Dreamwave G1 read-through

The originals... ok, not exactly, but the original named "The TransFormers" anyway. Take THAT, Diaclone!
Generation 1, Generation 2 - Removable fists? Check. Unlicensed vehicle modes? Check. Kickass tape deck robot with transforming cassette minions? DOUBLE CHECK!!!
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andersonh1
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Re: Dreamwave G1 read-through

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Transformers G1 volume 2 #6
August 2003
"War and Peace" Ch. 6 "Revelaion"
Writer - Brad Mick, Pencils - Pat Lee, Inks - Rob Armstrong

Right off the bat, I have to say that I like the whole "global stasis lock" idea that is introduced here. I've never thought the Autobot/Decepticon war could continue to rage with such ferocity for millions of years, and the solution here is simple: it didn't. The energy was used up and everything shut down. I love the idea of Cybertron as nothing but "a dead mass of metallic debris" with Transformers lying among the rubble of their planet. But then Shockwave was "chosen" and awakened to "resurrect an entire planet". Shockwave could not do it alone, however, and ultimately reactivated both Autobot and Decepticon, declaring the war over. He ultimately ends up in charge of all Cybertron, manipulating others through his seemingly benign goals. Unlike many stories that revolve around some mystery, this one sticks the landing. This is a great payoff and explanation for all that has occurred so far. But we know Shockwave is still not telling the entire story, because he does not mention Scourge or the Sharkticons, so there is more to be told.

I also enjoy the pages where Skids contemplates Optimus Prime's crew and realizes just how admirable they are. "I now know why Prime handpicked each one himself. No wonder our world fell apart without them." I'm just going to say that I vastly prefer these idealized, idealistic Autobots to the ones IDW gave us. They're not without flaws, but they are the best of the best, and that's the approach I will always prefer.

Starscream abandons Cybertron taking what appears to be the Combaticons with him, along with Soundwave, Rumble and Frenzy. He picks up Thundercracker and Skywarp along the way. Sadly for them, they tried to steal Sky Lynx, believing him to be a spaceship, so I don't think things are going to work out quite the way they planned....

I had forgotten that Shockwave was behind the destruction of the Ark II and Prime's visions. It's interesting to me that both Dreamwave and IDW used the character as a behind the scenes manipulator. Shockwave fits so easily into that role that it doesn't bother me to see the idea reused (and of course, this came before IDW's version of Shockwave, so if anyone was a copycat, it was them...). Vector Sigma controlling Cybertron's evolutions is right out of Beast Machines. Brad Mick has taken ideas from every version of Transformers up until now and combined them very nicely into his story. He's thought everything through very well, in my opinion.

We need a good action scene to wrap up the issue, and we get one in the form of Ultra Magnus (minus his armor) and Optimus Prime taking down Shockwave. Shockwave took a long time explaining his plan, long enough for Magnus to arrive and intervene before Optimus could be killed, but with such an interesting story I don't mind. They toss him down into... something... a reactor maybe? Grimlock shows up and helps both Prime and Magnus escape the collapsing tower, where Prime wonders just who or what inspired Shockwave to do all that he has...

And then the book ends with Wreck-Gar pulling the not quite dead Megatron from where he was floating in space....

Great story, and a far, far better mini-series than the first one. I do appreciate how Mick incorporates elements from the first mini-series and preview into this one, attempting to build a single modern-day continuity for Dreamwave. Most of what I liked about this issue and this series I've already commented on, so I'll just end by saying that at the time this was published, Dreamwave was firing on all cylinders as far as I was concerned. Seeing those ads for Armada, MTMTE and the second War Within mini-series bring back all sorts of good memories of enjoying Transformers comics every month.
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Re: Dreamwave G1 read-through

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andersonh1 wrote: Mon Dec 26, 2022 9:12 amRight off the bat, I have to say that I like the whole "global stasis lock" idea that is introduced here. I've never thought the Autobot/Decepticon war could continue to rage with such ferocity for millions of years, and the solution here is simple: it didn't. The energy was used up and everything shut down.
I liked how they handled this as well. It never made sense in the original cartoon that after 400 million years, things had remained exactly the same on Cybertron. There's no way everything would remain static over that amount of time, particularly if there's still fighting going on and the planet is so depleted of resources. Having the planet actually run out of power, and everyone go into stasis lock was a surprisingly simple and effective way to cover that oversight.
We need a good action scene to wrap up the issue, and we get one in the form of Ultra Magnus (minus his armor) and Optimus Prime taking down Shockwave.
This was a nice touch for the finale of this arc, and again, a simple and easy way to expand on the lore by showing/explaining something no one had ever done before. For the first time ever, we got to see Ultra Magnus without his armor. Aside from IDW's Minimus Ambus, it's still a rare thing for writers to do anything with.
Great story, and a far, far better mini-series than the first one.
Fully agree.
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Re: Dreamwave G1 read-through

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This is a great payoff and explanation for all that has occurred so far. But we know Shockwave is still not telling the entire story, because he does not mention Scourge or the Sharkticons, so there is more to be told.
I had assumed that Shockwave was being hyper rational. (Why would he bother to tell anybody about Scourge if he did not have to?) It would be a lousy regime to live under. But, it would not require any more than Shockwave being a rabid utilitarian.

