primenova
Fusilateral Quintro Combiner
Posts: 6,057
|
Post by primenova on Jan 23, 2015 17:24:48 GMT
I'll be getting the issue - but might be in the tpb but i'll know to look at this issue anyway.
|
|
|
|
Post by Andy Turnbull on Jan 23, 2015 23:02:16 GMT
In my ongoing reviews for the underbase the constant dragging out of Prowl being a douche has been getting on my tits no end. It's beyond tedious now.
The character needs to either bottom out so we can see him rebuild himself as a heroic character or they need to full on turn him bad guy. This drip, drip is beyond a joke, also the treating of Sky Lynx like a pet is just stupid.
Andy
|
|
|
|
Post by Bogatan on Jan 23, 2015 23:15:21 GMT
I'm assuming the Prowl thing is being dragged out so that it can tie in to CW. At least I hope so, its not bothering me too much yet, but if it hasnt been dealt with by the end of CW, I'll start to worry.
Sky Lynx is bordering weird and interesting to me. Cybertronian animals as a race is only just being addressed and theres some logic to the behaviour. Energon from a bowl is no stranger than Energon in a pint glass at the bar. It also may tie into how beasts have been treated as second class citizens and even the good guys still fall in to that behaviour.
Sadly its more than likely just been played as a dumb joke like Thundercrackers screenplay which was great, but doesn't really seem to be going anywhere.
|
|
|
|
Post by Llama God on Jan 24, 2015 10:03:48 GMT
Well I don't think Thundercracker's screenplay is going to go anywhere - I think it was more being used as a device for framing his inner monologue, given that old-style thought bubbles are currently unfashionable. ("Thought bubbles - out of fashion! Must find an alternative! And fast!") More's the pity. And given how the script ends, that seems very much to me like him revising his opinions on humanity. I liked it.
As to Sky Lynx... I get the feeling that Barber never bought him as being the genius that the cartoon depicted him as being, so this is his response to that. Quite whether this'll come to anything though, and whether it'll tie into the depiction of the treatment of the beast formers remains to be seen.
And as for me, I'm enjoying Prowl being a dick. Which says a lot about me, I guess.
|
|
|
|
Post by Kingoji on Jan 25, 2015 12:02:12 GMT
{Not sure WHY its a Spoiler, but...}I actually thought the best bit of the issue was Galvatron using his cannon as a propulsion device... It's served that purpose in the past (indeed, it was the very first thing he did with it in the movie), but here in particular, the composition of the panel looks to me to be a deliberate echo of when he did the same thing in Marvel's #75, On The Edge Of Extinction. And frankly, any time someone deliberately pays tribute to Geoff Senior is a welcome element in my book.  And yeah, beasts as 'Inferiors' has always been one of my bug bears in TF fiction. Along with the idea that five 20ft robots combined = 100+ meters gestalt, human nicknames used between each other, and pretty much any area where "Sunbow > Marvel". I like bar scenes, though. I like that they can get drunk. I don't think it should be energon they drink though, but the idea of certain grades of oil is intoxicating works for me. I also prefer to not actually see bots with faceplates drinking, but knowing that they are. It's an amusing slice of fourth wall "how can they be, oh who cares" breakage. |
|
|
|
Post by Andy Turnbull on Mar 6, 2015 23:15:06 GMT
Latest issue does kind of see the book go on pause for Combiner Wars at the conclusion.
A step up from the previous issue and the Prowl situation is now almost at a head, depending on what happens in CW will obviously impact what happens next. Galvatron is still great and the humans are still all god awful.
Really enjoyed Soundwave in the issue.
Andy
|
|
dyrl
Empty
Transforming robots are no match for combat waitresses from the future!
Posts: 1,652
|
Post by dyrl on Mar 25, 2015 10:06:07 GMT
I really liked the idea of this series being about post-war Cybertron while MTMTE was about the Quest. But somewhere along the way this series lost focus and yes, I hate the way Prowl is portrayed. Prowl's supposed to be kind of like "good Shockwave" - logic serving good, not evil.
