IDW Transformers ongoing [spoilers]

[GoktimusPrime]

I hadn't thought of that... but it might just work! I gotta try it next time I'm reading the comic out loud in character voices.

[kup]

Just finished reading No 6 which is supposedly the last issue of this 'Ongoing' series - At least of this section.

Overall it was a pretty crappy story with a lot of nonsensical character moments and super cheesy dialog.

Like AHM the story here can easily be summarized in one page as several issues have nothing of interest in them. Although I read the last few issues just a few days apart, I found myself forgetting everything I had read in the previous issue because there was nothing really in them that was memorable.

Where do IDW get this really bad writers from? I also hated the ever morphing art. At one point Spike looked like he was midway turning into the Hulk.

The only thing that I will remember vividly from this series is the super cheesy dialog between Prime and Spike - That was clearly supposed to be a character defining moment that becomes the 'climax' of the series. Unfortunately all it left me with was a sense of 'WTF?' at how ridiculous it was.

Thank God I didn't pay to read most of this series.

[heroic_decepticon]

Where do IDW get this really bad writers from? I also hated the ever morphing art.

I'd like to know the answer to that question too

[SharkyMcShark]

I'd just like to echo the sentiment that the only high so far in this series have been Ultra Magnus and Swindle (that and the more detailed robot aesthetic, which I absolutely dig).

It reminds me of Infiltration really - it isn't very snappy either in terms of characters or action, it just sort of plods along.

It also seems to be going back over a lot of ground covered in Dreamwave's v2 and v3 G1 comics (War and Peace and their Ongoing).

It's interesting the dual reaction that I've had to this and LSOTW - Ongoing drew me in with the art and wanting to find out what happened post AHM Coda, whereas initially I didn't really care about the nobodies in LSOTW reenacting The Dirty Dozen. My views on the matter have swapped now, and I find LSOTW utterly compelling and this sort of drab - to be hones what keeps me coming back, apart from the hope that it'll turn around, is the aesthetic. It might not work well on humans but it's given us some fantastic panels of robot combat.

[SharkyMcShark]

Of course it's not helped by the Bumblebee miniseries creative team just wading in and ignoring continuity. They decided to use BBs G1 body despite him having had the hood lights on shoulder and bonnet on chest look since IDW started their run, and they made Blurr back into the simpering comedic relief that he was in the G1 cartoon (as opposed to the cocksure, self confident, calm and slightly arrogant Blurr we've had thus far in IDW he's back to not pausing for sentences and being a hyperactive spaz).

[kup]

Of course it's not helped by the Bumblebee miniseries creative team just wading in and ignoring continuity. They decided to use BBs G1 body despite him having had the hood lights on shoulder and bonnet on chest look since IDW started their run, and they made Blurr back into the simpering comedic relief that he was in the G1 cartoon (as opposed to the cocksure, self confident, calm and slightly arrogant Blurr we've had thus far in IDW he's back to not pausing for sentences and being a hyperactive spaz).

Character inconsistency within the same continuity is something that I personally find very jarring. Whoever is supposed to maintain fluidity between the different series and writers is certainly not doing their job.

[liegeprime]

Character inconsistency within the same continuity is something that I personally find very jarring. Whoever is supposed to maintain fluidity between the different series and writers is certainly not doing their job.

That would be the editor's job.... Do they even have one?

[kup]

That would be the editor's job.... Do they even have one?

What I find really pathetic about Ongoing, more so than the character inconsistencies is how it is very clear that the super cheesy 'WTF?' dialogue is supposed to be deep and meaningful but it just comes off as some bizarre parody.

Who are these writers? They need to Transform too if they ever hope to write a half decent story.

[SharkyMcShark]

What I find really pathetic about Ongoing, more so than the character inconsistencies is how it is very clear that the super cheesy 'WTF?' dialogue is supposed to be deep and meaningful but it just comes out of as some bizarre parody.

Who are these writers? They need to Transform too if they ever hope to write a half decent story.

Yeah, it's kind of like the second and third Matrix films - they've gone way over the top trying to shove meaning and poignancy into everything.

[SilverDragon]

I went and read the first issue.

Despite all the negative reviews, I approached it with an open mind. It didn't work, as I found it to be rather blah, particularly in comparison with a certain other IDW Transformers comic out at the same time (*coughLastStandOfTheWreckerscough*).

First off, the stated aims of this issue were to be accessible and fun. I can't comment on the first one, as I'm not unfamiliar with the IDW continuity (although I do wonder why they stuck name tags on them, instead of introducing the robots in dialogue), but fun it really wasn't. It was basically an entire issue of angst over how the human hate the Transformers and how Optimus is a crap leader etc. Not really fun, and it didn't convince me to read on beyond it.

Second, I don't feel really connected with the characters. Emotionless art aside, there's nothing that made me like a character, or really get a sense of what they stood for, or their personality. The only feelings I had were annoyance at Hot Rod suddenly becoming a rebel. While the oldest IDW comics I've properly read were the Devastation ones, I can't recall Hot Rod being like this before. Was he like this in AHM? Why does Optimus pull a BSOD after Ironhide's death? I thought he was the leader of the Autobots. He should be able to deal with that without going all depressive about it.

Third, the art. Yes, the movie/G1 hybrids don't exactly work, Hot Rod's 'NOOOOOOO' face after Ironhide gets offed says that loud and clear. While detail is nice, it's excessive here. Give me the 'liquid metal' faces from previous comics anyday.

Fourth, why is it always the humans hating all Transformers? At least someone ought to have noticed that the ones with the vaguely human face symbol are trying to help them. It's really overused.

Finally, there seems to be a disconnect between Andy Schmidt's declarations of the comic being for all ages and the actual comic. His comments at the end indicate he's trying to get a younger audience beyond the geeks who buy the comics. The very next issue features Spike leaving the house of a well-endowed woman in her underwear. Okay, Marvel had Circuit Breaker's stripperific costume, but it's not really comparable, considering how superpowered females in comics tend to be flying panty shots anyway.

Overall, I found it to be rather disappointing, which is a shame as I was looking forward to the main series, most likely because it would be better than AHM.