The Transformers Partwork Discussion Thread.

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inflatable dalek
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The Transformers Partwork Discussion Thread.

Post by inflatable dalek »

As the formal release has started, here's the place to discuss the books as they come out alongside any and all related issues (what's coming, the gifts, when Andrew Wlidman will be back).

80 issue (to start with, extensions are possible) fortnightly series collecting as much vaguely G1 stuff as possible from Marvel issue 1 through to at least Combiner Wars with at least one exception in the Avengers Crossover.

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Post by Skyquake87 »

I picked up the first issue out of curiosity, on the off chance I might take leave of my senses and think paying £20 a month and a total outlay of £800 for stuff I already (mostly) own would be worth it...

On the plus side - Production is generally very good. The UK stuff has been resized and works well. I liked the inclusion of the original editorial features on THE NEW LEADERS, Grimlock's movie review, the covers gallery and the backstory on Cybertron. The bits on the behind the scenes stuff were fine (although the Geoff Senior reference to working on Doctor Who before jumping to Dragon's Claws seemed a bit of a muddled reference to Death's Head). I like the idea of this being a sequential series presenting the old Marvel UK and US stuff together too. Oh! And I liked the poster!

On the downside... this does unfairly highlight how sedate some of the US material can look next to the more lively UK stuff. The reproduction of the US stuff - hardly sparkling 15 years ago with Titan - is notably poorer here. Maybe its from working from scans or the glossy paper ... but it looks very patchy and pale in places.

...all in all...I'm still not sure whether its worth replacing my Titan trades.
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Post by Ryan F »

I'm also subscribing to this, mostly due to the fact that I like the idea of a fully-coloured Earthforce (and also Raiders of the Last Ark), plus I've never read any of the Dreamwave stuff so I'm looking forward to seeing what that was all about. Some behind-the-scenes insight into the, erm, stranger periods of IDW history (AHM, HoD, Costa) might be cool, too.

As a subscriber of their Doctor Who books, I can certainly vouch for how lovely the matching spines will look on the shelf.
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Post by Brendocon 2.0 »

Ryan F wrote:I'm also subscribing to this, mostly due to the fact that I like the idea of a fully-coloured Earthforce (and also Raiders of the Last Ark)
This too. As much as the idea of having UK and US stuff in matching formats is great, I never picked up more than one of the Titan Earthforce books as they were tiny and I couldn't read the text properly.
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Post by inflatable dalek »

Furman has been doing Facebook posts about the series today (though I've only seen the first after a long day in bed after a Frankie and Benny's breakfast).

Most interesting thing to note is that ReGeneration One will immediately follow the Marvel series on the shelf so as to "Wrap it up". Which (presuming G2 will also be in there) doesn't bother me too much as I'd largely be ignoring it wherever it sat, but it might be a bit confusing to present it as the One True Follow Up to the Marvel book in a series which is presenting the UK and US stuff as one.

Also: Everything published by Dreamwave will definitely be included.


Oh, and he's mentioned a lot of issue numbers and content in both posts and replies to comments, so I'm sure some fastidious soul will go through and start putting a list together.
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Post by Brendocon 2.0 »

inflatable dalek wrote:but it might be a bit confusing to present it as the One True Follow Up to the Marvel book in a series which is presenting the UK and US stuff as one.
I think the continuity horse bolted the moment they decided to publish everything. There's no way to do it without confusing the people who don't already know it.
Also: Everything published by Dreamwave will definitely be included.
Any word on the stuff that was drawn but never published?
Oh, and he's mentioned a lot of issue numbers and content in both posts and replies to comments, so I'm sure some fastidious soul will go through and start putting a list together.
Has he addressed the wacky Cold Comfort & Joy placing from the trial issues?
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Post by inflatable dalek »

Brendocon 2.0 wrote:I think the continuity horse bolted the moment they decided to publish everything. There's no way to do it without confusing the people who don't already know it.
yeah, just my own personal bias there rather than a real issue with the series. One track mind!


Any word on the stuff that was drawn but never published?
Not as far as I'm aware (I'm sure Furman will include his own notes on how WWIII would have ended if nothing else).


Has he addressed the wacky Cold Comfort & Joy placing from the trial issues?
Aye, in one of the replies, straightforward page count issues, continuity light stories may be moved about a bit for space.

EDIT: Though ironically I'd say Cold Comfort is the one Christmas story that does work best in exact sequence as a Time Wars prequel.
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Post by Brendocon 2.0 »

inflatable dalek wrote:Aye, in one of the replies, straightforward page count issues, continuity light stories may be moved about a bit for space.

EDIT: Though ironically I'd say Cold Comfort is the one Christmas story that does work best in exact sequence as a Time Wars prequel.
Seems to defeat the object of the endeavour, but whevs. Well, beyond the object of the endeavour being for Hachette to make money off us, obvs.

