IDW Transformers Comics - retro reviews

The modern comics universe has had such a different take on G1, one that's significantly represented by the Generations toys, so they share a forum. A modern take on a Real Cybertronian Hero. Currently starring Generations toys, IDW "The Transformers" comics, MTMTE, TF vs GI Joe, and Windblade. Oh wait, and now Skybound, wheee!
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andersonh1
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Re: IDW Transformers Comics - retro reviews

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Transformers: the IDW Collection Phase 2 book 5

Primacy #1–4

Chris Metzen, Flint Dille and Livio Ramondelli

Autocracy and Monstrosity get a sequel in the form of Primacy, which is not a standalone story. It requires at least some knowledge of Monstrosity to understand what's going on. Hot Rod is introduced in this storyline, and Megatron uses the spark he stole from the Quintesson to reactivate Trypticon. Issues 3 and 4 are mostly one big massive, all hands on deck battle. There appears to be some setup for Megatron's future regard for Bumblebee, and at the end of the story, the Autobots under Optimus Prime's leadership have won a major victory.

This was apparently the end of this early war triology. By and large I enjoyed them all, and it was nice to read some new to me stories in these books. I think the first two mini-series were digital only, so I had no idea they existed, and while I remember seeing this one on the shelves, for whatever reason it never got my attention. Like the recent "Galaxies", I was late to the party through being focused on the main series to the exclusion of any side stories. Ramondelli's art always seems appropriate for stories set in the distant past, and the presence of Flint Dille explains some of the G1 cartoon elements included in this series, even if they're given a different spin.
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Re: IDW Transformers Comics - retro reviews

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Robots in Disguise #19
Homecoming
Writer - John Barber Art - Dheeraj Verma

Instead of resolving the previous issue's cliffhanger, this book returns to Orion, Hardhead, Wheelie and Karnak (who I love that they've kept in the cast from Costa's time as writer) on Gorlam Prime, which is dying. To no one's surprise, they run into Monstructor, Jhiaxus and Bludgeon, but Waspinator is added to the book here, and given a role as someone who can command a Titan. The story makes it appear as though Optimus (who still insists on being called Orion) is tricked into raising an undead Titan, but he let it happen in order to find out where Jhiaxus was going and who he was working with, and all signs point back to Cybertron.

The art is very different from the usual style, but I like it quite a bit, and I appreciate the revisitation of Furman's plotlines in building this storyline. The Transformers books at this time do a good job of keeping certain groups of characters together and of keeping track of where they are. Wheelie's rhyming speech is not too bad, and this isn't a bad side trip away from Cybertron to see what these groups of characters are up to, something the series does every so often rather than include them as subplots in the Cybertron-based issues.

Robots in Disguise #20
Three Monologues
Writer - John Barber Art - Andrew Griffith

Lots of good Starscream monologues to dead or comatose characters here as Starscream navigates the city during a power outage as part of his first night as leader. He revels in the power and learns what he can and cannot get away wtih now that the spotlight is always on him. Rattrap is introduced and essentially becomes Starscream's personal assistant at the end of the issue. The long-suffering Scoop is also elevated to prominence. I think we saw him as part of the Wreckers way back in Stormbringer, but he got a few lines and that's it. He'll be more important going forward. I find it amusing that Starscream considers the honest and straightforward Scoop a problem because Starscream can't predict or understand true altruism, but he keeps Rattrap around because he understands a liar and a schemer since he is one himself. His apologies to the dead Metalhawk are darkly amusing ("I'm sorry I killed you, pal.") and his conversations with the trapped and immobile Megatron and with the comatose and under-repair Wheeljack are also revealing. I like what Barber was doing with Starscream here, particularly where he admits that the last time he had power he could not handle it, and he's determined to do better this time. He's still underhanded and dangerous, but he's self-aware and has moments of sincerity.


edit: I went back through the old discussion thread, and the comments I originally made show a difference between waiting month to month for a story to develop versus going back years later and reading these issues while already understanding the big picture. I'm more patient with story developments now, and maybe since this is now a "dead continuity" the things that bothered me at the time don't bother me so much now. I understandably thought Wheeljack was dead when I first read issue 19, and I was unhappy that Furman's "distant future" for Gorlam Prime was being overwritten and wondered if that would be explained. I enjoyed the unexpected image and character mash-up of Waspinator being chased by the Monstructor Six. I was more positive about issue 20 and liked this version of Rattrap, as well as Starscream both growing a bit but still remaining a conniving backstabber.

