Comic review: Robots in Disguise ongoing [Archive] - Ozformers Transformers Club of Australia (otca.com.au)

Paulbot

26th January 2012, 03:30 PM

The book gets off to a good start with Issue 1 but not as great as MTMTE #1 did. The cast is smaller so far, but the introductions seem a bit shallower. It doesn't feel like something brand new but rather a continuation of the regular ongoing. This is not necessarily a bad thing.

Bumblebee continues to grow into leadership in a very difficult situation. Prowl is not used as effectively as in the other book and I've got a good guess on who his ruthless partner is. The US version of Metalhawk is an interesting new character too but is far removed from the Japanese version. I did like the use of Ratbat as the former senator aims for control, and I think that's partly because I liked the out of the box thinking that made him commander in the Marvel comics.

The art is nice (although Horri-Bull looks an odd shade of yellow).

The issue tries to raise the stakes in the last few pages, but it's not as compelling as the adventure and interesting new takes featured in MTMTE. Overall if MTMTE hadn't been so good I would consider this a good book but it is currently the weaker of the two.

kup

26th January 2012, 03:32 PM

Paulbot

26th January 2012, 03:41 PM

kup

26th January 2012, 03:54 PM

Of the two issues? No, MTMTE is all around better, but RID is a step up from the early issues of IDW's ongoings. It wants to be 'mature' and deal with politics but how well that will work? James Robert's writing finds interesting tweaks on TF concepts that make each of his issues a joy to read. This doesn't really say anything new, nor is it as outright entertaining. Omega gets a funny line but it's otherwise missing some fun to it.

Just a step up from the early issues of the previous Ongoing? To me that is still classified as horrible as the Ongoing was like the worst trash I had ever read in a comic. It made the McCarthy issues look like a literary masterpiece. They were what made me give up on IDW.

I am asking because I really want to get back into reading TF comics but don't want to be disappointed once again as I was with IDW's previous offerings. MTMTE was superb and it reignited my interest in TF comics, I don't want it to be trashed again..

Paulbot

26th January 2012, 04:11 PM

I think just stick with MTMTE, this issue deals with some of the fallout but the two should be independent enough that you could just read one book.

As far as the RID cast is concerned Rodimus and his crew all died when the ship blew up when they departed and are unaware it jumped into transwarp (and Metalhawk is pointing the blame at BB among the Nails) so there shouldn't be any overlap.

But also see what others have to say. My hopes were high so I think that has biased my review.

i_amtrunks

26th January 2012, 04:29 PM

Local store are blaming Australia Day for not getting their stock on shelves today, so no comic for me until tomorrow night.

Not expecting as much for this issue as MtMtE, but then again my hopes for that series are lowere now I know that Roche is not staying on the series, I know the quality of character will slide a bit.

This was always going to be the harder sell, but also has the potential to be very interesting as long as Prowl remains the conniving, controlling factor he has been since Roche got his paws on him.

Paulbot

26th January 2012, 06:51 PM

kup

26th January 2012, 07:09 PM

The problem is that in this issue Prowl seems to be pushed around, by Ratbat, the deputized Decepticons, by his shadowy agent, rather than in control. That's the impression I got on my first read anyway.

Looks like I may have to bite the bullet and buy it just so that I can make up my mind about it.

Sky Shadow

26th January 2012, 08:47 PM

Robots In Disguise #1 is a very good comic book. Yes the story is not as strong as More Than Meets The Eye #1, but it's still leagues beyond anything Mike Costa has ever written or will ever write. There's an '80s Budiansky/Furman feel to the title's focus on characters not from the core US G1 cartoon cast - Needlenose, Horri-Bull, Broadside, Ratbat and Metalhawk all get speaking roles, while Soundwave, Shockwave, Bombshell et al are eerily-silent window dressing. (On page nine, I chuckled at the fact that superfluous Decepticons stand around on platforms like they're on toy collection shelves.) Ratbat doesn't do too much this issue other than use reverse psychology, but we know he has a plan. Back with the Autobots, Regular IDW readers will recognise Prowl's partner in ruthlessness and their interaction does an amusing job of lampshading and retconning Costa's limp characterisation of everyone's favourite love-to-hate Autobot police car. This is not a decompressed comic - stuff actually happens, but it's still clearly building up to something in the next issues. It feels a lot like Marvel US #76 - Optimus Prime is gone, the Autobots and Decepticons are in a precarious truce of sorts, Cybertron is angry, a Decepticon Headmaster Junior is picking fights and Prowl is trying (and failing) to control everything. (Being like #76 is a good thing - those final five issues of the US Marvel comic are amongst the best Transformers issues ever produced.)

Andrew Griffith's art is fantastic - it's clear and crisp, and characters are identifiably themselves. Artwise, this title is set to be the stronger of the two ongoings since Alex Milne is taking over art duties on More Than Meets The Eye and his Transformers tend to look like constipated Gundam mecha (see his cover for #2 (http://www.comicartcommunity.com/gallery/details.php?image_id=43732) of MTMTE where it looks like he's trying to crap on Rollout). The only thing I'm pissed off about regarding the art in RID is that in the issue immediately before this one (The Death Of Optimus Prime), Sideswipe was in his G2 colours (and with his trademark bandolier of bullets.) They've already gone back to Sideswipe's Geewun colours, which is disappointing, but not Griffith's fault. Sadly IDW editorial is as strong as ever - there's already a typo by page 8 ("Autobot's" should be "Autobots'") and the preview for next issue reads "CYVBERTRON WILL RISE AGAIN!"

So now with two main ongoings per month and Autocracy in the gaps we're pretty much back to weekly G1 Transformers comics. It feels like the eighties again. :cool:

kup

26th January 2012, 10:43 PM

i_amtrunks

28th January 2012, 12:20 AM

So since Phantomzonne parramatta failed to have stock on their shelves I apped the comic. Quality not as good as the real deal.

The issue is a slow burner, and does not have the charm and wit of MtmtE but in no way is it a bad comic. It is here to setup up a political and machination (not the headmaster version) series that has potential to be very interesting reading over the next few months until there is another soft reboot.

The art is different than MtmtE but is bright and easy to see who is who, without captions, something I could not say about the ongoing.

The choice of autobot characters looks like it might be a good mix for the future, however Ratbat and his sway over the "loyal" cons intrigues me, and it is this angle that has both the most potential and most chance of falling apart. Bumbleee and his issues as leader is less interesting, but I am sure it will be milked for all that it is worth, while Prowl has more emotions in this issue than ever before and it takes away from his cold calculating persona that Roche has setup so well (Prowl does get emotional but only when he loses his cool). It also appears that his conspiritor (who I think I know who it is, but have no idea why, if I am right, he would be conspiring with Prowl or what benefits either or both of them) is rruning the shots in the Autobot camp, or at the least heavily influencing Prowl.

Metalhawk is the unknown quantity for now, but I sense that it wont be long till he is under the sway of Ratbat, who then uses him to assume control of Cybertron (politically) before the new Decepticon uprising... Hopefully with some twists and turns on the way.

Well worth continuing with both titles for now, both offer something different than we've seen before and both creative teams have potential if given time.

Sky Shadow

28th January 2012, 12:27 AM

It also appears that his conspiritor (who I think I know who it is, but have no idea why, if I am right, he would be conspiring with Prowl

POTENTIAL SPOILERS: I don't think 'he' is the correct gender of Prowl's co-conspirator. ;)

i_amtrunks

28th January 2012, 12:44 AM

Ahhh, and here I was thinking it was a non aligned character, but know I think about it, I dont think that character survived Chaos...

I'll have a better look at the page when I have a paper copy, digital versions just dont quite cut the mustard.

GoktimusPrime

28th January 2012, 09:10 PM

The US version of Metalhawk is an interesting new character too but is far removed from the Japanese version
Yes, but so were IDW's Dai Atlas and Wing. Oh wait, apparently they didn't mean for Wing to be Wing... umm... :confused: *brain 'splode*

The art is nice (although Horri-Bull looks an odd shade of yellow).
Sun-faded. :p

There's an '80s Budiansky/Furman feel to the title's focus on characters not from the core US G1 cartoon cast - Needlenose, Horri-Bull, Broadside, Ratbat and Metalhawk all get speaking roles, while Soundwave, Shockwave, Bombshell et al are eerily-silent window dressing.

This is not a decompressed comic - stuff actually happens, but it's still clearly building up to something in the next issues. It feels a lot like Marvel US #76 - Optimus Prime is gone, the Autobots and Decepticons are in a precarious truce of sorts, Cybertron is angry, a Decepticon Headmaster Junior is picking fights and Prowl is trying (and failing) to control everything. (Being like #76 is a good thing - those final five issues of the US Marvel comic are amongst the best Transformers issues ever produced.)
+1 QFT

So since Phantomzonne parramatta failed to have stock on their shelves I apped the comic. Quality not as good as the real deal.

I got my ish from Parra PZ, although it was in my standing order... perhaps a lot of people ordered this comic for their standing order and they didn't have much left for the shelves?

Cat

28th January 2012, 09:46 PM

I liked this better than MTMTE.

Only downside was the humour of Prowl's co-conspirator. TF's just have too unique a shape to blend in. It was immediately apparent who it was.

Overall, a great start, can't wait to see where it goes. I REALLY enjoyed the political angle, hope that gets played up. Also had parts that reminded me of modern Battlestar Galactica (and that could NEVER be a bad thing!)

Sky Shadow

26th February 2012, 07:13 AM

Mild spoilers ahead...

Issue 2 was pretty much the Starscream and Prowl show. Prowl's partner in crime is exactly who it obviously was last issue, so no surprises there, and the character behaves exactly the way IDW readers would expect. Unfortunately, things become much more Geewun by the end of this issue: we're left with Needlenose, Metalhawk and the cartoon cast, which is depressing, so hopefully some more interesting characters show up soon. Since the main NAILs in this series so far have been Japanese exclusives (and... um... Noddy's car), maybe we'll meet some more as the series progresses. Art is great; the story is nowhere near as bad as an issue by Mike Costa, but it's nothing special. About a quarter as good as More Than Meets The Eye #2. (Speaking of which, as of this week, I have now supported Last Stand Of The Wreckers as single issues at the time of release, then the trade paperback and now the hardcover. Hopefully sales send a message to IDW, but it's becoming expensive since they keep including better and better extras with each subsequent release!)

Sharky

26th February 2012, 07:41 PM

Mild spoilers ahead...

(Speaking of which, as of this week, I have now supported Last Stand Of The Wreckers as single issues at the time of release, then the trade paperback and now the hardcover. Hopefully sales send a message to IDW, but it's becoming expensive since they keep including better and better extras with each subsequent release!)

same here.. The HC is such a great presentation of this story.. i am glad i splurged and grabbed it..

picked up my comics this weekend to find #2 of RID missing from my box.. apparently the store got shorted some comics.... next week for me.. (or ill app it if i cant wait....)

GoktimusPrime

1st March 2012, 09:36 PM

i_amtrunks

1st March 2012, 09:54 PM

As long as Prowl continues to be the Roche Prowl and runs the show, this comic will be a good read. Backup from Wheeljack and Starscream will be interesting.
The hint about Ironhide's revelations in issues to come intrigue me, will they try to tie in to the mess that was the Ironhide mini or will Ironhide have other secrets to tell?

So far two solid issues but as they try to tie in more political machinations with Metalhawk and co, this may get less interesting to me, give me Prowl stories anyday.

Glad that the bat is gone too!

Cat

2nd March 2012, 12:12 AM

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/goktimusprime/avatars/spoileralert.jpg

An interesting enough story. Didn't see the whole Starscream thing coming and Arcee's appearance was also a surprise (she certainly is a homicidal little bunny, isn't she?). So... why is this story called "Robots In Disguise"? They're not on Earth any more and I certainly don't see any of them skulking around in disguise. (o_O)

Seeing Prowl smack down Skywarp with nightsticks was kewl... although in one panel he's holding one of this nightsticks inverted from how he was holding it in the panel before (visual continuity error much). Anyway, interesting seeing Prowl deal with a teleporter. ;)

I thought it was so obvious that it was Arcee in the shadows in issue one.

When characters have such distinct silhouettes like that, hiding them in darkness really does nothing to disguise them.

I do like to think that Prowl knew Arcee would kill him, and was just asking to clear his own conscience, if asked about it from Bumblebee.

i_amtrunks

30th March 2012, 09:10 PM

So issue #3 felt very slow.

Wheeljack did some saving, Dirge did some hurting, Screamer did some scheming and Metalhawk continues to be an obnoxious self important jerk.

Aerialbots were only silent compadre's of Silverbolt who gets a single thought repeated ad infinitum, until off they go to probably be a part of issue #6.

Everything else really felt like it was treading water, we keep getting reminders of everything that has happened in the past two issues: Arcee is still around being deranged, Prowl is still trying to figure out whos doing what, Bumblebee is still whining and not doing much else all waiting for the small payoff for this issue regarding Screamer. The whole "Wheeljack as narrator" is just misdirection and another character who can see that this all cannot be good for the Cybertronians, considering their planet is trying to kill them, the Cons are still being cons and the NAILS are a bunch of idiots wasting their time.

Art is okay, but character go from showing extreme damage and wear and tear in closer shots to being nice and more or less pristine in mid and longer range shots. Prowl is the biggest victim, he looks like he should be falling apart up close but fine every other panel.

I feel like I am being over critical of this issue, compared to what we have dealt with since AHM it is a good slow cooking plot driven series, but compared to the sister title, its just plodding along with indulgent dialogue and over-reliance on repeating the past issues plot points again and again.

Sky Shadow

30th March 2012, 11:40 PM

I agree with Trunks - issue #3 is still not bad - certainly readable from beginning which is better than the entirety of the previous ongoing. But it's just unfortunate that it will always be judged against IDW's MTMTE.

There was an entire one-page splash that - sure - was pretty, but otherwise did little except perhaps be a 'homage' to a Dreamwave pin-up of Arcee usually misattributed to Pat Lee (it was by Rob Armstrong) that had itself been ripped off of Japanese G1 art.

Dirge and Starscream are surprisingly likeable this issue. And yes, we know it's only a matter of time before the Decepticons are going to evil-out on everyone - Transformers at peace can never work for long. And as such, the thing that struck me most about this issue was - perhaps a bit tangential, but...

...between the end of the Great War and Beast Machines, life really must be $#!* for the IDW Predacons, when two out of the three bigwigs in charge are Prowl and Silverbolt!

GoktimusPrime

31st March 2012, 12:15 AM

...kinda sad when the most interesting Autobot in the entire issue is the red shirt. :p Also, nobody transforms after page 1... why is this series called Robots In Disguise?? :confused: Even in the scene after the second explosion... surely some of them might transform into construction/salvage vehicles/equipment of some sort. Gah. Hardly any transforms anymore in this series... MTMTE too (in the last issue the only transformation we saw was from Whirl - and only briefly). As far as political intrigue cos - with the whole Starscream thing - it's interesting enough... but otherwise not the most action-packed issue around.

I got Cover A... and I'm having trouble reading the Autobot text. Some of the letters aren't written correctly... the letter "D" is consistently written upside down and some letters I just don't recognise. From what I can read it seems to be a random assortment of letters that don't seem to spell out anything intelligible. The only ones that make any vague sense to me are the last four letters of the word floating on the left side (right hand side from reader's POV) of Wheeljack's head: "WLJK" (WheeLJacK?)

Sworc

31st March 2012, 12:16 AM

Picked this up last night when I was in Melbourne for work.

I agree it wasn't bad, but it was the first issue where I was left feeling there was no real story progress made, almost to the point that I felt as if I wouldn't have missed anything if I hadn't read it.

Trunks makes a good point re the damage on the characters. There were a couple of panels with close ups of Prowl which were quite jarring. I thought I'd missed a page where the damage had been inflicted as it seem to come out of no where.

