John Barber on IDW The Transformers #50

Synopsis
ALL HAIL OPTIMUS—PART 1! Backed by an army of zealous followers, OPTIMUS PRIME declares Earth to be a part of CYBERTRON’S Council of Worlds—and the DECEPTICONS and the people of Earth don’t won’t take it laying down! The story starts here, but the repercussions will last forever.



Story

Fifty issues. Think about that. Fifty. That's over half the original Marvel US run. And this is but one part of the wider TF universe running over at IDW. What John Barber, with the other creators, have done, is impressive. And what he brings to the table this month, even after the weirdly disappointing issue last time, is equally impressive, and a testament to the world-building that has taken place up to this point.



Overall, I really enjoyed the issue. While we may have seen a lot of Optimus' introspection of recent (and since DOOP, to be honest) the new turn in the story allows for that to be externalised in such a way that it actually affects the wider universe - and perhaps most importantly, the characters who inhabit it. Things are changing, and changing drastically and swiftly, by the looks of it.



I will get the 'negative' thoughts about the issue out of the way, too, as it mostly has to do with the latter part of the issue and the overall length - and I'm taking cues from fellow staffer ScottyP here, too: the pacing is something to behold, until we hit the Spike Witwicky bump. Again. We do not like Spike, we are not supposed to, but he's made to be some sort of necessary prick evil for the series and human-Cybertronian relations (not always in the most diplomatic of ways). I like how much I dislike him, but.. I still dislike him, and his arc throws a lot of things off.



That said, the human (more or less, in some cases) factor in the issue is well developed, and coming in as late as it does, plus the afterstory, it helps to show the at least two sides of where the story might go from here. Humans are no longer just that, just as Cybertronians are no longer just aliens - and the ramifications, from a socio-political and narrative perspective, are fascinating.

Art

The art side of things is really interesting, with Andrew Griffith, the first artist, taking on the majority of the book and its weightier, meatier (metal-ier?) substance. I am still really quite impressed at his take on some of character designs, and the collaboration with Josh Burcham, Josh Perez and JP Bove on the colours brings out the sinister side of some of the action taking place, and helps locate the controversial position of Optimus' decision: practically everyone is weary, worn out, and exhausted. You can feel it.



The coda, of sorts, that Casey Coller offers, is a wonderful addition (with the above proviso about pacing, perhaps) for the human side of things, and a refreshing look with Joana Lafuente's colour work - though maybe with some overly heavy inks by Jamie Snell in places, given Coller's really quite fine pencilwork - at the multiple Cybertronian repercussions of the events on Earth.



All that, as well as Sara Pitre-Durocher's brief stint in what has led up to this point, in the Previously section of the book, wonderfully crisp in its recap. As crisp, of course, as the work that the two letterers bring to the exasperation, adrenaline, frustration, anger, and force of the voices in the book - the effort that Tom B. Long and Chris Mowry put into this is not to be underestimated.



With the landmark status of the book, we were bound to get a slew of covers, from the main Griffith/Thomas Deer annexation, to the Coller/Bove Optimus triumphant variant, via big shots Jonathan Hickman and Mike Choi's interpretations of the AHO concept - plus, of course, a special Comicave variant by Livio Ramondelli, with a twist on a familiar theme (thumbnailed), and another piece of the Alex Milne/Perez mural.


Thoughts
Spoilerish ahead

There are so many very things I have chosen not to talk about in the review, to allow readers to enjoy the experience of one of the most fast-paced, action packed, politically charged, arc-tying, positively tiring, visually enticing pieces of Transformers fiction. As arcs go, the beginning of All Hail Optimus promises very very well, and has managed to bring the conflict and Earth back together in a rather poignant and significant manner. Applause all round for the team, truly.



A lot of the things I was thinking about as I read the issue, and as I was writing the review, are pretty much covered in Barber's lovely words at the end of the book. I really do recommend taking some time to look at that afterword - but in case you don't, this part stands out in particular: a comment from Michael Kelly, from Hasbro, as AHO was pitched. 'Make sure these characters are people, and you guys have done it. You wouldn't be able to do a story like this if you hadn't.' Even with all the slips, the stumbled events, the jarring moments in the series, The Transformers have undoubtedly conquered Earth once more - here's to a peaceful coexistence, and productive dialogue with us as readers.

It really was a good issue and one that had lots of interesting points, some high rises and some good moments.

And how about this: The next issue synopsis says Prime may not be alone in his head. We saw that in this issue when Prime went to the EDC command to get Jazz and the others. He quoted Prowl exactly from the first story arc of season 2 (the whole "no one is there that didn't sign up for this" bit). It looks like the whole reason Prime is doing this and going in this direction is due to a part of Prowl being in his head, and he is affected by it.

