Transformers: More than Meets the Eye Season One #1-22

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Grayfox
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Transformers: More than Meets the Eye Season One #1-22

Post by Grayfox »

A new ongoing series (1 of 2, in fact), that will send Rodimus, Ultra Magnus, Ratchet, Drift and many more across the galaxy in search of the Knights of Cybertron. Written by fan-favorite scribe James Roberts and art by Nick Roche & Alex Milne.

This is your
all purpose Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye #1 reaction and discussion thread.

- ziggy


---

http://ryalltime.wordpress.com/2012/01/ ... 1-preview/

Favorite line from the preview - Bumblebee to Ratchet, about Rodimus speech: "It's all scripted you know. Drift writes it for him".

Awesome.
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Post by Denyer »

Looks good. If the current almost total lack of listings on eBay is anything to go by, though, nobody's stocking... that and titling it "more than meets the eye" is a great way to get the book mixed up with old Dreamwave comics.
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Post by zigzagger »

Two additional pages @ Comics Continuum.

-----

Nice.

Roberts seems to really get the characters. Though, this is a slightly new(er) take on his already great interpretation of Prowl. Looking forward to see where he goes with this.

Roche's work is highly expressive as usual (though, as to be expected, it doesn't seem to be going over as well on the big boards). Pity Milne's taking over after this, but if his work in Chaos Theory is anything to go by, I think I'll adjust.
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Post by inflatable dalek »

Denyer wrote:Looks good. If the current almost total lack of listings on eBay is anything to go by, though, nobody's stocking... that and titling it "more than meets the eye" is a great way to get the book mixed up with old Dreamwave comics.
Both titles are needlessly cumbersome and easy to mix up really. Indeed, up till this thread I thought it was RID that Rocharts/Rolne was going to be behind.

I do think it's a shame they seem to be carrying on the movie influenced Don designed look to the characters. Considering it was pretty much panned right from the first issue and that I've yet to see any artist say they enjoy drawing the movie look even when working on movie comics I do have to wonder why they haven't used this relaunch to visually refresh the books.
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Post by Red Dave Prime »

I'll be happy to see them settle on something consistent style wise. Dons stuff didnt look so bad... after AM started doing it though. Hope Milne doesnt go backwards with his art because I saw a cover of issue 2 with Hot rod and it looks gash. Like full-on Alex at his worst.

This is looking good so far. Streets ahead more interesting than the previous run. I do agree that the titling is terrible though for each series - More than Meets the Eye is really vague and Robots in Disguise doesnt seem apt anymore with the story moved back to cybertron.

I would have gone with Transformers:The Next Generation for the rodimus book and Transformers:Deep Space Cybertron for the other one myself. Maybe Prime could end up a million galaxies away for a third book entitled Transformers:Voyager (Prime). :p
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Post by zigzagger »

Densely written, stubborn attention to detail, loads of focus on second (and third) stringers. Yep, this is definitely a James Roberts book. There's a lot of set up here. A LOT. And, it does a great job, well, setting up a rather colorful cast.

I enjoyed it, though if I had to fault it for one thing, is that there's a lot more going on than this little ol' issue could contain, to the point where not everyone in this large cast is given the proper introductions they deserve.

Nonetheless, this book was really fun. Worth at least a peek to those, like me, who have been far from impressed by most of IDW's output over the last couple years. Be warned that it's set up, though.

---

Notes 'n' stuff...

It's looking like we're getting quite the core cast here, so I'll start with the characters:

Rodimus -- Pretty much what Magnus thinks of him; impulsive and hotheaded. So, yeah, Rodimus is up to being his usual self, and as to be expected, he gets his crew into a mess of trouble.

Ultra Magnus -- He kind of reminds me of Furman's Prowl, but, you know, a little less prickish. He has the strict adherence to protocol and routine, but he's much more personable and actually has a sense of humor (a rather dry one at that). I think he'll make a perfect foil to Rodimus. I'm glad Magnus decided to tag along :)

Drift -- When did he climb up the ranks? At least, that's my impression. In Death of Optimus Prime he was present during 'High Command's' conferences, and here Drift seems to be Rodimus's right hand along with Ultra Magnus.

My guess? Errr...because he met Dai Atlas and his gang and thus his knowledge is invaluable to the mission? Eh, probably. Can't really complain how he's portrayed here, tempting as it is. He and Magnus make perfect straight men to Rodimus. Honestly, it kinda suits him.

