The Energon Pub

Lovely issues both, but I have to say, all things combined, the artwork puts AHM #10 over the top.

Max Dinos was okay. As I stated earlier in another thread, the most positive piece for me was the use of Snarl as like the new leader of the defunct dinos, when they leave Grimlock.

Soundwave's part is okay, Shockwave is destructive, and of course, no character who is dead actually stays dead. Enter Sunsteaker, Sludge, Verity, and Jimmy as well as Prime. I expect AHM Sunstreaker back at any time as well.

Seeing Hot Rod trying to wield the dino sword was kind of cool.

Hot Rod sending a message in both issues, and having it answered by two characters we have not seen much of in quite awhile, if intentional was an interesting point.

AHM #10 was cool because well, Decepticons fight, Autobots get overwhelmed by the Swarm, and two giant robots make their reappearance in the issue.

It was really nice to have Omega come back and be a part of the Autobots again. I hated the Swarm as an enemy, and when the Autobots were getting overrun, you had to wonder who, or what was going to 'light their darkest hour'. No matrix help? Well, the arrival of Omega Supreme at just the right time was cool, and unexpected to me.

I'm still bewildered by Prime's sudden return to good health, and its meaning. Ratchet seems to be the most gifted medic bot to ever walk the face of any planet, having saved so many bots from stasis lock, humans from death, undoing the headmaster process (to a degree), and then miraculously fixing Prime with barely any materials, or energy. Matrix help on Prime maybe?

One wonders if Hot Rod from Max D also is repaired by him.

Enjoy them. These are too very good issues, and they pack plenty of good art, and Autobot and Decepticon goodness, and battle to make pretty much any fan happy.

One more thing about AHM though. When Ironhide is being overrun by the Swarm, in the panel he says "Mirage", but it is unclear what is happening. Is He trying to save Mirage from being overwhelmed? DId he ask for Mirage's help? What was going on because Mirage is not in that panel at all, but is in the next one.

I'm probably one of the few people I know online that's liked AHM right from the start. Yes, it took a while to get going, but I always knew it would eventually get somewhere.

So it's sad for me to say that, after wobbling slightly but obviously last issue, the figurative train pretty much fell off the tracks here.

McCarthy's writing has been sloppy all over AHM (it's sad that his best work was in his two current Spotlights), but the past two issues have brought up three issues that I really have with AHM that I've been trying to ignore for a while:

1). Teasing that Prime might not make it, then showing him to be alive and well after all. Most incarnations have never been shy about actually killing him off, even if they did bring him back later on. I think a death would have helped the situation on Cybertron by making it more desperate, and make it seem like the Autobots might not get away. This brings me to my next point...

2). The obvious inevitability of escape by the Autobots. I think we can all agree that it's something that was going to happen. I mean, even if the solicitations didn't make it obvious, we can pretty much guess that it was going to happen. But to have it happen in the personage of Omega Supreme, last seen two steps away from being the walking dead, is sadly indicative of the rushed pace McCarthy has been dragging out. And as typical of this series, how he managed to get better is pretty much glossed over. Those who read Spotlight: Prime know the Monster Pretenders trashed him rather soundly, and it's implied that things for the Autobots didn't get better since then. So how is it that he's up and about? Answer: because McCarthy wanted to have a big "wow" moment at this point, and figured using him was the best way to do it.

And how did he know to come? From the signal Hot Rod sent in Max Dinos #4? Wow, what a sad attempt at fusing story together that is.

3). The equally obvious inevitability of Decepticon infighting. Giving credit where credit's due, it's done better here than it usually is. But the fact that it could have been seen coming miles away doesn't really help.

According to the shipping lists posted on Denton's blog, the last two issues of AHM are not currently scheduled. Frankly, I won't be sad if they never see the light of day. It'll be better than seeing what sort of botched, rushed ending McCarthy has in store for us.

Max Dinos was marginally better, though I find myself wishing for the umpteenth time that they had done the Revelation story the way it was originally intended. Much like the Clone Wars cartoon being affected by the rest of the Star Wars Expanded Universe, there's the strong feeling that we knew the ending because we already seen how it ended, but that didn't really dull the surprise as much as I thought it would.

