Three Page iTunes Preview for IDW First Strike #3 #HasbroFirstStrike

"I prefer to think of everyone else as profoundly deaf."
Once again, Soundwave gives an awesome quote.

It's nice to see Stormclash and Skyburst getting a little more characterization. Hopefully we'll see more of it in this issue.

How can people claim Optimus Prime is tyrannical? How has he affected policy on earth in the slightest aside from providing people with humanitarian aid and fighting other invading aliens? As far as I can tell, he hasn't done anything.

ricemazter wrote:How can people claim Optimus Prime is tyrannical? How has he affected policy on earth in the slightest aside from providing people with humanitarian aid and fighting other invading aliens? As far as I can tell, he hasn't done anything.

got that right

ricemazter wrote:How can people claim Optimus Prime is tyrannical? How has he affected policy on earth in the slightest aside from providing people with humanitarian aid and fighting other invading aliens? As far as I can tell, he hasn't done anything.

Well, claiming to "Annex" the Earth was a bit extreme. You really have to think about it from our own perspective. If a HUGE attack killed literally a billion people we certainly wouldn't trust the perpetrators, regardless of race. A lot of patters with contemporary issues there. Also Cybertronian are like walking tanks demanding rights so it's a bit scary lol.

But us, knowing Prime, I agree the humans are idiots for not seeing the good and the difference between Bot and Con.

ricemazter wrote:How can people claim Optimus Prime is tyrannical? How has he affected policy on earth in the slightest aside from providing people with humanitarian aid and fighting other invading aliens? As far as I can tell, he hasn't done anything.

Because he's a giant alien robot whose race 5-10 years ago invaded and killed close to a billion people and came back and said (with good intentions) he's annexing the earth. That's why. Does matter if he's here to help.

Look at our own world. I'm American. We've done gone to other countries to help and liberate the oppressed and a lot of those countries still burn our flag, kill our soldiers and celebrate 9/11 like a holiday.

Stormshot_Prime wrote:

ricemazter wrote:How can people claim Optimus Prime is tyrannical? How has he affected policy on earth in the slightest aside from providing people with humanitarian aid and fighting other invading aliens? As far as I can tell, he hasn't done anything.

Well, claiming to "Annex" the Earth was a bit extreme. You really have to think about it from our own perspective. If a HUGE attack killed literally a billion people we certainly wouldn't trust the perpetrators, regardless of race. A lot of patters with contemporary issues there. Also Cybertronian are like walking tanks demanding rights so it's a bit scary lol.

But us, knowing Prime, I agree the humans are idiots for not seeing the good and the difference between Bot and Con.

The line between bot and con is no longer dark versus light. Each side has monsters and monstrous moments to their credit. Each side has heroic efforts as well, albeit the cons have far less.

I think this trooper is an extremist believing propaganda set forth by certain parties, like his employer.

The war is supposedly over so the badges aren't 'supposed' to mean much anyway. It is interesting that he humans react so intensely toward hate with Jazz for what he did, but seem to mostly except Soundwave even though he and his minions were tearing it up in AHM.

That has been a major frustration point of mine forever though with the humans vs. TFs thing. The failure to recognize the two warring factions and associate and separate events with each has been in my mind so oversimplified ignoring major facts for convenience. Humans hate all the robots because they are all fighting on Earth now is the motto/stance. It'd be nice to see a human group of activists who support the Autobots, as they should, gain some ground and sway.

Yes, I saw tyrannical and raised an eye brow too, and then remembered he's an extremist soldier at least partially brain-washed by his boss(es). We know Prime is trying to be anything but tyrannical, but your flight and fight preservation responses come into play when you go from the supposed top of the control pyramid (as a race) to seeing that there are aliens, they want to live with us, and we are to them similar to the animals that we share the world with to a degree.

Sorry for the long response.

Budder Prime wrote:"I prefer to think of everyone else as profoundly deaf."
Once again, Soundwave gives an awesome quote.

Agreed! Absolutely perfect!

Stormshot_Prime wrote:

ricemazter wrote:How can people claim Optimus Prime is tyrannical? How has he affected policy on earth in the slightest aside from providing people with humanitarian aid and fighting other invading aliens? As far as I can tell, he hasn't done anything.

