Beast Wars (2021) ongoing series

"What? Transformers made from animals instead of vehicles and stuff? Doesn't sound so great, throw it to Kenner division, maybe they can make a quick buck or something."
Beast Wars, Machine Wars, Beast Machines... seeing a pattern? Coming soon: "Wars Wars"
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andersonh1
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Re: IDW Launching ongoing Beast Wars title in 2021

Post by andersonh1 »

Looks like they don't want the story to be about the theft, so they show a bit of the events surrounding it and move on. And we get a character moment for Dinobot in the process.

I like the art, but I've only seen a bit of it in previews. I'll see what the full issue looks like before really deciding. It's more "cartoony" than I normally prefer for Transformers, but I like that it's a major contrast with the CGI of the tv show, since there's no way to emulate that even if they were trying.
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Re: IDW Launching ongoing Beast Wars title in 2021

Post by Ursus mellifera »

Man, I REALLY hope the story is good. I won't be reading this for the art at all.
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Re: IDW Launching ongoing Beast Wars title in 2021

Post by Shockwave »

The artwork is not my favorite, but I don't hate it. And the story looks interesting so far. I'm in.
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andersonh1
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Re: Beast Wars (2021) ongoing series

Post by andersonh1 »

Beast Wars #1

Just to get the art out of the way, I like most of it fine. It's not my preferred style, but it works to tell the story and set this apart visually from what came before. It's essentially Animated with more sharp angles (and Waspinator's face pre-conversion looks like Wasp, making the connection even more apparent). I'm fine with it. It's definitely going for a simple, uncluttered style as opposed to hyper-detailed.
Spoiler
The story is a more fleshed out version of the events we saw in the first ten minutes of the first episode of the show, mixed with some establishing moments for old and new characters. So far there is a lot that is too familiar, so my future opinions on this series are going to depend on what kind of new directions that it's taken. I'm fine with starting from much the same place as the tv series, but I want to see a different story told going forward, which is what I think they have in mind.

- Megatron has another name at the start of the issue and renames himself early in the story
- the golden disk is stolen and a transwarp ship is also stolen, while all the others are sabotaged
- the Axalon is sent after the ship
- Optimus Primal is a lot more like Animated Optimus Prime here, young and eager to get out and see the universe, but stuck in a menial assignment
- he orders the Predacon's stolen ship engaged and then follows them through transwarp thanks to the piloting skills of Nyx. They're ambushed and weapons disabled, so the Axalon rams the Predacon ship, forcing both to crash
- the stasis pods are ejected into orbit
- the computer reformats all the stasis-locked crew on both ships, and the rationale for beast modes ihe same as it was on the show
- the issue ends without any Maximal or Predacon meeting face to face yet, and Megatron declaring that another war has begun, while Tarantulus is excited over the contents of the golden disk.
So very familiar, but with some new characters and new ideas that will hopefully change things up as the series progresses.
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Issue 1

Post by Dominic »

Beast Wars #1

As Cheetor would say, ultra bad.

The art is terrible. Since the 90s, there has been a push towards sloppier, less detailed, art in American cartoons and comics. Transformers largely avoided this trend, until a decade or so back. But, since then, IDW has embraced it.

Even putting aside stylistic questions, the panel-by-panel breakdowns are weak. (Blame for this is probably shared between the writer and penciller.)

The writing is clumsy. Some of it might be a stylistic riff on how early episodes of "Beast Wars" sounded. But, I don't know enough about the creative/editorial team to be certain. (Optimus Primal's confused motives make me skeptical that the clumsy writing is intentional.)

I will give this a few more issues, if only because my pull file is down to 3 other titles (2 being limited series).
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Re: Beast Wars (2021) ongoing series

Post by Ursus mellifera »

I don't like the art. I don't like the art. I don't like the art. I don't like the art.

Have I mentioned that I don't like the art? I'm genuinely finding this book difficult to follow because of the art. Every panel is a small puzzle that my eyes have to decipher before I know what's happening.

I think the story was okay. It didn't awe or repulse me, though it did set off one of my pet peeves, which is bots conveniently having names related to the thing they haven't been changed into yet (Rhinox, Rattrap, Cheetor: hey look! They just happen to turn into those things now! What a coincidence!)

Nyx is obviously the original bat-form Primal toy, so I understood the name change, but I don't get why they changed Snapper's na... wait... that bot's a chick? Holy shit. No wonder they changed the name. GOOD MOVE, Hasbro.

