Awesome covers, especially that Roche cover.

 

So it sounds like there are multiple plotlines running through the books, that presumably will start to converge once the war starts to come together.

 

Sounds like a story worthy of Transformers to me.

 

I’m dying to know what Optimus will be in this one. An average citizen? A soldier? A librarian again? March can’t come soon enough.

 

The bit about Megatron assembling a security force sounds like instead of the Decepticons rising up against oppression. This time, they ARE the oppressors.

 

Yeah, that’s exactly what I was thinking, too. Maybe Megatron is obsessed with keeping things peaceful after the murder because he doesn’t want to accept that there’s violence in the utopia he’s known for so long, and it gets out of hand. I could get behind that. We need SOMETHING new.

 

I just hope it's not going to turn out the Decepticons are mustache-twirling black-and-white villains who are evil because "mwahaha we're just evil!" That's something I loved about the previous IDW- that the Cons (and Bots) were shades of gray. You could understand why the Cons rose up, even if they did then go overboard and become the evil they had initially risen up to fight. If it's blanket "Bots are good and Cons are evil, period" I'll get bored super fast.

 

Missing Scientist? Maybe we'll see Jetfire, Wheeljack or Ratchet! I doubt it'll be Shockwave (I expect him to be part of Megatron's new security force).

 

100% agree. It makes for a much stronger narrative when there’s complexity to the different sides (like real life). One dimensional villainy is one of my least favorite things in books, movies, and comics. It puts me to sleep when villains are just evil for the sake of being evil. Megatron and the Decepticons can still be formidable while having legit motivations. Something that makes you think while you’re reading.

My favorite type of villains are the ones who slowly descend. I’d love it if we get a truly heroic, altruistic Megatron at the beginning and it spends a lot of time in this peaceful pre-War, chronical his tragic corruption that eventually starts the war. And even then, I want to see him make interesting points and be dangerous, but not OTT evil and genocidal.

Same with Optimus. He can be heroic, but maybe a bit flawed or set in his ways. (But please no Murder Prime or jerk Prime. I still want him to be a kind leader).

 

Agreed! That would be an interesting -watching Megatron (or the Cons) slowly lose his way. Also agreed about Prime. I like morally gray Autobots as well as Cons, but Optimus Prime just doesn't work for me unless he is truly a noble leader. Flawed is fine, if he's perfect that gets as boring as purely evil villains, but he should truly be trying to do the right and noble thing, even if he sometimes fails at it. In fact I'd welcome a well-written "white hat". It's hard to get right, but I think it's a fascinating and worthy type of character when it IS written right.

 

Ehhh... I agree and disagree.
On one end being too self aware that you try soooooo hard to avoid being a cliché that you end up being one is partly what ruined the initial run. Also, I don't like TOO much politics and theology mixed into it because it elevates the narrative to a level that can't sustain itself, which is why sometimes simplicity is best.
Then again, even back in the 80's I subscribed more to the Quintession origins than Primus. If only because the idea of machines growing an identity and intellect and rebelling against their masters makes a lot more sense in terms of narrative when it comes to believing how an entire race could be at war for millions of years without being able to reach some sort of impasse or realization that this is just asinine. But if you consider the idea that the Autobots use to be Consumer Goods and the Cons Military Hardware it makes perfect sense why no matter how far they evolve they still cant escape their core programing.
That struggle right there is more fascinating to me than a convoluted religion based on gods of chaos and order and all the bullshit that ensues. Not to mention the never ending politics and societal explorations brought a storyline about warring alien robots to a screeching halt. I hope IDW finds a team that can find a good enough balance of elements that'll make for a fun, often ridiculous read without having to take itself so seriously that it ends up polarizing and off-putting.

Kinda like Transformers: Prime which experimented with elements from all generations while still being true to it's roots without stopping it from being it's own thing.

 

When does #1 come out?

 

Oh yeah, I wasn’t even thinking of anything that deep or complicated, tbh. More along the lines of Megatron fighting for an invisible, downtrodden part of a seemingly perfect society or something (or like you said, they grow an identity and want to be more individualistic?). I always love a good robot uprising story.

Imo, I’m fine with the classic pure good vs pure evil thing in TV shows. Like, I’m never going to complain about Cyberverse Decepticons being complex enough, but I think they can naturally get away with so much more world-building in comics. This is going to be coming out twice a month for however long, so I’d like something interesting to the conflict.

 

Yeah, I don’t envy the people who have to write Optimus. He reminds me of characters like Superman and Captain America. They can be hard to write and even considered boring or too good, but with the right among of nuance, they’re amazing and complicated people.

 

March, I believe.

 

Nice, I'll keep that in mind.

 

I'm starting to think that

Spoiler

it is shockwave. Or at least the scientist that would become Shockwave. And he fakes his death to become Shockwave and to start the pieces in motion to ignite the war.

But I really don't know what IDW is doing on the comics. But I am getting some massive Altered Carbon style story nods from theses descriptions and another property I can't remember the name of that did something similar too. Marvel's Civil war initially alluded to something like that too. Has a kind of DC's Watchmen vibe too.

The meme nature of the zeitgeist does often mean certain things do get repeated as universal truths too. And that's one of political intrigue transformers hasn't done yet, and also would require a reboot to do.

 

If I purchase issue number 1, will it be worth anything substantial in say 10 years? Physical comics in my area seem archaic, everything is mostly digital, physical media is pretty much dead

 

I want a poster of that Prime opening the doors pic. 

It speaks so many possibilities without knowing it\'s context.