Dreamwave G1 read-through

The originals... ok, not exactly, but the original named "The TransFormers" anyway. Take THAT, Diaclone!
Generation 1, Generation 2 - Removable fists? Check. Unlicensed vehicle modes? Check. Kickass tape deck robot with transforming cassette minions? DOUBLE CHECK!!!
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Dominic
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Re: Dreamwave G1 read-through

Post by Dominic »


Two thoughts about Trypticon: I love that he's not the Trypticon of the tv series, so he's not stupid with a low vocabulary. He's quite articulate in fact, which makes his personality a lot of fun. And second, there's not much point in banning Combiners when bots like Trypticon, who are far worse, are running around!

Dreamwave Trypticon was based more on the old US comic than the cartoon. Comic Trypticon was reasonably intelligent, and generally held back by administrative and economic decisions. (He nearly won the war in his one US appearance, but went over budget and was called home.)


I think that the ban on combiners had more to do with combiners being mentally unstable than their size.
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Re: Dreamwave G1 read-through

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Dominic wrote: Sat Jan 21, 2023 10:50 amI think that the ban on combiners had more to do with combiners being mentally unstable than their size.
I get the impression the combiners were banned based on concerns over their destructive potential. At least, that's what Springer highlights when confronting Ratbat for breaking the Crisis Intervention Accord by unleashing Devastator. Particularly because where Devastator and Defensor are fighting in this issue is essentially a powder keg. Later on, Springer even appeals to Defensor's intelligence as a later-model combiner, which immediately gets the Protectobots to rethink their strategy.
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Re: Dreamwave G1 read-through

Post by andersonh1 »

Trypticon is great in issue 4. Easily my favorite version ever.

Transformers War Within: The Dark Ages #4
January 2004
Writer - Simon Furman, Pencils - Andrew Wildman, Inks - Erik Sander

I love the way Trypticon speaks in this issue, and that he's intelligent. Makes a nice change from the way I'm used to seeing the character depicted­. And he's got some pride as well. "It? It? It has a name... Trypticon. Use it!" He's like a big cat, toying with the Autobots who are trying to fight him, and as much as I'm rooting for the Autobots, I have to admit that Trypticon is a fun villain in this issue. Even when reinforcements show up, his response is "Ah, good!" The Autobots concentrate their attack, with Prowl insisting that there must be a weak spot, while Trypticon says otherwise...

The Dinobots want to go fight him, not take on Jetfire, but Grimlock isn't having any of it. It's interesting to me that Grimlock seems to resent Shockwave and Jetfire for the same reason: he sees them as individuals who think they know it all and look down on everyone else. Yeah, he thinks Jetfire is playing some game of his own, but it's really just a petty grudge with Grimlock.

Jetfire and Shockwave meet and exchange data, and I like the fact that both apparently act in good faith and can see the danger that no one else is aware of. It's going well until Bludgeon, Bugly and Mindwipe attack. Bludgeon in particular notes that he would never have dared take on Shockwave before, but now he's more than willing, and between the three of them, they take Shockwave down, and capture Jetfire. They decide that Grimlock isn't going to show after all, even though they leaked the transmission from Jetfire to Shockwave, but they're mistaken. In both fights, it's the one who initiates the surprise attack that wins the fight, and Grimlock takes out all three. I do like his comment when Mindwipe figures he'll be easy to hypnotize, with Grimlock slugging him and asking "Why everybody underestimate me?"

But he's still out to kill Jetfire (who picked up on the mention of the Fallen, so he's got another piece of the puzzle), much to the Fallen's anger. Jetfire tries to reason with Grimlock, who is in no mood to be reasoned with, forcing the Fallen to personally intervene for the first time. As much as I like Grimlock, it's honestly kind of nice to see the Fallen put him in his place as the issue ends.

