More than Meets the Eye (IDW ongoing comic)

[Onslaught Six]

There weren’t *any* established Decepticons Roberts could’ve appropriated for the Justice Division? Not even any obscure late-G1/Euro guys?

Roberts actually has acknowledged this. He did some FB commentary that TFW linked the other day, and he had this to say:

The D.J.D. are the ultimate Decepticon loyalists. They passionately believe in Megatron and his ideals and so everything they do and say is steeped in Decepticon culture and iconography. Also, by giving them codenames we can have some fun down the line with regards to who they really are. The D.J.D. has a rolling, shifting line up. If and when Vos dies, they’ll recruit someone else and give them the same name. And it was in this way, no doubt, that Agent 113 got onto the team.

So Kaon isn't necessarily the dude's real name and identity, for example.

I’ll give this book a couple more issues, mainly because I want to see what they do with the return of Grimlock, but it’s definitely starting to get on my nerves.

According to that interview I linked above, this arc lasts for about three issues, so. I expect the DJD will fade back into obscurity after that.

I'll agree with you, though, for being a Transformers book, there ain't a lot of transformerin'. This can be a HUGE problem when you're writing TF Stories In Space, though, and instantly kind of brings up an inherent problem with TF in the fact that if they don't need to transform for disguise, they don't have much reason to do it for anything else. And, I mean, okay, if you're purely interested in TF for that element of it, I can understand. But I'm equally (or more) interested in TF because they're a sentient alien robot race who doesn't just want to murder humans. How often do you get that?

(For what it's worth, I think we have an EQUAL amount of non-transformation in RID.)

[Dominic]

Issue 7:

I am just going to blend my comments with responses here.

The art continues to annoy me. It looks sloppy and more than once it gave me trouble in terms of figuring out what the hell is going on. Prowl talks about G1 characters loolking the same, and that is a huge problem here.

Yeah, and the fact that he notes that these little worldbuilding bits are all there deliberately (or at least there so they can be picked up on later; hopefully by him) is good too. Means they aren't just there to be little goofy asides, and are leading to something.

I read that as more "everybody wants to be the next Tolkein". He is just writing stuff in to use it later, even though he has no immediate plans for how to use it.

It's so weird, though, because as much as Roberts is trying to, every little worldbuilding thing he throws in there just inches it further and further away from Furman's continuity. I just have a hard time swallowing the idea that we wouldn't have maybe seen some of this shit before. And, I mean, during All Hail Megs, the Autobots were highly under the impression that the ones in AHM, on Cybertron, were it, they were the only Autobots in the entire Universe period

I think it was more a question of "we have to assume that we are it around here". The Autobots were scattered, with no real idea how many others were still alive or able to fight. Remember, Garrus-9 was shown to be holding out pretty well in "Last Stand of the Wreckers" until Overlord showed up.

And speaking of Rung, turns out he’s just *too important to die* so he actually survived getting his head blown off and will apparently come back at some point.

It really comes down to why Roberts is writing it so Rung survived. I am more forgiving of characters surviving or even coming back in TF because they are (mostlY) robots, which makes the "different rules" about being dead more acceptable. But, Roberts still needs a good reason to be writing what he does.

the bit towards the end about a period of the war where Optimus and Megatron got all super-informative about how they viewed the war comes out of nowhere and serves no other purpose than to waste a page explaining “some planets got more messed up than others and forgot about”),

The basic idea here is good. Information warfare has always been vital, but has only started to get serious consideration in the last few decades. Given how little has been written about it, I would be interested to see what, if anything, Roberts has to say about it. But, I want him to say something about it besides how kewl it is.

Similarly, the idea of warfare being seen differently by command (and the guys who are in the commander's inner circle) and the rank and file also has potential. Hopefully, Roberts will exploit that potential.

