I've never been a fan of any human organisation in TF doing the 'capture, study and replicate technolgy' thing. I think the only time I just about scraped into accepted it was back in the days of RAAT, but only because of Circuit Breaker doing her thing and it wasn't a load of humans in giant robot suits knocking ten bells out of TF like they were mechanical pussies.
Hmm... maybe Spike should start hanging TF heads on his wall as trophies then he might actually become a little interesting. Just as long as he doesn't take to wearing a bikini made out of circuitry.

 

I know what you mean... though that definitely seems to be the formula lately. At least Circuit Breaker seemed like enough of a unique entity that it felt sort of credible... well, in a super-hero universe sort of way... as credible as a flying woman in a microchip bikini can be.

On the other hand, I'm also not a big fan of the old G1 cartoon format either, where human governments basically have a chummy relationship with the Autobots, and a Batphone direct line to the Ark. I prefer that earlier, more mysterious stage, when everything's a bit more secretive, and the TFs are still trying to keep a low profile.

zmog

 

I've enjoyed portions of Costa's run, but the last two issues didn't do much for me. I feel like after the vast scope of Furman's run that the focus has become very narrow and confined to Earth. It feels like the Transformers universe has become very small, LSOTW excepted. I like where Costa has taken some of the characters, with some significant changes to Thundercracker and Bumblebee, and a choice by Hot Rod that's going to get him in serious trouble.

 

I think some of that smallness is the legacy of All Hail Megatron. Despite McCarthy and IDW's protestations to the contrary, it's pretty obvious that the original scope for the AHM story concept was built around the core group of Autobots and Decepticons, very much as if Earth was the only real outpost for Transformers.. as opposed to the galaxy-spanning diaspora that Furman had constructed.

zmog

 

This comic was an incredible waste of time. My subscription to this series is done.(Though I'll shift it to Ironhide for now).

 

Im mad at the fact that he took down a Decepticon that can lift like 1000 tons and is very durable and took millions of years to kill off. And a human can do it easily? THat has to be the most horrid piece of writing I ever had layed eyes on. It made me sick to the stomach reading that issue.... How can a human kill off am TF with acid and having crnaes dropped on him? So Scrapper and Devastator are one for?

 

This issue just proves everything I've been saying about iDW's series: it fails. Badly.

 

Finally got around to reading it.

To be honest I'm not entirely against the concept of a human focused issue to look at the machinations of Skywatch and the politics involved, but this was horribly overdone. I've not really minded Spike up until now but this just made me cringe - especially when he went all hardcore attention seeking at the end there.

 

I think the fandom can't make up its mind on whether it wants far-reaching space sagas, or stories confined to earth. IIRC one of the biggest critiques of Furman was that he was painting vast space-themed stories and had lost what some people believe is essential to the franchise-- that human-to-transformer relationship. I personally prefer stories that involve relationships between transformers alone and don't need a human element, but I understand how people need that.

I was going to say also that maybe it's IDW that can't strike a balance between the two, but in the past 6 months I wouldn't even say that's true. The first 4-5 issues of the ongoing had very little to do with humans, but the core cast was on earth. Yes, we'd get Spike and Prime talking once in a while, but that wasn't the focus. The 'Bee miniseries was all about coming to grips with leadership and his interactions with Skywatch and the little girl-- a story on earth that very much had a human element. And of course LSoTW was the space saga having very little to do with human involvement (altho it did have a human perspective). Recently with the end of the 'Bee series, the ongoing has taken up the "human mantle" and Ironhide is replacing LSoTW as the space opera. If the ongoing shifts away from the heavy Spike and Co. plotline as I imagine it will, I think that balance will be maintained.

 

Agreed.

Well, the problem is that the "fandom" doesn't just have one mind to make up. I think there is a fairly polarized divide between those who favour the Earth-oriented "secret war" setting, and those who prefer the cosmic space opera approach. Personally, I like the Earth settings, and I've never felt that humans shouldn't be part of Transformers... they just need to WRITE BETTER HUMANS. On the other hand, I liked Wreckers, which is pretty far out space adventure stuff... so it depends on the writing obviously.

zmog

 

I've re read it a few times and while it's definitely not one of the great issues I felt there were a few nice touches in there.

The first half is essentially a write off - mostly pointless posturing and development for characters that no one will ever care about. Why are they practising martial arts if they're fighting giant robots? The second half is better though, starting with the meeting with the generals and Joint Chiefs. It would seem they're setting Allenby up as a major thorn in the side although I'm hoping they go beyond making him essentially Galloway from Revenge of the Fallen.

The final fight itself was mostly dumb from the get go. Commander of top secret alien robot hunting unit goes off on his own to fight giant robot without backup using his ninja skills? Ridiculous. However there were some nice touches in there - for example the flashback to Devastator destroying the tunnels saw him drawn in a very monsterish way - sharp teeth, evil grin, skull like face. I thought this was a nice touch that shows the prevailing attitude to all Transformers, allegiance regardless (just in case you didn't get that sentiment from the last like 8 issues). So yeah kind of obvious, but still a nice touch, especially when you put it next to the original frame from AHM 2, where Devs is drawn mostly the same except without the monster face.

The final line, about how he hates machines that make him feel like a machine, I felt was much more poignant than the posturing and inner monologuing he did in the first third of the issue.

Finally, I like the concept of physically killing off a member of a gestalt team to stop the gestalt reforming. Given that Skywatch has generally opted to take into custody rogue Transformers, as opposed to killing them, it's a suitably ruthless and inhumane to get across that it's not all reversible Transformation locks and wacky escapades.

So yeah, that's my revised take. Not a great issue, not even a middle of the road issue. It is reasonably bad but it's not horrific, and I think there are some nice touches, especially towards the end.

 

i 100%