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

[andersonh1]

"Transformers" (the franchise and individual title) is inching back to "standard". Not happy about this.

I wouldn't mind if Transformers ended up being more traditional, with MTMTE going off and doing it's own thing. That leaves something for everyone that way.

[Dominic]

The problem is that "comic standard" usually drags the more "deviant" books back to standard. How far off the tracks can a 616 Marvel book go (the last year or so not withstanding).

[Dominic]

Transformers (formerly Robots in Disguise)
#33
#34
----------------

I just get less enthusiastic about this book every month.

Costa's run and AHM may as well of never happened. In and of itself, this is just a question of "welcome to modern comics". (There was a run of "Iron Man" a decade ago that I liked that may as well have not happened. This sort of thing is hardly isolated. And, this hardly compares to DC making "Crisis on Infinite Earths" irrelevant.)

There is some back-writing for the sake of making IDW more consistent with Hasbro's "Aligned" rules, specifically the first 13. This in and of itself does not bother me too much, as brand-management is a necessary part of keeping a franchise going. I get it.

But, there is not getting around the fact that TF is sliding backwards.

-Ironhide can no longer see the future is more or less back to being just a folksy, down-home, red, space robot....just like early IDW comics or even the early years of the franchise. Setting Ironhide back to spec also nullifies any good reason for having brought Sunstreaker back.

-Sunstreaker is back. Yup. A secondary character from a book that exists more or less in an editorial vacuum is back....like nothing happened. There might have been a good reason, leading to an idea based arc, for bringing Sunstreaker back. But, it never played out because the fandom got impatient and IDW got feckless. So, Sunstreaker is back for no good reason.

-Thundercracker is back and fighting alongside the Decepticons again. No way around it. The blue jet guy from 1984 is a Decepticon again....just like 1984.

-Optimus Prime: Back leading the Autobots on Earth....against Decepticons.

-Rewind: Back from the dead in "More than Meets the Eye". Giving Roberts a few more months to prove he has a good reason for raising a c-lister, other than "teh feelz".

Anything that somebody might argue to mitigate the above is just details.


Yes, this is the kind of thing that happens in comics. But, it is relatively new to TF (new enough that it took me a while to recognize and then establish that it was in fact a pattern), and it is a down grade. Even at its worst, the old Marvel series (the only other iteration of TF in the US with enough longevity for this sort of thing to have become an issue) did not look back. Stuff happened. Things changed. The book moved on and the fandom just had to get the fuck over it.


And, this on the heels of Barber's incredibly clumsy (and wholly pointless) "time-slide" immediately after "Dark Cybertron". Besides undoing several years of careful editing to keep the book in real time, the time slide effectively aged the setting 3 years, when the whole point of a time slide is generally to de-age a setting. (Never mind the fact all of the primary characters are nigh-immortal space robots that would not need to be de-aged and that this would apply to most of the secondary and tertiary characters as well, so there is no need for a floating time-scale to begin with....)

The time-slide is something the big two have done, and have done better. Yes, one could argue that "Dark Cybertron" had something to with it...("blah blah breaking time and nearly destroying the universe"). But, that does not mitigate how pointless the time-slide is in premise and how clumsy it is in execution.


Art-wise, these two issues will make for some rough visuals once they are compiled owing to the stark differences between Stone and Ramondelli. Stone's art is still a little too flat and soft for TF. I could see her doing well on a book like "Green Lantern" or maybe a Bat-book at DC. Similarly, she could do well on Thor/Asgard themed books at Marvel, or possibly a "Doctor Strange" type book.

Ramondelli gets to shine in a few panels. But, as is usual, struggles with close-up detail.


Grade: C/D


The stuff that made TF comics unique and worth reading is rapidly being eroded, leaving TF as just another comic book. "Transformers" is fast becoming the worst thing on my pull-file. It needs to impress me before "Time Runs Out" at Marvel (probably the most interesting thing the industry is doing at the moment).

[Shockwave]

I can't help thinking you could have written all of this without actually having read the comics. What actually happened in these issues? What was good/bad about the story (NOT the meta stuff, the actual plot and characters)?

I ask only because every month it seems like you use the comics as a launch point to comment about the comics industry in general, IDW in particular and their TF comics specifically. All of which you could do just by reading the solicits without actually spending money on the comics. An actual review should be written with the intention of reviewing the events of the story, the characters actions/words and reviewing and analyzing the plot and it's quality and then commenting on whether or not you would recommend that people actually spend money on it. I just can't help feeling like this entire post really belongs more in the comics thread than here because you're not really saying anything about the story or characters in this book, but commenting on the industry as a whole. I mean, you do mention a few of the characters, but that's only in context of the larger commentary on the industry. This really doesn't tell me anything in regards to whether or not I would enjoy reading this or if I should bother going to the comic shop.

