From Alex Irvine's blog:

When You Stop Believing in It, It Doesn't Go Away: To Transformers Fans

So yeah; sounds like we're gonna get someone new for the sequel to Exiles. Could be interesting - there's a LOT of talented writers out there.

 

I hope we get a new editor too, a lot of errors and bad prose in Exiles that could have been picked up in the edit.

 

Heh. Yeah; I remember catching at least one typo in the text.

 

I have mixed emotions about this. He's a great writer.

 

This is quite disappointing since I enjoyed his work. I'm interested to see who will pick up the reins. *hopeless thoughts follow* I would love to see Timothy Zahn take up the reins, or Michael A. Stackpole since I quite enjoyed their work in the Star Wars universe.

 

Please let Hasbro harness the awesome power that is James Roberts and let him write whatever TF novels are in the future. It's not too much to ask for him to do that on TOP of writing one of the ongoing comics, right?

 

As a writer myself, I am really disappointed with the material that has been presented in Exiles. The transformers are written from a human perspective, like indulging in beverages, ext. and other things that they just would not do.

If anyone is going to write about them, it should be from the perspective of the bots, with a more serious tone to it. It should also be done in such a way that the continuity of the past is tied in with that of the films.

To disregard what the films have done, just becuase it's convinient, doesn't make it right. I know that many fans were disappointed in them, but they are a continuation of the franchise, not a deviation from it.

 

God, if they got Roberts... man, oh man.

Would love to see him tackle the Primeverse Quintessons, partly due to Eugenesis, admittedly.

Heck - if the Galaxy Force/Cybertron planets exist, would love to see him do something involving Planet X/Gigantion.

 

Transformers drinking has been in the franchise since G1. The comics had Maccadam's, and the cartoon had, well, Microbots.

 

He was writing movie novels?

Nevermind.

 

*shivers*

I had forgotten all about Scott Ciencin, wow those books were bad.

 

I just want Eugenesis to get an official release. It's by far the best piece of Transformers fiction written. At the very least, I'm glad Irvine is moving on. Not in any negative way, but I don't want any one person getting 'stuck' writing the novels.

 

i just hope now we'll have less continuity errors within the books lol

 

Response

It's not just about the drinking sentence. His complete perpsective on the TF universe is from the wrong aspect. As a writer, you spend countless hours placing yourself in the characters position, walking through each step of the outline, visualizing their speech, their actions, their emotions.

With the Transformers, a good example of this is Peter Cullen. He has done a magnificent job of becoming Optimus Prime during his voice over sessions.

With writing, it works the same way. You may not convey anything verbally, but you must convey each and every character true to their nature if you are to grasp the moment in which you present them.

Exiles clearly demonstrated that although the book may be accepted as cannon by Hasbro, I in no way would endorse such a shoddy example of science fiction work.

In the writing community, that book would have never went to print in such a state as it is.

 

And probably even more dis-continuity that HASBRO insists isn't there.

Yay.

 

so basically we should stop them being relatable characters then?

 

I never liked the idea of having different writers for the same story of novels. That's like having a different writer for each Harry Potter book; it just doesn't feel right. It's acceptable to have multiple writers for TV episodes, but not books.