The Transformers (IDW, formerly "Robots in Disguise")

[Dominic]

Most likely, it serves to connect the two (otherwise unrelated) titles.


I was flipping through the early issues and noticed something else.

In issue 4, Prowl is brooding about Spike Witwicky (similar to his brooding in the last issue) shortly before he falls under Bombshells control. And, shortly before capturing Prowl, Bombshell is muttering something about "making all one", which is consistent with Megatron's plan to create a TF collective mind. And, Prowl gets more overtly aggressive right after the fight with Bombshell. (He makes his first unambiguously "thug-o-cratic" statement at the end of issue 4.) It looks like the mind-control reveal was planned.

[JediTricks]

Hunt for RID 12 is over, thanks to Dom!

In issue 4, Prowl is brooding about Spike Witwicky (similar to his brooding in the last issue) shortly before he falls under Bombshells control. And, shortly before capturing Prowl, Bombshell is muttering something about "making all one", which is consistent with Megatron's plan to create a TF collective mind. And, Prowl gets more overtly aggressive right after the fight with Bombshell. (He makes his first unambiguously "thug-o-cratic" statement at the end of issue 4.) It looks like the mind-control reveal was planned.

Goddamnit, I really should have not read this thread, that's a pretty big spoiler. I just finished issue 8 last night. Ok, I'm out until May.

[andersonh1]

RID #16

MAJOR SPOILERS... so I'll put tags. JT, don't read if you don't want anything revealed ahead of time.



I'm not quite sure where to begin a review. This issue has a lot going on, and it ties up a ton of plotlines going back to the early issues of RID. Several characters are killed, and while a couple of Decepticons show signs of being happy that the war is over, a few others...

Spoiler

Major change in the status quo. Starscream kills Metalhawk and uses his death as an opportunity to sieze power. The crown from the animated movie is one fan nod too far, but it does illustrate just who's in charge quite nicely. Further issues will have to clarify the situation, but it looks like the unaligned Cybertronians have made Starscream king by acclaim rather than electing anyone. The surviving Autobots are exiled, thanks to Starscream calling them out for everything they've done in front of the mob. And his takedown of Turmoil is pretty awesome. Looks like Megatron is the only one who truly intimidates him. And I think it was honestly far truer to Starscream's character to have him murder Metalhawk than for him to show gratitude and go back to planning to compete in an election. Starscream has been a murdering, backstabbing, power hungry opportunist for millions of years. He's not going to change so easily. Swindle I can buy, since he's in it for the money rather than the killing, and Dirge seems to be sick of killing as well. But not Starscream.

I also appreciate the way Ironhide got through to Prowl, and the way Wheeljack ultimately saved the day, with a flashback to the "three most important words" scene from one of the early issues, #3 I think. I hate that they killed him off, but at least his last words make sense now. I couldn't figure out what the point of his statement to Bumblebee was, but in hindsight it makes perfect sense. And saves the day.

By the way, with regards to my desire for more noble Autobots in IDW's continuity, there's always Ironhide. He seems the closest to the old ideals as I can find. So did Wheeljack, but obviously he's out of the picture now.

Once again, I'm left wondering where the story will go from here. Rodimus and his crew are suddenly the ones who are in the better place now, right? Cybertron's not a friendly place for Autobots at the moment.

[Dominic]

Issue 16:

Given that JT is now reading this book, and he is not one for spoilers, most of this post will be in spoiler text. (JT, hurry up man.)

Spoiler

All things considered, this has been a good run. Barber moves the characters along and in to place for the next arc. Most of the resolutions will likely take place as the next arc starts up.

Starscream murders Metalhawk, and pins the blame on BB and Megatron. This is in character for Starscream. And, it is picking up a thread that we have yet to see played out in any official context, Starscream as leader.

It is hard to tell exactly which characters are exiled at the end. But, the general vibe I got was that the "true believers" of both factiosn are in the literal and proverbial wilderness.

Once again, I'm left wondering where the story will go from here. Rodimus and his crew are suddenly the ones who are in the better place now, right? Cybertron's not a friendly place for Autobots at the moment.

Spoiler

He's not going to change so easily. Swindle I can buy, since he's in it for the money rather than the killing, and Dirge seems to be sick of killing as well. But not Starscream.

I do not think that Starscream is in for the killing so much as he is in for the power.

