Regeneration One - the retro review thread

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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Regeneration One - the retro review thread

Post by andersonh1 »

What does a Transformers fan do when the current comics aren't doing anything for him, and it doesn't look like that's going to change anytime soon? Go back and re-read old series, of course!

I've only read the Regeneration One storyline one time, back when it was first published. My memory is that sometimes it caught the atmosphere of the old Marvel Comics that it picked up from and continued, and sometimes it didn't. Now that a few years have passed, I'm going to enjoy revisiting the series and seeing what I think of it now.

Regeneration One #80.5 - Free Comic Book Day issue
Told on alternating pages, this short book both summarizes the storylines from 80 issues of Marvel Comics Transformers and sets up the status quo from after that series ended, only to destroy it on the last page. Even without having read those Marvel issues for a long time, the book brings back a lot of familiar memories. Simon Furman's sometimes purple prose and dialog keeps things rolling right along, and suits the mythical nature of the early conflict flashbacks. And can I say how refreshing it is to read "Heroic Autobot" and "Evil Decepticon"? The muddying of the waters and the mixing of factions in IDW's current books has long since bored me, and quite honestly goes against the rather clearly distinct, black and white/right and wrong breakdown that Transformers has traditionally used. This is the Transformers mythology I prefer, without a doubt.

On present day Cybertron, the Last Autobot keeps watch over a city at peace. At least it's at peace on the surface. There's an underground resurgence of Decepticons, led by Soundwave, who are not happy with Autobot rule. The Autobots are not unaware of this movement, and so Kup and Ultra Magnus go to find Optimus Prime in his mountaintop retreat, where he's mentoring Hot Rod. Kup and Magnus want to end the movement before it gets too strong, but Prime disagrees. He feels attacking them will only engender sympathy and gain them new followers. But he's soon proven wrong as an attack by Decepticons gains them access to an orbital satellite which Soundwave uses to assassinate the Last Autobot.

I can't help but think of a Star Wars: The Force Awakens analogy. The Marvel series left us with a happy ending: the Autobots have won, Cybertron is theirs again, and as Optimus Prime said, they could finally go home. Of course, Generation 2 changed that when it was published (and I note Jhiaxus is on the first montage page of this issue, something that I missed when I first read it), and any sequel was going to have to kill the happy ending in order to tell a dramatic story. Regeneration One is no different, though it surprised me that the Last Autobot was killed off without much page time. We never got to know the character at all. Andrew Wildman's art is instantly familiar, and I love the old-style Cybertron with all the improbable architecture and elevated roadways filled with generic Transformers walking or driving. And outside the city are ruins and rubble from the long war, still in existence. It's great to see the traditional character models, and Wildman's fluid action shots with some great angles and compositions. For this one issue at least, it really does feel like we've gone home again and returned to the old days of pulling the latest Marvel issue off the spinner rack at the local drugstore. Well done Furman and Wildman.
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Re: Regeneration One - the retro review thread

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Regeneration One #81
Loose Ends, part 1

Kup trains in a combat simulator, taking down ersatz versions of Bludgeon and Galvatron (aim for the top, eh Kup?) before Springer interrupts. Some Decepticons have broken into a weapons decommisoning facility and have control of some very dangerous warheads. Kup and Springer want to take the Wreckers in, while Ultra Magnus thinks he can talk the Decepticons down. He also doesn't want to chance the destruction that will occur if the bombs go off. Kup leaves, disgusted, and Springer goes to talk some sense into him.

Meanwhile Soundwave sends Chop Shop, Ransack and Venom into the facility with orders to turn the Decepticons inside into martyrs rather than let them be imprisoned. Soundwave intends to keep growing the neo-Decepticon movement. The three Insecticons disable or kill Terradive, Afterburner, Eagle Eye and Windrazor (all G2 bots I believe, so we're seeing lots of characters introduced that never made it into the Marvel series). They assume the Insecticons believed they were betraying their original orders. The Insecticons don't care, and after taking them out, get set to detonate the warhead while leaving themselves time to escape first. But before they can, the Wreckers burst in and capture them, disarming the warhead with some help from Perceptor.

Afterwards, Magnus meets with Prime in his mountaintop retreat, where Prime is studying a planetarium. Magnus doesn't want his new recruits emulating Kup and Springer's behavior, while Prime favors leniency, given that they were successful. In the middle of the conversation, Prime has a painful vision of Unicron threatening to kill him again. Outside, Kup and Hot Rod talk, and while Hot Rod tries to explain Prime's point of view, Kup disparages both him and Prime for their lack of action. Kup's had enough, and he puts into action a plan he's been contemplating for a long time. He's heading back out to visit the planets touched by the Great War, to see if anything needs to be done to atone for their actions. The Wreckers go with him, and their first stop is Earth, where they find the planet devastated. Entire cities have been wiped out. As they're wondering who is responsible, Megatron appears on their screen,wondering just what it takes to get someone's attention, before launching multiple nuclear warheads at the Wreckers ship. to be continued...

