Deviations (IDW's themed cross-over)

Ancillary, non-main-line stuff. Star Wars TF, Speed Stars, Titanium Series, Robot Heroes, that sort of thing. They're kinda neat, but we all know they're not really that important. Admit it, you know it's true.
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Dominic
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Deviations (IDW's themed cross-over)

Post by Dominic »

The "Infestation" event for 2016 is going to be a series of "What if...?" styled one-shots for various licensed series.

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2015/12/12/ ... d-x-files/

The Transformers series is going to be based on the premise of Optimus Prime surviving his battle with Megatron in the 1986.

Stuff like this usually rests on execution more than premise. (Any 10 year old can come up with a "What if...?" premise.) I am not familiar enough with any of the creative teams to call it. But, I will likely pick up one or two of these.
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Re: Deviations (IDW's themed cross-over)

Post by Onslaught Six »

I read an interview and it doesn't sound too promising, but.
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Re: Deviations (IDW's themed cross-over)

Post by Dominic »

The interview I saw did not have enough to go on. Of course, previous years' events do not give us much reason to be optimistic. (Still, I am willing to buy in for a one-shot.)
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Transformers: Deviations

Post by Sparky Prime »

5 page preview from Newsarama. Deviations is a "What if" type story, set during the original Transformers movie, exploring what may have happened if Optimus Prime hadn't died and killed Megatron during their duel at the beginning of the film.
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Re: Transformers: Deviations

Post by Shockwave »

Transformers: Elseworlds.
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Re: Transformers: Deviations

Post by andersonh1 »

Oh, nice! That looks like a Transformers story that I'd enjoy. The art looks good, and it'll be interesting to see where they take the story. Unicron wins? Optimus dies fighting him and Rodimus Prime still succeeds him?

Thanks for posting the preview. I didn't know this was coming out. I'll definitely be picking it up.
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Re: Transformers: Deviations

Post by andersonh1 »

Scratch the enjoyment comment... I picked this up at lunch and while I only had time to read a few pages, I wasn't that impressed. The characterization is all wrong, and so far it's just the movie playing out with a few slight alterations. This time it's Starscream who bargains with Unicron for a new form, but picking the name "Megascream" for himself? Seriously? There are some logical touches to the storyline given the deviation from the original story, and some things seem glossed over or happen just because.

Full review to follow, but I'm unimpressed so far. At least the art is really strong.
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Re: Deviations (IDW's themed cross-over)

Post by Dominic »

Deviations:
The "what if" scenario for the TF "Deviations" comic focuses on Prime surviving the battle with Megatron from the 1986 TF movie.

If there is going to be a "what if" (albeit not using that phrase) specific one-shot for "Transformers", the movie is probably the best place to start (by virtue of being a common reference point).

Stuff like this tends to coast on a combination of having a build in fanbase and concept ("this unrelated thing, but now with your favourite thing").

There is really not much to recommend about this one-shot unless one is a fan of "Transformers" and "What if...?" style comics who really wants to see a "What if...?" comic focused on "Transformers". (There are better "Transformers" and "What if...?" comics for people who are specifically fans of either or both.)

The writing is deliberately retro in style. (At least, I hope it is deliberately that bad.) But, it gets the tone wrong far too often. (Magnus and Kup are written very spitefully, for the purpose of making clear what a piece of shit Hot Rod is.) The art is middling for a modern comic, and does not reflect the retro aspects of the writing. And, there are places where the artist was clearly trying to fit too much in too few panels. On top of that, the opening implies that some great disaster is going to occur, but the ending of the comic is arguably a net positive.

The end result is comparable to what I would expect of Fun Publications.

Grade" C/D Skip this.
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Re: Transformers: Deviations

Post by Dominic »

I actually reviewed this in the "Other" section. (We have traditionally discussed IDW's themed cross-branding in that forum.) So, one of the mods should probably merge the two threads as appropriate.


Transformers: Elseworlds.


More "What if...?" than "Elseworlds".

"What if...?" took a specific event from a run of comics and changed one or two things. The better ones followed a series of cascading changes to a specific outcome. ("What if the Vision took over the World?" is the best example that I can think of, having two outcomes for one scenario.) The better "Elseworlds" made a fundamental change to a character (or set of characters), such as "Gotham by Gaslight" (Batman at the turn of the 19th to 20th century).

Full review to follow, but I'm unimpressed so far. At least the art is really strong.
It is crap. The whole damned thing.

The art works as panels in a generic TF comic. But, it does not match the retro style writing. And, it looks like the writer was expecting the artist to carry too much narrative weight without giving him page and panel-space to do so.

This thing is a creative and technical failure comparable to something from Fun Publications.
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Re: Transformers: Deviations

Post by Sparky Prime »

Dominic wrote:(We have traditionally discussed IDW's themed cross-branding in that forum.)
To be fair, IDW's "cross-branding" generally takes place within it's own separate continuities that don't exactly fit anywhere else. This story, however, is a "What if" take on the G1 continuity.
More "What if...?" than "Elseworlds".

"What if...?" took a specific event from a run of comics and changed one or two things. The better ones followed a series of cascading changes to a specific outcome. ("What if the Vision took over the World?" is the best example that I can think of, having two outcomes for one scenario.) The better "Elseworlds" made a fundamental change to a character (or set of characters), such as "Gotham by Gaslight" (Batman at the turn of the 19th to 20th century).
It's the same thing. The only difference is "Elseworlds" is what DC calls it, while "What If" is Marvel. For example, there's an Elseworlds story what's basically just 'what if Superman was a Green Lantern', with no real fundamental changes to the character beyond using a Green Lantern ring in place of his powers.
andersonh1 wrote:This time it's Starscream who bargains with Unicron for a new form, but picking the name "Megascream" for himself? Seriously?
Wow, yeah, that's pretty bad. I can see why they went with that name, Starscream being the new Decepticon leader and thus the 'new Megatron' of sorts... But it just doesn't work.
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