The Energon Pub

News Credits: 6 · by **AllNewSuperRobot** » Thu Dec 27, 2018 1:26 pm

ZeroWolf wrote:First off Drift has now crossed over into the movies and the Rid 2015 series so he's no longer IDW exclusive, secondly the blue bot is Chromia, and she was in the G1 cartoon anyway, and as you see here is how her Siege Deluxe Wave 2 toy looks.

'Drift' was indeed a placeholder name. One of several examples I could have given to illustrate the previous points I was picking up on. Rung, another example. These previous comments don't want alternate Drift/Rung/Whoevertron though, They want IDWverse Drift/Rung/Whoevertron. Which, as I said, completely defeats the point of a series reboot and the reasons one was deemed necessary.

Second, it's not so much about character, as prominence. Point out to me the Chromia-centric TF covers, prior to IDWverse. The strong characterisation and world building arcs that defined her character within G1.
Chromia is there, next to Windblade because of IDWverse. That association, is misleading and dishonestly playing on visual cues from the previous run. She has a new toy? Great! That's what Transformers is built on. But a near identical visual comic book aesthetic to IDWverse isn't saying "New Continuity" to me. As we both know, Traditional G1 Chromia didn't look like that, IDW Chromia did.

New Continuity designs to me are Starscream (and Megatron) in Infiltration. Or Thunderwing in Stormbringer. Something similar to Yesteryear but Not. That kind of thing is what you should be aiming for as a New Continuity, again, otherwise what is the point in calling it such?

News Credits: 1350 · by **ZeroWolf** » Thu Dec 27, 2018 1:58 pm

We already know Chromia will be different as in this one she's prowls cop partner. All these characters are sporting the Siege designs which Hasbro wants to push,so why should they not include Chromia?

At the end of the day we don't fully know what this go around will do different till its done it. No one could have predicted what the original IDW would do at the beginning of its run.

News Credits: 6 · by **AllNewSuperRobot** » Thu Dec 27, 2018 2:14 pm

ZeroWolf wrote: All these characters are sporting the Siege designs which Hasbro wants to push, so why should they not include Chromia?

That is neither here nor there. What I am saying is her placement is designed to be evocative of her most prominent role, within IDWverse. The entire reason she has a new toy, after all. You don't see any unknown characters on the cover she shares with Prowl, Windblade et al

ZeroWolf wrote:No one could have predicted what the original IDW would do at the beginning of its run.

Sad, but true.

News Credits: 1350 · by **ZeroWolf** » Thu Dec 27, 2018 2:27 pm

Actually I think the whole reason she's on the cover is because if her toy... I mean Prowl is out in the same wave... And the comic is due when wave 2 is out...so I think you may be looking into this deeper then it needs to be. Plus Chromia didn't do a great deal for a while in the end after Titans Return.

News Credits: 6 · by **AllNewSuperRobot** » Thu Dec 27, 2018 2:32 pm

All I'm saying is she is there solely because IDWverse put her on the map. They want to keep that association alive. If it were a cover just to push the Siege line, Sixgun or Cog would be there instead.

News Credits: 54 · by **Deadput** » Thu Dec 27, 2018 2:55 pm

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:
(I mean Transformers that are very alien is not a good idea)

How so? Because aside from the god awful attempt Bayformers made at being visually alien, it has never really been attempted before.

Costa?

I meant in their behaviors, and honestly the Bayformers looks make more sense for actual Aliens and would probably be what actual alien Transformers would look like with the G1 designs being what we would make if we were making robots (Even if Transformers wasn't a thing boxy designs is what we would end up making)

Also there are some good designs that came from those movies

News Credits: 6 · by **AllNewSuperRobot** » Thu Dec 27, 2018 3:07 pm

Eye brows, Robot hair and Gestalt scrotum... I don't remember any good designs from Bayformers.

I don't really think Costa had any real idea of what Transformers was though, outside of his run's so prominently featured Bayformers-lite aesthetic. Then again, that was another example of Earth based = Low Point for the series.
There was a Transformers/GI Joe Crossover, set during WW II, that comes closest to the general gist of Transformers as an Alien/Otherworldly race.

