Review of IDW Transformers Optimus Prime #23

ZeroWolf wrote:Ouch, IDW has not been kind to Optimus... Good! This take on him as given him the three dimensional take on his character that he sorely needed.

I do like this, because I grow weary of the goody goody two shoes he is usually portrayed as.

The art killed it for me in this issue--the humans looked far too cartoony. Marissa, especially, looked like a teenage girl.

Past that, I can appreciate what they were trying to do, giving all the characters perspectives... but if I have to be honest with myself, I don't really care. If Oiler gets stepped on, I'd probably cheer.

There's a giant monster planet headed their way... get with the program, folks.

I have to be honest here. I have no idea what is going on. Somethings don't make sense to me at all. What is exactly Shockwave's plan? It got so confusing.

budmaloney wrote:I have to be honest here. I have no idea what is going on. Somethings don't make sense to me at all. What is exactly Shockwave's plan? It got so confusing.

In a nutshell:

1) poison the energon of Cybertron
2) unicron eats Cybertron
3) unicron dies
4) shockwave (as onyx prime) takes over galaxy with maximal army.

ZeroWolf wrote:

budmaloney wrote:I have to be honest here. I have no idea what is going on. Somethings don't make sense to me at all. What is exactly Shockwave's plan? It got so confusing.

In a nutshell:

1) poison the energon of Cybertron
2) unicron eats Cybertron
3) unicron dies
4) shockwave (as onyx prime) takes over galaxy with maximal army.

I think you missed a few steps
5) steal all the underwear
6) ???
7) profits

Or maybe I'm mixing up some other story...

ZeroWolf wrote:

budmaloney wrote:I have to be honest here. I have no idea what is going on. Somethings don't make sense to me at all. What is exactly Shockwave's plan? It got so confusing.

In a nutshell:

1) poison the energon of Cybertron
2) unicron eats Cybertron
3) unicron dies
4) shockwave (as onyx prime) takes over galaxy with maximal army.

Wasn't Shockwave attacking with Unicron? Or they were not allies?
Dang Shockwave is a beast.

TF-fan kev777 wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:

budmaloney wrote:I have to be honest here. I have no idea what is going on. Somethings don't make sense to me at all. What is exactly Shockwave's plan? It got so confusing.

In a nutshell:

1) poison the energon of Cybertron
2) unicron eats Cybertron
3) unicron dies
4) shockwave (as onyx prime) takes over galaxy with maximal army.

I think you missed a few steps
5) steal all the underwear
6) ???
7) profits

Or maybe I'm mixing up some other story...

I knew it. that's the purpose of his spider tank mode in Cyberverse. It's a Yoga pose, and only underwear can be flexible enough to support that pose.

Initially shown during the IDW Publishing panel that took place at New York Comic Con 2018 this weekend, the cover for the final issue of ongoing Transformers comics series Optimus Prime - which is also the supposed last issue of the entire narrative universe, after Lost Light 25 and Unicron 6 - has been shared by colourist Josh Burcham on his Twitter account.

The art is by main series artist Kei Zama, and features a close up of the titular character, plus what seems to be every single major player in the series, from Pyra Magna and the Torchbearers, to the Constructicons, via Longtooth, Snarl, Trypticon, Aileron and Arcee, Bludgeon, DOC, the human contingent, the Mistress of Fire, Rum-Maj and Wreck-Gar, Sideswipe, Bumblebee, Alpha Trion, and more! Check it out below.

Til all are done[?]

ScottyP noticed this on the Amazon listing for the OP TPB volume 4:



We are a famous now!

Cover for #25 - Bob the domesticated Insecticon is front and centre!

As news hits of our very own reviews being scooped up by Amazon listing editorial reviews, we also have actual news for next week's upcoming penultimate issue of ongoing Transformers comics series from IDW Publishing, Optimus Prime #24.

The full preview can be first found on regular outlet source Adventures in Poor Taste! here, and the images are mirrored below with the blurb. Take a look, and join the conversation in the Energon Pub discussion board.

Plus: Trivia time, from ScottyP - In the opening pages, Thundercracker is working on a movie based on the (very good) IDW G.I. Joe: Cobra series by Mike Costa. It's not quite an accurate accounting of events, and this makes it a very, very funny page!