Ratchet -- Okay, first things first; James Roberts is ****ing writing Ratchet!

...Ahem, all fangasms aside, it's a slightly different take on the character. Mind you, this is how I read it, but it's like Roberts took all the more positive aspects from the Prime, Bay-formers and Animated iterations of the character and merged them with G1 Ratchet. So, what we end up with is a still good-humored and adventurous Ratchet who is coming to terms with his 'age'. It's an interesting idea and I'm more than willing to give it a chance. I'm looking forward to seeing how Ratchet's personal quest plays out.

Rewind -- Mmm, my thoughts on him are pretty much the same as they were in the Death of Optimus Prime thread. Adorkable. Loved the banter between him and Chromedome - particularly when the latter is giving the former a hard time about his chosen alt form.

Chromedome -- Aside from his relationship Rewind, Chromedome didn't leave much of an impression. Not yet anyway. Goes back to my earlier concern with the book; there's just not enough room for everyone to be properly introduced. Still, it is kind of neat how all the non-Headmaster Headmasters are popping up again. Even Highbrow got a mention.

Cyclonus -- Ugh, finally someone remembers he's not a Decepticon. He's back to being the patriotic, internal-monologist that was introduced in his so-called 'Spotlight'. Which is fine, it was one of Furman's better works in my opinion (if you ignore that it's part of Revelation).

Cyclonus' initial deadpanned response to Whirl was priceless.

Tailgate -- Now here's a character I wasn't expecting to see. The poor thing. He won me over on sympathy alone...though, his smart-assed systems check probably played a part in that as well ("Preliminary damage report: You're an idiot." )

Prowl -- Getting dangerously close to crossing the line to villainy here. Assuming he's the one that sabotaged the ship. Though the more I think about it, I'm starting to doubt that was his doing. Like we're being thrown off, as there's plenty of other culprits to consider.

Other than that, I've already stated earlier in this thread (and a few times elsewhere) how I feel about Robert's Prowl.

Swerve
-- He was introduced during Chaos wasn't he? Great (re)introduction either way.

Red Alert: "Name?"
Swerve: "Megatron. But you can call me...Death."

Rung -- Loved his narrations in the Last Stand of the Wreckers profiles. Nothing wrong with him, though can already see folks crying 'self-insertion character'. Eh, I guess he is, but at least he's a charming and well written self-insertion character. Didn't do much else for me to really make any other judgements. My guess; aside from playing the role of ship counselor, he'll be keeping an eye on Red Alert. Of course, I'm just going by the nature of their relationship and Robert's has been known telegraph these sorts of things.

Also, are we seeing the beginning of a running gag here? So far, every time Rung shows up, something unfortunate happens to him (eg. Chaos Theory).

Red Alert -- Again, not enough info to make a final judgment, but what I saw was great. I like snarky Red Alert. Snarky Red Alert is funny. Though, if I have one complaint, it's the new design. Aside from the color scheme, I'm not getting much of a 'Red Alert' vibe here, especially with the white sports visor.

Brainstorm -- Yep, he definitely sounds like someone who was stationed at the Kimia facility (read "Bullets" from the LSOTW TPB if you don't know what the hell I'm talking about). And he definitely sounds like someone who worked closely to Ironfist (the "Autopedia" reference, etc). It's a spot on Brainstorm, in my opinion.

Whirl -- He's a psychopath and he's creepy...And, he's an asshole. For anyone that knows anything about him, that more or less sums up Whirl. Have always been impartial to character to be honest. For me, it explains why he was absent from Last Stand of the Wreckers.

...Now explain Roadbuster and Broadside :p

--

Ugh, that damn timeline. With all the 'soft reboots' the title has had to endure over the years, you'd think IDW would do away with this one. Now, it seems like they've made it absurdly longer.

(Bumblebee at Ratchet) - "It's all scripted, you know. Drift writes it for him." -- I could make some pun about how Shane McCarthy writes Rodimus' speeches. But that'd be too easy.

So...The Lost Light experiences a 'malfunction', flinging it halfway across the galaxy, along a path that promises to bring sorrow, death and an assortment of other surprises. Nah, this doesn't sound familiar at all ;)
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Post by Terome »

I've been reading this all day. There's a lot going on and it's all very intriguing...

There's a very Red Dwarfy vibe throughout. Tailgate's six million year blackout is very reminiscent of it and Ultra Magnus' Terminator vision could be a gag lifted straight from Kryten. Not to mention the future echo at the end.

