Maximum Dinobots discussion thread

[Dominic]

This is also one of the times in the last few years when Furman was writing with a direction and plan beyond "lets get Furman on this TF project".

Dom
-liked the "Fortress" arc.

[onslaught86]

Hmm. It makes me wonder if Furman is really pushing here instead of coasting, whether all the criticism he's had has overwhelmed the slavish praise (And the genuine praise) to force him into something different. It's just worlds better here, and not because he's using characters he's established with.

[Dominic]

Something has changed, that is for sure. Maybe having the rug pulled out from under him, (as we assume was the case with the "______-ion" arcs), set him on the right path.

"Maximum Dinobots" is better because Furman is writing with a plan and had direction. (Amazing how much that can help.)

Dom

[BWprowl]

Maximum Dinobots #5

If there's one thing to be said for the...iffiness of Furman's last few years, at least it's clear now that he's learned from them. Particularly, this issue has Furman using presumed knowledge of his own style on the part of the reader to play with the reader's expectations. With the book opening with the apparent death of Sludge, I immediately thought 'Alright, it's the end of the series. Time for the ol' Furman body count to rack up'. And then...it doesn't. Instead, Furman takes all the threads, all the ideas that have been running through this series since issue one, and follows through on them almost perfectly. The idea of unity among the Dinobots, and how that affects their actions especially comes through well, and just enough of Grimlock's independent streak is preserved within that to make him still Grimlock (loved that last bit between him and Shockwave). Speaking of Shockwave, he's handled well too, in another instance of playing with our expectations (in this case, we and the characters are led to believe that Shockwave has been 'Furmanized' when he actually hasn't). Suntreaker's arc wraps up fine, although there's obviously some darkness around the edges of the seemingly 'happy' ending, since we already know how it all turns out in All Hail Megatron. And Ultra Magus, who easily could've wound up as a big Deus Ex Machina, instead ends up serving as that last outside influence that affects how the Dinobots work. If there's any problem with this issue, it's that with all the ideas and tricks Furman's throwing around, the artwork simply isn't up to the challenge, becoming cramped and hard to read in several instances (the bit where Scorponok ducks down the hatch being the main one I can recall offhand). But that's honestly not that big a deal, since this is definitely a series to read for the writing. It cements the idea that Furman is back in classic form, and dammit if I'm not excited now to see what we get from him next.

[Onslaught Six]

The thing I'm starting to feel is that maybe, just maybe, Furman writes better when he's working underneath another writer. I get the feeling MDB was definitely written 'around' AHM. "We're going in this direction, and this needs to happen."

I'm still waiting for Coda, though, to explain some stuff, like where the Dinobots are during AHM. Unless they pop up at the end during the Earth assault to randomly kick some ass. (I *love* when characters randomly show up to kick ass unexpectedly. That moment of, "Holy shit! It's [x]!" is always awesome to me.)

[Dominic]

Maximum Dinobots #5: And....it all wraps up nicely. As others have pointed out, the happy ending for this series is darkened a bit by knowing what happens "next", (chronologically, this series is set before AHM). Furman's writing is a bit ham-handed in places, but is still tighter than it has been for about 4 years. And, Furman subtely manages to show how much Grimlock has changed, and how little Shockwave has. Despite the ample opportunities for mischief, Furman shows admirable restraint in avoiding "calling back" to himself. The art is a bit spotty, but the clarity of the story more than carries things.

Furman writing better "under another writer" is consistent with what we have seen in the past. Many of Furman's better stories were written with editorial over-sight, (much of that being Rob Tokar's).

Grade: A Wait for the compilation at this point.

[onslaught86]

Latest and final issue, guys! Thoughts?

Don't have it on hand at the moment, surprised no-one's commented yet. There's an artist change partway through that was a little inconsistent and jarring, but I heart James Raiz as much as Nick Roche, so it didn't bother me too much. The ending was a little unclear on exactly what happened and to whom, yet there was an utterly fantastic line from Grimlock near the middle that summed the whole series (And Furman's DW-onward work in general) perfectly. I'll wait until I can quote it exactly, heh.

