00:35:57.719
a little bit of a bonding moment where they kind
00:35:57.719 --> 00:36:00.420
of appreciate what each other said. Duke's spoken
00:36:00.420 --> 00:36:03.239
like a true war horse. And this is where I think
00:36:03.239 --> 00:36:07.340
we may get a little story is Optimus says, we
00:36:07.340 --> 00:36:09.820
don't have that phrase on Cybertron. Let me tell
00:36:09.820 --> 00:36:13.940
you a tale of my world. And I wonder if we'll
00:36:13.940 --> 00:36:19.019
get that tale in Free Comic Book Day. Yeah. Because
00:36:19.019 --> 00:36:22.260
then it cuts back to Hound and Clutch, and we
00:36:22.260 --> 00:36:24.900
get these two really wonderful panels of them
00:36:24.900 --> 00:36:28.099
making fun of Duke and Optimus taking themselves
00:36:28.099 --> 00:36:33.320
too seriously. It's just really, really good
00:36:33.320 --> 00:36:36.019
character stuff. And again, it's Clutch being
00:36:36.019 --> 00:36:43.699
Clutch again. Here they come. Probably my favorite
00:36:43.699 --> 00:36:45.840
moment in this whole comic. Because we've all
00:36:45.840 --> 00:36:50.900
done that. We've all done that. So Optimus returns
00:36:50.900 --> 00:36:53.860
with Duke and said they've come to an understanding,
00:36:54.079 --> 00:36:56.699
an alliance of sorts. They'll share information
00:36:56.699 --> 00:36:59.159
and resources on their enemies, but their missions
00:36:59.159 --> 00:37:02.599
will stay independent. Duke has informed me of
00:37:02.599 --> 00:37:07.380
this Cobra. And Clutch outlines how serious...
00:37:07.820 --> 00:37:14.260
uh cobra commander's threat is and i like the
00:37:14.260 --> 00:37:18.860
the fact that everything doesn't become widespread
00:37:18.860 --> 00:37:21.679
knowledge as soon as the reader knows about it
00:37:21.679 --> 00:37:24.900
because we know about what cobra commander did
00:37:24.900 --> 00:37:28.440
to megatron duke just says i suspect he conducted
00:37:28.440 --> 00:37:33.079
experiments on one of yours uh and optimus says
00:37:33.079 --> 00:37:36.139
well it wasn't an autobot so that's interesting
00:37:38.750 --> 00:37:41.210
And, of course, they part with, well, if you
00:37:41.210 --> 00:37:43.530
need help, let us know. Same to you with the
00:37:43.530 --> 00:37:47.409
Decepticons. And then we get to Hound. And I'm
00:37:47.409 --> 00:37:49.889
not going to lie. I was a little emotionally
00:37:49.889 --> 00:37:54.809
stopped here. I was like, oh, no, is Hound going
00:37:54.809 --> 00:37:59.349
to leave now? Same. I was legitimately a bit
00:37:59.349 --> 00:38:02.710
dismayed, thinking that's probably what they
00:38:02.710 --> 00:38:06.349
were doing. And Optimus says, I'm no longer your
00:38:06.349 --> 00:38:08.929
superior officer. It's up to you. you know, what
00:38:08.929 --> 00:38:10.909
you do. Where do you think you're of the most
00:38:10.909 --> 00:38:12.750
use? And Hound says, I'm going to stay with G
00:38:12.750 --> 00:38:18.269
.I. Joe, which filled me with joy. Yeah. Because,
00:38:18.289 --> 00:38:24.969
like, him and Clutch are the buddy cop movie
00:38:24.969 --> 00:38:32.590
that I need in my life. So this is where Optimus
00:38:32.590 --> 00:38:34.889
explains the limited stockpile of Energon. He
00:38:34.889 --> 00:38:39.019
hooks Hound up with some Energon. And then we
00:38:39.019 --> 00:38:43.679
get another great little buddy smiling characters
00:38:43.679 --> 00:38:47.340
actually getting to just have a moment of joy
00:38:47.340 --> 00:38:50.300
where Hound says, Optimus, I know you're no longer
00:38:50.300 --> 00:38:54.880
my leader, but for old time's sake, may you still
00:38:54.880 --> 00:38:58.300
say it? Of course, but in honor of our new allies,
00:38:58.380 --> 00:39:00.519
and this is where, as Noel said, we actually
00:39:00.519 --> 00:39:03.699
do see his alternate form. It just wasn't alternate
00:39:03.699 --> 00:39:07.400
enough to register in my brain at the time. because
00:39:07.400 --> 00:39:11.059