Not that any of that is at all a bad thing. Weirdly, the other big thing that I take a slightly worrying amount of interest in, Homestuck, also owes a huge amount to Red Dwarf, especially the novels.

Anyway, I'm sold. It'll be fun keeping track of the big cast and the mile-a-minute backstory that is building up. I'm as dismayed as anyone that the goofy 'four million year war' thing from the Ironhide series is being stuck with, but I'm sure I'll get over it. Maybe Cybertron has a weird calender on account of its orbit around three stars?
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Post by StarscreamX »

Bloody beautiful and such a breath of fresh air after the last few years of terrible Transformers comics. Just like Last Stand of the Wreckers this series takes a group of characters who are a mix of old favourites and guys who have never had any real personality before and instantly makes me fall in love with them all

Ultra Magnus is a joy here. He gets the best line of the issue during the "crooked badge" bit with him and Rodimus. I had a hard time reading it without imagining Rodimus being voiced by Craig Charles and Ultra Magnus being voiced by Chris Barrie :love:

Chromedome and Rewind are an adorable pair already and I loved the bit about alt modes and Rewind "Archiving"

Cyclonus finally being written as the interesting new take on the character Furman presented in his Spotlight which was then promptly abandoned in order to make him the bloke out of the cartoon who Galvatron occasionally thumps is a very welcome change and he had some great scenes here. Whirl was a nice addition as well and his increasing damaged mental state makes me think that Rodimus is really going to wish he'd left him back on Cybertron

Brainstorm is wonderful. What DOES he keep in that briefcase of his? I think he's bluffing and it's his private stock of energon goodies and he just doesn't want to share. So he scares people off with all this talk about doomsday weapons. The big fibber

And Swerve I'm in love with this guy already after just a couple of bits of dialogue.
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Post by zigzagger »

Yeah, the Magnus-O-Vision was great, wasn't it?

At some point, I'd like to have an issue (or subplot, at least) told mostly through Ultra Magnus' POV. At a glance, it seems to have been well-received throughout the interwebs. I think it's almost expected at this point.
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Post by Red Dave Prime »

Damn it, this was near the perfect start. The art is fab, I think Roches finest stuff yet and Burchams colourings suit it so well. Very disappointing that Roche wont be available for the rest of the ongoing but hopefully Milne will be able to keep his recent form and produce some good work (the cover for issue 2 would indicate not)

The writing is typical roberts - He's kinda like the Joss Whedon of transformers. Snappy dialogue, nearly always a bit of underlying wit and lots of stuff going on. Really, its a great start for this book. The cliffhanger at the end also gets the old curiosity flowing. Hopeful IDW dont implode and reboot before all those threads are tied up.

Over to Barbar next who I really think has a much harder prospect ahead. Transformers a-la star trek? Roberts was always going to nail that one.
SPOILER! (select to read)
As for the autobot who shows up in issue 2? I have a feeling it jsut may be the now-insane Grimlock. He did come up in LSOTW so maybe this is where he ends up
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Post by StarscreamX »

Red Dave Prime wrote:Damn it, this was near the perfect start. The art is fab, I think Roches finest stuff yet and Burchams colourings suit it so well. Very disappointing that Roche wont be available for the rest of the ongoing but hopefully Milne will be able to keep his recent form and produce some good work (the cover for issue 2 would indicate not)

The writing is typical roberts - He's kinda like the Joss Whedon of transformers. Snappy dialogue, nearly always a bit of underlying wit and lots of stuff going on. Really, its a great start for this book. The cliffhanger at the end also gets the old curiosity flowing. Hopeful IDW dont implode and reboot before all those threads are tied up.

Over to Barbar next who I really think has a much harder prospect ahead. Transformers a-la star trek? Roberts was always going to nail that one.
SPOILER! (select to read)
As for the autobot who shows up in issue 2? I have a feeling it jsut may be the now-insane Grimlock. He did come up in LSOTW so maybe this is where he ends up
I think the Autobot who's going to be returning is
SPOILER! (select to read)
Skids
based on the solicits but issue four mentions another character thought lost may be returning so that could well be
SPOILER! (select to read)
Grimlock. Though as it's set on Delphi, the Wrecker's old base, I'm thinking it's going to be one of the Wreckers who's status is unknown right now, Impactor, Guzzle or RacknRuin
zigzagger wrote:Yeah, the Magnus-O-Vision was great, wasn't it?

