I guess Ruckley does not have plans for an energy crisis inducing Micromasters in his worldbuilding, and thus he employed more Micromasters to have a larger cast.

I like it. Expansive casts are cool.

 

See, I can't agree with this. IDW2 has added a lot to the potential canon of Transformers; the mentorship idea alone is one of the best ideas the franchise has seen since the early MTMTE/RID era. Making cybertron a interstellar hub of trade and culture was a fantastic idea that finally put the bed the question of "Why do they have windows and seats on cybetron" as well as providing cover for the more traditionally organic elements of Transformers that we all just kind of accept even when they make no sense. Even the idea of "going imersant" provides for a bit of Transformers lifecycle that hasn't been touched in that matter before; a natural end without being destroyed by damage or disease.

In IDW1, the crux of the war was based in classism (or functionism, as it's referred to), wherein a corrupt and dogmatic regime oppresses it's people to the point of revolution (both from the opposing Decepticon faction, as well as a dissident Autobot movement within their own ranks.)

This is not the confict in IDW2. Here the inception of the war is between the main government who, after a costly war in their history, chose a conservative path of living within the means of the planet, rationing energon and denying expansion; while the opposition comes from those who feel that edict is stifling to the advancement and destiny of the cybetronian race. IDW1 is basically about domestic policy while IDW2 is about foreign policy, to put it generically.

They didn't begin with that conflict though; that was one of the big complaints. It took them 30 issues to set the backdrop for the war before starting it. I think that was a smart move that allowed them to paint the picture of the world before the war starts to burn it down. Your milage may vary there, of course.

 

And then they dumped it all in the bin by trying to merge it with the other Hasbro properties.

Let's face it Micromasters and Actionmasters were toy gimmicks designed to keep up with competition and reduce costs, respectively. I'm okay with both being normalised to provide greater opportunities.

That said, Treadshot has already been shown to be mode locked and the Micromasters could always be downsized in the future... however I hope they aren't.

 

I'm in the camp of it moves too slow. I didn't pick it up and now I am reading it online. SOOOOOO boring

 

For those who want to know better how sales are doing, read this thread:

Transformers (2019) comic by the numbers.

 

My point was more the conflict we do get is already at the global scale, rather than starting with a small slice of a bigger war or a small-scale conflict. Infiltration already had the war raging on a galactic scale, but all we saw to start with was a small offshoot branch on Earth without the main leaders involved. It made it feel more digestible (despite how it would escalate, no pun intended) and starting with more compelling intrigue that was a far more effective hook. We knew there was more going on, we just weren't privy to it. (similar to how TFA and Prime start with a small cast and gradually expands the larger picture and history, instead of starting at the beginning of the Great Wars, but this is just one way of doing it)

IDW2 starts with the politics and global issues out of the gate and it's very, very boring. There's no humanizing, down-to-Earth element (though there was an attempt with the mentorship angle allowing the reader to learn along with a "newborn" who was being inducted into society, only problem is it was still very slow and boring) or a simple, bite-sized piece of the action we can consume and think "ah, so this is basically how it is." It took a long time to explain a lot, and it resulted in most of the book being robots standing around and talking. The actual Transformers element feels completely divorced from the story being told... though a large part of that is my own bias against Cybertron-focused stories for the simple fact that it's completely irrelevant to the entire point of the brand as "Robots in Disguise." You have this amazing concept of giant alien robots with all these gimmicks and abilities and they can all change into vehicles and objects form our world to hide and spy and wage a secret war... only to put them all in rooms scaled to them and have them just talking for pages at a time. (though again, that bit is my bias entirely)

And the thing is, that slow-burn buildup with social-political plots and broader sci-fi elements such as interplanetary relations? That's perfectly valid as well, but it feels so much like what IDW1 did and frankly it's not that well written at all. Many characters feel voiceless and generic or simply leave little impression as they're all forced to fit along this story path. Again, this is purely my appraisal and speculation as to why IDW2 is not hooking audiences like IDW1 did, it doesn't mean it's unlikable or that people shouldn't read it or anything like that. But think of it this way: a beleaguered fan who grew tired of IDW1's constant made-up space politics and books predominately structured around characters sitting around and talking and little action (and I don't mean fighting, just momentum and energy) hears the series has been rebooted and picks up an issue of this new universe and finds... most of the same characters standing around and talking with little action. And this is before you get into the more technical aspects of art, writing, dialogue, and pacing, which IDW2 certainly has issues with as well but that's getting more into particulars.

It's just hard to look at IDW2 and think "this is new and different" even if it technically is. It needed to have some kind of hook or surge of electricity to really grab attention, a style and consistency all its own. Instead it more or less continued on as normal, walking a superficially unique path but at the same pace and direction. It's not bad per-se, but if you didn't like what IDW1 became there's little to entice you to what IDW2 so far is.