TF Views

Dominic wrote:Why do you call Soundwave's current schtick garbage? I think that Barber is trying to have Soundwave go back to what his original plans were, joining the Decepticons because they were (initially) right.

Because I don't see Soundwave as an atoner. Because he willingly joined a group that killed untold billions of what he still considers lesser lifeforms and plundered their planets. How exactly can he hit the reset button after all that? He's not who he was at the beginning, and neither are the other Decepticons. Note that he confirms to Cosmos his belief that while Cybertronians may all be equal, humans aren't. He's happy to use them while he can, then discard them.

Back at you: why would you believe that Soundwave is sincere?

He hears Cosmos... through the vacuum of space? Or is it hearing the presence of his signal?

I'm probably going to drop the artist formerly known as RID again soon, but I'll give the next 2 issues a chance to not lose me. At least the story isn't on Earth proper.

Got issue 44 today, and though I haven't read it yet the cover alone almost made me put the book on the shelf and leave it. Needlenose and Tracks posing for a selfie with Tracks telling him to "smile" is about as cheesy as it gets. It's one of those images that makes me think the book is trying to hard to be trendy and cute. We'll see how the story itself turns out.

I liked the little interaction between Tracks and Mirage, before Mirage got on the shuttle to return to the Lost Light with the Protectobots. I always thought it'd be interesting if those two had known each other before the war. I don't really see why they decided to make Tracks and Needlenose brothers though... The TF Wiki makes the claim the decision probably came about from the "knight's visor" part of their helmets, but honestly, they don't look all that similar to me. Ruckus has more of a Tracks looking helmet if you ask me. It was a decent enough issue, but I was hoping for more out of it....

Back at you: why would you believe that Soundwave is sincere?

Partly, I am hoping that IDW is not setting up for a return to how things were and that they are keeping the factions somewhat blurred. We have seen more than enough "Decepticons as generic bad guys".

Got issue 44 today, and though I haven't read it yet the cover alone almost made me put the book on the shelf and leave it.

Yeah. It is funny to see a guy with no mouth being told to "smile". But, the series seems to be taking on the worst parts of the tone from "More than Meets the Eye".

I don't really see why they decided to make Tracks and Needlenose brothers though... The TF Wiki makes the claim the decision probably came about from the "knight's visor" part of their helmets, but honestly, they don't look all that similar to me.

Missed that on the flip-through. Brothers? Fuck....

Barber just could have worked from the original tech specs. Tracks is a high class guy and Needlenose was a vendor sold high end merchandise. That would have worked better than "they are brothers". I do not even want my older Barber issues any more....

Ruckus has more of a Tracks looking helmet if you ask me.

I have a hard time pinning guys like Ruckus and Needlenose down visually. They is a function of their appearances primarily being from the mid-range of the original comics, when character designs were often unclear.

I could not describe Ruckus beyond the toy, "boxy robot that becomes a boxy truck". I can recognize Ruckus. But, I cannot describe Ruckus in detail. (Characters that have more prominent or consistent depictions are less problematic.)

But, either way, no need for them to be brothers.

Dominic wrote:But, either way, no need for them to be brothers.

Yeah, I agree. I'm just saying, if they were going to give Tracks a brother based on a superfluous thing like the crest of his helmet, they could found a character that was a bit more similar to his. Ruckus just happens to stand out in my mind because I've noticed comic artists tend to draw his helmet fairly similarly to Tracks' unlike Needlenose.

I think I've decided that my main problem with IDW's Transformers output is that they can't quite decide what they want their books to be. Are they war books? Political drama? Action/adventure? Sitcoms? They're all over the map tonally, and consequently very unsatisfying.

I still prefer Transformers to be drama and action set against the backdrop of their war. I posted some months ago that the post-war setting wasn't working for me, and this issue is a prime example of why. When it comes down to it, do I really care about some never before seen personal drama between Tracks and Needlenose? No, I really don't.

These books have become bland and toothless. There's nothing exciting from month to month. I guess I'm buying the main Transformers book out of a reluctance to drop it. I enjoyed Combiner Wars, but a lot of issues before and the few since have been less than compelling.

The books are all clearly meant to have different tones. There is no reason all three books need to be the same thing. If RID is Justice League, MTMTE is JLI.

I think andersonh1 has a point... Each book having it's own tone would be fine, but it doesn't really seem like any of them have a consistent tone. Take the last couple issues MTMTE for example. It's been really heavy on the sillyness factor lately, especially the most recent issue pretty much taking place on a holographic sitcom version of Earth. But just before that, it was at the complete opposite side of the spectrum with a dark DJD focused issue. It just makes the book feel a bit unfocused.

Although personally, while I can't say I thought the last few issues were all that great, I wouldn't say they're bland and toothless either. I still think there are a lot of cool ideas to be done with a post-war Cyberton, and introducing the colony worlds is interesting. If only they'd actually focus on that rather than taking unnecessary side plots, like the whole Earth plot line.

I more or less agree with Sparky (whu?) in principle, if not detail.

The tone of the two books is getting more consistent (feelsie-wheelsie and whimsical), and focusing more on smaller stuff than big picture stuff. (Even the DJD is more whimsical, with them bowing to their matron.) The books are nominally in a post-war setting, but not much is happening with it. The side-stories would be fine, if it felt like IDW TF had some over-arching direction or that the writers had something to say about the franchise, the setting, the (comics) industry or the world as a whole.

But, I have not been seeing that of late.

Still holding out some hope for the upcoming Wreckers series.