Transformers: Sins of the Wreckers #1-5

Comics, cartoons, movies and fan stuff.
User avatar
inflatable dalek
Posts: 24000
Joined: Sat Apr 03, 2004 3:15 pm
Location: Kidderminster UK

Post by inflatable dalek »

Well that's starting to solidify nicely, even if I'm still not sure where it's going.

For some reason I've spent most of the last two days rather tired, so more cliff note thoughts than indepth ones:

Tarantulas was very well done. A different sort of villain than Overlord (in a rather on the nose way at times with his "I don't want revenge!" declaration), and one that suits the more thoughtful, introspective character study of Prowl--who may well wind up finishing the series as more of a villain than anyone--and his mistakes.

Let's face it, Prowl has been rather badly handled by IDW since... well the last Wreckers series really. So this managing to turn that around, and indeed making a virtue of his inconsistent characterisation by his flim flam back and forth nature being one of the things that really pisses his former friend off, was impressive. Frankly Prowl arranging the destruction of a Neutral city to get the survivors on side (shades of State Games?) is handled much better here and in less space than in any of the back and forth "Oh I'm evil but it's for the common good" stuff we've had over the last few years despite being basically the same sort of thing.

Out of the key Prowl stuff, the Carnivac/Stakeout scene was the highlight. It did somewhat come out of nowhere (Roche has mentioned on twitter he tried to get IDW to go for 22 pages an issue for Sins and this is a place that need for just a little extra space shows), but there was a sadness to it and it was a smart subversion of the guts and all out action scene deaths Last Stand might have led us to expect.

Presumably this is setting up a heel turn for Carnivac?

Liked the madness of the Noisemaze as well. I'm not sure if Verity's immunity to it turning out to be useless was a clever subversion or a denial of giving her a chance to contribute something only a human could do thus justifying her presence though.

So, Ostaros. The series is clearly setting us up to think he might still be alive and one of the Wreckers, with the twist being Prowl actually told the truth. I'm actually kind of hoping that we'll never find out if he really didn't kill the guy or not, but assuming he is present (and Impactor being all well informed about Tarantulas and the Noisemaze entrance feels like a red herring) I'd go for either:

Hubcap. Explaining his special skills and teaming up with Tarantulas at the end, he wants to reunite with his creator.

Springer... because well, it'd be hard to care if it was any of the others.
REVIISITATION: THE HOLE TRUTH
STARSCREAM GOES TO PIECES IN MY LOOK AT INFILTRATION #6!
PLUS: BUY THE BOOKS!
User avatar
Patapsco
Posts: 425
Joined: Tue Jun 03, 2008 2:24 pm
Contact:

Post by Patapsco »

comedy option: Getaway. Less comedy option: one of Chromedome's previous conjunx endura
User avatar
Denyer
Posts: 33033
Joined: Sun Sep 17, 2000 4:00 am
Location: Perfidious Albion
Contact:

Post by Denyer »

Appreciate the BW angle and ideas and hope it won't be hi-and-die, bit less fussed with the inclusion of Barber plot points and Tarantulas could do with more elaboration -- probably due to space, it's been quite tell rather than show.

Would like this to end up with a reveal of lots of artificial sparks being out there. There's nothing that special about creating life from building blocks at their tech level and the made-to-order troops are halfway there already, but it'd be both subversive and less magic-seeming than spark fields.
User avatar
Patapsco
Posts: 425
Joined: Tue Jun 03, 2008 2:24 pm
Contact:

Post by Patapsco »

Also, is it me or should this really be called "Sins Of Prowl"? Because unless it's revealed that Prowl really did order The Wreckers to do everything horrible they did, it's a tad misleading
User avatar
Denyer
Posts: 33033
Joined: Sun Sep 17, 2000 4:00 am
Location: Perfidious Albion
Contact:

Post by Denyer »

Tarantulas has just dusted off a truth machine (anyone else feel that's less evocative than a machine designed to calculate guilt?) so would guess that's where the next issue is going.
User avatar
Patapsco
Posts: 425
Joined: Tue Jun 03, 2008 2:24 pm
Contact:

Post by Patapsco »

He's got Roadbuster, Arcee and Springer there right? Verity too, but I doubt the machine will work on her. Speaking of, does anyone know what's wrong with her? She was pretty ill for the first two issues
User avatar
Terome
Posts: 1431
Joined: Wed Jan 24, 2007 4:16 pm
Location: Brighton

Post by Terome »

Yeah, the Wreckers are barely in this. I'm okay with that.

I did love this issue, by the way. Beautifully drawn and full of all sorts of juicy details.

Only part I didn't like was that some of the dialogue was a bit flat on my ear - Impactor's 'You don't get to be leader of the Wreckers...' line in particular.

Loved loved loved the Carnivac scene. Stakeout was genuinely pleased to see him!
User avatar
inflatable dalek
Posts: 24000
Joined: Sat Apr 03, 2004 3:15 pm
Location: Kidderminster UK

Post by inflatable dalek »

Hopefully the success of this will convince someone to do a 3P Carnivac to go with my Catilla.

