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Preview for Transformers '84 Secrets and Lies #4 and Cover Details from Casey Coller and Nick Roche

Transformers News: Preview for Transformers '84 Secrets and Lies #4 and Cover Details from Casey Coller and Nick Roche

Tuesday, October 27th, 2020 12:04PM CDT

Category: Comic Book News
Posted by: william-james88   Views: 46,349

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We have a new preview from IDW for the upcoming fourth issue of Transformers '84 Secrets and Lies. You can see it below. We also have the covers from Casey Coller and Nick Roche along with the line art.

(W) Simon Furman (A/CA) Guido Guidi
In Shops: Oct 28, 2020
SRP: $3.99

The epic conclusion to Secrets and Lies! On Earth, Grimlock stands alone against… Megatron?

Meanwhile, on Cybertron, The Wreckers take on their very first mission! The secret history of Earth and Cybertron is revealed!


Transformers News: Preview for Transformers '84 Secrets and Lies #4 and Cover Details from Casey Coller and Nick Roche

Transformers News: Preview for Transformers '84 Secrets and Lies #4 and Cover Details from Casey Coller and Nick Roche

Transformers News: Preview for Transformers '84 Secrets and Lies #4 and Cover Details from Casey Coller and Nick Roche

Transformers News: Preview for Transformers '84 Secrets and Lies #4 and Cover Details from Casey Coller and Nick Roche

Transformers News: Preview for Transformers '84 Secrets and Lies #4 and Cover Details from Casey Coller and Nick Roche

Transformers News: Preview for Transformers '84 Secrets and Lies #4 and Cover Details from Casey Coller and Nick Roche

Transformers News: Preview for Transformers '84 Secrets and Lies #4 and Cover Details from Casey Coller and Nick Roche

Transformers News: Preview for Transformers '84 Secrets and Lies #4 and Cover Details from Casey Coller and Nick Roche

Transformers News: Preview for Transformers '84 Secrets and Lies #4 and Cover Details from Casey Coller and Nick Roche

Transformers News: Preview for Transformers '84 Secrets and Lies #4 and Cover Details from Casey Coller and Nick Roche

Transformers News: Preview for Transformers '84 Secrets and Lies #4 and Cover Details from Casey Coller and Nick Roche
Credit(s): IDW

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Re: Preview for Transformers '84 Secrets and Lies #4 and Cover Details from Casey Coller and Nick Roche (2085329)
Posted by Rodimus Prime on October 27th, 2020 @ 12:34pm CDT
Hell. Yes. I've been waiting for this for a while now. Hopefully it doesn't get ruined with unnecessary fanwank like last issue did.
Re: Preview for Transformers '84 Secrets and Lies #4 and Cover Details from Casey Coller and Nick Roche (2085641)
Posted by ScottyP on October 30th, 2020 @ 10:09am CDT
Our dog passed away on Monday so I didn't have it in me to do any reviews this week.

TF 84 4 was a pretty big let down though. Furman wrote himself into a corner with the Grimlock vs Auntie Megatron battle, took the cheapest way out possible and I was so disappointed. Great art and the Wreckers stuff was fun enough, but overall a lousy ending to what had been a pretty cool mini-series.
Re: Preview for Transformers '84 Secrets and Lies #4 and Cover Details from Casey Coller and Nick Roche (2085643)
Posted by Sabrblade on October 30th, 2020 @ 10:19am CDT
What was even the point of the Coneheads being on Earth? Why did Furman put them on the Nemesis in the first place? They could have remained on Cybertron with Straxus with little to no consequences.

Honestly, the only important thing they do when on Earth is let Grimlock know about Megatron's antimatter. Is that why Furman put them there? To have someone there to tell Grimlock about it?

And what about the Autobots that AUNTIE reactivated last issue? They're still up and about outside of the Ark in this issue, but their fates are left unresolved.

(None of these are spoilers since they're all given in the 5-page preview)
Re: Preview for Transformers '84 Secrets and Lies #4 and Cover Details from Casey Coller and Nick Roche (2085644)
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on October 30th, 2020 @ 10:23am CDT
If anything the biggest disappointment for me was the setup of Star Saber and Deathsaurus, but they did almost nothing
Re: Preview for Transformers '84 Secrets and Lies #4 and Cover Details from Casey Coller and Nick Roche (2085676)
Posted by ScottyP on October 30th, 2020 @ 7:10pm CDT
Sabrblade wrote:Honestly, the only important thing they do when on Earth is let Grimlock know about Megatron's antimatter. Is that why Furman put them there? To have someone there to tell Grimlock about it?
In the commentary at the end he mentions how Megatron's connection to anti-matter isn't used enough in TF fiction. It was almost verbatim to what Roberts says in one of the TF UK commentaries, which came before he used it himself in MTMTE. My theory? He was just keeping up with the Joneses. Or Robertses.

