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Post by Mark_Stevenson on Oct 22, 2008 15:50:04 GMT
Mark, I shall make it my mission from this point on to make sure you endu-- enjoy this tome of Transformers history! You free Saturday? We'll do lunch and I'll read it out loud to you as you stick forks into your skull. I've had worse dates... Mx
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Post by grahamthomson on Oct 23, 2008 8:37:40 GMT
To me that sounds like a challenge!!
(Intends to bring Micromasters and practice "gangstah" accent for Big Daddy's dialogue.)
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Post by The Doctor on Oct 23, 2008 10:14:09 GMT
This encounter needs to be filmed!
-Ralph
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Post by grahamthomson on Oct 23, 2008 10:19:38 GMT
"The Big Daddy Monologues - A Dramatic Reading of Micromasters in Four Painful Acts"
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Oct 23, 2008 17:35:20 GMT
Act I - The invasion of Dreamwave Act II - The Transformers against Pat Lee Act III - The war on terrible plotlines Act IV - Victory against Dreamwave
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Post by The Doctor on Oct 23, 2008 19:09:47 GMT
Epilogue - Tea and biscuits.
-Ralph
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Post by grahamthomson on Oct 24, 2008 9:52:34 GMT
We'll need more than tea and biscuits after a read through of Micromasters.
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Post by The Doctor on Oct 24, 2008 13:28:04 GMT
I'm not sure tea is strong enough! I was pissed as a fart when I read it, and still I suffered great torment!
-Ralph
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Post by Andy Turnbull on Oct 24, 2008 13:39:52 GMT
The emails you sent gave me a good chuckle!
Andy
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Post by The Doctor on Oct 24, 2008 13:45:02 GMT
I'm glad someone got some enjoyment out of my pain!
-Ralph
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Post by grahamthomson on Oct 28, 2008 8:55:23 GMT
This week: SPOTLIGHT ARCEE
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Post by legios on Oct 29, 2008 21:53:35 GMT
This week: SPOTLIGHT ARCEE"Spotlight Arcee" eh? It doesn't seem like long since this qualified as a new comic. Clearly I am aging faster than I used to. :-) But anyway's - this story hails from the point at which IDW's "Spotlight" series was beginning to abandon the pretense of being a series of independent character spotlights, and beginning to more obviously function as the mortar that was supposed to connect IDW's TF mini's into a broader structure. As a result there is quite a lot going on in this issue that actually has little or nothing to do with Arcee except in terms of being coincident in terms of space and time. A lot of the issue revolves around a raid on an Autobot penal colony to liberate the results of Decepticon experimentation - picking up on a loose plot thread from "Spotlight: Optimus Prime", a story that Arcee stumbles into by virtue of being a prisoner in the same institution. But for once I am going to say that I am glad of the metaplots intrusion, because I don't feel Arcee would have been able to carry the issue on her own to be honest. She doesn't get a great deal of character development or exposition in the story, but that isn't actually a failing of the story. There doesn't appear to be a great deal to Arcee to exposit. In a few pages we learn that she is monomaniacally dedicated to tracking down Jhiaxus and his other experiments as a result of psychological trauma she suffered at his hands. We learn little more about her than that - which is appropriate as their is little more to be learned. It is a perfectly sound peg on which to hang a supporting character/plot-device, but it doesn't really make me want to read much more about her. (It also occurs to me in retrospect that she suffers a little from "Blackarachnia Syndrome" - the only female Autobot is more driven than most of those we've seen and much more lethal in a "leet Ninja" sort of way. It feels a bit like over-egging the pudding). Interestingly I feel that Jhiaxus gets as much characterisation in a few lines of description and a couple of images as Arcee does, despite being present in the majority of the issue. Things aren't really helped by Alex Milne's art to be honest. It is marginally more comprehensible than "Megatron: Origins", but it is still difficult sometimes to tell exactly what is supposed to be going on in some of the panels, and there is far too much "stuff" crammed into each panel. There is a point at which extraneous detail becomes counterproduction and Milne's art is well beyond that point. (At times it becomes almost absurd - there is a panel that appears to be _meant_ to show Jetfire pinned down by the Combaticons. Unfortunately it looks more like a "Police Squad" style situation, with them standing on opposite sides of the same corridoor failing to hit each other). In mechanical terms this is less of a stand-alone story, and more backstory for a following series. I guess in purely practical terms it does what it needs to do in moving a McGuffin from one place to another ready for a future story, and it establishes that there is a character called Arcee in the IDW universe who is a "'leet badass" who has a vendetta against Jhiaxus. I don't really find there is anything there to engage with in terms of a story in its own right however. It is far to slight when viewed on its own terms to really have much re-readability. Karl
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Post by The Doctor on Nov 3, 2008 12:32:50 GMT
It was decent enough. Lots happened.
