Re-Generation One (IDW retro G1)

[Dominic]

"Wreckers" and "Universe" were pretty heavily conflated. And, "Universe" treated Unicron as a central plot point.

I am pretty sure that "Universe" was written by Furman.

[Onslaught Six]

Universe was all OTFCC, though!

[andersonh1]

Transformers Regeneration One #90

We’re halfway through this series, and a few more storylines are brought to a conclusion, both old plot threads from the Marvel series and the current Scorponok storyline. There’s an air of finality to a lot of what’s happened so far in Regeneration One. It has to be liberating for Simon Furman to write a series that not only has a finite number of issues until it ends, but which also has pre-existing stories and characters to draw on. There’s no need to establish a premise and introduce characters. That’s already been done, long ago. There's no need to keep characters alive and available for future use, since there won't be a future beyond issue 100. Unless someone picks things up again in another 20 years.

Scorponok prepares to carry out the procedure that will convert every Transformer on Cybertron into Decepticons. The small group of free Autobots with Grimlock have a limited amount of time to stop it. It’s a pretty standard “race against time” scenario, but it’s better than I had anticipated. One thing I appreciated was that Grimlock knew very well that he’d gone too far, and he willingly pays the price for that. In the end, he walks the walk and lives up to his standards. I hadn’t expected that, though I figured he’d come through in the end and stop Scorponok. I had expected both to survive, but it’s clear at this point that Megatron isn’t going to be the only major character to bite the dust before this series is over. Grimlock’s ace in the hole is totally obvious in hindsight, and maybe if I’d actually been trying to figure out what Grimlock was up to instead of just coasting along and reading the story I’d have figured it out.

The glimpses at what's coming next have me looking forward to the next storyline. Prime arrives at the ark to see it lifting off, with Galvatron clearly visible in the window. Shockwave has freed Starscream from his mental blocks, and Bludgeon is front and center in the next issue promo. I’m a lot more interested in interaction and clashes between these characters than I have been in Scorponok’s evil plans, though Scorponok's assertions that he would finally be the one to unify Cybertron were interesting, and should have been explored more. And Hot Rod’s plotline continues to move forward. I’m definitely interested to see how that turns out.

[Dominic]

Universe was all OTFCC, though!

It bled in to Fun Publications. And, Unicron factored heavily in to both companies' content. (And, overuse of Unicron was the problem.)


And, issue 90:
Furman continues to toy with the idea of playing God. In contrast to the modern IDW take on the character, Hot Rod is shown here as being well-intentioned and having the potential mentioned on the original character profile. (Hot Rod may not be quite sure how to deal with the mutants, but he is unwilling to slaughter them out of hand even if that option makes short term sense.) In the other main plot,

Spoiler

Grimlock and Perceptor have been revealed as colluding against Scorponok for several issues

. The gene-key changes are likely to be undone in a way as McGuffiny as they way there were triggered in the first place. This is disappointing. But, Furman likely has other plot threads to pick up in the next year.
Grade: A


Dom
-wants a good G1 Hot Rod.....

[andersonh1]

So, we're halfway through the planned run of Regeneration One. Is it living up to potential? Is it a worthy follow-up to Marvel G1? Or has it been a case of fans wanting something, getting it, and finding that it doesn't live up to their expectations? I've seen far less interest in it around the various message boards than I have in RID and MTMTE.

It's been a mixed bag for me. I love following up on those old plotlines that never got any real resolution, due to the somewhat abrupt end of the original series. I enjoy dipping back into the more black and white morality of the Autobot/Decepticon conflict. I like the younger, more idealistic Hot Rod and actually enjoy seeing the Optimus Prime that carries the weight of all his decisions and responsibilities. Not that I don't enjoy IDW's take on the characters, because I do, but I find the change of pace refreshing. Sometimes MTMTE's Rodimus is little more than a caricature rather than a character.

I wonder how the series would have continued originally? Probably not with a 21 year gap. We'd have had a more extended hunt for the Last Autobot and resolution of the Cybertron reformatting plotline. The Action Masters and Nucleon would have been further developed. Bludgeon would have continued to plague the Autobots out in space, perhaps. Maybe the Galvatron/Fortress Maximus conflict would have been extended and developed, and almost certainly the alliance between Megatron and Galvatron would have been interesting to explore. Some of those plots have gotten some mileage in RG1, particularly how the Nucleon affects certain Transformers. Bludgeon will certainly get his turn in the spotlight, perhaps with some variation on his activities from Generation 2? If Thunderwing contains the last remnants of the Matrix, perhaps he's planning to use that to create some new troops? But some of the stories were rushed to a conclusion with the expectation that they'd never be revisited, so we'll never see what they might have originally been like.

