I may have to moderate my opinion slightly. Onslaught, Brawl and Vortex are "working for themselves" and lounging around sipping Energon when Kim Jong Du chews them out and sends them out to fight again. They're not happy about having to work for the guy, and Onslaught insists that he has a plan. When Brawl and Vortex ask if his plan involves several things, he says no each time and then admits that he's working on a plan.
I don't know... I know not even Onslaught is always prepared and ready to go with some devious strategy, but he comes across as remarkably ineffective here. And it may be that I'm just being unfair because I expected him to be playing the dictator as part of some plan to take over, but apparently that's not the case. The guy is holding the fact that he controls Energon production over their heads.
And where's Blast-off?
Transformers - ongoing series
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andersonh1
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Re: Transformers - ongoing series
It sounds like they are staying with the AHM ennui. Onslaught has nothing to do, and has kind of lost his mojo. He is to close to the North Korean situation to really plan around it effectively.
Dom
Dom
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andersonh1
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Re: Transformers - ongoing series
That could well be the case.Dominic wrote:It sounds like they are staying with the AHM ennui. Onslaught has nothing to do, and has kind of lost his mojo. He is to close to the North Korean situation to really plan around it effectively.
Dom
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Onslaught Six
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Re: Transformers - ongoing series
In Goddamn space where he belongs.andersonh1 wrote:And where's Blast-off?
People spend so much time worrying about whether a figure is "mint" or not that they never stop to consider other flavours.BWprowl wrote:The internet having this many different words to describe nerdy folks is akin to the whole eskimos/ice situation, I would presume.
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BWprowl
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Re: Transformers - ongoing series
The Autobots mentioned last issue that there was a fourth Decepticon they'd detected, but hadn't seen or identified. I'll bet money that that's Blast-Off.
You know what these latest issues make me dread? The day someone other than Costa starts writing this series. Not at all because I love Costa and want only him to do these stories or anything like that. No, I'm just dreading the inevitable 'fix' stories, where some other author comes in and makes Prime the leader of the Autobots again, and downgrades Bumblebee back into his old body, and puts the Decepticons back on Earth with Megatron in charge, and has Thundercracker rejoin them. I'm warning you now, I will bitch up a storm when this happens.
Regardless of what I've said about his work in the past, I *really* like the way Guidi draws New Bumblebee.
You know what these latest issues make me dread? The day someone other than Costa starts writing this series. Not at all because I love Costa and want only him to do these stories or anything like that. No, I'm just dreading the inevitable 'fix' stories, where some other author comes in and makes Prime the leader of the Autobots again, and downgrades Bumblebee back into his old body, and puts the Decepticons back on Earth with Megatron in charge, and has Thundercracker rejoin them. I'm warning you now, I will bitch up a storm when this happens.
Regardless of what I've said about his work in the past, I *really* like the way Guidi draws New Bumblebee.
Re: Transformers - ongoing series
I will be right there complaining with you Prowl.
That said, I am hoping that IDW lets this series progress and (dare I say it?) transform, and use the movie comics or reprints for artificial stasis quo stories.
I am not sayimg I will drop this book if IDW rebots it a 3rd time. But, I will have much less reason to stick with it.
That said, I am hoping that IDW lets this series progress and (dare I say it?) transform, and use the movie comics or reprints for artificial stasis quo stories.
I am not sayimg I will drop this book if IDW rebots it a 3rd time. But, I will have much less reason to stick with it.
Re: Transformers - ongoing series
Hey Prowl: What if it's Costa that does it? Can I also say that REALLY like what he's doing with Thundercracker? It totally makes the quasi resurrection worth it.
Also, I like to believe that Onslaught had a plan and that the Autobots fucked it up. Vortex doesn't think he has a plan because he was asking about stupid shit that Onslaught doesn't care about.
Also, I like to believe that Onslaught had a plan and that the Autobots fucked it up. Vortex doesn't think he has a plan because he was asking about stupid shit that Onslaught doesn't care about.