Also: Yay Sideswipe lives (somehow, and he always drawn pretty blurry).

And finally: That vision with the Dark Cybertron prophesy being read. That is a bit frightening and interesting

You know, I actually felt this was a fairly satisfying issue. I loved the microscope being turned on to the Autobot's and the Decepticon confessions as to what lead them to become Decepticons (course, I feel the same way which is why I throw myself behind the Decepticon banner:-) )

This issue was amazing. It was a roller coast ride and I'm very please with it. It's an issue that should leave with unease and it it that for me.

I'm really starting to wonder if Optimus may in fact be The Fallen(Megatronus) reincarnated. Before this issue it felt that Optimus may be The Arisen reincarnated but after Galvatron calls Optimus "old friend" and the way he's smiling and his remark on hearing Prime's speech, it's really making me wonder if he's Megatronus reincarnated if they go that route.

the sentinel prime nod was good. It makes me think two things, the real Sentinal Prime has been alive all along and left Cyberton, conquered another work(like said in the issue) and is returning...OR... starscream is going to fabricate Sentinal Prime's return to turn the Prime worshippers on his side by having someone pretending to be Sentinal(little guy being a headmaster impersonating him)

Also I WAS RIGHT! I called it over a year ago! Earth is a colony world! Or was lol. It proves my long theory that if there's a Titan than there is/was an Ore and if there's an Ore than there is/was a titan!

ctrlFrequency wrote:You know, I actually felt this was a fairly satisfying issue.

Shock.

Horror.

Awe.

D-Maximus_Primal wrote:And how about this: The next issue synopsis says Prime may not be alone in his head. We saw that in this issue when Prime went to the EDC command to get Jazz and the others. He quoted Prowl exactly from the first story arc of season 2 (the whole "no one is there that didn't sign up for this" bit). It looks like the whole reason Prime is doing this and going in this direction is due to a part of Prowl being in his head, and he is affected by it.

Well...

Randomhero wrote:
Also I WAS RIGHT! I called it over a year ago! Earth is a colony world! Or was lol. It proves my long theory that if there's a Titan than there is/was an Ore and if there's an Ore than there is/was a titan!

What if.... hang on..... What if the titan on Earth is a titan by the name of Fortess Maximus and that in IDW there are 2 versions of that character! (fits considering headmasters were Nexus' thing and Earth is technically his)

D-Maximus_Primal wrote:

Randomhero wrote:
Also I WAS RIGHT! I called it over a year ago! Earth is a colony world! Or was lol. It proves my long theory that if there's a Titan than there is/was an Ore and if there's an Ore than there is/was a titan!

What if.... hang on..... What if the titan on Earth is a titan by the name of Fortess Maximus and that in IDW there are 2 versions of that character! (fits considering headmasters were Nexus' thing and Earth is technically his)

It's possible if they insert City Former fortress maximus, the IDW continuity will call this one Grand Maximus or brave Maximus. Or the could retcon it so that MTMTE Fortress maximus derived his name from the eponymous titan.

SW's SilverHammer wrote:

D-Maximus_Primal wrote:

Randomhero wrote:
Also I WAS RIGHT! I called it over a year ago! Earth is a colony world! Or was lol. It proves my long theory that if there's a Titan than there is/was an Ore and if there's an Ore than there is/was a titan!

What if.... hang on..... What if the titan on Earth is a titan by the name of Fortess Maximus and that in IDW there are 2 versions of that character! (fits considering headmasters were Nexus' thing and Earth is technically his)

It's possible if they insert City Former fortress maximus, the IDW continuity will call this one Grand Maximus or brave Maximus. Or the could retcon it so that MTMTE Fortress maximus derived his name from the eponymous titan.

Or it's just a generic Titan.

Va'al wrote:

ctrlFrequency wrote:You know, I actually felt this was a fairly satisfying issue.

Shock.

Horror.

Awe.

*sarcasm detectors on full alert*

ctrlFrequency wrote:

Va'al wrote:

ctrlFrequency wrote:You know, I actually felt this was a fairly satisfying issue.

Shock.

Horror.

Awe.

*sarcasm detectors on full alert*

Your detectors must be faulty.

Randomhero wrote:

SW's SilverHammer wrote:

D-Maximus_Primal wrote:

Randomhero wrote:
Also I WAS RIGHT! I called it over a year ago! Earth is a colony world! Or was lol. It proves my long theory that if there's a Titan than there is/was an Ore and if there's an Ore than there is/was a titan!

What if.... hang on..... What if the titan on Earth is a titan by the name of Fortess Maximus and that in IDW there are 2 versions of that character! (fits considering headmasters were Nexus' thing and Earth is technically his)

It's possible if they insert City Former fortress maximus, the IDW continuity will call this one Grand Maximus or brave Maximus. Or the could retcon it so that MTMTE Fortress maximus derived his name from the eponymous titan.

