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IDW nah this is an easy pass

ScottyP wrote:

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Again, I like what I'm seeing, don't get me wrong, but it feels like they are now hitting us on TV, comics, and movies with the same stuff and I don't want that, it's far more interesting with diversity.

This is very on purpose and it's why this announcement is close to exactly what I was expecting. More about the Brand than anything else.

My biggest fears confirmed. I'm sure I'll give this a chance, but I dont like the current "storylines", so I doubt I'll like this.

Brand unification is lame.

In a franchise with easily an upward of 300+ characters (most barely used in fiction), some suits said 'Let's focus on the ones that sell since the 280+ that don't sell aren't well know'. Circular corporate logic at it's finest.

But who knows, it might eventually grow to be decent.

I know this isn’t supposed to be in the same continuity as the last round, buuuuut I’m really hoping Prowl displays maximum prickitude. He doesn’t have to be some kind of egotistical behind-the-scenes mastermind, but just the biggest prick.

Also, I found it hilarious that this is being so heavily touted as “the newest hotness, totally not the same thing that came before and a whole new direction etc.”, and yet there’s Windblade, who was pretty central to the whole previous universe.

I’m not saying I hate Windblade or anything, I just find the irony very...ironic.

Coptur wrote:IDW nah this is an easy pass

It's a totally new creative team and continuity so I don't understand this. If nothing changed and they slapped a Marvel logo on the cover (along with a cool $4.99) would that matter, or are you not inclined to read TF comics at all?

Nemesis Maximo wrote:I'm not saying I hate Windblade or anything, I just find the irony very...ironic.

She's been in almost every piece of TF media for the past two years, not just the previous main-continuity comics. RiD, Cyberverse, and the Prime Wars shows all have Windblade from a little to a ton. Star Trek vs Transformers has her. It's a (probably corporately mandated) push to get the character out there to the masses. I'm honestly surprised there isn't a Movie version yet. Anyways, don't see any irony here.

ScottyP wrote:

Coptur wrote:IDW nah this is an easy pass

It's a totally new creative team and continuity so I don't understand this. If nothing changed and they slapped a Marvel logo on the cover (along with a cool $4.99) would that matter, or are you not inclined to read TF comics at all?

I just can't see there being much change.

I'll start reading again if they leave out all the "relationships". That hot garbage killed my interest in the last series.

Sabrblade wrote:Here's a thought. Notice how the press release doesn't say who the murder victim is. Now, I know that they are pretty much guaranteed to not do this, but suppose, for a second, that if they wanted to really go for something new and even unexpected with these familiar iconic classic characters of old, what if the one who was killed off, whose murder sets everything in the story in motion to spiral out of peace and into war, was none other than Bumblebee? Who honestly would ever see something like that idea coming, especially in this day and age where the brand is all about making the old new again? IMO, it could potentially be one of the boldest and most shockingly unexpected decisions ever, but it would never happen.

There! Fixed it and made the whole series better.

Sabrblade wrote:

Lore Keeper wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Here's a thought. Notice how the press release doesn't say who the murder victim is. Now, I know that they are pretty much guaranteed to not do this, but suppose, for a second, that if they wanted to really go for something new and even unexpected with these familiar iconic classic characters of old, what if the one who was killed off, whose murder sets everything in the story in motion to spiral out of peace and into war, was none other than Bumblebee? Who honestly would ever see something like that idea coming, especially in this day and age where the brand is all about making the old new again? IMO, it could potentially be one of the boldest and most shockingly unexpected decisions ever, but it would never happen.

There! Fixed it and made the whole series better.

I take it we're back in middle school, now.

No, because back in middle school, it would be many years before Bumblebee was forcibly crammed down my throat every time I wanted to engage in anything Transformers.

Sabrblade wrote:I take it we're back in middle school, now.

No need to be condescending.

Rodimus Prime wrote:"Through the eyes of a young Bumblebee and his friends..."

That sentence combined with that shot of Prime and Megatron just deflated my enthusiasm for this. And it seems that we'll have all the same characters back that were in the previous IDW incarnation.

I'm not going to totally ignore this, but my expectations have plummeted. Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised in 3 months.

Of course the main cast of the first comic of the reboot is the biggest core characters of the franchise, if they did an Avengers reboot would you not expect Iron Man, Thor, Hulk and Captain America, if they did a Justice League reboot would you not expect the Trinity?
I also have 3 thoughts in regards to this comic's connection to Seige
1 - If this does tease a leader Optimus how will the trailer armour be retooled for Optimus
2 - Will said armour be used in the comic, fulfilling the super mode Optimus part of the franchise to my knowledge something that Original!IDW Optimus never employed.
3 - If Bumblebee is the audience surrogate, does that mean that a Siege figure of him is on the way?

