Revolution: IDW and the Hasbro Shared Universe.

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Skyquake87
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Post by Skyquake87 »

Hmmm...difference being those are big budget films that are aiming for popular appeal...

This really isn't the same.

And we only got stuff like GOTG and Ant-Man because after X-Men, Spider-Man, The Avengers and Iron Man... you're left with a lot of middling concepts and some outright dross (though I would love to see a Hellcat movie that's as whimsical and weird as her comics have been).

Although it wasn't quite the same, Marvel UK's attempts to do a shared universe with all its licensed titles fell similarly short and just looked, well, a bit crap.
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Post by Patapsco »

Hang on, only The Transformers (Barber's book) has been mentioned by name as being soft rebooted, and Barber's shown before he can knot together random crap from continuities and at least make it readable, if not actually good. But in none of the official releases has MtMtE been mentioned as being touched aside from "relaunched" which, if memory serves, it was post Dark Cybertron with a slightly different cast. How's about waiting to see if the sky is falling before saying it actually is?
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Post by Brendocon 2.0 »

Skyquake87 wrote:you're left with a lot of middling concepts and some outright dross
Nearly died of laughter when they binned the Inhumans movie off the schedule.
Patapsco wrote:How's about waiting to see if the sky is falling before saying it actually is?
Are you new? :o
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Skyquake87
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Post by Skyquake87 »

Patapsco wrote:Barber's shown before he can knot together random crap from continuities and at least make it readable, if not actually good.

And therein lies the crux of the matter.
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Post by Denyer »

At this point I've long since been reading Transformers for specific writers and occasionally checking out previews of other stuff, the same as any other comics.

Event books and crossovers are generally disappointing either to see announced or read, but if it runs through issues of the ongoing title I already get (like Dark Cybertron) will probably not cancel or pause that sub unless it gets fall-off-a-cliff stupid. Haven't bothered with DC in trade paperback, had read Infestation but didn't rate it.

Not sure if new numbering on a vol two or similar = different comic in sub terms.

On the plus side Avengers vs TFs was considered to be in-universe and impacted nothing. Infestation mostly ditto. IDW haven't handled marketing crossovers too badly in that sense.
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Post by Patapsco »

Brendocon 2.0 wrote:Are you new? :o
I'll have you know that I've been claiming the sky is falling on MtMtE since #47, and am still very much on the fence that I won't be binning it off post current arc. I also completely dropped out of the IDW continuity at the end of AHM and didn't come back until... 18 months ago? The Transformers is definitely going into the bin once All Hail Optimus is done
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Post by Ryan F »

Skyquake87 wrote:Hmmm...difference being those are big budget films that are aiming for popular appeal...

This really isn't the same.
Well, I dunno. Both Marvel Pictures and IDW comics are both there to make money, not high art. Would we have gotten GOTG at all if Iron Man et al. hadn't been money-spinners? Establish the Marvel name using franchises people actually care about, before launching Ant-Man and Deadpool which the average punter would barely have heard of (if at all). Not so different to IDW's plan, I'd say.

But what do I know? Other than GOTG (which I only saw because it had Rocket Raccoon in it), I gave up on the Marvel movies years ago (around the time of X-Men 3 and Rise of the Silver Surfer). My favourite Marvel film is the Ang Lee Hulk, which most everyone else seems to hate.
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Post by Brendocon 2.0 »

Ryan F wrote:But what do I know? Other than GOTG (which I only saw because it had Rocket Raccoon in it), I gave up on the Marvel movies years ago (around the time of X-Men 3 and Rise of the Silver Surfer). My favourite Marvel film is the Ang Lee Hulk, which most everyone else seems to hate.
Well for what it's worth X3 (2006) and FF2 (2007) are part of Fox's "we've got the rights and we're going to churn out whatever crap to keep them" sequence of movies, and predate/are entirely separate to the universe Marvel launched with Iron Man in 2008.

Ang Lee's Hulk was decent, if a bit long and self-indulgent.

Topic in danger of being sidetracked. Specific point being that Marvel themselves didn't actually start making movies until after the examples cited. :)
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Post by Patapsco »

And remember we have the Titan's Return stuff coming as well, which I think is following closely after the two arcs are done if I remember right
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Post by Ryan F »

Brendocon 2.0 wrote:Topic in danger of being sidetracked. Specific point being that Marvel themselves didn't actually start making movies until after the examples cited. :)
I cited Avengers, Iron Man, GOTG, Ant-Man and Deadpool to make the original point, all I did was offer up X3 and FF2 as examples of Marvel-related films I didn't really like...

