Regeneration One #99

Discussion in 'Transformers Comics Discussion' started by Anguirus, Feb 26, 2014.

  1. Anguirus

    Anguirus Well-Known Member

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    Because there isn't a thread yet and that's just terribly sad.

    So...Spike is getting tormented by Evil Primus or whatever the hell the real big bad is, which is still not stated, but it's implied in the last panel that it's the Matrix-creature that possessed Thunderwing way back when. That's underwhelming...but at least it wasn't Unicron.

    Jhiaxus turns out to be a total paper tiger in the end. The Hub (which is supposed to be a bunch of literal planets but definitely more resembles a big space station) is completely owned by the Wreckers, who were too awesome to capture, unlike every other one of the thousands of Autobots. They are also too awesome to carry cell phones, so Rodimus can't call them off once Jhiaxus starts executing Autobots in retaliation. Jhiaxus sends all of his forces after the Wreckers, leaving Shockwave and the Ark who are a zillion times more powerful to destroy the shit out of the hub.

    Jhiaxus vows to kill off Rodimus personally (in a nice touch Jhiaxus isn't out of the room two seconds before the seemingly-beaten-down Rodimus murders his guards and frees the Autobots) but Underbasey Starscream kills/absorbs him. Apparently the other four Senators want revenge on him for some reason, and they control the Underbase, which still controls Starscream's body because "energy can't be destroyed."

    Rook abandons Jhiaxus to his fate, apparently cause he did in G2, even though it's totally out of character for him here. And that's probably the last we'll see of him and the other Cybertronians cause they aren't captured or killed. The Hub blows up but that hardly counts.

    Back on Cybertron, Galvatron shows up fighting mad and shoots a bunch of bots in a scene that is a complete non sequitur and could have been cut with no consequence. The Dinobots, who completely sat out the fight with the Cybertronians despite having a personal grudge against them, remark on the Demons forming these protective cocoons. Suddenly Grimlock seems to remember a bunch of stuff and declares that something has been influencing him and controlling him since VsQs, where he first encountered the dark Matrix creature. Deep inside Cybertron, the Primus head goes dark and the evil Matrix devil thing suddenly looms up over the populace. Yeah.

    The two nicest moments come at the end. On the way back from the Hub, Rodimus muses to his crew that Jhiaxus was following the same imperative they always have, from Primus--to bring order to a universe of chaos. But he is no longer sure that this is the right thing to do. This is a theme that this book has danced around for an irritatingly long time, and it was finally really effectively articulated here. The Autobots are going to stand against their creator, in some or another fashion.

    The other nice moment, because it's both unexpected and yet somewhat earned, is Shockwave experiencing an emotional reaction and rescuing Starscream's comatose body from the Hub before it explodes. When you think about it, these two have been through a lot together in ReGeneration One. And in Marvel, Shockwave replaced Starscream as the go-to traitor, so they have that thematic connection. Considering that he almost single-handedly destroyed the Hub and then stuck his neck out for someone for the first time ever, he comes off as the hero of the issue.
     
  2. Scaldron

    Scaldron Well-Known Member

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    so did anyone else get a bit of a Liege Maximo vibe from that last panel? As soon as I saw that I thought "oh so that's where we're going," but I'm not sure if the Matrix Creature is supposed to give off that impression.
     
  3. Altercron

    Altercron Well-Known Member

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    That would be an interesting "origin" for the Liege Maximo in this continuity...
     
  4. Anguirus

    Anguirus Well-Known Member

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    13 hours and two replies? I am now even sadder.

    This material isn't BAD, it's just really hard to imagine an issue 100 that isn't an anticlimax. "100" is about the number of characters and plots that still ought to be followed up on or revisited.
     
  5. bellpeppers

    bellpeppers A Meat Popsicle

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    Oh, so it IS out.
    I wasn't sure if it was this week or next.
     
  6. DrGrim

    DrGrim OBEY

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    I just read it. It was fun. Rodimus Prime is pretty badass in this book, and I dig space fights and what not. However, I'm not sure I get this underbase dude. Starscream has really been merged with The Underbase ever since issue 50? So why the hell didn't he use his Underbase powers in the Unicron fight? or when he and Shockwave were fighting Megatron and Galvatron in the Ark? Also not sure how I feel about this multiverse stuff. I'd rather this be all about classic G1, not every TF universe evar.
     
  7. Knightdramon

    Knightdramon Hasbro LIES to the US

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    No, it's not BAD...but it's severely disappointing. It's disappointing in so many ways people don't even bother to comment.

