General IDW *NON-SPOILER* discussion

Post by **inflatable dalek** » Sat Apr 21, 2007 1:34 pm

I might pick it up myself at some point, there's nothing I love more than big honking book.

Megatimus · Post by **Megatimus** » Sat Apr 21, 2007 1:39 pm

That'd be a great place for newcomers to start, if they can afford it.

LKW · Post by **LKW** » Sat Apr 21, 2007 2:56 pm

Just another note to Jetfire (or anyone else considering the new series) - Simon Furman is really at the top of his game here. Everything seems to have been very thoroughly thought-out, planned and plotted well in-advance. And his dialogue has grown immensely. I just received a couple more Titan UK trades in the mail (Way of the Warrior and Dinobot Hunt - the shipment was slowed a month while waiting for Amazon to get more copies of Space Pirates back in; they finally gave up and sent me the first two, saying that Pirates will take another month to come in), and while they're quite interesting, his dialogue has the largely familiar feel of much of his '80s writing. When I read the first issue or two of IDW's Infiltration, in contrast, I couldn't believe that Furman had written some of the dialogue there - very fresh and different from what he'd done before. And it's continued to avoid not just cliched Furmanisms, but any sort of familiarity of phrasing or pacing. Nice job of self-improvement on Mr. Furman's part, in my opinion.

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Sat May 05, 2007 1:17 pm

Originally posted by Denyer
Infiltration, Stormbringer, the first five Spotlights and Escalation. Hardcover, probably works out cheaper than the individual issues.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/redirect.htm ... ative=6738

More info: http://idwpublishing.com/titles/tf-collections.shtml

Tempting, though hardbacks of six issues tend to be ungodly expensive... for £25~, though, I'd nab this. Not hopeful it'll be that cheap, though...

Post by **zigzagger** » Mon May 07, 2007 8:29 am

Originally posted by Denyer
Infiltration, Stormbringer, the first five Spotlights and Escalation. Hardcover, probably works out cheaper than the individual issues.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/redirect.htm ... ative=6738

More info: http://idwpublishing.com/titles/tf-collections.shtml

Hmm, really? Just might pick that up. True, I already own all those issues, but it would be nice to have them all in one neat little collection, rather than in a messy pile of 22-pagers - hardly bookshelf friendly.

Post by **Denyer** » Mon May 07, 2007 3:02 pm

Originally posted by Cliffjumper
Tempting, though hardbacks of six issues tend to be ungodly expensive... for £25~, though, I'd nab this. Not hopeful it'll be that cheap, though...

Almost... it's a shade over thirty ($63) at Amazon.com -- unlikely we'll get it at the US price though, because bookstores know we're mugs in this country.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redir ... 600101186/

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Mon May 07, 2007 8:22 pm

Arsebiscuits. I'll plumb for the plain ol' Escalation trade, despite some c*nt doing his best to spoil it, and just stick with the singles, bypassing Hot Rod and Sixshot...

Post by **Denyer** » Mon May 07, 2007 8:53 pm

Hot Rod was very fun, IMO, Sixshot nothing special.

Post by **inflatable dalek** » Tue May 08, 2007 12:33 pm

Sixshot is also going to be essential to future storylines.

Post by **Denyer** » Tue May 08, 2007 12:41 pm

Doesn't make it a good issue, though -- and without getting into spoilers, Furman's going to have to recap the connection between Sixshot and [group].

thebatwoman616 · Post by **thebatwoman616** » Sun May 13, 2007 1:41 am

as someone who is not new to transformers but has just recently purchased many of the tpbs
i'm curious is there a certain order to read them in to understand the mythos? if so could someone please help me out
Thank you

Ozz · Post by **Ozz** » Sun May 13, 2007 9:26 am

Thing is, currently you have three (or four) different continuities available in TPBs.

1) American Marvel series from the 80s.
2) Brittish Marvel series from the 80s, issues of which were slotted in between reprinted American issues. You don't need UK one to read US one, but the UK one expands the US one and generally has better stories.
3) Various series published by DreamWave in 2002-2004.
4) The current one, publihsed by IDW.

Take a look in these links:

http://www.tfarchive.com/comics/marvel/reprints/
http://www.tfarchive.com/comics/dreamwave/
http://www.tfarchive.com/comics/idw/

so that you find out which series you have bought, and then if you have more questions, we'll help.

