Heinrad wrote:In Costa's defense, he inherited this mess. And if he's sticking to the "write a big arc for TPB sales" mindset, all we're going to get are huge numbers of characters.
Just read it. Not bad. Of course, I haven't read the series since issue 4, so I'm a little lost.
So he solved his mistake of making Bumblebee a leader by killing him with a human gun from the pocket (and revive him later)? Then Optimus won't have any excuses to return as a leader in preparation for Megatron's return in the future (#14 or #15)? How many pages have they spent on Bumblee and the guy who I don't care trying to bring the satellite back while other Autobots were being ass kicked outside?
Blackjack wrote:I have to review this sometime down the road, don't I? -groans-
Ya! And I can't wait to read it. It will be much, much more enjoyable than this series.
Well im just going to be honest, these first 12 issues of the ongoing are the worst 12 issues of any TF comic ever!!
The 1st 6 weren't great but it was tolerable, but the last 6 issues are down right horrible
Lets examine what's wrong here, IDW pushed issue #1 like it had some type of ground breaking situation, where Prime surrenders to the humans in hope that HIS autobots can find a better way without him, through 12 freaking issues, I have not seen this shown from the perspective of any autobots as to how they have gotten so called better from Prime surrendering himself, it's like WTF a slap in the face, Now it would have been better had Prime surrendered himself as a way to make peace with the humans, kinda like if two sides dont trust each other at some point somebody has to put themselves out there and hope for the best, but in the ongoing Prime just surrenders, and see if that is Primes original intention, why not just mention that, that's not one of those things that you want to get down the line later and so oh that's what Prime was doing, geez again bad story telling
And lets be honest IDW TF's at the moment are nothing but a slap in the face, this is the question I really need answered, why is Bumblebee the leader? I mean WTF, what does this or has this done for the story, besides nothing??? I mean if Megatron or any big Decepticon shows up, who is gonna have to step in and save the day? Bumblebee?? NO? It's gonna be Prime as evidenced in ongoing arc 1, and ongoing arc 2, so again why in the F is Bumblebee the leader? when he cannot fight against any big decepticons and he is nothing when it comes to being a strategist, again bad story telling
AHM cast, Megatron, Seekers, Soundwave and crew and the Constructicons, Astrotrain, Blitzwing, Reflector, and the insecticons, who showed up during, Octane/Tankor and that other decepticon that was hiding with the us army. Yea I get it there were other decepticons present on earth during AHM that weren't "featured" characters, but in the ongoing so far the Stunticons, Combaticons, and Predacons show up with no explanation, and its a slap in the face with no eplanation, so were just to assume that they were there and got left behind? WTF, again bad story telling`
Three years ago the Decepticons brought the earth to its knees, and now in three years the earth has been pretty much rebuilt and the humans are almost technologically almost on the level of beings who have been doing this for millions of years and are robots, and to top it of, we have a Macguyer/Rambo hybrid in Spike who can kill decepticons with laundry detergent or anything else you can find in bathroom, but seriously humans can compete with TF's? WTF, again bad story telling
My number 1 complaint though is this, the ongoing is just a bad story, In the movies you have what Humans and TF's teaming up together to stop Decepticons, and in the ongoing you have what TF's teaming up with humans to stop Decepticons. IDW don't you think that the ongoing should be going in a different direction then whats already going on in the movies, If i wanted Autobots and humans teaming up, I'd actually bother to watch revenge of the fallen again
It's like somebody already said before, I don't really think these comics are geared for a fan like me, who they are geared for I don't know, but they are not geared for me
For these 12 issues it cost me $52 bucks, so until the ongoing actually gets better, i'll be at barnes and noble reading the trade for arc 3
So arc 2 is over. And what a joy it was. Badly drawn (or was it rushed? GG has trouble with humans but I've always thought his robots were great) and very, very badly plotted. The first 3 issues could have been condensed into 1 and a half issues easy. Maybe even 1 issue would have done it. The climax issue isnt absolutely rotten - the pacing is nearly ok. The main problem is that it is so very silly.
Russia knows automatically that the Predacons are with china and the Combaticons are with North Korea but cant figure out the Autobots are with America? They fire a nuke (a ****ing nuke!!) but thats ok, Prime and the boys solve everything in the end... by getting rid of the energon factory! Hurrah! The outcome is straight out of the g1 cartoon. Its far, far too simplistic for the audience that I imagine is buying it. G1 was 25 years ago, far too say that its fans are around that age.
Than we have the assasination of Bumblebee (altough given the previous track record of IDWs run I'm sure he'll be fine). He gets taken out by a single human with a hand gun. A HAND GUN! Sure, the humans have gained some tech over the last 3 years but come on! If they have that powerful an arsenal than I cant see how they see the transformers as a threat.
Since Costa has taken over, we've gotten so many badly thought-through ideas its unreal. Heres my favourites:
Optimus prime surrenders - but still leads the autobots.
