The Energon Pub

I may not have Broadside (yet), but I can play around with QS, Cary! I hadn't simply cuz he was virtually identical to 6S....but I think I need to really play....er, compare 'em.

My antennas broke thanks to a cleaning crew who didn't give a fu~ about having my bust at work.
Or some Con-sympathizer.

Can we talk about IDW's Optimus Prime?
From the direction things are heading in the comics, Optimus and Megatron could ultimately be on opposing sides of a war once again....but playing different roles entirely.
The thought of Optimus killing anyone is a thought so foreign to me, it took awhile to process what IDW was doing, and to accept it.
Now, I really appreciate their work - they are adding depth to our beloved characters. If Megatron can discover he still has a conscience, Optimus can lose his way....but hopefully find his way back.
I remember getting upset as a kid when Op died in the comics over a video game....but these stakes seem much higher in the IDW universe, and I'm very eager to see where this annexation of earth ultimately takes him!

Hey Bodrock, ever hear of this game? I saw it at the library today and it looked interesting

Hey Will -- the Atelier games are all about gathering materials, alchemy, dungeon-crawling and turn-based combat with anime-style in spades. They are fairly light-hearted, especially if compared to Devil Survivor and the MegaTen (Shin Megami Tensei!) games -- if you want a relaxing gamestyle and simpler story, this should satisfy! I believe they're safe for sharing, in case anyone wants to watch.

I've never played any of them to completion, but the series has its fans! Other JRPGs I've really enjoyed from these developers (Gust) are the Ar Tonelico games on PS2&PS3, with Ar Tonelico2 being an absolute favorite.

bodrock wrote:Can we talk about IDW's Optimus Prime?

He's a Prick. Less than Prowl, but prick all the same.

Va'al wrote:

bodrock wrote:Can we talk about IDW's Optimus Prime?

He's a Prick. Less than Prowl, but prick all the same.

Do you think there's a chance a he can get his Good Guy groove back, Va'al? Maybe when Primal becomes a true Prime, or another major IDW event....

I love Prick Prowl -- great characterization for him! But I can't let Optimist Prime go.....

bodrock wrote:

Va'al wrote:

bodrock wrote:Can we talk about IDW's Optimus Prime?

He's a Prick. Less than Prowl, but prick all the same.

Do you think there's a chance a he can get his Good Guy groove back, Va'al? Maybe when Primal becomes a true Prime, or another major IDW event....

I love Prick Prowl -- great characterization for him! But I can't let Optimist Prime go.....

You guys are making me think of something, is prowl becoming exactly what he didnt like in Sentinel?

william-james88 wrote:

bodrock wrote:

Va'al wrote:

bodrock wrote:Can we talk about IDW's Optimus Prime?

He's a Prick. Less than Prowl, but prick all the same.

Do you think there's a chance a he can get his Good Guy groove back, Va'al? Maybe when Primal becomes a true Prime, or another major IDW event....

I love Prick Prowl -- great characterization for him! But I can't let Optimist Prime go.....

You guys are making me think of something, is prowl becoming exactly what he didnt like in Sentinel?

Yes and no. Prowl and Shockwave are pretty much on the same wavelength, something that has been noted and made a point of in Optimus Prime (ongoing) openly. Sentinel Prime is a space racist/purist. Shockwave and Prowl are 'just' ruthless.

I hate IDW Prowl

shajaki wrote:I hate IDW Prowl

He probably hates you too, to be honest.

shajaki wrote:I hate IDW Prowl

Love-to-hate, shajaki, or hate what IDW did?
I honestly never thought much of Prowl before (no love for police) -- but him getting punched repeatedly in the face for being a prick speaks to me....!

bodrock wrote:

shajaki wrote:I hate IDW Prowl

Love-to-hate, shajaki, or hate what IDW did?

IMG_5635.JPG

I honestly never thought much of Prowl before (no love for police) -- but him getting punched repeatedly in the face for being a prick speaks to me....!

i saw that caption

bodrock wrote:

shajaki wrote:I hate IDW Prowl

Love-to-hate, shajaki, or hate what IDW did?

I honestly never thought much of Prowl before (no love for police) -- but him getting punched repeatedly in the face for being a prick speaks to me....!

Sorry, I know the G1 cartoon didn't exactly do... well any character development, but the Prowl I know isn't a giant douche. I guess it makes him interesting, but did they have to do it in a fashion that makes me want to punch him?

shajaki wrote:

bodrock wrote:

shajaki wrote:I hate IDW Prowl

Love-to-hate, shajaki, or hate what IDW did?

I honestly never thought much of Prowl before (no love for police) -- but him getting punched repeatedly in the face for being a prick speaks to me....!

Sorry, I know the G1 cartoon didn't exactly do... well any character development, but the Prowl I know isn't a giant douche. I guess it makes him interesting, but did they have to do it in a fashion that makes me want to punch him?

I hear ya, and definitely understand -- I remember him being a Nice Guy, and nothing like IDW's characterization. Same with Optimus.

Again, in my head-canon, I justify these changes in their character as post-war weariness...perhaps life was simply easier when it was good versus evil....but now it's beyond good. Beyond evil.
BEYOND YER WILDEST IMAGINATION!

But in all seriousness, shajaki, I can understand if it's hard to accept the new characterizations -- I made the above post about Optimus simply cuz I....I can't deal with that right now.

shajaki wrote:

bodrock wrote:

shajaki wrote:I hate IDW Prowl

Love-to-hate, shajaki, or hate what IDW did?

