The Energon Pub

Micronauts dumped that big Micronus reveal on us, and it's cool. That, plus the TF57 stuff made for a nice Micronauts into into the wider world

I read the MASK one as was curious (was never a big fan but I had some of the toys and they were kinda neat and as I mentioned some time ago the Human Alliance Transformers reminded me a bit of them in having a lil driver to put inside) but I dunno, I was just left feeling a bit... uncomfortable with it. I'm not sure why.

I didn't really know what to think of MASK, still really don't. I like the concept but the story still feels funky

ViaiTunes we have our latest IDW Revolution update, this time in the form of the sneak peak of Revolution #3! This comic is expected to be out October 12 and features the Micronauts, and for those keeping track, the God of the minicons himself: Micronus Prime! Check it out below.

Before you dip into the preview for IDW's Revolution #3, take a look at the full opening sequence for the second issue of the cross-franchise event, coming out next week in print and digital: as Comics Alliance posts the first seven pages of Revolution #2, plus all of the covers that come with the issue! We will be reviewing this on Wednesday, too, but feel free to join the discussion in the Energon Pub before then!

Revolution #2 (of 5)
Cullen Bunn & John Barber (w) • Fico Ossio (a) • Tradd Moore (c)
ROM—A MURDERER?! That’s what OPTIMUS PRIME and the TRANSFORMERS think—and right or wrong, there’s only one outcome: all-out war! Meanwhile, G.I. JOE turns to the one person who can save the world from ultimate destruction—MILES MAYHEM!
FC • 32 pages • $3.99

hurry up next week

Jazz liked that arm.

Kurona wrote:Jazz liked that arm.

*nods sagely*

I love how it specifies Jazz liked "that" left arm, like there are others and he just really liked that particular one.

And yet no one has mentioned ROM just flipping Optimus and embarrassing him like that?

D-Maximus_Primal wrote:And yet no one has mentioned ROM just flipping Optimus and embarrassing him like that?

It's basically the plot of the whole issue! *rolls eyes* *still sorta enjoyed it*

Microraptor wrote:I love how it specifies Jazz liked "that" left arm, like there are others and he just really liked that particular one.

It was his special left arm; there is no other like it!

Dr Va'al wrote:

D-Maximus_Primal wrote:And yet no one has mentioned ROM just flipping Optimus and embarrassing him like that?

It's basically the plot of the whole issue! *rolls eyes* *still sorta enjoyed it*

All things considered, it's probably a wise choice to establish ROM as a potential threat to Cybertronians. They both work on gobbledy-goop sci-fi magic, so there's no real dissonance there. He's a threat to them in the same way that a monkey which could punch with the strength of a buff adult humie would be threatening to us.

ScottyP wrote:I don't mind it. If it was Death's Head we'd all be saying it was the Best Thing Ever. Which it would be, yes?

I miss that Freelance Peacekeeping Agent.

I guess its a good thing that Hasbro/IDW has control of ROM now over as opposed to Marvel. But a while back, when I was looking at concept art for the animated series Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. The "season 3" that never came about because of Jeph Loeb . ROM was going to be featured in at least one episode. This was back in 2013, imagine what that small cameo would have done to boost that characters popularity.

o.supreme wrote:I guess its a good thing that Hasbro/IDW has control of ROM now over as opposed to Marvel. But a while back, when I was looking at concept art for the animated series Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. The "season 3" that never came about because of Jeph Loeb . ROM was going to be featured in at least one episode. This was back in 2013, imagine what that small cameo would have done to boost that characters popularity.

That was essentially fanart one of the show's character designers made to show what he would have liked to see. Rom would have never shown up in season 3 because Marvel never owned him.

There is a review coming, but due to life outside of the site, it will be later than usual.
Apologies!

Synopsis
ROM—A MURDERER?! That’s what OPTIMUS PRIME and the TRANSFORMERS think—and right or wrong, there’s only one outcome: all-out war! Meanwhile, G.I. JOE turns to the one person who can save the world from ultimate destruction—MILES MAYHEM!



Story

If the first issue of Revolution - reviewed by Tigertrack here - showed where the ubersharedmashup universe crossover event would find its flaws, the second issue in the run is still not able to pick up the good bits for long enough to satisfy a regular reader of Transformers. Bear with me...



