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News Credits: 1350 · by **ZeroWolf** » Thu Apr 08, 2021 4:51 pm

Actually I my brain fried and I was supposed to put that comment after the quote :lol:

News Credits: 4496 · by **william-james88** » Thu Apr 08, 2021 5:29 pm

ZeroWolf wrote:Actually I my brain fried

Indeed

News Credits: 1350 · by **ZeroWolf** » Thu Apr 08, 2021 5:51 pm

william-james88 wrote:
ZeroWolf wrote:Actually I my brain fried

Indeed

Well if you can't laugh at yourself :-D

News Credits: 10 · by **JazZeke** » Thu Apr 08, 2021 9:55 pm

This issue featured a pet peeve comic book trope: Too much talky-talky during the fighty-wighty. The time it would take for Dinobot to say all that would in reality be longer than the fight itself... though I suppose you could handwave it by saying Cybertronian language goes by much faster than English.

I did like his dialogue with Scorn, and the implications of a backstory for her. I'm eager to find out what that backstory is.

Dinobot's reason for going turncoat works fine for me.

Still not sold on the art.

News Credits: 125 · by **Counterpunch** » Thu Apr 08, 2021 10:43 pm

I enjoyed this issue.

I can't agree much with the review here. I should point out the things I enjoyed, but I'm kind of tired of defending what I like. I'm resorting more and more to voting with my wallet.

I think I'll work on picking up variant covers whenever I can.

News Credits: 4496 · by **william-james88** » Fri Apr 09, 2021 8:24 am

This discussion on Dinobot is riveting for me. He (along with Beast Wars Megatron) is my favourite characters in all of Transformers fiction and I am discovering all these feelings and notions towards the character that I didn't know I even had. As I wrote earlier, I always found it pretty cool that Dinobot was a predacon through and through in the Maximal team. While the Predacons were clearly villains on the show in the "Beast Wars", it was not the case on Cybertron. Sure, the council showed that the higher ups were of the world dominating kind, but the Predacons on Cybertron were not "evil" in general. I loved how Dinobot would truly resent Rattrap's comments like "better dead than a pred" which sounds truly racist to him (and it shows just how heavy the segregation on Cybertron is). Through Dinobot, you get a sense of the Predacon values and ideologies, and you get the idea of a warrior class that is under the Maximals in the social order. You can see how that is ripe for a second civil war. Just clever stuff all around and really impressive to include such ideas in a kids show.

News Credits: 2 · by **Spider5800** » Sat Apr 10, 2021 12:50 pm

Grabbed my issue today. And yeah, still have a lot of the same problems with it.

-We've still learned almost nothing about the new characters. Skorn is Scorponok 2.0, incredibly loyal for no discernible reason. That other reviewer us right, Nyx's capture would have been a great opportunity to explore her and what makes her tick. Instead it was just used as motivation for Dinobot to realize the group of violent terrorists he joined weren't such great people, as if that wasn't INCREDIBLY OBVIOUS already.

-Dinobot spelling out exactly why he's betraying the Predacons, while actively fighting them, just felt off. That was a lot of exposition for a fight, and Dinobot never struck me as the type who felt like he needed to explain himself to anyone. The WAY he won also came across kind of weird...he locked them in the ship and ran away. The whole thing just didn't feel right for the character, he's always been a fight first, talk later kinda guy, and is more likely to get blasted to bits than willingly leave a fight.

The only thing I'm really willing to go to bat for here is the art. I'm not understanding the hate. I actually really like what they're going for here. But the story is moving glacially, and there hasn't been enough exploration of these characters to justify that.

News Credits: 6 · by **AllNewSuperRobot** » Thu Apr 15, 2021 7:20 am

I am Predacon, despite our alliance!