Or it's just a generic Titan.

I'd personally find it better if it were a Fort Max. I really don't see how any of the MTMTE characters could fit into TR nor could I really see all those characters actually becoming headmasters either, and I don't know how Fort Max could be pulled over, given a massive upgrade and all that to become the city fort Max. And a generic titan is a bit easier to write off and I'd prefer one with a name and especially one with a name we know. Plus, considering the name crossovers, it isn't too hard to see that there is an ancient titan and a war-born autobot that share the same name

D-Maximus_Primal wrote:

Randomhero wrote:

SW's SilverHammer wrote:

D-Maximus_Primal wrote:

Randomhero wrote:
Also I WAS RIGHT! I called it over a year ago! Earth is a colony world! Or was lol. It proves my long theory that if there's a Titan than there is/was an Ore and if there's an Ore than there is/was a titan!

What if.... hang on..... What if the titan on Earth is a titan by the name of Fortess Maximus and that in IDW there are 2 versions of that character! (fits considering headmasters were Nexus' thing and Earth is technically his)

It's possible if they insert City Former fortress maximus, the IDW continuity will call this one Grand Maximus or brave Maximus. Or the could retcon it so that MTMTE Fortress maximus derived his name from the eponymous titan.

Or it's just a generic Titan.

I'd personally find it better if it were a Fort Max. I really don't see how any of the MTMTE characters could fit into TR nor could I really see all those characters actually becoming headmasters either, and I don't know how Fort Max could be pulled over, given a massive upgrade and all that to become the city fort Max. And a generic titan is a bit easier to write off and I'd prefer one with a name and especially one with a name we know. Plus, considering the name crossovers, it isn't too hard to see that there is an ancient titan and a war-born autobot that share the same name

Look at the Necro-Titan. That was just a generic and now he's someone that remembered. IDW also said MTMTE won't be involved directly with Titans Return but aspects will be explored not unlike how the Ammonites were introduced or the Titans space bridge background was brought up in Remain in Light.

I'm not saying Fort Max won't be involved in Titans Return, his base of operations is a moon with mountains of Titan corpses so there's leg room to make him a Titan but I don't believe that Titan breaking out of the ground on Earth is fort max.

There is that picture by Livio from SDDC of I believe of sentinel with 3 Titans behind him. All three cant be Max, they're generics. My money is the Titan erupting from Earth is just a generic. Hell, it could actually be Metrotitan. The Decepticon repaint of Metroplex. We all were expecting the Necro-Titan to be him but it wasn't.

Fair point. I'm reasoning with the toyline and the titan being a headmaster since it was Nexus. Now if it is a whole new titan, that would be cool. either way: a titan sitting under the desert for millenium is something not seen coming (well, except by you )

D-Maximus_Primal wrote:Fair point. I'm reasoning with the toyline and the titan being a headmaster since it was Nexus. Now if it is a whole new titan, that would be cool. either way: a titan sitting under the desert for millenium is something not seen coming (well, except by you )

Well they don't have to include everyone from the line. Hardhead is dead, Scourge is dead, brainstorm, Chromedome, Blaster, highbrow(no confirmed or rumored toy but still) are all on the lost light. By now I think we can conclude that the comic tie in is just for fun.

Randomhero wrote:

D-Maximus_Primal wrote:Fair point. I'm reasoning with the toyline and the titan being a headmaster since it was Nexus. Now if it is a whole new titan, that would be cool. either way: a titan sitting under the desert for millenium is something not seen coming (well, except by you )

Well they don't have to include everyone from the line. Hardhead is dead, Scourge is dead, brainstorm, Chromedome, Blaster, highbrow(no confirmed or rumored toy but still) are all on the lost light. By now I think we can conclude that the comic tie in is just for fun.

Oh I'm not saying that it has to follow that comics. I know that it can't at times and that the comics are just for fun. But they have done some stuff to include lots of the toys, such as Starscreams new body and then the Optimus combiner (which made sense story wise anyway and did work considering those characters's histories together). So it wouldn't surprise me to see something like that.

Randomhero wrote:Scourge is dead

Be careful with that conclusion! See: TF Redemption

ScottyP wrote:

Randomhero wrote:Scourge is dead

Be careful with that conclusion! See: TF Redemption

John barber revealed it in one of the GI joe issue commentaries. He didn't survive the Chaos event. In my opinion not the place to reveal that and it didn't make me happy but yeah...redemption was just sweeps.

Trust me, I want scourge back too and I'm hoping he can be retconned back.

Va'al wrote:

ctrlFrequency wrote:

Va'al wrote:

ctrlFrequency wrote:You know, I actually felt this was a fairly satisfying issue.