Roberts also shoehorns this dude named Fulcrum into Krok’s crew of Decepticon leftovers. Fulcrum, like Rung, is a character Roberts had previously used in a fan-work of his. And speaking of Rung, turns out he’s just *too important to die* so he actually survived getting his head blown off and will apparently come back at some point. Roberts’s fan-characters threaten to overrun the book at this point, and that’s where you can start citing such practice as a ‘problem’.

What is wrong with new characters? You are one of the people who complains about getting endless comics about Optimus and Bumblebee and other 1984/85 characters. Well, now you are gettins something all new. So what if they are characters the writer came up with rather than new Hasbro characters? Neither Rung nor Fulcrum are over-powered characters. They do not come across as fan characters. Nor are they Marty Stus (characters that the author is clearly projecting on to).

I will agree that the Justice Division characters are way the hell over-powered. They are not only shown taking out a phase 6 character, but playing with their food and making him their bitch in the process. I actualy got a "house-cleaning" vibe from that scene. Thunderwing is out of commission. Sixshot is MIA. Killing Black Shadow makes Overlord more important, even if he is gimped at the moment.

I have to wonder how many people will complain about Roberts kililng Black Shadow and how many would have complained if a Costa or a McCarthy killed him off.

You can have characters spout off and talk to each other constantly about what their quirks and personality traits are, and extensively detail what their Special Powers are and how inventive a writer he is, but when it all leads to guys just blowing up and calling each other up at the last minute for SHOCKING REVEALS it comes across like you just enjoy writing about crap you think is cool about Transformers instead of just telling a goddamn story. Using actual TF characters to do it would be nice too.

Agreed. Parts of this are coming across as Roberts trying to write his own fan specs on to the official page....just to do so. "This character has a wacky quirk that we are going to tell you about, but never use in any substantive way."

Meanwhile, you go over to a comic like Robots in Disguise and it’s like BITCH DECEPTICONS COMING OUT OF THE UNDERGROUND RIGHT NOW! SHOOT ‘EM IN THE HEAD! GRAB THEIR GUNS, BLOW ‘EM UP, YOU DON’T NEED PERMISSION, PROWL GOT AROUND THAT SHIT FOR YOU! WHAT ARE YOU READIN’ PROFILES FOR, STUFF’S STILL HAPPENIN’! BITCH TURMOIL’S IN THE ROOM RIGHT NOW! HE’S ABOUT TO FIRE, HE KILLED YOUR PLANET, SHOOT ‘IM IN THE HEAD! SHOOT ‘IM IN THE HEAD!!

Exactly. Barber seems to have an idea or two that he is using TF (the book he is paid to write) as a way to get out there. Roberts just seems to want to write about Transformers, and has some vague ideas that he throws in to have an excuse to write about Transformers. Roberts would make a better writer for a one-shot or back-ups in an annual or quarterly.

(For what it's worth, I think we have an EQUAL amount of non-transformation in RID.)

I think that Prowl's defense there, (and this is definitely mine), is a book with non-TF ideas that is just being written using TFs. RiD could work in just about any sci-fi setting. It does not even need to be sci-fi. Barber is going to be doing non-TF, maybe even non-comic, stuff by the end fo the decade. Mark my worlds. Roberts....no so much.

His writing does come across as fannish. He had a remarkable showing on "Last Stand of the Wreckers". But, he may not have much steam outside of "writing about Transformers".


Dom
-just reading it as filler....

[Onslaught Six]

I have to wonder how many people will complain about Roberts kililng Black Shadow and how many would have complained if a Costa or a McCarthy killed him off.

I'm only complaining as much as I am about him killing, say, Skyquake. Ever since learning about him, I've had a certain affection for Black Shadow--he just has a cool design and a cool name--and to see him...well, not 'wasted,' but to see him killed off without really learning too much about him or seeing him do much is a little...disheartening. I mean, let's pretend that instead it was, say, Weirdwolf. Weirdwolf is a guy who's had a good enough amount of exposure--he's no main character, obviously, but if I talk about Weirdwolf, you know who I'm talking about. Comparatively, Black Shadow is kind of a blank slate, and Victory aside, he hasn't done much, and it's unlikely he's going to show up in any other mainstream TF fiction. IDW is pretty much the only chance he has to shine, and to kill someone off without really showing them Do Stuff...it's sucky, a little.

