And in other news, water is wet.  

Edit:
Also, looking at that description..... who thinks Starscream's secret police are the Combaticons? (Brutal, get it? Ha ha.) It would fit them and would even give some nice hints of "Starscream's Brigade".

Not sure this counts as a spoiler anymore, but just in case you haven't kept up with the comics from last year I'll put this under a spoilers tag:

Spoiler

However- last we saw of the Combaticons they were royally ticked off at Starscream for (supposedly) killing Swindle (who I don't think is dead, by the way). It doesn't appear that they would work for Starscream; it seems like they would want him dethroned- or dead. Then again... maybe this is all part of Onslaught's plan. Get close, then sabotage things.

Gah, this is going to be a long wait (of course I've already been waiting what, six months?). Hurry up, June.

 

We already know who Starscream's secret police are. They're the Badgeless.

 

Oh, I missed that then. Thanks for the info.
Hmm, Ok now I'm back to seeing the Combaticons as stirring up rebellion again. (Which also totally fits them, being Renegade Decepticons in G1 after all).

 

Do we have the cover without that watermark from Comicbookresources.com? u.u

 

  So true.

 

You guys do know that "fan-favorite" is how people and characters get re/introduced right?

Does anyone remember when Milne was referred to as a "fan-favorite" despite the fact that his early IDW work had gotten harsh criticism from fans at the time? Over the years, his work on MTMTE has more than warranted it, but he certainly wasn't very popular at the time.

Or when Sky-byte was introduced as a "fan-favorite", even though few fans even knew of his existence? As far as characters that have been on TV go, he's still obscure.

How about when John Barber apologized because he forgot to introduce Spike Witwicky as a "fan-favorite", and then corrected his 'mistake'? If they made a writer who has acknowledged his traditionally misanthropic fanbase despises that particular human with near unrivaled passion call said object of scorn and loathing a "fan-favorite" then the fact that Scott, who unlike Spike, actually has fans, was given the descriptor should raise few eyebrows.

This isn't IDW appealing to Scott's ego or placing special emphasis on her gender. This is standard treatment.

 

Pitre-Durocher definitely deserves the "fan-favorite superstar" status. Her artwork is beautiful and she keeps improving with each new work.

Scott? Well, IDW needs to sell this series so they can't help but hype it despite that they might be lying to the public.

 

Yeesh

Since being from the Functionalist Era and surviving through the Great War, you would think that Starscream would take a few notes from those times and do a bit better in trying to meet some of the needs of the people on Cybertron but I guess having a ruthless and brutal secret police antagonizing the populace is the way to go for Starscream.

 

Combaticons on the cover?

༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ IDW give Bruticus plz

 

I'm looking forward to this. I really enjoyed the first Windblade miniseries and didn't mind the second one that much even though it wasn't as good. I'm glad we're getting this before Titan Wars though, I always thought one of the second miniseries shortcomings was it's reliance on Combiner Wars.

 

Wait, I finally get it! They're calling Scott fan favourite because she's evryone's favourite writer to hate on! And it's true.

 

I have an unfair bias against Scott and unfortunately her writing gives me no reason to change my mind, but I do enjoy the way that she writes Starscream and want to give her the benefit of the doubt. I hesitate because everything and everyone else she writes puts me off, if this was being co written by Barber (whose pre DC Starscream I also really enjoyed) or Roberts then I would feel a bit better.

I will wait for reviews. On a more positive note, the artists they always pair her with are some of my favorites.

 

I'm somewhat interested but my expectations are low.

I'm amazed they're marketing this as that.  

 

Agreed. I'd like to see Pitre-Durocher as a fill in on MTMTE. I love her stuff. Her style is vibrant and so unique. She's a great artist, one of the best at IDW.

I remember back when Scott was initially brought on to write transformers. I was excited. I couldn't wait for the new blood to help reinvigorate the franchise(I never read any of her Prime stuff). Then I read that first Windblade mini... Man, what a boring let down with such odd character motivation. Chromia misses her home so she decided to commit an act of terrorism. OK!

It just goes downhill from there. Essentially most of Scott's stories are extremely light on story. I mean, most of her stuff could be cut in half and still feel like only half of a story.

Scott has had some glimpses of good writing. She gets some characters right on the money, the problem is that is more of the exception than the rule.

I'm still trepidatiously excited for TAAO, but this is the final straw. If this is just more of the same boring stuff... Well, I've already said what I will do.

Great post. You've pretty much summed up by my feelings about her writing.

 

i dunno why but i keep thinking of this as a companion book much in the way that Jonathan Hickman's New Avengers were to his main avengers book

 

While Sara Pitre-Durocher also has nice art, I think Sarah Stone's art is much better and sometimes I have the feeling that people mix them up, because both worked at Windblade and both are called Sara(h).

 

Sara Pitre-Durocher will be selling posters at BotCon 2016. There's one she can't show yet.

 

I'm talking about the woman who drew the Victorian character models. Her stuff is fantastic.

 

She's been given enough work that I'd hope people would recognize that her art is fully deserving of appreciation on it's own merit.

In many cases(the only exception for me are bots with face-plates and what I've seen of her humans) I prefer Pitre-Durocher's lines over Windblade's original artist. I like the strong, solid feel to her bots and her designs maintain a lovely aesthetic while also remaining recognizable with the toy designs.

(I also feel like she puts less emphasis on certain... physically Feminine aspects that I am of the opinion transformers have little use in possessing, and I definitely count that as a plus)

Now, if they could somehow bring Stone back as a colorist, I'd be eternally grateful.

In other news, M Scott is pregnant! Best of luck to her and her family!

 

TBH I also prefer Pitre-Durocher art.

Much more suited for comic books and much less cute-ified.