There's probably no way to go back and recapture the mood and tone of those old issues, not really (well, 80.5 felt like it recaptured that tone, but the series since hasn't seemed to). The book has never felt like it fit seamlessly as a continuation of Marvel G1, not to me. But as it progresses, I find that I'm enjoying it more and more, particularly as plot arcs end with some finality. And now that we've finished Megatron and Scorponok's time as villains of the book, we're finally getting to Galvatron, Shockwave and Bludgeon, villains I'm far more interested in revisiting. Megatron has had plenty of exposure in every Transformers series and wasn't all that compelling to see again, though I find it interesting that he wasn't the final, ultimate foe of the series, perhaps demonstrating his lesser importance in Marvel G1, where a succession of Decepticon leaders were presented as the series progressed. Scorponok had a good end to his story and didn't neccesarily need to be brought back, though he was more of a foil for Grimlock's final fall and redemption than anything. And that was by far the most interesting part of that storyline, seeing Grimlock's many irresponsible and reckless actions finally backfire in a big way, and Grimlock finally willing to take responsibility and ultimately pay with his life.

So yeah, it's been a worthwhile trip to revisit Marvel G1.

[Dominic]

How does this book not capture the tone of the origional Marvel series? Tokar and co are clearly picking up threads that they had in place 20+ years ago. The writing is more polished than the comics of 20+ years ago. But, that is for the best.


The biggest single problem with "ReGeneration One" is the 20 year gap. But, to be fair, I cannot honestly say that I would not have made the same choice when drafting this book. The strongest point of the old Marvel series as a whole was that it was a linear story. The setting changed. The status quo changed. Time passed. The 20 year gap is jarring, but I can understand why Furman wanted to keep the story roughly in real time.


There are enough thematic similarities between the end of the origional series, the continuing "ReGeneration 1" and even G2 that it is a safe bet that Furman is generally picking up where he left off. The only thing that likely would have been dropped is the Last Autobot, who is either killed off or simply forgotten in most every continuation of G1 by Furman.

Furman may well have been planning to address the "lost" Transformer heads on Nebulous. (A number of Headmasters died during the Unicron war. And, I have to wonder if Fort Max would have survived much past issue 80 had the series continued.) The per-Transformer Cybertronian mutants showed up right as Furman started writing about the fundamental differences between Autobots and Decepticons (a main point in the current series). This would arguably dovetail with Jhiaxus and the Cybertronian Empire. (The Empire was also mentioned in "Another Time and Place", the original coda to the series in the UK.) Late run black and white stories in the UK also have similar, if more basic plot, hints.

At some point, somebody needs to ask Furman to post his origional outlines.


Dom
-not sure why the more black and white conflict is preferable.

[andersonh1]

-not sure why the more black and white conflict is preferable.

Whether you agree or not, as many times as I've griped about Prowl and other Autobots acting like thugs, there should be no mystery about why I enjoy more morally upstanding Autobots than IDW normally gives us.

[BWprowl]

Whether you agree or not, as many times as I've griped about Prowl and other Autobots acting like thugs, there should be no mystery about why I enjoy more morally upstanding Autobots than IDW normally gives us.

I know that you 'do' enjoy that sort of thing, I've just never been especially clear on the 'why'. What's wrong with a more realistically portrayed sliding scale of morality that's illustrated on a character-by-character basis, instead of rigidly-defined faction-based morality where some sides are completely good or evil just because?

[andersonh1]

And I've never understood what's so baffling about the idea of enjoying heroes and protagonists who act like they have some basic morality. You've got the argument the wrong way around. Autobots don't act moral because of the faction they belong to, they join the faction that promotes standards which align with their ideals. If a Transformer believes in protecting life and freedom, they join the Autobots. If they believe in peace through strength or peace through tyranny, or just want power or want to kill for thrills, or whatever propoganda Megatron espouses, they join his side. Hence I would expect people who belong to one or the other faction to act in a certain way, to comport to certain standards.

Honestly, if every Autobot and Decepticon operates under the same murky grey blanket of moral relativism, what's the point? Why should I care who wins? The result is the same.

In any case, Regeneration One goes more old-school, and I appreciate that aspect of the series.

[Dominic]

The thing is that you seem to be putting the binary morality as a good (pun intended) unto itself.

The writer might well be writing something that requires greyish morality. Similarly, it is possible to have binary morality and still have a bad comic. (Honestly, is anybody here bothering with "Marvel Adventures"? Because, ya know, those have pretty straightforward stories and the bad guys are pretty easy to spot.)

It is more important that a character be useful in a well-written story than that a character have solid moral grounding. If that requires blurred factions and muddied morals, then so be it. Furman is running a comic with more or less binary morality that is worth reading. (Mind you, the morality of how Primus treated his creations is kind of murky. And, that is likely to be a thing. Similarly, Grimlock's plans are often selfish. And, even when they are not wholly excercises in egoism, Grimlock himself has been shown to be pretty callous about how others might be effected in the long term.)

The morality of the characters is less important that the quality of the writing.


Dom