At some point, I'd like to have an issue (or subplot, at least) told mostly through Ultra Magnus' POV. At a glance, it seems to have been well-received throughout the interwebs. I think it's almost expected at this point.
I'd love to know what his Magnus-O-Vision makes of nutters like Whirl or guys like Brainstorm with his history of creating bizarre and horrible weapons
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Post by Red Dave Prime »

A minor worry is that with Alex taking over, some of the more visual humour that you get with Nicks work may not come across as well (or at all)

I really like the bit where Tailgate is crawling along and keeps passing out. It's very funny visually and I just cant imagine Milne carry it off. Hope I'm wrong because the sly humour that roberts (and roche) brought to DOOP (!!) and LSOTW really added to the character of both stories.
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Post by zigzagger »

So, none of our other resident Roberts fans have picked this up?
StarscreamX wrote:I think the Autobot who's going to be returning is
SPOILER! (select to read)
Skids
Oh, that's right! I completely spaced that.

I'm all for a little love being tossed in his direction. Still, just for once, it'd be nice that the poor guy wasn't made out to be the punching bag of the universe. Though, I suppose _____'s bad luck more or less defines him as character. Unintentionally so, but still...
Red Dave Prime wrote:A minor worry is that with Alex taking over, some of the more visual humour that you get with Nicks work may not come across as well (or at all)

I really like the bit where Tailgate is crawling along and keeps passing out. It's very funny visually and I just cant imagine Milne carry it off. Hope I'm wrong because the sly humour that roberts (and roche) brought to DOOP (!!) and LSOTW really added to the character of both stories.
Was thinking that too, right after I made my comment about it. While I will admit Milne has greatly improved, at least recently, he still needs to expand his range of emotions -- you know, outside of shock and...errr, smug satisfaction?
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Post by inflatable dalek »

Ah, James Roberts. How I want to perform some sort of insane mad scientist experiment on you to turn you into a woman so we can have lots of crazy looking babies.

If Death of Optimus Prime was underwhelming, this was about as perfect an issue one as could be hopped for. Whilst the Autobots who are staying behind are still far too jerky to make RID appealing here Rodimus and company are suddenly fun. Ultra Magnus, Swerve, Tailgate, Rewind (ah, what was he buying?) are all awesome and set up well. And Whirl is a magnificent crazy bastard.

The only downside is, long term plots are set up. Have IDW not learnt this is a really bad idea? I don't expect any satisfactory pay off to anything said in that message at the end. And that's a shame.

General thoughts:

I'm expecting a twist where the explosion wasn't Prowl's doing but just an accident due to premature launching. Mind, Prowl is part of the "Everyone is a cock" book so maybe that's optimistic.

Another possibility for the "Thought dead" Transformer: Scourge. He warrants a few mentions, is important to Cyclonus and it's very firmly established he's considered gone.

I was expecting there to be a pay off to Prowl's speech where it turned out he gave that "You're the only indispensable one" speech to everyone. Unless that pay off is in the other book?

All in all, if not for it being part of the IDW Universe I would literally be dry humping this comic like a demented dog. As it is though: Cautiously optimistic.

EDIT: Oh, but any in-fiction use of rubsigns is and always will be crap.
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Post by Red Dave Prime »

Interesting idea on Scourge. It would be nice to have him show up as he was the original sweep - I imagine there is potential there for some good character issues.
The only downside is, long term plots are set up. Have IDW not learnt this is a really bad idea? I don't expect any satisfactory pay off to anything said in that message at the end. And that's a shame.
See, the thing is that I hope IDW will have learned from Furman is that not everything needs to be set up and then finished at the same time. I'm hopeful that Roberts has made notes on all the plot ideas he has set up but isnt rushed to tie them all up within the next 6 months. Hell, if the comic is decent some of these issues can be ongoing for ages before we get a payoff. Many a book or tv show manager to do the long set-up on some plot points. And another note to IDW is that not everything has to be "The next big bad" type of plot. It helps if some stuff is simply dealt with in one or two issues.