YOUTH IN REVOLT! As Unicron approaches, Optimus Prime’s colonist soldiers take matters into their own hands. With Autobot forces spread thin, will anybody stand in their way? And–more importantly–SHOULD anybody stop them?

Bullet points:

– Ties in to the Unicron event!
– Part of the summer of Transformers–all building up to the end of the universe as we know it!
– The penultimate issue before the conclusion you have to see to believe!
– Black & white variant cover by Kei Zama!

are they . . . trying to make Unicron a character? With feelings and motives?

Synopsis
YOUTH IN REVOLT! As Unicron approaches, Optimus Prime’s colonist soldiers take matters into their own hands. With Autobot forces spread thin, will anybody stand in their way? And–more importantly–SHOULD anybody stop them?



Story
We continue, after a fashion, the almost parallel story being told between the Unicron mini-series and the Optimus Prime ongoing, after the latest events in the two series and the splitting up of the stories, as they reconnect in Unicron #5 - the review for which will follow this one, as the story does so in the books. But for OP? Read on below!



The story, or rather stories, that are taking place in this one issue have seemingly little to do with the opening - very funny - scene with Thundercracker retelling events from the GI Joe books. I say seemingly, as the leitmotif of the TF universe has effectively been 'stories are just stories being told in different ways from different storytellers' - and that leads us into, finally, a conclusion to Slide's grief, anger and legitimate (but dragged out) resentment towards Optimus himself.



This latter frame, while needed, can create some confusion on the overall book, as the subsequence of multiple perspective flashbacks and present time retelling of the flashbacks, with a shift into the actual present time actions that follow that retelling... Nonetheless, several of the cast members here, and it's an impressively enormous cast by now, get their character moment, even if just one line, one panel, one frame.



That said, there isn't ..that much happening in the issue overall, though some serious conversations and interactions take place. Which is, again, an odd choice, being so close to the end - with Unicron #5 and #6 continuing this story before we fall into the conclusive issue #25 - and that may not sit well with everyone still along for the final rush to the finish line, despite what good comes from the single moments - such as the final two pages.


Art

On art duties, we find both Andrew Griffith and Sara Pitre Durocher, working more or less in tandem on the different timeframes of the overall story: Griffith has a specific task with Thundercracker, of course, and SPD works particularly well with Jazz and Prowl scenes - but both deliver some excellent panelwork, and the multiple splash pages and spreads are a testimony to their skill, and the synchronicity of their collaboration.



Something that Josh Burcham's colouring work only seems to highlight, as on the first read - bar some obvious exceptions, such as the opening scenes - I wasn't entirely sure on which pages were done by which artist, and that is something the colours have been able to do for the entire series, just even more so here. And I am so very impressed.



Tom B Long doesn't have an easy job of keeping track of the multiple time and story frames, but the story progresses nicely with his help too - and the captions, the colour coding of the stories being told in them, and their placement, ensure that readers are really on board with who's speaking at what moment, and why that matters. Because it does.

As for covers, you can find all three (admittedly two, given the Kei Zama retailer incentive in black and white lineart) in full size in our Vector Sigma Database entry, and the one found in the thumbnail is the Griffith / Joana Lafuente B Cover, with yet again the leitmotif in plain sight.

Thoughts
Spoilerish ahead
If you're looking for a big fight against Unicron, or even under Unicron at this stage, last issue is where you want to look for, as the breather - an odd choice of pacing for an ending series, admittedly - is what we find here. And it may not be John Barber's most political issue overall, but it has some of his most poignant reflections on the themes he's explored so far, from leadership, to community, to tyranny and fascism, via personal loss and anger.



So even with the odd 'breather' pacing issues, I enjoyed the book - but more so on a second read, and I'm glad it's coming out close enough to Unicron #5 as we'd otherwise have too much space of not much happening in the same storyline across two books. Visually, the last Griffith page is magnificent, SPD's Prowl is brutal, and Stardrive is still as great and sharp as she is (/will be) in Unicron #5, with the full force of Prowl's influence on her after a long stint alone.

If I'm being honest, I just want Slide to go away. I've really not enjoyed her character at all, and I find myself grimacing when she's on panel.

I find myself the same way with Stardrive. After how she started, she's a bit too Prowl for me. I like Prowl as he is, but Stardrive as his protege doesn't really work for me.

Can someone tell me why Prowl still has an injured eye? I mean... come on. Dude's like Rung can get their entire head replaced, and characters tend to get new bodies like folks get new sets of clothes. Why can't someone take a few moments and get him a new eye?

