Is a Generations Astrotrain Voyager toy needed? I think so..

[Onslaught Six]

Because sometimes characters work better as reinventions than as entirely new characters. For example, Galvatron in IDW is completely unrelated to Megatron, and actually was created long before Megs. He's just some other dude. And for a while there, it worked pretty good.

Or, hell, take the way Optimus Prime is, currently. He gave up the Matrix and changed his name back to Orion Pax, and now he's hanging out in space, doing stuff. He's not the Autobot leader anymore. You might be able to say, "Well why couldn't we get the Space Adventures of A New Guy?" Because the interesting part of the story isn't the space adventures, it's the guy who's doing it. Optimus Prime, Post-War Explorer is a way cooler concept than Optimus Prime, Infallible Autobot Leader. (For reference: This has turned up in all of one issue of RID in the last year.)

And like you say: There's going to be some degree of people who are going to dislike ANYTHING you do with a character. Let's go with Metalhawk for this example. In IDW's current comics, Metalhawk is basically the chosen representative of the neutral faction of Transformers who have returned from eons of exile. (A plot device in the preceeding arc had a message sent out to all Transformers in the universe to "come home.") He's not a Pretender and he's never been to Earth. I know what you're going to immediately say: "But then why is he Metalhawk at all? Why can't he be a new guy named Steeleagle?"

Because even if you go in and write Metalhawk exactly like he was in Masterforce (his only appearance before then), some people are going to bitch. They'll try and find fault in every little thing he says or does, saying something like, "Metalhawk wouldn't act like that," or "Metalhawk wouldn't say that," or "Metalhawk doesn't transform like that." When they run out of real things to criticize, they'll start making them up.

So what, I think, IDW occasionally tries to do is it *immediately* shuts those kind of people the fuck up by saying, "No, hold on a second. This guy might be Metalhawk, but he's not the Metalhawk you know. He's a different guy. He's going to do his own thing. Maybe you'll like that thing he's going to do, and maybe you won't, but it's important that you judge that on its own merits, and not on the merits of what came before."

Because there are some characters in the Greater Transformers Universe who simply *can't* exist in IDW's version of the universe because of how certain things have happened, or for a variety of other reasons. For example, in IDW, Pretender technology is very experimental and dangerous--there's only a handful of them that exist, and most are Decepticons who were underlings of Thunderwing. It doesn't make any sense for Metalhawk to be a Pretender, so he isn't. (Metalhawk is also kind of a generic "let's go get 'em" good guy character in Masterforce, so there's not a whole lot we're missing.)

IDW sees characters who aren't LIKELY to be used in their regular incarnations, and says, "You know what? Fuck that, we're gonna use this guy anyway, and we'll make him awesome." Chromedome's regular portrayal as a Headmaster (whether it be US-style with a Nebulan, or Japanese-style as a tiny robot with a big body) is unlikely to happen because the Headmaster technology was a human invention in IDW, and was perpetrated by one significant group of humans on Earth who all got killed (and the technology was destroyed) in the conclusion of Maximum Dinobots. (I think I'm leaving some details out, but that's the gist of it.) If we adhere strictly to the premise of "Chromedome is a Headmaster," then the simple fact is that Chromedome will never exist. So instead, IDW finds a way to make Chromedome exist in their universe as it stands, *and* have his name still make sense (he's basically a Transformers neurosurgeon).

Now, you might say, "That's fine with me if Chromedome doesn't exist!" It might be fine for you because you don't like Chromedome. What if I do? Chromedome might be my favourite guy, and because Simon Furman decided four years ago that there weren't ever going to be Headmasters again in IDW, that means I should miss out on Chromedome? IDW says, screw that. We'll give you Chromedome. He might not be exactly the same as he was before, and you know what? That's okay, because that old stuff is always going to be around. This new Chromedome will be just as cool. You might even like him better.

[Tigermegatron]

Because sometimes characters work better as reinventions than as entirely new characters. For example, Galvatron in IDW is completely unrelated to Megatron, and actually was created long before Megs. He's just some other dude. And for a while there, it worked pretty good.

