Last Stand of the Wreckers #1-5 / TPB

Post by **zigzagger** » Wed Jan 27, 2010 12:23 am

A 5-part mini-series starring the Autobot special ops unit, the Wreckers. By Nick Roche and James Roberts.

This is your all purpose Transformers: Last Stand of the Wreckers #1 reaction and discussion thread. Tell us what you thought.

Out January 27.

Preview @ Comic Book Resources.

Commander Shockwav · Post by **Commander Shockwav** » Thu Jan 28, 2010 12:20 am

So I thought the issue was pretty good. Not up to the lofty standards Roche has set with the Shockwave or Kup spotlights in the past, but certainly a strong showing.

It's primarily a set up issue that brings us up to speed over what's happened with Garrus-9 over the past three years. We get an intro to the new Wrecker recruits. And we get a brand new Decepticon baddy thrown into the works. Isn't it funny how no matter how many Decepticon badasses you introduce, there's always room for one more?

I was disappointed with the art, however. Too cluttered and the coloring seemed very monotone, as with Maximum Dinobots. I would have preferred some darker shading here, though I guess the coloring did enhance some of the more lighthearted moments of the story. Still, I think one of the areas that comics in general have improved at in leaps and bounds is the coloring and shading which adds depth to the story. That's missing here.

Give it a "B+". It gets the job done, and revelation at the end is enough to make any longtime TF fan a happy camper. Roche makes quite an impact here.
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Red Dave Prime · Post by **Red Dave Prime** » Thu Jan 28, 2010 9:54 pm

coloring seemed very monotone, as with Maximum Dinobots

Yeah, agreed. Its quite odd, as Roches work screams colour to me. Roche & Su are my favourite artists (obviously for different reasons) so I really like the character designs and the over-done facial expressions.

The story itself is a little disjointed with all the setting up but seems to settle pretty well by the end of the issue. Interesting how Springers back in command, ahead of kup. Well, for a bit anyway...

Its not as instantly win compared to the kup/ prowl story but its miles ahead of Bumblebee. And seems to be filling the action quota missing from the ongoing at the moment.

3.5 energon cubes?

andersonh1 · Post by **andersonh1** » Thu Jan 28, 2010 10:47 pm

Last Stand of the Wreckers
Issue 1
Not bad at all. This is clearly a setup issue, but it’s a good one.

The first issue cuts back and forth between two major plot threads as characters are introduced and situations established. It begins with the fall of the Garrus-9 prison to the Decepticons, led by Overlord. I’m not very familiar with early 90s G1 characters, particularly European exclusives, so I’ve had to look up the various characters featured in the story to learn who they are. I’m sure Nick Roche will put his own spin on them, but I was still curious to learn who Skyquake was, or Kick-Off, or Ironfist. I always enjoy seeing obscure G1 characters get some page time and development, and this series will certainly do that.

That leads to the second plot, the introduction of the new additions to the Wreckers crew. Now I’ve never been a big fan of the Wreckers, but I’m willing to be won over. Kup and Springer’s commando group who take on near-suicidal missions has a rotating roster, and Springer expresses doubts about training new recruits who will likely end up dead. Given the severity of the violence under Overlord’s rule, I’d bet he’s right.

The violence is brutal under Overlord’s rule, as Autobots are hunted down for sport or corrupted as they try to survive. Kick-Off’s situation references his toy bio, as he’s trapped and forced to fight for his life, becoming just as ruthless as any Decepticon in the process. I did get a good laugh out of his “alt modes are for wimps” remark, since he’s an Action Master. Then of course, he rips off his opponent’s head, and the scene turns dark again.

I was surprised to see Verity turn up in the story. I’ve missed Simon Furman’s three human sidekicks, so it’s good to see Verity again, and her presence adds a much needed sense of scale to the characters and events. It’s amusing that she decided to stow away on Ultra Magnus’ ship and see the universe rather than go back to her old life on Earth. I hope she doesn’t suffer the same fate as poor Hunter.

I liked this issue quite a bit. The story is strong on continuity with earlier IDW stories, and gives us a glimpse of Megatron’s offensive that led to his victory in AHM, as well as showing us what’s going on elsewhere in the universe while the ongoing is focusing on Earth. It also shows us what life under Decepticon rule would be like, or at least what it would be like under a sadist like Overlord. It’s a good start to the series.

