Ironhide #1 preview

Post by **Denyer** » Mon May 10, 2010 6:18 pm

Via Bludgeon at IDW.

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page ... disp=table

Very nice art. On the basis of what I've seen of the ongoing... well, maybe in trade if it gets a good reception.

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Mon May 10, 2010 6:24 pm

I'm intrigued to find out the explanation for everyone's optics being replaced by halogen flash lamps.

Auntie Slag · Post by **Auntie Slag** » Mon May 10, 2010 8:04 pm

I do like a bit of Groove action though, that deft-handed little line holding bot.

He's one of those characters I feel oddly drawn to.

Maybe Groove IS the line! Wow.

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Mon May 10, 2010 8:27 pm

Auntie Slag wrote:He's one of those characters I feel oddly drawn to.

I've always held it against him that I picked him over First Aid in Gateway c. 1987. A motorbike seemed so exotic at the time, and then a couple of days later I was given the Robo Machine Night Ranger by my nan, meaning I could've had an ambulance an' a motorbike 'stead of two motorbikes

Didn't exactly amuse me that both moulds were turkeys either...

Auntie Slag · Post by **Auntie Slag** » Mon May 10, 2010 9:07 pm

Yeah, but his chrome arms really intrigued me. That and his motorcycle-ness.

I think what drew me is that I longed for a decent comic rendering of the guy, yet knew that was never going to happen because he's perhaps one of th more forgettable gestalt members. The fact that he's described as a drifter probably wouldn't endear him to many kids either, who want their robots to be big, bloodthirsty warrior zealots as opposed to a Cybertronian Kerouac.

Also, that issue where the Protectobots and Prime are in Ethan Zachary's game... Grove lifts the vines for Streetwise to drive under and SW quips: "Maybe you're just odd".

A throwaway line perhaps, but it did more than enough to suggest robots had personalities and drives other than just hitting each other, and it was a quirk attributed to a third-stringer character.

For those reasons, and the fact he got a little tiny bit of limelight in G2 by taking out Hot Rod in a skirmish, meaning he was chosen seemingly at random from a large roster of available Autobots and happened to get the lucky stub that day... I really like Groove.

I had First Aid too. He was my least favourite Protectobot. Whilst I'm at it, here's my Top 5 Protectobots (I was lucky enough to have the whole set):

- Blades
- Streetwise
- Groove
- Hotspot
- First Aid

And Groove & Streeetwise are interchangeable in that order list. And I always had Streetwise as Defensor's left arm and First Aid as his left leg. I don't know where people got off having Streetwise as a leg.

Nutters.

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Mon May 10, 2010 9:46 pm

Yeh, you wanted the blocky ones as legs, it looked better. Streetwise looks like a peg-leg in comparison in the 'official' combination.

Blades is a legend, and Streetwise wasn't bad - in line with that Groove cameo, I loved the way they both got randomly picked for a meaty role each in the UK comic. No team-mates or anything, just them and a few random others (I actually seem to remember Streetwise gave Starscream a bit of a dusting down, but it's been a while since I read that issue). Always felt that sort of thing made them feel more real than the "These five guys go everywhere together" thing. Furman really seemed to quite dislike combiners, as he generally went to some effort to stop them from happening (e.g. the deaths of Wildrider, Hotspot, Slingshot, Tantrum etc.). But then this is the man who threw bunches of delisted and overseas-only toys together to make the Wreckers and Mayhems.

I really remember, that after years of writing it off because of the whole Prime death thing sitting down and reading "Afterdeath!" it was actually very funny (even the death isn't too bad if you read the right fanfic and superimpose a suicide motive over it). A lot of Bob's run is when you step back and don't take it quite as relentlessly seriously as I once did, and considering the massive character stuffing he does a good job of spreading around little flecks of characterisation, even if it's just one line or mannerism.

Post by **inflatable dalek** » Tue May 11, 2010 7:55 am

So the preview basically goes like this:

Windcharger: Can I do something? I mean, I can be useful at stuff...
Optimus: **** off, you're a non speaking extra. Non speaking.

Story of his life.

Afterdeath has a lot of nice moments in it, it's probably not kitsch enough to be reclaimed as a cult classic (oddly enough it's the odd bits that try to be serious that undo it), but it's not so bad as often made out, certainly not as rubbish as the mechanic issue. Megatron telling Ethan to STFUNOOB is especially good.

I've always said Prime's death nearly makes sense as well. After all, he's probably got more in common with the computer people as a life form than he does with humans, and you get people who throw themselves in front of veal trucks. The problem is that it doesn't really work even slightly for his character, after all just about the first thing we saw him do was pragmatically consign all his mates to death as a way of stopping the Decepticons.

If only Bob had done it to a less developed character (like Windcharger) the basic idea could have been a very interesting one.

kupimus aka(clocker) · Tue May 11, 2010 8:09 am

thats a nice preview of an ironhide comic....but where was the bot in question?

Halfshell · Post by **Halfshell** » Tue May 11, 2010 8:15 am

Which one's Ironhide?

Terome · Post by **Terome** » Tue May 11, 2010 12:28 pm

He's the one who stared at the screens for a whole page back in Infiltration. No, not that one. The other one who stared at a screen.

Halfshell · Post by **Halfshell** » Tue May 11, 2010 12:29 pm

Infilwhatnow?

Terome · Post by **Terome** » Tue May 11, 2010 12:33 pm

You know, back when there was hope.

Halfshell · Post by **Halfshell** » Tue May 11, 2010 12:48 pm

1976?

Terome · Post by **Terome** » Tue May 11, 2010 12:52 pm

According to Wikipedia, that is the year when California's sodomy law was repealed.

Halfshell · Post by **Halfshell** » Tue May 11, 2010 12:58 pm

And hope subsequently died.

Terome · Post by **Terome** » Tue May 11, 2010 1:00 pm

It just takes all the fun out of sodomy.

Halfshell · Post by **Halfshell** » Tue May 11, 2010 1:13 pm

If you say so.

Heinrad · Post by **Heinrad** » Tue May 11, 2010 4:48 pm

The art does look pretty. Although, if this is any indication, I don't think Costa's quite got Prime's personality down yet. Yes, he's supposed to be younger, but he feels more like David Schwimmer's character from "Band of Brothers": knows what he's doing, probably cares about his men, but comes off as a major jerk.

Cover B looks really good. Cover A..... I like the framing, but it makes Ironhide look more like a thug, in some way. I'm surprised none of the covers are an homage to the Ironhide pic on the TFwiki entry from the Japanese laserdisc set, to be honest.....

NightHawk · Post by **NightHawk** » Tue May 11, 2010 5:36 pm

And yet another comic to retcon/contradict things from All Hail Megatron...seems to be becoming a rage, this time it's the presence of a Constructicon on one of the pages in the preview whom were claimed to be newcomers in All Hail Megatron...ah well, what else is new.

Looking good so far, though a shame to show a preview without old Red himself featuring in it apart from the covers. Still, it's nice to see this kind of art opposed to the so called "ongoing" and Bumblebee.

Post by **inflatable dalek** » Tue May 11, 2010 5:50 pm

NightHawk wrote:And yet another comic to retcon/contradict things from All Hail Megatron...seems to be becoming a rage, this time it's the presence of a Constructicon on one of the pages in the preview whom were claimed to be newcomers in All Hail Megatron...ah well, what else is new.

I noticed that as well, but let it slide as Constructicons had appeared in other past set comics before AHM and the "New guy" line is ambiguous enough (it could mean new to Earth).

Luckily there's no shortage of bone headedly stupid continuity FUBAR's, so we can still meet the quota.