Optimus Prime 23 is out.
I am trying to be diplomatic here: I think that this series has been poorly executed.
There was some innovation, but Optimus Prime is now "The Room of Transformers Comics".
And if you think John Barber had a vision, remember that the same could be said for Tommy Wiseau.

 

I’ll be honest, I’m not reading Optimus Prime. From Death of Optimus Prime to Dark Cybertron both RiD and MTMtE were ON FIRE! Both had a fall off after Dark Cybertron but RiD and OP after it just kept falling off to the point of being unreadable. If you’re enjoying it, I’m glad for you. I just couldn’t.

IDW really didn’t do this book and RiD before it any favors with the multiple crossovers.

 

It's not out yet til tomorrow

 

It's available digitally through IDW's website right now.

 

Ok

 

"You are tearing me apart, Unicron!"

 

Well I for one liked the issue... I mean, was it over the top, full blown, super great and fantastic, total insanity 5000? No, of course not. It's not meant to be, and if you expected that, then, I don't know what to tell you. It was fine. That's it. It was a fine read. Nothing more, nothing less.

So anyways... I'm surprised by how sad I was to see Mainframe go. I mean, I only read him in the Transformers books (and hardly gave him a second thought at that), but man, that's friggin' tragic how he died. And seeing Sanjay pulling him around... damn, that was rough. And seeing Unicron hovering over Earth? Chills. And it took me a moment to catch onto it, but I liked how every few pages the narrator changed. It was... nice. That's it. It was just nice, changing perspectives every-so-often. What else can I say? It worked for me. Now bring on the Uni-carnage!

 

Why was Centurion not in this issue as the guy who ends the fighting? Seriously, he's the only character with connections to each side. He's got his human/G.I. Joe side with Mike Power, he was hanging out with Trypticon and the Dinobots after First Strike, he's a Cybertronian colonist, and he thought he was Bumblebee for some time so he has a tangential connection to Jazz.

 

Nitpick--but it was established way back in like 2013 that Cybertronians can survive being bisected horizontally, and its a medical fact that gut wounds aren't usually fatal. I know this comic has to keep it PG, but inaccurate gore is a major personal pet peeve of mine.

As for the actual story... this still? I'm real happy to be getting more Junkions, they've always been a highlight of OP for me, but IDW Spike is just an insult of a character. Jazz even still has pulse too, its just who/what he's bouncing off of that kills it. The rest I'm more neutral towards, I think throwing the Colonists at the Dinobots worked since they already (by the end of the series!) have well-set characters, and Oiler is finally getting a little development. One of them died so I can tell the rest apart easier too, so that's always good.

Because after First Strike Barber decided to forget that all his best creations ever existed, I guess.

 

Maybe an anatomical anomaly for Eukarians/Beastformers?

Definitely a prep issue. it's the lead in to the story finale (since 25 is supposed to be the after party). Need to get all the stuff set for the final battle.

 

Yeah, but it's a dramatic way to die, and dramatic fact trumps biology or canon any day. It means that when you need something to happen, it happens. A person can die for the stupidest reasons. Remember James and the Giant Peach? James' parents get eaten by a rhino. That's classic literature right there. Gimlet getting cut in half with a flaming sword is just as good a way to die as any.

 

Did Skylinx die?
Also the conflict that erupted was totally stupid. I guess that was the point.
But honestly, who cares about any of these guys except maybe Jazz? I remember the white one, not because her name or anything but because she is in a long line of female characters who hate Optimus Prime. The rest of the characters are like c or d characters. I genuinely did not care what happened to them. And to take on the Dinobots? over what?

Autobots (?) "Grrr.... Optimus is dumb"
Dinobots "grrr.. No, Optimus is really dumb!"
Autobots "lets fight"
Jazz "I hate Optimus as much as you but lets not fight."
Bunch of c listers die.
They stop.

Riveting.

I did not understand the conflict. I did not care about the results. Also none of it matters because of Unicron. So...

Did Skylinx get killed by a blast of fire into his fire mouth? For real?

Anyway, I am glad this is coming to an end. Two more issues of Optimus bashing and maybe the new series can think of something better to do.

 

Wow, what a misfire. I'd mostly forgot about / lost interest in the majority of the players here a long time ago.

 

The story was okay - nothing spectacular - but, my God, that was some terrible art. The humans (particularly Marissa) all looked like they'd been hit in the face repeatedly with a shovel and the TFs weren't much better. I'll take Ramondelli over that any day.

The difference could be easily justified in a few ways. If I'm remembering right, the Cybertronian that was bisected and lived was Megatron, who's been established to be unusually durable, as opposed to the random-Eukarian-colonist in this issue. Also, Megatron was bisected by being ripped in half, whereas Gimlet had a *flaming sword* swung through his abdomen - said flames undoubtedly would have caused some damage beyond just the slice wound. Slight differences in anatomy and/or the exact location where the bisection occurred could also account for the differences in outcomes.

 

Remember many Cybertronians have mass factory built bodies. So they are likely more resilient than naturally formed bodies.

 

Essentially the conflict was Slide's developing resentment at Optimus after the Junkions killed Oiler and rather than it leading to Slide taking his frustrations out on OP or the Junkions, she instead decides to rescue Jazz.

Yeah, it really doesn't make any sense.

Guzzle was another in LSotW, but the same logic, he was a stout little cannon.

 

Forgot about him. Similar point to Megatron - both he and Guzzle were ripped in half cleanly by someone's bare hands. Gimlet - flaming sword through the abdomen.

 

Slide: *Still hates Optimus and continues to remind us that Oiler is dead fifteen-something issues later*
Flint and Spike: *Continue to not trust and act hostile to Transformers*
Jazz: *Continues to be pointlessly guilt-ridden and diplomatic to no avail*
Slag: *Does something brash and stupid*
*Requisite sympathetic human character dies*

Status Quo: The issue.

Just a bunch of really stupid character archetypes being really stupid because the plot demands the creation of a conflict over the flimsiest reasons with unconvincing inner dialogue present so we understand why they're stupid. Rum-Maj and Wreck-Gar are the only things left in this series I'm not sick to death of.

This is where all the abandoned characters went to die and I just want this to stop already.

 

I hate idw spike so much.

 

Who doesn’t. Yuck.