RID is interesting as it seems to be a lot more serious in tone that MTMTE, and definitely lacks the enjoyable banter between characters present in its companion series.

Still, I'm sticking with it and hoping it is just the ugly duckling of the two. Fingers crossed there is something big building here, and that we get at least a sniff of it in coming issues!

Sharky

31st March 2012, 11:13 PM

Metalhawk annoys me... Can't wait for him to A. get his metallic a$$ handed to him and B. Finally realize he is a schmuck and wise the hell up....

Cat

1st April 2012, 01:40 AM

...kinda sad when the most interesting Autobot in the entire issue is the red shirt. :p Also, nobody transforms after page 1... why is this series called Robots In Disguise?? :confused: Even in the scene after the second explosion... surely some of them might transform into construction/salvage vehicles/equipment of some sort. Gah. Hardly any transforms anymore in this series... MTMTE too (in the last issue the only transformation we saw was from Whirl - and only briefly). As far as political intrigue cos - with the whole Starscream thing - it's interesting enough... but otherwise not the most action-packed issue around.

Wut.

They were going for names catchy to as broad a market as possible. It's not a statement that there'll be lots of transformations every issue.

Out of all the comments I've seen about the book, that is definitely the weirdest.

I'm loving RID (well, I love both titles, but RID is my favourite). Andrew's killing it with the art, and the writing is just as good, very Battlestar Galactica-ish in places.

Sky Shadow

1st April 2012, 02:18 AM

They were going for names catchy to as broad a market as possible. It's not a statement that there'll be lots of transformations every issue.

I think the point is that Infiltration was about an infiltration; Escalation was about an escalation; Megatron Origin was Megatron's Origin; All Hail Megatron was about hailing Megatron; Maximum Dinobots was about Dinobots; Bumblebee was about Bumblebee; Last Stand of the Wreckers was about the Wreckers; Infestation was about an infestation; Infestation II was about a second infestation; Autocracy is about an autocracy... and yet Robots in Disguise is not about robots who are physically in disguise. However, the title is about characters (Prowl, Starscream, Arcee, et al) who deal in fa�ades, deception, and cloak and dagger trickery. So just because there is no longer a need for the Transformers to be literally in disguise on Cybertron, it doesn't necessarily mean the RiD title was randomly given to this book.

GoktimusPrime

1st April 2012, 08:25 AM

Fair point. Although I would like to see more transforming in my Transformers comics... cos ya know... they're Transformers. ;)

Sworc

1st April 2012, 10:34 AM

I'm loving RID (well, I love both titles, but RID is my favourite). Andrew's killing it with the art, and the writing is just as good, very Battlestar Galactica-ish in places.

Cat,

That's interesting to hear (or should it be read?) as I get the impression that MTMTE is the more appreciated of the two. For you, what gives RID the edge? Apologies, but I haven't watched much of the new BG so I don't get much from the comparison. BG is one of the many shows on my list to one day get around to watching though!

Also, would be interested in your views on #3 in comparison to the first two issues?

Cat

2nd April 2012, 02:36 AM

Cat,

That's interesting to hear (or should it be read?) as I get the impression that MTMTE is the more appreciated of the two. For you, what gives RID the edge? Apologies, but I haven't watched much of the new BG so I don't get much from the comparison. BG is one of the many shows on my list to one day get around to watching though!

Also, would be interested in your views on #3 in comparison to the first two issues?

Yep, More Than Meets The Eyes is definitely edging out RID for a large chunk of the readers, moreso than RID.

I enjoy the political side, and there are elements that share a common theme with Battlestar Galactica (which you REALLY need to see. Amazing show), which mirrors different aspects of the show: the world basically ended, now what do we do?
- heavy politics, trying to placate and integrate separate factions
- who do we trust? Is the enemy of my enemy my friend?
- you expect us to live and integrate with those who actively destroyed us, and forced us into conflict, to abandon our life, and to flee our home.
- can you truly be neutral? What is the cost of being neutral?

There are a few more things, but I don't want to inadvertently spoil and Battlestar for you. Less you know going in, the more shocking everything is.

I did enjoy issue 3. I know people had trouble with Prowl saying suicide when that was obviously physically impossible for Ratbat, but it worked well for me. An easy, glossy statement to try and move on and cover it up, with little regard to the Decepticons realising that's a lie. There are so many real life instances that mirror that, some in our lifetime, others in history - doing a patchjob to quiet the crowds, and hope they'll be Placated by a quick answer and move onto the next crisis. People's outrage tends to ebb and flow rather quickly.

I'm loving Starscream. What is he sincere about? It would appear that there are some honest statements mixed in with his lies. After all, the best lies contain a small amount of truth. What is his end goal? Leading the Decepticons? Hardly seems worth it right now. They're a shell of a people.

I think there's some really strong parallels you could draw between Prowl and Starscream at the moment.

So basically: they've finally got a utopia: a united Cybertronian population. How long before it starts to shatter? Early signs are already there, but who, if anyone, is aware of this?

Prowl is emerging as a kind of Alpha Trion. He has his own position, his own agenda, his own position. But would anyone listen to him ?

What does it mean that the one who seems to understand him the most is Starscream, a mass murderer, manipulator, and schemer.

Sworc

8th April 2012, 11:01 PM

Cat

9th April 2012, 12:34 AM

Thanks for the responses Cat.

Looking forward to seeing what Starscream's real motivation is. At times he has almost convinced me he is sincere, but I just can't buy it. Perhaps he is just positioning himself to take over the government if a new leader is required. Maybe help push Bumblebee over the edge. Easier to do from the inside.

Speaking of Bumblebee, he strikes me as being one crisis away from cracking completely under the pressure of leadership. Doesn't seem to be handling it well at all. Having jumped into the IDW series here, I've got no idea how he ended up in charge. Was everyone else away that day?

Prowl could easily pass as a Con they way he is scheming. Again having not read IDW this is kinda new for me. Certainly doesn't match my childhood impressions of Prowl. Did he actually mean to destroy the bots that left with Rodimus or just send them hurtling through space as was the end result? Either way, that is just cold.

So so many preconceptions I need to change!

Bumblebee was actually elected leader after Prime quit. This was in the early issues of the last ongoing, and his own miniseries at the same time.

It does ignore the rigid command structure from IDW's initial run, but there are ways to handwave that, really.

Prowl, when written well, is easily one of the highlights of IDW's run. Yes, I'm biased as he's my favourite character, but he's been having great periods of development (mixed in with a modicum of mediocrity, depending on the writer).

Prowl is not afraid to scheme, if he thinks it's for the greater good. Regarding the ship in MTMTE, well, I think there's more to find out on that one, but I don't believe he meant for THAT to happen. That's just my opinion though, and I could well be wrong.

Glad you're enjoying the comics. Now is really a great time, with two high-quality ongoing series, and the Marvel continuation coming up too.

i_amtrunks

24th April 2012, 05:29 PM

So the preview is up on Seibertron (http://www.seibertron.com/transformers/news/transformers-robots-in-disguise-ongoing-4-preview/24655/) but not yet on the regular comixology site.

Looks like Robots in disguise is jumping on the LSotW bandwagon, with Skydive making an appearance. He and Falcon might have been the only Predators to survive that mini.

-edit-
Nope, guess Skydive was not present in LSotW. My error.

Not sure how I feel about the preview, it made the issue look as though it was going to be an open and shut case, but I am sure it is misleading...

i_amtrunks

27th April 2012, 06:06 PM

So it wasn't misleading, it was open and shut and not in anyway shape or form, clever or setting up something bigger. I won't spoil any of the actual plot in the next few paragraphs.

We get to see Blurr beaten up, Arcee try to kill things and Prowl changing character yet again to a sloppy, kill first, ask questions second character, who simply cannot and it appears will not move on from the past. Why couldn't Prowl have been like this when the Autobots held Megatron captive if this was the path he was heading down? (other than Megsy cannot be killed-for long). At this rate there will be no Decepticons left or in an even worse (and who knows, possible storyline candidate) Prowl will end up leading some Decepticon like subsection of troops that turn into the "new Decepticons". :(

Just seems like RiD is jumping all over the place, it wants to tell the stories of a rebuilding Cybertron, and it started well enough with political based machinations, but has quickly diverged into telling other smaller stories with characters that could move the story forward quicker (Bee, Starscream, Metalhawk etc) only shown in a panel here and there. Upcoming issues look at the stories of Ironhide and Orion Pax... it feels more plodding and onerous.

I divulge that the story isn't too bad and as a character study on how Prowl sees the current landscape it is revealing and interesting, but when you have the sister comic moving forward issue by issue simply by focusing on a core cast with the secondary characters supporting them (rather than RiD having the main characters who can drive the story forward supporting the secondary cast), it is hard not to compare both titles to one another (especially considering their numbering) and seeing the negatives slowly stacking higher in the RiD issues.
it is also a very quick read compared to the sister title, while nothing like a Spotlight Mirage, it is noticeably quicker, and I feel no need for a re-read as I am sure there is nothing deeper going on in the issue that I may notice on a subsequent read through.

The art doesn't help. Once again characters look different page to page, the over-detailed look is fine, as long as it is consistent. Arcee cops it pretty bad this issue, which does not help her already weird looking robot mode. I do get the feeling at times that this series must really have two artists with similar styles.

So overall I feel that this issue was only useful in showing us how Prowl cannot seem to stay the same character for more than a few issue, and how he is willing to do whatever needs to be done, even if it means breaking his protocols and such. No forward momentum, no growth for anyone else, and a pretty big kill list of some of the bigger players since Furman was dropped (actually, the killing of the McCarthy/Costa players might not be such a bad idea).

I really like the potential that this series has, and I hope that it isn't too long before Barber (who did an exceptional job with the turd that was the movieverse) can hit his strides and start looking forward rather than continually focussing on the weak and convoluted stories that preceded the split in titles.

Sharky

1st May 2012, 12:14 PM

this title has me wondering how long before we see alot of autobot (not just red shirt) casulties.. the ending was a bit of a disapointment i thought.... to easy of a finish... prowl should of took them down single handedly and had them all in stasis cuffs... but of well....

i_amtrunks

1st May 2012, 05:35 PM

prowl should of took them down single handedly and had them all in stasis cuffs... but of well....

Thats what I was expecting too. Guess since one limb is already killed and with the failure of the combination with him being nothing more than a dead leg :p the writers saw no need for that team any longer.

Shame because even individually they could have been used quite well as masterminds/ technicians for other plotters.

Sharky

1st May 2012, 07:04 PM

Thats what I was expecting too. Guess since one limb is already killed and with the failure of the combination with him being nothing more than a dead leg :p the writers saw no need for that team any longer.

Shame because even individually they could have been used quite well as masterminds/ technicians for other plotters.

i was thinking for sure starscream would have them out in some wasteland harvesting new cybertrons resources already and building a new base of operations whilst playing government..

i am also getting tired of metalhawk... always quick to put down everything and yet we see nothing of ow good he is to the population... no noble acts to win support from autobots cybertronians or decepticons he is just there... and whinging....

boring character to me...

kup

9th May 2012, 09:45 AM

The last issue wasn't very good mostly because it was rather pointless and as I_amtrunks said, all over the place. Despite it's 'complexity' nothing was really resolved or accomplished, just more Decepticons dead and the Autobots coming off as jerks.

The last Wheeljack issue was much better.

Overall I have been enjoying reading RID (although it is a distance second to MTMTE) but I am not sure I am liking it's current course, specially after the last issue which wasn't good.

Too bad about Predator Skydive, they should have given him a bit of character before killing him off panel.

Sky Shadow

31st May 2012, 06:47 PM

Issue five was brilliant. Sky Byte is the outsider observer poet without the bias of any of the three factions, and this issue continues to makes it clear that there are no easy answers for either the Autobots or Decepticons. Even if the Decepticons did want to 'change' they are third-class citizens under an Autobot militia who can't risk trusting their former enemies and removing their inhibitor/deterrence chips. (Or can they?) Some clever Shakespearean allusions - there's the obvious Yorick/Sweep shtick (which was a clever nod to Robots In Disguise Scourge, and RiD is the title of this comic so having Sky Byte in it is especially appropriate). More subtle was the nod to Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, in which Cinna the poet is attacked by an unruly mob who think he's Cinna the murderous conspirator (Sky Byte the poet is attacked because an unruly mob mistake him for Skywarp the murderer.) I liked the Wheelie reference too. Great art and writing. An A+ issue.

GoktimusPrime

3rd June 2012, 12:23 PM

Yeah, I enjoyed this issue. :) Seeing Sky-Byte come in was a pleasant surprise... although I found his Haiku was a bit ... odd (it had a 4-8-4 syllable structure instead of 5-7-5; although it did have the nature reference which does make it a proper Haiku and not a Senryu which was the faux pas he made in his first appearance in Car Robot (as nitpicked by Fire Convoy ;)); also neat to see them putting in more known characters as NAILs instead of just inventing random generic nobodies like "Noddy" (oh, now he's called Tappet?! :confused:) and... Hipotank (what's a hipo?! Is it a corruption of "hippo(s)"; Greek for horse? :confused:). The Wheelie reference was neat. :)

Oh, and more transforming! :D

Issue five was brilliant. Sky Byte is the outsider observer poet without the bias of any of the three factions, and this issue continues to makes it clear that there are no easy answers for either the Autobots or Decepticons. Even if the Decepticons did want to 'change' they are third-class citizens under an Autobot militia who can't risk trusting their former enemies and removing their inhibitor/deterrence chips. (Or can they?)
The current socio-political climate is pretty much like how I've long imagined Cybertron to be like after the end of the Great War and signing of the Pax Cybertronia -- where former Decepticons are treated as an underclass, which eventually leads to the formation of the politically underrepresented and socially marginalised Predacons, culminating in the Beast Wars 300 years later.

It'd be kinda neat if something similar happened here... like maybe former-Decepticon Sky-Byte could be one of the founding members of the Predacons? </pipe.dream> :p

i_amtrunks

3rd June 2012, 10:01 PM

It was an alright closing issue for the first mini-arc.

Nice retcon/futurecon of that catch-up issue IDW pumped out that was set in the future.

Again it revolves more around Prowl than Bumblebee and the governing of Cybertron. Thankfully Metalhawk is barely in it, but the whole setup of having Starscream hanging about is still wasted. There are a few things in this issue that are wasted.

Sure the fallout of Arcee will come back to the fore in the not too distant future when this book is getting cancelled for diminished sales.

Not sure if bringing Pax back into the fold so early on is a good idea, when there is so much more that could be looked at (They didnt have to wait until Decepticon month to have a bigger focus on the cons, this is their new society too.

Art is still not as grabbing as MtMtE though I am happy to report it does not fluctuate between super detailed and bland as much as the last issue.

Wonder why they went with a 5 story arc, rather than an actual ongoing like MtMtE ?

Sharky

4th June 2012, 05:29 PM

kup

10th June 2012, 01:23 PM

probably because of the diminished sales and the lack of actually having a good story line that flows or is as enjoyable as its sister issue

How is MTMTE performing in comparison?

Sky Shadow

10th June 2012, 08:03 PM

Wonder why they went with a 5 story arc, rather than an actual ongoing like MtMtE ?

probably because of the diminished sales and the lack of actually having a good story line that flows or is as enjoyable as its sister issue

How is MTMTE performing in comparison?

Sharky and Kup, they're not doing too differently at all - with the respective issue #2s for example, MTMTE only sold 16 more copies than RID. And certainly by only issue #5 they wouldn't have that information in time to change the story, art and solicitations in time. It's a five-issue arc because it was written as a five-issue arc. Likewise, despite being an ongoing, MTMTE's first arc ends in #5 after a climax, with a resolution neatly tying up Ratchet's story. This too is so the TPB (Death of Op + MTMTE #1-5) has a strong and clear ending.

