The Energon Pub

[Devastron]

I just picked this up today. Overall, I liked it.

As everyone stated the Megatron/Prime battle was confusing and short.

I thought it was pretty cold how Soundwave took care of Ratbat, and it seemed a little weird. It got me wondering if that's how he collected his other cassettes. After doing that, you wonder how Ratbat could ever cooperate with him (or maybe because he's a cassette guy he has no choice?).

We know it's not how he collected Rumble and Frenzy but it's possible for Laserbeak, Buzzsaw and Ravage.

Rumble and Frenzy were forcibly reformatted though, they didn't exactly volunteer for the process.

True. I didn't realise he was asking whether or not they were forced to reformat.

As for what Optimus has over Sentinel...good question? Optimus does have Roller to watch his back! I wasn't entirely sure what finished Sentinel off. Was it the blast that Megatron fired as they were falling or was it just the hard landing?

All Sentinel seemed to have going for him were lots of guns. Megatron was a highly skilled melee fighter and probably knew a lot more about Sentinel than Sentinel knew about him. The fight was over the instant Sentinel's guns failed to take Megs down. Megatron quickly closed in to hand to hand, negating all of Sentinel's guns and just tore into him. Optimus has never been shown to be as reliant on guns as Sentinel was. The fact that he can slug it out with Megatron up close seems to be the big difference. Perhaps this is due to his experience during the war before becoming Prime, at least in the IDW universe.

[trence5]

Perhaps this is due to his experience during the war before becoming Prime, at least in the IDW universe.

Yeah, that maybe the case, but that beggs to ask; how does a librarian learn to fight like him ?

[i_amtrunks]

Perhaps this is due to his experience during the war before becoming Prime, at least in the IDW universe.

Yeah, that maybe the case, but that beggs to ask; how does a librarian learn to fight like him ?

We do not know if Prime is an Archivist or not in the IDW-verse.

But if he is, I'll say it's because he read how to fight!

[Leonardo]

Maybe Sentinel was dead before the drop. Not sure but I'll reread. You might be right about that.

Good point about Optimus being more adept at hand-to-hand than Sentinel. If Optimus has been upgraded in any way, that would be an interesting development.

If Optimus can handle himself well enough now I wonder what he'll be like if he ever decides to "go Apex".

[i_amtrunks]

Maybe Sentinel was dead before the drop. Not sure but I'll reread. You might be right about that.

Good point about Optimus being more adept at hand-to-hand than Sentinel. If Optimus has been upgraded in any way, that would be an interesting development.

If Optimus can handle himself well enough now I wonder what he'll be like if he ever decides to "go Apex".

Probably a bad shot since he is a "hand to hand" style combatant!

Prime also seems to have the War smarts about him, he knows how to fight, what formations to use, and what strategies to use (Stormbringer being my main example here).

I know we did not see much of Sentinel in way of fighting, but it seemed to me like he was a "shoot anything and everything, and hope you get lucky" style fighter.

[Leonardo]

With guns like that I'd probably be a shoot-everything kind of fighter, too. As much as I like finesse I just don't have the combat skills.

[mechajol]

finally read the finale!

now, my thoughts on the whole series:

1) as posted by other members earlier, yes - good intent, mediocre execution

2) would have been better if it was a six-parter, or more

3) would have been better if the final issue was a double-size book

now, why mediocre execution?

the premise is very interesting. there's a great opportunity to delve into megatron's character - what made him the cold, brutal tyrant?
there's a very good opportunity to create a whole cybertronian society - its culture, its population, its customs, its government, etc.

but what we got instead was a rushed storyline that is not that different from a cliff notes book.

some points that could and should have been expounded in the story:
- the role of the autobots in the society: are they military? are they just police forces?

- the disparity between cybertron's social classes:
yes, i loved this plot. decepticons as revolutionaries? now, that's a new take. the 'cons are no longer evil troublemakers, but disheartened citizens. this could have given the decepticon cause more depth. sadly, this was not explored further. you don't even get to feel the disparity and inequality in the story. you see miner robots screwed by the government in the first issue, then you see fancy robots toasting some kinda beverage in the final issue before being killed.

- megatron's time in the gladiatorial matches:
who were his opponents? how did he enter? who trained him?
this part could have been a good opportunity to introduce some of the decepticons, their personalities before being recruited.

- character developments:
it sucks that sentinel prime got killed before we even knew the guy. and it also sucks that some characters were only limited to cameos.

simply put, the story could and should have been epic. and yes, even if it would be released quarterly, but with more pages and with a more engaging story, i would gladly wait.

when the series started, i was expecting this to center on megatron alone. i was expecting that the story would place us in his mind, at least make us relate to or understand the emperor of destruction.

now, on the positive side, i really loved the art.
there are times that you just can't figure out what the hell is going on, and with a choppy and rushed story, the script just does not help.

yeah, i love the art. i love the robot designs. the comics could have benefited from bigger panels, though.

so there.

