Furman's run was truncated. It was turning in to "Transformers: Desperation" and would have continued with "Transformers: Cancellation".Every writer that followed him would use elements of his storylines, most notably the Dead Universe and the Heart of Darkness, but facsimiles and holomatter avatars were also used again, and his human characters would all appear sporadically down the line. This era still feels truncated, even with the wrap up issues Furman was given. There was a lot of potential in his setup, only some of which paid off before he was gone.
I actually like it better than most of Furman's output over the last 15+ years.
But, why read to pick a side?Maybe it's realistic, but am I reading these books for realism?
What is the writer trying to do or say? There might not be any good purpose served by a "good" character, particularly in the lead.
Consider "Hamlet" (an old play by some guy with a funny name). Most of the characters in that play would make the "Seinfeld" cast seem admirable.
One of the few exceptions is a minor character names Fortinbras. His job in the story is to show how a responsible person handles their family's difficulties, providing a point of contrast to the conniving and sloth of other characters. He is also gets the least stage/screen time. (He leaves to handle his affairs in Act 1, and does not show up until most of the cast has murdered each other at the end.) Fortinbras did his job in the play, and did not need to be there for much more.
I have always been curious about the (never-published) comics that "Hail and Farewell" referenced.McCarthy gets a lot of flak for "All Hail Megatron", which has always seemed to me to be a more violent take on a more traditional G1 setup. It ties into Furman's earlier work better than is commonly asserted. Furman had evidently planned to have the Decepticons conquer Earth after the Autobots left, so McCarthy's basic idea is no great departure. I
Some characters are wholly different between different creative teams, or iterations of a series. Bumblebee is one of them. Ruckley is not using Bumblebee better, he is writing a different character.Bumblebee, completely unsuited to be in charge, is nonetheless made the leader and has to fight for everything he wants done. I'm not a big fan of Bumblebee, he's fine as a supporting cast member (and I think has been handled far better by Ruckley in the current series than he ever was in IDW1), but he's not suited to be in charge, making his tenure as a weak leader something quite different as the Autobots pull in different directions.