I've not read every TF comic since IDW acquired the publishing rights nor GIjoe for that matter. I didn't really keep up regularly till MTMTE or RID started their runs. I only in passing read some of the stuff previously because I kinda found it meh. I liked TF spotlights though.

I can buy some of these properties sharing space within a continuity, others not really. Just because all of these IPs come from the same toy manufacturer doesn't mean they should cohabitate TO ME in the same universe. DC Marvel works because for the mojority those characters live in their respective worlds together. I don't think readers should need to go out and purchase everything to have a gist of what's going on in other titles in large multi-title spanning story arcs. Which has become tiresome with the aforementioned publishers because how often they do it.

Dark Cybertron I didn't mind because it was Transformer centric. Though it a bit of a slog in parts.

A lot of it comes down to I don't have any interest in these other IPs and seems like there are other readers who feel the same.

I hope you're enjoying it nonetheless.

 

According to folks around here it was IDWs idea to cross these lines over with one another, not Hasbro.

 

Except you don't really need to read every book. Just like you didn't read all the books published pre-MTMTE/RID. I presume you just understood that other stuff happened, and if you really want to know about past events, you can look them up on the Wiki. The same is true for all the books in a shared universe. Just because Rom exists, that doesn't mean that you have to read his series to understand what's happening in Optimus Prime. You can read what you want to read.

But since your original point was that you wanted miniseries to introduce Rom, the Micronauts, and Action Man, well... they did that. You can go and pick up one trade for the entire introduction story for each of those characters. Hell, a miniseries was all Action Man got.

And I feel it should be noted that Superman and Batman/Captain America and Thor weren't created to exist in the same world. That decision came from the marketing folks later.

 

The confusion is on my part because of my lack of interest and not realizing they did those introductory series. They all start to blur when the Revolution/Revolutionary is plastered across the top. I realize it's a story arc visual gimmick.

Still I think what I was originally trying to articulate and bungled( senior moment) is that I don't have interest in those other IPs and would like to read mini series of other stories from the other Transformer universes. Just to see what the current writers could do with them. The original 2001 RID etc etc. A new coat a paint here and there. But I can understand probably why they don't so not to confuse some consumers.

I wouldn't be surprised by a lot of the younger guys on here aren't aware of the Dreamwave series. Which is spotty to most and it's slavish devotion to a fault to G1 continuity.

It's all good.

 

That's...unexpected and depressing, that such a mess comes from the creative side. I wouldn't have guessed.

 

I'm curious, how is this a mess? Is it becusce you don't knew the IP's? because if that's it than that's not a very good reason, becusce what you're messing can be easily read up on the wiki. I didn't start reading IDW TFs comics until the Death of Optimus Prime comic and caught up with the wiki.

 

Ugly jumbled story with unappealing jumbled art. It's not a good use of ANY of the IPs except maybe ROM.

 

See, I always thought M.A.S.K. was perfect to bring back as a TF spin-off, especially a cross-pollinated TF and Joe spin-off.

 

IDWs TFs have always been kind of jumbled, so that's nothing new and the story here is very simple to fallow. I think the art is just fine and the other IPs fit well enough with each other.

 

Others have given good reasons, but I'll add that mixing these IPs together detracts from all of them. Each is based on a central conflict (i.e., Joe vs Cobra) that has its own nuances. Mixing a half dozen concepts gives none of them time to breath in a narrative sense.

Further, Mixing Joe and TF together has always been a poor concept from the creative standpoint because the implications fundamentally change the nature of GI Joe's universe. If one super robot can wipe out both sides of the conflict, Joe versus Cobra is no longer meaningful.

 

Those reason, (If there the same ones I've been seeing), are ridicules. In what way does mixing the IPs detracts? This is what i'm asking for example; how does saying the M.A.S.K. vehicles being reversed engineered from Cybertronian tech and weaponized Mask powered by Ore-13 hurt either IPs?

I feel like people use the "nuances and concepts" of the IPs as a exercise to keep them separate even though they all share the basic same "nuances and concepts" (Sci-fi and war).

No that's a opinion, Transformers have been mixing with humans since their very begin as a franchise, so why not have those humans be the soldiers, spies, scientist and yes ninjas of the G.I.Joe franchise? They've done it with the G1 cartoons and nobody cared, the Joe fans thought it was a nice surprise and the TF fans liked the characters/stories. That's a poor example, we've seen humans hurt, imprison and even kill TF in IDW, yes non of those bots where one-man-armies, but how many of them are even in the IDW-verse and it's not like the humans don't have the tech to beat them or wouldn't get help.

 

If it works for you, good enough. It's sort of like having a big bowl of Captain Crunch, Raisin Bran, and Shredded Wheat. Seems gross to me to mix the textures, but as you say, it is all cereal and I don't guess it'll kill you.