TransFormers ‘84

Discussion in 'Transformers Comics Discussion' started by Grimlock528, Mar 31, 2019.

  1. bloosmarti

    bloosmarti Well-Known Member

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    There was nothing I didn't like about this. The artwork fits perfectly with where it's supposed to go in the story, Guido emulates the style beautifully, and the story weaves around both marvel #1 and last years #0. For me the original continuity will always be the most important one, not only was it the thing that got me into transformers in the first place, but comics in general, and only last year did I get my sticky mitts on #80 finally, so to be able to dip back in at the beginning is glorious. I'm looking forward to seeing where this goes, and am confident that furman will line up all the pieces so they fall in the right places in time for the story to catch up with marvel #1.
    I'm also going to repeat something I said last year after reading #0, if this is successful, I'd greatly love to see furman and Guido bring us TF '84 #81, set straight after #80, and forget rg1 ever happened. Highly unlikely, but a guy can dream. A little retcon and a mini set between #80 and g2 would be feasible...
     
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  2. Ramberk Magnus

    Ramberk Magnus Well-Known Member

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    My preference is for Furman to continue to write "lost episodes" and avoid trying to write a 50 issue epic storyline or something that is fan-service oriented and tries to "fill-in the gaps." I'm not invested in the Marvel G1 era and I don't say that to disparage those books but I just want straightforward action/adventure stories with familiar G1 faces in a pretty simple/straightforward setting.

    More lost episodes please! Not everything has to be an epic or boring "fill-in the gaps" stories. That's just my preference. :) 
     
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  3. Thundershot

    Thundershot Ratchet Fanatic

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    Just read it. Being born in 1975, the Transformers comics were my first introduction into comics in general, and I read them OVER AND OVER AND OVER, especially the early issues.

    Only thing that bugged me a little is Skyfire and a (yellow?) Constructicon in the background. Issue 14 of the old comic specifically said Jetfire was given life by the Creation Matrix... Though there was still the brain module that Buster was carrying around. Maybe Shockwave pre-programmed the brain module with Skyfire's memories but needed the Matrix to give it life. Minor issue... Also the Dynobots didn't NEED to get trashed. They could have just saved their minds on crystals like the 1985 cars, but he went in a different direction. No complaint there.

    I really wish this was a regular series that filled in the gaps of the original. Seeing Marvel Ratbat and Shockwave and (briefly) Ratchet warmed my heart...
     
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  4. BattleUpSaber

    BattleUpSaber Result.

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    As a huge fan of the original Marvel run i really enjoyed this. It helped to explain away some of the odd discrepancies present from the original comics while still telling an original story on its own.

    Marvel Shockwave is one of my all time favourite TF characters, so i'm happy to see that manipulative bastard take center stage here.

    i don't mind the retcon of giving Jetfire/Skyfire his cartoon backstory: the cartoon version was always the more interesting character anyway.
     
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  5. Bass X0

    Bass X0 Captain Commando

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    The Dynobots did need to get taken out of the action aboard the ark in Marvel #1. The implication being that they were revived to fight Shockwave on Earth because they were not damaged further in the Ark's crash. Also, it seems that minds being stored on crystals require other Cybertronians to oversee the process of which there was no other Autobot active when the Dynobots were required to fight Shockwave. The Ark can reformat a Cybertronian body, but it cannot create a new body for a Cybertronian reduced to just a mind.

    I always enjoy a continuation or expansion of the original Marvel comic - although Regeneration One could have been done a lot better. This comic did need to exist; given Ruckley's departure from traditional Transformers comics, there was necessity for a comic of this level of familiarity to appease the long-term fans.

    Ultra Magnus being newly created in Target: 2006 is not actually a thing said in Target: 2006, it was only said in a supplementary booklet attached to one of the Target: 2006 issues and as far as I know has never been reprinted. Ultra Magnus being active before the Ark left Cybertron is a more than acceptable retcon. He doesn't even have to be almost fatally injured to be reborn in the present day.