It's nice to finally have a decent Beast Wars comic.
REVIISITATION: THE HOLE TRUTH
STARSCREAM GOES TO PIECES IN MY LOOK AT INFILTRATION #6!
PLUS: BUY THE BOOKS!
User avatar
Denyer
Posts: 33033
Joined: Sun Sep 17, 2000 4:00 am
Location: Perfidious Albion
Contact:

Post by Denyer »

If you want a non-mecha one, Wolfang's probably your best bet.

Happy with some mixed Wolfang/Max-B bits personally but would dig something in the vein of Felisaber.
User avatar
Auntie Slag
Posts: 4859
Joined: Mon Oct 15, 2001 4:00 am
Custom Title: Satisfaction guaranteed!
Location: Cambridge, UK
Contact:

Post by Auntie Slag »

Wow, what a way to go; mashed up in another transformers transformation! As a kid I wondered what would happen if Metroplex transformed whilst Blades was idly mooching on the Helipad.

And he seemed like such a nice guy. My first thought for Ostaros was Chromedome, but that probably doesn't make sense.

Something still feels off about this series; jarring banter, pacing or characters simply feeling off-centre from how they were previously. Or more likely five years from now finally I'll click and realise its the best TF story ever for x number of reasons!
User avatar
Knightdramon
Protoform
Posts: 3621
Joined: Thu Apr 15, 2004 7:15 pm
Location: York, UK

Post by Knightdramon »

Read it, loved it. Just amazing issue, FULL of story.

Felt a bit sorry for Stakeout. Seems like a no-event ending really, but that's in line with other deaths in Last Stand too.

A lot of nifty exchange between Tarantulas and Prowl. Loved the fact that Prowl's conscience catches up to him every once in a while. It's been quite some time since transformers has had a villain that's not big, brutal or particularly a powerhouse; sometimes you just need a guy so gray he can't tell his black, and said guy needs to just be able to blend in a crowd of other familiar faces.

I'm thinking that Stakeout is Tarantulas' accomplice.

Also speculating that Osteros might be Springer. I was going to say Rewind, but it doesn't fit; Osteros was created early on in the war [Zeta or Optimus's reign]. Prowl seems to have a soft spot for Springer, although I can't remember if he's said to be constructed cold or forged.

Impactor is too old to be Osteros [as he's up and running during Nominus's era]. Chromedome is also up and running at that time.

Ironfist too.
Few stuff in the UK to trade/sell. Measly sales thread.
User avatar
Warcry
Posts: 13934
Joined: Fri Aug 23, 2002 4:10 am
Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Post by Warcry »

Still having a hard time actually caring about the outcome of this -- the story is making Prowl out to be less and less sympathetic by the page, and mostly I just want Tarantulas to eat him. And I have to say, before IDW, Prowl was my favourite Transformer. I mean, shit, the BW version of the character is my avatar! Now I cringe every time I see him on the page. And since the bulk of this issue is centered around showing us, once again, how awful he is...blah. And now he's going to be hooked up to a magic "truth machine" and made to spill the beans on all the things he's done that were even worse than the mass murder of an entire city next issue. Yay? Such a waste of a perfectly good character. I think he's been ruined even more thoroughly than poor Bumblebee (and at least poor Bee had the decency to die after a while!)

And honestly, nothing in this mini has made me care about any of the Wreckers themselves either. If you asked me to describe the other Transformers besides Prowl and Tarantulas based solely on what we've seen in these three issues I'd be hard-pressed. Arcee and Guzzle are unlikeable psychos and everyone else is a prop. Tidal Wave is the only one to show an engaging personality so far, and he's supposed to be an antagonist.

I don't know...if you sat me down and told me the story so far I'd probably say it sounds great! But on the page it just doesn't quite work for me. Maybe I'm just expecting too much from this, but I can't help but think back to LSOTW, where we were after three issues of that and how invested I was. This series isn't bad by any stretch, and it's a fun enough diversion with cool BW characters in it, but I just don't care, at all, about what happens to anyone in it.
Knightdramon wrote:Felt a bit sorry for Stakeout. Seems like a no-event ending really, but that's in line with other deaths in Last Stand too.
I didn't really feel like the story made me care about Stakeout, though, the way the previous one had for Rotorstorm or the like. His entire character is "has a past with Verity", but since I (like most readers, I gather?) am indifferent at best to Verity herself, Stakeout (potentially?) dying doesn't really hold that much weight. I was more bothered by Claw Jaw dying.

Similarly, Hubcap apparently proving to be a traitor means nothing to me because the last three issues have done practically nothing to flesh out Hubcap as a character.

