Sneak Peek - IDW The Transformers #45 iTunes Preview

even though I'm not big on the IDW comics but i just noticed something really coincidental about something.

the guy talking to Spike mentions that the Cybertronians had created the humans.

now where have i read something similar to that?

oh yea i forgot , a particular web comic that i read where 12 aliens that are based of the western zodiac are playing a game in which the goal is to create a universe in which the humans were created and then shenanigans happen

guess i said a bit too much

lowers head in shame for reading this web comic in which i shall not name

Spike looks like the mascot for a fictional brand of weed killer.

In the same way MTMTE has made me really like Megs, this has made me love Cosmos and Jetfire. cannot wait for this to come out

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:In the same way MTMTE has made me really like Megs, this has made me love Cosmos and Jetfire. cannot wait for this to come out

"Where in the name of science have you been?"

Shuttershock wrote:

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:In the same way MTMTE has made me really like Megs, this has made me love Cosmos and Jetfire. cannot wait for this to come out

"Where in the name of science have you been?"

there has been some exceptional care taken towards several characters here. i am loving it!

Autobot tap out wrote:even though I'm not big on the IDW comics but i just noticed something really coincidental about something.

the guy talking to Spike mentions that the Cybertronians had created the humans.

now where have i read something similar to that?

oh yea i forgot , a particular web comic that i read where 12 aliens that are based of the western zodiac are playing a game in which the goal is to create a universe in which the humans were created and then shenanigans happen

guess i said a bit too much

lowers head in shame for reading this web comic in which i shall not name

It's not quite so simply as "Cybertronians created humans."

The Enigma of Combination was sent to Earth by Galvatron millions of years prior in order to keep its powers out of the hands of the Cybertronians. It's presence altered proto-humans, allowing them to work together more efficiently. It essentially created modern society.

So, it's not that Cybertronians created humans, but that one particular Cybertronian was inadvertently responsible for creating the conditions that would lead to modern human society.

MrBlack wrote:

Autobot tap out wrote:even though I'm not big on the IDW comics but i just noticed something really coincidental about something.

the guy talking to Spike mentions that the Cybertronians had created the humans.

now where have i read something similar to that?

oh yea i forgot , a particular web comic that i read where 12 aliens that are based of the western zodiac are playing a game in which the goal is to create a universe in which the humans were created and then shenanigans happen

guess i said a bit too much

lowers head in shame for reading this web comic in which i shall not name

It's not quite so simply as "Cybertronians created humans."

The Enigma of Combination was sent to Earth by Galvatron millions of years prior in order to keep its powers out of the hands of the Cybertronians. It's presence altered proto-humans, allowing them to work together more efficiently. It essentially created modern society.

So, it's not that Cybertronians created humans, but that one particular Cybertronian was inadvertently responsible for creating the conditions that would lead to modern human society.

"Your civilization was made possible by careless disposal of my garbage."

That's some Douglas Addams scrap right there!

Shuttershock wrote:

MrBlack wrote:

Autobot tap out wrote:even though I'm not big on the IDW comics but i just noticed something really coincidental about something.

the guy talking to Spike mentions that the Cybertronians had created the humans.

now where have i read something similar to that?

oh yea i forgot , a particular web comic that i read where 12 aliens that are based of the western zodiac are playing a game in which the goal is to create a universe in which the humans were created and then shenanigans happen

guess i said a bit too much

lowers head in shame for reading this web comic in which i shall not name

It's not quite so simply as "Cybertronians created humans."

The Enigma of Combination was sent to Earth by Galvatron millions of years prior in order to keep its powers out of the hands of the Cybertronians. It's presence altered proto-humans, allowing them to work together more efficiently. It essentially created modern society.

So, it's not that Cybertronians created humans, but that one particular Cybertronian was inadvertently responsible for creating the conditions that would lead to modern human society.

"Your civilization was made possible by careless disposal of my garbage."

That's some Douglas Addams scrap right there!

I suppose it's a bit less insulting than "Humans are Unicron's parasites" from the Prime TV show.

MrBlack wrote:

Shuttershock wrote:

MrBlack wrote:

Autobot tap out wrote:even though I'm not big on the IDW comics but i just noticed something really coincidental about something.

the guy talking to Spike mentions that the Cybertronians had created the humans.

now where have i read something similar to that?

oh yea i forgot , a particular web comic that i read where 12 aliens that are based of the western zodiac are playing a game in which the goal is to create a universe in which the humans were created and then shenanigans happen

guess i said a bit too much

lowers head in shame for reading this web comic in which i shall not name

It's not quite so simply as "Cybertronians created humans."

