The Energon Pub

Except those changes to Primal make him someone else. Primal only became reckless in his Beast Machines characterisation. He isn't some gung-ho cadet, like Animated Prime. His calculated and level-headed competence, demonstrated from The Pilot Part 1 to Nemesis Part 2, is what sets him apart from his contemporaries.

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:Except those changes to Primal make him someone else. Primal only became reckless in his Beast Machines characterisation. He isn't some gung-ho cadet, like Animated Prime. His calculated and level-headed competence, demonstrated from The Pilot Part 1 to Nemesis Part 2, is what sets him apart from his contemporaries.

That's Cartoon Universe Optimus Primal, this is Comic Universe Optimus Primal. This is the equivalent of G1 Cartoon Blaster (jammin' dude) vs. G1 Marvel Blaster (grim rebel), or G1 Cartoon Shockwave (Megatron's loyal yesman) vs. G1 Marvel Shockwave (logic-serving usurper), or Armada Cartoon Tidal Wave (big dumb juggernaut) vs. Armada Comic Tidal Wave (intelligent manipulator), or Energon Cartoon Ironhide (young doofus) vs. Energon Comic Ironhide (cautious scientist).

Except, this is supposed to be paying homage to the show and its universe. You would have thought if the writer was such a fan he would have gotten that much right at least.
IDW lowering the characterisation bar again...

Sabrblade wrote:

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:Except those changes to Primal make him someone else. Primal only became reckless in his Beast Machines characterisation. He isn't some gung-ho cadet, like Animated Prime. His calculated and level-headed competence, demonstrated from The Pilot Part 1 to Nemesis Part 2, is what sets him apart from his contemporaries.

That's Cartoon Universe Optimus Primal, this is Comic Universe Optimus Primal. This is the equivalent of G1 Cartoon Blaster (jammin' dude) vs. G1 Marvel Blaster (grim rebel), or G1 Cartoon Shockwave (Megatron's loyal yesman) vs. G1 Marvel Shockwave (logic-serving usurper), or Armada Cartoon Tidal Wave (big dumb juggernaut) vs. Armada Comic Tidal Wave (intelligent manipulator), or Energon Cartoon Ironhide (young doofus) vs. Energon Comic Ironhide (cautious scientist).

Or in other words: an actual reboot

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Or in other words: an actual reboot

Is it still a reboot if it is a virtual play by play recreation

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Or in other words: an actual reboot

Is it still a reboot if it is a virtual play by play recreation

Yes. This could start in a similar territory, and then dive off into new stuff suddenly. Besides, new characters, new characteristics, some different back story stuff = not the same.

Reboot doesn't mean literal hard reset from the get go everytime.

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:Except, this is supposed to be paying homage to the show and its universe. You would have thought if the writer was such a fan he would have gotten that much right at least.
IDW lowering the characterisation bar again...

"Paying homage" and "replicating everything exactly the same down to the smallest detail" are not the same thing.

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Or in other words: an actual reboot

Is it still a reboot if it is a virtual play by play recreation

It's a reboot that's also a remake.

Beast Wars: Uprising, on the other hand, is a full blown reboot with an original premise (and which its naysayers only decried because it wasn't a remake with the same premise as the show, depriving themselves of something completely new and unique for Beast Wars).

Sabrblade wrote:"Paying homage" and "replicating everything exactly the same down to the smallest detail" are not the same thing.

I'll wait til I read it but, if Megatron (and Rattrap) reads note for note as he should. It seems odd that Primal doesn't? They should be considered equally important to get right, after all.

Primal isn't Prime. Nor should either be written as such.

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Yes. This could start in a similar territory, and then dive off into new stuff suddenly. Besides, new characters, new characteristics, some different back story stuff = not the same.

I wish I shared your optimism. But I don't see it playing out like that. I'd love for a Beast Wars comic to do what the show couldn't - increase that roster. Not merely with Bat-Girl and Discount Snapper, but to really run with it. Wolfang and K-9 defending a Maximal Energon mine from Transquito, Jetstorm and Spittor. Cybershark & Claw Jaw, alone in the ocean, being ambushed by Razorclaw and Sea Clamp etc etc

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Reboot doesn't mean literal hard reset from the get go everytime.

