The Rest is GIANT ROBOTS

We chart the sometimes rocky and certainly twisty road to Regeneration One, IDW's continuation of the original (Marvel) TRANSFORMERS series. As far back as 2009, discussions with IDW editorial were underway that would reunite us - and inker Stephen Baskerville - as the creative team on Marvel's founding/grounding TRANSFORMERS comic, picking up from issue #80 of that series, But getting it off the...

Both of us get whisked off into a Multiverse of (Matt Hatter) madness as we join the Pinewood-based production team at Platinum Films. It's a continuation of last episode's chatter, as we delve deeper into our respective roles on the hit animated CITV show The Matt Hatter Chronicles. Four seasons plus a feature length episode and even a foray into the world of Bear Grylls makes for much to discuss...

We talk comic (and TRANSFORMERS) conventions, and how they've changed - for us and for the attendees - from the mid-80s to now. Plus, we kick-off our mutual Matt Hatter recollections. Back in the day, conventions were more about promoting whatever work we were doing at the same, while these days - while that remains true - they're also a revenue stream for us freelance writers and artists. Good th...

The full-steam ahead nature of the IDW TRANSFORMERS -ations series gets derailed somewhat, and we reflect on the need for plan Bs. Timetable-wise, it's 2008 (ish), and as All Hail Megatron rears its head, the progress of Infiltration, Escalation, Devastation (and so on) hits the buffers. A lot of radical condensing is required as multiple storylines are tied up ahead of this not-so-soft reboot. Me...

A couple of complete unknowns consider another clutch of cinematic confections, spoiler-free and, as critics, credential-free. What we've enjoyed - and haven't - on the big screen recently is here for your delectation, from A (Anora) to B (Bridget Jones) to C (Captain America)... and other letters of the alphabet too. We spare no one's blushes as we gushes, pontificating on the highs and lows of o...

A live-action TRANSFORMERS movie had us all worked up, and working on spin-off stuff, back in 2007. We assess the impact and legacy of the 'Bay-verse'.All our collective jaws dropped in London's Leicester Square one evening in 2007 as we attended a special screening of Michael Bay's TRANSFORMERS, introduced by Bay himself and members of the cast. Live-action, big-screen... The toy line had truly c...

We go cosmic, baby, and creepy, as we dial back the years to Annihilation (for Marvel) and explore the Weird Wild West in Frontier.  It's 2005/2006 (or thereabouts) and the feast or famine rule applies to us in different degrees. On the Furman side, there's a veritable flood of work for Marvel, Dynamite and IDW, while on the Wildman side it's more in the way of tumbleweed. That said, Andrew dredge...

It's the dawn of the IDW era, and the beginning of what would turn out to be an epic 17-year tenure as publisher of TRANSFORMERS comics.  Okay, so the license eluded us (and Titan), but perhaps that was for the best as it turned out. We wind back to the year to 2005, and the humble beginnings of what would go on to become an epochal era of TRANSFORMERS comic publishing. Find out how we both got in...

More listener/viewer questions send us into a tailspin of umm-ing and aah-ing, as we struggle to sound coherent about stuff we really should know about.  Join us as we manhandle insightful queries about... Skybound, characters we'd like to have worked on (but haven't), iterations of TRANSFORMERS we'd like to have dipped our toes into (but failed to do so), the creative process, post-11-page/colour...

As the dust settles on the Dreamwave era of TRANSFORMERS we... reassess (i.e. panic) as we hit another of those pesky but oh-so-predictable lean periods.  No one ever said being a comics creative would be easy, and into every career some rain must fall. But, wait, actually, there was a LOT going on in early 2005. And we even dip back into 2004 for some - non-Dreamwave - stuff we forget to even men...

As we begin our second half-year of The Rest is Giant Robots, we delve into the virtual mailbag to answer 'some' of your burning questions. There's been a huge response from our loyal listenership to our open door policy on asking us, well,  anything  (though whether we answer absolutely  everything is another matter). And here we lay back on the digital couch and, prompted by your enquires, lay b...

All good things come to an end, just some sooner rather than later. The catastrophic crash of Dreamwave and MORE! The up and down, ins and out, topsy-turvy nature of the comics biz is best highlighted by the meteoric rise and subsequent nosedive of Image offshoot (and TRANSFORMERS comics publisher) Dreamwave, who dreamed big, bought Porsches, then crashed and burned. But what happened after? Now i...

A new year for the Rest is Giant Robots and a new dig into the archives, excavating the bones of a past publisher of TRANSFORMERS comics. We enter the Dreamwave era of Transformers, circa 2002, as an offshoot of Image Comics grabs the hottest license going - before anyone even knew it was hot! We, of course, are dragged into this new flurry of TF comics storytelling, but the road ahead is bumpy to...

Festive fun! Santa hats are donned as we explore the tinsel-clad covers of Transformers comics past. A frivolous, festively-themed diversion sees (or hears) us go in-deep (as much as we ever go in-deep) on the subject of a British comics institution - the Xmas-themed cover and story, and the ones we've contributed to in Christmases past. Plus we wrestle with the greatest ever seasonal conundrum -...

We get animated (finally!) as the Beast Wars era dawns Join us on a journey into the world of TV animation, as Beast Wars: Transformers and a meeting of minds at Botcon’97 opens doors for us both… eventually… after a few twists and turns! There’s connective tissue galore as our parallel courses converge. Screen credits ahoy! for more and extra etc visit wildfur.net

Circa 1999 . With the bottom well and truly fallen out of the comic book industry we go headlong into IP development and self-publishing, and  WildFur is born... somewhat out of desperation. We explore the steampunk world of The Engine: Industrial Strength , the imagination of Monster-Make r and a Geoff Senior project that never was - Ms. Matador. Plus a whole bunch of other stuff... Some of which...

A comic creator's survival guide: The mid-90s saw the comic industry crash, and our work from Marvel US dry up. How did we endure? What's Captain Birdseye got to do with it all? And what's the deal with this thing called Beast Wars? Witness the highs and lows (mostly the latter) of being a comic book creator and how, from lean times, we emerged into a brave new world of... fandom? Simon and Andrew...

In this episode we decided on something a little different. We are talking about movies that we have recently seen, our thoughts about them and where we see the industry at the moment. We also took a look back at some of the movies from out past that have insiped us as creatives. Some you will like, others you may not but rest assured, we have plenty to say about them :-) For more information abou...

Into the 90's and all it had to offer. What were we doing and what was the general state of the comics industry back then. And what even is a chicklet? For more information about the podcast and to become a PRIME member with access to additional content and the Videocast, visit WILDFUR.NET

The 80's becomes the 90's as we cast our minds back to some of the UK Marvel created output. Homegrown ideas from homegrown talent. That and Wildman taking up the reins on the US Transformers book and how it nearly didn't happen at all!!

Episode 4. The latest - and greatest - TFNation 24. This is the BIG Transformers Convention in the UK. As we discuss this year's amazing even it sparks a conversation about conventions, TRANSFORMERS-centric and otherwise, of yore. Those we attended, those we loved and just when did it all start. Come back with us for a trip down convention memory lane.

Okay, maybe now we'll get to that auspicious meeting with Bob Budiansky in 1989. Or maybe not. There was a LOT going on!

The early days of Marvel/Transformers UK and more, including - maybe - a certain fateful meeting with US TF scribe Bob Budiansky.

It's back to 1984, baby, as the seeds of the burgeoning careers of Simon Furman and Andrew Wildman take root, and giant, transforming robots ruled the world.