The Enigma of Combination was sent to Earth by Galvatron millions of years prior in order to keep its powers out of the hands of the Cybertronians. It's presence altered proto-humans, allowing them to work together more efficiently. It essentially created modern society.

So, it's not that Cybertronians created humans, but that one particular Cybertronian was inadvertently responsible for creating the conditions that would lead to modern human society.

"Your civilization was made possible by careless disposal of my garbage."

That's some Douglas Addams scrap right there!

I suppose it's a bit less insulting than "Humans are Unicron's parasites" from the Prime TV show.

Still, I do like it as it presents a much less human-centric view of the universe. I find that too often in science fiction humanity is treated as inherently special. This kind of writing paints the picture of a vast universe millions of years old where, in an Addamsy way, Earth and humans don't necessarily matter.

Shuttershock wrote:

MrBlack wrote:

Shuttershock wrote:

MrBlack wrote:

Autobot tap out wrote:even though I'm not big on the IDW comics but i just noticed something really coincidental about something.

the guy talking to Spike mentions that the Cybertronians had created the humans.

now where have i read something similar to that?

oh yea i forgot , a particular web comic that i read where 12 aliens that are based of the western zodiac are playing a game in which the goal is to create a universe in which the humans were created and then shenanigans happen

guess i said a bit too much

lowers head in shame for reading this web comic in which i shall not name

It's not quite so simply as "Cybertronians created humans."

The Enigma of Combination was sent to Earth by Galvatron millions of years prior in order to keep its powers out of the hands of the Cybertronians. It's presence altered proto-humans, allowing them to work together more efficiently. It essentially created modern society.

So, it's not that Cybertronians created humans, but that one particular Cybertronian was inadvertently responsible for creating the conditions that would lead to modern human society.

"Your civilization was made possible by careless disposal of my garbage."

That's some Douglas Addams scrap right there!

I suppose it's a bit less insulting than "Humans are Unicron's parasites" from the Prime TV show.

Still, I do like it as it presents a much less human-centric view of the universe. I find that too often in science fiction humanity is treated as inherently special. This kind of writing paints the picture of a vast universe millions of years old where, in an Addamsy way, Earth and humans don't necessarily matter.

I think it cuts both ways. Humans are special in that they were able to weather an invasion by a race of beings that have decimated hundreds of other worlds. At the same time, the traits that allowed humanity to do so seem to have been a result of inadvertent interference by that self-same race of beings.

MrBlack wrote:

Shuttershock wrote:

MrBlack wrote:

Shuttershock wrote:

MrBlack wrote:

Autobot tap out wrote:even though I'm not big on the IDW comics but i just noticed something really coincidental about something.

the guy talking to Spike mentions that the Cybertronians had created the humans.

now where have i read something similar to that?

oh yea i forgot , a particular web comic that i read where 12 aliens that are based of the western zodiac are playing a game in which the goal is to create a universe in which the humans were created and then shenanigans happen

guess i said a bit too much

lowers head in shame for reading this web comic in which i shall not name

It's not quite so simply as "Cybertronians created humans."

The Enigma of Combination was sent to Earth by Galvatron millions of years prior in order to keep its powers out of the hands of the Cybertronians. It's presence altered proto-humans, allowing them to work together more efficiently. It essentially created modern society.

So, it's not that Cybertronians created humans, but that one particular Cybertronian was inadvertently responsible for creating the conditions that would lead to modern human society.

"Your civilization was made possible by careless disposal of my garbage."

That's some Douglas Addams scrap right there!

I suppose it's a bit less insulting than "Humans are Unicron's parasites" from the Prime TV show.

Still, I do like it as it presents a much less human-centric view of the universe. I find that too often in science fiction humanity is treated as inherently special. This kind of writing paints the picture of a vast universe millions of years old where, in an Addamsy way, Earth and humans don't necessarily matter.

I think it cuts both ways. Humans are special in that they were able to weather an invasion by a race of beings that have decimated hundreds of other worlds. At the same time, the traits that allowed humanity to do so seem to have been a result of inadvertent interference by that self-same race of beings.

True. I do find it odd that apparently they never bonded with another species culturally in all that time, but whatever. Thundercracker has been a really good care study of the Transformers rediscovering post war life through the actions of a short-lived species.

Shuttershock wrote:True. I do find it odd that apparently they never bonded with another species culturally in all that time, but whatever. Thundercracker has been a really good care study of the Transformers rediscovering post war life through the actions of a short-lived species.

Cutting off a few quotes to make the thread easier to read.

By the time the Cybertronian race first came online, biological species were already shunning mechanical ones, owing in large part to the 16 million year long war between the Ammonites and the Terradores. Cybertron's own wars and the speciesism exhibited by many on Cybertron didn't help.

