Transformers: Ongoing #11 Options

[lonegamer8]

Out Wednesday, September 15, 2010.

[BB Shockwave]

So, do the Predacons do anything meaningfull, or just show up for one page while the rest of the comic is spent with TC and BB bickering?

[Autobot Bubbs]

So, do the Predacons do anything meaningfull, or just show up for one page while the rest of the comic is spent with TC and BB bickering?

Maybe next issue.

[Powered Convoy]

They show up at the end but there is only a couple more pages of TC and BB talking. The rest of the issue is the Combaticons versus the Autobots.

I haven't been able to read the comic in its entirety but from what I read and the looks of it I really like it. HIGHLIGHT to view:
Onslaught is a force to be reckoned with for Optimus and gives him a lot of trouble, pounding him often. Vortex fairs well despite the Autobots attempts to ground him until Thundercracker shows up. Brawl gets the Movie Jazz treatment by him bending his cannon (as Prowl blasts him). Just as Optimus is about to finish Onslaught off the Predacons, sans Razorclaw, appear.

Bumblebee says Thundercracker is the most powerful Cybertronian on Earth - I guess being a Seeker, an elite guard and an F-22 trumps what Optimus brings to the table? Either that or Bumblebee was being generous.

Randy

[Echowarrior]

This issue wasn't too bad, and it was good seeing Cosmos show up. I only have one question, however...

HIGHLIGHT to view:
Why are the Predacons working for China?

Hopefully, answers are forthcoming next month.

[Magnusblitz]

So, do the Predacons do anything meaningfull, or just show up for one page while the rest of the comic is spent with TC and BB bickering?

About half the comic is TC and BB talking, the other half is the Autobots fighting the Combaticons again, and the Predacons show up on the last page. There's also some of Brawn and Bluestreak talking (which feels weird because it seems out of character to have Brawn be the complainer and not Bluestreak... but whatever).

More decompression issues, as we knew. There's not enough here to make it different from last issue - Autobots vs. Combaticons and BB/TC talking both happened last issue and probably could've easily been combined into one issue.

The one upside is that the idea of a bunch of different Transformer factions being involved in Earth politics and choosing sides with different nations is a decent and new idea. I just don't think it'll end up going anywhere interesting though, based on what we've gotten so far.

[chiasaur11]

Bumblebee says Thundercracker is the most powerful Cybertronian on Earth - I guess being a Seeker, an elite guard and an F-22 trumps what Optimus brings to the table? Either that or Bumblebee was being generous.

Randy

Wait wait wait.

This is a planet with, at minimum, Optimus Prime, who had access to the top of the line Autobot combat gear, enough strength and skill to fight Megatron (Who was, if not the champion Con asskicker, at least near best.), and he took on Thunderwing, a being who singlehandedly nearly toasted Cybertron.

But let's ignore that.

This is also a planet with Roadbuster AND Broadside, two of the legendary Wreckers. You have to be a majorly heroic sort to even get in. And then, unless you're insanely good and lucky, you die anyway. What's more, Roadbuster is one of the most heavily armed guys in the unit. And we're talking a group where Guzzle's level armament is considered normal.

What if Bumblebee just meant outside the Autobots?

Well, then we've got the Combaticons themselves. Who were a special ops unit under the command of Bonzaitron himself, who were considered good enough for a solo raid on one of the most highly secured Autobot facilities. You know, A-Team elite commando unit stuff.

And the most powerful transformer on Earth is a retired third stringer whose previous achievements peaked at "assigned to a crappy backwater as a low ranking member of a completely ordinary unit".

Something isn't kosher here.

[Powered Convoy]

Yeah I think Bumblebee is being generous.

Randy

[Esser-Z]

Could it be powerful in the sense of 'more powerful than you could possibly imagine'? Maybe TC knows something, or has connections.

Maybe it has something to do with what is on those screens!

[Starfield]

This is a planet with, at minimum, Optimus Prime, who had access to the top of the line Autobot combat gear, enough strength and skill to fight Megatron

Prime also held off Sixshot for an impressive amount of time. And an Ore-13 enhanced Megatron.

[Detour]

Bumblebee says Thundercracker is the most powerful Cybertronian on Earth - I guess being a Seeker, an elite guard and an F-22 trumps what Optimus brings to the table? Either that or Bumblebee was being generous.

Randy

Wait wait wait.

This is a planet with, at minimum, Optimus Prime, who had access to the top of the line Autobot combat gear, enough strength and skill to fight Megatron (Who was, if not the champion Con asskicker, at least near best.), and he took on Thunderwing, a being who singlehandedly nearly toasted Cybertron.

But let's ignore that.