I thought it was Milne's best work in that I found it a lot easier to follow than his usual standard. Some muddy printing did not help though.
-Ralph
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Post by charlesrocketboy on Nov 3, 2008 13:14:11 GMT
Gonna have to agree on the art and that this isn't quite an Arcee Spotlight - this is more like the true Revelations #1.
But as a comic, it's pretty dang good - further builds up the world, sets up later plots, gets a lot of nice characters bits in a confined space, tells you everything you need to know about Arcee, and has two fights.
Stand-out moments are the Technobots regretting the fact they may have to murder the Monstructor Six, Jetfire's refusal to give up on them, Onslaught refusing to be scared, Vortex dissing Fort Max, and Arcee "you don't even know you're doing it" moment.
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Nov 3, 2008 18:35:54 GMT
Ooh, 'tis a new week.
[shadow=black,left,300]PLAGUE OF THE INSECTICONS[/shadow]
Martin
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Post by Mark_Stevenson on Nov 5, 2008 23:41:25 GMT
...Is great. Even as a small child it made me realise that Ronald Reagan was not to be trusted.
Mx
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Post by Andy Turnbull on Nov 5, 2008 23:54:57 GMT
That first UK annual is one of my favourite TF publications ever. While it's not the strongest of the two strips in the annual it is a great tale. Some suggestions of a bit more sophistication that you would ordinarily expect from a toyline's tie in book.
Great art by Collins and Anderson and worked with a small cast. Though you do worry about the Autobot's grasp of diplomacy when one of the three man team happens to be an M1 Abrams tank!
Andy
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Post by The Doctor on Nov 6, 2008 16:47:51 GMT
It is awesome, for the following reasons:
-Autobots on the White House lawn -Roller -Ronald Reagan -The visual of Ravage's mind being burned out -That cluster mine thingy. Ouch!
-Ralph
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Nov 6, 2008 18:17:02 GMT
I lost sleep over the ambiguity at the end about Prowl's fate. Why did they never refer to him again? Were they assuming it was obvious to the reader that he was in Prime's trailer, being taken back for repairs, or were they assuming it was obvious to the reader that he's a goner and left on the field of battle...? Very cold. (It was the same with Trailbreaker in 'Man of Iron' - no closure!)
Love the story though. Nice colours.
Bombshell and Kickback never transformed!
Martin
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Post by legios on Nov 6, 2008 21:46:05 GMT
"Plague of the Insecticons" is one of those annual stories I do have quite vivid memories of reading (not re-read it since mind you). It has a slightly different take on the Autobot's behaviour on Earth than the regular UK and US comics - I quite liked the idea of Prime deciding not to skulk about but to make an overture directly to the human who seems to lead the local area. It is a diplomatic move that speaks well of him as a political as well as military leader. (Taking Warpath along, although not as bad as it could have been - a Sheridan is a very small tank after all - is indeed not the smartest thing to do. Small tank or not he is still a tank - not the most peaceable of things to have rolling up).
I actually quite liked the Insecticons in this story too - one of the few times they lived up to their later UK comic billing and actually seemed like dangerous and effective killers.
The attitude to casualties is suprisingly matter-of-fact - Prowl goes down and the story doesn't pause for it or even really acknowledge it in anything other than passing, it just keeps moving right along. I actually think that makes it more effective, because it makes it more "real" somehow, because it is treated as just one of those things that happens.
I remember finding the artwork quite striking when I was younger - probably because the colour work was different to that which I'd seen on the regular comic.
(My recollection of this story is very much in individual panels - a splinter grenade explosion, Ronald Reagan face-to-face with a world leader who isn't from this world. Prowl tearing down a suburban street in some undefined Washington suburb. )
You have to squint a little to make this fit into the same story continuity as the main comic - but that's fine, you sometimes need to do that with other bits of the US and UK comic anyway - but it is a nice little story and makes for a enjoyable read.
Karl
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Post by The Doctor on Nov 14, 2008 18:08:26 GMT
Sticking this on now as I may forget on Monday due to jury duty. It has to be...
