Transformers: Robots in Disguise #33

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zigzagger
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Transformers: Robots in Disguise #33

Post by zigzagger »

Transformers: Robots In Disguise #33 three-page preview by way of iTunes.
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Unicron
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Post by Unicron »

Really broke that art budget on that first page...

Hooray, Wheeljack's back. Hope they do something interesting with him
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Knightdramon
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Post by Knightdramon »

I like how the focus [even temporarily] shifts from the RID cast to what we came to know as the Windblade cast.

And with that, how many B tier and above characters have died and stayed dead? :lol:
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Terome
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Post by Terome »

I think the only Transformers who have convincingly died in IDW are Dreadwind and Pipes.

Maybe Flywheels. We'll see.
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inflatable dalek
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Post by inflatable dalek »

READ NOW AND SPOILERS AHOY!






Oh good, characters going on about combiners and how they're the future (despite all evidence to the contrary), IDW comics really needed more of that.

Still, this was actually a really nice issue. You could sum up the entire plot in about three lines (Wheeljack wakes up, Starscream asks him to build combiners, he agrees) which you couldn't really do with MTMTE, but Wheeljack is still a great character with an interesting relationship with Starscream and that carried the whole thing effortlessly.

It also felt like RID returning to what it does well.

Plus, the strong cast of [Windblade and some fantastic Stone art made for a fairly fun issue.
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MikeB
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Post by MikeB »

Yeah, combiner wars is hasbro's big thing in 2015 isn't it? Lots of protectobots on the Lost Light too...

I like plenty of the themes and issues that RID deals with, but the writing itself is IMO not great. Compare the bits bringing returning characters (and readers) up to date between this and MTMTE, an amusing "everything's the same except this... And this... " and so on segment versus yet more overtly expositional inner monologues on a massive 2 page spread.

The blurring of the lines between good and bad could be really interesting, is Prowl going off the deep end, is Starscream actually doing the right thing in spite of the way he does it, along with a number of other little threads, and I think that's what frustrates me the most. It could be very good but the actual writing just keeps letting it down.
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Terome
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Post by Terome »

Yeah, I agree that the lovely art and the focus on Wheeljack go a long way to sell the awful Combiner Wars idea.

Is this the longest lead-in to a toy promotion we've had so far? With the Combiner Wars toys are only hitting the shelves next year? I've a hazy memory that The Second Generation story in TFUK had quite a run-up but maybe I'm wrong.
Oh good, characters going on about combiners and how they're the future (despite all evidence to the contrary), IDW comics really needed more of that.
Their effectiveness really leaves something to be desired, doesn't it? Monstructor has achieved exactly nothing in his long, long life and while Devastator wrecked Earth off-panel, we've got several other characters and devices which are capable of that scale of carnage when they feel like it. Didn't Megatron fight Devastator one-on-one and win? Didn't Megatron fight every Decepticon combined together and win?

This combiner-as-WMD thing is difficult to shake. I guess it goes back to Second Generation itself and The War Within more specifically. I'm not sure anyone has thought it all the way through. I wonder if it would be more interesting if the combiner was the primary character and the components were aspects of that character? Like a guy was split up rather than five guys becoming one. Then there'd be a good reason for the transformation - to accomplish specialised or numerous tasks. Is that more entertaining than jumping on each other's shoulders and putting on a trenchcoat in order to have a barney? I'm being boring, aren't I?

I'd wonder if the book would improve if it shifted to having Wheeljack firmly in the lead and dropped the ensemble angle? He's a great character, Barber has his voice down and he's got a good suite of relationships to develop. I like Starscream adopting him as his best friend and I like how he frets about and misses his old comrades.

There's an odd thing going on over at the TFW2005 boards where Alex Milne seems to be actively campaigning to have Sarah Stone replace him on MTMTE. I wonder what that's about.
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Post by Knightdramon »

RE: Issue----Not sold on Starscream's plea for Combiners. "Enemies" of Cybertron is really just jargon for "people that might want to overthrow Starscream", and even if Wheeljack mistrusts Prowl, he can count on Optimus Prime.

Blatant toy advertising on "Alpha Bravo" and Powerglide.

Seeing as Omega Supreme has pretty much torn every opponent he's had apart, I believe he should be the priority instead of a "combiner".

Windblade I still don't care about, Ironhide's distress is not written well, Chromia is just not written well at all...eh.