Yeah, I know... issue is about loss and fascism and all that stuff. Depression-rama. Our heroes suck, even when they're trying their best. I hope Oiler just gets squished soon.

Black Bumblebee wrote:Can someone tell me why Prowl still has an injured eye? I mean... come on. Dude's like Rung can get their entire head replaced, and characters tend to get new bodies like folks get new sets of clothes. Why can't someone take a few moments and get him a new eye?

Yeah, I know... issue is about loss and fascism and all that stuff. Depression-rama. Our heroes suck, even when they're trying their best. I hope Oiler just gets squished soon.

Oiler died a while ago. Slide is the one still around.

Also, the reason Prowl still doesn’t have his eye is because he’s supposed to mirror Shockwave at this point. That’s why he has the Vamparc Ribbon and is going off to face Shockwave in Unicron #5.

Black Bumblebee wrote:Can someone tell me why Prowl still has an injured eye? I mean... come on. Dude's like Rung can get their entire head replaced, and characters tend to get new bodies like folks get new sets of clothes. Why can't someone take a few moments and get him a new eye?

Prowl's just trying to be cool and edgy

And about Rung, well, based on your post you're not caught up on Lost Light are you? There are reasons and I'll leave it at that!

So..... this Wednesdays issue is it for the current IDWverse, isn't it?

The end of the current Transformers continuity over at IDW is upon us with its final chapter, Optimus Prime 25, coming out this week. The 5 page preview has been found on adventuresinpoortaste.com.

Of course, since this takes place after the finale of the Unicron mini series you may want to read that before looking below since this may spoil that book.

Optimus Prime #25

END OF THE ROAD! The battle is over. Heroes have fallen. Worlds have died. Now Optimus Prime faces his final ordeal–as past, present, and future collide. Who will stand with him? And when it’s all over, who will carry the mantle of “Prime?”

Bullet points:

– Extra-long final issue! Tying together and putting a bow on stories from the past 13 years!
– Ties in to the Unicron event!
– Part of the summer of Transformers–all building up to the end of the universe as we know it!
– Variant cover by Andrew Griffith!

Written by: John Barber
Art by: Kei Zama
Colors by: Casey W. Coller
Letters by: Tom B. Long
Cover A by: Kei Zama
Cover B by: Casey W. Coller
FC • 40 pages • $4.99
Release Date: November 21, 2018

A ceremony that Thundercracker is involved in? I wonder if it's for a film he's been working on... Or if he's going to be naturalized as the first Cybertronian citizen of the United States

Ironhidensh wrote:So..... this Wednesdays issue is it for the current IDWverse, isn't it?

Yep it is.

and I have some thoughts on the end here once his issue comes out, cause there is some stuff I really need to get off my chest about the end

I am gonna miss TFcomics after this :/

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:

Ironhidensh wrote:So..... this Wednesdays issue is it for the current IDWverse, isn't it?

Yep it is.

and I have some thoughts on the end here once his issue comes out, cause there is some stuff I really need to get off my chest about the end

Tuesday Morning: “IDW release date pushed back a week.”

It’s crazy to think, years ago I was just a youngin discovering old Infiltration issues. Me and so many others are devoted to every corner of this universe, it’s character’s, the thought-out lore. Every month we’ve gotten at least one or two issues, so many toys and cartoons have been influenced by this continuity. I feel like most of the fiction we’ll be seeing for a while after this Wednesday will be nothing.

taao

BATTLEMASTER IIC wrote:A ceremony that Thundercracker is involved in? I wonder if it's for a film he's been working on... Or if he's going to be naturalized as the first Cybertronian citizen of the United States

I'm assuming it's either a mass funeral for all who died in the battle with Unicron, or specifically to Optimus.

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:

Ironhidensh wrote:So..... this Wednesdays issue is it for the current IDWverse, isn't it?

Yep it is.

and I have some thoughts on the end here once his issue comes out, cause there is some stuff I really need to get off my chest about the end

I look forward to reading your thoughts D Max, I've enjoyed your reviews and I wish Va'al had stuck around a bit longer for me to tell him the same, I mean I could tweet him but it feels like an odd thing to message out of the blue

My thoughts on the end of this are complicated and I'll have to wait and see what this issue says before I can hope to verbalise them.

