The Energon Pub

[Va'al]

Onslaught / Blast Off romance?! [Cringe, shudder] Awkward! It seems to go against their natures.

Not if you read the entirety of the TAAO books. It's always there.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

BlastSlaught is the new ChromeWind
A Seibertron.com somewhat Spoiler-Free review

Synopsis

As Starscream faces down the encroaching machinations of Elita One, he enlists Blast Off to help him bring Bruticus back!

shot through the spark, and you're to blame...

The story so far

When it comes to the Transformers comics at the present time, Till All Are One is right there with Optimus Prime as the front runners for the comics in terms of quality writing, suspense, action, and art. There is an air of suspense, an air of uncertainty, and an air of political maneuvering as you read the comic. You can feel the situation reaching from the pages to pull your eyes back down to the page and read on.

You give love... a bad name

This is a genuinely awesome comic, and one that attracts a lot of attention in several different arenas. This comic does not hesitate to dive into the politics and the debates. It is not afraid to admit what some characters truly are deep down, and even goes so far as to have them completely embrace it. Bumblebee has come to be the face of the fangirls reading the book, seeing the good, only to have everything just not go as you'd wish. This book tackles big ideas and big issues, and it manages them wonderfully.

With that said, I really want to add that Airachnid is an excellent addition. As soon as I saw the solicitation for this book, I was excited. Airachnid was that Prime character that creeped me out (and probably creeped many of you out too) and to see her returning here as a mnemosurgeon seemed fitting. And Scott handled her inclusion well, giving a good backstory and still making her a great character to have. I could hear Gina Torres voice as this Airachnid spoke. Every. Time.

Now if only I could read this Starscream with Steve Blum's voice.

You promised me heaven
then put me through hell

Speaking of which, this is a great Starscream, and Scott deserves praise for how she has handled this character. He's enjoyable, sometimes unpredictable, and just so... Starscream-y and perfect for the story. This is Starscream in peace time and without a Megatron. This is a great rendition of the character and he deserves all the praise he gets.

To round things off, let's just talk about Blastoff for a second. Or how about a few minutes? Yeah, we'll go with that. If there is one thing other than Starscream that Till All Are One got right, it was the Combaticons. It's amazing how 10 issues, 5 of which didn't even have the Combaticons appear, managed to give them some personality, some meaning, most specifically Blastoff. The guy who before this was mainly known as "the space shuttle on the army guy team" or "that one dude who is a right arm on a combiner that is generally not give much attention" is now a great character in every regard. A character who actually cares, someone who isn't as dark as the rest of his team, someone who was able to stop Bruticus long enough to keep him from doing even more damage. He is a main player in this comic, and it is incredible what they have done with him. His relationship to Onslaught is really good too. And it is not without grounding: look through Till All Are One, going all the way back to issue 1. There are little clues there leading to this exact issue; you just gotta look for them.

Simply put: the characters in the story are true characters, and they truly kill it.

No one can save me
the damage is done

Art

The art team for the ongoing continues to be led by the wondrous work of Sara Pitre-Durocher, and once again the art is perfect. The art done in this issue is very well done, with just enough detail to keep you interested but not so much as to over complicate things and not too little as to appear bland. The linework is spot on, the visuals are very well done, and the expressions, oh the expressions. This is where Durocher is really good: all 4 combaticons that aren't/weren't braindead have faceplates and visors, and yet they are as expressive as those with full faces. It takes talent to make characters with no eyes and no face expressive, and yet artists like Durocher with the combaticons and Milne with Whirl have made it happen again and again.

Paint your smile on your lips
Blood red nails on your fingertips

Joana Lafuente complements the line work and expressiveness of Durocher's work very well here, not that the colors haven't been really good the whole time. I love the shiny/gloss-like feel and how well the lights are playing with the scenes. Little details like the stained glass really shine through, as does the coloring of the anger one character feels when a dream is violated.

I play my part
And you play your game

Tom B. Long finishes off the pages with some nice text boxes and speech bubbles. While there wasn't any major action sequences for him to show off his battle lettering, the bubbles he did use were nice and went well. They were placed well, and everything appeared as it should. Nothing spectacular, but there wasn't a need for any lettering spectacle; just enough to compliment the major plot points moving through the issue.

Final Thoughts

Oh, oh, you're a loaded gun
Oh, oh, there's nowhere to run

With the sad news that Till All Are One only has 2 issues left, it appears as though the series is setting up to go out on a high note. This issue was very good, and it continues to show that Till All Are One is one of the best ongoings at the moment. This is a high-quality comic, and this issue only furthers that. I love the fact that we have a Cybertron-based storyline that has so many different worlds and types of characters involved, and it all comes to a head with tension and good storytelling at the forefront. Airachnid made a great addition, and the combaticons and Starscream are proving to be some of the best characters IDW is using right now. I cannot stress enough how good this issue is, and how good this series has been.