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:If anything the biggest disappointment for me was the setup of Star Saber and Deathsaurus, but they did almost nothing
100% agreed. Cool to see them but I don't get it now


I worry that this is continuing/getting converted to an ongoing and that's why this ending felt incomplete and abrupt. I was fine with it as a mini-series!
Re: Preview for Transformers '84 Secrets and Lies #4 and Cover Details from Casey Coller and Nick Roche (2085712)
Posted by Sabrblade on October 30th, 2020 @ 10:51pm CDT
ScottyP wrote:
Sabrblade wrote:Honestly, the only important thing they do when on Earth is let Grimlock know about Megatron's antimatter. Is that why Furman put them there? To have someone there to tell Grimlock about it?
In the commentary at the end he mentions how Megatron's connection to anti-matter isn't used enough in TF fiction. It was almost verbatim to what Roberts says in one of the TF UK commentaries, which came before he used it himself in MTMTE. My theory? He was just keeping up with the Joneses. Or Robertses.
But that still doesn't answer my question. Why did Furman put the Coneheads on the Nemesis (especially when they were never indicated to have ever boarded that ship in the first place back in the Marvel Comics) and bring them to Earth at all if they were only just going to get sent right back to Cybertron so quickly?

Furman might as well have just left the Coneheads on Cybertron, period.
Re: Preview for Transformers '84 Secrets and Lies #4 and Cover Details from Casey Coller and Nick Roche (2085715)
Posted by Rodimus Prime on October 31st, 2020 @ 1:33am CDT
My suggestion would be to promote the release of the ER 2-pack, but the timing is off for that, so the best guess I can take is a tie-in for the figures now in-hand. That, plus the fact that they didn't do a lot in the original run, so it gives them something to do.

As for Deathsaurus and Star Saber, I said it before and I'll say it again: they had no business in this comic whatsoever. They were never in the original US version, and it was just a waste of panel space to put them in. That space should have gone to Straxus or Thunderwing. Same with the Wreckers. They were a UK-only concept and should have been kept that way. This was my main gripe with Regeneration One as well, but in that story I at least got satisfaction by enjoying Springer's execution.

It's obvious Furman has lost a step or 2 as far as storytelling goes and his attempts to shoehorn characters and concepts that weren't in the original US Marvel comic is both annoying and kinda pathetic. Unfortunately I couldn't help myself in following this story and purchasing the issues because even with all its faults it's still better than the current ongoing, not to mention the gorgeous Guidi art that blows away anything else being produced. That's the best part. My opinion only, of course.
Re: Preview for Transformers '84 Secrets and Lies #4 and Cover Details from Casey Coller and Nick Roche (2085730)
Posted by Sabrblade on October 31st, 2020 @ 9:13am CDT
Rodimus Prime wrote:My suggestion would be to promote the release of the ER 2-pack, but the timing is off for that, so the best guess I can take is a tie-in for the figures now in-hand. That, plus the fact that they didn't do a lot in the original run, so it gives them something to do.
But they still didn't do anything, except get their butts kicked by Shockwave and Grimlock.

Their role was completely pointless.
Re: Preview for Transformers '84 Secrets and Lies #4 and Cover Details from Casey Coller and Nick Roche (2085761)
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on October 31st, 2020 @ 8:39pm CDT
I am probably one of the few, but I loved ReGen1. That was a fun comic. This felt like they were trying to capture that same feel and story in the early days of the war instead of after, but they didn't succeed in sticking the landing
Re: Preview for Transformers '84 Secrets and Lies #4 and Cover Details from Casey Coller and Nick Roche (2085771)
Posted by Sabrblade on October 31st, 2020 @ 11:24pm CDT
I wish they had used Guido's art in ReG1 like they used in here. It feels more like the classic Marvel art than what ReG1 used (ironically, since ReG1 used artists from the classic Marvel run).
Re: Preview for Transformers '84 Secrets and Lies #4 and Cover Details from Casey Coller and Nick Roche (2085813)
Posted by partholon on November 1st, 2020 @ 10:52am CST
well thanks to covid i had to sail the high seas to read this one. (issue 4)

