TF Views

Dominic wrote: ↑Tue Jan 02, 2024 9:22 am Been meaning to read through this series again.

Honestly, the Skybound series is not quite hitting the mark. It is good enough to read because I am still (barely) reading comics. But, it will not be the thing that keeps me coming back.

Same here, see my comments over on the dedicated discussion thread viewtopic.php?t=2201&start=10.

Basically when I compare what we're getting with Skybound, which isn't bad but isn't all that compelling either, and compare it with past launches, the storytelling just falls short. Dreamwave had some flaws, but even their opening six issue arc had more actual plot to it than just "Transformers wake up and fight each other while humans try to deal". IDW1 had the six stage infiltration protocol and Ore 13 storyline, and IDW2 was a great pre-war story with some nice dialogue. Feels like with Skybound we're getting the bare minimum, basic Transformers plot just to hang action scenes on. The art is good, at least.

But IDW2 is proving as enjoyable as I remember it being. I almost wish the collected volumes had the mini-series in separate books from the main series, like the first volume does. But some of the side treks are pretty good. And at only six collected volumes, it's not a daunting thing to re-read the whole continuity.

W1 had the six stage infiltration protocol and Ore 13 storyline, and IDW2 was a great pre-war story with some nice dialogue. Feels like with Skybound we're getting the bare minimum, basic Transformers plot just to hang action scenes on. The art is good, at least.

Furman could not even finish the 6-stage Infiltration before he had to upset the status-quo (that he never actually established). It was like trying to build a sandcastle with a 3 year old. They are going to wreck it. But, it helps if you can finish it before they wreck it. (But, in my case, I managed to teach a little kid about 40K, so it was not a complete loss.)

Dominic wrote: ↑Sat Jan 06, 2024 12:12 pm

W1 had the six stage infiltration protocol and Ore 13 storyline, and IDW2 was a great pre-war story with some nice dialogue. Feels like with Skybound we're getting the bare minimum, basic Transformers plot just to hang action scenes on. The art is good, at least.

Furman could not even finish the 6-stage Infiltration before he had to upset the status-quo (that he never actually established). It was like trying to build a sandcastle with a 3 year old. They are going to wreck it. But, it helps if you can finish it before they wreck it. (But, in my case, I managed to teach a little kid about 40K, so it was not a complete loss.)

While I agree, it is at least a concept several steps beyond "Transformers wake up and kill each other". Furman at least created a bigger story that shows some thought went into the history and world that I'm not convinced the writer for Skybound has put into his story. But given how the Skybound series is apparently selling, maybe its back to basics approach is the right one.

Reading through this series, I think so far the Wreckers Tread and Circuits mini-series is the weakest part of the continuity. It's not bad, it's just not at the level of most of the other material. Pretty much anything Ruckley wrote is good to very good, while the quality of the other writers varies, but is still enjoyable.

I read the entirety of the series, and I had forgotten some of the things that happened near the end because I only read those issues once, as far as I recall, while I read the early issues and the early volumes multiple times. I'd love to have seen where the story went from where it ended, with the Decepticons in control of Cybertron and the neutral population, and the Autobots settling on the moon and presumably fortifying it. Although in some ways maybe it's good the continuity ended before it could be run into the ground like IDW1 was.