The Energon Pub

[Targetmaster Kup]

Outside of GI Joe being, essentially, a pointless Job Squad, I really liked this issue.

[Jest and sarcasm follows]Actually, has GI Joe ever been anything besides a pointless Job Squad? We should give Michael Bay that franchise so it can be great again.

And then he'll make us pay for it.

[Va'al]

Did... I miss something major? Because unless I'm forgetting something off the top of my head, the only main deaths in IDW's current run (aside from MTMTE) are Shockwave, Bumblebee and Galvatron. And there were a few years between the former two and the latter. Certainly doesn't strike me as 'almost everyone'.

Metalhawk!

Terribull!

Turbofoxes!

That's almost everyone, right?

[1984forever]

They ended the war and sidelined or killed almost everyone so they can have just a few Transformers running around like the X-Men handling little threats that pop up.

Did... I miss something major? Because unless I'm forgetting something off the top of my head, the only main deaths in IDW's current run (aside from MTMTE) are Shockwave, Bumblebee and Galvatron. And there were a few years between the former two and the latter. Certainly doesn't strike me as 'almost everyone'.

You missed the word "sidelined".

People who want to say that a big cast like we had in the G1 cartoon can't work in comic books should read the Dreamwave stuff. It can work. Idw can't do it though.

Back to #56. Two top members of GI Joe shoot machine guns at a Transformer. Not a Bayformer with exposed parts, but a blocky G1 styled Transformer. It's like shooting machine guns at a tank They're supposed to be an elite fighting force?

[Evil Eye]

Now, what's the betting that they're gonna pull a Red Skull and try and make Sentinel Prime "evil" (read: "conservative) by having him spout "extremist" (read: "politically incorrect") viewpoints? Bonus points if it's Windblade or Original the Characters Team Victorion who ends up defeating him. Obviously it's less easy with a race of transforming alien robots where most of the factions aren't tied to real-world ideologies/races/cults or whatever, but given how unbelievably awful modern comics have become, particularly with regards to pandering to Tumblr socialists (Unsolicited opinions on Israel, anyone?)...Well, let's just say I'm beginning to feel glad I don't read the comics.

On the plus side, with all the "LOL Sentinel Prime is DONALD TRUMP ZOMG XD" memespouting going on, I'm now tempted to get a Sentinel Prime. Not TR Sentinel, because I intend to get Astrotrain, but a version of him anyway. He'll build a wall to keep the Decepticons out, and unlike recent Hasbro offerings, it won't be hollow.

[Va'al]

If you seriously think someone who says things like this is a nice person, I'm not sure what else to tell you.

[Evil Eye]

Decepticons? Cowards? Killers? All sound pretty verminous to me. He's got my vote. You're sounding like a Tentakillary Clintron supporter! Better keep your email cassetticons locked up!

(In all seriousness that's nowhere NEAR as bad as I was worried it would be. Compare that to the Red Skull, whose "evil speech" consisted of some pretty valid points about the condition of America. I am relieved...temporarily.)

[President-prime]

I really like the art style and the way Optimus looks.

[ArmadaPrime]

Compare that to the Red Skull

Forgive me if I've missed something here (and for risking getting political), as I don't particularly keep up with Marvel's current stuff, but isn't Red Skull generally depicted as a straight up Nazi? I'd say that's pretty indefensibly evil.


Regardless, personally I enjoyed this issue, though I do feel that in trying to continue on the Transformers story, introduce the Titans Return arc to the ongoing, and set up for Revolution, it felt at times like it could have just done with being a little longer, to avoid chopping and changing quite so much. I imagine that it'll read a lot better in the trades when you can run straight into the next issues. I am a bit puzzled about poor old Aplha Trion though, he'd been fairly irrelevant for essentially ages, popped up again to have some vague chats with OP on the moon full of implications and mysteriousness, which kind of implied he was going to become imminently more relevant, but then has been pretty brutally killed before he really got the chance.
I think to properly win me over, they're gonna have to really explain how titan masters work within this continuity. Is it the marvel comics method where the consciousness continues in the original head and links to the headmaster (and from what I gather, the old head could be permanently re-attached in RG1)? The japanese headmasters method, where the headmaster themselves is the only one in control, and all the bigger robots have ever been is just a powerup? Something new entirely? Because now I'm not only wondering what the whole deal is regarding Sentinel and Infinitus and whether they've always been the same person who is ultimately just a head, or if maybe Sentinel died but Infinitus as his head lived on, but I'm also thinking that maybe Trion isn't totally dead and when Blacrock/Sovreign inevitably connects to his body, Trion's memories and knowledge and so on will still be there- or maybe Sovreign always was part of Trion, or even part of Onyx Prime, as that name has just been casually dropped like it's no big deal.

[Evil Eye]

Compare that to the Red Skull

Forgive me if I've missed something here (and for risking getting political), as I don't particularly keep up with Marvel's current stuff, but isn't Red Skull generally depicted as a straight up Nazi? I'd say that's pretty indefensibly evil.

I don't read the comics myself (though I do enjoy chortling at the drama surrounding them) but from what I've read, The Red Skull's big "evil" rant was basically "Society is crumbling thanks to the degeneracy of socialism, Islamic terrorism is killing our people and forcing us to live in fear, our culture is being wiped out by "multiculturalism", and if you complain about it you get accused of being a bigot. What the hell's up with that?". Which really isn't that far from the truth. Granted his solutions to these problems are pretty inexcusable, but there's no doubt Marvel screwed the pooch in attempting to make him seem villainous. Leave it to Marvel to make a Nazi's rant seem reasonable. But then this is the same company (I think) that cacked out "ZOMG DONALD TRUMP SUPERVILLAIN OLOLOLOL" and the hilariously bad Anegla: Queen of Hel (UNSOLICITED OPINIONS ON ISRAEL???).

TLDR: Modern comics f**king suck.