Transformers is All About Change - An Interview with Alex Milne

Tuesday, May 19th, 2015 6:10PM CDT

Categories: Comic Book News, People News, Interviews
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Rachel Stevens over at Women Write About Comics is back at her interview tactics, and was able tohave a conversation with fan-favourite Canadian and style setter on the IDW Publishing Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye ongoing series - Alex Milne! The conversation spans across media, tools, technical questions, past work and more, and includes some insights into the MTMTE cast - check out some snippets below, and the full piece here!

Who’s your favorite character to draw right now?

That’s a good question. [Pause] A tie between Skids & Nautica. I always liked to draw Skids since I got to design him for issue 2.

I also have a lot of fun drawing Nautica—right now I’m working on issue 42, which has them interacting, so I’m having a lot of fun drawing my two favorites in the same panel.

On the flip side, who’s the most difficult one to work on?

Ah, that’s a good question. [A lengthy pause, some muttering] Whoever I haven’t drawn a lot of in a long time is usually the hardest one to work on. I don’t know, sometimes the hardest one can be Ultra Magnus, just to make sure the scale’s right.
Ah, that makes sense.

Other times it can be Getaway. The hardest one I’ve ever had to draw, that I never feel like I get right, is Red Alert, but he’s not on the ship in season two, so I don’t have to worry about drawing him right now.

[...]

So, um, is there anything else you’d like to talk about that we haven’t touched on already?

Hmmm … well, I’m really happy for the inclusion of more female Transformers. Since the preview for issue 41 is out showing more female Transformers, I can only be happy about that. Over the years I snuck in female Transformers in backgrounds. Megatron Origin, the Drift miniseries in the Circle of Light (a faction of Transformers). They make the world bigger; the more the merrier. Now it’s better that I don’t have to sneak them in, and I’m like, “Yes, they’re there!” I’ve been rooting for them for eight years now; we need more!

That makes me really happy to hear, coming from you. Did you design Firestar’s flame hair, as seen in the issue 41 preview?

Yes, it was me who came up with Firestar’s hair. When designing characters, I ask myself, “How can i make interesting character designs?” I look at silhouettes, heads. What’s a standard head, what’s different?

l looked at different things; when I was designing her I designed her altmode first. I put her head in the altmode’s back as the exhaust. I asked myself, “Can I get away with fire for hair?” But since it’s the exhaust for the car, it kinda works. I thought about how’d it work for portraying different emotions. If knocked out, she’d have little blue flame or it’d be snuffed out. If enraged, her hair expands and just goes nuts. It’s a great way to show emotion.

I had the altmode and head design, took it to James, and said, “James, this is the idea.” He went, “That’s really cool! I have fire for hair [to work with].” It’s really different, and it makes her stand out among other characters.

Along with the other female Transformers, I started thinking about different designs that haven’t been done before. I’ve got to post them online so other people can see her. There’s a big female Transformer I want to show off, one who doesn’t have a standard head at all, but one singular eye. It was really fun to do. It’s just really fun to try new things, to see whats out there.

Transformers is all about change; you don’t have to be stuck to the standard. The big thing with Firestar was keeping in elements of the original design. When IDW started out with Transformers, they’d take a character and do something completely different; it’s how I did her design.

Credit(s): Alex Milne, Rachel Stevens

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Re: Transformers is All About Change - An Interview with Alex Milne (1687665)
Posted by steve2275 on May 19th, 2015 @ 7:17pm CDT

funny how he said change since thats what transformers do :lol:

Re: Transformers is All About Change - An Interview with Alex Milne (1687668)
Posted by Optimum Supreme on May 19th, 2015 @ 7:27pm CDT

steve2275 wrote:funny how he said change since thats what transformers do

No no no, they "convert".

Re: Transformers is All About Change - An Interview with Alex Milne (1687685)
Posted by MaverickPrime on May 19th, 2015 @ 8:30pm CDT

I love when the designs go beyond just looking cool and actually have so much thought into them, like it or not, Firestar's head design is unique.
Also, his views on the brand in general are those of someone that really cares about it, I'm glad he's part of the IDW team

Re: Transformers is All About Change - An Interview with Alex Milne (1687729)
Posted by Deadput on May 19th, 2015 @ 9:39pm CDT

Optimum Supreme wrote:
steve2275 wrote:funny how he said change since thats what transformers do

No no no, they "convert".

If your going to be specific they Transform.

Re: Transformers is All About Change - An Interview with Alex Milne (1687777)
Posted by synapse on May 20th, 2015 @ 1:12am CDT

MaverickPrime wrote:his views on the brand in general are those of someone that really cares about it, I'm glad he's part of the IDW team

This.