The most recent statistics on TF comic sales were:

149th bestselling comic for the month - TRANSFORMERS MORE THAN MEETS EYE ONGOING #4. 12,053 copies

150th - TRANSFORMERS ROBOTS IN DISGUISE ONGOING #4. 11,896 copies.

kup

10th June 2012, 11:26 PM

The most recent statistics on TF comic sales were:

149th bestselling comic for the month - TRANSFORMERS MORE THAN MEETS EYE ONGOING #4. 12,053 copies

150th - TRANSFORMERS ROBOTS IN DISGUISE ONGOING #4. 11,896 copies.

Thanks for that but I am afraid that I have no frame of comparison. I know those are not fantastic numbers but where do they sit when it comes to average to good sales numbers?

I would hate for the series to be cancelled due to poor sales only to be replaced by something utterly retarded.

Cat

10th June 2012, 11:43 PM

probably because of the diminished sales and the lack of actually having a good story line that flows or is as enjoyable as its sister issue

It's simply following the trend set by most other publishers (ie the big two).

Due to costs increasing, tpbs/hc's now regularly have 4-5 issues, whereas two years ago, these same books were consistent 6 issue collections.

So no, nothing to do with 'quality' issues.

Sky Shadow

11th June 2012, 03:15 AM

Thanks for that but I am afraid that I have no frame of comparison. I know those are not fantastic numbers but where do they sit when it comes to average to good sales numbers?

It's pretty good and the sales are solid - in April that made MTMTE IDW's strongest non-Ninja Turtle ongoing. And I'm pretty sure it's not going to be cancelled or revamped any time soon - the same company keeps the G.I. Joe titles going on much lower numbers.

i_amtrunks

15th June 2012, 08:43 AM

Love the direction #6 took. This probably would have been it's own mini series a few months ago, ala Bumblebee and Ironhide. As much as it would have been nice to leave Prime/Pax alone for longer, the direction this book takes is different and engaging.

It is a series that really ties itself into both the Furmanverse and Chaos stories, and does a great job of bonding them together, in a way that the AHM Coda wishes it could have.

I'll not say much more for a few more days regarding the content, but I thought the character choices were excellent, it is fantastic to see the Green and orange bots again, and we get to revisit a planet only visited in a Spotlight that I thought we would never have another mention of. Now to see if the shadowing in that spotlight can be woven into the RiD story.
Art is by Livio, who is responsible for the Chaos and (I think) Autocracy, so he is a bit of an IDW recent favourite. Art suits the issue and the almost mystery/spy thriller vibe this story has.

It is a very quick read, it is one of those sisue that the text is used to move the story along. The characters try their best to give a cliff's notes version of the events of years old stories, but if you only jumped into the books with the beginning of RiD and MtMtE you may be a little confused until more backstory is revealed in coming issues.

Sharky

15th June 2012, 09:08 AM

I'll not say much more for a few more days regarding the content, but I thought the character choices were excellent, it is fantastic to see the Green and orange bots again,

It is Good to see these characters return, this looks like a good story to follow.

i like this version of Pax too he seems more prime like then prime was the weight of the universe lifted from his shoulders has re invigorated him.

GoktimusPrime

28th June 2012, 11:37 AM

Seeing Monstructor being portrayed as such a massive behemoth always makes me lol (considering how incredibly puny the toy is). :D Bludgeon has now fixed Monstructor's only weakness -- does that mean he's free of brittle gold plastic?! :p :p

i_amtrunks

3rd July 2012, 09:55 PM

Preview for #7 is out.

Not following on from the events in #6, which is a shame as that issue was by far the most interesting of the series. We are back to Bumblebee being led by two very unlikeable characters in Metalhawk and Starscream.

However Wheeljack is the central focus for this issue, so it may be saved somewhat from that alone. For something a little different, the story seems to be set at two different (but close) times, easily differentiated by panelling.

i_amtrunks

6th July 2012, 01:13 PM

An interesting setup issue this one.

The little alien dudes from Spotlight Wheelie (at least the species) get a terminal cameo but the ramifications of the discovery on Turmoils ship could have some decent ramifications (plus an awesome dues ex machina if required).

Wheeljack gets a nice issue to shine (why Mirage wasn't teamed up with him I do not know), Metalhawk does something other than complain (personally still do not like the guy) and Starscream gets some nice lines.

A better issue than most so far in RiD, do not like that #6 did not get followed upon, but this story is interesting and could have massive repercussions for the IDW universe.

GoktimusPrime

12th July 2012, 03:45 PM

I like how the story built suspense and mystery. That was cool. Still wish someone would freaking transform. I'm not fond of how IDW are now following suit from the Armada dubs and having the Transformers refer to each other as "men." That's stupid. (-_-) I agree that it was cool to see Metalhawk do something useful instead of standing around being a douche all the time. ;)

i_amtrunks

9th August 2012, 10:45 PM

Nice to have the Dinobots back (yes, with an "i" now instead of a "y".)

I like the dynamic they have with Ironhide and their brief time with SkyLynx. Their designs are nice, but Swoops overlarge eyes remind of another comic character but I cannot place it. Slag having fire continuously pour from his mouth and horned helmet in alt mode looks stunning.

Story is a setup issue for the next couple of issues, unlike last issue which was a longer self contained story. It does not require reading of past IDW stories, but it would help, especially Autocracy and even some of the near unmentionable Megaton: Origins.

Overall a nice enjoyable read that has a bit of everything, from wit and humour similar to MtMtE issues, action, mystery and a twist! Art is lovely, keep an eye out for the child of Movie Ravage and Beast Machines Cheetor!

SuspectimusPrime

26th August 2012, 01:52 AM

Their designs are nice, but Swoops overlarge eyes remind of another comic character but I cannot place it.

My thoughts kept coming back to Swoop's head design as well, it's been quite unsettling. The over large eyes and lanky frame gives him a really off-world feel. At first glance I would have thought that design would better suit a more conniving or treacherous character. In terms of other comic characters, I'm thinking Arthur from The Tick, or even good old Waspinator :p

GoktimusPrime

6th September 2012, 09:37 PM

...or Sailor Moon. :p

Anyway, I enjoyed the latest ish... things are getting more action packed now and intrigue continues to build.

i_amtrunks

7th September 2012, 08:33 AM

There are a lot of sub stories bubbling under the surface that will hopefully be great payoffs when they are revealed. I like the similarities that RiD and Regen have with one another, its a good "same but different" story.

It'd be great to have a spotlight series for the RiD and MtMtE focussing on the NAIL's and Decepticons. A spotlight on Starscream, Swindle or Metalhawk would be a great way to flesh out those characters a litle more.

i_amtrunks

25th September 2012, 11:50 PM

Annual Preview (http://www.seibertron.com/transformers/news/transformers-robots-in-disguise-annual-2012-preview/25888/)

Those lovers of the "ye olde" art style should get a kick out of this, as will those who want to see some Nova Prime stories.

Cannot wait!

SuspectimusPrime

26th September 2012, 12:28 AM

Bring on the flashbacks! Really enjoy the Valiant Galvatron :)

i_amtrunks

28th September 2012, 10:36 AM

So the Metrotitan we saw in the MtMtE series really didnt have much to do in this issue, kinda felt like a dues ex machina after all the hype he was given in the other annual. I did like that he was under the planets surface, intermeshed with the remnants of the city. I wonder if this means there are other cities on Cybertron that were more "covered" than reformatted completely, or if the city was brought there by the Metrotitan...

The flashbacks were brilliantly done in the old art style, yet they retained the look and feel of the designs these characters were given in the furmanverse stories. It was a quick transition from noble Nova to "crazy" Nova, but it was nice to see Omega doing something again, and the origins of his bitter rivalry with the Monsterbots. The way this annual ties together the recent ongoings to the furmanverse is wonderful.

Interesting that they chose the annoying and rather unlikeable Metalhawk to narrate this issue, and to give him an epiphany at the end. I guess having a "neutral" view of the events makes sense, as seeing the events from Prowl, Wheeljack or Screamers perspective would have thrown it all askew.

Overall this was a good issue that had a key plot point going forward that I am surprised they put in an "extra" issue than the regular ongoing (which I think transitions back to Pax's story for a while). If people missed out on the annual, I don't know if they will be satisfied with comments relating to Starscream being peppered with "see 2012 annual. -ed".

Art was alright, easy to tell who was who for the most part, the flashback art was the highlight, using the limited colour palette was a clever idea too, and I think worked very well for the feel they were going for, to evoke the old 1980's comic series.

Overall an interesting read for the flashback and the big reveal that is going to have massive repercussions on the RiD stories as they go forward, but it felt shorter than the MtMtE annual by a long margin, and does not hshare that books "fun". This was a serious story that manages to move the ongoing forward yet also give us a great insight to the past (something that both books are intent on doing) and how the Transformers seem to be on a loop of sorts.

SuspectimusPrime

28th September 2012, 02:15 PM

Overall an interesting read for the flashback and the big reveal that is going to have massive repercussions on the RiD stories as they go forward, but it felt shorter than the MtMtE annual by a long margin, and does not hshare that books "fun". This was a serious story that manages to move the ongoing forward yet also give us a great insight to the past (something that both books are intent on doing) and how the Transformers seem to be on a loop of sorts.

Spoiler

Perhaps it was in the delivery of the flashbacks; they were kind of just revealed without a narrator, which would have been nice to further reveal another character's persona like they did with Cyclonus (granted, finding a narrator would be hard as most of the Ark 1's crew is dead/missing/off planet). At first I thought the flashback was the Metrotitan's memories. Omega was present during 80% of those flashbacks whilst Dai Atlas was the only one who was there 100% of the time. Perhaps they could have placed the flashback as Omega's, who had later had some later conversations with Atlas, and discussed details of Nova's personality and crew? This would have justified Omega's trust and friendship with Atlas (almost Spotlight Omega? :p). However, even if that was not possible due to page limits, I would have liked more timeline with Noble Nova before his eyes suddenly turn red.

The annual was very good, more enjoyable by any one other RID issues, but the present-day story did not keep me on the edge of my seat the way the MTMTE annual did.

GoktimusPrime

28th September 2012, 02:43 PM

Really enjoyed the Annual - it's the best part of RiD so far to me. The flashbacks were brilliantly done, not just in terms of art, but also writing; like the nearly-breaking the fourth wall expositions, like "I, Nova Prime, "...and I, Jhiaxus," "For me, Cyclonus!" etc. -- very reminiscent of Marvel G1!! :D I also liked how Guidi drew frames that mimicked images of ancient Cybertron from Marvel G1 #1, including those generic bots coloured like known G1 characters (e.g. Optimus Prime, Hound etc.) -- so authentically cheesy! :) Then there's the deliberate "laziness" of colouring entire characters purple (especially if they're not in the foreground), which is very reminiscent of Nel Yomtov (again, more cheesy authenticity) - and of course, the Marvel US G1 style speech bubbles. :D The writing, visual narrative, art style etc. captured G1 so well that I could almost imagine that I'd picked up an old issue from my childhood. I almost wish that characters like Galvatron was drawn more exactly like his G1 model and coloured grey instead of purple to make it more old skool -- but I guess IDW's decided to maintain visual continuity with the character models now (not that they cared before :rolleyes:). Although seeing Dai Atlas in those low grade colours was ... a big contrast to the way he was so beautifully coloured in G1 (TF: Zone). The present-day story was cool -- and the last part with Starscream was an unexpected twist that throws more intrigue into the story. Is it just me, or does Cahill's art make the Transformers all look like they've been punched in the mouth? ('cept Wheeljack, he looks fine) :o

Overall I've enjoyed MTMTE more than RiD, but I must say that I enjoyed the RiD annual more than the MTMTE annual.

P.S.: Also interesting how the flashback explicitly mentioned Atechnogenesis too! It's contrary to the Special Creation recount that Cyclonus told, and yet the RiD Annual flashback also mentions the Hand... interesting.

Seraphim Prime

28th September 2012, 07:37 PM

Totally agree with the things other have said about seeing more of the Nova Prime history, and his slow change of ideals.

I love that the Annuals have been used to do some pretty major world building, in terms of Transformer history, and setting up some other players within the universe.

P.S.: Also interesting how the flashback explicitly mentioned Atechnogenesis too! It's contrary to the Special Creation recount that Cyclonus told, and yet the RiD Annual flashback also mentions the Hand... interesting.

I see at as two ways of telling the same story, with different focuses, and therefore a different choice on what to emphasize and what to leave out. One story set in the physical reality, and the other in the more metaphysical space.

bassbot

29th September 2012, 07:10 PM

Loved this issue - the annual is one of the stronger RiD issues this year imo. Brendan Cahill did a great job on art duties, much better here than on Police Action last year!

Guido kills the retro designs, an amazing job - and the script and lined pages at the end were a very cool addition.

John Barber is an amazing continuity-meshing-machine.

Lord_Zed

3rd October 2012, 07:32 PM

This was the most solid comic under the RID brand for a while. Interesting setup, awesome insight into Cybertrons past which still ties in to IDW's earliest work.

Also a bit of insight into Metalhawk's actual thinking.

And yes I want a whole issue or series done in Guidi's retro art style now.

SuspectimusPrime

6th October 2012, 04:55 PM

An interview with John Barber (http://www.newsarama.com/comics/transformers-robots-in-disguise-year-2.html) (RID's Editor). Not much answered, but nice hints at Year Two for RID :)

i_amtrunks

10th October 2012, 11:01 PM

Arrgh, brain!

I think I followed it all by the end, when it was painted out for me, but it really messed with my head reading it so late in the evening! It "fixes" the previous continuity issues with Wheelie and the Reflector trio (and by fix, I mean, it gives us reasons for the events with potential for much more information).

I like the integration of the revelation, chaos and ongoing series into one melting pot, I just wish it hadn't half melted my brain in the process. I think a re-read in a few days should help.

Art is the same as chaos, not everyone's favourite style, and I think with as much dialogue and exposition and so little action it did not suit. Those 9 panel pages were very difficult to follow, the only way I could figure out what time it was in the book was the background palette.

With RiD rolling through what seems two main alternating stories, it means we will have to wait longer for resolutions to both stories, and as interesting as the Pax and Hardhead story is, I can't wait for an update on Ironhide and the Aerialbots next month.

GoktimusPrime

17th October 2012, 01:19 PM

This story had a kind of Doctor Who edge to it IMO. :)

BigTransformerTrev

16th November 2012, 12:42 PM

RageOnTheRoads

17th November 2012, 02:23 PM

This story had a kind of Doctor Who edge to it IMO. :)

Funny, I though the exact same thing. :D

i_amtrunks

20th November 2012, 08:34 PM

Preview for #11 (http://www.fullmetalhero.com/content/transformers-robots-disguise-11-preview-5294/)

It's twisting and turning and I'm sure the obvious answer is not the real answer.

i_amtrunks

22nd November 2012, 11:09 PM

Obvious answer was the real answer and it was dealt with thoroughly.

Really thoroughly.

In a way I know I was not expecting thoroughly.

RiD finally is getting to MtMtE levels of what the frak?
I genuinely have no idea what is going to happen next, even though I know full well what is going to happen in the immediate future (as it was shown full force in the final page, and pretty obvious even from the second last panel) with what happened in this issue who knows what is going to happen.
Barber has cleaned the slate ready for the second major arc of RiD, and lets hope he stays around for a long while, not just because his writing has been excellent, planned and consistent with the IDW universe, but if he goes, I am sure the next writer will find a dull, cheap way to reset and undo all the motions put into play and resurrect the fallen characters.

I cannot compare this to the same day release of MtMtE as Phantomzone didn't have it stocked this week, but I would find it hard to believe that it could be as genuinely surprising in terms of actions to characters as RiD!

