The Energon Pub

[Silverwing]

The remains of Cybertron are in his right hand

Oh, man I hadn't noticed that! After all the Transformers have been through to rebuild and stabilize their home, to have it just torn to shreds like that... it's tragic. I actually feel sad for them right now.

[Randomhero]

It’s not really the end. Like I’ve said before that’s how all big events and stuff like this market it.

It’s like when Marvel did Unicron and one of the most famous Marvel covers is him eating everyone and when Dreamwave did him the big cover was him crushing the transformers logo with everyone defeated and dead around him.

COMICS PEOPLE! MARKETING! WE NEED TO BOOST SALES!

[Randomhero]

I just hate it when he turns into a robot. while it looks awesome he doesnt do anything. In the movie he transformed smacked cybertorn and kinda just stood around and swatted attackers and the dinobots that were attacking his but until he blew up. In marvel he showed up, stomped on the planet, puked on scorponok, ate brainstorm and then stood around till thunderwing showed up and then transformed into a planet to eat the cybertron. In the Armada cartoon he just stood there till he disappeared. Devil Due GI Joe VS Transformers again, he stood there.

when he showed up in the armada comics and didnt transform i was 18 and annoyed because he didnt transform but 15 years later i get it. Turning into a giant robot is just dumb! you really cant do anything with it.

[Lore Keeper]

I'm still holding out hope that they're being hyperbolic. I really do not want this continuity to end. Regardless of how much anyone likes or dislikes it, there's no debating that this is the most fleshed out continuity in Transformers history. There is so much time and detail invested in this universe, to see it all go away and be replaced with something else just feels like a loss for fans all over. Plus, let's be honest, given Hasbro's track record for following up it's most acclaimed series (G1 to G2, Beast Wars to Beast Machines, TF Prime to RID), it will very likely be a huge drop in quality. This comic series has kept me interested through all the RID'15, movie, and Machinima garbage over recent years. It almost feels like the big kids just aren't allowed to have nice things.

[JazZeke]

I'm kind of in shock. This is affecting me more deeply than I thought it would. I mean, it feels like a shame to just throw out eight years’ worth of great continuity (the comics have been running for twelve years, but McCarthy and Costas’ runs were garbage and don’t count).

But on a personal level, it feels like I’m loosing yet another connection to my younger, more innocent self. I mean geez, it just hit me that these comics started when I was just 18. That’s my entire adult life so far, man. IDW got the license while I was at the height of my comics collecting and involvement with the Transformers fandom, around the same time when I started up the Transformers RPG site that changed my life, helped me meet both of my girlfriends and made me decide I wanted to become a writer.

I’ve gotten behind in the comics because of finances, but I catch up when I can. It’s the end of an era, not just for some comic license, but for me personally. It’s a lot to process.

[william-james88]

Dont have long to write, just wanted to say that this is not the design I had in mind. I was hoping for something with less spikes. We will see how it goes, but this feels very 90s to me. I cant believe its drawn by Milne and not Mark Silvestri.

[Randomhero]

Dont have long to write, just wanted to say that this is not the design I had in mind. I was hoping for something with less spikes. We will see how it goes, but this feels very 90s to me. I cant believe its drawn by Milne and not Mark Silvestri.

Well what do you expect from the guy who made the designs for the Tarn, Chief Justice Tyrest and Stardive. All of whom are covered in spikes.

Let’s keep in mind Milne did not design most of the characters from MTMTE. Nick did. Alex Milne isn’t the most creative in the design department sometimes. For a very long time he just mimicked other artists design quirks. If you have or can find the Dreamwave Armada character books you can See Alex Milne when he first drew transformers and they are very different to what he ended up doing when he was out on a book because he started copying Don Figeroas style to almost ripping him off. When don started putting little bit notches on transformers noses, Alex started doing it. When don started putting vents on the hands all of a sudden Alex started adding vents to the hands. When don started putting hydraulics under the arms, Alex started putting them on too. There’s a very specific reason they had Alex take over TF ongoing when Don jumped ship and never looked back. When Alex was placed on mtmte he stared simplifying his art to look like nicks art. More stylized, less detail much more expressive.

I mean look at issue two cover to mtmte with Rodimus in it. Rodimus looks like he’s infected by a dire wraith lol

[partholon]

Starting to look like they're hedging their bets on losing the licence (who's contract is up the end of this year from what I've heard) and want to be able to tie everything up neatly.

