I picked up the TPB of Last Stand of the Wreckers the other day, which was definitely a great read, but I haven't been following this continuity very closely at all (I think I've leafed through the Infiltration TPB and some of the spotlight TPBs before, but I own nothing), so the story loses me slightly in terms of how it connects to the overarching plot. I've also leafed through a few issues of the current Robots in Disguise and More than Meets the Eye ongoings, and I definitely like what I see, with their colourful, ragtag casts, and the blurring of moral lines between the factions and such. I really like when series play with past conventions and really start to make you question the nature of things you might have taken for granted in past iterations. I mean, it's pretty obvious that if I want to get the full experience, I should just bite the bullet and buy all the big hardcover "IDW Collection" books. But if I were to be more budget conscious, what's skippable? Hearts of Steel? Infestation? Maximum Dinobots? All Hail Megatron? Stormbringer? Or are they all necessary for telling the complete story, minor continuity snarls aside? Or, to put it another way, if I were a complete layman with no prior experience to Transformers (thus, with no preconceived notions about any of the characters that could at least help me fill in some blanks), what would I need to buy/read to grasp the whole scope of the story that IDW's telling? It would be nice to be able to lend the books out to friends afterward as well, so if I'm left with big gaps in the storytelling, then that's no good.
lol U got one of the books already. Last Stand of the Wreckers is good. Megatron Origins is good. Then u have ongoing MTME and RID which are good as well, MTME is excellent. Most of the prior ongoing to that is a butchered mess and contradicts itself. If u want it find the trades used or 1/2 off or something.
my advise, get everything but the ongoing from last year. you could start with more then meets the eye and robots in disguise and then you can slowly get the rest of them, when ever you get around to it. one day, when you got everything and want more, you could always get marvel and dreamwave. and when your desperate, you can finally get ongoing, heart of darkness, and chaos
You're so nearly right, you forgot about Chaos Theory, Issues 22 and 23 of the on-going, being essentials too
Storm Bringer was good, A lot of people bash All Hail Megatron but that was the arc that brought me into to IDW. So I'm immune to all the whining about continuity issue preceding it. But I did eventually go back to collect the "ation" novels (Infiltration, Escalation, Devastation, etc.) which were all great. Infestation and Heart of Darkness were both crap, that and most of Mike Casta's run in Ongoing represent darker times so feel free to skip it. Heart of Steal was just okay. Autocracy was good, Megatron Origin was good. What's even better is that you can buy most of this stuff dirt cheap on Amazon now.
To be honest, pretty much everything, bar some total standalones like Cliffjumper and Mirage's Spotlights, is referred to by something else. But if you really wanted a bare minimum overview of IDW's story, you could go: Infiltration, Escalation, Devastation, Revelation, Maximum Dinobots, AHM, ongoing, The Death of Optimus Prime (which is in MTMTE Vol. 1) and then MTMTE and RID. However, you'd probably have to use the wiki to get the brief on plot points that were introduced in Spotlights or other side-stories before becoming relevant to the main plot, and to be honest, some of the side-story material is actually more interesting than the slow-as-molasses-paced AHM and ongoing. In terms of stuff that's relevant to the current IDW output, the Drift miniseries is drawn upon in MTMTE, especially the Annual, and Chaos Theory (#22 and #23 of the ongoing) are required reading for MTMTE's Shadowplay story. Ongoing #31 and Spotlight Wheelie are both picked up upon in RID, so are worth reading too. If you want, Megatron Origin and Autocracy follow on from Shadowplay's flashback scenario, but I wouldn't call either a must-read masterpiece.
I got all of it, and personally love almost all of it. I wouldnt skip anthing except maybe a few spotlights, like Mirage and Cliffjumper.
Not the worst, just the ones that are completely standalone and not required to understand anything else.
This is where I stand. I suggest the majority of it. Even the poorly written stuff is decent in my opinion. Some of the art can get a little wonky at times, but when its good its really good.
The 'Ations and Spotlights are all worth reading. The -Ations set up and build the universe while the Spotlights expand and plant seeds for future stories. And LSOTW, and MTMTE. It's easier to list off what to skip. The Avengers crossover and Hearts of Steel/Infestation 2 are not crucial, or even connected I think, to the main continuity. Heart of Darkness and most of Chaos (Chaos Theory excluded) are pretty bad, and I'd recommend merely reading synopsis online. While they lead up to and are a big event, it's not really that essential. What really comes out of it is Death of Optimus Prime and the amazing ongoing MTMTE and the okay RID, all of which reiterate or address any major plot points from it. I haven't read all of HoD or Chaos, and I don't feel like I've missed a thing. AHM and the previous ongoing are pretty bad at spots, AHM mostly just because of how... insulting it almost feels. It feels like a fan's reaction to the new universe of IDW with it's cloak and dagger tactics and infiltration protocol. Thus everything is more like 1984 for utterly vapid reasons (everyone is in their G1 bodies complete with giant tapes, F-15s and Astrotrain as a steam locomotive on modern rails) that fly in the face of the universe as it exists. Major plot holes are abound, teh decepticons are glorified, the Autobots look like directionless fools, and it's needlessly violent and gory like one of those bad fanfics that tries to be "mature" and "edgy." Plus, previous scenes from older stories are rewritten to change the context. (like undoing Sunstreaker as a headmaster. Again, futher attempts to reset everything back to G1) The ongoing follows these bad traits such as the Autobots losing focus completely whenever the smallest hiccup is reached and the Decepticons just kinda hanging around. And Spike. Fuck. Spike. So yeah, that's my recommendation. Also TFWiki is a greta guide to keep it all straight and get the info from the bad spots without having to pay money to read them.
So how do you prioritize from beginning to end? is there an order or does each group have a seperate story? for example autocracy stormbringer infestation last stand of the wreckers are these individual stories or do they all link?
Yes, each of those examples is a self-contained story in its own right. That said, it is best to read the series in something like chronological order, because there is an overarching narrative, and characters develop, and so on. In general, release order is more or less the best way to read the comics for the first time. If you're looking to read through everything, Jackpot on The Allspark devised quite a good first time reading order: http://www.allspark.com/forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=88520&view=findpost&p=2122445
I'd also like to recommend the Ironhide miniseries that was written by Mike Costa. A lot of people give him a lot of well deserved grief for how he left the book, and for the boring ass stories he was telling... But the Ironhide miniseries was pretty darn good I thought.
I'd recommend; Last Stand of the Wreckers; read it, then try and find the hardcover edition to read the extra text stories later on in your reading queue. All Hail Megatron; the entire series. It's a good starting point without having to shatter your expectations on all the dragging of Furman's run. Revelations 4 parter is essential, Dead Universe both unveiled and wrapped. Nova Prime's story. Spotlights Kup and Wheelie. Best of spotlights in my opinion. Chaos Theory\Chaos from ongoing, but do try to read issues 13-21 later on. Robots In Disguise\More than meets the Eye Autocracy Megatron: Origins With those you'll be fine. Honestly, most of the stuff from Furman's run either gets forgotten\never matters in the future.