I wouldnt say Omega Supreme was near dead in Spotlight: OP. He had stabilized his systems and while he did have his arm ripped off we have seen Transformers damaged worse than him.

It would have taken a tall order by the Decepticons to kill a repaired Omega Supreme. Im not suprised he survived it is just way too convenient that the biggest baddest Autobot shows up right on time.

I havent read MD #5 yet I will have to wait and see with that.

Darth Bombshell wrote:
And how did he know to come? From the signal Hot Rod sent in Max Dinos #4? Wow, what a sad attempt at fusing story together that is.

nope. Hot Rods signal was from ahm #4

shadowsfm wrote:

Darth Bombshell wrote:
And how did he know to come? From the signal Hot Rod sent in Max Dinos #4? Wow, what a sad attempt at fusing story together that is.

nope. Hot Rods signal was from ahm #4

Yeah, I was just saying that it was pretty interesting that in the same month Hot Rod happens to talk about a character in a completely different situation receiving his message. Apparently, Blaster is not a communications officer in AHM.

Maximum Dynobots#5
Grimlock performing the cybertronic equivalent of a "cardiac thump" on Sludge to jumpstart him back. What comes around goes around........the damage to Scorponok was quite substantial thanwe were made to believe (see SL:Ultramagnus for details), so what we see was done to Sunstreaker is also done to old Scorponok.........and though on some aspects I agree with it having somewhat nary of a plot, Maximum Dinobots is more or less like just the finality of the "tion" series.........loose ends tied up from the time Sunstreaker was abducted.........to SL: Shockwave and SL: Grimlock and of course SL: Ultramagnus.

I picture a brighter future for the Dynobot ala the "A-team" of the 1980's. Remember how a "crack" commando team being sentenced for crime they never commited? Well with Grimlock in the brigg(taking full responsibilty for his actions thousands of years ago) I betcha Autobot High Command once reconstituted after the events of AHM will come a calling and get old Grimlock back to do a lot of black ops dirty jobs.

One thing though about Hunter O'nion, he was portrayed in the end as having some flesh on with a few dermal cybernetic implants but in AHM, he looked like "sc@p", was the reverse engineering of the binary bonding process a failure? Sure Ratchet mentioned how in some aspects, Hunter won't be the same again......................well onward to AHM Coda.


AHM#10

If Megatron simply folds under a beating from Devastator, then he don't deserve to be Decepticon leader. Heck despite being over the top, in DW Optimus shot Devastator point blank in the face in San Francisco and sent the giant "fall down go boom".

One thing I noticed too, Starscream is turning out into a more likeable character. He may be a coward (or is it a pragmmatist?) but it seems like he too is getting tired of this never ending war.

The use of Omega Supreme was kind of a surprise, I mean no not a surprise at all, a simple plot fixer upper the way Wesley Crusher was used in Star Trek:TNG or Illyana Rasputin being used to fix certain Universe threatening situations in the X-men or Franklin Richards dispersing Mephisto etc. All to often writers paint themselves into a corner and use tthis type of panic button to get them out of such a fix.

fenrir72 wrote:The use of Omega Supreme was kind of a surprise, I mean no not a surprise at all, a simple plot fixer upper the way Wesley Crusher was used in Star Trek:TNG or Illyana Rasputin being used to fix certain Universe threatening situations in the X-men or Franklin Richards dispersing Mephisto etc. All to often writers paint themselves into a corner and use tthis type of panic button to get them out of such a fix.

It's called "deus ex machina".

So that's what its called. Using such devices are said to be hallmarks of a bad play or comic book story..............so do I hear a sucking sound on our wallets by IDW this time? With the loss of the Matrix(another potential deus ex machina) so good money I'm betting on the next story would be Matrix Quest part (infinity) unless by issue #12, Prime beats the scr@p out of Megs and gets it back.

And another thing if Prime don't go gray,he ain't dead yet so why be surprised that he was suddenly ressurrected?

AHM continues to be badly written tripe, I could not agree with DB's opinions more regarding McCarthy's effort on the series.

Max Dino's #5 finished far stronger than I was expecting, it really did wrap up a number of characters storylines in a succinct and believable manner.