But I can get over it, you know, because as much as I might dig Black Shadow as an obscure dude, someone might have the same feelings for, again, Weirdwolf, and if Weirdwolf got killed off without much IDW exposure, they'd be equally upset. So I can kind of move past it and acknowledge that bigger things are at play. In the long run, I didn't mind Skyquake's death, because the entirety of Wreckers was awesome.

[Dominic]

Aw, c'mon. I am sure that Fun Publications will use him.


Dom
-and ruin yet another toy.

[BWprowl]

Roberts actually has acknowledged this. He did some FB commentary that TFW linked the other day, and he had this to say:

The D.J.D. are the ultimate Decepticon loyalists. They passionately believe in Megatron and his ideals and so everything they do and say is steeped in Decepticon culture and iconography. Also, by giving them codenames we can have some fun down the line with regards to who they really are. The D.J.D. has a rolling, shifting line up. If and when Vos dies, they’ll recruit someone else and give them the same name. And it was in this way, no doubt, that Agent 113 got onto the team.

So Kaon isn't necessarily the dude's real name and identity, for example.

Okay, I admit, that’s actually pretty interesting, and I’m impressed that Roberts addressed that point. I like that idea that some of these guys maybe used to be more familiar characters, or that one of the other cast members of the book could get recruited onto the team later down the line.

According to that interview I linked above, this arc lasts for about three issues, so. I expect the DJD will fade back into obscurity after that.

I should clarify here that it’s less these guys and more Fulcrum who’s really grinding my gears. These guys are at least intended to be ‘special’, larger-than-life, story-specific characters. It’s why they’re shown taking out an ‘established’ badass like Black Shadow at the beginning, to put them over such characters in a narrative sense. Fulcrum, on the other hand, is just another one of Roberts’ pet fan characters that for some reason gets to trot around with a group of ‘real’ G1 guys, making me wonder why he had to be included at all.

(For what it's worth, I think we have an EQUAL amount of non-transformation in RID.)

I think that Prowl's defense there, (and this is definitely mine), is a book with non-TF ideas that is just being written using TFs. RiD could work in just about any sci-fi setting. It does not even need to be sci-fi. Barber is going to be doing non-TF, maybe even non-comic, stuff by the end fo the decade. Mark my worlds. Roberts....no so much.

Well for one thing, they actually do use transformation in RID. We see Bumblebee and Metalhawk going around the planet in their altmoes, Ironhide had to transform to deal with Cybertron’s new terrain when he went to visit Wheeljack, that sort of thing. I’m not asking for big, awesome road-warrior car combat scenes, but at least acknowledge that this is a species that can assume vehicle forms and would do that as part of their everyday existence. The Decepticons being thought to be mode-locked and them turning out not to be was actually a big plot point of RID. But over in MTMTE, it stands out as just another example of Roberts having trouble with the old rule of ‘Show, don’t tell’. He’ll have Ambulon exposit for a page with Ratchet about how he turns into a leg instead of just…showing him do that at some point. We get this big build up about how Tarn is supposedly harvesting transformation cogs to fuel his transforming addiction and then…no sign of it when he finally shows up. Roberts is just writing this stuff in because it amuses him with little regard for how it works in the actual story, and it’s not just limited to the transformation thing either. Remember First Aid’s fixation on collecting discarded Autobot badges? We never see him scavenging for them or anything like that, he just tells us about it. What about Rewind watching snuff films? We don’t see him in the middle of one when someone calls him up, he just tells us about it. There’s this thing called conservation of detail, meaning you don’t just put stuff like this in because, it has to be there to be used in the story and to make it all more cohesive, instead of just having a bunch of disparate red herrings metaphorically circling the characters at all times.