I'm in for the next couple issues, at least; until either the story and/or art go too bad for me to follow.
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Dominic
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Re: Beast Wars (2021) ongoing series

Post by Dominic »

How about the bird catching the lizard on the last page? That sequence highlighted how bad the breakdowns were.
No wonder they changed the name. GOOD MOVE, Hasbro.
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Ursus mellifera
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Re: Beast Wars (2021) ongoing series

Post by Ursus mellifera »

Dominic wrote: Thu Feb 04, 2021 12:04 pm How about the bird catching the lizard on the last page? That sequence highlighted how bad the breakdowns were.
It even took me a couple glances to figure out what happened there. I do not like the art. Have I mentioned that?
Dominic wrote: Thu Feb 04, 2021 12:04 pm
No wonder they changed the name. GOOD MOVE, Hasbro.
I was not going to say anything... But, somebody had to.
You can count on me.
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Re: Beast Wars (2021) ongoing series

Post by Sparky Prime »

The art. As I said before, I'm not a fan of this particular art style. But honestly, I didn't mind it as much as I thought I would. While I think it could've been better if they'd gone with another artist with another style (and there were a few oddities, like the hawk and the lizard at the end Dom pointed out)... It's serviceable at least.

I'm disappointed more in what they're doing with the story so far...

I like that they give Megatron another name here, but I got the impression from the cartoon he'd taken the name Megatron long enough prior to stealing the Golden Disk, that he'd earned the respect for everyone to call him Megatron in his own right. But with the name change only coming at the end of the conversation with the Tripredacus Council here, and they still call him Galavar... Just stealing the Golden Disk doesn't feel like he's earned the right to call himself Megatron, or a reason why he'd suddenly demand others call him that from now on.

And while they took the effort to give Megatron a pre-name change name, it's disappointing they don't do that for any other characters. In the cartoon, Rattrap, Cheetor and Rhinox take the time to (re)introduce themselves to each other given their new beast forms. It comes off as an amazing coincidence they happen to end up with beast modes that match the names they already had here.

I don't really like the portrayal of Optimus Primal. In the cartoon, he preferred his role as an exploration ship captain, he didn't like that he had to fight but understood it as a necessity to keep the peace. Here, it's exactly the opposite, with him not wanting to be the captain of a lowly ship "delivering science experiments" (giving the Axalon a very different mission as well, implying all the Transformers in the stasis pods may have been experimenters, not just the one with the big red X on it) and would rather be in an action oriented peacekeeping role.

The Predacons plan doesn't really make sense. They stole a ship with transwarp simply to hide in time following the heist of the Golden Disk? How convenient they just happened to need that to reach their destination Megatron deciphered from the disk while en route. While the cartoon was never exactly clear on the events prior to leaving their time... All of the Predacons seemed to be aware of the information on the disk prior to arriving on pre-historic Earth, implying that's the reason they needed a ship with transwarp in the first place. This is one of the reasons I kinda wanted them to flesh out the actual theft of the Golden Disk. But instead, it feels like they've both glossed over it by having Megatron already in possession of it, and needlessly explained things which only serve to confuse the plot rather than help explain it. This was also Dinobot's reason for leaving the group in the cartoon, when he thought Megatron failed to lead them to the right planet. That's no longer the situation here, so his motivation for leaving will have to differ...

So it seems at this point to me, they've made some unnecessary changes compared to the cartoon. But then, this is only the first issue, so maybe there is reasons behind some of these changes that'll be revealed in upcoming issues.
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Dominic
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Re: Beast Wars (2021) ongoing series

Post by Dominic »

I am giving this another issue or 2, if only because I have time for a train wreck at the momebpnt.

But, hopefully, it gets better. (Marvel's 40K series took a few issues, but it has delivered what it needs to...aside from sales.).

And while they took the effort to give Megatron a pre-name change name, it's disappointing they don't do that for any other characters. In the cartoon, Rattrap, Cheetor and Rhinox take the time to (re)introduce themselves to each other given their new beast forms. It comes off as an amazing coincidence they happen to end up with beast modes that match the names they already had here.
Remember how the cartoon just "talked around" their names? That was on TV, 25 years ago. Comics in 2021 should be able to manage that.

As for Primal's motivation, it actually changes between panels.

This thing is worse than anything the Fan Club produced. (It needed to be said.)
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