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More than Meets the Eye. (Transformers, yo.)

BlankspaceBlankspace __BANNED USERS regular
edited August 2007 in Graphic Violence
Transformers
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Love 'em, hate 'em, but you have heard of them. They're the giant robots that turn into cars and shit that have been dominating cartoons and comics for 20 years. Recently the license was purchased by IDW publishing, who is rebooting the continuity, to fantastic results.
The Series
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Transformers: Infiltration
Written by long-time Transformers writer Simon Furman, it is a new origin for the Generation 1 Transformers. The element of disguise is a major focus, as the Transformers have been living unnoticed amongst humans for several years. Their first contact with humans on Earth is chronicled in this series. Most of the Transformers have updated alternate modes of current vehicles, although recognizable due to paint schemes similar to their original incarnations.
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Transformers: Escalation
The follow-up to Infiltration, Escalation follows the second phase of the Autobot's plan. It focuses on the classic Generation 1 roster as well as a mysterious organization known as the Machination, who want the Transformer's technology for their own.
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Transformers: Stormbringer
Although the series takes place at the same time as Infiltration, it parallels the story of the Autobot and Decepticon forces on earth with the ones on Cybertron.
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Transformers: Spotlight
Originally planned as a 5-issue miniseries, which later expanded into an ongoing, Spotlight is a series of one-shot issues each following the story of a single Transformer. Characters that have had a Spotlight issue so far are Shockwave, Hot Rod, Kup, Soundwave, Ultra Magnus, Sixshot and Nightbeat. Two more characters have been announced, Galvatron and Optimus Prime.
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Megatron: Origin
A miniseries exploring the origin of the infamous Decepticon and the beginnings of the Autobot/Decepticon War. The first issue came out last week, there are going to be 5 total.
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Beast Wars: The Gathering
Taking place within the CG Cartoon's continuity, it follows the arrival of Predacon general Magmatron, who has arrived on Earth to quell and capture Megatron, who's exploits on earth are considered treason to the Predacons.
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Transformers Evolution: Hearts of Steel
An alternate universe story, that explores what would happen if instead of awakening in modern times, the Transformers were woken up amid the American Industrial Revolution.
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Transformers: The Movie Prequel
Following the upcoming movie's continuity it showcases the civil war on Cybertron and the events leading up to Megatron's crash landing on Earth and the chase to find him between the Autobots and Decepticons.
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New Avengers/Transformers
While it doesn't take place fully in IDW's continuity, it does take place in Marvel's. The Pre-Civil War Avengers are teaming up with the Autobots to stop Dr. Doom whom is making an alliance with Megatron and the Decepticons.

There you have it, post, argue, rant do what comes natural for you guys.

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«13

Posts

  • DJ EebsDJ Eebs Moderator, Administrator admin
    edited June 2007
    you know, I don't think I've seen a single episode of transformers

    I might check out some of these though

    DJ Eebs on
  • Calamity JaneCalamity Jane That Wrong Love Registered User regular
    edited June 2007
    Blank! WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO YOU?!

    Also, I'm going to see the film.

    Calamity Jane on
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  • BlankspaceBlankspace __BANNED USERS regular
    edited June 2007
    I have become one with the Matrix Anjin.


    Also, I have only seen 2 episodes of the original series, and the rest was Beast Wars.

    IDW has done some amazing shit here though. They took silly characters from cartoons and comics and made them developed and layered. Spotlight is probably the book I'd recommend most.

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  • augustaugust where you come from is gone Registered User regular
    edited June 2007
    I haven't really been able to get ino the new Transformers comics. The art always seems so surfacey, like the guy can only draw cool looking robots with horrible perspective problems. And then I'll flip through and see the guy try to draw a human being and just put it right back on the shelf.

    august on
  • BlankspaceBlankspace __BANNED USERS regular
    edited June 2007
    Wait, do you mean the Dreamwave comics?

    Because those had Pat Lee on art duties, who was terrible at drawing human beings.

    The IDW Comics actually have pretty solid art.

