The Energon Pub

Still reeling from the events in Transformers ongoing #17? IDW has just supplied us with a five page preview of issue #18 that will be hitting shelves on Wednesday.

• Written by Mike Costa
• Art by Alex Milne
• Colors by Andrew Dalhouse
• Letters by Shawn Lee
• Assistant Editor Carlos Guzman
• Editor Andy Schmidt

I`m sorry, but this is just.. I dunno, out of Prime's character. I can see that **** hit the fan for the boys, but Prime doesn't crack under pressure like that and start speaking out of character. He's supposed to be there to be the voice of reason, to steady the ship, not to collapse and be Charlie Sheen v2.0. Since when does Prime sass? When I read comics, I go through it with.. basically the voices from the 'toons and I just can't see Peter Cullen, let alone Garry Chalk or David Kaye saying these lines. I'm a fan of TF comics and IDW, and I basically let things go because they're building a story line and I can't judge a series from one issue. But for the love of god, we're 18 in, and I dunno, it's not fun anymore. I can see why there's a huge majority against Ongoing during the beginning, and I'm starting to slip away from the side of fans who enjoy this, 'cause the reasons are getting closer to donuts. The art is beautiful, the fact that we're getting Transformers weekly is a joy... but there needs to be something more than just being 'a Transformers weekly comic'. Flesh it out more. Build some bloody character. ****, I wouldn't mind if they threw in some Furmanism and actually let characters die. Ugh. Grunt. Nudge. I'm sure even a Caveman can do it.

Well, at least there's movie comics to fall back on. Oh who am I kidding, that stuff ain't even worth my 2 minutes in the comic store anymore. When I found out that there was no line between canon and non-canon, I just gave up altogether. And when the hell did this turn into a rant? ****, am I putting more emotion into this than then the people behind the scenes?

I can't really say what IDW is doing with the current TF continuity is wrong, and I don't mind where it's going. But for the love of everything, you can change how a character looks, you can change who's leader, you can change how many lives a Transformers have, but just don't change a character's personality! Prime does not talk like that, ever.

I'm done. This is a hobby and it's not enjoyable to turn my opinion into critic's criticism.

I know what you mean...
I've been saying since the very beginning of Corsa's... tenure that his characterisation is way off.

That being said though, the Ongoing has slightly improved lately, in my opinion. The art certainly is a step up (but the designs are still the godawful Don movie/G1 hybrids...), and the issues are getting slightly meatier. Slightly.

It's nowhere near the quality of a Furman-written comic though.

I've left the comic a few issues ago myself. I've been collecting straight since the very beginning of the DW days, and I just couldn't read this anymore. I did however enjoy LSoTW though, so I will be picking up issues #22 and #23 to see if they can pull me back, but until then, this is about as much TF comic book reading I'll get.

Well I for one like this.

I can see a side of Prime I hadn't seen since the end of More Than Meets the Eye part 3 (or 'Arrival from Cybertron' if you had the all in one video in the 80's), when the decepticon had won and prime lost it shouting at the top of his voice towards the decepticon ship having lauched into space and then demanding sideswipe give up his rocket pack. Prime does loose his cool at times of great need, cullen liked prime to his brother and said that he is a great and respected warrior capable of furious wrath when needed as a soldier.

I don't problem with this characteristaion with Prime (just not to frequently)

Coptur wrote:Well I for one like this.

I can see a side of Prime I hadn't seen since the end of More Than Meets the Eye part 3 (or 'Arrival from Cybertron' if you had the all in one video in the 80's), when the decepticon had won and prime lost it shouting at the top of his voice towards the decepticon ship having lauched into space and then demanding sideswipe give up his rocket pack.

You mean in the same storyline where Autobots were flying around in the air by themselves, even without a rocket pack? Yeah, that does sound about like the same writing as this.

Coptur wrote:Well I for one like this.