    I don't see why anyone would take issue with these two things. The Marvel Dinobots have always existed on Cybertron, and were said in the Marvel comics to have been a group before they became the Dinobots. Them being called Dynobots in the Marvel continuity before they became the Dinobots is a commonly accepted name for them. No squinting required here.

    Marvel Jetfire having been Decepticon Skyfire on Cybertron is a new concept, but that's acceptable too. No problems there.
     
    Last edited: Jul 16, 2020
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  6. Fenrys

    Fenrys Formerly Tigatron2002

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    The biggest question mark with Skyfire is that if Jetfire is indeed the same individual then he was forcibly reprogrammed by the autobots because he didn't really give any indications of wanting to switch to the autobots in this issue
     
  7. onnsake

    onnsake champ

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    Well, don't forget what a complete dunce the US comic Optimus was.

    First four issues, he gets all his men "killed" by Shockwave.

    Spends the next year as a captive disembodied head, bringing an innocent human into their war.

    Is used as a weapon against his own men before finally getting his body back.

    Gets bugged by the Decepticons so they can spy on the Autobots.

    And finally, in his coup de grace, he COMMITS SUICIDE BECAUSE HE CHEATED IN A VIDEO GAME.

    The guy was a worthless doofus until he came back as a Powermaster.
     
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  8. Bass X0

    Bass X0 Captain Commando

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    Well, at the time he was a mindless drone so the Autobots set him free. Jetfire was grateful to them in the original Marvel comics. I guess since he wasn't a sentient being, freedom did not apply to him until he (re)gained sentience.
     
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  9. bloosmarti

    bloosmarti Well-Known Member

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    And when he did he just became a big emo, depressed about the underbase, then depressed about ratchet, then depressed about the matrix, then depressed about not having the matrix, then depressed about surrendering, then depressed about xxaron, then dead again!
     
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  10. misfire19d

    misfire19d Not a writer. Not an illustrator. Just a fan.

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    I loved this comic. I feel like I got my money’s worth for it. To me, this comic is what being a Transformers fan is all about. It really made me want to dig out my g1 Dinobots again.
     
    Last edited: Jul 16, 2020
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  11. BB Shockwave

    BB Shockwave Behold, Gagatron!

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    First good TF comic I read in close to maybe half a year? I forget when the first '84 issue came out. September 2019?
    Loved the intrigue and how Ratbat was suspicious (rightfully, I assume) that Shockwave caused the explosion to knock Cybertron on this course.
    So many hints and nods at later events. Skyfire's mind was likely saved to a crystal engram, same as Grapple, Hoist and the others who got new bodies made on Earth. But the Matrix probably ensured whoever got created was not the same person. Still explains the same body type as Jetfire.
    Loved seeing Razorclaw and Snaptrap, Furman remembered they were indeed around while the other Gestalt team leads did not exist yet.
    Cool to see the cloak and dagger stuff, so Ratbat suspects Counterpunch is a spy (or even thinks he is HIS spy?) and let Prowl know on purpose?
    Nice to see the Divebomb-Swoop reference, and Grimmy and Perceptor interact. Also loved the cybertronian alt modes for the Dynobots. Similar to the TWW ones by Don, but different. Loved Snarl the most, how the dino head and tail halves go on the sides! Also, explains why we never saw them in the fight on the Ark, but were still on it to be rebuilt and sent out by Auntie.
    Curious indeed why the Coneheads are on the Nemesis - we know they were with Straxus later. Likely they will be sent back for some reason. Also, Stanix and Kalis mentioned. I wonder if we will finally get to see Trannis in the flesh, erm, steel? Canonically, he took command after Megatron, and Straxus and others after his death. Also, at this point even Jhiaxus did not exist... maybe we will see their split from the original Cybertronians.
    Mostly this was a great Shockwave issue, and reminded me why I love Furman writing him - Shockwave does have emotions, he just never displays them or lets them guide his actions, as others, and it shows here and now. Like how he feigns being humbled by Megatron for tarrying.

    Likely, not the same person. Shockwave might have copied his memory engrams on his brain module, but then the Matrix was used to give him life... the same did not happen with Tracks or Grapple or Hoist, so I assume the Matrix instead gave him a new personality.

