Seibertron.com Energon Pub Forums

Due out tomorrow at all fine comic book retailers is the second issue of IDW Publishing's new Beast Wars series. They've provided a five page preview of the book for your enjoyment, which we've mirrored below. The synopsis for this issue provided in solicitations is as follows:

(W) Erik Burnham (A) Josh Burcham (CA) Dan Schoening
Celebrating 25 years of Beast Wars! The Maximals, led by Optimus Primal, and the Predacons, led by Megatron, have crashed on a strange new world and they are not alone. To survive the planet, much less each other, they'll have to explore their surroundings and their new bestial alt-modes in search of an advantage. The Beast Wars begin here!

Check out the preview below, and look out for this latest comic at your local comics retailer and on the Seibertron.com eBay store this week.

Man, I'm still not enjoying Burcham's lines. He's one of the best colorists in the business, but this book really needed someone who could better at least kind of carry the feel of the show, at least in my opinion.

And am I the only one who finds seeing the Vok named and arguing really...lame? I feel like their ominous mystique is totally ruined, especially because in complete opposition to other media, they don't seem to know what Cybertronians are.

I was kinda hoping this series will solidify them as an evolution of the swarm, but it doesn't look likely now.

JazZeke wrote:I was kinda hoping this series will solidify them as an evolution of the swarm, but it doesn't look likely now.

No more Vok origins, please. We just got a new one four days ago and it's... meh.

The Vok don't need a known origin. They can just stay enigmatic. It's part of their charm.

TFfan1 wrote:And am I the only one who finds seeing the Vok named and arguing really...lame? I feel like their ominous mystique is totally ruined, especially because in complete opposition to other media, they don't seem to know what Cybertronians are.

I think it remains to be seen. We haven't seen enough of this version of the Vok to form that poor of an opinion yet. Honestly, this feels fresh, while not retreading the original. True, enigmatic enemies are fun, but they can ruin the show too. Giving them personalities helps us build some of their backstory in a little, while also helping us identify who is who, allow us to relate somewhat with them (as they seem like they are going to be a large part of this series, at least in the beginning) and adding potential for different story writing and conflicts. Heck, they can be kept as mysterious as is brought out above, and still giving us different flavors to show that they are still individuals.

Personally, even tho the Selects manga gave us the Vok (and weird origin to boot), I think it is still fascinating to see them here and am kinda thrilled at the potential we have in stories that could come from them. Obviously, this is my opinion, so take it or leave it as you wish, but I can't wait to see where this goes.

Just finished the issue.

I still don't like the art, it still distracts from the story every now and then, wich is a bit of a problem. But, at least it's good at conveying expressions.

I take some issue with the Vok being revealed right in the beginning. Now, we of course know that they're behind everything going on on this Earth. That is if this actually is Earth in this version of the story. But it does take away some of the mystery of the weirdness the setting has. I really enjoyed seeing all the weird stuff, the hieroglyphs and the hints that there is something going on in the background. And I guess people now to Beast Wars would have too, especially in this day and age of people loving TV shows with mystery plots and discussing their theories endlessly.

It's kinda interesting that they skipped right to the events of the episode Power surge, well kind off. Definitely mix and matching as they see fit for this new series.

It's weird how Rinox of all people is super pissed about Rattrap eating fruit.

Didn't expect to see the Vok so soon.

Sabrblade wrote:

JazZeke wrote:I was kinda hoping this series will solidify them as an evolution of the swarm, but it doesn't look likely now.

No more Vok origins, please. We just got a new one four days ago and it's... meh.

The Vok don't need a known origin. They can just stay enigmatic. It's part of their charm.

When I was a kid I legitimately thought the “aliens” were supposed to represent the Christian God or some other figure indicative of intelligent design.

TOO MUCH ENERGON! wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

JazZeke wrote:I was kinda hoping this series will solidify them as an evolution of the swarm, but it doesn't look likely now.

No more Vok origins, please. We just got a new one four days ago and it's... meh.

The Vok don't need a known origin. They can just stay enigmatic. It's part of their charm.

When I was a kid I legitimately thought the “aliens” were supposed to represent the Christian God or some other figure indicative of intelligent design.

