Last Stand of the Wreckers discussion

[Dominic]

That is unfortunate. Mind you, I had no way of knowing this. And, regardless of what happened with the drivers, my local store did not have it on their shipping list for the week, (released before the accident likely would have happened).

Ryall did not mention the drivers dying, so they will likely pull through. And, say what one will about Canada, they do fairly good long-term care.

Dom
-what trade paperbacks?

[138 Scourge]

Damn, that sucks to hear about the drivers there. Hope they pull through okay.

So, this issue went and pissed me off right from the beginning. Going and having two such good-looking covers. I went with the Kup cover, because it's Kup. I would also very much like boots like the ones on Verity's robo-suit.

And this was the best book I picked up this week. Considering the other comics I bought today, that's really saying something.

[andersonh1]

I almost never buy multiple covers, so sometimes it's a tough call. But I got the cover with Kup as well. I just liked it better.

I love some of the dialogue in this series. There's an amusing, entertaining quality to it that some of the other books have lacked.

New guy: That's Kup!
Verity: Heh. He changes his oil just like everyone else. Not as often as he should though.

Overlord: What if I don't want to be your pet warhead?
Megatron: You have two options. One, do as I say. Two, don't. With option two, I hunt you down and kill you.
Overlord: (later, staring off into space while beating Kup to a pulp): Tell Megatron I pick option two. He's welcome to hunt me down.
Kup: What was that all about?

Perceptor: I've got the urge to shoot someone.

Stuff like this makes the book a lot more fun to read. And it's interesting to see the humor in a book filled with brutal fights, death and torture, even if most of that takes place off-panel. It keeps the book from being unrelentingly grim and heavy, despite the subject matter.

[Onslaught Six]

The others are Sixshot and Black Shadow (whoever that is... time to do more research!)

Black Shadow is a Japanese Thunderwing repaint. It's much the same situation as B'Boom being the same toy as Apache, but they're entirely different characters. Black Shadow is part of the Space Mafia! (Not really.)

-what trade paperbacks?

Probably non-TF stuff. GI Joe, possibly, for all we know or care.

I guess I'm tradewaiting on this one, which is a shame because it looks and sounds 'really' good. Oh well, patience is a virtue, and I always like reading TF stories in an isolated vacuum anyway, most of the time.

I hope something comes to a head with Megs/Overlord--although isn't Megs dead right now?

[andersonh1]

Last Stand of the Wreckers
Issue 3
And the Wreckers start to die off. Violently. But hey, at least none of the characters I have a long-time attachment to are gone yet. “Yet” being the operative word…

I’ll try to avoid major spoilers until after everyone’s read it.

After a flashback prelude with Shockwave, the main story picks up in the middle of the assault that began last issue, with the Wreckers separated into two different groups. One group is in the pit with Overlord, and the other is being chased by a gang of Decepticons. The black humor continues as the action is overlaid by a sequence of “Wrecker rules”, which of course are not followed. In fact, the two groups do the exact opposite. So there’s a running thread of humor amidst all the violence and death.

There are some good character beats here. Perceptor is still a lot colder and tougher than he ever used to be, but his analytical abilities are put to good use as well. We learn what’s going on with Topspin and Twin Twist’s unique connection. Rotorstorm cracks a joke to Overlord and actually gets a laugh from the Decepticon. Ironfist panics, wondering why they can’t just go on adventures and that he didn’t sign up for all of this death. And we find out that he didn’t actually sign up at all, but that he just tagged along with the other three.

The dialogue continues to be full of wit and personality, and like the humor it keeps such a brutal storyline enjoyable rather than a grim chore to read.

This is the “all action” issue, and it doesn’t really let up. We also find out what happened to Kick-Off and Fortress Maximus, and though we don’t see who it is, Perceptor’s group finds Aequitas.

Overall: another excellent issue… that’s three for three now. Wreckers blows the socks off the Bumblebee mini-series, and outclasses the ongoing as well. It’s the weirdest mix of sheer brutality and laugh-out-loud humor that somehow works, despite what should be a jarring mix of tones. I just hate seeing good characters slaughtered, but I get the feeling that we’re just seeing the beginning of that trend when it comes to the main characters.

[Onslaught Six]

To be fair, it was expected--and that's why they were given such good personalities. Other guys like Sideswipe are boring because they don't have a finite lifespan--they're never going to die, because they're guys like Sideswipe.