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Re: IDW Transformers Comics - retro reviews

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More than Meets the Eye #17–21
The Fecund Moon, House of Ambus, The Divided Self, Arm the Lonely, This Calamitous Life
Writer - James Roberts Art - Alex Milne

So this was the story arc that originally turned me from positive to negative about MTMTE as a series when I was first reading, though I had some gripes before this issue. I did not care at all for the revelations about Ultra Magnus, with Roberts essentially replacing him with original character Minimus Ambus. I did not know at the time who Star Sabre was, but now that I've seen Victory, I really despise his characterization here. I find "Hollywood religious fanatics" boring and absurd, and we have two here: Star Sabre and Tyrest. Despite this, I have reevaluated the story this time around, and while the aspects of it that I disagreed with originally are things that I still don't care for, overall I think this story holds up better and has more of interest than I originally gave it credit for. I did enjoy reading it this time around.

Rodimus has to be given credit for taking his ship and crew into the unknown to find Ultra Magnus, and what they find in Luna 1 is suitably grand in scope, both in terms of what the moon is and the threats they find there, to give plenty for the entire cast to do. I loved the image of the moon's surface covered with new sparks and the wonder of the crew at finding this "hot spot". Lockdown and the deluxe Insecticons combined with the Legislators make a good army of enemies for the crew to fight, and the threat that Tyrest poses to probably half the Transformers in existence is suitably far reaching and would have enormous consequences, making this stop at the Luna 1 moon an important one for Rodimus and his crew. There are big stakes here. There is some attempt at balance by making Cyclonus and Dai Atlas positive representations of religious characters to contrast with Star Sabre and Tyrest, but it feels half-hearted to me. Still, I do have to give Roberts credit for giving his cast of characters various outlooks on life when it comes to spiritual beliefs.

There are plenty of other significant character moments as well. Cyclonus and Whirl's conflict is resolved, Tailgate's Cybercrosis is healed, Ratchet and Pharma face off, Rodimus is forced to sacrifice his half of the Matrix, and everyone knows Magnus's secret. In the end, countless lives are saved across the galaxy, Tyrest is defeated and a lot of questions are answered. On that level it's a satisfying storyline. I don't like a number of the character choices, but at least all the talk in previous issues about being forged or constructed cold were setting up this storyline, so it wasn't just world building for the sake of it. There is a definite feeling as I go through this series that Roberts had a lot planned out that only becomes obvious in retrospect.

So I've come away with a more positive view of this story than I held in the past, while still taking issue with a number of character choices. I'm going to call this a positive reevaluation on my part. And once again, it helps to read it all at once, rather than over five months.
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Re: IDW Transformers Comics - retro reviews

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Robots in Disguise #21–22
Shockpoint, Soundwaves
John Barber, Andrew Griffith, Livio Ramondelli

These issues feel a bit like they're marking time until the big event, but at the same time there is some interesting backstory here as we learn a lot about Soundwave's life and history, and his relationship with Shockwave over the years. In the present day, Soundwave intends to kill Shockwave for desertion. In the past, they often found reasons to work together, and the story revisits some of the scenes from Spotlight Soundwave as Megatron sends Soundwave to keep an eye on Shockwave, and when Soundwave has been trapped as a cassette player and needs Shockwave to free him. We also see Shockwave's return after he's freed from Garrus-9 by Overlord, and he finds Soundwave on the asteroid and helps him repair Megatron while Starscream stares at the Matrix. In the present day, the fight between the two is a stalemate, because thanks to Shockwaves ores, no one in the vicinity can die, so Soundwave leaves.

Despite my comment that this story feels unnecessary, it's still enjoyable. Barber does a nice job incorporating past events into present day storylines, and I particularly enjoyed the end of issue 22 as we see a very young Soundwave, overwhelmed by his senses, being befriended by Ravage and Laserbreak. Each flashback in the issue is shown in reverse order, so we end at the earliest point in Soundwave's life. It's also interesting to see that even though Chaos depicted every single Decepticon other than Megatron being combined into the giant gestalt, Shockwave also remained apart and was unaffected by the signal from D-Void. Like the issue detailing Shockwave's life story a few issues back, these issues consolidate and illustrate and add to what we've briefly seen and read already in scattered bits and pieces throughout various stories. I remember at the time of publication griping about these types of issues as a "clip show", but I enjoyed them this time around.