- Kup trains to fight the most dangerous opponents, though hopefully he's aware that the real things aren't so easily killed. There's a bit of foreshadowing when simulated Megatron gets the drop on him, just as he does for real at the end of the issue.
- Furman doesn't confine himself to characters that appeared in the Marvel series. And though he builds the story around prominent G1 characters as his main focus, he pulls in plenty of obscure characters as well. The G2 bots from this issue are a prime example. The Wreckers never appeared in US Marvel G1 either. I've still never read much UK Transformers, but I know they came from that series and have appeared everywhere else since.
- The Insecticons change size, and no explanation is given. Sometimes it's nice just to see these characters exercise these abilities without anyone remarking on it or thinking it's strange.
- I love Prime's planetarium. Maybe that's what his retreat originally was. And it makes sense that his death and return would haunt him. PTSD?
- Similarly, the passage of time and Optimus Prime's mentoring efforts are a good explanation for how Hot Rod is now a calmer, more introspective character than he used to be.
- Crazy G1 Megatron is back! There's no explanation in this issue, but it's not hard to figure that he survived the crash of the Ark just like Galvatron did.
- And how could I not spot the parallel between the devastated Earth from G2 and the appearance of a devastated Earth here?
- Bludgeon and Soundwave make contact! I'm always a fan of Bludgeon, and he's done just what logically he would have done: bided his time and prepared before making a move.

First issue, and the story is already beginning to split into multiple threads with multiple locations and threats. And more are promised, as Kup mentions Grimlock having gone to find a cure for Nucleon. While I like to see so many new and obscure characters enter the story, as they surely would have had that series continued, in some ways it seems like the series would have felt more authentically G1 if Furman hadn't introduced the Wreckers or Magnus or other concepts. But that's a small nitpick on my part. Otherwise it's a strong issue that feels focused, despite the large number of characters.
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Dominic
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Re: Regeneration One - the retro review thread

Post by Dominic »

What does a Transformers fan do when the current comics aren't doing anything for him, and it doesn't look like that's going to change anytime soon? Go back and re-read old series, of course!
I actually hit this point a while ago. (read through "Re-Generation One" earlier this year.)

"Re-Generation One" is the last time TF really impressed me.

The muddying of the waters and the mixing of factions in IDW's current books has long since bored me, and quite honestly goes against the rather clearly distinct, black and white/right and wrong breakdown that Transformers has traditionally used. This is the Transformers mythology I prefer, without a doubt.
Furman blurred factions as well, though he mostly left the sacred cows of 84-85 alone.

I can't help but think of a Star Wars: The Force Awakens analogy. The Marvel series left us with a happy ending: the Autobots have won, Cybertron is theirs again, and as Optimus Prime said, they could finally go home. Of course, Generation 2 changed that when it was published (and I note Jhiaxus is on the first montage page of this issue, something that I missed when I first read it), and any sequel was going to have to kill the happy ending in order to tell a dramatic story.
The difference here is that Lucas used Episode 6 as an intentional ending. Furman was forced to use US issue 80 (and the last UK annual) as the ending. Bludgeon was never meant to retreat honestly.

"Another Time and Place" (the above mentioned UK annual) referenced the Cybertronian Empire from "Generation 2". G2 was meant to be part of the ongoing series.

"Re-Generation One" almost reads like it was based on Furman's old drafts and notes. The Cybertronian Empire shows up. There is meaningful follow-up to the pre-TF Cybertronians from the end of the original series. Earth gets wrecked in both cases. The Swarm (from "Generation 2") may well have been meant to substitute for the corrupted Matrix (from the original Marvel run and "Re-Generation One"). Prime was reclusive in "Another Time and Place" and in "Re-Generation One".
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Re: Regeneration One - the retro review thread

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Dominic wrote:"Re-Generation One" almost reads like it was based on Furman's old drafts and notes. The Cybertronian Empire shows up. There is meaningful follow-up to the pre-TF Cybertronians from the end of the original series. Earth gets wrecked in both cases. The Swarm (from "Generation 2") may well have been meant to substitute for the corrupted Matrix (from the original Marvel run and "Re-Generation One"). Prime was reclusive in "Another Time and Place" and in "Re-Generation One".
If Furman had all those ideas that he didn't get to use when the Marvel series ended, it makes sense that he'd develop them in some way when he got the opportunity to write further Transformers storylines. No sense in letting good ideas go to waste.
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Re: Regeneration One - the retro review thread

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Regeneration One #82
Loose Ends part 2

Megatron gloats over his lobotomized Decepticons, including Hun-Grr, Thundercracker, Astrotrain and many others. He's found the escape pods that allowed the Wreckers to evacuate their ship before the missiles destroyed it. He sends the zombie Cons out to hunt down any survivors, noting that only Starscream has even the slightest spark of sentience left, enough to know that Megatron is tormenting him. Anyone think this is going to come back to bite Megatron? Yeah, I think so. Ratchet too is still alive, as nothing more than a head on Megatron's transport sled. It's not immediately stated here, but neither Ratchet or Megatron could live without the other also living, given how they were fused back in the Marvel series. Meanwhile the Wreckers have survived, though some with injuries, and they scout around and discuss their limited options. They need to stay alive and get a message to Cybertron.

