Agreed. Please make your own thread about it in TF discussion to get more helpful answers.
Catch me up.
- Thread starter Stilton Disco
- Start date
They have. Plenty.
In Manga form, thou I think its carrying on from the Victory Manga than the anime, anime ends with the Zone OVA
Hey, so the rebooted IDW continuity started at 2018/19 and ended 2023, right?
What's a summary of what happened in that 5 years / 60 issues (if published monthly) x number of titles? What big arcs they had? Was Unicron involved, again?
Anything get really popular? Like Lost Light characters? Anyone new get the Tarn treatment?
What's a summary of what happened in that 5 years / 60 issues (if published monthly) x number of titles? What big arcs they had? Was Unicron involved, again?
Anything get really popular? Like Lost Light characters? Anyone new get the Tarn treatment?
End of 2022, technically.
A very tongue-in-cheek summary of the IDW reboot-verse by someone who didn't much care for it the first time 'round:
We started off focusing on a brand new character who is newly born into this universe and introduced to it's world alongside us, the audience. I don't remember his name, and let's face it, neither do you, since he's got no personality and we're given no reason to care about him, other than as our viewpoint. We learn than when Transformers are born, they are IMMEDIATELY put into a job-shadowing program to find their place in the world. No childhood for these bots, they have Energon to...not mine, since they're rationing it so they don't use up their planet. This-Guy is mentored by Bumblebee who shows him around Cybertron. He discovers a MURDERED body. This is a big deal because no one has been MURDERED since the last war between factions (NOT the Decepticons, we'll get into that later).
Everyone is very surprised, but not THAT surprised, since we have something much more important to discuss...POLITICS. You remember all the unique factions and world building that James Robert built up in More Than Meets the Eye? Well, forget ALL of that! Here we have the Ascenticons (TOTALLY different than the Decepticons) and...the Autobots (the author couldn't be bothered to come up with TWO new names for the same factions we've always followed). Megatron is a senator now, because Hasbro doesn't think being a miner starting a workers rebellion is relatable to kids these days. You see the Ascenticons think the Transformers should be free to go out and conquer other planets and get all the Energon they like...and the Autobots do not. We don't learn anything else about these two political groups or any of their other beliefs or political stances, despite how much they talk and talk and talk. And there is not a sign of a third party around. It's not a very nuanced political system. There is The Rise...but that's just a secret extremist group that Megatron is secretly funding...so it's just a different faction of Decep...I mean Ascenticons (TOTALLY different).
Whats-his-name ends up meeting with Cyclonus, who is haunted by the "ghosts" of his dead teammates who died in the last war. They all have a name and a quirk, but I challenge anyone to name 3 of them without looking them up on the wiki. Cyclonus ends up swearing to kill the person who killed his friends. It's a very interesting idea that will surely go someplace interesting (It does NOT go anywhere interesting).
I-forget-his-name ALSO meets some aliens. In this universe, Cybertron is actually a trading hub for the galaxy and a bunch of different species of aliens live here. This means there's entire towns and parts of towns that are occupied by alien species that we've never seen before. One species, The Voin, are squids in jars that have alien gorillas as their mind slaves, and that's just neat. Surely, this is a interesting idea that will be further explored in interesting ways down the line! (It does NOT go anywhere interesting).
So Megatron is having Ascenticon poltical rallies, while saying he is NOT supporting The Rise's violent actions. Tensions are getting higher and the word count keeps going up, as the writer keeps TELLING us about all this stuff, but not really doing a great job SHOWING it. So a bunch more Transformers are being MURDERED, but these don't seem to affect people as much as that first MURDER. I guess they got used to it again. It might have even been nostalgic for them, after a while.
And You-Know-THAT-Guy gets killed because he saw a member of The Rise attack a alien. His death haunts his mentor Bumblebee, and he ends up having a crisis of faith....mostly offscreen because we HAVE to give more screen time to people TALKING about the MYSTERY of what's going on behind the scenes. (It is NOT a good mystery).
Orion Pax asks for advice from a Transformer who's buried herself underground. You see, in this universe, when Transformers get REALLY old instead of having the decency to die or get shot into space, they instead merge themselves with the surface of Cybertron itself, called going Immersant. This gives them access to HUGE amounts of information from around the world...and a love for being painfully vague and unhelpful. They all speak in riddles that make no sense until it's far to late, for no better seeming reason than because it gives them the jollies. You can see giant Transformers all littering the surface of the world all over the background of every issue..giving us some nice unique visuals. Meaning this MUST be a really important plot point that will have a HUGE payoff later. (It does NOT pay off later).