it is it is very similar uh but optimus says
00:39:11.059 --> 00:39:15.760
gi joe roll out which is just delightful and
00:39:15.760 --> 00:39:21.900
i'll tell you if they put this image well i would
00:39:21.900 --> 00:39:23.539
want to see duke and clutch a little better i
00:39:23.539 --> 00:39:25.320
was going to say if they put like a version of
00:39:25.320 --> 00:39:34.119
this image on a shirt like maybe with do the
00:39:34.119 --> 00:39:38.940
gi joe logo but with an Autobot head instead
00:39:38.940 --> 00:39:42.820
of the star. Oh yeah. And then in front of it
00:39:42.820 --> 00:39:47.440
is this Optimus and this hound with the GI Joe
00:39:47.440 --> 00:39:49.739
rollout word bubble. I'd buy that in a second.
00:39:50.739 --> 00:39:53.119
Something like that. Brett White, get on that.
00:39:59.690 --> 00:40:02.469
so clutch little follow -up here says that he's
00:40:02.469 --> 00:40:04.369
getting a lot of pings on his communicator hawk
00:40:04.369 --> 00:40:06.250
is pissed they took off what are they telling
00:40:06.250 --> 00:40:08.969
him about his new friend and i love this also
00:40:08.969 --> 00:40:14.150
duke says let's just keep this to ourselves and
00:40:14.150 --> 00:40:17.530
we as the knowledgeable reader are left wondering
00:40:17.530 --> 00:40:21.110
well we know why you shouldn't tell hawk about
00:40:21.110 --> 00:40:25.750
hound but is duke starting to have some suspicions
00:40:25.750 --> 00:40:28.489
and on the next page he says we can have secrets
00:40:28.489 --> 00:40:31.690
too because Duke knows Hawk straight up told
00:40:31.690 --> 00:40:34.269
Duke there are things I'm not telling you and
00:40:34.269 --> 00:40:40.329
I like that Duke is uh taking some agency here
00:40:40.329 --> 00:40:46.289
and saying you know what I need I need to to
00:40:46.289 --> 00:40:49.010
have some information to look out for my people
00:40:49.010 --> 00:40:54.880
to to have my own thing going as well And then
00:40:54.880 --> 00:40:58.679
we get the big surprise of the issue. I thought
00:40:58.679 --> 00:41:01.179
that the issue was over at this point. Nope,
00:41:01.340 --> 00:41:07.079
we got more. The end of page 20 or of our page
00:41:07.079 --> 00:41:10.659
20 could have been the end of the issue. And
00:41:10.659 --> 00:41:14.219
the way that the issue flows. The way the issue
00:41:14.219 --> 00:41:16.260
flows is because you start with Matt Tracker
00:41:16.260 --> 00:41:19.119
and you're following him. And then we meet up
00:41:19.119 --> 00:41:22.019
with Hound and Clutch and Duke. And then we follow
00:41:22.019 --> 00:41:24.960
them. And then we meet Optimus. So it's all kind
00:41:24.960 --> 00:41:27.059
of one converging story. And so it would have
00:41:27.059 --> 00:41:28.800
been very satisfying for that to be the last
00:41:28.800 --> 00:41:31.659
panel. And they're literally writing off into
00:41:31.659 --> 00:41:36.960
the sunset. Right. But as is often the case,
00:41:36.960 --> 00:41:40.340
we get that little tag. of what's to come but
00:41:40.340 --> 00:41:44.039
this is a huge what's to come because we've been
00:41:44.039 --> 00:41:47.519
talking about where the heck is scarlet what's
00:41:47.519 --> 00:41:50.380
going on with jinx but we did get that teaser
00:41:50.380 --> 00:41:53.360
i guess it was last issue uh that cover girl
00:41:53.360 --> 00:41:55.659
was going to go meet up with snow job and as
00:41:55.659 --> 00:41:59.280
we found out cover girl and snow job have met
00:41:59.280 --> 00:42:04.579
up before which i thought was a fun little piece
00:42:04.579 --> 00:42:09.039
of information So they're talking about what
00:42:09.039 --> 00:42:11.219
is going on. Stalker has been sent on a mission
00:42:11.219 --> 00:42:15.239
to Badikistan. Before he took off, he filled
00:42:15.239 --> 00:42:17.619
me in on, and this is basically the Scarlet,
00:42:17.639 --> 00:42:21.559
a very, very swift recap of the Scarlet miniseries.