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  • BlankspaceBlankspace __BANNED USERS regular
    edited June 2007
    For instance, this is Pat Lee.
    G1_v1-1_bot_b.jpg

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  • augustaugust where you come from is gone Registered User regular
    edited June 2007
    Yeah, Pat Lee was my problem I guess.

    august on
  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    edited June 2007
    The IDW series have been fucking fantastic. I love how everything ties in with each other, and the reboot means that old series woes (Hot Shot being a douche, Magnus being a douche, etc.) don't apply anymore.

    Also, Spotlight: KUP, is one of my favorite books of the year.

    DarkPrimus on
  • BlankspaceBlankspace __BANNED USERS regular
    edited June 2007
    I really liked Shockwave(Mainly for the Dynobots) and Soundwave's issues.


    Simon Furman who is writing all of the Spotlights has said he is wiling to write a story for any of the Transformers characters.


    Except for Wheelie.

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  • DrakeonDrakeon Registered User regular
    edited June 2007
    When does Transformers/New Avengers come out?

    Drakeon on
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  • BlankspaceBlankspace __BANNED USERS regular
    edited June 2007
    July 5th

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  • devoirdevoir Registered User regular
    edited June 2007
    I really liked War Within and was quite disappointed when Dreamwave went under.

    devoir on
  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    edited June 2007
    I really liked Shockwave(Mainly for the Dynobots) and Soundwave's issues.


    Simon Furman who is writing all of the Spotlights has said he is wiling to write a story for any of the Transformers characters.


    Except for Wheelie.

    Furman hasn't written all the Spotlights. I know Nick Roche wrote the Kup one, and I'm almost certain a few others have/are scheduled to be written by others.

    DarkPrimus on
  • BlankspaceBlankspace __BANNED USERS regular
    edited June 2007
    Hrm...where was that Wiki, he's had a hand in pretty much everything in the new TDW-verse, so I think he's at least edited/advised the Spotlights.

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  • MalkorMalkor Registered User regular
    edited June 2007
    I enjoyed Stormbringer. I have the first issue of Infiltration, but I decided to look for older Marvel issues instead.

    Malkor on
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  • Pantaley ShlopapaPantaley Shlopapa Registered User regular
    edited June 2007
    I find it funny that this thread was made tonight. I've literally spent the entire day discussing Transformers with my friends and then I come home to this thread.

    I also picked up the Robot Heroes pack with Soundwave

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    As he is, in fact, superior.

    Pantaley Shlopapa on
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  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    edited June 2007
    I got that Bumblebee/Soundwave pack a bit ago.

    I got Grimlock/Shockwave yesterday.

    DarkPrimus on
  • Pantaley ShlopapaPantaley Shlopapa Registered User regular
    edited June 2007
    That's probably the best one.

    Is it particularly difficult to get the Optimus/Unicron and Jazz/Thundercracker packs? There were tons in my Target, but it seems like everyone on the intertron is having troubles finding them.

    Pantaley Shlopapa on
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  • HeatwaveHeatwave Come, now, and walk the path of explosions with me!Registered User regular
    edited June 2007
    The Shockwave, Kup and Soundwave spotlights and the Beast wars mini are the only series I've really liked from IDW so far

    I can't seem to warn up to IDW's art in Infiltration and Escalation. Su just doesn't do it for me. I don't whether it's the faces, proportions or the coloring, but I can't bring myself to liking the art.

    Stormbringer had good art but the story ended pretty crap in the end.

    Heatwave on
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  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    edited June 2007
    That's probably the best one.

    Is it particularly difficult to get the Optimus/Unicron and Jazz/Thundercracker packs? There were tons in my Target, but it seems like everyone on the intertron is having troubles finding them.

    They just came out, so they are a hot item.

    I saw them both on the shelves when I got Grimlock/Shockwave, but I can't buy them all at once. They cost money.


    Heatwave: Not only do they have another Beast Wars mini-series coming out soon, but they are also going to be doing a Beast Wars bio book (in the same vein as the G1 bio books Dreamwave did and like what currently runs in the OTFCC magazine) that will give full bios for every single Beast Wars toy.

    DarkPrimus on
  • WildcatWildcat Registered User regular
    edited June 2007
    Hearts of Steel looks awesome. Tell me it reads thusly also!