That is a Dinobot quote from Season One episode, The Probe. It is one of the reasons this issue doesn't work. Dinobot isn't Silverbolt. Which is how this reads. He isn't some naïve, new recruit to the Predacon cause, they are his people! That understanding, isn't how this reads. Add to that, much as I theorised from the cover art some time ago. We also have lesser, truncated versions of the main plot point from 'The Probe'(irony) as well as another Season One episode, The Web. Coupled with the fact we have an artist I am growing more convinced can't draw animals and I think this book is getting worse. 3/10

It turns out, I took out a subscription to this book. Not merely outright purchased the first three issues. I am being generous now. But I will give it to the end of the first arc. Before I drop it completely.

News Credits: 1350 · by **ZeroWolf** » Mon Apr 19, 2021 4:24 am

I found this so I thought I'd leave it here

https://screenrant.com/transformers-beast-wars-comic-change-megatron-dinobot-tarantulas/amp/

I think it offers an interesting alternative take. Without knowing the author fully, it can be seen as what the casual fan thinks rather then us fully invested fans who have poured over everything from the original beast wars story.

News Credits: 6 · by **AllNewSuperRobot** » Mon Apr 19, 2021 1:57 pm

I'd even go so far as to say the author hasn't actually directly seen the show at all. A lot of that reads as someone who got the cliff notes from Wiki's and top 10 lists. Not so much a casual fan, as someone who is virtually unaware of what is being covered.

For example:

Probably the show's most infamous moment was when Tarantulas captured the Maximal's Cheetor in season one, episode three, "The Web."

I wouldn't even say that is in a top five or ten infamous moments of the show. Plus the talk of this writing making Beast Wars Megatron IE the most developed and compelling Megatron onscreen, more so. Further alludes to that.

News Credits: 436 · by **Sabrblade** » Mon Apr 19, 2021 2:21 pm

The only good thing to ever come out of Screen Rant is Ryan George's series of Pitch Meeting videos.

News Credits: 436 · by **Sabrblade** » Tue Apr 20, 2021 3:44 pm

"What are you doing? You'd won."
"You slipped. To defeat you in such a manner would be lacking in honor. I would not have earned the right to lead. I prefer to beat my opponents the old fashioned way—BRUTALLY!"
[The two resume fighting]
"For a Predacon, Dinobot, you have qualities I could like."
"And you, ahh, have proved to be a worthy adversary. I will have you recycled with full honors."
"Well, that's. Just. Prime!"

Bolded the important parts that this comic seems to be forgetting about Cartoon Dinobot.

Honorable or not, he was also a thuggish brute. Despite his insistence for fair combat, he was aiming to murder Optimus Primal and skewer his body for spare parts. He believed that Maximals used torture chambers. He was willing to execute the defeated, helpless Silverbolt in "Coming of the Fuzors", only sparing him when Cheetor and Rattrap stopped him, disgusted by their "defective" "Maximal sentiment". And he was even willing to go back to Megatron once his original error in planetfall was proven correct after all.

My only hope for this more "righteous Predacon" Dinobot is that he still doesn't immediately join the Maximals next issue, but rather first isolates himself as a lone wolf unaligned with either faction, kinda like when Prime Starscream struck out on his own. And in the words of Prime Dreadwing (whose arc this Dinobot also echoes, but on fast-forward), "Betraying my kind is not the same as accepting yours." Let him choose to remain with no one for at least issue 4, ultimately joining the Maximals no earlier than either the very end of that issue or in 5 or 6, after some meaningful convincing (probably on Nyx's part, since he saved her). After all, even Cartoon Dinobot was willing to go it alone at the end of "Maximal, No More" if the Maximals wouldn't take him back after his betraying them: "If you will not have me, I will fight Megatron alone."

News Credits: 1350 · by **ZeroWolf** » Tue Apr 20, 2021 3:51 pm

Sabrblade wrote:"What are you doing? You'd won."
"You slipped. To defeat you in such a manner would be lacking in honor. I would not have earned the right to lead. I prefer to beat my opponents the old fashioned way—BRUTALLY!"
[The two resume fighting]
"For a Predacon, Dinobot, you have qualities I could like."
"And you, ahh, have proved to be a worthy adversary. I will have you recycled with full honors."
"Well, that's. Just. Prime!"