TIME WARS
-Ralph
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Post by legios on Nov 17, 2008 21:22:21 GMT
“Time Wars” is in many ways a follow-up to “Target:2006”, and not just in the obvious ways. Yes, it continues the story of Galvatron – Decepticon Leader in the future – and his attempts to change the past in a way more favourable to him. Yes, it features a number of the cast of “Target:2006” returning – the Wreckers, and Ultra Magnus (albeit a future version of Magnus). More than that though, “Time Wars” is a successor to “Target:2006” in terms of role. Like the previous story, “Time Wars” is pitched as a “tent-pole movie” equivalent for the comic a sprawling action blockbuster in which there is a great deal of sound and fury unleashed to please the crowds. It has to be said that, back in the day it did feel fairly epic. When the comic was coming out weekly any story that went on for more than three weeks seemed like a big deal – so by dint of its length “Time Wars” would have been on course to be an “event” story even without the promise of another epic battle with Galvatron. The plot of the story is actually relatively straightforward and is mostly an excuse for Autobots and Decepticons to fight each other in pitched battles of varying compositions. Indeed, the cast list is crammed full to bursting with various characters. We have Megatron teaming up with Galvatron, the Wreckers returning to team up with some new Decepticon toys that need some “face time”, Autobots from the future getting into a ruck with the Autobots of today, and eventually Optimus Prime and Rodimus Prime pooling their efforts. So whilst the actual plotting may be paper thin there is an awful lot of incident packed into the story, and on the level of a fast-moving action story it doesn't really disapppoint. “Time Wars” delivers some decent action sequences and does keep moving at a fair clip. The story succeeds in making Galvatron and Megatron seem like an unstoppable force, butchering their way through anyone foolish enough to get in their way, Autobot or Decepticon alike. Galvatron actually gets some characteristation in amongst all the sound and fury as well. The depiction of Galvatron becoming steadily more dissociated from reality as events diverge further and further from what his recollection says should happen is quite effective – for once Galvatron actually feels like he is crazy for an actual reason rather than just because it is his characters “schtick”. Shockwave also gets a decent bit of characterisation as well – as he wrestles with the thought that if the future exists, then whatever he does to secure his position he is doomed to die at the hands of someone he has already killed. The paradox of it does make sense as a reason for the logical structures of Shockwave's thinking to collapse around him – and also makes for a nice parallel with Galvatron's slipping grasp on reality (what is it about Decepticon leadership and its hazardousness to your mental health?). The sight of him slumped in his throne in front of his “trophy wall” of Cyclonus parts is quite a nice idea (I'm not sure if it comes across on the page quite as strongly as it could have though). Scourge fares quite well too. From a character who had very few lines when he first debuted – basically serving as a mostly silent leg-breaker – Scourge has become defined enough that the audience actually feels some sense of identification with him and he has become a little more ambiguous than simply being a “black hat” character, which gives a bit more weight to the choices that he has to make as the story progresses Not all of the characterisation is quite as successful I fear. Carnivac is especially poorly served, as his speech bubbles have to info-dump a bit of backplot that perhaps could have been delivered in a more elegant way. As it is, he has to do a little too much standing around thinking to himself that “soon I will kill you Springer, because I have orders to eliminate you and your team when this is over” to be entirely credible as a character at this stage. It just sounds somewhat dafy when he spells it out to himself like that. He will go on to be a little bit more interesting, but this is not an entirely auspicious debut for him. Mind you, the Autobots of the “present day” don't fare too well either. They seem to have left a few points of their IQs at home for this story. Their battle with the Autobots of the future(now virtually our present....there's a thought. The year 2009 seemed so far away when I was younger....) seems painfully contrived. Fortress Maximus and the rest of the present day Autobots seem awfully quick to leap to conclusions and go on the offensive. A readiness made even worse by the fact that there are several individuals present who have actually seen the mass displacement process before and therefore know that Optimus et al haven't actually been atomised. It feels like a fight that takes place because the plot dictates that it does, rather than one that grows naturally out of the story and the various characters involved. The big swirly time-space disruption thing is similarly somewhat random. Apparently it is caused by Cyclonus and Scourge being in the past without displacing someone (and therefore violating the laws of thermodynamics – they have effectively brought matter/energy into existence from nowhere), that in itself makes a kind of sense. What makes less sense is that it becomes worse as a result of Cyclonus being destroyed in the past. It isn't as if anything has changed in terms of how much matter exists in the past that shouldn't do – all the parts of Cyclonus are still here. In fact the only thing that has changed is that his conciousness is no longer present in the past (or anywhere at all for that matter), and that the universe (and/or the swirly-thingy) is aware of this absence. Which carries us right into the realm of metaphysics – and the question of whether conciousness exists independently of the physical brain (I almost said “wetware” or “meat brain”, neither of which really apply), and if the presence or absence of conciousness impacts on the universe itself separately to the physical vessel of said. (If you happen to believe in souls, this line of thought could be advanced as evidence that Transformers have something like