The Transformers (IDW, formerly "Robots in Disguise")

[Sparky Prime]

But, as it is now, "Robots in Disguise" is basically "Transformers: Autobots v/s Decepticons". Admittedly, this is a function of dove-tailing with "Bayformers: Age of Extinction". I have to wonder how far backwards this book is going to run after the movie tie-in ends.

I'd have to say there is more dynamics at work in this book than simply "Autobots v/s Decepticons" given the types of weapons the humans have been revealed to have. They've shown themselves to be a force to be reckoned with in their own right at least. And I really don't see this as a movie tie-in.

[JediTricks]

I didn't like this issue, and I think it's due to the art and the dialogue, maybe all of the scripting that isn't related to the plotting. This felt very much like a generic comic using generic tricks to fool the audience rather than being smart, the payoff on the cliffhanger was a trick, the sub cover conflict was nothing, and the plot only moved along in some points because certain characters had to be stupid such as buying Galvatron's claims of who shot whom. Oh, and what the hell was going on with Thundercracker falling into a hole and then flying across the globe to find something? That was utterly unclear how it meant anything, how it got from A to B and how C (the screenplay) tied into that at all. That flashback felt off as well. I'd call this a D+ at best.

Random thought about issue 32....

The reveal at the end of the issue (

Spoiler

humans mass producing mecha based on Ramjet and Thrust)

both draws on old plotlines to establish changes to the setting *and* might be opening to door to the book stumbling backwards (

Spoiler

effectively setting Thundercracker back to "traditional Decepticon" spec

).

If it is the latter.....I will be annoyed.

I forgave Sunstreaker coming back as a non-Headmaster because I was pretty sure that Costa's over-all plan was cut short. It made too much sense to have Ironhide and Sunstreaker paired off for Costa to not have had some plan for the character who had a lifetime of learning undone and the character who had arguably been changed more than any other. (Costa's run was about change.....)


But, as it is now, "Robots in Disguise" is basically "Transformers: Autobots v/s Decepticons". Admittedly, this is a function of dove-tailing with "Bayformers: Age of Extinction". I have to wonder how far backwards this book is going to run after the movie tie-in ends.

I dunno, Thundercracker's behavior in this issue felt very cheap and dopey, taking it too far into fanboy/fangirl-focused behavior. I don't want him to be a cliche Decepticon soldier either, but what we have here is almost as bad.

This does feel like a tie-in to the movie, what with humans holding TFs captive, all new Decepticon forces rising from the ashes of defeat, and humans even having new technology to bring them up to threat level with the TFs. It's not offensively so, but it's not helping that this book was socio-political but now is just a dumb action comic.

[Sparky Prime]

This does feel like a tie-in to the movie, what with humans holding TFs captive, all new Decepticon forces rising from the ashes of defeat, and humans even having new technology to bring them up to threat level with the TFs.

When you put it that way, it sounds to me a lot like Mike Costa's run on the book back in 2009...

[BWprowl]

This does feel like a tie-in to the movie, what with humans holding TFs captive, all new Decepticon forces rising from the ashes of defeat, and humans even having new technology to bring them up to threat level with the TFs.

When you put it that way, it sounds to me a lot like Mike Costa's run on the book back in 2009...

That's because AoE (somewhat blatantly, in my opinion) cribs a lot of elements from Costa's TFOngoing. Which is somewhat funny, in that now you end up in this mildly incestuous situation where AoE borrowed elements from those comics, and now the current comics are re-reflecting those elements from the movie.

[andersonh1]

Finally getting around to reading issue 31, and I like the opening with Jazz. He looks good, he's going in and doing some spying, and it's just an enjoyable sequence. Then we get Soundwave saying that the true Decepticon way has always been peace, and I want to throw the issue out the door and down the street. Sure it is, Soundwave. Peace through tyranny. That's what those millions of years of conquest and slaughter and stealing of resources were all about. Maybe Soundwave has finally deceived himself. Who knows?

