The Energon Pub

[Tigertrack]

WARNING!!!! SPOILERS AND HONESTY ARE AHEAD!!!!

Coming to your local comic shop tomorrow!!! Or possibly a few days later!!!

This Simon Furman written movie continuity title continues its baby steps forward introducing the new hidden TRANSFORMERS enemy, THE INITIATIVE. Having six issues means you don’t need to rush things though. As the tortoise-bot told the petrorabbit (or was that Mike Costa TFONGOING telling Simon Furman NEFARIOUS, or vice versa?), slow and steady wins the race (Don't tell Blurr!). Different bots, different strokes, as the text may be vocalized.

"Watchoo' talkin' bout Willie?" Credits, Daniel, my boy, credits, and here are those responsible for this issue.



PLOT/CHARACTERS:
Moving along, as is to be expected Optimus Prime gets long-winded, reflective, and concerned. Then he kicks some Decepti-aft named Soundwave...


"F-A-T-A-L-I-T-Y"

...creating a tenuous alliance of sorts with him at the same time, as Soundwave looks to stay relevant in the quest for control of the Earth by having the Autobots believe he is worth something to them in their goal to identify the third party string pullers, and the motivations of this new human group.

It was that or being cryo-frozen Han Solo style, so you can understand Soundwave’s motivation here. Plus, the communications officer still wants to learn more about how ol’ Ravage survived Bumblebee’s spinal readjustment in the Transformers Revenge of the Fallen movie -- I know you probably missed that part, right? That’s right Ravage is back, and Soundwave, and the rest of us don’t know why--but we have our theories.

Government jerks (namely Mr. Galloway, same pest as last issue) decide that N.E.S.T. (if you’ve been hiding under a rock, N.E.S.T. is the Autobot and government allied taskforce, hunting for Decepticons on Earth) failed, according to Galloway, and is no longer needed. Reassignments forthcoming.


"I feel really badly about your loss. He was like a son to me."

Sound familiar? These plot ideas are not new, previously Sector 7 played third party controller, which coincidentally THE INITIATIVE now owns all Sector 7’s assets. Weird.


How was Hugh Jackman not the voice of Sideswipe in the movie? Oh right, he might need to speak to need a voice?

We learn Sideswipe is still Wolverine with Silver Samurai armor, and that Decepticons are still mostly lazy, and dumb which continues to lead them to failure. Autobots are still overconfidents who seem to know nothing, which is why they need the humans to tell them what to do and how to go about doing it.


*Speaks for itself--Dumb 'cons--

WRITING:
Simon Furman promised character development when he was trying to sell this series back in July. Really the only character getting developed is Soundwave (so far), all the other characters really seem to just be holding to what we already know about them, and not really creating any new reasons for us to want to be interested in them, or giving us more background knowledge. The Tales of the Fallen series was much better at that aspect up to this point.

Furman does throw in a lot of two dollar words, so those looking to impress your friends at the country club with some neat-o words, you definitely will enjoy this issue.

ARTWORK:
I do have to say, continuing off my feelings from issue #1, Carlos Magno still manages to impress me a lot with his art. Well drawn humans, great use of line and detail--but not overuse of line in MOST cases, really makes looking through this comic a pleasure. I’d like to see what he can do with G1 related characters and designs for the robots. If I did not have to try to swallow the bitter movie-verse dialogue and plot, and believe that these aliens were Transformers, I could really enjoy the art. Magno does get a little crazy with some of his Decepticon designs, making them uber insect looking and scary-faced (looking your way ‘ol #26).


"What...the hell are yoooooouuuuuuu?!?"

The color work is bright and appropriate, if not a little too bright at times. But the color and line do work well together, especially if you look at the way the artist renders foreground compared to background, and how the colorist treated it.

MORE CHARACTERS:

ROTF Brakedown (Breakdown) toy fans rejoice. If you’ve had a hard time finding this Stunticon nut in retail stores, you may be able to find him in this month’s TF: Nefarious issue. Keep a sharp optic out. But look quickly because Sideswipe... Wow, two TF comics reviewed in two weeks, and we have two issues where Brakedown (Breakdown) is of somewhat limited importance in both of them, and a very short and sweet appearance in Nefarious for sure (hint, hint)!

Another bonus of the in-continuity movie series comics... toys and characters not in the actual movie tend to make it into the books, in some way. From shelf to page, it does help generate some interest from one medium of enjoyment to the other (here's hoping Mindwipe, Brawn, Lockdown, and Bludgeon all make it in at some point). Unless you just don’t like the movie version of either. Than you are axled (isn't replacing slang with robot slang fun?). Is anyone reading this book besides me?

Be sure to check the five page preview so you can see some of the action yourself.

Seibertron.com for all of your Transformers news and resource needs.

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[Darth Bombshell]

Another bonus of the in-continuity movie series comics... toys and characters not in the actual movie tend to make it into the books, in some way. From shelf to page, it does help generate some interest from one medium of enjoyment to the other (here's hoping Mindwipe, Brawn, Lockdown, and Bludgeon all make it in at some point).

Yeah, too bad that, given what happened to Breakaway last issue, they'll most likely end up with the same fate as any nameless, faceless character in a Simon Furman written comic: Furmanized, with extreme cheesiness. (I read a review that states that at least three more characters share this fate.)

