The Energon Pub

[Randomhero]

you gentlemen(or ladies) have lost me. Which cover bothers you? None of it bothers me.

The RI cover with Windblade. I think people are also not noticing the giant sword in her hand. It's a cover of being surprised, of looking like she's been caught. Not a cover of a defenseless woman being jumped in an alley.

[Aru]

you gentlemen(or ladies) have lost me. Which cover bothers you? None of it bothers me.

The RI cover with Windblade. I think people are also not noticing the giant sword in her hand. It's a cover of being surprised, of looking like she's been caught. Not a cover of a defenseless woman being jumped in an alley.

I'm not sure the sword saves it. I mean yes she is surprised but she also seems to be in danger. The sword being drawn helps that. There is just so much more here though, the pronounced breasts, the uncomfortably small hands, the cock of her hip in a weird way for this situation, and the way her arm goes up to her mouth while its agape is very evocative of those ahhhh screaming moments from films and such. It's over all fairly unpleasant and as somebody said earlier rather sexual, which seems weirdly out of place. I don't know, I mean imagine prowl or Optimus looking exactly like this with hips cocked and delicate fingers it doesn't really mesh well. I'm all for fan service, I mean if you wanted to do the women of GI JOE on a cover at like a beach party in swim suits it be stupid, cheesecake, and I'd be in on the joke. This isn't that though. Am I making any sense?

[Randomhero]

you gentlemen(or ladies) have lost me. Which cover bothers you? None of it bothers me.

The RI cover with Windblade. I think people are also not noticing the giant sword in her hand. It's a cover of being surprised, of looking like she's been caught. Not a cover of a defenseless woman being jumped in an alley.

I'm not sure the sword saves it. I mean yes she is surprised but she also seems to be in danger. The sword being drawn helps that. There is just so much more here though, the pronounced breasts, the uncomfortably small hands, the cock of her hip in a weird way for this situation, and the way her arm goes up to her mouth while its agape is very evocative of those ahhhh screaming moments from films and such. It's over all fairly unpleasant and as somebody said earlier rather sexual, which seems weirdly out of place. I don't know, I mean imagine prowl or Optimus looking exactly like this with hips cocked and delicate fingers it doesn't really mesh well. I'm all for fan service, I mean if you wanted to do the women of GI JOE on a cover at like a beach party in swim suits it be stupid, cheesecake, and I'd be in on the joke. This isn't that though. Am I making any sense?

no not really. You're reading way too much into this. I've looked up other boards coverage of the preview not a single person saying "this makes me uncomfortable" some even saying "that's a cool cover"

Like I said before, there's a cover with decaptitatwd robot, no one thinks twice.

[Aru]

you gentlemen(or ladies) have lost me. Which cover bothers you? None of it bothers me.

The RI cover with Windblade. I think people are also not noticing the giant sword in her hand. It's a cover of being surprised, of looking like she's been caught. Not a cover of a defenseless woman being jumped in an alley.

I'm not sure the sword saves it. I mean yes she is surprised but she also seems to be in danger. The sword being drawn helps that. There is just so much more here though, the pronounced breasts, the uncomfortably small hands, the cock of her hip in a weird way for this situation, and the way her arm goes up to her mouth while its agape is very evocative of those ahhhh screaming moments from films and such. It's over all fairly unpleasant and as somebody said earlier rather sexual, which seems weirdly out of place. I don't know, I mean imagine prowl or Optimus looking exactly like this with hips cocked and delicate fingers it doesn't really mesh well. I'm all for fan service, I mean if you wanted to do the women of GI JOE on a cover at like a beach party in swim suits it be stupid, cheesecake, and I'd be in on the joke. This isn't that though. Am I making any sense?

no not really. You're reading way too much into this. I've looked up other boards coverage of the preview not a single person saying "this makes me uncomfortable" some even saying "that's a cool cover"

Like I said before, there's a cover with decaptitatwd robot, no one thinks twice.

