We've got Hall of Fame voting going on up there

[Onslaught Six]

The way the comic did it, it's like we were expected to think all the guys introduced in the comic were just as cool as the BW show cast we knew and loved just because they had the same origin story. Does Furman really think BW fans are so simple-minded that we can't handle more than one origin for Beast Mode Transformers?

In the book's defense, I'm pretty sure Furman was trying really really hard to get out of writing as many books as he was at this point. Furman was handling the -ation books which were basically ongoing in spirit if not in name, multiple Spotlight issues, and also BW, all at the same general time--plus I think that crappy Terminator series he wrote came out at the same time too, and he also did that Death's Head reboot. I think he just somehow took on way more than he could handle and figured he would phone in the work as much as possible until it was either over, finished! or until IDW said, "Yeah, that's about enough of that," and pulled him from the main books to give him some ancillary project--like Maximum Dinobots and later the Tales of the Fallen crap. Basically get Furman as far away as possible from the main book. (And, come to think of it, putting him on the stupidly retro-fueled G1 #81 series would be a remarkably simple way to give him something consistant to do. And Furman's projected ideas for the series aren't exactly the worst I've ever heard.)

So yeah, basically Furman was turning in Xeroxes of his turds in an attempt to either get paid and get out or get fired.

There you go with the lazy thing again. I'll give you hack, but he's a hard working hack!

Is he really? I give the impression every day that I work hard at work, and most of my coworkers believe it. (In reality, I spend all day posting here.)

Maybe because Furman is a lazy hack? Maybe because the fanbase would have lost their collective minds if there was not at least an obligatory, and forced, appearance by the show characters?

This, right here.

[Dominic]

Being seen typing is a great way to seem productive.

I have people asking me if I "have a minute" when I am posting here more than when I am actually working.

That said, I do not think Furman was trying to get fired so much as I think he was trying to coast along, doing as little as possible while pulling in as much money as possible. Between "-ation", and the "Spotlights", he had a pretty consistent paycheck for doing a yeoman's job. The BW and "Terminator" books were just gravy.

What makes more sense, a guy deliberately trying to lose work in a field that is hard to break into and stay in, or a guy trying to cut corners and coast through on a "good" name? If nothing else, if somebody wants to cut their hours, they need only ask their boss. There are always more people willing to scoop up a bit of over-time than people trying to ditch hours.

Based on previous experience, Furman could be forgiven for assuming that just his name would be enough to sell a TF book. He had no incenctive to put any real work in. Remember, for years he *was* the TF franchise in terms of comics.

But, with BW, his work was consistently bad enough that fans got tired of him. The best I have heard about the comics is that they were good set-up. And, even that complimentary sentiment is usually paired with an admission that the follow-through was lacking. The sourcebook was childish on its own. But, it seemed even worse when compared with the DW sourcebooks that were published less than 5 years earlier. And, it probably did not help that a large chunk of the beast-fandom is just young enough to see Furman as "that writer who has been around for a while" rather than viscerally seeing him as "the writer who made the comic awesome when the comic was it".

"Maximum Dinobots" was good because Furman realized he had to improve his work product. The movie comics really ain't so good. "Nefarious" was on the low side of passable. And, the UK (movie* stuff is filler at best. (edit)


Dom
-or, IDW could just stop giving him work.

[Shockwave]

The UK stuff was way better than filler and certainly better than the US comics (assuming you mean UK G1, otherwise I have no idea wot you mean). I also don't think that Furman was coasting along as much as maybe he took on more than he could handle. I think he might have just been working on too many projects at once and the writing on some of them suffered as a result.

I post at work way more often than I should, but no one seems to bother me about it. Probably because I don't do it in front of my supervisor.

[Dominic]

I meant UK movie comics. Sorry. I just fixed the original post.


Dom
-old UK was generally good, but had some stinkers.

[Gomess]

I post from work all the time!

Of course... I work from home... so.

[BWprowl]

Just to throw into this little survey, I don't post at work, despite being in front of a computer all day, mainly because it's a new job and I don't want to chance it, and because they've got me in the most 'visible' cubicle of the four of us (as in the other three can see me pretty easily, while I have to double-take if I want to see if they're poking their heads out. And I really do not want them finding out I'm perusing a Transformers forum). That said, I have quickly skimmed the boards when I got the chance a couple times.

[Mako Crab]

Surely there were other Transformers in the universe besides the stasis pods on Earth, right?

With a programmable loyalty to Magmatron? Yeah, not so much. Remember, it wasn't just an army Magmatron was after, but they needed to be loyal for his coup against the Tripredacus Council.

Really? Magmatron with his rank as emperor in the BW Neo cartoon has no one loyal to him? Magmatron in the IDW comics with his seat in the government has no one loyal to him? I don't buy it. Hack writing + cash grabbing + riding on the coat-tails of the BW toon is why he went to prehistoric Earth. I mean, come ON! How would he even KNOW about the stasis pods or their condition from the Axalon?? He's going to travel through time and space on the hope that a bunch of stasis pods went unclaimed FROM A MAXIMAL SHIP!!

* First, he's banking on the slim chance that the stasis pods weren't all jettisoned from the Axalon when they first crashed. He doesn't know. Maybe they kept them all aboard. How would he know?
* How does he even know the ship complement of the Axalon? Maybe they weren't carrying stasis pods at all. They could've been a garbage freighter.
* Then he's figured that the stasis pods, at some point, were in orbit and then subsequently fell from orbit and scattered all across the globe. HOW THE #$%% DOES HE KNOW?!!?
* No one like Tarantulus around with the skill and equipment to perform the delicate procedure of reprogramming a stasis pod? No problem. Just plug in the microwave and send out those insta-Pred signals. Works every time! This was so completely weak compared to the reprogramming process shown in the toon. I loved the episode where Rhinox had to stay with AirRazor's pod and work on it all ep just to keep her alive. It was really cool and made the whole process personal. The insta-Pred wave lacks all that.

But surely this is a more cost-effective plan than recruiting already existing Predacons that need no reprogramming to be loyal. The premise alone was broken from the start. The only reason they went to prehistoric Earth was to cash in on the popularity of the toon, when what they should've been doing was telling their own story.

[Gomess]

Hack writing + cash grabbing + riding on the coat-tails of the BW toon is why he went to prehistoric Earth.

This point seems to keep coming up whenever we discuss uh... wait... what was it called? The Gathering? Is that it? Something one-word and pretentious. Well, it keeps coming up, and I'm *almost* starting to believe it. =3

...And bear in mind I'm the guy that disliked The Gathering so much that he rewrote the thing.

[Onslaught Six]

And I really do not want them finding out I'm perusing a Transformers forum.

Man, dude, you gotta kick this stigma sooner or later. Don't be embarassed about your hobby. Embrace it. A Spychanger Prime stands proudly on my work desk. Hell, in your case I'd be a little more worried that they'd see your signature.

[BWprowl]

Man, dude, you gotta kick this stigma sooner or later. Don't be embarassed about your hobby. Embrace it. A Spychanger Prime stands proudly on my work desk. Hell, in your case I'd be a little more worried that they'd see your signature.

Hey, I'm not the one who put the stigma in society, so I can hardly be the one to kick it. I feel like I maintain a tenuous enough grasp on respect with my co-workers as it is.

And the company's system auto-filters most images, so my signature doesn't show up when I browse the board there.