The Energon Pub

News Credits: 456 · by **Sabrblade** » Fri Dec 13, 2013 1:25 pm

Mindmaster wrote:

Sabrblade! JelZe! We need you!

Houston, we have a decoder!

The letters A through Z written in this language, courtesy of Rescue Bots episode 13:

Full size

Using this, we can match the letters seen on on this screen with those seen on the page above.

Sorry about the smallness of the letters, though, as they were already tiny to begin with. This could take some squinting.

by **kaijuguy19** » Sat Dec 14, 2013 8:24 pm

Sabrblade wrote:
Ω Sentinel ζ Prime wrote:A lot of folks here seem to dislike the Aligned Continuity family. Any reason why? Doesn't seem to have any more inconsistances than any other Continuity Family.
My guess is that the seed of it all began with the confirmation that the WFC video game was part of this continuity, when so many wanted badly for that game either to be its own thing or to a G1 game.

And lot of folks also don't like the aesthetic influence the Prime cartoon (and the continuity as a whole) took from the movies (and from Animated).

And, there's still a small minority who are still a little butthurt over Animated being canceled in favor of this, when there were plans for a fourth season already in development, but got scrapped because of TF: Prime's forthcoming arrival.

And a big thing regarding the inconsistencies is how Hasbro promised that all of this continuity would fit together and make sense as one whole, when just the sheer number of inconsistencies continues to contradict that again and again.

I should also say that the big reason why people hate the Aligned Continuity in all of it's forms is that they say that it's just a unoriginal,uninspiring,and did nothing to make itself stand out from the past series not to mention that they accuse the writing on this book to be written by an immature 12 year old who fails to grasp what makes the ideas it's homaging great to begin with. In short they said it did nothing better then the past series period.

by **? Sentinel ? Prime** » Sun Dec 15, 2013 10:57 am

I disagree.

In other news. tformers put up some better samples for anyone who may want them

http://tformers.com/ig.php?mode=album&d ... -of-primus

tldr

Prima is a jerk, and Maximo and Quintus seem to have created the Transformers.

(Megatronus reminds me of Original Shredder from TMNT a bit here)

Also the idea that the farther along in the sequence the less "Primus like" they are.

So it goes

Prima
Vector Prime
Alpha Trion
Solus Prime
Micronus Prime
Nexus Prime
Onyx Prime
Amalgamous Prime
Quintus Prime
Liege Maximo
Megatronus
The Thirteenth

News Credits: 251 · by **Mindmaster** » Sun Dec 15, 2013 2:47 pm

So are we still trying to decode the last page?

Because I found this...

News Credits: 6188 · by **Va'al** » Sun Dec 15, 2013 3:20 pm

Not the right code, I'm afraid. Sabrblade posted the correct one earlier, as it features in a Rescue Bots scene.

News Credits: 456 · by **Sabrblade** » Sun Dec 15, 2013 3:28 pm

Ω Sentinel ζ Prime wrote:In other news. tformers put up some better samples for anyone who may want them

http://tformers.com/ig.php?mode=album&d ... -of-primus

Which they took from the preview pages on Amazon.com. :roll:

Ω Sentinel ζ Prime wrote:and Maximo and Quintus seem to have created the Transformers.

They did not.

Ω Sentinel ζ Prime wrote:Also the idea that the farther along in the sequence the less "Primus like" they are.

With Thirteen being the sole exception to that.

Mindmaster wrote:So are we still trying to decode the last page?

Because I found this...

Those are the wrong languages.

The first is "Ancient Autobot", created by Jim Sorenson and derived from the text seen in the G1 cartoon episode "Cosmic Rust".

The second is "Decepticon Graffiti", also created by Jim Sorenson, and derived from the graffiti seen in the G1 Marvel comic issue "Decepticon Graffiti!"

The language seen in this book originated in Aligned Continuity media. The following is the letters A to Z written in this language text:
Full Size

by **? Sentinel ? Prime** » Sun Dec 15, 2013 5:34 pm

You got the book Sabr?

Cool! Could you please elaborate on the "Farm" subplot and where it goes.

Thank you.