Anyways, the first Combiner Wars issue is a let down, as is the whole silly idea of the "Enigma of Combination". They are making it sound as if combiners are a new idea...but they are not...not even in this comic...so it's disingenious to be like "ooohhh...combiners!"
|
|
|
|
Post by Philip Ayres on Mar 25, 2015 10:25:30 GMT
The idea here is they have the mechanism to do Combiners right.
Monstructor is mad, Superion is an accident, and Menasor's mind never fused properly. Devastator's the most successful but angry and hard to control.
|
|
dyrl
Empty
Transforming robots are no match for combat waitresses from the future!
Posts: 1,652
|
Post by dyrl on Mar 25, 2015 13:32:09 GMT
Ah...but what about Computron?
I know he has not "appeared" in the ongoing comic yet - but insofar as I know, the ongoing comic does not really retcon previous Transformers lore - and Computer is in that lore...
Computron works fine. The "improve the combiner process" problem existed in the original G1 run. Predaking is another example of a combiner who functions flawlessly - he's even the Decepticon's "best warrior" or something...
Generally, I think the "problems with melding" the combiners was a neat story line for the first combiner teams, and then the logical next step was new combiners whose minds fused just fine...
In any case - I understand this is a new story, sort of ...but still...just kind of..meh...whatever...no need to make combiners out to be so amazing, when they've been around in Transformers history for so long...
I mean...when they introduced new incarnations of classic G1 characters, it's not like they pretended that we've never met Skids, or Sideswipe before - just new body, new time, new plot twists...
Read Wingblade or Windblade or whatever it is Combiner Wars 1 - I like the art and the story is mildly better. Using those designs from the European 1990s Decepticon jets (what were there names...Terradive, Scra....scorch?...no...errr....you know - they guys with no faces but just light pipes?) - That was a really nice touch.
Swindle's interaction with Menasor was also nice.
|
|
|
|
Post by Philip Ayres on Mar 25, 2015 15:02:01 GMT
Ah...but what about Computron? I know he has not "appeared" in the ongoing comic yet - but insofar as I know, the ongoing comic does not really retcon previous Transformers lore - and Computer is in that lore... Computron and the others don't yet exist in the IDW Universe. The ones I've listed are the only ones there are which is why having a method of making working combiners is such a big thing. |
|
|
|
Post by Andy Turnbull on Mar 25, 2015 18:59:46 GMT
The first issue of Combiner Wars has some very splendid bits with Starscream, and then things go stupid.
Shame really.
Andy
|
|
|
|
Post by Philip Ayres on Apr 15, 2015 12:17:50 GMT
art fluff ups aside, and my goodness there were a few, I enjoyed Transformers:TCFKARID #40. It almost helps knowing that certain character need to come together at some point, which makes the shared dream at the start relevant.
|
|
|
|
Post by Andy Turnbull on Apr 22, 2015 22:46:14 GMT
I enjoyed the latest issue of TF. A strong issue and finally the trigger seems to be getting pulled on Prowl outright moving against Optimus. Hopefully this will bring this to a head and we can be done with the Prowl is a dick plotline.
Andy
|
|
|
|
Post by Philip Ayres on May 20, 2015 12:25:10 GMT
Um..... even though it was moving all the pieces round the board and finished exactly where we thought it might..... I quite enjoyed TF:TCFKARID 41
|
|
|
|
Post by Andy Turnbull on May 21, 2015 11:21:11 GMT
Oh yes, I too enjoyed it. The dialogue between Prime and Prowl was long overdue and I will be interested to see what happens between then post Combiner Wars.
Andy
|
|
|
|
Post by Kingoji on Jun 1, 2015 18:21:44 GMT
Anybody else catch the continuity error? {Spoiler}when Ironhide and Mirage are in the bar, Ironhide is compelled to apologise to Mirage for attacking him during AHM. However, *this* version of Ironhide has no memory of doing so after his mind was rebooted by millions of years in his mini-series, and the Costa run implies that these events were being kept secret from him to spare him unnecessary shame. |
|
|
|
Post by Philip Ayres on Jun 17, 2015 19:50:55 GMT
Liked 42. Really good. Things finally coming to a head between Op and Prowl.
|
|
|
|
Post by legios on Jun 18, 2015 7:33:51 GMT
I was swithering about whether to come back after Combiner Wars (in the same way as I did after Dark Cybertron). Would those who read it say that #42 is a good enough issue to make it worth my while taking the leap back onto the Ongoing as it passes?