TBH the whole series now feels like a "test" for potential spin off series set in the "middle years" period.

which in fairness i'd be ok with if the same team is involved (bar the "dot matix" colouring effect which is annoying the hell out of me now. john paul is a BRILLIANT colourist as it is so at least let him colour to 80s UK level - which was far superior to the US one of the time)

its the only thing that makes sense of the introduction of deathsaurus and star sabre - beyond fan service that is.

personally i'd love the idea of an ongoing set then .

on this issue have to commend the portrayal of abominus. it was RIGHT out of the headmasters mini on the art front. well done guido. im actually not against cybertronian combiners as theres precedent in the aformentioned headmasters mini and theres no reason to think the tech couldnt have been perfected in the 4mil years the ark was on earth.

its just a shame its sooooo CLOSE to when shockers was still active.

but anyway getting back to the issue. this really didnt end well for me. maybe sommat happened in editorial to leave the ending we got (spin off?) i certainly cant see grimlock just topping himself for al intents and purposes.

all in all the messiest ending of a furman comice ive seen.

i dunno.

STILL . the best TF comic out there though. saddly.
Re: Preview for Transformers '84 Secrets and Lies #4 and Cover Details from Casey Coller and Nick Roche (2085823)
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on November 1st, 2020 @ 12:11pm CST
Sabrblade wrote:I wish they had used Guido's art in ReG1 like they used in here. It feels more like the classic Marvel art than what ReG1 used (ironically, since ReG1 used artists from the classic Marvel run).

I actually preferred the RG1 art too, it spoke more to me, I just liked it more
Re: Preview for Transformers '84 Secrets and Lies #4 and Cover Details from Casey Coller and Nick Roche (2085825)
Posted by Sabrblade on November 1st, 2020 @ 12:17pm CST
D-Maximal_Primal wrote:
Sabrblade wrote:I wish they had used Guido's art in ReG1 like they used in here. It feels more like the classic Marvel art than what ReG1 used (ironically, since ReG1 used artists from the classic Marvel run).

I actually preferred the RG1 art too, it spoke more to me, I just liked it more
That's not what I said.
Re: Preview for Transformers '84 Secrets and Lies #4 and Cover Details from Casey Coller and Nick Roche (2085850)
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on November 1st, 2020 @ 7:53pm CST
Sabrblade wrote:
D-Maximal_Primal wrote:
Sabrblade wrote:I wish they had used Guido's art in ReG1 like they used in here. It feels more like the classic Marvel art than what ReG1 used (ironically, since ReG1 used artists from the classic Marvel run).

I actually preferred the RG1 art too, it spoke more to me, I just liked it more
That's not what I said.

You worded that very confusingly.

Either way, RG1 was my preferred of the 2 art styles, this wasn't as nice
Re: Preview for Transformers '84 Secrets and Lies #4 and Cover Details from Casey Coller and Nick Roche (2085870)
Posted by ScottyP on November 2nd, 2020 @ 6:52am CST
partholon wrote:all in all the messiest ending of a furman comice ive seen.

i dunno.

STILL . the best TF comic out there though. saddly.
Botanica was messier. I like Botanica and Beast Machines but RG1's ending was a real slop imo. With you on this being the best TF comic during its run but it wasn't a steep hill to climb.

Rodimus Prime wrote:As for Deathsaurus and Star Saber, I said it before and I'll say it again: they had no business in this comic whatsoever.
Given the end result, totally agreed. I'd guess he wanted to use them after getting to do something with them in Earth Wars, but the lack of planned toys may have been a factor for editorial to want to limit their presence. Could have still done the shot of Magnus, Maximus and Saber in issue 4 without Star Saber needing to show up earlier, we'd all have followed.
Re: Preview for Transformers '84 Secrets and Lies #4 and Cover Details from Casey Coller and Nick Roche (2085999)
Posted by Rodimus Prime on November 4th, 2020 @ 4:12am CST
Sabrblade wrote:
Rodimus Prime wrote:My suggestion would be to promote the release of the ER 2-pack, but the timing is off for that, so the best guess I can take is a tie-in for the figures now in-hand. That, plus the fact that they didn't do a lot in the original run, so it gives them something to do.
But they still didn't do anything, except get their butts kicked by Shockwave and Grimlock.

