AllNewSuperRobot wrote:After I read that latter shared universe IDW stuff. I just don't think it worked. Mask for example, is redundant technology in the same world as GI Joe and Transformers. GI Joe, by the same token, is redundant in a world of giant alien robots.
Visionaries was completely botched.
Characters like Rom, the Micronauts etc would be better in their own books.
I don't exactly agree with that. Having characters with similar powersets, or completely disparate ones, doesn't make them redundant; in the hands of a good writer who knows how to play with the differences and establish some worldbuilding, it can even be a good thing.
Does Superman make Captain Marvel/Shazam irrelevant because they're both flying bricks? No, because aside from the basic powerset, they each have their own unique abilities, weaknesses and links to different genres (Superman being more sci-fi and Shazam more mystical). Do cosmic or event-level heroes like the Silver Surfer and the Avengers make street-level heroes like the Punisher and Daredevil irrelevant? No, because they illustrate a nuanced multi-layered world, where crime and evil exists at different levels and require different solutions, and where everyday life doesn't just stop for the latest punchfest.
For example, I could see MASK distancing from Transformers by focusing more on espionage and intrigue than open war, like the campier Bond films with unbelievable gadgets. Or, taking inspiration from the Unit:E comic with its "League of Ancient Wheelmen" and Lemony Snickett's VFD, as a secret society who suffered an old schism and is currently fighting a covert civil war. And GI Joe would greatly benefit from a shared universe: they could keep the more grounded, "real-american-hero" stuff in their own book, while exploring their more outlandish side like Cobra-La, the Intruders and the Lunartix when interacting with the larger, wilder Hasbro-verse.
I will agree, however, that they handled the Hasbro Comic Universe at large rather poorly. It was already difficult to reconcile two already-established separate continuities as a single universe with all the heavy retcons it entails, but add the rushed introduction of the other properties followed immediately by a ton of crossover events before they could establish a canon and foothold of their own, it wasn't going to last long.
ZeroWolf wrote:AllNewSuperRobot wrote:Visionaries would have been much, much better simply leaving them on their own world, Over there...
Agreed
Visionaries, for example, should have been its own series. Or, if they absolutely
needed to introduce it with a crossover, I'd suggest Rom instead: they both share themes of knights and magic, but between the technological Spaceknights and mystical Dire Wraiths can still play the angle of magic vs science - probably better than Transformers with its occasional science-fantasy trappings.
Personally, I'm just disappointed they never got to Xevoz.