Comic Review: Transformers Regeneration One

[i_amtrunks]

#87 out this week. Continuing the Grimlock story, so maybe the end of nucleon and action masters?

[i_amtrunks]

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.

[Sharky]

Booooring..

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"

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...

[i_amtrunks]

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.

[Lord_Zed]

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.

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"

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.

[Paulbot]

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.

[GoktimusPrime]

Colour everyone red so it really feels like a G1 Marvel comic!

[i_amtrunks]

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 ).

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.

[i_amtrunks]

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.

[GoktimusPrime]