The other thing is that while RID can be light on the transformation side of things, that book is actually interesting and entertaining to me, so it’s harder to nitpick such things about it. MTMTE on the other hand, has a lot of stuff that annoys me, and this is just one more aggravating issue to bring up.

The art continues to annoy me. It looks sloppy and more than once it gave me trouble in terms of figuring out what the hell is going on. Prowl talks about G1 characters loolking the same, and that is a huge problem here.

I disagree. Milne’s I-can’t-believe-it’s-not-Roche art actually works better at keeping the otherwise boxy black-and-red G1 cast more distinct. There’s no way I’m going to mistake Red Alert for some other Sideswipe-y looking guy in this case. And characters are still recognizable, I recognized Flywheels straight off, for instance.

It really comes down to why Roberts is writing it so Rung survived. I am more forgiving of characters surviving or even coming back in TF because they are (mostlY) robots, which makes the "different rules" about being dead more acceptable. But, Roberts still needs a good reason to be writing what he does.

Admittedly, Rung being still alive gave Red Alert a half-decent reason to leave that data slug there so it could get picked up by…whoever (ten bucks says it’s Fort Max). Still feels a bit like Roberts chickening out on killing his favorite creation though.

The basic idea here is good. Information warfare has always been vital, but has only started to get serious consideration in the last few decades. Given how little has been written about it, I would be interested to see what, if anything, Roberts has to say about it. But, I want him to say something about it besides how kewl it is.

Similarly, the idea of warfare being seen differently by command (and the guys who are in the commander's inner circle) and the rank and file also has potential. Hopefully, Roberts will exploit that potential.

That’s my point, Roberts didn’t really have a reason to put it in there. He had some page space to fill, so instead of actually advancing the plot in some meaningful way, he invented a previously-unheard-of ‘special phase’ of the war because the idea seemed cool at the time. The datasphere thing would actually make for an interesting idea for a separate series that, yes, could explore some concepts about war and information and yadayada. Except that’s not what we got, we just got Roberts cramming it in as another overt detail that Roberts thought was so cool that he just *had* to get it down onto his printed page somehow.

What is wrong with new characters? You are one of the people who complains about getting endless comics about Optimus and Bumblebee and other 1984/85 characters. Well, now you are gettins something all new. So what if they are characters the writer came up with rather than new Hasbro characters? Neither Rung nor Fulcrum are over-powered characters. They do not come across as fan characters. Nor are they Marty Stus (characters that the author is clearly projecting on to).

First off, I should reiterate that I’m primarily a toyphile for this franchise, so part of my desire for new characters is that I’d like to see toys of those guys instead of another cluster of Bumblebees and Wheeljacks on the shelves. But the main context is within the idea of ‘new’ series and how I’d like to see those populated with new characters driving them, IE: For the next TFPrimeAnimatArmaCarWars, that we don’t get yet *another* reiteration of Optimus, Megatron, Bumblebee, Starscream, Soundwave, etc.

But in this case, this is the G1 era being covered, and there already ARE plenty of guys besides those guys who never got exposure and could use some fleshing out. It’s similar to my complaint about the recent Mega Man comics, actually, in that the G1 toyline has a TON of fresh characters ready to be mined for story use, but Roberts instead opts to throw in some made-up guys instead just because. We KNOW he knows enough to do the former, since his use of guys like Krok and Misfire are on that level here, but that just makes the inclusion of this Fulcrum douchebag even more puzzling, coming across like Roberts just wanted his getting-around fan-character to party with his favorite late G1 Decepticons.

Now, those comments that Six posted from Roberts do mitigate the DJC a bit, as does their role in this story, and I’m going to take a turn at hypocrisy and admit that I do really like Tarn. He’s well-defined, has a clear role in the story that he can fulfill (instead of being some cipher that Roberts chose to fill with a fan-character because), and the knowledge that he *could* be a legit G1 character under that faceplate helps to undercut his Original Character status. He’s also, frankly, really cool, with a Special Power that was actually well-demonstrated and fits what we’ve seen of his character, and a Decepti-patriotic fervor that makes him a little different than what I’m accustomed to from Big Bad Decepticon Psychopaths. Anyone else read him as being voiced by David Kaye? If Hasbro does look into making more comic guys into toys a la Drift and Straxus, I’d like to see this guy among them.