Or, hell, take the way Optimus Prime is, currently. He gave up the Matrix and changed his name back to Orion Pax, and now he's hanging out in space, doing stuff. He's not the Autobot leader anymore. You might be able to say, "Well why couldn't we get the Space Adventures of A New Guy?" Because the interesting part of the story isn't the space adventures, it's the guy who's doing it. Optimus Prime, Post-War Explorer is a way cooler concept than Optimus Prime, Infallible Autobot Leader. (For reference: This has turned up in all of one issue of RID in the last year.)

And like you say: There's going to be some degree of people who are going to dislike ANYTHING you do with a character. Let's go with Metalhawk for this example. In IDW's current comics, Metalhawk is basically the chosen representative of the neutral faction of Transformers who have returned from eons of exile. (A plot device in the preceeding arc had a message sent out to all Transformers in the universe to "come home.") He's not a Pretender and he's never been to Earth. I know what you're going to immediately say: "But then why is he Metalhawk at all? Why can't he be a new guy named Steeleagle?"

Because even if you go in and write Metalhawk exactly like he was in Masterforce (his only appearance before then), some people are going to bitch. They'll try and find fault in every little thing he says or does, saying something like, "Metalhawk wouldn't act like that," or "Metalhawk wouldn't say that," or "Metalhawk doesn't transform like that." When they run out of real things to criticize, they'll start making them up.

So what, I think, IDW occasionally tries to do is it *immediately* shuts those kind of people the fuck up by saying, "No, hold on a second. This guy might be Metalhawk, but he's not the Metalhawk you know. He's a different guy. He's going to do his own thing. Maybe you'll like that thing he's going to do, and maybe you won't, but it's important that you judge that on its own merits, and not on the merits of what came before."

Because there are some characters in the Greater Transformers Universe who simply *can't* exist in IDW's version of the universe because of how certain things have happened, or for a variety of other reasons. For example, in IDW, Pretender technology is very experimental and dangerous--there's only a handful of them that exist, and most are Decepticons who were underlings of Thunderwing. It doesn't make any sense for Metalhawk to be a Pretender, so he isn't. (Metalhawk is also kind of a generic "let's go get 'em" good guy character in Masterforce, so there's not a whole lot we're missing.)

IDW sees characters who aren't LIKELY to be used in their regular incarnations, and says, "You know what? Fuck that, we're gonna use this guy anyway, and we'll make him awesome." Chromedome's regular portrayal as a Headmaster (whether it be US-style with a Nebulan, or Japanese-style as a tiny robot with a big body) is unlikely to happen because the Headmaster technology was a human invention in IDW, and was perpetrated by one significant group of humans on Earth who all got killed (and the technology was destroyed) in the conclusion of Maximum Dinobots. (I think I'm leaving some details out, but that's the gist of it.) If we adhere strictly to the premise of "Chromedome is a Headmaster," then the simple fact is that Chromedome will never exist. So instead, IDW finds a way to make Chromedome exist in their universe as it stands, *and* have his name still make sense (he's basically a Transformers neurosurgeon).

Now, you might say, "That's fine with me if Chromedome doesn't exist!" It might be fine for you because you don't like Chromedome. What if I do? Chromedome might be my favourite guy, and because Simon Furman decided four years ago that there weren't ever going to be Headmasters again in IDW, that means I should miss out on Chromedome? IDW says, screw that. We'll give you Chromedome. He might not be exactly the same as he was before, and you know what? That's okay, because that old stuff is always going to be around. This new Chromedome will be just as cool. You might even like him better.

06,all of this which you wrote CONCERING the IDW TF comics characters personas strategy is true. & ALSO THE MAIN REASON WHY I STOPPED BUYING THE IDW TF COMICS 16 MONTHS AGO.

I View IDW incompetent because they change previous TF characters persona's to fit into there newer stories,plots dialogues.

I VIEW Simon furman's TF comic writting superior because he seeks out TF characters that he knows can play those roles in his newly written TF stories,plots,dialogue. Simon does not change a TF characters persona to fit into his newer TF comics stories,plots,dialogue like IDW CURRENTLY does.

[Onslaught Six]

Everything I posted is exactly the reason why I love IDW, so I guess we'll just have to disagree.

That said, Simon Furman is the one who made Sunstreaker a Headmaster, which is something he never was before, so don't say that Furman didn't randomly change characters because of his whim. Hell, Furman was the ORIGINAL guy to do that, taking one-off random characters like Thunderwing and Bludgeon and turning them into Decepticon leaders. Thunderwing's tech spec doesn't say he's a Decepticon leader who's looking for the Matrix! That was all Furman.

