i had a completely different reaction. i didn't read the other comics and kinda just dove into the unicron stuff. i don't think you need any of the preceding events. the crossover characters are just there. i guess ultimately if you literally had zero idea that there were crossovers then seeing GI joe or ROM or whoever would be a big set of ???? but i don't think you need to know what is going on. i also think the ending was significantly better than the ending to lost light/mtmte. similarly the ending of wreckers (and really sins as well) just felt like they didn't even need to exist. granted the stories are fine but compared to the other comics making me care about characters like cosmos (i mean seriously...cosmos?!) i just stopped caring about most of the wrecker squad beginning with sins.
overall i kinda liked the prime-trying-not-to-be-prime aspect
After reading your post and thinking of how they made Megatron not the war mongering angry brother type. I guess having Optimus become this wishy washy forced to be leader type fits.
optimus to me always felt like he wanted to hand things off but was surrounded by morons and as such had to keep doing the heavy lifting to ensure things didn't just go to shit
HeatwaveCome, now, and walk the path of explosions with me!Registered Userregular
Yeah Bumblebee became leader, but no one listened to him
Also, just read the Starscream movie story that was included in the trade for volume 5 of Optimus Prime.
Not sure how I missed this issue while reading on comixology (maybe an annual issue?), but that was pretty great.
Thundercracker's a damn good character.
With regards to Sins of the Wreckers, my enjoyment was mostly due to Overlord finally being defeated proper.
I felt MTMTE/Lost Light's ending was better because it took care to wrap up it's own story, instead of throwing everything in the IDW verse at the wall like OP/Unicron. It's character moments felt earned.
Starscream was the breakout character for me in the IDW line. There were some fascinating aspects to his character in his rise from snivelling today to duly elected leader of Cybertron and parts beyond.
Starscream was the breakout character for me in the IDW line. There were some fascinating aspects to his character in his rise from snivelling today to duly elected leader of Cybertron and parts beyond.
I never really gave a damn about starscream until transformers prime. However idw made me also care about him.
Yeah Bumblebee became leader, but no one listened to him
Also, just read the Starscream movie story that was included in the trade for volume 5 of Optimus Prime.
Not sure how I missed this issue while reading on comixology (maybe an annual issue?), but that was pretty great.
Thundercracker's a damn good character.
With regards to Sins of the Wreckers, my enjoyment was mostly due to Overlord finally being defeated proper.
I felt MTMTE/Lost Light's ending was better because it took care to wrap up it's own story, instead of throwing everything in the IDW verse at the wall like OP/Unicron. It's character moments felt earned.
To the last part
I personally felt the cosmos, laserbeak, buzzsaw, blurry, etc deaths. Conversely the LL/mtmte ending just kinda felt like "well we cheated!" In the end I was OK with it but it felt weird.
As for overlord I felt the ending in last stand was the most appropriate. Everything past that seemed pointless.
Edit: my issue with overlord is I am not sure why he came back at all. Just for everyone to have the "HOW DID YOU SURVIVE?1?1?1?1?1?" moment over and over? Having him rot in a cell after the conclusion of last stand would've been a better end for him I think and they could've had [any of a billion other bad guys] show up and use them.
Yeah Bumblebee became leader, but no one listened to him
Also, just read the Starscream movie story that was included in the trade for volume 5 of Optimus Prime.
Not sure how I missed this issue while reading on comixology (maybe an annual issue?), but that was pretty great.
Thundercracker's a damn good character.
With regards to Sins of the Wreckers, my enjoyment was mostly due to Overlord finally being defeated proper.
I felt MTMTE/Lost Light's ending was better because it took care to wrap up it's own story, instead of throwing everything in the IDW verse at the wall like OP/Unicron. It's character moments felt earned.
Ah ok, so I wasn't imagining things that Bumblebee was a leader. Forgot that he was just a figurehead and nobody listened to him though.
I'm still on the fence on IDW's Transformers as a whole. It started out interesting, then sort of felt like there was a conclusion on Cybertron. Then Starscream took over and the story split all over the place. Guess I need to sit down and read through the entire thing again just to see if I want to read the end.