Shock.

Horror.

Awe.

*sarcasm detectors on full alert*

Your detectors must be faulty.

Hard to tell sometimes with you

ctrlFrequency wrote:

Va'al wrote:

ctrlFrequency wrote:

Va'al wrote:

ctrlFrequency wrote:You know, I actually felt this was a fairly satisfying issue.

Shock.

Horror.

Awe.

*sarcasm detectors on full alert*

Your detectors must be faulty.

Hard to tell sometimes with you

Sometimes. Yeah.

From now on I'm going to try really hard not to buy anything from IDW.

Prime fighting with that stupid flag is the lamest thing I have ever seen him do.

Galvatron's Decepticons look more like the X-Men now, complete with Telepath and Teleporter, than an army.

the book continues to fill up with corny IDW characters and fan built bots with no personalities.

Soundwave has been turned into a hippie.

Why even wear a badge now!? The factions are all blurred.

The entire IDW Transformers run is a giant mess.

Re; The post directly above this:

DO NOT FEED THE TROLL! Just go about your postings.

[quote="1984forever"]From now on I'm going to try really hard not to buy anything from IDW.

Prime fighting with that stupid flag is the lamest thing I have ever seen him do.

Galvatron's Decepticons look more like the X-Men now, complete with Telepath and Teleporter, than an army.

the book continues to fill up with corny IDW characters and fan built bots with no personalities.

Soundwave has been turned into a hippie.

Why even wear a badge now!? The factions are all blurred.

The entire IDW Transformers run is a giant mess.[/]
Then why are you even here?

Randomhero wrote:

ScottyP wrote:

Randomhero wrote:Scourge is dead

Be careful with that conclusion! See: TF Redemption

John barber revealed it in one of the GI joe issue commentaries. He didn't survive the Chaos event. In my opinion not the place to reveal that and it didn't make me happy but yeah...redemption was just sweeps.

Trust me, I want scourge back too and I'm hoping he can be retconned back.

Thank you for that tidbit, I didn't know Scourge was confirmed dead. I also wish he would come back. I like what directions the other surviving dead universe members took and I'd like to see Scourge get some sort of personality too (considering he never really did)

D-Maximus_Primal wrote:

Randomhero wrote:

ScottyP wrote:

Randomhero wrote:Scourge is dead

Be careful with that conclusion! See: TF Redemption

John barber revealed it in one of the GI joe issue commentaries. He didn't survive the Chaos event. In my opinion not the place to reveal that and it didn't make me happy but yeah...redemption was just sweeps.

Trust me, I want scourge back too and I'm hoping he can be retconned back.

Thank you for that tidbit, I didn't know Scourge was confirmed dead. I also wish he would come back. I like what directions the other surviving dead universe members took and I'd like to see Scourge get some sort of personality too (considering he never really did)

I only found out from Scourge's page on tfwiki. It says he died during the Chaos Event. That baffled me and I went and looked up the source and yeah, John confirmed it in one of the commentaries to Transformers vs g.i. Joe. It really threw me off. I've been waiting for Scourge to make his return for 3 years(when I found out) and it's just bummed me out.

I defend IDW a lot for killing characters or crazy turn of events but Scourge was a character I felt was wasted. Personally I was really hoping for him to show up maybe even under galavtrons decepticons or showing up in MTMTE and it would be something to conflict Cyclonus with since they were very close.

Same goes with Straxus. I love Straxus and really wish Simon hadnt used him as a disposable lacky in dead universe story.

I still have hopes Jhiaxus survived. I want Jhiaxus to a center villain/mastermind in a story. He's always a lacky and Jhiaxus is best when he's the main villain. That's what I was hoping when it was revealed he survived the chaos event and was shown captured by the autobots.

Who knows, maybe Scourge will show up again one day. Maybe he is just listed as dead and he comes back later. Has happened before. As for Jhiaxus, I'm not sure about him. Bludgeon is still around so maybe he is too. It is all a bit vague, especially with characters that don't have explicit deaths or mentioned dead

Genericon #378 wrote:

1984forever wrote:From now on I'm going to try really hard not to buy anything from IDW.

Prime fighting with that stupid flag is the lamest thing I have ever seen him do.

Galvatron's Decepticons look more like the X-Men now, complete with Telepath and Teleporter, than an army.

the book continues to fill up with corny IDW characters and fan built bots with no personalities.

Soundwave has been turned into a hippie.

Why even wear a badge now!? The factions are all blurred.

The entire IDW Transformers run is a giant mess.[/]
Then why are you even here?

