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Robots in Disguise (Transformers 4! Coming June 29th 2014)

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    LockedOnTargetLockedOnTarget Registered User regular
    I am annoyed because the general idea of blowing away long-running support characters in stories that aren't about them at all, to develop other characters and/or make a "shit has gotten REAL!" statement is something I am incredibly tired of in comics. Writers keep killing characters who they don't want to bother writing about so they can advance whatever their pet characters are in a cheap, easy way. Aren't interested in making a certain character an important part of the story? Fine. Then keep them in the background or out of the story completely, and if someone else wants to do something later with that character they can. Don't just fucking kill them off, making sure that the character will never be able to be written in an interesting way by other writers(unless they do some sloppy retcon). Marvel and especially DC do this shit all the time. Character that doesn't star in their own book and isn't currently up to anything? Might as well brutally murder him/her to "up the stakes"! Established characters shouldn't be treated as expendable tools. If you're going to kill them off, it should be in a story where that character actually matters. Not a story where they show up just to die.

    I've just grown so tired of character deaths as shock value, and it's made me tired of comics in general.

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    DichotomyDichotomy Registered User regular
    that sure was an angry diatribe that doesn't really have much to do with this situation at all

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    LockedOnTargetLockedOnTarget Registered User regular
    Dichotomy wrote: »
    that sure was an angry diatribe that doesn't really have much to do with this situation at all

    Except that's exactly what this comic is doing.

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    BugBoyBugBoy boy.EXE has stopped functioning. only bugs remainRegistered User regular
    well, I don't think that's really true

    but neither of us have read anything more than a plot summary+a preview yet so

    maybe we should defer this a while

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    LockedOnTargetLockedOnTarget Registered User regular
    Well I certainly won't be buying it. I was actually considering using these two books as my jump-in back to comics but this is the kind of stuff that chased me away in the first place so, no thank you.

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    BugBoyBugBoy boy.EXE has stopped functioning. only bugs remainRegistered User regular
    all right then

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    DichotomyDichotomy Registered User regular
    Dichotomy wrote: »
    that sure was an angry diatribe that doesn't really have much to do with this situation at all

    Except that's exactly what this comic is doing.

    no, it isn't
    you're complaining about things done in marvel and DC's large, shared universes, where there are many writers and many comics going at once

    robots in disguise is one comic. it is written by one guy. presumably, when he stops writing it, it will be done, and transformers fiction will move on as it always does. nothing in those pages suggest those characters are being killed off solely for shock value, given that previous deaths in the series have had continuing impact that informs ongoing character progression.

    yes, characters with names are dying, but that's pretty much all they have. none of them are characters, in that they are virtually without character, and given that the series has a large stable of characters at work already, it's unlikely these poor saps would spring from the other hundreds and thousands of transformers available to suddenly become the focus.

    characters with names are being killed because it serves more impact in the story than Generibot 3 getting blasted, and it's more impact than they'd ever be likely to get if they lived through the entire comic's run.

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    LockedOnTargetLockedOnTarget Registered User regular
    The continuity began before this guy started writing this comic, did it not? What reason is there to believe that when he's done writing this comic, it will end? It's clearly already not his baby and his baby alone, especially since there is another book with another writer in the same continuity out there right now, is there not?

    And it doesn't matter much anyway. It has little to do with how many writers write for a continuity, and much more to do with writing conventions I can't stand. I think sacrificing established characters to build other ones up is cheap storytelling and I don't think the fact that the characters being sacrificed hadn't been developed well in the past suddenly makes it okay. I think that if you are going to write a story about established characters dying, then the story should at least attempt to make those characters important and interesting in the story where they die. I think that if your idea of using established characters is to have them just pop in and die, then you are doing some pretty shit writing. I think that if you have characters that aren't currently interesting, and you choose to just blow them up to elevate some other character instead of either just not using them or attempting to make them interesting, you are doing some pretty shit writing. I think that if you think you need to do this to give your scene "impact" then you are doing some pretty shit writing.