The decepticons become cannibals (I get taking energon from another con but why eat his tail wing?)
Humans having weapons that are tiny and yet cause massive damage
Rodimus - wrong choice of character for that role completely
Autobots stranded on Earth.. but plenty still in space who could pick them up
Rampage hinting at a coup to take control of the decepticons from starscream - while his elite unit work for china on earth (maybe the terrorcons could have done that role)
Humans can build energon factories but transformers cant.
With this arc over and no other books lined up on the horizon, I'm thinking maybe I should cancel my standing order. Amazing to think that this is the same company that produced Last stand of the wreckers.
Prime1 wrote:My number 1 complaint though is this, the ongoing is just a bad story, In the movies you have what Humans and TF's teaming up together to stop Decepticons, and in the ongoing you have what TF's teaming up with humans to stop Decepticons. IDW don't you think that the ongoing should be going in a different direction then whats already going on in the movies, If i wanted Autobots and humans teaming up, I'd actually bother to watch revenge of the fallen again
Yes, because of the movies that makes Bumblebee popular, IDW made him the leader. Yes, because of the movies that makes Bumblebee look cool, IDW upgraded his look. Yes, because of the movies, IDW made Autobots team up with humans but forgot most of the big AHM Decepticons were hiding in space. For all these mess, let's all blame on Bay. No, we can't. It's IDW's Grimlock brain to blame at.
Now another interesting thought, Hot Rod got mad and attacked humans after seeing them killed Ironhide. What about Brawn as he was standing next to Bumblebee? He is as much hot head as Hot Rod and not anything better than him by lifting a tank with frustration. If IDW wants to save their reputation back, they should have at least 3 pages long in issue 13 of Autobots shooting humans around like Decepticons did in the beginning of AHM, before moving the story to space with Hot Rod screwing with Starscream. Oh wait, 3 pages brings nothing now, let's make it 5 pages.
Red Dave Prime wrote:Rampage hinting at a coup to take control of the decepticons from starscream - while his elite unit work for china on earth (maybe the terrorcons could have done that role)
Humans can build energon factories but transformers cant.
I know that you meant Razorclaw:), but anyway, you pointing this out really gets me to thinking, like seriously can we take ANY Decepticon serious whether it's Starscream or Razorclaw or anybody else for that matter, when we KNOW Megatron is coming back? Again the ongoing is just bad, very bad
Again it's like the human's have evolved, I mean seriously how can we have a story with TF's, where they are the ones scared of humans, and humans aren't afaid of them, when we just had AHM showing humans as helpless little creatures
I remember IDW saying that they gave Costa the reign because he had the best pitch of stories so to speak, with what he's given us so far I'd hate to hear what the other pitches that didn't make it were
I mean these stories are beyond sunbowish. The major thing IDW has to realize with a TF G1 license is that, it is limited with what its gonna sale, because the reality is that G1 is for us late twenties, early thirties people, and they have to realize that we don't want sunbow, if we want sunbow we will watch the TF cartoon(because Im sure everybody that posts on this website has atleast season 1 on DVD), the only thing I hate about them taking this direction with the book is that so many people like me will stop buying the book and then we won't have anything left of G1, but seriously IDW has to understand that they are only going to sale 10,000-12,000 books a issue and get over it, and go back to making books that we want, instead of trying to dumb the book down to get more sales
Good point about the sales but I reckon if we had a few arcs each year instead of the ongoing and they were of the ambition if not standard of lsotw IDw might experience better sales long term as people will read a quality book.
That little gun at the end could have been Megatron himself. He is awake and could have found a way to get back to Earth, if only his mind. Alternatively, he could have left powerful handguns with his facsimiles.
Yeah, the thought did go into my head, especially as the gun seems to have a silencer. if that is the case though you have to wonder how mega got to earth bearing in mind his condition five issues ago.
I can't buy the idea that a pistol that small could have that much power. If it's mega (or even shockwave in small form) fine. Urgh but fine. If it's not...
Megatron might have sent his mind as a communication through hyperspace. (The holographic Doctor did it on Star Trek: Voyager!) The door to hyperspace could have been opened by the engines of his ship. He could have had a spare body stashed on Earth, in pistol mode.
The 'too-much-power' issue has always been contentious. Stargate episodes explain such things as 'Zero Point Modules' that pull energy out of the quantum foam, i.e. out of empty space, other dimensions or other realities.
Okay, so admittedly, there were parts of this I enjoyed. I smiled some. Other times though, I cringed.
I would say that the strongest aspect of this story is the character focus and dialogue. Costa is adept at building up his characters and he's good with character interaction. I particularly enjoyed the interaction of Bumblebee and Thundercracker. (And damn, can Guido draw a kickass TC!) Very much enjoyed the character of Vortex. Laughed audibly regarding his comments about the Autobots sending Jetfire after him. Want to see more of this kind of thing. Also, the fight scenes involving the Combaticons were quite good. Nice to see Onslaught holding his own (somewhat) against Prime.
