I will love the original MTMTE run till the day that I die so I'm always down for more chances for Roberts to write. If it's more like LL over again though, I'm not sure.

 

James Roberts co-wrote Last Stand of the Wreckers, which I consider one of the better Transformers stories in existence. On the other hand, I'm not the biggest fan of MTMTE/LL. I'm not sure if I enjoy LSOTR because of Roberts or Nick Roche (or both of them together).

Roberts seems fine when he's kept in check. He has fun ideas that tend to think outside of the usual Transformers box. I like the concept of MTMTE, it just didn't entirely work for me in execution. But when he's given free reign, I find his work too indulgent and (like everyone else has complained about) it tends to devolve into shipping and whatnot. I feel like this applies to a large amount of storytellers (one could even make the argument that it potentially applies to every storyteller ever). George Lucas, Peter Jackson, even Steven Spielberg. All produced fantastic work, but can become too indulgent and can lose touch with their audience if they don't have someone saying "hey, maybe that idea's not so great".

Do I want James Roberts to write for Transformers again? I wouldn't mind him coming back for another one-shot LSOTR-type project. Especially if he had a co-writer to bounce ideas off of. I have no interest in another MTMTE-type series, or to see the same premise retold in the new continuity. It really all depends on the project and the situation. But I'm not against the idea.

 

I want Roberts to return to write a continuation to the end of IDW1 Lost Light where Rodimus and crew gatecrash the IDW2 continuity.

 

That would be fun to see.

 

I expect it'll happen when they start to feel desperate but if it does happen, they need to wait much later in the continuity.

 

HELL. NO.

Do 'we' have any idea of successful creators/writers that would like to work on a Transformers book/comic?
That could be interesting.
What the hell would a Neil Gaiman or Alan Moore Transformers book be like?!?

 

Definitely need Roberts back. The books have been dreadfully boring since his departure.

 

Loved MTMTE, LL had some really bad issues, but overall I would like to see what James Roberts would do in IDW2.

 

He'll essentially just try to tell Eugenesis over again, but with more Tumblr.


So that'd be a hard "no" from me.

 

Ha ha. Neil Gaiman would write a much more twee version of Roberts' story, with a huge helping of sullen goths (their running mascara is actually oil!) and magical animals.

Alan Moore would have some of the fans on these forums chewing their computer monitors - all his bots would be losers and drug addicts, Prime and Megatron would totally be old lovers, the whole idea of "transforming" would be used as a metaphor for enslavement by the state, etc...

 

I would love Roberts and Furman in a team  

 

I think of writing a lot like gymnastics. You can have an overall fantastic-looking routine, but if it is plagued with a ton of little mistakes, you come away with a lower score. Worse, you can have a phenomenal routine and fail to stick the landing to catastrophic results (just as Samantha Cerio).

To me, Roberts failed to execute the little things well and repeatedly failed to stick the landing.

 

I mean, we're talking about the guy responsible for writing arguably THE best Transformers fiction EVER. Sure its quality level fell off eventually (though unlike many others I always felt like the comic was at least enjoyable, even at its low points), but that doesn't change the fact that he was at the helm when it was at its peak. So OF COURSE it would be great if he wrote for TFs again, as long as it was the right story, the right time, and with the right editor. (I DO feel that the decline of his writing coincided with editorial changes at IDW and an increase in executive meddling from Hasbro)

I think it would be even better if he co-wrote something with Nick Roche.

 

Dude lost steam and readers not even half way through his run. Like, Furman had more shelf life then Roberts.

 

Arguably being the key word here. To be blunt, I have a feeling that Roche and Roberts would not be nearly as good as you'd think.

 

Even if it's "just" arguable, we're objectively talking about one of the best two or three TF writers of all time. OF COURSE he "should" write for TF again, if he has a good idea, and if he has some editorial oversight.

And I know people like to quibble about how responsible he may or may not have been for the stuff with his fucking name on it, or act like "Lost Light" somehow made the stuff he did before that less good... but let's be real here. I'm sure there are lots of writers who could do good TF stories but this is a guy who's already done several of the best TF stories. Most of y'all up here acting like he's garbage couldn't write your way out of a paper bag.

 

Yeah, but Furman has a built-in nostalgic fanbase from 30 years back still jumping on his shit even when its bad, like his last 2 or 3 runs. Likewise, in future comic iterations newer fans will be doing that for Roberts.

 

"arguably". Arguable - You are arguing this. His run was interesting. That may be the kindest thing I can say. I was on a kick for MTMTE during its run, but as it went on, I realized what he was doing....I COULD see the forest for the trees, and I thought that it was despicable. Had he put his....themes, commentary, and allegories in a non-Transformers book, it could be hailed as great, groundbreaking, whatever, but in one of the Transformers universes, I thought it too...pretentious (and other things that we're not allowed to broach on these boards, unfortunately).

That's your (VERY) non-objective opinion. There are others who disagree.

I'll ask again: Do we know of other writers who would like to work on a Transformers book?

 

This is just conjecture on my part but part of me has the sneaking suspicion that James Roberts made the decision to step away from IDW of his own accord possibly even before the sales began to wane.

He was pandering to arguably the most toxic subset of any fanbase: shippers, people who often have an unhealthy fixation on fantasy and don't spend nearly enough time around normies and mostly congregate on Tumblr or Twitter and form little echo chambers. At least once they tried to slander him as 'ableist' and I recall he was pretty upset by this, or at least enough that he made a Twitlonger and announced he'd leave Twitter as a result, which I was in full support of.

Yet he just went back to them and continued pandering despite how they treated him, and I think deep down he knew the kinds of people he was pandering to and had made the conscious decision to split off as soon as he was able to, because dare he slip up or upset the wrong person and they'll try to lash out at him all over again like sharks smelling blood.

This may be more than a little tinfoil hat-tier, but honestly if I were in his position I wouldn't blame him for wanting to distance himself from those lunatics. I spent (probably too much) time on Tumblr to observe the discourse and conversations within the MTMTE / LL sphere and it often got pretty toxic, sometimes hilarious and occasionally unnerving.

 

'ableist'??!

...the hell does that mean?