You cant please everyone all the time.

Its setting the scene. I really feel the pieces are being moved into place and something big is going to happen.

 

After reading through all eight issues again, I think I’ve pinpointed my main problem. Forget the mediocre mystery/politics, slow moving story, excessive exposition, awkward scenes, and lack of exploration, I could easily look past that stuff if it wasn’t for one thing: the characters barely have any personality. They’re BORING.

There’s barely any humor or color to their conversations or lives. I don’t need it to be James Roberts level, but give us something. Orion Pax is a wet blanket in every scene he’s in. Megatron is a cranky exposition machine. Prowl barely talks, Chromia and Windblade just spew exposition, Bumblebee is really toned down and serious.

So far, young Megatron from the flashback is the only time I thought a character was actually having a bit of fun.

Why do Transformers comics have to take themselves so seriously? Damn.

 

Transformers in general has this problem nowadays. It takes itself way too seriously.
And this is VERY subjective but I feel there's no real character in this franchise I can call a showstopper in ANY continuity. What I mean by this is that there isn't really any character I can point at in any continuity and say they completely steal the show whenever they're on page or on screen, yet I can say that about pretty much every other franchise i'm into, and let me tell you, some of these franchises are very far from being masterpieces but at least they can have me hyping to hell and back internally just by having a single character show up to talk.

 

You've nailed it on the head, for me at least. The world building is top notch(not gonna lie) but that means very little if the characters who inhabit it are dull. I'm struggling to engage with any of these characters because we're given nothing to work with. The only one I cared about was Rubble, he was sweet, but now he's gone.

 

I think it's a balancing act that's tough for a lot of writers. The comics benefit from having a more serious tone because it allows it to tell stories that are more engaging to a wider audience, but at the same time, it can be detrimental if the tone is too bleak and there's no sense of *adventure. I think Doctor Who might be a good comparison: a franchise that isn't afraid to tread serious grounds, but should never lose its core of optimism and fun.

*Because of closely the two are perceived, I want to make it clear that I don't mean adventure as in action, but just adventure as it can applied broadly.

Personally, I'd also prefer that the comics have a bigger cast and more mature storytelling because the cartoons seems to be geared more towards the younger generation these days, which is fine and how it should be but it does mean it'd be nice to have something that is meant for an older audience (teens to adults, basically).

 

Yes exactly, a serious tone is fine and offers more opportunity for engaging storytelling but a story about alien robots that turn into cars should never feel bleak. I feel last continuity threaded way too deep into the bleak end of the spectrum and i'm slightly concerned this one will as well.

 

we are at the end of issue 8 and this book is still such a lame duck. there could be something here maybe. but the writers are all over the place with pacing and whoever is in charge of editing this seems to just be out to lunch.

i read the ghostbusters comic and that thing was exciting from front to back. they have managed to move their story along nicely from cybertron to earth with great introductions galore in one book.

yet this dumpter fire still hasn't even finished introducing their extremely boring cast of randoms.

 

I think a lot of the "seriousness" comes from the perception that in order to be taken seriously as a legitimate piece of work, nobody can smile. It's the same attitude that plagued a good part of Transformers Prime - Adult/Grown-up = Serious. It may also be a move on the part of the author to differentiate himself from Roberts and swing hard in the other direction so all his characters aren't vehicles for punchlines.

Really? I realize that's your opinion, but I felt early MTMTE had a number of show-stealers. Before everyone took on his personality, Swerve was a super-fun character for me. Rodimus was also a fan favorite. I didn't like him myself but many people really felt he defined that book in a number of ways. In addition, Shockwave, Blaster and Grimlock are largely considered to be big deals in the G1 Marvel continuity, and so on and so forth. So I guess the question is: what are you looking for in a character that makes them a "showstopper" that characters that many others feel qualify for that position?

 

"No personality." Listen, just because characters aren't going on paragraph long tangents about their "quirks" and hobbies doesn't mean they have no personality.

 

Yeah, totally true, but I think @TeamOptimus's statement isn't necessarily lacking merit. The book does read on the dry side and I wasn't getting a whole lot from the characters myself. He also did point out that he wasn't looking for Roberts-level quirkiness.

I think a big part of the "lack of personality" perception might be the kinda bland-ish art. Nobody walks around saying fun, exciting things all the time but you can usually tell what a person is like by the way they carry themselves and animate when they walk and talk. The art here is pretty wooden which probably doesn't help things.

 

I still think there are a lot of people reading this book and comparing it to MTMtE, LL, RiD, and ex-RiD. Granted, everything new gets compared to whatever came before it, but this book seems to be getting it hard.

Personally, I like it. I like that some characters are conflicted, and I like that Prowl is not the LSotW Prowl. I’m glad for that. I LOVE that Bumblebee is conflicted and lashing out in his own ways. I would like to see OP and Elita-1 fall back in together, but that’s the fan in me holding up G1. I like Megatron in this iteration, and want to see how far he will go - how far he will fall, and I want to see how much OP will rise. I hope we have GOOD Primes too, but that’s because I like having truly noble, good characters, not just a bunch of morally gray characters.

Also, bringing in Froid like they did - genius. Absolutely genius. I’d even be okay if they carried forward Rung and made him Primus if they did it that well.