[Gomess]

Simon does not change a TF characters persona to fit into his newer TF comics stories,plots,dialogue

It's a good job you put "newer" or I'd have no ass left. From laughing it right off.

"Not LIKE, Slag. I AM Optimus Prime."

[Onslaught Six]

Simon does not change a TF characters persona to fit into his newer TF comics stories,plots,dialogue

It's a good job you put "newer" or I'd have no ass left. From laughing it right off.

"Not LIKE, Slag. I AM Optimus Prime."

To be fair, Furman needed a reason to put Prime in an Action Master body to sell toys.

[Gomess]

Reincarnation via a(n effectively) human body *is* the most logical way to do that.

Ok, so I could've thought of a better example, but you know what I mean!

Pretty sure the only comic I've ever seen to just try and straight-up accurately reflect the personalities expressed in the toy tech specs is AHM and its various satellites. Not sure if that points to a particular author. But IDW as a whole clearly care more about reflecting established tropes of the franchise than Furman ever did.

Yeah, I know that's *almost* unfair because there were less tropes established when Furman was writing, but a lot of the stuff he introduced really did go way off-base for something about alien robots disguised as vehicles. Gods? No thanx

[Onslaught Six]

They do, and at the same time, they also eschew it.

AHM and most of its associated stuff was written by Shane McCarthy who, yeah, went to the techspecs for his inspiration. MTMTE is written by James Roberts, who grew up with TF In England. Like you!

Also, Roberts made up an entirely new pantheon of TF Gods. And when they were explained, it was very much hinted that this is not the only TF creation myth in this universe, and it might not even be true either. (Several characters legitimately believe that Transformers evolved from "naturally occuring gears and pulleys.") It's a pretty slick way of dealing with it.

[Gomess]

Almost unspoken ontological disputes are something I would totally be impressed by in TF. Like... just the idea that there are genuinely different belief systems amongst this race of living machines who have blended into our society. Adds a lot of depth to it.

Hell, I never really bought Autobot vs. Decepticon as a kid. I mean, I guess I kinda liked the fact that they never really said how the factions were different. It's realistic. But yeah, that's something that could do with expanding.

I still don't think we need another Astrotrain already though.

[Shockwave]

I agree with O6 Gomess, you should definitely check out the current line up. The big name headliners have mostly been out of the comics for about the last year and a half or so. Optimus is like O6 said, no longer the leader and no longer even on Cybertron. He's gone back to being Orion Pax and explores space with Wheelie and an alien. And I think Sunstreaker and "Bob" the insecticon are with them too, right? I can't remember. Anyway, I do kind of have to disagree on the new characters thing. Whenever I see new characters I have to wonder why not use existing characters with little to no usage so far who are all pretty much blank slates anyway. Guys like a lot of the Action Masters and especially the Micromasters have little to no context, even tech specs, so they're essentially just new characters waiting for usage. And with so many readily available, why not use them when it would be so much easier to do so than to make up new ones?

That said, O6 is also right in the we've gotten a lot of new characters dept. There's the Metrotitan, the Decepticon Justice Division gives us like, 8 new characters right there, Rung, Ambulon... There's also a lot being done with existing characters, like Cyclonus is part of Rodimus' crew along with ultra Magnus, Swerve, Tailgate, Rewind, Red Alert, and new guys, the two guys that died in the engine room. Ok, they died, but they were totally new characters.

[Shockwave]

Almost unspoken ontological disputes are something I would totally be impressed by in TF. Like... just the idea that there are genuinely different belief systems amongst this race of living machines who have blended into our society. Adds a lot of depth to it.

Hell, I never really bought Autobot vs. Decepticon as a kid. I mean, I guess I kinda liked the fact that they never really said how the factions were different. It's realistic. But yeah, that's something that could do with expanding.

I still don't think we need another Astrotrain already though.

Well then you would LOVE MTMTE. They have this whole discussion about the various theologies that exist and it's pretty interesting. And if you want more about the "how the factions are different" you'd love the interactions between Cyclonus and Tailgate. Tailgate basically got stuck in a hole during the entire war and didn't get out until it was over. So he has to essentially learn everything second hand about anything to do with the Decepticons. And he has guys like Utlra Magnus and Cyclonus telling him.