'm just going to say that I vastly prefer these idealized, idealistic Autobots to the ones IDW gave us.
The problem with IDW is that they normalized the main characters being despicable (especially in "More than Meets the Eye) to the point that it was not clear they realized how bad they Autobots really were. (The X-comics and Buffy more or less define this sort of problem. The writers do not seem to realize that they are writing they characters as being fundamentally awful people.)
Brad Mick has taken ideas from every version of Transformers up until...
McDonough (Mick's real name) was exceptional. "War and Peace" was what a relaunch should be, expanded and more complex but still recognizable. It built on, but was not slavish to, previous media. (I refuse to grade the ongoing, as it was never completed. But, it likely would have been good, as is the reason I like Sunstorm so much.)

Aside 1: I have a Wheelie and Gnaw on my shelf as a reference to this series.

Aside 2, IDW's "Shattered Glass" builds on Dreamwave's Ultra Magnus.
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Re: Dreamwave G1 read-through

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Good points, Dom.

On to WW2- The Dark Ages. I'm very curious to re-read this one and see if I have the same reaction to it that I did in 2003. I was less than enthused about a lot of it, but I imagine I'll enjoy it more now. We will see.

Transformers War Within: The Dark Ages #1
October 2003
Writer - Simon Furman, Pencils - Andrew Wildman, Inks - Erik Sander

I had to get the wraparound Don Figeroa Jetfire cover when this issue first appeared, and I enjoyed that we got the old Marvel team of Furman and Wildman back together for six issues. I do remember that this series didn't hold my attention nearly as well as the first War Within or the just finished G1 volume 2, so I'm curious to see what I think this time around.

So taking Optimus and Megatron off the board in the opening pages is a good storytelling choice, because it lets the factions fall apart. And the Fallen is a great concept by Furman, who couldn't look more demonic if he tried. I have the Titanium version of this figure which may not be the best constructed Transformer around, but is worth having because of his role in this story. I like his approach to Bludgeon, Bugly and Mindwipe, all of whom are already interested in the mystical. Follow him, and he'll show them real power. In the end he wants four Transformers captured, "angles in the geometry of dissolution" he calls them. It makes no sense on first reading, though it does once the pieces all fall into place. Further hints are given on the last few places as the Fallen leads his followers to a stairway leading to a lettered seal, which is "the beginning and the end."

We don't stay with him long, or get much explanation at this early stage. In quick succession we get glimpses of what Grimlock and his followers are up to, and what the Autobots under Prowl are doing. A few pages down the line we see Starscream's group, because of course he's in charge whenever he can be of whoever will follow him. One thing I appreciate more now than I did on first reading is how dim and grey so much of the colors are. We're well past Cybertron being in reasonably good shape, despite the war. Now the war has taken it's toll, and damage is frequently visible, something the colors help sell.

I don't think this opening is anywhere near the bombastic attention grabbing first issue that we got in the previous two mini-series, but then it's not supposed to be. There's a gloomy mood and a deliberately dark color palette that sell the dire situation. Splashes of bright light are few and far between, ranging from Grimlock's sword, to Starscream's energon shipment, to the green glow of Bludgeon's spellcasting, or whatever it's meant to be. Even Autobot headquarters is only dimly lit. The most brightly lit thing in the issue is the Fallen and the constant flames coming from him. I didn't appreciate the approach when I first read this, but I like it a lot more now. But it still doesn't quite feel cohesive to me, as if there's one or two subplots too many that might have waited until next issue. The big action centerpiece is Grimlock's theft of Starscream's energon, and that's probably the least interesting part of the issue, when what I want to know about is the Fallen and what he's up to. I think that may be why I'm not as enthused about this story as the last two: the most interesting idea gets less attention than I'd like, and though I like Grimlock and Kup, is it any surprise they ran rings around Furman's version of Starscream, who borders on pathetic sometimes? This is a tough one to grade, some great ideas but the pacing and focus feel off. I may be dead wrong on that, but I'm going with 7 out of 10. A good issue, but it just doesn't quite grip me the way the previous series did, despite some ideas that I really like.
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Re: Dreamwave G1 read-through

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andersonh1 wrote: Thu Jan 05, 2023 5:27 pmI had to get the wraparound Don Figeroa Jetfire cover when this issue first appeared, and I enjoyed that we got the old Marvel team of Furman and Wildman back together for six issues. I do remember that this series didn't hold my attention nearly as well as the first War Within or the just finished G1 volume 2, so I'm curious to see what I think this time around.
I was disappointed Figueroa only did the covers and character designs for this series. Wildman's art in general I think is good, but I don't think this was his best work. I dunno if he just wasn't used to the Cybertronian forms or what, but a lot of the character art in these issues just looked off to me.