I should probably further clarify that I say this as someone who has absolutely no interest in comics outside of TF. As such I have no interest in comparing these books to the rest of the industry because none of that has any impact on whether or not I'll be reading these. None of that seems to have any impact on the story either. Ok, elements are going back to a "factory spec". Apparently that's an industry standard so why is that so surprising and why would you allow for so much of it from the big two but not IDW? Seriously, why does Marvel get a pass, but IDW's TF doesn't? If it's so standard then shouldn't this just be expected? In fact, shouldn't it seem a little odd that it didn't happen sooner?

[Dominic]

Point buy point reviews are tedious to write and have no information that can not be found elsewhere, including in the comics themselves.

should probably further clarify that I say this as someone who has absolutely no interest in comics outside of TF. As such I have no interest in comparing these books to the rest of the industry because none of that has any impact on whether or not I'll be reading these.

Well, the comics have Transformers in them. That more or less covers your concerns.

If you want to know if they are good, then it is probably useful to consider them in light of other comics.

Ok, elements are going back to a "factory spec". Apparently that's an industry standard so why is that so surprising and why would you allow for so much of it from the big two but not IDW? Seriously, why does Marvel get a pass, but IDW's TF doesn't? If it's so standard then shouldn't this just be expected?

Stasis-quo is expected from Marvel (and to a lesser degree, DC). But, as stated above, "Transformers" generally avoided that kind of shit. The original Marvel (or Marvel UK) series, even at its worst, was forward looking. Stuff changed. Readers got the hell over it. Everybody moved on.

For "Transformers", "stasis quo" is a down-grade. That fact that IDW is not even doing stasis-quo well (ref: the pointless and clumsy time-sliding) is just insult added to injury.

If "Transformers" is going to be like most every other comic on shelves, it does not stand out as much. Marvel is doing better "industry standard" comics at the moment, so they are getting most of my comic-money and attention. DC is doing one exceptional book ("Multiversity") and some others that range from anemic to bad. They get less of my money.

I stayed with "Earth 2" for so long because the series had a unique premise (allowing big changes to stick). It had no big ideas beyond that, but it had one unique hook. Similarly, "Transformers" had the hook of a progressively changing status quo. That is gone, and with it a good chunk of the incentive to stay with this series.

reviewing and analyzing the plot and it's quality

I did that when I pointed out how the book is lurching backwards.

[Shockwave]

Point buy point reviews are tedious to write and have no information that can not be found elsewhere, including in the comics themselves.

Who said anything about point by point? A brief synopsis is fine followed by your opinion (which is not going to be found elsewhere). I mean, yeah it would be tedious if you review it panel by panel, word by word, but nobody in their right mind would do that. At least not for a review. My God, it's a review, not a doctoral thesis. And I guess that's my main complaint is that your reviews always sound less like reviews of the content itself and more like a thesis on the state of the industry. It's really not that hard, Prowl and Anderson and Sparky manage to do it just fine each month.

should probably further clarify that I say this as someone who has absolutely no interest in comics outside of TF. As such I have no interest in comparing these books to the rest of the industry because none of that has any impact on whether or not I'll be reading these.

Well, the comics have Transformers in them. That more or less covers your concerns.

If you want to know if they are good, then it is probably useful to consider them in light of other comics.

Yeah except not really. I'd be more interested in how they compare to other Transformers stories (yes, I know, you mentioned the Marvel run, but again, only to comment on "industry standard", it had nothing to do as a comparison of the actual plot or content).

Ok, elements are going back to a "factory spec". Apparently that's an industry standard so why is that so surprising and why would you allow for so much of it from the big two but not IDW? Seriously, why does Marvel get a pass, but IDW's TF doesn't? If it's so standard then shouldn't this just be expected?

Stasis-quo is expected from Marvel (and to a lesser degree, DC). But, as stated above, "Transformers" generally avoided that kind of shit. The original Marvel (or Marvel UK) series, even at its worst, was forward looking. Stuff changed. Readers got the hell over it. Everybody moved on.

For "Transformers", "stasis quo" is a down-grade. That fact that IDW is not even doing stasis-quo well (ref: the pointless and clumsy time-sliding) is just insult added to injury.

If "Transformers" is going to be like most every other comic on shelves, it does not stand out as much. Marvel is doing better "industry standard" comics at the moment, so they are getting most of my comic-money and attention. DC is doing one exceptional book ("Multiversity") and some others that range from anemic to bad. They get less of my money.

I stayed with "Earth 2" for so long because the series had a unique premise (allowing big changes to stick). It had no big ideas beyond that, but it had one unique hook. Similarly, "Transformers" had the hook of a progressively changing status quo. That is gone, and with it a good chunk of the incentive to stay with this series.