The main thing is that if (when?) IDW decide to change direction they hold steady on any ground work laid and dont just ignore it all. The writer may change but the reader hopefully doesnt.
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Post by Warcry »

inflatable dalek wrote:Whilst the Autobots who are staying behind are still far too jerky to make RID appealing here Rodimus and company are suddenly fun.
I told you so. ;)
inflatable dalek wrote:The only downside is, long term plots are set up. Have IDW not learnt this is a really bad idea? I don't expect any satisfactory pay off to anything said in that message at the end. And that's a shame.
Actually, I'm of the mind that we'll see most of these ideas take shape in fairly short order. Roberts' resume is filled with stories that move at lightning speed, and I expect this one to be much the same.
SPOILER! (select to read)
We already know from solicits that Skids will be showing up in the next issue or two.
And we already know Delphi from Bullets -- it's the Autobot medical centre, and a perfectly logical destination for an Autobot ship that just took serious damage and casualties...as well as for an Autobot medic who is looking for his replacement (fingers crossed for First Aid, I'd really like to see him get some development). I wouldn't be surprised at all if they arrived there within the first trade's worth of material.

A part of me is leery about this book being an ongoing, though. The foreshadowing tells me that Roberts seems to have the general thrust of the story in mind, and there are only so many ways the crew can be diverted from their quest without it being repetitive. It seems like the sort of story that really should run for a set amount of time (whether that be twelve issues or thirty) and then end organically when they find what they're looking for. I just hope that IDW have the wits to end the story properly when the time comes and then move on to something else.
inflatable dalek wrote:I was expecting there to be a pay off to Prowl's speech where it turned out he gave that "You're the only indispensable one" speech to everyone. Unless that pay off is in the other book?
When I read that, I honestly wondered just how many people Prowl had given that little speech to...and how many of them he'd convinced to stay.
inflatable dalek wrote:All in all, if not for it being part of the IDW Universe I would literally be dry humping this comic like a demented dog. As it is though: Cautiously optimistic.
Same here. I want to like it, but at the same time I'm still operating under the assumption that IDW will ruin it somehow. Don't want to get my hopes up too high.

But my biggest reaction was this: much like Wreckers, Roberts' use of characters here both pleases and enrages me. If you'd told me last year that we'd see an ongoing series starring Hot Rod, Ultra Magnus, Drift, Tailgate, Whirl, Cyclonus, Rung, Red Alert, Ratchet, Swerve, Chromedome and Rewind I would have laughed at you. And yet here we are, and in the space of one issue he's made every one of them a unique character that you can understand (if not in fact like). Whirl especially is a revelation...I'd always seen his particular type of crazy as the wacky, funloving daredevil sort and until James Roberts started to use him I had no idea just how wildly dangerous he could be.

There's not a bad character in the bunch and I'm looking forward to seeing exactly what he does with all of them.

But the flip-side of that coin is the deaths. Just like Wreckers, where the fall of Garrus-9 left a whole list of minor characters presumably dead, this series starts off by slaughtering a good half-dozen Autobots. This time we can say goodbye to Fizzle, Sureshot, Siren, Rollout, and Rad (probably not Waverider, since he's got an invincible Pretender shell...). And what for? Did anyone among them even have lines? Did they do anything in the IDW universe that will make us care that they're gone? Or did Roberts just pick some names out of a hat in the hopes that people will care more about them than the handful of generics he tossed out?

But the thing is...I don't give a **** about IDW Sureshot (for example), and killing him off in the hopes that I'll care because I liked Marvel Sureshot or had the toy as a kid is a cheap trick. If Roberts wanted to kill someone off for shock value, he should have had the balls to throw Ultra Magnus or Ratchet out that hull breach. Kill off someone who's gotten screen-time and development, and I'll care about it. But killing off Sureshot when he hasn't even had a chance to do something yet doesn't carry any emotional impact at all, other than mild annoyance that future writers won't get the chance to make him into a character that I might care about later.

When Mike Costa does something like this I just shake my head in disgust, but when Roberts does it it gets under my skin a whole lot more. Because if anyone should know what a waste it is to kill off a character before anyone's had a chance to make something of them, it's him. Think about how much depth would Wreckers have lost if Furman had randomly killed off Pyro in a Spotlight, or if McCarthy had decided to bump off Topspin and Twin Twist in the background of one of the fight scenes in AHM. Then ask yourself, what great stories might James Roberts have just nipped in the bud by melting down Fizzle and Rollout? Maybe they never would have been used...but we'll never know, will we?
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Post by Red Dave Prime »

Then ask yourself, what great stories might James Roberts have just nipped in the bud by melting down Fizzle and Rollout? Maybe they never would have been used...but we'll never know, will we?
Yeah, but to be fair - there are only so many characters you can have. I realise that this could mean a potential great character or story is thrown out before they had a chance but I get the feeling that if a writer had a great idea for a character arc and realised that the character they had in mind was gone, they could still adapt it for another character. If we take LSOTW for example, wasnt the part of overlord originally going to be Scorponok? And things worked out better because of it.