If any of the Autobots actually gave Bumblebee a chance, he would have been a good leader, I thought. Its just that the Autobots went from revering Optimus Prime and then having him leave and being "dumped" with the smallest 'bot as their new leader, they gave him zero respect.
Is anyone reading the new TF series? I don't know if it's any good or not, personally, I'm having a hard time imagining that any reset which kicks the MTMTE/LL mythos to the curb is going to work for me.
Transformers has been a franchise of multiple continuities since basically day 1, so it being a new continuity doesn't bother me. I feel like some of the concepts they're proposing be refreshingly new takes on the material, but I haven't yet read any issues. I was going to trade wait but since they decided to shove 12 issues into a single book that isn't out until the end of this year, I'll probably pick up the issues digitially if I remember.
I figure I'll pick up the digital copies when they go on sale to check it out. I've managed to get through a few reboots since the original Marvel series so willing to see how they want to restart the history once again.
Is anyone reading the new TF series? I don't know if it's any good or not, personally, I'm having a hard time imagining that any reset which kicks the MTMTE/LL mythos to the curb is going to work for me.
I've read #1 of the new series, not a lot happened in the first one, just characters getting introduced and while it's a reboot, it borrows some things of the MTME/LL mythos (it takes place just before the war starts with Megatron and Orion Pax on speaking terms (if not exactly friendly) with Megatron still in the process of radicalizing).
I guess I just don't have the heart to go back to Decepticon Megatron or pre-war times. Autobot Megatron might be one of the best villain redemption stories I can think of and it pains me to see it thrown out. The time-traveling phone call between Pax and Megatron is probably my favorite part of MTMTE.
Honestly I was afraid they were going back to Gen1 Autobots good, Decepticons bad. Crash on Earth. Now fight. So I'm slightly optimistic that things will be more interesting than that, but my favourite part in IDW phase 2 was "the war is over, now what." and I've never been fond of prequels.
First issue isn't exactly good (it doesn't really have a hook for new readers, it doesn't have a big moment that will draw you in (last page reveal.. maybe.. for some people) and mostly relies on you having read IDW Transformers before)
Even if you have read IDW 2 before, it's just introducing several characters (of the top of my head, we have Orion Pax, Megatron, Ironhide (Orion's right hand man), Prowl is mentioned (by Orion and not very favorable, so that is in-line with IDW), Bumblebee (mentor to a young Transformer, so also more his more recent characterization), Windblade (now apparently a Cybertronian, but that's neither confirmed or denied), new Transformer (Rubble, didn't ring any bells, but before IDW phase 2 the last Transformers I read was published by Marvel (wait, I did get the Jae Lee Transformers/GI Joe for the art, so not completely true) and Brainstorm is mentioned/seen on the last page.
I give it a few issues because I liked IDW phase 2 so much, but so far it's been a mediocre start. I feared worse, but I want better.
Read that spoiler. Yep, I'm done. Maybe I'll come back if I hear amazing things, but I doubt it.
That was my favorite character from MTMTE.
0
143999Tellin' yanot askin' ya, not pleadin' with yaRegistered Userregular
I just don't have the patience right now to start over. I'm the opposite of Needs More New Continuity Now Please Guy. I'm the old reader you lose when you try to bring the new reader in.
...which is ironic, because I was the new reader right around the time of LSotW who got brought in full-force by MTMTE, so.
Missing the Spotlight series (Which is a pretty big hole, IMO), Avengers/Transformers, Transformers: Bumblebee (weird omission), Rom vs Transformers and any other non-TF books that guest starred cybertronians. Oh, and the "Combiner Hunters" one-shot.
I gave issue #2 of the new series a try and I think I'm out.
The big thing already talked about in spoilers above:
I don't even care that much about Brainstorm being dead and I love Brainstorm (one of the toys I had as a child, so those always have a special connection to me and I love how much IDW put in some previous minor characters). It's Transformers, they die and sometimes come back.
So that was not a dealbreaker, but the pacing just feels slow. I get they are trying to build to the point where the war erupts, but in a new series, issue #1 is your hook "this is what this comic is going to be about." Issue #2 is either a counterpoint or an expansion to that "We are *also* doing this/hey, there is even more going on" or "so we have the main theme established, let's look at the players involved".