Exactly. Barber seems to have an idea or two that he is using TF (the book he is paid to write) as a way to get out there. Roberts just seems to want to write about Transformers, and has some vague ideas that he throws in to have an excuse to write about Transformers. Roberts would make a better writer for a one-shot or back-ups in an annual or quarterly.

Indeed, Roberts did great on that two-issue lead-tie-in to Chaos, I still cite it as my favorite comic of the year. But given free reign over his own ongoing…he seems to be getting overwhelmed by getting too many toys to play with, being unable to focus on telling the story without taking us on a tour of the notebook he scribbled TF ideas down in in high school. I can understand wanting to just write about Transformers, I don’t mind reading about Transformers, but I need a little bit *more* than that.

His writing does come across as fannish. He had a remarkable showing on "Last Stand of the Wreckers". But, he may not have much steam outside of "writing about Transformers".

Part of me wonders if it helped him to have the more idea-driven Roche reeling him in on that one. I’d love to see just Roche writing again, Spotlight: Kup is a comic I will never shut up about.

Dom
-just reading it as filler....

Ditto

I have to wonder how many people will complain about Roberts kililng Black Shadow and how many would have complained if a Costa or a McCarthy killed him off.

I'm only complaining as much as I am about him killing, say, Skyquake. Ever since learning about him, I've had a certain affection for Black Shadow--he just has a cool design and a cool name--and to see him...well, not 'wasted,' but to see him killed off without really learning too much about him or seeing him do much is a little...disheartening. I mean, let's pretend that instead it was, say, Weirdwolf. Weirdwolf is a guy who's had a good enough amount of exposure--he's no main character, obviously, but if I talk about Weirdwolf, you know who I'm talking about. Comparatively, Black Shadow is kind of a blank slate, and Victory aside, he hasn't done much, and it's unlikely he's going to show up in any other mainstream TF fiction. IDW is pretty much the only chance he has to shine, and to kill someone off without really showing them Do Stuff...it's sucky, a little.

I’m not complaining because I wasn’t reading the book for Black Shadow in the first place. I fully intend to watch Victory at some point, so I’ll get to see him Be Cool there, so everything’ll be fine.

But I can get over it, you know, because as much as I might dig Black Shadow as an obscure dude, someone might have the same feelings for, again, Weirdwolf, and if Weirdwolf got killed off without much IDW exposure, they'd be equally upset. So I can kind of move past it and acknowledge that bigger things are at play. In the long run, I didn't mind Skyquake's death, because the entirety of Wreckers was awesome.

Treadshot, a peculiar favorite of mine, got offed in a single panel in LSotW, and I didn’t complain either because, like you said, awesome comic. Like they were going to use Treadshot for anything decent anyway.

[Dominic]

Fulcrum, on the other hand, is just another one of Roberts’ pet fan characters that for some reason gets to trot around with a group of ‘real’ G1 guys, making me wonder why he had to be included at all.

Or, maybe Fulcrum is going to end up joining the team, likely replacing one of the existing members.

Why do they have to be old characters? If Roberts made an existing character in to a member of the Justice Division, then he would be irrevocably altering an existing character in the IDW setting. The only two existing characters that I can think of that would make any sense in the DJD have only shown up in Fun Publications stories, as their SG selves no less.

Spoiler

Howlback, and arguably Garboil, would work as DJD members.

There is nothing wrong with adding new characters. It is not like any of Roberts' characters are either obviously him or ridiculously over-powered for the sake of being awshum.

I disagree. Milne’s I-can’t-believe-it’s-not-Roche art actually works better at keeping the otherwise boxy black-and-red G1 cast more distinct. There’s no way I’m going to mistake Red Alert for some other Sideswipe-y looking guy in this case. And characters are still recognizable, I recognized Flywheels straight off, for instance.