I honestly never thought much of Prowl before (no love for police) -- but him getting punched repeatedly in the face for being a prick speaks to me....!

Sorry, I know the G1 cartoon didn't exactly do... well any character development, but the Prowl I know isn't a giant douche. I guess it makes him interesting, but did they have to do it in a fashion that makes me want to punch him?

They are very successful at the punch-drawing, I'll give you that.

Thank you for bringing those Punchy-Prowl pics all together, Va'al!!

I'm still not letting Optimus off the hook, though....

You should catch up with the Optimus Prime series too! Very good, and more into his development - with added Prowl.

Va'al wrote:You should catch up with the Optimus Prime series too! Very good, and more into his development - with added Prowl.

I'm up to issue 3, and was considering going the TPB route (by Volumes), like I did with MTMTE. The wait will be longer, but I would prefer to read several issues in a row!

My brother brought up Whirl from "the attic" (more like a closet in my old bedroom at the parents' house lol), and he made me take pics.
Whirl, that is.

And hey, when yer reading the comic and he speaks....what's he sound like to you?

Late to the party as always

I still need to do some IDW catching up with the OP series and LL and a few others, but I like where they are going with these classic characters. I've always thought OP was too damn perfect boring, so it's nice to see him be a little more interesting and flawed. And it seems that I am in the vast majority, but I frakking love Prowl the prick someone has to do it.

This comes to mind. My apologies in advance.



Anyway, IDW Prowl is just who Prowl is to me now Same with a lot of the IDWization of characters.

Whenever I see something that makes me think "MURICA", I also think of the World Police's theme....

The Transformers we know of from the comics today are truly a sign of the times -- we don't necessarily need a happy ever after and all characters are complex/grey (as opposed to being clearly goody-good).
However, there is something to be said for the original Optimus's characterization -- he was predictable, and therefore reliable as a bastion for idyllic good. For some, these IDW layers complicate someone we didn't want to necessarily have flaws....but I think that makes him more relatable.

I just don't want him to be the new Megatron, that's all.

bodrock wrote:Whenever I see something that makes me think "MURICA", I also think of the World Police's theme....

The Transformers we know of from the comics today are truly a sign of the times -- we don't necessarily need a happy ever after and all characters are complex/grey (as opposed to being clearly goody-good).

However, there is something to be said for the original Optimus's characterization -- he was predictable, and therefore reliable as a bastion for idyllic good. For some, these IDW layers complicate someone we didn't want to necessarily have flaws....but I think that makes him more relatable.

I just don't want him to be the new Megatron, that's all.

I'm OK with that. It seems to be the logical path they've set up. Someone's got to be the bad guy. Even though I cut my teeth on G1, I'm way more attached and invested in the IDW lore of the current series. For the most part, I default to it for my TF history.

carytheone wrote:

bodrock wrote:Whenever I see something that makes me think "MURICA", I also think of the World Police's theme....

The Transformers we know of from the comics today are truly a sign of the times -- we don't necessarily need a happy ever after and all characters are complex/grey (as opposed to being clearly goody-good).

However, there is something to be said for the original Optimus's characterization -- he was predictable, and therefore reliable as a bastion for idyllic good. For some, these IDW layers complicate someone we didn't want to necessarily have flaws....but I think that makes him more relatable.

I just don't want him to be the new Megatron, that's all.

I'm OK with that. It seems to be the logical path they've set up. Someone's got to be the bad guy. Even though I cut my teeth on G1, I'm way more attached and invested in the IDW lore of the current series. For the most part, I default to it for my TF history.

Well, if he's gonna do it, he better go ALL the way.

When I first saw a Pretender in the store, my first thought was simple: WHY?

Hasbro tried quite a variety of things to spice up Transformers, and this one seemed to me like a cross between He-Man, Go-Bots and Russian Dolls. And I even liked He-Man.

But it's taken me until now - this past year, really, to fall in love with these concepts from the late 80s; concepts I thought were out of touch and failed attempts to keep us buying (yes, as a child of 11 years back in 1988!).
So I bought my first Pretender this past weekend - Octopunch! He's probably one of the most ridiculous of the bunch, but when you think of Japanese monsters (especially kaiju!), it starts to make more sense.
I picked up Octopunch for $25 off of eBay (I was actually looking for him, Skullgrin and/or Bludgeon!) and he's missing both purple sets of crab legs, the harpoon gun and the small gun. I did manage to score the harpoon gun for $5 on Etsy, though (but wth, rite - I was hoping a TItan Master hand-cannon should suffice).

He should be coming later this week, since the seller is thankfully in the States! But this got me thinking...will there ever be a redux for Pretenders like there was for the Headmasters? Will we ever see a Masterpiece Bludgeon? I hope the answer is YES and O YISS to both questions!

Am I the last one to "come around" to the Pretenders? Did Octopunch change his name to suit his frankensuit, or vice versa?!

I've always thought Bludgeon would be awesome - but at that point, I was probably allzabout Nintendo and missed out.

NINTENDO. It's for breakfast now!
NINTENDO. It's a cereal (wow).

I'm sure most of the team would be cool from the PROWL Patrol(!) -- but certainly not the prick-leader.But at least he's got someone to keep him in line.
These pics were inspired by Barricade!
I really didn't have many TFs on my list from TLK, but wow -- Barricade is as fun as he looks!Also inspired by Robocop!