The Energon Pub

Alright, the mini-series has come to an end, now is the time to give your thoughts about Origins #4, as well as the entire series.

What did you like, what didn't you like, how is this all going to affect the future stories to come in the IDW Furmanverse?

Off course this is going to be spoilerific for those without the comics, so no need for hiding text away.

Discuss and enjoy!

Sentinel Prime may look bad@ss, but in this story, he was a pu.ssycat!He virtually snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. I was also wondering what happened to the matrix he was supposed to carry. Does he leave it in his locker room? Or is it similar to that of Ultra Magnus, the Matrix had no affinity for him?

Since this is supposed to be a different universe, but I'd have half expected that Megatron tore off Sentinel Prime's head as in the DW story (quote to conversation between Grimlock and Kup about the first Prime having his head tightly screwed in).
And IMHO, the story was to short, lacking the character development that I had hoped would focused on the inner workings of Megatron's mind. (6 issues would have did it)

I agree that six issues would've been better. It's not my personal favorite story-wise, but it was always enough to make me drive my ass to the comic book store the day it came out.

As soon as i saw the word "apex" i spewed with excitment.

On page 3, where the heck did soundwave come from? All of a sudden after SS does his speech, Soundwave is behind him shooting away.

I now have my copy of Megs#4, yet to read it, but I know that I would already have liked it to be a 6 parter, as I feel too much was skipped between issues. The shift between issue #1 and #2 was too much, it felt like I was reading a different story on a different character.

Making everything into smaller panels than normal didn't help either, too much detail in too little space does not help either.

It was a great idea, but fairly poorly executed.

I thought it was okay, but if it was six parts it would have been so much better. My only concern now is if anything we saw in it will be contradicted in any of the newer stuff to come. At least it went with the threads currently running through the IDW Universe, like the the the mystery of the Matrix/Matrices,it does so much better than the New Avengers/Transformers series does. And the Ratbat/Soundwave conclusion was a bit weak IMO

Soundwave must have a cloaking/stealth cover, hence his sudden appearance?

Soundwave was probably able to enter using his credentials as a lackey of Senator Ratbat. I enjoyed the issue quite a bit and it did seem to wrap up everything quite nicely, even though I did predict most of the issue.

If you take a close look at Megatron's throne at the end, it is built from parts of Sentinel Prime's armor.

Does it seem to anyone else, that the trend with any story arc done in 4 parts results in a collective 'what the hell just happened?' from the readers?

Counterpunch wrote:Does it seem to anyone else, that the trend with any story arc done in 4 parts results in a collective 'what the hell just happened?' from the readers?

I think that's the point. Makes the reader want to read more in hopes of finding more scraps along the way.

Unfortunately for Alex, his only downfall is his attention to detail. There is so much going on in that issue, it's hard to take it all in. That's what I liked about his work with DW the most, very open and large panels to work his talents.

Down_Shift wrote:

Counterpunch wrote:Does it seem to anyone else, that the trend with any story arc done in 4 parts results in a collective 'what the hell just happened?' from the readers?

I think that's the point. Makes the reader want to read more in hopes of finding more scraps along the way.

Did you want to read more of Micromasters?

Counterpunch wrote:

Down_Shift wrote:

Counterpunch wrote:Does it seem to anyone else, that the trend with any story arc done in 4 parts results in a collective 'what the hell just happened?' from the readers?

I think that's the point. Makes the reader want to read more in hopes of finding more scraps along the way.

Did you want to read more of Micromasters?

There is no answer that I can give that doesn't make me sound like an idiot...

Cake?

Down_Shift wrote:

Counterpunch wrote:

Down_Shift wrote:

Counterpunch wrote:Does it seem to anyone else, that the trend with any story arc done in 4 parts results in a collective 'what the hell just happened?' from the readers?

I think that's the point. Makes the reader want to read more in hopes of finding more scraps along the way.

Did you want to read more of Micromasters?

There is no answer that I can give that doesn't make me sound like an idiot...

Cake?

If I could send you a picture right now, I would. I'm eating cake as we "speak" (er post, you get the idea...)

Bwahahahaha, I was also into a little slice of heaven ironically enough. Double Dutch Chocolate. It's like a baked orgasm.

Down_Shift wrote:It's like a baked orgasm.

I um...serve mine uncooked.



(That's funny right there!)

Counterpunch wrote:

Down_Shift wrote:It's like a baked orgasm.

I um...serve mine uncooked.



(That's funny right there!)

We couldn't have derailed this thread any more if we had acctually tried.

Back on topic. Megatron #4 was pretty good.