I cannot even tell that Red Alert is a Sideswipe looking guy because the fucking art is so damned rough and undefined. If they made toys of these characters, the toys would look like clay figures that you would buy at the community crafts table.

Admittedly, Rung being still alive gave Red Alert a half-decent reason to leave that data slug there so it could get picked up by…whoever (ten bucks says it’s Fort Max). Still feels a bit like Roberts chickening out on killing his favorite creation though.

Fort Max does not quite work because he only came on to the ship so recently. There is no reason to think that the two twins (killed in the engine room) were the only bad seeds on a ship full of misfits and criminals.

I am not sure it is fair to assume that Roberts is just trying to put his character over. He does not seem to be in business for himself here. Willis, Sorenson and to a lesser extent Furman are in business for themselves. (In Furman's case, it is a bit more tolerable because his motivation is so clearly economical. He is settling in to TF again because it is money. Willis and Sorenson on the other hand are likely to develop the self-stroking ego.

I think that Roberts is suffering for the fact that he is relatively new at his job and has been given a bit more than he can handle. He is probably more like Yee or Sinclair in that he really wants to write a good comic and be recognized for his work, not just have his ego stroked.

That’s my point, Roberts didn’t really have a reason to put it in there. He had some page space to fill, so instead of actually advancing the plot in some meaningful way, he invented a previously-unheard-of ‘special phase’ of the war because the idea seemed cool at the time.

"Phase Seven" seems to be something that the guys would talk about "off the record", maybe as a joke, not unlike my friends and I joke about the FBI listening in on our prank phone calls. (Seriously. It would be very embarassing if they were, what with all the heavy breathing and all.)

Anyone else read him as being voiced by David Kaye?

Mark Alaimo actually.

I don’t mind reading about Transformers, but I need a little bit *more* than that.

I think that we largly agree on RiD and MtMtE, making allowances for different phrasing.

Part of me wonders if it helped him to have the more idea-driven Roche reeling him in on that one. I’d love to see just Roche writing again, Spotlight: Kup is a comic I will never shut up about.

They are both still relatively green. In the last 7 years, how much has either of them written? I could not tell you what either of them really brings to the table. They both have some impressive fan work to their credit. If Roche is as young as I suspect he is (having met him in '07) he would have been 15 or so when he drew "Fell on Black Days" for TransMasters UK. I am guessing Roberts to be about the same age. Eugenesis was not even close to as polished at that point. But, it was still impressive for a first major effort.

Roche seems to be focused more on art right now.



Dom
-reallys wants to see Howlback and Garboil used well in US context.

[Onslaught Six]

Fulcrum, on the other hand, is just another one of Roberts’ pet fan characters that for some reason gets to trot around with a group of ‘real’ G1 guys, making me wonder why he had to be included at all.

See, I don't mind it when stuff like this happens, actually, because...who else is Fulcrum gonna hang out with? A bunch of 'other' made-up guys? Now I'll never remember him! He'll just be the one made up guy in a gang of 12 other made-up guys.

Besiding that, I think he's gonna bite it anyway.

Fort Max does not quite work because he only came on to the ship so recently. There is no reason to think that the two twins (killed in the engine room) were the only bad seeds on a ship full of misfits and criminals.

Fort Max might have overheard Red Alert saying it's Overlord in the basement. He's one of the few dudes on board who has motive. That said: Don't trust the colouring, it's not accurate. The colourist (Milne?) didn't know who it was supposed to be either. He wasn't told.

I think that Roberts is suffering for the fact that he is relatively new at his job and has been given a bit more than he can handle. He is probably more like Yee or Sinclair in that he really wants to write a good comic and be recognized for his work, not just have his ego stroked.