[Blurrz]

Love the review

It's nice to see some of the toys make it into the comics, although Breakaway getting nuked by Soundwave wasn't exactly my number one choice for his character...

[Darth Bombshell]

It's nice to see some of the toys make it into the comics, although Breakaway getting nuked by Soundwave wasn't exactly my number one choice for his character...

Everyone knows that the purpose of inserting the toy characters into the plot is for Simon to allow himself the opportunity to indulge in his number one all time cliche (killing off characters melodramatically) without having to worry about killing off anyone important with regard to the plot for the next movie, since we know that the core four characters (Megatron, Starscream, Prime and Bumblebee) will be in it .

[Dead Metal]

It's nice to see some of the toys make it into the comics, although Breakaway getting nuked by Soundwave wasn't exactly my number one choice for his character...

Everyone knows that the purpose of inserting the toy characters into the plot is for Simon to allow himself the opportunity to indulge in his number one all time cliche (killing off characters melodramatically) without having to worry about killing off anyone important with regard to the plot for the next movie, since we know that the core four characters (Megatron, Starscream, Prime and Bumblebee) will be in it .

Exactly, that's why they use them, because if Simon would you know invent new characters for that purpose he would get bawed at by fans for not using the toy only characters. But if he uses the toyonly ones as cannon-fodder he gets bawed at for not inventing new guys to do so. I'm sure Simon would love to kill the entire main cast of movie characters, but he can't.

[Darth Bombshell]

Exactly, that's why they use them, because if Simon would you know invent new characters for that purpose he would get bawed at by fans for not using the toy only characters. But if he uses the toyonly ones as cannon-fodder he gets bawed at for not inventing new guys to do so. I'm sure Simon would love to kill the entire main cast of movie characters, but he can't.

Or he could, you know, not kill anybody. That'd be pretty awesome, too.

[Dead Metal]

Exactly, that's why they use them, because if Simon would you know invent new characters for that purpose he would get bawed at by fans for not using the toy only characters. But if he uses the toyonly ones as cannon-fodder he gets bawed at for not inventing new guys to do so. I'm sure Simon would love to kill the entire main cast of movie characters, but he can't.

Or he could, you know, not kill anybody. That'd be pretty awesome, too.

That would trigger people bawing about the story being "too kiddy", "too lame", "too boring", "too unrealistic" and not worth it as it has little impact on the universe and overall plot.

[Darth Bombshell]

That would trigger people bawing about the story being "too kiddy", "too lame", "too boring", "too unrealistic" and not worth it as it has little impact on the universe and overall plot.

It's funny, really, because taking out the fact that three non-character characters have already bought the farm, I can pretty much apply all of those comments to the story already, so, personally, it wouldn't matter one way or the other to me.

[Dead Metal]

That would trigger people bawing about the story being "too kiddy", "too lame", "too boring", "too unrealistic" and not worth it as it has little impact on the universe and overall plot.

It's funny, really, because taking out the fact that three non-character characters have already bought the farm, I can pretty much apply all of those comments to the story already, so, personally, it wouldn't matter one way or the other to me.

If you hate these comics so much and have no enjoyment what-soever from reading them, then why the hell do you keep on buying or reading them?
I hated what happened after Furman left the main tf series and the direction of AHM, so I stopped buying the damn things.
So far all I've heard from you regarding TF comics was how much you hate them, the characters, the story ideas and the guys that make them. Every thread discussing any tf comic you have to show your hatred for them, there is never anything positive.

And I'm pretty sure idw has a say in the fact that these guys have to die, as in the UK comics which are also done by Furman, they don't get killed off the moment they show up. Stockade even made it to Decepticon leader.
And don't forget the Reign of Starscream series, that also featured non-movie character death.

Guess killing off non-mainstream characters is OK as long as the guy writing the comic isn't called Simon Furman.

[Darth Bombshell]

If you hate these comics so much and have no enjoyment what-soever from reading them, then why the hell do you keep on buying or reading them?

Because I have to keep this updated. That's the only reason I've continued to bother buing IDW's TF titles. I would have stopped long ago if I didn't need to.

So far all I've heard from you regarding TF comics was how much you hate them, the characters, the story ideas and the guys that make them. Every thread discussing any tf comic you have to show your hatred for them, there is never anything positive.

I don't think you've read anything in a "Last Stand of The Wreckers" thread. Because if you did, you'd realize that I do like that series. And as for my complaints about the other series, I do have legitimate grievances with Bumblebee (and I doubt you'd find anyone who doesn't, really) and the ongoing (the most recent issue proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that Costa has no business writing it). Nefarious may end up being good, but at the moment, I do have my doubts.

And don't forget the Reign of Starscream series, that also featured non-movie character death.

Yes, but that was mostly because its main cast was made up of non-movie characters, and the only two movie character that had important roles (Starscream and Arcee) couldn't be killed off because they were known to be in ROTF.

Guess killing off non-mainstream characters is OK as long as the guy writing the comic isn't called Simon Furman.

Actually, it's fine by him, or anyone else, so long as it's done for a reason that's important to the plot and not done simply for shock value. So far, the deaths shown here don't meet either criteria, so that's why I have a problem with them.