Karl
|
|
|
|
Post by Fortmax2020 on Jun 18, 2015 10:06:15 GMT
Liked 42. Really good. Things finally coming to a head between Op and Prowl. Fairly sure that this is not the first time we have heard this regarding the ongoing.... |
|
|
|
Post by Andy Turnbull on Jun 18, 2015 11:42:52 GMT
Oh no, without spoilering there is indeed significant plot advancement.
Andy
|
|
|
|
Post by KnightBeat on Jun 18, 2015 22:53:25 GMT
Indeed there is.
Prowl's fall from grace during the last 5 years has been dramatic, but logical. It's a world apart from his 1st appearance in the 10 year old Infiltration series
|
|
|
|
Post by Philip Ayres on Aug 5, 2015 18:20:58 GMT
44: best issue since the Wheeljack one.
|
|
|
|
Post by Andy Turnbull on Aug 5, 2015 22:24:19 GMT
Yup, a definite return to form.
Andy
|
|
|
|
Post by Philip Ayres on Aug 22, 2015 14:23:37 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by Andy Turnbull on Sept 8, 2015 22:30:50 GMT
It is a spiffy cover.
Andy
|
|
|
|
Post by blueshift on Sept 16, 2015 13:34:32 GMT
I've finally been catching up on RID having ignored it for so long as All Hail Megatron / Costa's 'Gi Joe guest starring Transformers' pretty much killed my interest in IDW that wasn't written by a writer I trust. I've got up to the start of Dark Cybertron now (which I've already read due to MTMTE).
Spoilers up to uh, Dark Cybertron. Do I need spoilers for stuff that old?
I've read the thread up to where I am and I think there's a similar feeling, a flurry of interest at the start that descends to "O-oh" when Megatron turns up again to be comically evil. Don't get me wrong, there were a lot of bits I liked, but for the most part for a comic that is apparently about robot politics it seems very uninterested in characters. The characters are driven by plot rather than plot by characters and there's a lot of delicious Idiot Pills being eaten so that the plot can hit the required beats (to be fair, strapping Overlord to the bottom of the Lost Light in MTMTE is similar but I can forgive that more readily because everything that build up and came out of it was so good).
I was actually interested when it turned out that Prowl was conspiring with Megatron, but then zzzzz mind control. And Arcee (what a horrible character, why are they even still using her?) was on their side too BUT IT WAS A TRICK and the Decepticons were too dumb to realise that a psychotic Autobot killer wouldn't want to be on their side by choice. Wow.
What's Megatron's plan? I didn't understand it at all.
1 - Use his magic powers to make all of Cybertron bar Iacon uninhabitable and turn you mad (I genuinely didn't even realise that this was the case until someone said "of course, that's it why only Iacon is inhabitable! So is everyone coming back to Cybertron genuinely just piling back into that one city? This is nowhere made clear unless I missed something obvious).
2 - Use his magic powers to make Autobot gestalts. It doesn't require any rebuilding or anything, just space radiation.
3 - Wander into town and get captured so the Autobots can install a bomb in his chest to inevitably defeat him.
4 - Mind control Prowl to undermine the Autobots and fake the deaths of Decepticons so they can operate in secret. I sort of understand that as it's riling up the population, but why not just have Prowl put a bullet in Bumblebee's head (or even a mind control bug) and declare martial law? Why not use him to get the NAILs on the Decepticon side, as per issue one they outnumber the Autobots and Decepticons by a factor of ten and rising. It seems that if you mind control Prowl you've already won (I hate mind control plots) but instead Megatron's plan is to:
5 - Build Prowl into a component of Devastator. What could possibly go wrong? Of course Megatrons' ACTUAL plan is to:
6 - Himself become a component of Devastator. Like, that's the plan? The whole plan? But he's gonna do it really slowly and out in the open. Also he's comically evil ha ha ha let's get everyone boys!