RE: Sarah Stone---F*cking overrated. Pretty much everything she's drawn besides this issue is like yaoi [the cover of Tarn over Fulcrum that everybody's gawking about...dear f*ck that's like Hentai]. I don't know why Milne is "campaigning" so hard for her, basically the entire fandom besides dalek here is apathetic to her drawing. It's not bad, it's definitely not the worst we've had, but pffffff come on people.
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Post by Unicron »

Terome wrote:There's an odd thing going on over at the TFW2005 boards where Alex Milne seems to be actively campaigning to have Sarah Stone replace him on MTMTE. I wonder what that's about.
My bet is he's getting burned out. It looks like he puts an insane amount of work into things (look at that crazy 2-page spread late in Dark Cybertron, with the couple dozen characters), and he probably needs some time off. As for why Sarah Stone, no idea. Maybe he likes her style.
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Post by zigzagger »

RE: Sara Stone -- I like her work, too :o

More or less for the same reasons I, and others, defend Roche's work, really. Blah blah, it's highly expressive, blah blah de blah, it's energetic, blah. I like it.

Could be a little cleaner, I suppose.

Wouldn't mind if Stone guested in MTMTE for an issue of two. Her style would suit the more lighthearted, one-shot stories.
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Post by inflatable dalek »

MikeB wrote:Yeah, combiner wars is hasbro's big thing in 2015 isn't it? Lots of protectobots on the Lost Light too...
I'm sure we'll end up loving Alpha Bravo nearly as much as we do Scoop before this is out (that was kind of hard on Slingshot though).
Terome wrote: Is this the longest lead-in to a toy promotion we've had so far? With the Combiner Wars toys are only hitting the shelves next year? I've a hazy memory that The Second Generation story in TFUK had quite a run-up but maybe I'm wrong.
I suppose it depends when they actually come out, there's only three months left in 2014 after all.


Their effectiveness really leaves something to be desired, doesn't it? Monstructor has achieved exactly nothing in his long, long life and while Devastator wrecked Earth off-panel, we've got several other characters and devices which are capable of that scale of carnage when they feel like it. Didn't Megatron fight Devastator one-on-one and win? Didn't Megatron fight every Decepticon combined together and win?
That's the thing, every single writer to feature them has talked the talk about the awesomeness and power of combiners but have never remotely made it seem like a goal worth pursuing. Agreed with Knightdramon that they'd be better of building a load more Omega Sentinels.

Mind- Monstructor seems to have survived a five mile wide ship flying into him so maybe he's tougher than we thought?
I wonder if it would be more interesting if the combiner was the primary character and the components were aspects of that character? Like a guy was split up rather than five guys becoming one. Then there'd be a good reason for the transformation - to accomplish specialised or numerous tasks. Is that more entertaining than jumping on each other's shoulders and putting on a trenchcoat in order to have a barney? I'm being boring, aren't I?
Nope, that's a good idea.
I'd wonder if the book would improve if it shifted to having Wheeljack firmly in the lead and dropped the ensemble angle? He's a great character, Barber has his voice down and he's got a good suite of relationships to develop. I like Starscream adopting him as his best friend and I like how he frets about and misses his old comrades.
I could go with a Wheeljack led comic, he's one of those characters who has been handled really well by just about every writer and Barber especially seems to have a decent take on him that brings out the best in the others as well.
There's an odd thing going on over at the TFW2005 boards where Alex Milne seems to be actively campaigning to have Sarah Stone replace him on MTMTE. I wonder what that's about.
I can never quite decide if Milne is just a typical grumpy Canadian (like Warcry) or just has a very sardonic sense of humour that perhaps doesn't always come over. He art class panel at AA apparently had lots of thoughts on his working relationship with Roberts and Burcham suggesting it's not always a smooth ride, and his twitter feed is about 50% bemoaning how many characters are in any one panel he's drawing so he may be ready for a break.

Still, I'm not sure Stone's art is all purpose enough to suit the varying styles of MTMTE, she'd handle the fun adventure side of the book but it's hard to see how the last two issues would have worked with her style.

Mind, that's after just five issues (that I've read) that all had a similar tone, so she may be more versatile than we've seen thus far.

If Milne does leave or take an extended break, it'll be Nick Roche's job to turn down first (which I suspect he will with his current efforts to make new ground) before anyone else gets a look in.