Moving on...

As with nu-Ghostbusters, or nu-Top Gear, IDW have already made a lot of readers sceptical about the new stuff before it's even happened. Whether the fears are justified or not, they've undoubtedly lost some readers already just by making the announcement.

It puts extra pressure on the series to knock it out of the park, get the good reviews and claw some of the knee-jerkers back into the fold. There are people saying "That's it, I'm out" on TFW2005 already.

The crossover itself will be a bugger to write. Weaving a coherent story around a cast of hundreds, all vying for attention will be tricky. Also you've got to basically introduce ROM, T-Bob and so forth to readers ignorant of those other franchises. Establishing the disparate characters AND giving them all something to do AND giving it a decent plot would be a challenge for a lot of writers, not least given the pressure this book is under to succeed.
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Post by Bumblemus Prime »

Brendocon 2.0 wrote:Though if MTMTE gets binned and the entire continuity sealed off, it might give me an excuse to start reading it.

Might even get there without every single plot twist being spoiled for me.
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Post by Cyberstrike nTo »

Red Dave Prime wrote:I have no interest in crossover stuff. I cant speak for the actual comics that Marvel o but the movies have worked because as said, they have been built that way. Everything has been done to link them up. This wouldnt be the case and while I know its all toy brands and a bit silly really, you cant have MASK and GI Joe and the Transformers in the same universe.

Mask would come across so low rent compared to GI Joe in terms of size and scale so why bother - You could just make up a mini-series about a small Joe Squad vs a small cobra squad and it would pretty much replicate MASK v Venom. As for Transformers, at the point Ex-Rid is at, GI Joes take would seem so low-fi not just to the Cybertronians but also to the current Human army. And this would all mean that GI Joe and Mask would have to acknowledge that aliens are real.

I've probably already given this more thought than Ryall would seem to.

I can only seeing this killing my interest in the books. At this point I'm already considering cancelling my orders for everything except MTMTE once sins ends and while that may seem unfair to Scott, fact is the windblade second series wasnt great and the thoughts of MORE starscream vs windblade doesnt fill me with any joy.

This could be where I get of the train. Ah well.

I would rather IDW do an All-New All-Different shared universe between The Transformers, G.I. Joe, M.A.S.K., ROM, The Micronauts, Action Man, Dungeons and Dragons, Magic: The Gathering, Jem & The Holograms, Battle Beasts, and My Little Pony without trying to mesh their current series and/or previous continuities.

Basically it would a new line of comics separate from the current The Transformers, MTMTE, TAO, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, and the MLP titles and universes and you can put the current Micronauts, ROM, Action Man, titles and IDW just bring the current titles in the Revolution Universe because they're still fairly young and you bring IDW's original G.I. Joe universe in it (that is if Hasbro/IDW want to salvage it, from I've read about it IDW's original G.I. Joe universe is such a mess that it seems that IDW has abandoned in favor of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero). I would be in favor of that.

IMHO trying to smash all these different continuities together reeks of DC's crap like Flashpoint event. While I haven't read the book I did watch the animated movie The Flashpoint Paradox which the book is based on and it was the easily the worst animated movie I've seen in a long time everything in it absolutely SUCKS! I wanted to wash my eyes with bleach after it was over it is that awful. Thankfully I watched this POS on Netflix and didn't "pay" for it and now I never want to see it again. Now granted I know that the movie and the book are different media, but still if WB and DC wanted me to buy that book after watching that crap they can wish in one hand and crap in the other and see which happens first. And to make matters worst apparently a Flashpoint style storyline will kick off season 3 of The Flash and might the "mega crossover" that the CW has already announced between Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, and Legends of Tomorrow and if the endings to season one to both Supergirl and Legends of Tomorrow already hinting at something like that.
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Skyquake87
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Post by Skyquake87 »

I agree. They can do their Secret Wars style cross-brand promotion in one tidy book and it can stand and fall on its own merits and that'd be fine. The industry has enough terrible cross over garbage that has no intrinsic artistic worth or value without adding this to the heap.