News Credits: 456 · by **Sabrblade** » Sun Dec 15, 2013 7:30 pm

Ω Sentinel ζ Prime wrote:You got the book Sabr?

Cool! Could you please elaborate on the "Farm" subplot and where it goes.

Thank you.

In short, it goes nowhere. All it results in is a scuffle that has all the creatures and Maximo killed in the crossfire, and Onyx mortally wounded. I still have no idea what the point of it was.

Then again, I've only just recently reached chapter 5, so there's still a lot more reading for me to do.

by **? Sentinel ? Prime** » Sun Dec 15, 2013 8:00 pm

So if Maximo was killed, than does he just not do anything in Aligned?

Also big question.

The 13 are the "archetypes" of Transformers. Beasts, minicons, females(*sigh*) etc.

But how does that work? I'm assuming it's not Direct 'Descent' given some died before the modern Tf race rose.

Does Primus just only know how to make 13 kinds of robots?

by **Avensis-Mahiya** » Wed Dec 18, 2013 3:46 pm

Sabrblade wrote:And a big thing regarding the inconsistencies is how Hasbro promised that all of this continuity would fit together and make sense as one whole, when just the sheer number of inconsistencies continues to contradict that again and again.

That's the biggest problem I have with Aligned. It's all over the place and doesn't really seem to know what it's doing or where it's going. For me that's sloppy and not acceptable.

News Credits: 456 · by **Sabrblade** » Wed Dec 18, 2013 4:42 pm

As of last night, I have finished reading this book.

News Credits: 251 · by **Mindmaster** » Wed Dec 18, 2013 4:44 pm

Sabrblade wrote:I have finished reading this book.

Anything worth noting? Or perhaps a brief summary?

News Credits: 456 · by **Sabrblade** » Wed Dec 18, 2013 4:54 pm

The Good:

- We get a near-complete general overview of a history largely untold, spanning the very beginning to all that is known in the present ("Predacons Rising"), with some fascinating concepts thrown into the mix (among others not-so-fascinating, but we'll get there).

- The artwork is GORGEOUS. Easily the best part about this thing.

- We're actually given insight into Megatron's reasoning for his decision to stop pursuing a life of villainy as seen in "Predacons Rising". There's an entire section that reveals what all was going on through Megatron's mind as he was recovering from the eternal torture Unicron inflicted upon him.

- Some of the 13 Primes are quite decent dudes with interesting traits and abilities. Liege Maximo, despite being a schemer, is straight up Tom Hiddleston's Loki and was an entertaining character before his downfall.

- Revelations to some unanswered questions were given, such as the identity of the dead Prime Megatron stole the arm of in TF: Prime, what happened to the Predacons in the past, why Thundertron hates Cybertronians, what brought about the end of the Golden Age, and more.

- Some small bits of humor were subtly inserted and added a nice touch.

- Despite his newly-revealed heritage, Orion Pax is still a very likable character, with his portrayal evocative of how he was in both the Exodus novel and the "Orion Pax" three-part episode of the Prime cartoon.

- New characters with all new names are given prominent positions and authorities, instead of relegating all the important things to characters of existing names.

And the not-so-good:

- The mistreatment of Solus Prime as a character.

- Making Optimus Prime be one of the 13 Primes.

- The War of the Primes was less of a war and more just petty disagreements.

- Prima was a pompous, arrogant jerk.

- Megatronus contrary to all expectations, did not turn evil, but instead was just bitter and petty. His becoming "The Fallen" was barely anything at all. There was no metamorphosis or anything of the sort. He just declared himself that after feeling guilty about his bad behavior (yeah, the guy who represented evil was given a conscious). And his leaving the others was done on good terms, with him willingly surrendering the Requiem Blaster to the others and him wanting to go out and help other races in the cosmos for their benefit. So... why does everything else pertaining to The Fallen paint him up as this super dark embodiment of all things evil like Unicron if they ultimately didn't go that route for him?

- The fates of several of the Primes are never given. The book just stops mentioning them at some point until Alpha Trion and Optimus speak of them later as though they no longer exist.

