TF Views

Dominic wrote:As for the plot hole: I do not think that it was Ore being phased in to the wall that caused the explosion.

Re-checked issue 2 last night: Brainstorm says that Ore getting sucked in is what caused the Warp Generator to malfunction. I took it to mean that that's why the engine exploded, but I admit to not being an expert on the technicalities of fictional alien robot space-ships. I'll go ahead and give Roberts the benefit of the doubt on this one, at least since he led off with Brainstorm saying that Perceptor wasn't entirely sure Ore getting phased in was why the drive malfunctioned in the first place.

Onslaught Six wrote:

Dominic wrote:-gives credit for the "no factions" dynamic, for as long as it lasts.

I like it a lot! Although the RID book is trying its damndest to start it up again.

To be fair, that book wouldn't be especially interesting were there no conflict. And the lines are being drawn in somewhat different places than we're used to with the factions. Starscream with the Autobots, Prowl and Arcee kind of in their own thing, NAILs, etc...

BWprowl wrote:

Dominic wrote:As for the plot hole: I do not think that it was Ore being phased in to the wall that caused the explosion.

Re-checked issue 2 last night: Brainstorm says that Ore getting sucked in is what caused the Warp Generator to malfunction. I took it to mean that that's why the engine exploded, but I admit to not being an expert on the technicalities of fictional alien robot space-ships. I'll go ahead and give Roberts the benefit of the doubt on this one, at least since he led off with Brainstorm saying that Perceptor wasn't entirely sure Ore getting phased in was why the drive malfunctioned in the first place.

It might end up being a red herring, and Rodimus doing the same with no ill effects to the monster is a clue. (There's been a tendency to see this kind of thing happen. Remember everyone getting pissed at Ravage being referred to as a "dog" in that one AHM issue, and then the guy got corrected on it the next one? That was a great joke.)

To be fair, that book wouldn't be especially interesting were there no conflict. And the lines are being drawn in somewhat different places than we're used to with the factions. Starscream with the Autobots, Prowl and Arcee kind of in their own thing, NAILs, etc...

True, I just don't want to see it devolve into Autobots-fighting-Decepticons again, at least not until we break the 12 issue mark or something. I'm not saying "There should be no conflict!" but at this point I'm a little more interested in the political end of things with Bumblebee being unable to deal with the NAILs. (Seriously, I love this idea of ancient TFs showing up on Cybertron and going, "What the fuck did you do?!")

Onslaught Six wrote:It might end up being a red herring, and Rodimus doing the same with no ill effects to the monster is a clue.

That's a good point, and would match up with the whole 'Perceptor not being sure' angle. This is why I'll continue to give Roberts credit- he's a good enough writer that we can actually find ourselves considering this stuff.

True, I just don't want to see it devolve into Autobots-fighting-Decepticons again, at least not until we break the 12 issue mark or something. I'm not saying "There should be no conflict!" but at this point I'm a little more interested in the political end of things with Bumblebee being unable to deal with the NAILs. (Seriously, I love this idea of ancient TFs showing up on Cybertron and going, "What the fuck did you do?!")

Oh believe me, I agree with you, and I have faith that they're going to keep the level of interest they've had. The pardoned Decepticon war criminals have so far been just one element of the conflicts that are arising, and with Ratbat dead, they aren't even a credibly organized threat anymore. They're clearly turning more attention towards the three-way tension that's growing between Bumblebee, Prowl, and Metalhawk. The book's far more interesting for that, and I think they know it.

Ok, so I started reading this finally and I have some thoughts.

First, I LOVE Swerve. Seriously. He's an obnoxious smart ass and it's awesome. I particularly loved his explanation to Skids about their mission. I also like how everyone rags on Rewind for his alt mode. Cyclonus joining the quest should definitely be interesting. This certainly is a much deeper character than what we got in G1 and I love it. And apparently Drift is a suck up. Who knew? Whirl. Someone seriously needs to off Whirl. That guy is nothing but trouble and apparently has no asparitions to change. I seriously hope Cyclonus fulfills his vow.

All things considered (and I've only read 1 1/2 issues so far) this is looking to be an intriguing book. It certainly seems more light hearted than it's counterpart, RID and really I'm glad. It's like you get a choice each month: Do I wanna read serious or funny? Or one then the other? Either way, I'm in when money allows.

Issue 4:
More stuff happens. There may be an "intriguing" connection between Fistron the plague outbreak at Delphi. Or, maybe First Aid is just re-using a derelict frequency. I would probably be liking this series more if I knew where Roberts was going, or if I had any faith that he was going somewhere with this book other than just "lets have TFs doing stuff". Robert's writing Drift as an insufferable fucktard is getting tiresome. I am generally not protective of characters in the sense of arguing that writers need to respect them. But, Roberts' handling of Drift smacks of the kind of obnoxious fan-pandering (fandering) that we got from the old 3H BotCon comics. At this point, I just hope that the kill Drift off so Roberts and the fandom can just let their little fantrum go.