Issue #6 is a flashback issue showing us the old friendship between Orion and Megatron. It's actually pretty solid, if only because it's focus on ONE plot instead of splitting time between three or four.
We get to meet Termagax, the philospher who actually came up with the Ascenticon's belief system that Megatron's been twisting for his own ends. She's the Karl Marx to Megatron's Lenin. She's mostly a hermit now, but hasn't gone Immersant yet, for whatever reason. Surely, she'll get involved in the story and help stop Megatron before it's too late. (She does NOT get involved in the story until it is FAR too late).
Cyclonus has a couple of skirmishes with The Rise, who are connected to the murder of his ghost-friends. None of the members of The Rise have personalities or are in any way memorable, so it just comes across as a lot of empty *pew-pews*. Meanwhile, everyone is STILL talking and talking and talking without doing much. Sentinel Prime, the actual leader of Cybertron, finally comes back from space from something that's probably important (It was NEVER going to be important). Megatron FINALLY makes his move and takes out the entire Senate. And formally changes the Ascenticons to the Decepticons...for...reasons.
Attacks rage all throughout Cybertron, the biggest one causing The Fall of the Tether! ....Oh yeah, I haven't talked about the Tether yet, have I? It's a space elevator...yeah, that's it. It's very important to their society for sending resources to Cybertron from the Moon (It never FEELS important though). It falls after two Titan-class Transformers have a fight...which oddly lacks weight since neither has much in the way of personality, so we don't CARE about the fight. The Fall of the Tether kills SO MANY Transformers...but no one we've been following so...um...meh?
Now seems like a good time to talk about one of the spin offs.
The main one was Transformers Galaxies. It was a anthology book having a few different arcs. One about the Constructicons not feeling appreciated after the Cybertronians stopped going out into space and creating space colonies. Another about Cliffjumper getting annoyed about getting mistaken for Bumblebee while fighting Deathsaurus on a alien planet, which was fun. One about Arcee and Greenlight as a couple trying to keep their child-protege Gauge safe, sneaking onboard a fundamentalist religion's (The Reversionists) escape ship to get away from the war on Cybertron only to go RIGHT BACK to Cybertron in a big loop, all of which feels rather pointless. And the final one about Ultra Magnus trying to find Alpha Trion in space, which leads to the Decepticons gaining a army of Insecticons which IS important to the main book, even if it only happens at the last second.
Back in the main book, more skirmishes are happening between characters we don't care about. Tensions rise and my interest keeps falling.
Bumblebee kills the Decepticon who killed his protege, You-Remember-Him-Right. Then Bumblebee ends up joining the Decepticons, but not really doing anything, since we can't let our kid-friendly character ACTUALLY be a bad guy.
Orion Pax gets the Matrix and becomes Optimus Prime, surprising people only insofar that it took them 25 issues to get here. Sentinel Prime's dead too, but no one really cared about him, so he goes unmourned.
Optimus frees Pyra Magna from prison, who in this version is a violent Autobot warrior...who really doesn't seem all that unreasonable, really. This is probably the best version of Pyra Magna, if only because she has a personality.
Cyclonus finally faces off against Sixshot, who he believes is responsible for the deaths of his ghost-friends, 20 some issues later. But, Sixshot reveals that his princess is in another castle...I mean, that Pyra Magna was the one who got his friends killed and he should be off killing HER instead of HIM. So it's all rather anti-climatic and only takes up a third of a issue.
More skirmishes.
One of Cyclonus's ghost-friends actually comes back from outer space in some Titan wreckage, showing that those "ghosts" really ARE just PTSD-illusions. Although, they come back not right.
Even more skirmishes.
One of Cyclonus's ghosts ends up pleading with Cyclonus to NOT kill Pyra when he has a chance to do so. He lets go of his vendetta and mostly moves on...this entire arc took place in the background of the first 30 issues and ends with Cyclonus just giving up...what a tease this arc was.
So many skirmishes you wouldn't even believe it.
Windcharger actually gets to use his magnetic powers from the tech specs. Just the once, though, let's not get too crazy.
Optimus tries to have a cease-fire meeting with Megatron but it falls through and nothing happens...like in 80% of this book.