More than Meets the Eye #22
James Roberts, James Raiz

This is another flashback episode that took place before Rewind died, in which he made a documentary about the Lost Light crew and the "greatest Autobot ever", Thunderclash, paid the ship a visit. Thunderclash is the perfect Autobot, everyone knows him and loves him except Rodimus, who wants to be him. He's given such unbelievable accomplishments as having helped Ratchet through medical school and having read Ultra Magnus's essays (which earns him a hug from Magnus). It's an amusing issue, though Thunderclash is just impossible to accept on any serious terms, because he's just too perfect. Even for this book, the absurdity is taken too far. But it is admittedly a fun issue.

On the other hand, as much as I enjoy James Raiz's artwork, and remember him fondly from the early days of Dreamwave's Armada series, he is way over-inked here. The black lines are very thick and very heavy. Maybe that's just the way he drew at the time, but it didn't suit his work in my opinion. Still, it's good to see him back on Transformers, however briefly. I think he'll get some Dark Cybertron chapters to draw as well.

"The Sound of Breaking Glass"
by James Roberts

This text story really should have been a full issue, not a short text story in the back of one, and maybe it was meant to be and they just didn't have space in the schedule or something. But some crucial information is contained in these four short pages.
- We find out that it was Drift's idea to take the fall for Overlord being on the ship, making Rodimus slightly less of a jerk for booting him off the Lost Light.
- Fortress Maximus accepts a role as the new enforcer of the Tyrest Accord and leaves the ship
- Red Alert is repaired and back online and leaves with Fort Max
- Tyrest is imprisoned on the Lost Light
- After repeated failed attempts over the course of this series, the first contact is finally established with Cybertron since the Lost Light left and everyone thought they had died, and the crew learn that Starscream is sole ruler of the planet. This is a big deal.
So yeah, this short story contains some pretty essential plot and character developments, and once again, I don't recall having ever read it before. It certainly fills in a few gaps and answers some questions, such as why Starscream knew the Lost Light crew were alive when he calls them during Dark Cybertron.
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Re: IDW Transformers Comics - retro reviews

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Transformers: the IDW Collection Phase 2 book 6

The vast majority of this volume are the issues which make up the Dark Cybertron storyline, with the first four issues of Windblade rounding out the book.

Dark Cybertron 1, Finale
MTMTE 23-27, RID 23-27
written by James Roberts, Phil Jimenez and John Barber
art by Andrew Griffith, Alex Milne, Atilio Rojo, James Raiz, Livio Ramondelli, Brendan Cahill, Nick Roche, Robert Gill, Phil Jimenez, Casey Coller, E. J. Su, Marcelo Matere

"Dark Cybertron" is essentially IDW's version of the "crisis crossover", set up in a number of issues of both RID and MTMTE, and incorporating story ideas going all the way back to Spotlight Shockwave early in Furman's run. I had negative opinions about it on first publication and on re-reading it about six months later, but in re-reading it in collected form this year, I enjoyed it quite a bit more. I don't know that I've done a complete 180 on the story, but I have changed my opinion and feel far more positively about it than I used to. It still has some major weaknesses and pacing problems with characters spinning their wheels rather than actively doing things, but it's better and more entertaining than I gave it credit for.

Shockwave's plan is to harvest all his ores that he seeded during his Regenesis project millions of years ago to provide power for Cybertron for all eternity, ending any conflict over resources. Fair enough, but to do it he plans to collapse the rest of the universe into a singularity, end the passage of time, and put Cybertron into a single moment in time with the rest of the universe providing that power. It's an utterly insane villain plan. It is about as genocidal as genocidal could possibly be, killing everyone and everything past, present and future. Thanos, take a seat you piker. And I invoke Thanos deliberately, because it really does feel like Shockwave grew his own Infinity Stones, able to manipulate time and space in various ways. It's hard to imagine just how Shockwave could in any way manipulate physical matter to do what some of his ores manage to do in this story, and the story makes no attempt at all to offer some technobabble explanation. How could it?