00:42:22.199 --> 00:42:24.800
And I'm trying to remember, did we speculate
00:42:24.800 --> 00:42:27.300
that that sword might be Energon? I feel like
00:42:27.300 --> 00:42:29.579
we did. I feel like we did because of the way
00:42:29.579 --> 00:42:32.099
that they drew it. Right. Because it was like
00:42:32.099 --> 00:42:38.559
purple energy. So, she found the ninjas possessed
00:42:38.559 --> 00:42:44.900
a powerful weapon. And Snowjob... Let's see.
00:42:45.800 --> 00:42:47.659
I don't want to just sit here and read every
00:42:47.659 --> 00:42:50.760
line of dialogue. But the bottom line is that
00:42:50.760 --> 00:42:53.539
Scarlet is now out of touch. Snowjob has not
00:42:53.539 --> 00:42:55.219
been able to get in contact with her. She has
00:42:55.219 --> 00:42:58.460
not checked in with her superiors. And the superiors
00:42:58.460 --> 00:43:02.059
are not happy about that. And I wonder... And
00:43:02.059 --> 00:43:05.099
that's why... uh cover girl has been sent to
00:43:05.099 --> 00:43:12.360
meet up with snow job so we get a flyer which
00:43:12.360 --> 00:43:15.099
i find it a little weird that a wanted flyer
00:43:15.099 --> 00:43:17.320
has been printed up but whatever it's a great
00:43:17.320 --> 00:43:21.239
visual uh hawk says we have a flyer that also
00:43:21.239 --> 00:43:24.340
contains the real name and code name of this
00:43:24.340 --> 00:43:28.079
you know top secret agent right right well so
00:43:28.079 --> 00:43:31.829
like just remember Cover Girl, and it didn't
00:43:31.829 --> 00:43:36.230
hit me until just now, Cover Girl helps Hawk
00:43:36.230 --> 00:43:39.349
in the office, right? We've seen her in there
00:43:39.349 --> 00:43:43.070
doing files. Yeah, right, right. Whatever. Administrative
00:43:43.070 --> 00:43:48.150
stuff. Right. So this may have just been something
00:43:48.150 --> 00:43:53.989
that Hawk slash Zartan was just kind of toying
00:43:53.989 --> 00:43:57.989
around with and putting together. And she found
00:43:57.989 --> 00:44:00.889
it and then gets this information. And she's,
00:44:00.889 --> 00:44:04.190
you know, because I would like to think that
00:44:04.190 --> 00:44:11.170
G .I. Joe does not do such a Photoshop job for
00:44:11.170 --> 00:44:15.829
their posters. Yeah, well, that second picture
00:44:15.829 --> 00:44:17.429
doesn't even make any sense. Like, if you're
00:44:17.429 --> 00:44:19.889
trying to identify her, why do you have a picture
00:44:19.889 --> 00:44:22.690
where, like, part of her face is obscured? Like,
00:44:22.690 --> 00:44:27.039
this is... This, to me, is a more questionable
00:44:27.039 --> 00:44:29.760
artistic decision than Scrap Iron's face earlier.
