Salutations!

Hello there, everyone! Matt "Monzo" Karpowich here. You might know me from my involvement with the Obscure Transformers Website, the "Stump Monzo" segment of Radio Free Cybertron, or the violent death of Skids in I, Lowtech.



(Okay, knowing that last one is low on the likeliness scale, I admit...)¹

I haven't had an opportunity to post at Disciples of Boltax since Jim kindly introduced me weeks back, and I'm sorry for that. I wanted to kick this off with something unique, but I've been distracted in my Transformers-related research efforts of late. However - you knew there was going to be a however, right? - what I've got for all of you now is, I think, pretty neat.

The distant, misty days of the year "2002" ushered in a new era in Transformers history as Transformers: Armada hit North American toy stores in force. The first offerings from Takara's version of the line, rechristened Transformers: Micron Densetsu,² weren't released in Japan until the tail end of the year. To help promote the launch, a special promotional video was given away with the December issue of Koudansha's "TV Magazine", long a home to original Transformers content. The tape has shown up for sale at various BotCons in the past, which is where I purchased my copy.

Putting to use my under-utilized ability to digitally transcode VHS, here is - for what may be the first time in its entirety - the "Koudansha TV Magazine Special Supplement Special Secret Video" known as "Super Robot Lifeform Transformers: Micron Legend - Strongest Robot Army Corps Landing Operations Put Into Action!" (超ロボット生命体トランスフォーマー マイクロン伝説 最強ロボット軍団　上陸作戦発動！, cho robotto semetai toransufooma maikuron densetsu - saikyou robotto gundan jyouriku sakusen hatsudou!). It's narrated by none other than Optimus Prime Convoy himself!





I get a kick out of the fact that Convoy's mouthplate moves in this little featurette, which it never actually did on the show itself. Some of the '70s super robot-style music they use is pretty groovy, too.

Enjoy, everyone!

¹You might also know me from the front of Transformers Universe Onslaught or as the basis for Acid Storm. I, ahh, get around...

²"Micron Densetsu" is usually translated as "Micron Legend" in the West, but author Hirofumi Ichikawa rendered it as "Legends of the Microns" in English when writing the "Linkage" series.

The Ark Addendum - Incan Ruins

What an exciting week! Finally the world knows what I've been working on for the past few months. It's certainly a relief to be able to write about it openly. In fact, I'll even be doing an interview or two in the near future, so that people can pump me for information that I'm probably not allowed to share.

But on to the matter at hand. With guest-blogger Brian's recent review of The Dormant Volcano Mysteriously Erupts, detailing a disaster in Peru, I thought it would be nice to share some other Peruvian models. These models come from Fire on the Mountain and show the pyramid atop the Crystal of Power. I've got several other model sheets from this episode, so I'm sure I'll share them at some point in the future.

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Also, I'd like to put out a call to help for The AllSpark Almanac II.  I'd like to include a section on merchandising in the book.  I've got almost all the elements I need to do it, with one exception - I need a nice photograph of a collection of Animated merchandise.  By merchandise, I mean products besides toys, books and comics.  You know, the Animated bandages, plates, valentines stickers, underwear, backpacks, sheets, that sort of thing.  If you happen to have a bit of that stuff and would like to see your work featured in print, send me a 300 DPI photograph of it jumbled together in a pile.  It should be well lit and ideally you shouldn't really be able to tell anything about the background or surface that it was taken on.  Plain black or white works well.  I can't guarantee anything, but it's an element that I'd love to have that I'm having trouble pulling together myself.  A landscape shot will work better for my purposes. If you have any questions, please ask, and if/when I get something I can use I'll post it here so as not to have anyone spend time working on something I don't need.

Review: War of the worlds, the series ep 15

The Prodigal Son is the fifteenth episode of War of the Worlds the series. It details the machinations of a renegade alien named Quinn. Quinn, played by John Colicos of the classic Battlestar Galactica, was the original war-leader of the '53 invasion, but some genetic quirk of him or his host body made him immune to the bacteria that laid low the rest of his compatriots. It also trapped him in his human form.

Quinn made the best of it for thirty-five years, surviving as a brilliant and reclusive artist, but now that the Advocacy is awake again they're hunting him down for his organs.  He has other plans, and kidnaps Harrison to try to achieve those goals. He wants to deliver victory to the army of three million Mor-Taxian colonists on the way.  His strategy, offer the UN the opportunity to save 10% of the human race on reservations by surrendering to him, rather than the extermination they'd face under the Advocacy.  Aliens track the pair of them to the UN, though, and Harrison manages to save him with some makeshift pyrotechnics.  That and Blackwood's arguments that the aliens would never accept him convince Quinn to let Harrison go.  They'll meet again, he promises.  Alas, the wouldn't. 