It's also possible that Roberts is recognizing he's new to the game and also, IDW hasn't exactly been kind in terms of keeping writers around. (For the most part, unless you're Furman, once you're off the book, you're off the book.) He might be thinking this is basically his one real chance to write a TF book, and he wants to make sure he gets as much of what he wants to do out there.

If Roche is as young as I suspect he is (having met him in '07) he would have been 15 or so when he drew "Fell on Black Days" for TransMasters UK. I am guessing Roberts to be about the same age.

Roche is 33. Roberts is 36 or so.

[Dominic]

That said: Don't trust the colouring, it's not accurate. The colourist (Milne?) didn't know who it was supposed to be either. He wasn't told.

Ah, that kind of bullshit is one of the things that jacked up "Countdown".

(For the most part, unless you're Furman, once you're off the book, you're off the book.) He might be thinking this is basically his one real chance to write a TF book, and he wants to make sure he gets as much of what he wants to do out there.

That is exactly the wrong approach. He is not producing much at the moment beyond fodder for sourcebooks. But, who is going to care about this run of the book in a few years if he does not actually write anything?

Roche is 33. Roberts is 36 or so.

Damn, I would have pegged Roche for being at least 5 years younger.

Still, in professional terms, they are both fairly young.


Dom
-would like to write comics....

[BWprowl]

Or, maybe Fulcrum is going to end up joining the team, likely replacing one of the existing members.

Why do they have to be old characters? If Roberts made an existing character in to a member of the Justice Division, then he would be irrevocably altering an existing character in the IDW setting. The only two existing characters that I can think of that would make any sense in the DJD have only shown up in Fun Publications stories, as their SG selves no less.

Spoiler

Howlback, and arguably Garboil, would work as DJD members.

Roberts already alters the hell out of any characters he writes into his stories, it’s just what he does. So as long as he’s throwing stuff like the DJD and a newcomer to Krok’s crew so they can explain things to him, it would be *better* for them to be pre-existing characters who never had any exposure/definition up until now, rather than completely new characters jammed into the ensemble for no reason other than ‘just because’.

There is nothing wrong with adding new characters. It is not like any of Roberts' characters are either obviously him or ridiculously over-powered for the sake of being awshum.

It just strikes me as…I’m not sure how to describe it. But when you’re chosen to work on a licensed property that has *hundreds* of characters available throughout its history and catalog, to instead just go and make a bunch of new guys up just comes across as either lazy or self-indulgent, though I’m not sure that’s exactly the feeling I’m getting from it either. It just bugs the hell out of me, is all.

I cannot even tell that Red Alert is a Sideswipe looking guy because the fucking art is so damned rough and undefined. If they made toys of these characters, the toys would look like clay figures that you would buy at the community crafts table.

That’s the point, Red Alert’s design has been tweaked so he looks more like his own guy now, rather than just a white Sideswipe. Anyway, I think you’re being way too harsh on the art, or you just need new glasses; it’s not nearly as doughy and undefined as you’re making it out to be. It’s stylized, yes, but the characters still have consistent features that are properly represented across each of their appearances.

Fort Max does not quite work because he only came on to the ship so recently. There is no reason to think that the two twins (killed in the engine room) were the only bad seeds on a ship full of misfits and criminals.

I just realized that I’m kind of stupid for suspecting Fort Max, actually, since he’s currently locked in the brig, and the others (particularly Magnus) would probably know if he was loose already. My bad.

"Phase Seven" seems to be something that the guys would talk about "off the record", maybe as a joke, not unlike my friends and I joke about the FBI listening in on our prank phone calls. (Seriously. It would be very embarassing if they were, what with all the heavy breathing and all.)

Phase Seven fit in fine as banter-fodder and didn’t even waste that much page space. I was mainly griping about that ‘information age’ of the war where Megatron and Prime sealed themselves up in the dataspheres or whatever. It was a ridiculously superfluous, self-indulgent side-trip that Roberts wasted a whole page on to explain the simple question of “Why are there more dead guys on this planet than others”, a question that didn’t even necessarily need answering.