 

I think MTMTE had lovely characters in it's first season but even then there was never a time where I was like "Wow! I can't wait for more X character issues!" . They were well-written but there wasn't a character I would look forward to over anyone else if that makes sense? It's funny that you bring up Marvel Grimlock because I think he's the closest thing I can think of in terms of being a "showstopper" for me, I especially loved him in Earthforce. If I had to define what I want out of a "showstopper" character, it would be someone who always manages to surprise me without having to break character or deus ex machina-ing their way through things. That and I also have a tendency to gravitate towards arrogant characters but then there are very few arrogant characters who can actually put their money where their mouth is while still being fun- closest thing to that is, again, Grimlock and possibly Overlord but Overlord was used scarcely in IDW (a good decison) and Grimlock hasn't been a leading lad since Marvel (a bad decision in my opinion, since he's one of the only Autobots you can really go crazy writing).

 

Simon Furman once said Grimlock was the single, most developed character in the Marvel G1 (US and UK) continuity. SF basically took the character and ran with him, to the point his whole arc spanned his role as a usurper to legitimate leader to hero and legend. For me, Grimlock is one of the two most important Autobots - the other being Optimus Prime, for obvious reasons. It’s sad he’s so underused in IDW. The whole MTMtE/LL thing with him was awful, I felt. Ditto for how they ended Overlord.

 

Ok, I get that. Sounds like you enjoy the standout bold type, like 80's/90's Wolverine, Conan, Sgt. Fury, etc. I can dig it. Personally, I don't really like arrogant characters overmuch largely because I don't specifically relate to them. That said, I suppose the closest thing to that in IDW was likely Prowl or Rodimus. I wouldn't characterize Prowl as "fun" though, and I feel like he got kinda cringeworthy near the end. Rodimus kinda flopped around and was frequently just a clown that relied way too much on the competence of others or sheer luck based on what your criteria is.

It's always been my perception that IDW's run was all about the ensemble cast even when the "main" book transitioned over to Optimus Prime. The overarching concept wasn't really geared towards the "stalwart, ever-right hero saves the day with a quip". It was more "everyone is just a varying kind of failure", some moreso than others, some for good reasons and some because of plot contrivance. My point is, there's a possibility you're not going to find your breed of "showstopper" anytime soon because that's not what IDW's going for tonally - a bit like going to McDonald's and looking for the artisanal beet salad. Heck, IDW even poked fun at the idea by revamping Thunderclash and making him Chuck Norris ridiculous - and then having do basically nothing. Same on the villain side with Star Saber.

I think many modern writers that fancy themselves purveyors of "mature" storytelling shy away from the type of character you might be looking for. This is especially since arrogance is generally viewed as a vice that garners punishment rather than a virtue. I don't think it's always warranted or correct when done well, but it's generally hard to do that sort of character without making it look bad when you're intent on providing a fairly complex world.

Personally, Marvel G1 Grimlock got more development just by sheer force of the fact that he was there so much, and likely because he was sort of a big sales point. Flying Robot Barbarian Fire Breathing Tyrannosaurus for a kid in the 80's was practically the closest thing we ever got to The Best Imaginary Character Ever.

I'm not a Grimlock fan, but yes, they kinda borked the Dinobots as a whole throughout IDW's run which seemed kinda dumb to me. Regardless of whether I liked them, nearly EVERYONE loves Dinobots and they're a huge sales point. If you ask me, IDW flushed money down the toilet when they put the Dinobots on a bus out to the sticks in Cybertron and made Grimlock the Giant Robot version of Billy Madison.

 

So, what is the over under on the war breaking out in Issue 12? I probably have enjoyed the books more than most, but I still wish that either we were moving along faster, or if it keps=t the same pace but we got more time just hanging around Cybertron and meeting characters and seeing fun scifi alien lifestyles.

 

I don't see it happening in issue 12. My wild guess: The mystery of what's going on will be revealed in issue 12 with some plot threads being tied together. The catalyst for the war will likely accelerate in the beginning of the next story arc, and the war's first campaign will start in the latter half of the second arc.

 

We almost got it with IDW Grimlock in Maximum Dinobots. How he was depicted there is the exact character I wanted but then he got sent to Garrus-9 and did absolutely nothing after that for the entire continuity. Unless, you can count being an accessory to the Scavengers for their development "doing something". There are three things that the IDW continuity did that actually gets me riled up and their handling of Grimlock is one of those things. Although I will say this, the Dinobots shined individually because of this...Except all their actions were featured in a mini series that a lot of the fanbase ignored.

 

Yes, they were largely ignored, unless you went and found those miniseries. Grimlock, for all the fuss made over Point One Percenters, was also shunted to the side.

What were the other two things?

 

Uh.
Uhm.

Respectfully speaking, I don't know how well read you are, but this is not good world building or story telling.
It's inept.
It's pure Marxist, wanker, fanfic.
It's a bloody afront to the franchise and I'm astounded Hasbro hasn't pulled the license.

Generally speaking, tho - I agree completely with you about character.

 

Fair enough, you're allowed to disagree with me but I do think we have an interesting world here. For the first time we have a Cybertron that's inhabited by mechanical and organic races that(seemingly) live in peace and have good relations with the wider galactic community. There are Boroughsfor different races, presumably each with their own cultures, languages, traditions, and seedy underbelly if the drug dealing alien is anything to go by. Also, for the first time, we have a Primus who's been shunned by the majority, with his remaining followers being hated. Then you've got the Nominus Edict and the War of the Threefold Spark. There is interesting to me, it makes me want to know more about the history of the world.

Little titbits are seeded through out the book and I've liked what I've seen. There is potential here. The problem is that no one is doing anything with it. I was excited when I heard there was going to be a murder to solve, that we'd get to see Law and Order: Cybertron or something similar because a criminal investigation on an alien planet sounds cool! But they did nothing with it. The slow pacing doesn't help either but I'm sticking around though because this is just the opening arc and things can improve.

And an affront? That seems a bit dramatic considering some of the things we've had in the past. Right now, I'd say this worst this series is is boring.