Everyone is very surprised, but not THAT surprised, since we have something much more important to discuss...POLITICS. You remember all the unique factions and world building that James Robert built up in More Than Meets the Eye? Well, forget ALL of that! Here we have the Ascenticons (TOTALLY different than the Decepticons) and...the Autobots (the author couldn't be bothered to come up with TWO new names for the same factions we've always followed). Megatron is a senator now, because Hasbro doesn't think being a miner starting a workers rebellion is relatable to kids these days. You see the Ascenticons think the Transformers should be free to go out and conquer other planets and get all the Energon they like...and the Autobots do not. We don't learn anything else about these two political groups or any of their other beliefs or political stances, despite how much they talk and talk and talk. And there is not a sign of a third party around. It's not a very nuanced political system. There is The Rise...but that's just a secret extremist group that Megatron is secretly funding...so it's just a different faction of Decep...I mean Ascenticons (TOTALLY different).
Whats-his-name ends up meeting with Cyclonus, who is haunted by the "ghosts" of his dead teammates who died in the last war. They all have a name and a quirk, but I challenge anyone to name 3 of them without looking them up on the wiki. Cyclonus ends up swearing to kill the person who killed his friends. It's a very interesting idea that will surely go someplace interesting (It does NOT go anywhere interesting).
I-forget-his-name ALSO meets some aliens. In this universe, Cybertron is actually a trading hub for the galaxy and a bunch of different species of aliens live here. This means there's entire towns and parts of towns that are occupied by alien species that we've never seen before. One species, The Voin, are squids in jars that have alien gorillas as their mind slaves, and that's just neat. Surely, this is a interesting idea that will be further explored in interesting ways down the line! (It does NOT go anywhere interesting).
So Megatron is having Ascenticon poltical rallies, while saying he is NOT supporting The Rise's violent actions. Tensions are getting higher and the word count keeps going up, as the writer keeps TELLING us about all this stuff, but not really doing a great job SHOWING it. So a bunch more Transformers are being MURDERED, but these don't seem to affect people as much as that first MURDER. I guess they got used to it again. It might have even been nostalgic for them, after a while.
And You-Know-THAT-Guy gets killed because he saw a member of The Rise attack a alien. His death haunts his mentor Bumblebee, and he ends up having a crisis of faith....mostly offscreen because we HAVE to give more screen time to people TALKING about the MYSTERY of what's going on behind the scenes. (It is NOT a good mystery).
Orion Pax asks for advice from a Transformer who's buried herself underground. You see, in this universe, when Transformers get REALLY old instead of having the decency to die or get shot into space, they instead merge themselves with the surface of Cybertron itself, called going Immersant. This gives them access to HUGE amounts of information from around the world...and a love for being painfully vague and unhelpful. They all speak in riddles that make no sense until it's far to late, for no better seeming reason than because it gives them the jollies. You can see giant Transformers all littering the surface of the world all over the background of every issue..giving us some nice unique visuals. Meaning this MUST be a really important plot point that will have a HUGE payoff later. (It does NOT pay off later).
Issue #6 is a flashback issue showing us the old friendship between Orion and Megatron. It's actually pretty solid, if only because it's focus on ONE plot instead of splitting time between three or four.
We get to meet Termagax, the philospher who actually came up with the Ascenticon's belief system that Megatron's been twisting for his own ends. She's the Karl Marx to Megatron's Lenin. She's mostly a hermit now, but hasn't gone Immersant yet, for whatever reason. Surely, she'll get involved in the story and help stop Megatron before it's too late. (She does NOT get involved in the story until it is FAR too late).
Cyclonus has a couple of skirmishes with The Rise, who are connected to the murder of his ghost-friends. None of the members of The Rise have personalities or are in any way memorable, so it just comes across as a lot of empty *pew-pews*. Meanwhile, everyone is STILL talking and talking and talking without doing much. Sentinel Prime, the actual leader of Cybertron, finally comes back from space from something that's probably important (It was NEVER going to be important). Megatron FINALLY makes his move and takes out the entire Senate. And formally changes the Ascenticons to the Decepticons...for...reasons.
Attacks rage all throughout Cybertron, the biggest one causing The Fall of the Tether! ....Oh yeah, I haven't talked about the Tether yet, have I? It's a space elevator...yeah, that's it. It's very important to their society for sending resources to Cybertron from the Moon (It never FEELS important though). It falls after two Titan-class Transformers have a fight...which oddly lacks weight since neither has much in the way of personality, so we don't CARE about the fight. The Fall of the Tether kills SO MANY Transformers...but no one we've been following so...um...meh?