Grade: D I would actually rather pick up a Furman book....

Dom
- not going to bother complaining about the art any more.

I don't know what you're getting at with Drift, honestly. What do you think they're doing?

It feels like they are going out of their way to make him a fucktard because "lolololol Dwift am suk durhurup".

Dom
-can at least take Roberts of the "must read" list.

They do seem to be changing his character. He's gone from aloof ex Decepticon to complete suck up.

Dominic wrote:Robert's writing Drift as an insufferable fucktard is getting tiresome. I am generally not protective of characters in the sense of arguing that writers need to respect them. But, Roberts' handling of Drift smacks of the kind of obnoxious fan-pandering (fandering) that we got from the old 3H BotCon comics. At this point, I just hope that the kill Drift off so Roberts and the fandom can just let their little fantrum go.

Meanwhile, Roberts has Rung, who everyone thinks is fine and gets no hate, because...he wasn't written by McCarthy? I dunno. I guess the fangirls are going crazy over him, actually (or so I heard. I generally make a point of ignoring the fandom, present company excluded).

Spoiler

Never mind that half the cast of Last Stand of the Wreckers were every bit as 'original' characters as Drift was, they just happened to be wearing names and designs of toys from the early 90's. So I guess if Drift had just been Catilla or some shit, no one would've batted an eye.

Picking this up after work today...

*And, review*

Oh hey, I think I actually like this one!

For the first time, the storytelling here feels substantial, with Roberts's dialogue actually working to move the plot along, rather than feeling like so much filler and/or flavor text. The plot at the hospital/outpost thing opens pretty much in media res, giving a us a little prequel of how things work before we jump to Ratchet deciding to head out with Drift and Pipes to investigate, with the mystery widening from there, and a few (but not all) of the answers becoming clear as the issue goes on. This one's pretty good about explaining things as they come up in the story, and feeling natural about it. The bit with the 'Monoformer' Decepticons was an interestingly placed detail, and almost seemed *too* convenient, at least until it became clear what was going on and why those guys were really there. The red X and the meaning behind it was worked in and explained well too. Roberts does a good job here of painting a scene of things getting worse and worse, with a crew that knows it's on the precipice of just having to say 'screw it' because there's nothing left worth saving. The fact that the three main medics of the outpost all have varying opinions and outlooks on the hows and whys of dealing with the outbreak does not help the issues they're having either; it's a well-illustrated situation. Little details like Dent originally being another guy named 'Prowl' are nice, and don't feel as forced or overt as they did in the first couple issues. What *does* feel a little overt is the inclusion of in-story debates about stuff like altmode-prejudice and alternate, non-Primus TF religious theories. This stuff honestly doesn't add anything to the story or characters, and mostly just comes off like Roberts trying to pile even more flavor and fluff into a series that's already too stuffed with it for its own good.

While the story in the outpost is interesting, and makes for a decently engaging medical mystery drama thing, the b-plot with Tailgate is what really pushes this issue over into 'good' territory for me. Tailgate has been shown to be somewhat out of touch (expectedly), but we confirm here that he may be just a little too suggestible for his own good, which Cyclonus exploited as kind of a wake-up call to the 'bot that he no doubt feels somewhat embittered towards, after Tailgate effectively ditched him and the rest of the original crew and they had to spend millenia as undead servants of misguided tools like Jhiaxus and Galvatron. Cyclonus's rationale for picking on Tailgate may not be very fair, but you can kinda see where he's coming from. It'll be interesting to see where they go with these two, and whether they make up or not. There's also a slight touch on the Autobots' sense of righteousness compared to the Decepticons. Rewind's apparently the Autobot Minister of Propaganda, but he, Rodimus, and Magnus all seem to firmly believe that only the Decepticons did bad things during the war. Wonder how Tailgate would've come out of the vision had some details from the Aequitas trials made it into Rewind's slide-show? Looks like Prowl's post-Wreckers agenda is proceeding along just fine...

Anyway, it's a substantial and interesting issue. Unlike the first few, which felt like they were just stringing me along, taking up my time with allegedly-interesting gabbing, MTMTE Issue 4 actually feels like it's *going* somewhere. And that's good, and maybe I was a bit hasty in my criticisms of Roberts 'til now. I at least gave Costa five issues after he told me to wait, and damn if that guy didn't impress me then. Now I'm in, let's see where Roberts ends up going with this.

On the subject of Drift, I honestly don't see where Dom's coming from. If anything, Pipes is the one written like a doofus in this issue. All Drift does is mistakenly murder a defenseless Autobot, and get off with a mild scolding (though to be fair, it's implied that the dude was not long for this world anyway). Otherwise he's totally capable and helpful this issue, to the point that he's one of the guys Ratchet apparently asked to come along and help. Dom also continues to be crazy regarding the art, I had no trouble identifying anyone in this issue.

Now that I think about it, maybe I really only liked this issue so much because Skids wasn't in it.