After the Knights of Cybertron left, Cybertron collapsed into tribalism under the 13 Primes, which isn't exactly conducive to cultural contact with alien species. After the tribes went to war, Nova Prime came out on top, and we've seen how he feels about "the lesser races." Even after he left, the insular Functionist movement held sway for a long time, and then the entire race fell into a protracted war which involved the destruction and terraforming of multiple biological planets. It seems that there has been little time or inclination on the part of Cybertronians to engage with other species in the 8 million years since their creation.

MrBlack wrote:

Shuttershock wrote:True. I do find it odd that apparently they never bonded with another species culturally in all that time, but whatever. Thundercracker has been a really good care study of the Transformers rediscovering post war life through the actions of a short-lived species.

Cutting off a few quotes to make the thread easier to read.

By the time the Cybertronian race first came online, biological species were already shunning mechanical ones, owing in large part to the 16 million year long war between the Ammonites and the Terradores. Cybertron's own wars and the speciesism exhibited by many on Cybertron didn't help.

After the Knights of Cybertron left, Cybertron collapsed into tribalism under the 13 Primes, which isn't exactly conducive to cultural contact with alien species. After the tribes went to war, Nova Prime came out on top, and we've seen how he feels about "the lesser races." Even after he left, the insular Functionist movement held sway for a long time, and then the entire race fell into a protracted war which involved the destruction and terraforming of multiple biological planets. It seems that there has been little time or inclination on the part of Cybertronians to engage with other species in the 8 million years since their creation.

One thing I find most interesting about the Transformers is that they have little concept of fiction for entertainment. Most of their films, stories and arguably their religious systems are biographical, possibly a theme pressed by functionists to prevent individuality or escapism.

Thundercracker seems like the only one who broke out of this, albiet poorly, by picking it up from humans. Even Crosscut, who is lauded as a well-known Cybertronian playwright, seems to mostly make autobiographical works.

Shuttershock wrote:

MrBlack wrote:

Shuttershock wrote:True. I do find it odd that apparently they never bonded with another species culturally in all that time, but whatever. Thundercracker has been a really good care study of the Transformers rediscovering post war life through the actions of a short-lived species.

Cutting off a few quotes to make the thread easier to read.

By the time the Cybertronian race first came online, biological species were already shunning mechanical ones, owing in large part to the 16 million year long war between the Ammonites and the Terradores. Cybertron's own wars and the speciesism exhibited by many on Cybertron didn't help.

After the Knights of Cybertron left, Cybertron collapsed into tribalism under the 13 Primes, which isn't exactly conducive to cultural contact with alien species. After the tribes went to war, Nova Prime came out on top, and we've seen how he feels about "the lesser races." Even after he left, the insular Functionist movement held sway for a long time, and then the entire race fell into a protracted war which involved the destruction and terraforming of multiple biological planets. It seems that there has been little time or inclination on the part of Cybertronians to engage with other species in the 8 million years since their creation.

One thing I find most interesting about the Transformers is that they have little concept of fiction for entertainment. Most of their films, stories and arguably their religious systems are biographical, possibly a theme pressed by functionists to prevent individuality or escapism.

Thundercracker seems like the only one who broke out of this, albiet poorly, by picking it up from humans. Even Crosscut, who is lauded as a well-known Cybertronian playwright, seems to mostly make autobiographical works.

This version of Thundercracker has made me actually care for the character, and I'm glad that he and Crosscut can represent fictional work by transformers, the same way Nautica and all her gals represent "college life" so to speak in the works

In more IDW comics news for next week, The Transformers #45 bring intrigue, mystery, hacking and of course, Buster the dog. Check out the full preview below, and head back here on Wednesday for the Seibertron.com review!

Transformers #45
John Barber (w) • Andrew Griffith (a & c)
JETFIRE and KUP lead a team to investigate the mysterious ONYX system. Meanwhile, GALVATRON… well, GALVATRON just doesn’t like anybody.
FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Bullet points:
The events of the past months crash together—with disastrous results!
The stage is set for next month’s Earth-shattering (literally) epic!
Variant Cover by Golby!

Gonna be a busy week of reading, that's for sure

Finally... we get to Jazz again!

what you guys said

THE WATER IS DRY

I do enjoy the interpretation of the condors as Statler and Waldorf-esque duo.

Whifflefire wrote:THE WATER IS DRY

I do enjoy the interpretation of the condors as Statler and Waldorf-esque duo.

It is good to see the other casettes getting characterization. Rumble and Frenzy are pretty consistently portrayed as street punks and Ratbat as a scheemer bigger than his size implies, but the others often go voiceless and without perso nality.

Totally. It's hard to say anyone but blue rumble and marvel ravage were ever characters. Frenzy in the cartoon was just a red and black twin of rumble and ravage was a spy and sound waves kitty.