It's certainly not looking like the usual "event" to me.

Tbh I'm conflicted. The ations and parts of MTMTE / rid were brilliant.

But by christ the recent stuff has suffered from pc tripe that's hit their quality. If it goes to another company or we get back to basics It could be the best thing to happen.

[AllNewSuperRobot]

If it does turn out to be the end of IDW's license and yet another thing that Disney purchases for Marvel, I wouldn't buy a single issue. I refuse to support a monopolising force in the industry.

[Galactic Prime]

I'm kind of in shock. This is affecting me more deeply than I thought it would. I mean, it feels like a shame to just throw out eight years’ worth of great continuity

Where is this 8 years of great continuity? We've had nothing but but a decade of crap.

[Randomhero]

Starting to look like they're hedging their bets on losing the licence (who's contract is up the end of this year from what I've heard) and want to be able to tie everything up neatly.

It's certainly not looking like the usual "event" to me.

Tbh I'm conflicted. The ations and parts of MTMTE / rid were brilliant.

But by christ the recent stuff has suffered from pc tripe that's hit their quality. If it goes to another company or we get back to basics It could be the best thing to happen.

They’re not losing anything. The relationship with hasbro and IDW keeps growing not dwindling

[megamanfan]

The remains of Cybertron are in his right hand

Oh, man I hadn't noticed that! After all the Transformers have been through to rebuild and stabilize their home, to have it just torn to shreds like that... it's tragic. I actually feel sad for them right now.

actually, taking a closer look at the darker parts on unicron... it looks like he IS cybertron

[Ironhidensh]

I'm kind of in shock. This is affecting me more deeply than I thought it would. I mean, it feels like a shame to just throw out eight years’ worth of great continuity

Where is this 8 years of great continuity? We've had nothing but but a decade of crap.

In your questionable opinion.

The IDWverse has been some of the greatest and most original Transformers story telling we've ever had. I'm very sorry you don't see it.

[Agent 53]

Okay, where does it say this is the end, it's the culmination of 12 years of work and a conclusion to some artists work on the franchise but they are not saying it's the end. We've seen near doomsdays before, Chaos and Dark Cybertron and the Transformers prevailed, and considering that not only has the IDW comicverse been more integrated into the Generations toy line since the 30th anniversary and the fact that other hasbro properties have been more ingrained into the universe over the last 2 years it becomes increasingly less likely that they are going to cancel it and more likely that this will just be an amazing experience.
On a second note, Unicron looks BADASS!

[AllNewSuperRobot]

The design is certainly... Busy

he is a planet, after all. i would be surprised (and disappointed) if he was simple.

I dunno. Outer Shell, yes that's fine but robot mode should be more understated (from a distance). Otherwise he looks like Atlas..

[Randomhero]

The remains of Cybertron are in his right hand

Oh, man I hadn't noticed that! After all the Transformers have been through to rebuild and stabilize their home, to have it just torn to shreds like that... it's tragic. I actually feel sad for them right now.

actually, taking a closer look at the darker parts on unicron... it looks like he IS cybertron

We’ve already seen Unicron as a planet. He’s not the original design. His planet mode is very organic. He’s been laying dormant around a black hole.

[AllNewSuperRobot]

Elephant in the room time!



Will HE be factored into this? IDWverse does love to pay homage to the past, good bits and bad...

[ZeroWolf]

I doubt it, they seem to be playing this as primus and the thirteen style so unicron will probably end up as primus brother. Homaging more the marvel comic than the toon. Trust you to bring him up though lol

[bluecatcinema]

Now that is one epic new look for our favorite Chaos Bringer.

[Galactic Prime]

I'm kind of in shock. This is affecting me more deeply than I thought it would. I mean, it feels like a shame to just throw out eight years’ worth of great continuity

Where is this 8 years of great continuity? We've had nothing but but a decade of crap.

In your questionable opinion.

The IDWverse has been some of the greatest and most original Transformers story telling we've ever had. I'm very sorry you don't see it.

I'm sorry you can't see how crappy it's been. Again, answer the question, where is the 8 years of great story telling? Was it in the amazing decision to have the characters act completely out of character?