Oh man, that’s a lot to unpack. But I agree with Sabrblade, the more mysterious they are, the better. How the comic is presenting them so far alludes more to their goals as cosmic interferers/experimenters, not so much as to where they originated from. That is just fine with me, I’m hopeful to see them do new things with the Vok, the scope of their machinations, rather than like “Oh they’re X thing that somehow relates to old canon!”

This issue was a series of interactions among various characters. Of course, that's what all stories are but what I mean here is that every 2 pages we got different characters talking to one another and this gave us a great sense of their relationships and personalities. It was basically a series of small character pieces all in one comic, ending with a pretty great action scene.

I especially like how different the Maximals are to the Predacons. All Predacon interactions are violent, with no sense of comradery. I loved the scene between Dinobot and Tarantulus, where the allegiance and disdain for hierarchy among Megatron's soldiers is made loud and clear. Dinobot is one of my favourite characters from my childhood and I am happy to see him interact with his fellow Predacons as an ally, since that's something we never really saw in the original Beast Wars show.

The other interaction I like is Optimus Primal and Nyx, but more for Primal's characterization. We see more of that younger and adventure hungry Primal here and how this side of him affects him as a leader. I like it. I already had the more world weary and pensive Primal, so it's fun to see this side of him. I also thought Josh Burcham drew him really well. The art will still not win a ton of people over but as someone who was not a fan, I did think Primal looked great. The simple approach to the fur in robot mode reminded me of the original toy where the molded fur detail would be more apparent at the edges. And speaking of the original toy, his transformation in the comic was a nice callback.



So, back to this less risk averse Primal, we see in this issue just what the consequences of this change can entail for the safety of his crew. It leads to a terrific scene with Terrorsaur. Once again Josh Burcham really delivers here with a great looking Pteranodon mode and some fun shots and angles, making for a very dynamic scene. I especially like the predatory POV shot we get (I won't spoil that shot in this review).



However, like I wrote earlier, the art in this issue won't change your mind. There are some odd choices, like how Scorponok's tail seems designed by Tim Burton and the lack of background in particular scenes is very glaring. The characters are expressive though, and the scenes are dynamic. So I choose to take the good and leave the bad. You do you.



We also get a small taste of the VOK and I am fine seeing them this early. We get a sense of all the players being brought to the table. I was never a fan of the VOK, they always felt anticlimactic to me in the original show, so I'll wait to pass judgement until I see more. At least their appearance this early already avoids the anti climax the show gave us when we found out what they really looked like.

Overall, I preferred this issue to the first, I really loved the character interactions. If you liked the characters from the original, especially the Predacons, then I recommend you check this out.


out of

Stormshot_Prime wrote:

TOO MUCH ENERGON! wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

JazZeke wrote:I was kinda hoping this series will solidify them as an evolution of the swarm, but it doesn't look likely now.

No more Vok origins, please. We just got a new one four days ago and it's... meh.

The Vok don't need a known origin. They can just stay enigmatic. It's part of their charm.

When I was a kid I legitimately thought the “aliens” were supposed to represent the Christian God or some other figure indicative of intelligent design.

Oh man, that’s a lot to unpack. But I agree with Sabrblade, the more mysterious they are, the better. How the comic is presenting them so far alludes more to their goals as cosmic interferers/experimenters, not so much as to where they originated from. That is just fine with me, I’m hopeful to see them do new things with the Vok, the scope of their machinations, rather than like “Oh they’re X thing that somehow relates to old canon!”

You wouldn't want them being what the Quintessons evolved into then?

Dead Metal wrote:
It's weird how Rinox of all people is super pissed about Rattrap eating fruit.

Why is this in spoiler text?

william-james88 wrote:

Dead Metal wrote:
It's weird how Rinox of all people is super pissed about Rattrap eating fruit.

Why is this in spoiler text?

Right? The guy who literally defeated Megatron with an Energon fart from eating too many wild bean vines.

TFfan1 wrote:And am I the only one who finds seeing the Vok named and arguing really...lame? I feel like their ominous mystique is totally ruined, especially because in complete opposition to other media, they don't seem to know what Cybertronians are.

First, the art makes them look terrible. Giving them names and petty attitudes makes them sound terrible too. Not a good first impression at all.

The show implied that the Vok knew of the Cybertronians from the probe in 'Chain of Command'. Their greater origin, motives etc were kept vague and mysterious for good reason. The Beast Wars interrupted one of their experiments. However, it wasn't enough to cause them to involve themselves directly. Not at first anyway.