Maybe it's working for somebody else, but the big premise so far is "First murder on Cybertron in millions of years against a backdrop of impending war." which could work, I guess, but it's execution so far is off. First issue was 20 pages of exposition with a cliffhanger to establish theme, 2nd issue seems to be another 20 pages of exposition.
This sucks that it is going the way I thought it was given the two 5 page teasers. Usually if the teasers are interesting I want to get the comic before it goes on sale. But these two have left me going, "Eh". Add that in with your comments and I think I might wait longer to see where they are going with this before picking them up.
The first issue seemed okay to me. Not as fun as More Than Meets the Eye/Lost Light, but more readable than pretty much everything else since before All Hail Megatron. I'm kind of curious to see if this continuity just isn't going to have a millions-of-years long war, and isn't going to Earth. All my least favorite things from the previous run, including LL, had to do with Earth and Earth culture. I guess Thundercracker was okay. But more disappointed that Spike didn't die horribly before the whole thing finished.
Seems like a slow burn to me. I'll keep checking in from time to time.
Its weird though how the 'bots look so....plain... without their badges where they are supposed to me. Megatron doesn't even have his swirly chest designs either!
Im all aboard for a new pre-war Cybertron story.
I might be a outlier though but Give me both sides origin stories. fill in people's backstories, what jobs did they do, were some future 'bots friends with future cons, show me relationships broken up by them choosing different sides
How did the upcoming war split apart friendships, how about workplaces (for instance IDW Decepticons was the 'working' classes rising up against class oppression). How did the war break out? Did it start with riots and escalate into people choosing sides? Did it start by the various cities (Iacon, Kaon, Vos, Tarn etc) going to war with each other before unifying with their likeminded friends. Was it over resources or ideology?
What was the war like for the common cybertronian who isn't a Prime or Megatron or one of the 'important' bots. How did all the various groups (Dinobots, Aerialbots, Seekers, Protectorbots etc) meet up , were they all pre-war friends who stuck together, or people thrown together by conflict.
What was the war between a race of Transforming robots really like. Surely it wan't just Decepticon doomsday plots all day everyday.
Basically I want a giant history book of the Transformers conflict like you'd find of World War 2 or something like that
+1
HeatwaveCome, now, and walk the path of explosions with me!Registered Userregular
Oh man they kept with Optimus being the "I don't want to be the leader of the Autobots" routine going? I was hoping that would change after a while.
IMO, it got worse. Now it was more like a mopey, "I don't want to be venerated as a Prime." even though he is a gawddamned Prime and needed to act like one!
It was more Prime using the myth of the Primes to inspire his followers/push himself into authority, even though he believed it all to be bullshit.
There was an interesting thing that popped up over time of Prime, having been basically the ultimate authority of the autobots for so long, just flat out couldn't handle being in a position of having to defer authority when he felt said authority was interfering with doing the right thing, and so would repeatedly flaunt the law in order to achieve what he believed to be the greater good (Annexing earth, brokering a trade deal with the Junkions to force Earth into Cybertronian jurisdiction, breaking people out of jail)
It's a slow burn, but I like the world they're building. Celebrations when new bots or forged, complete with them coming out to a roaring crowd (that's got to be weird), being assigned a mentor who will teach you about the world, so you can find what job/altmode you eventually want is great new take on things. The new cybertron with it's energon harvesting moon and leviathans and organic inhabitants and the entire ecology of being birthed from cybertron and eventually returning to it. Very cool stuff that doesn't just repeat the IDW stuff but still gives as much attention to it.
I do like how the Autobots and Ascenticons are just two of many factions. Placing the Decepticons as the "Ascenticons" who are in favor of expansion rather than conservation, creates a legitimate basis to build the eventual terrible idealogy they'll likely wind up on.
Sadly, it seems pretty obvious where the story is going to me. Megatron is behind the Rise, who are there to stir shit up to justify Megatron's eventually power grab. Even the assination attempt as likely an excuse for the Ascenticons to begin arming themselves. Maybe I'm just not giving the writers enough credit, but it sure feels like how that's going.