Post by **zigzagger** » Fri Jan 29, 2010 1:49 pm

It was good. Not great, but still pretty good.

Yep, pretty much what has been said thus far; it’s an introductory issue. Sets the premise, introduces all the players, some “new” some familiar, has a cliffhanger, etc, etc. Continuity struck me as being firmly planted in the previous era rather than the current. Not that I object or anything, in fact I’m pleased by this, though I gotta say it’s telling of IDW’s muddled continuity.

Story reads competently and is dialogue heavy, but most importantly, it’s fun. It has a good balance of action and humour. Though, as already stated, it is a bit disjointed at moments, particularly during the frequent leaps forward and backwards in time. And while it comes together nicely in the end, most of the characters at this stage are not fully fleshed out yet. It’s too early to make an issue of that, though, and most of them seem to serve the overall plot rather being randomly casted to fill out the ranks. Guess I'll have to wait and see.

Reads a bit like a top-notch fanfic, actually, in the sense that Roche has a particular, stubborn knack of cramming as much detail into his work as possible. It’s definitely a labour of love, and I can at least appreciate that. But, aside from few back references tossed in, some bordering on the realm of obscure, I thought it was done tastefully enough. Didn’t really strike me a being too wanky, though I’m sure some will disagree. Though, I have to say, I shamefully geeked out all over the final page - though it was kinda telegraphed before hand that

SPOILER! (select to read)
Impactor

would be showing up. Then again, I tend to be a proponent of the lesser-knowns getting actual page time, so there you go – even if characters such as Guzzle, Pyro, Rotorstorm or Ironfist initially didn’t register on my radar. I’m interested in getting to know them better, though. Honest

So, yeah, not perfect, but a very good start to what could be a decent series.

Red Dave Prime · Post by **Red Dave Prime** » Fri Jan 29, 2010 4:04 pm

This actually reads much better a second time. Maybe its because there are so many new characters floating about, but I enjoyed it much more on the second go. The characters started to come through. Some nice little touches. Also like the profiles in the back. More of IDWs comics should have this - if only for the writers to actual know what the character is supposed to be (an easy shot I know...)

Wondering if they will explain Magnus heading to earth through this. Seems odd that Magnus is linked up with the wreckers here but appears so dettached to the autobots prediciments in the ongoing. But hey, IDW doesnt like things to tie together and make sense do they?

Brimstone · Post by **Brimstone** » Mon Feb 01, 2010 5:08 pm

Interesting start...but I'm really starting to get sick of how IDW is handling the story.

There's the on-going, Bumblebee, and the Wreckers...all appear to be happening at the same time, but they obviously can't be. It is really confusing, and unnecessary.

Maybe the Wreckers is in in the past somewhat (or future even), I can't tell. But Bumblebee and the on-going are side by side...BB is referencing the on-going. Even though the on-going doesn't appear to really be connected with the Bumblebee story. It's sloppy, and annoying. I hope LSotW isn't the same.

Post by **Denyer** » Mon Feb 01, 2010 6:08 pm

Ultra Magnus has shrunk...

Lots of fun. Necessary setup, with the bonus of fresh characters, old favourites, humour, continuity fill-ins, deft use of techspecs without beating us over the head with them, densely-written with a bonus text piece at the end and dammit, singles still always feel too short. Want moar, and sadly it's the first issue since AHM #15 that's provoked that kind of reaction.

Ackula · Post by **Ackula** » Tue Feb 02, 2010 4:34 am

Having just read the entire IDW G1 run over the past 3 days, for the first time, I started to suddenly find myself losing interest and hating the comics after AHM. Actually AHM was where it all seemed to go downhill for me, but kept it together enough to be entertaining for me. despite obvious flaws and gaps in the continuity.

However the new ongoing, and the Bumblebee mini, were nothing but a huge disappointment for me, and felt really out of place with the previous stuff I had read. I wasn't expecting this to be any better, but lo and behold it is a breath of fresh air after the ongoing and Bumblebee.

I think this is the most enjoyable of the comics I have read since Maximum Dinobots, and the cast of largely unknowns makes it even better for me, even though they aren't all that unknown, really.

Great balance of humor and action, and I really love Magnus' misuse of earth slang continuing on in this new series as well. Though I am a little fuzzy on the exact time this is happening, as Magnus is on Earth in the ongoing, but the comic is fun enough to make me forget all about that ongoing crap, and rightly so.

