Keith Palmer's Multi-Purpose Journal

Jumping the gun on the fortieth anniversary of the Transformers for the sake of coming up with an “unpopular fandom opinion” this leap year, I supposed that would preclude trying to make a post about how their comic book had gone on sale in May of 1984. At the start of this month, though, in the course of a mere twenty-fifth anniversary I saw a trailer for a special theatrical showing of the first episodes of the Transformers cartoon, which also amounted to jumping the gun. Somewhere in the midst of all of this, I started recalling having seen a particular comic book ad for “Transformers without their corporate name,” and was amused by the thought it must have been in one of the early Transformers comics themselves, given I didn’t read a lot of comics in my youth.
( A comics quest )

Rationing out the things I post about here, I’ve turned to another one of the manga volumes I bought on my last trip to the area bookstore before the national chain closed its stores for public health reasons, leaving me after getting on close to a month still not quite able to decide whether to see how far an independant comics store further away from me can deliver, to impose on the people stuck in the warehouses of one larger online store or another, or just to make the compromise some find more significant than others and start buying more “e-manga.” It had been something anyway to find a volume of a new “official release of vintage Transformers manga” after having looked and waited for it to show up in the store, but in the time I’d been waiting and looking I’d happened to see a review with some rather strong suggestions its appeal was focused on the nostalgic and the young (however many of those kids might be stuck with being presented things that appealed most of all to their nostalgic parents).
( Quick judgments and longer digressions )

After waiting for months, then waiting for a few extra weeks after that, the first issue of the "Star Trek meets the Transformers" comic, news of which had broken through my usual detachment from the modern comics extending both franchises, was promised to arrive at last. I travelled to the closest comic shop and saw a lone issue left on the shelf; whether it had proved popular compared to the Mystery Science Theater 3000 comic I'd seen plenty of issues of a few weeks before or had been deemed not worth the risk of ordering many issues I don't know. After buying the comic and starting to read it I was a bit impressed there hadn't been any time wasted before the crew of the Enterprise encountered the Decepticons; by the end of the issue, though, I was wondering a bit about those comments tossed around these days about the relative ratios of price to content for North American comics and manga volumes. Whether the story would seem to get to "the good guys of both franchises get to understand each other and team up" with the same brisk pace when all the issues are collected in "graphic novel" format, I don't know yet; I can at least suppose we've avoided "the humans (and the alien crew members of the animated series) are reduced to in no time to the tagalong mascots of the Autobots," though. The greater risk, perhaps, just might be "supposing this modern take on something seen when young and impressionable should be somehow profound."

I'd noticed from the preview covers the Autobot lineup included a character not instantly recognisable with familiarity of the formative era the art is reproducing. (I'm inclined to say the Star Trek characters look just like their animated series art; on the other hand, the art of the animated series wasn't very complicated to begin with.) It only took a bit of looking around, however, to realise the female Autobot had been designed in recent years for what seems a steady stream of Transformers comics. Unfortunately, that looking also turned up some whiffs of the noisome mire that can seem to engulf any attempt to expand on "familiar casts." Even if "familiar casts" often seem associated with "familiar properties" these days, that shouldn't excuse the nastiness. In any case, though, in the comic itself there was a female Decepticon a bit more looking around turned up had come from the same stories, and before things were over for this instalment one of the few female Autobots "instantly recognisable with familiarity of the formative era" had also appeared.

A store opened in the area mall I understood to offer "Japanese design"; that at least piqued my interest. Wandering though it to get an impression of lots of inexpensive housewares on display, I reached a shelf of toys and thought "sure, the Transformers were from Japan to start with." Then, even as an expected name was popping up from stacks of trivia, I looked that much closer and realised what was actually in green text at the bottom of the familiar-looking packages.
( An illustration within )

In the middle of the past three months, I went off on a vacation, and that meant something of a break from watching anime too. I could remember, though, occasional worries "taking breaks" might somehow amount to "breaking habits," and even in the face of that I'd gone to the lengths of trying not to leave series to be continued, but in this case I came back feeling invigorated and ready to get back to viewing. Then, however, I did have my parents staying over at my place for a while, another enforced pause of sorts, although when they looked at one shelf and asked me if I thought I'd ever get through all the videos on it I was able to tell them it was actually "books" in the form of manga volumes. As a matter of fact, anyway, I did finish off these three months with no anime preorders impending, thinking instead of end-of-year or perhaps in-stock sales. I suppose being away did mean missing the official beginning of two new online streaming sites with their own varying attempts to stand out in the field. In any case, though, when I did back to regular viewing that sense of invigoration did stay.
( Finishing things off: My Otome and Transformers Victory )
( In brief: Gundam Unicorn, Patlabor OVAs, and Little Witch Academia )
( Outliers: Space Brothers and Voltes V )
( Starting off: Aria the Origination and Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood )

Heading off on vacation in the past three months did give me a chance to take a break not just from work but from the pastime of watching anime DVDs. I had gone to some small lengths to not leave any series half-finished over the break where I could, but I suppose that did combine with the habitual feeling "so what is it going to be like this time?" as I start into something new to leave me with uncertainties about having "broken habits." That uncertainty might have lasted for an episode or two, though, so just perhaps the anxieties I do seem to shake off (or make a show of shaking off) every time I start another one of these looks back weren't so bad this time around.
( Polishing things off: Transformers Masterforce )
( Once again: Puella Magi Madoka Magica )
( Movies: Project A-ko, Rebuild of Evangelion, and Dirty Pair )
( Up to the minute: Total Eclipse, Rinne no Lagrange, and Space Brothers )
( Fansub follies: Giniro no Olynssis )
( Back into the swing: Wagnaria, Strawberry Panic, and Gundam Unicorn )

Since the last time I looked back at the anime I've watched in a three-month span of time, I managed to transfer off rotating twelve-hour shifts at work and back on to days. When I was sent on to shift, I did wonder (among other things) how this would affect my viewing habits, but I did find ways to cope (even if I find myself a little cautious about describing them). Now, things have changed again, but I do seem to be keeping up my interest in anime.
( Starting off: Kashimashi and Strain )
( New series: Croisée in a Foreign Labyrinth and Tiger & Bunny )
( Returning to something and catching up with the throng: Fullmetal Alchemist and K-ON! )
( A digression? Transformers Headmasters )
( Longer works: Gundam Unicorn and Space Battleship Yamato )
( Old series: Aura Battle Dunbine and Kimagure Orange Road )

Even with the Olympics getting under way, it still seems like the "silly season" is well upon us in terms of news. This morning, I saw an article in my Friday paper calmly discussing how a decision has been made that a Megatron toy who transforms into a realistic-looking handgun can now be imported across the border instead of being turned back by customs. I suppose I just feel a mild happiness for the person who had first hoped to import the toy, even if I never had a Megatron Transformer of my own in my youth (or a Darth Vader action figure, for that matter); these days, with the exception of two transforming "Valkyries" from the Macross anime that I got a while back, I guess I'd feel too self-conscious ordering an expensive "toy." On the other hand, when a line of Transformers toys was widely available a little while ago that included a Megatron who transformed into a stylized "zap gun," I indulged myself in getting one of them.