I like everything about this issue. The characterization is on point (token efforts with several of the Autobot reinforcements aside) and drives some of the plotlines with Grimlock, Jetfire and Shockwave all acting based on belief and personality rather than simply because the plot dictates their actions. Trypticon is great, and this is probably my favorite version of the character. About my only complaint is that I'd like to have seen more of the chaos build slowly for Jetfire to recognize the pattern, rather than most of it to happen offscreen, but that's the limitation of the six issue mini-series. I'm seriously close to giving this a 9 out of 10, but some of the art isn't quite what it should be, so I'll go with 8.5 of 10. The Dark Ages continues to improve as it goes along, and I think any problems I have with the story structure have to do with, again, only having six issues to develop a status quo that could easily sustain a long run of stories and issues.
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Re: Dreamwave G1 read-through

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Catching up with The Dark Ages:

Transformers War Within: The Dark Ages #5
February 2004
Writer - Simon Furman, Pencils - Andrew Wildman, Inks - Erik Sander

If only the whole book could look as good as the cover. Nobody draws these characters as well as Don Figeroa. But I guess he's over on the ongoing, judging by the ad on the inside front cover. As the issue begins, Grimlock is taken out with ease by the Fallen, who chides his followers for not doing it themselves. But Grimlock is not quite down, though his second attempt to engage the Fallen is no more successful than the first. As much as I like Grimlock, it's honestly a bit satisfying to see him humbled a bit. And it's interesting to see Jetfire realize, at least to some extent, who and what the Fallen is.

The Autobots recover from their battle with Trypticon and Prowl lays out the vicious cycle of escalation, leading to Trailbreaker revealing what Jetfire told him. A call from Swoop provides another piece of the puzzle, and I can believe that Prowl has the capacity to starting putting things together here. At least he does until the Fallen singlehandedly breaks into Autobase to take the "caged experiment" Prowl referred to: Blitzwing. First of the triple-changers apparently (though we saw them already in WW1, an indication of how the writers are making some of this up on the fly as new ideas occur to them).

I like the way Bludgeon, Bugly and Mindwipe are able to take on the divided and irresolute Protectobots, defeat them, and capture Hot Spot. And now we get exactly what the Fallen is after. He's not interested in this little Autobot/Decepticon conflict, he's involved in a war of the Gods. He's going to break the seal of Primus and cause chaos.

I love it. Everything comes together in this issue, leaving the problem of dealing the the situation for the final issue. I'd be curious now to read a Transformers story set in the distant past that Jetfire refers to, the one the Fallen hails from, where all the Transformers are as powerful as he is. Or was it Unicron that gave him his power? 9/10 for this one.


Transformers War Within: The Dark Ages #6
March 2004
Writer - Simon Furman, Pencils - Andrew Wildman, Inks - Erik Sander

Shockwave deals with the rogue elements from his faction, namely Bludgeon, Bugly and Mindwipe, and he's smart enough to have brought his army with him. Meanwhile the Fallen speaks directly to Primus, and we learn that it was the space bridge that intersected with his prison, freeing him. And once he's opened the seal, the chaos bringer will find his way here. Jetfire can't quite grasp or accept the implications, but he knows it's bad. And with the amount of energy being expended to open the seal, even as deep underground as it is, the Fallen's location is lit up like a beacon, drawing everyone in.

Jetfire is the key to victory here, the "clever insect" as the Fallen calls him. He gets Bumblebee to project the force barrier from the Autobot base over the seal of Primus, blocking the beam that the Fallen is using to burn through it. The force barrier stops the energy opening the seal of Primus, and presumably hides the energy signature just long enough for Primus to reach out, grab the Fallen and imprison him, before the barrier drops and the seal hides him once more. We might call it a deus ex machina, but in this case it's so well grounded in established Transformers lore that it makes perfect sense and doesn't feel like any sort of cheat. And all the faction leaders understand that the threat must be kept sealed and off limits, even if they don't know specifics. This could have been apocalyptic, and Jetfire fears that it's not over.

It's a solid ending to a series that is far better than I remember it being. I think the pacing is problematic in issues 2 and 3, maybe, and several characters just drop off the map once their subplots are done (Springer, Starscream), but this was really good, and I've enjoyed revisiting it. I'm giving the final issue 9/10, and I was tempted to give it a perfect score, because it's really a strong finish for this story.

I think the thing that I'm finding about Dreamwave is that they managed to make their Transformers comics fun. They captured some of the spirit of the old animated series while updating it. It's a war comic, but there's also a sense of adventure. IDW's books never quite felt that way to me, while I enjoyed a lot of them, the tone was completely different. There's a definite distinction between the way the two companies approached this property.
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Re: Dreamwave G1 read-through

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And, I'm caught up!! It's really nice to read this one again. I've always been glad I got these issues, since because this series was never finished, IDW didn't reprint it like they did the other two. The original issues are the only way to own a copy.