This is also a planet with Roadbuster AND Broadside, two of the legendary Wreckers. You have to be a majorly heroic sort to even get in. And then, unless you're insanely good and lucky, you die anyway. What's more, Roadbuster is one of the most heavily armed guys in the unit. And we're talking a group where Guzzle's level armament is considered normal.

What if Bumblebee just meant outside the Autobots?

Well, then we've got the Combaticons themselves. Who were a special ops unit under the command of Bonzaitron himself, who were considered good enough for a solo raid on one of the most highly secured Autobot facilities. You know, A-Team elite commando unit stuff.

And the most powerful transformer on Earth is a retired third stringer whose previous achievements peaked at "assigned to a crappy backwater as a low ranking member of a completely ordinary unit".

Something isn't kosher here.

An IDW writer not paying attention to what other writers before him established????

UNTHINKABLE!

[Walky]

Skywarp can fly. And isn't a scientist or a slow-moving helicopter. He can basically pick people off from the air as he chooses. That's pretty damn powerful.

[MrBlud]

Isn't Omega Supreme still on Earth too?

[chiasaur11]

Skywarp can fly. And isn't a scientist or a slow-moving helicopter. He can basically pick people off from the air as he chooses. That's pretty damn powerful.

Hey, nothing against Skywarp.

He can teleport AND push people down stairs. That's borderline godlike.

It's Thundercracker being called the most powerful I take issue with.

[Walky]

I'm just saying I didn't blink when Bumblebee said he was the most powerful. It seemed plausible.

[Detour]

I'm just saying I didn't blink when Bumblebee said he was the most powerful. It seemed plausible.

As long as you don't have a smoke cloud and nearby mountains.

[Magnusblitz]

I think it's pretty obvious they just mean he's the most powerful. While Furman set up Megatron and Optimus to be The Most Powerful on each side (hence the "big guns" moments in Infiltration and Escalation), Thundercracker was just a grunt. But McCarthy started the ball rolling with making the Seekers into some elite group, and Costa seems to be continuing that. So we're supposed to be seeing that the Seekers (of which Thundercracker is the only one on Earth) are some of the most powerful warriors out there. Even Prime's just an Autobot (we seem to have stepped into Animated territory where the Decepticons are supposed to be vastly more powerful than the Autobots... and just look at how badly Jetfire was nerfed).

Yeah, it definitely doesn't jive with Furman's run, but that's nothing new.

This post has been edited by Magnusblitz: Sep 16 2010, 01:17 AM

[BB Shockwave]

Skywarp can fly. And isn't a scientist or a slow-moving helicopter. He can basically pick people off from the air as he chooses. That's pretty damn powerful.

As Bumblebee or Megatron demonstrated in Infiltration, that's not much of an advantage. Not even teleporting saved him from being hit.

So yeah, TC is by far NOT the most powerfull TF on Earth. (That'd be Menasor, even though he is in captivity).


Btw, I am probably the only one really iffed by this "let's pair Decepticons with countries the USA doesn't like". Geez, it's Abdul Fakkadi time all over again. Pretty low. What's next, Bludgeon teams up with Al Quaeda? (Also, USA comic writers needs to realize that with their country being totally indebted to China, they should perhaps NOT try to treat them like they did the USSR 20 years ago. Just take a look at DC).

I also find it odd that the Predacons are on Earth, aiding China, when we saw Razorclaw on a far-away planet with no means of leaving - just 2 issues ago. Why would he separate from his team...

So we're supposed to be seeing that the Seekers (of which Thundercracker is the only one on Earth)

I have just read Bumblebee #4 a few days ago (after reading the previous issues, I really had no desire to do so and thus delayed it) - so what exactly happened to Skywarp? Is he dead? Deactivated? Teleported to some other place?
The "my friends will repair me" bit annoyed me really, because TFs are not really THAT immortal, my dear Bumblebee.

This post has been edited by BB Shockwave: Sep 16 2010, 02:23 AM

[Xaaron]

Omega Supreme may be powerful, but they can barely keep him stocked with enough energon to transform occasionally.

In the cartoon Rodimus Prime was powerful, but without the Matrix of Leadership he was just Hot Rod. Who's to say how powerful Optimus Prime really is in IDW continuity now that he no longer has the Matrix?

[Powered Convoy]

Skywarp was able to rip Sideswipe's arm off with his bare hands, like Sixshot did to Jazz. So that's gotta be something. Skywarp, Starscream, and Thundercracker should be equals in the physical strength and speed department. Heck a shot from Skywarp also blew Thundercracker to pieces, so they must be packing some heavy armaments too.

I'm sure being on the high spectrum of physical strength, high firepower, and the ability to fly puts Thundercracker at the top of the list.

Remember in the Bumblebee mini too everyone was worried Bumblebee would get slaughtered if he met up with Skywarp.

Randy