I just purchased the first TPB with The Death of Optimus Prime and Issues #1-3. I was worried that you were all overhyping this comic.

You were not. It is amazing. I love it. I cannot wait until I find the 2nd TPB (I don't buy single-issues)! While I'm at it, I'll have to get the rest of IDW, if this is an indication of its greatness.

 

Sadly, it's not. Most of IDW's run seems to be "eh"-to-good. The -ations series are supposed to be pretty good, but the McCarthy and Costa runs... not so much. Last Stand of the Wreckers is really good, and so is the Chaos Theory two-parter. Those compliment MTMTE really well.

 

I already have Ongoing Volume 1 (For All Mankind), and I see in the back of my MTMTE TPB that Chaos Theory is Volume 5. Would it be worth getting the other 5 (2,3,4,6,7)?

 

I guess it's up to you. From what I've read of Costa's run, I would say "no," but maybe you should check out the previews for some of the issues in the trades and see if you do end up liking them. Especially the fifth trade, since it has Chaos Theory. It might be the easiest way to get those two issues, but you do have to pay for the rest, too (I think it's like $20?)

I guess I kinda got lucky. Someone on the boards sold me both issues (and the alternate covers!), so I never had to buy the trade.

Edit: TFW should have most of the previews for the previous ongoing for you, if you want to check 'em out.

 

Thanks for the help!   I think I'll definitely buy Volume 5 for Chaos Theory, but at $30 each, I'll stick with buying every trade for MTMTE and RID only. If I find the others on sale, then I might get them. Thanks again.

 

See... the only reason to get the Chaos Theory trade is to get the 2-parter (also called Chaos Theory) written by Roberts inside.

However, I will say that the last 6 months or so of Costa's run on the "Ongoing" (which is a terrible name for a run of Transformers that ended already  ) was not actually that bad. Stuff was happening, most of it pertinent to where MTMTE and RID kick in. I have to admit I'm a little surprised that 2 whole trades happen after that volume... I thought that was closer to the end.

There are a few great stories in IDW's past... but a lot of it is so scattered that it's hardly worth the bother of buying as a trades or trying to track down as singles.

I did like the Infiltration/Furman run (including the sequels), though it started to get a bit dull, and the climax was not very satisfying.

All Hail Megatron is actually alright. It has a few problems, but in terms of character development, I thought it was pretty good, and a bit more colourful than Furman's run before it. However opinion is pretty split on that, so your mileage may vary.

zmog

 

AHM is good if you don't want to read the previous Fuman work as it pretty much makes everything that happened before it obsolete and down right ignores all the stuff Furman was doing with the world building. So if you watched the G1 cartoon you can jump in there no problem.

I don't like it because it buttfucked the continuity and that is was so god damn slow and boring even reading in in trade forman I could only imagine the torture of reading in when ti came out. But I do admit that I loved the Starscream and Megatron interaction in it.

 

I whoeheartedly agree. Maybe it's his tormenting denial that makes 1984 forever write such eerie comments  

Also, I'm quite sure that after reading some of our latest post, Rung would sit in his couch, open the recorder in his thumb and be like "tell me about your motherboard."

@SMOG:

regarding McCarthy's 'Bot being more colorful than Furman's... this is definately a part where we can agree to disagree. I mean, Ironhide went from simple but solid soldier to a temper tantrum throwing brute who punched everybody in the face who's said something that annoyed him; Prowl went from a cold headed pragmatist to an insecure punching bag desperately trying to prove just how logical he is; Sunstreaker should've know from his binary connection with Hunter (not to mention his common sense) that not all humans are despicable scum; Perceptor was just a slugsinger who's sacrificed his own well being for a cool shooting pose; the argument between Thundercracker and Bombshell sounded more like two elementary school children bickering about whose robot toy is cooler; Drift was just an exposition spitting self insertion character; Spectro was shown being a psycho just for the sake of proving that this is a hardcore comic; Hot Rod went from a guilt ridden daredevil to a happy dude whose sole function was to call Omega Supreme, get hit in the face by Ironhide (cuz the Big Red hitting stuff is comedy gold), and protect precious little Drift from Bumblebee's verbal assault. I could go on...

I don't see how these characters were improved personality wise. Even Thundercracker's famous tide turning act felt like nothing else but a tool for plot convenience.

Also, While I agree that Furman pales in comparison to Roberts and possibly also Roche (hell, I'm starting to doubt Barber's not a better writer either) but he's not that one sided a character writer you make him seem like. Hot Rod, Marvel or IDW version he might be, was neither a brooder (okay, till he went Rodimus, that is), nor and intellectual, and definately not a no-nonsense tough guy. Same goes for Verity, Galvatron (even though Furman does have a thing for megalomaniacal madmen), even IDW's Bumblebee. I'd even argue IDW Optimus fits the simple brooder cathegory; sure, he has a lot of inner monologues, but he was a lot more unapologetic and proactive than his Marvel counterpart.

Sure, you could say I'm arguing semantics here (big deal, so he has more than three stock character types), but 1. I've seen people get praised as literary geniuses with less character types 2. I'd still choose this over McCarthy's grinding blandness anytime. I might be overly subjective here, but I'd rather read Wheelie's monologue from his Spotlight than hear Sideswipe go hippy because Optimus dared to confront the more severe threat instead of risking the whole galaxy for a single planet (the shadings even made his red chest turn black so that the readers can be absolutely sure they're supposed to feel sad... what's up with that?).

 

Heh, I guess you're right. Each and every one of them has some issues. That's pretty realistic if you think about it; I at least think that in our current world it's practically impossible to get through our life without receiving some trauma or developing a personality disorder at some point, however minor it might be. You might say that sanity is fleeting  

I imagine each crew member has lost of issues, even if they hide them from their fellows, or even themselves. This is also something I like about Roberts: while he writes multifaceted complex characters with lots of personality traits, none of his characters scream "Look how complex I am! This is so deep!" They rise the illusion of wearing social masks and adapting different aspects of identity, and have a social mask they wear when speaking to each other instead of instantly throwing exposition of their core personality or what makes them tick. I like that a lot.