The Energon Pub

Doctor Reggae wrote:It'd be cool if Hot Rod ends up using the Magnificence again at some point...although we're not sure where he hid it, and he's currently stuck on Earth. Probably a plot point that Doubledealer's spotlight might deal with?

It'd be great if the Magnificence turned out to be part of (if not the) Matrix...

(Assuming that Nova lost/corrupted his Matrix)

That's ANOTHER plot point I want to see Furman address--Nova's matrix. Galvatron mentioned in passing that Nova had one, and that Nova commands something called "the darkness". Possibly a setup to use the Magnificence as the counterpoint to Nova's evil whatever-it-is?

Doctor Reggae wrote:That's ANOTHER plot point I want to see Furman address--Nova's matrix. Galvatron mentioned in passing that Nova had one, and that Nova commands something called "the darkness". Possibly a setup to use the Magnificence as the counterpoint to Nova's evil whatever-it-is?

You know what that might just be............? I remember Dreamwave had done an exclusive comic for the BotCons features characters Sentinel Maximus. In that universe Unicron created a copy of a fallen Optimus and turned him into Nemesis and he had something called the "Dead-Matrix" that would have killed Primus (opposite of the matrix that killed Unicron in the movie)

yeah that thing dose look like part of the matrix- but i think nova has that- could he have lost it?

anyway can i ask- where they gonna go after the whole after the dead universe is tyed up and the deceptacons take over earth- obviously the autobots will come back to fight them but there'll be more to it than that wont there?

Am I the only one who is currently really confused as to where they are going with the storyline? There are ALOT of inter-crossing Plotlines, sometimes it feels like the DW G1 one series, original series 1 / 2 transformers interacting with humans... then two pannels later, its Marvel's transformers from every series dancing around cybertron.
Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the depth that IDW have gone to to create this story but I can't help but feel my head spin when I try to think whats acctually happened (its not helping that I've just re-read all the G1 dreamworks either...)
also is All Hail Megatron a tie in to Revelations or is it a completely diffrent, spin off to the story arc? (the Decepticons in Focus interview kinda hinted it would change the IDW universe)

All Hail Megatron is supposed to take place one year after the events of Revelations, which will be told throughout the spotlights for Hardhead, Doubledealer, Cyclonus, and whichever is the last one. AHM is in continuity with the rest of IDW's stuff, but sounds like it'll be the start of a new general direction for things.

I'll agree that there's a lot of things going on in terms of plots and storylines--but it'll make the payoff that much better. Furman's said that he's finally been able to write TF's for IDW with minimal to no interjection or requirements from Hasbro, so he's got a lot of ground still to cover...but he'll be able to pull things off.

Doctor Reggae wrote:All Hail Megatron is supposed to take place one year after the events of Revelations, which will be told throughout the spotlights for Hardhead, Doubledealer, Cyclonus, and whichever is the last one. AHM is in continuity with the rest of IDW's stuff, but sounds like it'll be the start of a new general direction for things.

I'll agree that there's a lot of things going on in terms of plots and storylines--but it'll make the payoff that much better. Furman's said that he's finally been able to write TF's for IDW with minimal to no interjection or requirements from Hasbro, so he's got a lot of ground still to cover...but he'll be able to pull things off.

Ahh now that makes alot more sense! The other Revelations Spotlight is Sideswipe, which I'm guessing could be a good one, I mean we did see him in Megatrons origins saying he was going to "watch the fights" a panel or two before Megatron offered out places as Decepticons, maybe hinting that he didn't want to side with the autobots initially or how he escaped getting thrown in jail with the rest of the decepticons, also there's the obvious fact that he's Sunstreakers Brother and his reaction to him becoming a headmaster / what happened when he was transfered to earth, maybe his negligence in guarding the autobot base in aid of finding / helping sunstreaker gives the decepticons the edge they'll need on the autobots to become victorious in AHM... thats all a quick 5 minute guess at one issue, though to be honest I can see how they'd all fit in except hardhead atm...

Well Sunstreaker and Sideswipe in origins is imo that there part of the bot take down of the arena fighters. It looks like Grimlock is there to there dialouge I think is to not give awway there cover.

By the way... Those people in the "Dead Universe", who do you think they are? We know that Galvy bought Thunderwing and possibly Sixshot there, and that Jhiaxus, the Race Car Patrol and Nemesis Prime are in the Dead Universe. So... what are they planning? An army of dead transformers? Like "City of Fear"? This is getting more and more confusing by the series...

First, there is the Headmaster plot. Then Ore 13. Then Skywatch/Grimlock/Shockwave fiasco. Then the Dead Universe. Then Soundwave vs Blaster. Then Kup. Then there's still the problem of the TFs left on earth, and the pretender superweapon, and fembots, and the gestalt technology... etc etc etc... I could go on all day.

I really like the IDWverse, but the conclusions will be a bit tedious, as there are many hanging plotlines...

I think there are 5 big bots in the Dead Universe:
Nemesis Prime
Jhiaxus
Glavatron
Cyclonus
(unknown, possibly Scourge)

Plus the Micromasters who I would assume are experiments of Jhiaxus's.