IDW has a great track record of that so far. To the extent, I don't think they understand what 'reboot' means

Sabrblade wrote:It's a reboot that's also a remake.

Yes, that's what it is. Not sure what to make of that though.

Rodimus Prime wrote:Always preferred Guido Guidi and Andrew Wildman.

I agree that Guido Guidi is a BEAST! My favourite is Alex Milne, followed by Casey Coller but Guidi is probably third. Love that guy and it's cool how he can be a cameleon.

As for the Geoff Senior comparisons to Bercham, I kinda get the idea with the very stylyzed proportions. But to me while it ends up being similar on paper, I feel they are coming from two very different ideas. The proportions and angles from Senior always seemed like an attempt to show perspective shots. Like Transformers themselves were so huge in scale that looking at a bot from any angle would required a change in perspective. Like the iconic shot below. With Burcham, that just looks like a robot design put through an animated filter. And since I always find faces to be one of the most indicative part of a character, the fact that the both their approach to faces is entirely different doesn't really make me think of them as similar.

Picked up issue #1 on a lark. I liked it. I'll stick around for the time being.

Just not a big fan of the art style. Story was okay, but it was hard to truly enjoy because of my dislike of the art.

Still, could be worse, could have been John Romita Jr.

Burn wrote:Still, could be worse, could have been John Romita Jr.

The level of snark in here is rather disheartening. Beast Wars the show was damn near perfect. But it was a story that's been told. Every attempt to expand on it before has fallen flat on its face. Rebooting with an AU version gives us a chance to see these characters again, and at the same time potentially have a new, broader and deeper story. Even if the art was way too stylized for my tastes, the first issue put a big, giddy smile on my face and I'm feeling the same euphoric rush of anticipation that I felt at the end of "Beast Wars Part 2" when Primal shouted "Let the battle be called BEAST WARS!" and that gnarly guitar riff closed things off.

JazZeke wrote:The level of snark in here is rather disheartening. Beast Wars the show was damn near perfect. But it was a story that's been told. Every attempt to expand on it before has fallen flat on its face. Rebooting with an AU version gives us a chance to see these characters again, and at the same time potentially have a new, broader and deeper story..

Maybe that’s the reason why. A Beast Wars comic made during the Beast Era would have been more than welcome (especially using the art of the toy bios). That didn’t happen. So maybe the resistance to all the retroactive media is because the moment has passed and the perception is it is better to leave Beast Wars story as it is.

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:

JazZeke wrote:The level of snark in here is rather disheartening. Beast Wars the show was damn near perfect. But it was a story that's been told. Every attempt to expand on it before has fallen flat on its face. Rebooting with an AU version gives us a chance to see these characters again, and at the same time potentially have a new, broader and deeper story..

Maybe that’s the reason why. A Beast Wars comic made during the Beast Era would have been more than welcome (especially using the art of the toy bios). That didn’t happen. So maybe the resistance to all the retroactive media is because the moment has passed and the perception is it is better to leave Beast Wars story as it is.

The moment's passed, agreed, but also the fact that the prequel and sequel comics all just... weren't very good. The Gathering/The Ascending, especially, dropped the ball HARD.

I wouldn't have minded a sequel comic that ignores Beast Machines and spins off to do its own thing, but at the same time, that would be impossible without filling in a lot of the backstory gaps Beast Wars intentionally left vague. Better to launch from a new starting point with better-realized backstories for the cast.

The thing with the Beast Wars, and Beast Machines cartoon, is the story was told and finished.

Yes there was a back story to bridge the gap between G1 and BW, but it wasn't much of a story, and BM wrapped the story up.

Trying to shoe horn anything else into it was always going to be difficult, and hard to make work.

So giving it a reboot/remake was the only logical option. It gives the story tellers a chance to retell the old story that is loved by many, and giving them wiggle room to tell more tales. Issue 1 alone has left it open for the story to flip back to Cybertron and tell the story of what went on there during the events of BW.

Like I said, not a fan of the art style, but there is potential to this series if people give it a chance and just don't write it off based on issue 1.