I get the feeling that Starscream is going to pay for killing Metalhawk. In practical terms, the speech he used to win over the crowd was largely stolen from Metalhawk. The question is how successful Barber allows Starscream to be as a leader.

I am also wondering what kind of leader Barber is going to write Starscream as. Killing Metalhawk was harsh. But, it was not completely out of order. Metalhawk was a competitor. How will Cybertron be for most other Cybertronians? Barber might be raising uncomfortable questions about what makes a good or great leader and how much people might be willing to live with.

I am curious about Swindle and Dirge. Are they in with the exiles? (I cannot tell.)

At this point, I am more concerned with what "the biggest event in TF comics history" is going to mean for this series. But, given how closely that Barber and Roberts have been working over the last year or so, the "big event" is likely going to fit with both books.

Grade: B


Dom
-

Spoiler

did not really mind the 1986 movie crown.

[andersonh1]

Spoiler

Killing Metalhawk

was harsh. But, it was not completely out of order.

Spoiler

Metalhawk

was a competitor.

I'll remember that the next time I'm competing with a coworker for the latest promotion. I'm sure murdering him will be seen as harsh, but acceptable, right? Good grief.

Dom, I don't get your views of morality sometimes.

[Shockwave]

I'm gonna call it now: The Lost Light will come back to Cybertron.

[Dominic]

It is a question of

Spoiler

Metalhawk made himself a player.

Figure it this way.

Spoiler

Given the history of Cybertron, politically motivated killings are to be expected. If you are going to be politically active, you are accepting the chance of being killed. Starscream arguably would have seen Metalhawk as a "player" on the board.

It comes down to how much Bumblebee's thoughts on Starscream bear out.

Spoiler

My impression is that BB was definitely the author mouth-piece, and that Starscream's biggest problems are going to stem from his inabilty to honestly read and understand the 'bots he leads.

One key thing to watch in upcoming issues is

Spoiler

what Starscream tries to do while in power and who he does what to.

Dom
-

Spoiler

just felt like signing off with a spoiler tag.

[Onslaught Six]

If you're gonna be evil, don't half-ass it.

[BWprowl]

I guess I'll keep extending the same courtesy you guys are for JT, but here's something that doesn't need to be spoilered: This comic blows.

Spoiler

So Ironhide's big game-changer is to just talk Prowl back into being a good guy! Because Prowl's totally a good guy on the inside, right? He's noble, and fair, and selfless, and-yeah, what the hell ever, it works, Prowl pops out of Devastator, exchanges a couple of corny one-liners with Ironhide, and goes on to just arresting dudes in the background and having fuck-all to do with the rest of the issue. Wow, he was really put through the wringer. I can tell all he's been through has had a profound impact on his character and personality. He's clearly been shaken to the core and Barber wants this to be visible as a major element of the story.

Seriously though, then Megatron tries to finish his experiment or whatever by combining with Devastator himself, but gets stopped by a lame deus ex machina that was planted a few issues earlier by Wheeljack. And I know it seems really cute and well-foreshadowed and planned, but then that also makes it just collapse in on itself: If all Wheeljack had to do to stop Megatron was say his own name three times, why the shit didn't he just do that before ShrapnelProwl shot him in the head? Dumbass.

Not as much of a dumbass as Metalhawk though, who gets killed because he apparently completely missed Starscream confessing that he was a schemer who was going to backstab everyone two issues ago! If you're going to ignore something that blatant, then you deserve to get shot through the chest. So yeah, we're apparently just supposed to close our eyes and forget that SincereScream from the early issues was ever a thing, he's always been a scheming bad guy, just the way we like him, right? Characters evolving and developing isn't something we want in our Transformers fiction, oh no! Oh sure, a couple guys break factional rank, like the expected Dirge and Swindle who show up to rally against the Decepticon uprising (which continues to boil the question of "If Barber wanted them to be around to do that stuff, why the hell did he make a big thing of getting them out of the scene so they wouldn't be around for the big initial confrontation in issue 14? Why the fuck was that THERE?!), so I dunno, maybe they'll get to stay in the city with Starscream and his new population of robo-hobos. There will be no more actually-interesting talk of elections and socio-politics, Starscream crowns himself king because, I dunno, he wants to, I guess, and everyone else gets kicked out. But that's okay, because thanks to Megatron's stupid plan being behind everything, it's been established that there are really NO negative consequences at all to being out in the wilderness! So who even cares?

