TF Views

So we're into the Combiner Wars Epilogues, and I guess that means it's time to take the discussion back to Windblade with issue #4... of 7, because after that it's going away.

Anyway, I'm really, REALLY not feeling the art in this. It's a massive distraction and feels very much like a kiddie-styled book handed out at a lesser convention, they even have characters' heads getting way bigger when they're yelling, and a walking panel that looks like it was ripped straight from the 1950s Mickey Mouse books. It's distracting.

The story is convoluted and more of the same, machinations and manipulations by Starscream, parries by Windblade, diplomacy being the high stakes, and a total lack of action or even a sense of movement. We meet Knock Out and Moonracer, delegates from Velocitron, which is a one-note planet about racing, and Knock Out is a plastic surgeon who has no time for slow people despite being in a relationship with one back home (apparently it's Breakdown from TF Prime, because 'shipping reigns supreme with the fans they're going after) while Moonracer wants to move forward as a society but can't officially reach out. All in all, this felt like half an issue's worth of already-decompressed story stretched thin, although there was at least the hint of some sociopolitical interplay on Cybertron and the colonies at work.

Wasn't there precedent for Knock-Out and Breakdown being a thing in the tv show? Not sure it is fair to blame Barber for this.

and a walking panel that looks like it was ripped straight from the 1950s Mickey Mouse books.

?

Every so often, I regret dropping this book, if only because I cannot re-drop it.

Dominic wrote:Wasn't there precedent for Knock-Out and Breakdown being a thing in the tv show? Not sure it is fair to blame Barber for this.

Really, you think Prime was baiting the 'shippers intentionally? What am I saying? Who am I talking to? Of course you do.

and a walking panel that looks like it was ripped straight from the 1950s Mickey Mouse books.

?

Look at the first panel shown here: http://tformers.com/reviews.php?op=showcontent&id=1620

Now that you mention it, I can see it in the panel you are talking about.


As for "Prime", if there is precedent for Knock-Out and Breakdown (which I think the show set up for), then IDW is just staying consistent with what has been established. (Am I misremembering "Prime"? Only saw a few episodes of it.)

Dominic wrote:As for "Prime", if there is precedent for Knock-Out and Breakdown (which I think the show set up for), then IDW is just staying consistent with what has been established. (Am I misremembering "Prime"? Only saw a few episodes of it.)

They weren't lovers or anything close, they were basically lackey and abusive officer IIRC.

JediTricks wrote:

Dominic wrote:As for "Prime", if there is precedent for Knock-Out and Breakdown (which I think the show set up for), then IDW is just staying consistent with what has been established. (Am I misremembering "Prime"? Only saw a few episodes of it.)

They weren't lovers or anything close, they were basically lackey and abusive officer IIRC.

The were close in Prime. The show never really suggested a romance between them but they were partners in reference to their jobs, with Knock Out's skills as a surgeon and Breakdown as a detailer. And with Knock Out's vanity, he was big on maintaining his detailing...

Which, in light of the Hasbro rep's (unfortunate) "glitch at the factory" comments, is probably where fans got it.

Ironically, the fans probably were not that far off in their reading of Knock-Out and Breakdown, even if their intent was different than Hasbro's. (The rep's comments at BotCon 2012 seem more in the "snickering frat boy" category than anything else.)

We aren't seriously doing this again, are we? Did we all just forget about Rewind and Chromedome? (Where are my new toys, Hasbro? What the fuck?)

Onslaught Six wrote:We aren't seriously doing this again, are we? Did we all just forget about Rewind and Chromedome? (Where are my new toys, Hasbro? What the fuck?)

I don't think any one has forgotten anything... They're just expanding to concept of Cybertronian relationships to other characters in the IDW universe.

The difference is that Chromedome and Rewind weren't the product of 'shipping, they were an organic story development. I suppose I had forgotten about TFP's penchant for opening Knockout and Breakdown to the 'shippers, you type "knockout" into google and it's the 3rd suggestion, the images for which are a lot of fan art.