The Good: So much good in this episode.  Let's start with Quinn! It's nice to see the mythology of the show expanded like this.  Colicos turns in a great performance.  When realization dawns on Harrison and he accuses Quinn of being an alien, Colicos' reply of, "no, YOU'RE the alien" is just terrific.  Martin and Colicos have a great dynamic between them, full of intelligence and wit and energy. Their arguments about if humanity deserves to live or which side offers Quinn a better chance for survival were a joy to watch. 

The opening sequence was a lot of fun.  Quinn is walking down the street, before we know anything about him.  Sirens make him nervous, and with good cause.  It seems a police car, oddly with three NYPD officers in it, is after him.  They've got obvious radiation scars, so we conclude that they're aliens.  But Quinn tricks them with an alien flash-bulb and then ironically quips "to life immortal, sucker!" as he dispatches one, cluing in the audience as to Quinn's nature.  The idea of strife within the alien camp is a very nice one, well worth exploring.

Meanwhile, Ironhorse and McCullough quickly realize that something is wrong with Harrison when he misses their briefing with General Wilson (DRINK!) and hunt him down. They get some nice moments together, especially when Suzanne almost cracks up at the thought that Harrison might have been absorbed by an alien.  Kudos to the writers for having Ironhorse evacuate the cottage when Harrison becomes suspect.

I also rather like Ironhorse co-opting the NYPD to hunt for Harrison, then the aliens immediately subverting the NYPD to their cause by absorbing several detectives. "This won't hurt," indeed.

Finally, the moment when Quinn reveals the extent of his plan to Blackwood was perfectly executed. Humanity can live on 'reservations', far from Quinn's kind. Given Blackwood's closeness to Ironhorse and even his recent experience in Dust to Dust, the word 'reservation' must be quite loaded in his mind. Harrison wants to know what his role is in all of this, and Quinn informs him that he'll have the final selection of the 10%!  How grisly; how macabre. And yet, on some level, perhaps somewhat seductive? 10% is 600,000,000 people.  Surely with someone like Harrison picking out the best and the brightest, that populace might manage to flourish. But he could never agree to such a plan, it's not in his nature. Besides, could humanity ever trust the aliens after all they've done?


The Bad: I don't like knocking special effects, but there's a REALLY cheesy lock that Quinn puts on a door.

Also, Harrison leaves a clue behind for his colleagues,writing Q = Delta, which Ironhorse takes to mean Quinn is an alien, what with delta having 3 sides.  Why not Q = A? Or Q = 3? Kudos for writing it on a 'save the dolphins' matchbook, though.

Coincidence - this time, it's that the one alien with the weird genetics quirk HAPPENS to be their war leader? Ugh, too much! There does happen to be an episode of season 2 that could possibly help explain this, though I'm sure that nothing even close to that was in the minds of the producer here. 


The Ugly: Harrison char-broils three aliens with some cleaning materials after Quinn is out of ideas.  Lovely!


Overall, this episode is a great introduction to the idea of Quinn.  This is the first episode since Sylvia van Buren was introduced to significantly expand out the mythology of the show. Unfortunately, Quinn will only show up one more time, and very briefly at that.  It makes wistful to think of what might have been, had season 2 continued under the auspices of Greg Strangis and Herb Wright.

Roxy Sparkles and Iron Maiden! AllSpark Almanac Rock n' Roll References Revealed

Hi all! Bill Forster here. Recently I was chating about the Roxy Sparkles character in the AllSpark Almanac. It seems no one knows what we were referencing. After all, everything in the Almanac is a reference to something, right? Well, ...not exactly. Roxy Sparkles is a red herring.

Jim and I are not inclined to use inside jokes, ‘cause well…they’re just not funny, however this was the one exception. A few years ago I was at work and a coworker came up to me and started a conversation about Motley Crue. Back in 1984 lead singer Vince Neil was in a drunk driving accident. The passenger in the car, Hanoi Rock drummer Nicolas “Razzle” Dingley, was killed. My coworker asked me, “What was that guy’s name that died?” And I just came out with, “Roxy Sparkles or something.”

