Transformers #23 preview/review! Options

[BB Shockwave]

Awesome issue. Easily as good as #22. Will be hard to get back to Costa after this...

Some highlights:

- Prime's trophies. Check what's written on them, looks like he excelled in all his fields. Quite like a certain young cadet in Animated...
- 'Stuffed Nebulan'... yuck, gross. And kinda makes you wonder, just HOW advanced the TFs have been, for how long - they were capable of space travel when Nebulans were still a primitive species, and Nebulos is quite an advanced world in Spotlight Ultra Magnus.
- Man, Megs was not kidding when he said the senate was corrupt. I mean, what they did here... pure evil.
- 'I hate faceplates'... classic.
- Triple M? Pre-actionmasters as a terrorist organization?
- 'Matrix Flame' revisited! Blaster as a newscaster... I wonder who the other guy is on the line.
- Primus and other gods? Now that is interesting stuff...
- It says a LOT about Optimus/Orion that after all this, Whirl ended up being on HIS team, and in his elite commandos, no less. Granted, it didn't seem like he wanted this massacre to happen, but it all happened because of him...
- So, Orion Pax was the first to use an Action Master vehicle? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon-fire.gif)
- Liked how James re-visited the friendship between Prime and Ratchet, haven't seen that much since Marvel G1 (and well, Animated, but different characters there).
- 'Freedom is the right of all civilized beings.' I am reminded of Animal Farm there... "...but some animals are more equal".
- Xaaron Legal Agency? Now I want a mini-series starring the bots on his office.
- Awesome origin for the word Autobots.
- The ending was perfect, totally in character for Optimus, and an incredible resolution and testament to the "freedom is the right of all sentient beings" motto. And Megatron's choice did not surprise me. See Bayformer Prime? You have a thing or two to learn, here.
- And the 'Creation' Matrix. I am kinda thinking that Cybertron is a stagnant society at this point, no new TFs are created, and the elite would like the masses to think that way.

The only thing I did not like... well, Milne. Not his art - it's perfect, he really worked well. But his designs. When he draws characters others have designed (Orion, Impactor, Whirl, Megatron) it's fine. But his generics... are simple, not "transformery" enough for me. They often don't look like they could transform at all, just look at the senators or some of the thugs Sentinel sent. I have the same problem keeping track of who is who as in the Drift series, except here thankfully, they use more colors then just red-white-black.
The only part of the story I did not like was Prime's allusion (though I am maybe just reading into it) of natural TF death. I'm iffy on the subject. In pretty much all previous TF media (save the stuff with the Ancient Autobot Overlord in Marvel UK annuals) TFs are said to be practically immortal when it comes to natural causes of death, and I prefer my TFs that way.

I am wondering who the senator who bailed Orion is. His design reminds me of Cybertron Evac, actually.

I do wonder if we're ever going to get a postscript with Optimus and Whirl.

It doesn't seem like they'd really get along.

To be fair to Whirl, all he did was rough up a prisoner (considering he ended up working for Impactor, the guy who trashed his buddies, and considering what Impactor later did to his prisoners (while Whirl stood by), well... you see the trend). He even tells Prime that he never intended for this to happen, and actually warns Prime not to touch him for Prime's sake. (I guess it doesn't help that we cannot tell whether he has a change of heart or feel sorry, considering Whirl cannot have any facial expressions... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon-hotrod.gif) )

This post has been edited by BB Shockwave: Aug 15 2011, 10:52 AM

[Fishbug]

Every Optimus toy with shortened stacks suddenly became 500 times more awesome.

Edit: Is it just me, or is the little feller reporting to Sentinel colored like Ironfist?

This post has been edited by Fishbug: Aug 15 2011, 04:05 PM

[Somebody]

One thing I'm not sure about from this issue - we just got it rammed into us that Hot Rod Is The Chosen One (although Roberts is at least not crass enough to use those exact words), since he gets a euphoric sense from bonding with the Matrix, while Op was in agony when the Matrix was put in his retrofitted chamber. HR's devolved too much since Furman to really like the idea (and even then, while he was fairly high-ranking, he wasn't exactly Big Boss material).

[Sprocket]

I wonder if these similarities were Roberts' decision, or something Hasbro thought was important, keeping their early war origins mostly the same from story to story. Consolidation.

Maaaaaan, I hope not. Uniformity is boring. To my eyes, the fact that the TF multiverse has long had the capacity for wildly different continuities is a feature, not a bug.

I'm so with you on that.

I'm not willing to believe Hasbro's that controlling yet though: I'm chalking it up to a coincidence for now.

[Bass X0]

I wonder if these similarities were Roberts' decision, or something Hasbro thought was important, keeping their early war origins mostly the same from story to story. Consolidation.