Besides, if things go well, roberts will be on this book for a while. In this case, if he was willing to kill off a character so easily, he was never going to be pushed to write for them.

As a last note, the autobots who fall out of the ship could still return. There's certainly nothing to stop them being found in the same manner as Blaster in his spotlight.
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Post by Warcry »

Red Dave Prime wrote:Yeah, but to be fair - there are only so many characters you can have. I realise that this could mean a potential great character or story is thrown out before they had a chance but I get the feeling that if a writer had a great idea for a character arc and realised that the character they had in mind was gone, they could still adapt it for another character. If we take LSOTW for example, wasnt the part of overlord originally going to be Scorponok? And things worked out better because of it.
Sometimes yes. But to use your LSOTW example, there aren't many people other than Pyro who could have carried off his arc because it was based pretty strongly on how he looked. The same goes for Topspin and Twin Twist. Maybe you could substitute Fastlane and Cloudraker, but then it's not the same story because they'd be new recruits instead of guys that Springer's known for years.

Sometimes stories are very unique to the characters they're written for.
Red Dave Prime wrote:Besides, if things go well, roberts will be on this book for a while. In this case, if he was willing to kill off a character so easily, he was never going to be pushed to write for them.
Four years ago people would have said the same thing, except substituting 'Furman' instead of 'Roberts'. Things can change very quickly.

James Roberts isn't the sole arbiter of a character's value to the Transformers franchise. He's a good writer and I like what he's done with the characters that he's set his sights on, but I wish he wasn't so casual about stamping out the ones that he hasn't. It would be a shame if a later writer saw something in Siren or Rad that called out for exploration but he couldn't do anything with him because he's nothing but ashes scattered through the atmosphere of some alien planet.
Red Dave Prime wrote:As a last note, the autobots who fall out of the ship could still return. There's certainly nothing to stop them being found in the same manner as Blaster in his spotlight.
Not without really, really straining credulity. They weren't just lost in space, after all. They were dumped into an atmosphere and we saw them burn up. There are a lot of 'deaths' that a robot could come back from, but this one's pretty definitive. Unless you're as tough as G2 Megatron, that's not something you're surviving.

Maybe they'll be able to recover some parts for repairs next issue, but I'd be surprised. The tone of this issue made their fates pretty cut and dried.
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Post by zigzagger »

I consider myself also of the "cautiously optimistic" camp. Though, I'll admit, I'm probably being a bit more generous than most of you.

This book feels safe to me because - and this may sound harsh - it reads like a limited or maxi-series, even if it's not slated as one.

That's not necessarily a bad thing, the way I see it...assuming there's no executive meddling along the way (yeah, yeah, I know -- be quiet :(). I'm fine with the prospect of a series that has a planned beginning, middle and end. Just to be clear, I'm not saying that was the plan from the get go, I'm just saying I'm not adverse to the idea.

Another reason I think this reads like a maxi-series, is - again, this may sound harsh - that compared to RiD, that has a much more familiar cast and therefore (potentially) has a broader appeal, MTMTE is written by the fan-favorite writer and has a cast of some well-knowns (Magnus, Rodimus and Ratchet), a few unknowns (Drift and Rung) and a lot of second stringers (Skids, Tailgate, Swerve, etc, etc). The book reads like it's targeted more towards the fans, in the same way Last Stand of the Wreckers was, rather than it being yet another attempt to reach out to a few new readers.
Warcry wrote: When I read that, I honestly wondered just how many people Prowl had given that little speech to...and how many of them he'd convinced to stay.
My impression was quite a few people, judging by his reaction. Seeing Prowl just...snap like that is such an uncharacteristic thing for him to do. Regardless of who's writing him, Prowl's generally composed and doesn't display much emotion aside from the occasional I'm-plotting-to-destroy-you smirk.

I really liked that moment, actually, even if seems kinda bratty of him. Adds a little extra dimension to Prowl, which I'm all for :)
But to use your LSOTW example, there aren't many people other than Pyro who could have carried off his arc because it was based pretty strongly on how he looked.
G2 Sureshot? ]This time we can say goodbye to Fizzle, Sureshot, Siren, Rollout, and Rad (probably not Waverider, since he's got an invincible Pretender shell...). And what for?

