#87 out this week. Continuing the Grimlock story, so maybe the end of nucleon and action masters?
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#87 out this week. Continuing the Grimlock story, so maybe the end of nucleon and action masters?
Booooring.
I was expecting something to happen, instead we got "hey, good guys are now bad, grr, go break stuff and kill autobots".
No character development, just happens because the story needed the ex autobots to get there.
The Shockwave reveal was expected and meant the pages dedicated to Starscream and Galvatron were wasted, the whole 3 pages could have been done in 1. Same with ost of the issue, condense it into half an issue and it would flow fine. So many wasted panels.
Speaking of waste, the art is okay for the bots, but the backgrounds are awful. Grimlock vs. Headmasters backgrounds are purple in a silver coloured base... Primus looks ordinary too, and the whole finding Primus story seems like it will be dull too.
I feel sorry for Regen. Anytime in the last 20 years it would have been a decent comic and depending on the release time one of the better ones. However, now it is a very uninteresting predictable story with awful art compared to it's stablemates, even the WFC/Aligned comics.
i too share this feeling, and is it me or are the heads on the Headmasters wrong, especially Brainstorm and Hardhead... or is that part of the "process"Quote:
Originally Posted by i_amtrunks
i did chuckle at the "you try it" line
does it feel like REGEN has lost its way? it really doesnt feel like the old marvel run when you read it at the moment...
It feels like an advertisement still, the writing style is more Budiansky than later Furman. It is almost like Furman is using stuff he actually wrote 25 years ago compared to his "-tion" stuff from last decade. He has gone backwards.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sharky
Yeah called Shockwave's involvement waaaayyyy back on this thread.
I concur with much of the previous remarks, it is indeed a bit boring. There's no character development, no increase in tension in the story and little attempt to address past issues from the original Marvel run.
Scorponok is a good example, miraculously resurrected as a stock villain without any of the elements that made the old Scorponok an interesting character.
It feels like this comic is just one big fan service comic showing of peoples favourite characters from the original, without any effort whatsoever to develop them.
I completely agree on the dull backgrounds too, and I don't really understand why, as Wildman used to be able to draw backgrounds. Similarly when characters get shot or fight the art is very simplistic compared to Wildman's old art where the metal was flying everywhere. instead everything looks generic and minimal. Like all his effort was spent just rendering one key character a page.
Maybe Scorponok got their Heads confused and put the wrong one on each body? you can hardly tell them apart from their dialogue. It's even weirder when you consider they showed Brainstorm with his proper Marvel head a few issues ago.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sharky
I've never liked the backgrounds in this series. They always look a bit wrong. But reading this issue I wonder if it's more a lack of the characters filling the spaces well. Everyone's generally got a slim humanoid frame rather than a robot body. And the bodies are all the same height. Maybe those Triggerbots got an upgrade? Things like Grimlock's back kibble and Starscream wings are really small too. The robot don't seem to fill the frame they way they should. And what was with the literal key being turned on Perceptor's chest to make him "evil". That was just a bit too silly.
The Earth stuff, the lets go into the sewers stuff, all just had me wondering "why?". Optimus retiring on Earth to help a few human survivors who don't want his help? Galvatron pops up now of all times? And why did the reformatted Cybertron retain "badlands", "demons" and secret sewers?
It would have been a lot more interesting if the Autobot Headmasters were on Scorponok's side not because they were "turned evil" but because they wanted to be. They were left behind as heads for two decades (in jars like Futurama?!). Plenty of time there to sour on the Autobot cause.
Or the story thread I would have gone with: these three Headmasters literally have no soul. Their sparks were in their bodies (and we're reminded in Perceptor's analysis of Grimlock [if it hasn't come up before] that the Marvelverse bots now have Sparks) and those are extinguished/part of the Matrix. All that's left is their minds and perhaps a Transformer with no spark loses good emotions like compassion.