Nexus Knight wrote:I think it remains to be seen. We haven't seen enough of this version of the Vok to form that poor of an opinion yet. Honestly, this feels fresh, while not retreading the original. True, enigmatic enemies are fun, but they can ruin the show too. Giving them personalities helps us build some of their backstory in a little, while also helping us identify who is who, allow us to relate somewhat with them (as they seem like they are going to be a large part of this series, at least in the beginning) and adding potential for different story writing and conflicts. Heck, they can be kept as mysterious as is brought out above, and still giving us different flavors to show that they are still individuals.

The Vok don't need backstory or names/individuality and absolutely do not need to be "relatable" by any metric. They are 'The Other', an abstract entity, and that is all you need to know. Every Vok appearance in the show gave you zero information about them. Beyond vague concepts, one-off lines and hints. Did any of that detract from a single Vok story or lessen their impact? No. Because that was never the point of the Vok. You don't need to learn about lil' Vok JR's struggles with maths to make engaging stories about them.

Trying to humanise an ethereal being indicates someone who doesn't understand what they are and probably should have come up with an all new alien force instead.

What the Vok?! Just noticed that 'Vok' sounds like a swear.

william-james88 wrote:

Dead Metal wrote:
It's weird how Rinox of all people is super pissed about Rattrap eating fruit.

Why is this in spoiler text?

Because I didn't read the preview and thus didn't know if that was part of the preview. Don't see the point in reading a preview if I'm paying for the story anyway, especially not when the preview is probably 1/4 of the comic And I decided to keep all comic content in spoilers just out of a curtesy.

After a rather substantial first issue for the Beast Wars comic, I was annoyed by how short a read this month's issue turned out to be. Of the standard 22 pages, two of them were wasted on a recap of recycled art and a roll call page with tiny headshots adrift in a lot of empty space. So wasteful.

I don't mind the Vok showing up early and having a little more characterization. We've already seen them as creepy enigmatic entities; if the comic did everything 100% like the original series then there would be no point to its existence.

The general flavour of the overly positive feedback I'm getting, is that they are trying to "MTMTE/LL" Beast Wars, which is being embraced by those fans.
Beast Wars already had that once before. It was called the 'Japanese Dub'. No one wants that as a supposed celebration of the anniversary of the show.

JazZeke wrote:I don't mind the Vok showing up early and having a little more characterization. We've already seen them as creepy enigmatic entities

If you're not going to have the Vok Be The Vok, then what is the point in using them?
By that logic, Megatron doesn't have to be a Predacon or even a Transformer. Instead a down on his luck interpretive dancer. Struggling - Billy Elliot-style - to perfect his most difficult routine yet.

JazZeke wrote:if the comic did everything 100% like the original series then there would be no point to its existence.

The jury is still out on that one.

I know it's only two issues in, but it seems a little ... slow. In fact the whole issue felt a little short, like little to no progression has been made.

And I get that as a new book, that's to be expected. But given IDW's pacing with the main TF book and how dragged out that story is, I worry that this one will drag as well.

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:

JazZeke wrote:I don't mind the Vok showing up early and having a little more characterization. We've already seen them as creepy enigmatic entities

If you're not going to have the Vok Be The Vok, then what is the point in using them?

Bruh, the Vok were a big fat load of nothing in the cartoon. All they ever amounted to was a generic nonentity race full of unfulfilled promises and unrealized potential.

All the hype and build up to their mystery in the first season was ultimately squandered and given the shaft because Season 2 opted to instead build up to Megatron's master plan of writing history, while Season 3 was too busy advertising Optimal Optimus, Depth Charge, TM2 Dinobot, TM2 Cheetor, TM2 Blackarachnia, TM2 Megatron, and Tigerhawk to leave any real room for the cartoon to actually do anything substantial with the Vok. Their only post-Season 1 episodes were either just an excuse to get Tigatron and Airazor out of the show for a while, or to shill Tigerhawk's new toy (and that episode was supposed to focus on the Vok, but Hasbro be like "Nah, new toy, Mainframe! Sell it!").