Don't worry about all the hanging plot points, I dont think the Revelations 4 part finale will even attempt to wrap up half of the loose threads, we still have Maximum Dinobots to continue on the Skywatch-Scorpy-Masters segments, plus whatever comes up after that series.

Don't assume this post is a criticism and accusing Furman of rehashing old ideas, but does anyone else feel that the entire "ion" or "tion" storyline from IDW is very much a Matrix Quest - Eye Of The Storm - Edge Of Exstinction Redux.

Don't get me wrong its a very good story as was the Marvel run but I looked closely at the recurring characters and themes.

Grimlock

Eye of the storm he is looking for a mysterious energy to reboot his Dinotbots and feels responsible for bringing them back on line and is a rebel going against Prime's orders..he is out of the main storyline somewhat and appears at the last minute to save the day.

Ion story he is looking for his fellow Dynotbots to try to revive them if they are alive and is guilty over getting them slagged. He is out of the main storyline and is a rebel.

Shockwave

Eye of the storm he is a planning a rebellion and acting against the current decepticon leadership for his own ends but still makes out he is acting on behalf of the decepticons

Ion he is working for his own ends creating a new energy source on earth and works against the decepticon leadership

Scorponok

Eye of the storm he is a bit of a loose cannon and will work with humans and autobots alike, his fellow decepticons dont entirely trust him and his motives

Ion he is an independent force who cares little for the decepticon cause, he will work with humans and sees them as partners until such time as they have outlived their usefullness. Something other decepticons do not appear to do.

Starscream

Eye of the storm he is a self centred traitor

Ion he is a self centred traitor

Galavtron

Eye of the storm he is a wild card with imense power who appears to be serving a greater purpose but has his own agenda and is not totally trusted by his bosses

Ion he is a wild card with imense power who appears to be serving a greater purpose but has his own agenda and is not totally trusted by his bosses.

Thunderwing

Eye of the storm he is a total whackjob whose quest for power totally destroys him, he later comes back at the last minute and indirectly helps destroy the bad guys of the piece

Ion he is a total whackjob whose quest for power end up with him being somewhat neutralised and he is captured by the dead universe.

Nightbeat

Eye of the storm he is being a detective and uncovers a few crucial bits of information that help bring the plot along and often acts as something of a plot device

Ion he is hunting down the missing Ark and looks like he will uncover some crucial bits of information to assist the autobots


Thats my little analysis over, and while yes alot of these characters have defined traits such as nightbeat, it would be hard for them to act in other ways, so you expect a certain amount of predictability, the more and more you compare the two stories the more and more parallels you see.

I think all in all this is a good thing as Furman has seen something that worked well with the final 15 or so issues of Marvel and now has a chance to craft out a much grander plot over a longer period with more plots and creative freedom, all the while sticking to the same core characters he used before that worked so well together.

I personally think this means that despite all the reboots, we can still predict some of the character interactions and possible outcomes as charcters are more or less sticking to established roles.

Anyone else notice this theme or have any thoughts on it??

Furman is a great writer, and (most of) the stories on Marvel and IDW are great and a nice read. Compare that with the Avengers/Transformers crossover, or the bloddy Dreamwave G1 Miniseries. I mean, look at G1 volume 2 - there's easily a quarter of the storylines of Marvel US, UK and the Animated G1 Series, cramped into six issues!

At least IDW has discipline, allowing decent character development. I haven't seen Sixshot, the Battlechargers, Sunstreaker, Ramjet, Dogfight or Hardhead (to name a few) so well-developed before. While still trying to juggle two hundred or so TFs at the same time, Furman did a great job, putting in G2 and Action Master cameos in the stories without making a distasting feeling.

Another thing to comment on: already popular characters such as Ratchet, Prowl or Jazz are further characterized. At least Starscream isn't his bloody Dreamwave two-dimensional double crosser. Megatron is (compared to Marvel) finally the top dog of the Decepticons, instead of being downtrodden by Straxus, Ratbat, Shockwave, Bludgeon and everyone else. Characters generally used as 'filler soldiers', such as Sunstreaker, Skywarp, Igunaus, Sixshot, Ramjet et cetera finally get limelights.

Furman rehashing the themes he had already published is fine by me because thought the basic premise may be the same, the character development and intracity of the story he is penning is far superior to his original work.
It'd be a much different story if we were getting "Carwash of Doom" style stories being re-hashed though.

It's like going and watching movies these days, so many movies share the same themes and plots, but its the details that make the difference.

I hate to go off on a tangent but I was wondering something.

We know that several Transformers use mass displacement i.e Megatron and Soundwave.

Does Prime use the same method. In Devastation 3 and 4 we saw how ginormous Sixshot was compared to the Autobots and their altmodes and we know that Prime towers over the average Autobot but Sixshot still should significantly bigger than Prime. However, during their Devastation scuffle it appeared that they were of relative sizes.

Is this just my perspective that may be off or is there some kind of inconsistency?

MYoung23 wrote:I hate to go off on a tangent but I was wondering something.