I don't think so. It's like when you read over a sentence with bad grammar or is worded poorly you go back and realize why the sentence set off your confusion. Suddenly the flaw are obvious.I don't doubt that other people at other boards feel different I mean it's a huge world out there so why wouldn't there be? I mean there do seem to be plenty of people noticing it here though.
I don't think the decapitated head is relatable though. It's an issue about a large battle and it's within that wheel house to have an example of death or even violence. More so than that it's done tastefully and violence/death is not always done so. You can fail at that in an even more spectacular way than I believe the Windblade one does. The somber colors compliment the titans head as it lays on the ground and the figures standing around convey the size and the weight of the Titans falling on Cybertron. The cover expresses the book very well and with taste. It's a false equivalencey to say that just because one piece of art is handling something more complex and doing it well that another one can't fail or express something extremely uncomfortable while attempting something simpler.
Again what if it was Optimus or Prowl in that exact same posistion wouldn't that seem super off? It would seem super off to me. It's just a hypersexualized piece about a situation of danger and it's hard to not take that as anything other than off.

[BB Shockwave]

Dat silly anime face (tiny mouth) on the Windblade cover...

[Fires_Of_Inferno]

I see a curvy robot lady, with a sword. You're looking too deep into this.

[Va'al]

Elita Done
(Spoiler free-ish)

Synopsis
A wave of undead TITANS has touched down on CYBERTRON! Even with the help of the massive METROPLEX, WINDBLADE and STARSCREAM can only hold them off for so long. They need help from Elita-1—and they’re going to get it whether she agrees or not. The fate of CYBERTRON depends on it!

Now, where were we?

Story

With the weird time shifts of IDW's release schedules - seriously, even continuity has nothing on them - we're still working in the aftermath of Titans Return, and really quite heavily so. Said aftermath continues to provide an excellent backdrop to the evolving dynamics of the Council, and the whatonearthisgoingon-ness of Elita-1 and her Titan Carcer. How? Read on...

What Sparkstalker said!

An issue which rolls much faster than the previous one, which was more focused on build-up than resolution, we start to see the direct consequence of having called all major players into play, and Elita One still unwilling to lend a hand - because something is up with Carcer, as everyone knows by now.

but yyyyy

Though there is plenty of character building in the various scenes across the issue, and Windblade, Ironhide, Starscream, and even Metroplex get a good dose, the one that stood out the most was Obsidian, this time round. We've seen him loving his tiny 'gotcha' screens, being imposing and menacing and lurking and looming - we get to see a very different side of him, now that he's next to his First. She's probably worse things than him.

concerned creepy puppy

Mairghread Scott has also been able to do some subtle characterisation of the various names and faces that appear in group shots - keep an eye out for all of them as you dodge lasers, blasters, missiles. I have some further thoughts on the issue in terms of plot, but more on that below, of course.

Art

There is a lot happening all at once. It's a giant battle with giant Titans, occurring both in space and on Cybertron. It's a big canvas. Sara Pitre Durocher fills it masterfully, using panels, action layouts, character interactions and page breaks to convey the sheer scale of the event and of its impact upon Starscream's current rule, along with the Council.

pictured here

And if crowd and battle scenes weren't hard enough for lineart, colourist Joana Lafuente blends her skill with equal mastery, and makes individuals in a crowd stand out, from the guards around Ironhide, to the Titans attacking, to the faces appearing between convicts, citizens, dwellers and ex-colonists. That, and we still have some excellent space scenes, too.

And this shot

Tom B. Long, still on letters as we've come to expect, still delivers (as we've also come to expect) in fonts, captions, and interplaying the two and more into a coherent part of the visual storytelling. Metroplex's speech-style is still one of the highlights of this book, and so very nice to look at. We also then have Pitre Durocher on main cover, with a similar, echoing variant by Priscilla Tramontano (thumbnailed), plus a continuation of fan artist spotlights with Zoner taking a turn on RI.

Thoughts
Spoilerish ahead

Diplomacy also means strategy. Leadership also means compromise. Both definitely mean tough choices, and the unique mix of Windblade and Starscream's takes on the current situation at hand brings out a definitely intriguing and potentially incredibly consequential storyline revolving yes around Carcer, but also Metroplex, but even more also - and particularly - Elita-1.

One Scary Lady

As I said above, I like Obsidian's 'new' side, I like his interaction with Elita, I like that Windblade and Starscream are collaborating on a difficult task, I like that we have a side-support from Chromia, I like that we have everyone - and I mean everyone - in the issue (Check out ScottyP's spoilery character roster in our database!). I like that I have no idea where this is going. I can only think of other Titans, past storylines, speculate, and mostly, just wait for the evil to unfold. Join me?