One good thing about All Hail Megatron, was the take it took with the Headmaster process, that it violated Sunstreaker so much he wanted revenge on the whole planet Earth. Sure it undid the good working relationship between Sunstreaker and Hunter from Maximum Dinobots, but it made more sense then "oh and now Brainstorm is evil".
Or what the hell, why not just use the cartoon's hate plague to make all the Autobots bad and mad. Colour everyone red so it really feels like a G1 Marvel comic! :)
I agree with I_amtrunks completely, this series doesn't hold it's weight against MTMTE/RID.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y22...oudidthere.jpgQuote:
Originally Posted by Paulbot
Scorponok spouts some stuff, Grims gets some pain, Soudwave is in league with Bludgeon trying to create a robotic army (coz that won't come back to bite them :rolleyes:).
Hotrod goes on the last crusade and finds appropriate weapons.
Autobots get turned with some keys, get half a panel to see their backs.
The big Shockave reveal is forgotten until the final page... Galvatron spouts some stuff too.
Poor Misfire, here I was thinking he may get to be a star in 2 comics at the same time!
Another setup issue, payoff may begin next issue, but knowing Furman and his love of doing everything in the last issue of an arc I expect next issue to mostly be fluff too. It's a short read compared to it's stablemates and has not got any shock value.
It continues to be a short read. If you read the preview, its like half the comic is already done and released. It just does not feel like it is worth the price compared to MtMtE or RiD.
I like the path they are taking HotRod down at the moment, but I wonder if the three stories are one (possibly two) too many for Furman right now. The comic just plods on, taking four issues to setup for one overpacked rushed issue of fighting.
For a comic that was meant to show the Dinobots cleaning house, it was one poor and anticlimatic fight that was obvious from the get-go how it would end. It felt like I've seen it before, Maximum Dinobots etc. We saw nothing that wasn't obvious from Shockwave's POV, we get it, Megatron tuned him into the Ark to run his systems.
Add to this, the rather idiotic giant key, Prime doing his best sadsack sobbing (couldn't even read it in Primes voice, it was that bad), and Hotrod turning into a planetwide cleaner... it just feels scrambled and listless.
I hope the ext mini arc improves on this one, it has been weak and overall; mostly to get everyone back to Cybertron for Bludgeon and Soundwave to fight next.
Aft grabbing the disc, it looks as though Hotrod does have the sword as well...
So what was the point of that whole "weapon or knowledge?" indecision scene then? :confused:
To me this doesn't feel like the old Marvel run at all. It's lacking the balance of telling an epic story with character development and much needed comic relief that was once there. As it is now these issues are readable but rather bland and stale.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sharky
I can re-read the Matrix Quest and much of the Furman run of Marvel G1 and still enjoy it while I can't say the same for Re-Gen.
Yeah Furman does seem to have lost his way when it comes to TF storytelling :(
Through Knowledge it was determined he was to finish the job of primus.Quote:
Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime
the scene i imagine was to build suspense......which is extremeley lacking.
to me regen feels like an excuse to kill everyone off and at titles end everyone will be reborn to a new golden age of cybertron for the cycle to start all fresh...
brainstorms head annoys the absolute crap outta me too...
I'm liking the series, it's got good and bad points, but overall it's a good continuation of the original series. It's also what got me back into collecting.
Just read Volume 1 on the flight from Adelaide...
Good...
- Story was good enough to keep me reading the entire thing without feeling the need to put it down.
- I was a fan of Wildman's art in the last few issues, so really loved the look of this, at it really felt like I'd just picked up an old issue from the 80s. I didn't have to "adjust/interpret" the completely different visual style of different artists, like I have to do in recent IDW comic series.
- I liked how Furman was able to incorporate a number of UK comic concepts within the plot, without forcing them too much. And his solution to the Circuit Breaker legality issue (preventing them from using her without paying Marvel for it... cheap bastards), was creative and plausible. But since it wasn't necessary (the character didn't need it, and wasn't very powerful) it felt more like a cheap imitation, than a homage to Circuit Breaker.
