Transformers questions by newbies, and not-so-newbies

[DarkAxalonSyde]

I guess this is as good a place as any to ask this. Been reading through the Marvel TF comics for the first time in years and I got wondering, did we ever get them in Australia, back in the 80s and if so, did we get the UK comics, or just the US ones?

[DELTAprime]

I guess this is as good a place as any to ask this. Been reading through the Marvel TF comics for the first time in years and I got wondering, did we ever get them in Australia, back in the 80s and if so, did we get the UK comics, or just the US ones?

I do remember picking up a couple. But since I was only born in 1984 my memory of that era is not amazing so I have no idea how common of a sight it was to see a TF comic in the wild in the 80's and early 90's.

[Kranix]

I guess this is as good a place as any to ask this. Been reading through the Marvel TF comics for the first time in years and I got wondering, did we ever get them in Australia, back in the 80s and if so, did we get the UK comics, or just the US ones?

We did. I still have some of them from my childhood. Many more than the US version.

[JJJ]

I guess this is as good a place as any to ask this. Been reading through the Marvel TF comics for the first time in years and I got wondering, did we ever get them in Australia, back in the 80s and if so, did we get the UK comics, or just the US ones?

Oh my, yes we did indeed

I discovered them at issue 84 (right in the middle of Target: 2006). I have good reason to believe that they only hit the Australian shelves somewhere around then.

Why? Because up until that point we (my sister and I) had been spending our pocket money (oh my god the two or three dollars we got each week seems utterly pitiful looking back now ) on Disney comics (and even at that young age - I would have been 9 when I discovered TF comics - I had already done what so many Disney readers over the decades had done - identified Carl Barks' work standing head and shoulders over everybody else's, even with no names ever being attached). Anyway, I was keenly aware of what comics were out there, even if I didn't care for most of them. And then one week I spotted Transformers, which simply had not been there before.

UK issue 84 is dated 25th of October 1986; that's the date on which it was supposed to be removed from the shelf if unsold (I know that my local newsagent didn't work like that, because I managed to hide that issue, plus a few others, behind other comics until I decided with issue 88 to start buying them - even at that age I was suspicious of Marvel-style never-ending run-on stories that you could never just pick up and read without piles of background). Add around 2-ish months for transport by boat from the UK (yes, that long, and it's true even today of something like 2000AD), and this discovery happened somewhere around late December 1986 / early January 1987.

Of course, I could be wrong, and they might just, for some reason, have never been distributed way out there any earlier.

Still have them all, too.

[DarkAxalonSyde]

I do remember picking up a couple. But since I was only born in 1984 my memory of that era is not amazing so I have no idea how common of a sight it was to see a TF comic in the wild in the 80's and early 90's.

We did. I still have some of them from my childhood. Many more than the US version.

Oh my, yes we did indeed

I discovered them at issue 84 (right in the middle of Target: 2006). I have good reason to believe that they only hit the Australian shelves somewhere around then.

Why? Because up until that point we (my sister and I) had been spending our pocket money (oh my god the two or three dollars we got each week seems utterly pitiful looking back now ) on Disney comics (and even at that young age - I would have been 9 when I discovered TF comics - I had already done what so many Disney readers over the decades had done - identified Carl Barks' work standing head and shoulders over everybody else's, even with no names ever being attached). Anyway, I was keenly aware of what comics were out there, even if I didn't care for most of them. And then one week I spotted Transformers, which simply had not been there before.

UK issue 84 is dated 25th of October 1986; that's the date on which it was supposed to be removed from the shelf if unsold (I know that my local newsagent didn't work like that, because I managed to hide that issue, plus a few others, behind other comics until I decided with issue 88 to start buying them - even at that age I was suspicious of Marvel-style never-ending run-on stories that you could never just pick up and read without piles of background). Add around 2-ish months for transport by boat from the UK (yes, that long, and it's true even today of something like 2000AD), and this discovery happened somewhere around late December 1986 / early January 1987.

Of course, I could be wrong, and they might just, for some reason, have never been distributed way out there any earlier.

Still have them all, too.

OK, good to know. Well, more good for you guys who grew up back then. It doesn't effect me, with the internet making it easy to get them. But it's genuinely interesting to find out what we got, here in Australia. I do hope most places actually got the beginning of Target: 2006 and not just thrown into the middle of it.

