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Re: Armada Unicron

Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2009 5:29 pm
by Sparky Prime
Dominic wrote:I am probably more forgiving of "Omega Point" than I should be as it came out before nearly all of Furman's work, (TF and otherwise),
Waitaminute... What do you mean "Omega Point" came out before nearly all of Furman's work? He wrote a ton of stuff long before that (TF and otherwise).

Re: Armada Unicron

Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2009 7:31 am
by Onslaught Six
Furman's post-UK Comics and G2 work, anyway. Objectively speaking, those came out in the first ten years, while it's been fifteen since then. Count in the general gap of stuff between Omega Point and Armada, and, well.

Re: Armada Unicron

Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2009 10:08 am
by BWprowl
For me, 'Omega Point' was about the point (heh) where Furman started sucking. I paid SHIPPING and HANDLING to get this comic when I was younger, only to receive it and be VASTLY disappointed. It's become to pattern for your typical Furman disaster: AWESOME overpowered bad guys on the level of some idiot's RP characters, scores of "obscure" cameos (immediately followed by those hoardes getting messily killed off because Furman knows the ancient comic-writing secret of "Death=Depth"), ridiculous cosmic deus ex machinas (Look! Antagony and Cataclysm are back to life! Watch them contribute nothing at all!)... By the time Furman managed to fanwank G1 cameos in there (Including Grimlock, of course), I was already done. Don't even get me started on the whole Sandstorm/Herald/Scorpius/Dead Guy scene, which might be the most poorly written series of panels I have read in a comic.

Re: Armada Unicron

Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2009 4:06 pm
by onslaught86
And that right there is why I'm so very surprised that Maximum Dinobots is good. Ye gods, Simon, where have you been hiding the cool stories? :<

Re: Armada Unicron

Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2009 5:56 pm
by BWprowl
onslaught86 wrote:And that right there is why I'm so very surprised that Maximum Dinobots is good. Ye gods, Simon, where have you been hiding the cool stories? :<
Tell me about it. I'm not gonna call it great, but it's definitely not written by the same Furman who's been cranking that stuff out for the last decade+. It's focused, down-to-earth, it's even got me not hating Grimlock! It *feels* like Furman is trying REALLY hard to restrain himself (or perhaps this is the work of those mysterious editors Dom's always talking about), and I'm grateful for that. Now, I'm knocking on wood since there's still, what, four issues for Furman to go and screw it all up, but I think it says a lot that I'm able to stay optimistic in the face of that.

Plus, it's got Red Sunstreaker/Spinout in a canon context. Which is awesome.

Re: Armada Unicron

Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2009 6:32 pm
by Onslaught Six
BWprowl wrote:Plus, it's got Red Sunstreaker/Spinout in a canon context. Which is awesome.
It does? Woah. I need to steal this comic.

(Note: I only steal comics because I do not have a comic shop anywhere near me that I know of.)

Re: Armada Unicron

Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2009 7:03 am
by Dominic
Sparky Prime wrote:
Dominic wrote:I am probably more forgiving of "Omega Point" than I should be as it came out before nearly all of Furman's work, (TF and otherwise),
Waitaminute... What do you mean "Omega Point" came out before nearly all of Furman's work? He wrote a ton of stuff long before that (TF and otherwise).

Damn. I was sloppy last week. I meant to say "before Furman's work started to go to heck".

As for "Maximum Dinobots", I plan to review the current issue in the next week or so. (Totally missed the Spinout cameo.) I am willing to bet that Ryall, or some editor at IDW, is holding Furman's leash. (I have not been reading IDW for long enough to recognize editorial finger-prints. And, unlike the Big-2, IDW keeps the personalities under wraps.) IDW has massively scaled back Furman's output, likely due to the poor showing Furman made on the "Beast Wars" books and the arc-based G1 series. (Who else was waiting for "Transformers: Desperation"?)

Dom
-pictures Spark coughing up Mt. Dew on his keyboard. :lol:

Re: Armada Unicron

Posted: Sat Jan 24, 2009 4:28 pm
by JediTricks
Onslaught Six wrote:Bitter over Rodimus, JT?
Just sick of everybody making excuses for this shit, I've been having this conversation with a friend for about 6 months now, then Dom brought it up in emails, and now here. Roddy fucked it up because he's a fuckup: http://video.yahoo.com/watch/2215156/6989679
Hot Rod was 'already' on his way to the fight, remember? "Stay away, lad! That's Prime's battle!"
Yeah, and Roddy went in anyway because Roddy is an enema nozzle.

Dominic wrote:I stand by the game analogy. Factors and variables on the "board" or battle-field matter. One of the chief assets a "player" can have is the ability and willingness to exploit said factors and variables. Hotrod, being on the field, was exploited by Megatron. Kudos to Megatron.


On another note, I will not be lured into a discussion of the many problems the old movie has. (Kudos to JT on this though, as I never noticed the inconsistent background on the scene in question.) Yes, Hotrod was written in to screw things up. But, in context, Megatron was smart enough to use Hotrod's stupidity to live-saving (or at least enemy-beating) advantage. Prime was unwilling to risk shooting Hotrod. Megatron's aggression and Prime's caution were both variables that tipped the fight in Megatron's favor.

In the physical contest, Prime won. But, like a real battle, (or simply a real battle plan), their fight was complicated by other guys on the field. Hotrod became part of the fight, and by doing so changed it enough for Megatron to pull a stalemate from the jaws of defeat.

Dom
-badabingbangboom.
But the point remains that you are lending outside context from THAT specific battle which wouldn't be there if not for a "god from machine" (in this case, the convoluted author of the movie) putting that character in there. When you have it down to that chessboard of king vs. king, there's nothing else to do but fight.

Re: Armada Unicron

Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2009 12:24 pm
by Dominic
I agree that Rodimus is an enema nozzle. But, the fact is that the fight shows how field conditions, (including other guys mucking around on the field), can be relevant variables.

Yes, Prime can win a physical contest. But, with certain (not unreasonable) variables, Megatron could beat Prime using his own virtues. (Megatron's virtues include ruthlessness.)
When you have it down to that chessboard of king vs. king, there's nothing else to do but fight.
Actually, the game is pretty much over. Technically, one could move around for 5 moves, but the game still ends in a draw.

Dom
-misread JT's bit about chess rather creatively.

Re: Armada Unicron

Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2009 11:16 pm
by Mako Crab
If you want to talk about fairness, how about the fact that Megatron had been fighting all day, all night, and all the next day before a fully-charged and ready Optimus Prime even set foot on the field? What's it say that Megatron was still able to give him the fight of his life despite having been going non-stop for a day and a half? So Prime went into the fight with an advantage and Megatron found an advantage (Hot Rod) that he was able to exploit. Sounds about even to me.