Sector 7 comics

[BWprowl]

Just read it, and all I can say for now is: EDITORS! DO YOUR JOBS!

Dammit! The story was fine for what it was, but I just want to know if they're Walter Wells and Joseph Simmons, or Walter Simmons and Joseph Wells, or Walter Simmons and Theodore Wells?! Yes, all of those show up as names for these same two characters in just *one goddamn issue*. The only thing that amazes me more than the fact that John Barber couldn't keep his own fucking characters' names straight is the fact that NO ONE on IDW's editorial staff caught it!

Jesus, I gave this book a chance since I was there to buy Drift #3 anyway, and I'm already done with it. Let me know how it turns out, and if Barber ever learns the names of the characters HE created.

[Dominic]

There is an official listing of the names. But, I forget where I saw it. That said, the naming mistakes are the thing that made me drop the book. I would probably have looked past it, if only because I like the high concept of the book enough. But, as stated above, I am actively trying to cut my pull-list.

That said, Prowl, have you also noticed that basic mistakes have become more common in the last decade or so? I have no idea why this is, but I have been noticing it more and more. Even Marvel and DC, companies that should have the institutional memory to know better, are doing this. Some of the art in "Secret Invasion" was awful.


Dom
-needs to send Prowl some bad comics at some point.

[Shockwave]

I didn't even notice. Although I will read it again and if this really is so bad that they couldn't keep the characters names right, I will drop it on principal. Which would make it the first TF book I've dropped. Ever.

[Dominic]

I have been more willing to drop, or outright skip, TF comics these past few years.

There was a time that I would have bought one of everything, just to support the hobby. But, the need for that, and my inclination to do so, have both faded over the years.

Dom

[Shockwave]

I'm still very much the "support the hobby" type and always have been with regard to TF. The closest I've come to dropping a book was to not collect the reprints. If I actually drop Sector 7, it will be the first time since the creation of the hobby that I will have dropped a TF title from my pull list.

[Dominic]

I am probably not going to commit to buying any movie comics at this point, just to limit what I read. (I am trying to keep it under 10 books a month. Ideally, under 6.)

[Onslaught Six]

I'll never understand buying out of blind faith to "support the hobby." If I don't like what's being put out, I won't buy it. If enough people do that, then one of two things happens: Whoever's making it wises up and goes, "Okay, this isn't getting us sales, let's try something else," or, worst case scenario, they go "This isn't selling, cancel it." In which case, I wasn't enjoying it anyway, so it really doesn't matter.

I mean, I would rather have no TF stories at all than bad stories, I guess is what I'm saying. For example, Sonic The Hedgehog. Sonic has had a 'myriad' of bad games published since 1998. Now we've got what looks to be a *good* Sonic game in Sonic 4: Episode 1. I would rather have had literally no Sonic games until this point instead of those crappy games inbetween.

[Dominic]

Ah, generation gaps within the fandom.

(sits down in rocking chair)

Shockwave and I are old enough to remember when "no comics today" meant "no comics tomorrow or possibly ever again". You were old enough to start making decisions and such during the end of the Beast Era. At that point, the franchise was healthy, and there was no chance of it going away entirely. You never saw TF comics as anything other than oddities in a back-issue bin, so you did not miss them being sold at mass retail.

You were what, maybe 6 or 7, the last time ir really looked like the franchise was going away? At that point, you were not likely specifically interested in TFs. And, even so, you had plenty of other hobbies that you were not worried about.

Shockwave is not quite old enough to remember when "Star Trek" first went off the air. But, he grew up during the dry spell, when the only legit 'Trek content was novels and comics. Then, he went through it with TFs in the early 90s, and then again in the mid-90s. There were people buying multiple copies of late G1 and G2, trying to help float the TF comics.

The worst moment in the franchises history that you really saw was the simultaneous collapse of Dreamwave and Hallit's BotCon. But, at worst, that meant no comics ever again, (and it seemed that way for about a year), and no convention. There were still toys and comics.

You kids have no idea how lucky you are.

Now, of course, with the movie, there is no reason to think that the hobby is going any where. However, I can comprehend the comics going away if things go far enough wrong.


Dom

[Onslaught Six]

I dunno. I still think I'd rather have good stuff or nothing at all. Look at, for example, the Zoids franchise. That's a franchise that effectively died off when it started doing weird stuff, and hasn't been legitimately rebooted again as far as I know. Now, I loved those things and I wish I'd started buying them earlier (as it was, I started doing so at the tail end of the line) but that doesn't mean I wish there'd be a bunch of crappy Zoids stuff just for the sake of Having More Zoids Stuff.

It's kind of going back to my Wheeljack argument in the other thread, actually. I would much rather get a Wheeljack that's a quality figure (which I believe a Tracks remould would be) than a shitty one that didn't have a new head. Even if it means possibly never getting a new Wheeljack.

Because here's the thing: Wheeljack will always be around, and some day, *somebody* is going to want to redo it. It's why I'm kind of upset at the poor quality of the Megazord in the new MMPR line--now Bandai is even less inclined to ever make a new Megazord the way I would want one, because the one they produced is functionally identical to the original, except even smaller. If Hasbro makes a new Wheeljack that sucks, there's probably no chance we'll get a new, better one within the space of a few years. (The last Wheeljack was arguably in 2005 or 6 with Cybertron Downshift.)

Someday, someone will think reviving Zoids is a good idea. And if they don't, well, I'll be waiting until someone does.

[Dominic]

Because here's the thing: Wheeljack will always be around, and some day, *somebody* is going to want to redo it.

That, right there, encapsulates the difference in mind set. You, not unreasonably, assume that Wheeljack (and by extension TF as a hobby), will always be around and that a new Wheeljack is inevitable, if not imminent.

And, objectively, you are right. (For the record, even at the most barren times, I would preferred no toys to lousy toys. I will never defend SpyChangers and CyberJets carrying the line in '94.) But, as a visceral level, guys like Shockwave still play with the old rules that applied when we were your age...walking to school in the snow year round...and uphill both ways...to learn wall-painting with mastadon dung.

Back then, it was not assumed that a hobby would always be around.

To be continued next post.....