Was it in the decision to end the war the comic should actually be about?

Was it in the decision to go all political and PC with everything and having it look like a rejected USA society?

Which aspect of it was great?

[ZeroWolf]

Is there any point in giving you an example since you have already made up your mind? It would be like someone trying to tell me the virtues of the dreamwave series, wouldnt matter a dot, it is inferior in every way.

Instead why do you feel the characters have to act as certain way? New continuities in transformers is nothing new, and that's what idw is, a new continuity. It never pretended to be a replacement for the g1 toon and comic, they are still there. If you don't like it fine, but there are those of us who aren't going in to idw expecting it to tread old ground that's already well worn. What would be the point? Seeing megatron be more evil? Seen it. A thousand times seen it. Megatron struggling with his conscience? That's new, gimme more of that. Let the characters go beyond their bios, let them grow and develop. Let them question their alligances, commitment to their cause. Worse comes to worse you don't have to support them, but at least agree to disagree with those that do support them.

[Galactic Prime]

Is there any point in giving you an example since you have already made up your mind? It would be like someone trying to tell me the virtues of the dreamwave series, wouldnt matter a dot, it is inferior in every way.

You didn't type that with a straight face did you? Because the Dreamwave stuff was leagues better in every way, especially art.

But yes, an example of what someone liked would be nice, that is the point of a discussion thread. Instead all you hear is, THIS IS GREAT, when it simply isn't.

Instead why do you feel the characters have to act as certain way? New continuities in transformers is nothing new, and that's what idw is, a new continuity. It never pretended to be a replacement for the g1 toon and comic, they are still there. If you don't like it fine, but there are those of us who aren't going in to idw expecting it to tread old ground that's already well worn. What would be the point? Seeing megatron be more evil? Seen it. A thousand times seen it. Megatron struggling with his conscience? That's new, gimme more of that. Let the characters go beyond their bios, let them grow and develop. Let them question their alligances, commitment to their cause. Worse comes to worse you don't have to support them, but at least agree to disagree with those that do support them.

What deems the characters to act a certain way? How about if they don't want people to expect them to act like their G1 incarnations then you don't draw them like them.

That's why. The characters have very unique personalities in G1 that make them very interesting, moreso than what they've done with them in IDW. Everyone acts the same in these books, they're all back stabbing betraying murderous asshats.

The only interesting characters they've had they kill off or hardly use.

[Randomhero]

Is there any point in giving you an example since you have already made up your mind? It would be like someone trying to tell me the virtues of the dreamwave series, wouldnt matter a dot, it is inferior in every way.

You didn't type that with a straight face did you? Because the Dreamwave stuff was leagues better in every way, especially art.

But yes, an example of what someone liked would be nice, that is the point of a discussion thread. Instead all you hear is, THIS IS GREAT, when it simply isn't.

Instead why do you feel the characters have to act as certain way? New continuities in transformers is nothing new, and that's what idw is, a new continuity. It never pretended to be a replacement for the g1 toon and comic, they are still there. If you don't like it fine, but there are those of us who aren't going in to idw expecting it to tread old ground that's already well worn. What would be the point? Seeing megatron be more evil? Seen it. A thousand times seen it. Megatron struggling with his conscience? That's new, gimme more of that. Let the characters go beyond their bios, let them grow and develop. Let them question their alligances, commitment to their cause. Worse comes to worse you don't have to support them, but at least agree to disagree with those that do support them.

What deems the characters to act a certain way? How about if they don't want people to expect them to act like their G1 incarnations then you don't draw them like them.

That's why. The characters have very unique personalities in G1 that make them very interesting, moreso than what they've done with them in IDW. Everyone acts the same in these books, they're all back stabbing betraying murderous asshats.

The only interesting characters they've had they kill off or hardly use.

the art was better huh?



also i hate to break it to you but the characters in G1 have several different personalities depending on your fiction.

in the cartoon Prowl was a soldier and all around good guy. In the marvel he was sometimes cold and logical and did everything based on number, his toy bio reflected that. IDW based prowl off his toy and marvel bio.

Shockwave was originally depicted as a cold being who only believed in logic. Marvel IDW even somewhat of DW did it, cartoon? hes megatrons butler.