It's an interesting story premise to take Megatron and Optimus out of the picture, resulting in the two factions splintering into various groups. I wished Furman had done more with that actually. For the most part, we don't really get a sense of why any of these groups split off or how their ideologies differ just because Optimus and Megatron aren't around to unify them under one banner. I also didn't like some of the names Furman came up with. The Lighting Strike Coalition, the Ultracons and... The Chaos Trinity. Ugh. Such bad names. I mean, it's whatever, they apparently are dissolved when they rejoin the Autobots/Decepticons... But I feel it would have worked better if all these groups were pre-established G1 sub-groups, such as we get with the Predacons.

The Fallen... Ah yes, the introduction of The Fallen. I remember how hyped up this character was at the time, I think in part because Pat Lee designed him. Being a Transformer with sort of a knight motif perpetually on fire (something Lee's art did not have I might add)... He did look pretty cool. Unfortunately, I don't think Furman handled his introduction very well. Honestly, I found The Fallen underwhelming and somewhat confusing because this series really doesn't go into his backstory at all, and it'd be a few years yet until the concept of The Thirteen would be fleshed out.

Overall, I'd have to say I was disappointed with War Within: The Dark Ages. It was a weak follow-up to the first War Within series, and lacked in the backstory necessary for the new concepts/characters that it was trying to introduce.
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Re: Dreamwave G1 read-through

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I think that the issues Spark described above were more due to the coloring/shading in then-modern (circa 2004) comics more than Wildman's line art. I would need to look at it again. But, I recall the art looking "off".

We need more Figueroa art. Too bad Hasbro/IDW screwed him a decade ago. (I doubt that he would trust them enough to work for them again.)
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Re: Dreamwave G1 read-through

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Dominic wrote: Sat Jan 07, 2023 10:35 am I think that the issues Spark described above were more due to the coloring/shading in then-modern (circa 2004) comics more than Wildman's line art. I would need to look at it again. But, I recall the art looking "off".
The coloring/shading certainly didn't do the art any favors, these issues were way too dark as I remember. But some of it is the line art. Take this page for an example. Perspectives and proportions are all over the place and what's with Soundwave's pose? I know he's supposed to be running towards the reader, but it looks more like he just got tripped.
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Re: Dreamwave G1 read-through

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Transformers War Within: The Dark Ages #2
November 2003
Writer - Simon Furman, Pencils - Andrew Wildman, Inks - Erik Sander

We open with the Fallen staring us in the face, praising Bludgeon, Bugly and Mindwipe for doing their work at the Well of All Sparks "admirably". When Bludgeon wants more than praise, the Fallen gives him ­a sample of the power he promised. I've never quite figured out what the images he shows him actually mean, though the skull clearly seems meant to inspire Bludgeon's Pretender shell later on. The only explanation we get is that they are a glimpse of a forgotten past, "a relic of what we once were". With the twisted point of view that the Fallen has, who knows how truthful he is being? But it convinces Bludgeon, who is now enthused about the work. I like this group, and I enjoy that they're behind the scenes right now, with no one else on Cybertron aware of what they're doing, which is clearly as much of a threat as the war. Later on in the issue, Bludgeon wisely doesn't take on the target directly, but works to maneuver them into a trap.

Cut to Springer and his group, which I now know (and didn't on first publication) are the Wreckers. Springer, Roadbuster, Topspin, Twin Twist, Whirl and Sandstorm. They're hunting an unnamed opponent, trying to keep him from taking over the industrial facilities of the Trajan Heights. Gotta love the geography of fictional worlds, and it makes me wish we had a map of Cybertron. Springer locates the enemy, and it's a big one: Devastator! So somewhere between War Within 1 and this series, combiner technology has been developed. I love that Hot Spot sees combiners as part of an "arms race", and that even as brutal as the Transformers' war is, combiners have been sidelined. They're sort of the nuclear weapons of the war, weapons of mutually assured destruction that no one really wants to employ, meaning that Devastator being active and picking a side is a very bad sign.

The Wreckers take on Devastator, while the enemy Springer has been hunting turns out to be Ratbat, in a reasonably humanoid form. And he's got the Deluxe Insecticons following him. And then the Protectobots show up and it's Defensor versus Devastator! And then the issue ends with Jetfire entering Autobase to reports of chaos everywhere, where he wonders "Where is everyone?"