I can see a side of Prime I hadn't seen since the end of More Than Meets the Eye part 3 (or 'Arrival from Cybertron' if you had the all in one video in the 80's), when the decepticon had won and prime lost it shouting at the top of his voice towards the decepticon ship having lauched into space and then demanding sideswipe give up his rocket pack. Prime does loose his cool at times of great need, cullen liked prime to his brother and said that he is a great and respected warrior capable of furious wrath when needed as a soldier.

I don't problem with this characteristaion with Prime (just not to frequently)

That was a situation they were in at the moment. But the situation has passed here, this was well into the aftermath. It's just a fictional character of course, but Prime does have a certain "voice" that is off since the ongoing started, imo.

It's much worse with Prowl, Onslaught, Jazz and many of the others, though.

So, not only do we have an OOC Prime, but we also have (apparently) no explanation as to why Jazz doing what he did last issue.

...

Wish I could say I'm surprised. Not getting a reason for things happening is becoming a habit of Costa's.

What did Jazz do for crying out loud!?

He killed a human. But that is okay, because the human in question was very poorly written and had no personality to begin with.

I'm glad they finally got the Magnus massaging SW foot thing cleared up. But seriously, get Bee off the table already and move on. And i hate that they are going to let the whole Jazz incident drag on. You had my attention at the end of the last issue, now don't lose it.

I haven't been following this book other than the previews on the site, but Jazz answers to Bumblebee?! no thanks.

Oh jeez, I love Generation 1 the most of all franchises, but come on people. Do we want early Marvel Comics Optimus Prime who had tons of artificial moral crises? This Optimus has a plan. This plan is foreshadowed with his use of Jetfire because he needs a 'scientist'. I bet he is going to counter the mind control caused by Soundwave. He of course is manning up, and is preparing for action. (Just like what he did with Sideswipe, side not for you snarky GEEWUNERS: the Autobots could not fly as fast as the Decepticons.)

Seeing Bumblebee in a position of authority is interesting, but I am getting sick of the Bee to be quite honest. When in Generation 1 was Ultra Magnus essentially a bounty hunter if we want to go into how close this is to G1 counter part? I like that this is fleshing out all the characters in new and interesting ways. You might have your gripes (like I do with my Bumblebee fatigue), but come on. They are Super Robot Lifeforms, not automatons.

Wow, a preview for the ongoing that didn't bore me to tears with unneccesary text? Color me surprised . I have to admit, I kinda liked reading this. Hope he doesn't botch it at the last minute with stupid things like he usually does.

Like most here I gave up reading the ongoing. I know people are saying it's getting better, but I just can't put anymore faith in Costa. Every book, he seems to be doing okay and reeling me in, then he pulls something so off the wall I loose interest again (like last issue). Like most people here, I ain't putting money down until James is on the comic, at least you can trust him.

PS - Blurrz, you are so on the money there. I totally agree with you.

I like that it got complicated . And I hope that bee stays in power. I can't wait to read this. I prefer dw optimus and story arc, since it did not build everything from scratch as much.

But it looks like its hitting the fan and the autobots are back in motion.

I never liked the humans, I prefer less humans in all the content. Look at beast wars for exampe or even war within, solid story arcs.

You people crack me up sometimes. I believe we are all entitled to our opinions, but its almost seems as if some people want them to basically redraw G1 and put it in comic book form. (as cool as that would be) But the fact is this is not G1 it is a whole new continuity. Think of it as the Ultimate universe from Marvel. The characters are all there but not necessarily playing the same roles. I for 1 have been enjoying the ongoing since the very beginning of the IDW run back in Infiltration and am looking forward to where the series is going. I mean come on how can u not like Ronin Thundercracker, he's frelling great. Minus them killing Kup in the lame Infestation storyline, that sucked.

kara82 wrote:You people crack me up sometimes. I believe we are all entitled to our opinions, but its almost seems as if some people want them to basically redraw G1 and put it in comic book form. (as cool as that would be) But the fact is this is not G1 it is a whole new continuity. Think of it as the Ultimate universe from Marvel. The characters are all there but not necessarily playing the same roles. I for 1 have been enjoying the ongoing since the very beginning of the IDW run back in Infiltration and am looking forward to where the series is going. I mean come on how can u not like Ronin Thundercracker, he's frelling great. Minus them killing Kup in the lame Infestation storyline, that sucked.

