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This IDW series just gets better and better, If only they had taken a similar direction with the movie I would be a very happy man indeed. I don't want to spoil it for anyone but there's a fantastic explanation for mass-shifting, Megatron kicks ass as only he knows how, and Prime appeared to actually use his trailer (but I'm not sure what for yet?)! Thankful this will keep me company during the dark days of Movie merchandising overkill! Thanks IDW, thanks Furman, thanks to all you guys for keeping Transformers out of the gutter!

Yours AK

They need to establish a solid continuity or some sort of timeline for the IDW books. Granted, most of the stuff is getting better. It's kind of hard not to get better when you start from such a low place. Everything just feels kinda jumbled and confusing to me. I mean, I never would have thought that the Stormbringer story was happening concurrently with the Infiltration story if it hadn't had "to be continued in Transformers: Escalation" at the end.

Wait? Did I miss an issue. Damnit!! Did issue 3 come out yesterday?

Prime Evil wrote:Wait? Did I miss an issue. Damnit!! Did issue 3 come out yesterday?

Yup it hit the stands in the UK today I read it on my lunch.

God Magnus wrote:never would have thought that the Stormbringer story was happening concurrently with the Infiltration story if it hadn't had "to be continued in Transformers: Escalation" at the end.

Agreed, I found the Stormbringer stuff a little too...well 'Dreamwavey', not just due to Don drawing it (although I'm sure that was a major factor) but the epic story line that ended (or appeared to end) way to quickly was very reminiscent of Furmans work at DW. However I'm loving the Spotlight series its adding real colour and content to the ongoing G1 storyline IDW have going.

Yours AK

What year does Escalation take place in? We have mention of the Soviet Union but all the tech seems modern. Is one aspect of this alternative earth that the Soviet Union never fell?

I believe its modern day only they've used a little creative licence to create a volatile political situation Megatron can take advantage of that wouldn't upset people. I'm sure if they chose a current sensitive political issue such as Iran or Al-Qaeda they might put peoples backs up.

Yours AK

Ak, why not just put the spoiler tag at the top, and then we can discuss anything about it.

It's what we had been doing with these kinds of threads about a book that IS out at retail...

I didn't like Hot Rod in this he was a bit too "Rah, rah...", but I did enjoy the rest, and am happy to see that it is continuing to tell a good story, and that they are adding characters!!

Where's Sideswipe??? He should be involved with his brother being captured and all. And where is part 2 of the spy team, Mirage???

I know you can't introduce everyone at once, it'd just be fun to have 'em.

I do like Megs in this book, he is well characterized.

I enjoyed Stormbringer,minus the ending. I can't see why something like that could not be happening across the universe while the other team was on Earth during Infiltration.

Spotlights have been well thought out (except Sixshot, so far, he does not seem to have much relation to the other stories).

Alex Kingdom wrote:I'm sure if they chose a current sensitive political issue such as Iran or Al-Qaeda they might put peoples backs up.

I said as much when #2 was released. And the more I read those two issues, the more I'm convinced that Furman is trying to deliver a not-so-subtle commentary about the current state of affairs.

tigertracks 24 wrote:Where's Sideswipe??? He should be involved with his brother being captured and all. And where is part 2 of the spy team, Mirage???

I'm hoping they write out the 'brothers' thing entirely. I know a lot of people liked that aspect of Sideswipe and Sunstreaker's relationship but it never sat too well with me. I mean how can Transformers be brothers, or related in any regular organic way? I know there are ways of explaining it but personally I felt it was never a good idea in the first place, it through up far to may questions.

Yours AK

Even when I was a kid, way back before sparks and the Dreamwave MTMTE retcons, I don't think I ever had a problem with just using 'brother' as the closest human word for the relationship between the Lambo twins. Obviously they weren't 'brothers' in the organic sense, but they were apparently in some way more closely connected to each other than to the rest of the Autobots. That was good enough for me.

Much like the whole fembots thing. They don't have to be 'female' in a biological sense to have recognisably feminine characteristics... never had a problem with that, either.

Glyph wrote:Even when I was a kid, way back before sparks and the Dreamwave MTMTE retcons, I don't think I ever had a problem with just using 'brother' as the closest human word for the relationship between the Lambo twins. Obviously they weren't 'brothers' in the organic sense, but they were apparently in some way more closely connected to each other than to the rest of the Autobots. That was good enough for me.

Much like the whole fembots thing. They don't have to be 'female' in a biological sense to have recognisably feminine characteristics... never had a problem with that, either.

Agreed. I call my best friend my "brother" but it's more of a term of respect rather then a biological thing.

I really like the story line so far. Infiltration was a little dry for me, kinda boring, but the story is really taking off. One thing I liked was the bitterness between Ironhide and Prowl, good to see the Autobots aren't like metal Carebears like in the G1 Cartoon. My biggest gripe so far with the issues is with EJ. I'm not saying he's bad, but he's not my style. But then again, I'm pro Pat Lee I would like to see Milne or Ruffolo take a shot at a few issuse, or maybe the person who did the Magnus Sporlight. Just the style of the characters EJ portrays I guess. Prime seems more heavy set then Armada Prime. Either way, I'm look forward to the next issue and the Soundwave spotlight. It doesn't seem to have the same shoddy art work as the Nightbeat or Hotrod issues.

I loved this issue and really can't wait till next month!

When IDW started with Infiltration, I was not happy with it. I thought Stormbringer was excellent and when it finished I was sad that Escalation was starting up but this series has gone from strenth to strength and I'm totally hooked.

Loved the way Prime dismissed Ironhide - something I don't think we have ever seen Prime do in previous Transformers incarnations and the way Prowl pulled Ironhide up on it. Thought Jazz's character really was brought out in that simple spoilsport line and Megatron really does look to have a big plan for earth.