Re: Transformers is All About Change - An Interview with Alex Milne (1688920)
Posted by Va'al on May 22nd, 2015 @ 10:32am CDT

Comics and entertainment website Newsarama have received their usual exclusive from IDW Publishing, allowing us to post our own full preview of next week's Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye #41! Check it out below, though beware of some spoilers, and head back here next week for the Seibertron.com review.

Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye #41
James Roberts (w) • Alex Milne (a & c)
“Dear RODIMUS and crew… It’s my funeral tomorrow and I’d love it if you could all be there. Refreshments will be provided. Please R.S.V.P.—THUNDERCLASH”
FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Bullet points:
The return of the greatest AUTOBOT hero of all time —THUNDERCLASH—which is great news!
But he’s dying—which is terrible news!
Variant Cover by Kotteri!

Re: Transformers is All About Change - An Interview with Alex Milne (1688927)
Posted by Madeus Prime on May 22nd, 2015 @ 10:52am CDT

Dammit Roberts! Why do you have to make me want a Nautica solo comic?!?!

Re: Transformers is All About Change - An Interview with Alex Milne (1688946)
Posted by Nemesis Maximo on May 22nd, 2015 @ 11:40am CDT

Nautica: "what is that noose?"

Skids: "One thing's for sure; it can't be what I think it is."

Brainstorm: "That would be the sound of Getaway's brain module flummoxing."

Re: Transformers is All About Change - An Interview with Alex Milne (1688958)
Posted by TGS1985 on May 22nd, 2015 @ 12:06pm CDT

Nemesis Maximo wrote:Nautica: "what is that noose?"

Brainstorm: It's for Getaway. He just bet me double the Shanix he owes me that he could escape it while hanging before he runs out of breath!

Nautica: But we don't breath air, remember?

Brainstorm:...

Re: Transformers is All About Change - An Interview with Alex Milne (1688961)
Posted by dragons on May 22nd, 2015 @ 12:18pm CDT

Yeah dont get it comedy in movies bad, comedy in comics good for transformers fanss

Re: Transformers is All About Change - An Interview with Alex Milne (1688966)
Posted by TGS1985 on May 22nd, 2015 @ 12:26pm CDT

dragons wrote:Yeah dont get it comedy in movies bad, comedy in comics good for transformers fanss

Why rely to witty dialog like that in MTMTE when you can just use good old pee/balls/humping humor? /sarcasm

Re: Transformers is All About Change - An Interview with Alex Milne (1688992)
Posted by Nemesis Maximo on May 22nd, 2015 @ 1:00pm CDT

TGS1985 wrote:
Nemesis Maximo wrote:Nautica: "what is that noose?"

Brainstorm: It's for Getaway. He just bet me double the Shanix he owes me that he could escape it while hanging before he runs out of breath!

Nautica: But we don't breath air, remember?

Brainstorm:...

Skids: "

Re: Transformers is All About Change - An Interview with Alex Milne (1689022)
Posted by Quint on May 22nd, 2015 @ 2:09pm CDT

"Imply", Nautica, not infer.

The speaker implies, the listener infers.

Pedantry always comes back to bite ya' >:oP

Re: Transformers is All About Change - An Interview with Alex Milne (1689046)
Posted by Shuttershock on May 22nd, 2015 @ 3:09pm CDT

That's kind of interesting about Ravage. Really, he and his kind feel like some of the last ambiguous mysteries of IDW Cybertron. Like, what function do they fall into? Are they forged that way or constructed cold? Are they remnants of Onyx Prime's people, and how did they avoid the implied purge during Nova's reign?

Re: Transformers is All About Change - An Interview with Alex Milne (1689064)
Posted by datguy86 on May 22nd, 2015 @ 3:40pm CDT

Shuttershock wrote:That's kind of interesting about Ravage. Really, he and his kind feel like some of the last ambiguous mysteries of IDW Cybertron. Like, what function do they fall into? Are they forged that way or constructed cold? Are they remnants of Onyx Prime's people, and how did they avoid the implied purge during Nova's reign?

If Ravage is one of Onyx Prime's people, I would imagine survival was due to hundreds of nanoscopic attention deflectors. :grin:

Re: Transformers is All About Change - An Interview with Alex Milne (1689072)
Posted by Shuttershock on May 22nd, 2015 @ 3:51pm CDT

datguy86 wrote:
Shuttershock wrote:That's kind of interesting about Ravage. Really, he and his kind feel like some of the last ambiguous mysteries of IDW Cybertron. Like, what function do they fall into? Are they forged that way or constructed cold? Are they remnants of Onyx Prime's people, and how did they avoid the implied purge during Nova's reign?

If Ravage is one of Onyx Prime's people, I would imagine survival was due to hundreds of nanoscopic attention deflectors.

Clever!

I guess that would explain Laserbeak and Buzzsaw as well.

