Overall I don’t mind the Costa run. I rank Costa 4th behind Roche, Furman and early Roberts. I really like Police Action.

For me the Costa run benefits from being before IDW 1 (imo) jumps the shark. During Costas run I’m still invested and that helps me appreciate the good and move past the bad. I did a reread of IDW 1 a year or two ago and flew through the -ations to Death of Optimus Prime, after that it was a slog to dark cybertron.

 

Bad bad bad bad bad bad bad.

I read Costa's ongoing WHILE it happened, and it was TORTURE. If I could go back in time, I'd tell myself to just read the TF Wiki summaries, and only buy the Chaos Theory issues which weren't even written by Costa.

So many things to HATE about Costa's ongoing. I HATED Costa's Spike Witwicky.

You'd think a three-issue story about the Predacons helping out North Korea would be really exciting, right? I honestly can't remember a single thing about that arc. I mean COME ON, how can you SCREW THAT UP?

 

It had its up and downs. I genuinely liked it in the late teens when we had Juggernaut Brawn and Jazz shooting a civilian. Those were at least interesting stories. The rest was pretty average, and that's being kind (apart from Chaos Theory, of course, but that doesn't count).

 

The more I look at it, the more complex the question becomes. On one hand, it appears that Costa's main "The Transformers" series is at best, rather bland. On the other hand, it serves as a backdrop for other stories that are fantastic. Last Stand of The Wreckers, Ironhide, and The Chaos Theory all take place during the main series. So while the the main series may be bad, the Era in which they were written delivered some great stories.

 

I'd say that's more a "in spite of" than a "because of"

 

Not as bad as some say and better than what came later in IDW's catalogue.

That said, it's still got plenty of flaws.

 

I'm currently in Phase 1 Volume 6 on my re-read, and still having a blast. For All Mankind is solid so far, and the Bumblebee mini was outstanding. I definitely agree on the critique of the faces - I feel like they were going for Bay-verse facial complexity, and it just doesn't work for me.

Maybe it'll change the further I get into Costa's run, but I still think the Drift mini, AHM, Bumblebee mini, and what I've read so far of the Costa run is the best of Phase 1 outside of LsotW.

 

You liked the bumblebee Mini? You are a rare breed! Most people don't care for it, and I thought its mediocre at best. No judgement though, It takes all kinds.

 

I (still) think Costa's run is one with potential.

For years now I've been thinking to scan the whole lot including the Ironhide mini, and do some editing. Cut out useless pagefiller, shrink down images (like BB and TC talking over several pages and reducing it to one), change some dialogue and insert story elements from later stories or the Ironhide comics. This would imo go a long way in making it better.

You still have dumb elements like Prowl's actions in the opening story, Bumblebee becoming leader and the Decepticons issue, but at least it would run better. And be shorter.

But as said, I've been thinking about this for years and I've got better things to do than fix other people's screw ups.

 

Very bad. More like bad, it made the much worse sin in an ongoing comic - it made me not care about the next issue. I remember even during the worst Budiansky Marvel G1 era, I was always super stoked about what story is coming up next... With Costa, by the end I really did not care to see how humans will continue to boss around or kill yet another Transformers, or see the Decepticons moping around because apparently nobody but Megatron can lead them? LOL. The only good thing was when Roberts took over for Chaos Theory, though I did not really like the art style.
Oh, and the horrifying Don Figueroa movie redesigns with teeth. Let's not forget about that.

I do! I like to mention it to people when they complain about The Last Knight being stupid and how Transformers comics never had such dumb ideas.  

I did manage to find this parody summarizing all the giant nothing that happens in the Ironhide series. (To this day, I do not remember what the point of Alpha Trion, a robot who was not even pretending to be someone else, to be wearing a cloth mask. Maybe he was afraid of infections?  )

Actually the Predacons were working for China (I guess because they are mostly red and China has a thing for lions, foo lion statues, that stuff? I dunno... Yet Costa somehow also put Razorclaw off-world at the same time. And never explained why they have animal modes.
The Combaticons were working for Kim Jong Un, but were mostly moping around and complaining. I forgot if there was even a battle. I think everyone was just bored and went home. And I still do not understand why the super advanced space robots who in AHM easily took over the Earth did not just enslave some middle eastern country and set up an oil refinery to make energon for them, but had to hire themselves out as mercenaries...