If you're on the fence about reading Transformers at the moment, give this story a try. Give this ongoing a try. It is all working out splendidly, and I am thoroughly loving the read. While you're at it, give our Till All Are One Database a peak, in case you want to look into some extra details about the comic and the team.

out of

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Y'all better love this and laugh. 4 hours trying to get things right and properly give me feelings on the subject!

and if you don't get the captions, you are dead to me...

[Va'al]

Y'all better love this and laugh. 4 hours trying to get things right and properly give me feelings on the subject!

and if you don't get the captions, you are dead to me...

We live, we learn, we lie
For the price of love you


That was majestic.

[snavej]

Not my favourite.

[Va'al]

This ongoing is being cancelled at issue #12, I heard.

Yep. We newsed it here, and it's mentioned in the review too.

[Kurona]

In my opinion? Deserved a full 5/5. Perfect issue with no problems.

... then again if I was doing the review I would have actually given it 4 1/2 out of 5 because I'm too scared to say something deserves full marks

Blast Off's become my favourite character in the entire comic and one of my favourite Transformers characters ever. He's up there with quite a few Lost Lighters. And Soundwave. And Cosmos. And Thundercracker. ... you know after focusing on MTMTE/LL for so long it's kinda nice to wake up to the fact that the other two ongoings are also pretty friggin' good with some pretty friggin' good characters.

[Va'al]

From Ender, on Twitter.

TAAO #10, The Musical.

[Ironhidensh]

I wish I could see the good that you guys do in this book.



Of course, upon reflection last night, I have to wonder if I genuinely dislike this book, or just the storyline.

[ScottyP]

I wish I could see the good that you guys do in this book.



Of course, upon reflection last night, I have to wonder if I genuinely dislike this book, or just the storyline.

I love it but I also think it's fair to say it's not for everyone. If I dishonestly play devil's advocate, I could see characters feeling wooden at times, dialogue not feeling genuine, plot points being thin, rushed, or repeated, the overall story not moving too far in any one direction for too long, and an occasional lack of focus.

You know what though, you clearly gave it a chance and thought hard about it. Still don't like it? All good, it's ok to not like things!

[X3ROhour]

I wish I could see the good that you guys do in this book.



Of course, upon reflection last night, I have to wonder if I genuinely dislike this book, or just the storyline.

I love it but I also think it's fair to say it's not for everyone. If I dishonestly play devil's advocate, I could see characters feeling wooden at times, dialogue not feeling genuine, plot points being thin, rushed, or repeated, the overall story not moving too far in any one direction for too long, and an occasional lack of focus.

You know what though, you clearly gave it a chance and thought hard about it. Still don't like it? All good, it's ok to not like things!

For me
it's a little fast
and under developed

like a show that tries to cram a ton of stuff
into a few episodes
so you get a lot
but feel a need for a more in-depth version

more character development as well
perhaps splitting it into multiple titles

for example...

the primary story
concerning politics and intrigue
STARSCREAM
& THE WORLDS OF CYBERTRON

then
te tales of law and order
on the streets of New Iacon to
the dark alleys of Néo-Kaon
IRONHIDE PROTECTION
AND LAW ENFORCEMENT

and
the adventures of a ßmall band of rogues
as they take the law iñto their own hands
CHROMIA &WINDBLADE:
WRECKERS REDUX

just a thought

[ebonyleopard]

Wait..what? 2 issues left? They're ending Till All Are One?? Seriously?

[X3ROhour]

Wait..what? 2 issues left? They're ending Till All Are One?? Seriously?

644655_944267335643022_2921621820627987760_n.jpg

[Rodimus Prime]

Well, now I'm kinda glad I held off on all 3 of the ongoings. I was going to get the LL TPBs, but now I have my doubts. I never cared for the OP comic, so that's an easy pass. But TAAO really had me curious. It seemed to go in a different direction, giving some characters their long overdue attention. After the initial interest, though, I kinda mellowed on it, and was gonna get the TPBs. But now? Not sure. Depends on how the entire story plays out.

As for the comic itself being cancelled, and the reasons for it? The writer might have her side of it, but in the end, it all comes down to money. If it has been profitable, IDW would have found someone else to write it and they would have continued with the title. Unless Scott herself legally owns the title of "Till All Are One" and they would have to call it something else. Bottom line is, the comic wasn't selling well enough to justify continuation, and that usually has to do with the quality of what's on the page. (I'm not saying in every case, but most cases.) So maybe Scott should look in the mirror before blaming anyone else. Again, I'm not saying this is a certainty, but it's a possibility. Just because some of us on these boards think the story is amazing, the majority of comic readers might not think so, thus skip buying the issues, leading to it being a financial failure.