- I think the compilation had most of the various covers, which was a welcome bonus, as I liked *some* of the Geoff Senior covers, but would never buy all those extra expensive copies just for one piece of artwork. I was also thankful that the compilation had the #80.5 Free Comic Book Day issue as well, as it saved me the hassle of finding it (comic shops are few and difficult to get to Brisbane).
Bad...
- The Optimus philosophy rambles. After a few of them I just started skipping past those big bubbles and just read what other characters were saying, to get the basic idea of what he was going on about.
- Ignoring the events in the Gen2 comic was necessary, but the story direction doesn't feel right, as it doesn't feel like it was where the original Gen1 comic was heading in the issues before #80. I would have preferred to see the story pick up from where #80 left off, with no 21 year gap. The way this series has been set out, it feels more like Dreamwave's follow-on Gen1 series, but I guess that was considered strategically necessary, to capture new readers who don't know anything about the original 80 issues.
- Not a fan of ret-conning the Headmasters story, by claiming that the heads were copied, not used as the bio-suits. It now means we could have duplicates of all the Headmasters, not just the ones that were dead. I guess Furman loved Scorponok too much to let him stay dead.
- I didn't like the idea of lobotomising all of the Decepticons, as most were loyal to Megatron... and I won't like it if they are fully restored very easily, as a lobotomy shouldn't just be something simple like unplugging a wire. I didn't see Shockwave anywhere though, and he was in the Ark with all the other "resurrected" Decepticons. I can't imagine Furman would have forgotten him... he's likely to be somewhere pivotal for a future story arc.
- I found it very difficult to believe that the Autobots would have left Earth unattended or unobserved during that entire time, or even leaving all of their "trash" behind. I know it was a good plot device to use the left-over junk and characters on Earth, but the end of #80 suggested that the Autobots were keen to clean up the mess of the Decepticons and their war, and then return to Cybertron.
- It was sad to see Ratchet being reduced to just a disposable head for Megatron's usage... and just as sad to see him being terminated, as he was a key character since the first issues, right through to the end of the original series. Very few other characters held that record. He was like Rhinox in Beast Wars, and similarly got the shaft too cheaply.
- The thought of having the series ending in 20 (and a half) issues time makes me sad though, but if he can give it a good ending, it might be worth the 20+ year wait. Then again, I didn't mind how the original series ended.
Okay I have a question about issue 90...
-SPOILER-
The panel where the Decepticon gives the password in Japanese, which I think is: 10-9-8-14-20-10-4
is there any significance to this string of numbers and/or the fact that it's apparently in Japanese?
- END SPOILER -
"Arc 2" is complete and Regeneration One halfway over. And I'm not disappointed by that fact. This is not the comic I was waiting 20 years for.
I don't know Japanese but Sam those numbers look like close enough to 1984 and 2010 that I'd guess that's what they were going for.
Can't wait for Guido Guidi to take over the art. They should have done that from the start.
I'm not sure what IDW was thinking have two comics come out on the same day that both feature Grimlock fighting Scorponok.
If you ever have to choose a 5-issue comic book story written by Simon Furman where the Dinobots dislike Grimlock and Scorponok is plotting and Shockwave is lurking in the background and Hot Rod is on a quest: choose Maximum Dinobots. It's worlds better.
Agree with all of what you wrote Paulbot, but thought this hit the nail with the hammer best. This whole run has felt "samey" like we are reading a shadow of previous stories. Hopefully the next ten issues are a big step up, but I don't really like it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Paulbot
I think I am also less enthused for the next few issues knowing at some point Grimlock and Scorpy will have a big return fighting off the big bad together. Furman will never let Grimlock just disappear. (Plus we know he lives in Beast Wars).
I think Transformers comic writers, after 30 years, are stuck with "damned if they do, damned if they don't" situation.
If they keep reusing the classic Gen1 character traits, character "relationships", and concepts, it can get boring, lazy, and even confusing if there are month/year gaps between reading issues/arcs.