This just became funny to us and soon we were talking about Roxy as if we had been fans since the 80’s and he had risen and fallen in the world of Heavy Metal Glam Rock. “Hey man! You know what I heard on the radio today? Electric Stiletto by Roxy Sparkles!” “Hey I saw him play that live at the Nassau Coliseum back in “86.” It was just stupid shit that made us laugh at our otherwise boring jobs. Pictured is the late, great Razzle. Hanoi Rocks rocks!

So when I was writing and laying out the newspaper for the Almanac I cut a pasted one of the random Detroit citizens into a skinny on the side. He looked like a washed up rock star and in an effort to make Jim laugh I temporarily labeled him Roxy Sparkles and wrote a little story. Since the whole book is littered with references I thought, “Why not leave it? Maybe it will drive someone nuts!”

So I hope you all enjoyed my meaningless story about something that ultimately is nothing. I offered a prize to the person who knew the reference. The answer I was looking for was: He’s nothing! You just made him up. But I will tell you what, since nobody got that one, the prize will go to who ever can tell me what the “X-LN247” is a reference to. I assure you: It does exist! It’s Sci Fi and the property that it comes from is referenced elsewhere in the Almanac.

By the way, did anyone get the Street Sharks reference? That’s one of Jim’s favorites.

Also, recently I was asked about all the Iron Maiden references. In case you hadn’t figured it out yet, I am rather fond of the band Iron Maiden and feel compelled to talk about them ad nauseam. Just ask Jim. Here are all of the Maiden references in the first Almanac…that I could remember. I will start with what I know was found.

According to the McFeely report:

• Page 134: The header reads: 'My son, ask thyself for another kingdom", the spoke line which begins Iron Maiden's song, 'Alexander the Great".
  

• Pg 144: The header reads: "He is the Kwizatz Haderach He is born of Caladan And will take the Gom Jabbar", lyrics from Iron Maiden's "To Tame a Land", which are in themselves a reference to Dune.
  

• Pg 146: The header reads: "I'm not a number, I'm a free man, Live my life where I want to", lyrics from the Iron Maiden song, "The Prisoner". The entire song (and these lyrics in particular) are in turn a reference to the 1960s cult TV show, The Prisoner.
  

• Pg 122 - The stationery on which Professor Princess writes her account of "Whatever Happened To Whatisname?" is produced by a subsidiary of "Seventh Son Industries", presumably a reference to the Iron Maiden concept album "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son".

• Pg 125 – Adverts on this page refer to: The Dancitron is located in St. Nick's Hall, location of Iron Maiden's first concert;

• Same page: This theme is continued in the location of the hall—"22 Acacia Avenue"

• Page 139: From the "fueltritional facts" box- Janick jaAm from Iron Maiden guitarist Janick Gers. Here's a picture of Jan!

Other Maiden references are:

• When I wrote the bios for the Seekers I had Thundercracker refer to his Screamer traits as “Aces High” after a Maiden song about World War II aerial dogfights.

• The Soccer/Football team that beats Defensor United is West Ham, which was found however, I will let wikipedia explain this one: Iron Maiden frequently use the slogan "Up the Irons" in their disc liner notes, and the phrase can also be seen on several t-shirts officially licensed by the band. "The Irons" has been used to refer to the London football club, West Ham United, of which founder Steve Harris is a fan. Fans of Iron Maiden have been known to use the phrase as a greeting or sign-off to other Iron Maiden fans. West ham is also mentioned in the references on the Somewhere In Time album cover. Here's Steve with his signature bass guitar. Note the West Ham logo!
  

• Which leads us to me posting “Up the Irons!” on the “thank yous” page. Along with a bunch of anagrams. A Red Minion is IRON MAIDEN.

Sorta Maiden references:

• Originally I intended my mugshot number to be the 356-323 after the Somewhere in Time song Alexander the Great (356-323 B.C.) However, somewhere in time the number accidentally became 356-325. Oops!

• The spoon on the Garbage O’s box was originally the spoon from the Derek Riggs painting “Can I Play With Madness?” however, it got changed a little and we decided to change the liquid from the yellow stuff in Eddie’s head to a green sewage muck.

I think that is it. The Blondie song that gets repeated in the Cybertronian text was supposed to be a Maiden reference but ultimately got lost. There are still a few more references not found...including my wonderful Derek & the Dominos reference. How did nobody see that?!?

