Transformers: Sins of the Wreckers #1-5

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Red Dave Prime
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Post by Red Dave Prime »

I do reserve the tight to completely change my opinion on this - plan on reading all five issues tomorrow. Have the house to my myself and an ice cold coke sitting in the fridge. Might even open a pack of ready salted crisps.
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Post by Patapsco »

Red Dave Prime wrote:I do reserve the tight to completely change my opinion on this - plan on reading all five issues tomorrow. Have the house to my myself and an ice cold coke sitting in the fridge. Might even open a pack of ready salted crisps.
hey, don't go too crazy on our behalf. All things in moderation, and all that
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inflatable dalek
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Post by inflatable dalek »

Ready salted? You sicken me.
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Red Dave Prime
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Post by Red Dave Prime »

Its a classic man. Walkers red. I'm looking forward to it already. Y'all act like you'd hatin' but I know y'all be playin'.
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inflatable dalek
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Post by inflatable dalek »

I don't know who you are anymore.
REVIISITATION: THE HOLE TRUTH
STARSCREAM GOES TO PIECES IN MY LOOK AT INFILTRATION #6!
PLUS: BUY THE BOOKS!
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Red Dave Prime
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Post by Red Dave Prime »

Image
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Patapsco
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Post by Patapsco »

Those are Chicken Tikka flavour man!
"When did you first realize that he uses bad grammar to distract you whenever you raise an objection to something he wants to do?"
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Death's Head
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Post by Death's Head »

He likes all the flavours of crisps. Plain...
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Post by zigzagger »

Chips Crisps aside real quick, recently finished re-reading the whole thing. And I'd probably include myself in the "slightly not-great" category too.

I dig that SOTW is an unconventional Transformers story. It's weird and nightmare-ish. I've mentioned this before, but for me what was missing from SOTW was a strong sense of urgency and momentum, and this nagging feeling pretty much lingered throughout the entire series.

Didn't think it was bad, I liked Sins, but I wanted to love it.

Dug the Roadbuster stuff, though I did feel the Impetus idea was squandered a bit. Felt like Roche was building up to something really special, and I was hoping for similar 'character studies' for the rest of the Wreckers. I wanted to be shown something 'naughty' ;)

I think I'll chalk that up to too many character competing for the spotlight.

Also, was it me or did Tarantulas's plot seem unnecessarily convoluted for some one that (initially, anyway) just wanted to be reunited with their... uh, ex-collaborator? Ex-conspirator? Ex-lover? Tarantulas was a fun mad scientist type, sure, but was a smidgen over-wrought at moments.
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Post by Auntie Slag »

It was dark and slightly X-Files-y, and I like that. The art was excellent. But I miss the slightly lighter comedy touch from LSotW. You say "What now"? But it did, Overlords japes, bit of light stuff from Rotorstorm, Pyro etc.

And when all the new Wreckers came together and Guzzle said: "Hey, we're just doing what Wreckers do, guy" I loved that, gave him a bit of a Cartman vibe.

But Sins feels hard to judge at the moment, for all I remember I may have been lukewarm about LSotW during the first couple of reads, being so brutal and that, but now its so familiar and excellent. I think the love with Sins may come with time and going through it only as an entire read through. A bit like Last Stand is beer, whereas Sins is like a wine.

Although for a more accurate title it might read: 'Sins of the Prowl, a fair whack of Roadbuster and a portion of Impactor'.
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Post by Patapsco »

Well I lied about ever finishing it because sitting waiting to be called to be sworn into a jury trial is ridiculously boring (see the chat thread for more adventures), so my honest thoughts are particularly warm.

It's... not great. The art and colouring are amazing but the story just didn't hang together. It read like Tarantulas set this whole thing up purely to get Prowl back for killing "The Bot That Would Be Springer" and chucking him in the noisemaze, and the Aequitas stuff just happened to be bonus material that tied it logically back to Last Stand. The Roadbuster stuff felt unnecessary and forced and out of character even if mini Tarantulas was behind it. All in all it just felt a bit muddled and not all that well thought out.

With all that said, I really want to see where the plot threads left dangling (not to mention baby Tarantulas in Springer's wheelarch) go, especially the Mayhem/Chimeracons/Impactor stuff
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Red Dave Prime
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Post by Red Dave Prime »

Patapsco wrote: With all that said, I really want to see where the plot threads left dangling (not to mention baby Tarantulas in Springer's wheelarch) go, especially the Mayhem/Chimeracons/Impactor stuff
Redemption of the Wreckers: Mayhem Squad by Roche would be very interesting (and worth a much, much better title)
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Post by Bumblemus Prime »

So I am reading the trade, and have switched from "overall a good story" to feeling like Nick failed as a storyteller...

because OSTAROS is SPRINGER???