As Rom the SpaceKnight provides the catalyst for the event, and even though Micronauts is probably doing a better job at connecting the wider mythology so far, even with just one issue (see my review of the other titles involved here), the insistence on the 'everyone is the bad guy of someone else's story' is really not landing yet. Yes, the Dire Wraiths are creating confusion, and Miles Mayhem is clearly furthering his own goals, but still, something feels very much off.



Where John Barber and Cullen Bunn do have a knack for stories and dialogue - and we know the continuity skills of Barber are second to none, especially with the IDW Transformers-verse, so there is plenty to play around with for the both of them - unfortunately though, there just isn't enough space right now, and where they instead tend to shine is in the other titles that make up the event as a whole, at least at this point in the game.



With that in mind, some of the interactions, especially between human and non-human factions, feel stilted, sometimes even forced - notable example is the MASK introduction, too short, too contrived and underplaying a potentially meaty development, in concept and story; also, the opening dialogue with the Joe team, and the decimate incident - with the best part of the book only coming towards the very very end.

Art

I do not dislike Fico Ossio's work, in any way at all. The designs for humans and robots, robots in particular, are visually stimulating, intriguing, and a new direction which I approve of for something so flashy like a franchise crossover. They're bold. But therein lies a flaw: the emotive aspect of non-organics in particular suffer from the linework of the rest of the character. Arcee and Windblade, and to an extent Kup, particularly feel this.



The colours still fit that 'HEY YOU LOOK AT THIS BOOK AIN'T IT COOL' vibe that IDW has been relying on for the crossover, in its multiple covers and big previews across major entertainment news sites too, and Sebastian Cheng does very good things with the vibrancy chosen - though I can see how some might find it too 'light' in some scenes.



Regular Transformers veteran letter Tom B. Long has a heck of a job keeping the dialogue and sounds at bay - and that last word is actually a totally unintentional pun for the amount of explosive fontwork that we find in the book: the explosions and loudness are very much present all the way through. Commendable indeed that it is this clear!

As for the covers, there are so many variants offered, as is to be expected from such a wide-scale project, that I am not sure I can master up enough words to mention them all. Make sure you do look out for them though, as there are some true gems in there, from Christiansen and Guidi, to Easton and Baltazar, via toy and minimal variants (see thumbnail by James Biggie), there is bound to be something to appeal to everyone.


Thoughts
Spoilerish ahead

I will follow the event through to its end, but what I see so far is not entirely convincing as a way to get older fans of the Joe and Transformers franchises hooked for long enough to warrant the arrival of three new properties. Book-wise at least. Where Bunn and Barber do work well, still, is within the smaller titles that lead into this wider crossover, unfortunately.



That said, the building of the world around Revolution, both through reusing parts of the more cosmically inclined lore of the Transformers, or the making things align in the Microverse parts of the story. Visually, my issues are outlined above, but it is not a bad looking book, at all! And overall, we do have a slight improvement with the wider cast now fully present in the line-up for the event - here's hoping to the next three issues finally able to lift off the ground in the scale of what the premise has promised comics readers.




Bonus Content: A handy reference guide from Tigertrack, which still fully applies two issues in!

Who should try this?

Casual 80’s childhood guy or gal all grown up: Hell yeah! You’d probably get a kick out of this with Transformers, GI JOE, ROM, ACTION MAN and coming up… Micronauts, and MASK! My childhood hath been brought back alive again! If only VISIONARIES would make an appearance! Ore-13 won't mean anything to you, but you don't need it to.

IDW Transformers Familiars: You may be a bit more hesitant. 'Our guys' are a focus for sure, but we’re not quite sure how they will come out when this all shakes out, and there was a lot of awesome stuff to like going on before this. They are the elder statesman and most successful comics of the bunch, and readers are not interested in losing the awesome ground that we have gained over recent years. There seem to be inconsistencies with current comic continuity, but not so huge that it can't get cleaned up. AND... we do get this ORE-13 thing to finally seem to finally, finally, shake out in full, so there's that!

IDW GI JOE Familiars: You may just feel good that GI JOE is coming back, again, but are probably frustrated that GI JOE is coming back, yet again, seemingly rebooted, yet again (I’m not as good and up on my IDW GI JOE). I feel very badly for hardcore JOE fans. I really hope this helps to get them the great fiction that they deserve (and hopefully more of a toy line too).

