Transformers - ongoing series

[BWprowl]

Meanwhile, I continue to think it's actually okay!

I dunno, I didn't have a hard time following this issue at all. Part of it is, admittedly, like Dom said that it's hardly the most complex thing out there, but to me, it came off as pretty clear that Galvatron was the one who triggered the mass fusion of Decepticons, apparently using the Heart of Darkness (also worth noting that they refer to the big monster being made out of ' the Decepticons' and 'Galvatron's army' explicitly citing them as two separate entities, so really, no need to get your panties in a bunch there). Also interesting to note that Megatron wasn't picked up in the fusion. We'll see what explanation they offer up for this, and I'll wait til then to pass judgment. As of now, I'm actually disappointed that they built up the big Decepticon monster thing so much and then really only gave it like four pages.

Drfit committing Seppuku is going to make the worst sort of people happy. I hope he lives.

[Dominic]

Obviously, it will get more page time in the next issue. Most comics are written "to be continued". It is not fair to criticize a comic for that sort of thing.

[Onslaught Six]

Drift will be fine. He's in solicits for the other books and on covers. Which reminds me:
http://www.tfw2005.com/transformers-new ... 12-173600/

I still hate the title of these books. It's like how I hate how there's like four things called "Transformers Universe" at this point.

The Rodimus book sounds great. The Bumblebee book sounds like ass. Frankly, the Rodimus book sounds more like it's going to be what I *thought* was going to happen in the ongoing--Rodimus and co go off in space and have awesome adventures. And *that's* what I want out of a TF book at this point, really. Expand that universe! Use it, damn it!

Although I think it's hilarious that Rodimus and co are going looking for other Transformers colonies while the Bumblebee book is going to have a bunch of Transformers colonies come home. Also, are the TFs truly done with Earth? I give it two years before Megatron launches an all-out assault on Earth again. (And he'll turn into a gun again and be grey. I really hate his black design, why couldn't it have been grey?)

[BWprowl]

I love Megatron's new design. He's been grey for nearly thirty years, they needed to create a visual cue that he had 'changed' once he came back. Plus the black with purple Tron-lines just looks aces. I just wish he transformed more often.

Conceptually, I'm much more interested in the Bumblebee book, though it could admittedly turn out to just be another Stormbringer. Likewise, the Rodimus book could have some strong entertainment value in the sheer amount of variety it can throw in, but I worry that it might turn out too filler-y, with little substance. We'll just have to see once they come out, I guess.

The titles are super-arbitrary though. At the very least, the once where the transforming robots are on their own damn planet among all the other transforming robots shouldn't be called 'Robots in Disguise'. Unless it, like, involves Bumblebee and co going undercover and wearing concealing hats and fake mustaches and stuff. That would be terrific.

Were it up to me, I woulda just called 'em "Transformers on Cybertron" and "Transformers IN SPAAAAAAAACE!!".

[Dominic]

"Universe" is tolerable because none of the uses of the name are really concurrent, aside from the OTFCC comics and the '03 toyline. But, that was intentional.

In this case, we have two similarly titled comics with identical numbering systems. This is like a grotesque parody of what we were talking about in the comics thread. Between the renumbering, soft-reboots and similar names, it is like IDW has decided to publish "Transformers: Bad Comics 101".

As recently as 6 months ago, "Transformers" was my top book and had me doubting that I was ever going to be out of comics. But, now, I am wondering if I am going to be reading comics in 6 months at all, partly because of this book.

Also, are the TFs truly done with Earth? I give it two years before Megatron launches an all-out assault on Earth again.

And, barring a hard reboot, it will not make much sense. The Transformers are going to be interested in Earth....when they have a newly habitable home planet? True, the population increase on Cybertron and the presence of Ore-13 on Eartth could.....

No, fuck that. You know what? The fact that we are even having this conversation is a problem. Here we are, right before a renumbering and in the middle of a big stupid event....and we are talking about the next soft reboot and how they will do it.


The Rodimus book could very easily turn in to an episodic "planet of the week" series with no real point beyond "here are the Transformers doing stuff". It will not necessarily suck, but greatness is hardly a guarantee. The Bumblebee series looks like it will pick up some of the more promising threads from the current series. But, that is hardly a guarantee.


Dom
-got kicked in the chest by a professional wrestler a few hours ago.

[andersonh1]

Here we are, right before a renumbering and in the middle of a big stupid event....and we are talking about the next soft reboot and how they will do it.