Transformers War Within: The Age of Wrath #1
September 2004
Writer - Simon Furman, Pencils - Joe Ng, Inks Tracy Ho

Ultra Magnus is front and center as he leads a united Autobot faction against the still divided Decepticons and takes Cybertron back "province by province and city state by city state". Magnus is a reluctant leader, full of self doubt but proving that he had what it took to get the job done in Prime's absence, even if he still doesn't believe he's worth it. And while Shockwave is ready to talk terms of peace, Starscream is not. His attack disrupts the signing ceremonies for the peace treaty, and Starscream himself kills the remaining council members who had survived his use of the Cyberforming tech back in the first mini-series.

But he doesn't have the numbers to win, and the only real damage done is apparently fatal damage taken by Grimlock who stops Magnus from being assassinated by getting in the way. Ultra Magnus's "NOOOOOO" is a bit overdramatic, and given that we know he's alive in the future since we've seen him in the first two G1 series, it's pretty clear he's not dead here, which robs the scene of some of the drama.

But just as the situation seems in hand, it all falls apart as a ton of near identical robots that look like Starscream other than coloration (and Shockwave initially thinks that's who the first one is, until many more appear) surround the area, with the issue ending on the ominous revelation that Megatron has returned.

I can buy Ultra Magnus as an Autobot with enough stature to fill the void left by Optimus Prime, and the idea that it's the Autobots who could put aside differences and form a strong enough force to win the war makes the most sense. I'm not sure I like Magnus's inferiority complex, and maybe overcoming that was meant to be his character arc if we'd gotten all six issues of this series instead of only the first half of the story. It was only a matter of time until Megatron reentered the story, but I was honestly enjoying stories told in his absence. Still, there's no denying that his return is a great cliffhanger that completely upends the status quo that the issue establishes. I'm not a big fan of Joe Ng's art, I have to say. It's okay, but not great. Even so, he does a good job with the storytelling for the most part, and I like the ominous way that Megatron's seeker army just silently appears and by the time they're noticed, they already surround everyone. And I'm impressed by the fact that this third War Within series is as different in tone from the second one as the second was from the first. Furman showed that he really knew these characters and the property with these stories, I have to say.
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Re: Dreamwave G1 read-through

Post by Dominic »

I am actually re-reading the McDonough/Lee mini-series now. (Anderson's thread inspired me.)


Over-all, I have to agree that Dreamwave did a better job of balancing original/foundational against newer elements. Dreamwave's creative types were more interested in making a good product (comics) than in showing how kewl they were. Dreamwave never reached the highs that IDW did. But, were also never as obnoxious as IDW was at times.

With Dreamwave, there was a manic joy that IDW never quite conveyed unless they were "reinventing" Transformers.
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Re: Dreamwave G1 read-through

Post by Sparky Prime »

andersonh1 wrote: Fri Feb 10, 2023 7:06 pm And, I'm caught up!! It's really nice to read this one again. I've always been glad I got these issues, since because this series was never finished, IDW didn't reprint it like they did the other two. The original issues are the only way to own a copy.
I didn't realize these issues never got reprinted. Makes sense, as a story that never got finished, but I'd be nice if whatever did get published was in a War Within collection so that it's not only the original issues. It's disappointing this series was never completed. The introduction of the Seeker drones and the Quintessons factoring into the story at this point in the war in league with Megatron was a really interesting premise, especially with some of the same story points making their way into the ongoing as well. Joe Ng was a new up and coming artist at the time, I remember being excited when he was announced as the artist for this. But I have to say I wasn't that impressed with his work on this particular miniseries. I don't know what he was doing differently on this series when his other Transformers work I felt was so much better. Still, it's a shame he didn't get the chance to finish.
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Re: Dreamwave G1 read-through

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Currently reading "the War Within".

20 years ago, I knew enough to recognize that Furman's writing was often carried by exceptional artists, even if I liked Furman *much* more at the time than I do now. Furman is actually the single biggest reason that I used to grade licensed comics on a dual curve, with one grade being "for fans" and the other being a more general "comic reader" grade. (Eventually, I got tired of going easy on sub-par licensed books, especially when so many of the "easy" grades were going to comics by one guy in one property.)

