When you have to label your robots so that people know who they are, it's never a good sign.

 

Jetfire looks wierd but awesome !

 

Okay, let's see:

- Opening with Spike leaving the house of a chick he just made whoopy with. Classy AND a cliche. Eh....

- Breakdown has become his personal ride. I thought that was kinda funny.

- As BB stated, it's only been 2 hours since Prime left and everyone's already losing it. That shows how dependant they all are.......well, except for Hot Rod. Though I understand "losing" someone you've worked so closely with for millions of years can set you off emotionally.

- Hot Rod is now Cheetor. A rebelious teen. Though, IMO, it fits.

- Jetfire is hooge! But when did he group up with everyone? Last we saw of him was the end of Revelations. I really hope IDW explains this stuff. Though it'll probably never happen.

- That bot in the last panel......be....behind Jazz.......is.....is that Huffer?!? Who is that?

- Omega Supreme looks pretty cool in that cover variant. His face reminds me of Apocalypse for some reason.

- The page with HR, BB, CJ, Brawn and Ratchet is kinda bad dialogue-wise. BB's response to Hot Rod's freak-out comment is placed below Hot Rod's rebuttal when it should be above. then there's Ratchet asking the same question twice in the exact same way...

 

Like in Infiltration?

 

interesting i loved brawns look

 

I wish they did that in the old cartoon. Anyone who's not Prime, BB, Jazz, Megatron, Starscream, or Soundwave I used to have to look up on the Wiki. They all have the same faces and many of them have rather generic personalities.

This solution is miles better than the typical comic solution of "I shall refer to you by name and in boldface so people know what your toy is called, Cliffjumper."

As far as the art, I think it fails in some respects (ok, really just BB's face) but most of the designs are AWESOME. They also make it EASIER to tell characters apart.

 

As opposed to in-dialogue awkward name-dumping?

"I Mirage"

"You, Skywarp"

 

There's something about this Spike that's starting to unnerve and annoy me. Maybe it's his "Hey, there's nothing i can't handle" attitude, or maybe it's that he seems a little too free-going with women. Either way, he seems to think he's pretty hot stuff, military and women-wise.

Meanwhile, at Autobot base, Cliffjumper is in disbelief mode, Ratchet hasn't got a clue, Hot Rod's planning to bail out and being remarkably harsh to Prime, Brawn ain't too happy at him, and BB seems to be one of the few that hasn't completely lost his bearings and still is standing in Prime's defence. Good on you BB, shame on you Roddy!

And, has Prime been standing at Skywatch base with his arms up for two whole hours and with soldiers gawking up at him? Good thing he's a robot and probably doesn't get muscle fatigue like us.

In summary, i'm certainly interested to know where this is all going!

 

As I recall, that cover originally said "Rodimus", not Hot Rod.

I love how Prime looks.

I think it's more to do with the fact IDW is positioning this book for new readers who may not remember TF all that well.

 

It's not so much that they labelled them, it's that they labelled them, but not others. Red Alert, and who I can only assume is Huffer, are completely unidentified, while others, who have just as little to do with the scene get labels.

 

-Wow, why is it that everybody looks freakin angry...?
-Trailbreaker certainly slimmed down...
-For a moment, I thought that Red Alert's legs were backwards...
-Blurr's based on the TFA design?!
-Spike/Sam/Buster looks weird. Especially his tight pants...
-What the heck does Jetfire turn into?
-Also, who's that behind Jazz? Random Optimus Cosplayer #0192043904?
-If Omega looks like that, doesn't that mean that his armor crevices are really huge? Which means that Decepticons can just shoot/attack the exposed parts or even enter him...
-Is Spike's car Breakdown?!

 

I think the fact the cover to this issue originally said "Rodimus" next to Hot Rod means they're gonna elect him as their new leader.

Hot Rod seems to be based off the Animated design (in part, mostly his legs), too.

 

Looks good, I liked number 1, I'm giving this read a chance myself.

 

Ah, is it 'Rodimus'? My mistake then.

And i love how Optimus looks too. Still so imposing even with his hands raised in surrender.

I also wondered who that was behind Jazz on the last page. Any ideas anyone?

And i just realised how skinny and chicken-like Rodimus's lower legs look! Ha! Ha!

But i do appreciate most of the new designs.

 

Could be Hot Spot.

 

As I stated, the orange chest and truck-looking parts make me think Huffer, but I'm really not sure.

Now I need to know who the hell that is.

 

I like the way Don designed Brawn here, really awesome. Faces are somewhat improved compared to the first issue with more shading and depth. I admit the dialogue between Hot Rod and the other is somewhat awkward, but I'll pick up the issue regardless...even in Military commander Witwicky is starting to irritate me....

 

I just noticed that Hot Rod/Hot Rodimus/Rodimus Prime/Whatshisnamenow has some long claws... O_O

 

They're doing that in tons of books now (at least in the ones I read). Any other series that isn't focused on a singular character that I read tends to "re-introduce" everyone with a short text box ("Wolverine. Logan. Healing factor, adamantium claws.") the first time they appear in the new story arc.