IDW "Combiner Wars" comic discussion and speculation

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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Dominic
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Re: IDW "Combiner Wars" comic discussion and speculation

Post by Dominic »

The fact that "More than Meets the Eye" is getting pulled in at all (by having characters go back to Cybertron) is problematic. It is not as bad as what happened during "Dark Cybertron". But, it is still problematic.

On a related note, is anybody here actually reading "Combiner Wars"?
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Re: IDW "Combiner Wars" comic discussion and speculation

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Dominic wrote:The fact that "More than Meets the Eye" is getting pulled in at all (by having characters go back to Cybertron) is problematic. It is not as bad as what happened during "Dark Cybertron". But, it is still problematic.

On a related note, is anybody here actually reading "Combiner Wars"?
No it isn't. They have established a means for members of the Lost Light to go other places and vice versa. And they've also established ways of getting from Cybertron to all sorts of other places throughout the galaxy. The original groups are no longer bound to those settings, so they are also not bound to staying parts of those respective groups. That's not only not problematic, it's the exact opposite of problematic since it opens up the writers to potentially tell more stories with whichever characters they want without having to write some ridiculous macguffin to explain why someone is here instead of there. Why do characters need to stay in the same setting, or even in the same group? Isn't that the kind of insular thinking that you berate other fandoms for?

I've read the first issue. Swindle has the Enigma of Combination and used it to form the new Menasor. They also explained Wildrider's replacement. Personally, I'm still interested to see what happens with this. Is Menasor now more cohesive because of the Enigma or is he still a split personality mess? Will the new Superion function better than the old and will that depend on him getting the Enigma or will he be just like he was? It'll be interesting to see how this concept is explored.
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Re: IDW "Combiner Wars" comic discussion and speculation

Post by BWprowl »

Shockwave wrote:I've read the first issue. Swindle has the Enigma of Combination and used it to form the new Menasor. They also explained Wildrider's replacement. Personally, I'm still interested to see what happens with this. Is Menasor now more cohesive because of the Enigma or is he still a split personality mess? Will the new Superion function better than the old and will that depend on him getting the Enigma or will he be just like he was? It'll be interesting to see how this concept is explored.
I read the prologue and the first issue proper (Windblade). Menasor is still a mess, though now it's because of Blackjack, who has a crazy streak. Starscream purposefully assigned him to the team so he'd fuck things up. Superion is shown to be much more cohesive.
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Re: IDW "Combiner Wars" comic discussion and speculation

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Dominic wrote:The fact that "More than Meets the Eye" is getting pulled in at all (by having characters go back to Cybertron) is problematic. It is not as bad as what happened during "Dark Cybertron". But, it is still problematic.
How is it problematic? MTMTE has a big cast of characters to use, many of which have stayed in the background so much of the time. But even then, we've had stories that'll focus on somewhat different groups of characters already. So what if a small group returns to Cybertron for one storyline? I don't see that it'll really impact MTMTE that much, if at all.

Haven't been to the comic book store in a while, but I do plan on reading this story.
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Re: IDW "Combiner Wars" comic discussion and speculation

Post by Dominic »

Main characters are being pulled out of the book for the sake of a dumb cross-over that the book is technically not even a part of. IDW "Transformers" is becoming everything that was bad about comics 20 years ago.
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Re: IDW "Combiner Wars" comic discussion and speculation

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Dominic wrote:Main characters are being pulled out of the book for the sake of a dumb cross-over that the book is technically not even a part of. IDW "Transformers" is becoming everything that was bad about comics 20 years ago.
Except we don't know what characters will be a part of it yet, aside from the Protectorbots. Which aside from First Aid, I don't think have been anything more than background characters in the IDW comics. And even if they do pull some main characters, so what? What would be so bad about that?
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Re: IDW "Combiner Wars" comic discussion and speculation

Post by BWprowl »

Sparky Prime wrote:Except we don't know what characters will be a part of it yet, aside from the Protectorbots. Which aside from First Aid, I don't think have been anything more than background characters in the IDW comics. And even if they do pull some main characters, so what? What would be so bad about that?
For what it's worth, we can also be pretty much certain that Cyclonus is going to get pulled, and he's about as far from background as it gets. Cyclonus is a major part of MTMTE, and of what makes that book so unique, and has interesting dynamics with multiple characters, like Tailgate and Whirl. Seeing that get taken out of the book, removed from it, for a cheap stunt in an event, is a pretty lame move.
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Re: IDW "Combiner Wars" comic discussion and speculation