Figueroa's art was the biggest reason that I bought in for "the War Within". Truth be told, Figueroa's art is what kept me in comics, at a time when I was closer than any point (other than possibly now) to being done. (In fall 2002, I was having the sort of existential crisis that one has in their mid-20s. World events also played a role in this.)

And, still, after all that, my main take away from "the War Within" is that I am surprised at how much Figueroa is carrying this series. The writing is "better than average for Furman". But, it is not the sort of thing that I could recommend to a non-fan.

But, Don Figueroa's art is nothing short of beautiful. As a friend phrased it when recommending (almost daring) me to simply look at the first issue, "there is something on every page".

Reading this after several years of IDW has made remember how much we (as fans of Transformers and comics) took for granted with Dreamwave. Most of us liked Dreamwave at the time. But, I do not think that any of us truly appreciated it.

Figueroa was talented. And, he gave a damn. His character designs managed to be new, but still recognizable. (Contrast that with the last decade or so of IDW's output, where the art was consistently the worst part of the series.) And, despite the fact that every last one of his designs works as a toy, we have only gotten a few toys directly from this series.


Aside, one of the sketch pages in the compilation has "Maraudimus" as a scribbled "user name". It reminds me of Figueroa's "Armarauders" line from a few years back.
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Re: Dreamwave G1 read-through

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Transformers War Within: The Age of Wrath #2
October 2004
Writer - Simon Furman, Pencils - Joe Ng, Inks Fero Poblete, Tracy Ho, Erik Sander

Remember... you need me! You have elected to remain in the shadows, to pull the strings from afar... but understand, here on Cybertron, now, I am the power. I am the dread voice that commands. I am no one's lackey.

The issue opens with Megatron talking to Starscream and explaining how he is now in control, and I enjoy this dialogue because several opinions that Megatron expresses here tell us something about him as a character. The war is "tiresome" to him, and he's chagrined that he spent so much time planning intricate warfare, only to have victory come down to brute force in the form of the million strong Aerospace Extermination Squadron. They're Beast Machines Megatron's Vehicon drones, only better and more numerous. Megatron is also torturing Starscream, mainly because Starscream's murder of the high council denied Megatron an opportunity to humble them himself. And wherever Megatron got the drones, he wants the ability to create his own, a job he's set Shockwave to work on. Even at this point in the story, I think it's obvious that Megatron is concerned about control over these drones and whatever he's done to obtain them. A bit further along in the book we see him talking to someone, arguing about who is in control and whose plan is being followed here,

Meanwhile Getaway is being hunted.­ The drones work together to track and plan how to trap him, acting it seems to me almost as a group mind. The majority of the Autobots are enslaved, guarded by both Decepticons and the drones. Brawn's "pacification" illustrates how dire their situation really is. And I enjoy that we get a focus on some of the later Autobots here, not just the 1984-1986 cast. Getaway, Siren, Hosehead, Joyride, Slapdash show up along with Nightbeat. And the last page promises even more lesser-seen Autobots as the issue ends with the revelation that they're trying to capture one of the drones.

Transformers War Within: The Age of Wrath #3
November 2004
Writer - Simon Furman, Pencils - Joe Ng, Inks Tracy Ho, Erik Sander­­

So on to the final published issue of this series. I've always wished that someone would finish and publish the rest of the story. I know we can read summaries, but I would enjoy actually seeing this story wrapped up in finished form. I doubt we'll ever see it, but you never know.

In any case, I appreciate Slamdance catching the reader up on what happened to him, and revealing "the Source" deep within Cybertron. Looking at the summaries of issues that were never completed, it seems like this is what Megatron is after, for the Quintessons, who gave him the army to subdue Cybertron. But it's not apparent at this point in the issue just how significant Slamdance's find actually is. ­I like that the story is focusing on characters relatively unknown to me: Flash, Boss, Scorch and Hurricane. I actually bought a Flash figure because this story made me interested in him. And the search for Optimus Prime makes sense happening now rather than in the last mini-series. No one had any reason to believe he or Megatron survived at that time, but now with Megatron having returned, the possibility clearly exists that Prime is also alive, as Perceptor points out.