I think the biggest complaint is not the fact that they aren't acting like their previous G1 incarnations, it's the fact they they aren't being consistent to what's been established in IDW's continuity.

I haven't read any of these, but I think Megatron looks pretty cool in black. I wouldn't mind a toy of that.

Springer wrote:

Coptur wrote:Well I for one like this.

I can see a side of Prime I hadn't seen since the end of More Than Meets the Eye part 3 (or 'Arrival from Cybertron' if you had the all in one video in the 80's), when the decepticon had won and prime lost it shouting at the top of his voice towards the decepticon ship having lauched into space and then demanding sideswipe give up his rocket pack.

You mean in the same storyline where Autobots were flying around in the air by themselves, even without a rocket pack? Yeah, that does sound about like the same writing as this.

Yes they could fly in the beginning but Prime needed Sideswipes rocket pack to brake the atmosphere doesn't take a genius to figure that one out.

tbh i don't think they did fly in the 3rd part but i'd have to rewatch it.

sabrigami wrote:I think the biggest complaint is not the fact that they aren't acting like their previous G1 incarnations, it's the fact they they aren't being consistent to what's been established in IDW's continuity.

Ding, Ding, Ding! We have a winner, folks!

Yes, the thing that bothers me most about the ongoing up to this point is the fact that Costa pretty much spits in the face of IDW's previous stuff. Well, that and things happening for no reason just because the so-called plot dicates it.

sabrigami wrote:I think the biggest complaint is not the fact that they aren't acting like their previous G1 incarnations, it's the fact they they aren't being consistent to what's been established in IDW's continuity.

Well, to be honest, no writer has been consistent with what was originally established in the -ation series. McArthy blatantly ignored what had come before and seemed surprised when there was a fan backlash, but, ultimately, didn't seem to care. It just seemed that IDW threw together the 4 issue coda at the end because they realised that maybe they'd effed up too far and needed to appease a large chunk of their market (dunno, I could be wrong on that...).

Costa is writing as a trade writer. What I mean by that is that he's writing as if he's going to be printed as a 6 - 12 issue trade, not as a monthly story. That's why you have these single issues where nothing really happens. That annoys me. There's very little story movement from issue to issue and very little in the way of cliffhangers that make you feel like coming back for more.

Personally, I like the fact that Prime is a little more bad-ass and sick of taking it lying down and wants to take the fight to Megatron. It's a little more how he was in the -ation series. As to him sassing out Jazz? Hell, Jazz just killed a human for NO REAL REASON! (I have to admit, that death was poorly handled and seemed totally thrown in to the story to create false tension/story development.)

I'll get the issue but I'm glad I get a discount at my local comic store...

lowman_x wrote:Well, to be honest, no writer has been consistent with what was originally established in the -ation series. McArthy blatantly ignored what had come before and seemed surprised when there was a fan backlash, but, ultimately, didn't seem to care. It just seemed that IDW threw together the 4 issue coda at the end because they realised that maybe they'd effed up too far and needed to appease a large chunk of their market (dunno, I could be wrong on that...).

You're not wrong.

Costa is writing as a trade writer. What I mean by that is that he's writing as if he's going to be printed as a 6 - 12 issue trade, not as a monthly story. That's why you have these single issues where nothing really happens. That annoys me.

Yes, especially considering that IDW is charging a pretty hefty price for their single issues... one pays 4 dollars (or 4 Euro's here) for an issue where nothing happens, and that one can finish reading in 5 minutes...

Personally, I like the fact that Prime is a little more bad-ass and sick of taking it lying down and wants to take the fight to Megatron. It's a little more how he was in the -ation series. As to him sassing out Jazz? Hell, Jazz just killed a human for NO REAL REASON! (I have to admit, that death was poorly handled and seemed totally thrown in to the story to create false tension/story development.)

