So psyched. It’s going to be a long five or six months.

 

I got the last five issues finally after an extended absence, and I gotta say, this is a nice cutaway. Let’s see where this goes. A talented author can use a break like this to make something more. Don’t know if this guy can pull it off...

 

The way Nautica finds the real identity of the Thraal Junior Advisor is somewhat similar to the way Connie finds the identity of the Soviet cultural counselor named Poliakov in John le Carré's novel: "Tinker，Tailor，Soldier，Spy". Brian and John are both English writers. So...

 

What's up with all these artsy fartsy comic story titles lately? "The Change In Your Nature", "Cracks Beneath Your Feet"... did Ruckley travel back in time and hide behind the dumpster of the studio where Kansas drafted all their songs?

Remember when these stories had metal/hard rock sounding titles, like "Bridge to Nowhere", "Primal Scream", and "The New Order"? Now excuse me for a moment while I try to remember where I left my false teeth and cane so I can chase these damn kids off my lawn.

 

LOL to be fair, “Bridge to Nowhere” actually *does* sound like it came out of Kansas’ back catalogue.  

 

Well, looking on Brain Ruckley's tweets, here's a few more information I've found for upcoming issues:

• Megatron and Starscream are about to have a serious conversation in issue #16
• Yellow is his favourite colour, so there's a chance of Sunstreaker appearing later in the title
• Seawatch may eventually come to the title
• He's accept the pacing might be slow and has taken some blame, but he said it's changing "step by step"
• Glyph might appear in the future.

Sounds interesting, and now that Galaxies is the character driven series, this one can continue to be the world driven, which makes me excited.

 

I see. Well then:

• Oh good. I was worried that they were going to have a talk using puppets and interpretive dance.
• It could be Hubcap. You don't know. You don't know ANYTHING.
• ...oh good. Seawatch. Thank God. And here I was worried that someone lame might appear, like Punch/Counterpunch, Roadgrabber, Broadside, Runamuck/about or literally anybody else.
• Actually you know what? Seriously, sounds like he's paying attention. That's actually pleasant to here.
• Another thing that lends itself to non-snarkiness. That really suggests she's getting a toy, which is odd because they've kinda phased out legends scale vehicles and gave us the Battlemasters. Glyph has traditionally been a Bee repaint, so who's willing to guess if they'll upgrade her to a Deluxe and that we'll see a deluxe-scale bee mold at some point?

 

This was a nice, chunky issue with some great world building. Really felt the G1 Season 3 vibes here (Quintesson Journal?). Some solid philosophical and introspective moments too. More like this please. Looking forward to how the expulsion of organics from Cybertron is handled.

 

I just read issues 6-12 in one go since reading issue by issue was so boring.

Less of a statement on this issue in particular but this version of Optimus/Orion is, hands down, the most boring and one dimensional version ever. Even IDW1 Orion/Optimus, who was utterly forgettable and a weak character, wasn't this bad.

I don't understand how IDW is so consistently incapable of making him entertaining in any meaningful way. He's the flagship character, the icon of the franchise, but just a total dud on the pages.

 

Optimus Prime is like Superman... it's REALLY easy to make him boring and relatively difficult to make him compelling.

That said, this look at his early in his career shows him being kind of indecisive and wishy-washy... I'd imagine that will change, A LOT, once things really start to pop off

 

Good response. Agreed 100%. I don’t think he’s the most interesting character, period, but they absolutely need to have room for him to grow or it’s pointless.

 

I’m most excited for issue 15 (I think?). One of his tweets said that’ll be a Megs-focused issue and we’ll finally get his backstory. legitimately interested to see where he comes from in this continuity. Maybe it will explain some of his current behavior.

Still waiting for some real Orion Pax content though.seemed like Issue 6 was more focused on Megs than him even though it was his spotlight.

 

I don't agree. At all.

There's no reason he can't crack a joke, have a hobby, go on a date, have a drink... et cetera.

From go in this run he's the same boring stoic, world weary, tired Optimus. He has absolutely no depth whatsoever. I can predict everything he says and does with ease.

He doesn't have any conviction or enthusiasm for anything. This version of Optimus hasn't even given the reader a single reason for why he wants to be alive. It's sad.

 

I don’t mind Megatron taking the spotlight for the time being. I’m interested in seeing how Megatron ultimately decides to be a Decepticon, especially given the situation in Cybertron.

Orion Pax has been trying to have a somewhat neutral stance and isn’t very expressive (at the moment), but this will likely change once the war kicks off, and when becomes Optimus Prime.

I’m wondering how he’ll receive the Matrix of Leadership when that transformation for that character eventually happens.

 

Amen! I’ve been disappointed with his portrayal so far. pre war Orion Pax should be interesting but no. He doesn’t have any sort of personality and he wasn’t even the focus in his own spotlight if you look at it. Do we have to go back to before the Threefold Spark war to see something interesting from him or what?

 

just finished #12 ....
and i really just want an accurate Nautica figure

 

Funny you should say that. G1 Optimus was only known for cracking jokes and not the rest of that.

The question you should be asking is "How far can you deviate from Optimus Prime before he's no longer recognizably Optimus Prime?" The fact that you could predict his lines ahead of times already demonstrates that you already have an idea of what Optimus Prime should be like and then remember that not everyone agrees with what they think Optimus Prime should be like.

It's different with Megatron because Megatron is no longer accepted as a Saturday Morning Cartoon Villain type and the changes that came from distancing him from that are more readily acceptable. The same is not true about Optimus Prime. Movie Optimus Prime is seen as a bloodthirsty warrior who takes heads for trophies and that is largely not acceptable or 'recognizably Optimus'.

That Optimus Prime is constantly facing this sort of characterization problem is not new and unlikely will change drastically anytime soon.

 

Good post, and to tie into what’s being said in the 2020 Generations thread, the other factor is that Hasbro knows it wants to sell a minimum of one Prime per year. Sometimes more. It’s terrified to mess with Prime, and really has been since TFTM.

I don’t really mind it. It gives other characters a chance to shine. I just sort of wish they’d kill him again so we can see the dynamics without him.

 

See the problem I have with this version is that he’s Orion Pax. It’s pre war Optimus, so he can (and should) be different than the stoic leader we’ll eventually see, imo. He should grow into the role and change as a character. But this Orion just looks and sounds exactly like your typical OP.

 

Wonder if the Earth toys mean that this series is eventually Earth-bound.