It's not a "soft reboot" (whatever that is, I still don't get that term... either it's a reboot, or it isn't, and this isn't). It's the end of one story that sends things going in different directions. That's what serialized fiction is supposed to do. Tell a story, develop characters, and keep things moving until the end, when they start a new story. Bravo. The status quo keeps changing, and that's a good thing.

[Onslaught Six]

Here we are, right before a renumbering and in the middle of a big stupid event....and we are talking about the next soft reboot and how they will do it.

It's not a "soft reboot" (whatever that is, I still don't get that term... either it's a reboot, or it isn't, and this isn't). It's the end of one story that sends things going in different directions. That's what serialized fiction is supposed to do. Tell a story, develop characters, and keep things moving until the end, when they start a new story. Bravo. The status quo keeps changing, and that's a good thing.

That's not what we're discussing. We're discussing the reboot 'after' this one. The theoretical one I just mentioned that'll happen in two years where Megatron launches a full-out assault on Earth...again.

The status quo *isn't* changing. It's like...it just keeps going back and forth. At the beginning of the ongoing, Bumblebee was leading the Autobots while Rodimus (or Hot Rod or whatever) went off to go form his own team because he didn't like the way Bumblebee (and Prime, I guess) were running things. And, surprise! Here we are two years later, back exactly where we started with that.

Also, these solicits have all but confirmed that Prime will legitimately die. As with Megatron, I give two years or less before he comes back. Thus far, every major character death IDW has pulled--Ironhide, Sunstreaker, Megatron--has been undone. I don't see Prime being any different. (At least Ironhide's kind of made sense, and he seemed like he was killed simply so he could be revived.)

Anyway: A soft reboot is a reboot that isn't a complete reboot. All Hail Megatron was a soft reboot. Some things are changing and some things aren't, and not much of a big deal is going to be made about it. Like, when Batman: The Animated Series came back for its last season (as "The New Batman Adventures" or something) a bunch of the character designs changed--Batman's, Joker's, etc.--and some shit had gone down (Dick became Nightwing, Tim became Robin) but nobody really mentions it. It just...happened. And it's very much implied that, at least for the character designs, this is the way these guys always looked.

[Gomess]

Was, like, Season 3 of the G1 cartoon a soft reboot? I'm serious. I've never heard this term before either, and I'm a writer. Is it a fandom thing? 'Cos this is really the only fandom I socialise with, so I wouldn't be surprised if I'd never heard it.

I thought a soft reboot was where you just quickly hit Reset on your NES so the RAM doesn't have a chance to clear and you can go back to the title screen but it remembers the last password you entered. Mega Man 2, yo.

[Onslaught Six]

Was, like, Season 3 of the G1 cartoon a soft reboot? I'm serious. I've never heard this term before either, and I'm a writer. Is it a fandom thing? 'Cos this is really the only fandom I socialise with, so I wouldn't be surprised if I'd never heard it.

Not...really? I guess? All Hail Megatron, that was a soft reboot. The new DC universe, that's a soft reboot--things in the past still happened, but not all of them, you know?

From Wiki (har har shutup) on the New 52:

Following Flashpoint, all DC titles are being renumbered and relaunched with new #1 issues.[4] The new continuity features new outfits, back history, and stories for many of DC's long established heroes and villains. An interview with DC Comics executive editor Eddie Berganza and editor-in-chief Bob Harras reveals that the new continuity does not constitute a full reboot of the DC Universe but rather a "soft reboot". While many characters underwent a reboot or revamp, much of DC Universe history will remain intact. Many major storylines such as "Blackest Night", "Brightest Day", Identity Crisis, "Batman: A Death in the Family" and Batman: The Killing Joke are still part of the continuity.

For example, Nolan's Batman films are definitely a hard reboot of the film franchise. If the next TF film starts us up with Megatron being dead and the Autobots at (basically) peace with Earth, but all the robots look different and Sam isn't ever mentioned at all, and Devastator shows up and they remark that's the first time they've ever seen a combiner? That's a soft reboot. Obviously some elements of the previous movies happened but not all of them.

EDIT: Freddy Vs. Jason! That was a soft reboot! It's clear from the film's context that some previous Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th films have happened, and that this film is obviously taking place in 2004 or whenever it was made, despite Jason definitively dying previously in Jason Goes To Hell, and Freddy definitively dying in Freddy's Dead. Obviously those movies are being ignored and the franchise is continuing, but some elements of the previous canon are still intact.

I thought a soft reboot was where you just quickly hit Reset on your NES so the RAM doesn't have a chance to clear and you can go back to the title screen but it remembers the last password you entered. Mega Man 2, yo.

It's also a computing term, yes, but they're not really related. (Or maybe they are!)

[Gomess]

And this is different to mass retconning how?