Don't feed it. I know from past experiences. Just look, read, shake your head in disappoint and move on

D-Maximus_Primal wrote:Who knows, maybe Scourge will show up again one day. Maybe he is just listed as dead and he comes back later. Has happened before. As for Jhiaxus, I'm not sure about him. Bludgeon is still around so maybe he is too. It is all a bit vague, especially with characters that don't have explicit deaths or mentioned dead

I know what you mean. It's kinda like ..."ratbat can still be alive...right?...right...guys...bueller?...bueller?"

At least Mindwipe is getting some comic love.

Randomhero wrote:
At least Mindwipe is getting some comic love.

And not a moment too soon aye?

Sorry peeps, I know how defensive people get when I criticize the franchise, but I'll be doing that today again.

This was the issue I wanted to wait to make my judgement call if I should continue investing in it or not. This series had its moments. The art is always great, no question about that. The writing had its moments too.

But something feels very odd to me. The writing and the progress feels forced. Everything is placed and presented to sell the toys. In the early runs, that wasn't as apparent. Now it's just blatant. Every week I waited to read the comic and every week I continue to wait, being teased in each one. Being promised closure. When a sort of closure finally comes, it passes by so fast and so nonchalantly that it didn't feel worth it.

"All this for...this? That's the "big" move he made?"

questions like this keep popping up

It's definitely components of fatigue. This issue just felt bland to me. Lots of you are saying it's great etc. I want to resonate with that. Just the constant teasing and "to be continued" and repetitive mystery has become exhausting.

Good review by the way.

I guess I'll sleep on it and read it again.

Damn...did I just OD on Transformers comics?

Actually, I agree with 1984 about Prime holding a flag is lame. Leaders holding a flag in battle does not sit well and is a flag holder not "badass commander of the Autobits." I felt that in the IDW comics, Optimus Prime had taken a backseat to being the hero and awesome warrior that we know and respect. He's willing to sacrifice himself for others, and is revered in battle. Personally, Beast Wars Neo (where Optimus) was a mammoth) portrayed him best. THE Optimus Prime do not rush into battle and get beats we to a pulp by random bad guys. In BW Neo, when he shows up, he beats the crap out of everyone. That's a feared warrior. Right now, Optimus Prime is only a name. Disagree with me if you like, and argue all you want about change is good, but the overall character should not be messed with. Take away wolverine's claws and he no longer is wolverine

President-prime wrote:Right now, Optimus Prime is only a name.

That is exactly the point! He is a name that carries weight and reverence (on one side) and disgust (on several many). The whole DOOP starting point was about him wanting to lose his name, which he then came back to, and is now exploiting with a lot of the people who follow him - some really quite begrudgingly.

As Galvatron and Soudwave, in different ways, point out: he is showing his true colours, and joining the legacy of the Primes that is so reviled on Cybertron.

budmaloney wrote:Every week I waited to read the comic and every week I continue to wait, being teased in each one. Being promised closure. When a sort of closure finally comes, it passes by so fast and so nonchalantly that it didn't feel worth it.

"All this for...this? That's the "big" move he made?"

questions like this keep popping up

That was exactly how I felt at reading last month's issue. The climax of the whole thing was just disappointing, with OP saying 'Ah but they can't declare war and conqueror if we do it first! GENIUS!'. No, was not happy with that.

This issue, on the other hand, while it does have those pacing problems we both mentioned, I think did its very best to supply a better development of the rash decision that took place in #49, including showing the fatigue that the cast are experiencing, too.

So yes, I disagree, but I'll gladly talk it more!

President-prime wrote: I felt that in the IDW comics, Optimus Prime had taken a backseat to being the hero and awesome warrior that we know and respect. He's willing to sacrifice himself for others, and is revered in battle.

President-prime wrote:In BW Neo, when he shows up, he beats the crap out of everyone. That's a feared warrior. Right now, Optimus Prime is only a name.

I pulled the two most relevant points from your post because I think they speak the loudest.

And there's nothing wrong with your views. Opinions are fine, and you are free to have them

It seems what you want is the the icon. The infallible. The hero that prevailed no matter what. He is good, he is rightous, he stands for every man, America, and apple pie.

Which is fine. That got us through a great part of the 20th century and moved nations and inspired real life heroes as well of generations of young imaginations.

Unfortunately, the time of the larger than life, unattainably perfect character that could conquer all and do it without compromising his values is over (and honestly, I blame my generation for it. Generation X got a little upity there for a bit) .

Media (print and visual) has followed what the masses want. The masses called for flawed heroes that we could better identify with. The masses asked that the heroes not be perfect because we are not perfect. We can empathize a little more with someone who is not always right, but tries his best to be and is less god-like.

And it gives us, and writers, more of a chance to delve into and explore social/political issues that would just be impossible of the hero was infallible. Which helps us identify with the hero (or the villian) more.