I said back when this first came up, and I still stand by it, this comic should have been a prequel. Telling the story of how the Beast Wars characters ended up where they were in episode 1 of the show. I know we've had some vague references to events that led to Maximals and Predacons, but as far as I know there hasn't been a concrete story told, unless I missed out on some exclusive stuff, regarding the 2 factions' beginnings. It would have been a way to bring something new to the Beast Wars lore while still using well-known characters, and thus not having to spend page space on introductions, nor being forced to do a reboot or remake, or whatever this qualifies as.

The extra material at the end, along with some of the press for the book, says that it's taking the Ultimate Marvel approach. Hasbro wanted time travel and the Golden Disk kept in place, probably for synergy with Kingdom/general branding reasons.

I thought this was plenty different while keeping the same beats, the show doesn't give us the cool Cybertron-set stuff or time on the Axalon before it encounters the Darksyde. Sure, Funpub did a little of that, but this issue does it better, imo.

We'll see how far the departure goes. Maybe Nyx is like Mari and by the end of the third arc a newly bi-curious Optimus Primal will accidentally get the Vok to trigger Third Impact

The Beast War happens on an organic planet. So what happened onboard the Axalon, prior to the crash. Or Rhinox' younger days as a janitor in Iacon, are basically superfluous and somewhat irrelevant. Much like their previous Cybertronian Altmodes.

JazZeke wrote:The moment's passed, agreed, but also the fact that the prequel and sequel comics all just... weren't very good. The Gathering/The Ascending, especially, dropped the ball HARD.

100% agreed. I had high hopes for The Gathering/Ascending in light of Furman writing Nemesis and seeing those early splash covers with everyone from Beast Wars roster on it. Such a heavy focus on the Takara series' roster that I couldn't care less about, wasn't what I had in mind. Meanwhile Polar Claw and the rest of the toy-only cast were relegated to generic dialogue and visual cameos. Completely wasted opportunity.


- Post-Beast Machines
- Mini Comic Continuity
- TransTech?

These points of the Beast Era, I'd say have the most untapped potential. Each of them could literally go anywhere. Instead of homaging plagiarising someone else's work.

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:The Beast War happens on an organic planet. So what happened onboard the Axalon, prior to the crash. Or Rhinox' younger days as a janitor in Iacon, are basically superfluous and somewhat irrelevant. Much like their previous Cybertronian Altmodes.

JazZeke wrote:The moment's passed, agreed, but also the fact that the prequel and sequel comics all just... weren't very good. The Gathering/The Ascending, especially, dropped the ball HARD.

100% agreed. I had high hopes for The Gathering/Ascending in light of Furman writing Nemesis and seeing those early splash covers with everyone from Beast Wars roster on it. Such a heavy focus on the Takara series' roster that I couldn't care less about, wasn't what I had in mind. Meanwhile Polar Claw and the rest of the toy-only cast were relegated to generic dialogue and visual cameos. Completely wasted opportunity.


- Post-Beast Machines
- Mini Comic Continuity
- TransTech?

These points of the Beast Era, I'd say have the most untapped potential. Each of them could literally go anywhere. Instead of homaging plagiarising someone else's work.

Then you might want to have a word at Hasbro who had a lost of requirements for what they wanted (got to have that synergy with the toyline like when Siege first launched...though I'm not thinking it very odd that Earthrise didn't get anything of the sort )

So, I have read the comic, because I was encouraged to by a fan. I really don't think my opinion counts for anything, but I will always be courteous and oblige someone who asks. I'll never regret building friendships in the fandom, even if opinions differ. . Based on what I've seen here, any comments about the characters personalities being *off* is automatically negated with... "Well because it's supposed to be new"...So...where does that leave us? I'm still commenting about it. The Predacons were pretty much spot on. I found Rhonix to be a little too *happy*. His stoic demeanor in the show was what made him my favorite of the initial 10 characters on the show (Tigatron/Tigerhawk ended up being my overall favorite, followed by Depthcharge, then Rhinox). The new characters in this comic do nothing for me, but that has been the case all throughout IDW Transformers for me.