Cute idea, to start with the first fiction ever published on Optimus Prime.

There is so much story potential we'll never get to see.

But then, we may speculate.

It all (re)started with "The Death of Optimus Prime". Surprising no one, he wasn't really dead, and not even in a way requiring a true resurrection. The namesake character of this comic series has been defined throughout as both an idea and a character. With the opening pages leading off with the first lines of Bob Budiansky's original Tech Spec for Optimus Prime, you'll immediately recognize that we're starting at the start before we arrive to the end.

Here we are now at the end, with Optimus Prime, 27 (or 24) pages, and one of the longest uninterrupted Transformers stories ever created wrapping up. How did it go? Read on.


This is indeed the end with this issue serving as a final exhale, putting a cap on a good deal of unfinished business. More akin to Lost Light #25 than Unicron #6, Optimus Prime #25 provides final flashbacks and final thoughts with all the big, sweeping, intergalactic action wrapped and over. It was important for more than just Optimus Prime himself to get a last tale and that hope is fulfilled. Arcee, Jazz, Aileron, Rum-Maj, and more I won't mention (just in case you haven't caught up to the end of Unicron) at least get a little something this time out and even if a bit short in some cases, these mini-endings all feel appropriate and help take the characters further if not entirely full circle.


There are flashback scenes dispersed throughout, and the first few of them pay respect to characters wiped out in other Transformers comic series in a fun way that unfortunately did not continue to the end of the book, but this was necessary to carry the issue's story along. It's another way that writer John Barber ensures more characters are around if you need one last goodbye, adding to the emotional weight that ebbs and flows during the course of this installment.


Somewhat similar to horrible tearjerker/fantastic comic book "The Life of Sideswipe", a sense of melancholy carries from page to page, and while it isn't all depressing or mournful something in the tone of the writing shoots pangs of regret. I can't say that there's regret here for certain, but if there is, good luck figuring out if it's about the series ending, where it ended up, or maybe even how the grand experiment of the shared Hasbro Universe followed course. Either way it's another layer to the depth of the book, which some will find more hopeful than wistful even though that doesn't match the mood I received.

A quick, special note is in order to one scene in particular featuring Aileron, Jetfire, Sunstreaker, Bob, and more of a spacefaring team aboard an Autobot shuttle as it travels the unknown and makes a discovery. Well, at least I think it did, and it was a superbly fun touch.


Kei Zama and Josh Burcham finish up this series by handling all the lineart and color work for Optimus Prime #25 and deliver all the striking lines, thick borders, and retro-cool lighting that defines the look of this series. A particularly amazing panel of Ravage (from a flashback scene, sorry!) is shown above that provides a sharp contrast and rich shadows that help tell the story within the story. Tom B. Long's letters further enhance the work, providing emphasis in just the right places to help some scenes comfort while others turn sinister. David Mariotte ensures a coherent package is delivered even with the flashback-to-present-and-back-again hopping and regular shifts in character focus.

This review's newspost thumbnail shows Casey Coller's B Cover for the issue, which I felt was most indicative of the kind of story within. Zama and Burcham (after Simonson) deliver a beautiful cast piece on Cover A, with just about everyone from the Optimus Prime series accounted for. Robots in Disguise helmsman Andrew Griffith takes us back to 2012 on a retailer incentive cover that I hope does not immediately sell out everywhere and quadruple in value like Alex Milne's Lost Light #25 RI cover did. You can find images of all of those covers and full credits for the issue in our Vector Sigma Database page for Optimus Prime #25, but please note it contains a character appearance list which may accidentally deliver spoilers.


This was a book with a heavy burden, but as a final epilogue after the climactic battles it still makes it to Cybertron without jettisoning Insecticons worth of weight in the process. A healthy dose of character endings, playful dialogue that snatches the Furmanism away from the jaws of finality, and a ready-built setup for the future help too, even if it won't be realized.

Optimus Prime's epilogue is a very good epilogue because it's exactly that and doesn't try to be something beyond its purpose. Even the well worn trope of the final villain being back for one last go doesn't show up, a pleasant surprise given how easy a setting like Infraspace could have been for such a moment. Enjoy this while you can since we've got a few quiet months ahead of us in the world of Transformers comics, but that's well earned after 13 years of amazing stories.

Once more, to all the creative forces at IDW Publishing that have made this happen since 2005, thank you!