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andersonh1
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Re: Transformers - ongoing series
I missed that. I'll have to go back and see if I can find the reference.BWprowl wrote:The Autobots mentioned last issue that there was a fourth Decepticon they'd detected, but hadn't seen or identified. I'll bet money that that's Blast-Off.
I like the way Costa has been trying to tie his series into both AHM and Furman's work. Trying to make the whole thing cohesive by calling back to older stories and then building on those.You know what these latest issues make me dread? The day someone other than Costa starts writing this series. Not at all because I love Costa and want only him to do these stories or anything like that. No, I'm just dreading the inevitable 'fix' stories, where some other author comes in and makes Prime the leader of the Autobots again, and downgrades Bumblebee back into his old body, and puts the Decepticons back on Earth with Megatron in charge, and has Thundercracker rejoin them. I'm warning you now, I will bitch up a storm when this happens.
I like the way he draws Thundercracker as well.Regardless of what I've said about his work in the past, I *really* like the way Guidi draws New Bumblebee.
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andersonh1
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Re: Transformers - ongoing series
Issue #11
Ha. Thundercracker's become a couch potato. So to speak.
Bumblebee engages in conversation with Thundercracker in an attempt to secure his help to fight the Combaticons, but Thundercracker is having none of it. There's some nicely written back and forth conversation here, laced with humor and some nice observations by both characters. In the end, Bumblebee persuades Thundercracker by successfully pointing out that a life of watching television isn't likely to be very satisfying to someone like him. Thundercracker really is a man without a country here, and one wonders just what kind of future he can have, given what he's done and what he believes.
The interim scene with Brawn, Red Alert and Bluestreak offers some characterization for Brawn and Bluestreak, but more importantly it shows that at least one of Spike's adjutants isn't comfortable with the illegal deception that Skywatch is engaging in. This particular character has expressed discontent before, so I have to wonder how this will pay off down the road.
The Autobots re-engage the Combaticons, and do much better against them, even though three Combaticons do pretty well despite being outnumbered two to one. The cliffhanger to the issue shows that the Predacons have joined forces with the Chinese, and they warn that the Autobot/Combaticon battle is getting too close to the border.
Now I've made guesses as to where Costa is going with all of this before, and not always been right. But I wonder if what we're seeing here is the opposite of the covert war that was going on pre-AHM. Now the surviving groups of Autobots and Decepticons on Earth are aligning themselves with existing power blocs. The Autobots are working with the Americans, while several groups of Decepticons are working for communist miltary-led regimes. Entrenchment of both sides in terrestrial politics and military conflicts could lead to some interesting situations in which neither side can touch the other without getting the human governments they work for involved as well. Skywatch is already going to major lengths in order to invade North Korea and fight the Combaticons there. It won't be nearly as easy to try that in China.
Overall: It's hard to say where all of this is going. There's some good character work here, and potential for good future storylines. It just depends on what direction Costa takes the book.
Ha. Thundercracker's become a couch potato. So to speak.
Bumblebee engages in conversation with Thundercracker in an attempt to secure his help to fight the Combaticons, but Thundercracker is having none of it. There's some nicely written back and forth conversation here, laced with humor and some nice observations by both characters. In the end, Bumblebee persuades Thundercracker by successfully pointing out that a life of watching television isn't likely to be very satisfying to someone like him. Thundercracker really is a man without a country here, and one wonders just what kind of future he can have, given what he's done and what he believes.
The interim scene with Brawn, Red Alert and Bluestreak offers some characterization for Brawn and Bluestreak, but more importantly it shows that at least one of Spike's adjutants isn't comfortable with the illegal deception that Skywatch is engaging in. This particular character has expressed discontent before, so I have to wonder how this will pay off down the road.
The Autobots re-engage the Combaticons, and do much better against them, even though three Combaticons do pretty well despite being outnumbered two to one. The cliffhanger to the issue shows that the Predacons have joined forces with the Chinese, and they warn that the Autobot/Combaticon battle is getting too close to the border.