The Art- I'm not a fan of it. I'm not comparing it to anyone else, because honestly I'm woefully ignorant of the names behind comics these days. Let's just say I enjoyed the Artwork of The Gathering/Ascending much more.

As for the story, everything on Cybertron was a fairly interesting lead up. I'm honestly Disappointed Megaton's name wasn't Joe . Also seeing Ironhide did raise an eyebrow. I'm glad they haven't abandoned the idea of using non show characters entirely, and not just going to make up new ones. Once they got to Earth, I actually found the art of the Maximal beast modes to be a bit laughable. Not trying to be mean, I am being fully serious.

Unfortunately the only thing of any of this that made me say...Hmm I wonder what happens next would be with regard to Ironhide. For the fans that enjoyed this book, I hope you continue to enjoy it. As someone who thoroughly enjoyed the original BW, BWII and Neo, It just wasn't for me.

I finally got time to talk about the first issue.

I liked it. It wasn't bad by any means.

I'm familiar with Josh Burcham's art style so I knew what to expect going it. Were this a TV show, it wouldn't be a CG cartoon like the original was, but more like a digitally-animated 2D cartoon like Justice League Unlimited, but more stylized.

As other have noted, it basically covers an abridged retelling of the events of "Theft of the Golden Disk", "Dawn of Future's Past", and the first act of the cartoon's first episode, nixing the BotCon-original ideas (e.g. – Cryotek as Megatron's mentor, Tigatron and Airazor having been alive on Cybertron before the Beast Wars, Laserbeak and Buzzsaw, etc.) for a more straightforward adaptation that hews closer to only what the cartoon told us about the Golden Disk theft.

Now, while this does basically repeat what's been told before in those three works, despite the growth in media availability over the years, there are still a lot of people out there who have never watched "Theft of the Golden Disk" or never read "Dawn of Future's Past". By including a version of the theft in this issue, it provides its readers a first-hand experience with something that the cartoon only ever spoke out and which fans longed to see in the show itself instead of it supplementary material. Here, the comic opts to actually show, rather than just tell about, the theft, completing the story in full all at once.

That being said, however, while a retelling in broad strokes, this is anything but a faithful recreation of those same events. The differences lie in the details and, boy howdy, are there a ton of them.

Right off the bat, we are introduced to a Megatron who conspires with the Tripredacus Council as a direct agent of theirs, rather than a completely rogue element to the Council's agenda. Of course, Megatron betrays them when he makes off with the disk by himself, leaving them to wait and see the results of his actions, and if they can take advantage of either his success or failure. After all, they know how to play the long game.

When we cut to Maximals aboard the Axalon, we see that the ship has been redesigned a bit to better fit the new aesthetic. What was once a sleek-looking "space shoe" now better resembles what looks, to me, like a mobile space fortress. Though still a mere science vessel, its new shape gives it a more intimidating look, like it could take more punishment this time around.

Likewise, the Darksyde has been tweaked for the new aesthetic to give it a sleeker look. While more angular than before, its wings are set back a bit and splayed out more to resemble less the "space stingray" look of the original and more of a avian appearance, which also makes it look more aerodynamic. It also has a new color scheme of deep military green and blue with some red and yellow highlights. I dig it.

The interiors of both ships are also completely different. Where the original Axalon had a circular bridge, the new one has a very brightly-lit rectangular bridge with a skylight built overheard. The Darksyde, meanwhile, has no need for elevated seats over a bottomless bridge since this new bridge has a walkway and stations with no seats. In fact, the new Darksyde's bridge very much reminds me of that of the Nemesis from Transformers: Prime, complete with the same darkly-lit purple atmosphere.

Backing up to the Axalon, we're introduced to a new version of Optimus Primal. We get new versions of Optimus Prime all the time, and this is an all new Primal. Now, some have said that he feels off to them because he's more "hot-headed" and "trigger-happy", but what they've actually changed is not so much his personality, but rather his age. This is a much younger take on Optimus Primal, fresh into his captaincy of a science vessel, eager to explore the cosmos and see all kinds of exciting new places and people.

