I really like the look of him, but the main problem with the Cyberverse deluxes is that the majority were characters which had bigger, better and more detailed toys in the Generations lines. If they'd done, say, Shadow Striker, Alpha Strike, Widewheel or whoever then I'd be more interested. Not even a Windblade.

 

It's in bloody good nick for £7 @John Burrows  

 

I got my theories as to why but it’s such a shame. I found LL such an underwhelming conclusion to one of the best transformers stories ever told. I think there were definitely creative differences. All major events had crossovers yet in the biggest major event , Unicron, the two stories maintained their separate branches.


I love fossilizers


Forgive the dark picture but I think it’s absurd how good these guys look together. For me , visually , cyclonus is the weakest of the bunch, his deco is just a bit flat compared to the other two.

 

I wouldn't say I was underwhelmed by the explanation - just felt a bit short changed. Like, if they hadn't cut the run short he could have filled in the blanks and shown more of what was implied.

wasn't it suggested...

Spoiler: spoiler

The Knights had also been intending to colonize as they went - so maybe they planned to use the matrix to seed new worlds or some such? Or just as holy-joes they expected they'd have a better time getting into heaven with their divine relic?

But I love that idea about the Omega lads. Overall, THAT is a plot point I'd love to have seen developed more. We could have seen some proper cosmic horror I reckon.

*sigh* I hope Regen-IDW-ration One is a thing that happens in the future. I know the crossover with the the Hasbroverse wasn't all that well received, and muddied some things a bit, but it's a Universe in which I feel there is still plenty of stories left to tell.

Or at least a

Spoiler: IDW 1.0 Wreckers spoiler

Quantum Leap style miniseries with IDW 1.0 Springer leaping through the multiverse on his time-travels setting wrongs right and punching a version of Prowl in each one.

 

Hound, Bluestreak, Smokescreen, Mirage and Hot Rod sold. Rodimus has interest but not yet sold.

 

That second image is my single most favourite panel of all time. I really, really liked Simon Coleby's art.

 

Yeah same here. MTMTE comes "just" behind the Marvel UK run for me in greatest TF fiction and it deserved a better ending. (totally aware i've got no bearing on what Roberts intended as i'm just some smuck on the internet)
When LL started it was such a stylistic shift from what came before, both in the art and in writing, that it honestly felt totally disconnected to what came before to me. I think the decision to remove Milne in hindsight wasn't the greatest as it emphasised the shift even more. I've got some of his original pages and the linework that guy did was *chefs kiss*
Just such a shame he's not had a regular gig since.
The original IDW TF universe ended on such a downer note for me that i've not even read, or felt the need to read the relaunch. And for a guy that LOVES TF comics that says an awful lot.

 

I'm struggling to judge any of the artwork because I'm bouncing between the annuals and the Ladybird books as notion takes me.

 

Definitely agree with the tonal shift in Roberts work although I think it started towards the end of mtmte. Epitomised for by the existence of Nickel. Perhaps Roberts was trying to cater to many of his new fans.

I’m waiting for all the trade hardbacks to come out and then I will read the full continuity all start to finish. It’s a bit fiddly reading individual comics and they’re all stashed away in boxes.

would love to read the full marvel continuity. I have a few of the collected paperbacks from the 2000s but never read the full thing.

 

You know, that's completely fair. About 90% of the personality of the G1 cartoon characters came from the voice acting, and they by and large did an incredible job. I think it's more the range of what they got to do. Although even then that evolved quickly. I'm always surprised by how much more mature season 3 feels, even though the animation often lets it down. And Beast Wars was only ten years later but is a quantum leap forward in how much more mature the acting could be, whilst still having that 80s thing of Big, Cartoony voices.

 

Wasn't part of the problem that he had to wrap everything up extremely quickly once the "we're rebooting everything" notice came down?

(I'm not looking at the spoilers. I've got the final trades of Lost Light and Optimus Prime to read and I haven't been able to bring myself to do so because I don't want to say goodbye to those versions of the characters.)

 

Talking about the original IDW continuity got me thinking of a project I did ages ago.
It was trying to put the pre landing on earth storylines in order (using TFWIKI for the chronology)
It's all the comic pages edited and reordered with pages added with text explaining stuff using material from the start of Infiltration to the end of MTMTE 50.
Think it works pretty well, just lost the will to continue it after 7 volumes!

If anyone's interested, drop me a PM and i'll send the link.
I'd originally shared this directly with some folk who were big IDW fans, but I think anyone that's interested has bought the original issues by now.

 

I think having to finish everything quickly definitely hindered story quality

 

I’d be interested

 

Oooooh, I'll have to take a look at this! Big up to your nan mate. Hope she'll be okay.

I didn't like LL from the get-go. I like Jack's art as of itself and he's a lovely fella, but it felt too cutesy on a TF project to me and trivialised the whole series to some extent.

I gave it a shot but it all felt flat and lacking in almost every department. I just didn't care about anything or anyone involved. I appreciated some of the deeper character cuts but didn't like the lack of visual flair in the way they're portrayed. It all feels quite...perfunctory.

Read some of the spinoffs but none of them have really impressed me either. King Grimlock is absolutely fucking dreadful in every way aside from the covers. I'll give the Wreckers series a go but seeing as how I haven't much enjoyed any of the others past Last Stand I'm not expecting much.

 

Are there any new rumours? I'm craving news somehow, probably because PulseCon is coming up and likely to just be toys already reviewed  

 

So, I think I hate SS86 Gnaw.

My initial feelings were the standard "huh, the feet are quite far back" but I tried to get past that and the quite long body length. I also didn't like the visible head syndrome through the mouth, I found that a bit lazy.

This is my biggest problem. The thing isn't in scale with itself.



You've got a (admittedly smaller end of) Deluxe Class figure, but its got all robot no "shark"*. Despite the larger scale, the actual "shark"* face is barely any bigger than Scout Class.



It ends up looking completely out of proportion with itself, never mind any pre-existing idea of what these characters look like. If this was Classics era Generations I could maybe give it a pass, but Studio Series tends to aim a bit higher. But too much has been sacrificed for robot mode and a better balance was needed IMO. Especially given that this is a rare occasion of an alt mode troop builder.



Good robot mode, interesting transformation, but for me ruined with a tiny head in alt mode. Their massive heads with bulbous eyes and a mouth full of teeth are their dominant trait. Also, bring back the weird antenna. 4/10 Must do better.

Ar least they gave us Ger-Shark mode.




*They're fucking piranhas. They act like piranhas, eat like piranhas, swarm like piranhas, look like piranhas. Actual Sharkticons in a G1 style would be cool.

 

was watching the movie whilst high one day. sharkticons started freaking me out. they're pretty much just a giant head with legs and hands.

 

Proof of concept: Top half of Deluxe Class Gnaw on top of lower half of Scout Class.

 

There were things in IDW 1 I loved, the first few Furman comics, the way the disguise elements actually were employed. LSOTW was great, and there were some great things across the sprawl.
IDW 2 is different, I’m really not enjoying the art, but the use of more science based neutrals is pretty intriguing.

Probably my overall favourite IDW 1 aspect was my beloved Prowl, the fact by the end he’s literally the Autobots own Shockwave, single eyed, massive arm cannon, master of plot devices, it was a wild ride from yelling at Ratchet to becoming one of the best and most justifiable villains in the series.