Grimlock makes an appearance, and he's headed to Nebulos, still trapped in his Action Master body. The Nebulons have been trying to reattach the Headmaster's original heads with no success, but they had mentioned a breakthrough. Grimlock hopes to find a cure for all the Nucleon infused bots, though he's mainly concerned about the Dinobots.

Magnus is watching a message from Grimlock when he receives news that Kup has left the planet, and he's frustrated that Kup keeps putting him in untenable positions instead of following the rules.

And from here, the plot threads intercut quickly, as Grimlock lands on Nebulos and fights for his life against aerial attackers, while Kup and the Wreckers do the same on Earth, fighting for their lives against the still dangerous zombie Decepticons. This is clearly not IDW continuity as Grimlock starts to defend himself, but then decides that there are still some lines he won't cross, such as killing Nebulons. Kup is captured, and Grimlock is captured, Kup because he forgets an enemy's ability (Skywarp's teleportation) and Grimlock because he won't kill the Nebulons.

And then, back on Earth, the surviving humans enter the scene, including Spike Witwicky, now Circuit Smasher (standing in for the trademarked and I guess unusable Circuit Breaker).

- Having become more used to the more ruthless IDW Autobots (who, to be fair, generally try not to kill humans these days), it's genuinely refreshing to see a Grimlock written as someone who prefers to die rather than kill weaker opponents. This type of characterization should not feel like a throwback to an older era of Transformers, but it does. Again, that's probably not fair, but that was my honest reaction.
- My one continuity complaint: there were a lot more Autobots who got the Nucleon treatment other than just the Dinobots. Did none of the other Autobots suffer transformation issues or go mad?
- Bringing in Spike as Circuit Smasher once again feels like an authentically Marvel G1 aspect of this series. On the other hand, at first glance it probably means bad things for Fortress Maximus (which future issues will bear out). But at least Spike lived through the experience this time, unlike Generation 2.
- It's kind of nice to see Kup act like a jerk for a few issues and act like he's good enough to take on fake Decepticon leaders in the simulation, only to go down like a chump this issue because he forgot Skywarp can teleport. Pride goes before a fall, old timer...
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Re: Regeneration One - the retro review thread

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Later issues show other Autobots with nucleon related problems.


Who did Grimlock get squeamish about killing?
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Re: Regeneration One - the retro review thread

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Dominic wrote:Later issues show other Autobots with nucleon related problems.
I didn't remember that, so I'm glad I'm re-reading this.
Who did Grimlock get squeamish about killing?
He's attacked not long after he lands by Nebulons. His first thought it that he has no choice but to defend himself, but then he decides he can't start killing them and just takes the hits.
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Re: Regeneration One - the retro review thread

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Regeneration One #83
Loose Ends part 3

Spike makes it clear that the Autobots are not welcome on Earth. He attacks Rack and Ruin, but Topspin tries to talk him down, only to probably save his life by stopping Springer from shooting him. And then Spike's human allies show up, and the crisis has passed for the moment. On Cybertron, Prime is still mentoring Hot Rod, and the two sit and talk while Optimus tries to pass along his beliefs and that his actions have had consequences. He's the old familiar Marvel Optimus Prime, full of self-doubt and introspection. And then Magnus lets him know that he's on his way up, and Prime knows it's going to be bad...

And then we get a few pages of well-drawn exposition, filling in the backstory about how an examination of the Ark, lying in the frozen North, awoke Megatron. With the help of the Ark's computer (here not named Teletran I, but "Auntie"... sounds like one of those early concepts when Transformers were being developed that was abandoned along the way) Megatron was able to control the nukes of the world and devastate the planet. It's "All Hail Megatron" and Generation 2 rolled into one. He activates his zombified Decepticon army, and by the time Spike gets Fortress Maximus into the fight, it's too little, too late. But another Marvel character, GB Blackrock, saved Spike's life with the same technology used to create Circuit Breaker (who appears, very small and without a lot of detail, in one panel).