Anyway, I need to finish it and go on to 32. If I care to stick with it. RID was so sharp once, now it's all murky and gray and the opposite of compelling reading.

[JediTricks]

From what I hear, Cybertron will be back on the pages of RID in modern day with the next issue, and that's news I will be glad to see come true.


Yeah, Soundwave's peacenik schtick is overplayed, you've killed the fuck out of your enemies, you've been party to the genocide of worlds, don't play like that was all so everybody can live in harmony now and you're all above board and it's all Megatron's fault. That's overkill.

[andersonh1]

It will be nice to see Wheeljack back again.

Yeah, Soundwave's peacenik schtick is overplayed, you've killed the fuck out of your enemies, you've been party to the genocide of worlds, don't play like that was all so everybody can live in harmony now and you're all above board and it's all Megatron's fault. That's overkill.

The reason his statement so got under my skin is that I can't quite figure if it's the writers trying to retcon the character's motivations, or whether he's trying to sell Galvatron a bill of goods, or whether Soundwave really believes what he's saying (which makes no sense given how he's behaved in the past). I think I came out in favor of the retcon. Either way, it's a ludicrous statement to make considering how the Decepticons have always operated.

In any case, the "it was all Megatron's fault" defense doesn't hold water when Soundwave was right there going along with it all, with not a word or action made in protest.

[Dominic]

I am guessing that Soundwave is trying to obfuscate. But, it might well be a retcon. (Note the pre-"Dark Cybertron" origin story. Soundwave was depicted as benign.)

The change could also be rationalized as Soundwave adapting to the chaotic events of AHM to "Chaos".

[andersonh1]

RID #33
I’m delighted to see Wheeljack finally repaired and back as a part of the RID cast. This was an excellent issue, and I enjoyed seeing a (probably brief) return to Cybertron and its politics. I continue to believe that Starscream has finally been put in the character’s most fitting role as a fast talking politician who constantly tries to hold on to power by any means necessary. I appreciate the link to events on Earth, and Starscream’s use of those events to further his own agenda. The Superion plotline is picked back up and integrated nicely into the storyline. I even liked the art quite a bit.

This series needed an issue like this, one that reminded us of how it began and made it feel like the events on Earth are relevant to the larger storyline. There’s also Starscream’s ominous hints about another war coming that have me intrigued. I’ve grown more than a little dissatisfied with the post-war landscape, which just hasn’t been used to its full potential.

[BWprowl]

It would take something special to get me to pick up a comic book written by my latest nemesis John Barber, but more Sarah Stone artwork is definitely something special (for cripes sake I picked up the RI cover of Primacy #2 because it was drawn by her!). And the art is still wonderful here. Loved the ‘shattered’ panel spread early on, the way distant landscapes are drawn, the facial expressions, the size and scale of the combiners and the hangar they were in, just great all the way through.

Sadly, Barber’s writing is still as lousy as ever. Love the way he makes a big thing of Wheeljack noting that there are no transmissions or communications going during Starscream’s rantings, only to reveal at the end that there really WAS a transmission he was communicating over, and oops, guess Wheeljack and NOBODY ELSE happened to notice! Does he just make the scripts up page-by-page as he goes along? Never mind that “Starscream is really cracking under the pressure of leadership and everyone is being affected by noticing it” is a far more interesting plot than “Starscream is making evil plans over holocubes” but whatever, we already know that that’s how Barber writes. This issue is basically a pretty blatant “Road to Combiner Wars” setup, so that’s a thing. And hey, Alpha Bravo turns up, and he is a new character, separate from Slingshot! Who was that saying he was just a renamed version? Sparky? Pay up!

I think one reason (of many) that I’ve always (somewhat irrationally) hated Wheeljack is because I’ve never been certain what the fuck his personality is supposed to be. Sometimes he’s a straight, simple, by-the-book scientist guy, other times he’s a waaaaaacky mad scientist, and here he comes off like friggin’ Bumblebee. It all just smashes together in my mind and turns Wheeljack into this amorphous, indistinctive cipher who I never understand why people like so much.