Now I've made guesses as to where Costa is going with all of this before, and not always been right. But I wonder if what we're seeing here is the opposite of the covert war that was going on pre-AHM. Now the surviving groups of Autobots and Decepticons on Earth are aligning themselves with existing power blocs. The Autobots are working with the Americans, while several groups of Decepticons are working for communist miltary-led regimes. Entrenchment of both sides in terrestrial politics and military conflicts could lead to some interesting situations in which neither side can touch the other without getting the human governments they work for involved as well. Skywatch is already going to major lengths in order to invade North Korea and fight the Combaticons there. It won't be nearly as easy to try that in China.
Overall: It's hard to say where all of this is going. There's some good character work here, and potential for good future storylines. It just depends on what direction Costa takes the book.
Re: Transformers - ongoing series
Transformers #7 thru #11:
And, we have come full circle...sort of. When I stopped reading TF comics, the weather was about as nice as it is today, (making it torture to be inside typing this and trying to study for a class later), but getting warmer after winter. Now, it is getting cooler after summer. The similar weather then and now kind of underscores a major theme in Costa's run on this book, stagnation. Transformers may be tactically adaptable, but strategically, they are incredibly resistant to change. (In other words, they can change how they go about doing things, but not what they do in general terms.)
Costa indirectly addresses some of the concerns I had about this series. Some of the characters are being selective and lax in their morality, but Costa is keeping track of some awkward facts. There are hints about the captured Autobots mentioned in the first arc. Costa and the human characters are thinking about this point, even if Prime has forgotten it. Similarly, Brawn mentioned Ironhide's death in issue 1, and his (reasonable) discomfort over working with the humans responsible is presented as unique. Humans are presented as more flexible than Cybertronians.
At this point, Costa has just about earned the trust and credibility that his writing demands. And, he is *writing*. But, in a way, that is the biggest problem with this series. I trust Costa. I am unsure if he is building a new status quo, (making the Autobots alien by making them slower to adapt than people), or taking the series in a new direction (creating a sense of progression by contrasting the Cybertronians with the humans, or possibly showing Cybertronians adapting at a strategic level). Either way, I trust his writing on the dangerous ground he is not treading on. The problem is, (as Costa is writing about), things change. Just as the seasons change, creative teams change. Costa will not be writing "Transformers" forever. In the wrong, less skilled, hands, many of the ideas that Costa is using in this series, (which include problematic elements of the franchise that many writers politely ignored up until now), could be ruinous. Costa is using some of the franchise's more difficult elements as a foundation for his run, effecitvely making them unavoidable in context. Other writers will have to address them unless the series is rebooted yet again. And, he is setting the bar for future writers very high.
Random thoughts:
The training scenes in issue #8:
Many people complained about the pacing of issue 8, with no small amount of griping focusing on the scenes with the humans training. This is objectively more an indictment of the readers, (and their lack of patience), than Costa. The whole point of the scene was to contrast Spike and his leadership style with Megatron (shown in issue 7). I really hope that IDW does not force Costa to write down to appease readers who miss this sort of thing.
Scrapper gets aced:
What the hell is Spike packing there? He makes a point of saying that there is nothing fancy about the chemical he throws on Scrapper. The most powerful solvent I have ever handled was drain acid. I splashed a small amount of it on my hand about 6 years ago, and still have slight burn marks from it. My reaction was not anywhere *near* as extreme as Scrapper's was to (the relatively small amoutn of) whatever the hell Spike was using on Scrapper's arm.. A small amount of...whatever the hell that was....incapacitates Scrapper enough for Spike to drop metal girders on him and then jump onto Scrapper's face and....dump more really terrible acid onto Scrapper's face. What hell was in that stuff?!?!?!?!?