A + for this issue.

At this stage in Infiltration, we knew Stormbringer was out after it - anything mentioned about what is next after Escalation?

Glyph wrote:Even when I was a kid, way back before sparks and the Dreamwave MTMTE retcons, I don't think I ever had a problem with just using 'brother' as the closest human word for the relationship between the Lambo twins. Obviously they weren't 'brothers' in the organic sense, but they were apparently in some way more closely connected to each other than to the rest of the Autobots. That was good enough for me.

Much like the whole fembots thing. They don't have to be 'female' in a biological sense to have recognisably feminine characteristics... never had a problem with that, either.

I am with you here.

While the Autobots are 'brothers in arms', I think of Sideswipe and Sunstreaker as being the closest thing to brothers that there could be, spending tons of time together, messing around, liking similar things, sticking up for one another before all others, if you have a brother in 'real life' you probably know what I mean (I have two).

I'm okay with Ejs style. Most of the cons seem a bit weak looking, though. It's not my preferred style, but at this point I prefer it to Wildman, and Ruffalo.

I thought we had heard what was next after this, but I can not remember the name...have to do some searching.

I hope Hardtop actually talks next issue. And thanks for changing the header, just because we can feel free to give things away now.

Mass shifting had never been a problem for me before, but this does do a decent job of explaining it. I already accepted it, so it wasn't a big to me, but hopefully others will find it, interesting.

To be fair, I have no problems with them being referred to as brothers since it's obviously not biological. However, does it really serve any purpose? I'm sure they must have looked at it in the Marvel comics (I don't really remember).

As for Escalation #3, I enjoyed it. I'm still not 100% sold on the mass-shifting explanation but I'm not really that fussed. I like the fact they returned Megatron to gun alt.mode in time with the Classics toy release.

Was there any lead up to Hardhead turning up with HotRod and Nightbeat that I missed?

To be honest, I don't recall seeing anything to do with Hardhead in any of the previous IDW issues, other than the tenuous connection of the Nebulan process in Ultra Magnus' spotlight (and Nightbeat's, perhaps). I may have missed something though.

Leonardo wrote:stuff

Welcome back, Leonardo!

shockwaveuk wrote:Was there any lead up to Hardhead turning up with HotRod and Nightbeat that I missed?

He made the cover of Stormbringer #4 along with the other (not-yet) Headmasters and Targetmasters, even though he wasn't featured inside. However, Pointblank and Crosshairs - also on the cover - were both shown on Prime's command ship, so I'd say it's a safe bet, or at least a safe explanation, that Hardhead and co were there too.

Glyph wrote:Welcome back, Leonardo!

Thank you.

And good detective skills with the Pointblank / Crosshairs thing. I always forget about Stormbringer for some reason.

Finally, after the slow story in Infiltration, things are starting to pick up on Earth! This issue rawked! As much as I was against Megs keeping his puny widdle gun mode, the explanation that mass-displacement was only possible with the souped-up energon made it a little more tolerable. I still think it's a weak alt mode for someone so fearsome and tyranical, but the way it was executed in the comic got me to put aside my dislike for the concept and make it cool. VA-VOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Nightbeat, Hot Rod, and, more excitingly, HARDHEAD! I have no special love for any of those characters, really, but it's SO great to see some characters other than the usual from the first two years getting some facetime in the "front lines"!

shockwaveuk wrote:Was there any lead up to Hardhead turning up with HotRod and Nightbeat that I missed?

no

JazZeke wrote:Finally, after the slow story in Infiltration, things are starting to pick up on Earth! This issue rawked! As much as I was against Megs keeping his puny widdle gun mode, the explanation that mass-displacement was only possible with the souped-up energon made it a little more tolerable. I still think it's a weak alt mode for someone so fearsome and tyranical, but the way it was executed in the comic got me to put aside my dislike for the concept and make it cool.

That covers what I was going to say.

I presume that they used the "transcanning" to change Blitzwing's tank Alt from an M1 to a T-97(?), in which case I have to grant that that is a good example of how it should be used and the rough limits on it, with the changes being almost entirely aesthetic, like changing clothes.

I thought the camo for Blitzwing was a stretch, but I'm going to assume it only works in tank mode and if he's staying relatively still, and is a tech upgrade rather than an inherent special ability. His robot mode was interesting; makes me think someone could kitbash him from Armada Megatron.

I expect that when Astrotrain makes his combat debut he'll be hauling the Battlechargers with him, evening up the sides a bit.

highlander3000 wrote:What year does Escalation take place in? We have mention of the Soviet Union but all the tech seems modern. Is one aspect of this alternative earth that the Soviet Union never fell?

If you read the issue very carefully I think you'll find that "The Soviets" refers to the legitimate government of Bresnya, which broke away from Russia and remained communist when the USSR dissolved. The rebels then are anticommunists, 'friendly' to Russia, so the official Bresnyan government is at odds with the Russian government - hence the tension.

The convoy that shows up after the big explosion near the Bresnyan border is Russian, and they are attacked by "Soviet Armor" (Blitzwing) which they assume is Bresnyan. Meanwhile, Megatron and his Facsimile are (I think) on the other side stirring up conflict between the Bresnyans and the rebels.

This aspect of the story is poorly written and confusing, but that was the impression I had.

Hey everybody. I've recently changed jobs and haven't been able to log on much lately. But just wanted to stick my head in and say how much I loved Escalation #3.

Prime's a little cold-shouldered for someone who grew up on the cartoon like me, but I am loving the story.

When he said reinforcements, I was sure we'd see the Powerdashers. j/k

Take care. Later.