TFA/Animated Comments thread

[SilverDragon]

Since he's a ninja dressed up as a samurai, do you think we should really call him Samuninja Prowl or something?

[GoktimusPrime]

"Samuninja" means "cold ninja." Slangwise it can mean "lame ninja" (lame as in extremely sad/uncool). Also, samurai =/= ninja. (-_-)

I got the Arrival TPB today - first time I'd read TF Animated comics (aside from the one packaged with Safeguard). Ummm... how shall I put this... it's CRAP. The first issue is highly confusing and makes little sense if you've never seen the cartoon. It's like a trailer for the cartoon pilot. Then there's the human supervillains -- do they need to appear in the comics too?! There's an entire issue dedicated to Professor Princess! <insert.many.swear.words> A lot of the stories are just really campy.

And before anyone says "but it's for kids" - I started reading Transformers comics in 1984 when I was knee-high to a Protoform, and I gotta say, while the early G1 comics were kinda corny and did have some problems; they got nothing against Animated. It's the same criticism I had for Season 1 and some of Season 2 of the cartoon - the story just talks down to the audience, even as children.

Having said that, there were some parts that weren't totally hopeless:
+ "Stilleto" was an okay story. Not great, but the human villain was relatively less lame (compared to Prof. Princess and Angry Archer anyway) and the story did serve to advance the overall story arc. Mildly.
+ "'Bots of Science." A pretty good stand alone story, and of course the debut of Oil Slick. Didn't like the artwork in it though.
+ "A Few Loose Strands." Okay story and ties in well with the cartoon. Again, not fond of Boo Radley's art.
+ "Survival Skills." Okay story. Nice to see Sentinel Minor get put in his place for once.
+ "First (and Second) In Flight." This is the comic packaged with Safeguard. It's the best story in the TPB - what does that tell you?

...suddenly AHM looks like gold.

[SMHFConvoy]

I'd just like to point out that it was written by Marty Isenberg who may be a writer and story editor for TV but it in no way mean that he's good at writing comics.

I think it was IDW who dropped the ball in this case. The Safeguard comic was (panel to panel) hard to follow. Clean sequential storytelling was negelected in favour of flashy panels that over lapped.

I'm sorely tempted to redraw it because I like animated so much...

[SilverDragon]

While I'm a shameless TFA fanboy, I do have to agree with you, Gok. I thought the first issue was highly confusing, not least because it relied on the reader having seen the pilot. While I had done so, it still didn't flow very well as a story.

I'm not too fond of the art used in the first comic as well as other subsequent ones. This is because of the facial expressions. With few exceptions (primarily guys like Bulkhead and Lugnut without normal mouths), EVERY SINGLE ONE is 'D:', with the eyes as the only difference. THis is why I like Boo's art better-it actually manages to add variety to the characters faces, which is important in a series where the character designs largely reflect the characters themselves.

I think my favourites of this series, despite my general apathy towards it, would be 'Bots of Science', the Safeguard comic, and 'Everything Must Go'.

I like to think of the Arrival stories as one-shots that weren't really substantial enough to become entire episodes. Hence why they mostly suck.

"Samuninja" means "cold ninja." Slangwise it can mean "lame ninja" (lame as in extremely sad/uncool). Also, samurai =/= ninja. (-_-)

So we can't really call Prowl a Samuninja, since he is neither cold nor lame. We can't call him a Ninjurai either, since that just sounds lame.

[SMHFConvoy]

So we can't really call Prowl a Samuninja, since he is neither cold nor lame. We can't call him a Ninjurai either, since that just sounds lame.

How about "Prowl"? I like Prowl. It rolls off the tounge

I like to think of the Arrival stories as one-shots that weren't really substantial enough to become entire episodes. Hence why they mostly suck.

I'd call them filler really. They weren't even substantial enough to fill an entire issue with one story.

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

I've always thought Samurai Armor Prowl was fine...More importantly, where does Optimus' trailer go when he transforms?

[GoktimusPrime]

More importantly, where does Optimus' trailer go when he transforms?

To a New York strip club with Rudd.

[STL]

+ Samurai Prowl doesn't come with a traffic light on a string.

= Automatic win for Samurai Prowl.

I found myself nto that impressed by Samurai Prowl either. I like the armour in a static pose but once it's on, it's very hard to get anything dynamic with it. Add to that the problem of lack of clips to keep the backpack on, you have a toy that isn't solid and is also top heavy. It's a nice gimmick though and I do find myself admiring the blue tints of the windows and lights.

Am irked by the fact that the ninja stars too.

Going back, I finally sat down and played with Lockdown. Stealth Lockdown to be exact. I'd been iffy on keeping the Stealth Lockdown as having played with LCZ128's I hadn't really been convinced by it so I wanted to return it to Target before the 28 days change of mind offer expired. But playing with it in the confines of my own humble abode, I really warmed to it and was glad that I'd decided against returning it.

Really love the way the arms form the back of the vehicle at the right angles and the way the legs work. The hands are a bit weird but after being told at that Southland thing that that was the way the hands were supposed to be, it really has grown on me. The design of the alt mode and the robot mode also help. Very unique in their own rights. Love the detachability of the weapon into two bits as well. I think it's a great toy overall and have every intention of doubbling up on Blazing Lockdown too.

[i_amtrunks]

finally saw swindle in store yesterday, can anyone tell me if all swindles have the stress marks and/or discoloured plastic on the bonnet near the Decepticon logo?

Kinda looks like the part was broken off a weapons sprig tree or something...

[GoktimusPrime]

I've only ever seen my Swindle and dirge's and neither have those problems. Both have a problem of having "floppy bellies" though - seems to be a design flaw.