See, I don't mind it when stuff like this happens, actually, because...who else is Fulcrum gonna hang out with? A bunch of 'other' made-up guys? Now I'll never remember him! He'll just be the one made up guy in a gang of 12 other made-up guys.

That’s my point, Roberts should have just *not* stuck Fulcrum in the story, and instead used some other, established, ‘real’ Transformers character in his place. This one made-up fan-character hanging out with the other guys really kills the cohesion of the character use.

Besiding that, I think he's gonna bite it anyway.

See, that’s another thing. When Furman et al made up characters in the Marvel run, 10 times out of 9 it was because they needed a guy to be killed but couldn’t get rid of a guy who actually had a toy to sell. This is the whole reason Impactor existed: because the Wreckers needed a leader who could die tragically but whom Hasbro wouldn’t object to offing out of the comic. Ditto one-hit wonders like Crosscut, and Macabre. Even Straxus was around just because they needed a BBEG who wasn’t Megatron (funny in hindsight) who could actually be killed at the end of his story arc. The one exception I can think of is Emirate Xaaron, and he was likely just created because there weren’t a lot of toys on shelves whose function was ‘Politician’. In these cases, I can understand the reasoning behind making up characters whole-cloth.

But Roberts has made it very clear throughout his run that he’s not squeamish about killing off established, actual TF characters. Hell, Black Shadow, a guy who actually had a toy on shelves until recently, gets killed BY the newly-invented characters in this issue. So there’s no reason this extra tagalong with Krok’s Krew had to be some made-up guy just because he’s going to get killed, since Roberts happily murders G1 characters by the bucketful anyway (Seriously, I would almost like to see a comic co-written by him and Furman, each of them meta-competing to see who could effectively kill off the most characters, just for funsies).

That said: Don't trust the colouring, it's not accurate. The colourist (Milne?) didn't know who it was supposed to be either. He wasn't told.

Ah, that kind of bullshit is one of the things that jacked up "Countdown".

I don’t see why they would need to go through all that trouble for secrecy in the first place, since IDW consistently shows an inability to keep the surprise in their pants and happily throws out press releases about Ironhide dying, or ‘Chaos’ plot points in issues that aren’t due out for months. I’m surprised by this turn of events as opposed to this issue coming out and them letting all the news-sites know “Skids took the data slug! He kills Whirl next month then everyone goes back to Cybertron and fights Unicron! Spike dies!”.

That is exactly the wrong approach. He is not producing much at the moment beyond fodder for sourcebooks. But, who is going to care about this run of the book in a few years if he does not actually write anything?

Sorry Dom, but we’re in the minority on this, people friggin’ love this book. I saw a thread about IDW the other day where someone called MTMTE “The best thing on shelves right now”. It has funny/awesome memorable characters that people like to quote and write silly fancomics about, it’ll stick around.

Dom
-would like to write comics....

So…write some.

[Dominic]

I do not want to write fanfic.

That’s the point, Red Alert’s design has been tweaked so he looks more like his own guy now, rather than just a white Sideswipe. Anyway, I think you’re being way too harsh on the art, or you just need new glasses; it’s not nearly as doughy and undefined as you’re making it out to be. It’s stylized, yes, but the characters still have consistent features that are properly represented across each of their appearances.

Roche's ever changing art style has been grating on me more and more over time. He is too fond of rough lines and busy panels. MtMtE is not quite as bad as some of the rougher parts of "Infestation", but it is close. Roche over-uses odd perspectives, rough lines, disjointed colours and radically redesigned character models, which make individual panels (and by extension whole pages) come across as sloppy.

Sorry Dom, but we’re in the minority on this, people friggin’ love this book. I saw a thread about IDW the other day where someone called MTMTE “The best thing on shelves right now”. It has funny/awesome memorable characters that people like to quote and write silly fancomics about, it’ll stick around.

I gotta love it when the fandom lives down to stereotypes. Are they seriously praising this book so much because it inspires fan-comics?


Dom
-seriously? Really? Damn....