Should also add that the art this issue is done by Guido Guidi and it is sublime. The Matere cover is all flavours of awesomesauce, but as a retail incentive I had no chance of nabbing it, will have to pick up later in the aftermarket. The interiors are gorgeous and the designs of mostly background players are now in FoC styled bodies. I thought they would be a bit jarring, but they suit this series well.

Sharky

23rd November 2012, 06:28 AM

The Matere cover is all flavours of awesomesauce, but as a retail incentive I had no chance of nabbing it,

Might still be some in Kings in the city here. if you want me to grab one... but it is one awesome cover!!

i_amtrunks

23rd November 2012, 08:49 AM

Might still be some in Kings in the city here. if you want me to grab one... but it is one awesome cover!!

Ha, forgot I have an online account with Kings! I'll try them. Thanks Sharky!

GoktimusPrime

25th November 2012, 09:51 AM

Loving Guidi's art (much better than Cahill's "mush mouth with a split lip" art :rolleyes:) - though I'd wish they'd go back to using Classicsverse Prowl. I like how Astrotrain's model resembles his Classics toy, and Blitzwing seems to be a "Classicnised" version of his Animated model (at least in mine eyes ;)). Shockwave still looks fantastic in his FoC model... yeah, I'm a total sucker for seeing any toy-accurate (or toy-homaging) artwork! :D Oh, looks like IDW's switched back to FIBRIR now. They started off as FIBRIR, then switched to FIRRIB, now it's FIBRIR again... so I see IDW's carrying on with their long standing tradition of inconsistent visual continuity. ;)

I found an Easter Egg!! I've spoiler tagged it, so click and drag to reveal:
On p.10 - where Starscream has flown down to inspect a fallen Omega Supreme and we see Fixit and others attending Omega Supreme you can see Omega Spreem in the background! The torso is incorrectly coloured, and the legs are purple instead of pink, but the arms and especially the head are the same colours as the Omega Spreem Action Master toy! ... this would have to be his first canonical appearance, _and_ he's portrayed as a separate character from Omega Supreme! (deal with THAT, TFwiki! :p)

Sky Shadow

25th November 2012, 11:01 AM

I'm pretty sure that's not a spoiler, Goki. That is definitely him, although they could argue that it's this guy (http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/1967/headzq.jpg) in disguise, on a multiversal holiday. ;) (The comic is called Robots In Disguise, after all.)

kup

25th November 2012, 01:27 PM

Maybe Omega Spreem suffers from similar psychological issue as Pyro with Primus apotheosis. Instead of a 'Prime complex' he has an 'Omega Complex' :)

GoktimusPrime

25th November 2012, 02:32 PM

I'm pretty sure that's not a spoiler, Goki.
The spoiler I was thinking of was Omega Supreme having fallen and being repaired by Fixit & Co. -- might be a mild spoiler for those who haven't read this issue. :)

That is definitely him, although they could argue that it's this guy (http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/1967/headzq.jpg) in disguise, on a multiversal holiday. ;) (The comic is called Robots In Disguise, after all.)
Heh, in the Gokiverse Energon Omega Supreme's Headmaster Mini-Con is called "Omega Spreem." :D

Lord_Zed

26th November 2012, 07:27 PM

Certainly the most interesting RID episode for a while, I think it may have been even faster paced than this months MTMTE. The reveal at the end was interesting, in particular because the story seems determined not to return to the usual TF status quo, which is a good thing.

Are IDW going to run out of Decpticons though? Seems like there have been more deaths than during war time.

i_amtrunks

26th November 2012, 07:43 PM

Are IDW going to run out of Decpticons though? Seems like there have been more deaths than during war time.

I only think the guards outside were murdered. All the big cons inside were incapacitated. Mayhaps Ravage has a sore neck (who is to say the decapitation is a killer blow to cassetticons). I doubt that such big and well loved characters that have had many interactions in the past (very important in these series) will be out for long. Ol' one eye may have even planned this (am I giving too much credit? I personally think he was ambushed but will use the incarceration to his advantage).

Been reading alot about Arcee being overpowered, but I think the combination of surprise, the explosives, the weapon (Wheeljacks, or something older?) and perhaps a letting down of their guard thinking the Autobots would be too busy with Omega all contributed to the success of the attack. Arcee is a power player, but will she side with whoever promises her Jhiaxus or has she lost interest in her revenge?

SuspectimusPrime

26th November 2012, 08:34 PM

With the big bad out of the way, I was hoping that RID would embody more politicised tension, with the Decepticons factionised into many subgroups with more in-fighting, a la Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

Did enjoy seeing Ravage talk :)

And, Shockwave really gets a hard time in IDW-verse doesn't he?

GoktimusPrime

26th November 2012, 09:18 PM

Are IDW going to run out of Decpticons though? Seems like there have been more deaths than during war time.
I don't think so. There are still plenty more Decepticons that they haven't touched yet. Time for Flamefeather to shine!

Been reading alot about Arcee being overpowered, but I think the combination of surprise, the explosives, the weapon (Wheeljacks, or something older?) and perhaps a letting down of their guard thinking the Autobots would be too busy with Omega all contributed to the success of the attack.
Yeah, I think Arcee's strength comes from her use of stealth and guile, most likely coupled with Prowl's strategy -- like the whole strategic move of sneaking around the Deceps' lair for ages and planting those explosives, only revealing herself at the precise moment, and by then it was too late for the Decepticons to do anything. Don't know if Arcee could have come up with that plan all by herself... seems that Prowl is the brains and Arcee is his fist. She's not quite the Munchkin that Drift was.

Arcee is a power player, but will she side with whoever promises her Jhiaxus or has she lost interest in her revenge?
It seems that she just thoroughly enjoys doing her job --- she's kinda like Quickstrike in a way, only not so goofy. But ya know... "Destruction's good! I like destruction!"

Did enjoy seeing Ravage talk :)
Eeh, that's nothing new. Ravage talked a lot during G1, especially in the comics. It was Ravage who talked Shockwave out of his stupor after the "paradox" of killing Cyclonus. Ravage did speak briefly once in the G1 cartoon, and of course, he talked a lot in Beast Wars with that awesome Russian spy voice (which is exactly how Ravage sounded to me when I read this issue! :D)

And, Shockwave really gets a hard time in IDW-verse doesn't he?
Sucked in to that cycloptic depth-perceptionless freak. :p :p

Lord_Zed

26th November 2012, 11:29 PM

IDW Shockwave just hangs around and looks cool, but never actually does anything of value, in that sense he is more like his cartoon counterpart than his Marvel comic one.

As for the possibility of ravage surviving the issue, well that would be just stupid given that loss of head (between RID and the Bay movies) is now the most common cause of death for Decepticons. I'm sorry if Ratbat can be killed by being run through and Ravage can't be killed by unexpected decapitation then I call major shenanigans and favoritism on the part of the writer. :p

Anyway It's interesting how the Autobot characters always seem to narrowly avoid death in IDW comics of late.

bassbot

10th December 2012, 09:43 AM

the thing is we haven't seen conclusive evidence of deaths, but we have been told by multiple characters that Ratbat is dead. The black room is important - I think Shockwave has been planning something since Swindle and Dirge came to him a few issues ago.

Now, i'm glad Megatron is back, this is the shake up the Iacon leaders need - will this bring on the elections? It's been predicted by Prime/Pax that if/when Megatron returns what is he going to find? Will he be able to get support like before?

SuspectimusPrime

10th December 2012, 02:13 PM

the thing is we haven't seen conclusive evidence of deaths, but we have been told by multiple characters that Ratbat is dead.

Wheeljack copping a shot from Turmoil's arm cannon at point blank range, that took out two-fifths of his, and looked like it should have been where his spark chamber was, doesn't help to explain how Cybertronians can be killed either.

Lord_Zed

10th December 2012, 07:34 PM

Wheeljack copping a shot from Turmoil's arm cannon at point blank range, that took out two-fifths of his, and looked like it should have been where his spark chamber was, doesn't help to explain how Cybertronians can be killed either.

Cybertronians are all like Achillies, you have to hit them in their one weakspot, like Optimus's encahnted rib in the original animated movie. :D

bassbot

18th December 2012, 09:09 AM

I think in the IDW-verse there a connection between the spark and brain module (and transformation cog) that to truly kill them outright needs to be severed. For example, Rung in MTMTE. Wheeljack's brain module was fully functional aside from his other wounds and so a gaping whole in the body didn't stop him - he was only saved by the timely rescue from Metalhawk though - i'm sure he would've carked it if he had been left there (aside from the fact the cons were ready to take him down.

i_amtrunks

21st December 2012, 12:00 AM

So are we not as engaged in RiD as MtMtE lately? I was overseas and only managed to get the issue today.

Further to bassbot's point regarding death of Tf's, it seems that they are nigh impossible to kill, Megatron was already skeletal, took a full barrage of fire at near point blank range and still survived.

Another Wheeljack centred issue where he once again gets the wiring beaten out of him before being saved by a main player in the political machinations. This one is a setup issue through and through, but had a few interesting points raised, the one that struck me has been building for a while: why are all the warbots being taken down? Bumblebee is on the same thought process now, and that could be an interesting simmering plot point for the future.

Although I do wish we would get a conclusion (or continuation) of the Ironhide/Dinobot/Aerialbot story. I thought Skylynx had returned, but maybe his systems are still fried.

We did get a payoff for Prowl, he wanted to be blown up in the Con pit takedown, not just to remove suspicion from himself but as an excuse to upgrade into a wartime body and take down every other con. He really planned this out well.

What is Arcee up to I wonder? What has she to gain from protecting Maccadam's or is she just after some killing time?

More questions than answers in this issue, but looking forward to the next few months, both stories are ramping up.

Sharky

21st December 2012, 06:45 AM

i to think it is a long time between issues covering the ironhide story.. its like they forgot an issue, and it disapoints me a little, i get the jumpng to the pax story and leaving a little bit of a cliff hanger but then why go back to the westwing drama for more then one issue...

it kinda adds to the "loosing interest" in RID over MTMTE

GoktimusPrime

24th December 2012, 12:08 PM

It's just recently dawned on me that RiD (and other concurrent events in the IDWverse) could easily become a primer to connect G1 with Beast Wars. Let's consider the following:
* The war has ended in (dubious) favour of the Autobots
* There are many calling for the dissolution of the factions. Imagine if ex-Autobots (like Metalhawk) spearheaded the formation of the Maximals and ex-Decepticons (like Sky-Byte) formed the Predacon; both factions allied under as part of a unified Cybertronian government (possibly bipartisan).
* The formal dissolution of the Autobot/Decepticon factions could be made official with all parties signing the Pax Cybertronia.

i_amtrunks

3rd January 2013, 12:06 AM

Sharky

3rd January 2013, 07:41 AM

After getting the second trade (such a short trade with only 5 issues) It really makes an impact that we have not had a more thorough conclusion to the Wilderness story.
I'm guessing that might come after all the Iacon based stuff we are going to be dealing with, perhaps Superion can shut Megatron down/exile him after he makes his powerplay?

The whole "everyone combines into giant transformer" could be an interesting story as well, a bit similar to the weird D-void created combiner. Personally I think Kimia or similar will be revealed and the impetus for the desire to combine, and give Wheeljack another issue or two to shine in his scientific role. Anything that isn't related to the Dvoid will suffice though.

i to am disapointed that this story hasnt continued it feels like it has been forgotten about with only one or two lines to keep the story thread alive... and the rest of the politic stories feel they are running in slow motion.

i hope they dont make the dinobots combine....

next weeks issue is probably not going to touch on the missing bots again

i_amtrunks

8th January 2013, 05:25 PM

Preview for #13 is up for those who read them.

Prowls endgame begins. After reading chaos police action and the terribly written spotlight Prowl, it is truly hard to fathom that it is the same character!

Looking good, the next few months are going to drag between issues.

i_amtrunks

9th January 2013, 11:09 PM

Mother ******.

Did not see nor expect that. Ever.

Paulbot

10th January 2013, 09:04 AM

My reaction was "What? But, what!".

i_amtrunks

10th January 2013, 11:15 AM

I wonder what his gameplan is? There are two obvious ways this may work out, both requiring his new body. Either way he has planned things wonderfully, my only question is what about Dirge/Swindle, what is there role in all of this? They are going to report about the Decepticon "deaths" and then they will be revealed to be wrong?

Poor Wheeljack, he really has copped it in this series, but if he survived his lot so far, the other "casualties" could be okay too.

Hating the months wait between issues, I need to know why now!

Paulbot

10th January 2013, 09:26 PM

I'm reading this series on my phone via Comixology so on the first read I didn't notice the finer details of that last splash page. I thought Wheeljack was there by choice. That he isn't makes me wonder what Prowl's plan will be since it doesn't look like he can convince another rational Autobot of its merits. Or Prowl is playing along for some reason...

I wonder how the MTMTE series fits in too, but I guess Rodimus, Magnus, Drift, and the sheer number of Autobots on the Lost Light were another lot of support for the Autobots that had to be moved off the board. Good to see the randomness and loose ends of the "in wild" story being touched on as part of the greater plan.

The Dirge/Swindle/Arcee stuff has me beat too. This is the first time with this series where the cliffhanger really does make me impatient for the next issue.

i_amtrunks

10th January 2013, 10:04 PM

Good to see the randomness and loose ends of the "in wild" story being touched on as part of the greater plan.

The Dirge/Swindle/Arcee stuff has me beat too. This is the first time with this series where the cliffhanger really does make me impatient for the next issue.

So you thinking that the datapad was being held by Ironhide too? I wonder if the wild, getting rid of the Autobot warriors was part of Prowls plan too? Could Megatron being in the wilderness have been a front, was Prowl hiding him (in the black room?) all along?. Obviously, Prowl did not know of the D-void or the big reformatting, but could his and Megatrons conversation waaay back in Chaos have been the setup for this? Surely that would be too convenient right?

As for Dirge/Swindle, I am not sure if Arcee is going against Prowl's plan/getting cold feet, or is following the plan to the letter. Prowl wants Starscream in the least to say he killed some Cons, then have the Cons reveal themselves to be alive and make Starscream look incompetent/lying. If Arcee is going behind Prowl's back, has he planned for it? having Cons going out in the mob protected by (poor, used) Blurr is not the safest or most guaranteed delivery method.

Finally, I read somewhere that Prowl might be under Con influence (Bombshell?) or that he is manipulating the Cons after changes to them made in the black room, ala Kup. Man I miss Kup from being in these stories. Infestation was such a waste.

And Paulbot, go buy this issue, if only for the splash pages, they are beautiful in print, and you'll lose a little bit of how wonderful in the trade. We need a new, properly done art of IDW, just from the ongoing onwards, with the two from this issue front and centre.

Ploughmans Lunch

11th January 2013, 01:20 AM

Very superficial question, but...

With three of the four main Decepticons (Shockwave, Soundwave and Starscream) adoping WFC/FOC Robot and Alt modes... Do you think they'll draw Megatron as per his black, WFC toy?

I think one of the covers has him as his Ongoing earth form so I guess not. But would've been nice.

SuspectimusPrime

11th January 2013, 04:02 PM

Poor Wheeljack, he really has copped it in this series, but if he survived his lot so far, the other "casualties" could be okay too.

Perhaps not for poor Horri-bull..

I'm reading this series on my phone via Comixology so on the first read I didn't notice the finer details of that last splash page. I thought Wheeljack was there by choice. That he isn't makes me wonder what Prowl's plan will be since it doesn't look like he can convince another rational Autobot of its merits. Or Prowl is playing along for some reason...

It seemed like Prowl wanted to convert an Autobot to his side, currently with Wheeljack because he noted Wheeljack's lack of belief in Bumblebee's rule, but also perhaps previously with Chromedome just before the Lost Light took off?
(Did he just needed Chromedome for moral support or would his ultimate plans have gone more smoothly with the aid of a Mnemosurgeon?).
Or perhaps the Lost Light's mass exodus of Autobots could have been one of the contributing events that led to Prowl's decision. Another could be his increasing Factionalism towards Nails?

