After reading the latest issue of RID, I really started disliking the series a bit. For one, they killed off a bunch of characters that I would have liked to see shine a bit more. Bombshell was always one of my favorite Decepticons and it would have been interesting to give the Constructicons some more characterization. But, the reason it really bugs me is the following: for characters that have been fighting for millions of years, they've been dying awfully easily and quickly lately - it just doesn't seem plausible that they're getting offed so quickly yet they were able to survive through so many battles. I would really prefer to see more transformers severely damaged and in recovery or stasis for long periods of time (with some deaths) rather than making them seemingly as vulnerable as humans.
Although I haven't read the latest issue yet, you make a good point, and I agree with it, generally speaking. I like there to be the threat of death to keep the stakes high in these stories, and the best way to have the threat feel real is to kill someone once in a while. But doing it too much feels like a cheap pop and a crutch. Not to mention, when characters I enjoy get taken out permanently, I feel a lot less like continuing to read the series.
Conversely, you could argue that if Prowl puts bombs in everyone's heads then why bother if nobody dies? I won't dispute the constructicons though. They're mostly around to form Devastator, and with Scrapper dead (dead leg Devy last year was effing stupid) they've outlived their purpose.
Bombshell seems to just be a player in a larger Decepticon conspiracy, and that was his story purpose. (And with the IDW version of the Insecticons, Bombshell was kind of out of place anyway.) The Constructicons served the bulk of their purpose back in AHM, then Spike killed Scrapper, and the rest were just... there. Roberts is just killing off characters that he doesn't need for the overall story, and I think that's a fine way of offing characters.
I agree with the bombs in their heads, but if they already managed to disable the transformation locks, I can't see why they couldn't have disabled the bombs too. But once you add Ratbat, Horribull, and Bombshell to the list of the deceased in the space of 4 issues, it's getting to be a bit much. It will be interesting if it turns out that Bombshell was actually a clone though.
I've to aggree it is a little much. Basically, we've being robbed of another Devestator another show down by a human with some acid and basically a Prowl story to show off his ruthlessness but had less of an impact because he'd already killed Bomshell... Sunstorm too was another complete waste of space storywise having him die. It would have being more intersting if he lived to have a story of him trying to find out who done it too him. Overall it's a bad story because of this, but this is transformers and they can be brought back if a writer descides on doing it. At least Dirge is getting a story... but at the cost of so many characters "dead" with sucha a little of a story given just to setup a conspiracy which has a lot to play out it is very lazy writing.
Marvel G1 handled this really well, in my opinion. I remember an earlier issue where a lot of Autobots were badly damaged and for awhile, Ratchet didn't have the parts and/or the time to fix them. Eventually, he got around to it and brought them back. Same with Starscream, who was thought to be destroyed, but Ratchet (as Megatron had kidnapped him) was able to put him back together. Basically, they did exactly what you said. They took out some Transformers for long periods of time to shine the spotlight on others and simply repaired them to bring them back. It worked well imo.
I think it's still early in the new ongoings and so many of these deaths are to get rid of certain characters to extablish a new status quo with new major players. I think the death rates may drop once we reach that new level.
I agree that the death toll in IDW comics has been getting to be a bit much and is eroding my enjoyment of the books. Aside from the fact that some are characters I very much like and it disappoints me that we may never see them in an IDW book again, it is also not terribly plausible that Transformers are this fragile and yet have been able to wage a war for millions of years (I know, I know, its a story about giant fighting alien robots and thus is not plausible by default; but still, SOME effort should be made). If Transformers die almost as easily as humans, as has been depicted in the IDW-verse (with Scrapper's death being one of the most egregious), I honestly can't see the war lasting more than just a few years, like a human war, or else the Cybertronian race would have fought itself into extinction. Like someone else pointed out, Marvel handled it well. Most characters were eventually able to be repaired, even after being blown to bits. A war COULD grind on for a very long time if soldiers could be brought back from extreme damage. A Transformer should only die if forced to push beyond stasis lock, like Dinobot, or if subjected to extreme damage that would destroy the well-protected spark chamber.
I just hate that after all these years the Constructions are used for only one purpose: Devastator. Could have had some story potential with them being individuals: Hook is the closest thing the Decepticons have to a Doctor. And since Rachet took off with Rodimus, AFAIK he was the only Doctor left on Cybertron. Lost a lot of story telling potential having the "local" Doctor be a potential enemy. Long Haul and Scavenger both feel under appreciated. What if they found friends among the Autobots after all these years? Mixmaster and Bonecrusher are both psychopaths. They would have the hardest time adjusting to peacetime. Scrapper (how did the right leg ever become the leader anyway?) always seemed to be the front man for the group. But now he's dead. Well nobody ever really invested in the personalities of the Constructicons, so I don't mourn their passing much.
the thing to remember in the idw-verse is that for the first few million years it was a war of attrition with very few open skirmishes,it has only been in the last 5 years of the war that we have had open battles that have resulted in far more deaths than just shadow games over a many worlds would yield
I started re-reading Megatron Origin last night and I love in issue #2 how they're used for on-the-fly gladiator arena construction. I really don't see this being the end of Devistator though. I'm sure they'll bring them all back, I just hope they find a clever way to do it. In the mean time I'd like to see some other combiner teams.
see I have to disagree, the only character that meant any importance to the story was bombshell, lets face it, constructicons could barely even form devastator since scrappers death in ongoing (not to mention there deaths lower the massive amount of the decepticons we have). and since they have always lacked personality they have become pretty useless characters. Sunstorm.... he was just a generic seeker, honestly there was nothing special going to happen to him to begin with so he was used as an example for how bitchass crazy arcee is, and i personally like that. Bombshell was the only decepticon out of the ones that died who had personality, it would be awesome if it was just a clone... but still its neat to see what kind of person prowl became after earth. also about how easy it is for them to die, they died easily because of how during ongoing, it was stated that years passed without a single shot fired, and even then, it seems that most of the autobots and decepticons who survived the war, were able to dodge enough bullets while the constructicons were killed by the flip of a switch. sunstorm, was dazed and killed by a serial killer, and bombshell was executed...and probably insane. this is just my opinion on the deaths.
Yeah, except he wasn't the only doctor. The Autobots have Fixit, and there's bound to be a couple among the thousands and thousands of NAILs.