Knightdramon wrote: RE: Sarah Stone---F*cking overrated.
basically the entire fandom besides dalek here is apathetic to her drawing. It's not bad, it's definitely not the worst we've had, but pffffff come on people.
being both overrated and treated by apathy by everyone except me is a very neat trick to pull off. ;)
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Post by Warcry »

Stone does nice covers and stuff, from what I've seen, but I wouldn't call her a good comic artist. Her art for the Windblade series didn't do a very good job telling a story, IMO, and her characters often looked rushed and/or so off-model it was hard to tell who they were. Not fond of the idea of having her on MTMTE. Though that's exactly what I said about Milne and he turned out great, so who knows?

Regardless, I'm just as baffled as Knightdramon over why the Tumblr crowd goes so crazy for her.

(I have no comment on the issue, on account of not caring even a little bit about anything Barber-written.)
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Post by tahukanuva »

I love Windblade and I love Sarah Stone and anyone who doesn't is a giant ding-dong.

Overall I really liked this issue. Starscream's weird relationship with Wheeljack and his private arguments with himself were a highlight. Although I do think the three writers need to sit down and work out a consistent voice for Starscream. He's not been drastically different, but since all three books have given him major scenes in the same ~6 month period the differing versions are pretty distracting.
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Post by Blackjack »

I ended up reading this after the G.I. Joe stuff and was pleasantly... entertained. The good stuff first... taking the focus onto a single character, namely Wheeljack, is pretty great. Scripting's nice, and Wheeljack rediscovering all the shit that's going on is a nice way to recap to the audience what's been going on in Cybertron, especially if you haven't read Windblade.

Also like to see finally some civilians hating on Starscream and throwing rocks at him. One of my biggest complaints of Windblade and RID in general is how somehow the general population somehow votes to keep Starscream in power whereas nearly every named character talks shit about him.

I do like the fake out that Starscream is actually talking to Scoop instead of ranting like a madman. I do like that very much.

I also do like the little party scene in Blurr's bar with Wheeljack and a party hat.

Art is still pretty gorgeous, and with more inking being worked into the Sarah Stone art, it makes the story flow a lot better than the ones she did for Windblade.

Ironhide and Windblade function well as secondary characters, and I do like the little black hole explanation. I also like the fact that Flatline's made the jump from IDW's Movie comics to mainstream comics. You go, Flatline. Make us Movie fans proud. I still loathe Scoop and Rattrap, but they are inoffensive here.

Yeah, the issue in general is pretty solid... but there's a fair amount of stuff I hate and I want to rant about. First up, do we really need to revive Wheeljack? Like really? Every single damn character not in MTMTE who's died, except for Scrapper, has been revived no less than a year or two from their death. Gee well they bring up Bumblebee right up in our faces, guess who's probably going to get resurrected in RID #40 or whatever. It isn't even funny anymore. Let the dead stay dead god damn it.

And speaking of bad resurrections, let's bring up bad deaths. Slingshot just... dies. Like that. As part of Superion. Off-screen. And is promptly replaced by this Alpha Bravo dickshit. Really? I've never been a big fan of Slingshot or the Aerialbots in general, but doing all this just to sell toys...

And the Combiner Wars in general. Starscream's being incredibly vague with 'the enemy' and 'danger' and all that and somehow suckers Wheeljack into rebuilding Superion... and for what? It makes no god damn sense at all, and rereading through Wheeljack's monologue twice I still don't get just what Starscream's justifications for rebuilding Superion is other than the fact that Starscream's a bit cuckoo in the head, and Wheeljack is all depressed and gloomy and shit. Doesn't really work in my opinion.

Why does Starscream want combiners again? They haven't had a great track record so far beyond 'giant angry things', other than Prowl using Devastator like a big blunt instrument.

How the hell is Monstructor still active? Last we saw him he got beaten up by Devastator, the Lost Light rammed him and caused him to shatter into his component pieces and Windblade's team and the Lost Light crew headed off to apprehend him. They somehow still survive?

Starscream's characterization still jumps around from RID to Dark Cybertron to Windblade to MTMTE to RID again, and I just don't know anymore. Also the Armada body pisses me off to no end.

It's a pretty blatant segue into Combiner Wars, and hopefully it isn't a complete and utter clusterf-ck that Dark Cybertron was, but really I just can't get excited, not one bit, about any of this.

Alpha Bravo and Powerglide. HEY LOOK GUYSE IT IS NEW TOYS TO REPLACE THE NOW DEAD SLINGSHOT!! IDW Slingshot is now officially less of a person than goddamn Barrel Roll.

It's a good Barber issue, and it serves as a nice recap, but the connotations of things to come from this issue just pisses me the hell off.
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