Do you think in the 1980's a comic book could really deal with social injustice from the villian's point of view? (Answer: no)

Show intimate relationships between two characters that share a gender pronoun? (Answer: absolutely no)

A female character take role of hero and not need the male to come save her at the end? (Answer: no!)

Show the hero in anything less than a perfect light? (Answer: briefly maybe)

Again, there's nothing wrong with liking that kind of hero. Absolutely nothing. The icon can be a wonderful thing. But our global society has changed and we want a different kind if hero as a whole.

Do I think that Optimus is no longer a good example of a hero? I think he is a hero because he is doing what he thinks is right. Same as Megatron did, same as Soundwave is doing, and same as Galvatron is doing. All are heroes at least to themselves (even though Galvatron is not a hero on this story).

The hero now doesn't just beat the crap out of everyone bad. Partly because right and wrong are not so simple, and people who were heroes in the past forced their will on others by just beating the crap out of their enemies and forcing others to do what they felt was right ... even if that was not what the others wanted. Which is the whole point of this issue.

Our history is riddled with people who forcefully took over other cultures/countries because they thought they were protecting them. But those cultures/countries didn't need/want peotected. And it isn't anyone's right, no matter how right they are, to force their will on someone else who doesn't want it.

ctrlFrequency wrote:The hero now doesn't just beat the crap out of everyone bad. Partly because right and wrong are not so simple, and people who were heroes in the past forced their will on others by just beating the crap out of their enemies and forcing others to do what they felt was right ... even if that was not what the others wanted. Which is the whole point of this issue.

Our history is riddled with people who forcefully took over other cultures/countries because they thought they were protecting them. But those cultures/countries didn't need/want peotected. And it isn't anyone's right, no matter how right they are, to force their will on someone else who doesn't want it.

Yes, this here, very much so. Barber has done some fascinating work, along with Scott - Roberts to a minor extent in these terms, as he's busy elsewhere in the universe - on post-colonial, modern international relations, and socio-political status quo, all through the lens of alien 'invaders/saviours'. The Council of worlds, the 'colonies' being more than just appedices, the feelings of displacement and morality that keep getting mixed up.

It's why I'm so fascinated by Soundwave and where his story might go. It's why Megatron currently works very well in MTMTE, it's why Galvatron is so obviously in the wrong about it all. And it feeds the deep seated doubt that Optimus is going through: what right does he have to do any of this?

I think we are all forgetting another little hint: Optimus is not the Optimus he was before combiner wars. Prowl has infected is mind, and some of the stuff that is happening is stuff Prowl would do. Now mind you this may not have helped Optimus had it not happened, but some of his actions can be said to be related to Prowl and his styles

D-Maximus_Primal wrote:I think we are all forgetting another little hint: Optimus is not the Optimus he was before combiner wars. Prowl has infected is mind, and some of the stuff that is happening is stuff Prowl would do. Now mind you this may not have helped Optimus had it not happened, but some of his actions can be said to be related to Prowl and his styles

If Barber and IDW go down the mind-control route again, I will not be a happy Va'al.

Dr Va'al wrote:

D-Maximus_Primal wrote:I think we are all forgetting another little hint: Optimus is not the Optimus he was before combiner wars. Prowl has infected is mind, and some of the stuff that is happening is stuff Prowl would do. Now mind you this may not have helped Optimus had it not happened, but some of his actions can be said to be related to Prowl and his styles

If Barber and IDW go down the mind-control route again, I will not be a happy Va'al.

no no no no no, not mind control.

Remember how the constructicons started speaking in much more unity and stopped being so individual? The personalities blended during the combination process.

the same thing may be happening to Prime. He and Prowl combined, and the combination may have blended the personalities some. It's not mind control so much as it is fusing personalities

D-Maximus_Primal wrote:

Dr Va'al wrote:

D-Maximus_Primal wrote:I think we are all forgetting another little hint: Optimus is not the Optimus he was before combiner wars. Prowl has infected is mind, and some of the stuff that is happening is stuff Prowl would do. Now mind you this may not have helped Optimus had it not happened, but some of his actions can be said to be related to Prowl and his styles

If Barber and IDW go down the mind-control route again, I will not be a happy Va'al.

no no no no no, not mind control.

Remember how the constructicons started speaking in much more unity and stopped being so individual? The personalities blended during the combination process.

the same thing may be happening to Prime. He and Prowl combined, and the combination may have blended the personalities some. It's not mind control so much as it is fusing personalities

Still not happy.

Dr Va'al wrote:

D-Maximus_Primal wrote:

Dr Va'al wrote:

D-Maximus_Primal wrote:I think we are all forgetting another little hint: Optimus is not the Optimus he was before combiner wars. Prowl has infected is mind, and some of the stuff that is happening is stuff Prowl would do. Now mind you this may not have helped Optimus had it not happened, but some of his actions can be said to be related to Prowl and his styles

If Barber and IDW go down the mind-control route again, I will not be a happy Va'al.

no no no no no, not mind control.