Now seems like a good time to talk about one of the spin offs.
The main one was Transformers Galaxies. It was a anthology book having a few different arcs. One about the Constructicons not feeling appreciated after the Cybertronians stopped going out into space and creating space colonies. Another about Cliffjumper getting annoyed about getting mistaken for Bumblebee while fighting Deathsaurus on a alien planet, which was fun. One about Arcee and Greenlight as a couple trying to keep their child-protege Gauge safe, sneaking onboard a fundamentalist religion's (The Reversionists) escape ship to get away from the war on Cybertron only to go RIGHT BACK to Cybertron in a big loop, all of which feels rather pointless. And the final one about Ultra Magnus trying to find Alpha Trion in space, which leads to the Decepticons gaining a army of Insecticons which IS important to the main book, even if it only happens at the last second.
Back in the main book, more skirmishes are happening between characters we don't care about. Tensions rise and my interest keeps falling.
Bumblebee kills the Decepticon who killed his protege, You-Remember-Him-Right. Then Bumblebee ends up joining the Decepticons, but not really doing anything, since we can't let our kid-friendly character ACTUALLY be a bad guy.
Orion Pax gets the Matrix and becomes Optimus Prime, surprising people only insofar that it took them 25 issues to get here. Sentinel Prime's dead too, but no one really cared about him, so he goes unmourned.
Optimus frees Pyra Magna from prison, who in this version is a violent Autobot warrior...who really doesn't seem all that unreasonable, really. This is probably the best version of Pyra Magna, if only because she has a personality.
Cyclonus finally faces off against Sixshot, who he believes is responsible for the deaths of his ghost-friends, 20 some issues later. But, Sixshot reveals that his princess is in another castle...I mean, that Pyra Magna was the one who got his friends killed and he should be off killing HER instead of HIM. So it's all rather anti-climatic and only takes up a third of a issue.
More skirmishes.
One of Cyclonus's ghost-friends actually comes back from outer space in some Titan wreckage, showing that those "ghosts" really ARE just PTSD-illusions. Although, they come back not right.
Even more skirmishes.
One of Cyclonus's ghosts ends up pleading with Cyclonus to NOT kill Pyra when he has a chance to do so. He lets go of his vendetta and mostly moves on...this entire arc took place in the background of the first 30 issues and ends with Cyclonus just giving up...what a tease this arc was.
So many skirmishes you wouldn't even believe it.
Windcharger actually gets to use his magnetic powers from the tech specs. Just the once, though, let's not get too crazy.
Optimus tries to have a cease-fire meeting with Megatron but it falls through and nothing happens...like in 80% of this book.
This pointless summary will return after these messages....
(My post was too long...again...)
Last edited:
Now, we return to more bad jokes!
Some standout characters and issue recommendations:
TLDR? It's the most boring pre-war book we've ever had for Transformers. In my opinion, it takes too long to get anything done.
There's a LOT of good ideas. But, they either go no where or take too long to get there. I'd like to see someone else tackle a LOT of these same ideas. They were kind of wasted here.
On the other hand, there's the Last Bot Standing miniseries, which *I* think makes a pretty good epilogue to the Roberts/Barber era of Transformers. I definitely recommend that mini as probably the best thing IDW put out in the last few years of their license. It sees a Old Man Rodimus try to save a Western-themed town from a group of Transformers who are desperately feeding on organics to live. It's good stuff in my eyes.
We also got quite a few crossovers, which were various levels of fun. Terminator, Back to the Future, Ghostbusters, Star Trek, and two for My Little Pony. Some throwbacks to the Marvel Comics, in the 84 miniseries. King Grimlock, which was a darker take on ONE episode from Sunbow G1. Two Shattered Glass miniseries which...felt oddly pointless, in my opinion. And we got a Beast Wars comic which tried to re-tell the original story in a new way, but ended before it really found it's footing.
And now's our opening to talk about most of the OTHER spin offs.
Over in the Escape mini-series, Wheeljack tries to re-connect the Moon with Cybertron after The Fall of the Tether and get some aliens to safety off-planet. Dai Atlas comes out of being Immersant to help fight the hordes of cloned Insecticons that are on a rampage. And Straxxus is building Arks to help get citizens off of Cybertron, because this tyrant is actually a surprisingly nice guy. Surprisingly important to the main book.