Lookin' forward to reading this after work.

A very touching review dmax thank you for doing these.

ScottyP wrote:Enjoy this while you can since we've got a few quiet months ahead of us in the world of Transformers comics, but that's well earned after 13 years of amazing stories.

Great Review, I'll take nothing away from it. But to be honest, I think we have more than a few quiet months ahead of us. And I'm going to enjoy the quiet for as long as I can, never thought I'd say that but...

I'm all about longevity. For this run to have lasted 13 years is amazing (see my comments in the Unicron thread), but it took so many twists, turns and re brands, it really did feel like something entirely different every few years. It (for me) went from boring, to really good, then ok, then in the last few years, ironically what fans liked the most, I found myself saying..."This isn't Transformers", but its all over now, and I'm OK with that. I never thought I'd be one of the fans that prefers nothing over something awful, but here we are.

I know as you said, you *enjoyed* the avoidance of the tropes, but to me, a lack of resolution between the crew of LL and the rest of the Transformers feels hollow. I'm not saying they had to contrive a pointless last battle between Optimus and Megatron, but a meeting, considering all they've each gone through would have been interesting.

It just felt like IDW wanted to end things, and all the respective writers were of course saving the Unicron card for the inevitable end, but they didn't get to play it quite the way they wanted to. Still I'm glad at least we got an ending, unlike so many other Transformers continuities. This one, while not being the *best*, at least nobody will be pining for what might have been, or wanting for more, because there is no need for more.

Rest well IDW. You may not have given me what I wanted, but you did so for other fans. Of the classic 3 pronged style of delivery of Transformers (Toys, Comics, and Animation), at least we can say, nobody will be wondering why there has been no Transformers comic in a while.

I bet he is off to haunt Megatron, if I know him. <3

I can just see the memes dealing with Starscream discussing footprints in the sand with Bumblebee. We know they're coming.

Black Bumblebee wrote:I can just see the memes dealing with Starscream discussing footprints in the sand with Bumblebee. We know they're coming.

it ran through my mind. that story is on the wall at my dentist.

I have not read this issue yet since i am reading from Optimus Prime from issue 1 and am currently at issue 16.

And boy is it a chore. I started reading Transformers comics with MTMTE and loved it. Lost Light was fine but disjointed and TAAO was good. I also read other issues here and there (like Chaos theory and the stuff I needed to read for Dark Cybertron) and I also read the auotocracy trilogy (that third part was crap), Stormbringer, AHM and the Spotlights. I am writing all this to show what i am comparing to when I saw that Optimus Prime is the most boring Transformers book I ever read.

It picks up at around issue 12 or whatever (with the throttlebots) but man those first 10 or so issues with all the earth delegation stuff bored me out of my mind. Nothing happens. And when it does, its in another book, treating this book like filler. I thought Geoge Lucas made it very clear that in big sci fi stories the last thing you do is talk about delegates and senates and whatever.

Optimus Prime (the book) is nothing I am furious about, not like with All Hail Megatron or Dark Cybertron (which are pretty terrible) its just a chore. Nothing really interesting happens. There is not much of a point to most of it. The best example would be those Hetfire flashbacks which break up the book to no effect in the early issues. A lot of it felt uneccesary. Before reading this book I knew that Jetfire was a decepticon who became an autobot. And what do I know now? That he was a decepticon who became an autobot.

Also, I do not needto be intriduced to every character all the time. The first page has a roll call for that.

Now that it's over, I can finally chime in and provide some commentary.Not specifically to this issue but to the IDW run as a whole .

What can I say that hasn't been already said. It was an interesting ride. I've been a follower from the beginning I guess. I think my arrival to the IDW verse was sometime around Spotlight Metroplex. Then I started working my way back to Infiltration, AHM, etc. and continued alongside the regular ongoing which had that unique style of bayverse and g1. Then Death of Optimus, then RID, MTME, LL, OP, and Unicron. All caught up?

Ever since the beginning it was a bumpy ride. There was always this sense of uncertainty. Or lack of a unified feel. And I'm not talking about Revolution unification, god no. I'm talking about a Transformers feel that perhaps Dreamwave delivered a little better. We knew what was going on in general to the Cybertronian race.