- Continuity Snarls and inconsistencies with EVERYTHING in the Aligned Continuity.Seriously, it's like they didn't even bother to look back at any of the games, novels, cartoons, or comics that had come before this, and were instead just playing this by memory. They get most of the events of each right, but they're either in the wrong chronological order, or retconned into being false, or just flat out contradicted altogether.

The caste system exists long before the Golden Age as a product of the Quintessons' rule instead of marking the end of the Golden Age.

The whole of Fall of Cybertron (comics and game) is pretty much reworked entirely, with the Dinobots' backstory being redone outside of the one fact that Shockwave rebuilt the Light Strike Coalition, and with Metroplex given an entirely different role and set of circumstances from how he appeared in the game.

Even the Prime cartoon gets contradicted by claiming that the Nemesis crashed into Earth right after "Darkness Rising" and Unicron was awoken by the constant use of space bridge/GroundBridge technology and relic hunts (which hadn't happened yet outside of two or three cases) instead of by the planetary alignment. Prowl, who never appeared in the cartoon, is also mentioned as being among the Autobots seen in the "Predacons Rising" events. Optimus also doesn't know when, why, and how there are dead Cybertronians on Earth even though he was the one who explained all that in the show.

- Some of the artwork was inconsistent with existing fiction.We see Optimus and Bumblebee in their Binder bodies and Ratchet in his WFC body in artwork pertaining to Earth-based events from TF: Prime episodes. And we see some cases of character in Earthen bodies during the ancient past on Cybertron.

The book even contradicts itself at points, like saying at one point that the Iacon Relics were launched during the Great War, then later saying they were launched during the Golden Age.

- A few spelling/grammar errors, but I think I only spotted four of these, so this is a very minor thing.

- Some things were still not explained or just overlooked.Namely, despite the chapter being titled "Earthfall" we get no more than two sentences of events that took place on Earth prior to the Autobots making their first contact with humanity. The section almost immediately jumps right into the events of the Prime cartoon, skipping entirely over the first three years that the TFs were on Earth (a period that goes unmentioned here itself, even). The Predaclones that were cloned during the war, and then sent to ancient Earth, are also not mentioned.

Of all things, the 15-page excerpt from the Covenant of Primus that was included in the Exodus novel is also not in the Covenant of Primus. Go figure.

Final verdict: Eh, it's like a typical Transformers novel. There was an attempt, but the end result is flawed. I don't regret reading it, but it could have been so much more than it was. C-

News Credits: 251 · by **Mindmaster** » Wed Dec 18, 2013 5:00 pm

Sabrblade wrote:- We're actually given insight into Megatron's reasoning for his decision to stop pursuing a life of villainy as seen in "Predacons Rising". There's an entire section that reveals what all was going on through Megatron's mind as he was recovering from the eternal torture Unicron inflicted upon him.

Mind if you elaborate on that? That's the one thing that stood out the most to me when reading your report.

by **Avensis-Mahiya** » Wed Dec 18, 2013 5:07 pm

Aaaauuuuughhh...Hasbro, why?

Seriously? Why? Make up your damn minds as to what happens and stick to it. Fourteen year olds write fanfiction with better consistency.

This isn't good. It's shoddy.

Still getting it. Still reading it. Still bracing myself for incoming stupid.

News Credits: 456 · by **Sabrblade** » Wed Dec 18, 2013 5:10 pm

Mindmaster wrote:
Sabrblade wrote:- We're actually given insight into Megatron's reasoning for his decision to stop pursuing a life of villainy as seen in "Predacons Rising". There's an entire section that reveals what all was going on through Megatron's mind as he was recovering from the eternal torture Unicron inflicted upon him.

Mind if you elaborate on that? That's the one thing that stood out the most to me when reading your report.

He pretty much looks back on and evaluates his whole life up until that point, remembering how unfair he used to think life was back when he was a miner, feeling the oppression of the caste system and the stagnation of Cybertronian life, and came to realize that all that he had hoped to accomplish, despite having convinced himself that it was for the greater benefit of everyone, was nothing more than fuel for his own vanity. All the tyranny and conquests and missions of power and glory he had striven for all his life, nothing but a fool's vanity. His being used as Unicron's puppet and plaything brought him to the reality of what true oppression feels like, far outweighing any of the misery he suffered back when he was just "D-16".He hated it now just as he did then, but the difference now was that he now saw that he had become the very monster he despised so much, and wanted out. He finally understood what Optimus, what Orion Pax had said all those millennia ago back when they stood before the High Council: "There can be no true peace through tyranny."