Post by **Warcry** » Tue Feb 02, 2010 6:28 am

Um...wow.

This was good. Not okay, or mediocre, but actually, genuinely good. I didn't think IDW knew how to do that anymore.

This one issue had pretty much everything I could ask for in an introductory comic. It was fun, it set the scene for what's to come, and it managed to establish a personality for a fair chunk of the new characters it introduced. Rotorstorm is a cock, Ironfist is a Wrecker fanboy, Kick-Off is a survivor and Overlord is a complete monster. None of them have any real depth yet, but they're interesting enough that I'm really looking forward to seeing how they get fleshed out along the way.

There's not much I can critique here, other than a fanboyish "grrr you killed Skyquake how dare you!", although I wish we'd gotten to see a bit more of the conquest of Garrus-9. There were a lot of late-G1 characters stationed there, and as it is I'm left to assume that the likes of Jackpot, Skyfall and Fastlane are all dead.

Post by **zigzagger** » Tue Feb 02, 2010 7:25 pm

Ackula wrote:However the new ongoing, and the Bumblebee mini, were nothing but a huge disappointment for me, and felt really out of place with the previous stuff I had read.

Gripes about Prowl and whatnot aside, I personally haven't found it bad, per se...just unremarkable.

Though I am a little fuzzy on the exact time this is happening, as Magnus is on Earth in the ongoing

On the backside of the cover, in small text. LSotW #1 is supposedly set before #1 of the ongoing. I'm assuming the following issue will take place during (?!). Still doesn't quite add up, but there you go.

I gather the first 5 pages transpire sometime around AHM, judging by Fortress Maximus' throwaway comment. Plus, remember all that talk about "massacres" in AHM that conveniently transpired off-panel?

Warcry wrote:There were a lot of late-G1 characters stationed there, and as it is I'm left to assume that the likes of Jackpot, Skyfall and Fastlane are all dead.

And Longtooth, too

Though he was a prisoner there.

Gosh, that'd be awful. It'd be like those gratuitous GoBot cameos during the Dreamwave run or Megatron Origin for the sake of fulfilling some "lolz factor".

Post by **Warcry** » Tue Feb 02, 2010 11:51 pm

zigzagger wrote:I gather the first 5 pages transpire sometime around AHM, judging by Fortress Maximus' throwaway comment. Plus, remember all that talk about "massacres" in AHM that conveniently transpired off-panel?

Probably a little bit pre-AHM, since the massacres were supposed to have happened before the series started. Since they both show part of the galaxy-wide massacre, I'd guess that it was pretty much concurrent with Spotlight Metroplex.

Gosh, that'd be awful. It'd be like those gratuitous GoBot cameos during the Dreamwave run or Megatron Origin for the sake of fulfilling some "lolz factor".

I dunno, it's the double standard that really bugs me. Sunstreaker or Nightbeat or Ironhide die and it's treated like some sort of OMG BIG EVENT. But characters like Skyquake or Deluge get offed like generic background extras after two pages. The whole "everyone who wasn't in the cartoon is cannon fodder, unless they're named Bludgeon or Nightbeat" thing is just getting really old. And after all of the effort Roche and Roberts have gone to to include non-traditional characters in meaningful roles, it just bugs me that they've seemingly wiped out around a dozen characters without so much as a word.

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Wed Feb 03, 2010 5:39 am

Hey, it's IDW, they'll be back alive next week. We're talking about a universe that doesn't know what continuity is - anything could bring them back, from CR chambers to other writers not reading this book.

That said, this one does sound more interesting than the usual shit.

Halfshell · Post by **Halfshell** » Wed Feb 03, 2010 4:22 pm

That was fun.

Good, solid knockabout fun. Overlord is fun (and possibly camp as you like). Anything with Kick-Off in it gets my vote.

Telegraphed as it may have been, I genuinely didn't expect the big fanwank reveal, being as I'd dismissed the previous mention as just a bit of throwaway fun. Niceness.

Promising start. Just a shame it's clearly in continuity with AHM (or what remains of continuity).