Maaaaaan, I hope not. Uniformity is boring. To my eyes, the fact that the TF multiverse has long had the capacity for wildly different continuities is a feature, not a bug. But your analysis is disturbingly plausible, and it fits with Hasbro's stated new attitude.

I disagree. Its history.

Rewriting the Transformers history just to be different than how we know it would be like rewriting our own history just to be different than how we know it.



You want a different history to Transformers then there's Animated, Prime and the movieverse where a completely alternate history is welcomed and desired.

[Database]

I wonder if these similarities were Roberts' decision, or something Hasbro thought was important, keeping their early war origins mostly the same from story to story. Consolidation.

Maaaaaan, I hope not. Uniformity is boring. To my eyes, the fact that the TF multiverse has long had the capacity for wildly different continuities is a feature, not a bug. But your analysis is disturbingly plausible, and it fits with Hasbro's stated new attitude.

I disagree. Its history.

Rewriting the Transformers history just to be different than how we know it would be like rewriting our own history just to be different than how we know it.



You want a different history to Transformers then there's Animated, Prime and the movieverse where a completely alternate history is welcomed and desired.

I think I agree with this to some extent. But there is a the fact that Exodus/WFC is 'Prime' backstory, so adapting that heavily to G1 technically makes it so that we've got the same origins for two different universes.

[Jackpot]

Rewriting the Transformers history just to be different than how we know it would be like rewriting our own history just to be different than how we know it.

You want a different history to Transformers then there's Animated, Prime and the movieverse where a completely alternate history is welcomed and desired.

I think I agree with this to some extent. But there is a the fact that Exodus/WFC is 'Prime' backstory, so adapting that heavily to G1 technically makes it so that we've got the same origins for two different universes.

Exactly. If Roberts had written the Optimus flashbacks in a way that was less Aligned-y, he wouldn't have been "rewriting" anything. IDW-G1's history had a blank area, and he filled it. Now, if he happened to like the WfC take and decided to port it over to this universe, that's cool. But if this was Hasbro extending the dictates of the Binder of Revelation outside the WfC/Prime continuity, then that's not so cool with me. That would be... pre-rewriting things, if you follow. I say IDW-G1's history should be developed on its own terms, and any similarities to other universes should be purely at the whim of the authors.

But, as I said before, I fear my attitude isn't in line with Hasbro's. When Archer said he foresaw "most Hasbro Transformers projects connected to this modern continuity in the coming decade," he might not have meant just WfC, Prime, and related series to come. He might've meant that any time anyone working on any TF project wants to flesh out a backstory, the BoR will be the default reference. Hopefully this isn't the case - I don't think the TFCC comic has shown signs of Aligned-ification, for instance - but time will tell.

[Warewullf]

Something I've been thinking about, and not sure if this is an established IDW-verse idea, but are they hinting that transforming is somehow unnatural? An add-on or modification to the Cybertronian species?

The reason I ask is the mention of the no-alt-mode faction at the start of the issue, and Rodimus saying that only once in a million transformations does it go perfectly smoothly. Doesn't it seem odd that something that's meant to be part of their basic biology (wrong word, I know) would be... uncomfortable?

I know, some aspects of the human body that are natural are also uncomfortable at times, but I just found that both of these moments in this issue jumped out at me...

Also, Matrix Flame! *Squeeeee!*

This post has been edited by Warewullf: Aug 17 2011, 05:25 PM

[Fishbug]

Maybe the Monoform Movement is their version of vegans.

[The Magic Man]

One thing I'm not sure about from this issue - we just got it rammed into us that Hot Rod Is The Chosen One (although Roberts is at least not crass enough to use those exact words), since he gets a euphoric sense from bonding with the Matrix, while Op was in agony when the Matrix was put in his retrofitted chamber. HR's devolved too much since Furman to really like the idea (and even then, while he was fairly high-ranking, he wasn't exactly Big Boss material).

I found it weird, because in the IDW books, Hot Rod wasn't conscious, or even alive when he was bonded with the Matrix, and when he woke up with it in his chest, he didn't act at all like it was described here.

[ultramagnus1]

Love the preview

This is what TF comics should be. They set a very high standard with these issues. Top stuff. Love how Optimus is portrayed

[Scraplet Bait]

Love the preview

This is what TF comics should be. They set a very high standard with these issues. Top stuff. Love how Optimus is portrayed

This was the issue that finally made Optimus Prime interesting to me again. After AHM I lost all my love for the character. But now that James Roberts has written him as the type of hero we need in the 21st century, someone who will stand up to corruption and say NO to illegal orders, I am more interested in Ops than Megatron for the first time ever!

[Walky]

Something I've been thinking about, and not sure if this is an established IDW-verse idea, but are they hinting that transforming is somehow unnatural? An add-on or modification to the Cybertronian species?

