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!
Dominic wrote:Like I said above, how likely is it that Milne just happened to draw two characters that are closely associated with Walky getting killed on the same page, without once making the connection before being asked about it? Yes, it could happen by coincidence. But, it is very unlikely. Do you really think his friend suggested it and Milne had no idea at al what was being suggested or what the ramifications would be?
Didn't you read what Milne himself said at the IDW boards?
markerguru wrote:now i thought we were talking about issue one here. lets see. when i started issue 2 i had a battle scene between the autobots and decepticons and i asked a few of my friends who to draw in there. a few of them said i should draw hot shot, and i was like hot shot??? why the hell do i want to draw him??? i'm not the biggest fan of armada anyways. then one of them said it was Walky's favourite, but i still don't know if that's true or not, and i laughed, and i said, if you want me to put him in, i will. personally i don't care. so at first i asked my friends what characters to add, they gave me a few choices and when i then wanted to know the reason behind there choice they told me, and i got a laugh out of it.
so, no lie here. no favourite characters of anyone who i hardly know in issue one. in issue 2, there is. did i do it because that guy upsets me. no. i don't really care what he says. i did it because my friends thought it was be funny and it's a character not in the G1-G2 line that will be used. oh, and i'm not the biggest fan of armada, so theres that too.
So yes, Milne was aware of why said friend(s) chose Hot Shot, but I fail to see how that matters or why he'd have expected any ramifications from it. Milne was just looking for suggestions of who to draw as cannon fodder. What's it matter if they suggested Hot Shot with their own motives? The point remains, Milne drew him because his friends suggested it for cannon fodder, not to spite Willis.
I am not saying Milne is evil. But, I am saying that he is not too credible on this one.
That's the thing I don't understand here. How is Milne not too credible? I see no reason to doubt what he said.
It would be more credible if not for the fact that Glit/SG Ravage also shows up dead on the same page.
Do I think Milne was rubbing his hands together and giggling? No. Do I think he was trying to get a rise out of Willis? Hell yeah. Part of me wonders if this was not planned to raise the profile of the book. (Of course, we are talking less about the comic than about the drama.....)
Dominic wrote:It would be more credible if not for the fact that Glit/SG Ravage also shows up dead on the same page.
The page is littered this dozens of dead cannon fodder characters. I see no reason why Milne would be any less credible just because he added an in-joke among them.
Do I think he was trying to get a rise out of Willis? Hell yeah.
It is less the art itself than the (probably/perceived) intent behind it.
As it stands, Milne (at least partly at the urging of his friend) took a jab at a well known (and frankly obnoxious) fan. As O6 said above, it is childish and petty.
It is the kind of amateur hour bull shit I expect from the fan club/convention comics, (that Willis often has a hand in), not from comics published by *professional*, (and not simply by virtue of getting paid for their work), artists.
I am saying Milne is not too credible on this one because, to be frank, it strikes me as very unlikely that he and/or his friend just randomly chose to add two characters that are closely associated with a vocal fan to be added to shots of characters being killed in large numbers. It is was just Hotshot, I would give it to him. But, the fact that it was Hotshot and Glit/SG Ravage leads me to think that Milne was going out of his way to get a rise out of David "The Drama Queen" Willis.
I am not saying Milne "hates the fandom" or that Milne "hates Transformers". But, I am saying that he indulged in petty antics when he damned well should have known better. I am not paying $4 per issue on any comic to subsidize self-indulgent fits from writers and artists. Yes, Willis is an asshole. But, I am not interested in paying money for people to take shots at him in the comics I buy. My hobby is "Transformers, not "self-indulgent tantrums and jabs at obnoxious fans that raise the profiles of those obnoxious fans".
Along similar lines, I accept that there will be a certain amount of marketing, for good or ill, that influences the comics, hence the fact that Dropshot showed up in AHM desspite being a UT mould. But, I do not like having to look at comics at wonder if one thing or another on the page is exhibitionism for the purpose of drumming up controversy, and therefor publicity. Advertising and marketing are one thing. Exhibitionism is another.
Dominic wrote:It is less the art itself than the (probably/perceived) intent behind it.
You seem be ignoring the (true) intent behind it, as Milne himself explained. It's cannon fodder. Really I don't see this as being unlike Joe Ng using Defunct and X-Warlock's fan characters as cannon fodder in "War Within: Age of Wrath". Was that a jab at them? Certainly not. Sure, this is a bit of a different situation as a friend of Milne's who apparently hates Willis suggested it, but that doesn't change Milne's intent. It's just cannon fodder Dom, and you're taking it too seriously.
Dominic wrote:Along similar lines, I accept that there will be a certain amount of marketing, for good or ill, that influences the comics, hence the fact that Dropshot showed up in AHM desspite being a UT mould.
For the record, Dropshot may have been based on a UT mold, but the continuity slider on his Universe box placed the character within G1 continuity.
I want to agree with you Sparky. I want to say "Look at David Willis being a fucktard drama queen yet again." But, at best, Milne took suggestions from an obviously partisan friend. I am counting that as going out of his way to stir up the pot. And, as I said above, I do not much like it.
Dominic wrote:I want to agree with you Sparky. I want to say "Look at David Willis being a fucktard drama queen yet again." But, at best, Milne took suggestions from an obviously partisan friend. I am counting that as going out of his way to stir up the pot. And, as I said above, I do not much like it.
How is Willis the drama queen here? He said on his blog that it didn't bother him and that he actually enjoys the attention. You've raised more of an issue out of it than he has. And again, I don't see Milne as having done anything to "stir up the pot". Seems to me some fans have been doing that well enough on their own.
Fair enough. Willis's own complaints were about Tipton's comments after the fact. And, Tipton was responding to complaints from those other fans you allude to. (I will even give him his flash of temper.)
All the same, it was at best incredibly bad judgement, if not malicious stupidity, by Milne.
Dom
-of course that fact that Willis enjoys the attention.......
