Transformers: Deviations Discussion

Discussion in 'Transformers Comics Discussion' started by Rakzo, Mar 16, 2016.

  1. Haywired

    Haywired Hakunamatatacon

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    I'd give it to Scott, really. Provided she was not occupied with other work.
    She got experience with writing for screen and dealing with short format, chances are she'd write something that feels more like an animated show from the eighties.
    IDW also had a NuRID book, so another writer familiar with keeping "the animated feel".
    The choice of writer felt pretty random.
     
  2. Chaddicus

    Chaddicus Don't call me Shirley

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    You should listen to the Transmissions Podcast episode where they interviewed the writer. They asked if he rewatched the 86 movie prior to writing it. He said he didn't cause he has the movie memorized and didn't need to watch it, but he went to YouTube for key scenes to make sure he had them right.

    IDW dropped the ball on selecting this guy. I listened to the whole interview and the takeaway I got was keep this guy as far away from the TF franchise completely.
     
  3. Haywired

    Haywired Hakunamatatacon

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    Heck, for this particular book Flint Dille also could be a good choice.
     
  4. GrimlockPrimal

    GrimlockPrimal Mini-Dino

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    Hell, Furman could have done decently with it, too. But...oy, this story does not sound like it's any good.

    Hopefully it gets burried into obscurity like The Beast Within and is forgotten by the fandom. :p 
     
  5. Sparkykandy

    Sparkykandy Well-Known Member

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    Everyone else has already said what needs to be said, but I'll go ahead and add in my two cents anyways.

    This comic (as everybody else has already said) was terrible. To me, it's two biggest problems were the Hot Rod bashing and the fact that it didn't really deviate from the movie.

    Both Ultra Magnus and Hot Rod felt out of character. It's been a while since I've seen the G1 cartoon and movie, but Ultra Magnus from what I remember tended to reassure Rodimus rather than yell at him. Also, Hot Rod wasn't that big of a screw up in the movie.

    Also, this comic felt really choppy in places. This could be attributed to the length, but I did feel it wouldn't have been as choppy if the writer didn't try to rehash the movie.

    Hot Rod's/Rodimus's death didn't bother me as much as it did other people, but that's because I looked at ending before I read the rest of the comic. On the surface, Rodimus dying instead of Optimus wasn't a problem but add in all the Hot Rod bashing, and I can see why it left such a bad taste in everyones' mouths.

    It's such a shame that this comic was so terrible. Optimus not dying in the movie would have made an interesting "What If" story. Too bad the execution was so lacking.
     
  6. Hot Shot.

    Hot Shot. Well-Known Member

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    Okay.
     
  7. Bass X0

    Bass X0 Captain Commando

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    Unfortunately, the more crap something is, the more it gets remembered. Just look at Michael Bay's movies.
     
  8. Haywired

    Haywired Hakunamatatacon

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    That's a high budget and widely advertised crap.

    This one book has as much chances for being remembered as the Beast Within - as a curiosity example what "bad" means in the fandom.
     
  9. Megastar

    Megastar Well-Known Member

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    I actually like this comic, but I guess that because I didn't grow up with original series and wasn't expecting much from a one-shot.
     
  10. Maroyasha

    Maroyasha IOU A Title

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    So, everyone has said everything to death about this, but thought I'd comment. I got it yesterday along with all my other comic pulls. Thank god I got 6 dollars discount at my comic shop, 10% discount off all new stuff, because I would have been furious otherwise. I'm more just mildly peeved off.

    Hell, neither of the covers are even that good, they just happened to give me the sub cover. Anyways, I basically feel the same as most everyone else does. Complete waste of paper. I thought this would be way better tbh. But as many have mentioned, the problem is the writer. I read his own introduction in the back of the comic after reading it. I immediately thought "Oh! So that's why it is trash."
    The guy happened to meet the right guy, right place and right time. Otherwise he probably never would've been considered for this. Story feels like a rehash and sort of rushed. Megascream is stupid imo. Optimus straight up headshotting Megatron also really bothers me...Seems out of character. Also, why are Magnus, Arcee and Springer never seen again!? They basically survive the exact same crash in the movies. I guess they did kinda explode, but still. Just another reason to hate Hot Rod in this scenario. I can go on and on about other problems as well.