I just remember one of the taglines for The Movie being "beyond imagination" and how off the mark Transformers comics have been from that end. Stormbringer had it. LSoTW had it. RiD/OP/MTMTE/LL didn't..

News Credits: 54 · by **Deadput** » Thu Dec 27, 2018 5:57 pm

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:Eye brows, Robot hair and Gestalt scrotum... I don't remember any good designs from Bayformers.

I don't really think Costa had any real idea of what Transformers was though, outside of his run's so prominently featured Bayformers-lite aesthetic. Then again, that was another example of Earth based = Low Point for the series.
There was a Transformers/GI Joe Crossover, set during WW II, that comes closest to the general gist of Transformers as an Alien/Otherworldly race.

I just remember one of the taglines for The Movie being "beyond imagination" and how off the mark Transformers comics have been from that end. Stormbringer had it. LSoTW had it. RiD/OP/MTMTE/LL didn't..

I would say characters like Demolishor or Blackout had great designs, there are a few turds but most of them only apply to a few characters.

Transformers have always had hair, I honestly don't get what some people think a live action Alpha Trion or Scourge would look like on the big screen realistically that also pleases people.

Devastator was like the one character (Besides Blender guy but that was a gun) and after that, no robot private parts appeared on the big screen again.

It was a one off joke that fits the common American sense of humor at the time that simply went poorly.

News Credits: 1350 · by **ZeroWolf** » Thu Dec 27, 2018 6:07 pm

It was a one off joke because Michael Bay was allowed to finish the script because of the writers strike

but you're right about the facial hair as that's always been with Transformers, but some people still think it silly, I'm fine with it though.

I'm curious though to what extent you would want them to be "Alien" as we can only ever use ourselves as a base for reference. Also due to the nature of the question of life in the universe, it could never be disproved or proved that aliens would act like us in mannerisms. I doubt the new continuity will bother with this though. Looks like first up is a murder mystery that will lead to the opening salvos of the great civil war.

News Credits: 54 · by **Deadput** » Thu Dec 27, 2018 7:29 pm

ZeroWolf wrote:It was a one off joke because Michael Bay was allowed to finish the script because of the writers strike but you're right about the facial hair as that's always been with Transformers, but some people still think it silly, I'm fine with it though.

I'm curious though to what extent you would want them to be "Alien" as we can only ever use ourselves as a base for reference. Also due to the nature of the question of life in the universe, it could never be disproved or proved that aliens would act like us in mannerisms. I doubt the new continuity will bother with this though. Looks like first up is a murder mystery that will lead to the opening salvos of the great civil war.

I mean I don't want them to be Alien (although I don't want them to human either, mostly in regards to the more..."complicated" parts of romance.) in their attitudes and culture, mostly because of that reason that we can't write from an Alien perspective.

Designs wise I'm fine with some adaptions for live action like the metal faces in both the Bay films and the Bee movie over liquid face.

Arcee's face design in Bee is sort of what I mean by "liquid face" although it just barely works, I've seen a few people who say the face is creepy though.

News Credits: 1350 · by **ZeroWolf** » Fri Dec 28, 2018 4:36 am

I'm completely fine with them having romance, I mean they effectively have souls in the vein of sparks so why not let them love?

As with Arcee's face... Yeah that's very creepy and she looks less like a robot and more a porcelain doll... Which just makes it more creepy. Still, things are what they are.

News Credits: 226 · by **Burn** » Fri Dec 28, 2018 5:23 am

Why is there a discussion revolving around the movies happening in this thread?
And why is one of those people involved a staff member?

News Credits: 1350 · by **ZeroWolf** » Fri Dec 28, 2018 6:23 am

Sorry Burn, it started because of a discussion about what AllNew said regarding what direction he would like to see in the new continuity with the tfs being depicted as more alien in behavior...and we got sidetracked to make it more on looks from the live action movies instead some how...

by **Nemesis Maximo** » Fri Dec 28, 2018 9:22 am

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:
ZeroWolf wrote: All these characters are sporting the Siege designs which Hasbro wants to push, so why should they not include Chromia?

