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Re: Transformers 2019 (IDW comic series) discussion

Posted: Fri May 28, 2021 9:18 am
by andersonh1
Ursus mellifera wrote: Fri May 28, 2021 8:42 am Wait, wait a second, because I need to know.
Spoiler
What the ACTUAL FUCK kind of divine powers does Windcharger have?!
Has he always been able to do that, and I missed it somehow?
Windcharger has, according to his original bio, the ability to "Cast a powerful magnetic field which can attract or repel large metal objects. Smashes them at closer distances." That magnetic field would be a massively powerful weapon against a race made largely of metal, and it seems like someone has finally figured that out. I can't recall Windcharger ever being used so effectively before, and certainly people have never been afraid of him. Great job by Ruckley here writing the character up to his full potential.

Re: Transformers 2019 (IDW comic series) discussion

Posted: Fri May 28, 2021 9:41 am
by Ursus mellifera
andersonh1 wrote: Fri May 28, 2021 9:18 am
Ursus mellifera wrote: Fri May 28, 2021 8:42 am Wait, wait a second, because I need to know.
Spoiler
What the ACTUAL FUCK kind of divine powers does Windcharger have?!
Has he always been able to do that, and I missed it somehow?
Windcharger has, according to his original bio, the ability to "Cast a powerful magnetic field which can attract or repel large metal objects. Smashes them at closer distances." That magnetic field would be a massively powerful weapon against a race made largely of metal, and it seems like someone has finally figured that out. I can't recall Windcharger ever being used so effectively before, and certainly people have never been afraid of him. Great job by Ruckley here writing the character up to his full potential.
No wonder everyone's terrified of him. He's like Cybertronian Tetsuo.

Image

Re: Transformers 2019 (IDW comic series) discussion

Posted: Wed Jun 09, 2021 10:53 am
by andersonh1
Transformers Annual 2021 - all sorts of good stuff in this one. Alex Milne's art is solid, as always.
Spoiler
This may be the best issue featuring the Technobots that I've read, and any time Thunderwing and Bludgeon show up it makes me happy, since they're some of my favorite villains. Both are treated far better here than they ever were in IDW1. Thrust, Dirge and Ramjet are present but don't do a lot, and Airachnid from Prime also plays a part in the story. The big surprise near the end: Thunderwing and his crew have created their own version of the Enigma of Combination with the result that Computron is created. By the end of the issue, Lodestar is able to kill Vigilem, making her the only remaining functional Titan.

annual 2021

Posted: Mon Jun 14, 2021 5:50 pm
by Dominic
The 2021 "Transformers" annual is not the best single issue of the Ruckley run. But, it is probably the best that the series has looked in the last year or so.

The story is mostly hindered by some exceptionally bad breakdowns, likely caused by trying to make the story fit the page count of the annual. (It would have worked better as 2 or 3 full issues of the now-defunct "Transformers: Galaxies" series.)


Good use of Thunderwing. He is not entirely wrong in this context. He may be siding with the bad guys. But, he is not shown to be a drooling monster so much as he wants to maintain a standard of living for his civilization, or at least his faction.

Re: Transformers 2019 (IDW comic series) discussion

Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2021 10:45 am
by andersonh1
Dom, I wonder if the annual was originally meant to be a part of Galaxies? Maybe that series was cut short and the story had to go somewhere, so we got an Annual instead?

Transformers 31
A cycle is a day in this continuity, so we get a time skip of 40 days as "Lord of Misrule" begins, with lots of subplots given a page or two to advance, and several characters reappearing who we haven't seen for a while. Ultra Magnus returns to Cybertron, and part of the resolution of Escape is given away before the final issue of that mini-series is published. The main plot is the attempt to get a working teleport, which Jumpstream tests for Perceptor, leading to the "where exactly am I" cliffhanger, which does not go at all where I expected the story to go. As always, the book is packed with characters and details, and remains a well-written page turner.

Re: Transformers 2019 (IDW comic series) discussion

Posted: Sat Jun 26, 2021 6:34 pm
by Dominic
You might be right about the annual being an abandoned arc from "Galaxies". Similarly, I suspect that "Escape" was intended to ship before issue 31 of the main series.


The only thing that I can add to to your thoughts on issue 31 is that Ruckley is doing a good job with Flatline. Even after the last few issues, Ruckley has managed to write a Decepticon with a moral compass. (This is better than setting the series to 80s-spec.)

Re: Transformers 2019 (IDW comic series) discussion

Posted: Wed Jul 14, 2021 11:12 am
by andersonh1
I'm liking Flatline. So many of the Decepticons are violent thugs, but there's no problem with having one who genuinely cares about saving lives.

Transformers 32 - Lords of MIsrule part 2 -
Spoiler
We've seen the scenario this issue paints before: an apocalyptic future, with the villains ruling, the world in ruins, and the few remaining heroes trying to do whatever they can to stop them. The book tries to misdirect and hint that it's another reality entirely, but the end of the issue confirms that it's the future, with Exarchon in control. And then he turns up at the end of the issue in the present day, only it's Skywarp? I'm looking forward to answers about just who and what Exarchon is.

issue 32

Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2021 1:48 pm
by Dominic
This is one of the weaker issues of the run. The focus is on the time-travelling and teleporting (that started in issue 31). It would read well enough in a compilation (the format people tend to buy/read comics as). But, as a single issue, it does not achieve much.
Spoiler

The end should have been broken down better, for the sake of clarity. Having the bad guy wearing the future body of a familiar character needs clear framing, which was lacking here.
This issue was particularly lackluster after the strong finish to "Escape".

Re: Transformers 2019 (IDW comic series) discussion

Posted: Tue Jul 20, 2021 7:05 am
by Ursus mellifera
I'll be honest, I'm not really sure what even happened at the end of this issue.
Spoiler
Exarchon is Skywarp or something? This is the first time I've been genuinely confused by this book.

Re: Transformers 2019 (IDW comic series) discussion

Posted: Mon Jul 26, 2021 7:33 am
by Dominic
The Skywarp at the end of issue 32 is one of the future Decepticons, under the control of Exarchon. (And, yes, it should have been more clear.)