Well, claiming to "Annex" the Earth was a bit extreme. You really have to think about it from our own perspective. If a HUGE attack killed literally a billion people we certainly wouldn't trust the perpetrators, regardless of race. A lot of patters with contemporary issues there. Also Cybertronian are like walking tanks demanding rights so it's a bit scary lol.

But us, knowing Prime, I agree the humans are idiots for not seeing the good and the difference between Bot and Con.

It's a writing gripe because i get the impression tha the writers want us to think what Optimus is doing is morally gray. My point isn't so much that the giant robots aren't scary or that Optimus Prime is totally in the right, saying that you're going to annex a planet is bad. My issue is that for the average human, Prime's has had little to no impact on their lives since his return to Earth beyond saving them from the Decepticons and Junkions.

As far as I can tell, he just has conversations with the US President about picking a Cybertronian council representative (you'd think he'd talk to the U.N. at least once). He hasn't written any new laws or stopped any sovereign governments on Earth from doing exactly what they want to do, which is why this story doesn't work for me.

Prior to this, we really needed that aha moment where Optimus actually exercises some power over humanity. Like, if US forces are in some ambiguous middle eastern nation about to do something not necessarily good yet not necessarily bad and Prime forces them to leave after a tense, televised standoff. Thats just an example, but at least then people could say "wait, Optimus Prime is interfering with US government decisions. Where is this going?" Then people like Joe Colton could have legitimate concerns. As it is, the guy seems like a lunatic for joining Kobra over basically nothing.

It doesn't matter if Optimus Prime has actually done anything to the individual. He is an alien from a race that already destroyed a huge chunk of the human population that is now annexing Earth. Naturally people are going to be on the defensive about what this means for the future of humanity.

Daniel Adkins wrote:It doesn't matter if Optimus Prime has actually done anything to the individual. He is an alien from a race that already destroyed a huge chunk of the human population that is now annexing Earth. Naturally people are going to be on the defensive about what this means for the future of humanity.

I agree here, this seems to be lost on a lot of folks. There's also that thing that happened in this universe called All Hail Megatron, aka 911,000

ScottyP wrote:

Daniel Adkins wrote:It doesn't matter if Optimus Prime has actually done anything to the individual. He is an alien from a race that already destroyed a huge chunk of the human population that is now annexing Earth. Naturally people are going to be on the defensive about what this means for the future of humanity.

I agree here, this seems to be lost on a lot of folks. There's also that thing that happened in this universe called All Hail Megatron, aka 911,000

My point is that thus far annexation of Earth has no context for anyone involved and no one has a clear idea of what that means since the public hasn't been given any information on what will happen. If people remember AHM, then they should also remember that Optimus Prime and his Autobots specifically stopped the Decepticons from exterminating the human race. Since then, all he's done is give out humanitarian aid, save people from floods and stop yet more alien invasions from the Junkions, the Dire Wraiths, and Baron Karza.

My two cents is just that we needed some kind of extra oomph where Optimus actually exercises power over Earth affairs, not even in a violent way, to make people actually worry about him quite possibly taking over the planet Earth instead of him just giving a speech on TV about the council. That's just what I would need to entertain the humans'/Joe Colton's position.

As Agent K once said, "people are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals." Its very clear that only a select few people actually know that there's a difference between Autobots and Decepticons, and even some of the people who do know don't care.

If I might draw comparisons to the real world, in the aftermath of 9/11, Americans everywhere became fearful of people from the Middle East. Regardless of if someone was Muslim or not, or if they were born in America or not, if they even looked like they were Middle Eastern, they were met with suspicion and hostility from many Americans.

The same thing is true of many humans in the IDW comics. They saw how dangerous the giant robots were once, they don't want to take that risk again. And frankly, they aren't privy to all the ins and outs of the political goings-on. All they know is a giant alien that could easily step on them if he wanted showed up and annexed our planet. How does that NOT look like an invasion?

Courtesy of website Pixelated Geek, we have an interview with co-authors of IDW Publishing's Hasbro crossover event First Strike Mairghread Scott and David Rodriguez! The interview actually is really short, and dates back to San Diego Comic Con, but you can still take a look at it embedded below, as we find out more about the end of Transformers: Till All Are One and the current/future of GI Joe.