But, if they don't use the classic Gen1 elements that we know and are used to (or expect), it looks and feels too wrong for the fans to accept, and it becomes a vocalised hatred/complaint of that series... prompting future writers to not risk it. (I remember how Armada Starscream was rejected by fans because he wasn't a traitorous backstabber... he was a loyal Decepticon, who then sided with the Autobots because he was too honourably loyal for the Decepticons)
I agree with you Griffin about the writers being in a no win situation, and Furman doubly so since it is a continuation of Gen 1. However I don't feel this is the issue with his writing since starting regen.
It's more that I feel I have read it before, and it was by him so it feels almost exactly the same. The characters of Grimlock, Scorponok, Prime and others seems okay and ties in mostly well with what we were dealt with in the US Marvel run, it's the actual plot and the blow by blow of the story that feels samey.
It's like he used all his cool G1 stories in things like the spotlights and maximum dinobots and then didn't tweak them enough for regen.
...so if this is meant to be a continuation of the G1 US comics, rejecting the UK expansion... so how come AUNTIE exists (existed)??
Nothing in the US comics contradicts Aunty - why shouldn't she exist?Quote:
Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime
Yeah, while I love them fighting, I read ReGen 90 and Monstrosity 4 on the same day - it was really weird!Quote:
Originally Posted by Paulbot
Agree, I just read 90. I've only read about half of the original comics but this just felt like 'been there, done that'.Quote:
Originally Posted by i_amtrunks
Well that's pretty much the core point the UK comics, isn't it? With a few notable exceptions such as the Earthforce Saga, most of the events in the UK comics don't contradict with events in the US comics as they were originally intended to be in the same continuity. It just seems a bit odd that Furman is now choosing to disregard certain elements from the UK comics, like the Time Wars, but yet choose to keep other elements like Aunty. There's nothing about it that contradicts continuity... but it just seems odd to me that Furman would 'haphazardly' select certain elements of the UK continuity to keep and others to wantonly discard. :oQuote:
Originally Posted by Sky Shadow
#91 was an improvement - hopefully the final run to #100 will be old school and stellar. And Eugenesis Plaza was a nice tribute.
So while I cannot say the "twist" at the end of #91 was a complete surprise, it was nice to see it happen. This issue was a lengthier read, a good "reset" issue after the anticlimatic last few issues. I guess the whole Scorpy-Grimlock thing needed to happen to setup their triumphant return in #99 or something, but it wasted 5 issues we could've used to get to this "new" story.
Seems like Furman can only rehash his post G1 stories, lets hope this new new one is better than ReGen1 Maximum Dinobots.
I enjoyed 92. It is still not a patch on MtMtE, but one of the better regen issues.
Take away the Prime and Hoteod stuff which was purely there to pad out the mostly self contained story and it was good. The deceptions never felt like much of a threat, but it is explained why such a small party was sent anyway. The final page was glorious and a fitting end for Wildman to leave the series.
Furman has taken his time getting back into the stride of generation 1, but it bodes well for the last 8 issues and the side issue.
I really enjoyed #92.
My favourite issue so far, and a really solid issue overall.
Absolutely love the RI cover.
i think the RI covers on all the issues are the best, i would like idw to release the whole set as enlarged prints in a slipcase format with and autograph or threeQuote:
Originally Posted by Cat
Guido Guidi's first issue didn't impress me. I wish he'd stuck to his faux G1 style instead of drawing this in Wildman's current style. It's so similar it will not be jarring in the collection, but I really like the style he's been using for the covers and that Generations book strip. Or maybe it's Baskerville's inks that are the problem. I dunno.
The most interesting thing was Hot Rod's vision but it seems out of place in this series to reference so much that came after G1.
Rack'n'Ruin cover though is very nice.
All of this is what I was thinking too. Guidi has done a masterful imitation, but I wouldve preferred his take on G1 rather than his copying of G1. That being said I loved his shot selection, especially in the opening pages.Quote:
Originally Posted by Paulbot
After reading a few non spoiler reviews from US sites, I was expecting more from this issue storywise. I think MtMtE has really ruined me for other comics, I expect so much and for it to take 15 minutes to read an issue that when I am done a whole regen comic in 5 I feel cheated!