The Vok practically became the Beast Wars equivalent of the Pokemon anime's GS Ball: A hyped up plot device initially wrapped in mystery but whose existence ultimately wound up being pointless and wasted. For this comic or any new fiction to use them as faithfully as possible to how the cartoon used them would be to basically not use them at all.

Well that's one interpretation. To me, they were interesting because the mystery was never revealed. The experiment put in play on prehistoric Earth, never elaborated on. Because our point of view was narrowed on the War. Not on The Other.

Anyway, Issue #2... Meh

First thing, The Art. As already noted, I don't like the fact that The Vok now look like graffiti. Also, apparently Arachnid legs and tails just curl up into nothingness. Who knew?

A particular bugbear however, came in the depiction of Rhinox (my favourite Maximal):



Note: His Mouth is big and opens wide.

I dunno, to me the art seems to be worse in this issue? Perhaps because more of the full body designs are on display (especially, The Feet). Primal could be a puppet, from the weird blue lines that trail off his arms to unknown heights.

Beyond that, this is a whole lot of redundant talking and not much else. Terrorsaur as an active aggressor is strange and different enough to be welcome. It would have been nice if his actual individual weapons were used though. Instead of shared Primal Shotguns???
The scene itself would have played out exactly the same with his signature shoulder blasters. Just seems like a lazy generic substitute was used for no reason.

This issue does nothing and doesn't really go anywhere beyond a seemingly hard push for Bat Girl. 3/10

As an aside, I'm far too cynical a person to take the letters page as being remotely genuine.

So far, I'm still a bit on the fence on this one. Not particularly bad, not particularly good.

A detail I noticed: It seems like nobody can fly in robot mode! Primal sends Nyx instead of going himself, and given the way she talks about flying, she couldn't do it before adopting her bat mode. Also, when Terrorsaur transforms while chasing her, he starts falling, which seems to point to him being unable to fly in robot mode too. It would be a tiny but interesting difference, it reminds me of how in the G1 Marvel comics Decepticons couldn't magically fly the way they did in the cartoon.

To be fair, in the show only Fliers could fly. Waspinator's wings did actively move as he flew in Bot Mode, for example. At the time, with only Sunbow as a reference. It took a bit of getting used to that not everyone could fly.

Naturally, Primal and Inferno were strange exceptions. Especially Inferno, wherein his flight capability made no sense?

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:To be fair, in the show only Fliers could fly. Waspinator's wings did actively move as he flew in Bot Mode, for example. At the time, with only Sunbow as a reference. It took a bit of getting used to that not everyone could fly.

Naturally, Primal and Inferno were strange exceptions. Especially Inferno, wherein his flight capability made no sense?

Terrorsaur, Windrazor, Inferno and Primal had built in jetpacks in robot mode, that's how they flew. What I was pointing out is that nobody seems capable of flying in robot mode here. We'll have to wait and see with Waspinator, who was the only one in the show who used the same method of locomotion to fly in both modes.

Rtron wrote:

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:To be fair, in the show only Fliers could fly. Waspinator's wings did actively move as he flew in Bot Mode, for example. At the time, with only Sunbow as a reference. It took a bit of getting used to that not everyone could fly.

Naturally, Primal and Inferno were strange exceptions. Especially Inferno, wherein his flight capability made no sense?

Terrorsaur, Windrazor, Inferno and Primal had built in jetpacks in robot mode, that's how they flew. What I was pointing out is that nobody seems capable of flying in robot mode here. We'll have to wait and see with Waspinator, who was the only one in the show who used the same method of locomotion to fly in both modes.

I meant from a design standpoint, not how they flew. All Fliers had flying altmodes, aside from Primal and Inferno.

I'm not sure if Terrorsaur's dive was because he was falling or merely framing the scene in a more dynamic POV. Also remember the caveat of Season One, wherein travelling long distance was safer in Beast Mode due to Energon Radiation.

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:Naturally, Primal and Inferno were strange exceptions. Especially Inferno, wherein his flight capability made no sense?

Primal's flight was a vestigial trait from when Mainframe and Hasbro floated the idea of him being a bat/gorilla/robot triple-changer in the cartoon so as to advertise both of his toys at the same time. When this concept was dropped, they left in his flight in robot mode.

For Inferno, it's as simple as the fact that his toy had a built-in rotor/thruster gimmick, so the cartoon model simply used it accordingly.