On Cybertron, Prime and Magnus receive Springer's call for help, and what's more, they get Megatron's challenge to Optimus Prime. Prime immediately starts fitting an expedition for Earth. On Earth, Megatron sends out a message to the Wreckers, letting them know Kup has been infected with the scraplet virus. It's a trap of course, and as the issue ends, Prime and his crew are headed to Earth, with Prime leaving Hot Rod in command. Bludgeon and his crew make an appearance with Warworld, just as they did in G2. Bludgeon contacts Soundwave, and wants him to recover the remains of Thunderwing...

- All sorts of old plot threads fron the end of Marvel G1 are accounted for in this issue, and we get lawyer friendly cameos by Circuit Breaker and GI Joe, fighting alongside Fortress Maximus.
- I enjoy seeing Optimus Prime and Hot Rod interact like this. I know it's happened over in IDW's main series, but those two are hardly recognizable as the same characters. Here, in this continuity, it's apparent that Hot Rod will be Prime's successor, and I like the continuity of having Hot Rod learn from Prime.
- And I like that he's still named Hot Rod. It's the little things...
- Dirtbag is another G2 Decepticon who isn't very prominent in any TF fiction. Furman could have had any random generic-bot in the scene where he bumps into Hot Rod, but he took the time to use an actual character. I always appreciate that.
- And of course, how could I not enjoy any appearance by Bludgeon, one of my favorite G1 Decepticons? Including the G2 elements in the story is appreciated as well. And they're attacking Torkulon, named after the crazy psychotherapy planet from G1 season 3.
- Thunderwing!

Regeneration One #84
Loose Ends part 4

I kept buying the Guido Guidi covers on this series. Not that I didn't enjoy Andrew Wildman's art, but Guido's covers were so good.

Everyone knew leaving Starscream any sort of sentience at all was going to come back to bite Megatron, and it didn't take all that many issues for it to happen. As we find out before the issue ends, he's aware of Megatron's connection to Ratchet, and he just has to communicate that to someone. All his effort over the whole issue is exerted to walk a few feet and tell Kup to kill Ratchet. Springer, Sandstorm and Whirl go in to make a show of trying to rescue Kup, while the remaining humans and Wreckers try to get past the Ark's defenses to shut down Auntie, taking its use as a weapon away from Megatron. The fight does not go well for Springer's crew as they're badly outnumbered, and one by one they're taken down, with Megatron standing over Springer, looking forward to killing him. As always, Wildman picks some great angles for his panels, and this whole series really benefits from the art being on modern glossy paper instead of the old newsprint.

On Cybertron, Hot Rod is beginning to have visions, possibly of the future. He doesn't know. The pre-Transformer Cybertronians we saw near the end of the Marvel run make an appearance, which I found surprising in a good way when I first read the issue. I'm glad Furman remembered that particular plot line and was returning to it. Hot Rod ponders what he has seen, only to be told by Blurr that Soundwave has broken into the vault housing the remains of Thunderwing.

On Earth, Megatron gloats and is about to kill Springer, when Optimus Prime arrives and confronts him, much to Megatron's delight. Starscream finally manages to tell Kup to kill Ratchet...

- We get plenty of trademark Furman Transformer deaths in this issue, as we have all along. And there will be more.
- That's two issues now with no resolution of the attack on Grimlock.
- One of the things I appreciate on this re-read is how even though we've got a five issue story arc, there's no decompressed storytelling here. A lot happens every issue, as it should with so much story to tell and so many characters to include. The pacing is fairly rapid, even though the story takes time to slow down and offer some exposition from time to time.
- One would think that Spike would share some of the blame for what happened. He guarded the Ark as Fortress Maximus for awhile, but when he took a break or failed to be diligent, it was then that others got into the Ark and started the trouble. He left his post, as it were. Blaming it all on the Autobots hardly seems fair.
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Re: Regeneration One - the retro review thread

Post by Dominic »

No question, Spike was an ass.


The Joe cameos would not need to be lawyer friendly. (Aside from '02 to '08, TF and Joe have always been licensed to the same parties, assuming that both licenses were active at the same time.) But, Circuit Breaker? Who are you talking about? I just saw some nameless, and indistinct, energy person.


I always wondered how Furman would have handled Earth being attacked had the original series continued. The 20 year gap would not have been an issue. (I can see why Furman used it for "Re-Generation One". But, ultimately, I do not know if it worked. He may have been better off just continuing as if it were '91.) Would Furman have written the mass devastation of Earth in to the original series? Would Hasbro have allowed it (especially with the nominal ties to "GI Joe")? It happened in "Generation 2". But, that was a different scenario than the original series continuing.


The use of G2 characters makes stylistic sense. They likely would have shown up during the run of the original comic, had it continued long enough.
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Re: Regeneration One - the retro review thread

Post by andersonh1 »

Dominic wrote: But, Circuit Breaker? Who are you talking about? I just saw some nameless, and indistinct, energy person.
I assume it's meant to be Circuit Breaker. I could be wrong, but don't know who else it would be.
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