So the second issue introduces more of the factions and advances the Fallen's plotline. Seems like there's a little more color this time around, and I'm still enjoying Wildman's art, even though it's not the same as it was in the Marvel days. He's still doing a good job conveying movement and scale and emotions, and there are some good angles. I like the idea of Combiners as WMD, dangerous to unleash and a problem that all the warring factions had been able to agree to take off the board, until Ratbat got desperate. I'm thinking this fractured, tribal Cybertron is a setting that has more potential than we were able to get in just six issues, I'd like to have seen it explored further. I am enjoying this series more than I did originally, and I found this issue more engaging than the first. Unlike Grimlock's easy victory over the hapless Starscream, Springer's group versus Ratbat's group, with Devastator and Defensor thrown in, is a much more even match and more interesting for me. 8 out of 10 for this issue.
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Re: Dreamwave G1 read-through

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Dominic wrote: Sat Jan 07, 2023 10:35 am I think that the issues Spark described above were more due to the coloring/shading in then-modern (circa 2004) comics more than Wildman's line art. I would need to look at it again. But, I recall the art looking "off".
Sparky Prime wrote: Sat Jan 07, 2023 1:35 pmThe coloring/shading certainly didn't do the art any favors, these issues were way too dark as I remember. But some of it is the line art. Take this page for an example. Perspectives and proportions are all over the place and what's with Soundwave's pose? I know he's supposed to be running towards the reader, but it looks more like he just got tripped.
Wildman's art is "off" compared to his older work for Marvel Transformers, and I can't say I like it as much, but I still think he did a good job with the book. I've always found his "organic" approach to the very mechanical transformers to be an interesting choice.
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Re: Dreamwave G1 read-through

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Transformers War Within: The Dark Ages #3
December 2003
Writer - Simon Furman, Pencils - Andrew Wildman, Inks - Erik Sander

Springer cuts loose as we see just why Combiners were not employed, even in this tribal environment. There's some good dialogue here that conveys the threat nicely. "We're sitting on top of enough raw, destructive potential to know this planet right out of solar orbit... and you've just lit the fuse!" Later in the book we see how dire the situation is when the Wreckers actually retreat, because the two fighting giants are just out of their league. I like the resolution of the fight very much, as the Protectobots disassemble and use their knowledge of how Combiners work to force Devastator to do the same, an approach that is far less destructive than trying to beat Devastator in a fist fight.

Meanwhile, Jetfire gets an equally interesting plotline as he notes how chaotic things are, and first of all the characters in this story, senses a pattern. This is my favorite story strand of the issue. Jetfire just can't quite see the pattern, as he himself says. And I get the feeling from this short sequence that Jetfire isn't exactly the most popular figure in Autobot headquarters, both by how Bluestreak and Trailbreaker react to him (subtle though it is, an approach I appreciate) and by how Jetfire notes that he wasn't called in to investigate the Decepticon battle platform. Prowl leads a group out to investigate that very battle platform, and they find it: Trypticon!

Two thoughts about Trypticon: I love that he's not the Trypticon of the tv series, so he's not stupid with a low vocabulary. He's quite articulate in fact, which makes his personality a lot of fun. And second, there's not much point in banning Combiners when bots like Trypticon, who are far worse, are running around!

Back to Jetfire, and I really enjoy that we get to see him act as the scientist he is. He's trying to take a high level view of the conflict and analyze the big picture rather than just react and put out brush fires. And we are told exactly why he's not trusted around the Autobots as he contacts Shockwave to compare notes. Shockwave reveals that Jetfire once shared "much of the Decepticon ideology" but sided with the Autobots. Jetfire sways Shockwave with facts and with logic, and the fact that Shockwave agrees to meet demonstrates that Furman has a good grasp of his character as well. Most of the Decepticons would react emotionally, but Shockwave is rational enough to understand the benefits of sharing knowledge here.

But Grimlock is listening in, and is clearly ready to murder Jetfire. If the last panel doesn't make that clear, the next issue blurb will.

Best issue so far, and though the storyline with Ratbat vs. Springer with the Combiners was my favorite last issue, Jetfire's attempt to figure out just what's going on is my favorite this time. I like seeing him as a main character in a storyline, something I don't think we see all that often. Sure he was in IDW off and on, but I don't think they ever managed to do as well writing him as Furman did in just this one issue. The book continues to improve as the story progresses, and the Fallen doesn't even make an appearance in person this time. Trypticon being the opposite of what I would expect is just a lot of fun, and the cliffhanger promises a conflict between Autobots that makes perfect sense. I'm going to give this issue a 9 out of 10, because I really enjoyed everything about it. I can't think of any real complaints, it hit all the right notes for me.
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