That’s my most anticipated part of the new IDW! The writer sounded really passionate about Ultra Magnus at the SDCC panel and I’m hoping it’ll be a great story.
Maybe it’s just part of me still wanting Shockwave as a major villain and Megatron growing into his leader role, but does anyone think Shockwave isn’t going to bow down this easily? I wonder if THIS is going to be part of Megatron’s ultimate mistake. Maybe Shockwave got his pride wounded and will do anything to retaliate/hurt Megatron’s cause, including exposing the Ascenticons or outright embracing violent attacks to accelerate the uprising. Not so much attacking Megatron himself, but undermining him in devastating ways. remember back in issue 11 when Shockwave said “we’ll see whose methods win out in the end”? I think this entire interaction is going to backfire on Megatron.
Either that, or Shockwave has already screwed things up so badly (OR, alternatively, so skillfully set things into motion) that there's no CHOICE but for his methods to win out in the end. I mean, look at what Megatron just did to him and what that represents... He lost the battle but he's basically won the war. I don't think this is the end of it though. He did get beat down while relatively underpowered.
I am a little late on this one. I think I liked the issue. I liked that Megatron had to assert himself. I liked the art, generally... And I am liking the series generally as well. Also liked seeing Warpath and Flak... I want more of those types of characters! The stuff I don't really care for: - We have a brand new story. We can do anything with it. Does Megatron have to be a miner that fought in the Gladiator pits? We've done that. Gladiator pits don't fit in this version of cybertron. - IMHO I hate Unicron. Always have. He/it is stupid. Not a fan of him being the undertones. I am hoping the ultimate source of the Decepticons is something else. - I don't get shockwave. Someone else on the boards here wrote that he is being a typical terrorist guy. That is true. I cannot detect any real character notes here. That actually goes for all of the Decepticons at this point, save for Soundwave and Starscream. - What if, just once, Prime wasn't a mopey weakling that gets yelled at by all of his subordinates? Maybe I am just reading into this, but all he has done so far is be reactionary, ineffective and have people get mad at him. I would really enjoy reading an issue where he is inspirational, and correct, and chooses the hard thing for the right reason, inspiring others to join him. I am holding out hope that this will still happen, but so far I don't see it. Maybe he needs an issue like Megatron got in this one. OK enough griping. I understand the gravity of the coming war, and that is a good thing for the comic. There are stakes, and there are consequences to previous sins. I like that too. On the whole I am giving this series a passing grade, with hopes that it continues on the good beats and shakes loose some of the ghosts of transformers past.
Luckily, as others have pointed out on this thread, his mopping and wimpy disposition seems completely intentional. Even Megatron is aware and points out in this issue that Orion is spineless with little willpower to back his conviction. If I had to guess, I would think that Brian is establishing Orion as a wimp in the beginning who becomes a more confident leader once he actually becomes Optimus Prime. At least that's what I'm hoping since last continuity did the opposite- Orion was bold and strong; Optimus was always tired and lacking in willpower.
Think Exarchon got into a fascination with combining? Seems like making gestalts seems to be the perpetual goal sometimes....
except this book is a commercial for current toys, only dipping to older toys when there is not a current one available (jhiaxus, sixshot etc)
dreamwave had optronix use the same design as optimus prime, idw had orion pax also use the same design as optimus prime (which ironically was the same design as optronix) and they had him use a different design briefly when he was rebuilt by senator shockwave. orion pax having the same body as optimus prime isnt out of the ordinary
I would still have used PotP Orion Pax then switched to Cybertron Upgrade Optimus Prime or Voyager Optimus Prime when Orion Pax becomes Optimus Prime. When he does, there’s not going to be much fanfare with his appearance I would imagine.
I think part of the problem for storytellers is that if Prime is portrayed as competent and in control, it crowds out other characters' individual decisions. Escalation and Devastation suffered from this - Prowl's squad were relegated largely to orders-takers from the moment Prime arrived on Earth.
I'm not a big fan of the moribund Prime either. I think there's been this movement towards making him kind of ineffectual and mopey to make him more understandable or relate-able which I think is kind of cheeseball and just as bad as the goofy John Wayne antics of G1 Prime, except way less entertaining. I think there could be a happy medium. He could easily be written as "Action Picard", where he takes counsel from his officers but is still able to take agency in any subsequent plans. His successes and failures could still ride on both the information he receives from his subordinates as what he chooses to do with this information without making him Marvin the Paranoid Android's cousin. If you ask me, making him into a black hole of depression is more of a tonal or thematic thing as opposed to something that strips other characters of potential plot agency. You can't have "grave seriousness" of "a world in crisis" if he appears control of the situation.