We know that several Transformers use mass displacement i.e Megatron and Soundwave.

Does Prime use the same method. In Devastation 3 and 4 we saw how ginormous Sixshot was compared to the Autobots and their altmodes and we know that Prime towers over the average Autobot but Sixshot still should significantly bigger than Prime. However, during their Devastation scuffle it appeared that they were of relative sizes.

Is this just my perspective that may be off or is there some kind of inconsistency?

just flicked though those issues, can see what you mean sixshot changes sizes several times, he is especialy huge in issue 3 when hes chasing ratchet (his foot is bigger that the whole of ratchet!)
and later in issue 4 he changes size several times but i dont think thats mass shiffting, that uses too much energy, just artisic licence.
plus defferent artists worked on those issues.

chronic wrote:plus defferent artists worked on those issues.

That would be my numero uno pick for the problem.

By the way... Megs and Galvy are DEFINITELY different characters, which is great by my book. But here comes a thought. Will Hot Rod and Rodimus Prime be the same or different?
Now think about that!

i dissagre Galvatron should have been from the future/alternate-dimention not the past, in my mind he is megatron turned up to the max, ten times more powerfull and compleetly insane and powerhungry
-not nessaseraly made by unicron though

anyway i doubt rodimus prime will be in it and deffinately not as a different character mayby hot rod will upgrade to rodimus minus the prime

although a thought just poped into my mind; what if he get his hands on the matrix/magnifisence whatever that thing is..

I can get the way Revelations storyline ended, but I have to say I'm disappointed the Decepticons didn't get involved in it. The way Sideswipes spotlight ended, I was hoping we'd at least get to see Megatron encounter Galvatron

I think had the "tion" story come progress as originally intended we would have seen more Decepticon action, I think Furman would have relished pitting Megatron against Galvatron somewhat reminiscing his strong work with the two in the Marvel run.

The fact the Decepticons were missing for all of Revelations was most likely 2 fold, a) not enough room and b) the focus was on them in AHM, so they did not need to be featured as heavily in the wrap up of "tion".

So now should this thread become the "What AHM has glossed over and pretended not to notice from the "tion" series?

I was just thinking the other day how this thread seems to have died.

As for renaming it should be called:

Theories, Ideas and speculations that will be promised then dumped after two years when we have all your money buying the build up issues!

I've probably ranted about this elsewhere but I can see what makes IDW think this is a good marketing move to make buyers trust them and will buy into the next story arc. Were AHM not a pile of crap or replacing -ion series, I would STILL have reservations (the new title of the ion series perhaps ) about committing to a long term story.

I think the 13 will be the next point of interest that would regenerate the thread somewhat

AHM questions WRT -ation

Why are the seekers back as F15s? They were 22's in -ation. Sure F15s are still being flown, but it seems to be a damn odd choice.

Is Sunstreaker still a headmaster?

AHM isn't really wowing me - the first few episodes were a bit repetitive (look Decepticons kill lots of poony hooomans) and it seems as though things went from Earth being one battle front in a galactic war where infiltrations and so on were going on all over the place to the be all and end all of everything. It dramatically reduced the scope of the story - which would be fine if the story was compelling - but so far, not so much.

It feels as though there is a big reset button going to be pushed at the end of AHM so that Simon Furman can get on with telling the broader story.

Orin_Thomas wrote:AHM questions WRT -ation

Why are the seekers back as F15s? They were 22's in -ation. Sure F15s are still being flown, but it seems to be a damn odd choice.

Is Sunstreaker still a headmaster?

These points have not been brought up within AHM as of yet, although the Seeker alt mode change is meant to be explained within the story, while I have a feeling that Sunstreaker and his Headmaster problems will be glossed over, seeing as I think it will be given more page time in the Maximum Dinobots series.

Orin_Thomas wrote:It feels as though there is a big reset button going to be pushed at the end of AHM so that Simon Furman can get on with telling the broader story.

I wonder if we could do a fan-base survey and see what percentage believe that AHM will be struck from the established Furmanverse, and what percentage believe it will remain cannon...

i_amtrunks wrote:
I wonder if we could do a fan-base survey and see what percentage believe that AHM will be struck from the established Furmanverse, and what percentage believe it will remain cannon...

While I have lost interest in AHM some time ago, what I am hoping for is that Max Dinobots will not be limited by AHM and allowed to go in its own direction. It wouldn't bother me if there is a conflict.
For your poll. I do not believe AHM will be struck from the Furmanverse as non cannon.
If it was struck as non cannon then what would you like to see happen.

Time to renew the discussion part of this thread, seeing as (for now) AHM is part of the IDW Transformers-verse...

So where did the Matrix come from?

What can Megatron do with the Matrix?

Why hasn't Starscream tried to take the Matrix for himself?

Any new theories on the traitor?

How did Kup recover so well?

Where did Kup get the metal cigar from?

Will Drift actually do anything?

Now that Jazz has effectively taken command, what does Prowl do, and is he "in the loop" about Prime's missing Matrix?

No really, where did the Matrix come from?