At any rate, if the premise is accepted on its own terms, the plan also involves a connection to the Dead Universe, via the space bridge built into a Titan. When that is unavailable, Shockwave uses the space bridge he built into Megatron's body. The crew of the Lost Light rescues Optimus and his small crew, and everyone gets a part to play in fighting the various threats. Optimus heads to the Dead Universe to face down Nova Prime, while the Autobots on Cybertron take on the undead Titan and Shockwave and Galvatron. Characters are killed off and written out of the series, others are brought back into the series after short or long absences. There is some degree of moving chess pieces around for the next storylines, but it's not so blatant as to disrupt the storytelling. And a number of fairly major consequences come out of this storyline. The Dead Universe is finished off, along with Nova Prime. Windblade and other female Transformers are introduced into this continuity, and in such a low key fashion that I had completely forgotten how it happened. Bumblebee is killed, Shockwave is ultimately killed off, Orion goes back to being Optimus Prime and rejoins the series full time, and Megatron makes a major change and becomes an Autobot.

It's that last one that is never quite credible for me. I like a good redemption story, but it's hard to see Megatron in that role, and the story really does not sell the change to me. This needed to be set up a long time ago and the change of heart needed to happen gradually to be even remotely believable. I guess in some ways Barber and Roberts were doing what Transformers Prime did, and having a tormented, victimized Megatron seeing things from a completely different perspective, but it just does not really work for me. But Autobot Megatron will be around for the remainder of the series, as far as I know. My dissatisfaction with how that storyline was handled was one reason I quit reading MTMTE, so I'm curious to see where the book went after I stopped reading. I've seen the occasional issue or scene and I remember some of the discussion at the time (so I remember Getaway will stage a mutiny at some point), but a lot of it will be new.

So, flawed but enjoyable. Takes the large cast, gives everyone something to do, and tries to make some meaningful, lasting status quo changes beyond just killing characters off, though it does that as well. Despite my gripes with the story, I enjoyed re-reading it. I'm finding that I'm feeling kinder towards this continuity as a whole than I used to be, perhaps I'm mellowing with age!
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Re: IDW Transformers Comics - retro reviews

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Windblade 1-4
Mairghread Scott, Sarah Stone

I think this was actually a mini-series and vol. 2 was meant to be an ongoing. It feels like the opening arc in a longer series, and picks up where RID left off, since that book will now move to Earth-based stories, something we haven't seen since Police Action. I like Windblade fine as a character, particularly in this series where she's by far one of the most moral and compassionate characters in the story, if a bit naive. But I've always thought the character never merited the elevated role she was given by IDW, particularly over long-established G1 characters who continued to get very little exposure.

Set six months after Dark Cybertron, this series is a continuation of RID's storylines, and boils down to Windblade trying to learn her way around Cybertronian politics and deal with Starscream, who is fairly ruthless as a leader, if actually doing a good job with the basics of keeping order if not keeping the lights on. So it boils down to Windblade vs. Starscream with various other characters running their own agendas as well, and Windblade trying to solve a mysterious power drain and stay alive. The story is sound and the art is beautiful. This was another set of issues that were new to me, and they made a good impression.
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Re: IDW Transformers Comics - retro reviews

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andersonh1 wrote: Tue Mar 16, 2021 1:00 pmI think this was actually a mini-series and vol. 2 was meant to be an ongoing.
Yup. Volume 2 would then come to an end after only issue 7, and effectively relaunched as "Till All Are One".
But I've always thought the character never merited the elevated role she was given by IDW, particularly over long-established G1 characters who continued to get very little exposure.
I'm pretty sure that's more on Hasbro, pushing the character as the first vote voted created Transformer winner... She has also been predominantly featured in several of the cartoon series since her introduction.
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Re: IDW Transformers Comics - retro reviews

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Sparky Prime wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 2:00 amI'm pretty sure that's more on Hasbro, pushing the character as the first vote voted created Transformer winner... She has also been predominantly featured in several of the cartoon series since her introduction.
Yeah, it could well have been Hasbro. I like Windblade, I think she's a good character in IDW1 continuity. But I think the current series handles the character better, just making her one of the cast rather than someone extra-prominent.
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Re: IDW Transformers Comics - retro reviews

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Transformers: the IDW Collection Phase 2 book 7

Megatron glares at the reader on the cover of this book in which he's become old, tired and repentant. It's a bit of an odd image, tonally. We're hitting the era where I really started to disconnect with MTMTE and ultimately dropped the book around issue 31, I think, the one where the Lost Light had entirely disappeared and the crew were all in space in escape pods. Despite the fact that I generally still like and dislike the same things about that series, I'm enjoying it more and plan to keep reading. Whatever I thought or think about the story choices, it's water under the bridge now.