00:44:30.380 --> 00:44:36.699
But it gets the point across and they have 24
00:44:36.699 --> 00:44:39.039
hours to find her before she's branded a traitor.
00:44:39.920 --> 00:44:44.280
And I wonder, is this because Zartan knows something
00:44:44.280 --> 00:44:48.260
or is this just a standard AWOL situation? Because
00:44:48.260 --> 00:44:54.710
it could be either. Like, does Zartan know we
00:44:54.710 --> 00:44:58.710
got to get her back because or is this just we
00:44:58.710 --> 00:45:00.389
haven't heard from her in this amount of time
00:45:00.389 --> 00:45:04.389
and that's not acceptable i was taking it more
00:45:04.389 --> 00:45:10.050
as the first but not not not like oh we have
00:45:10.050 --> 00:45:13.030
to get her back for the joe team specifically
00:45:13.030 --> 00:45:17.889
i feel like well just as an agent she can't just
00:45:17.889 --> 00:45:20.829
be incommunicado for that right but i also feel
00:45:20.829 --> 00:45:24.960
like zartan is at a point where He's losing control
00:45:24.960 --> 00:45:29.460
of the Joes. Like, we've seen this, right? Everybody's
00:45:29.460 --> 00:45:32.119
running off and doing stuff. Right, right. And
00:45:32.119 --> 00:45:35.039
he's getting ticked off. So now, okay, I need
00:45:35.039 --> 00:45:39.860
to throw some chaos into the mix. Or she's going
00:45:39.860 --> 00:45:44.039
to be an example. Oh, yeah. All these Joes running
00:45:44.039 --> 00:45:46.760
off on their own, not respecting my authority.
00:45:47.320 --> 00:45:50.559
Right, because he's building nine floors behind
00:45:50.559 --> 00:45:55.400
everybody's back. right what does he need with
00:45:55.400 --> 00:45:59.039
with them for you know with with code name scarlet
00:45:59.039 --> 00:46:01.920
so it it could be a little column a a little
00:46:01.920 --> 00:46:05.920
column b that there is something he knows about
00:46:05.920 --> 00:46:09.219
what she's doing but also it's a convenient excuse
00:46:09.219 --> 00:46:11.719
for him to make an example of her and show the
00:46:11.719 --> 00:46:13.480
rest of the joes like i'm not messing around
00:46:13.480 --> 00:46:16.500
you better do what i say you better jump you
00:46:16.500 --> 00:46:21.719
better say how high when i say jump uh and that
00:46:22.429 --> 00:46:27.070
is the actual last story page of the issue. Christian,
00:46:27.150 --> 00:46:28.710
did you have an opportunity to take a look at
00:46:28.710 --> 00:46:30.690
the letters page? I did. There wasn't really
00:46:30.690 --> 00:46:35.210
anything in there. Well, there was the last bit,
00:46:35.230 --> 00:46:39.769
which we said next month we're going to be paying
00:46:39.769 --> 00:46:42.710
a visit to the Arashikage. Next month, of course,
00:46:42.769 --> 00:46:47.840
is issue 21. Ah. i presume we're getting a silent
00:46:47.840 --> 00:46:50.559
issue in the regular series along with all of
00:46:50.559 --> 00:46:54.219
the other silent issues because every other yeah
00:46:54.219 --> 00:46:57.199
every other series is issue 21 has been silent
00:46:57.199 --> 00:47:01.960
good point yeah i i and i'm wondering if we get
00:47:01.960 --> 00:47:06.679
snake eyes next next time i'm sure they've already
00:47:06.679 --> 00:47:09.960
said what it is, but I try not to look too closely
00:47:09.960 --> 00:47:11.860
at their announcements because they give too
00:47:11.860 --> 00:47:14.599
much information about the issues in their press
00:47:14.599 --> 00:47:17.880
releases. And I don't want to know anything until
00:47:17.880 --> 00:47:21.059
I read the comic. I don't want those four pages
00:47:21.059 --> 00:47:24.320