News Credits: 251 · by **Mindmaster** » Wed Dec 18, 2013 5:27 pm

Sabrblade wrote:
Mindmaster wrote:
Sabrblade wrote:- We're actually given insight into Megatron's reasoning for his decision to stop pursuing a life of villainy as seen in "Predacons Rising". There's an entire section that reveals what all was going on through Megatron's mind as he was recovering from the eternal torture Unicron inflicted upon him.

Mind if you elaborate on that? That's the one thing that stood out the most to me when reading your report.
He pretty much looks back on and evaluates his whole life up until that point, remembering how unfair he used to think life was back when he was a miner, feeling the oppression of the caste system and the stagnation of Cybertronian life, and came to realize that all that he had hoped to accomplish, despite having convinced himself that it was for the greater benefit of everyone, was nothing more than fuel for his own vanity. All the tyranny and conquests and missions of power and glory he had striven for all his life, nothing but a fool's vanity. His being used as Unicron's puppet and plaything brought him to the reality of what true oppression feels like, far outweighing any of the misery he suffered back when he was just "D-16".He hated it now just as he did then, but the difference now was that he now saw that he had become the very monster he despised so much, and wanted out. He finally understood what Optimus, what Orion Pax had said all those millennia ago back when they stood before the High Council: "There can be no true peace through tyranny."

Deeper than the Marianas Trench.

Thanks for sharing! ;)^

News Credits: 456 · by **Sabrblade** » Wed Dec 18, 2013 5:30 pm

In other words, pretty much everything we as fans took from that scene.

Only things that were new to me in his reflection were his flashbacks to his being a miner and signing up for his first gladiatorial match, registering with the name "Megatronus".

News Credits: 456 · by **Sabrblade** » Wed Dec 18, 2013 9:08 pm

So... let's see what some of the things that caught my attention while reading this thing were:

This one was just weird. First, Solus Prime is killed by Megatronus, then her body fluids leak out of her wounds, which then cause the ground to melt in a chain reaction that forms a complete circle of liquid metal around her, which glows gold and blue and engulfs her, melting her body into the shiny mess, which then forms an upside-down tornado that spirals and drills downward into the ground, boring through the planet's crust all the way to the Core... and that's how the Well of All Sparks was made?

And this book was written by a woman, even. :roll:

The dead Prime that Megatron stole the arm of in TF: Prime season 2 is revealed to be Liege Maximo.

For those who wanted the Predacon toys to have more fictional appearances, wish granted.

Though, between the Prime cartoon and this book, there is more than one Predaking, Darksteel, and Skylynx. All of the Predacons from the present day are literally clones of Predacons who existed in the ancient past. Same names and bodies, even. We also get Lazerback, Twinstrike, Skystalker, and even mentionings of new named Preds called "Fangblade" and "Backlash".

Though, the original Predaking seems a bit less noble than his present day self, feeling more like the savage brute his toy bios made him out to be. However, they are NOT evil. Monstrous, animalistic and territorial, but not evil.

And, the book claims that all outside sources that declared the original Predacons being unable to speak (like Starscream's "Mindless mute beast" comment from the toon) were false. It says that Predacons CAN speak, but the sources that claimed otherwise were derived from the fact that the Predacons were simply never heard to speak by anyone who lived to tell the tale.

For those who read Exodus, remember how Orion Pax was this young bot who had seen very little in his life outside of being a data clerk prior to his becoming Prime? Well...
Turns out he's a LOT older than we thought, and I'm not referring to his being Thirteen either. When the Well of All Sparks created the first Cybertronian lifeforms after the original Primes, there came forth several types of all shapes and sizes, and among the earliest bipedal Cybertronians who would go on to become the standard type (which would later split into Autobot and Decepticon factions) was a certain bipedal Cybertronian that the remaining of the Thirteen Primes recognized. His name was Orion Pax.