[Paulbot]

This is a speciality subject for me, I was a TF comic collector before being a TF toy collector.

Transformers UK #78's introduction page says the comic is now on sale in Australia, but earlier issues than that were available locally.

My first issues were UK #79 & 80 as a Christmas present, so would have been on sale here in December. I bought #78 and #83 from the Chadstone newsagent after seeing TFTM in the December 86/January 87 school holidays and collected from there on.

Not sure when availability for the US comics started, but the earliest Marvel US Transformers comics I bought were Universe #3 and #4, Headmasters #1, and Transformers US #35. I saw the TFTM movie comic here (but didn't buy) and the digests too (bought three of those).

Both the US and UK comics were on sale at local newsagents until their final issues.

Marvel US G2 were also at our newsagents, but I never saw Marvel UK's G2 books.

Federal Comics, an Australian reprint brand, released a special edited collected version of the first four issues of the Marvel US comic.

[snaketales]

The earliest Marvel Transformers issue I picked up from a newsagent was #23.
I don't recall seeing any UK issues pre-Target 2006.

[DarkAxalonSyde]

This is a speciality subject for me, I was a TF comic collector before being a TF toy collector.

Transformers UK #78's introduction page says the comic is now on sale in Australia, but earlier issues than that were available locally.

My first issues were UK #79 & 80 as a Christmas present, so would have been on sale here in December. I bought #78 and #83 from the Chadstone newsagent after seeing TFTM in the December 86/January 87 school holidays and collected from there on.

Not sure when availability for the US comics started, but the earliest Marvel US Transformers comics I bought were Universe #3 and #4, Headmasters #1, and Transformers US #35. I saw the TFTM movie comic here (but didn't buy) and the digests too (bought three of those).

Both the US and UK comics were on sale at local newsagents until their final issues.

Marvel US G2 were also at our newsagents, but I never saw Marvel UK's G2 books.

Federal Comics, an Australian reprint brand, released a special edited collected version of the first four issues of the Marvel US comic.

Great info, thanks.

The earliest Marvel Transformers issue I picked up from a newsagent was #23.
I don't recall seeing any UK issues pre-Target 2006.

As in US #23: Decepticon Graffiti? So, it does seem we started getting the comics in '86.

[JJJ]

Federal Comics, an Australian reprint brand, released a special edited collected version of the first four issues of the Marvel US comic.

I've got that one!

Loved it until I found the originals and disovered just how much had been excised from those first four issues.

Transformers UK #78's introduction page says the comic is now on sale in Australia, but earlier issues than that were available locally.

Ah, cool, never knew that.

[GoktimusPrime]

Is Age of the Primes part of Generations? Because the "Generations" logo and the word "Generations" does not appear anywhere on the packaging.
Note that I'm talking about non-movieformer Studio Series Generations; basically CHUG (including Generations Studio Series 86, but no other movie SSs).

tfwiki describes Age of the Primes as the next iteration of Generations and I'm inclined to agree as the toys are clearly meant to be a direct continuation of Generations Legacy, and some toys are even just repaint/retools of Generations Legacy toys. The "Transformers" logo on the boxes are also the same as that on Generations toys. Also, this isn't the first time that packaging has dropped a logo or title but that I've still included (or excluded) toys as being part of it. I'm more concerned with designer intent.

e.g.

• Generation 2, 1995: Transformers toys released in 1995 were done in G2-style packaging, some of which kept the "Generation 2" text, but others dropped it. Laser Optimus Prime's box does not include "Generation 2," but everyone regards him as a G2 toy. Nobody ever says "G1 Laser Optimus Prime" without looking silly. The Power Masters had both G2 logoed and logoless card variants, but does this mean that a Meanstreak on a G2-logoless card isn't a G2 Power Master, while the same toy on the variant card that includes the G2 logo is? Of course not.

• Classics: toys like Classics Ultra Magnus and Skywarp were sold in the same Classics style packaging, but lacked the word "Classics." Also, reissue Soundwave and Hasbro's MP3 Starscream were released in Classics-style packaging, which I personally reject as being Classics... they're not CHUGs.

...so in this same way, I consider Age of the Primes to be the next version of Generations, or at the very least, the current incarnation of CHUG.

So... CHUGHURtSGCWGTRGPotPGSSGLAofP?