Their role was completely pointless.

Well, the title of this story is Secrets&Lies, and they did keep the location of the Ark a secret for all that time. So I guess that's the point of them being there. Otherwise the only ones who know are Straxus and Punch/Counterpunch. So really the only ones who lived up to the title were Shockwave, before he got taken out by the Dinobots, P/CP, Straxus and the Coneheads. And of course the original secret by Optimus Prime, from the prequel, that their mission was really a suicide run to get Megatron away from Cybertron at all costs. And maybe the fact that Grimlock pretty much tried to commit suicide at the end...?

Assuming we won't get any other stories like this, which I hope we do, there's 1 glaring continuity hole I won't forget. In issue 1 of the original Marvel comic, all the Bots and Cons wake up inside the Ark, including Megatron. But at the end of this story, Megatron drops outside. How does his body get back inside the Ark?
Re: Preview for Transformers '84 Secrets and Lies #4 and Cover Details from Casey Coller and Nick Roche (2086006)
Posted by Sabrblade on November 4th, 2020 @ 8:10am CST
Rodimus Prime wrote:Assuming we won't get any other stories like this, which I hope we do, there's 1 glaring continuity hole I won't forget. In issue 1 of the original Marvel comic, all the Bots and Cons wake up inside the Ark, including Megatron. But at the end of this story, Megatron drops outside. How does his body get back inside the Ark?
Yeah, and the other Autobots AUNTIE awoke are still outside too. They all gotta get put back inside the Ark (and destroyed again in the Autobots' case), but they were all left unaccounted for.
Re: Preview for Transformers '84 Secrets and Lies #4 and Cover Details from Casey Coller and Nick Roche (2086083)
Posted by Rodimus Prime on November 4th, 2020 @ 5:31pm CST
Sabrblade wrote:
Rodimus Prime wrote:Assuming we won't get any other stories like this, which I hope we do, there's 1 glaring continuity hole I won't forget. In issue 1 of the original Marvel comic, all the Bots and Cons wake up inside the Ark, including Megatron. But at the end of this story, Megatron drops outside. How does his body get back inside the Ark?
Yeah, and the other Autobots AUNTIE awoke are still outside too. They all gotta get put back inside the Ark (and destroyed again in the Autobots' case), but they were all left unaccounted for.
Like I said, Furman has lost a couple of steps in the last 25 years.
Re: Preview for Transformers '84 Secrets and Lies #4 and Cover Details from Casey Coller and Nick Roche (2088859)
Posted by ZeldaTheSwordsman on December 4th, 2020 @ 10:11pm CST
Another big continuity issue with this series, judging by TFWiki, is that it screws with "Man of Iron" even as it tries to set it up.

Furman bringing the Wreckers in shouldn't be a surprise - they're his pet unit, and the 2005-2018 IDW comic (which in some ways he seems to have forgot he wasn't writing here) dragged them into the U.S. spotlight. And I'm pretty sure he was trying to better reconcile the US and UK comics, especially since the UK comic - which he was the main writer for and which had 252 more issues - gave several characters a lot more page-time and fleshing-out than the US one did.

Of course, IMO trying to fix-fic the Marvel comics is an exercise futility regardless unless they're willing to completely overwrite (or otherwise somehow deal with) the festering mold stain on the entire lot that is "Afterdeath." Especially if they're going to try to go all IDW-gritty with Optimus like they did here.
Re: Preview for Transformers '84 Secrets and Lies #4 and Cover Details from Casey Coller and Nick Roche (2088864)
Posted by Sabrblade on December 4th, 2020 @ 10:59pm CST
ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:Another big continuity issue with this series, judging by TFWiki, is that it screws with "Man of Iron" even as it tries to set it up.
Erm, you're thinking of the one-shot "Transformers '84" issue. This spinoff series, "Secrets & Lies", didn't touch upon the stuff from "Man of Iron".

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:Furman bringing the Wreckers in shouldn't be a surprise - they're his pet unit, and the 2005-2018 IDW comic (which in some ways he seems to have forgot he wasn't writing here) dragged them into the U.S. spotlight.
Right, the Wreckers weren't much of an issue here. If anything, this series shows how they came to be the Wreckers, which is fine since the Wreckers were already a group by the time of "Target: 2006".