In IDW things got close to that Transformers feel, right after DOOP. There was a golden age there, with the prowl saga (which I loved), and then MTME kept it real. The sense that the war was real. Factions like DJD creeped up, Overlord, Worldsweepers. But even MTME started losing ground as it veered off into being more character driven. Not that I'm against character driven stories, but there was a point in MTME that (and someones' got to say it) where it became a proxy to fan fiction. Where stretches of panels just focussed on characterization that went nowhere other than to provide hype to a character. The general themes that I cared about as a reader, were ignored or closed very quickly in favour of that meticulous focus on pairings. It reached a point where the way things were framed, every time two characters were in a shot together, you couldn't differentiate if they were in a relationship or simply talking to each other. That's a problem because, as a reader I was so confused. It's as if there was an entirely side story being told somewhere that everyone seemed to know about and I was like wth is going on.

That's the key thing with the entire IDW run was confusion for me. I tried to push through the confusion because I like the franchise, but even that wasn't easy at times.

They added so many things to the history of Cybertron that didn't always match. The whole Onyx Prime thing. Confusing af. Omega Guardians? or Knights, or 13 primes. Each and every single one of those things turned out to be a fake. Antilla? Who are these people> Freaking visionaries and Prismo was there for a split second. And that period with the Wreckers, how did Prowl survive or get to Earth. And wth Tarantulas? What is going on?....So many times I've wondered what was happening, and I've been investing in this since AHM. I followed the continuity. You could say...:well Bud it's your fault for not connecting the dots properly"...that's fair, but I still would like to share my experience of utter confusion. I simply felt lost over and over again.

As for Revolution. The story was already fragmented. They went and fragmented it even further. Great initiative and 80s combo though.

Then there is Optimus Prime. Not the character but the series. I would like to know, what have I done as a reader to constantly be subject to Slide's constant sulking. Unicron is eating Earth and she is still talking about Optimus.

All that said. There was some great stories, art, and memories. If at any point you felt I was criticizing the people involved, or there abilities, you are mistaken. I'm criticizing the product. A product I paid for regularly. So take it as a customer satisfaction survey. Because lord knows, any semblance of criticism these days is considered a bad thing. I want to write about the good stuff about IDW. But that's what I wrote for now. I'll brush over good stuff so you don't presume I'm being a "hater".

Good stuff:
DJD, MTME, early RID run, bayg1, Autobot Megatron, Crystal City, Killmaster, Whirl, First-aid, Orion pax, Bumblebee leading, Magnus armor design. Starscream as leader of Cybertron, BM Tankor.Six shot as phase 6'er, Prowl, Prowlstator, Thundercracker.

For me (in hindsight) two of the biggest mistakes that IDW made were making the Autobot regime (pre optimus) bad-guys and then make the Decepticons revolution movement.

Bascially you shouldn't muddy your hero team and justify your villain team.

I was blinded by my love of transformers and didn't think about the above until they made Megatron an Autobot which for me only made that worse.

The Decepticons should always be a power hungry, dictatorship first and foremost with no justification for it only that they're Evil.

Coptur wrote:For me (in hindsight) two of the biggest mistakes that IDW made were making the Autobot regime (pre optimus) bad-guys and then make the Decepticons revolution movement.

Bascially you shouldn't muddy your hero team and justify your villain team.

I was blinded by my love of transformers and didn't think about the above until they made Megatron an Autobot which for me only made that worse.

The Decepticons should always be a power hungry, dictatorship first and foremost with no justification for it only that they're Evil.

That's all fine and dandy for a kids cartoon toy advertisement, it's different for comics, we need to know what makes them tic. Only certain characters in all of comics history can get away with being evil for evils sake. I mean the joker is the best example I can give, but he only works because of who he is. Do you think Mr Freeze is bad because they gave him humanising elements in the cartoon?

You keep your bad guys static and it'll get old really fast. Look at what Furman did with Scorpknok, would you have been happy if he'd been a Megatron clone? The best thing IDW did was point out that life isn't black and white, that the path to hell is paved with good intentions.

Of course these are my opinions I think IDW did a fantastic job on the whole despite missteps like AHM, which I may have tolerated better if they just kept it as what it meant to be. A reboot.

@zerowolf

{{That's all fine and dandy for a kids cartoon toy advertisement, it's different for comics, we need to know what makes them tic. Only certain characters in all of comics history can get away with being evil for evils sake. I mean the joker is the best example I can give, but he only works because of who he is. Do you think Mr Freeze is bad because they gave him humanising elements in the cartoon?}}

I understand character depth but Megatron is not and should not be in the same tone as Magneto.