Remember how the constructicons started speaking in much more unity and stopped being so individual? The personalities blended during the combination process.

the same thing may be happening to Prime. He and Prowl combined, and the combination may have blended the personalities some. It's not mind control so much as it is fusing personalities

Still not happy.

I wouldn't expect you to be. Mind games are irritating and a bother to understand

With an issue as big as The Transformers #50, from IDW and review on Seibertron.com here, we were bound to get more than one interview with John Barber, the writer of the ongoing and editor of everything else Transformers at the publisher - the following is found on Newsarama, and contains some spoilers from the issue, so keep going only once you've read the issue!

[...] One of the things with Optimus Prime is that he’s a good guy. Like, a really good, powerful, guy. So over the years, he'd sort of had doubt introduced to him in the IDW comic books, where he was a little more hesitating in his actions. As I was writing him, I started to realize he was maybe going down that direction again, and it seemed to me—as a character, from his point of view—he’d want to avoid that.

But at the same time, one of the looming questions has been “what does it mean to be Prime?” Starscream’s ruling Cybertron; Megatron’s an Autobot... Some people see him as a war leader, others see him as a messianic figure... Some ’bots are loyally on his side and will follow him anywhere, and others—old friends—start to doubt him.

[...]

Nrama: As the battle and the main story ended, the issue kicked into another gear with that dream sequence from Optimus. What can you say about that? Is it a premonition? Will some (or all) of it come true?

Barber: Some of Optimus's dream is literally true. Some is symbolic. Some is what he fears. Maybe some is leading him to what he needs to know. And a big part of it recalls an ancient prophesy from the days of the original Primes. Is it Optimus projecting himself onto this old tale? Or is it the prophecy asserting itself onto its object?

[...]

But what really comes next is all of the pieces of this series coming together. The politics of Cybertron, the ancient history of Earth and Cybertron, the relationship with Earth and its giant metal visitors. Optimus Prime, Starscream, Prowl, Arcee, Victorion—all those characters come together. Plus ghost-Bumblebee. Or hallucination-Bumblebee, whatever Starscream is seeing. Even poor dead Bumblebee has a role to play!

D-Maximus_Primal wrote:

Dr Va'al wrote:

D-Maximus_Primal wrote:

Dr Va'al wrote:

D-Maximus_Primal wrote:I think we are all forgetting another little hint: Optimus is not the Optimus he was before combiner wars. Prowl has infected is mind, and some of the stuff that is happening is stuff Prowl would do. Now mind you this may not have helped Optimus had it not happened, but some of his actions can be said to be related to Prowl and his styles

If Barber and IDW go down the mind-control route again, I will not be a happy Va'al.

no no no no no, not mind control.

Remember how the constructicons started speaking in much more unity and stopped being so individual? The personalities blended during the combination process.

the same thing may be happening to Prime. He and Prowl combined, and the combination may have blended the personalities some. It's not mind control so much as it is fusing personalities

Still not happy.

I wouldn't expect you to be. Mind games are irritating and a bother to understand

Nah, it's just narratively lazy. Just like 'it was all a dream'.

Dr Va'al wrote:
Nah, it's just narratively lazy. Just like 'it was all a dream'.

Sorry for the kinda off topic post but just wondering when did you become a Dr?



But on topic though I really hate dream endings unless if the ending without it is worse.

Optimus having doubt... That is all thanks to Simon Furman. I used to defend Furman but man, after Regeneration One I can't anymore. The guy has never written Optimus Prime well in anything. Personally I love the take on Optimus John has set up. It's new and different and welcoming.

budmaloney wrote:When a sort of closure finally comes, it passes by so fast and so nonchalantly that it didn't feel worth it.

"All this for...this? That's the "big" move he made?"

questions like this keep popping up

It's definitely components of fatigue. This issue just felt bland to me. Lots of you are saying it's great etc. I want to resonate with that. Just the constant teasing and "to be continued" and repetitive mystery has become exhausting.

I'm actually on board with you on this one. I try to look past the hype, they want to sell these books after all, but it's hard to not buy into it. I've actually had this feeling about RiD since the end of the second arc, when there's a legit twist and interesting stuff happening then, oh, Megatron came back and "It was me all along!" came into play. Dark Cybertron did pretty well with it, the problem was more the road to getting there being "eh". But then after that, it's kinda been one long build up to more long build up to... what, exactly?