With that said, however...
ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:And I'm pretty sure he was trying to better reconcile the US and UK comics, especially since the UK comic - which he was the main writer for and which had 252 more issues - gave several characters a lot more page-time and fleshing-out than the US one did.
Except, that's not what he did in this case. If anything, he overrode the continuity of the UK comics with this series as, back in the pages of "Target: 2006", he wrote a back-up story called "Cybertron: The Middle Years!" in which he told a summary of events that happened on Cybertron during the 4-million-year time gap between the Ark's crash-landing on Earth and its occuprants awakening in the 80s.

In that story, Furman told of a Decepticon warlord named Trannis who rose to power in Megatron's absence and brought the Autobots to their knees. He was eventually succeeded by Straxus. "Secrets & Lies", however, completely throws all of that out the window, ignoring Trannis entirely to instead put Straxus, Scorponok, and Thunderwing all in power right away.

In his commentary pages, Furman even acts like he's treating the US and UK comics as separate continuities. One such example is when, in two of his commentaries, he says that he included Scourge and Cyclonus in this series because of how they appeared in the old Headmasters mini-series with no backstory for either. But, in his own UK issues, he did give them a backstory that made them the same Scourge and Cyclonus created by Unicron in the future, after they got sent back in time to join up with Scorponok and become Targetmasters on Nebulos.

Yet, in this series, Furman put them on four-million-year-old Cybertron because of the Headmasters mini giving them no backstory, so he chose to actively ignore what he had written before in the UK comics and regard them as separate from the US ones. >:oP
Re: Preview for Transformers '84 Secrets and Lies #4 and Cover Details from Casey Coller and Nick Roche (2088866)
Posted by Rodimus Prime on December 5th, 2020 @ 12:05am CST
Well, even if it was the 1-shot that dealt with Man of Iron, isn't it still a part of the TF '84 sub-story? I don't think we can consider this a new continuity, it is specified that the events are shoehorned into the G1 Marvel continuity to take place while the Ark and it's occupants are dormant. Personally, when I read the series again in the near future, I'll read the 1st 4 issues, then read the TF '84 sub-story, then pick up with issue #5.

I would love a comic series (miniseries or regular length) that is set on Cybertron in the past, starring Maximus and Scorponok, as well as Straxus and the resistance group headed by Preceptor that includes Blaster and the others from US issues 17 and 18.

No Wreckers, please. I never liked them. They didn't need to be brought into the US series in either Secrets & Lies or in Regeneration One. Neither did Star Saber and Deathsaurus. Completely pointless.

As I said before, Furman has lost a couple of steps creatively in the last 15 years, but I still prefer his work to both Roberts and the current IDW series.
Re: Preview for Transformers '84 Secrets and Lies #4 and Cover Details from Casey Coller and Nick Roche (2090076)
Posted by commander shockwav on December 16th, 2020 @ 7:48pm CST
Well, this thing started as one of the best Transformers issues I've read since my days as a teenager over thirty years ago (and for that, Simon and Guido, I will be forever grateful) but quickly devolved over the next three issues into something akin to a train wreck. It's like Furman wanted to take those early stories which, in my case anyway, were the very foundation of what got me into Transformers, and deface them like Runamock and Runabout did to the Statue of Liberty in one of those early Marvel run issues. This series ended so...pointless and helter-skelter. Seemed like Simon just wanted to take everything that came later and shoehorn it in there somehow, even if it added nothing to the story.

And is it just me or does Simon hate Budiansky Blaster, who was one of the classic TF characters of all time? Not a hint of the guy in this like I was hoping. Probably better he was left unspoiled.