And I have to admit, I'm not really feeling Tarantulas here either. He was such a well-established character in the Beast Wars show, with motivations that became increasingly more and more well-defined as his story went on. The character on display here isn't bad by any means but it's not Tarantulas, because the most defining parts of Tarantulas's persona are things that are inextricably rooted in the specifics of the BW mythos (in particular, his role as a double agent and his vendetta against the Vok). He's probably the hardest of the BW crew to reinvent, and Roche certainly gave it his all, but it doesn't work for me.
Knightdramon wrote:Also speculating that Osteros might be Springer. I was going to say Rewind, but it doesn't fit; Osteros was created early on in the war [Zeta or Optimus's reign]. Prowl seems to have a soft spot for Springer, although I can't remember if he's said to be constructed cold or forged.
Really, I read that as "Prowl murdered Osteros in cold blood so there were no witnesses to him murdering Tarantulas". We did see him raise his gun in that flashback panel, after all.
User avatar
Auntie Slag
Posts: 4859
Joined: Mon Oct 15, 2001 4:00 am
Custom Title: Satisfaction guaranteed!
Location: Cambridge, UK
Contact:

Post by Auntie Slag »

I reckon this Osteros chap is still alive and kicking somewhere. We see the panel of Prowl raising his gun, but not firing it. So nothing concrete on his fate.

Yeah, its a shame there's so little characterisation of the Wreckers themselves. I went into this hoping for a bit of a Roadbuster showcase, or mention of Rack n' Ruin, Valve, Crest etc. Still, I guess their sins are going to be revealed in the next issue.

I wish they'd replaced Arcee with anyone. Sunstreaker would have been good; a tough guy who is a protege of Kup (I read that somewhere, I hope its IDW-verse relevant).
User avatar
Death's Head
Protoform
Posts: 655
Joined: Wed Dec 27, 2000 5:00 am
Location: London
Contact:

Post by Death's Head »

Theories abound that it's Impactor in the flashback pushing Tarantulas into the portal thingy. Which is why he's got in his 'grave'.
SMITH
Portfolio | Blog | Freelance Agent Brompton Rhodes - Guns, Girls and Gorillas!
User avatar
Skyquake87
Protoform
Posts: 3986
Joined: Sun Jul 04, 2010 9:34 am

Post by Skyquake87 »

I have read this and enjoyed it. I think its definitely a story that will read better as a trade or would have been better done as a full on graphic novel. I enjoyed Tarantulas very much, although as Warcry said, the BW TV show cast are very strongly defined to the point where new takes on them feel a bit ...off. (That said, I've enjoyed seeing Beast-era characters done with some flair after IDWs last attempt was somewhat wide of the mark). I did like that Roche has tried something new and the implications of what Tarantulas has created in the more organic forms was aces.

I did find Tarantuals exposition-heavy dialogue took me out of the story a little, like I was reading a lecture, and this where Roche could have used some flashbacks or something to make this stuff sing as it should (although a conceit of Roberts, I do find when he does that stuff it works really well and transcends the cliche). Maybe the page count was a factor and some economizing was needed, but this didn't work as well as it should have for me.

And having read none of Barber's take on Prowl, I'm enjoying the focus on him again. And all that clever stuff what Dalek said on this point (I nodded my head in agreement reading that).

Is Verity pregnant?

Also : loving Roche's art, which is blinding. Burcham's low res colours really suit the overall murk and sickliness of this story.
User avatar
Death's Head
Protoform
Posts: 655
Joined: Wed Dec 27, 2000 5:00 am
Location: London
Contact:

Post by Death's Head »

There's just something I'm really enjoying about the atmosphere of this. Helped along by the art, no doubt, but there's just this aura of death and madness hanging over it; like all the characters are on the brink of losing their minds. I want to say a feeling of unreality, but it feels quite raw and physical as well; characters being mangled, characters drinking blood.

I'm sure it's all quite deliberate, and I'm thoroughly enjoying it.
SMITH
Portfolio | Blog | Freelance Agent Brompton Rhodes - Guns, Girls and Gorillas!
User avatar
Denyer
Posts: 33033
Joined: Sun Sep 17, 2000 4:00 am
Location: Perfidious Albion
Contact:

Post by Denyer »

Skyquake87 wrote:Is Verity pregnant?
Hadn't thought about it like that, but suppose it could fit with what's on-panel so far.
User avatar
Auntie Slag
Posts: 4859
Joined: Mon Oct 15, 2001 4:00 am
Custom Title: Satisfaction guaranteed!
Location: Cambridge, UK
Contact:

Post by Auntie Slag »

Isn't she coughing up blood, though? Or am I imagining it because of her coughing & wheezing fits from the first & second issue?
User avatar
Denyer
Posts: 33033
Joined: Sun Sep 17, 2000 4:00 am
Location: Perfidious Albion
Contact:

Post by Denyer »

Dialogue's certainly skewed towards her thinking she's dying and that's the trope presented.
User avatar
Red Dave Prime
Posts: 1340
Joined: Fri Jul 27, 2007 11:03 pm
Location: Ireland

Post by Red Dave Prime »

So is part four the last week of april? Not set for tomorrow and I can only find april as the release date.

Last issue was Janaury - way to screw up momentum.
Post Reply