But are these things enough to distract from the painfully annoying concept that Transformers, even vicious hate-mongering Decepticons, must be beholden to petty humans? The scene with the Combaticons groveling before Korean heads of state is perhaps the worst scene in this story. Please, these are Decepticons! Combaticons! Robotic warriors from a war world. Currently residing on a planet they almost just destroyed.
The most unnecessary element? Just when you thought it unacceptable that the Combaticons were human pets, enter China's own pet cat, Rampage and his fellow Predacons. Thankfully, Razorclaw is spared the humiliation, and is absent from this story. Their presence made the final issue the worst for me.
There were other nuisances, like Bumblebee taking on his movie form, providing the painful reminder that the creators aren't as free to do with this comic as they please. Nice to see Bumblebee get his ass shot by a human pistol after that ridiculous speech.
Give this story a "C+". If one can get past the overall premise (and last time I checked, overall premises were important), there are things to like here, and it's probably worth a read. But brace yourself.
Megatron might have sent his mind as a communication through hyperspace. (The holographic Doctor did it on Star Trek: Voyager!) The door to hyperspace could have been opened by the engines of his ship. He could have had a spare body stashed on Earth, in pistol mode.
The 'too-much-power' issue has always been contentious. Stargate episodes explain such things as 'Zero Point Modules' that pull energy out of the quantum foam, i.e. out of empty space, other dimensions or other realities.
Oh just **** off with that.
Ahem..
Okay, so admittedly, there were parts of this I enjoyed. I smiled some. Other times though, I cringed.
I think thats a fair point. Its not all terrible but where it is bad, its amazingly bad. Takes all the good work down and fustrates even more.
Commander Shockwav wrote:Okay, so admittedly, there were parts of this I enjoyed. I smiled some. Other times though, I cringed.
I think thats a fair point. Its not all terrible but where it is bad, its amazingly bad. Takes all the good work down and fustrates even more.
Isn't this kind of opposite than the movies? For the movies, generally we can tolerate the bad because the good are so good to bypass those bad, especially in RotF. Here, I was choked by those bad and couldn't swallow those good.
I kinda agree. Theres some individual stand out scene but the plot is so bad it has trouble scene to scene let alone as a film overall. I prefer the first one by a long margin.
Personally I never liked Costa's jokes. They seem cheap, lousy, and fall flat on their faces. The only one that made me chuckle was Vortex's "DEATH FROM ABOVE!" thing. And maybe Bluestreak and Brawn's little argument in 11.
Onslaught and Smokescreen act like total village idiots, the Skywatch agents (bar Spike, who's kind of okay once you ignore the rubbish issue 8) are all bland and uninteresting. The long, repetitive dialogue are banal, worse than those written by Furman and McCarthy.
The sight of Decepticons being forced to kowtow to humans, after Spike's illogical and humiliating takedown of Scrapper in issue 8, is rubbish. And while I might just buy Brawl or Rampage going with it, how does a military strategist and crack team commander like Onslaught work for a bunch of Koreans? Egad.
Guido's art works well for the Transformers, although it does fell kind of.. I dunno, scratchy compared to his work in AHM or Spotlight Galvatron. The humans' expressions look kind of creepy, and at some places the art just seems rushed. Can't stand Bumblebee's lips, for one, and I don't really like the colouring. Costa does seem to love multiple faceshots while two people are talking (BB and TC; Spike and Optimus et al), which, IMO, doesn't work too well.
Commander Shockwav wrote:Sorry to say but I see no good whatsoever in Revenge of the Fallen.
The Forest Fight. If that doesn't count as good in your eyes while stuff from IDW does, then there's something seriously wrong with you.
Onslaught working for the North Koreans: I guess he's really desparate for any kind of support. In the real world, some commentators think that new leader Kim Jong-Un will open up the North Korean economy to limited foreign dealings. North Korea is in a bad state. People are starving in the street.
snavej wrote:Onslaught working for the North Koreans: I guess he's really desparate for any kind of support. In the real world, some commentators think that new leader Kim Jong-Un will open up the North Korean economy to limited foreign dealings. North Korea is in a bad state. People are starving in the street.
Onslaught is a military strategist leading one of the Decepticon army's crack team soldiers under Banzaitron. A guy like him needs to side with humans? Needs to kowtow and grovel like a lapdog?
Ally, maybe. Be a lapdog? No. The cartoon was more realistic than this, and that's saying something.
Blackjack wrote:
The Forest Fight. If that doesn't count as good in your eyes while stuff from IDW does, then there's something seriously wrong with you.
There must be then, because I don't find piles of metal shavings moving through a forest that appealing, whereas with IDW comics I can at least make out where one bot ends and the other begins.
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