As much as I hate crossovers, I can see one upcoming. Or at the very least, some MTMTE characters might have reason other than "sell combiner toys" to come over to this book, and that could help. Our Lost Light crew might survive their encounter with Tarn's Army, but beside that, what happens when/if Tarn finds out about Galvatron and Soundwave? What side is right in their minds? Or is the Decepticon Civil War about to be a triple threat?

"What it means to be Prime..."

Boring! What it means to be Prime is something Rodimus would ponder while demolishing Decepticons, not Optimus. While I admit, protecting the Earth against the will of it's inhabitants is something Optimus would do, as shown in Megatron's Master plan pt.2, when Optimus decides to turn the shuttle back around and go back to Earth after being exiled from it, self doubt however, is a very small part of his character.

No one at IDW gets Transformers. Every hack working there tries to rip off the worst elements of G1 season 3 and expand upon it in their dull overpriced comics! I swear if I had to go to a comic shop to pick up this trash I wouldn't waste the gas. The ease of one touch ordering is the only reason why I kept buying these monthly bad fanfics wherein almost all of the Decepticons are either dead or defected and the Autobots are left to fight amongst themselves.

Can someone at IDW please bring back McDonough from Dreamwave to write AUTHENTIC Transformers stories in his own continuity for fans of the original Transformers series? Reading IDWs digital doo doo is like watching a car go over a cliff, explode, and then keep exploding into smaller and smaller pieces. The entire IDW staff should be embarrased of their "work".

Tell us how you REALLY feel

1984forever wrote:"What it means to be Prime..."

Boring! What it means to be Prime is something Rodimus would ponder while demolishing Decepticons, not Optimus. While I admit, protecting the Earth against the will of it's inhabitants is something Optimus would do, as shown in Megatron's Master plan pt.2, when Optimus decides to turn the shuttle back around and go back to Earth after being exiled from it, self doubt however, is a very small part of his character.

No one at IDW gets Transformers. Every hack working there tries to rip off the worst elements of G1 season 3 and expand upon it in their dull overpriced comics! I swear if I had to go to a comic shop to pick up this trash I wouldn't waste the gas. The ease of one touch ordering is the only reason why I kept buying these monthly bad fanfics wherein almost all of the Decepticons are either dead or defected and the Autobots are left to fight amongst themselves.

Can someone at IDW please bring back McDonough from Dreamwave to write AUTHENTIC Transformers stories in his own continuity for fans of the original Transformers series? Reading IDWs digital doo doo is like watching a car go over a cliff, explode, and then keep exploding into smaller and smaller pieces. The entire IDW staff should be embarrased of their "work".

You lost credibility the moment you said Dreamwave and good in the same sentence.

It seems that your the only one here who doesn't get Transformers at least outside of 1984 which was a long time ago.

The only one who should be embarrassed is you since every comment of yours on here is just a long rant about what you don't like while also mixing up facts with your opinion if you don't like Transformers now your never going to like it because it's not going to change Transformers is just not for you and probably never will be.

Sorry 1984. While I I agree that some elements of THE optimus prime that I love and miss is lacking in recent comics, and while I do enjoy the Dreamwave transformers comics (despite personal issues and problems that some people have with its owners-mind you. It's like saying all Dreamwave artists are all bad, i.e., Don Figueroa is phenomenal), I wouldn't go so far as saying everything IDW is bad. Me not liking the direction the Recent books, doesn't make everything IDW does is bad. I love Sciola's transformers vs gi Joe. I just hope Optimus goes back to being his heroic godly self again Leave the doubts and and the indecision to new leaders, like Bumblebee, or b rated charactes to be explored. And stop it with the Megatron being an autobot. "Megaton does not yield...he conquers!"

Come on Mr. David Kay. Say the last line for me.

Through space and time, past, present, and future. My fate is of my own.
Humans, Cybertronians, Nebulans, when in my presence, remember one thing.
"Megaton does not yield. He conquers!"

President-prime wrote:Sorry 1984. While I I agree that some elements of THE optimus prime that I love and miss is lacking in recent comics, and while I do enjoy the Dreamwave transformers comics (despite personal issues and problems that some people have with its owners-mind you. It's like saying all Dreamwave artists are all bad, i.e., Don Figueroa is phenomenal), I wouldn't go so far as saying everything IDW is bad. Me not liking the direction the Recent books, doesn't make everything IDW does is bad. I love Sciola's transformers vs gi Joe. I just hope Optimus goes back to being his heroic godly self again Leave the doubts and and the indecision to new leaders, like Bumblebee, or b rated charactes to be explored. And stop it with the Megatron being an autobot. "Megaton does not yield...he conquers!"

It's Forever1984 He likes nothing outside of the first two years of transformers and Dreamwave of all things.

Nothing anyone says is going to get to him.

The year 1984 never happened. It was all a dream(wave), drawn by Pat Lee in a love letter to Rob Liefeld.