Sabrblade wrote:Here's a thought. Notice how the press release doesn't say who the murder victim is. Now, I know that they are pretty much guaranteed to not do this, but suppose, for a second, that if they wanted to really go for something new and even unexpected with these familiar iconic classic characters of old, what if the one who was killed off, whose murder sets everything in the story in motion to spiral out of peace and into war, was none other than Megatron? Who honestly would ever see something like that idea coming, especially in this day and age where the brand is all about making the old new again? IMO, it could potentially be one of the boldest and most shockingly unexpected decisions ever, but it would never happen.

It's probably (Bee movie spoiler) Cliffjumper again

That character has gotten the shaft in the last few years First Episode of Prime, IDW killing him off in the end after years of not being a notable character in the comics, within the first 20 or so minutes of Bumblebee which could possibly be the start of a reboot movie series.

Agent 53 wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:"Through the eyes of a young Bumblebee and his friends..."

That sentence combined with that shot of Prime and Megatron just deflated my enthusiasm for this. And it seems that we'll have all the same characters back that were in the previous IDW incarnation.

I'm not going to totally ignore this, but my expectations have plummeted. Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised in 3 months.

Of course the main cast of the first comic of the reboot is the biggest core characters of the franchise, if they did an Avengers reboot would you not expect Iron Man, Thor, Hulk and Captain America, if they did a Justice League reboot would you not expect the Trinity?

Transformers has a lot more characters to choose from than your examples. But I get what you're trying to say. Even if Prime and Megatron must be included, they could have totally changed the supporting cast and it would have been fine, refreshing even.

1- If this does tease a leader Optimus how will the trailer armour be retooled for Optimus

Right now the consensus is that he will be an homage to Leader class Galaxy Convoy.

2 - Will said armour be used in the comic, fulfilling the super mode Optimus part of the franchise to my knowledge something that Original!IDW Optimus never employed.

Small change, but a welcome one, if true.

3 - If Bumblebee is the audience surrogate, does that mean that a Siege figure of him is on the way?

I think that's a given, especially after the reveal that he will be the central character in the new iteration.

As for Bee and his friends this is my hope for his cast of friends:

Hot Shot: Who's design is either the possible Siege repaint of Hound with some elements of the Prime toy version (Googles and such) or a "bigger" version of Bumblebee with a "muscle car" alt mode with the darker colors of the prime design with some Unicron trilogy elements in minor deco parts, he would be the movie bigger car Bee to the minibot Bee, Bumblebee would be more calm and down to earth while Hot Rod is the more reckless and "warrior-like" of the two, the two would be a more successful attempt at the brother in arms idea that TLK "tried" to pull off with Bumblebee and Hot Rod.

Strongarm: The character wasn't perfect in the RID show but I very much like her design since it isn't the stereotypical "curvy" fembot design that characters like Arcee and Windblade have, also like the concept of the character.

Hound or Beachcomber: I would prefer Hound in this role but I think a more "pacifist/nature loving" type character would be a nice choice for a friend that Bee can have heart to heart convos with

Barricade: Hear me out here I think having a friend who becomes a Decepticon once the war begins would be wonderful for story telling, I think Barricade would be best as Strongarm's fellow cadet in the "police force" and at some point for whatever reason Bee and him have a falling out so there could be a good reason for the two being rivals, I think Barricade in general is a character who needs more focus to make a truly great character.

An older perhaps veteran character who could sorta be a mentor to Bee and helping him become a better soldier: I think Brawn would be best here since the character is similar height to the guy and the two have had interactions/friendship in previous continuities plus I think Brawn is sort of an underused character right now and probably could use some development to distinguish himself from Ironhide and Kup.

Someone who can serve as an important friend in the beginning but is an early casualty of the war: Probably someone like Hubcap or Bumper would be best since their very similar to Bee in appearance and part's of Bumper's "character" is kinda like Bee's so he would be the better choice of the two, since the book is starting at pre war he wouldn't be killed off immediately so he would have time to develop character but get killed during his first engagement with Decepticons with Bee on the same squad. I'm thinking something similar to Spartan Samuel-034 from the Halo novels who was one of Master Chief's first friends but was the first Spartan killed in the Human-Covenant war.


Not related to Bumblebee but I would love to see Cannonfodder and Deadguy from the DOTM prequel comics as a pair of characters who always seem to get killed off but appear just fine a couple of issues later just to repeat the same running gag, not as important characters mind you just as recurring side/background characters kinda like the underused members of the Lost Light in the previous IDW comics.