Soundwave in the cartoon is Megatrons most loyal soldier. in marvel comics and toy hes depicted as someone whos always listening to dig up dirt and blackmail anyone to benefit himself. IDW merged all the charcteristics.

Grimlock. Cartoon he and the dinobots are idiots and are nothing but muscle to the autobots and by season three were borderline mentally challanged and comic relief. EVERY other depiction has then being bad boys that are actually smart, ruthless tough guys who break rules once in a while becuase they dont agree with orders.

i hate to break it to you but IDW for the most part has been more faithful to characters than most fiction. the Cartoon ignored most of their characters backgrounds that were all created by Bob Budianski unless they got an individual episode about them but immediately after were forgotten.

but lets also go back to better art shall we?

squat post where limbs are not actually attached to the bodies



squat pose



http://tfwiki.net/wiki/File:G1_Vol.1_Issue2_1.jpg

squat pose bumblebees feet are bigger than his body. also whats going on with cliffjumpers feet behid bee? they literally floating infront of his body



http://tfwiki.net/mediawiki/images2/7/77/G1_Vol.1_Issue3_1.jpg

squat pose again just look at Bumblebee. jesus...and look at prime. what is even going on here?



http://tfwiki.net/wiki/File:G1_Vol.2_Issue1_1.jpg

lets take a look at this piece of interior by supposedly the president and founder of Dreamwave Pat lee. i say supposedly because its Pat Lee and he was having artists draw the comics and putting name on the books.



Optimus has three tires on one side and 2 on another and theyre not even located where tires on a truck would be.

Yup? much superior art from 16 years ago than what we get now.

[Ironhidensh]

I'm kind of in shock. This is affecting me more deeply than I thought it would. I mean, it feels like a shame to just throw out eight years’ worth of great continuity

Where is this 8 years of great continuity? We've had nothing but but a decade of crap.

In your questionable opinion.

The IDWverse has been some of the greatest and most original Transformers story telling we've ever had. I'm very sorry you don't see it.

I'm sorry you can't see how crappy it's been. Again, answer the question, where is the 8 years of great story telling? Was it in the amazing decision to have the characters act completely out of character?

Was it in the decision to end the war the comic should actually be about?

Was it in the decision to go all political and PC with everything and having it look like a rejected USA society?

Which aspect of it was great?

In no articular order:

The flashbacks to life before the war.

The characters who continue to grow as events happen, not just stay locked in stone.

The focus and spotlight given to lesser know secondary characters.

The depictions of characters dealing with war trauma.

Rung.

The ending of the war and the after effects.

The nails coming back.

The bad guys not simply being generic evil dudes.


I could go on, but I think it would be a wasted effort. Look brother, I don't mind you not liking these books. You can even hate them if you want. Just stop telling me that I have to think they are crap. I don't and I won't.

[Randomhero]

I'm kind of in shock. This is affecting me more deeply than I thought it would. I mean, it feels like a shame to just throw out eight years’ worth of great continuity

Where is this 8 years of great continuity? We've had nothing but but a decade of crap.

In your questionable opinion.

The IDWverse has been some of the greatest and most original Transformers story telling we've ever had. I'm very sorry you don't see it.

I'm sorry you can't see how crappy it's been. Again, answer the question, where is the 8 years of great story telling? Was it in the amazing decision to have the characters act completely out of character?

Was it in the decision to end the war the comic should actually be about?

Was it in the decision to go all political and PC with everything and having it look like a rejected USA society?

Which aspect of it was great?

In no articular order:

The flashbacks to life before the war.

The characters who continue to grow as events happen, not just stay locked in stone.

The focus and spotlight given to lesser know secondary characters.

The depictions of characters dealing with war trauma.

Rung.

The ending of the war and the after effects.

The nails coming back.

The bad guys not simply being generic evil dudes.


I could go on, but I think it would be a wasted effort. Look brother, I don't mind you not liking these books. You can even hate them if you want. Just stop telling me that I have to think they are crap. I don't and I won't.

you hit it right on the nail. one of the best aspects of IDW has been ending the war and answering the question "what next?" because yopu can only do so much with them being at war. also yes, making the decepticons and autobots very grey. Giving the Decepticons an actual reason for fighting instead "were evil because we are" Soundwave and Needlenose are honestly the best decepticons in IDW because they just want to be accepted and live in peace with everyone as equals and have actual character