That is neither here nor there. What I am saying is her placement is designed to be evocative of her most prominent role, within IDWverse.

That is entirely here and there. IDW wants to keep the association alive, and they have a brand new toy do it with, it’s a win-win.

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:The entire reason she has a new toy, after all.

The reasons she has a new toy are; Hasbro wants to include more female TF toys due to fan demand, and John Warden is a massive Geewunner, so of course he’s gonna make as many G1 characters as humanly possible. Her being in the comics now is because IDW wants to include more female characters for diversity, and since they’re using the characters that are getting toys...

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:You don't see any unknown characters on the cover she shares with Prowl, Windblade et al

Why would they put a bunch of unknowns on the cover of the very first issue of a brand new series that they’re trying to get as many people to read as possible?

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:
ZeroWolf wrote:No one could have predicted what the original IDW would do at the beginning of its run.

Sad, but true.

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:All I'm saying is she is there solely because IDWverse put her on the map. They want to keep that association alive.

She is there because she’s getting a new toy. If it was motivated purely by IDW’s past “association” with the character, why couldn’t they use Nautica, who was much more liked? Or even Arcee, who had the most prominent role of any female character in the IDWverse? I could go on here, there are so many examples of standout characters “associated” with the IDW comics.

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:If it were a cover just to push the Siege line, Sixgun or Cog would be there instead.

Tying in to what I said earlier, Cog and Six-Gun are not female. IDW wants to have diversity in their comics, and the male-female cop duo is prevalent in pop culture anyway, so it’s not even like it’s being shoe-horned in.

News Credits: 1350 · by **ZeroWolf** » Fri Dec 28, 2018 9:36 am

I do find it suspect that Prowl and Chromia share a toy wave and now a cover, if that wasn't planned I'll be amazed. Now the question is, what Prowl are we going to get this time? I quite liked prowls character in the last iteration

News Credits: 6 · by **AllNewSuperRobot** » Fri Dec 28, 2018 10:08 am

Nemesis Maximo wrote:
AllNewSuperRobot wrote:
ZeroWolf wrote: All these characters are sporting the Siege designs which Hasbro wants to push, so why should they not include Chromia?

That is neither here nor there. What I am saying is her placement is designed to be evocative of her most prominent role, within IDWverse.

That is entirely here and there. IDW wants to keep the association alive, and they have a brand new toy do it with, it’s a win-win.

I was referring to Zerowolf's question as to why should they not include Chromia. That was neither here nor there because, that wasn't the issue I was raising.

Nemesis Maximo wrote:
AllNewSuperRobot wrote:You don't see any unknown characters on the cover she shares with Prowl, Windblade et al

Why would they put a bunch of unknowns on the cover of the very first issue of a brand new series that they’re trying to get as many people to read as possible?

By unknown characters, I was referring to those in the Siege line not featured in IDWverse.

Nemesis Maximo wrote:
AllNewSuperRobot wrote:
ZeroWolf wrote:No one could have predicted what the original IDW would do at the beginning of its run.

Sad, but true.

From Origin and the -Ations to the damp squib that was Unicron. I think that is quite sad really.

Nemesis Maximo wrote:
AllNewSuperRobot wrote:All I'm saying is she is there solely because IDWverse put her on the map. They want to keep that association alive.

She is there because she’s getting a new toy. If it was motivated purely by IDW’s past “association” with the character, why couldn’t they use Nautica, who was much more liked? Or even Arcee, who had the most prominent role of any female character in the IDWverse? I could go on here, there are so many examples of standout characters “associated” with the IDW comics.

Her association with Windblade, is evocative of IDWverse. Nautica and Arcee don't have toys in the new line yet. Greenlight does (TBA) Yet they didn't have her on the cover instead of Windblade or Chromia, I wonder why :-?

Nemesis Maximo wrote:
AllNewSuperRobot wrote:If it were a cover just to push the Siege line, Sixgun or Cog would be there instead.

Tying in to what I said earlier, Cog and Six-Gun are not female.

Says who? Bios can be altered IE Airazor, Transmetal 2 Sonar. Particularly with characters unused previously. They could say Ravage or Laserbeak were "female" and it wouldn't matter in the slightest.

