Open Letter To Retail Partners from IDW President, Publisher, and Chief Creative Officer Chris Ryall

Discussion in 'Transformers Comics Discussion' started by AzT, Dec 25, 2018.

  1. Rodimus Prime

    Rodimus Prime Sola Gratia, Sola Fide TFW2005 Supporter

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    I don't think that there was a single moment that everyone can point to, nor is it entirely about IDW, but their cult - like defenders who screech whenever you make a complaint. However, IDW has definitely become a base-breaker for many fans.

    Nottu dissu shittu again.

    When people complain about politics in comic books, they are referring to the heavy handed, allegorical nature of modern comic books. X-Men definitely had parallels to being a minority in society, but it was not a 1 to 1 ratio of being black or brown, or LGBT or anything that direct. Any time you were the one on the outside looking in, you could sympathize with the X-Men, which is why it was so popular.

    The comic book industry itself is dying, and so we are getting crappy, expensive products as a result. I really wish Hasbro would see the writing on the wall and find a decent manga writer already.
     
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  2. ProtectronPrime

    ProtectronPrime Subjectively Objective

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    Yeah. I meant that they were kids as in mentally children, not physically children. I thought I made it kinda clear in my posts that IDW didn't do "kid" robots because Transformer growth doesn't follow human-like progression. They grow into an adult form very fast, but their brains are childlike for a lot longer.

    IDW gave us what "infant" Transformers look like:

    [​IMG]

    They look like creepy, largely featureless Silent Hill robots.
     
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  3. SMOG

    SMOG Vocabchampion ArgueTitan

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    Yeah, we're on the same page. I hadn't really contextualized you comment with your earlier posts. Nice example (where's that from again?). Of course, I guess we still need to contextualize the appearance of those "protoforms" with Livio's generally simplified art style :lol 

    zmog
     
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  4. ProtectronPrime

    ProtectronPrime Subjectively Objective

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    The wiki. "G2" Sideswipe's got his own page. I thought it was a solid continuity nod, especially given that IDW provided for MTOs going from "birth" to "battle" in a matter of minutes.
     
  5. SMOG

    SMOG Vocabchampion ArgueTitan

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    While I agree with you that comic books can (and should) be political, and that most cultural production is political in one sense or another, I think you might be overemphasizing the political value of those old G1 examples (which seem relatively cherry-picked).

    It raises the question of whether repackaging received wisdom in a thoroughly uncontroversial format can truly be said to be making a political statement of any kind. Politics are usually charged... otherwise, it's just paraphrasing the status quo in increasingly simplified, predictable forms. Which is not to say that the messages are bad, just that context for that G1 messaging was mostly "safe" and benign and rocked zero boats. That's not the kinds of politics people are talking about.

    And again, I'm not saying we -shouldn't- see paradigm-shifting social awareness work occurring in the pages of space robot comic books... just that IDW often wielded their ideological tools with too little panache or sophistication.

    This of course goes back to the question of whether it's the social messaging that was at fault for alienating a big chunk of their fandom, or whether the writing had just become generally weak.

    zmog
     
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  6. SMOG

    SMOG Vocabchampion ArgueTitan

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    Oh, I just meant that particular excerpt. I know it's one of the Ramondelli-illustrated books, but I couldn't remember which one.

    zmog
     
  7. SouthtownKid

    SouthtownKid Headmaster

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    Uh, every month? People love to overplay the critical reaction to MTMtE. A few critics said nice things a couple times. There are critics saying nice things about one X-book or another on pretty much a weekly basis. And well received? There are X-books selling much more than 5k copies on pretty much a weekly basis as well.

    I enjoyed MTMtE/LL more than any X-book I can think of for years, but let's live in the real world for a minute. You can say what you posted here and almost get away with it because we're in a Transformers echo chamber. But in the larger world outside a TF fansite, your post doesn't pass the laugh test.
     
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  8. Nelomaxwell

    Nelomaxwell I gave you power

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    Yeah. X-men sit on the comic books mount Rushmore. Their regular sales are what TF books do in a great month.
     
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  9. ProtectronPrime

    ProtectronPrime Subjectively Objective

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  10. Nelomaxwell

    Nelomaxwell I gave you power

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    This shit had me rolling.
     
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  11. GoLion

    GoLion Banned

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    Hey, can anyone point me in the direction of digital sales? I keep trying to find those numbers, but I keep coming up empty. I've seen a number of posts claiming that the digital sales were this ENORMOUS factor for LL.
     
  12. ProtectronPrime

    ProtectronPrime Subjectively Objective

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    They see you rollin'. They hatin'.
     
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  13. NanakoPreame

    NanakoPreame Well-Known Member

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    Well, relativity and all that, you know.
     
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  14. osenator

    osenator Well-Known Member

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    Here is just a quick reference of many you can easily find of IDWs problems.
     
  15. osenator

    osenator Well-Known Member

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    Another


    But remember, I am the evil guy for being straight, not wanting to read tfs comics without forced politics and personal views, like the thousands of people commenting and liking thoses videos.
     
    Last edited: Jan 12, 2019
  16. Nelomaxwell

    Nelomaxwell I gave you power

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    Sounds like all comics fans everywhere. They tend to whine.
     
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  17. ProtectronPrime

    ProtectronPrime Subjectively Objective

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    Seriously. Can't have anyone telling you the way you like your fantasy world is wrong.
     
  18. Nelomaxwell

    Nelomaxwell I gave you power

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    They also seem extremely resistant to change.
     
  19. Probe

    Probe Well-Known Member

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    Amazon has never released sales numbers for comixology and likely never will, but MTMTE and LL frequently showed up in the weekly "top ten best sellers" tab on the comixology store, occasionally even being above some mainstays such as Batman. Amazon also does not keep records to these, but there are screenshots to be found such as this one:
    [​IMG]
     
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  20. Nelomaxwell

    Nelomaxwell I gave you power

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    How could they be doing that well? AMS sells like crazy. How are they above JL?