    Because TF fiction has evolved in the past 2 years, and fans caught up with it. If Roberts can create emotion out of a character that was rarely in anybody's fave list, barely had any presence or attention even in classic lines and do that within 15 issues [talking about Rewind] it's pretty sad that Furman has to kill somebody like Hound, with their own fanbase, and not make anything out of him with 98 issues on their back.

    The last saga of REGEN1 is so typical Furman it hurts. Usually I give credit to the man because more than often they just cancel his series and he's given very short notice [G1, G2, Revelations], but here he had a clear outline for 20 issues, PLUS he got an extra issue [issue zero] PLUS the final issue is double sized, yet it still feels rushed. How on Earth can you manage that?

    Don't get me wrong, there's some nice scenes and chapters here and there in this whole Regeneration 1 saga, but a good 2/3ds of it felt so much like filler it hurts. And filler negativity always creeps up towards the end, when it seems that things are rushed for no apparent reason.
     
  8. AmonDemon112

    AmonDemon112 Demon General

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    I'm really liking this series and have been collecting the Guido Guidi covers. I just read this issue today. Im not ready to judge this series until its finished :)  so once issue 100 comes and ive read that, ill read the whole series over again and then give it my thoughts. I am happy that we've got true g1 comics again and its too bad that its stopping at 100. I really loved Shockwave in this thats for sure!
     
  9. scubaboy31

    scubaboy31 Digital Gypsy

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    I enjoyed the hell out of this too. It's been a fun run, with issues along the way. I've loved the return of Furman's Rodimus. He always wrote him well. Nice for US readers to see this first hand.

    Next up... #100. Can't wait. really looking forward to going to get it signed by everyone!
     
  10. shadowsfm

    shadowsfm Well-Known Member

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    yeah i wasn't even going to bother commenting :|

    i don't agree that it is roberts fault that RG1 is a disappointment. this series is a drag compared to furmans previous work in infiltration through to revelation and maximum dinobots. reminds me of how Don Figueroa went from stormbringer awesome to ongoing wtf
     
  11. Blitz Wing

    Blitz Wing Triple Threat

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    I say this on all the Regen1 threads, but really, why did Furman waste 6 issues on that useless Scorponok arc? Those extra 6 issues could have been used to give Jhiaxus a proper send off, Shockwave some more exposure, or you know... a non-rushed ending?
     
  12. Galva-Cannon

    Galva-Cannon Well-Known Member

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    I don't agree about the Natural Selection arc being a waste of time. The Scorponok/gene key storyline wrapped up loose ends, regarding what happened to the original Headmaster heads. It also delivered a cure for the Nucleon-afflicted 'bots, including Grimlock (who isn't stuck in a non-transforming body anymore.)

    Also, changing pace with these mini-arcs has made Regen One more feel like the original Marvel series. :cool:  The concept was to write a better ending to a comic, which was an ongoing series before it got cancelled. We could have gotten 20 issues of one story arc, with everything that happens being directly linked to the ending. That isn't how the original comic was written though, so it wouldn't have been so nostalgic. I've enjoyed how this managed to still feel like an ongoing series, despite knowing about the scheduled ending.

    Personally, I think if any one of the mini-arcs was redundant, it was this Jhiaxus arc. It's not wrapping up any loose ends from the old comic, and it's mostly a re-telling of G2. I've enjoyed it because Jhiaxus and his goons were introduced in such a menacing fashion, and because Guidi has made Jhiaxus look awesome. My god, the facial expressions! :thumb 

    I found issue #99 pretty underwhelming though, because after such a great set-up, Jhiaxus' entire empire got dispatched so easily. The second generation Cybertronians were whipping the Dinobots' arses before, and now suddenly they're all easily taken care of. All ten gazillion of them. :confused: 

    At least Rodimus Prime got a separate story of his own, as the leader of the Autobots. Anyway, despite being underwhelmed by this particular issue, I'm really excited about #100. Wildman's back! :rock  Plus I can't wait to find out where Furman is heading with Primus + the evil matrix creature. I hope it's a full-blown slaughter, like issue #75 (the greatest issue ever!)
     
  13. Anguirus

    Anguirus Well-Known Member

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    :peoples: 

    It's creepy when a whole bunch of people start repeating the same thing...if Kool-Aid is shipped to your house, DO NOT drink.