The detailed reviews naturally contain spoilers, so consider yourself warned.

thebatwoman616 · Post by **thebatwoman616** » Sun May 13, 2007 2:35 pm

Transformers vs G.I. Joe 1 and 2
Transformers Beast Wars The Gathering
Transformers Cybertron Balancing Act
Transformers Armada vol 1 and 2
Transformers The Animated Movie tpb
Transformers Gen 1 volume 1 and 2
Transformers Infiltration
Transformers Stormbringer
Transformers War Within volume 1 and 2

they all say they r IDW but that some of them were previously from dreamwave.
so if there is an order for these trades thanks for any more help anyone can give.

Post by **Denyer** » Sun May 13, 2007 9:31 pm

IDW are keeping material in print so that people who have holes in their collection (or just want something different) will be able to get it -- some of the Dreamwave books had low print runs because the company was heading into bankruptcy.

Of what you've got, I suggest these reading orders --

Transformers Infiltration
Transformers Stormbringer
^ These are new IDW continuity, which is ongoing and will continue in TPBs titled Spotlights and Escalation.

Transformers Beast Wars The Gathering
^ This is set in the continuity the American Beast Wars TV show was. There'll probably be more comics following on later this year, after the new movie hype dies down.

Transformers The Animated Movie tpb
^ This is an adaptation of the 1986 cartoon movie by IDW, released to coincide with its 20th anniversary.

Transformers Gen 1 volume 1
Transformers War Within volume 1
Transformers Gen 1 volume 2
Transformers War Within volume 2
^ These are Dreamwave's own continuity, which are fairly self-contained.

Transformers vs G.I. Joe 1 and 2
^ These were a collaboration between Dreamwave and Devil's Due. They're in continuity with each other.

Transformers Armada vol 1 and 2
^ These are fiction Dreamwave produced to tie into the Armada toyline by Hasbro.

Transformers Cybertron Balancing Act
^ This is a story produced by the official Transformers fan club, which has some continuity with other convention and fan club things but is essentially just a bunch of fight scenes and appearances by rare toys. The club is publishing it as a TPB with the assistance of IDW.

Most of the books aren't in the same universes/timelines.

Welcome to the board.

thebatwoman616 · Post by **thebatwoman616** » Sun May 13, 2007 9:43 pm

Thank you to both posters who helped me out with the trades i really really appreciate it and if anyone has any other reading suggestions please feel free to let me know

thanks again

Post by **Denyer** » Sun May 13, 2007 10:00 pm

No problem. If you can find them (eg, Amazon) I'd recommend pretty much any of the books in the right-hand column on this page --

http://tfarchive.com/comics/marvel/reprints/

-- or the two G2 books underneath. "Way of the Warrior" would be a good volume to start with as it's cheap/small/portable/good. It's largely about a Decepticon who defects to the Autobots following the events in a big catastrophe. Even if you don't know some of the characters it should be easy enough to follow -- I managed it fine when I was younger and didn't, anyway. "Earthforce" is also particularly recommended, but the short stories in are often more whimsical or played for laughs. As with most things, it's a matter of personal taste.

I'll merge this into the general questions thread in a day or two:
http://tfarchive.com/community/showthre ... adid=37537

thebatwoman616 · Post by **thebatwoman616** » Sun May 13, 2007 11:12 pm

Ok here is another question regarding the various cartoons
i'm only really into the gen 1 cartoon and watch that often.
but i was curious if Peter Cullen has always provided the voice of Optimus or if others took over the part as the different series were released?

Post by **Denyer** » Sun May 13, 2007 11:28 pm

He did the voice of the original American cartoon character up to ~1988. The Optimus Prime in the RiD/Armada/Energon/Cybertron cartoons (produced ~2000 and onwards) isn't the same character as the original one.

Hasbro keep reusing the name on toys (ditto Megatron, Starscream, etc) because people know it and because if they don't they'll lose the trademark.

thebatwoman616 · Post by **thebatwoman616** » Mon May 14, 2007 2:45 am

why are female tf's so few and seem to be disliked by male tf's, i always loved arcee and the other few girls that were in the g1 cartoon

Post by **inflatable dalek** » Mon May 14, 2007 12:41 pm

Originally posted by Denyer
Transformers The Animated Movie tpb
^ This is an adaptation of the 1986 cartoon movie by IDW, released to coincide with its 20th anniversary.

You'd also be far better of watching the Movie than reading this stageringly bad adaption. In fact, you'd be better of watching the bit of damp in the cealing than reading this. Tis bobbins.

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