    It would've been way better if Optimus had just shot Megatron, Megs survived and was still reformatted. Then we have Optimus and Galvatron go toe to toe instead with added bits of stuff here and there. That's all that would've changed in the movie really. But whatever, too late now.
     
  11. Focksbot

    Focksbot Skeleton Detective

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    I'm fairly certain everyone on this thread could come up with a better take on the story!

    For me, the most poignant thing to get across in an exercise like this would be that Prime had to die in order for Unicron to be defeated. It's like if you do a 'saving JFK' plotline - it's not very dramatic unless you show how the butterfly effect results in a far darker alternate history.

    So I'd have had Prime rally the survivors, deal a crushing blow to the Decepticons and take back Cybertron in a decisive counter-offensive that ends the Autobot-Decepticon war for good, with some dramatic casualties. Some years into peacetime, Unicron turns up and takes out Earth. Book ends with Cybertron preparing for battle but Prime knowing the battle is already lost because, unlike in the reality where he died, no one has any particular instinct or idea that the Matrix could be the key to Unicron's undoing.
     
  12. Haywired

    Haywired Hakunamatatacon

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    They found it in the movie basically only because Galvatron was pursuing the Matrix.
    Barring some kind of vision from the Matrix itself with no herald of Unicron on the loose they might as well never knew what to do...
     
  13. Murasame

    Murasame 村雨

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    Or if megs was turned into Galvatron, but with no traces of Megatron, because he died. Without an agenda of his own, the plot would still greatly differ from the movie's outcome, if Optimus lived and Megatron died. Galvatron would just be a loyal servant to unicron just like cyclonus and the sweeps were loyal to Galvatron. The group dynamic between Optimus and the new 1986 Autobots facing a seemingly unstoppable enemy would have been my idea for this story. It could go two ways, evil wins or this time around it's a near fatal blow to Optimus and hot rod being around to help him, having a vision and both feeling there is more to hot rod, than meets the eye. It's Optimus who saves the day and opening the matrix, but both left with a feeling, that things might have been different, due to their shared vision, when before hot rod tried to get the injured Optimus up and came accidentally into contact with the matrix. The question is, what would a Galvatron do, after unicron has been defeated, but who is a loyal servant to unicron and not former Megatron. That could even lead to future stories.

    And that's what I came up with, without any deeper thoughts and plotting. So...
     
  14. Autovolt 127

    Autovolt 127 Get In The Titan, Prime!

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    I agree, hell dare I say Shane McCarthy could have done this story better.
     
  15. Murasame

    Murasame 村雨

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    Probably. But we'd still diss it.
     
  16. Gingerchris

    Gingerchris Telly-headed Tyrant

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    Maybe the whole thing could've been a vision of an alternate universe seen by Rodimus Prime when he opens the Matrix in the actual movie to destroy Unicron. To us viewers it took just a few seconds to open the Matrix, but for Rodimus he experiences this whole 'What if?' scenario during that brief moment. At the very least it might've been a nice framing device for this story.

    Anyway, it all works out okay in our universe since Optimus doesn't stay dead.
     
  17. Resistor

    Resistor Well-Known Member

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    They already gave Dille three "what-if" books, and we got Megatron eating a Quintesson.
     
  18. Haywired

    Haywired Hakunamatatacon

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    Pre-war IDW miniseries weren't any "what-ifs", but a part of the continuity... Which is why it did not work.
    Dille's books felt out of place in IDW main continuity because they were too G1 and more like he was stuffing his unused Sunbow ideas into IDWverse. Megatron personality went from a revolutionnaire to a warlord he always was in Sunbow/Marvel with no explanation.

    Ironically, this makes him just on target in G1-styled book.

    Just like Roberts would be the worst possible choice for a G1 book because it's 100% sure he could not keep it close to the original style to save his life.

    A classic-y G1 books should be nothing like IDW continuity.


    And even with him wrecking IDWverse in pre-war minis, Dille was leagues above this Deviations hogwash. At least it was readable.
     
  19. Murasame

    Murasame 村雨

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    this
     
  20. trence5

    trence5 Well-Known Member

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    Yeah, I noticed that too....