Prowl also mentioned having troops stationed at strategic locations, however if Bluestreak, Jetfire and Warpath were really under the care of Prowl, I don't think he would have allowed Needlenose to go that far - why not ordered them away or asked them to surrender? There was also Decepticon casualties in that raid which may dent his new alliance.

The Dirge/Swindle/Arcee stuff has me beat too. This is the first time with this series where the cliffhanger really does make me impatient for the next issue.

Prowl going through all that effort to produce Decepticons that would unravel his moral ambiguity is perplexing. The Constructicons and Bombshell's deaths were faked, however the ones on Arcee's hit list still remain missing at least (there's an even more secretive room than the Black Room?). Prowl sends Arcee to assassinate Ratbat and Shockwave, however Ratbat was not in the Black Room?

If Arcee is going behind Prowl's back, has he planned for it? having Cons going out in the mob protected by (poor, used) Blurr is not the safest or most guaranteed delivery method.

I'm inclined against it, that event seemed more coincidental. If Prowl knew that Dirge/Swindle were hiding with Blurr all along, wouldn't he have notified the Decepticons to grab them at an earlier time rather than wait until Arcee arrives and complicate things?

Arcee just seems to be getting too overly powerful and clever. If they were going to make tech specs for her in this series, she'd probably get mostly 9's and 10's.

Finally, I read somewhere that Prowl might be under Con influence (Bombshell?) or that he is manipulating the Cons after changes to them made in the black room, ala Kup.

Transformers under Bombshell's/Mindwipe's influence are usually in a daze and seem only able to barely execute simple motor skills? If he was under Con influence, then what would the Cons gain from attempting to convert Wheeljack and then beating him to a pulp after disagreeing?

Very superficial question, but...

With three of the four main Decepticons (Shockwave, Soundwave and Starscream) adoping WFC/FOC Robot and Alt modes... Do you think they'll draw Megatron as per his black, WFC toy?

I think one of the covers has him as his Ongoing earth form so I guess not. But would've been nice.

Good chance? The Combaticons also took on FOC alt modes :) Makes me want to the overpriced Takara versisons..

Paulbot

11th January 2013, 11:31 PM

I think Megatron will pickup a new WFC/FOC type body when he's repaired. It was only on second look that I noticed Rumble and Frenzy had their Generations tank modes now.

Unlike MTMTE, I haven't been rereading this series so I feel I need to now to catch up. I feel like I've not been paying enough attention, but it seems that this issues revelations have caught out those that were too.

I think it would be a weak out to say Prowl was under Bombshell's influence. I think there's a plan that Prowl has been working on and hopefully we'll get an outline of in the next issue.

I've been trying to think through where it might be going. I assume that he wants Dirge to spill the beans and reveal that the Autobots have been "killing" Decepticons, and the NAILS already frightened by the Decepticon rioters will swiftly elect Metalhawk. The Autobots have lost their strongest warriors, plus another 400 or so of their number on the destroyed Lost Light. Maybe this will be the last straw and the remainding Bots will take off. Leaving the planet and the NAILS at the sudden mercy of Megatron and his elite warriors. (Ratbat was surplus to requirements and a necessary sacrifice to get Starscream on side... although exactly what Starscream's role needs to be is unclear.)

So what's in that for Prowl? What greater purpose is he working on the side of the Decepticons for? We know he left Cybertron for a neutral life once. Maybe he can't function without war? He knows the Lost Light is not destroyed. He's sure Bumblebee will try to regroup and the war will start again.

Or perhaps he thinks the NAILS need to experience being on the opposing Decepticon army. Maybe he's just really p'ed off with the neutrals (flip the table over p'ed off) and wants them to "pick a slagging side already!"? Perhaps it's too black and white for him. You have to be one or the other, and if he has to become a Decepticon to force the neutrals to become Autobots, that's a price he'll pay?

Sam

12th January 2013, 07:03 PM

Maybe it's because I didn't follow the series closely, but I was surprised at Prowl's allegiance at the end.

And kinda surprised at how Arcee turned out.

Lord_Zed

13th January 2013, 07:23 PM

Wow nice issue, didn't see that coming either, I thought the Blackroom would be like Prowl's Decepticon manned sweatshop or something.

I wonder what his and Megatrons gameplan is? It would be kinda cool if Prowl actually has turned corrupt. And I suspect Ironhide and his pals might have to return from the wasteland to save the day.

Perhaps not for poor Horri-bull..

Prowl going through all that effort to produce Decepticons that would unravel his moral ambiguity is perplexing. The Constructicons and Bombshell's deaths were faked, however the ones on Arcee's hit list still remain missing at least (there's an even more secretive room than the Black Room?). Prowl sends Arcee to assassinate Ratbat and Shockwave, however Ratbat was not in the Black Room?

Well techincaly Bumblbee killed Horri-bull not Prowl, but anyway.....

My only gripe about this issue and it's cool reveal is my eternal gripe about all IDW writing, and that's that Geewuners can't die, ever! Because once again everyone's favorite (read overused and underdeveloped) Geewun characters are revealed to be (shock!) alive. While Horri-Bull, Triggerhapy, Blot and Staxx are all most likely dead. Chances are Bluestreak, Skydive and Warpath will be back soon too. I thought the writer was being pretty ballsy when Prowl seemingly offed the Constrcuticons, and Bombshell, and Arcee be-headed Ravage. But now there all back, sigh!

Thus consequently I am not at all worried about the fate of Wheeljack, Starscream, Ironhide etc now, but I do feel tension for any scenes involving Needlenose or Metalhawk they could die at any issue now. :p

There was also Decepticon casualties in that raid which may dent his new alliance.
.

Yeah, but they were all Genericons and actual G2 Decepticons no one cares about them. :p

Arcee just seems to be getting too overly powerful and clever. If they were going to make tech specs for her in this series, she'd probably get mostly 9's and 10's.
.

Yeah she is getting a tad ridiculous, maybe she will aquire a lasso and invisible plane soon.:D

SuspectimusPrime

13th January 2013, 08:47 PM

Wow nice issue, didn't see that coming either, I thought the Blackroom would be like Prowl's Decepticon manned sweatshop or something.

I wonder what his and Megatrons gameplan is? It would be kinda cool if Prowl actually has turned corrupt. And I suspect Ironhide and his pals might have to return from the wasteland to save the day.

I'd welcome an evil Prowl, Autobot turncoats (currently none?) appeal more to me than Decepticons turning good (Dirge and especially Swindle, who's more interesting existing as an arms or illicit goods dealer, although I did like Snare/Thundercracker).

Well techincaly Bumblbee killed Horri-bull not Prowl, but anyway.....

I was referring to that point about non-Prowl related Decepticon deaths when i_amtrunks mentioned other casualties possibly coming back :)

My only gripe about this issue and it's cool reveal is my eternal gripe about all IDW writing, and that's that Geewuners can't die, ever! Because once again everyone's favorite (read overused and underdeveloped) Geewun characters are revealed to be (shock!) alive. While Horri-Bull, Triggerhapy, Blot and Staxx are all most likely dead. Chances are Bluestreak, Skydive and Warpath will be back soon too. I thought the writer was being pretty ballsy when Prowl seemingly offed the Constrcuticons, and Bombshell, and Arcee be-headed Ravage. But now there all back, sigh!

Did you mean Jetfire instead of Skydive? :) Yeah that was a real shock, like LSOTW sudden deaths. Jetfire's really had a turn for the worst in IDW, starting our as Scientist/Captain/leader of a squad of Technobots, to sub leader(?) of Garrus 9 working alongside Fort Max when Monstructor escaped, and here as Bumblebee/Prowl's choice of prison warden - quite the career change! Also, his injuries did not seem as fatal as Bluestreak shot to the face or Warpath's innards exploding from the inside. Maybe he'll live another day to dwell on future career decisions? :p

Thus consequently I am not at all worried about the fate of Wheeljack, Starscream, Ironhide etc now, but I do feel tension for any scenes involving Needlenose or Metalhawk they could die at any issue now. :p

Just unfounded speculation, but I really am not that worried about Wheeljack dying; as a scientist, he seems like an important current and future plot device to keep around - seeing how the Perceptor/Brainstorm/Highbrow are gone, the Technobots are no longer featured, and Jetfire's gone through demotion after demotion.

i_amtrunks

13th January 2013, 09:13 PM

Just unfounded speculation, but I really am not that worried about Wheeljack dying; as a scientist, he seems like an important current and future plot device to keep around - seeing how the Perceptor/Brainstorm/Highbrow are gone, the Technobots are no longer featured, and Jetfire's gone through demotion after demotion.

That's what he gets for being a theorist and not. Practical or weapons based scientist in this time of war!

Prowl has not turned con. His IDW history is too anti con. He is playing a game that will end badly. He might make some emotional calls (since his spotlight issue is canon) but for the most part he only works towards an autobot victory. I'd be disappointed if Megatron is the character who thwarts his plans. Megatron is smart and certainly resourceful, but it should be a Soundwave or Shockwave who incapacites/circumvents Prowls schemes.

Should make for intriguing reading to see how Barber rolls out the next half dozen issues. He is no mug with the writing, I'll never forget his work on tying the movie canon together.

Lord_Zed

13th January 2013, 10:16 PM

Did you mean Jetfire instead of Skydive? :) Yeah that was a real shock, like LSOTW sudden deaths. Jetfire's really had a turn for the worst in IDW, starting our as Scientist/Captain/leader of a squad of Technobots, to sub leader(?) of Garrus 9 working alongside Fort Max when Monstructor escaped, and here as Bumblebee/Prowl's choice of prison warden - quite the career change! Also, his injuries did not seem as fatal as Bluestreak shot to the face or Warpath's innards exploding from the inside. Maybe he'll live another day to dwell on future career decisions? :p
.

Opps yeah, I meant Jetfire. He'll be back, if only so he can be demoted to auto-janitor. Skydive is already dead, the Decepticon one anyway, I don't think we will be seeing him again given that most of his Predator comrades in arms have been wiped out over the years.

Seraphim Prime

2nd February 2013, 12:03 PM

Is it weird that I'm more excited about the new RiD issue instead of the delayed MTMTE? It's been a slow burn so far, but I want to see how everything plays out - what Prowl's game is, what's happened to the Aerialbots and the Dinobots, what Megatron has got in store for the fledgling Cybertron, whether the neutrals will rise up in force against Megatron, who will lead Cybertron once the night is over, and where will Starscream decide to stand I all this?

i_amtrunks

27th February 2013, 10:06 PM

uhhhhh......

ummmmmm.....

gah!

Lots of death in this one, unexpected, and at the same time a little sad with what the payoff was, but glad also in a way. This was a page turner, let me tell you. The slow payoff has certainly arrived. I still feel RiD is the inferior book due to what felt like padding throughout the majority of the middle issues, but the way barber can tie the nonsense we were dealt with CHAOS with the Deceptigod, the ongoing body of work (Spotlight Megatron was well timed), AHM and even the Furmanverse stuff.

Lots of questionsanswered, but more raised concerning the future, we may finally get some ideas of what else happened to Ironhide and the Dinobots.

With some of the deaths we had, one has to wonder if it is permadeath, I can't see them being undone easily.

Arcee is also still an X factor, I know there are many readers who think her overpowereed (even with later revelations) but what she does in the background here makes me think her fate is Prowl's...

Poor Prowl.

Paulbot

28th February 2013, 11:59 AM

Just some quick thoughts: I didn't like this. The info dump was poorly handled, the most interesting parts of the book have been pushed aside for a darkest hour setup, and the big reveal feels like a big cop out when it could have been a dramatic character development.

Only one death looks "permanent" to me and it's the one most easily undone.

And Sky High was one of my childhood Pretenders. Wish he and his MTMTE(bio book) personality had made it to the Lost Light instead.

i_amtrunks

28th February 2013, 05:51 PM

the big reveal feels like a big cop out when it could have been a dramatic character development.

I see what you did there... :p

Only one death looks "permanent" to me and it's the one most easily undone.

Upon a second (and third read) I would agree. Only one of Roberts favourites may have actually died, and I bet there is a work around for it. He already has survived pretty big injuries. All the others may take some time to recover once the cavalry arrives.

And Sky High was one of my childhood Pretenders. Wish he and his MTMTE(bio book) personality had made it to the Lost Light instead.

Just nice to see non 1985 cast members get a line here and there. He seemed to escape unscathed so far.

After subsequent readings I really need more information regarding Arcee. This may one of those storylines that we look back on in a year or two and either see it as a setup for whats to come, or a weak link in the overarching direction. It already feels too compacted and "dumpy" on re-reads. In a way thats good as it gets it out of the way, hopefully for more information on the "hows and whys" once the big brawl is done.\

Related note, where is Brawl?

Paulbot

28th February 2013, 06:47 PM

Just nice to see non 1985 cast members get a line here and there. He seemed to escape unscathed so far.
No, he's crushed on page 21 :( but at least he got some dialogue, which may be a first for the character actually.

Sharky

28th February 2013, 08:20 PM

i liked the last page, but i felt like the rest of the issue was a little bit of a cop out.....

kind of feel like they could of covered the last 6 issues in half that...

(meanwhile i really enjoyed Gaurdians of the Galaxy #0.1)

i_amtrunks

28th February 2013, 09:12 PM

So would you say that Meg's new plan for the future of the cons is his twisted version of "till all are one"?

Paulbot

28th February 2013, 11:02 PM

Yes, this idea of "Til All Are One" being a physical and not just a metaphysical concept/potential for the Transformers race is an interesting idea, and makes Deceptigod less silly.

Some more thoughts and some spoilers

I dislike the Decepticons, as a group, going in to "Let me tell you the details of our evil plan". I really dislike that Prowl was just under Decepticon control. It's boring and predictable. It was much more interesting for an Autobot to be manipulating things to a point where working with the Decepticons became a logical action.

Forcing his body into the new Devastator also doesn't make much sense. They explained that Devastator was a successful gestalt because the Constructicons share a "unity of purpose". Prowl doesn't have a "mind for Devastation" .

I figure Wheeljack has some sort of backup body/mind or emergency plan to move vital parts around, especially after surviving that chest wound. I can't see it sticking. I can there are going for that dire (all going to hell, how will the heroes ever prevail) type of moment, but I think killing off or removing most of the main cast all at once is just over playing it.

I wondered where Blurr disappeared to? I guess he got separated from the others or ran for help? Maybe a part of a panel got cut off on Comixology's guided view? (It's happened before with this series)

i_amtrunks

1st March 2013, 09:03 AM

I think the idea was that Prowl was still under Bombshell's control and that is why the gestalt of Devestator still worked. I'm not sure if Devestator is under his own control or under the control of Bombshell.

If he is under the control of Bombshell then could there be a powerplay made?

I figure that we will have Prowl somehow overcome the Cerebro shell and subdue/control Devy later on. No way Superion and the Dinobots and Ol' Ih-n-hide can defewat the Decepticon army.

Paulbot

1st March 2013, 05:04 PM

Exactly how much control Bombshell had on Prowl isn't clear, and since that was the whole twist, that's a problem. I guess Prowl's body was all they wanted and they assume his defeated broken mind would just be overwhelmed by the Devastator gestalt. Prowl though was looking forward to becoming part of it but was there ever a real "evil Prowl" personality?

During the "here's our evil plan", Prowl and Bombshell talk as if they are different bots. ("Prowl relied on fear." "Correct Bombshell") which suggests Prowl is autonomous, but it appears that actually Bombshell's just keeping up the illusion?

If Bombshell was completely controlling Prowl, that might be why he's struggling with talking properly himself but I think that's established IDW trait of the Insecticon. At one point Bombshell and Prowl take times saying the same sentence. Later Prowl says "my every action is Bombshell's" and Bombshell adds "voice, mannerisms, intelletect". Prowl than says "Would you like to say goodbye to Prowl?" which suggests its Bombshell's voice coming through the body.

