The Energon Pub

[Va'al]

The second piece of IDW Transformers comics news today - also from Mariel Romero and iTunes - brings us even closer to issue 50 in The Transformers, with the conclusion to the Conquerors arc. Check out the first three pages of issue 49, coming later this month!

CONQUERORS: CONCLUSION! The most dramatic action ever taken by an AUTOBOT sets the stage for next month's mammoth issue 50. Earth and CYBERTRON. OPTIMUS PRIME and GALVATRON. SOUNDWAVE and COSMOS. It all comes together at four billion miles an hour.

[ScottyP]

There are too many smiles going on in firefights. Other than that, I enjoy the art here.

[Shuttershock]

Hooray! Tracks isn't dead!

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Well, this certainly is going to be a good issue. Love all the art too! amazing!

[Microraptor]

IDW, on behalf of all fans everywhere, i respectfully ask you to stop reminding us of All Hail Megatron.

[Va'al]

IDW, on behalf of all fans everywhere, i respectfully ask you to stop reminding us of All Hail Megatron.

Honestly, I still really don't mind that macro-arc.

[Shuttershock]

IDW, on behalf of all fans everywhere, i respectfully ask you to stop reminding us of All Hail Megatron.

Honestly, I still really don't mind that macro-arc.

I don't either since I read it WAAAY after the fact, but I can understand why it's so reviled. It soft-rebooted everyone to more basic personalities, put emphasis on new, not well liked characters, and undid a lot of groundwork that the Ations series had laid.

[Va'al]

IDW, on behalf of all fans everywhere, i respectfully ask you to stop reminding us of All Hail Megatron.

Honestly, I still really don't mind that macro-arc.

I don't either since I read it WAAAY after the fact, but I can understand why it's so reviled. It soft-rebooted everyone to more basic personalities, put emphasis on new, not well liked characters, and undid a lot of groundwork that the Ations series had laid.

Yeah, all of that stands true, I agree. But at the same time, a lot of the -ations had, in my opinion, already run their course by that stage. Sure, it would've been nice to not have the storylines shoved into Revelation and Maximum Dinobots, but I feel like the aftermath of AHM is the real bad part of how that really took place.

I'll take AHM over the Costa run any day.


Back on topic though, I am REALLY looking forward to where this storyline is headed, and how they're going to make Optimus' intervention make sense in the grand scheme of things, other than what we've seen in the conversation with Aileron and Victorion.

Also, I wonder where Prowl might fit into any of this, post Sins of the Wreckers. OR maybe... hmmm...

[Shuttershock]

IDW, on behalf of all fans everywhere, i respectfully ask you to stop reminding us of All Hail Megatron.

Honestly, I still really don't mind that macro-arc.

I don't either since I read it WAAAY after the fact, but I can understand why it's so reviled. It soft-rebooted everyone to more basic personalities, put emphasis on new, not well liked characters, and undid a lot of groundwork that the Ations series had laid.

Yeah, all of that stands true, I agree. But at the same time, a lot of the -ations had, in my opinion, already run their course by that stage. Sure, it would've been nice to not have the storylines shoved into Revelation and Maximum Dinobots, but I feel like the aftermath of AHM is the real bad part of how that really took place.

I'll take AHM over the Costa run any day.


Back on topic though, I am REALLY looking forward to where this storyline is headed, and how they're going to make Optimus' intervention make sense in the grand scheme of things, other than what we've seen in the conversation with Aileron and Victorion.

Also, I wonder where Prowl might fit into any of this, post Sins of the Wreckers. OR maybe... hmmm...

After Prime takes control, Prowl steps out of the shadows, gives him a big hug and whispers "I'm so proud of you."

[Va'al]

All he ever wanted.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

All hail was alright, but still not my favorite. Chaos Theory is my favorite arc pre-MTMTE/RiD, with the Infiltration arc close behind

[Microraptor]

All he ever wanted.

I want a toy of that Optimus SO BAD.

[Randomhero]

IDW, on behalf of all fans everywhere, i respectfully ask you to stop reminding us of All Hail Megatron.

On behalf of all fans, don't speak for us. Your opinion is not everyone else's

[Va'al]

IDW, on behalf of all fans everywhere, i respectfully ask you to stop reminding us of All Hail Megatron.

On behalf of all fans, don't speak for us. Your opinion is not everyone else's

No need no need.

[Deadput]

On behalf of all fans, don't speak for us. Your opinion is not everyone else's

No need to act like a hero Randomhero





wait...

[Bleak5170]

Hooray! Tracks isn't dead!

I was sooooo relieved to see that. Tracks is my 2nd favourite TF and I was devastated to see him gunned down last issue.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Hooray! Tracks isn't dead!

I was sooooo relieved to see that. Tracks is my 2nd favourite TF and I was devastated to see him gunned down last issue.

Probably still has to knock some sense into his brother!

[MrBlack]

All he ever wanted.

I want a toy of that Optimus SO BAD.