Re: Transformers is All About Change - An Interview with Alex Milne (1689135)
Posted by Henry921 on May 22nd, 2015 @ 5:21pm CDT

Shuttershock wrote:
datguy86 wrote:
Shuttershock wrote:That's kind of interesting about Ravage. Really, he and his kind feel like some of the last ambiguous mysteries of IDW Cybertron. Like, what function do they fall into? Are they forged that way or constructed cold? Are they remnants of Onyx Prime's people, and how did they avoid the implied purge during Nova's reign?

If Ravage is one of Onyx Prime's people, I would imagine survival was due to hundreds of nanoscopic attention deflectors.

Clever!

I guess that would explain Laserbeak and Buzzsaw as well.

Impossible. Ravage was constructed cold.

Re: Transformers is All About Change - An Interview with Alex Milne (1689137)
Posted by Shuttershock on May 22nd, 2015 @ 5:23pm CDT

Henry921 wrote:
Shuttershock wrote:
datguy86 wrote:
Shuttershock wrote:That's kind of interesting about Ravage. Really, he and his kind feel like some of the last ambiguous mysteries of IDW Cybertron. Like, what function do they fall into? Are they forged that way or constructed cold? Are they remnants of Onyx Prime's people, and how did they avoid the implied purge during Nova's reign?

If Ravage is one of Onyx Prime's people, I would imagine survival was due to hundreds of nanoscopic attention deflectors.

Clever!

I guess that would explain Laserbeak and Buzzsaw as well.

Impossible. Ravage was constructed cold.

But then there's the question: Who would build a Cybertronian like that, and for what puropse? Espionage maybe, but seems bizarre for the era they existed in.

Re: Transformers is All About Change - An Interview with Alex Milne (1689140)
Posted by prjkt on May 22nd, 2015 @ 5:24pm CDT

Shuttershock wrote:That's kind of interesting about Ravage. Really, he and his kind feel like some of the last ambiguous mysteries of IDW Cybertron. Like, what function do they fall into? Are they forged that way or constructed cold? Are they remnants of Onyx Prime's people, and how did they avoid the implied purge during Nova's reign?

Ravage was affected by Tyrest's kill switch though, so he's a post Nova Prime ascendancy CC, I think Onyx' tribe will come to play in Windblade's comic, according to the August solicitations.

It'll be interesting to find out why a Ravage was made in the form he is... Maybe some senator wanted a pet? Or a tracker for hunting?

Re: Transformers is All About Change - An Interview with Alex Milne (1689144)
Posted by Henry921 on May 22nd, 2015 @ 5:27pm CDT

Based on Soundwave's flashback chapters in the Dark Cybertron prelude, Ravage was discussing why he left his previous job about trying to find a scrap of energon in a particularly perilous dark corner. It's not explicit, but if I could guess, I'd say smaller animalistic bots were created to perform menial tasks or reach areas larger Cybertronian underclass laborers couldn't.

I think the "master of stealth" aspect came later. When in doubt, the answer is probably: "Decepticon engineering."

Re: Transformers is All About Change - An Interview with Alex Milne (1691003)
Posted by Va'al on May 27th, 2015 @ 6:09am CDT

Killer Moves
(Spoiler free-ish)

Synopsis
“Dear RODIMUS and crew… It’s my funeral tomorrow and I’d love it if you could all be there. Refreshments will be provided. Please R.S.V.P.—THUNDERCLASH”

The situation is ..tense

Story

Switching away from Combiner Wars, and dipping a couple of weeks behind in the general timeline of the IDWverse, let us return to the Lost Light after Ratchet has left to go annoy/save/be annoyed by Drift. As they receive news that the Greatest Autobot That Ever Will Have Lived Alpha Bravo Thunderclash is currently at his final stretch, even with the Vis Vitalis life support.

Alas, poor Thunders

The issue does some really clever things, in James Robert's script set-up to the pre-wake for Thunderclash aboard his ship - we are allowed another slice of life aboard the Lost Light, with its crew interacting, clashing, bumping into each other, just ..being there and letting their voices come to the fore and speak for themselves, and Nautica, Nightbeat and Getaway getting a little more of the spotlight.

Where's Wall-E?

And, similarly, we get a round-up of the new characters aboard the Vis Vitalis, with new arrivals - though seemingly well established in the universe - Firestar and Velocity, plus some additional Camiens as revealed by Milne recently, playing into the wider universe of the Transformers at this stage. And how does characters clash and blend with our cast of misfitting egos.

Not much of a spark, really

All of the dancing, all of the jealousies, all of the distractions and the emotions are not what the issue is all about, however. Two more threads run under the surface, showing the closer converging parallels of Rodimus and Megatron, and their personal issues with pretty much anything. And a deeper, darker stream still..

Art

It's always nice to see the return of a regular artist on a series, and Alex Milne does not disappoint with this issue, at all. We get new designs, multiple crowd scenes, new cast members some serious delving into body language and dynamic dance moves (willing or not) and - of course - some magnificent facial expressions for the people who *really* don't want anything to do with the whole wake do.

