The Energon Pub

News Credits: 6 · Fri Jan 22, 2021 1:51 pm

So this isn't a book to celebrate the anniversary of the show after all? Just nods to irrelevant Convention stuff.
Tom Scioli did an incredible job of paying homage to the source material, in his 2018 Go-Bots book. Sounds like a better choice in light of this.

News Credits: 462 · Fri Jan 22, 2021 1:52 pm

So, in this version, it seems that Megatron's Golden Disk theft was more of a coordinated effort supported by a complicit Tripredacus Council, rather than a completely rogue operation.

Also, the pics are kinda blurry. Here's some clearer ones:

News Credits: 1646 · Fri Jan 22, 2021 2:00 pm

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:So this isn't a book to celebrate the anniversary of the show after all? Just nods to irrelevant Convention stuff.
Tom Scioli did an incredible job of paying homage to the source material, in his 2018 Go-Bots book. Sounds like a better choice in light of this.

I don't think you could have misread my comments any more than you did.

It is incorporating things used for Botcon/the club, which made some very good BWU content, as someone who did read them. And by incorporating, it's using design cues for cybertronian forms. Literally nothing wrong with that nor is it copying any club story.

Tom Scioli did a great job yes, but he had his TF vs GI Joe stuff, I am excited to see what Burnham and Burcham have up their sleeves. New team, new ongoing. Same basic premise so far, but new takes, new designs, new content, new story

News Credits: 18 · Fri Jan 22, 2021 2:14 pm

Interesting.

The art here imho screams of Transformers Animated. While I am a big fan of Animated, I am not sure how I feel about it in my Beast Wars. Neat to see them pay homage to the Botcon stuffs. Also neat to give Megs a "pre-Megatron" name. Unless that was something that was already established before and I just missed it. More-over, I dig the name Galavar sounding a bit like Galvatron. Something poetic about a "Gal" getting an upgrade and changing his name to Megatron and not the reverse.

All that aside, not enough here to really make a judgement call imho. will have to wait and see.

News Credits: 6 · Fri Jan 22, 2021 2:15 pm

I didn't misread it, I just didn't see any of that celebrating the anniversary of the show. If they wanted to celebrate the Beast Era, there are plenty of context specific Tech Specs, Bios and Concept art to utilize. Not just fringe prose. Which there isn't anything wrong with using. It isn't their value that is the question. The merit to using them is.
The series proper largely left Maximal and Predacon Cybertronian forms ambiguous, much like Megatron's "original name". Why? Because they were details that don't really matter.

Scioli's TF vs. GI Joe is another great example of his work. Everyone was painted in a different light which made it interesting. King Rodimus, The Astrotrain etc, etc
That is how you homage the familiar, while making it new and your own.

News Credits: 1 · Fri Jan 22, 2021 3:14 pm

I kind of like the sound of "Galavar".

News Credits: 462 · Fri Jan 22, 2021 6:31 pm

Immortal Starscream wrote:Also neat to give Megs a "pre-Megatron" name. Unless that was something that was already established before and I just missed it.

Once, yes, but it was in Uprising, so not exactly the Megatron who would take the name from the Covenant of Primus and start the Beast Wars.

In that version, he went by the name "Gnashteeth" (or just "Gnash", for short) before taking the name "Megatron". But when he first said that name, he subtly implied that it wasn't actually his real real name, merely just what he wanted people to call him, as though he wanted to maintain some degree of anonymity for some ulterior motive before he adopted the "Megatron" name and went public with it.

Sat Jan 23, 2021 12:47 pm

I reeeeeeeaaallllllly dislike the art style, and don’t really feel like it fits with Beast Wars. But whatever. I’ll get used to it.

News Credits: 6 · Sat Jan 23, 2021 12:48 pm

Indeed. Preds and Maxis ain't blocky.. But we'll see how it pans out.

News Credits: 1 · Sat Jan 23, 2021 2:18 pm

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:Indeed. Preds and Maxis ain't blocky.. But we'll see how it pans out.

As I recall, they actually did look that way before scanning their beast modes.

News Credits: 6 · Sat Jan 23, 2021 2:51 pm

bluecatcinema wrote:
AllNewSuperRobot wrote:Indeed. Preds and Maxis ain't blocky.. But we'll see how it pans out.

As I recall, they actually did look that way before scanning their beast modes.

No, none of them did. The more rounded design was the whole point of them being descendants.

Sat Jan 23, 2021 3:17 pm

Ah, good ole ReBoot Megazord Megatron.

News Credits: 6 · Sat Jan 23, 2021 3:21 pm

TOO MUCH ENERGON! wrote:Ah, good ole ReBoot Megazord Megatron.

True!

One of the reasons I always thought Megatron didn't have a good design until his Season two Transmetal.

News Credits: 1350 · Sun Jan 24, 2021 5:36 pm

Greetings Seibertronians! Following the posting of April 2021 IDW comic solicitations here, freelance artist Josh Perez took to his Twitter Account to give fans an extra treat! The artist posted a clean look at his cover for issue #3 of IDW’S Transformers: Beast Wars ongoing! The cover is the Retailer Incentive, meaning that it is included for every ten copies a comic book store orders in.

The art work shows off all the major characters in the comic so far.