    Sorry if you disagree.

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    LockedOnTargetLockedOnTarget Registered User regular
    And with that, I'm done talking about this. Cause the more I think about it, the more annoyed I get. And I don't want to post in the thread just to complain about things.

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    LockedOnTargetLockedOnTarget Registered User regular
    So how about those Transformers? I hear they are robots who can turn into vehicles!

    Sounds pretty badass. Hopefully someone doesn't ruin it forever by making them turn into animals instead.

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    BugBoyBugBoy boy.EXE has stopped functioning. only bugs remainRegistered User regular
    I heard some turn into guns instead

    but I can't figure out why they would do that

    it seems counterintuitive when it comes to the whole "actually moving" thing

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    LockedOnTargetLockedOnTarget Registered User regular
    Turning into a gun sounds cool I hope that toy is on shelves.

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    mightyspacepopemightyspacepope Registered User regular
    I don't mean to rehash this, but you are missing out on what is probably the Golden Age of Transformers storytelling.

    Roberts is doing his thing on MTMTE, having space adventures and building mythology and being funny with a cool cast of random awesome characters.

    Barber is doing some really interesting political stuff involving Autobots, Decepticons, and Neutrals (look for a Rock Lords cameo in #4) on Cybertron.

    Both writers have tremendous respect and admiration for the brand and it shows. If only we could get Roche onboard doing whatever incredible miniseries popped into his fabulous Irish mind, we'd have the Holy Trinity.

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    143999143999 Tellin' ya not askin' ya, not pleadin' with yaRegistered User regular
    Dichotomy wrote: »
    characters with names are being killed because it serves more impact in the story than Generibot 3 getting blasted, and it's more impact than they'd ever be likely to get if they lived through the entire comic's run.

    For all the good things that people (including myself) said about War for Cybertron, boy oh boy did you ever shoot a lot of nameless, meaningless drones. I don't know how many times I wished that more robots with names would show up and get shot.

    8aVThp6.png
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    Butler For Life #1Butler For Life #1 Twinning is WinningRegistered User regular
    I'm in!

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    mightyspacepopemightyspacepope Registered User regular
    Also, with G1 available on Netflix, would anyone be interested in a "book club" of sorts? Each week we take a couple of episodes and discuss them at the end of the week.

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    BugBoyBugBoy boy.EXE has stopped functioning. only bugs remainRegistered User regular
    I'm up for it

    but only if I can do for B.O.T what I did with revenge of the fallen and DOTM

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    mightyspacepopemightyspacepope Registered User regular
    I think we could definitely take choice episodes and find a time to comment on them live.

    How about we say MTMTE parts 1-3 by Sunday night?

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    MetroidZoidMetroidZoid Registered User regular
    My thoughts on why a named character has to die in preference to a NAIL.

    So <insert killer> has something to say other than 'You ... die' twenty times over.

    9UsHUfk.jpgSteam
    3DS FC: 4699-5714-8940 Playing Pokemon, add me! Ho, SATAN!
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    CenoCeno pizza time Registered User regular
    I think we could definitely take choice episodes and find a time to comment on them live.

    How about we say MTMTE parts 1-3 by Sunday night?

    Sure. I'm two parts in already.

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    mightyspacepopemightyspacepope Registered User regular
    Sweet. Episode reviews/comments/discussion Sunday night. Hold off until then. Be there or be square.

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    AntimatterAntimatter Devo Was Right Gates of SteelRegistered User regular
    mightyspacepope, bugboy, dichotomy, you guys are alright

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    ReynoldsReynolds Gone Fishin'Registered User regular
    That's actually pretty cool. I suppose that cannon dispenses mercy?

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    AntimatterAntimatter Devo Was Right Gates of SteelRegistered User regular
    oh yeah, the character of Shattered Glass Straxus is neat

    but the colors stink

    i guess it's supposed to be like Serpentor Prime? not particularly executed well though

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    ReynoldsReynolds Gone Fishin'Registered User regular
    It just looks like a brightly colored good guy. He's even 'yellow' which would fit a non-courageous bard.