I don't think we'll get bee in Siege unless he's an exclusive, but I reckon we'll get one in the 2020 generations line. That should please the people who think the tf line is just bee (he hasn't had a generations figure since Titan Returns, before that it was Goldfire and before that....Classics? The Movie Line has him a lot but then the kids love him and he sells, otherwise they wouldn't have made as much of him as they did. If kids love bee, they would be fools not to take advantage of that.

Rodimus Prime wrote:Transformers has a lot more characters to choose from than your examples. But I get what you're trying to say. Even if Prime and Megatron must be included, they could have totally changed the supporting cast and it would have been fine, refreshing even.

I think having the original G1 characters like Ratchet, Ironhide and Jazz or Soundwave, Thundercracker and Skywarp can work if such characters are mixed in the cast with obscure characters from other parts of the franchise or underdeveloped G1 characters like Windcharger or Huffer and in appropriate times original characters but only if they have an actual role to fill like Rung unlike someone who exists just for the sake of existing and taking up unnecessary page time like...Anode. Seriously I wouldn't dislike the character so much if she actually did anything to advance the story during the page time of Lost Light which she did not in the end unlike Rung.

I'll probably avoid this, I'm already bored of this "back to basics everything like early G1 'member the 80's?" approach that's been dominating Transformers fiction for the last year or so. Perhaps once the story gets off Cybertron and we get some human characters and Earth alt modes (PLEASE don't be set in the goddamn 80's!) I may take another look. I'd rather have some more Beast Era and Unicron Trilogy inspired fiction from IDW, but I know it'll never happen.

Does anyone else think Optimus' Chest resembles Cybertron Optimus? As in the front of his vehicle mode?

Agent 53 wrote:Does anyone else think Optimus' Chest resembles Cybertron Optimus? As in the front of his vehicle mode?

DUDE, read the posts/comments before!

Munkky wrote:I'll probably avoid this, I'm already bored of this "back to basics everything like early G1 'member the 80's?" approach that's been dominating Transformers fiction for the last year or so. Perhaps once the story gets off Cybertron and we get some human characters and Earth alt modes (PLEASE don't be set in the goddamn 80's!) I may take another look. I'd rather have some more Beast Era and Unicron Trilogy inspired fiction from IDW, but I know it'll never happen.

Ditto, or even go with some Transformers Animated inspired stuff. For me, the major triumph of that show was completely reorganizing the standard war and politics from g1 Cybertron in a way that was interesting but totally believable.

"You mean the war is already over, and that wasn't even the first one with the Decepticons? Optimus Prime is just kind of this guy and Prime is a rank anyone can achieve? This new conflict with the Decepticons is asymmetrical and no one on Cybertron wants to believe it's serious?"

All great stuff.

On a side note, can we just drop Bumblebee? I get he was the only character to come out the other side of Bayformers even slightly marketable by virtue of a cute gimmick and being one of the few non-"violent sociopath" robots, but 10+ years of him being in the lead is enough.

In IDW, the only time I remember him being interesting was when he was leader of Cybertron, precisely because he was trying to be a charismatic Optimus stand in but failing miserably. Then they killed him and brought him back as happy golucky and all "golly gosh, gee wizz" again.

It was so weird because Optimus kept talking about him as the conscience of the Autobots and the guy who reminded him of who he was in the end. All I could think: "wasn't Bumblebee the guy who was in charge and let Prowl proceed with a plan to put a bomb in the heads of half the population? Didn't he then press the button to detonate one of those bombs when he failed to de-escalate a fight?"

TLDR: please no more Bumblebee

To be fair I think we're getting a happy go lucky bumblebee ala the Cyberverse series

Sabrblade wrote:Here's a thought. Notice how the press release doesn't say who the murder victim is. Now, I know that they are pretty much guaranteed to not do this, but suppose, for a second, that if they wanted to really go for something new and even unexpected with these familiar iconic classic characters of old, what if the one who was killed off, whose murder sets everything in the story in motion to spiral out of peace and into war, was none other than Megatron? Who honestly would ever see something like that idea coming, especially in this day and age where the brand is all about making the old new again? IMO, it could potentially be one of the boldest and most shockingly unexpected decisions ever, but it would never happen.

Great great great great idea! On the surface it seems unlikely, but I feel like they're going to need some crazy, unexpected hook like this if they want this relaunch to grow sales of TF comics rather than maintain status quo and burn out from attrition after 12 issues.