Such joy

The addition of Joana Lafuente's colours, the element of continuity between the various artists we've had in the recent past, makes sure the party is going on both on the dancefloor and in the readers' eyes, with some great effects being played for the multiple characters and their emotional discordances or possible re-ignitions - depending on how whose side you might want to take.

Floored

Tom B. Long is joined for the issue by fellow master letterer Chris Mowry, and with their powers combined, we can actually feel the voices and hear the music from Thudnerclash's pre-wake, along with the corridors, bars, cells and some of the emotions running high among the casts. Which are easily also found in the covers, with Milne and Josh Perez' Nautica and Camien victorious main piece, the thumbnailed Kotteri retail incentive (not depicting scenes in the issue, but rather Empire of Stone), and the triumphant Thunderclash memorial by Nick Roche and Josh Burcham.

Thoughts
Spoilerish ahead

This is not an issue to take as lightly as everything suggests we might want to. Yes, there are several lighthearted scenes, with a character focus and setting, playing on the multiple clashing egos of the cast and the new encounters (for the readers at least), and ensuring all characters are ..well, characters. They just are. With their quirks, personalities and voices.

In space, no one can etc

At the same time, though, there's a deeper, creepier story coming out of the issue, and played on the sidelines of the general merriment of the Vis and Light - and one that brings us back to where MTMTE all started, again. Space horror, dark ships, and things lurking just beyond the happiness of the circle of casts shown in the light. Genre is genre is genre.

out of

Re: Transformers is All About Change - An Interview with Alex Milne (1691013)
Posted by Randomhero on May 27th, 2015 @ 6:41am CDT

Not a huge fan of this issue to be honest. It just did nothing for me. Ive always enjoyed MTMTEs character development but never liked its pacing. With elegant chaos feeling like it tied up close to 75-80% of Roberts loose threads, I finally felt like "hey! We're gonna start actually working on the quest now!" And we are but it's gonna be slow and I'm really hoping it doesn't get bogged down by more drawn out subplots and this story is quest orientated I suppose. It just didn't wow me or catch my attention.

I will give Roberts this, he knows how to write girls as girls. Not to be critical to John or Margarite but Windblade, Chromia, and Arcee are women in name and appearance only. The female characters in this comic feel like female characters. They talk like girls and I give total props to that.

Re: Transformers is All About Change - An Interview with Alex Milne (1691017)
Posted by Jeen0808 on May 27th, 2015 @ 7:13am CDT

This issue was well and all, as a setup. But it kind of reminded me of something Ultra Magnus once said.

Re: Transformers is All About Change - An Interview with Alex Milne (1691019)
Posted by Randomhero on May 27th, 2015 @ 7:26am CDT

Jeen0808 wrote:This issue was well and all, as a setup. But it kind of reminded me of something Ultra Magnus once said.

Sure...except evenyone who is on a cover for this issue is featured in the comic.

Re: Transformers is All About Change - An Interview with Alex Milne (1691025)
Posted by pie-man on May 27th, 2015 @ 7:55am CDT

Its certainly an interesting issue, but seemed to me that it ended kinda abruptly. I know there have been some cliffhanger-esque endings recently (Brainstorm holding a gun at a half-built Megatron comes to mind), but this this issue seemed like a few pages short.

Great character interactions and all.... but also feel that all that dialogue slows pace of the issue. Interesting to see Ravage out and about and hanging out (sort of) with the rest of the crew.

Re: Transformers is All About Change - An Interview with Alex Milne (1691030)
Posted by Randomhero on May 27th, 2015 @ 8:13am CDT

pie-man wrote:Its certainly an interesting issue, but seemed to me that it ended kinda abruptly. I know there have been some cliffhanger-esque endings recently (Brainstorm holding a gun at a half-built Megatron comes to mind), but this this issue seemed like a few pages short.

Great character interactions and all.... but also feel that all that dialogue slows pace of the issue. Interesting to see Ravage out and about and hanging out (sort of) with the rest of the crew.

I totally agree. It feels like nothing happened but a lot did. It's hard to follow up elegant chaos and the last two because of how emotional the past 5 months of MTMTE has been.

Personally I think it has to do with this is all centered around thunderclash, a character that literally had done nothing in IDW expect for being told how amazing he is. I have no attachment to him and if people do that's fine I guess. Maybe if I read what fun pub has done because that's the only history he has.

Re: Transformers is All About Change - An Interview with Alex Milne (1691031)
Posted by ScottyP on May 27th, 2015 @ 8:14am CDT

This is one of those "won't notice it was a whole issue in the trade" but "too slow to be super enjoyable as a stand alone" to me. Loved the character development but not much of anything else really seemed to go anywhere, and the cliffhanger feels repetitive. Haven't we done robo-zombies/mini-scraplets/etc/etc a couple times now?