But Guido's art? Oh man, how he can take us back! I almost shed a tear.
Re: Preview for Transformers '84 Secrets and Lies #4 and Cover Details from Casey Coller and Nick Roche (2090089)
Posted by Sabrblade on December 16th, 2020 @ 11:00pm CST
I have to wonder the whole Decepticon Skyfire thing (which was itself very unnecessary) was done to appease a Hasbro request to advertise the Commander class Jetfire toy and its faction-changing gimmick.
Re: Preview for Transformers '84 Secrets and Lies #4 and Cover Details from Casey Coller and Nick Roche (2090098)
Posted by Rodimus Prime on December 17th, 2020 @ 5:40am CST
Sabrblade wrote:I have to wonder the whole Decepticon Skyfire thing (which was itself very unnecessary) was done to appease a Hasbro request to advertise the Commander class Jetfire toy and its faction-changing gimmick.
Most likely, but that part of the story fit in fairly seamlessly. It was some of the other plot points that were unnecessary and out of place, seemed to be forced in, most obviously Deathsaurus and Star Saber. No point to their inclusion at all.
Re: Preview for Transformers '84 Secrets and Lies #4 and Cover Details from Casey Coller and Nick Roche (2090120)
Posted by Sabrblade on December 17th, 2020 @ 9:03am CST
Rodimus Prime wrote:
Sabrblade wrote:I have to wonder the whole Decepticon Skyfire thing (which was itself very unnecessary) was done to appease a Hasbro request to advertise the Commander class Jetfire toy and its faction-changing gimmick.
Most likely, but that part of the story fit in fairly seamlessly.
Except now it creates an awkward-in-hindsight disconnect between him and his former Decepticon comrades when he is later "resurrected" as Jetfire and turned into an Autobot. As in, none of them ever seem to remember his time as Skyfire and none of the Decepticons ever call him out for switching sides (because it didn't originally happen, but now that did, this lack of acknowledgement in the original run feels like something is missing).
Re: Preview for Transformers '84 Secrets and Lies #4 and Cover Details from Casey Coller and Nick Roche (2090134)
Posted by Rodimus Prime on December 17th, 2020 @ 2:12pm CST
Sabrblade wrote:
Rodimus Prime wrote:
Sabrblade wrote:I have to wonder the whole Decepticon Skyfire thing (which was itself very unnecessary) was done to appease a Hasbro request to advertise the Commander class Jetfire toy and its faction-changing gimmick.
Most likely, but that part of the story fit in fairly seamlessly.
Except now it creates an awkward-in-hindsight disconnect between him and his former Decepticon comrades when he is later "resurrected" as Jetfire and turned into an Autobot. As in, none of them ever seem to remember his time as Skyfire and none of the Decepticons ever call him out for switching sides (because it didn't originally happen, but now that did, this lack of acknowledgement in the original run feels like something is missing).
Technically when Shockwave resurrected him (instead of created him as it was originally) he was a Decepticon, if only in programming. So does that mean he was not really alive yet, until he was infused with the Creation Matrix, considering his spark was destroyed in TF'84? If he was, then he consciously switched sides in the original comics, and wasn't called on it. So the awkwardness you speak of was already there before the backstory was added.
Re: Preview for Transformers '84 Secrets and Lies #4 and Cover Details from Casey Coller and Nick Roche (2090135)
Posted by Sabrblade on December 17th, 2020 @ 2:24pm CST
Rodimus Prime wrote:
Sabrblade wrote:
Rodimus Prime wrote:
Sabrblade wrote:I have to wonder the whole Decepticon Skyfire thing (which was itself very unnecessary) was done to appease a Hasbro request to advertise the Commander class Jetfire toy and its faction-changing gimmick.
Most likely, but that part of the story fit in fairly seamlessly.
Except now it creates an awkward-in-hindsight disconnect between him and his former Decepticon comrades when he is later "resurrected" as Jetfire and turned into an Autobot. As in, none of them ever seem to remember his time as Skyfire and none of the Decepticons ever call him out for switching sides (because it didn't originally happen, but now that did, this lack of acknowledgement in the original run feels like something is missing).
Technically when Shockwave resurrected him (instead of created him as it was originally) he was a Decepticon, if only in programming. So does that mean he was not really alive yet, until he was infused with the Creation Matrix, considering his spark was destroyed in TF'84? If he was, then he consciously switched sides in the original comics, and wasn't called on it. So the awkwardness you speak of was already there before the backstory was added.
Yes, but less so since he was only just created for the first time and didn't get to interact that much with his then-fellow Decepticons. But with the added backstory showing his history of working with the other Decepticons, the awkwardness is increased beyond its original extent.
Re: Preview for Transformers '84 Secrets and Lies #4 and Cover Details from Casey Coller and Nick Roche (2090727)
Posted by ZeldaTheSwordsman on December 26th, 2020 @ 5:26pm CST
@Sabrblade Thank you for the corrections. However, as Rodimus points out that one-shot is still part of Transformers '84.

