I'm not one for conspiracy theories. In this case:

Given the preponderance of slavishly toy-based designs and the focus on characters in SIEGE, I wonder how much input Hasbro has had on the reboot?

Whatever the case, the focus on characters like Bee, Prime, Megatron, Windblade, Prowl, who have been front & center in various media (particularly comics) for such lengthy periods of time, doesn't help the idea of "Bold New Era" either. Particularly, as you note, when they are doing more or less the same things with the characters anyway. *shrugs*

 

A ton. I think Hasbro was about to pull it's license from IDW. My guess Hasbro sees comics to sell toys to kids. I am betting this route is not going work for them. Story is uneven in a lot of spots. The art is loyal to the toy but it makes it look flat and lack luster.

 

The sales are still well higher than the old continuity had been for some time, it's still awhile before one can call it doomed.


It's definitely a slow burn but there is stuff going on- there's both some level of conspiracy happening where we don't know who's doing what but can presume Megatron is setting up the decepticons, learning more about the society and seeing what the mindset is of the peacetime. Now I am very eager to see everything hit the fan, but it's not like this isn't going anywhere.

This is especially unlikely IMO. The prior IDW verse was successful and aimed at adults, while stuff like the RiD comic aimed at kids barely lasted. I think they rely on the cartoons for kids, but view comics as something for adult readers.

Not at all incompatible with relationship stuff- we do have one confirmed couple. I suspect it's just we'll see that kind of thing later.

 

Which RiD comic are you talking about, the one that ran concurrently with MtMtE? Because if you look at their shipping orders, they were nearly identical for nearly all of their run. Or was there a different RiD that I am not aware of?

 

I believe he might refering to the comic book based on the Cartoon Series transformers: Robots in Disguise. The Comic book RID that last longer was renamed Optimus Prime.

 

Came back to this thread because IDWM still isn't a buy for me. Dipped to about $17, wibbly-wobbly to $20 now.

You just described my local shop perfectly. The owner is an asshole, as are the male workers, as well as most of the board/card game customers (?) playing stuff. The owner literally told me one time, "I don't have time to look at back issues, I have a game to moderate". It's a damned comic store! It says so right on the sign! He locks all the Golden Age beater comics up, and I wanted to verify none of the pages were missing (a common problem), especially given the not-cheap (though not horrible) pricing.

I'm not some supernerd that has nothing better to do but play games, so I never fit in with the "comic" book store crowd (quoted because it's been board/card games that's dominated those stores' clientele since the 90s). I just like the stories and artwork, that's really it.

A monopoly that needs to be broken up, but probably won't, doesn't garner headlines.

 

I predict 2020 will be a bad year for IDW in terms of sales.

 

Get woke go broke.

That’s what y’all get for hiring horrible people to make shit no one likes.

 

See the big problem, I think, is less the fact that they try to incorporate their politics into their stories, but more the fact that they do it so poorly. Any since of subtlety, nuance, cleverness, or creativity is seemingly jettisoned in favor of smashing the reader over the head with a particular point of view and then stepping back to await laudatory comments from the twittersphere. While it might make them feel good about themselves, it also makes for really terrible writing, and leads me to the conclusion that many of the authors are either just lazy or not particularly imaginative people.
The result is boring, heavy-handed stories that present caricatures instead of real characters and attempt to pass it all off as "enlightened" prose.

 

I mean, it’d be one thing if the person writing the comics had differing viewpoints. But it’s an entirely different story that they make obvious allusions to modern politics and whatnot. What’s worse is that it most likely results into retcons to fit their narrative. People like to defend this as “it’s always political!” when no one ever points out that it doesn’t justify radical changes or terrible writing.

 

IDW needs TMNT and Transformers to carry the mail. They need 10k copies of each book sent to stores. Plus, have a hot market for trades. Doing partnerships with Ghostbusters is smart. But they just don't have the titles people want to buy. They need to make their own characters. They pay so much for licensing.

 

Of all the comic companies that people lost the most faith from, IDW seems to gotten it the worst. Which is saying something....

 

Nothing to do with it.

Comics are basically just pitch rooms for film and television now. IDW lacks company created content. They don't make money on Transformers, they spend money on the license to do Transformers comics. Transformers was never going to keep them afloat.

 

Not sure how personal politics is influencing the current books. I mean, if it’s there, I’d be interested in understanding what it is. Otherwise it’s just some imaginary boogeyman that doesn’t explain IDW’s current situation.

 

They tried pandering to super woke hollywood. So much that their comics came off and still come off cringy. They're spending a lot of money trying to buy their way into hollywood too. But producing shows costs a lot and they're not getting the revenue to cover expenses. They keep saying they'll return to profitability. I think they're just hoping a super woke hollywood billionaire buys them out before they go belly up.

 

Many of the authors are working this as a second job because it pays incrrrrrrrredibly poorly.  

 

'Pandering' to the politics of the powerful is, of course, practically the opposite of applying your own personal politics. An apt demonstration of the fact that the main criticism levelled at IDW here isn't even internally consistent.

I think it's true that the genuine progressive politics of the writers and editors was an influence on the previous continuity, but it wasn't 'pandering' and there's no evidence it has anything to do with overall poor performance of the company.

Ultimately, none of us here are trying to run a profitable media entity, and the idea that it would be easy to avoid the pitfalls is risible. Staying afloat when you're not already a massive behemothic conglomerate is tough. Trying to do so while retaining some sense of societal responsibility (ie. not simply pandering to the powerful) is even tougher.

 

Eh that’s very possible, but doesn’t affect my statement about being lazy or uncreative.

 

True, I was sharing it mostly to set expectations of output (in that it would be more rare to see this then less), but I totally get where you’re coming from.

 

The stock is now at $6, and I still think it's overpriced.

I read this on a stock analysis site:
Risk Analysis
- Earnings have declined by -79% over past 5 years
- Has less than 1 year of cash
- Currently unprofitable and not forecast to become profitable over the next 3 years

Remember: Marvel and DC are having issues at the comics level. Publishing isn't a large part of the company, but I'm curious if it's the biggest money loser.