News Credits: 456 · by **Sabrblade** » Fri Dec 28, 2018 10:13 am

The only reason IDW made use of Chromia back in their previous continuity in the first place was because Hasbro both made her Generations Thrilling 30 toy and at the time wanted nearly ALL of the Generations Thrilling 30 toys put into the comics via Dark Cybertron. IDW then simply ran with the character and tried to make something out of her, which they did, and kept her look similar (but admittedly not identical) to her Generations Thrilling 30 toy that was more based on the look of Prime Arcee (hence her toy being a massive retool of Prime Arcee) rather than on Chromia's own look from the G1 cartoon, with only Chromia's head being her sole recognizable feature. Take that head away and both her IDW design and Generations Thrilling 30 toy become generic fembot bodies recognizably belonging to no one.

Chromia's Siege toy, meanwhile, is more strongly based on her classic G1 cartoon look, not just in the design of her head but also in the resemblance of her torso's design. And that same design of the toy is used here on the cover of the new continuity's comic. If anything, putting her with Prowl as his fellow cop is taking her back to her G1 cartoon roots by having her return to a role of authority, as she behaved like the field commander of the Female Autobots back in her sole cartoon appearance, calling all the shots and giving orders to Firestar and Moonracer on their mission, and taking charge of the others when Elita One was captured, acting sorta like Elita One's subcommander.

News Credits: 6 · by **AllNewSuperRobot** » Fri Dec 28, 2018 10:29 am

Interesting info, as ever Sabrblade :APPLAUSE:

Sabrblade wrote: with only Chromia's head being her sole recognizable feature. Take that head away and both her IDW design and Generations Thrilling 30 toy become generic fembot bodies recognizably belonging to no one.

Mold variants have always been an aspect of Transformers I really enjoy. Cynically it is just to sell repaints and reuse assets but, it does tie into the idea of life being manufactured through mass production, you would associate with a robotic species.

In answer to Zerowolf's question (can't find the quote) How alien would I like to see them go in the new continuity. The Transformers/G.I. Joe mini-series (2004) and the opening issues of Infiltration had the right idea. 'Alien' doesn't have to mean Little Green Men, just a race indifferent to us who do not react as we do.

A quote that is indicative of the antithesis of what I am looking for is in Infestion. Wherein Galvatron has a short dialogue concerning the Mary Celeste.
Several things are wrong with that.

News Credits: 2 · by **X3ROhour** » Tue Jan 08, 2019 8:56 pm

BY THE GODS,
HOW MUCH LONGER MUST WE ENDURE THIS INSANITY!!!?

by **Nemesis Maximo** » Tue Jan 08, 2019 10:42 pm

Z3ROhour wrote:BY THE GODS,
HOW MUCH LONGER MUST WE ENDURE THIS INSANITY!!!?

Calm your tits bruh, what are you even tripping over?

News Credits: 650 · by **ScottyP** » Thu Jan 10, 2019 9:07 am

Nemesis Maximo wrote:
Z3ROhour wrote:BY THE GODS,
HOW MUCH LONGER MUST WE ENDURE THIS INSANITY!!!?

Calm your tits bruh, what are you even tripping over?

I would assume it's withdrawal? If so, the Go-Bots comic is actually good (though folks that don't like Scioli's style should avoid it.)

News Credits: 6 · by **AllNewSuperRobot** » Thu Jan 10, 2019 12:06 pm

It is a shame it will be molded around a new toyline off the bat. Did we ever get toys of the -Ations Seekers? Or pretty much any new design from pre-DoOP??

News Credits: 1350 · by **ZeroWolf** » Thu Jan 10, 2019 12:36 pm

We got a few but in most cases the comics changed their design to match toys. We got ongoing Megatron as a stealth bomber.

News Credits: 6 · by **AllNewSuperRobot** » Thu Jan 10, 2019 12:47 pm

Bombertron.. Urgh

The greatest omission was probably Stormbringer Thunderwing. That would have been a great figure and I'm guessing he will be ..smaller in the new continuity.