Mr Freeze turned to crime (not the right thing to do) for his own own selfish deeds. Do I feel sorry that he can't have his wife by his side yes! Can I forgive the actions he's taking to achieving his goal never, He was will kill and cause others harm by doing it.

Megatron is not Mr Freeze & Megatron is should not Magneto.

{{You keep your bad guys static and it'll get old really fast. Look at what Furman did with Scorponok, would you have been happy if he'd been a Megatron clone? The best thing IDW did was point out that life isn't black and white, that the path to hell is paved with good intentions.}}

I'm talking Megatron but they're both Decepticons and should share the goal of the Decepticons but their personal routes to obtain the goal can be different.
Life isn't isn't black & white but fictional characters can be and that's the challenge writers should work with for pre-existing characters. By making them a blank slates they stop being the character they were originally created to be. New writers for pre-existing characters should research the source material first.

extract marvels Budiansky bio:
Megatron is a bitter, brutal, thuggish being. He constantly seeks opportunities for conflict and battle.
He has no capacity for love or compassion. Nothing brings him pleasure other than the act of crushing weaker opponents and claiming their possessions as his own. Conquering a single planet will not satiate his desire for conquest. His thirst for battle pushes him to seek out victims throughout the known universe.

{{Of course these are my opinions I think IDW did a fantastic job on the whole despite missteps like AHM, which I may have tolerated better if they just kept it as what it meant to be. A reboot.}}

And you're very much welcome to have them, discussion is a good thing
For me AHM was reboot that was needed but the timing (at the time) was unfair to Furman.

The transformers should be about a war between good and evil.

The Heroic Autobots vs the Evil Decepticon.
Some people want change for the better and others are simply ****s that want everything and everyone burn first and any that survive will live in terror and fear. Megatron should always be the latter.

I'm thinking about doing a video about this for youtube

I apologise for my dyslexia

No need to apologise

I believe in letting characters change, to allow for new interpretations, g1 Megatron himself has several different forms of fiction, and IDW Megs just slots in next to the others, allowing you to choose which one you like best. I mean Marvel Megatron was actually competent were g1 toon Megatron was only threatening when he wasn't on screen (how else would you explain how he took Cybertron in the time gap between season 2 and the movie)

I think all these different versions of Megs can live happily with each other, just like all the different ones of Prime. Though let's not get started on all the non-g1 versions of the characters!

ZeroWolf wrote:No need to apologise

I believe in letting characters change, to allow for new interpretations, g1 Megatron himself has several different forms of fiction, and IDW Megs just slots in next to the others, allowing you to choose which one you like best. I mean Marvel Megatron was actually competent were g1 toon Megatron was only threatening when he wasn't on screen (how else would you explain how he took Cybertron in the time gap between season 2 and the movie)

I think all these different versions of Megs can live happily with each other, just like all the different ones of Prime. Though let's not get started on all the non-g1 versions of the characters!

You're very kind sir!

I can see that line of thinking but for me without boundaries to follow writers can lose parts of what make the characters.

I think most G1 Megs up until parts of IDW Megs are quite interchangeable.
Marvel Megs was only overall leader for 4 issues i thought him quite incompetent as a Megatron (i'm just thinking issue 1-80 not G2 or Regen)

budmaloney wrote:Ever since the beginning it was a bumpy ride. There was always this sense of uncertainty. Or lack of a unified feel. And I'm not talking about Revolution unification, god no. I'm talking about a Transformers feel that perhaps Dreamwave delivered a little better. We knew what was going on in general to the Cybertronian race.

Thank you so much . I agree 100%. Dreamwave was, and still is the most compelling Transformers storytelling for my dollar (criminal activities of its founder aside). I'm not going to use the ultimate insult, basically calling IDW "Published fanfiction", but pretty much that moniker can be given to anything since the Marvel Comic run ended. I still lament the fact that the DW ongoing will never have resolution. Nobody is going to "Regeneration One" DW, and perhaps it's for the best. As was stated in TDK "Either You Die a Hero" (DW Ongoing), or you live long enough to become the Villain (IDW). As I said before, I'm all for longevity, but IDW went to some places with Transformers that were simply unnecessary.

