The Energon Pub

Disclaimer: The following are purely my own personal opinions based on how I view the stories and characters of ReGeneration One. It is not meant to state said opinions as fact, even if the opinions are supported by facts. We all have our own interpretations of the story and the characters. These are mine.

When I 1st heard of the possibility of the Generation 1 story being continued in print, I was ecstatic. I don't consider myself a "GEEWUNNER" because even though it was G1 I grew up with, I enjoy most other continuities in the Transformers franchise. The order of quality of the continuities no doubt varies from other fans' views, but once again, it's a matter of opinion, based on how you prioritize the strengths and weaknesses of each continuity. Having said that, the G1 Marvel Comics (particularly #13, "Shooting Star" and #14, "Rock and Roll Out") are what introduced me to the world of Transformers, so I hold the stories and characters higher than all others in the franchise.

The Underbase Saga was the last great story arc under writer Bob Budiansky, and even though I enjoyed issue #51, "Man in the Machine" very much, it was a stand-alone issue and didn't leave a deep impression on me at the time. However, the rest of the stories were forgettable. When Simon Furman took over with issue #56, he kick-started the somewhat stale stories with bringing back the original Decepticon leader, Megatron. He was the 1st Transformer I ever connected with, through issue #13, so it was very good to see him back. Furman made an immediate good impression on me as a fan. This is why I hold his work in such high esteem. Or at least I did, until ReGeneration One.

In order to try to give an accurate review, I went back and re-read the entire series, starting with 80.5. I must say, when read together, the issues of each story arc make more sense than when read separately a month apart. Individually, they seem flimsy and transparent in story. Together, though, they're a much better read. I still disagree with Furman picking up the story 21 years later. Just because 21 years elapsed in real time, doesn't mean 21 years had to elapse in the story. Unchecked, Megatron didn't need 21 years to lay waste to Earth. And I personally find it very hard to believe that the Autobots didn't keep ANY tabs on Earth past their departure. Especially, knowing they left the Ark there with all that stuff inside it, as well as had some major enemies unaccounted for. Were I in Optimus's place, I would have scoured the planet until at least the remains of Megatron were found. I'm not sure if Prime knew Galvatron's existence in this continuity. He never actually acknowledge it, IIRC. Nonetheless, it was an enormous lapse in prime's judgment not to clean up Earth of any Cybertronian remains before leaving. I found the side stories with Optimus mentoring Hot Rod and Grimlock's venture to Nebulos a bit distracting, considering at the time they went nowhere, but I understand their purpose. They were setting up for later stories. Out of the 1st story arc, which I actually enjoyed mostly, the high points for me were seeing all the old faces again, Hot Rod getting a lot of center stage, the awesome art by Wildman, and the execution of Springer. I never liked that character much. I was also stoked about the final showdown between Optimus and Megatron, as it was seriously hyped prior to the issue's release. However, I was disappointed. Maybe I was expecting a fight on the epic scale of the '86 movie. I don't know. It just seemed to be over too soon. As I said, Megatron holds a special place for me, and I wanted him to put up more of a fight. I understand how it happened, and it was rather clever to involve Ratchet the way Furman did, even drawing the parallel between issue #70 where Kup almost executed Ratchet/Megatron originally. It was billed as the ultimate end of the original main bad guy, and I just expected more of a fireworks-filled fight, that's all.

The 2nd story arc, involving Grimlock and Scorponok, was largely unnecessary, IMO. It had basically no bearing on the main story, other than serving as 1 more way for the dark Matrix creature to foster more power for itself through violence and hatred. Those 5 issues could have been used to further the main story of Hot Rod becoming Rodimus Prime, or showing us more of what happened in the intermittent 21 years, even if through flashbacks. The only other events it contributed to the main story are the revival of the Dinobots, and Grimlock falling to the depths, only to be used by the dark creature as a vessel to communicate with Hot Rod. Of course, we are to just believe that Scorponok was pulverized upon his fall into the depths. It would have been nice to at least see a smashed-to-pieces body for confirmation.

In "Destiny" a lot of things seem forced, to me at least. Jhiaxus, whose presence is like the Scorponok story line, in the end it has very little bearing on the main story. Bludgeon's sudden insistence on dying at the hands of a Prime, the confrontation with Blaster and Soundwave, and Monstructor. I have a hard time believing Bludgeon worked 21 years to return to Cybertron only to seek out someone worthy to kill him. He had the Warworld, He could have taken over Cybertron with Soundwave's help. Besides, we never got to see a showdown between Galvatron and Bludgeon, which was kind of hinted at, and I have no doubt would have been an awesome fight. Instead we get Bludgeon disposing of the Wreckers like they were simple drones, after the Wreckers were built up to be such badasses, followed by Rodimus taking out Bludgeon without actually hitting him. Also a disappointing non-fight, the showdown between Blaster and Soundwave was such a waste. I understand what was done, as their best tool is sound, and they used it against each other. But still, a knockdown fist fight would have been fun to watch, especially if any of their little friends also got involved. Yet another opportunity missed. A high point on the 3rd story arc was the confrontation between Galvatron and Ultra Magnus. I never read any of the UK stuff, but I have heard and read that they were a big deal in the UK comics and had a good fight, resulting in Magnus's death. It seems Furman is trying to correct/duplicate this in ReGeneration, having Ultra Magnus survive impossible damage to come out a winner. Other than this, the story of Rodimus gets explained further, in a somewhat coherent manner.

Finally, we have "The War to End All Wars." Much like the title, the story itself is too much, yet not enough. I'm not sure why Furman felt the need to keep stacking bad guys upon bad guys against the Autobots, particularly Rodimus. A conflict against Jhiaxus would have been more than enough, had he done the story right. But even Jhiaxus himself was unnecessary, as it seems Furman tried to re-write G2, and failed miserably. When it comes to the story regarding Jhiaxus, what he did in G2 was much better. What sticks out the most to me as failure in the last arc are all the wasted characters. Fort Max? Nothing. Starscream? Shockwave? Nothing. They had 1 or 2 panels, just so they were included, but then nothing. What a waste. At least Magnus and Galvatron had 1 more showdown, however brief it was. In the end, what's the explanation? The dark creature was sealed away in the universe they were in, along with all of them as a sacrifice to save the rest of existence. The price? They were cut off from the eternal life source of Primus, and died out over millions of years. But did they? The ending didn't really answer that question. So even in proclaiming it being a finality, Furman failed. So in closing, I just have to say this was a rather disappointing story, on which I wasted time and money. Furman and iDW played on nostalgia to most of us older fans, and they got away with a lot. Say what you will about Pat Lee and DW regarding management skills, at least they had good product to put out. If I had to do it over again, I would pass on Regeneration, or at least wait for the trade paperbacks, and not be looking forward to each issue with mixed hope and dread. This could have been so, so good. It turned out to be a shell of its former self. Just like Simon Furman.

I do have to say that the art was thoroughly amazing, for the most part. My favorite artist is Guido Guidi, but Andrew Wildman did really good also. Geoff Senior did what he does, and it's not bad, but his style doesn't appeal to me. Fortunately he didn't have a big part in the artwork. All the individual covers were great, and I have both A and B covers for each issue, though I didn't pick up the incentive covers. It's just a shame that such great art couldn't be matched by a story worthy of it.

Overall, I give it a 2 out of 5 for story, and 4 out of 5 for art. That makes it a 3 out of 5 for the entire series, which is what this series is, IMO. Average.