The Energon Pub

I just want to know who has received their copy of BW the Ascending #4, and what their initial thoughts were.

Here's what I liked:
It was a good ending to a good story
It featured a lot of characters that were not used in the American TV series
Grimlock saying "Once a Decepticon, always a Decepticon" to Ravage

And here's what I didn't like:
Razorbeast dying. I had grown fond of his character.
The fact that Razorbeast did not die a hero, that one of his fellow Maximals had to put him down.
The whole foreshadowing of Beast Machines at the end.

Other than that, I liked it, but I kind of wish that The Ascending storyline would have been six issues instead of four, it just seemed a little rushed.

Mechabreaker wrote:I just want to know who has received their copy of BW the Ascending #4, and what their initial thoughts were.

Here's what I liked:
It was a good ending to a good story
It featured a lot of characters that were not used in the American TV series
Grimlock saying "Once a Decepticon, always a Decepticon" to Ravage

And here's what I didn't like:
Razorbeast dying. I had grown fond of his character.
The fact that Razorbeast did not die a hero, that one of his fellow Maximals had to put him down.
The whole foreshadowing of Beast Machines at the end.

Other than that, I liked it, but I kind of wish that The Ascending storyline would have been six issues instead of four, it just seemed a little rushed.

Very rushed indeed.

What I didn't like was the artwork in places. Not meaning to slag off Guidi in any way, but the art in places, especially of Magmatron and some of the more packed battle scenes. I don't understand why he drew Mag's looking like a reject from Animated (any one else notice his huge chin?).
And some of the line art was really think in places. Not amazingly pleased.

Story wise it was great. I actually liked Razorbeasts death, it added a new level of depth to it all. And I loved the scene with Minor grieving next to him on the last page. It gave some good character depth, and allowed Razorbeast to still be considered a hero, giving his life knowing he wouldn't be cured.

However I didn't like the deaths of Elephorca, Drancon & Lunalatta, it seemed a bit too... easy. Yes there was a huge struggle, but they were superpowered, essence-of-a-god filled, insane, killing machines, they should have strategically retreated rather than been killed.
Shockorakts other Heralds, the shrapnel-beasts they were defeated all to easily as well, especially considering their menacing apperance on the cover...

Prowl II dies too That made me sad.

I am not sure that it came out everywhere this week, as my comic shop had none when I got there in the evening.

I didn't bug the guy because I have been creating quite a ruckus around there lately because they cannot seem to remember that I get TRANSFORMERS comics in pull, and then they often sell out...

It sounds interesting though.

tigertracks 24 wrote:It sounds interesting though.

Well, if you ask me, it is and it isn't.

To be fair to the issue, it started off rather well, and despite the fact that a good number of page space is spent dealing with the death of characters who have, well, no character, I was starting to feel as if the story could redeem itself.

And then, I got to the last three pages, and it blew up in my face. The nature of the spoilers suggested a certain type of ending, and we didn't get that. Not that the ending we did get was bad, but given what we were lead to believe, it certainly wasn't what the end of the story promised. (And not to mention that Magmatron's return to the land of the sparking hinges on some technobablle gobbledegook that sounds like it belongs in Star Trek.) And what about Hellscream and co.? Who are they? What was their purpose in the story? We don't know, we never find out, and one suspects that even Simon didn't know.

In the end, I have to say that, in six months time, I'll probably reread "The Ascending" and, removed from the spectre of being a year late to get released, see it for what I should have at the start. As it stands now, it's just a mess.

tigertracks 24 wrote:I am not sure that it came out everywhere this week, as my comic shop had none when I got there in the evening.

I got a "it was meant to come in this week, but it just didnt..." from my comic store.

I'll nab it if it comes with Dev #4 this week.

[quote="JusticityVery rushed indeed.

What I didn't like was the artwork in places. Not meaning to slag off Guidi in any way, but the art in places, especially of Magmatron and some of the more packed battle scenes. I don't understand why he drew Mag's looking like a reject from Animated (any one else notice his huge chin?).
And some of the line art was really think in places. Not amazingly pleased.

Story wise it was great. I actually liked Razorbeasts death, it added a new level of depth to it all. And I loved the scene with Minor grieving next to him on the last page. It gave some good character depth, and allowed Razorbeast to still be considered a hero, giving his life knowing he wouldn't be cured.

However I didn't like the deaths of Elephorca, Drancon & Lunalatta, it seemed a bit too... easy. Yes there was a huge struggle, but they were superpowered, essence-of-a-god filled, insane, killing machines, they should have strategically retreated rather than been killed.
Shockorakts other Heralds, the shrapnel-beasts they were defeated all to easily as well, especially considering their menacing apperance on the cover...

