First Sight of the Transformers/Ghostbusters comic

[icon_uk]

With the sight of Ectotron at Toy Fair, it's perhaps no surprise that IDW are publishing a crossover of the two franchises in May.





For those too young to remember their G1 Transformers cartoons, Starscream was destroyed in "Transformers: The Movie", but came back in the next season of the TV seres as, somehow, a ghost.



Beast Wars used him in this form too, in a memorable episode where he possessed Waspinator and hikinks ensured, at this point it was implied he had some sort of indestructible Spark (a concept that didn't exist until Beast Wars) which allowed him to live on with a sense of awareness beyond his physical form.

And whilst we have on the one hand, a robot with a ghost, we also have a rather familiar-ish demonic entity who is also a robot.



Not sure why, but I'm loving the 80's animated movie feel of the background there.

This is not a crossover I'd say I'd been crying out for, but I'm not going to let that stop me enjoying it if at all possible.

IDW has an interview with writer Erik Burnham, Artist Dan Schoening and Colourist Luis Antonio Delgado.

I'm pleased Ectotron will be a character in his own right, rather than, say a randomly All-Sparked car, as the interview puts it;

Erik, what can you tell us about Ectotron, the new Autobot being introduced in this crossover?

ERIK: Well… he is a bit of a nerd. He’s almost as far out there for the Autobots as the Ghostbusters were from other academics here on Earth. He’s kind of uptight, and he’s teased by the other Autobots. But he’ll loosen up by the end of the story.
 

Comments

[locuatico]

I recall reading once that the idea of the Sparks came about because the Beast Wars crew did not understand what the Matrix of Leadership was supposed to be or something along those lines.

Personally, I love the concept of the "Spark" and that cybertronians have "souls". It kinda makes the Transformers more unique and not "just" talking space robots.

[trooper924]

What happened is that the show mistakenly portrayed the Matrix as merely the container for Optimus' Spark and not the vaguely-defined magical artifact it had always been in it's previous appearances.

The concept for Sparks, however, had been introduced long before that mistake took place (two seasons beforehand to be precise).

[scorntx]

... y'know, I was already interested.
(even if I have Opinions about it being the G1 cartoon getting the focus just for a change... mutter grumble mutter)
Seeing them recreate Gozer's bubble-wrap aesthetic is a definite nice touch though.

[beyondthefringe]

Gozertron?
Gozerbot?
Gozericon?

[locuatico]

Gozer Prime

[scorntx]

As long as it's not Gozercronus or Cron.
(Blegh.)

[zachbeacon]

Stay Puft Michelin Man

THERE IS NO ELITA, ONLY ZUUL

[deh_tommy]

We're always getting G1 throwbacks nowadays (Cyberverse, Bumblebee, Devastation, Prime Wars, High Moon's Cybetron games, the new War for Cybertron toyline). When are we going to get line-wide homages to Armada or Beast Wars?

This isn't necessarily a complaint about this story (the 80s aesthetic is perfect for both) or even about the franchise in general, mind you.

Re: THERE IS NO ELITA, ONLY ZUUL

[scorntx]

Never.
We are never going to get a line-wide homage to Beast Wars.
Hasbro wouldn't even expend any effort to acknowledge its 20th anniversary.
The most they'll do is one okay-ish toy every few years.

(I mean, okay, Cyberverse is going to have Cheetor, but it's still the same old problem of having Beast Wars characters alongside G1 characters...)

Re: THERE IS NO ELITA, ONLY ZUUL

[owlbrigade1]

Truk not munkey!!!
[g][/jk]

Re: THERE IS NO ELITA, ONLY ZUUL

[deh_tommy]

WhY mY ShOuLdErS hUrT?

Re: THERE IS NO ELITA, ONLY ZUUL

[ozaline]

At least there was a Primal figure for Power of the Primes.

Re: THERE IS NO ELITA, ONLY ZUUL

[remial]

munky not flying surfboard!

Re: THERE IS NO ELITA, ONLY ZUUL

[ozaline]

Ah, come on! It's kinda like Funky Kong! Funky Kong says you can be a Gorilla with a flying surf board!

[owlbrigade1]

I've never been a big fan of the Transformers x-overs, mais I could get behind this one. It might just have that *it* quality that GastroIntestinal Joe or Visionaries (or all the rest of the x-overs they did) just utterly lack. I just don't know what that magic *it* thing is, but so far it looks like this has it.

[shirubie]

There's a few "Ecto-1 as a Transformer" fanarts around the internet so it's not really a unique idea, but I can't help noticing the similarities between Ectotron and this piece posted in 2005 on deviantart.