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Seibertron wrote:I somehow doubt that they are doing different print runs when the Japanese version actually has English text in it. When you get yours, scan a page or panel if you don't mind so that I can compare.

I'm not too keen on scanning, but I do have my SG Soundwave/Blaster issue on hand, and I say that it has no Japanese text in the speech bubbles and reads quite legibly. It even includes everyone's speech quirks like Soundwave's righteous dude slang and Blaster's German accent.

On the front cover in the bottom-left corner are the following credits for the SG Soundwave/Blaster comic:

Story by Jesse Wittenrich
Art by Hidetsugu Yoshioka
Translation by Andrew Hall

I'd imagine that the TCC version of the Magnificus comic would similarly feature coherent English-only speech bubble text with no Japanese.

Just opened my Magnificus from the TCC. I'm saddened to see that the comic is just straight up the e-HOBBY version when the TCC release of SG Soundwave vs. SG Blaster went the extra mile of having a fluent English translation with no Japanese text.

Seibertron wrote:Version of the Shattered Glass Blaster and Soundwave set from BigBadToyStore.com. The comic had the same English text you described without the Japanese text. I'm assuming that's the only version of the comic that exists just as this version is the only one that exists for Magnificus.

For real? I had no idea.

Well, now I feel sorry for any Japanese consumers who bought that set and don't know English fluently enough to read the comic.

Seibertron wrote:I still stand by my original statement that both of these aren't great reads, even though the artwork is magnificent.

I'd have to agree, now having read the comic myself. Though, I can't really recall when an E-HOBBY pack-in comic has been all that great anyway. It's kinda their shtick to produce one-shot TF comics that are isolated cases of randomness and fanwank.

Though, with some additional insight to the behind-the-scenes details of this comic, it does become a fit more fascinating. Like, you already pointed out Oilmaster being the canceled gorilla Double Pretender, but aside from him, there's G2 Eagle Eye, who here is rendered with G1 Micromaster Eagle Eye's head, indicating the two to be one and the same in this story, which means that the G1 Autobot Micromaster defected to the Decepticons at some point. This defection also explains why Eagle Eye is absent during the United EX stories, in which all three of the other Air Patrol members made an appearance (Tread Bolt is Jetmaster, Blaze Master is Choppermaster, and Sky High is Airmaster).

The setting of the story, Iron Town, was featured in episode 1 of the Victory cartoon, being the old western town planet we first see Star Saber in.

And most importantly of all is the appearance of "Skyquake". I put his name in quotes because Magnificus only thinks that it's Skyquake, but it isn't. In reality, it is none other than the Decepticon High Regent known as Scrash, the uber-obscure Decepticon leader from the Operation Combination figure.

There's also some minor nods to other things, like Magnificus referencing Metalhawk when Eagle Eye identifies himself as "Hawk". Or Eagle Eye using the term "guzzler" to refer to standard-sized Transformers like how Micromasters used that same term in the same fashion (which makes this another reference to Eagle Eye's having once been a Micromaster). Or mentioning Mebion, which was Magnificus's hometown on Cybertron.

It's true that this comic isn't all that special from a storytelling standpoint, but all these little things that were put into it do help to bring out some extra goodness from it.



Though, regarding the SG comic story, it helps to have read the TCC Shattered Glass prose stories (HIGHLY recommended, BTW) and the "Invasion" comic to better understand it, as it was written to tie in to those.