Disclaimer: these are still nit-picks, and probably only coming out due to how phenomenally good 39 and 40 were.

Re: Transformers is All About Change - An Interview with Alex Milne (1691032)
Posted by Randomhero on May 27th, 2015 @ 8:14am CDT

pie-man wrote:Its certainly an interesting issue, but seemed to me that it ended kinda abruptly. I know there have been some cliffhanger-esque endings recently (Brainstorm holding a gun at a half-built Megatron comes to mind), but this this issue seemed like a few pages short.

Great character interactions and all.... but also feel that all that dialogue slows pace of the issue. Interesting to see Ravage out and about and hanging out (sort of) with the rest of the crew.

Re: Transformers is All About Change - An Interview with Alex Milne (1691033)
Posted by ctrlFrequency on May 27th, 2015 @ 8:17am CDT

Thought it was a good issue for a set up issue

sure it didn’t get suspenseful or have a lot of action but it looks like Roberts is setting up for a proper mystery (which is inevitable when you bring in Nightbeat

) and laying foundations.

Also, loved the way he wrote for the ladies. On a personality level I think Roberts really understands the female mindset. Never makes them too girly but makes them real. Even if he does put them in the wrong places sometimes *cougj*DJD*cough*

He's telling a story, and unfortunately in the limited pages of a comic that makes for slow issues.

Re: Transformers is All About Change - An Interview with Alex Milne (1691034)
Posted by Randomhero on May 27th, 2015 @ 8:18am CDT

Sorry for the double post. Phone is acting up

Re: Transformers is All About Change - An Interview with Alex Milne (1691054)
Posted by pie-man on May 27th, 2015 @ 9:13am CDT

Its funny.... because of the timeline in MTMTE being behind the rest of the IDW-verse, every time I see First Aid, I pretend to be a fortune teller and tell him, "Soon, you will leave the Lost Light and return to Cybertron, where you will become the left leg of a combiner, and you will discover new worlds....."

:-)

Re: Transformers is All About Change - An Interview with Alex Milne (1691110)
Posted by Downbeat on May 27th, 2015 @ 10:45am CDT

There sure are a few posts in here acting like women have alien mindsets that are incredibly different from men. >:oP

Re: Transformers is All About Change - An Interview with Alex Milne (1691114)
Posted by Noideaforaname on May 27th, 2015 @ 10:51am CDT

ScottyP wrote:This is one of those "won't notice it was a whole issue in the trade" but "too slow to be super enjoyable as a stand alone" to me. Loved the character development but not much of anything else really seemed to go anywhere, and the cliffhanger feels repetitive. Haven't we done robo-zombies/mini-scraplets/etc/etc a couple times now?

Disclaimer: these are still nit-picks, and probably only coming out due to how phenomenally good 39 and 40 were.

Definitely this, but I'm more annoyed that all the new female bots got hyped yet only Firestar really made an appearance.

Also wish we got more info about Thunderclash. He's just sorta... artificial. We're forced to agree with Rodimus not because of what TC's done, but because TC's done nothing.

Re: Transformers is All About Change - An Interview with Alex Milne (1691116)
Posted by Randomhero on May 27th, 2015 @ 10:57am CDT

Downbeat wrote:There sure are a few posts in here acting like women have alien mindsets that are incredibly different from men.

Not alien, different. As I said Chromia and Windblade are pretty much female in gender only. James and Alex have given Natica female characteristics in body language and personality. She actually feels like a female character and not just a typical "hey look a girl because she looks like a girl and were being told she's a girl!"

Re: Transformers is All About Change - An Interview with Alex Milne (1691134)
Posted by worldsgreatest on May 27th, 2015 @ 11:26am CDT

Randomhero wrote:
Downbeat wrote:There sure are a few posts in here acting like women have alien mindsets that are incredibly different from men.

Not alien, different. As I said Chromia and Windblade are pretty much female in gender only. James and Alex have given Natica female characteristics in body language and personality. She actually feels like a female character and not just a typical "hey look a girl because she looks like a girl and were being told she's a girl!"

I still have no idea what this means.

What does 'a girl' sound like? What does 'female' SOUND like as character trait to you?

Re: Transformers is All About Change - An Interview with Alex Milne (1691135)
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on May 27th, 2015 @ 11:27am CDT

I liked the issue. It feels like the 9-11 issues, and those were brilliantly executed. I think this will be a cool 2-parter, and can't wait for the next issue! Thunders better live, and they cannot kill Nightbeat or Getaway, or anyone for that matter.

Re: Transformers is All About Change - An Interview with Alex Milne (1691141)
Posted by Wolfguard on May 27th, 2015 @ 11:37am CDT

Downbeat wrote:There sure are a few posts in here acting like women have alien mindsets that are incredibly different from men.