The reason I ask is the mention of the no-alt-mode faction at the start of the issue, and Rodimus saying that only once in a million transformations does it go perfectly smoothly. Doesn't it seem odd that something that's meant to be part of their basic biology (wrong word, I know) would be... uncomfortable?

I know, some aspects of the human body that are natural are also uncomfortable at times, but I just found that both of these moments in this issue jumped out at me...

Yeah, lots of human biology can work improperly or works painfully by default.

Alternately, lots of humans dislike things which are default behavior in humans, like eating meat as well as vegetables.

Or, y'know, sex.

This post has been edited by Code of Walky: Aug 18 2011, 06:26 PM

[Scraplet Bait]

I wonder if these similarities were Roberts' decision, or something Hasbro thought was important, keeping their early war origins mostly the same from story to story. Consolidation.

Maaaaaan, I hope not. Uniformity is boring. To my eyes, the fact that the TF multiverse has long had the capacity for wildly different continuities is a feature, not a bug.

I'm so with you on that.

I'm not willing to believe Hasbro's that controlling yet though: I'm chalking it up to a coincidence for now.

The issue definitely mirrors the WFC comic and the exodus story. Just look at the panel of the senators while Prime is giving his speech...

There's someone who resembles Jazz and one of the generics there is actually one of the council members in the WFC comic!!

[ultramagnus1]

I wonder if these similarities were Roberts' decision, or something Hasbro thought was important, keeping their early war origins mostly the same from story to story. Consolidation.

Maaaaaan, I hope not. Uniformity is boring. To my eyes, the fact that the TF multiverse has long had the capacity for wildly different continuities is a feature, not a bug.

I'm so with you on that.

I'm not willing to believe Hasbro's that controlling yet though: I'm chalking it up to a coincidence for now.

The issue definitely mirrors the WFC comic and the exodus story. Just look at the panel of the senators while Prime is giving his speech...

There's someone who resembles Jazz and one of the generics there is actually one of the council members in the WFC comic!!

I have this feeling that TF were originally organic or transhumanists who over time evolved into transformers. I also think Cybertron was originally an organic world with an organic heart.

[Jackpot]

I have this feeling that TF were originally organic or transhumanists who over time evolved into transformers. I also think Cybertron was originally an organic world with an organic heart.

Furman did seem to be hinting at that with Gorlam Prime. I always liked that aspect of the GoBots mythology, and I'd love to see it explored in a TF continuity. One more reason why I hope Hasbro isn't homogenizing everything now.

[Bass X0]

I wouldn't like to see that with Transformers. I don't want Transformers to have originally been organic in any continuity. Its just not Transformers.

The hints with Gorlam Prime don't prove anything with Cybertron's origins although its fine for Gorlam Prime.

[Detour]

I have this feeling that TF were originally organic or transhumanists who over time evolved into transformers. I also think Cybertron was originally an organic world with an organic heart.

Furman did seem to be hinting at that with Gorlam Prime. I always liked that aspect of the GoBots mythology, and I'd love to see it explored in a TF continuity. One more reason why I hope Hasbro isn't homogenizing everything now.

Gorlam Prime, however, was one of Jhiaxus's experiments.

[Jackpot]

The hints with Gorlam Prime don't prove anything with Cybertron's origins although its fine for Gorlam Prime.

Gorlam Prime, however, was one of Jhiaxus's experiments.

.....Jesus, how constrictedly literal can you people be? It's Chekov's gun. By introducing the idea of an organic world and its population evolving into a new Cybertron (it even gets CALLED that, for crying out loud), a similar revelation about the first Cybertron becomes a legitimate possibility. That's why I called it a "hint." By no means did Furman necessarily intend to go there, but it would've been - and still could be - a perfectly logical outcome.

I fear that in the post-Aligned world, these unique possibilities will become fewer and fewer. I say the smaller the scope of things considered "just not Transformers," the better. I figured we all would've learned that lesson after we overcame the shock of "Maximals" and "Predacons."

[Magnusblitz]

Finished it a bit ago, this was amazing. This is what Transformers fiction can be, and sadly isn't.

Exactly! Transformers has always had so much potential, and just as it seems to get the treatment it needs to become what it can be, the license is lost or another writer comes in and smashes it back into Sunbow land.

Yup. Recently I've been feeling burnt out on Transformers, wondering if it was perpetually doomed to be subpar, but the last two issues have really made me happy to be a fan again. At the heart, it reminds me why I continued to be a Transformers fan past childhood - there are a lot of great characters, and that creates the opportunity for good storytelling. Roberts does a great job of filling the issue chock full of little things that make you think, without them seeming like belabored easter eggs.