. out of

[Kurona]

It's honestly amazing how good TAAO has gotten. It deserves to be an ongoing so much; the few issues it gets right now do not do it justice.

[o.supreme]

Agreed. It feels more like the natural continuation of RiD (which I always preferred to MTMTE) rather than Windblade Vol 3.

[Targetmaster Kup]

They should have clearly labeled this as part of Titans Return.

[Va'al]

They should have clearly labeled this as part of Titans Return.

It is, in the blurb/synopsis of last issue. The fact that it's not happening before Revolution is entirely IDW's scheduling fault. They're.. not very good at keeping schedules to schedule.

[Kurona]

Agreed. It feels more like the natural continuation of RiD (which I always preferred to MTMTE) rather than Windblade Vol 3.

To be fair, Windblade's books have all been about Cybertron and it's relations with other planets. So in that sense, Windblade has always felt like a continuation of the political side of things with Starscream and such in pre-Dark Cybertron RiD while post-Dark Cybertron RiD feels like a continuation of the whole Orion Pax thing in pre-Dark Cybertron RiD.

[o.supreme]

True. I guess what I'm getting at is I've pretty much preferred any TF story that wasn't MTMTE since the whole MTMTE/RiD era in the last 5 years. I know its a fan favorite, but I tend to enjoy more the stuff going on with Cybertron, and Optimus Prime (which were once the same, now are separate stories)

[Targetmaster Kup]

They should have clearly labeled this as part of Titans Return.

It is, in the blurb/synopsis of last issue. The fact that it's not happening before Revolution is entirely IDW's scheduling fault. They're.. not very good at keeping schedules to schedule.

I bet it would have sold more with the label on the front.

[Bounti76]

They should have clearly labeled this as part of Titans Return.

It is, in the blurb/synopsis of last issue. The fact that it's not happening before Revolution is entirely IDW's scheduling fault. They're.. not very good at keeping schedules to schedule.

Va'al, I checked out the database like you suggested, and I was surprised to see Slammer listed among the characters. I've studied every panel and can't see Slammer anywhere, unless he's got a robot mode that has hithertofore been unseen in the last 30 years.

[Va'al]

They should have clearly labeled this as part of Titans Return.

It is, in the blurb/synopsis of last issue. The fact that it's not happening before Revolution is entirely IDW's scheduling fault. They're.. not very good at keeping schedules to schedule.

Va'al, I checked out the database like you suggested, and I was surprised to see Slammer listed among the characters. I've studied every panel and can't see Slammer anywhere, unless he's got a robot mode that has hithertofore been unseen in the last 30 years.

ScottyP suggests that one of the guards - the one you see shouting at people, I believe - is in fact slammer, mostly due to the presence of Metroplex in the story. I cannot confirm or deny either way, but it's worth considering as an option!

[Va'al]

Fellow Seibertronian Bounti76 has found an update on IDW writer Mairghread Scott's blog, concerning the lack of a Transformers: Till All Are One in the March 2017 solicitations (which you can find here). Apparently, this is just a scheduled one month break, and not a cancellation or delay. Read more about it below!

Noticed there was no TAAO issue in the March solicitations; it's not cancelled, is it? D:

Nope. We’re just taking a month off for Sara to catch up. Unlike our characters (or like them, depending on how you define it) she is not a machine.

[Bounti76]

They should have clearly labeled this as part of Titans Return.

It is, in the blurb/synopsis of last issue. The fact that it's not happening before Revolution is entirely IDW's scheduling fault. They're.. not very good at keeping schedules to schedule.

Va'al, I checked out the database like you suggested, and I was surprised to see Slammer listed among the characters. I've studied every panel and can't see Slammer anywhere, unless he's got a robot mode that has hithertofore been unseen in the last 30 years.

ScottyP suggests that one of the guards - the one you see shouting at people, I believe - is in fact slammer, mostly due to the presence of Metroplex in the story. I cannot confirm or deny either way, but it's worth considering as an option!