This is what Josh wrote in the tweet accompanying the image:

Josh Perez wrote:My cover for #IDW's #BeastWars issue 3 was shown off in solicitations: https://www.seibertron.com/transformers/news/idw-transformers-comics-april-2021-solicitations/45615/
I figured I'd post the cover sans logos and stuff! Was a lot of fun and I really appreciate getting to do another cover for Transformers! (I wanted to wait a little but I got excited)

What do you think of the cover? Are you going to be trying out this series? Let us know in the Energon Pub and stay tuned to Seibertron for all the latest news and reviews!

News Credits: 6 · Sun Jan 24, 2021 5:38 pm

What is it about the proportions of Primal that look so.. off, with this picture? :-?

News Credits: 462 · Sun Jan 24, 2021 5:58 pm

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:What is it about the proportions of Primal that look so.. off, with this picture?

He's certainly a wide load.

News Credits: 1 · Sun Jan 24, 2021 8:46 pm

Anyone know or have a guess as to what kind of animal the new predacon is?

News Credits: 462 · Sun Jan 24, 2021 9:05 pm

TK415 wrote:Anyone know or have a guess as to what kind of animal the new predacon is?

You mean Skold? She's a turtle. A virtual redeco of Snapper.

News Credits: 1 · Sun Jan 24, 2021 10:37 pm

Awesome! Thanks Sabrblade! I had missed that.

News Credits: 4877 · Tue Feb 02, 2021 12:29 am

A Review of Beast Wars #1

There may be spoilers to those who never watched the first episode of Beast Wars

I often see older fans ask for a straight up G1 reboot that is as close to possible to the original and I always think it would serve of no use. We already have lots of G1 reboots (like Cyberverse and Netflix's WFC) and if that's not G1 enough for you, then the original show is still there. With this first issue of Beast Wars, all that is reinforced for me. I am a huge Beast Wars fan and I never needed a remake of the first episode's opening segment. And yet, now we have one. So yeah, if you watched the first 10 minutes of the first episode of Beast Wars, very little in the comic will feel new. And the fact that it has random new characters makes that even more odd. So it's a faithful retelling, only not, which just makes it feel off. To all the Beast Wars fans out there, let me know if this scene rings a bell?

Most of the characterizations are as you'd imagine, with Optimus Primal being the one with the biggest change. He is far more of a hot head here, hoping for something exciting to happen and a shoot first kind of guy. That difference was interesting, as was seeing Megatron get the golden disk (though fans had already seen the Club's take on that in the past as well). There isn't much in terms of story beyond that since as soon as they get their beast modes, the issue just stops. What we get in terms of story is not bad at all, but it is a complete retread so that we can proceed to more stories within the exact same premise. I am pretty sure that the following issues will be different stories than what we saw (at least not as identical) but the fact that we had to go through all the motions again wasn't exciting. Especially not with this art accompanying it.

So let's get to the art. As with the story itself, it is not bad, at all. As a sequential artist, Josh Burcham is a beast (ha!), and I really liked seeing all the characters in their cybertronian bodies first. I's something I always wanted to see in the original show and it was fun guessing who is who.

All that good stuff aside, I just didn't feel this Scotty Young type art style was the right fit. It also feels very bare. The backgrounds themselves were rather bland in this comic. And the lack of detail simply does not work with the organic beast modes, some of which look terrible (especially the new Nyx character). There's a part dedicated to explaining the fur found on Primal's gorilla body and yet all we see is just black with some non contrasting flecks. It felt like the writing was at odds with the art or Burcham simply took too much on by providing every aspect of the art from "penciling" to colouring.

In the end, the issue was ok. Not great, but not bad either. Nothing new or exciting for me as a Beast Wars fan but I will definitely give it a chance since I can see how the repetition here could be a necessary evil to set up a similar premise to the show we all love. And the art is the same as the cover we have seen for months. If you were not on board then this issue won't change your mind.

I give this issue 3 gorilla hairs out of 5

News Credits: 462 · Tue Feb 02, 2021 12:44 am

In the spirit of fairness, the pilot episode of Beast Wars wasn't that spectacular either, with it mostly being about how Cheetor is an idjit, Rattrap is a jerk, and Optimus is a frustrated noob. And I say that as both a diehard BW fan and one whose favorite character as a child was Cheetor.

The show had to grow to get good, which I expect will be a similar case for this series.

News Credits: 4877 · Tue Feb 02, 2021 12:59 am

Sabrblade wrote:In the spirit of fairness, the pilot episode of Beast Wars wasn't that spectacular either, with it mostly being about how Cheetor is an idjit, Rattrap is a jerk, and Optimus is a frustrated noob. And I say that as both a diehard BW fan and one whose favorite character as a child was Cheetor.

The show had to grow to get good, which I expect will be a similar case for this series.

Yes that's fair. And when this series gets good, I'll rate it as such.

News Credits: 22 · Tue Feb 02, 2021 4:22 am

I gotta say, the art is a turn off. The angular style just doesn't work for organic characters. If they had stayed in their robot modes for the duration, it would be less distracting, but as it is, it just doesn't fit. Hopefully the quality of the story will overcome it in future issues. I really want to give this title a chance, but I'm cautious.

Tue Feb 02, 2021 4:30 am

It’s like, if it ain’t broke, then don’t fix it.

Beast Wars is already pretty frikkin perfect, I don’t understand why we need a reboot series. Why not a sequel series that isn’t Beast Machines? That’d be rad.