I pic ked up both Unicron #6, annd OP #25yesterday, just for the record, here was my basic conversation with one of the store clerks whom I've known for a long time.

TJ: Everything there in your saver?
Me: Yep, looks good, kind of bittersweet though, these are the last 2 issues of a series that's gone on for 13 years
TJ: Yeah, its supposed to come back next year though right?
Me: yeah maybe...
TJ: I guess you can just hope they aren't going to make some radical changes
Me: Well, they already tried that, which is what pretty much lead to the decline of sales, and ending to the series, I don't even see TF on your shelves ever, am I the only one who orders it?
TJ: Nah, I got 3 of you guys on my order sheet. IDW is a little odd though, they go up and down, but right now nobody is touching their stuff, not even GI Joe.

Keep in mind, I've been going to this same shop for 25 years, I've seen the owners son grow up, and I've never asked about sales, but that blew me away, because this shop is a pretty big deal in my area, and only 3 people are ordering Transformers comics on a regular basis, at the moment...

So yeah, I really hope whatever we get back to next year either goes back to basics, or is so radically different, that it is worth merit (I mean involving NONE of the characters we know).

Additionally, after reading OP 25, I know this was probably not the writers intentions, but basically how I felt at the end was...yeah, remember your childhood hero? Optimus Prime? Yeah, he was a JERK, he was as flawed as any of us, but its OK if you still like him... sorry I simply wont accept that, and now that this story is over, i can simply chose to ignore it, because it overall, has nothing of merit, for me.

I go to the biggest shop in the 3rd biggest city in Canada and even they have very little sales for Transformers books.

Thanks for sharing O Supreme! I don't agree of course as I really didn't care for Dw in the slightest and constantly forget it exists. However I appreciate it had an audience. Now that's why I think if IDW wanted to hedge their bets, they could give us two ongoings that are not connected and never will connect. One would be whatever the reboot would be, the other, a g1 cartoon inspired series which told episodic stories either one issue or two in length. They could be set in any season or be used to fill gaps between season 2 and the movie, or even go further and continue season 4, and try to tell us how the cartoon woukd have handled the pretenders and power masters.

As for the comics selling, well the comic shop I used to go to stopped getting the tf issuses in for lack of sales and this was back during combiner wars. I think it's more of an IDW thing. They are struggling because they don't have much to offer with very few original titles compared to licensed output. Their fortunes could change if they landed their own highly successful ip. The real question could be is there a large enough appetite for Transformers comics in general in a very crowded market?

I am reading the Optimus ongoing (it definitely picked up when liege maximo arrived) and I dont get the shockwave thing. I get that he was one o the Primes all along but where was he during the 4 million year war? Or did he jump to the future (present for us) when all the pices were in place so as not to coexist with his past self?

william-james88 wrote:I am reading the Optimus ongoing (it definitely picked up when liege maximo arrived) and I dont get the shockwave thing. I get that he was one o the Primes all along but where was he during the 4 million year war? Or did he jump to the future (present for us) when all the pices were in place so as not to coexist with his past self?

Because the Shockwave we saw during the war was around, the time-displaced Shockwave (aka Onyxwave) spent his time gathering his Maximals on Antilla and planning for all the stuff he was gonna do post-Dark Cybertron. It was during this time that we see Onyx do things like attack Caminus and such.

What a great way to close out the IDW run!

I'm going back through older material, mostly stuff involving Primes/eventual Unicron related material, and I thought it was downright cool how Barber included this snippet in an issue titled "The Crucible":

After all 3 endings are said and done, here are some thoughts on the end.

I think of the 3 endings, this one actually felt like the truer and better ending. Lost Light kinda felt like a sad reunion episode, with the only real highlight of that finale being the duplicate Lost Light, enabling us to imagine the crew going on many more adventures for however long we remember the run.

Unicron had a decent ending, but I've stated almost all my thoughts in my review there.

This felt pretty good actually, with Optimus taking every other page as a final flashback to his life. I didn't like the direction they ended up taking him, but I feel it was fitting to leave the "Arisen" part of the story vague as to whether Optimus was or not, though I suspect Arcee did know and never told.

Overall, the endings felt kinda weak. I feel like all the adventures we have been on over the past many years deserved something a little bit more than what they got.

I enjoyed it the most out of the 3. Probably gonna reread it so see if I missed anything. Was certainly alot better than the Lost Light non ending.