When you start dating, you'll understand.

>:oP

Re: Transformers is All About Change - An Interview with Alex Milne (1691144)
Posted by TGS1985 on May 27th, 2015 @ 11:43am CDT

I liked some of the little details like I believe on page 9 when Megatron and Rodimus are arguing about going to the pre-wake you can see Megatron's Autobot symbol frown in the exactly same manor he was.

Also is anyone else starting to get a sort of Felicity Smoak vibe from Nautica personality wise? I can't help but hear her voice in my head when I read her lines now... And I totally mean that as a positive way because I adore Felicity on Arrow.

Lastly, a cybertronian SORORITY? That just asking for college based hijinks!
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbEfV05tJz8[/youtube]

Re: Transformers is All About Change - An Interview with Alex Milne (1691153)
Posted by Randomhero on May 27th, 2015 @ 12:11pm CDT

Wolfguard wrote:
Downbeat wrote:There sure are a few posts in here acting like women have alien mindsets that are incredibly different from men.

When you start dating, you'll understand.

I was not going to go there lol

Seriously there's more to identifying gender than appearance. I personally can tell the difference in speech, mannerisms, etc . Nautica's portrayal is a bit girly and I dont mean that in an offensive way at all but she is a decent written female character. Her body language and mannerisms are very femininant.

Re: Transformers is All About Change - An Interview with Alex Milne (1691195)
Posted by Va'al on May 27th, 2015 @ 1:46pm CDT

Noideaforaname wrote:
ScottyP wrote:This is one of those "won't notice it was a whole issue in the trade" but "too slow to be super enjoyable as a stand alone" to me. Loved the character development but not much of anything else really seemed to go anywhere, and the cliffhanger feels repetitive. Haven't we done robo-zombies/mini-scraplets/etc/etc a couple times now?

Disclaimer: these are still nit-picks, and probably only coming out due to how phenomenally good 39 and 40 were.

Definitely this, but I'm more annoyed that all the new female bots got hyped yet only Firestar really made an appearance.

Also wish we got more info about Thunderclash. He's just sorta... artificial. We're forced to agree with Rodimus not because of what TC's done, but because TC's done nothing.

Agreed on the comparison to the previous two issues - they are still so good is still hurts a little.

Re: Transformers is All About Change - An Interview with Alex Milne (1691201)
Posted by ScottyP on May 27th, 2015 @ 1:58pm CDT

worldsgreatest wrote:
Randomhero wrote:
Downbeat wrote:There sure are a few posts in here acting like women have alien mindsets that are incredibly different from men.

Not alien, different. As I said Chromia and Windblade are pretty much female in gender only. James and Alex have given Natica female characteristics in body language and personality. She actually feels like a female character and not just a typical "hey look a girl because she looks like a girl and were being told she's a girl!"

I still have no idea what this means.

What does 'a girl' sound like? What does 'female' SOUND like as character trait to you?

I think folks are being appreciative of intelligent subtlety being used to portray categorical character differences rather than being beaten on the head with stereotypes. You probably don't understand Randomhero's exact meaning because I doubt they or anyone wants to dig into those types of complexities in detail - that could be a long post.

To put it shortly, Nautica is clearly different from Firestar who is clearly different from Windblade who is clearly different from Chromia and they're all clearly different from Nickel yet they're all portrayed as female in subtle ways despite massive differences in personality and appearance and that's also what we call a well done attempt at being inclusive. It's not Girlbot A and Femmebot B and Girlbot A (green version) just being there for the sake of it. There are actual characters being defined here, not pointless archetypal representations of an abstract (depending on your point of view) concept like gender. Many of these personalities could be assigned to other characters that aren't fleshed out yet, and it'd work just fine. This is an all around "Good Thing" and I think that's what's being pointed out in folks' reactions to this issue more than anything.

If that still doesn't answer your question, ponder the stoic look of Quig's face here while you search inside for your answers. Or something.

Re: Transformers is All About Change - An Interview with Alex Milne (1691202)
Posted by Nemesis Maximo on May 27th, 2015 @ 2:00pm CDT

Downbeat wrote:There sure are a few posts in here acting like women have alien mindsets that are incredibly different from men.

Um...because they do. I mean, when you have to worry about certain things that men don't have to worry about, then yes, you have a different mindset.

Next you'll be acting like they don't have different bodies from men.

Re: Transformers is All About Change - An Interview with Alex Milne (1691253)
Posted by worldsgreatest on May 27th, 2015 @ 3:57pm CDT

ScottyP wrote:
worldsgreatest wrote:
Randomhero wrote:
Downbeat wrote:There sure are a few posts in here acting like women have alien mindsets that are incredibly different from men.

Not alien, different. As I said Chromia and Windblade are pretty much female in gender only. James and Alex have given Natica female characteristics in body language and personality. She actually feels like a female character and not just a typical "hey look a girl because she looks like a girl and were being told she's a girl!"