Before I go, Roxy Sparkles will be playing the House of Blues on Sunset in Hollywood on the 24^th! Tickets are still available.

The AllSpark Almanac II - confirmed

One of my loyal readers brought this to my attention, so I guess it's safe to share it with the world.  The AllSpark Almanac II is now being solicited on Amazon.com.  220 pages, by Bill Forster and myself. I don't think I'm giving too much away to say that it will cover season 3. Here's the solicitation text:


Transformers Animated is the most whimsical Transformers series ever. The AllSpark Almanac II captures that magic with a wondrous examination of this amazing universe. This 220 page volume is packed with behind-the-scenes sketches, interesting facts, production artwork and musings from the characters themselves. Relive the thrill of the final season of Animated and learn what might have been had the show continued. Explore the metallic plains of Cybertron and meet its colorful denizens. Discover more about the action-figures that accompanied the cartoon. Hard-core fans and neophytes alike will find this an essential tome. You won't want to miss it!

Now that the cat's out of the bag, I'd love to see a massive number of preorders of this thing. The higher this baby goes on the Amazon charts, the more likely I am to be able to keep making books like this. After all, there is a whole 'nother series that's recently been announced.  (The Transformers: Prime Primer? Nah, that's terrible, but I'll have plenty of time to come up with a cool title.)

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Some updates - most of the Transformers sites have posted news items about this, as well as discussion forums.  So far we've got robust discussions going on on Seibertron, The AllSpark, TFW2005, and of course the IDW Forums. Man, good times!

Transformers: Headmasters – "The Dormant Volcano Mysteriously Erupts"

Zarak: Sixshot, there will be no more mistakes, understand?
Sixshot: I understand, sir.
Zarak: All preparations for our next attack on the Headmasters are complete. Turn the Autobots' attentions on the Earth as much as possible in order to hide our movements on Planet Zarak.

In this, the 12th episode in "The Headmasters" series, we have a title which spells out the primary action taking place, but does not hint at its part in the overall whole of Zarak's grand, mysterious plan. It opens on Earth with Ultra Magnus and Scattershot detecting unusual seismic activity in the Andes Mountains in Peru, after which we jump to the inhabitants of a simple village called Pan at the foot of a long-dormant volcano in the same mountain range. In this village we meet the annoyingly high-voiced Pipiro, his sister who renames nameless, his grandparents and Pipiro's oddly affectionate donkey named Koro. Pipiro and Koro wind up wrestling not long after their introduction. OK, so that's not quite a high point of this episode, but thankfully the playfulness is broken when they experience terrible tremors which begin to topple their homes.

Meanwhile, on Athenia, Fortress, the Headmasters and Twincast are examining the strange planet found at the center of the nebula from the last episode. They conclude that it belongs to the Decepticons and Twincast sends his cassettes Steeljaw and Ramhorn to investigate. We cut to Charr and find Zarak instructing Sixshot, still on Earth, to distract as much as possible the Autobots from the new Planet Zarak. A brief glimpse of this planet is granted, where we see enslaved Beastformers, from the earlier episode "Rebellion on Planet Beast", working to construct a giant transtector form. Initially, the Decepticon plot to use the Beastformers as slave labor was halted by Rodimus and he left the Monsterbots Repugnus and Grotusque to act as guardians. Either our lovable Monsterbots were killed in a Decepticon raid after this incident, leaving the inhabitants of Planet Beast open to capture again, or more of the Beastformers had been transported off their home planet before Rodimus knew of any problems. Either way, we get to see good ol' Octane here, apparently back with the Deceps, whipping the heck out of those poor Beastformer slaves.

Back on Earth, the once dormant Peruvian volcano is erupting and the bulk of the episode then follows the attempts to rescue the villagers. The Trainbots and Protectobots are dispatched from Scramble City, which Sixshot spies, and in response the Predacons aim to block them. Predaking fights Raiden, while the Protectobots are surprised by the Decepticon Headmasters.

Ultra Magnus requests help from Athenia and Chomedome, the Headmasters, Wheelie, Spike and Daniel immediately set forth, traveling in Broadside. This is spied by Laserbeak, however, who reports back to a very pleased Zarak. A brief exchange involving him, Soundblaster, Cyclonus and Scourge occurs:

Zarak (to Laserbeak): So, the Headmasters are headed towards Earth? My strategy is turning out as planned.
Cyclonus: What strategy?
Soundblaster: The less you second team know, the better.
Cyclonus: What does he mean by "second team"?