[chironex]

From what I read/saw this is how the fight between sentinel and megatron panned out.
SP fires on M apparantly destroying M (M's arm mounted weapons are both destroyed as pieces of them are seen lying in the blast crater.) M has however survived and snuck off.
M sneaks up alongside SP and throws the body of Hound at SP destroying part of the Apex armour. M then jumps down onto SP tearing at the chest piece of the Apex.
M then punches SP knocking him out of the Apex. (The panel which seems to show M shooting a blast at SP is an incorrect interpretation as both M weapons are destroyed prior to this, it is however showing impact, apparant explosion of some part of Apex and SP being knocked back which is continued in the next panel.
SP and M approach each other and M punches hitting SP but showing no effect as SP reaches down and picks M above his head and slams M into the ground. M counters by sweeping SP's leg knocking SP onto his back.
M standing above SP is about to hit SP again but is knocked back by the open palm blow of SP knocking M back over the edge of whatever tower they are fighting on.
Still preaching away SP approaches the edge looking down on M who is hanging onto the edge by one hand. SP grabs M by the throat and lifts him up, M then grabs ahold of SP and pulls SP over the edge.
M twists so that SP is below him using him as a cushion as the impact the ground below. Finally SP is damaged to the point of helplessness M then proceeds to beat SP to death.

Points to be noted to all those who think that the fight was pretty much one sided (to Megatron that is)
Sentinel Prime is actually pretty much undamaged until the fall.
None of Megatron's blows seem to do anything of any concern to Sentinel Prime
Sentinel Prime is never on the attack after being removed from Apex and just hits only in defence pretty much tossing Megatron about like he was nothing.
Sentinel Prime seems to lose only because he is so sure of himself, letting down his guard. Clearly he is much more powerful then Megatron and sees Megatron as nothing more then a thug.

[MagnusPrimal]

From what I read/saw this is how the fight between sentinel and megatron panned out.
SP fires on M apparantly destroying M (M's arm mounted weapons are both destroyed as pieces of them are seen lying in the blast crater.) M has however survived and snuck off.
M sneaks up alongside SP and throws the body of Hound at SP destroying part of the Apex armour. M then jumps down onto SP tearing at the chest piece of the Apex.
M then punches SP knocking him out of the Apex. (The panel which seems to show M shooting a blast at SP is an incorrect interpretation as both M weapons are destroyed prior to this, it is however showing impact, apparant explosion of some part of Apex and SP being knocked back which is continued in the next panel.
SP and M approach each other and M punches hitting SP but showing no effect as SP reaches down and picks M above his head and slams M into the ground. M counters by sweeping SP's leg knocking SP onto his back.
M standing above SP is about to hit SP again but is knocked back by the open palm blow of SP knocking M back over the edge of whatever tower they are fighting on.
Still preaching away SP approaches the edge looking down on M who is hanging onto the edge by one hand. SP grabs M by the throat and lifts him up, M then grabs ahold of SP and pulls SP over the edge.
M twists so that SP is below him using him as a cushion as the impact the ground below. Finally SP is damaged to the point of helplessness M then proceeds to beat SP to death.

Points to be noted to all those who think that the fight was pretty much one sided (to Megatron that is)
Sentinel Prime is actually pretty much undamaged until the fall.
None of Megatron's blows seem to do anything of any concern to Sentinel Prime
Sentinel Prime is never on the attack after being removed from Apex and just hits only in defence pretty much tossing Megatron about like he was nothing.
Sentinel Prime seems to lose only because he is so sure of himself, letting down his guard. Clearly he is much more powerful then Megatron and sees Megatron as nothing more then a thug.

I'll have to take another look at this. I found the art in this series very difficult to follow.
If SP is more powerful than Megs at this point, it's entirely possible, heck, even probable, that Megatron has significantly upgraded himself since then.

[PeteJK13]

Perhaps this is due to his experience during the war before becoming Prime, at least in the IDW universe.

Yeah, that maybe the case, but that beggs to ask; how does a librarian learn to fight like him ?

We do not know if Prime is an Archivist or not in the IDW-verse.

But if he is, I'll say it's because he read how to fight!

There's a bot who looks very like 'Orion Pax' combined with Armada Prime in the crowd of Autobots being addressed by Sentinal Prime in issue three. HE addresses them as meember sof his security force so I'm assuming Prime started as a cop rather than an archivist in the IDW verse.

[i_amtrunks]

This is mainly for Leo:

I have read somewhere (either on Furman's Blog or the IDW forums) that Sentinel Prime was still alive after the battle with Megatron.

So I was wrong on that one. Guess that means we may get a Spotlight or flashback to the Sentinel-Optimus Prime swap.