[andersonh1]

To be fair, it was expected--and that's why they were given such good personalities. Other guys like Sideswipe are boring because they don't have a finite lifespan--they're never going to die, because they're guys like Sideswipe.

Who would have thought they'd kill off Sunstreaker and Ironhide though?

But yeah, we knew going in that characters weren't going to make it out. It's a credit to Roche and Roberts that they've managed to give the new guys enough personality in two short issues that they're will be some regret with the reader when they're killed.

I found it interesting that we have the scene where

Spoiler

Rotorstorm gets his head blown off and it's awful, then the very next scene shows the second group of Wreckers enjoying themselves blowing the heads off Decepticons

. Kind of a dig at the reader for cheering the Wreckers on, maybe? I just found the juxtoposition of scenes interesting.

[Dominic]

Guess who finally had a chance to read the first 3 issues?


I guess Roche could have been going for an "Inglorious Bastards" moment with the contrast between Overlord and the Wreckers. While we knew some characters were going to die, it was not obvious which would die. (At this point, I am thinking all of them might get killed. Or at least all of the non-"original" team.)


Personally, I doubt Sunstreaker and Ironhide will stay dead. IDW has pretty well telegraphed that Sunstreaker is likely to come back. What I think O6 is saying is that there is very little suspense with the main characters because they are so likely to stay static. I admit, I was shocked when Sunstreaker became a Headmaster during "Escalation". My annoyance at Sunstreaker returning to normal was mitigated by the fact it seemed to have some consequences. When Sunstreaker was revealed as the traitor and then killed off, I admit, I was floored. But, that was before it became apparent that the "old status quo uber alles" effect was in place. (Say what one will about the old G1 comic, but it did change the status quo on a regular basis.)

However, I disagree that the fact a character could die is what makes them interesting. It is the work the writer puts into the character and how the character is used that makes them worth-while.


Dom
-not being wowed by this series.

[Onslaught Six]

Personally, I doubt Sunstreaker and Ironhide will stay dead.

Spoiler

Unless Diamond is lying, Ironhide's back by Issue 2 of his own series. And apparently...fighting the Swarm on Cybertron, alone.

What I think O6 is saying is that there is very little suspense with the main characters because they are so likely to stay static. I admit, I was shocked when Sunstreaker became a Headmaster during "Escalation". My annoyance at Sunstreaker returning to normal was mitigated by the fact it seemed to have some consequences. When Sunstreaker was revealed as the traitor and then killed off, I admit, I was floored. But, that was before it became apparent that the "old status quo uber alles" effect was in place. (Say what one will about the old G1 comic, but it did change the status quo on a regular basis.)

However, I disagree that the fact a character could die is what makes them interesting. It is the work the writer puts into the character and how the character is used that makes them worth-while.

That's part of it, but it's more like...Why would Writer A spend time developing Hound or Bluestreak, when those are popular '84 characters that any number of writers are going to come back to? Guys like Rotorstorm and Guzzle are guys who are scheduled to die in the first place, and on top of that they're obscure characters who have never had 'any' development. Being so unestablished, Writer A has a little bit more incentive to make these characters their own. For example, why spend time developing this big arc with Sunstreaker being a Headmaster if Shane McCarthy is going to come along in a few years and basically make some of it null? (Not that I'm saying Shane did that, but I could understand Furman's possible position.) Roche sees an oppurtunity with these characters who are obscure and in a book where everyone is expecting them to die anyway, and he takes it. Amp those characters up to being awesome, and then when they die, we'll actually care!

-not being wowed by this series.

I'll admit I'm biased. I'm just glad to see guys like Pyro and (briefly) Skyquake show up and get characterisation. Also, Shockwave's back! Yay, Shockwave!

[andersonh1]

To me, it's not so much the plot that makes Wreckers so enjoyable. It's the fact that the story uses a mix of established and obscure characters, and the obscure guys like Rotorstorm and Overlord make me feel like I'm seeing something new in the well-established G1 universe. It makes that universe bigger than it was before. And the newer characters are given plenty of personality that makes them fun to read about and root for.

The basic plot is 'prison break out against impossible odds', so that's nothing extraordinary. It's the execution of the plot that's making Wreckers work so well for me.