Why not flip the script and make Optimus initially the relatively radical one. He insists on inflexibility, unilateral action, or even limited controlled violence at first to achieve his goals. In turn you could even have Megatron be the one counseling moderation, arguing that such action would never produce results. Then some big event or tragedy occurs that was inspired by Prime, after which he realizes that his unwillingness to concede or compromise resulted in the death and suffering of others. From this, Prime becomes the more moderate, caring, just figure that we know and love who is trying to atone for his past. The twist is that the horrible event resulted in whatever it is that Prime originally wanted. This sways Megatron into believing that indeed the ends can justify the means, setting the two up for the inevitable clash that we all expect.
That'd also be a good departure from Graven Prime, Godhead Prime, Depression Prime, or Sensitive New Age Prime. I think the idea is that there should be at least some return to what made Prime such a fun character in the 80's - confidence, with the capacity to be inspiring and bold without being overbearing or percussive. Most post 90's interpretations of any kind of "leader" Prime have had him make what are ostensibly inspiring speeches. The only thing that's given them any gravitas is Mr. Cullen and his golden voice. Without him, most of those speeches would be nothing more than purple prose and hogwash in my opinion. Even the (arguably famous) "How do we get rid of you?" speech Prime made in IDW1 isn't anything but a reiteration of Tony Benn's Five Questions of Democracy. One of the things that's stuck with me regarding Cullen's Prime is that he based the voice off of his brother, an actual decorated Vietnam vet, who urged him to portray Prime as someone that's "strong enough to be gentle." I miss that. Speeches and badass action are great - I love both those things. But what made Prime such an essential figure to me after all these years was that Prime wasn't always some immortal warrior or a faucet that spouted erudite speeches - sometimes he got in a short, thoughtful phrase: "Just remember - there's a thin line between being a hero and being a memory." That's the stuff of Prime I'd like to see make a return. But that's just me.
I think one of the long-running challenges that writers wrestle with regarding Optimus, is that balance between the DC and Marvel approach. By which I mean the classic approaches both companies have taken to their heroes, with DC’s archetypical heroes being paragon’s of virtue, who always know the right thing to do. They have physical weaknesses rather than personality flaws. Marvel subverted that approach in the 60s and 70s with their heroes being much more prone to self doubt, arrogance, anger and even alcoholism. The Marvel way gives you richer, more relatable stories, whereas the DC way gives you aspirational heroes to look up to. Neither is right or wrong - they’re just different approaches (and both companies have evolved away from these simplistic, binary descriptions over the years). I’d say that Marvel comics Prime, Beast Wars Primal and Animated’s Prime all followed the Marvel approach to some degree, while the G1 Cartoon, live action movies and RiD tended toward the DC approach. Personally, I like a mix of the two, but it’s not an easy thing to balance. Prime needs to be heroic, but not so heroic that he crowds out the wider ensemble of characters - and he needs to be flawed, but not so much that it becomes constantly debilitating. It’s amazing how a line you haven’t heard in years suddenly comes back and hits you like a punch in the emotions! I can hear Cullen saying it so clearly. That line about being strong enough to be gentle is perfect. Oh, and back on topic - I really enjoyed this issue. The Megatron / Shockwave felt a bit like a reverse of their showdown in issue 6 of the original Marvel comic, where Shockwave put Megs in his place. The slow pace is now paying off, and the sense of escalation and danger is palpable.
I agree 100% with this. I'm not a big fan of Senator Orion. I prefer the Orion/Optimus that worked his way up from the ground up. They could have easily shown him having multiple jobs moving from one stage of life to the other. Start him off as a dock worker that gets into Megatron's teachings, then have him become an archivist who eventually meets Megatron and befriends him and Megatron uses him for his own purposes. Eventually he becomes a cop because he thinks he can help Megatron in that way, but he doesn't realize that Megatron really WAS as evil as they were saying (could even have him ask Megatron about the terrorist attacks, and he says something like "of course they say that, the powerful always manipulate facts in their favor", never answering his question in any way). It would play on Orion's original origins as a naive blue collar bot with high ideals and good intentions, who eventually gets betrayed by the person who he looked up to the most.