That's fair. Considering we have such obscure characters as Greenlight, Lancer, Moonracer and the Devisen twins in this story, I wouldn't put it past Scott to slip Slammer into one of the issues. Though given that TAAO generally hews close to 'bots classic color schemes and Slammer's color scheme has always been white-on-white, and this bot's is predominantly gray.....eh, if it is Slammer, maybe Scott, Pitre-DuRocher and LaFuente are taking creative liberties with him, since he's never appeared in robot form before.

[Randomhero]

Like I said weeks ago, probably just taking the month off. If it was canceled IDW would announce it.

[ScottyP]

That's fair. Considering we have such obscure characters as Greenlight, Lancer, Moonracer and the Devisen twins in this story, I wouldn't put it past Scott to slip Slammer into one of the issues. Though given that TAAO generally hews close to 'bots classic color schemes and Slammer's color scheme has always been white-on-white, and this bot's is predominantly gray.....eh, if it is Slammer, maybe Scott, Pitre-DuRocher and LaFuente are taking creative liberties with him, since he's never appeared in robot form before.

It's a case of me having fun with it for one, but also making the most educated guess that I can. If it comes out 'officially' that it's just a generic 'bot, I'll take it out of there pronto

I did say educated guess and you were right to say that Slammer never had a robot mode. However, in the spoopy world of third party Transformers, the Iron Factory Generations Metroplex upgrade set came with a Slammer that has a bot mode that's at least a little like the one drawn in the book:


On another note, very glad to see that this is continuing on in April, and also glad they just skipped March instead of throwing out a solicitation that might not make it in.

[Randomhero]

I'm less concerned about skipping a month and once again we have ANOTHER artist that can't keep up. Guess that's what happens when you pull people from tumblr and deviantart. Be great if we could see the return of some artist who actually have experience in drawing monthly comics.

[Va'al]

Yeah it's a shame that we're still using humans that have lives and the such. How dare they.

[Randomhero]

Yeah it's a shame that we're still using humans that have lives and the such. How dare they.

Nothing stopped Mark bagley frrom drawing 111 issues of ultimate Spider man in the span of 7 years. That's almost 2 issues a month continuiously through out his whole time on the book. Same with Charlie adlard on walking dead for 13 years. WD got delayed a couple times but never a point of slipping an actual solicitation. I'm just saying if you can't meet the monthly deadline then don't commit to it. That's why Sarah stone isn't drawing for Transformers anymore, she did great work but couldn't do the monthly deadline and drawing comics isn't a hobby it's a job.when you can't do it, a new artist comes in that can do it because when you miss a month, sales get smaller. I know, I've actually drawn comics and just had to turn down a story in a self published this month because my day job is in the way. I didn't tell the creator "gimme a few months I can do it" I said "I thought I could but I can't, if you want I can do a story for the next one"

Honestly I'd rather see some verterans on this book like dan khanna, Robbie musso or Emiliano Santalucia because those are artist that can draw good transformers comics on timely basis.

[Va'al]

Yeah it's a shame that we're still using humans that have lives and the such. How dare they.

Honestly I'd rather see some verterans on this book like dan khanna, Robbie musso or Emiliano Santalucia because those are artist that can draw good transformers comics on timely basis.

I'd rather we gave creators a chance to continue their own work, rather than drive them to burnouts and having to turn down work. I'm sure you also know that artists are pretty much all work for hire at IDW, and that this is not their only job.

We (readers and editors) gave Nick Roche a chance with Sins of the Wreckers. Happy to do the same for Sara Pitre Durocher. And much happier IDW did this than their usual -whoops, let's just publish two weeks late because the writers are too slow to get their work over to the artists.

EDIT: Image have been doing the couple of months hiatus for a while now, and none of their sales have been affected. It's a model I really do quite like: one monthly issue for five months, one month is the TPB, one month break, repeat.

[Rael]

Between the idea that a TF packaging art director was picked up by IDW because of social media (and iirc, Sarah Stone wasn't either), the comparison with select artists who weren't drawing a robot for every character, and the comparisons with (great) artists who've never done more than 6 TF issues back-to-back on a given run, I don't know where to start. Misplaced assumptions abound.

Count me as another glad they're going this route with the schedule as opposed to sliding releases back a week several times in a row to even it out. Many of the fill-in artists IDW brings in are fantastic, but there's always something to be said for keeping the ongoing artist in the chair when it means consistent trades and minimized continuity oversights in designs and details.