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BWprowl wrote:For what it's worth, we can also be pretty much certain that Cyclonus is going to get pulled, and he's about as far from background as it gets. Cyclonus is a major part of MTMTE, and of what makes that book so unique, and has interesting dynamics with multiple characters, like Tailgate and Whirl. Seeing that get taken out of the book, removed from it, for a cheap stunt in an event, is a pretty lame move.
It's not like Cyclonus has been a major character in every single issue of MTMTE though. And that wasn't even the result of an event. So what if he might be absent for a few issues if he's a part of Combiner Wars? I don't see why that should be problematic. So what if the story has to focus on some other characters? It wouldn't be the first time.
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Re: IDW "Combiner Wars" comic discussion and speculation

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Sparky Prime wrote:It's not like Cyclonus has been a major character in every single issue of MTMTE though. And that wasn't even the result of an event. So what if he might be absent for a few issues if he's a part of Combiner Wars? I don't see why that should be problematic. So what if the story has to focus on some other characters? It wouldn't be the first time.
Because it still derails the book. Maybe Roberts originally had plans for Cyclonus around this time period, but then IDW was like "Hey Hasbro wants us to sell this new CW Cyclonus toy, so ship him over to the not-RID book for a while and let Barber use him". True, we'll probably never know, but the fact remains that a disruption is there.

On top of that, we can't guarantee that Cyclonus will ever get shipped BACK to MTMTE, and even if he does, he's getting a brand-new body that's a Combiner torso AND has some-fucking-thing to do with Galvatron apparently, so he's going to be irrevocably altered by his forced participation in the event, which could make all sorts of waves in how his story/interactions have to go when/if he's back in MTMTE. NOT TO MENTION how this is going to disrupt the SHIT out of the flow of people who are only reading MTMTE and not the other books (ironically, because maybe they hoped to avoid flow-disrupting stupid events).

It's just a huge goddamn snarl and is a major reason why stupid comic-book events poking their dick into other books like this is a Bad Thing.
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Re: IDW "Combiner Wars" comic discussion and speculation

Post by Sparky Prime »

BWprowl wrote:Because it still derails the book. Maybe Roberts originally had plans for Cyclonus around this time period, but then IDW was like "Hey Hasbro wants us to sell this new CW Cyclonus toy, so ship him over to the not-RID book for a while and let Barber use him". True, we'll probably never know, but the fact remains that a disruption is there.
How? Just because it'll borrow a few characters is not any reason to believe it'll derail or disrupt the book in any way. Roberts has plenty of characters to work with as it is, and he's a very creative writer, I doubt it'll even phase him.
On top of that, we can't guarantee that Cyclonus will ever get shipped BACK to MTMTE, and even if he does, he's getting a brand-new body that's a Combiner torso AND has some-fucking-thing to do with Galvatron apparently, so he's going to be irrevocably altered by his forced participation in the event, which could make all sorts of waves in how his story/interactions have to go when/if he's back in MTMTE. NOT TO MENTION how this is going to disrupt the SHIT out of the flow of people who are only reading MTMTE and not the other books (ironically, because maybe they hoped to avoid flow-disrupting stupid events).
At this point, we can't actually guarantee Cyclonus will even be a part of Combiner Wars. Sure there's the new toy which would suggest he might be, but that alone doesn't mean he will be. And even if he does, there's no reason to assume it'll irrevocably alter him. Considering they have this 'enigma of combination' McGuffin, I'm thinking that'll allow some of the characters to combine who normally can't with out actually changing them in any way, thus giving them an 'out' to be back to their usual selves at the end of the story. And there's no reason at all to assume this will disrupt the flow if you're only reading MTMTE at this point. For all we know, Roberts will address it in MTMTE. Not to mention Combiner Wars JUST STARTED, it's way too early to be jumping to the conclusions that you are.
It's just a huge goddamn snarl and is a major reason why stupid comic-book events poking their dick into other books like this is a Bad Thing.
I don't see why it's a snarl. It's a shared universe, why can't characters in one book appear in another? To me, that's always been the one good point about events, seeing characters team up that usually don't interact that much given their separate titles.
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