Post by **inflatable dalek** » Thu Feb 04, 2010 10:30 am

Well, I was going to wait for the trade but as me mate had a copy I had a sneaky read. It seems Roche is on fine form and once again makes IDW convoluted editorial decisions work. We get a simple straight down the line action story, but a good one. We see the proper sort of impact Megatron's plot in AHM had. We get Rotorstorm. Niffty.

Only real flaw was the presence of Verity, who only seemed to be there for a bet.

Post by **zigzagger** » Thu Feb 04, 2010 4:09 pm

inflatable dalek wrote: Only real flaw was the presence of Verity, who only seemed to be there for a bet.

She didn't really bother me all that much, honestly. I kinda of see it as a little bit of post-AHM clean up and that Roche and Roberts are reconciling a few continuity loose-ends. Or not. I don't know...

Halfshell · Post by **Halfshell** » Thu Feb 04, 2010 4:18 pm

I'd rather have her not doing much on Magnus' ship than just a "whatever happened to this major character who was the focus for so long and then never mentioned again?" sidenote.

Ackula · Post by **Ackula** » Thu Feb 04, 2010 4:50 pm

Halfshell wrote:I'd rather have her not doing much on Magnus' ship than just a "whatever happened to this major character who was the focus for so long and then never mentioned again?" sidenote.

This. I liked the fact that she isn't forgotten entirely, and her stowing away on Magnus' ship totally feels in character for her, if you ask me.

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Fri Feb 05, 2010 6:58 pm

Okay, that wasn't too bad, not too bad at all. Top characterisation for Ironfist and the Jumpstarters for a start, not so much on the others - though knocking off post-Time Wars Springer at least means there's a good basis for the guy. The Wreckers were nicely defined as well - though again, as with Marvel, it'd have been nice to see them getting a couple of things right before they're inevitably dropped into an aplotcalypse. Plus there's Classics Big Daddy at the end, which is a nice touch. No, wait... Heh. Might, again, be nice to see a bit more of that particular character when he's not eartagged for death. Unless he is.

Big wobbles were Verity - I don't give a shit what it ties up, she's ****ing diabolical. She should just go now, her planet needs her*. And Overlord - I'm not sure how exactly purposefully making someone a terrible villain it's impossible to take seriously is particularly more laudable than the way all the other Decepticons have ended up like that by accident, but we'll see. Once again the IDW universe's in-built defence against drama and continuity is also flagged up as the series has already basically admitted Transformers don't die in this continuity - good old Snare.

So, a good start, but then good starts are easy, and Roche is up against it stuck working for IDW rather than a proper comic company. A good read, even if it probably benefits a bit by being the first half-decent comic put out nder the brand for a year or more.

* Note: Poochy died on the way to her planet

Post by **inflatable dalek** » Fri Feb 05, 2010 10:25 pm

Cliffjumper wrote: Big wobbles were Verity - I don't give a shit what it ties up, she's ****ing diabolical. She should just go now, her planet needs her*.

Yep. It's laudable that Roche is trying to do the job keeping continuity going that all the other writers can't be bollocked with but she's one bit of the past that was perfectly drop-able. Her two panel cameo in Maximum Dinobots pretty much wrapped her up as much as needed. Mainly because Furman was well on the road to decentralising her long before Shane McCarthy had even finished ****ing up Batman. What was the last actual genuine plot based thing she did? Looking round the Decepticon base back in Infiltration? Sure, she kind of hung around after that but pretty much all her stuff was in a plot dead end involving not finding Sunstreaker and got less and less as it went on.

It doesn't help she seems to have absorbed Hunter's pop culture quoting "It's so cool to be hanging out with aliens!" personality rather than being the pissed off emo of old. I can't see any situation where she would actually want to keep hanging round with the Autobots (a choice she must have made before AHM as well) and I can't see IDW Ultra Magnus wanting her.

And Overlord - I'm not sure how exactly purposefully making someone a terrible villain it's impossible to take seriously is particularly more laudable than the way all the other Decepticons have ended up like that by accident, but we'll see.

Yeah, it's something that could go tits up one of two ways. We either find out his mysterious purpose and he becomes a dull stock IDW baddy, or he's got no great plan whatsoever and is just a nutter doing a rerun of Fall and Rise... which could be a bit anti-climactic. Some sort of middle ground, keeping his cheerful demeanour but still giving a Wreckers worthy challenge is the tricky part. But I think (well, hope) Roche can pull it off.