[BWprowl]

Latest and final issue, guys! Thoughts?

Don't have it on hand at the moment, surprised no-one's commented yet.

What'choo talkin' 'bout? Dom and I both reviewed #5 weeks ago. They're right there above your post.

[Dominic]

I just noticed Grimlock talking about "meaning" and such. Heh, good catch 86.

Dom

[andersonh1]

Maximum Dinobots - Trade Paperback

I started reading the Transformer comics by IDW when they first began publishing, and for various reasons I dropped out about the time that Devastation began. So it’s been enjoyable to go back and fill in the gaps and catch up on a year and a half of missed stories. “Maximum Dinobots” fills in a lot of those gaps. The slow burn really does pay off quite well when that payoff is finally reached. “Maximum Dinobots” deals with story threads from not only the main series, but also Spotlights Shockwave, Ultra Magnus, Soundwave and Grimlock.

After a flashback to the “glory days” of the Dynobot team, the story starts out with Grimlock on his own, trying to get their spacecraft functioning again. He sends for help and then is located by Scorponok, who has been after him since the events of Spotlight: Grimlock, briefly summarized here. The story follows this conflict between Grimlock and Scorponok, mixed with Sunstreaker and Hunter’s search for Sunstreaker’s original head. Hot Rod and Shockwave are thrown into the mix, along with Soundwave, Ravage and Laserbeak. Given all the characters and loose ends, it should be apparent that the plot is very busy, and thick with characters, and yet it works and works well.

Grimlock also gets some character development, finally. He lost his speech impediment in the IDW series (though we get two “me, Grimlocks” in his internal dialogue as in-jokes) but retained his traditional belligerent attitude. Grimlock is and has been a character who acted based on his own beliefs and goals, while not always taking into account what those around him want, and it comes back to haunt him here. The Dinobots come into conflict with Grimlock, and Swoop briefly abandons the group, before they pull together against the headmaster attack. But it’s Sludge’s near-death that really seems to get through to Grimlock. At the end of the story, he takes responsibility for going awol with the rest of the Dynobot unit, and has seemingly begun to rethink the way he’s lived his life up to this point. He submits to imprisonment by Ultra Magnus without protest, which is something I can’t imagine Grimlock doing in the past.

I loved Shockwave’s part in the story. With a bomb implanted in his chest by Skywatch and with full knowledge that it will be detonated within a certain time if not shut off, he goes to free Soundwave and essentially does as much harm to Skywatch as he can. In one story, Skywatch loses all of their controlled Transformers and is left with nothing except a damaged reputation, just in time for Spike to help run the group in the ongoing series. I loved Shockwave’s exchange with the guy who sent him to stop Grimlock. “Do you know how much damage I could do in 24 hours?” Ha. He’s not too impressed with the humans.

Scorponok’s real head turns up, and is key to defeating his plans. I remember Magnus taking a shot at him in the Ultra Magnus spotlight, and it was nice to finally see that incident and its implications revealed. Sunstreaker gets his head back and goes in for repair, the whole experience having left him very scarred and damaged, leading to his actions in All Hail Megatron. Scorponok, Shockwave and Grimlock are arrested by Ultra Magnus, and Soundwave is free to rejoin Megatron, having been freed by Shockwave from his alt mode imprisonment. All very satisfactory.

About the only unsatisfactory thing about the story is how incompetent Scorponok is. From constantly underestimating the Dynobots, to sending Hot Rod out to be shot rather than doing it himself, the whole situation goes out of his control because Scorponok is way too overconfident. Or rather, the human in the headmaster unit is too overconfident. He did very well in setting up the whole situation with the Machinations and the headmasters, but blew it big time by throwing caution to the wind and openly trying to expose and destroy Skywatch.

Otherwise, I really enjoyed the story. It’s great to see so many of the storylines set up back when I was first reading regularly finally get tied up, though I doubt the original plan was to do so in only five issues. After lots of slow, steady buildup, it all comes to a head in five short issues. And for the most part, the story is successful and interesting, and the characters are used well. “Maximum Dinobots” is well worth reading.