More than Meets the Eye #28–30

"World Shut Your Mouth: Towards Peace, Words Hang in the Air, Predestination: A Beginner's Guide"
James Roberts, Alex Milne

This is where the book really lost me, because I could not (and still can't, really) buy into the idea that Megatron would be accepted as captain by 99% of the Lost Light's crew. Yes, it's interesting to read about and to get into the head of a Megatron who isn't out for blood and conquest, who is calm and rational and examining his life. But he's still robot Hitler, the sociopath who started a war that killed billions, as Prowl's numbers during his war crimes trial spell out in detail. Everyone on that ship should have either quit or tried to kill him, as Whirl does. So the new status quo, while offering new storytelling opportunities, is not credible. I can see why I only put up with it for a few more months after this. Nevertheless, I'm going to to take the "repentant Megatron is an interesting character" attitude as best I can and keep reading, because he is interesting in this story arc.

The book goes back and forth between the present day, where a coffin has been found floating in space and the ship begins vanishing bit by bit, and the past where Megatron is facing trial for war crimes that are about as extreme as it gets. Prowl is the happy prosecutor, Ultra Magnus agrees to defend Megatron, and Optimus Prime sits as judge since Tyrest is incapacitated. It's all going well until Starscream gets his digs in and motivates Megatron, who was willing to accept his fate, to change his plea and demand judgment by the Knights of Cybertron. If he's willing to denounce and call for the disbanding of the Decepticons, Prime will allow him what is essentially probation while the Lost Light continues its search for the Knights, at the end of which search the trial will resume and judgment will be made.

The trial is an interesting sequence of events, and something we have not seen before this. That Starscream would get under Megatron's skin (so to speak) is no surprise. I can even see Optimus delaying sentencing, and the reasons given here (public perception of the trial and the idea that justice will be done) is credible enough. I just can't believe that the crew of the Lost Light would ever accept this situation. Nothing Roberts writes as far as rationales by various characters changes my mind on this.

So in the end we have an interesting situation, Megatron as captain of the ship, which is impossible to believe in. But, we will see where the story goes from here, after a five part RID story arc. There are no mini-series in this volume, it just goes back and forth between the two main titles running at the time.
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Re: IDW Transformers Comics - retro reviews

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Robots in Disguise #28–32
Earthfall:Hello Cruel World, Detonation Boulevard, The Mind Bomb, Full Fathom Five, I Dream of Wires
John Barber, Andrew Griffith, Guido Guidi, Brendan Cahill

A group of Autobots led by Optimus Prime goes back to Earth, "the planet that survived" in search of Alpha Trion, who had left a message with Windblade that he was going there. This story frustrated me quite a bit when I read it in monthly installments, but the pacing and the cliffhangers flow far more smoothly when I'm able to read it all in one sitting in this collected format. It feels like what it is, another reset for the series as RID leaves Cybertron politics to Windblade and goes back to Earth. And since the focus is on Earth again, much of the human cast consists of returning characters along with this continuity's version of Marissa Faireborn and the EDC.

Galvatron is the Decepticon leader now, and he has an entirely new personality. Rather than the intelligent and deliberate second in command to Nova Prime, he's become a boisterous barbarian, and we see several flashbacks to his time in the distant past on Cybertron. He's not smart, he's not patient, and it takes Soundwave talking him down to keep him from ruining things with the human allies of the Deceptcons. Soundwave, too, has suddenly become very interested in peace and equality, things he has never been shown to have any concern over in the past, so more than one character gets a personality transformation here.

It takes probably longer than it should to get there, but in the end the new status quo is established, Alpha Trion is rescued, and I like the fact that there is some mileage to be had from giving humanity weapons and tech that can let them hold their own against at least the small groups of Transformers that have returned to Earth. Some of the humor really works for me, including Thundercracker's terrible screenplays and the Constructicons being Prowl's fan club. I liked this story arc a lot more than I did the first time. I remember complaining, with some validity, that the writers kept having to reach into Cybertron's past to invent new threats, new McGuffins to drive the plot, and that will turn out to be true here as we'll see in the next story arc. And it does show the weakness of the post-war setting when it comes to inventing new threats, but at least they'll get a lot of mileage out of the Enigma of Combination, which I do remember is what Alpha Trion had gone to Earth to find.
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