So? Marvel and DC are the two most successful producers of comic books. Why would other comic books companies not want to emulate that success by doing what they do? There's a saying that goes "If you want to be successful at something, find someone who is and do what they do." IDW is doing that. This isn't nearly the egregious crime you're making it out to be. And some of your examples of backsliding are shaky at best. Sunstreaker? He's been back for years now. Ironhide hasn't had a vision for ages either. Optimus Prime was back in command of the Autobots after Dark Cybertron. None of those things have happened recently so how does any of that count as a review of these issues? I might give you the Thundercracker thing since rejoining the Decepticons isn't something I've seen happen yet and I have yet to get these two issues. But still that's three points you've raised that happened a long time ago which means that IDW has been following this pattern for a lot longer than you give them credit for. Maybe you just didn't notice. There's also the distinct possibility that they are setting certain elements back in order to change things to something else later that they wouldn't be able to do otherwise.

reviewing and analyzing the plot and it's quality

I did that when I pointed out how the book is lurching backwards.

Actually that's just another comment on IDW vs. the Big Two.

[Dominic]

Unless the review is going up on the first day of release, it is safe to assume that somebody else (often on the same forum) has already posted a plot summary. And, what is more important, a plot summary or knowing if the comic/movie/whatever is good?

So? Marvel and DC are the two most successful producers of comic books. Why would other comic books companies not want to emulate that success by doing what they do?

Because they have already saturaed the market with stasis-quo. Avoiding stasis-quo is a way to differentiate.

[Shockwave]

Unless the review is going up on the first day of release, it is safe to assume that somebody else (often on the same forum) has already posted a plot summary. And, what is more important, a plot summary or knowing if the comic/movie/whatever is good?

Yeah but you don't do that either. Not everyone watches or reads things with the same eye. For example, in the MTMTE thread, Prowl thinks Roberts is trying to shit all over the concept of transforming while some others don't. Those are pretty different interpretations of what's going on in the comic. Part of the point of providing a plot summary is to show what you as the reader got out of it and that's not going to be the same everywhere. Heck, we've even had debates about what was shown on the page itself. Look at the discussion on the dead Rodimus in the coffin. JT didn't think it was very clear who was in there while Sparky thought it was positively Rodimus.

So? Marvel and DC are the two most successful producers of comic books. Why would other comic books companies not want to emulate that success by doing what they do?

Because they have already saturaed the market with stasis-quo. Avoiding stasis-quo is a way to differentiate.

I guess. But it just seems like a double standard to accept certain behaviors from one company but not another. Especially if one of those companies is trying to mirror the success of the other.

Ultimately the whole point of a review is to post your opinion on it. Plot summary is a way of saying "Here's what I focused on and what I got out of it" and then the commentary is "This is good/bad and here's why I like/don't like it". I dunno man, I'm sorry to complain about this, obviously they're your reviews and you're obviously free to write them however you want, but usually when you write something it's good to consider your audience and as part of your audience, this is what I'm getting out of it. Which is to say, not much. I guess I'm just saying that what you post seems to feel less like an actual review and is starting to sound like an endless monthly mantra of "IDW sucks because they're copying Marvel and DC!" Ok, what does that have to do with robots? In the end, nothing, they're just the example.

[JediTricks]

Let's talk about issue #35 here. Because it's the last issue of this book I'll ever buy.

With the title change comes an issue that decides the reader needs to focus 100% of his attention back on Earth, and reacquaint himself with a large, large amount of plot points from the pre-RID run. In this book, nothing happens at all. The Transformers do nothing whatsoever. They talk and they talk but to no end. Chesspieces move around on the board, but without any semblance of an endpoint in sight. There is no goal, no focus, no actual reason to be here except an exceptionally vague MacGuffin that is mentioned more in the prologue than in the actual issue. Spike resurfaces and crashes GB Blackrock's new Apple-esque launch of something that will help ol' GB sell Cybertronian-derived tech to the world and to the EDC. Prowl flips out and may have another entity in his head or may just be having a robo-aneurysm, so naturally he's the one left in charge even though nobody actually trusts him. Optimus leaves for Cybertron to live out the story in TF: Punishment, the motion comic that came out several months ago. Alpha Trion says something that doesn't even come off cryptic, just nonsensical. Jimmy Pink reappears as Spike's new best bud, because let's visit that again but totally twist it, I guess. And Galvatron is miffed at Spike while Soundwave uses Skywarp to transport him to the Jupiter job. But at least the inking was terrible.

NOTHING.

HAPPENED.

AT ALL.

[andersonh1]

NOTHING.

HAPPENED.

AT ALL.

You sound like me when I was reading those last few issues of MTMTE before I dropped that book. I wished that the characters would stop the endless small talk and snark and do something. And not only that, but do something honest and real and believable. But it didn't happen, and I got to the point that I just didn't care any more. Sometimes dropping a book is all we can do.

But it's the opposite for me with the former RID book. I'm actually engaged in the story again and enjoying it. It's not the "Cybertron power struggle" book that I was really enjoying, and it's had a hard time changing gears, but I think it's finally going somewhere interesting again.