TFs as agents of change:
The old Marvel series touched on this idea from time to time. But, for various reasons, it never went beyond a certain point, locking the general setting of the series into an artificial status quo. The setting for Costa's TF series in being changed more every issue. One of my biggest concerns after AHM was that the new series and direction would be "reset" for the comics. However, aside from Thundercracker and Sunstreaker coming back, Costa has been steadily (if brazenly) building on and out from AHM. Fans of linear fiction should definitely be giving "Transformers" a serious look.
Grade: A/B
Dom
-how about a TF "For Better or Worse" cross over? Eh? Eh? Eh?
And, we have come full circle...sort of. When I stopped reading TF comics, the weather was about as nice as it is today, (making it torture to be inside typing this and trying to study for a class later), but getting warmer after winter. Now, it is getting cooler after summer. The similar weather then and now kind of underscores a major theme in Costa's run on this book, stagnation. Transformers may be tactically adaptable, but strategically, they are incredibly resistant to change. (In other words, they can change how they go about doing things, but not what they do in general terms.)
Costa indirectly addresses some of the concerns I had about this series. Some of the characters are being selective and lax in their morality, but Costa is keeping track of some awkward facts. There are hints about the captured Autobots mentioned in the first arc. Costa and the human characters are thinking about this point, even if Prime has forgotten it. Similarly, Brawn mentioned Ironhide's death in issue 1, and his (reasonable) discomfort over working with the humans responsible is presented as unique. Humans are presented as more flexible than Cybertronians.
At this point, Costa has just about earned the trust and credibility that his writing demands. And, he is *writing*. But, in a way, that is the biggest problem with this series. I trust Costa. I am unsure if he is building a new status quo, (making the Autobots alien by making them slower to adapt than people), or taking the series in a new direction (creating a sense of progression by contrasting the Cybertronians with the humans, or possibly showing Cybertronians adapting at a strategic level). Either way, I trust his writing on the dangerous ground he is not treading on. The problem is, (as Costa is writing about), things change. Just as the seasons change, creative teams change. Costa will not be writing "Transformers" forever. In the wrong, less skilled, hands, many of the ideas that Costa is using in this series, (which include problematic elements of the franchise that many writers politely ignored up until now), could be ruinous. Costa is using some of the franchise's more difficult elements as a foundation for his run, effecitvely making them unavoidable in context. Other writers will have to address them unless the series is rebooted yet again. And, he is setting the bar for future writers very high.
Random thoughts:
The training scenes in issue #8:
Many people complained about the pacing of issue 8, with no small amount of griping focusing on the scenes with the humans training. This is objectively more an indictment of the readers, (and their lack of patience), than Costa. The whole point of the scene was to contrast Spike and his leadership style with Megatron (shown in issue 7). I really hope that IDW does not force Costa to write down to appease readers who miss this sort of thing.
Scrapper gets aced:
What the hell is Spike packing there? He makes a point of saying that there is nothing fancy about the chemical he throws on Scrapper. The most powerful solvent I have ever handled was drain acid. I splashed a small amount of it on my hand about 6 years ago, and still have slight burn marks from it. My reaction was not anywhere *near* as extreme as Scrapper's was to (the relatively small amoutn of) whatever the hell Spike was using on Scrapper's arm.. A small amount of...whatever the hell that was....incapacitates Scrapper enough for Spike to drop metal girders on him and then jump onto Scrapper's face and....dump more really terrible acid onto Scrapper's face. What hell was in that stuff?!?!?!?!?
TFs as agents of change:
The old Marvel series touched on this idea from time to time. But, for various reasons, it never went beyond a certain point, locking the general setting of the series into an artificial status quo. The setting for Costa's TF series in being changed more every issue. One of my biggest concerns after AHM was that the new series and direction would be "reset" for the comics. However, aside from Thundercracker and Sunstreaker coming back, Costa has been steadily (if brazenly) building on and out from AHM. Fans of linear fiction should definitely be giving "Transformers" a serious look.
Grade: A/B
Dom
-how about a TF "For Better or Worse" cross over? Eh? Eh? Eh?