I'm unfamiliar with IDWs other licensed toy property comics because ...I couldn't care less about them. No amount of Hasbro mandated shoe-horning of all this stuff together will make me pick up and read them or go out and buy the toys or whatever it is thats supposed to happen out of this that's made it a big priority all of a sudden. I'm obviously not the target audience for this, but then who is? Will new readers be attracted by a mash up of all your '80s toy faves? Maybe ten or so years ago at the height of the nostalgia boom, but now...?

(is it all of a sudden as well, or is this a poorly announced decision that's actually been planned in the background somewhere and no one passed the memo on?)

I dunno, I've lived through enough terrible, bloated crossovers that ultimately don't matter (even the really good ones like Civil War) to view them only for what they are ; a way to create some short term interest and short term sales boosts. The last decade was littered with mega-event crossovers and I'm just worn out and disinterested in them. Its largely whats put me off superhero comics for good. IDWs previous form with things like Infestation don't have me holding out much hope that this'll be like Final Crisis. The best it can hope to be is something like Barber and Sicoli's Transformers / G.I. Joe, and that was a joke that outstayed its welcome. I picked up Dark Cybertron grudgingly and wish I hadn't, as that was also awful.

Flashpoint was bobbins. I liked those Flash event stories from when Wally West was Flash and Mark Waid did the writing. They were properly ace.
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Post by Denyer »

It seems to be missing the point, yeah -- I don't think the tail end of the nostalgia bubble is why the majority of people carrying the titles are reading them. There's part of the audience that will buy into convention repaints, etc, and it's no doubt why 3P toy companies have been successful. But it's doubtful anyone's been picking up MTMTE because they liked seeing Megatron call a retreat on the telly, or even ex-RID because they want to see Prime be how the character was in previous media.
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Post by Red Dave Prime »

I think the cross overs need to be a bit more sensible as well - I hated the idea of spiderman in the transformers universe to be honest. I could however go with a Gobot crossover, or Robotech one. I'm not sure they'd be good but they would make more sense to me. I think a few years back DC did a DC v He-man one which I cant imagine was anygood. Superman v He-Man has a certain interest but once you start chucking in Batman etc. - yucks.
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Post by inflatable dalek »

More substantial PR interview that's much better than the first in that it actually has some details in it (though still not for what happens to the existing books afterwards). It doesn't sway me, but this is much more like what the first announcement should have been:

http://www.comicbookresources.com/artic ... revolution
REVIISITATION: THE HOLE TRUTH
STARSCREAM GOES TO PIECES IN MY LOOK AT INFILTRATION #6!
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Skyquake87
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Post by Skyquake87 »

IDW need to make John Barber EIC or whatever and demote Ryall to chief counter of paperclips or something.

Barber makes it sound interesting and almost worthwhile. The bit about having an amazing brainstorming session and jumping on a plane to speak to Hasbro whiffs of ...whiffy things though.


It still doesn't really seem like it has much of a point, though. Plus how do you square frickin' Micronauts and Visionaries in the same contemporary timeline without it looking silly?

"We are Knights Of The Magical Light!" (makes pretty hologram)

"We are Cobra. We have a Terrordrome."

BOOOOOM!

" 'Knights Of The Magical Light'. Pfft. What a bunch of dilberts."






What the heck is ROM?

Is it like RAM? Is that what it is? Is that good?
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Post by Patapsco »

Skyquake87 wrote:1


What the heck is ROM?

Is it like RAM? Is that what it is? Is that good?
It's read only as opposed to random access, so much better
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Post by Brendocon 2.0 »

Skyquake87 wrote:What the heck is ROM?

Is it like RAM? Is that what it is? Is that good?
ROM is a robot that Hasbro chucked at Marvel and said "do something to flog that", leading to the creation of the Spaceknights.

Marvel own all the backstory and supporting cast and concepts, etc, but the rights to the character itself reverted back to Hasbro. Meaning that Spaceknights, Direwraiths etc can crop up wherever Marvel want them to, but they can't reprint any of the original story or any of the issues that ROM himself guest starred in (without heavy editing). Think of the hoops IDW had to jump through to reprint Marvel's TF #3, but on a much more catastrophic scale.

I did pick up IDW's ROM FCBD issue, which I really must read at some point if only to find out what the hell they've done with it.
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Post by inflatable dalek »

My extensive researh (asking on Twitter) suggests IDW can use at least some of the back-story, presumably their good working relationship with Marvel has allowed some sort of deal to be done.
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