Even the cameos from certain squishies was nice in a way, although it seems that they will be another continuity issue that may get a "fixer-upper" in the AHM Coda, seeing as they are certainly not on Cybertron...

Sad to see the end of Furman's tenure on the main continuity for now, I really enjoyed the complexity and variety in his work, even if it made it too hard for new readers to enter. Give me complex and intriguing over dumbed down and dues ex machina filled drivel anyday.

fenrir72 wrote:
One thing I noticed too, Starscream is turning out into a more likeable character. He may be a coward (or is it a pragmmatist?) but it seems like he too is getting tired of this never ending war.

i thought starscream was complaining about the decepticons inactivity. he's bored and wants to fight autobots, instead of staying on earth doing nothing but kicking over puny humans.

The only thing that really jarred me out of total enjoyment of Dinobots was "Live, damn you, LIVE!" I suspect it was supposed to be cheeky/ironic, but it really seemed out of place at that point in the story. Urgh. Unless--have I somehow been missing out/mindblocking this same sort of hackneyed humor through the whole series?

I agree that AHM is pretty unoriginal in all the ways Darth Bombshell mentioned. Nonetheless, I don't hate the series. I thought this issue was much better than 9, but that may be because a) the art didn't suck and b) no humans. I guess I'm willing to tolerate slightly trite as long as it's wrapped in some cool fight scenes.

In defense, perhaps, of unoriginality--maybe he's 'playing it safe'. Were anyone to do anything TOO radical and different, people would be *howling* about the canon and the rules and being complete munchkins about it. Nonetheless I think he's playing it *too* safe.

HK, living dangerously.

If he wanted to play it safe he wouldn't have f**cked up the continuity.


So I just read Max Dinos 4 and 5 and SPotlight Jazz.
Max Dinos was awesome and really makes me happy that I finish with this TF universe with a good story and not with fail ala AHM. I do have to say that I didn't really like the way the Dinobots keept acting in there, but it was still good. But damn was it good to see James Raiz doing some art again, damn that was just
SP Jazz was, I don't know, ****? I feel cheated after reading it as it really felt like reading a over-long mediocre Mosaic just having to pay money for it.

hellkitty wrote:I agree that AHM is pretty unoriginal in all the ways Darth Bombshell mentioned. Nonetheless, I don't hate the series.

I never said I hated it either, but the plot contrivances and bait-and-switch tatics employed over the course of the last two issues really makes the overall faults the series has stand out more than I would have liked, and makes the idea that this can all be wrapped up in two issues and Coda laughable.

2 enjoyable issues, but as previously mentioned, 2 issues of WTF recoveries.

Max Dinos
My biggest WTF recovery was Verity and Jimmy in Max Dinos. Even when Prime goes grey he can come back, but those two are humans. It was a bittersweet moment for the fleshies too, since we know what will become of Hunter.

Also, I guess if you just put your spark on another TF's spark that's out for the count you can bring him back too. Add Sludge to the list of miraculous revivals.

I'm not satisfied at all with the ending of it. I'm a bit happy about Shockwave getting some "emotions" in this issue though. He reminded me somewhat of Shockblast and it's nice to think of him escaping imprisonment later on in a similar manner to his TF:Energon somewhat-counterpart.

AHM:

Megatron will put his house in order once more, I'm sure of it. All Hail Megatron is the name of the series and I think the last few issues will enjoyably illustrate why. Megatron has kicked Predakings ass (in Marvel) he can and will put Devastator down. He's not just bending under Devastator's fist, he actually caught the blow. Remember earlier in the series, that same punch from Devastator took out the underwater tunnel in New York.

Starscream has suprisingly rallied a large group against the boss, but I keep remembering Megatron in what was it, Infiltration? Where he said "How quickly they forget, and so I must remind them." at the same time beating Skywarp and Blitzwing to slag. This will be similar, and though I don't think Starscream will end up with a fusion cannon hole where used to be his torso, there will be a putting of him in to place.

As far as Prime and Omega's recovering, I'm just kind wincing through it hopeing for, but not expecting an explaination later on in the series or the soon to accompany AHM Coda.

For the sceane with Mirage and Ironhide, apparently I was wrong in assuming that Mirage would defact. I interpreted the panels as Mirage saving Ironhide's chassis in that sceane.