    It was nice that Furman wanted to spin a story arc out of the weird and poorly-explained events of The Headmasters, but on no account was this actually a "loose end" in the context of the G1 comic itself. It could EASILY have been inferred from the US comic that, just like in the cartoon, the original heads themselves were engineered into the Headmaster units. There was one cryptic UK reference to the heads still existing, and in that case the heads were explicitly NOT left on Nebulos. Besides which, the Headmasters were all killed off by Unicron anyway. There was no reason to assume the original heads would stay viable light-years away after the Headmasters' sparks were extinguished.

    In particular, bringing back Scorponok was a horrible disappointment. It was like Dinobot II all over again! (PS Dinobot II was great because in-universe it was Megatron intentionally cheapening Dinobot's sacrifice. In RG1, some guy we barely know who looks like Zarak/Scorponok, hero of the Unicron War, comes back to life because of a lab accident by some guy we've never heard of.)
     
  14. Galva-Cannon

    Galva-Cannon Well-Known Member

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    To be fair, I've managed to repeat it everytime someone else repeats how they didn't like the Scorponok story arc. I'm more than capable of being incredibly repetitive of my own accord, thanks very much. :D 
     
  15. AmonDemon112

    AmonDemon112 Demon General

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    I too was dumbfounded how Jhiaxus' minions were giving the Dinobots a hell of a fight and then were easily taken by the Autobots in #99 :/
    And yeah im looking forward to issue 100! Cybertron has been under so much fullblown invasions with Scorponok, Bludgeon, Jhiaxus and now a tainted Primus! Theyve come one after the other!
     
  16. Galva-Cannon

    Galva-Cannon Well-Known Member

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    I just read this issue again, and enjoyed it a lot more the second time around. :)  I noticed that Jhiaxus' plans were defeated by a combination of sabotage, Shockwave/The Ark + Jhiaxus himself could only be defeated by an Underbase powered Starscream. I can't help but think that more Autobots should have been killed by Rook's minions, although some people were really mad when Hound died... so you can't win really.

    Rodimus Prime was the only one to defeat the second generation Cybertronians in battle actually. The Wreckers were using asymmetric warfare against them, and in the end, gravity itself destroyed the Hub Network! I didn't realise that at first, interpreting the artwork as showing the Hub exploding all over the place. It was actually collapsing in on itself, with the planets colliding, after the support structure was sufficiently compromised. That's clever writing, because the too-powerful enemy didn't need to be quietly retconned as less dominant.

    I was also thinking that the Jhiaxus storyline is a lot more connected to everything else, than I originally gave it credit for. It's following the theme of playing god, and whether god is good, or evil. It's been continued throughout Regen One, through the demons sub-plot, Bludgeon's Blitz Engines, etc. Perhaps we haven't seen the last of the bird creatures, or even Jhiaxus? Starscream will obviously be involved in issue #100, but he seems to have just absorbed Jhiaxus (or the pure thought being has).

    And what are the demons going to metamorphose into? :eek:  I assume that's the idea, since they're being surrounded by what looks like a chrysalis. So many questions!
     
  17. Blitz Wing

    Blitz Wing Triple Threat

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    I'm pretty sure that most people's dislike of the Hound death scene was due to the fact that it spent an entire page on killing off a character that had little to no exposure in the previous 98 issues. Take that into account with the fact that a lot of us are feeling that this ending is rushed, we need less page's with extended death scenes and more pages wrapping up loose storylines.
     
  18. UKBrawn

    UKBrawn Intergalactic Tin Opener

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    Can't wait for 100 now, just re-read the whole lot through, it makes so much more sense a second time haha! So much has happened and I have no idea how it will end. 21 years of peace then BOOM!!! No wonder all the Autobots come across as depressed. Shame it has to all end...again.
     
  19. tusko

    tusko Well-Known Member

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    I really liked this issue. I've only read it quickly, but the art and colours were top notch.

    It was great to see Rodimus Prime rise to his captivity. Starscream's history was also a great tie in here - and the theme or quest for ultimate order and knowledge is carried well.

    I think while I like the character art - Guido dropped the ball here. Shockwave needed to be shows as the power house he is a bit better. The collapse of the Hub needed more visual cues. Its a minor thing, but the importance and scale of these events was not conveyed in the art.

    I'm looking forward to issue 100. I really like regen1.... I wish it could continue. I wonder if we could get an analysis after all this is over; is it economically a viable series?
     
  20. Galva-Cannon

    Galva-Cannon Well-Known Member

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    Yeah, it would be really interesting to find out about that. Does going back to the original stories sell comics? I'm guessing that the sales must have been favourable, to explain why we were allowed issue #0, and the giant sized #100. But I'd really like to hear about that. It could have implications for whether there's a market for similar projects, perhaps in a different medium.