Bolded the important parts that this comic seems to be forgetting about Cartoon Dinobot.

Honorable or not, he was also a thuggish brute. Despite his insistence for fair combat, he was aiming to murder Optimus Primal and skewer his body for spare parts. He believed that Maximals used torture chambers. He was willing to execute the defeated, helpless Silverbolt in "Coming of the Fuzors", only sparing him when Cheetor and Rattrap stopped him, disgusted by their "defective" "Maximal sentiment". And he was even willing to go back to Megatron once his original error in planetfall was proven correct after all.

My only hope for this more "righteous Predacon" Dinobot is that he still doesn't immediately join the Maximals next issue, but rather first isolates himself as a lone wolf unaligned with either faction, kinda like when Prime Starscream struck out on his own. And in the words of Prime Dreadwing (whose arc this Dinobot also echoes, but on fast-forward), "Betraying my kind is not the same as accepting yours." Let him choose to remain with no one for at least issue 4, ultimately joining the Maximals no earlier than either the very end of that issue or in 5 or 6, after some meaningful convincing (probably on Nyx's part, since he saved her). After all, even Cartoon Dinobot was willing to go it alone at the end of "Maximal, No More" if the Maximals wouldn't take him back after his betraying them: "If you will not have me, I will fight Megatron alone."

I bet he'll appear at the end of Issue 4 to save the Maximals, after not appearing in the issue.

Though really, I also wouldn't mind him just straight up joining them. We know it's going to happen, so they should just cut the fat and get to the status quo. Then hopefully it will be all new content.

Though given Hasbro's insistence on some of the elements of the story, I wonder what else they have insisted upon.

News Credits: 436 · by **Sabrblade** » Tue Apr 20, 2021 4:20 pm

As for Nyx's role in the story, I strongly disagree with any "damsel in distress" claims or that she was only used for the furtherment of Dinobot's story. We got a lot out of her in her torture scene. She may be in a bad situation, may wish she was out of it, but since she was stuck, she faced it in the only way she could: by enduring it. She wasn't gonna crack, she is loyal to the point of being willing to die for her teammates. When looking in the face of her would-be executioner, she proverbially spat in his eye, basically telling Megatron to kiss her skidplate. She'll die before ratting out her teammates, she's no snitch.

News Credits: 4496 · by **william-james88** » Tue Apr 20, 2021 8:23 pm

Sabrblade wrote:"What are you doing? You'd won."
"You slipped. To defeat you in such a manner would be lacking in honor. I would not have earned the right to lead. I prefer to beat my opponents the old fashioned way—BRUTALLY!"
[The two resume fighting]
"For a Predacon, Dinobot, you have qualities I could like."
"And you, ahh, have proved to be a worthy adversary. I will have you recycled with full honors."
"Well, that's. Just. Prime!"

Bolded the important parts that this comic seems to be forgetting about Cartoon Dinobot.

They forgot that he is a PREDACON.
I just rewatched the episode where he realizes Megatron was correct about the golden disk. He is questionned about his honour and he makes the important distinction that he has "predacon honour".

It was so interesting to have an actual predacon be a member of the good guy team. Because what this comics does instead makes it feel rather ridiculous that Dinobot would have ever joined this Predacon crew. Especially with it being written that Taraltulus' deviant behaviour is well known.

News Credits: 436 · by **Sabrblade** » Tue Apr 20, 2021 8:50 pm

Which is why I am, at least, glad that they included this line from Megatron:

"Don't make me laugh, Dinobot. You knew my plans. You knew guerilla tactics would be a part of them, and you joined us still..."

He knew what he was getting into the moment he joined up with Megatron, and Megs flat out calls him out on his hypocrisy. That alone is the one glimmer of hope that tells me the writer is aware of how he's writing Dinobot, and that it's hopefully going to lead somewhere beyond the simplistic idea of "Dinobot was a righteous Predacon all along" that undercuts the arc of his cartoon counterpart. Like I said, this feels more like Prime Dreadwing's story but also rushed and forgetting the atrocities that he likewise committed as a Decepticon with a sense of honor.