I personally think that Furman is self-plagiarizing from his Dreamwave days with the Skyfire-Shockwave thing. And pairing them up is itself a callback to the original Jetfire vs. Shockwave ad from 1985.

Rodimus, if there's Furman there's going to be Wreckers. They've been his pet idea as a unit since their inception and he's never going to stop using them unless threatened with cancellation.

I stand by my statement that there still needs to be some serious lifting or overwriting to deal with the mess that is "Afterdeath" for any of this to be worthwhile.
Re: Preview for Transformers '84 Secrets and Lies #4 and Cover Details from Casey Coller and Nick Roche (2090758)
Posted by Rodimus Prime on December 27th, 2020 @ 1:59am CST
ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:I personally think that Furman is self-plagiarizing from his Dreamwave days with the Skyfire-Shockwave thing. And pairing them up is itself a callback to the original Jetfire vs. Shockwave ad from 1985.
Regardless of its origins, I still think it's a good dynamic and should be used as a basis for a story. Too bad Furman didn't take it any further. He could have written the whole 4-issue miniseries about these 2 having history together. But of course the needless fanservicing with the Wreckers and Deathsaurus and Star Saber had to take up page space.
Rodimus, if there's Furman there's going to be Wreckers. They've been his pet idea as a unit since their inception and he's never going to stop using them unless threatened with cancellation.
Whatever it takes. The wreckers is a crappy concept involving some decent characters who would be better off.
I stand by my statement that there still needs to be some serious lifting or overwriting to deal with the mess that is "Afterdeath" for any of this to be worthwhile.
Is it just the ridiculousness of Optimus's consciousness being stored on a freaking floppy disk that bothers you, or is it the whole issue? Because the battle against the Combaticons was there to serve as a lesson in the value of teamwork and compassion.
Re: Preview for Transformers '84 Secrets and Lies #4 and Cover Details from Casey Coller and Nick Roche (2090761)
Posted by ZeldaTheSwordsman on December 27th, 2020 @ 4:14am CST
Rodimus Prime wrote:Whatever it takes. The wreckers is a crappy concept involving some decent characters who would be better off.
What bothers you so much about the Wreckers as a concept?

Rodimus Prime wrote:Is it just the ridiculousness of Optimus's consciousness being stored on a freaking floppy disk that bothers you, or is it the whole issue? Because the battle against the Combaticons was there to serve as a lesson in the value of teamwork and compassion.
It's the ridiculousness of Optimus committing suicide over accidentally killing video game NPCs. And Ethan Zachary just going along with it.
That trainwreck is the hideous, godawful mold stain on the plot that keeps me from enjoying the Marvel continuities.

Unless that's fixed, whether through overwriting or SEVERE recontextualizing, nothing else ultimately matters.
And Furman is especially going to have to fix that mess if he's going to portray Optimus as so determined to keep Megatron out of the game at any cost that he stasis-locks himself and his own crew and has a contingency order that anyone who tries to unbury them be assassinated.
Re: Preview for Transformers '84 Secrets and Lies #4 and Cover Details from Casey Coller and Nick Roche (2090766)
Posted by Sabrblade on December 27th, 2020 @ 9:58am CST
Yeah, Marvel G1 has probably the worst Optimus Prime death ever put to paper.

But, I think it kinda balances out since Furman later gave it one of the best Optimus Prime deaths ever in Issue 75.
Re: Preview for Transformers '84 Secrets and Lies #4 and Cover Details from Casey Coller and Nick Roche (2090784)
Posted by Rodimus Prime on December 27th, 2020 @ 3:48pm CST
Sabrblade wrote:Yeah, Marvel G1 has probably the worst Optimus Prime death ever put to paper.

But, I think it kinda balances out since Furman later gave it one of the best Optimus Prime deaths ever in Issue 75.
I was never a big fan of Prime for his many (and mostly bafflingly stupid) deaths, it makes him seem like an ineffective leader at best and a suicidal/homicidal emo at worst. Either way, not an inspiring character.

However, his death sequence against Unicron all hut redeems him, even though he did it without any second thoughts whatsoever, which I guess is supposed to point toward his complete selflessness, but to me is just another sign of his desire to kill himself. But what got me is the opening pages of issue 76, where he uses his last words to try to bring Prowl and Grimlock together for the betterment of the Autobots.

...and then he comes back 4 issues later.

Again.