I think it would have been a lot better if they'd given us a double-sized final issue (and for $3.99US you'd think they could afford to-not to mention Devastation out the same day-at the end of the month-arg!) and used sequential storytelling rather than a seemingly unconnected selection of pictures of the characters.
Soundwave's appearance next to Starscream was atrociously handled. In fact Soundwave seems to have a knack of getting into confusing situations. The scene were I think he's reporting to Ratbat appears to have a speech balloon coming from Ravage, but I think it's meant to be the senator speaking. Cool how he scraps him then sticks his spark in the cassetticon body but the whys and wherefores of this should have been expanded upon.
Prime going to get the Apex armour got me a heck of a lot more excited for the few pages of anticipation than seeing the thing, or his sorry display of fighting in it did. Hound and Prowl were good in the end scenes and the final page with Megatron now deciding to wage open war (at least, that's how it appears and I can see little alternative) is pretty effective. Oh, and poor Grapple and Inferno! We saw a page with what could have been Springer and a hanful of female Autobots and Starscream giving Megs the cannon was a great ironic and kinda interesting touch.
I liked the art for the most part. Maybe could have done with better colouring in places and as I've said I'd have liked to see the same story played out over more pages, so that the pacing would allow for more scenes to be given more drama and clarity. More stories along these lines would be welcome but I hope they spread things out better in future.

The fight between Megatron and Sentinel was meant to be Epic.

Instead I could barely follow what happened after Megatron ripped him out of his armour suit, except that at the very end he was using the suit as his throne.

Did not like the Inferno and Grapple cameo's off where the ship was falling, it was made worse since there was a character with the exact same coloured head as Grapple on the ship the previous panel.

Thundercracker is already having doubts over his allegiance, but I think that was more of a fan nod to all the "Thundercracker is not truly evil" stuff that has been gaining momentum, rather than something we will see over and over again.

Soundwave went a bit Shockwave with his reformatting of Ratbat, going extremely logical, I would not think Ratbat would be the best operative to have, for surely he'd be mighty peeved about going from a very wealthy and powerful Senator to a lacky for his old lacky.

Glad to see the end of the series, It had it's moments, but it could of had so many many more. Hopefully further Spotlights will help flesh out some of the active Decepticons who were no more than cameos in this book explain why they did or didnt join the Decepticons at the time. (looking at you Grimlock and Sunstreaker).

Shockwave needs more explanation too, where was he in all this?

Actually, to answer your question about Shockwave. If you look at page 12 of issue 2 in the panel in the bottom left hand side you can see a guy that looks like Shockwave in the right hand corner of that panel. Then again, it could be Whirl.

Can I get a character list for VSD purposes?

Darth Bombshell wrote:Can I get a character list for VSD purposes?

I'll give it a shot DB, but you know Im fairly bad at these...
The ones with a (?) after their names/descriptions mean I amn not sure of their name if they indeed have one.

Starscream, Megatron, Council Member (?), Soundwave, Ravage, Laserbeak, Buzzsaw, Squawkbox(?), Skywarp, Thundercracker, Runabout, Runamuck, Rumble, Frenzy, Kickback, Grapple, Inferno, Prowl, Hound, Sentinel Prime, Auotobt Plane(?), Ironhide, Thrust, Trailbreaker(?), Apex Sentinel Prime, Decepticon(?), Ratbat (both Senator and Cassette forms), 3 Decepticons on Page 15 and 18 (?), I think there are new Decepticons on page 22 as well (?), Bluestreak, Brawn, Hardhead(?) Large Autobot(?).

Sorry for the very incomplete list DB.

i_amtrunks wrote:

Darth Bombshell wrote:Can I get a character list for VSD purposes?

I'll give it a shot DB, but you know Im fairly bad at these...
The ones with a (?) after their names/descriptions mean I amn not sure of their name if they indeed have one.

Starscream, Megatron, Council Member (?), Soundwave, Ravage, Laserbeak, Buzzsaw, Squawkbox(?), Skywarp, Thundercracker, Runabout, Runamuck, Rumble, Frenzy, Kickback, Grapple, Inferno, Prowl, Hound, Sentinel Prime, Auotobt Plane(?), Ironhide, Thrust, Trailbreaker(?), Apex Sentinel Prime, Decepticon(?), Ratbat (both Senator and Cassette forms), 3 Decepticons on Page 15 and 18 (?), I think there are new Decepticons on page 22 as well (?), Bluestreak, Brawn, Hardhead(?) Large Autobot(?).

Sorry for the very incomplete list DB.

The con on 22 is Ruckus.

As others have stated, the story should've been six issues.
I had a problem with the art. I just couldn't follow what was going on, and I missed a lot of characters that I think I was supposed to know. Heck, I didn't even catch the fact that Soundwave removed Ratbat's spark!
Of course, the (imo) murky colors didn't help much either. I give this series an 'A' for intent, but probably a 'C' for execution.

One thing I really liked about this series was the little insights into Cybertronian life pre-war. I've always been interested in what average life on Cybertron was like. Like what kind of culture did they have and this kind of stuff.

Everyone keeps asking why Sentinal prime is basically a police chief. But noone seems to bring up the spotlight Optimus Prime. It not only hinted at the matrix being lost with Nova Prime, but also explained the great discrepency between the 'legend' of the primes and their reality. I was just wondering if no one else thinks that nova prime kinda blew open the whole legend. It seems like he dissapeared, with the matrix, and destroyed the general reverence for the prime. Sentinel prime's position seems very natural. Being directly after Nova Prime it makes sense that noone in the society trusts the prime, hence the massive power of the senate, and that he does not have a matrix. Thus the seemingly low position he has. He's a prime, but noone wants that kind of leader. So he becomes a military style leader in a peace-time society. This is one of the few things about this story that i thought was very clear and fit in well with the rest of Simon's narrative creation..