Prowl II dies too That made me sad.[/quote]


As for the art. I totally agree with you. It didn't work as well. However, i must say we're looking at Guidi trying to mimic Don, and for that i think he didn't do a bad job. I agree that when i noticed, such as magmatron in his little world, it was rather glaring. Not bad, but it just didn't sit right. But he is my favorite artist, and this is not his style. Infact i don't think i would want him on beast wars. I liked evolutions, and i down right loved SL: Galvatron. I think he does much better with more angular bots, and well beastwars is not where you'll find a lot of that. Don's hyper-detailed, smooth lined style worked perfectly in my opinion. But as a copy job of someone who not only has a rather different style, and is revered as TF-drawing God he did a very creadible job. I appreciate more that he tried to make a seamless series than if he made an amazing issue that was glaringly different.

I've just read it thanks to shipping delays and have to say I've come away a little disapointed.

Overall the plot and ending were good, but its let down by the delivery, the final few pages seem to be crammed and don't really follow any direction, in parts they read like the more rushed work of fanfiction where Magmatron is showing Shokaract around limbo space.

There were some good points but I get the feeling Furman rushed this one through so we can get to the events that foreshadow the Beast Machines (ironic considering how long the series has been dragging on)

Still if we get a follow up this or next year that follows the same title naming convetion of the ****ing then this should lead nicely into BM - The Reformatting.

After that I can't see how they can produce any more issues unless they want to tell the tales of those stuck on Earth?

skyshadowprimus wrote:After that I can't see how they can produce any more issues unless they want to tell the tales of those stuck on Earth?

Or do both.

Issue one:
Earth beasts regrouping.
Megatron starts his regime, reformats the (extended) pack.
Final pic: Meg sitting in the first version of his cradle, no cape, super detailed.

Issue two:
Earth beasts find a way to get back, something to do with the arc of the pack... maybe something left by the pack.
Final pic: A monument to Razorbeast as the ship leaves.

Issue three:
Megatron builds the first wave of drones and has final battle with the pack.
The remaining beasts return to Cybertron in time to tip the ballance, but not by enough.
Final pic: A huge armada of drones behind Megatron (minus harness).

Issue four:
Megatron finishes up the battle.
One 'former is left behind as the others are all reformatted.
Final pic: Survivor finds the oracle.

This could lead to ANOTHER series explaining how the survivor doesn't show in BM. My guess would be he was the other end of Cybertron and was either killed or left the planet before the Maxi's returned. This series could end with Optimus's sacrifice and another could tell the events after the BIG reformatting.

just got the comic and the 3rd source book yesturday and honestly im wondering what megatron is doing there unless it has to do with the beastmachines and what not

skyshadowprimus wrote:There were some good points but I get the feeling Furman rushed this one through so we can get to the events that foreshadow the Beast Machines (ironic considering how long the series has been dragging on)

Hmm... you know, I got slagged over @ the IDW boards for saying more or less the same thing (not in those terms, mind you), and I'd really wonder what those who harped on me would say if they found out I wasn't the only one who felt that way...

I think this one got rushed through mostly to meat deadlines. I really noticed that the coloring on this series compared to the last had a major affect on the rushed feeling. Both were packed with a rather fast pace and large cast of characters, but the last one had more individualized coloring and more depth to the style, this felt very flat and similar. However, i strongly disagree with the notion that this was rushed to get to beast machines. Simon has explicidly stated (often againt solicitation)several times that he won't do beast machines. If he does a lead up to it, it would be more a sign of him washing his hands of beast wars than getting into beast machines.

I'm still without a copy, it seems that Diamond forgot to send it to my comic store (and quite a few others, as I have not seen any Aussies posting about it anywhere...)

Guess I'll have to wait for the trade then, it'll be out in a few weeks!

I'm making a prediction, I suspect that the method Megatron used to spread his Vehicon virus was through the mass "inoculation" initiated by the Maximal hieratchy against the "angolmois" infection. Slipping the vrus among the vaccination centers, the entire populace must have been taken by surprised, eventually ending with all their sparks being hijacked.

fenrir72 wrote:I'm making a prediction, I suspect that the method Megatron used to spread his Vehicon virus was through the mass "inoculation" initiated by the Maximal hieratchy against the "angolmois" infection. Slipping the vrus among the vaccination centers, the entire populace must have been taken by surprised, eventually ending with all their sparks being hijacked.

That would make for an interesting story actually. I wouldn't mind seeing this one.

fenrir72 wrote:I'm making a prediction, I suspect that the method Megatron used to spread his Vehicon virus was through the mass "inoculation" initiated by the Maximal hieratchy against the "angolmois" infection. Slipping the vrus among the vaccination centers, the entire populace must have been taken by surprised, eventually ending with all their sparks being hijacked.

my theory is quite similar. when the vheicon virus is spread through cybertron big convoy and lio convoy lead an escape team back to earth while magmatron fought megatron on cybertron but fails because of the vheicon virus

Sorry for reviving a somewhat old thread, but I just received and finished reading the TPB. I thought it was quite good dispite the "messy" story and art at some points. I agree that the whole explaination of Magmatron coming back was just bullshit. But then how else are they going to get him back? I liked how they used Cybertron Longrack for his pre-BW form. I can't wait for the next installment. Hopefully we'll see Cryotech. And maybe, just maybe, we'll get to see some of Guido's concept BM characters like Dinobot. Anyone have a link to them?