Yes. Orion Pax was birthed when all of the original Cybertronians were. Meaning that he predates all of the following: The birth of the Predacons, the Great Cataclysm, the Age of Origin, the Age of Wrath, the Golden Age, and the Age of Rust. This one Cybertronian, who is suposedly young during the era of the Caste System, is older than most of the major history events that occurred eons before Exodus' present time, and lived through all of them, having had a life that predates his being a data clerk. >:oP

There is an Aligned Reflector who, along with Perceptor, was a member of this group called the Patterners that were an instrumental component in the earliest scientific and mathematical discoveries in Cybertronian civilization. They were the ones who made all those ornate carvings into the planet to give it its majestic appearance, but the true purpose of these markings was to map out the cosmos and provide information and wisdom about nature and the heavens, so as to better Cybertronian knowledge and life for future generations to come, and to aid in preparation for things like if another Cataclysm were ever to occur and such.

There's also more talk of how the remaining members of the Thirteen felt it would be wiser to fade into obscurity and let their past become part of myths and legends that were gradually replacing known history, so as to let the new era of Cybertronian development take its course, looking towards progress and the future rather than living in the past.

The information is inscribed into various landmarks at a scale that is readable from ground view, but the sheer size of the whole pattern is due to the lengthy amount of information into it. Beyond merely knowledge of the cosmos, they extended their carvings to include information on the passage of time, the nature of elements, the structure of the largest and smallest of things, and more. Cybertron's basically a planet-sized science/math textbook.

Regarding the Great Cataclysm from before, the electromagnetic storms of the Great Cataclysm had "played havoc with the memories of many who survived, erasing what had once been accepted as fact". And the Primes themselves attempted to cover up the past as well during this time to let progress and future development take its course. This is why things like the Thirteen, Primus, Unicron, and the earliest days of the Age of Evolution prior to the Cataclysm became the things of legend and myth rather than known history. And, frankly, who'd wanna remember much of the past after the horrific nightmare the surviving population had just endured? Some matters are simply best left forgotten, and so they were.

Then again, it's not like much happened before that point, anyway. The Cataclysm happened so early in history that the only things that really came about before it was just the birth of a bunch of Cybertronian species. So it's not like there was much to be missed that they forgot, aside from the history of the Thirteen (which predated their existence and wouldn't be personally remembered anyway).

And after all the nonsense the Thirteen themselves went through, I can see why Trion wanted to keep all that under wraps and not have the new races be tied down to the dreadful past.

So, yeah, the Age of Origins is really when things start getting good and promising for Cybertron, feeling more like its true historical starting point.

And get this: There is an Aligned GALVATRON! :shock:

Some history related to the Wreckers: They began as a band of warriors in the earliest days of Cybertronian civilization who fought off barbarians and protected the smaller Cybertronian villages that couldn't defend themselves, running from village from village to fend off such ruffians as the Vandals, the Breakers, and the Razers. Wheeljack and Bulkhead were among these original members.

Hmm... So, until the Quintessons showed up, transformation was pretty much nonexistent on Cybertron, strongly implying that all species (including the Predacons) that existed prior to the Quints' arrival at the end of the Age of Origins never once transformed.

D-16 (Megatron) was born during the Age of Wrath amid the time of the Caste System established by the Quintessons. He had no name because the Quintesson governance had grown to discourage individuality, and thus newly-birthed bots were no longer granted names upon their emergence from the Well.

And Soundwave was a member of Sentinel Prime's council. It was through him that the council acquired information from Shockwave, who was the first Cybertronian to successfully translate the Quintessons' language, that the Quintessons' promises of evolutionary ascension beyond a Cybertronian's ordinary potential was nothing but a ruse for the Quints to instead make a profit off of the Cybertronians in their dominance over them.

Something that amused me: Seems the fans aren't the only one who tend to accidentally mix up the names of Soundwave and Shockwave. lol :lol:

Also, there's a line of text that suggests that Orion Pax, back in the Age of Evolution, was a LOT younger than I thought him to be. I'm talking like child ages here--a kid, basically--making him in his later life in the Age of Origins/Wrath seem more like a preteen, thus fitting with his young adult age he had around the time that the Exodus novel pegged him to be.