Overall, it's neat as a fresh take on the classic mythos. I'll be keeping an eye on it to see where it goes.
Looks like a fan favorite IDW character is making her first appearance in the new continuity. (Also a character who I've wanted to see in fiction a long time.)
Looks like a fan favorite IDW character is making her first appearance in the new continuity. (Also a character who I've wanted to see in fiction a long time.)
New spinoff series announced: Transformers: Galaxies. Sounds like an anthology series of stuff taking place off-world. First arc is about the Constructicons.
Posts
overall i kinda liked the prime-trying-not-to-be-prime aspect
WoWtcg and general gaming podcast
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After reading your post and thinking of how they made Megatron not the war mongering angry brother type. I guess having Optimus become this wishy washy forced to be leader type fits.
Steam: betsuni7
WoWtcg and general gaming podcast
WoWtcg and gaming website
Steam: betsuni7
Also, just read the Starscream movie story that was included in the trade for volume 5 of Optimus Prime.
Not sure how I missed this issue while reading on comixology (maybe an annual issue?), but that was pretty great.
Thundercracker's a damn good character.
With regards to Sins of the Wreckers, my enjoyment was mostly due to Overlord finally being defeated proper.
I felt MTMTE/Lost Light's ending was better because it took care to wrap up it's own story, instead of throwing everything in the IDW verse at the wall like OP/Unicron. It's character moments felt earned.
Steam / Origin & Wii U: Heatwave111 / FC: 4227-1965-3206 / Battle.net: Heatwave#11356
I never really gave a damn about starscream until transformers prime. However idw made me also care about him.
To the last part
As for overlord I felt the ending in last stand was the most appropriate. Everything past that seemed pointless.
Edit: my issue with overlord is I am not sure why he came back at all. Just for everyone to have the "HOW DID YOU SURVIVE?1?1?1?1?1?" moment over and over? Having him rot in a cell after the conclusion of last stand would've been a better end for him I think and they could've had [any of a billion other bad guys] show up and use them.
WoWtcg and general gaming podcast
WoWtcg and gaming website
Ah ok, so I wasn't imagining things that Bumblebee was a leader. Forgot that he was just a figurehead and nobody listened to him though.
I'm still on the fence on IDW's Transformers as a whole. It started out interesting, then sort of felt like there was a conclusion on Cybertron. Then Starscream took over and the story split all over the place. Guess I need to sit down and read through the entire thing again just to see if I want to read the end.
Steam: betsuni7
Steam: betsuni7
Steam / Origin & Wii U: Heatwave111 / FC: 4227-1965-3206 / Battle.net: Heatwave#11356
I've read #1 of the new series, not a lot happened in the first one, just characters getting introduced and while it's a reboot, it borrows some things of the MTME/LL mythos (it takes place just before the war starts with Megatron and Orion Pax on speaking terms (if not exactly friendly) with Megatron still in the process of radicalizing).
First issue isn't exactly good (it doesn't really have a hook for new readers, it doesn't have a big moment that will draw you in (last page reveal.. maybe.. for some people) and mostly relies on you having read IDW Transformers before)
Even if you have read IDW 2 before, it's just introducing several characters (of the top of my head, we have Orion Pax, Megatron, Ironhide (Orion's right hand man), Prowl is mentioned (by Orion and not very favorable, so that is in-line with IDW), Bumblebee (mentor to a young Transformer, so also more his more recent characterization), Windblade (now apparently a Cybertronian, but that's neither confirmed or denied), new Transformer (Rubble, didn't ring any bells, but before IDW phase 2 the last Transformers I read was published by Marvel (wait, I did get the Jae Lee Transformers/GI Joe for the art, so not completely true) and Brainstorm is mentioned/seen on the last page.
I give it a few issues because I liked IDW phase 2 so much, but so far it's been a mediocre start. I feared worse, but I want better.
Given the reviews here for #1 I might just wait for a few to be out before I pick them up.
Steam: betsuni7
...which is ironic, because I was the new reader right around the time of LSotW who got brought in full-force by MTMTE, so.
https://www.humblebundle.com/books/transformers-2019-idw-books
Missing the Spotlight series (Which is a pretty big hole, IMO), Avengers/Transformers, Transformers: Bumblebee (weird omission), Rom vs Transformers and any other non-TF books that guest starred cybertronians. Oh, and the "Combiner Hunters" one-shot.