In the 2021 Annual, all the Titans except for one end up dying and falling onto Cybertron. And Computron is created.
In a Halloween Special, a Ancient Immersant Transformer takes over Starscreams body for a bit, in a rather well-done spooky tale.
In the Valentines Special, Cosmos has a secret relationship with the Decepticon Blast Off. It's kind of sweet, if just in the background of the rest of the story. But, it's a backup story to the MAIN story in the issue which...just isn't as memorable as the Cosmos/Blast Off one, I'm sorry.
In the Wreckers miniseries, the Wreckers are a group of black ops agents...who pretend to be reality TV stars ala Punked or something. They enter a race on Velocitron as a cover to find some secret Decepticon agents on the planet. It's a fun miniseries, but totally unimportant to the larger narrative...such that it is.
In the main book, we've had a bit of a time skip. The war's been going on for a bit now. And I'll admit, after issue 30, the book improves in my eyes.
Jumpstream (one of Pyra Magna's team who can teleport) ends up getting experimented on and ends up jumping to the future. There she finds out Exarchon has returned and taken over. We haven't talked about him, but he's been alluded to since the early days of the comic as "The Threefold Spark" and he's THE MOST interesting idea the comic has. He's a Transformer that can be in three bodies at once, taking over and over-writing characters personalities when he takes over. He's "Til All Are One" taken to the darkest possible meaning....and I LOVE it, even if they don't go far enough with it.
Turns out Exarchon was in Cyclonus's friend this entire time, and when they came back from space in some Titan wreckage they brought DOOM with them. So, now Exarchon is spreading to different bodies, almost in the background of the story...*SIGH* it doesn't pay off as much as I wish it did.
Due to Jumpstream mucking around with time, Skywarp is freed from a dimension outside of time. He's pretty fun in this version, being kind of a upbeat trickster sort of character. Almost the Transfomers equivalent to Loki in the Marvel Comics. He messes with people but he doesn't get to do much before the Insection swarms attack Cybertron. Yes...the last boss of this saga really is just a bunch of bugs.
The Insecticons attack Termagax (remember her?), since she has the Enigma of Combination, and the Autobots try to defend her. Termagax actually fends for herself fairly well, since her House is actually a giant mobile fortress...with skinny little legs like Baba Yaga's chicken leg house for some reason.
Bumblebee leaves the Decepticons and re-joins the Autobots. His arc has been strange and oddly inconsequential, really.
There's a whole subplot with the Decepticons getting ahold of a Titan Spark and possibly creating their own Titan...but it's just used as bait to lure out Exarchon and it gets blown up.
Right around now is when the World's End miniseries takes place. It sees Exarchon take over Deathsaurus's body...Deathsaurus was trapped in a video game getting his revenge on Cliffjumper over and over again for the events of the Galaxies arc. Exarchon then tries to reach the core of Cybertron itself so he can take over Primus...which doesn't happen. He just gets blown up and supposedly dies. Kind of a lame end to a really cool idea for a villain.
Back in the main book, the Autobots and Decepticons are having more big fights. The last living Titan comes back to help the Autobots, but...*SIGH* there's just SO MANY Insecticons. And too many rust worms, which escaped their natural habitat due to the Titan's falling to their death and explosions. Just way too many bugs. They can't handle all these bugs. So he calls a cease fire with Megatron...so they can go play exterminator together. They reprogram all the Insecticons to eat the Rust Worms and they kill each other, but Termagax dies in the fight.
Which brings us to the last one shot and the finale of this entire universe, Fate of Cybertron. Megatron ends the ceasefire and attacks the Autobots one last time. Cue a big ol' fight. Cyclonus puts most of his old ghosts behind him. Jumpstream traps Skywarp back in the dimension she found him. We get a giant fight against giant Transformers, like Computron and Devastator and Titans. The Autobots use the fight as a distraction to escape via a Ark from Straxxus. And everyone promises to fight another day. The End. Finally. Jeez, that took too long.
Over in the Escape mini-series, Wheeljack tries to re-connect the Moon with Cybertron after The Fall of the Tether and get some aliens to safety off-planet. Dai Atlas comes out of being Immersant to help fight the hordes of cloned Insecticons that are on a rampage. And Straxxus is building Arks to help get citizens off of Cybertron, because this tyrant is actually a surprisingly nice guy. Surprisingly important to the main book.