That's somethings James and John have really done well, give a lot of characters we know and love actual character traits. Needlenoes is starting to make his way to my top ten favorite characters

That's a reason I fell in love with MTMTE: characters I'd never heard of before. When I finally started reading comics, it was around the time issue 21 came out and I wondered who the hell was on the front cover. I really had no clue! But I'm glad so many characters are finally getting good personalities and interpretation

Ten bucks says Kup has the 'argle bargle' line because of Antonin Scalia's recent publicity for using the phrase.

Galvatron is lying to bloody everybody.

I get that the solicit for this issue is that he "doesn't like anybody" but to what end is he working towards?

Synopsis
JETFIRE and KUP lead a team to investigate the mysterious ONYX system. Meanwhile, GALVATRON… well, GALVATRON just doesn’t like anybody.



Story

There is a web being woven, in which each piece of the puzzle so far seems to slot, slide, slip and get trapped. SkyLynx, Kup, D.O.C., Jetfire, Soundwave, Galvatron, the Onyx system, Blackrock, Faireborne, even Thundercracker and Buster. How does it hold together? Perhaps it doesn't.



John Barber, a long while ago now, talked about what was then Robots in Disguise as being the intrigue, thriller, Rome/Borgias/Game of Thrones-esque counterpart to the sitcom/space opera of MTMTE - and if anything were to prove that point further, it's this issue, with no doubt. The main plot carries on the workings of devious Blackrock mostly...



...but also those of Galvatron - perhaps even more so - as the Autobots are used for purposes that are still not entirely clear at this point. In fact, they seem to be the flies of that web. Galvatron's goals are shrouded in what comes across as pure cruelty, almost for the sake of it, if we are to take the example of Skywarp's function in his eyes - a repeated, ongoing agonising torture.



What Barber is setting up is big, very much so, and informed by Combiner Wars in more ways than one, but giving some really emotive aspects to the lesser used characters, while keeping the spotlight pointed just to the side of the key players of something even bigger about to go down.

Art

Andrew Griffith continues a very strong stretch of regular work with this series - though I sometimes still find myself wondering at some of the human jawlines. His Galvatron is magnificently terrifying, and the way in which the art is laid out just ensures that, yes, he is in control of the space he inhabits. Not to mention some splash pages that...



...with the addition of Josh Perez's colour-work, really drive the 'point' home. A lot of the action, if not all of it, takes place in a strange, ethereal locating of spaces that are both inside and outside - and then you have the snow scenes. So much snow. So much.



Tom B. Long is busy on this one, for pages and pages, in a sequence that I do not want to spoil for anyone reading, but the fontwork gives a fantastic sense of the scale of it all, and of what is at stake in the longer narrative of the upcoming issues. As for covers, the Griffith and Perez take on the main variant, while Casey Coller and Joana Lafuente add their own spin to the Autobot crew (thumbnailed). And of course, we have seen the Kei Zama and Yamaishi incentive variant Galvatron, being diplomatic.


Thoughts
Spoilerish ahead

If you were paying attention to other aspects of the Transformers universe, not just its fiction, you might start spotting some patterns emerging that were not there initially. Barber's weaving is intricate, logical, underlying a slower pace than MTMTE at times - but this month, this is definitely the book that delivers the most punches, in my view.



There are several moments - stunningly and darkly rendered by the visuals team - that feel not too dissimilar from major game-changing episodes or scenes in those same shows that stand as inspiration, and no one is really in control of their fate or condition, except for whoever is actually pulling the strings. Read this.

To me, the last few pages felt like a sucker punch. Great read, with a lot of unexpected stuff happening to the autobots (unexpected by me, at least) and really tore away that aura of invincibility I thought they had... either because of Optimus' presence, or even Prowl & the Constructicons' presence.

I've been looking forward to this issue cause of the return of Jazz. I'm not optimistic about his fate

Can't wait even more for the next issue.

Jetfire:Gurwalk mode activated

Sucker punch is right. Man. This is getting good and I LOVE Galvatron as the...villain? Is that what he is? That's why it's so good. You can't really be sure sometimes.

Talk about everyone getting beat down, holy cats. And Blackrock, holy cats again. This issue hit some big punches

This is really Barber at his best. He builds things up very slowly so that you feel the protagonists have a handle on things, and then BAM! Rug pulled out from under them, all hope is lost. It's what made his final arc in the first "season" of Robots in Disguise so fantastic.

MrBlack wrote:This is really Barber at his best. He builds things up very slowly so that you feel the protagonists have a handle on things, and then BAM! Rug pulled out from under them, all hope is lost. It's what made his final arc in the first "season" of Robots in Disguise so fantastic.

Precisely!