Ironhide mini-series

[Onslaught Six]

Maybe it's just me, though, but when I see a story that I like that goes and references some other stories...it makes me more interested in what already happened. Furman's run on the book bored me so I ignored a good bunch of the specifics--until AHM came out, then I went back and read those again to get more detail.

I also think that doing that kind of thing makes it feel like there really is a bigger universe at play. For example, Wreckers is really self-contained in its storytelling as a larger piece, but you do have to know a couple things--like how Magnus is a space cop, and Fort Max isn't huge, and Shockwave got arrested at the end of Maximum Dinobots. But all that stuff can work out if it's done well--after all, isn't that what changing the status quo should be about? When Shockwave gets arrested and put in prison, he 'stays there.' (Or, well, in fiction he stayed there for 3+ years, and wasn't around in AHM. Though he's out now.)

[Dominic]

I do not even think you need to "know" that much when reading "Wreckers", beyond figuring it out. If someone is new to TF, they have no reason to know how big Fort Max is/was. Long time fans know that there are two different scales for the character, depending on where he appears. Anybody with half a brain could figure out that Magnus was some kind of enforcement guy. Clearly, Shockwave is a prisoner who is getting out of jail.

I am talking about stories that require having command of years worth of trivia. If understanding a story requies hearing a "then this happened, and then this and....and....and....and.....", that is problem. I give that kind of summary when I am tired, and am ashamed to even have the inclination to do so at all.

Maybe it's just me, though, but when I see a story that I like that goes and references some other stories...it makes me more interested in what already happened. Furman's run on the book bored me so I ignored a good bunch of the specifics--until AHM came out, then I went back and read those again to get more detail.

Did you really need to go back to understand AHM though? If nothing else, it was intended, for good or ill, to be a radical shift in direction. Unless one is really, almost unreasonably, curious about the "really bad thing" that happened to Sunstreaker before AHM, (and that was pretty clearly explained in AHM), AHM is pretty well self-contained.


Dom
-still talking about AHM......

[Onslaught Six]

Very true. It does, in a way, require that you know what Headmaster technology is, but that's about it. Also, Maximum Dinobots is a great companion.

[andersonh1]

Ironhide #2

The plot doesn't move very much during this issue. What we get is not only another flashback to Ironhide's past, pre-war, but also some glimpses of just how Cybertron has deteriorated over time. Scenes are set in the past, and then we see the scenery from Ironhide's point of view after it has fallen into ruin as he goes to a few familiar places and remembers events that happened there. He also has to fight for his life against a few of the Swarm. He shoots one, and the other he pretty much beats to death in frustration.

The twist at the end is an unexplained vision Ironhide has showing Outback in a mangled state accusing him of something, and of Prime, Prowl and Wheeljack also talking about something Ironhide did. And is that Metroplex on the last page? It doesn't exactly look like his city mode, but even if it isn't him, it's a section of Cybertron that's in good repair with plenty of power. The drone-like robot that comes to get Ironhide could be Scamper, but I haven't taken the time to check.

Next issue blurb: things get weird. As if they haven't already.

Overall: the story isn't much further along than it was at the end of the first issue, but it's interesting to learn more about Ironhide's past and pre-war Cybertron. Cybertron itself is in the condition it was in during AHM, and it's inhabited by the Swarm, so it's safe to assume that the present day of the story is the same as the ongoing. And the mystery of what's happened to Ironhide still has me wondering. It seems clear that this is not the same Ironhide who died in the ongoing, since he has no idea what's happened to Cybertron or who the Swarm is. If that is Metroplex on the last page, maybe his precious cargo is backup memory files for certain Autobots. Who can say?

[Onslaught Six]

Saw the preview pages. Oh my 'God.' I laughed out loud in my office. Seriously.

[andersonh1]

I picked up issue 3 today. I'll post a full review later, but I just have to say

Spoiler

thank goodness they confirmed Sunstreaker's fate from AHM #14 and settled the question. And Ironhide was very much in character by going to rescue him. Loved it.

[Dominic]

I feel my enthusiasm waning.

[andersonh1]

The first time I read through the issue, I thought "Dom's not gonna like this." I called it!

So, my thoughts. SPOILERS...










Ironhide #3
I was initially a bit disappointed when I read the preview pages and saw Alpha Trion, because it seems like we just can't get away from the old stand-by characters. Bit by bit, no matter what continuity we're in, they come back. But once I read the entire issue, I decided that the character was sufficiently different and well-used in the storyline that it doesn't bother me.

