Maximum Dinobots #1-5/TPB

Post by **zigzagger** » Sat Dec 06, 2008 2:04 am

Keep your fingers crossed, folks, because the Furmanverse is about to continue. This is your all purpose Maximum Dinobots #1 reaction and discussion thread.

Go. Do what you do.

Due to arrive on shelves December 10th.

EDIT
In the meantime, Chris Ryall has posted a 5-page preview to tide you over.
Go on...touch me. Now!

Commander Shockwav · Post by **Commander Shockwav** » Wed Dec 10, 2008 10:49 pm

Nice introductory issue that pretty much sets the stage.

Good to see some familiar faces back in play, and nice to have the Machination/Skywatch storyline continued.

Art was good. Not quite up to the lofty standards that Nick and Josh have set in the past, but still strong work.

Atrocious dialogue at the beginning was painful, with the ridiculous tossing of Furmanesque Earthen cliches and quips by the Dynobots, which apparently all talk and act the same. Surprise, surprise.

Thereafter though, I was into the story. Kind of a quick read though. Of course, introductory issues often are, so it's understandable.

A "B". Looking forward to the next issue. Glad Simon is back playing in his sandbox.

Halfshell · Post by **Halfshell** » Sat Dec 13, 2008 3:30 pm

Oh look, a completely unobtrusive throwaway line of internal dialogue which cleanly and efficiently explains why a character looks different to the last time we saw them.

Lords of Kobol be praised, it's a miracle.

Liked the subtle cover for the giant robot testing area. JP font?

Liked Red's complete refusal to buy that everything's suddenly working.

Liked that Dante is only in the top half of the exosuit.

Presuming this is after Spotlight Doubledealer.

Love the Diaclone colour Sunstreakers.

White robots fighting a silver dinosaur in the snow... not the easiest page to follow. Fortunately it's carnage anyway, so completely incidental.

Points for the communications blackout. Both a sensible thing for Red to do, and a desperate attempt to cover for All Hail Megatron.

Pat's Flannel. A jab at somebody mayhaps?

Really liked the notion of Sunstreaker talking to himself via a holomatter Hunter.

Good Rochey art. Good Joshy colours. Especially after the last appearance for these characters.

Decent first-chapter fare. Sets up the major players, motivations, scenarios, and moves everything along at a faster pace than the first five issues of All Hail Megatron put together. Hell, stuff actually happened in this comic. Whilst promising more in the next one.

Does it get right everything that AHM is getting wrong? Quite possibly. Whilst still not being superb, thanks to the atrocious cliché dialogue in the flashback and Bond villian exposition from Dante. Is talking to yourself about things you already know a byproduct of the Headmaster process? Maybe.

Good to have the "A" team back... let's hope part 2 actually delivers what it promises.

Post by **Denyer** » Tue Dec 16, 2008 6:57 pm

Bit too heavy on the recap for my tastes. Lots of nice tidbits such as establishing the bulk of Dante's exo-skeleton, pre-TF toy refs, with generous helpings of Roche character... but no surprises. Eager for something to sink my teeth into at the moment.

Commander Shockwav · Post by **Commander Shockwav** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 2:55 am

Where's zagger's review? A bit late, no?

Post by **zigzagger** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 7:14 am

Commander Shockwav wrote:Where's zagger's review? A bit late, no?

Haven't gotten it yet due to one, I got sick last week and never got around to ordering it because, two, all the shops in the town suddenly stopped carrying TF books a couple months ago (around AHM 3 and Revelation Part 4, if I recall).

Post by **zigzagger** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 8:41 pm

Okay, finally got myself a copy….

Decent issue, sets the stage quite nicely as one should expect, though it is a pity we spend about 8 pages of it recapping – but considering Devastation ended waaay back in February of ’08, and that Revelation really wasn’t a follow up to it, I’m really not at all bothered by it.

I may (or may not) be alone here, but I am really happy to see Hunter again. The token squishies have been tolerable, but Hunter has always been my favourite. Also great to see Autobot characters, you know, actually doing stuff. And speaking of modified squishies, Dante looks far younger than I remember him to be…and has broader shoulders and muscular arms. Does the Headmaster process also reverse aging? Still would’ve liked to see more Hot Rod, as AHM has left me feeling Hot Rod deficient. But if all goes according to plan, we’ll see plenty of him in the issues to come. And yes, the introductory dialogue was….stupid.