Sure. But also, EVENTS.

I can't tell if you're being sarcastic and/or condescending or you're trying to actually tell me something through shorthand internet speak (which I do not understand. I am an educated adult human, I require logically thought-out sentences in order to coherently communicate).

[Sunstar]

Most disappointed that the end draws nigh - it was this particular series that brought me back into the comics.

It was fantastic. Loved it. Loved it more! sad times will be sad.

[o.supreme]

This is a mixed bag for me. I think this is a case of...kill the thing you love so it isn't suffering anymore...

For me, I have always been more of a classic fan. Autobots vs. Decepticons. Mostly attached to the 84-87 characters (though many of them were in MTMTE/TLL unfortunately with greatly changed personalities). I really enjoyed RiD/TF, and to a lesser extent the Windblade series (I don't care about Windblade herself, but what's been going on otherwise is pretty interesting)...The last few issues of TAAO have taken an odd turn however, perhaps this is all for the best.

I would really like there just to be something for us classic fans of Autobots vs. Decepticons, the every day goings-on of Cybertron, but alas that has been deemed as *boring* and sow now we have.....well, we have what we have...and none of it really sparks my interest.

Optimus Prinme is ok...but I'm really I guess just waiting for something to happen. CW showed signs of greatness but was cut short, TR even more so in favor of the "Revolution" event. I mean the last time I was legitimately excited about Transformers comics was prior to Revolution. TAAO had an *ok* arc issues 5-8, now its just...bad fan fiction is all I can think, and I really hate to go there, because nothing published should be given that insult.

Redemption gives me hopes, but again it is a one shot. sadly, after supporting IDW since the beginning, and being unimpressed with 75-80% of it, this may be my jumping off point unless we something that goes back to basics, and doesn't try to be different just for the sake of being different.

[snavej]

Cancellation: on the bright side, we won't have to see so much machine-on-machine humping. There are other places to see that, I'm sure.

[Va'al]

Cancellation: on the bright side, we won't have to see so much machine-on-machine humping. There are other places to see that, I'm sure.

We have seen literally none of that.

[Ironhidensh]

Cancellation: on the bright side, we won't have to see so much machine-on-machine humping. There are other places to see that, I'm sure.

We have seen literally none of that.

Well, we having looked hard enough then, have we? Let's just go to Google and do a quick image searc......


DEAR SWEET BABY JESUS WHY??? MAKE IT STOP!!! I TAKE IT BACK, I TAKE IT ALL BAAAAAAACCCCCCCCKKKK!!!

[Va'al]

Cancellation: on the bright side, we won't have to see so much machine-on-machine humping. There are other places to see that, I'm sure.

We have seen literally none of that.

Well, we having looked hard enough then, have we? Let's just go to Google and do a quick image searc......


DEAR SWEET BABY JESUS WHY??? MAKE IT STOP!!! I TAKE IT BACK, I TAKE IT ALL BAAAAAAACCCCCCCCKKKK!!!

Not in the comics.

[Ironhidensh]

Cancellation: on the bright side, we won't have to see so much machine-on-machine humping. There are other places to see that, I'm sure.

We have seen literally none of that.

Well, we having looked hard enough then, have we? Let's just go to Google and do a quick image searc......


DEAR SWEET BABY JESUS WHY??? MAKE IT STOP!!! I TAKE IT BACK, I TAKE IT ALL BAAAAAAACCCCCCCCKKKK!!!

Not in the comics.

Very true. The comics have been very reserved and tasteful in all depictions of romance.

I was trying to make a funny. I failed.

[Rodimus Prime]

Can we still count on a 2-volume TPB or an omnibus of TAAO?

[Va'al]

Cancellation: on the bright side, we won't have to see so much machine-on-machine humping. There are other places to see that, I'm sure.

We have seen literally none of that.

Well, we having looked hard enough then, have we? Let's just go to Google and do a quick image searc......


DEAR SWEET BABY JESUS WHY??? MAKE IT STOP!!! I TAKE IT BACK, I TAKE IT ALL BAAAAAAACCCCCCCCKKKK!!!

Not in the comics.

Very true. The comics have been very reserved and tasteful in all depictions of romance.

I was trying to make a funny. I failed.

[Burn]

I wish I could see the good that you guys do in this book.

I'm glad I don't.

Thank **** it's ending. It's a tad on the boring side and my favourite giant war machines don't need romance.

[Va'al]

I wish I could see the good that you guys do in this book.

I'm glad I don't.

Thank **** it's ending. It's a tad on the boring side and my favourite giant war machines don't need romance.

I knew you'd hurt me one day, but not like this.