In the 2021 Annual, all the Titans except for one end up dying and falling onto Cybertron. And Computron is created.
In a Halloween Special, a Ancient Immersant Transformer takes over Starscreams body for a bit, in a rather well-done spooky tale.
In the Valentines Special, Cosmos has a secret relationship with the Decepticon Blast Off. It's kind of sweet, if just in the background of the rest of the story. But, it's a backup story to the MAIN story in the issue which...just isn't as memorable as the Cosmos/Blast Off one, I'm sorry.
In the Wreckers miniseries, the Wreckers are a group of black ops agents...who pretend to be reality TV stars ala Punked or something. They enter a race on Velocitron as a cover to find some secret Decepticon agents on the planet. It's a fun miniseries, but totally unimportant to the larger narrative...such that it is.
In the main book, we've had a bit of a time skip. The war's been going on for a bit now. And I'll admit, after issue 30, the book improves in my eyes.
Jumpstream (one of Pyra Magna's team who can teleport) ends up getting experimented on and ends up jumping to the future. There she finds out Exarchon has returned and taken over. We haven't talked about him, but he's been alluded to since the early days of the comic as "The Threefold Spark" and he's THE MOST interesting idea the comic has. He's a Transformer that can be in three bodies at once, taking over and over-writing characters personalities when he takes over. He's "Til All Are One" taken to the darkest possible meaning....and I LOVE it, even if they don't go far enough with it.
Turns out Exarchon was in Cyclonus's friend this entire time, and when they came back from space in some Titan wreckage they brought DOOM with them. So, now Exarchon is spreading to different bodies, almost in the background of the story...*SIGH* it doesn't pay off as much as I wish it did.
Due to Jumpstream mucking around with time, Skywarp is freed from a dimension outside of time. He's pretty fun in this version, being kind of a upbeat trickster sort of character. Almost the Transfomers equivalent to Loki in the Marvel Comics. He messes with people but he doesn't get to do much before the Insection swarms attack Cybertron. Yes...the last boss of this saga really is just a bunch of bugs.
The Insecticons attack Termagax (remember her?), since she has the Enigma of Combination, and the Autobots try to defend her. Termagax actually fends for herself fairly well, since her House is actually a giant mobile fortress...with skinny little legs like Baba Yaga's chicken leg house for some reason.
Bumblebee leaves the Decepticons and re-joins the Autobots. His arc has been strange and oddly inconsequential, really.
There's a whole subplot with the Decepticons getting ahold of a Titan Spark and possibly creating their own Titan...but it's just used as bait to lure out Exarchon and it gets blown up.
Right around now is when the World's End miniseries takes place. It sees Exarchon take over Deathsaurus's body...Deathsaurus was trapped in a video game getting his revenge on Cliffjumper over and over again for the events of the Galaxies arc. Exarchon then tries to reach the core of Cybertron itself so he can take over Primus...which doesn't happen. He just gets blown up and supposedly dies. Kind of a lame end to a really cool idea for a villain.
Back in the main book, the Autobots and Decepticons are having more big fights. The last living Titan comes back to help the Autobots, but...*SIGH* there's just SO MANY Insecticons. And too many rust worms, which escaped their natural habitat due to the Titan's falling to their death and explosions. Just way too many bugs. They can't handle all these bugs. So he calls a cease fire with Megatron...so they can go play exterminator together. They reprogram all the Insecticons to eat the Rust Worms and they kill each other, but Termagax dies in the fight.
Which brings us to the last one shot and the finale of this entire universe, Fate of Cybertron. Megatron ends the ceasefire and attacks the Autobots one last time. Cue a big ol' fight. Cyclonus puts most of his old ghosts behind him. Jumpstream traps Skywarp back in the dimension she found him. We get a giant fight against giant Transformers, like Computron and Devastator and Titans. The Autobots use the fight as a distraction to escape via a Ark from Straxxus. And everyone promises to fight another day. The End. Finally. Jeez, that took too long.
Some standout characters and issue recommendations:
So, as far as characters go...I'd say Exarchon is definitely my favorite CONCEPT, but there isn't much to him as a character. He's basically a one-man walking zombie virus, which is cool, but not much of a character.
Cyclonus got a pretty decent arc, even if it took too long and ended kind of with a big fat nothing. Still, he had the most interesting stuff going on out of the cast.
Termagax is the one addition to the cast that MIGHT carry over to something else. She has a interesting position, since she came up with the Decepticon ideals that eventually got twisted.