I enjoy the parallel here of both Autobots and Decepticons attempting to understand how the drones are constructed, though Shockwave can do it without fear of being attacked, while Nightbeat's crew get a full display of what the drone can do in terms of deploying weaponry. They don't fare too well against a single drone, so it's no wonder an army of them easily conquered the planet for Megatron. A lot of this issue seems to be geared towards establishing just how powerful these things really are.

Grimlock is not quite as dead as we thought, apparently.

The ending confused me a bit. Are the Turbomasters just racing around to relieve their boredom? Seems like it from the dialogue. So why does Flash take the risk of driving into the portal where Perceptor is looking for Optimus Prime, thinking he can hide in there? I do have to say that the cliffhanger ending where he ends up on Quintessa is great, making it all the more regrettable that this is all we got.

So good issue, not as good as last time. 7/10, with maybe too much time spent on the fight with the drone. There are a few times when it's not quite clear what's going on, though most of the issue is fine. I really like the focus on lesser-used G1 characters, because I always enjoy it when the flesh out these characters who came on the scene late in the run of the original comic or after the comic and the cartoon had ended. That's probably one reason I like the Micromasters series quite a bit, despite the less than stellar art. At any rate, for a half finished story, the three issues we got are fairly strong and I'm glad we got what we did at least.

Dom, Micromasters is next in the reading order. I seem to remember you and me being some of the few who enjoyed that series? I haven't read it in years, so it will be good to revisit it and reevaluate. So far Dreamwave is holding up pretty well.
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Re: Dreamwave G1 read-through

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Transformers Micromasters #1
July 2004

"Destined for Nothing"
Writer - James "Brad Mick" McDonough, Adam Patyk, Pencils - Rob Ruffalo, Inks - Erik Sander­­

I have to go look up who most of these characters are. There are a ton of Micromasters, and it's one of the G1 eras that is least familiar to me. I have a number of these guys, but other than Countdown, I can never remember the names. I think that Don Figeroa cover with two of them fighting over a golden disk is Countdown vs. Skystalker? But then that's the main reason I enjoy this mini-series, because I really do like seeing all of these unfamiliar characters getting page time, something that has rarely happened in other Transformers media that I'm familiar with. The column at the end of the issue by McDonough and Patyk explaining the thought process behind the series is well worth reading, and it seems like part of their enthusiasm for the project was the "pretty much untouched new cast of characters".

I have to think Big Daddy was chosen as the main character for his name. As the story opens, he and other Micromasters are trying to rescue Roadbuster. Trying to follow who is who in this fight is difficult, given my unfamiliarity with the characters. It's interesting how shocked the guy who kills Crunch is, almost as though the war isn't really something these guys quite took seriously, not until someone actually died.

Meanwhile Countdown arrives back on Cybertron, surprised at the lack of a ground crew at the spaceport. He's greeted by Topspin and Twin Twist, wondering where Optimus Prime is, and then he meets with Ultra Magnus and Fortress Maximus, jointly commanding the Autobots. There's a lot of backstory here, and some setup for why we'll find Jetfire and Omega Supreme where we do later on. Countdown's beliefs and attitude are not any less strong with his small size, and he lays into Magnus and Fort Max for letting Cybertron fall apart like it has. When Big Daddy goes to confront Magnus about the death of Crunch, Magnus is more interested in protocols and following orders. Things are a mess on the Autobot front.

The same is true for the Decepticons, who treat the Micromasters who side with them even worse. Shockwave gives much the same line to the Micromasters under his command that Magnus gave to his: do your duty, follow orders, and quit complaining. The parallels are deliberate. Micromasters are second class citizens on both sides of the conflict. A group from both sides quit and head for Little Iacon, deciding they're on thier own, only to get attacked by Deluxe Insecticons....

I'm not going to go far from what others have said here. I like the unexplored era and characters quite a bit, and I enjoy that someone at Dreamwave decided to dedicate a mini-series to Micromasters. I'm glad we see a few familiar G1 characters in this issue, because it helps to have some familiar faces while I'm trying to get to know a lot of unfamiliar ones. The idea of downsized, more energy efficient Transformers makes sense and fits nicely into the timeline that Dreamwave had been creating. The downside is, no surprise, the poor art. Some parts are off model, some seem half-finished, and the panel to panel storytelling could use some work. What we get is good enough to tell the story, but better art would definitely have elevated this a lot. 7/10
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