Another observation, though it is not quite as obvious just yet – there are few concurrent threads here, so it must be a Furman book. Luckily, this time around, they all seem to be interrelated, meaning the “good guys” are all after the same “bad guy”. So this may actually work out in the end, especially since many of the previous continuity threads have been resolved elsewhere. Luckily, so far, there is a nice balance here, and almost everyone gets the panel time they need. Almost. At least the character focus is placed where it needs to be - on Grimlock, Scorponok, and Hunstreaker.

As already mentioned here, for someone who has been following the stories for awhile now there were no big surprises here, but it has managed to at least pique my curiosity, meaning I actually want to read the next issue. Mainly because, well, stuff actually happens here. So, yeah, the stage is set now - hopefully Furman will give us a good show.

3.8 out of 5

Neuronutter · Post by **Neuronutter** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 9:56 am

I thoroughly enjoyed this issue. I hadn't realised how much I missed Furman's main ongoing and the characters in this book until I read this. The story was good, but very much introductory and I understand why this did this as they want a jumping on point for new readers. In this respect it worked well and hopefully we'll see a small jump in sales. The title of the book should get a broad appeal, though I can't help thinking they should've one some unique covers for the series like they have with AHM.

Artwise Roche out does himself. I really think this is some of the finest art Nick has produced for IDW, for example the panel showing TL's 2 to 5 after they've demonstrated Skywatch's control is impressive. Each Dino it superbly rendered and has a great amount of detail. The whole issues like that so Kudos to Nick. If the art's this good in the rest of the series then it should be a cracker.

Overall I can't wait for the next issue or to see what IDW have in store for the ongoing next year. What's after MD for Furman and Roche? Hopefully we'll know soon.

Halfshell · Post by **Halfshell** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 10:15 am

zigzagger wrote:Dante looks far younger than I remember him to be…and has broader shoulders and muscular arms. Does the Headmaster process also reverse aging?

Maybe that's the "new lease of life" that was referred to, way back when?

Post by **inflatable dalek** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 10:30 am

I can Exclusively reveal that this is down to the Headmaster process creating a virile airborne disease that will slowly mutate the entire male population of Earth into the same appearance. This means that everyone looking the same in All Hail Megatron is in fact a cleaver and subtle link directly to the Furman material rather than being down to crap art.

Post by **zigzagger** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 1:52 pm

Halfshell wrote:Maybe that's the "new lease of life" that was referred to, way back when?

Makes sense, I suppose. Yay, speculation time that'll probably add up to nothing in the end: perhaps somehow (maybe via nano mechs or something) the subjects undergoing the process are imbued with, erm, I don't know, advanced immune systems that allow all those metal parts to be surgically implanted, ala Wolverine (yeah, a rare moment from me - I made an obvious Marvel reference). Doesn't quite explain the youthfulness, but there you go.

Halfshell · Post by **Halfshell** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 2:15 pm

Electromagnetics having a positive effect on cell regeneration?

Remember that Scorponok's been bartering with alien cultures for decades (at the very least), so it's likely his grasp on human physiology is probably far better than ours. Enhancing antibodies is probably a piece of the proverbial.

Post by **zigzagger** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 2:52 pm

Halfshell wrote:Electromagnetics having a positive effect on cell regeneration?

Remember that Scorponok's been bartering with alien cultures for decades (at the very least), so it's likely his grasp on human physiology is probably far better than ours. Enhancing antibodies is probably a piece of the proverbial.

Yep, that's probably what it is. This managed to slip past past me, but in Escalation #6 Scorponok, whom at this point is Shadowy Disembodied Mystery Head, comments on Hunter's progress and the "new healing accelerants". Pity this is the only time, I recall anyway, it has been mentioned.

Halfshell · Post by **Halfshell** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 2:59 pm

zigzagger wrote:Pity this is the only time, I recall anyway, it has been mentioned.