Why doesn't he just go straight to the Decepticons to get rebuilt (so the Autobots don't get to fiddle with him and maybe defeat him) and merge with Devastator there and then? Am I missing something?
The thing I really don't get though is how it then ties into Dark Cybertron and his heel turn just a handful of issues later. As I said, I'd already read Dark Cybertron and loved what they did with Megatron in MTMTE, but the books leading up to it just have Megatron as a generic evil Megatron for dumb shooty plan #500 which doesn't mesh at all with the 'oh no I have realised the error of my ways' that Dark Cybertron gives us. (I was expecting something more like the Magneto plot in New X-Men where he becomes a Che Guvara like icon when everyone thinks he's dead, but then he comes back with a generically evil plan to kill everyone and is just a huge disappointment in actuality when compared to his legacy).
Sorry if that sounds a bit moany. I was actually enjoying it until Megatron bimbles up (apart from the Optimus Prime time travel issue which made zero sense but tried to trick you that confusing = clever and deep). Does it uh, does it get better after Dark Cybertron?
|
|
|
|
Post by Philip Ayres on Sept 16, 2015 13:58:52 GMT
Spoilers up to uh, Dark Cybertron. Do I need spoilers for stuff that old? No. |
|
|
|
Post by Philip Ayres on Sept 16, 2015 14:45:14 GMT
Does it uh, does it get better after Dark Cybertron? Issue 33 is good. But generally it takes a dive off the deep end quality wise following Dark Cybertron. |
|
|
|
Post by blueshift on Sept 16, 2015 18:20:09 GMT
But generally it takes a dive off the deep end quality wise following Dark Cybertron. Oh lordy lord. |
|
|
|
Post by blueshift on Sept 17, 2015 15:16:34 GMT
I'm caught up to date now, and actually found myself enjoying the post Dark Cybertron stuff more than some of the pre-stuff. I guess reading them all in one go helps, I can imagine being frustrated if that plot was all I got for a year!
I too was slow on the uptake in the 'oh yeah they are trying to make this like Movie Transformers' vibe. I enjoyed Thundercracker and his dog, I thought Prowl and the Constructicons was fun. I am glad Prowl's plan was to straight up murder Spike, because really.
The plot was too much of an 'idiot plot' for me. I don't understand why the hell the humans are allying themselves with the Decepticons unless they've been taking their Stupid Pills. Maybe it will actually be explained as some Clever Trick, I mean the plot's not over, is it?
I also don't understand why Soundwave went and put Galvatron in charge of the Decepticons, given that his elitism stands against everything Soundwave is for. Also Galvatron seems to be a complete idiot incapable of any subterfuge, which is a shame as I like my Galvatrons clever. A dash of charisma to show just why everyone is now up and following this guy couldn't hurt (and uh, so is the war now NOT over? What's changed?)
Actually what I did like was the flashback issue which while a bit infodumpy had a nice Conan vibe to it. They should totally play up Galvatron as Conan and do a proper 'Savage Sword of Galvatron' flashback issue full of him murdering incredibly dubious Transformer stereotypes and evil technowizards.
Also I thought 'Robots in Disguise' was about Cybertron but they just forgot that entire story. It's picked up at the start of Combiner Wars crossover full of stuff I missed so apparently that story carried on somewhere else instead? Was it the first Windblade series? (Why do we need two Windblade series?). That's just bizarre, it's like if MTMTE suddenly became about the adventures of First Aid as he flew his little ship off and the Lost Light adventure is picked up in a Wheelie miniseries.
Why is Starscream being all evil and plotty again for no reason other than "Heeeeey that's what G1 Starscream is all about!" Also Starscream's government still consists of just him in a room with Rattrap hanging about and having to do everything and talk to people to get things done himself. Does the writer believe that Obama just stumbles down street corners in Washington begging people to listen to him?
Still better than the McCarthy and Costa stuff though!
|
|