I still have no idea what this means.

What does 'a girl' sound like? What does 'female' SOUND like as character trait to you?

I think folks are being appreciative of intelligent subtlety being used to portray categorical character differences rather than being beaten on the head with stereotypes. You probably don't understand Randomhero's exact meaning because I doubt they or anyone wants to dig into those types of complexities in detail - that could be a long post.

To put it shortly, Nautica is clearly different from Firestar who is clearly different from Windblade who is clearly different from Chromia and they're all clearly different from Nickel yet they're all portrayed as female in subtle ways despite massive differences in personality and appearance and that's also what we call a well done attempt at being inclusive. It's not Girlbot A and Femmebot B and Girlbot A (green version) just being there for the sake of it. There are actual characters being defined here, not pointless archetypal representations of an abstract (depending on your point of view) concept like gender. Many of these personalities could be assigned to other characters that aren't fleshed out yet, and it'd work just fine. This is an all around "Good Thing" and I think that's what's being pointed out in folks' reactions to this issue more than anything.

If that still doesn't answer your question, ponder the stoic look of Quig's face here while you search inside for your answers. Or something.

Thanks Scotty.

That was what I was getting at. Since Roberts does such a good job of being inclusive and creating well rounded characters that it had never dawned on me that any of the lady Transformers were not being presented as female. Or without a female voice. Hence the inquiry.

To put it shortly, he seemed to be trying to say 'feminine' and not 'female'. Female would indicate stereotypes associated with gender. I didn't think that was what he meant.

I wasn't legitimately confused at what he was saying. Just how he was intimating it.

Re: Transformers is All About Change - An Interview with Alex Milne (1691283)
Posted by ScottyP on May 27th, 2015 @ 5:22pm CDT

worldsgreatest wrote:That was what I was getting at. Since Roberts does such a good job of being inclusive and creating well rounded characters that it had never dawned on me that any of the lady Transformers were not being presented as female. Or without a female voice. Hence the inquiry.

To put it shortly, he seemed to be trying to say 'feminine' and not 'female'. Female would indicate stereotypes associated with gender. I didn't think that was what he meant.

I wasn't legitimately confused at what he was saying. Just how he was intimating it.

Aha, now we both understand each other better! Good stuff.

Re: Transformers is All About Change - An Interview with Alex Milne (1691318)
Posted by ctrlFrequency on May 27th, 2015 @ 6:58pm CDT

Downbeat wrote:There sure are a few posts in here acting like women have alien mindsets that are incredibly different from men.

Could you elaborate on that? I'm not sure I completely got in sync with your statement.

If we're talking about real human men and women... I can assure you we have different mindsets. A lot of it is societal I admit we're trained to think differently from each other, but as a woman in a house full of men (2 are, admittedly, under 7 years old, but 2 are adults) I don't get you guys sometimes.

I am not excessively girly, after all I like robot toys, so I have less of a problem understanding men, but trust me, we have a different mindset.

There are very few male writers who truly get the differences that make gender wonderful, and tend to make female characters unbearably unrealistic. And as was mentioned before, a lot of those writers make every female just another version of the others in the story.

Re: Transformers is All About Change - An Interview with Alex Milne (1691351)
Posted by 1984forever on May 27th, 2015 @ 9:14pm CDT

I feel ripped off/violated after reading this issue.

MTMTE is too intellectual for war, feels Minimus deserves more panels than Magnus, can't be bothered with transformations, and is now too cool to show anyone but FanFicformers.

Re: Transformers is All About Change - An Interview with Alex Milne (1691418)
Posted by Nemesis Maximo on May 28th, 2015 @ 12:03am CDT

ctrlFrequency wrote:
Downbeat wrote:There sure are a few posts in here acting like women have alien mindsets that are incredibly different from men.

Could you elaborate on that? I'm not sure I completely got in sync with your statement.

If we're talking about real human men and women... I can assure you we have different mindsets. A lot of it is societal I admit we're trained to think differently from each other, but as a woman in a house full of men (2 are, admittedly, under 7 years old, but 2 are adults) I don't get you guys sometimes.

I am not excessively girly, after all I like robot toys, so I have less of a problem understanding men, but trust me, we have a different mindset.

There are very few male writers who truly get the differences that make gender wonderful, and tend to make female characters unbearably unrealistic. And as was mentioned before, a lot of those writers make every female just another version of the others in the story.

To paraphrase Prowl from the G1 cartoon: "A woman after my own central processor!"

But yes, I agree. I feel as though it's because (a) Barber doesn't want readers to think he's being misogynist if he was to try to make Windblade more feminine as opposed to "just a character being herself",(b) Scott doesn't want to come across as a hardcore feminist by being a female author writing female characters and making them outright feminine and (c) the scope of RID and Windblade are not inherently open to exploring the deeper meaning of being, when compared to MTMTE. And honestly, as with all female problems in comics, it happens even in Marvel and DC: the female superheroes could often be male. I find it refreshing that Roberts is taking the time to at least try as opposed to being afraid of trying.