This would be so much easier to follow if there weren't eight year gaps between each ****ing chapter...

Post by **inflatable dalek** » Wed Dec 31, 2008 5:15 pm

Bloody hell, IDW are doing a Smile Time adaptation... why?

As for my late views on MD1, thankfully the worst pages were in the preview. This really shows up how crap AHM is. It's a big dumb silly action comic with no pretense of redeeming featutes and is going to do it in just five issues. That's what the main book so badly wants to be.

Only real negative was Dante still being far to keen on explaining things to people who already know them (is he like that all the time the camera isn't on him?). Other than that, great. Don't screw this one up Furman.

And rather nicely, I have no idea who Grimlock has summoned for help (I can't recall seeing anyone on the covers who wouldn't already be on Earth).

Energon Hot Shot · Post by **Energon Hot Shot** » Wed Dec 31, 2008 8:38 pm

"For the right price" makes me think he contacted Swindle, but I'm not sure Grimlock would contact a decepticon for help. Then again, desperate times call for desperate measures. Two other possibilities I can think of are the Junkions/Wreck-Gar and the Quintessons.

Post by **zigzagger** » Sat Jan 03, 2009 11:07 pm

More Headmaster and Dinobot action coming at you. This is your all purpose Transformers Maximum Dinobots #2 reaction and discussion thread.

Go. Talk.

Due to arrive on shelves January 7th 2009.

starlord · Post by **starlord** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 7:10 am

All right.Dinobot rule.

Post by **zigzagger** » Sat Jan 10, 2009 4:23 pm

A busy issue, if not feeling a teeny bit shoehorned, and a fairly welcome return to continuity. This is a tough one - though it’s not perfect, it was a fun, silly romp. Really, it’s everything I would expect from a story involving giant, robotic dinosaurs and an army of Headmasters. Yes, Scorponok continues his plunge into campy Bond villainy, even to the point of revealing his plan to Hot Rod – but you know what, it sort of suits the tone of the book. You know – fun. So, I’m not going to gripe about how Scorponok is depicted here (and in all honesty, I have the old Marvel books if I wish to reminisce). Grimlock saving the squishy from the burning diner, though uncharacteristic, was a nice moment, and I felt approaches the character in a way we haven’t seen for quite some time.

Then of course there are, what I felt anyway, the two big reveals – the Monsterbots (I’m pretty sure that’s them), and (finally) Shockwave. This is a good pay-off (even if it the latter was dragged on far too long than it needed to be). I must say, I am reeeeeally freakin’ anxious (or should I say hopeful) to see where Furman goes with Repugnus and company.

Maximum Dinobots thus far, I feel, reads like an 80’s comic book. Heavy on the exposition and the action scene discourses. It can be a bit too much at moments, but the occasional cheese is kind of charming in way. Still don't think Maximum Dinobots is an appropiate title considering everything that is happening here though.

3.5 out of 5

Terome · Post by **Terome** » Sat Jan 10, 2009 4:37 pm

I am in agreement with the Zigzagger on all points. I'm anticipating some kind of turnaround on Scorponok, but otherwise 'Bond movie' sums up this issue pretty nicely. I liked just about all of Grimlock's dialogue and the art was right up there in the stratosphere, despite a few puzzling scale-shifts throughout.

So hey, Slag shot a fellow Autobot in the back and ends up getting promoted? Perhaps the whole 'letting Arcee out of prison to do what she likes' move isn't so unprecedented. I'm presuming that Grimlock and Slag weren't spark-swiped during their stay in the brig. I think we also know more about this Slag right now than we know about any other Slag. Of interest is how the two of them -decided- to form the Dynobots group... I wonder if that's the norm among the units or if they're just special.

Anyone else find the Hunter / Sunstreaker mindsharing detective team quite appealing? I've also got an idle question as to whether the Dinobots have holo-matter projectors installed. Sure, they wouldn't bother to use them, but I wonder if that bit of kit didn't exist in their days.

Am similarly excited to see how the Monsterbots are handled. Could be that they are the 'modern day' Dynobots. Lucky that they happened to survive the intervening few thousand years but hey, that's Transformers.

Enjoyable!

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