that they put out every month. I don't want the
00:47:24.320 --> 00:47:26.360
previews. I don't want the synopsis. I don't
00:47:26.360 --> 00:47:28.079
want to know until I'm reading the comics. I
00:47:28.079 --> 00:47:30.380
don't pay too much attention. They've probably
00:47:30.380 --> 00:47:34.619
announced whatever 21 is, but I haven't looked
00:47:34.619 --> 00:47:37.380
at it. i presume we're getting this extraction
00:47:37.380 --> 00:47:40.940
story with cover girl right in the next issue
00:47:40.940 --> 00:47:43.239
it's just going to focus on that it's like the
00:47:43.239 --> 00:47:45.059
roadblock issue where it does not tie into the
00:47:45.059 --> 00:47:47.380
rest of the story really yeah yeah it's mostly
00:47:47.380 --> 00:47:50.159
well i guess that that did a little bit but um
00:47:50.159 --> 00:47:53.320
well they all do but they're different degrees
00:47:53.320 --> 00:47:56.539
of of how much their main story but yeah if they
00:47:56.539 --> 00:47:58.719
if they just decide to do that as a straight
00:47:58.719 --> 00:48:04.159
kind of this is a one shot And it's 21. We're
00:48:04.159 --> 00:48:06.159
dealing with the Arashikage. That's a perfect
00:48:06.159 --> 00:48:10.800
chance to introduce a certain silenced ninja.
00:48:11.699 --> 00:48:16.159
That seems like a really fast turnaround, though,
00:48:16.199 --> 00:48:18.519
for Risk to get blown up and then become Snake
00:48:18.519 --> 00:48:21.400
Eyes. It just seems like one issue. There's not
00:48:21.400 --> 00:48:22.300
enough time for that to happen. They've said
00:48:22.300 --> 00:48:25.019
in some interviews that we do have the origin
00:48:25.019 --> 00:48:29.719
of Risk. coming up. Issues 27 and 28 are going
00:48:29.719 --> 00:48:34.639
to be a two -part story. I thought this was a
00:48:34.639 --> 00:48:39.159
nothing burger of a comment in the letters column
00:48:39.159 --> 00:48:41.159
because, of course, it's sort of become a running
00:48:41.159 --> 00:48:44.679
gag. They always pick at least one letter where
00:48:44.679 --> 00:48:47.380
the person mentions Snake Eyes and they play
00:48:47.380 --> 00:48:50.760
dumb and they did the exact same thing here where
00:48:50.760 --> 00:48:56.730
they're like, who is Snake Eyes? Yeah. noel you
00:48:56.730 --> 00:48:59.530
might be onto something i don't think they're
00:48:59.530 --> 00:49:03.050
gonna let it at this point don't let us know
00:49:03.050 --> 00:49:05.090
when you're gonna do it just yeah i don't want
00:49:05.090 --> 00:49:07.750
to know but they will they'll announce it like
00:49:07.750 --> 00:49:10.969
three months out like snake eyes coming soon
00:49:10.969 --> 00:49:12.969
and i don't want to know that stuff you know
00:49:12.969 --> 00:49:15.730
but i i you know you got to do what you got to
00:49:15.730 --> 00:49:18.769
do to sell comics uh one thing i did notice is
00:49:18.769 --> 00:49:20.829
in that character spotlight section they have
00:49:20.829 --> 00:49:24.559
after the letters They kind of fully explained
00:49:24.559 --> 00:49:27.300
Scrap Iron's situation. While currently employed
00:49:27.300 --> 00:49:30.079
by Cobra, the obsessive and violent man known
00:49:30.079 --> 00:49:32.179
as Scrap Iron won't shy away from a contract
00:49:32.179 --> 00:49:34.360
killing if it means he gets to blow something
00:49:34.360 --> 00:49:37.440
up. So that's the really succinct explanation
00:49:37.440 --> 00:49:42.280
of his employment situation there. Much like
00:49:42.280 --> 00:49:46.260
me, he's an independent contractor. I did not
00:49:46.260 --> 00:49:51.969
read these, but now this quick scan. with the