The way Prowl's body then collapses and Prowl's real voice comes out made me think that the control was over. Bombshell's control wasn't needed anymore (but I suspect he might still have a backdoor).

I still think it would have been a much more interesting story if it was revealed in this issue that many of his actions had been because Prowl wanted to take control of a gestalt. Because frankly it doesn't make that much sense for the Decepticons to use an Autobot here rather than another Decepticon. And why not make Prowl a replacement leg instead of swapping Hook about? It all strikes me as trying to make a big twist/shock for marketing rather than what makes sense for the story.

Sky Shadow

2nd March 2013, 09:39 AM

Although I would have preferred Prowl to actually be with the Decepticons, the Bombshell thing at least makes sense as a plot device even if it somewhat ruins last issue's Black Room twist. The Devastator thing was just awful. If Arcee is actually working for the Decepticons then last issue's caption boxes don't make any sense. It's like there are twists for twists' sake even if it contradicts logic. That said, the new last page 'twist' means next issue should at least be interesting.

Jinto

2nd March 2013, 08:42 PM

I share a lot of Paulbot's thoughts.

Overall, I'm very disappointed with this issue. The whole story ark was fresh, going in a new direction, 'bots seeming to actually die and then - bam! - let's reset the status quo on all levels.
-Prowl wasn't being devious.
-Everyone that died was just pretending.
-Ironhide and the Dinobots... does anyone else think that story line just ended in the middle?
-Even Megatron is back in a copy of his old body (Just in time for his Stealth Bomber Generations toy...).

It just seems like no matter what story is being told, at the end of the arc everything will reset right back.
Nobody thought the entire Deception cast was killed when the Decepticon pen exploded, but seriously? This is akin to using the 'it was all a dream' cop-out.

And as we saw in MTMTE *spoiler*> Having your head blown off does not preclude a full recovery, a la Rung. If the writers keep going the way they are Wheeljack will be just fine.

I don't mean to be a big whinger, I was really enjoying RID and I just feel disappointed at this development erasure.

Lord_Zed

12th March 2013, 10:58 PM

Yeah I agree this issue despite the excitement felt a bit forced. The Decepticons explanation seemed more like a series re-cap, and it was rather cliche the way they all pat themselves on the back and explain their convoluted plan for no reason. Plus the whole bit with the Arielbots seemed pretty stupid. Megatron used them as a test case and then just assumed they were all dead? Talk about your comic book villain mistakes. I'll have to re-read the issue again but the whole Decepticon revelation just didn't ring true for me.

As for the final page, called that a while back.

i_amtrunks

17th March 2013, 05:43 PM

Just re-read all the issues released back to back (bar the Prime and Jhiaxus) ones.

Nowhere is it shown when Bombshell had a chance/opportunity to plant a bug on Prowl. When he mentions that he had to make sure that there were easy to find control bugs (like he had on Sunstorm, man does Bombshells speech make more sense now!) on Prowl I thought I was going nuts as I didn't remember Prowl getting hit by anything or Wheeljack checking him out. There was no mention or panel showing any such thing going on. I assume we are meant to take that single panel in 14 showing a bombshell bug on Prowl's eye.

The only kind of clue we get that something changed in issue 4 is that Prowls internal monologue ceases for e rest of the issue, and never returns. Since no other story or issue requires Prowl's thoughts to be shared, so it never took my notice.

Still not overly happy with the evnts as they have played out, I'm stewing on it still I know, but it has been irking me. I am going to be under the impression that Arcee is also being controlled in the same manner, it makes no sense for her to be helping the cons after what she went through and dealt to Jhiaxus.

Why we got the talk from Arcee to Shockwave in 11 I do not understand, seeing as Shockwave, Bombshell etc were all in on the plan...

bassbot

18th March 2013, 10:50 PM

I'm really wondering about it now as well. Especially Arcee's part in it, seems like she's a bit key to it all based on June's solicitations

i_amtrunks

26th March 2013, 11:10 PM

#15 Preview (http://www.seibertron.com/transformers/news/transformers-robots-in-disguise-ongoing-15-preview/26948/)

Jazz is back and I have no idea how many Autobots there will be left standing at the end of this. I have my predictions on who will survive and what will happen 24 hours or less and I'll be right and very sad, or wrong and probably very sad. :p

i_amtrunks

28th March 2013, 07:43 PM

Well my prediction that Prowl would self sacrifice for the greater good was wrong.

This issue did not really do it for me, that is now two in a row that have been unimpressive, after all the slow burn setup that was completely padding, my taste for RiD has dwindled down to smouldering ashes.

Art is okay, without ever being great, the fact there is too much damage to be consistently displayed like in RiD #3.

The "twists" were alright and the story can once again move forward next issue, but Megatron is too smart and cartoony for his own good, he needs to just step up and take control like he has been portrayed in Pre-history and the "-tion" stories.

For what effectively boils down to a long fight scene with lots of talking to break it up, nothing was exciting or altogether interesting. Even the final page was unexciting. I cannot say I expected it, but I also find myself not caring too much. Roberts has been trying too hard to tie all of the crappy writing from AHM and the ongoing together and has lost the chance to write a comic worthy of his weaving and building.

The final text box says "to be concluded". I sure hope it is.

bassbot

1st April 2013, 09:44 PM

I loved the bit where Shockwave was mysteriously absent.

GoktimusPrime

6th April 2013, 09:40 AM

Aww, Bumblebee survived. :p (shouldn't really be surprised really... he's clearly joined Optimus Prime on Hasbro's "Don't kill fer real" list :rolleyes:). I liked seeing Arcee finally coming around, but given her skill set I'm sure she could've acted a whole lot sooner. It was also interesting seeing Autobots and Decepticons fighting side by side against Megatron's Decepticons - like Sky Byte insisting on fighting alongside Jazz; that was heaps cool. :) I'd really like to see Starscream lead these Decepticons in an alliance with the Autobots and Neutrals --- simply falling in line with Megatron and his Deceps again would just be too mundane IMO.

bassbot

8th April 2013, 09:39 AM

I think Sky Lynx should lead...

bassbot

17th April 2013, 08:28 PM

Okay gang, no spoilers but man there are some wicked twists in #16!!! It truly does 'end the season' of the first year of RiD, and leaves lots of things ready for the next.

GoktimusPrime

18th April 2013, 09:39 PM

So Rumble is red again!? :confused::rolleyes:

Okay look... I _like_ how Rumble is red... as you all know I prefer FIBRIR over FIRRIB... and I see how they've made him accurate to the United toy (and Frenzy too as previously seen)... but the inconsistency here is driving me NUTS!! :eek: While I'm not a huge fan of the G1 cartoon's FIRRIP, at least they were consistent with it! So in the IDWverse, it's FIBRIR, the FIRRIB, then FIBRIR again?!? Make up your damn minds, IDW!!!

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/goktimusprime/avatars/jaam_shoulders.gif

This is like this scene from Kung Pow: Enter the Fist (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vJmA7vy2pU&feature=player_detailpage#t=22s) (clothes are red/black) :p

i_amtrunks

18th April 2013, 10:13 PM

Back to the comic after Gok's meltdown.... :D

So some "twists" in this issue that I think all readers would have suspected coming at some point. I was unsurprised by all of the revelations bar the final one, where the bots and cons were booted from the city, I expected them to remain and there to be no more badges of allegiance.

Overall I am glad this 16 issue run is over. It moved nowhere, dragged its feet, ruined some really interesting chance it had, killed off characters that were not developed in any way and characters that have grown or changed, it could have been done in 3 or 4 issues. I think that is my main gripe, it took too long to do too little. I love that Barber has done an amazing job with tying all the terribly inconsistent continuities together, but all that effort has subtracted from his own storytelling.

I don't mean to sound like I hate RiD, I don't, it has had some interesting ideas and good issues (Wheeljack front and centre) but if after the Death of Optimus Prime you dumped the RiD cast on Cybertron with Wheeljack dead, had Megatron, Sky Byte, Arcee arrive back with the nails, you could have the events needed occur and be at this point with an annual sized issue and be done with it.

Oh and I lied there were two things I didn't expect that happened, I did not expect Megatron to try and replace Prowl, and I didn't expect Metalhawks murderer to be who it was, but it makes sense perfectly.

Hopefully with all of this malarkey out of the way, we can move onto something more substantial and interesting that moves forward at a decent pace. I figure the next "season" of RiD will be about overthrowing Starscream or watching him self destruct over the death of MH, which is kind of what we already had with Bee. The characters thrown out of the city will not be disregarded and thrown by the wayside, unless we now follow them and ignore the new Cybertron and Starscream. With a side story to Shockwave of course, and frequent interludes to Jhiaxus and Prime.

Sam

19th April 2013, 06:45 PM

I really like the cover that had Bumblebee, Metalhawk, and Starscream together. Kinda disappointed that Starscream did what he did towards the end of the issue - thought he had actually changed beyond that. But no. :0

BigTransformerTrev

22nd April 2013, 09:28 AM

I just read 15 & 16 and quite enjoyed both of them, though naturally 16 is where we see the big payoff.

While I enjoyed Starscream being developed more as a character and someone who had finally realized that 9 million years of war had gotten them nowhere it was time to try something new, the twist at the end of 16 (I'm assuming if you are reading this thread you have already read issue 16 of the comic) was unexpected but in a way welcome, it showed Starscrem had grown but in the end he would sacrific anything and anyone for power - and he got it.

Megatron showing up, then getting done over - somewhat lackluster. He's a big hitter, should have done more. Also in issue 15, I think Arcee could probably have found a chance to get to Bombshell sooner, considering her skills as an assassin.

I'll be interested to see if the likes of Dirge, Swindle & Beastbox actually stay in the city with Starscream. Considering they fought against their fellow Decepticons I assume that they would. One question: Who was the other Decepticon, the one with the purple shoulders, that was fighting alongside the Autobots & Neutrals? Can't place him. Don't know if any Autobots will stick around with Screamer in charge - Blurr maybe?

Dirge! Dirge, my first Transformer - actually doing something! Go Dirge!

Sky Shadow

22nd April 2013, 10:39 AM

One question: Who was the other Decepticon, the one with the purple shoulders, that was fighting alongside the Autobots & Neutrals?

Octane/Tankor. Which is appropriate, since that was also his general allegiance in season 3 of the G1 cartoon.

BigTransformerTrev

22nd April 2013, 10:43 AM

Octane/Tankor. Which is appropriate, since that was also his allegiance in season 3 of the G1 cartoon.

I thought it was him when they were all hanging out in the bar before it got demolished. And the shoulder pads kept making me think it was him. However his head looked different and he had no propellors so I was thinking I was wrong and it was someone else. Cheers for that :)

Lord_Zed

1st May 2013, 11:44 PM

I enjoyed this latest issue more than the previous two, writing exciting action scenes is not the writers forte and fortunately this had less of them. The death of you know who was kinda obvious really.

I also didn't mind how they defeated Megatron, it was anticlimactic, but it's nice to see at least one Autobot took some safety precautions, with arguably the most dangerous member of their race. Overall I like that they have changed the balance of power, it will be interesting to see who is where, and whether any bots joined with Starscream. Sadly while the situation has changed it does look like it will be mainly the same old bots in the spotlight, sigh! I wish they'd promote some lesser characters to the spotlight, at least Needlenose survived the issue, that's a small victory in itself, I expected otherwise.

Seraphim Prime

4th May 2013, 09:29 AM

I was a little disappointed that everything resolved so quickly, and how after 16 issues of trying to develop a new status quo, it so quickly is made into something else.

I was looking forward to seeing how the robot-politics would play out and what the new status quo would be, but it's become that the NAILS have claimed Cybertron for themselves alone and the Autobots and Decepticons are cast out with nothing. And it's a shame that it's come to this when a year and half ago Optimus exiled himself to prevent this very thing from happening.

It seems selfish on the part of the NAILS, and disappointing on the part of the Autobots who gave up much and are left with nothing.

i_amtrunks

23rd May 2013, 11:18 PM

So after 16 issues of going nowhere really, we get this.

This game changer.

I'll have to do some more reading of all things Dai Atlas to double check, but I am not sure if this ties in seamlessly with the established pre war history, but it is an awesome revelatory issue that twists all the Shockwave related stories nicely into one comprehensible braid. It ties in the Shockwave spotlight, Maximum dinobots, Spotlight Kup and the Orion pax single issues together with Shadowplay.

Funny that the best (and in retrospect, only decent Cybertron based) issue of RID is a follow up of a MtMtE story. Barber continues to do wonders with continuity.

Again Ramondelli's art will polarise, but I find it suits these kind of stories. The only time I was unsure what was going on was with Dai, Shockers and Proteus, I think the projector Shockers was using was an actual transformer, but not sure.
It is a minor thing, but I liked it, Starscream talks like a ruffian, very thuggish. It suits who is was back before the war, I think (do we know what Starscream was in the IDW-verse before the war? was he elite guard or something?)

If you were planning on giving up on RiD, as I had thought about, DONT. If this issue is an indicator of where RiD is going, (doubtful seeing as next issue goes to Arcee feeling sorry for herself) then RiD will be worth reading for months to come.

i_amtrunks

6th June 2013, 12:01 AM

So 18......

One entire issue after I gush on and wax lyrical about #17, is issue comes along and puts a dampner on it all. Like most of RiD, it isn't terrible, but it isn't great or all that enjoyable, I feel like I am reading it for the sake of reading it. It does a good job of letting us see the aftermath brought Arcee's eyes, and her unique outlook on life post Iacon.

The other stuff regarding Constructicons, Dinobots, Prowl and the last two page reveal is interesting in a way, but at the same time I find myself not really caring because I know itis all going to take a back seat and be glossed over so that Barber can try and squeeze in the Dark Cybertron arc before the release of Tf4 comes along and Hasbro bully IDW into focussing on movie based "stories" to fix the continuity and make theft unrecognisable once more.

Also hate that all the injured auto bots are languishing and barely able to be fixed and Bumblebee is fixed in hours, with the lame revelation that his auto-waste from his previous earth mode (which just so happens to look like his upcoming toy!) made it an easy fix. :rolleyes:

Did not like the art in this, it was very human form and plain. Colours were nice but had so little to work with, there is no "wow" factor in this issue, not even the final page reveal. I is a very down eaten issue that is a quick read and easily forgettable. There is nothing here that we will be coming back to for clues and pointers in later re-reads. Barber is brilliant with continuity but his writing has been bland and plodding for some time now. He needs to stop bothering with tying to fix he mistakes of his predecessors and get on with telling the tale he wants us to read.

Final note: the Bumblebee change in this will be made into a big deal. The way Prowl thinks will probably be better explored in MtMtE in flashback too. The a Prowl we see in this issue is like a little kid version of what we have had elsewhere for the last few years.

Only worth getting to complete the set, otherwise wait for the comixology app to drop it to $1. You won't miss anything between 17 and 19 in the grand scheme of things.

Next issue, is back to Optimus, Orion Pax and he Jhiaxus story. Sad when I wan mor Wheelie over Bumblebee and co.

GoktimusPrime

9th June 2013, 02:37 PM

Spoilers yo

Uh, why do they keep saying that Monstructor is comprised of five Cybertronians when he's actually made from six (http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20070902084840/transformers/images/2/26/IDW-PrimeSpotlight-Monstercons1.jpg)??? :confused: There's also a typo in one of Shockwave's speech bubbles, which makes it look like he can't pronounce his words properly. Most illogical!

i_amtrunks

9th June 2013, 03:27 PM

Neither of those things were spoilers.... Only complaints. :p

Jinto

21st June 2013, 06:46 PM

Verno

2nd July 2013, 03:43 PM

Sorry to drag this topic right back to the beginning (I've only just started reading the IDW ongoings...) but has anyone ever noticed Terrorsaur sitting at the bar in Maccadam's on the second last page of Issue #5?

bassbot

2nd July 2013, 09:30 PM

It's hard to suspend disbelief when the Autobots agree to let the Constructicons hang around. In what universe can those guys be trusted, exactly?