Again, Pyra Magna's a more memorable character here than in the Roberts/Barber era, if only because she's doing her own thing and not subservient to Windblade.
This version of Skywarp was fun. He didn't get to do much, but he was fun.
I didn't really mention them, but both Nautica and Lightbright got pretty nice character moments throughout the series. They just didn't amount to much in the grand scheme of the plot.
As far as recommendations go:
Cyclonus's story arc is the best one, in my opinion. But, it's so spread out, ugh. Check out parts of issues 3, 4, 7, 8, 10, 17, 26, 28, and 30.
Issue #25 is a good one. That's one where Orion gets the Matrix, finally. #6 is a highlight, too, the flashback to Orion and Megatron's friendship.
Jumpstream going into the future is memorable, but it only happens in 31-32. And it really just sets up the rest of the book.
The Wreckers mini is fun. And I really like the Halloween Special.
Everything else is "important"...but not necessarily all that "great"
Cyclonus got a pretty decent arc, even if it took too long and ended kind of with a big fat nothing. Still, he had the most interesting stuff going on out of the cast.
Termagax is the one addition to the cast that MIGHT carry over to something else. She has a interesting position, since she came up with the Decepticon ideals that eventually got twisted.
Again, Pyra Magna's a more memorable character here than in the Roberts/Barber era, if only because she's doing her own thing and not subservient to Windblade.
This version of Skywarp was fun. He didn't get to do much, but he was fun.
I didn't really mention them, but both Nautica and Lightbright got pretty nice character moments throughout the series. They just didn't amount to much in the grand scheme of the plot.
As far as recommendations go:
Cyclonus's story arc is the best one, in my opinion. But, it's so spread out, ugh. Check out parts of issues 3, 4, 7, 8, 10, 17, 26, 28, and 30.
Issue #25 is a good one. That's one where Orion gets the Matrix, finally. #6 is a highlight, too, the flashback to Orion and Megatron's friendship.
Jumpstream going into the future is memorable, but it only happens in 31-32. And it really just sets up the rest of the book.
The Wreckers mini is fun. And I really like the Halloween Special.
Everything else is "important"...but not necessarily all that "great"
TLDR? It's the most boring pre-war book we've ever had for Transformers. In my opinion, it takes too long to get anything done.
There's a LOT of good ideas. But, they either go no where or take too long to get there. I'd like to see someone else tackle a LOT of these same ideas. They were kind of wasted here.
On the other hand, there's the Last Bot Standing miniseries, which *I* think makes a pretty good epilogue to the Roberts/Barber era of Transformers. I definitely recommend that mini as probably the best thing IDW put out in the last few years of their license. It sees a Old Man Rodimus try to save a Western-themed town from a group of Transformers who are desperately feeding on organics to live. It's good stuff in my eyes.
We also got quite a few crossovers, which were various levels of fun. Terminator, Back to the Future, Ghostbusters, Star Trek, and two for My Little Pony. Some throwbacks to the Marvel Comics, in the 84 miniseries. King Grimlock, which was a darker take on ONE episode from Sunbow G1. Two Shattered Glass miniseries which...felt oddly pointless, in my opinion. And we got a Beast Wars comic which tried to re-tell the original story in a new way, but ended before it really found it's footing.
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2000 cycles ago, The War of the Threefold Spark redefined Cybertronian society. Exarchon, a scientist and explorer, returned from the void of space as a mad tyrant intent on conquering Cybertron. He somehow developed the power to occupy three bodies at once with his parasitic spark, hopping from host to host. By the time he was defeated, the planet was a wreck and Cybertron's First Senator, Nominus Prime, initiated the Nominus Edict -- No space exploration, No further colonies, No integrated weapons, Extreme energon rationing, Extreme reduction of new-forged births, etc. It was a society retreating inwards in order to heal.
Now, civil unrest has begun to take Cybertron. The minority Ascenticon party champions rolling back the Nominus Edict and its provisions, trying again to reach for the stars and consider further Expansion. Sentinel Prime, heir to Nominus and his Edict, is militantly opposed to the idea. The founder of the Ascenticon party, Termagax, gets fed up and going into seclusion. Her successor is Senator Megatron. Sentinel Prime goes on a tour of the remaining Cybertronian colonies, leaving acting First Senator Orion Pax in charge of Cybertron. Megatron's plot involves financing a terrorist organization known as the Rise, allegedly a group of extremists and agitators promoting Ascenticon beliefs outside of the law. Megatron hopes to re-define the political spectrum and paint the official Ascenticons as a reasonable middle ground between the Autobot party and the Rise.