Re: Transformers is All About Change - An Interview with Alex Milne (1691447)
Posted by budmaloney on May 28th, 2015 @ 2:31am CDT

I'm really conflicted about this comic. I really like the new female characters and the art throughout, but there were a lot of things I didn't understand, perhaps someone can explain it to me.
Wwhy did Nautica and Firestar suddenly stop talking to each other. It wasn't clear, what did Firestar mean by coattails? Did she mean Nautica is not capable of making stuff on her own? was it a female competition thing I'm not getting.

Also when Nautica told Nightbeat "can I borrow you for a moment". What does that infer? I know it's going to be revealed to the audience in next issue, but right now, what does it imply. Does it imply she wants to get intimate? The conversation between them was odd and threw in some names and references that detached me.
This issue detaches more than it latches. We get quirkiness for the sake of quirkiness. I personally hated the fact that the IDW universe didn't have females, and Arcee was tested on. But this whole sudden shift of "couples", "sororities", and these random females appearing, really disrupts the continuity. It just came out of nowhere and it feels odd.

I don't know it didn't do it for me at all.
I disliked the similarities between Thunderclash's symbols and Agents of shield, it felt unoriginal. Both maps leading to a city.

It felt like pages out of the Jetsons, maybe too comical. And when you compare it to RID and the vast emptiness in Cybertron, it feels like this is completely different universe . Everyone is smiling and laughing as if no war has ever happened.

It's a big risk and a challenge to go the direction they're heading. It could have been done slightly better with more balance.

Also get to the DJD already! Another freaking filler.

Re: Transformers is All About Change - An Interview with Alex Milne (1691452)
Posted by Bounti76 on May 28th, 2015 @ 2:49am CDT

1984forever wrote:I feel ripped off/violated after reading this issue.

MTMTE is too intellectual for war, feels Minimus deserves more panels than Magnus, can't be bothered with transformations, and is now too cool to show anyone but FanFicformers.

It's not the first season of the G1 cartoon, so why did you read it?

Re: Transformers is All About Change - An Interview with Alex Milne (1691478)
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on May 28th, 2015 @ 5:54am CDT

budmaloney wrote:I'm really conflicted about this comic. I really like the new female characters and the art throughout, but there were a lot of things I didn't understand, perhaps someone can explain it to me.
Wwhy did Nautica and Firestar suddenly stop talking to each other. It wasn't clear, what did Firestar mean by coattails? Did she mean Nautica is not capable of making stuff on her own? was it a female competition thing I'm not getting.

Also when Nautica told Nightbeat "can I borrow you for a moment". What does that infer? I know it's going to be revealed to the audience in next issue, but right now, what does it imply. Does it imply she wants to get intimate? The conversation between them was odd and threw in some names and references that detached me.
This issue detaches more than it latches. We get quirkiness for the sake of quirkiness. I personally hated the fact that the IDW universe didn't have females, and Arcee was tested on. But this whole sudden shift of "couples", "sororities", and these random females appearing, really disrupts the continuity. It just came out of nowhere and it feels odd.

I don't know it didn't do it for me at all.
I disliked the similarities between Thunderclash's symbols and Agents of shield, it felt unoriginal. Both maps leading to a city.

It felt like pages out of the Jetsons, maybe too comical. And when you compare it to RID and the vast emptiness in Cybertron, it feels like this is completely different universe . Everyone is smiling and laughing as if no war has ever happened.

It's a big risk and a challenge to go the direction they're heading. It could have been done slightly better with more balance.

Also get to the DJD already! Another freaking filler.

Ok, I'll attempt to help here.
Nautica and Firestar were best friends, but now it appears they are "Rivals" and the command position may have gone to Firestar's head perhaps. and as for taking Nightbeat aside, She may be suspicious of Firestar for something (perhaps the alien growths) and wants Nightbeat to have a look since he is a detective
As for the loads of new females: IDW is expanding, and right now the other series are focusing on the colonies, which is where all these females hail. Caminus was untouched by war, so it had 4 million more years to develop, and it didn't have Functionism or other cruel dictatorships. This means that they developed completely differently, which would logically include universities for education and other things as such. It's more of an info-dump right now yes, but it is always like that with regards to newcomers, no matter who they are.
Thunders had that symbol a year and a half ago. It may be based on Agents of Shield, but it could be completely unrelated,
And this can't really be described as a "Filler" considering the Lost Light does not have a map anymore and they need Thunderclash so they can continue their quest, so for the greater storyline this issue is invaluable. They need a map, and they can't really understand it if Thunderclash dies here.

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