It's a shame about Bee's rebuild. I was liking his weathered politician look.

In terms of the Constructicons, I think most of them are past it, past the disbelief, etc. Prowl was the freakin head of Devastator... And Ironhide is saying to let em be... So the main veteran voices aren't telli em to leave and they don't wanna shoot them, so they stay.

i_amtrunks

2nd July 2013, 10:25 PM

Preview for #19 is out. This issue will deal with Gorlam Prime (loving the way that all the Furmanverse stuff is coming back in force). It is another "off world" issue with Prime, Wheelie, Hardhead and Garnak front and centre. Art is not by Livio but in his vein.

I am sure it will be very important for the upcoming crossover, but I think it will ask more questions than it will answer!

i_amtrunks

4th July 2013, 12:00 AM

Well there goes any hope I had of Nightbeat returning on Gorlam Prime.

Besides some minor artwork and character design niggles this is a nice looking comic, but I would've preferred Livio.

Story is a wrap up of the Orion Pax and Jhiaxus storyline and really paints out what is happening over the next few issues of RiD. It won't surprise anyone.

In a way I hope this overarching focus on titans comes to a close soon, I'm bored with them being this mystical super elite force that can be nullified or terminated by weapons that only do minimal damage to regular transformers.

i_amtrunks

4th July 2013, 07:30 PM

Also, how is Gorlam Prime going to be the world Ironhide and Alpha Trion are on in 15 million years time if it is getting eaten from the core out now by Ore 2- Death?

Wonder how this will be rectified? The revival ore on Cybertron? Is that going to be too bug a powerful McGuffin, Magnificence style?

GoktimusPrime

13th July 2013, 04:04 PM

The art style isn't bad at all, but I'm not fond of the character designs. They just don't look like Transformers, but rather just generic scifi robots, or even just humanoids in mechanised space armour. It's not only a noticable departure from the traditional Japanese mecha style of drawing Transformers, but also they generally lack alt mode kibble hanging off them, 'cept Optimus Prime cos his alt mode parts are such an visually iconic part of his design. I know that Wheelie and Hardhead aren't the most kibblicious designs out there, but they could've emphasised the treads on Hardhead more as well as wheels on Wheelie. Hardhead should've felt more bulky/armoured IMO. He looks more like one of Captain Power's Soldiers of the Future. :o

SuspectimusPrime

14th July 2013, 10:27 PM

^ Totally agree. My gripe with character designs is that Hardhead looks more like a Pretender than a Headmaster - as much as I have grown to enjoy existing Pretenders vicariously through the Marvel comics, I wouldn't like to see more of them. If there was one piece of iconic kibble that should have been included, it would have to be his shoulder cannon.

I'd like to see RID aim for the same standard of consistency in character designs as MTMTE, where toys are now being produced out of them (who would've thought an originally obscure minibot like Swerve would get an updated toy in front of a long list of contenders?).

i_amtrunks

14th July 2013, 11:15 PM

(who would've thought an originally obscure minibot like Swerve would get an updated toy in front of a long list of contenders?).

It's be even more awesome if he had a faceplate you could remove to represent when he blasted his own face off, or came with "Swerves first gun". :D

SuspectimusPrime

15th July 2013, 01:15 AM

It's be even more awesome if he had a faceplate you could remove to represent when he blasted his own face off, or came with "Swerves first gun". :D

+1 :p

Sharky

15th July 2013, 09:22 AM

It's be even more awesome if he had a faceplate you could remove to represent when he blasted his own face off, or came with "Swerves first gun". :D

3rd Party Addons????

id buy them

i_amtrunks

7th August 2013, 11:23 PM

If you like Starscream monologuing to dead/statised characters, being interviewed by reporter bots or making half baked deals with never seen before is issue characters, you'll love the latest issue.

No action, boring time wasting drivel that moves no one or thing forward, shows no already known insights into characters and doesn't set anything up for the future. The last page "twist" is not even good or unexpected. Though I do have to ask that if the tech required for what we see on the last page is available then why not use it more on the wounded?

No sight nor sound of the dregs of the last two issues either.

Art is ok, nothing special, but they had nothing to work with either.

My only slight interest with this Starscream angle is what will his new body be? He only got a new body at the beginning of the run...

i_amtrunks

11th August 2013, 01:31 AM

Dark Cybertron cover (http://ryallsfiles.tumblr.com/post/57806454905/transformers-dark-cybertron-1-cover-by-phil)

Kind of spoilery if you are a few issues behind in terms of characters utilised. Also shows Screamers new body. Looks very similar (in this shot) to a bot firmly entrenched in MtMtE to me.

Lord_Zed

2nd September 2013, 07:28 PM

The last page "twist" is not even good or unexpected. Though I do have to ask that if the tech required for what we see on the last page is available then why not use it more on the wounded?
.

Oh my god a gewwun character thought dead is revealed to be alive, what a twist!!!!!!!!!! it's only the umpteenth hundred time it's happened. So yeah I completely agree with you, the only interesting thing in this issues was Scoop and Ratrap getting some page time.

kup

2nd September 2013, 09:06 PM

No action, boring time wasting drivel that moves no one or thing forward, shows no already known insights into characters and doesn't set anything up for the future. The last page "twist" is not even good or unexpected. Though I do have to ask that if the tech required for what we see on the last page is available then why not use it more on the wounded?

Stuff like this is what makes RID the 'poor brother' of the two series.

I wasn't too impressed or surprised by the 'twist' either. I was expecting it to happen at some point but I guess I held out too much hope for an interesting angle to it.

Like others, I am curious about Starscream's new body and Rattrap having some presence was good. However everything else about this issue is pretty forgettable.

GoktimusPrime

5th September 2013, 03:23 PM

Am I the only one who's not hugely fond of Rattrap? The smell thing is funny and harkens back to his original BW tech specs bio... but the whole making him dastardly and backstabby like a rat... cos he transforms into a rat... umm... 'kay. :rolleyes:

Sharky

12th October 2013, 10:22 PM

SSooooooooooooo i read Issue 21 of RID, and i must say i have not read a more boring book

call it Spotlight Soundwave II

Anice tie in to the events that saw sound and shock meet but what a boring read... more boring then the rest of RID that is for sure, it really does not generate any excitment for me for Dark Cybertron

Cat

13th October 2013, 12:17 AM

So far behind on this book. Gone from being my favourite to being an absolute 'who gives a crap'.

Did get the RI covers for the issue though, and grabbed an RI for another boardie too.

I'm not in any hurry to read it.

i_amtrunks

13th October 2013, 12:35 AM

I didn't mind 21. No idea why it was 2 weeks late.

Art was lovely, it really was spotlight Soundwave 2: the continuity fixer. Lots of little details like an extension of Megatron instructing to Bludgeon to follow up Shockwaves studies, more stuff between shockers and Soundwave set in the first spotlight, as well as maximum Dinobots.

Loved the little nod that Shockwave did not in any way become part of the Decepti-god which makes him stand out from all his cybertron in breatheren.

A time filler, but with lots of lovely art and plenty of little things still fixing the lazy errors made by McCarthy, Costa and the terrible editors the preceded him.

Barber still struggles as a writer, but if fixing convoluted continuity is needed, he has proven himself more than capable.

MayzaPrime

13th October 2013, 11:33 AM

Paulbot

2nd November 2013, 11:59 AM

i_amtrunks

2nd November 2013, 01:08 PM

I think part two of "Spotlight Soundwave" was superior to part one. I think it might have been better as a standalone spotlight and losing all the Shockwave in the present stuff though.

The take on the cassettes was interesting and I'd like to see that covered a bit more. For instance I can't recall if Steeljaw or Ramhorn have appeared yet in IDW but some sort of look at what it means to be a Transformer with a animal like robot mode in the prewar Functionist society could be good. I always prefer continuites where they aren't actually animals - discussion on G1 Animal Sidekicks Sentient, Semi-Sentient or Drones (http://www.otca.com.au/boards/showthread.php?t=15879) (so as not to derail this thread).

I agree, this was an excellent issue of RiD, superior to almost every other issue released this far. I liked the fact that the flashbacks went back in time as the issue went along, it's a different time device. I also enjoyed both art styles, even though they guy do not mesh all that well.

Nice to see some personality in Soundwave, and see he is not just loyally blind to Megatron for no reason. I also enjoyed the connection to most of the cassettes being bottom rung of society and Ratbat being the top.

Wonder where Soundwave actually came from as well, since it seems he had no recollection of his life prior to finding his future cassettes. Institute based?

GoktimusPrime

6th November 2013, 08:33 PM

So now it's FIRRIB again? I... I can't keep track. I really wish IDW would make up their freakin' minds on this and just stick to either FIRRIB or RIRFIB.

SuspectimusPrime

7th November 2013, 11:41 AM

So now it's FIRRIB again? I... I can't keep track. I really wish IDW would make up their freakin' minds on this and just stick to either FIRRIB or RIRFIB.

I'm RIB as per the cartoon, but in this issue they've gone off a tangent and made him purple?

Paulbot

7th November 2013, 11:58 AM

I liked the cover of part one, where they were both black and white/greyscale. Problem solved!

i_amtrunks

9th November 2013, 07:20 PM

Since after this issue the Dark Cybertron event reverts to the two regular titles, I don't think we need a separate review thread.

I thought I'd throw it in the RiD thread as it featured a heavy RiD based character focus.

As a setup issue, it did a very good job of bringing new and eclipsed readers back up to speed. For new readers, I thought it did a fantastic job of summarising all that has happened already, but was not a good advertisement to try and seduce readers to go and back-read at least the two ongoings.

Using as much Shockwave and prime as they did was smart to hit the casual or Gen 1 fans, but maybe more Soundwave and other iconic characters could have used a page or two of content. Lots of useful names drops as well.

AS for the content of the issue, the retcon makes no sense, and makes me think that the Hearts of Darkness/Infestation events may be written off as possessed Galvatron fake memories or "dreams" which i wouldn't mind. The only thing that bothered me was that Shockwave has been serving a master all this time, something that just doesn't sit right with me having read everything so far. it would have been better (although harder to write and explain) that Shockwave did all of this for himself, only to fall under the powerful sway and influence of Nova Prime once he returns as a side consequence. Would also serve as a decent re-introduction of Nova.

I'm interested in the event, but at the same time, cannot wait for it to end so we can get back to regular MtMtE.

Art, colours, letters all very good, top notch stuff, as it has been almost every releases since the ongoing split.

GoktimusPrime

10th November 2013, 12:50 AM

Speaking of Dark Cybertron, look at the inside of the back cover. There's a group photo that features a certain board member in it - see if you can spot him! :D Took me about 2 seconds to find him. I showed the pic to mknell this morning and he managed it in a few seconds too. :D

i_amtrunks

10th November 2013, 08:04 AM

Yeah we discussed his cameo in the Dark cybertron preview thread a few days ago.

Hopefully he can grab himself a copy. I was thinking of grabbing a spare to get him to sign it, could be worth something one day! :p

kup

14th November 2013, 11:09 AM

So now it's FIRRIB again? I... I can't keep track. I really wish IDW would make up their freakin' minds on this and just stick to either FIRRIB or RIRFIB.

Maybe they like to color swap every now and then. It only takes a couple of spray cans ;)

i_amtrunks

14th November 2013, 03:35 PM

Maybe they like to color swap every now and then. It only takes a couple of spray cans ;)

Since it seems to take next to nothing to get a new body for dozens of bots and cons when resources are next to non existant, it certainly would seem that a paint change would be a blink of an eye job! :p

i_amtrunks

28th November 2013, 12:15 AM

Wow.

23/Dark Cybertron 3 was an eye opener. Won't go into detail yet as it only just came out, but the twists have come already. Nothing from some characters/ events are seen here, and other characters have a much smaller panel count than I was expecting.

Lots to discuss....

Art for the Cybertron based stuff is truly awful. Raiz did better on the Lost Light.

Bumblebee needs to go die in a hole somewhere and they better start drawing Prowl with a decent sized red crest again.:mad:

Paulbot

29th November 2013, 10:23 PM

i_amtrunks

30th November 2013, 09:59 AM

I know there's several writers on the cover, and I assume Roberts is writing the Lost Light scenes... because those are the scenes I'm enjoying the most. I'm even coming around to Raiz's art. But then we go back to Cybertron and it's not really gripping me. There's hints of a crossover that DC did a few years ago (and that Marvel did a version of too) but will wait and see.

Yes, the RiD sections are noticeably weaker, and some stuff regarding Starscream, Metalhawk, Scoop and Rattrap do not make sense (yet, I hope they clear it up soon).

I didn't like having no Dead Universe scenes either. I'm getting a feeling that there will be 10issues of setup, one big battle and then a big info dump issue to fill in all the gaps.

bassbot

30th November 2013, 07:56 PM

Hmmm, I'm not having the same reaction as some of you guys. Seems to be making sense in general to me, all but Soundwave and the cons attacking bee. Love the colours on the Dead wave splash page!

i_amtrunks

30th November 2013, 11:49 PM

Hmmm, I'm not having the same reaction as some of you guys. Seems to be making sense in general to me, all but Soundwave and the cons attacking bee. Love the colours on the Dead wave splash page!

I figured the cons wanted to attack the Titan but the Bots were in the way.

I want to know how Metalhawk was revived. Does the death beam (which really hit some bots harder than others!) revive him? How did he know where Megatron was/ to disable the forcefield? He knew Starscream killed him, and talked in some panels like he was himself brought back to life, but it appears Shockwave controls him. Sure it'll all be remedied and explained at some point.

Paulbot

1st December 2013, 12:01 AM

There's an ore that brings the dead back to life, so maybe the wave can kill but revive already dead bots like Metal hawk and that other guy at the end. You know the one. Good guys bought back from the dead and turned evil makes me think Blackest Night and Necrosha X.

Other questions come up too: Did Starscream flee or get pushed away? Was Rattrap meant to come across so evil? You have a Metrotitan and use it as a bomb? I want to reread but my copy is at my office. Very short wait for the next chapter though.

Paulbot

19th December 2013, 06:41 PM

The latest issue (#24, chapter 5) is a much more standalone RID issue than I expected. More like what I was talking about the other day in wanting the books to focus on their own characters.

I really like Michael Gill's pencils. His pages are the best "on Cybertron" art I've seen in a while, but I could see that his sketchy thin-line style might not be too all tastes. It kind of reminds me of someone else, or maybe some work of his elsewhere (like a Movie comic or something, but he doesn't have a TFwiki page yet). The two page spread about halfway I think is really nice. The colourist has done a great job too. It's not as bright and primary coloured as recent RID/Cybertron scenes.

i_amtrunks

19th December 2013, 10:43 PM

Agreed on the art Paulbot, it is much stronger in this issue, but still far from perfect.

Having no Lost Light after heir big reveal felt like a bit of a cop-out, I hope we see no Cybertron boredom from the next MtMtE issue to even it out. There was a lot of panels with Nightbeat doing some retelling of MtMTE events that felt all too much like filler that wasted precious space. Worst of all it only gave us one or two mostly insignificant tidbits. Later reveals regarding his force field were far mor interesting. I also liked the final reveal regarding Nightbeat, a good twist that I was hoping for but not expecting.