It's like a weird mash-up between Evasion Mode Optimus (the legs in particular) and Legends Class Optmius.

[Va'al]

The end of the Conquerors arc of The Transformers arrives from IDW next week, leading directly into All Hail Optimus - what is in store for the various factions, willingly and unwillingly caught in the middle of high-end politics? Check out the preview below, via Newsarama (ish), and head back here for a review on Wednesday!

Transformers #49
John Barber (w) • Andrew Griffith (a & c)
CONQUERORS: CONCLUSION! The most dramatic action ever taken by an AUTOBOT sets the stage for next month’s mammoth issue 50. Earth and CYBERTRON. OPTIMUS PRIME and GALVATRON. SOUNDWAVE and COSMOS. It all comes together at four billion miles an hour.
FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Bullet points:
The end of the world as we know it!
Leads directly into next month’s epoch-changing issue 50.
They always say “this changes everything.” Hey, we’ve done it, too. But hold tight, TF fans—because the last page of this issue changes everything.
Variant Cover by Alex Milne!

[D-Maximal_Primal]

This issue has the potential to get really nasty, but still cool

[Deadput]

There goes the helicopter chick from Redemption.


If she is dead but knowing Arcee most likely is a goner.

[Bounti76]

There goes the helicopter chick from Redemption.


If she is dead but knowing Arcee most likely is a goner.

Swift is her name. And I dunno. I don't think she'll be killed. Just a feeling.

[Deadput]

Swift is her name. And I dunno. I don't think she'll be killed. Just a feeling.

Looks like a death to me and if not she is getting a major scar on her face or she is now blind.



Also sounds like a death scream it's no SHEEAAAGH! but I think it's possible she died.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Nah, just a glancing blow. Nothing fatal yet: she still has to learn that the cons are not where she needs to be

[Va'al]

Conquerors?
(Spoiler free-ish)

Synopsis
CONQUERORS: CONCLUSION! The most dramatic action ever taken by an AUTOBOT sets the stage for next month’s mammoth issue 50. Earth and CYBERTRON. OPTIMUS PRIME and GALVATRON. SOUNDWAVE and COSMOS. It all comes together at four billion miles an hour.

Good question

Story

Here we are, at the end of the big build up everything after Dark Cybertron, through Combiner Wars, across the Transformers universe as we know it, with old gods, fake gods, heroes, villains and conquerors converging into one single spot, one moment in time: Earth, Now.

Build-up continues...

And to be entirely honest, it falls short of ..well, everything. All of the build up, all of the hype. It feels rushed, glossed over, reasons and motivations don't hold up, the major arcs created for however many past issues are just half-resolved without much else to go on. The various settings and scenes are just glomped together.

Glomp

I am not sure what John Barber did with this issue, as his big landmarks usually pan out much better. It is likely that issue #50 will develop those shortcomings into something that sticks better together as the piece of a wider, universal puzzle. As it stands, however, the pieces are all mismatched and a little scattered.

See, there, that is Windblade's character

The characters do, to an extent, still work, of course - but some of them just feel like they're going along with whatever Optimus has decided to do, for whatever reason. Galvatron's side of the story may be the most interesting here, and the repercussions it has among the Decepticon idealists hit hard - but everything else is just - there.


Art

On the other hand, I have no complaints whatsoever with the art. Sara Pitre-Durocher's style is a delight to follow through the various scenes, with some peaks in Skywarp's moments to shine (heh) and there is heavy emotion felt by the various characters - and the readers. The moments with Soundwave and Cosmos carry some serious weight, in light of the events taking place.

...

The colours are also magnificent, blending fantastically well with Pitre-Durocher's lighter linework. Josh Perez and Josh Burcham are a wonderful team, and bounce off each other's style easily and seamlessly, bringing one of the crispest issues I've noticed in a while.

Just glorious

Tom B. Long has a lot of playground space in the lettering sandbox, too, to work his own stuff, filling in the various silent spaces with good-looking sounds. Why do letterers never get enough praise? With all that action, we are still able to see what is being said. The covers are also great, with Alex Milne/Perez continuing the massive mural (thumbnailed), Casey Coller and Joana Lafuente dabbling with Victorion's hefty presence, and Andrew Griffith emulating Klaus Scherwinski.


Thoughts
Spoilerish ahead

If I sound disappointed, it's because I am. I had been seriously looking forward to the development, and preliminary conclusion, to this arc - to see what Galvatron was to do, to see how the Autobots would respond, how Soundwave in particular would respond, how the various characters would play out against each other and together, depending on their circumstances. I don't feel we got any of that, unfortunately.

or Spotlight: Thundercracker

A less coherent, more Soundwave/Cosmos/Skybyte response: Seriously? Windblade and crew are just going along with Optimus' decision? Sideswipe, Alpha Trion and Arcee in a shuttle forever, just to get punked by Brawl and Needlenose? I do hope that the next issue, and All Hail Optimus in general, has more time, and space, to start straightening the puzzle out. I really do.

. ½ out of