    Wildcat on
  • Sharp101Sharp101 TorontoRegistered User regular
    edited June 2007
    You forgot the best one.


    tfgj.jpg

    Sharp101 on
  • devoirdevoir Registered User regular
    edited June 2007
    I liked the look of Hearts of Steel, but the story/dialogue/characters didn't do much for me.

    devoir on
  • The_LightbringerThe_Lightbringer Registered User regular
    edited June 2007
    Soundwave's was pretty good.

    Although I'm not sure if that was because I'm incredibly biased towards him.

    The_Lightbringer on
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  • SkulloSkullo Registered User regular
    edited June 2007
    Sharp101 wrote: »
    You forgot the best one.


    tfgj.jpg

    I remember reading this a while back...

    ...and LOVING EVERY SINGLE PART OF IT.

    Seriously, I think I'm going to go dig it up and reread it once I get out of work. I remember it being so badass.

    Skullo on
  • BlankspaceBlankspace __BANNED USERS regular
    edited June 2007
    I didn't forget it, Dreamwave published Transformers/GI Joe, so I left it out because it's not part of the current continuity.

    Blankspace on
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  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    edited June 2007
    Isn't that the one where Optimus kills all of the Transformers race? Yeah....

    DarkPrimus on
  • mattharvestmattharvest Registered User regular
    edited June 2007
    Yeahbuhwhat?

    Optimus goes all genocidal? I simply must have some more information.

    mattharvest on
  • SkulloSkullo Registered User regular
    edited June 2007
    Wait...wahhh? All I remember is awesome WW2 stuff with GiJOE and Transformers.

    Now I really DO have to re-read that.

    Skullo on
  • devoirdevoir Registered User regular
    edited June 2007
    I've just come from the movie. So much awesome. Check out the trickle of people coming back from Oceanic sessions in the D&D TF movie thread.

    Don't spoil it for yourself by clicking the spoiler buttons. I'm really impressed, and not knowing what was coming (aside from a general sense of where the story _had_ to go, being the kind of flick it is) really added to it, for me.

    devoir on
  • Undead ScottsmanUndead Scottsman Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    Here's my reviews of the varoius IDW trades

    Infiltration
    I liked it; but it's a SLOW start to the universe being that it's basically introducing things all over again, and it focuses quite a bit on the humans for the first third or so; and they continue to be prominant over the next third. There isn't a whole lot of Bot on Con action (Just a couple of scuffles at the beginning, a half-hearted fight in the middle and a stalemate at the end.)
    Though Megatron shows up and wrecks some shit on the Decepticon side.

    Stormbringer
    The main selling point of this book is "Cybertron and no humans" and it sticks to it. (Though you do see some organic aliens at one point.) There's transformers coming out of every orifice in this one, and they're all Cybertronian forms. The plot is somewhat good, but has a stale ending. (The ending plays a part in the Escalation series though.)

    Spotlights 1
    I really enjoyed these books. The Shockwave one was excellent and had some major homages (G1 Marvel, Beast Wars) and a nice fight between Shockwave and the Dinobots. The Night Beat one was interesting and presents some glimpses into Cybertron's ancient past as well as tiny glimpse at things to come. Hot Rod's was decent but it really didn't add too much to the overall story yet. Sixshot's was all right; though I like how the Terrorcons effectively "look up" to the Decepticon war machine. I didn't care for the end result of hte plot though (especially where it looks like it's heading in escalation and devestation). Finally Ultra Magnus's is bloody awesome. Instead of being an uncomfortable leader, he's a fucking intergalatic bounty hunter who chases after the Transformers who violate the rules of engagement that the Autobots and Decepticons have agreed to. He's totally badass.

    Escalation
    Starts to heat things up and we see the Transformers getting more involved on Earth, right up into a bigass fight with Megatron and Prime at the middle. Also we start seeing more and more Transformers show up on Earth and many, many seeds planted in the Spotlights are wired into the series in this issue. The humans are still around though, but oh well. It wouldn't be transformers without humans running around underfoot.

    Hearts of Steel
    Other than suffering from a missing issue (Originally intended to be five issues but got scaled back to four) and a pretty much crap ending, this was a cool little mini-series. Not something I'd expect to be sustainable for a full series, but it was awesome for a one-off. Though having a virtual crapton of historical figures just show up in the story is kind of lame. Still, the main reason for this miniseries is to see Steampunk Transformers and it's got them in spades.