OTHERS: Tons of action! Aliens, robots, human elite army operatives, and end of the planet Earth peril, plus some cool new sophisticated TECHIE vehicles. Recognizable big name characters. Sounds like a try out to me! It reads like the big boys crossovers so far, with satisfactory art, I'd give it a go.

It's not been a bad story by any means so far, but there is just so much going on that it is hard to stop and get a feel for any of the characters. A major part of that problem is that this series is essentially serving as an introduction to many of them. I know we had the Micronauts and M.A.S.K. one-shots, but both of those were so brief that we barely got to dig into their large casts. We have seen enough of the Transformers cast and ROM for their interactions to feel right, but the M.A.S.K. appearance in this issue totally fell flat.

That said, I'm excited to see where things go once this crossover is finished. Miles Mayhem is shaping up to be an excellent villain, and I have really enjoyed Scarlett in this series. The Micronauts stuff looks pretty interesting as well, if we can ever get to know the characters.

MrBlack wrote:It's not been a bad story by any means so far, but there is just so much going on that it is hard to stop and get a feel for any of the characters. A major part of that problem is that this series is essentially serving as an introduction to many of them. I know we had the Micronauts and M.A.S.K. one-shots, but both of those were so brief that we barely got to dig into their large casts. We have seen enough of the Transformers cast and ROM for their interactions to feel right, but the M.A.S.K. appearance in this issue totally fell flat.

Pretty much, yes. Too much going on, too much trying to show what things are to new people by ignoring the well-established lore of the books preceding this, and just making it all a 'these are your comics now, read us'. Which is, as I said, a shame!

That said, I'm excited to see where things go once this crossover is finished. Miles Mayhem is shaping up to be an excellent villain, and I have really enjoyed Scarlett in this series. The Micronauts stuff looks pretty interesting as well, if we can ever get to know the characters.

The Micronauts series, now on issue 6, is actually really fun! It's where Bunn is shining in terms of making likeable cheese work for the title, and we get some excellent Baron Karza characterisation - which we don't see in Revolution, but most definitely will as of next issue.

As for Mayhem - so far he does nothing for me, but I'm willing to give him a chance.

Well, as I've always considered myself Seibertron's #1 M.A.S.K. fan, I gotta say IDW has completely failed with them so far.

I understand the need for some change and updates to a 30 year old franchise, but what they've done is so radically different that I don't think you can really call it M.A.S.K.

The only part that really pays true to the heart of the original (so far) is Miles. He feels right. Maybe Vanessa too, but everything else is falling flat.

Ironhidensh wrote:Well, as I've always considered myself Seibertron's #1 M.A.S.K. fan, I gotta say IDW has completely failed with them so far.

I understand the need for some change and updates to a 30 year old franchise, but what they've done is so radically different that I don't think you can really call it M.A.S.K.

The only part that really pays true to the heart of the original (so far) is Miles. He feels right. Maybe Vanessa too, but everything else is falling flat.

Have you read the one-shot too?

Dr Va'al wrote:

Ironhidensh wrote:Well, as I've always considered myself Seibertron's #1 M.A.S.K. fan, I gotta say IDW has completely failed with them so far.

I understand the need for some change and updates to a 30 year old franchise, but what they've done is so radically different that I don't think you can really call it M.A.S.K.

The only part that really pays true to the heart of the original (so far) is Miles. He feels right. Maybe Vanessa too, but everything else is falling flat.

Have you read the one-shot too?

Yes. That is what most of my opinion is based on.

Ironhidensh wrote:

Dr Va'al wrote:

Ironhidensh wrote:Well, as I've always considered myself Seibertron's #1 M.A.S.K. fan, I gotta say IDW has completely failed with them so far.

I understand the need for some change and updates to a 30 year old franchise, but what they've done is so radically different that I don't think you can really call it M.A.S.K.

The only part that really pays true to the heart of the original (so far) is Miles. He feels right. Maybe Vanessa too, but everything else is falling flat.

Have you read the one-shot too?

Yes. That is what most of my opinion is based on.

Yep, gotcha - just wanted to know if there was a difference after both appearances in the comics. But clearly not.