I find myself not really caring about the Cybertron based characters. We know Ironhide survives and the rest of them (One of my favourites, Prowl included) have been written so poorly or as complete incompetents since the split that I find it hard to care if they survive or not. Bumblebee continues to do nothing to help anyone. Metalhawk has turned into a bare bones bad guy for the sake of it, he was a large part of the reason Starscream came to power, yet wants to blame everyone else, perhaps a stand-in for the teenagers of today who always want to blame others for their mistakes? :rolleyes:

In terms of moving things along, Nova is stuck in the DU, Galvatron is not, Megatron was owned in a way that hopefully renders him useless and obsolete for the rest of the event. I would have preferred him to not have been revived, kept in stasis while his space bridge was utilised. Skywarp winking out of existence intrigues me, as does Shockwave finally taking command of the Titan. I'd like some more details on what he has planned, it feels like too much is to happen over the next 7 issues considering very little has happened these last 5.

No Starscream, no Lost Light, no Metroplex, no Ammonites. All the interesting parts bar Nightbeat skipped, making this a weaker instalment but very necessary to move things into place for the second half.

Art was better, Livio was Livio, a few panels were brilliant, others terrible. Gill tried hard but his details were mostly mediocre and event the big splash pages do not look as good as they could, the perspective and angles are all wrong and rind me of Dreamwave more than anything.

Here's hoping #6 ignores dull Cyberton, gives us some memorable quotes, facts and moves the story along more than a tithe.

Sharky

20th December 2013, 07:53 AM

Here's hoping #6 ignores dull Cyberton, gives us some memorable quotes, facts and moves the story along more than a tithe.

looking at the iBooks preview (http://www.tfw2005.com/transformers-news/comics-16/transformers-more-than-meets-the-eye-25-ibooks-preview-178949/) that doesnt look to be the case, however i kind of like that swoop and SLAG moment in the preview

i_amtrunks

23rd January 2014, 08:04 PM

Holy toledoes batman! Stuff actually moved forward this issue and the characters were filled in on the going owns we've known about for quite a while.

If we could've not been subjected to the Crosscut ad it would've been better but it didn't really cut into the story anyway. The Lost Light stuff was once again the highlight, as it has been all series. The final panels inside Metroplex were eye openers and I am finally interested to see where this is all going.

In the Dead Universe stuff moved forward too, Pax, Rod and Cyc all got moved out of the box and de-brainwashed Nightbeat (possibly) with a dull riddle that could be interesting over the next few issues and could be the starting point for Roddy to jump ship post event. Hoping Hardhead dissolving means he is returning the the real universe in a reverse of the Sweeps from Chaos.

And to top it all off the Cybertron stuff worked well, Bumblebees actions were unexpected and don't really tie in with what we have seen, I cannot say that I think Soundwave, Prowl or any other bot or on would have gone with it. Even though it made no logical sense, I liked it! Also nice to see Galvatron back doing stuff. Art was a bit weird, floating cons and all.
Also I have no idea what is going on with Starscream. Scoop knows more than we do and I'm getting sick of it. How is starscream the destroyer and how has he sold the future fort he sake of the past? What evidence have we seen/heard other than the black spot. Getting tired of everyone yelling at Starscream and not much else happening. Also obvious Rattrap was never meant to be in the event, only had so many panels to be his comic for the toy.

If the last 6 issues ramp up like this one, it may save this event. I am doubtful still but is issue finally made a turn for the better for the series.

Lordy

23rd January 2014, 08:46 PM

I agree with your points i_amtrunks. It seems so disjointed, and sad to see Roberts being roped into this storyline. Sure things happened this issue, but stuff like Starscream is still really unexplained, and the riddle that Rodimus had to break Nightshift didn't make much sense outside of the number of people on the Lost Light.

Is Rodimus starting to really feel guilty over his actions with bringing Overlord onto the Lost Light. If the rumours are true and (possible spoilers)Rodimus is leaving the Lost Light, that will be sad. He was starting to redeem himself after the Overlord/Tyrest situation

Bidoofdude

3rd February 2014, 12:49 PM

Read Second Exodus (the pack in with Goldfire) and I liked it. For some reason, I really dig the whole Starscream abolishing factions thing. The dinobots and constructicons were pretty cool too. ;) I'm liking RID.

BigTransformerTrev

4th February 2014, 03:59 PM

And to top it all off the Cybertron stuff worked well, Bumblebees actions were unexpected and don't really tie in with what we have seen, I cannot say that I think Soundwave, Prowl or any other bot or on would have gone with it. Even though it made no logical sense, I liked it!

I think the reasoning behind it is that Megatron has a space bridge in him, and if they left him there, Shockers would still be able to get Nova Prime out. But it's not completely clear so I could be wrong

i_amtrunks

4th February 2014, 05:36 PM

I think the reasoning behind it is that Megatron has a space bridge in him, and if they left him there, Shockers would still be able to get Nova Prime out. But it's not completely clear so I could be wrong

That thought occurred to me, and I always thought they would get him out, but I expected a strike team, perhaps Soundwave, Prowl and Sideswipe or something.

The fact Bee went alone is what spoke volumes to me.

BigTransformerTrev

4th February 2014, 06:49 PM

The fact Bee went alone is what spoke volumes to me.

I think as a leader he's had his arse handed to him and lost again and again and again. When on Earth the humans misled and then betrayed him and he let a Decepticon army get to Cybertron. On Cybertron he failed to unite all the factions then when he released the Decepticons from the inhibitor chips several months later they declared war. Then he lost leadership of the planet to Starscream and so on. Hence why he went alone and went "And I'm sick of getting what I want!" Trying to prove something to himself if no-one else.

Poor old Bee, maybe he should have let Sideswipe be in charge - he would have just blown up all the Decepticon's heads (including Shockwave) and had done with it :p

There would probably be statues to him now ;)

GoktimusPrime

5th February 2014, 12:00 AM

There would probably be statues to him now ;)
Cos what we totally need is MORE Bumblebee merchandise! :p :p

BigTransformerTrev

5th February 2014, 12:33 PM

Cos what we totally need is MORE Bumblebee merchandise! :p :p

No I mean of Sideswipe, put up by the grateful populace for blowing up the Con's and having the ball-bearings to take charge ;)

i_amtrunks

13th February 2014, 10:00 PM

More ramping up of events, more utilisation of Furmans "seeds" to further the plot of Dark Cybertron, which makes perfect sense since most of this event has revolved around his early ideas and further refining them.

Nice to see ol' one eye again for the first time In a while, And once again we get a twist or two, none surprising since he is the emotionless logic machine but twists from what would be expected none the less. Metalhawk appears to more or less be a slave to Shockwaves will now after showing a fair whack of emotion early on. Although his last panel appearance either has him doing his masters exact bidding, or simply keeping his captive quiet, the art is unclear.

Once again this comic really has bad pacing issues, some parts flow and generally have the wisecracking MtMtE crew front and centre, only for the next few pages to go back to characters endlessly repeat what they have been saying for over a year now. Whirl shines with every comment, so I fully expect this issue to be packed with some future release of him, as it makes no sense for it to be anyone else.

Megatron does something decent in this issue, I am sure that this will flow directly into the revelations occurring post Dark Cyberton. It also makes Bumblebees actions worthwhile, his anger directed once more at Prowl has the opposite reaction than you'd expect. I'd like to know how things are being done "Prowls way" now since everything seems mostly the same. We see the Constructicons too, so surely they have a part to play now too.

Dead universe was alright, a bit monologue-y for my liking, and the whole Nova bit took too long to do very little,me whole dead universe section including Cyclonus being sick, Nightbeat being a double agent who is broken by a tiny insignificant puzzle and Hardheads "death" all seem useless page fillers now, the whole storyline could have happened in a tenth of the panel count.

So the ending was expected but early than you'd think if this was following a generic action flick script. Shockers has yet to unleash his big plans, it seems he needed the other big thing to happen before he could make his next move, how else to explain him sitting around doing nothing for the last half dozen issues?

Art was okay, Griffith is better than what we have had for most of the series but still the Cyberton art varies from pretty okay to downright awful. The dead universe art has an even wider range of Terrible to pretty awesome, heavily favoured to the terrible. The angles and shot selection really let Ramondelli down as the actual style is a perfect fit for the Dead Universe.

Three issues to go and It feels like we are in for super heavy exposition and a few panels of fisticuffs to come. Plus what's a planet to do with a bored Metroplex now?

Sharky

13th February 2014, 11:20 PM

I didn't mind it I kind of liked Rodimus speech to Orion.. And eventually Optimus's MY NAME IS Moment........ With everything happening after metroplex was united with the most powerful thumb in the universe... I wonder if we will see everyone back on their feet now.

Time for the final battle and let's get cracking on "season 2"

i_amtrunks

14th February 2014, 02:04 PM

With everything happening after metroplex was united with the most powerful thumb in the universe... I wonder if we will see everyone back on their feet now.

"Nobody stay dead". is possibly the most apt thing ever uttered in a Transformers comic.

Wonder if it will recover bots in CR Chambers or who recently died (since the Deadplex death wave only seemed to re-animate Metalhawk). Also Skywarp, when/where will he turn up I wonder?

Lordy

14th February 2014, 06:49 PM

Yeah, Skywarp has become forgotten, but then again Starscream's black whatever-it-was on his chest disappeared for a few issues before returning in this one.

Good to see Metroplex not being killed off in this issue, I know most writers don't like overpowered TFs, but Omega Supreme and Metroplex have go to have their places in the series.

Otherwise it is good to finally see this storyline being wrapped up. I can't handle another Scoop berating Starscream session anymore.

Paulbot

14th February 2014, 09:01 PM

Would be great if Skywarp got some sort of power up via the ore and all and became a major threat / villain for a while. Teleporting himself with the speed of Nightcrawler, teleporting away anything that tries to hit him, being able to remotely teleport his foes around, or just parts of them! What happens when the dumb strong grunt follower becomes the most powerful Decepticon on Cybertron? Could be an interesting story.

Paulbot

19th March 2014, 08:10 PM

Why couldn't all the crossover been as interesting and well drawn as the last two chapters (10 & 11) have been? I really liked the MTMTE issue, but this one, with the escalation of violence, is the kind of action that would have made the first 9 parts better. Maybe it's an artist thing, or maybe it's just that it's at the crucial part of the story now? Anyway a good chapter that makes me excited for the finale.

Jinto

20th March 2014, 04:02 PM

Finished the latest issue today. Does anyone else see the humor in that they killed off the only Bumblebee people haven't been constantly complaining about?

You can really see Megatron going through some realizations in this issue; remembering who he was. I tend to enjoy the 'redeemed villain' archetype and Megs has a lot of potential to go really interesting places.

So Brainstorm had a portal inside him - not sure how that is related to the Life Sign reader dropping to '1' at the start of the issue.

Paulbot

20th March 2014, 04:42 PM

One less Bumblebee in the multiverse the better I suppose. Also he was "killed" in such an obvious way that the page turn shouldn't have been a surprise to anyone, and it had such an easy "get out of death free" card in play that it won't be the last we see of him.

So it seems when Brainstorm touched Nova Prime he was killed/linked to the Dead Universe's oddness, in that way that you're not really dead but can have a portal between worlds in your chest. That whole thing is weird. I wondered if it's no some way connected to him carrying the briefcase around afterwards and the green spark he picked up on Luna 1. We'll see in MTMTE, I don't think Roberts is letting Brainstorm go anywhere soon.

i_amtrunks

20th March 2014, 05:21 PM

The last two issues have been far superior to everything DC related previously released combined.

I was mildly surprised but gladdened by the death of Bumblebee, I was of the opinion he would be the one "offed" but was also expecting a curveball with Magnus. We will see him back sometime, possibly when Starscream needs to be given a lesson in about 12 months, but he will not be missed after treading water on the RiD title for so long.
While DC #10 was character driven, this was certainly more action driven and I think the change was needed and utilised well.

Prowlestator will be a common occurance if the June previews are any indication, that will be either a very interesting subplot, unless Barber decides to gloss it over for "politcs".

Some beautiful art again, the colouring and letters are better than any other comic I've seen in years.

With the final issue due next, It eels there is still too much to do, unless Megatron/Prime can knock everything out in a punch or two. I know Roberts does not enjoy or utilise big battles well, prefering the build up and aftermath, but its been too long since some good ol' fisticuffs.

Lordy

20th March 2014, 07:39 PM

I like the redemption of Megs. I hope that Hasbro doesn't have a change of mind and make him a villain again in a hurry.

I also agree with the artwork being so much better than earlier DC issues. The Cybertron parts in the earlier parts was just so plain, and the artist could not keep to the one character model.

What toy is Megatron currently based on in the comic books?

Paulbot

20th March 2014, 08:27 PM

What toy is Megatron currently based on in the comic books?

None. But possibly the Leader class Megatron toy on the Hasbro database list alongside the leader Jetfire.

griffin

20th March 2014, 08:40 PM

Sky Shadow

20th March 2014, 08:56 PM

I'm all for redemption of villains (it's the Criminologist in me :p ), but this is Megatron we're talking about... the Hitler of Transformers who has been guilty of mass-murder and genocide in just about every story universe, including this one (which had him written as a working-class revolutionary in the pre-history stories). It is difficult to easily accept him being "good" without suspecting that it is just a deception for his own benefit.

I think it's a fantastic plot device, and we know Roberts will do an amazing job with it - Megatron as the only Decepticon on a spaceship full of Autobots - what could go wrong? :p Meggy's point in MTMTE #27 was that he was at his best when he was still a nonviolent revolutionary, before he started the war (and the first word of his motto is "peace"). It reminds me of Transformers UK#83, which is still one of the best TF comics ever.

Spitcurlboy

20th March 2014, 09:01 PM

So Brainstorm had a portal inside him - not sure how that is related to the Life Sign reader dropping to '1' at the start of the issue.

its means he's part of the dead universe via nova prime, and all residents of the dead universe have portals in them

also when looking back through previous issues, the spark eater left brainstorm alone, because he's already dead, could be why he took the green spark, to restart he's own?

Paulbot

20th March 2014, 09:20 PM

The sparkeater is a funny one; once we found out he was a knock-off, not forged like he claimed, that seemed to be the explanation for why the beast didn't go after him. But no there was another reason all along! Clever writers.

Trent

20th March 2014, 09:27 PM

I'm all for redemption of villains (it's the Criminologist in me :p ), but this is Megatron we're talking about... the Hitler of Transformers who has been guilty of mass-murder and genocide in just about every story universe, including this one (which had him written as a working-class revolutionary in the pre-history stories). It is difficult to easily accept him being "good" without suspecting that it is just a deception for his own benefit.

I agree. Megs is going to go bad again. It's just a matter of when. What would be really cool is if they write him in such a way that he actually tries to change, and does for a while, but something happens to actually justify/forces him going bad again.

And on the page after Prowlastator is formed, why is there a constructicon standing to the right of Soundwave??

Sky Shadow

20th March 2014, 10:28 PM

Jhiaxus's "Reactive armour": I LOLed at the fact that Barber and Roberts are clearly taking the piss out of being a toy tie-in.

GoktimusPrime

22nd March 2014, 06:32 PM

"Finis Temporis" <--- is this grammatically correct? I'm wondering if 'finis' should be in its accusative case, thus "finem temporis," or is it perfectly fine to have it in its nominative case? :confused: :confused:

SMHFConvoy

22nd March 2014, 07:41 PM

Jinto

6th April 2014, 09:07 PM

I know it's waaay in the past, but did we ever find out why Megatron had a bunch of Sweep heads lashed to him when he returned to Iacon in his wrecked stealth bomber body?

i_amtrunks

7th April 2014, 03:18 PM

I know it's waaay in the past, but did we ever find out why Megatron had a bunch of Sweep heads lashed to him when he returned to Iacon in his wrecked stealth bomber body?

To look totally bad-ass? :p

I thought it may have been to remind the Cybertronians what he had done by taking on the Decepti-god single handedly, maybe to get a free pass into Iacon.

Paulbot

24th April 2014, 08:16 AM

Started a new thread for season 2 (http://www.otca.com.au/boards/showthread.php?t=18363). If you're catching up with trades or old issues keep discussing the first 27 issues here.

STL

6th July 2014, 01:05 PM