The Greatest Gift you can chuck about all over the place if you feel like it. Cold Comfort is the "THERE'S A STORM COMING" prelude to teh tiem warz.

Haven't got the trial copies to hand. Was Prime even a PM in the other material in that book?
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Post by inflatable dalek »

Brendocon 2.0 wrote: Haven't got the trial copies to hand. Was Prime even a PM in the other material in that book?
Aye, it's the initial Furman US arc with PM Prime trying to do a more extreme Delbo Pose in every issue.
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Post by Brendocon 2.0 »

Fair enough. Not as egregious as I'd initially thought, but still a little disappointing.

Saw the first issue in the window of my local newsagents today.
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Post by inflatable dalek »

Well I'll admit when I read Reg would be going after Marvel on the shelf, I just assumed G2 would be going elsewhere in the series.

But Andy Turnbull has told me that, according to Furman, it won't be included at all.

Which seems...odd. Possibly down to Furman I suppose, he did prevent Titan reprinting stories he wasn't keen on when he was editing them and he was disparaging about G2 when promoting Reg.

But I suspect it's more an IDW thing (as the rights holders they'd give Hachette the material and have final say on what they can and can't do). Despite reprinting bits of it in Best Of... collections and doing the Joe issues leading up to it twice they've not properly done G2 in a decade of money for old rope collections than have seen the rest of Marvel done multiple times (including pre-dating Reg, so it's not just them wanting to pimp their own continuation). For some reason they just don't seem to like it.

Shame (oh, and alright, G2 technically isn't a Generation One book as promised by the title of the series but COME ON).
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Post by Ryan F »

To be honest I wasn't really expecting G2 to show up here (nor the Beast Wars or Energon stuff, for that matter).

If I were IDW, and I had the rights to the G2 issues, I'd want to release a G2 trade myself first, rather than let it have its debut in the partwork. Any release by Hachette would steal the thunder away from the eventual 'proper' IDW trade.

Given that Furman now seems ok with greenlighting work he'd previously sneered at (Raiders of the Last Ark and Enemy Within were long out of print until IDW stepped in), I don't think that's the issue here.

Perhaps IDW are still trying to get the rights to the Fleetway stuff and are waiting until then to release the whole lot in a complete G2 compendium?
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Post by inflatable dalek »

At least one person has had their sub copies of one and two turn up today, with keyrings. Hopefully mine is just lagging a bit behind rather than then not having put the flat number on again...
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Post by Brendocon 2.0 »

Dear Transformers The Definitive G1 Collection subscriber,

We regret to inform you that unfortunately there has been a small misprint on the spine of some copies of issue 1. This means that some people may have bought or received an incorrect copy which will not fit properly into the overall spine artwork.

Thank you to those of you who have brought this to our attention, and we sincerely apologise for the mistake.

We will be doing a full reprint of issue 1 and will automatically send all subscribers a replacement copy free of charge. You do not need to do anything at your end, and if you have already received a copy with an incorrect cover you can of course keep this as well.

We would like to thank you for your understanding and hope you continue to enjoy the series.

Best regards,
Hachette Partworks Ltd.
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Post by inflatable dalek »

That made me smile. Target must now be the most reprinted TF comic story ever surely?

Ironically part of the reason I'll now definitely be missing the Orbital signing tomorrow is that my sub copies have arrived (well, presumably, I wasn't expecting anything else) and are waiting at the post office. So I need to be back in Kiddy before they shut at 2 tomorrow or they'll be there for another week...
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Post by Brendocon 2.0 »

inflatable dalek wrote:That made me smile. Target must now be the most reprinted TF comic story ever surely?
Very excited by the notion of having three copies of the partwork release for a grand total of £1.99...
So I need to be back in Kiddy before they shut at 2 tomorrow or they'll be there for another week...
TWO???? My local sorting office shuts at 11 on a Saturday...
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Post by inflatable dalek »

When I spoke to my mother on the phone she said the card said they were open till 2 on Saturday's.

She said...
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Post by Brendocon 2.0 »

Okay, it looks like the misprint (per mine) is that the black border around the number at the top of the spine extends down too far on #1 (or vol 6, however you want to count it).

They've also changed the artwork on the spine from the trial copies (not surprising, the trial ones seemed to just use a random example piece of the art that didn't really match up with where they should fit in the published mural).
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Post by inflatable dalek »

I've not seen the citation myself, but a chap on TMUK has said for non-subscribers the corrected 1 will be packed in with 7 in shops. Presumably it will come to subscribers at around the same time.
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Post by Brendocon 2.0 »

Though to be fair they have got the ICF prints right between Target 2006 and Stormbringer this time out. Maybe the next print run will have some key pages upside down or something.
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