At this year's San Diego Comic-Con we got to talk for a few minutes with IDW's David Rodriguez and Mairghread Scott, writers for IDW's Transformers. We discussed the end of Mairghread's "Till All Are One" series (and why she wrote Starscream the way she did) and about IDW's new "First Strike" arc and what that means for the Transformers and G.I. Joe. Artwork in the video by Sara Pitre-Durocher, Priscilla Tramontano, and Max Dunbar.

Also coming to us via notice from Seibertronian Soundwave902 is the preview for G.I. Joe's First Strike one-shot. Available on September 30th, please find the images mirrored below, and let us know if you'll be picking up this issue!

As Scarlett heads off to Cybertron to confront the events of First Strike, her G.I. Joe team on Earth faces an unusual enemy… V.E.N.O.M.! With the help of a former M.A.S.K. member, G.I. Joe looks to put an end to Miles Mayhem’s sinister group once and for all, in the Greatest Crossover One-Shot Of All Time

Has it been adequately explained why the hell Venom has the Rhino Rig? That's a MASK vehicle, operated by Bruce Sato. I assume the goon with the cyborg head is Cliff Dagger, who ought to be operating the Jack Hammer.

Confusion.

Big Grim wrote:Has it been adequately explained why the hell Venom has the Rhino Rig? That's a MASK vehicle, operated by Bruce Sato. I assume the goon with the cyborg head is Cliff Dagger, who ought to be operating the Jack Hammer.

Confusion.

In this continuity, Miles Mayhem had all of the vehicles built based on Cybertronian tech derived from Blitzwing. The Rhino was given to Bruno Sheppard, who has the half metal face in the pages above. Sheppard has beef with Matt Trakker because Trakker focused on a mission instead of saving him from the fire that messed up his face.

Cliff Dagger was introduced in the MASK Annual and does have the Jackhammer, but he hasn't been used in several months.

ScottyP wrote:

Big Grim wrote:Has it been adequately explained why the hell Venom has the Rhino Rig? That's a MASK vehicle, operated by Bruce Sato. I assume the goon with the cyborg head is Cliff Dagger, who ought to be operating the Jack Hammer.

Confusion.

In this continuity, Miles Mayhem had all of the vehicles built based on Cybertronian tech derived from Blitzwing. The Rhino was given to Bruno Sheppard, who has the half metal face in the pages above. Sheppard has beef with Matt Trakker because Trakker focused on a mission instead of saving him from the fire that messed up his face.

Cliff Dagger was introduced in the MASK Annual and does have the Jackhammer, but he hasn't been used in several months.

The Jackhammer is actually Julio Lopez's vehicle in this continuity. Dagger hasn't been shown to have a personal vehicle yet.

Daniel Adkins wrote:

ScottyP wrote:

Big Grim wrote:Has it been adequately explained why the hell Venom has the Rhino Rig? That's a MASK vehicle, operated by Bruce Sato. I assume the goon with the cyborg head is Cliff Dagger, who ought to be operating the Jack Hammer.

Confusion.

In this continuity, Miles Mayhem had all of the vehicles built based on Cybertronian tech derived from Blitzwing. The Rhino was given to Bruno Sheppard, who has the half metal face in the pages above. Sheppard has beef with Matt Trakker because Trakker focused on a mission instead of saving him from the fire that messed up his face.

Cliff Dagger was introduced in the MASK Annual and does have the Jackhammer, but he hasn't been used in several months.

The Jackhammer is actually Julio Lopez's vehicle in this continuity. Dagger hasn't been shown to have a personal vehicle yet.

Adkins with the rescue.

Oh! And another thing.

ScottyP wrote:Sheppard has beef with Matt Trakker because Trakker focused on a mission instead of saving him from the fire that messed up his face.

The actual reasoning is even stupider than that. Bruno took the Rhino for a test drive, even though Matt told him not to push it too hard, resulting in the Rhino exploding. But when Matt tried to save him, the radiation in his Spectrum Mask reacted violently to the Rhino's power source (I think, honestly its kinda vague), so all Matt could do was stand there before Mayhem teleported Bruno, Sly, and Vanessa away in the explosion.