Proper Furman story, proper Furman pacing. really getting all his ducks in a row before knocking them down over the next two issues.
I agree that Guidi did a fantastic job in emulating Wildman's style (further enhanced by Baskerville's inking). I guess Guidi wanted to maintain visual continuity between his and Wildman's styles (IDW themselves certainly don't seem to give a flying Rattrap's about design consistency :rolleyes:). I loved the toy accurate Sandstorm! :D
And yeah, the retro-style art with the flashbacks to #80 was heaps cool. ;) Also great to see the asteroid smasher and Mark V droid making a comeback. Poor Cosmos. :(
I really liked seeing all the different multiverse Hot Rod/Rodimus/Rodimus Primes appearing, though because of the poor graphic style you had to have a hard look at some to tell who was who (Animated & Energon were very easy to identify, took me a minute or two to figure out that one of the front guys was the alternators version). That said, I thought the graphic style suited the first page perfectly with the future demise of Bludgeon.
As Gok said, poor old Cosmos. Little bugger never stood a chance.
The Warworld is looking pretty good, haven't really seen much of it since I first picked up a G2 comic. They had a Warworld on Young Justice: Invasion the other week and I was very vocal that DC has ripped of the TF's yet again! :p
Another fairly entertaining issue. The big fight between UM and Galvatron took up a fair chunk of the issue, but it was well worth it. Too many nods to Target 2006 to mention.
All the other bits between flowed well. I is a very short read compared to MtMtE but it works in its favour this wek as the flow is continuous. You go seamlessly from the big fight to all other areas of Cybertron. After all the build up of Prol as a cunning bugger in recent times,it is almost quaint to see him as depicted here.
Soundwave vs Blaster looks entertaining (but likely short lived, there are only 5 issues left) and the IDW Furmanverse homage to Omega vs Monstructor looks like it'll be interesting as well.
To finalise, the team has pulled off a very entertaining and easy to read issue that really picks up after the dull Grimlock vs Scorponok stuff we sat through, merely so old Grimlock could become a temporary vessal for Primus.
yeah, I'm enjoying this more than the Grimlock/Scorponok arc. The Ultra Magnus/Galvatron fight was cool, but kinda felt a bit too similar to Target: 2006 to me. And the killing Magnus becoming an omniversal constant... umm... this is Galvatron II. We've never seen him kill Ultra Magnus before; even assuming that he killed Ultra Magnus from his own reality... that's one more. It was mostly Galvatron I who kept on beating the crap out of Ultra Magnus over and over and over again, but Galvatron II should have no memory of this since he's from a different universe. Unless he counts killing Ultra Magnus for a second time as an 'omniversal constant.' He's insane, so who knows. :p
Nice to finally see Monstructor make his debut in original G1 continuity... even if it's 24 years later. :p
Another great issue in a row. That makes it 3 killer issues in a row.
Notice Guido's little Easter Egg? The Warworld's missiles that hit the ground and turn into the hunter droids are the exact same shape and colours as the silly old GIG G1 Italian TRASFORMERS missiles.
Pretty cool little Easter egg, for such a ridiculous real life thing.
Good issue. It's now beginning to read more like the original Furman run of the G1 comics!
The ReGeneration '0' issue didn't really add much to the storyline. Just filled in the odd gap here and there, discussed a few things for those like myself that have somewhat hazy memories of the old issues, and took the chance to introduce Jhaxius and turn Hot Rod into Rodimus Prime. Not bad, but the few issues before have been far superior.
#0 was a hard issue to track down due to it's collectability!
Not much happened really, showed us some stuff from marvel UK, the final part of car wash of doom, Jhiaxus being a genius of evil and a parallel universe. Not much to relate to the "current timeline".
Art was spectacular, I cannot believe one person was responsible for colouring the entire issue.
If you miss it, you missed nothing really, I was expecting a little more meat to the issue, but it was easily one of the shortest reads I have had, even from regen.