So Ironhide follows the mysterious bot into the powered section of city and encounters Alpha Trion. Amusingly, Trion announces himself but Ironhide has no clue who he is, much to Trion's annoyance. Alpha Trion is also arrogant and dishonest, and hasn't gone out to rescue Sunstreaker, even though he's aware that he's alive. It's amusing when late in the issue Sunstreaker recognizes him, and AT is irritated that Ironhide still doesn't know who he is. He just can't let that go. AT is not the wise, kindly old self-sacrificial Autobot of the old cartoon, and this new take on him was enough to take away that earlier feeling that I was seeing something from the same old playbook, as it were. I like this new, somewhat shifty and crazy Alpha Trion.

In a move I was hoping for, Ironhide rescues Sunstreaker, and I was delighted to see it. Not only does it confirm what AHM #14 hinted at, that Sunstreaker wasn't killed by the fall or the explosion, but I feel that after all the development that the character got, it was a shame to finish him off no matter how much sense it made. And Ironhide's willingness to risk life and limb for a fellow Autobot is the type of selfless act I enjoy seeing. Let's face it: IDW's Autobots aren't the upstanding, noble Autobots of the old days, so it's refreshing to see Ironhide acting in a selfless manner. And Sunstreaker's still seriously screwed up in the head as well as physically, so nothing he's been through is being swept aside here.

So that's all well and good. Then there's the matter of Ironhide's resurrection. Let me see if I have this right.

Apparently in the old days, whenever a Transformer was damaged, their spark returned to "the core" and then would be "rebooted". All memories and experiences were downloaded up to that point, and the damaged Transformer was repaired and the spark returned. When Cybertron was damaged during the fight with Thunderwing, Vector Sigma was badly damaged and much of the information on it was lost. Alpha Trion was able to reconstruct Ironhide's memories up to the point where his connection with the core was disrupted, and build him a new body. I'm guessing that this is a similar process to Optimus Prime's download of his core conciousness into his trailer during his fight with Megatron back in Escalation. Do I buy it? Sure, why not? I'm not quite sure how his spark figures into the equation though. I'm guessing it came back somehow as well, but I couldn't tell you how.

So we have an Ironhide that has no knowledge of the last four million years, in a new body on Cybertron. And Alpha Trion's brought him back to kill off the Swarm. By himself. Hm... that's just crazy. Kind of like Alpha Trion. Always assuming he is who he claims to be...

Overall: it's hard not to be cynical about a comic-book resurrection, but the method used makes enough sense for a Transformer that I can buy it. Alpha Trion is sufficiently well characterized that I don't really mind the use of the character... he's hardly even the same character as before, so that helps. Sunstreaker is rescued, which delights me no end, and the situation of Cybertron's habitability is being addressed. Maybe we'll find out that the Swarm somehow got rid of the radiation that we saw in Stormbringer, and that's why it was barely a factor during AHM. Who knows?

I like the issue. It's not as much of a twist as I was hoping for after a great couple of issues, but I enjoyed it. And Casey Coller's art is excellent, as always.

[Dominic]

And Sunstreaker's still seriously screwed up in the head as well as physically, so nothing he's been through is being swept aside here.

Actually, the brain transfer thing could be used to sweep Sunstreaker's antics under the rug. (As it stands now, there is good reason for Ironhide to rescue Sunstreaker. I have to wonder if Ironhide would have bothered if he rememebered AHM.)

And, it could be argued that this is not the same Ironhide from earlier IDW comics. A download is a duplicate, not the original. The old comic had a similar mcguffin. The 1985 Autobots, (Hoist and such), were duplicates of Autobots who stayed behind on Cybertron when Prime and the others left. In theory, Smokescreen (for example) could have gone back to Cybertron and met the guy whose personality was the basis for his.


Dom
-more thoughts (much) later.

[andersonh1]

That's a fair point. And it leads me to believe that the spark as used in IDW's comics is not the same as it was in Beast Wars or Beast Machines. In both of those shows, the spark was essentially the soul of the Transformer, and the body was just a shell. All of the Transformer's memories and life experiences were contained within the spark itself.

In IDW's comics, it seems as though the spark may or may not be the energy that gives a Transformer life, but the experiences and memories that make them who they are are certainly separate from the spark. That's the case with Ironhide, and it would seem to be the case with Optimus Prime back in "Escalation" as well.