Aligned METALHAWK!!! :KREMZEEK:

Oh, guuuuys...
2010 Lugnut has been officially repurposed as Aligned Lugnut.

Then again, so has Generation Metroplex. :hmm

There's a gorgeous two-page spread of a battle scene on Cybertron that uses a variety of designs stemming from WFC, FOC, the Binder, recent toylines, and more (meaning that, unfortunately, some Earth bodies are present).

The artwork also gave a look at Lugnut's mace (which the toy doesn't have). Looks nice and villainous. :twisted:

There characters I see in this artwork are:
WFC/FOC Starscream
WFC/FOC Skywarp
WFC Slipstream
WFC/FOC Thundercracker
WFC/FOC Seeker silhouettes in the background
Generations Metroplex
A G1-esque looking Devastator
Binder of Revelation Megatron
WFC Bluestreak (who shouldn't be there)
WFC/FOC Ratchet
WFC/FOC Bumblebee
WFC/FOC Jazz
WFC/FOC Frenzy
WFC/FOC Soundwave
WFC/FOC Rumble
WFC/FOC Jetfire
FOC Wheeljack
2010 Lugnut
FOC Bruticus
Binder of Revelation Optimus Prime
Buzzsaw in a body redecoed from WFC/FOC Laserbeak
Binder of Revelation/TF: Prime Ironhide
WFC/FOC Sideswipe

Another sweet battle scene illustration! This one is of those Bots and Cons who stayed behind on Cybertron. This one features:
The Wreckers and company vs. Devastator and the Combaticons:

FOC Wheeljack
FOC Ultra Magnus
FOC Roadbuster (who is a rightfully large dude like his toy)
WFC Springer
WFC Omega Surpreme
R-ROTORSTORM?!!!

FOC Vortex (colored dark gray and ight gray instead of tan and red)
WFC/FOC Onslaught
FOC Impactor (who is in his toy body, but colored like his G1 counterpart with a yellow head and lower limbs and a purple torso and spear gun)
FOC Blast Off
WFC/FOC Brawl
WFC/FOC Jetfire
FOC Swindle
The same G1-esque looking Devastator

And right here is a glaring, spupidly idiotic mistake that drove me nuts upon first reading it: When recapping the event of the Exiles novel, the Covenant identifies the traitorous Shifter who had been impersonating Hound all this time as Axer instead of Makeshift. Axer was somebody else entirely! Makeshift was the traitor! Come on!

And it was being so faithful and accurate a recapping up till that point, too! ARGH! :BANG_HEAD:

I am, however, grateful that the book seemed aware that there was a third novel coming out and decided to only lightly touch upon its events so as to not really spoil much of what is to come out of the Retribution novel.

And I'm glad that most of the other female characters in this were handled with a lot more respect than what was given to Solus. I say "most" since there's at least one other character who was, shall we say, less than satisfactory to read about: Mercury, leader of the Mutacons, who was portrayed as this very flirtatious, spirited bimbo who seemed to have a thing for Optimus, speaking in a very suggestive manner about her race's ability to not only shape-shift into an infinite number of forms (for instance, their entire fleet was composed of their bodies merged into many ships) but also to merge with forms of other beings. In other words, she wanted her Mutacons and the Autobots aboard the Ark to "merge" with each other, both in the context of an alliance and on a more interpersonal level, with her merging with Optimus. This encounter had the other Autobots aboard the Ark hooting and teasing Optimus like macho men who wanted them some babes, and Bulkhead considered the idea both weird and "kinky". Needless to say, Optimus was not amused and diverted answering Mercury's offer, instead turning his and everyone's attention to the real reason why the Mutacons wanted Prime's help: They possessed the original Transformation Cog that belonged to Amalgamous Prime and wanted to return it to him, but Optimus unfortunately did not know where Amalgamous was or what happened to him.