As for my hatred for the wreckers, it's not so much as the characters themselves, it's that their grouping is unnecessary. The Transformers already had quite a few groups (Dinobots, gestalt teams) that could have used that type of characterization, and could have gotten more page space. Both in the original and in TF'84. The only thing should have been lost had 1 of the other groups were written as the Wreckers were was them constantly losing and replacing members.
Re: Preview for Transformers '84 Secrets and Lies #4 and Cover Details from Casey Coller and Nick Roche (2090792)
Posted by Sabrblade on December 27th, 2020 @ 6:24pm CST
Rodimus Prime wrote:...and then he comes back 4 issues later.

Again.
For that, you can thank both the higher ups at Marvel canceling the series prematurely, and the folks at Hasbro wanting the comic to advertise Action Master Optimus before its rushed end.

Though, it's Furman I blame for not using Regeneration One to actually do what he was originally going to do before the original comic's cancelation, instead using it to do other things completely unrelated to the next big storyline Furman had in mind post-Unicron.
Re: Preview for Transformers '84 Secrets and Lies #4 and Cover Details from Casey Coller and Nick Roche (2090828)
Posted by Rodimus Prime on December 28th, 2020 @ 1:01pm CST
Sabrblade wrote:Though, it's Furman I blame for not using Regeneration One to actually do what he was originally going to do before the original comic's cancelation, instead using it to do other things completely unrelated to the next big storyline Furman had in mind post-Unicron.
didn't he do that in the G2 comics?

And yes, he should have kept the UK-only characters out of Regeneration 1, considering that he even stated that RG1 will follow the US run only. So again, no wreckers. Magnus I could take or leave. And IMO rehashing the Magnus-Galvatron fight cheapened the original event, even if it was UK-only.
Re: Preview for Transformers '84 Secrets and Lies #4 and Cover Details from Casey Coller and Nick Roche (2090831)
Posted by Sabrblade on December 28th, 2020 @ 1:11pm CST
Rodimus Prime wrote:
Sabrblade wrote:Though, it's Furman I blame for not using Regeneration One to actually do what he was originally going to do before the original comic's cancelation, instead using it to do other things completely unrelated to the next big storyline Furman had in mind post-Unicron.
didn't he do that in the G2 comics?
ReG1 was a second chance to do the proper continuation of the G1 comics that he had wanted to do back in the day (as in, the true full-length quest for the Last Autobot), but he instead chose to write a bunch of other stuff that in no way would he have written for the original series way back then (some of which was even just a retread of the G2 comics).
Re: Preview for Transformers '84 Secrets and Lies #4 and Cover Details from Casey Coller and Nick Roche (2090836)
Posted by Rodimus Prime on December 28th, 2020 @ 1:25pm CST
Sabrblade wrote:
Rodimus Prime wrote:
Sabrblade wrote:Though, it's Furman I blame for not using Regeneration One to actually do what he was originally going to do before the original comic's cancelation, instead using it to do other things completely unrelated to the next big storyline Furman had in mind post-Unicron.
didn't he do that in the G2 comics?
ReG1 was a second chance to do the proper continuation of the G1 comics that he had wanted to do back in the day (as in, the true full-length quest for the Last Autobot), but he instead chose to write a bunch of other stuff that in no way would he have written for the original series way back then (some of which was even just a retread of the G2 comics).
Yes it was. As I said before, he has lost a couple of steps since the Dreamwave days. Or maybe he was just lazy and thought he could cover it up by changing a few characters and events around.
Re: Preview for Transformers '84 Secrets and Lies #4 and Cover Details from Casey Coller and Nick Roche (2090885)
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on December 29th, 2020 @ 9:08am CST
I'm just gonna be that guy and say I like reading Wreckers stories and also enjoyed RG1. I had basic understanding of Marvel G1 when I bought and read all of RG1 in one go, and I enjoyed it pretty much in its entirety.
Re: Preview for Transformers '84 Secrets and Lies #4 and Cover Details from Casey Coller and Nick Roche (2090920)
Posted by Rodimus Prime on December 29th, 2020 @ 12:04pm CST
Well to each his own, no problem with that. I liked RG1 for the most part, only the 2nd arc was underwhelming, while the 3rd was just alright. It started and ended well.

Anyway, I think if Secrets n Lies ever gets more issues, I would like to see stories of Maximus and Scorponok before they starred in the Headmasters miniseries.

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Transformers Podcast: Twincast / Podcast #345 - The Roast
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