News Credits: 6 · by **AllNewSuperRobot** » Wed Apr 21, 2021 8:22 am

One exchange did give me a genuine laugh in the book though, that I had forgotten about.

Megatron: Oh, Well I suppose this was bound to happen eventually. All brilliant leaders are tested.
Dinobot: If strength was all that was required of a leader, [product placement] would be in charge.

That's how it read to me anyway. It was so forced and trite, Skold's altmode in the scene might as well have been the pepsi logo... :lol:

ZeroWolf wrote: I wonder what else they have insisted upon.

Sadly, not the standards of old...

News Credits: 436 · by **Sabrblade** » Wed Apr 21, 2021 8:28 am

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:One exchange did give me a genuine laugh in the book though, that I had forgotten about.

Megatron: Oh, Well I suppose this was bound to happen eventually. All brilliant leaders are tested.
Dinobot: If strength was all that was required of a leader, [product placement] would be in charge.

That's how it read to me anyway. It was so forced and trite, Skold's altmode in the scene might as well have been the pepsi logo...

Despite her tiny size and youngness, Skold is physically the strongest. That's what he meant. He was insulting Megatron.

News Credits: 6 · by **AllNewSuperRobot** » Wed Apr 21, 2021 8:35 am

I got that much. This isn't exactly deep prose, open to interpretation. Poochie is the strongest-est. Because that is the "new" (kitbashed/plagiarised) character they added. That's the funny bit. The absurdity.

News Credits: 436 · by **Sabrblade** » Wed Apr 21, 2021 8:37 am

I think he was also jabbing at Skold, too, noting just how far removed she was from ever being fit for leadership.

News Credits: 6 · by **AllNewSuperRobot** » Wed Apr 21, 2021 8:47 am

Sabrblade wrote:I think he was also jabbing at Skold, too, noting just how far removed she was from ever being fit for leadership.

Just the same, it is indicative of the same problem. Comics are a visual media: SHOW, DON'T TELL.

Don't expect your audience to think a new character has any impressive attribute going for them in prose. While at the same time, they are visually picked up and effortlessly discarded like a ball.

I'll give an example of how this is supposed to be done, properly:

News Credits: 10 · by **JazZeke** » Wed Apr 21, 2021 11:16 am

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:
ZeroWolf wrote: I wonder what else they have insisted upon.

Sadly, not the standards of old...

Surely you jest. "The Gathering" was simply setup. A decent setup, but still just setup. And "The Ascending," which should have been when things got good, squandered every bit of potential for this series with another Furman slaughterfest.

News Credits: 6 · by **AllNewSuperRobot** » Wed Apr 21, 2021 11:22 am

JazZeke wrote:Surely you jest. "The Gathering" was simply setup. A decent setup, but still just setup. And "The Ascending," which should have been when things got good, squandered every bit of potential for this series with another Furman slaughterfest.

You're misinterpreting what I'm referring to. I'm pointing to the sublime, high quality Beast Wars art of Don Figueroa, from back in 2006. In comparison to the standard of a book from 15 years later, that is supposed to be celebrating the next milestone anniversary.

There is nothing in the actual story and characters of The Gathering and Ascending that wasn't completely squandered potential. The art was the redeeming factor, in that instance.

News Credits: 436 · by **Sabrblade** » Wed Apr 21, 2021 11:22 am

Plus that cover art is purely nostalgia-bating false advertisement.

News Credits: 6 · by **AllNewSuperRobot** » Wed Apr 21, 2021 11:26 am

Sabrblade wrote:Plus that cover art is purely nostalgia-bating false advertisement.

Indeed. The other factor that was a gut punch, back in the day. I had zero interest in the BW 2 and Neo cast before that book, during and after. The real waste was the previously toy-only designs. Debuting as generic cameos and nothing more.