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    ShadowenShadowen Snores in the morning LoserdomRegistered User regular
    Reynolds wrote: »
    It just looks like a brightly colored good guy. He's even 'yellow' which would fit a non-courageous bard.

    "Brave sir Starscream flew away..."
    "I did not!"
    "Bravely flew away, away!"
    "I never!"
    "When danger reared its ugly head, he bravely turned to jet and fled..."

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    mightyspacepopemightyspacepope Registered User regular
    Scroungedisarmed.jpg

    SG Straxus looks like it might be based on Scrounge, an old buddy of Blaster's that Straxus threw into the smelting pools.

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    AntimatterAntimatter Devo Was Right Gates of SteelRegistered User regular
    I actually think the yellow and green is based on a German reprint comic cover that was very miscolored

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    Butler For Life #1Butler For Life #1 Twinning is WinningRegistered User regular
    edited April 2012
    That sounds... Obscure.

    When you have to look to misprinted comics covers for inspiration, it's time to say. "fuck it, we're making SG Prime."

    Butler For Life #1 on
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    AntimatterAntimatter Devo Was Right Gates of SteelRegistered User regular
    http://www.seibertron.com/transformers/news/new-gallery-botcon-2012-shattered-glass-straxus/24682/

    Check the comments


    Also

    Writer of tf3 and cowriter of rotf is coming back for tf four the reboot

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    143999143999 Tellin' ya not askin' ya, not pleadin' with yaRegistered User regular
    Ugh, why can't I pull the trigger on that FoC three-pack.

    I know I'm going to get them, and I know it would make it easier than hunting them.

    But seeing the combined price tag staring me in the face like that makes me flinch.

    8aVThp6.png
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    AntimatterAntimatter Devo Was Right Gates of SteelRegistered User regular
    I don't mean to rehash this, but you are missing out on what is probably the Golden Age of Transformers storytelling.

    Roberts is doing his thing on MTMTE, having space adventures and building mythology and being funny with a cool cast of random awesome characters.

    Barber is doing some really interesting political stuff involving Autobots, Decepticons, and Neutrals (look for a Rock Lords cameo in #4) on Cybertron.

    Both writers have tremendous respect and admiration for the brand and it shows. If only we could get Roche onboard doing whatever incredible miniseries popped into his fabulous Irish mind, we'd have the Holy Trinity.

    If Roche came back to write something I think I'd die

    I could not comprehend living in a world with three fantastic transformers comics in it at once*


    *autocracy is only ok in my opinion

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    Butler For Life #1Butler For Life #1 Twinning is WinningRegistered User regular
    Antimatter wrote: »
    http://www.seibertron.com/transformers/news/new-gallery-botcon-2012-shattered-glass-straxus/24682/

    Check the comments


    Also

    Writer of tf3 and cowriter of rotf is coming back for tf four the reboot

    why

    why do they keep hiring incompetent morons to write these things

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    CorporateLogoCorporateLogo The toilet knows how I feelRegistered User regular
    $$$

    Do not have a cow, mortal.

    c9PXgFo.jpg
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    Butler For Life #1Butler For Life #1 Twinning is WinningRegistered User regular
    surely they must know that it's the franchise and not the writing that brings in the money

    anyone could write one of these movies and it would make as much cash, it's the franchise that brings in the viewers

    the transformers movies were incredibly poorly reviewed, they must know the quality has nothing to do with the succes

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    CorporateLogoCorporateLogo The toilet knows how I feelRegistered User regular
    Why go looking for someone when you can just bring in the old team

    Do not have a cow, mortal.

    c9PXgFo.jpg
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    Butler For Life #1Butler For Life #1 Twinning is WinningRegistered User regular
    because the old team are a bunch of sophomoric morons who think racism and frat boy humor is fucking hilarious?

This discussion has been closed.