Look, if Barber had wanted to end this story arc with Starscream as leader of Cybertron or whatever, there were a zillion more interesting ways to do it than to waste our time with infuriating fake character development for Prowl for ten issues, followed by a couple issues of Megatron coming back and doing generic evil plan stuff until a deus ex machina stuck him back in the same damn place he was when he first came back.

And if you actually think we're going to see the 'Starscream as leader' thread play out, you're clearly not paying attention, since IDW's gonna flip that over and go into this 'Shockwave takes over Cybertron' big dumb event thing in a few issues because, hey, SHOCKWAVE ruling over CYBERTRON? We've NEVER seen than before!

Goddamn this comic makes me so mad. Between this train wreck, ReG1 being pretty bland and unengaging, and MTMTE barely rising from 'frustrating' to 'mildly interesting' most of the time, maybe it's finally time for me to take a break from TF comics.

[andersonh1]

That's four posts with spoiler tags. I'm going to dispense with them here, so don't read any further if you don't want things spoiled!!

I guess I'll keep extending the same courtesy you guys are for JT, but here's something that doesn't need to be spoilered: This comic blows.

Spoiler

Prowl pops out of Devastator, exchanges a couple of corny one-liners with Ironhide, and goes on to just arresting dudes in the background and having fuck-all to do with the rest of the issue. Wow, he was really put through the wringer. I can tell all he's been through has had a profound impact on his character and personality. He's clearly been shaken to the core and Barber wants this to be visible as a major element of the story.

There are a lot of things going on in the issue, and the current plotline has to be wrapped up. Is it reasonable to expect that we'll see the effects on Prowl as we go forward? I think so. Not everything can be fit into one issue.

Seriously though, then Megatron tries to finish his experiment or whatever by combining with Devastator himself, but gets stopped by a lame deus ex machina that was planted a few issues earlier by Wheeljack. And I know it seems really cute and well-foreshadowed and planned, but then that also makes it just collapse in on itself: If all Wheeljack had to do to stop Megatron was say his own name three times, why the shit didn't he just do that before ShrapnelProwl shot him in the head? Dumbass.

And then Wheeljack is still in a room surrounded by Decepticons who will force him to remove the force field, kill him, and go on with their attack. The one chance to contain Megatron will have been wasted.

I will say this though: Wheeljack was pretty stupid not to tell Bumblebee well ahead of time what he had done, rather than wait until it was a life and death situation. He clearly installed the failsafe when the badly wounded Megatron was imprisoned before the riots, so it's been in place for some time. Wheeljack probably never dreamed he'd be led into a trap by Prowl, and figured if anything happened he could let Bumblebee know what was up if Megatron tried anything, but it just goes to show what happens when you assume there will always be plenty of time.

Not as much of a dumbass as Metalhawk though, who gets killed because he apparently completely missed Starscream confessing that he was a schemer who was going to backstab everyone two issues ago! If you're going to ignore something that blatant, then you deserve to get shot through the chest. So yeah, we're apparently just supposed to close our eyes and forget that SincereScream from the early issues was ever a thing, he's always been a scheming bad guy, just the way we like him, right?

There's something to be said for writing characters IN CHARACTER. Starscream has never been honest or sincere a day in his life, and you expect him to turn on a dime and do the right thing? Really? If he had passed up the chance for power and responded to Metalhawk's sincere gesture, it would have felt totally false. It simply would not have been true to the character. Starscream is an individual who is quite probably beyond redemption at this point.

It needs to be mentioned here: Starscream tried giving the big speech to the other Decepticons about how the time for war was over, and they needed to move on, and things had changed, etc. He tried to be all noble and inspirational, and they told him where he could shove it. So it's back to the old tried and true methods for him. Again, nothing surprising there.

Characters evolving and developing isn't something we want in our Transformers fiction, oh no!

Not if it's not realistic and believable, no. Starscream has been killing and scheming for power all his life. Why would he stop? Do you really think he has enough character and moral fibre to resist the enormous temptation in front of him? I sure don't.

Oh sure, a couple guys break factional rank, like the expected Dirge and Swindle who show up to rally against the Decepticon uprising

So it's bad when Starscream doesn't do the right thing, and it's pointless when a Dirge and Swindle do choose to do the right thing. Sounds like there's no outcome that's going to make you happy here.