Following this are various skirmishes back in Peru as the Autobots continue to rescue the villagers and yet are constantly plagued by the attacking Decepticons. Eventually, Chromedome and the Trainbots are successful and the Decepticons retreat. In the aftermath, Pipiro and his family express sadness at the loss of their home and Chromedome deduces it was all a Decepticon ploy to divert attention away from the dark planet in the nebula.

On Charr, Cyclonus and Scourge express confusion over this seemingly odd plan, which could endanger using the Earth as a vital source of energy. Finally including the befuddled "second team" in the loop, Zarak outlines the specifics of his long-term goal to them, unconcerned if the Earth is destroyed.

Zarak: I've discovered a new source of super-energy.
Scourge: Super-energy?
Zarak: When Cybertron was blown up, a lot of plasma energy was created. By collecting all this plasma energy dispersed in space, we can create everlasting energy.
Cyclonus: Everlasting energy?
Scourge: Incredible!
Zarak: That day I will reveal my true identity!

We suddenly find that Steeljaw and Ramhorn have been monitoring all of this and Soundblaster immediately pursues them down the corridor. This bit I found a nice reversal of events from previous episodes, including this one, when the Decepticons seem much more apt at espionage and information gathering, thanks to Laserbeak, Ratbat and Ravage. Plus, this scene lays out Zarak's frighteningly extreme plan of destroying entire worlds to gather more energy.

Just when you think the episode is wrapping up, we rejoin Chromedome and the gang in Peru, watching Daniel and Pipiro chase the donkey Koro into some thick bushes. In a last minute surprise, Skullcruncher appears out of hiding, flanked by Weirdwolf and Mindwipe, gripping the donkey by the tail. Mindwipe grabs Pipiro and threatens to kill him. Then from out of nowhere, the mother donkey charges at Skullcruncher, bashes him hard enough to knock him over and in the confusion the Headmasters proceed to easily route the Decepticons. That momma donkey must have a skull made of iron!

Spike volunteers to stay and study the tremors as Pipiro's sister hands Chromedome a charm necklace as a parting gift, causing some sarcastic comments by Hardhead and Wheelie. The final scene occurs on Athenia as Fortress and his team listen to the recording made by Steeljaw and Ramhorn, who escaped Charr unscathed, and now are aware of Zarak's aims.

This episode has its highs and lows, the former found in the smaller moments of intrigue and the latter in the middle section involving the volcano. I found the villager rescue sequences a bit tedious, but when it's framed by the scenes on Charr it helps the episode overall. In addition, it's always great to see Ultra Magnus, Scattershot and the Protectobots, Cyclonus and Scourge are at last invited into Zarak's inner circle and there is the excellent reveal of Steeljaw and Ramhorn getting the drop on the Deceps with Soundblaster attempting to chase them down – total win!

Review: Marvel G1 #43: The Big Broadcast of 2006

The Big Broadcast of 2006 is the forty-third issue of the US G1 Transformers run of Marvel comics. It stars no one and features nothing.

Ahem. Sorry. It's adapted from an original television script by Michael Reaves, uncredited in this book, by Ralph Macchio. Macchio had previously adapted The Transformers: The Movie and scribed the first issue of Transformers, so he's no stranger to Transformers lore. Pencils are by Alan Kupperberg, Inks by Dave Elliot, letters by Kurt Hathaway and colors by Nel Yomtov. The cover is also by Kupperberg.

It's a lousy cover. Rodimus Prime fights Galvatron, amidst an explosion of rocks. Both are horribly off-model; Galvatron lacks his cannon and his backpack, and Rodimus lacks his spoiler. The anatomy is terrible, with strange arms by Rodimus and a leg on Galvatron that connects to his stomach. Rodimus' left leg is a lot shorter than his right leg.  It looks like a horrid rush-job, which makes sense since this issue was undoubtedly a fill-in issue.  "A saga from the future", it's billed as, rather than the usual "More than Meets the Eye."  Perhaps that's good, because this issue is certainly LESS than meets the eye.  "Rodimus Prime vs. Galvatron -- Deadly Duel in the Promised Land!" it tells us. Ok ... but who are Rodimus Prime and Galvatron? If you've only been reading the mainstream comic, you'll have no idea. Also, Junk hardly seems like the promised land, so it's not even accurate.

Inside the book, things are no less clear.  We start by learning that a race we've never heard of before, the Quintessons, is sending a team of Sharkticons to the planet Junk to look for an object. Who are the Quintessons? Who are the inhabitants of Junk? We don't know, and we're not given much reason to care.