Did ANYONE else get that?
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Post by Warcry »

I saw a few people speculate on that, so it wasn't entirely out of left field for me. But I have to admit that I don't get what Roche was going for with it. I feel like it was supposed to be a statement on...something, or maybe make people see Springer differently somehow. But I'm not sure how it was meant to make us feel. My reaction to it was just a bland "sure, whatever", because it didn't seem to carry all that much meaning.
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Post by inflatable dalek »

I've put my trade away now, but the name Osatros was a fairly big clue apparently, it has something to do with a God of SPRING.



Groan.

I think it's saying things about parentage really. Springer was put up for adoption by his real dad behind mom's back and raised by Kup and Impactor. I don't think it contradicts anything we know about Springer (it is a bit of a coincidence I suppose he happens to be the guy Prowl calls in) and as a motive for villainy "I lost my son" is a pretty unique one for a TF comic. If Prowl had just been less of a dick husband...
REVIISITATION: THE HOLE TRUTH
STARSCREAM GOES TO PIECES IN MY LOOK AT INFILTRATION #6!
PLUS: BUY THE BOOKS!
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Post by Auntie Slag »

You'd be financially well off with Prowl, but would you be happy?
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Post by Cliffjumper »

Just read in one sitting. Good but not great and to be honest a moderate reinforcement of IDW's belief Roche isn't a writer. Big jumbly bag of ideas and character arcs but no structure or discipline - a real "hey they might not let me do this again so I better put every idea I've got into it".

There were good ideas and sharp dialogue and it clipped along well enough but it's the "lolwut? " bits that have stuck. The Springer revelation where he turns out to be the final identity of some guy we only found out about two issues before and have never met. The brutal obviousness of Guzzle (if you're going to cannibalise an old draft don't publish the bloody thing first). Yet a ****ing nother woobie 1986 Minibot; Wheelie is now the least twatty one, FFS. Cheap shock value with the coffin that lands in front of Springer and Verity just happening to be Ironfist's because wasn't it sad when he died in Last Stand?

Great handle on Prowl, Impactor, Springer, Roadbuster, nice set of bad guys, lots of good ideas that might be great with some follow-up and space to breathe and might feel less first drafty on re-reads. But far too many moments when it tipped from nightmarish to dumb old grimdark. Transformers' DKR2?
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Post by Brendocon 2.0 »

Still not read this. Picked it up in singles but was holding off until I've caught up on the main books, but that doesn't look like it'll be happening any time soon.

Though with Snyder's Batman run ended and my decision to switch to digital for the post-CW2 Marvel stuff, I might have a bit more time available.

Who the **** am I kidding? I'll just end up picking up more Image instead. :/ Either that or I'll decide to watch every WCW pay per view in sequence or something else equally as stupid as my Who project.
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Post by Cliffjumper »

None of Sin's seeded properly, is it? It should be an arc in an ongoing or something but we're dropped into this big revelation story about people we've never met and mysteries that we didn't know were mysteries. Springer's origin has never, ever been a big mysterious thing. Hubcap's not an ignored nobody because the first time we see him he's handpicked to come and back the Wreckers up on a field mission. Stakeout's not this loyal principled cop because he's up to his neck in it the moment we meet him.

So finding out Springer is actually some science project from a tedious never-before-mentioned super-science-villain who's inexplicably able to keep the Wreckers busy with his technobabble has zero impact because we didn't know Tarantulas existed four issues before let alone that he'd made himself an artificial Transformer.

So finding out Hubcap is this bullied little arsewipe has no impact because we've only got his whining to go on and it doesn't remotely scan with the way anyone treats him even after we find out he's the world's limpest traitor ever ("Don't betray us Hubcap"/"I spent my whole life planning this with an evil robot spider telling me to but yeah alright"). He should have been in the background perenially since as close to the start of the IDWverse for it to even half work (considering both Roche and Roberts just assign whatever personalities they like to whatever robot is nearest he should have been Searchlight).

Stakeout shows up and dies almost immediately chasing a ****ing robot rabbit into a whale having established that he's basically Streetwise. If that had any sort of emotional impact on anyone unless the original crap lanky Micromaster was your only companion for five years of being locked in a basement then they're indoctrinated by this sort of false tragedy IDW have been tube-feeding readers since the early days to a startling degree.

All of this is forced by the format of a limited series for sure. But then there was always the option of not just hurling loads of revelations at the thing; the most annoying thing is the whole Prowl/Aequitas plot is actually pretty organic even if it shits all over that gloriously ambiguous frame that topped off LSotW so perfectly (it's the equivalent of Inception having a credits scene where Nolan stands there holding a giant idiot board saying "HE'S STILL DREAMING!!!") but there's just so much other manipulative garbage thrown in because, hey, didn't futile deaths, overpowered villains and pathetic weaklings getting screwed over by The System go down well the first time?

Plus that Ironfist corpse scene is even more tawdry and desperate on a second reading. And you can hear Linkin Park fading in on that last page can't you?
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Post by Brendocon 2.0 »

Read Fear Agent
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