Comic Review: Transformers Regeneration One

[Paulbot]

Haven't opened the book yet to look inside, but was quite pleased to see Sludge get a feature cover, and in robot mode too!

It never ends

If my theory is correct, it both will and won't end. But I'll save that for when you've read #96.

That was a Marvel G1 / Simon Furman comics joke

[i_amtrunks]

I've been spoiled by MtMtE.

Regen 1issues are read and done in barely minutes, with so little seeming to occur, be revealed or interesting quotes being made. It feels more and more like Furman has nothing new to reveal, only referencing his previous work, or making pop culur references (Technodrome anyone?)

I will continue to read until the end, but it is taking so long to setup for so little payoff. These 5 issue arcs have worn me down to not caring, knowing most of what happens in the first four is mostly setup fodder for a lacklustre, limp conclusion.

[i_amtrunks]

Okay, this issue was the exact opposite of most of ReGen 1. Lots happened in very quick succession, not a panel was wasted. In fact the action occurred too fast, the pacing should have been changed alot to give the events of this issue at least another issue to flesh out.

Always sad to see an original character go in such an insipid (or useless) way.

[Verno]

A theory:

On Page 20 of Issue #98, 'Starscream' says "We are four. But we are incomplete. We seek... the fifth."

We're all assuming they are:

Next, Hot Rod is whisked to Nova Cronum during the pre-war days of Cybertron, and observes as a Transformer who he has never heard of, identifying himself as Jhiaxus meets with the High Circuitmaster Boltax and three other members of a "Brain Trust". These five, dubbed the "five greatest minds" on the planet by Boltax, are uploading their combined knowledge into a database they call the Underbase—but Jhiaxus, tired of Cybertron's policy of isolationism, takes control of the process and "slays" the others' mental projections, incapacitating them.

Those guys from Issue #0, right?

The number 5 jumped out at me. Where else in recent IDW Comics have we come across the number five?

The Guiding Hand.

The universe hits the big reset button and everyone is consumed by the 'crack in time' we seem to have forgotten about. Everyone is wiped out except for these 'five' (four of whom seem to be inside of Starscream) and the IDW-verse begins, with this Guiding Hand starting off a new Cybertron. No Primus, no Unicron and the power of the Underbase is poured into a new Matrix.

That's perhaps the craziest theory out there atm. I don't even believe it myself. I've always thought the Guiding Hand to be the Quintessons, who used the story as part of their control of the early Cybertronians.

[i_amtrunks]

My assumption was that they were the 5 that Jhiaxus murdered in #0 that somehow trapped their essance into the Underbase.

Guess we do not have long to wait and find out!

[Ravagecat]

Just read 96...sorry a bit behind
Thought it was kinda convenient that Jhiaxus shows up (end 95 I think) just after bumblebee and Nightbeat send out a probe and what not.
The Morphobots make me a bit nervous for one cybertronian race...they kinda look like a cross between a Cylon and the T1000
I'm finding the story so far ok, but agree with some of you that mentioned that the story seems tainted by new ideas and concepts created in the transformer universe after the original marvel story that ended at issue 80.

Not sure if it has been mentioned in any other thread but I did notice at the end of 96 (in the ads) that a certain Bossbot from the board got a mention for attending the IDW VIP tour back in May 2013

Griffin come on Down...

[Paulbot]

Read #99. Cool Shockwave cover. The Galvatron cover is nice too.

But aside from the covers? Awful. Just dreadful, anticlimactic and boring.

Will #100 bring it home strong? I hope so but my I doubt it.

[i_amtrunks]

Read #99. Cool Shockwave cover. The Galvatron cover is nice too.

But aside from the covers? Awful. Just dreadful, anticlimactic and boring.

Will #100 bring it home strong? I hope so but my I doubt it.

I was hoping that you were mistaken, but I should know better by now.

Anti-climatic and dull, all to tie up a loose end that was not the most important one to wrap up, and would have better suited a 5 issue arc than the Scorponok arc.

Too much to do in the last issue unless miracle after miracle occurs. Even a double issue wouldn't be enough and I think it is only a standard comic.

[Verno]

There seems to be two (but perhaps even three) distinct forces at work in ReGen1 -- Primus, Unicron and the Dark/Anti-Matrix Energy Monster.

Primus did genuinely take over Grimlock's body back in Issue #94, and then took Hot Rod through the multiverse to give him information, as well as the Matrix, to transform him into Rodimus Prime in #0. It's been said in the series that 'energy cannot be destroyed', so perhaps Primus survived his 'death' in Issue #75 of the original Marvel run and is now trying to get his 'plan' back on track. Why I believe this to actually be Primus (and not the energy monster tricking Rodimus) is because of the distinct change in speech pattern.

I believe that plan to be the minds of the Underbase becoming something of a replacement for Primus himself. The (now) five minds in the Underbase become The Guiding Hand of the IDW universe.

The Dark/Anti-Matrix Energy Monster Thing wants to expand its reach into the entire multiverse, instead of just being contained in the Marvel universe. Sounds similar to what D-Void wanted/wants from what I've read on the TFWiki. Perhaps using Spike as a host, it can traverse the 'crack' in space and time and thus spread.

Ultimately, Rodimus will make some kind of sacrifice or drastic decision that leads to the Energy Monster not succeeding, this time. But he can't destroy the monster outright because 'energy can't be destroyed' blah blah blah. The Marvel Universe becomes the Dead Universe.

Unicron is having a last hurrah, and has taken over Galvatron's body. "One will become all" was a line in a previous Issue (just after the head in the Primus chamber killed all the Unicron Cultists) with emphasis on the 'one', perhaps. Could this not just be the Energy Monster as well? Maybe, yes, but we had Unicron threatening Optimus Prime right the way back at the start of the series and we've not seen hide nor hair of him since.

[Verno]

Too much to do in the last issue unless miracle after miracle occurs. Even a double issue wouldn't be enough and I think it is only a standard comic.

It's a double-issue, so there is hope.