them. Obviously, not a line of argument I am likely to pursue myself, but I can see how you could make the case). I don't think that any of this rareified stuff was actually intended when Simon Furman was writing the annual “great big robot punch-up” epic for that year. I'm more inclined to suspect that there wasn't really a logic worked out as to howthe big swirly-thingy worked, and that it was just a convenient combination threat and deus ex machina to end the story and clear away some characters who were threatening to become loose ends. Interesting to speculate about though. On a less serious note, the use of the Creation Matrix as a combination conference call and web-cam is something I find to be somewhat inadvertantly hilarious. From a computer program which brings life to mechanical objects the Matrix is evolving into somewhat of a “swiss-army plot device” (I suppose you could say that the trend exemplified here runs right through until it reaches its nadir with Dreamwave using the Matrix as a glorified alarm clock). Going back to things that don't quite work. Some of the art isn't really to my taste on “Time Wars”. I'm not going to go out on a limb and say that it is bad – because I am aware that I have a knee-jerk reaction of not liking it, and this may well colour any opinion I try to form on its technical merits. A lot of it just doesn't work at all for me though. I don't think it quite has the same impact as its spiritual predecessor, “Target 2006”. For a start, by now the point of diminishing returns had been reached with the character of Galvatron and it was probably wise that he be removed from proceedings. A number of the casualties of the big battles are also thinly (if at all) characterised, which somewhat reduces the impact of their deaths – they barely appear before they are gunned down mercilessly, All told though, “Time Wars” aimed to deliver a big action story, and to give the running Galvatron sub-plot (which had been going for a considerable time) a truly rousing send-off. Viewed on that level it actually achieves pretty much what it sets out to do. Pitched battles are waged, the existence of the planet hangs in the balance and unlikely alliances are forged in the face of disaster. Viewed as the equivalent of a big budget action movie “Time Wars” pretty much hits all the targets it is aiming at. Large parts of the narrative make only dubious sense, but that is par for the course for the genre that it is planted in. It doesn't really have any goal other than to deliver a string of giant robot battles, so seeking clever plotting and cunning plot twists in “Time Wars” is rather a fools errand. In the end it is what it is – a story mostly about giant robots punching each other for somewhat spurious reasons. Not a story that is ever going to make it within sniffing distance of my favourite UK comic stories though, if I am to be honest. It is never less than competent, and it certainly delivers on its promise of lots and fights involving giant robots. When I was younger it was satisfying on that level. It is just on of those stories that, although it has some elements to it I do like a lot, I don't find anywhere involving as an adult.
Karl
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Post by grahamthomson on Nov 18, 2008 10:11:28 GMT
It's a shame it missed out the much anticipated Ultra Magnus Vs Galvatron showdown. Even Transformations of previous issues were seemingly looking forward to it!
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Nov 18, 2008 17:45:50 GMT
I was never impressed with Time Wars. It was just one big gratuitous mess. The Underbase saga was a much richer, more epic and better crafted story.
Martin
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Post by The Doctor on Nov 19, 2008 17:29:30 GMT
You can't go wrong with a giant swirly thing of doom, I say!
-Ralph
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Post by grahamthomson on Nov 19, 2008 20:45:17 GMT
Spirograph!!!!
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Post by Shockprowl on Nov 19, 2008 22:14:41 GMT
Blimey, Karlos, that's a freakin' good reveiw.
I was blown away by the epicness when I first read this (even though I was disapointed Prowl and Jazz didn't feature, I'm simple like that). I was fascinated by the 'altering' of what Galvatron knew. I thought it was very well done, only to be ruined by the (wonderfull thought up) 2 Megatrons story. Although I felt many characters (Shockwave, Scourge, Optimus, Ravage, Springer) had wonderfull parts, big characters like Magnus and, in many ways, Rodimus had bugger all to do. Generally though, I loved Time Wars!
Gotta say though. I was totally blown away by the grand finale, Galvy getting wasted 'n' all- but then, coupla issues or whatever later, he's back! I was all for him comming back somehow, but thought the way it was done wasn't very good.
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Post by The Doctor on Nov 19, 2008 22:25:28 GMT
His casual return several issues later after being ripped apart by Time itself pissed me off immensely at the time. It still does!
-Ralph
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Post by Shockprowl on Nov 19, 2008 23:50:45 GMT
Yeah Baby! Tell ya, Doc', we should get married!
(except your dislike of Sentry would tear us apart- so sad...)
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Post by The Doctor on Nov 20, 2008 18:39:52 GMT
I like Time Wars. It's fun. It's sometimes easy to forget that these comics were action adventure stories aimed at kids, not fans in their 20's and up. Looked at that way, it's brilliant tosh. It really is. Explosions! Team-ups! Bendy Dan Reed art! Swirly space/time thing of doom! Limbo! Roadbuster being blown up by his own stupidity! Twins of evil! Ravage doing his box-art pose! Big fights! Lots of camp! A character being ripped apart by Time itself! Time travel! "It's the end! The end of the world!" The universe in dire peril!
And the most amusing resolution for a sub-plot in Marvel UK TF when Scorponok gets his head back and declares revenge on Highbrow, who had stolen it previously. He's told Highbrow is not available right now, but other Auto-scum are. "I'm not fussy!" roars Scorpy, and off he goes.
Brilliant!
-Ralph
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