In issue #1, a member of the Rise kills the scientist Brainstorm while hijacking energon supplies, the first unnatural death on Cybertron in 2000 cycles. This accident benefits Megatron in some ways -- the murder and a (staged) attack on his person by the Rise allows him to justify founding a militia called the Ascenticon Guard for his protection. However, the investigation into the murder involves Bumblebee, the Mentor for the newest forged Cybertronian named Rubble, who were first on the scene. The cover-up leads to the murder of Rubble as well. Megatron is forced to double down and escalate his activities. The Rise had been founded and operated by Shockwave, chief collaborator to Exarchon who had been exiled after the war. Megatron actively insinuated himself into the Rise, beating down Shockwave and claiming full control. By issue #23, the Ascenticon Guard and the Rise joined forces to become the Decepticons and staged a coup on the Senate. In issue #25, Sentinel Prime was killed trying to escape captivity, and the Matrix passed to Orion Pax, forging Optimus Prime.
The rest of the war, from issue #26-43, has the Autobots fleeing Iacon and regrouping in Crystal City. All Cybertronians effectively rebrand as either Autobot or Decepticon. The series culminates with the return of Exarchon (who is dealt with in the tie-in title Transformers: War's End), and the Autobots fleeing to the Ark launch at Darkmount. The conclusion from Transformers: Fate of Cybertron has the Autobots leave Cybertron in Megatron's clutches and flee to the Winged Moon, previously dislodged and adrift from Cybertron but brimming with energon.
Well, THAT was a hoot and a half, haha! Was the series as quirky as your summary?
So Rubble is what's his name? Isn't that... the name of a Rocklord?
Cyclonus became a central character again, what gives? Give the spotlight to someone else.
Exarchon 'til all are one' sounds like a great corrupted concept. He could have gotten a cooler, more marketable name though. (Perhaps Plague?). Does he transform? I'm sure Tarn got a toy cuz he could transform into a tank.
The Insecticons didn't get a new character? If they were such a threat, they should have gotten a new bug to join them.
No Dinobots? Shame. No Soundwave either?
Good that the Constructicons and combiners got something. Pyra Magna still calls her team the Torchbearers?
Anyhow, very cool, fun summary! Also the tldr and recommendations.
Pyra Magna's group were known as the Companions. Some of them assumed her colors in protest to her imprisonment after the war. Only Jumpstream and Rust Dust of the Torchbearers appear. Other Companions include Sunstreaker, Windcharger, and the obscure Pretender Groundbreaker (the only one who adopted Torchbearer colors of the three).
Soundwave was another Ascenticon senator, Megatron's right hand, and the founding figure behind the Ascenticon Guard. He was previously the head of Cybertron Intelligence, but his subordinate Starscream blackmailed Sentinel Prime into removing Soundwave and giving him the job instead. As a result, Starscream and Soundwave's feud was deeply personal even before the war broke out. They eventually fell into the roles of Megatron chief advisors again, but VERY reluctantly.
Like Straxus, Exarchon's briefly seen original robot mode was based on an old Microman figure/set.
Soundwave was another Ascenticon senator, Megatron's right hand, and the founding figure behind the Ascenticon Guard. He was previously the head of Cybertron Intelligence, but his subordinate Starscream blackmailed Sentinel Prime into removing Soundwave and giving him the job instead. As a result, Starscream and Soundwave's feud was deeply personal even before the war broke out. They eventually fell into the roles of Megatron chief advisors again, but VERY reluctantly.
Like Straxus, Exarchon's briefly seen original robot mode was based on an old Microman figure/set.
It wasn't until the very near end that I realized Exarchon's plan was basically Megatron's final plan in Beast Machines, and he was a cool guy until he went into space and "something"* changed him.
*That something was apparently Quintessons.
*That something was apparently Quintessons.
I'm glad you enjoyed it!
And, unfortunately no. The book actually takes itself pretty seriously...which just makes me want to poke fun at it a little.
Like others have said, Soundwave does show up.
...And I guess the Dinobots don't ever show up. Weird. I didn't really notice that before. I guess because this is all on Cybertron, they wouldn't have their dinosaur forms yet. But still, it's strange to leave them out.
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And that's when you know it's something not written by Furman.