    Movie Prequel
    Sheds a lot of light on various stuff (Like Cybertron prehistory, how Megatron and Bumblebee wound up on Earth; the story behind Sector 7) but it's fairly disjointed and jumps around in time a lot after it leaves Cybertron. Can't really recommend it unless you simply must know more about the movies backstory.

    Beast Wars: The Gathering
    Just screams pointless to me. It really seems like the main idea behind this was to introduce all the characters who had a toy but not a character on the show, so a bunch of convulted plot twists that to avoid messing with continuity on the original Beast Wars cartoon (which they still fail at) presents us with a story that just throws tons and tons of characters on the page. It really should have just been a reboot like the G1 series. That way they could have done things gradually and logically rather than just show everything as fast as possible.

    Undead Scottsman on
  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    It's a general consensus that the BW mini was a whole lot of thunder signifying nothing, but hopefully the second mini will lead to some plot development.

    Also, apparently New Avengers/Transformers (first issue out Thursday!) is canon in the IDW TF universe.

    DarkPrimus on
  • BlankspaceBlankspace __BANNED USERS regular
    edited July 2007
    DarkPrimus wrote: »
    It's a general consensus that the BW mini was a whole lot of thunder signifying nothing, but hopefully the second mini will lead to some plot development.

    Also, apparently New Avengers/Transformers (first issue out Thursday!) is canon in the IDW TF universe.
    Actually, no.


    It's mildly canon(They can choose to ignore it) in IDW, but it is canon in Marvel suprisingly. Although I doubt anyone will mention it.
    According to information currently available, the storyline will take place between the first story arc "The Transformers: Infiltration" and the second arc "The Transformers: Escalation" for the IDW Transformers series, and between the "Breakout" and "Sentry" arcs for New Avengers. Writer Stuart Moore has indicated it takes place in the regular Marvel continuity between the first two story arcs of New Avengers [2], and it is currently held as semi-continuity for IDW, which entails that, although it will not have any effect on the overall storyline of Transformers, it will not contradict it either.

    Blankspace on
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  • OwenashiOwenashi Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    Linkage to a post I made containing a preview in TF: Devastation in the other TF thread here in GV.

    http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?p=2180718#post2180718

    Owenashi on
  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    Man so how come they weren't like "Hey where do giant sentient alien robots fall under the SHRA?" during Civil War?

    DarkPrimus on
  • AccualtAccualt Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    I've been loving the majority of the new Transformer comics that have been put out.
    BW, so far, just seemed liek a way to get every last damn to version into the continuity...so I hope the follow really gets a story going.
    As I recall with that WWII GI Joe/TF it just sort of ended all rushed like. It seemed liek the last issue was three crammed into one and really suffered from it.
    Hearts of Steel? So much potential, so terribly written. :(
    Blankspace wrote: »
    Simon Furman who is writing all of the Spotlights has said he is wiling to write a story for any of the Transformers characters.


    Except for Wheelie.

    He's a good man, that Furman. I think I'd even forgive him for doing a Blurr comic.
    He signed my home made Autobot hat back at a Botcon before he started writing the new TF comics. Very humble...but of course at that point he'd only really done the UK comics.

    Accualt on
  • mattharvestmattharvest Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    DarkPrimus wrote: »
    Man so how come they weren't like "Hey where do giant sentient alien robots fall under the SHRA?" during Civil War?

    I don't think it's true that Transformers is actually Canon in 616. I've never seen any indications in non-Transformers comics that Marvel 616 includes those transformers stories.

    mattharvest on
  • devoirdevoir Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    The whole backstory of Transformers may not be canon, but this particular story is from what has been said by Marvel.

    devoir on
  • HooraydiationHooraydiation Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    I'd rather see Ultron as the villain in TF/NA.

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  • mattharvestmattharvest Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    devoir wrote: »
    The whole backstory of Transformers may not be canon, but this particular story is from what has been said by Marvel.

    Well, I've never heard of that before. Can you link to such a statement by editorial?

    More importantly, is there a single instance of that story being referenced in-canon by any other 616 comics?

    mattharvest on
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