    Yeah, if you read the UK issues too, he is far more cool. Budiansky just never knew what to do with him.

    Yep, in "What's in a name" it is clearly referenced that Swoop (then Divebomb) served under Optimus Prime in the aerial forces before joining the Dynobots/Dinobots, and still back on Cybertron. He was the last recruit to the team, but they were one team even before coming to Earth.
     
    Last edited: Jul 16, 2020
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  12. Fenrys

    Fenrys Formerly Tigatron2002

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    That's my take on it as well, same memories but new guy overall
     
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  13. BB Shockwave

    BB Shockwave Behold, Gagatron!

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    Well the Optimus we knew was a few million years AFTER this, to me this shows that back when the war was raging at its most brutal, Prime was ready to sacrifice himself and his friends to take Megatron out for good. He was still young and bold back then, and the Prime we knew from the comics is someone who now has to live with his decisions and how it affected both Earth and Cybertron. Remember his rage and guilt when he meets Outback on Cybertron and learns what terror the remaining Autobots had to endure in the millions of years he was in stasis on Earth? He realized then and there that despite his sacrifice, he did not make things better, other tyrants just took up Megatron's mantle. That's why he became the brooding and self-flagellating Prime we know from Marvel G1. To me, it works perfectly.

    Maybe that even explains why he was talking about playing with "ballobots" or what were they when trying to intimidate Donny Finkleberg -despite him never even having been on Cybertron.
     
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  14. Bass X0

    Bass X0 Captain Commando

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    So what do people want to see from the next three issues?
     
  15. Gridlock1987

    Gridlock1987 Well-Known Member

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    Straxus rise to power, I guess? Or what Scorponok was up to, before Headmasters mini. How Autobots divide themselves into different groups after Optimus left, lead by Perceptor, Xaaron, Fortress Maximus, and what they did in that time. Development of the combiner tech, to explain Predaking? Decepticons conquest of Cybertron would be interesting. Lots of stuff to cover, as long as we stay in the past.

    Heck, I wonder if Furman would be ballsy enough, to try and explain what Sunstreaker and Defensor were doing on Cybertron, way after one of them left, and way before the other one was built.

    [​IMG]
     
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  16. Fenrys

    Fenrys Formerly Tigatron2002

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    Sunstreakers appearance there would be easy enough to explain as Cordon or Spinout
     
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  17. G.B. Blackrock

    G.B. Blackrock Autobot Ally

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    Given what happened with the Aerialbots in issue #21, the Matrix apparently doesn't grant personalities. That apparently has to be independently programmed.


    If Furman can resist the temptation to explain things that no one ever thought needed explaining, and just stick to the story itself, I'll be satisfied. Ultimately, I thought this story worked well, except for those points where Furman's attempts to be clever yanked me right out of the narrative. He didn't do anything that I don't think can be explained away (although I did point out an inconsistency in another post regarding the use of engram crystals vs., and not in addition to, the Creation Matrix, it's a minor point), but I was taken out of the story, and that's not ideal.



    As I said, I don't need to see these things explained, but I don't think it would be difficult. Defensor/the Protectobots aren't explicitly stated to have been built on Earth (nor given life via the Creation Matrix... in the US anyway), and that Sunstreaker-outline could just as easily be Spin-Out.
     
    Last edited: Jul 16, 2020
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  18. Nova Maximus

    Nova Maximus Well-Known Member

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    More about what happened on Cybertron during the 4 million years that the ark crashed and how some characters didn't appear in Marvel's run (as apparently Ultra Magnus shouldn't have been in issue 0), and from what the descriptions of the next issues say, it seems like the series will be staying in the time before 1984, such as what happened to the Nemesis ship and crew and what the Autobots and Decepticons did on Cybertron.
     
  19. Bass X0

    Bass X0 Captain Commando

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    Would anyone want this scene to be referenced in the comic?

    [​IMG]
     
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  20. Grimlock528

    Grimlock528 Well-Known Member

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    More. Just....lovely lovely more.
     
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