<snippity snip>

Not without really, really straining credulity. They weren't just lost in space, after all. They were dumped into an atmosphere and we saw them burn up. There are a lot of 'deaths' that a robot could come back from, but this one's pretty definitive. Unless you're as tough as G2 Megatron, that's not something you're surviving.
[/quote]Actually....
SPOILER! (select to read)
Rumor has it Siren will survive. Though, this claim is based solely on Milne's sketch work for this series. Along with a character model for Trailbreaker - who we know will be in the series going by the solicit for the third issue - he also posted one for Siren at his Deviant Art page:

http://markerguru.deviantart.com/art/MT ... -278134359

As you say, though, it does strain credulity. Maybe he's the sole survivor of this accident (?????).

That could be a good or bad thing. Good because, going by the character's brief history in IDW (he appeared in Spotlight: Kup), knowing he survived when others didn't, can lead to all sorts of nifty story and character possibilities. Bad because...well, a bunch of named characters that we didn't get a chance to meet were killed off for the sake of drama.

To tell you the truth, I'm not really sure where I stand on this. Plus, the whole Siren thing may as well be a fluke, and I just got your hopes for nothing.

Sorry :(
(EDIT: Sigh, seriously? Why are links still visible though spoiler tags. Kind of defeats the purpose, don't you think?)
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Warcry
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Post by Warcry »

zigzagger wrote:Another reason I think this reads like a maxi-series, is - again, this may sound harsh - that compared to RiD, that has a much more familiar cast and therefore (potentially) has a broader appeal, MTMTE is written by the fan-favorite writer and has a cast of some well-knowns (Magnus, Rodimus and Ratchet), a few unknowns (Drift and Rung) and a lot of second stringers (Skids, Tailgate, Swerve, etc, etc). The book reads like it's targeted more towards the fans, in the same way Last Stand of the Wreckers was, rather than it being yet another attempt to reach out to a few new readers.
I'm actually not sure I agree with that. Neither book has Optimus, Megatron or MovieBee in it, so from a non-fan's perspective they're probably on pretty equal footing.

And honestly, judging by their respective first issues if I was going to pick one series to recommend to a non-fan friend who wanted to read more about Transformers I would probably pick the Rodimus one. Transformers: Star Trek is going to be a lot more relatable to the average person than Transformers: Autobot Third Reich.
zigzagger wrote:My impression was quite a few people, judging by his reaction. Seeing Prowl just...snap like that is such an uncharacteristic thing for him to do. Regardless of who's writing him, Prowl's generally composed and doesn't display much emotion aside from the occasional I'm-plotting-to-destroy-you smirk.

I really liked that moment, actually, even if seems kinda bratty of him. Adds a little extra dimension to Prowl, which I'm all for :)
I really liked that too. My mental image of Prowl is him seething with rage at Grimlock in issue 77 of the old Marvel book, so I was glad to see that someone could get a reaction out of him if he was pushed too far. It makes him a lot more interesting than if he was an unflappable Grand Admiral Thrawn type who always knew what was going to happen and had a contingency plan for everything.
zigzagger wrote:G2 Sureshot? ;)
I wondered who'd bring that up. ;)

I think you could safely rule out Sureshot and Ginrai, though. Comics being a visual medium I'd be really surprised if they ever used a character that looked that much like Optimus Prime. That genuinely would be confusing for new readers, especially if the real Prime is going to keep wandering around calling himself Orion Pax.
zigzagger wrote:Actually....
SPOILER! (select to read)
Depending on how they handle it, honestly it might just end up pissing me off more. If it's just Siren who survives, even if they handle it well you still wonder why so many others got killed off for no reason. And if all the named characters magically survive then...well, then Roberts loses a lot of credibility as a writer in my eyes.
Also: Alex Milne is pretty much the Jose Delbo of modern TF comics, isn't he? I'm not the biggest fan of Roche's style, but comparing Milne's art to his Milne's comes off looking completely flat and soulless.
zigzagger wrote:(EDIT: Sigh, seriously? Why are links still visible though spoiler tags. Kind of defeats the purpose, don't you think?)
I've noticed that too, from time to time. It's probably a CSS conflict. If I remember right the spoiler feature was something Denyer hacked together over a lunch break five years ago, so we can't expect it to be perfect.
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