Yes, but badass Prime who's sick of it is in direct contrast with Costa's earlier version of Prime who allowed himself to be taken prisoner and became a pacifist....

As for Jazz... how out of character was that?? Trained as a special agent, he's supposed to take careful consideration before he acts. And instantly judge a situation. Here he just rushed in, killed someone (which is something an Autobot never does, remember the old "everyone that dies because of our coming to Earth is one too many"?) and he didn't even kill the cop in style...

Well, to be honest, no writer has been consistent with what was originally established in the -ation series. McArthy blatantly ignored what had come before and seemed surprised when there was a fan backlash, but, ultimately, didn't seem to care. It just seemed that IDW threw together the 4 issue coda at the end because they realised that maybe they'd effed up too far and needed to appease a large chunk of their market (dunno, I could be wrong on that...).

I liked the whole "Respect the past but refuse to be slave to it" type attitude that he brought to AHM I wish more comic book writers had that. That is one of the many ways that IMHO All Hail Megatron and the current series are better than Furman's run.

Costa is writing as a trade writer. What I mean by that is that he's writing as if he's going to be printed as a 6 - 12 issue trade, not as a monthly story. That's why you have these single issues where nothing really happens. That annoys me.

Welcome to Comics 2011!

The sad truth is that most books no of days are written for TPB and HCs and some monthly books are actually kept alive by the TPB and HC sales and some are also cancelled by a lack of it and/or too many readers wait for trade. IMHO Furman can't write for TPB to save his life. That is one of the many reasons I think he needs to stay away from the franchise he can't write in the current style, that for better or worse, publishers sell and readers buy.

Personally, I like the fact that Prime is a little more bad-ass and sick of taking it lying down and wants to take the fight to Megatron. It's a little more how he was in the -ation series. As to him sassing out Jazz? Hell, Jazz just killed a human for NO REAL REASON! (I have to admit, that death was poorly handled and seemed totally thrown in to the story to create false tension/story development.)

You do know that Optimus Prime has his a temper, granted it takes a WHOLE LOT to piss him off, and what Megatron has done and the events that led to Jazz to what he has finally did has pissed him off.

Jazz killed a cop to save his friends from what he perceived as a threat and he made a split-second decision, it was perfectly done, in context with his character and in that situation.

Cyberstrike wrote:

Well, to be honest, no writer has been consistent with what was originally established in the -ation series. McArthy blatantly ignored what had come before and seemed surprised when there was a fan backlash, but, ultimately, didn't seem to care. It just seemed that IDW threw together the 4 issue coda at the end because they realised that maybe they'd effed up too far and needed to appease a large chunk of their market (dunno, I could be wrong on that...).

I liked the whole "Respect the past but refuse to be slave to it" type attitude that he brought to AHM I wish more comic book writers had that. That is one of the many ways that IMHO All Hail Megatron and the current series are better than Furman's run.

Costa is writing as a trade writer. What I mean by that is that he's writing as if he's going to be printed as a 6 - 12 issue trade, not as a monthly story. That's why you have these single issues where nothing really happens. That annoys me.

Welcome to Comics 2011!

The sad truth is that most books no of days are written for TPB and HCs and some monthly books are actually kept alive by the TPB and HC sales and some are also cancelled by a lack of it and/or too many readers wait for trade. IMHO Furman can't write for TPB to save his life. That is one of the many reasons I think he needs to stay away from the franchise he can't write in the current style, that for better or worse, publishers sell and readers buy.

You do know that Optimus Prime has his a temper, granted it takes a WHOLE LOT to piss him off, and what Megatron has done and the events that led to Jazz to what he has finally did has pissed him off.

Jazz killed a cop to save his friends from what he perceived as a threat and he made a split-second decision, it was perfectly done, in context with his character and in that situation.

Amen brother i couldn't agree more. it show's there soldiers and not superheroes and do have to make split second decisions

I think this issue is only appealing to me due to its cover, im simply to much of a shockwave fanatic , but I also have noticed how much meatier these issues seem to be getting. Heres to hoping that the story picks up the pace!