00:49:51.969 --> 00:49:55.809
Optimus one. But this meeting, three years in
00:49:55.809 --> 00:49:58.489
the making, did not disappoint. Talking about
00:49:58.489 --> 00:50:01.769
Optimus and Duke meeting each other. Maybe next
00:50:01.769 --> 00:50:04.690
time Duke will be shirtless and Optimus will
00:50:04.690 --> 00:50:10.969
have the Matrix of Leadership. Skybound! Well,
00:50:10.989 --> 00:50:15.789
that's... Is this the ship we didn't know we
00:50:15.789 --> 00:50:19.349
needed? And I specifically pun intended with
00:50:19.349 --> 00:50:25.369
the word ship. I mean, but I think shirtless
00:50:25.369 --> 00:50:28.829
Duke, whether it was their intention or not,
00:50:28.949 --> 00:50:32.150
has kind of become a Nightwing's butt kind of
00:50:32.150 --> 00:50:38.889
thing. Yeah, exactly. So another fantastic issue
00:50:38.889 --> 00:50:42.070
just had a blast. It did feel like a little change
00:50:42.070 --> 00:50:43.929
of pace. While there was still plenty of action
00:50:43.929 --> 00:50:46.789
and tons of story, I did feel a little like it
00:50:46.789 --> 00:50:52.820
was a relaxed read. But April 15th is issue 21,
00:50:52.940 --> 00:50:55.460
where we will find right smack dab in the middle
00:50:55.460 --> 00:50:59.239
of all the silent stuff going on, which by the
00:50:59.239 --> 00:51:01.800
way, I mentioned this on our last episode, or
00:51:01.800 --> 00:51:03.980
I guess our next episode, depending on what order
00:51:03.980 --> 00:51:07.360
you're listening to things in. I have four interviews
00:51:07.360 --> 00:51:12.579
coming up with some of the silent creators. Very
00:51:12.579 --> 00:51:16.900
excited about these. One of them is... crazy
00:51:16.900 --> 00:51:18.960
unbelievable so if it happens everybody should
00:51:18.960 --> 00:51:21.519
be really excited and they're all great and i
00:51:21.519 --> 00:51:25.420
love talking to these creators but i will be
00:51:25.420 --> 00:51:29.820
talking to a living legend uh later this week
00:51:29.820 --> 00:51:31.920
and that'll go up sometime probably sometime
00:51:31.920 --> 00:51:34.880
during april because it's four interviews you
00:51:34.880 --> 00:51:37.699
know you gotta space those out a little bit so
00:51:37.699 --> 00:51:40.659
anyway That's everything about G .I. Joe number
00:51:40.659 --> 00:51:42.500
20. Noel, why don't you tell us a little bit
00:51:42.500 --> 00:51:45.059
about The Finest? The Finest is an international
00:51:45.059 --> 00:51:47.440
G .I. Joe costuming club raising money for a
00:51:47.440 --> 00:51:49.980
fantastic charity called Canines for Warriors.
00:51:50.119 --> 00:51:51.900
Check us out at Toylanta. We'll have a booth
00:51:51.900 --> 00:51:54.340
there and we'll be giving away some cool swag
00:51:54.340 --> 00:51:59.460
for some donations. Christian, where can we find
00:51:59.460 --> 00:52:02.519
that toy photography you do so well? You can
00:52:02.519 --> 00:52:05.019
find me on Instagram and Blue Sky under the name
00:52:05.019 --> 00:52:10.559
Legion Cub. Our next live stream is March the
00:52:10.559 --> 00:52:13.840
30th on the Needless Things YouTube channel.
00:52:14.119 --> 00:52:16.539
Be sure and put it on your calendar. And until
00:52:16.539 --> 00:52:41.710
then, yo, Joe. You have been listening to a Needless
00:52:41.710 --> 00:52:44.329
Things production. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram,
00:52:44.469 --> 00:52:47.130
and YouTube for the very best in toys, movies,
00:52:47.349 --> 00:52:50.909
music, and pop culture. Until next time, be kind
00:52:50.909 --> 00:52:52.349
and like what you love.