At least, however, the encounter with the Mutacons had them help the Autobots in one way: The Mutacons agreed to buy the Ark some time to further its escape from the Nemesis, by having the Mutacons take a form to imitate the appearance of the Ark and act as a decoy for the Nemesis to find.

by **Avensis-Mahiya** » Wed Dec 18, 2013 9:46 pm

I really do appreciate giving us a taste of the book, Sabr. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Well, I'm still not impressed. In fact, I'm really miffed. I'll do a proper review once I have this thing, but in all honesty it just feels like it's going to be yet another headache.

Cheers, everyone.

News Credits: 251 · by **Mindmaster** » Wed Dec 18, 2013 10:16 pm

Sabrblade wrote:There is an Aligned GALVATRON!

Pics or GTFO. That goes for Lugnut and Impactor too, if there are any available for all three.

News Credits: 456 · by **Sabrblade** » Wed Dec 18, 2013 10:22 pm

Mindmaster wrote:Pics or GTFO.

It was a text-only mention. And brief. He's no one important at all. At least not for long. :roll:

Mindmaster wrote:That goes for Lugnut and Impactor too, if there are any available for all three.

If you've seen the 2010 toy for the former and the Generations FOC toy for the latter, that's what they look like (save for the deco differences I mentioned for the latter).

by **Melfice_Cyrum** » Thu Dec 19, 2013 12:16 pm

As far as the inconsistencies between the Covenant and the novels, I get the idea the novels are treated like an AU, since a lot of the stuff in Exodus straight up DOESN'T HAPPEN. And while Exiles gets some better treatment, a lot of the events are either only given barest mention, or again, straight up don't happen.

Having never read the novels and armed with only tfwiki's summary, I admit I'm more biased towards the Covenant in terms of validity. It sort of reminds me of the Mass Effect tie-in novels, where they present information that's entirely contradictory and just gets handwaved as having been written by third party authors without much knowledge of the setting. But eh, that's just me.

Also, I feel like I'm one of the only people NOT bothered by how Solus was handled. I mean, I honestly don't see how it's so bad that she was killed. We already knew she'd been killed by Megatronus. That the details are obscured and incorrect was easily chalked up to the Cataclysm scrambling everyone's brains. In fact, I find it amusing that the modern Cybertronians think of The Fallen as this dark, evil character, when he was in fact anything BUT evil.

Truth stranger than fiction, eh?

News Credits: 118 · by **megatronus** » Thu Dec 19, 2013 6:42 pm

I received the Covenant yesterday, and I'm just starting the Age of Evolution. This shouldn't be a chore to read, but it is. I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't... this.

-I dislike the idea of Alpha Trion as a Prime. The first person account is slow, and boring. What I would have loved was for Master Archivist Alpha Trion to piece together, to the best of his ability, the history of his planet through myths, documents, artifacts, and other fragments from the archives that Cybertronians believe speak to their storied history, and that otherwise allude to the grand mythology of Cybertron.

-The personification of the Primes is, well, casual. Their story should be told in an epic fashion, where common emotion and gesture are given grand scale. Think Germanic, or Biblical mythology, or the epic poems of the Greeks or the heroic poems of yesteryear. The flat every-man prose just doesn't do it for me. Mainly, I don't like Megatronus speaking in slang.

-Speaking of Megatronus, why does he have to so strongly resemble Megatron? Why can't he have his own form? Admittedly, I may find out later that Megatron not just took his name from Megatronus, but also fashioned his appearance on him. Or, Megatron is really Megatronus returned to Cybertron. I don't know about that (yet) - what I do know is I think it's lame.

-Seriously? TF:Prime Megatron stole Liege Maximo's arm? :BANG_HEAD:

-Optimus as one of the original 13? I really, really hate this idea. It's hard for me to describe. I think it relates to my overall dissatisfaction with bringing Cybertronian mythology forward to the modern Civil War conflict. Having the same players throughout the entirety of the planet's history means that the history is no longer storied or as rich as it might otherwise have been. It just sheers a good deal of the potential complexity and mystery of Cybertronian history away.

We'll see how I feel once I finish the thing... probably not much differently, but maybe a little.

News Credits: 456 · by **Sabrblade** » Thu Dec 19, 2013 6:50 pm

Good luck, man.

For what it's worth, I read the whole thing without any booze (as I don't drink), so brace yourself for a long haul of frustration if you ain't got anything to ease up the read.