The Sharkticons find a  canister, presumably the object of their search, but are driven off by the Junkions and the canister lost. The Quintessons despair over this, then start to observe their opponents. Oh, and apparently they once ruled Cybertron. The Quints learn that all Junkion culture, such as it is, revolves around broadcasts from Earth. They give the Junkions a TV set which turns them into xenophobic neat freaks. Why xenophobic? No good reason is given. But at least they're now organizing the junk.

The Autobots find out that strange things are happening over Junk. Some guy named Rodimus Prime leads the Autobots, and he's assisted by Ultra Magnus. We've never seen either one of them before, and no explanation is given for where the newly resurrected Optimus is. Off to Junk they head. The Decepticons, too, lead by Galvatron (who?) and assisted by Cyclonus and Scourge, two nobodies who have only shown up in the Headmasters series. Galvatron wants nothing to do with it though.

The Arielbots in their combined form battle the Quintessons. Scourge and Cyclonus witness this, despite being ordered not to come here.The Quint transmitter is damaged, and the Junkions are instructed to share the signal with the galaxy, and the galaxy erupts in war. The galaxy also converges on the source of the signal for some reason. Rodimus and Ultra Magnus can fly. Galvatron is drawn to Junk by the signal and fights Rodimus Prime. Omega Supreme fights some alien, presumably organic, ships. Blaster, who's WAY out of character AND off-model, counteracts the signal. Galvatron blasts the TV, then tries to fight the Autobots and the Junkions. He's forced to flee on Blast Off, who wasn't shown before. The canister was being pulled up by a Quintesson tractor beam but got hit by a stray blast and went spiraling off into space, lost.  The Quintessons are prepared to die for their failure, but not before they retrieve it.  It's imperative that the Quintessons get it before it turns every sentient being in the galaxy against them.

The End

What? Yeah, that's the end. It's an incoherent jumble of nothing.  We never find out what's actually in the canister or why it would turn the galaxy against the Quintessons. There are new characters and races showing up left and right for no reason (I know, I know, it's the future, but the new characters get no development at all.) There's a frenetic sort of energy to it, but it comes more from trying to cram way too much stuff in than from any deliberate pacing choices. Ralph Macchio is no stranger to Transformers, having previously penned the first issue and the movie adaptation. I feel like he should know better.

The art ranges from mediocre to bad, and there's no room to appreciate it anyway. There's not a single page in the book with fewer than four panels. This is especially a shame, since Kupperberg previously drew my favorite issue of the series, The New Order.  (He also did the subsequent issue, The Worse of Two Evils!.)

Now, obviously, I'm aware that this book was adapted from a television episode. However, that doesn't excuse the plot holes or shoddy artwork. A comic, indeed any story, needs to function in the medium it's presented in, and this fails on nearly every level. Also, it's hard to imagine a worse episode to adapt. Something from seasons one or two might have worked as a flashback.  Hell, even most other season 3 episodes would at least be self-contained, as opposed to part of what is basically a two-part story. If you didn't follow the cartoon, you'd be completely lost reading this story. If you DID follow the cartoon, why would you want to see the same story twice?

An honorable mention to how the UK comic mitigated this disaster. Furman had been running with the movie characters for quite some time by the point that this book came out, so his readers would be even more befuddled by this mess. He inserted a framing story making it clear that this is all the fevered ramblings of Wreck-Gar; very clever. I'll let my colleague Bish go into details when he gets to that point in his reviewing cycle.

Transformers had an 80 issue run in Marvel in the US; it also had four mini-series, a cross-over into the mainstream G.I. Joe book and a 12 issue sequel series.  All together there are about 104 full issues of content in-continuity, a 3 issue branch dealing with the movie, and a four issue profile book.  Let's call it 111 stories. Logically, if one were to rank those stories from 1st to 111st, one of those books has to be at the very bottom of the pile. Congratulations, this one is it, hands down.  Perhaps the only thing I enjoyed about the issue were the weird noises the Sharkticons made.  "Wrenk," "snart," "bnort," and "wronk," indeed!

The Big Broadcast of 2006 was sadly NOT included either compilation of the excellent UK story Space Pirates, which it serves as a prequel to once the framing story is included.  It is, however, included in IDW's Classic Transformers Volume 3.Whether that's an actual selling point or not is highly debatable.