That is such a ridiculously good deal for $15.
Now I forgot who wanted the bat signal on this bundle.
Steam: betsuni7
@Heffling and @Heatwave : You have asked for a batsignal when there was another Transformers Humble Bundle.
Thanks for reminding me as I probably would have forgotten! :biggrin:
Steam / Origin & Wii U: Heatwave111 / FC: 4227-1965-3206 / Battle.net: Heatwave#11356
The big thing already talked about in spoilers above:
So that was not a dealbreaker, but the pacing just feels slow. I get they are trying to build to the point where the war erupts, but in a new series, issue #1 is your hook "this is what this comic is going to be about." Issue #2 is either a counterpoint or an expansion to that "We are *also* doing this/hey, there is even more going on" or "so we have the main theme established, let's look at the players involved".
Maybe it's working for somebody else, but the big premise so far is "First murder on Cybertron in millions of years against a backdrop of impending war." which could work, I guess, but it's execution so far is off. First issue was 20 pages of exposition with a cliffhanger to establish theme, 2nd issue seems to be another 20 pages of exposition.
YMMV.
Steam: betsuni7
Its weird though how the 'bots look so....plain... without their badges where they are supposed to me. Megatron doesn't even have his swirly chest designs either!
Steam: betsuni7
I might be a outlier though but Give me both sides origin stories. fill in people's backstories, what jobs did they do, were some future 'bots friends with future cons, show me relationships broken up by them choosing different sides
How did the upcoming war split apart friendships, how about workplaces (for instance IDW Decepticons was the 'working' classes rising up against class oppression). How did the war break out? Did it start with riots and escalate into people choosing sides? Did it start by the various cities (Iacon, Kaon, Vos, Tarn etc) going to war with each other before unifying with their likeminded friends. Was it over resources or ideology?
What was the war like for the common cybertronian who isn't a Prime or Megatron or one of the 'important' bots. How did all the various groups (Dinobots, Aerialbots, Seekers, Protectorbots etc) meet up , were they all pre-war friends who stuck together, or people thrown together by conflict.
What was the war between a race of Transforming robots really like. Surely it wan't just Decepticon doomsday plots all day everyday.
Basically I want a giant history book of the Transformers conflict like you'd find of World War 2 or something like that
AHEM!
Those are NOT nipples!
...they chest hair :P
Steam / Origin & Wii U: Heatwave111 / FC: 4227-1965-3206 / Battle.net: Heatwave#11356
Just... damn. This is really great. It contains scenes and characters from the entire IDW run, so... spoilers, I guess?
It was more Prime using the myth of the Primes to inspire his followers/push himself into authority, even though he believed it all to be bullshit.
There was an interesting thing that popped up over time of Prime, having been basically the ultimate authority of the autobots for so long, just flat out couldn't handle being in a position of having to defer authority when he felt said authority was interfering with doing the right thing, and so would repeatedly flaunt the law in order to achieve what he believed to be the greater good (Annexing earth, brokering a trade deal with the Junkions to force Earth into Cybertronian jurisdiction, breaking people out of jail)
I do like how the Autobots and Ascenticons are just two of many factions. Placing the Decepticons as the "Ascenticons" who are in favor of expansion rather than conservation, creates a legitimate basis to build the eventual terrible idealogy they'll likely wind up on.
Sadly, it seems pretty obvious where the story is going to me. Megatron is behind the Rise, who are there to stir shit up to justify Megatron's eventually power grab. Even the assination attempt as likely an excuse for the Ascenticons to begin arming themselves. Maybe I'm just not giving the writers enough credit, but it sure feels like how that's going.
Overall, it's neat as a fresh take on the classic mythos. I'll be keeping an eye on it to see where it goes.
Steam / Origin & Wii U: Heatwave111 / FC: 4227-1965-3206 / Battle.net: Heatwave#11356
https://www.idwpublishing.com/the-bold-new-era-of-transformers-expands-with-monthly-galaxies-series/
Steam: betsuni7