Like how Animated Optimus Prime was described as Optimus before he grew up to become the more traditional leader of the Autobots that he is in other series, this is Optimus Primal before he grows up to become the responsible, if somewhat frustrated, leader that his cartoon counterpart was. Basically, this is not Captain Sisko when he's in command of Deep Space Nine, but baseball-enthusiast Ben Sisko when he's still captain of his wresting team at Starfleet Academy. He's young, he's green, and he's ready to boldly go where no Maximal has gone before. I definitely still heard Garry Chalk's voice coming out of him, but 1980s Garry Chalk rather than 1990s Garry Chalk.

Plus, one might even say he's bolder and more confident than Animated Optimus, in that where Animated Optimus's expulsion from the Autobot Academy left him feeling regret and shame, this new Optimus Primal was kicked out of Security Forces for reasons not yet disclosed, but his reassignment to the Science Ministry seemingly hasn't phased him in the slightest. His promotion to captain of the Axalon was meant to make him fall in line and give up his outside-the-box way of thinking, but he merely sees this a kind of "one door closes, another door opens" opportunity, and he's approaching it with just as much gusto and determination as any good leader should. He may be in a boring position, but daggumit, he's gonna do his best to make the most of it that he can!

Immediately introduced with Primal is the new take on Rhinox, who spars with him both physically and verbally. The two exchange some snappy banter that shows how both have good senses of humor as well as a sort of mentor-mentee relationship. Rhinox is depicted as very much Primal's senior in age and advises him all throughout this issue. It's made clear that the two have a strong mutual respect for one another, even though Rhinox does sort of wish that Primal would adjust more to his new position of responsibility like Maximal Command wishes, but seems to subtly agree with him that Maximal Command is full of stick-in-the-muds who frown upon "unconventional lines of thinking".

Their little sparing match is just full of character and nicely sprinkled with some carefully woven exposition that provides us with background info on Optimus, what Maximal Command thinks of him, the purpose of the Axalon's deep-space missions. All of this undoubtedly sets up for things that will surely come back in play further down the line as the series progresses.

Soon, the Maximals get a call from Cybertron and it's Ironhide! That's a nice surprise! He informs them of the recent theft of an "artifact" that is "rumored to contain sensitive information." Notice that he doesn't tell them that it's a Golden Disk or what kind of information it contains. And later, when Tarantulas gains access to the Darksyde's Transwarp Drive, Megatron gives him the coordinates for their destination, but is equally coy about their specifics. And later on, when Megatron tells Tarantulas what is on the disk, he only mentions the part about it leading an energon-rich planet, and remains vague on what else the disk may hold.

Anyone who has watched the cartoon knows what Megatron's ultimate reason for stealing the Golden Disk was, but with all the obscured details leading us on in this version, I can't help but wonder if it all could instead just be a red herring for something completely different and unexpected for the series direction to go in.

Anyway, the story continues to play as expected with a chase through space, time, and a crash-landing on some organic planet. Though, since the Axalon is only lightly armed in this version, Nyx (being the ship's pilot), has to improvise with dealing with the Predacon ship. In other words, she RAMS it! (as a last resort, of course) When the ships go down, they each crash in completely different environements from where they landed in the cartoon. Instead of a cliff overlooking a canyon river, the Axalon lands atop a the elevated edge of a vast, green forest.

And rather than on top of a volcanic lava pit, the Darksyde touches down at the base of a sandy rock formation surrounded by a range of similar structures. This provides some very different forms of natural cover for the two ships compared to what they each had to work with in their cartoon surroundings. I can easily see the Preds installing tons of auto-guns within the rock walls of their natural neighbor, upping the level of security that was had by their cartoon counterparts.

Something else of notice in regards to the art is how several of the characters' Cybertronian forms are colored like their original toy decos, which then changed to their cartoon decos after they received their beast-moded bodies. Terrorsaur and Tarantulas stand out as the most obvious examples with the former's blue head and the latter's gray head becoming red and purple, respectively.

Though, a term that this comic uses incorrectly as a carryover from the older IDW Beast Wars comics is the use of "techno-organic" to describe the material that makes up their new beast modes. That term, as originally used on Beast Machines (where it was just "Technorganic"), is supposed to refer to a molecular blending of the organic with the technological as a distinctly different concept from what was used in Beast Wars. It's not right for it to be used in this case, as the Beast Wars bodies of the Maximals and Predacons are not techno-organic.

