I didn't read the issue, but I did read Drift's self-reflective monologue quoted on TFWiki, and holy shit. McCarthy pretty much nuked his own character's chance at proper development probably just because he's so pissed at Roberts for, y'know, writing him well. And if that wasn't enough, he went ahead and ignored something from Windblade, just to take a shot at another writer who's better than him. The best thing that can be done with this series (and what McCarthy deserves) is to just ignore it completely and let it fall into the pits of semi-discontinuity along with the Marvel crossover and Heart of Darkness. At the very least, I can't wait until Roberts can reclaim his character.
I just don't get why we keep seeing Grit. Does anyone even care that he exists? What is he like? We've barely gotten any kind of development on him, yet we keep getting him thrown at us like he should be important....
Wait, WHAT?! Did IDW actually think that O_O? I kept up with both books and I still had no idea what was going on until I re-read the whole thing. That's just madness.
I found this Yeah, at one point I think it was Roberts who said it was a good entry for new readers. Everyone kind of disagreed.
Oh ffs guys. This issue really doesn't deserve this level of negativity. Having a dynamic action sequence is a plus, not a minus. IDW hasn't really pulled off something that cinematic in some time. And it really didn't wear out its welcome, there was plenty of dialogue. Hellbat's monologue makes McCarthy one of the few writers who has ever bothered to think about the Cybertronian lifespan and the scale of the Great War in any remotely serious fashion. Roberts goes at it, but obliquely, and he's clearly more interested in elaborating on the pre-war backstory than the tantalizing hints of modern galactic politics we've gotten. Hellbat reminds us that even "young" Cybertronians are *literally* insanely old. As in, most of them are not psychologically together enough to think deeply about the implications of their own lives. The Drift monologue is cheesy as usual, but people are blasting the content rather than the format, and the content is not that terrible. Consider: the last Drift material we got from Roberts, the "deleted scene," was a WAY over-the-top comedy sequence that joked about Drift's massive personality shifts. This was an over-the-top action sequence that referenced Drift's massive personality shifts, but that's not allowed? You don't think the guy who discovered "spiritualism" less than one chronological year ago might have a subsequent existential crisis after being the Lost Light Scapegoat? Remember, Drift is at least four million years old. Million with an "m." Moreover, the monologue integrates a ripple that is characteristic of the way that Roberts--and even Ehren Kruger--write Drift. They have emphasized his berserker, Decepticon side. Roberts' Drift is clearly, blatantly using his newfound religion as a shield to hold that side of himself at bay. McCarthy elaborates on this rather than ignoring it, even though it was clearly not part of his original take on the character. Therefore his Drift has had to become more introspective and less of a lecture-y dillhole. Honestly I was more concerned that McCarthy would try to pass Drift's spiritual phase as some sort of big joke, like that hint in #1, but this is more of an attempt at integrating it into his version--the original version--of the character. It's been handled more gracefully than Literally Anything in All Hail Megatron. That's not to say there's nothing to be critical of. Drift and Ratchet evade dealing with anything Hellbat's saying, which Drift in particular should have had something to say about. If it's because they're in denial like everyone else, that's interesting, but I don't think it will be treated in that manner by the narrative. Also, we needed a more explicit transition between "tried to justify killing Dent" Drift from MtMtE #4 and "extreme pacifist" Drift here, and we needed Ratchet, a key witness to both events, to comment on it. There really may not be room in the TF universe for a good guy who won't kill ever when the bad guys chalk up a kill count in the billions whenever they hesitate. When preparing your righteous retaliation, let's attack the actual me and not the mythical McCarthy fanboy me, please and thank you. I've done my share of AHM-bashing and was Pretty Critical of Empire of Stone #1 and #2, if you remember that far back. I've been excoriated as a mindless McCarthy fan and a mindless McCarthy hater, so I must be doing something right. Rather than presenting a coherent set of criticisms, this thread is really turning into an attempt to bludgeon the facts to fit a pre-favored narrative, using hyperbole. McCarthy's writing and his continuity are improving, not getting worse, and if we use up all our worst-writer-ever adjectives on him now I simply don't know what we'll do when we get another Costa, Metzen, or Dille. PS this must be the first time a so-called "Mary Sue" got clowned by a fucking Micromaster in his own creator's book. No larger point here, just tickled as all get out
Hellbat is just a dumber, younger version of IDW Megatron. What he's shoveling isn't that different: see Tarn's favored passage of his manifesto in MtMtE #7. "I will kill everything till it's better." Alternatively, he's Young Unicron.
I read that quote, and it really wasn't that bad. Not Alan Moore by any means, but it didn't make me angry like say, something like Twilight. Still, drug-addled douche bag Drift is a way more dynamic character than super duper badass Drift. I guess it's easy to forget that Roberts/Roche are the first TF comic writers to write something elevated above brand marketing and that's what McCarthy writes so I can see why it makes a lot of fans angry to see a dynamic character go back to being one-dimensional. Edit: All respect to Furman's work on world building for the series, but the man writes dialogue like it's exposition and most of his characters are pretty static.
I started IDW Transformers with Dawn of the Autobots. Well, I read Last Stand of the Wreckers a year before that, but found it horrible inaccessible. Any comic can be someone's first, so making the books accessible is a key part of creating a good comic. I don't think fans should have to read 15 issues of a separate series to understand what's going on in a new mini. Personally, I'm reading this cause Drift is one of my favorite IDW characters and loved AHMED and the first mini. I've only read the first 8 MTMTE's and the post-Dawn of the Autobots stuff, so I don't know much about what happened with Drift there. Glad that Empire doesn't need me to.
Why was this book even made? Everything about it is sub-par. This book has brought McCarthy down to Costa level for me. The only way I would be the least bit curious about issue 4 is if it was never published (like the end of the 3rd War Within series). Seriously, get Drift back on the Lost Light where he was written well and drawn well.
On Dark Cybertron being a pick-up point- It seems weird to me too but I have the anecdotal evidence of one of the comic shops I visit saying that interest in the books has increased enough that they went from only getting them for subscribers to getting a few extra copies to put on the shelves. Seriously, it makes me worried about what happens in the future if a really, actually bad book does come out! "Hmm, they're trashing it, but they also trashed Empire of Stone and that was kinda fun filler, so I might as well pick up a copy-BY THE MATRIX MY EYES WHY WON'T THE BLEEDING STOP!" I will have no way to tell and avoid that dark fate! ^^ Yea, Drift changing personalities is a thing before this, so this book reference to it isn't a betrayal of the character, it's part of it. If Roberts gets him again, I expect him *not* to be as gung-ho spiritualist as he was before, nor the Rodimus cheerleader. "Drift is Trying Too Hard" and all that, Roberts was writing Drift-overcompensating, purposefully so, and if Drift is on the LL again, it'll be Drift-not-overcompensating. Because the first Drift mini made money, because it doesn't distract either of the main authors to have it happen, because some fans like action scenes, because Drift is a reasonably hot property at the moment thanks to the movie.
This Drift series compared to the first one is not a comparison at all................. I'm not sure where this is going?!?!? Does anyone? I mean, I liked it for a comic, but no wow factor, zero did u see that? and an ending you would have to be border line stupid not to expect..
Damn right. This pile of crap makes it even worse that Drift left the Lost Light, only to fall back in McCarthy's hands.
I liked seeing Gigatron transform into a dragon. It really shows he is RiD Megatron. The ending really surprised me. I just wish the last page wasn't a spread because it's basically a bigger picture of the panel on the page before it
