1. Does it bother anybody that Cyclonus and Scourge are not part of the Decepticon army? Cyclonus didn't start out as a Decepticon. He started as a zombie who is way older than Optimus. Basically he's a old school Cybertronian. He didn't even join the 'Cons later in the comics. Unless things change later. Scourge I guess is taking a break from the comics since his fate is unknown. It feels kinda weird cause these 2 are one of the most important characters from the Decepticons.

2. Fortress Maximus is a small Autobot. He should be a city bot. His name does start with "Fortress". Some people complain that he's too big to be an important character. He won't get enough shine. If that's the case, writers should just have him as a headmaster and have Spike and Cerebros get half of the shine.

3. Bumblebee and Goldbug are separate characters. Kinda weird that they're different but I guess it's best cause Bee is a better and important character while in early G1, since upgraded into Goldbug, it didn't seem like he was a important character anymore. Like he just downgraded. What do you guys think?

 

Not at all.

 

Nope. Not in the slightest

 

The first one, no, not at all. The second even less so, since the Marvel Comics also depicted Fort Max as not being particularly big. The third, though, was and still is fairly silly. I mean, I don't think I'd say I'm BOTHERED about it, but it was a random dumb thing that a dumb writer did that added nothing to the universe in a story that could have functioned perfectly fine without Goldbug being in it.

 

Nah, I'm all for interesting new takes on characters.

And for what it's worth, Fort Max has precedent not being fortress-sized - he started out that way in the Marvel series.

 

Agreed! The divergence from G1 isn't a problem for me since IDW is a different continuity! Like TF: Animated, I'm not going to complain that Soundwave was made by humans or Waspinator was an Autobot named Wasp or that 'Prime' is a title and Ultra Magnus is the leader of the Autobots - that kind of thinking is faulty. While we may have preferences for character backstory that doesn't mean we shouldn't like something that a lot of people have taken a lot of time, effort, and skill in creating. That's like saying the technorganic Cybertron at the end of Beast Machines ruined G1.

 

Nope.

 

100% no bucks were given. I LOVE this Cyclonus and am inceasingly tempted to remove his Con symbol from his figure. Fort Max is cool as is. And I never cared about Goldbug and still don't.

 

Out of curiosity... Why Bumblebee not being the same character as Goldbug is bothersome to you, but Megatron not being Galvatron isin't?

 

Nope I love Not-a-Decepticon Cyclonus

 

Dont mind Goldbug as a second character.

 

Na m8.
Cyclonus has been brilliant like this.
Fortress Maximus being a hench, regular sized 'bot is nothing new anyway.
The Goldbug being a separate character from Bumblebee thing is a non-issue.

 

No x 3.

I'm enjoying the surprises and new interpretations the current comics are throwing at us far more than I would a re-hash of ye olde 80s stories.

 

MTMTE has made Cyclonus into one of my favorite characters of all time, and I've already removed his Decepticon rubsign from his chest, and stole drifts sword too.

I like IDW s fort Mac enough to cough up $150 for Warden (and I don't own the g1 version, so it's not like I'm transforming him into a head.

IDW is the most thought out, excellent continuity that has ever existed if you ask me, there is NO reason to slavishly follow g1's lead just cause it's g1.

 

The IDW comic and the G1 cartoon are only about as different from each other as the G1 comic and the G1 cartoon.

The major difference is that while the G1s were "based on" the G1 series of toys, IDW is more like "inspired by" the G1 series of toys.

That means that characters can have different gimmicks (Prowl a combiner, Sunstreaker a Headmaster, Fortress NOT a Headmaster or a baseformer), that some characters have different affiliations (Galvatron only recently became a Decepticon, Cyclonus is a de facto Autobot), and that some characters are visiting from different toylines (Waspinator, Fat Tankor). Basically, it opens up the storytelling to be more writer-driven, less merch-driven (though that is still a factor).

Anyway, Cyclonus and Scourge's status is a reference to their Unicronian nature in the source material anyway. And Scourge hasn't shown up lately because he might or might not be dead; Cyclonus thinks he's alive, but a talking Sweep that might have been him had his brains blown out by Wheelie during Chaos.

 

Not bothered by any of those at all.

Actually, for Fortress Maximus I like him better as a regular sized bot. In this case I don't see "Fortress" pertaining to his size, but rather his job description. As a warden on Garrus 9 he runs it like a fortress. Maximus-ly.

Although, there could be an argument that if he was city-sized that he could BE THE FORTRESS that contains the prisoners. But that isn't as fun to me.

 

Nope.

And even in G1 (at least Sunbow cartoon) Bumblebee and Goldbug were seen in the same shot.

 

+1 (or is it -1?)

All of the OP's points make the comic MORE interesting to me. Love not-Con Cyclonus.