As far as the rest of the comic's characters are concerned, I'll echo what others have said about Megatron being pretty spot on with his vocabulary and inflections. Rattrap mostly feels like himself, but does have room for improvement. Dinobot's honorable nature is on point and sets up his eventual defection to the Maximals (which the author notes in his interview at the end of the issue will NOT be executed the same as it was in the show, meaning there's no telling how it will play out whenever it does happen). But right now, he's still with the Predacons.

Terrorsaur and Tarantulas feel like themselves, but we don't get much of Scorponok and Skold to really get a feel for them. Likewise, while Cheetor and Nyx are present aboard the Axalon's bridge with the others, the chase scene doesn't afford other of them much character time to really get a feel for how they're going to be either. The most we get from Nyx is that Rattrap is wary of her unconventional piloting maneuvers, and that she's really astonished by her new wings when she first gets her bat mode. As for Cheetor, he gets the least attention, so I guess we'll just have to wait on his time to shine later.

All in all, I enjoyed. I'll admit, there's not that much to it so far, but it's only the first part of the opening story. And the first episode of the cartoon wasn't much to write home about either, since the show's greatness didn't really reach its full potential until much later down the line. There's a reason some regard the first season as a slog to get through, so we'll just have to wait and see where this series goes from here.

Sabrblade wrote:Though, a term that this comic uses incorrectly as a carryover from the older IDW Beast Wars comics is the use of "techno-organic" to describe the material that makes up their new beast modes. That term, as originally used on Beast Machines (where it was just "Technorganic"), is supposed to refer to a molecular blending of the organic with the technological as a distinctly different concept from what was used in Beast Wars. It's not right for it to be used in this case, as the Beast Wars bodies of the Maximals and Predacons are not techno-organic.

That continues to be an oddity within Beast Wars. Whereas it is specifically vocalised in Beast Machines, I always took the descriptive 'Techno-organic' to reference Transmetal 2. As that form is more of a blend than any of the others. But, that said. Without using that term, how do you describe their forms in Season One?

Sabrblade wrote: Dinobot's honorable nature is on point and sets up his eventual defection to the Maximals (which the author notes in his interview at the end of the issue will NOT be executed the same as it was in the show, meaning there's no telling how it will play out whenever it does happen).

To me, that says padding. It reminds me of The Walking Dead and how the character of Shane was handled in the original comic and unfortunately, within the TV adaptation. Or the last Robocop reboot. Wherein the lead actor remarked on how they would emphasise Murphy more than his alter ego aka The Titular Character.

A case of "We know what is going to happen. If you are still going to do it, don't drag it out and just get on with it."


As for the ships. I'll get a better look when issue one turns up in a day or two. But from the previews above and what has already been mentioned. They seem a lot less sleek, Cybertronian future tech and a lot more bulky G1. I mean what has been said about Primal's characterisation already brings to mind he has been shoehorned into one of the Prime archetypes and not who he actually is. He isn't supposed to be 'Prime: The Gorilla'. Bringing him down to that level does seem to be missing the essence of the character himself.

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:I mean what has been said about Primal's characterisation already brings to mind he has been shoehorned into one of the Prime archetypes and not who he actually is. He isn't supposed to be 'Prime: The Gorilla'. Bringing him down to that level does seem to be missing the essence of the character himself.

I can't think of a single Optimus Prime who has this much zest and excitement for life that he's willing to take more risks and bend more rules for better results.

If anything, this Optimus Primal is the living embodiment of the mantra "Sometimes crazy works!"

Sabrblade wrote:

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:I mean what has been said about Primal's characterisation already brings to mind he has been shoehorned into one of the Prime archetypes and not who he actually is. He isn't supposed to be 'Prime: The Gorilla'. Bringing him down to that level does seem to be missing the essence of the character himself.

I can't think of a single Optimus Prime who has this much zest and excitement for life that he's willing to take more risks and bend more rules for better results.

If anything, this Optimus Primal is the living embodiment of the mantra "Sometimes crazy works!"

I really loved his "best defense" line.