I like to think that everyone that wasn't Megatron or Soundwave were piss-poor fighters before the war until he decides to personally train his top men or people he deemed worthy of fighters much like his IDW counterpart to get them ready for possible millions of years worth of killing each other.
Yeah, it's just irrational that I'd like Sixshot to be at least a little bit of a prewar badass if only because it'd be cool if they played up a peacetime space gangster angle. Wishful thinking, mostly.
Oh great! Now you got me to imagine Megatron singing his own version of "I'll Make a Man Out of You" while training all the newbie Decepticons.
Prior versions of Sixshot had him ruthlessly murdering Ultra Magnus and/or trashing planets, going toe to toe with avatars of death and fighting entire teams of autobots. This one got flanked and stabbed by two non-warrior weenies in a protracted engagement inside of a room and ran away from an explosion prior Sixshots would have taken a bath in. It's a massive downgrade in ability and durability.
A fembot being tough? In my TF book? Not on my watch. Now, that one guy with the six altmodes and the "I'm the best because I've got six alt modes and also a ninja" attitude isn't the super powerful ultra cool badass bad guy then I'm rioting.
I'm still torn on Hernandez's art. The way he lays out the scenery/panels is nice but the bots are still kind of unappealing to look at. Some angles of Sixshot look way too geometric (not sure how else to describe it.) That aside, I enjoyed the issue. I'd like more of mob boss Sixshot. His attitude reminds me of a video game boss that shows up after you defeat all the goons in a room. My guess is that the leader of the Rise is Shockwave, since he could be smart enough to pull off all this secrecy and planning.
Ha. Yeah, okay. That's a fair shot. That said, while I can't speak for everyone else: I don't mind that Sixshot got his butt kicked by a girl. I mind that Sixshot just gets repeatedly mishandled. In fairness, he's not an easy character to write. The name of the series is "The Transformers", so preemptively a guy with six modes is going to be something special although I suppose there's no real reason that there couldn't be a Transformer with six modes that turns into a variety of kitchen appliances named "Sixmix" that doesn't know a blaster from a baster. Whatever the case, the foundation of the character is that he's a "Solo Transformer Assault Group", so there's not a completely unreasonable expectation that he's SOME kind of badass - kinda like seeing Superman means that he's probably gonna present as super. However, Sixshot suffers from wildly varying, extreme character shifts and issues. Even in his initial outing in his debut Japanese series, he swung around all over the place. First he was the Ultra Magnus Killer, and then decided to be Daniel's "uncle" because... reasons? Then IDW makes him out to be some nigh unkillable punch clock villain that can kill planets who apparently survives Metroplex... and then dies like a bitch off panel. I found the latter version interesting conceptually, but making him a planet murderer didn't give him (or the other Phase 6ers) very much room to move around in terms of character development. I have no idea if the reveal of Sixshot here was supposed to be for the purpose of impact. Given the general reaction I assume it was, as most people's reaction has been "SIXSHOT!". I'm happy to assume this pre-war Sixshot's way less powerful, and perhaps not a seasoned combatant at all especially since he's talking like a generic middle management thug. But... again, the guy's usually billed as the STAG. Then we get this: So, the guy generally billed as a STAG's winning tactic is to charge forward like a bull in a china shop, throw a grenade, loom dramatically so he can get stabbed in the back because checking your flank apparently isn't a thing, gets beeped away like a dog running into an invisible fence, and then throws a grenade behind him. So great - now instead of Warmonger McInvincible of Clan Invincible, he's Worf. I know that sounds overly critical, but just once can't this guy get a break in terms of presentation and development? There's like 30 Decepticon characters whose names/bios were basically "KILLDEATH, Function: KILLER, Bio: KILLDEATH like nothing more than killing with death. Armed with kill laser and death cannon. Everyone hates/fears him. He is a small god." Sixshot's kind of quirky insofar as he's never been presented as particularly grandiose. There's a middle ground between MURDERDEATHBOT 3000 and getting Worf'd, and I'd like to see that. ...I'd also like to see a fight scene in this comic that isn't a Benny Hill-esque bum rush at the enemy, but that might be just me.
Ahh. I think Shadow Striker's gonna get put through the wringer for a bit, kinda like poor Windblade. For whatever reason, any female transformer under 20 years old gets panned hard. Like, nobody said boo when Flamewar showed up and tried to blast Cyclonus and people seemed honestly curious about the outcome of the Cyclonus/Flamewar tussle. I'd wager that if she had gone in there and trounced him a little there'd have been less annoyance and gnashing of teeth simply because she's an older character with a bit more plumbing to her. Shadow Striker's probably suffering from that Windblade effect where some people are going to see her as being rammed down their throats. I think the eye rolling would be less severe if it was, say, Strika or something. It probably doesn't help that her Cyberverse incarnation is kinda super generic and the "angry at everything woman" thing can get a bit grating, much like Quake's one-dimensional "KILL CRUSH DESTROY" characterization so far. She's new, and to some people she ain't "earned her stripes" yet. I've noticed people get grumbly when "new" characters start showing up and flipping off "old" ones. It's just gonna happen.
For me one of the worst parts about former IDWs decision was the complete and utter waste of a potential character arc. You see, despite Sixshot totally being convinced that he was nothing more than a warmachine bent on destruction and havoc, his spotlight showed that he had a soft spot for his teammates and actually cared about them but he couldn't quite wrap his head around it yet; this was a unique perspective among the early IDW cons. In Headmasters he also had a soft spot for that human kid and eventually went off to be a heroic legend in Victory. And that's the thing, for me Sixshots appeal has always been not how much of a badass he is but that he's a badass villain whose actually been depicted with empathy despite being death on two legs. The fact that Sixshot is coming off this weak already makes me think he's going to be killed off prematurely yet again...
I'll agree with that. Guys like Sixshot get wasted or misused a lot because some writers can't see past the power fantasy element and then make the character an omnicidal maniac, and then other writers come along and try to course correct and make them some kind of weepy child with liquid "I need a hug" oozing from every orifice. Looking at you, Wolverine. I don't think Sixshot getting put up front this early means "fast death". I think it means that someone made the suggestion to put a name brand badguy (who the fuck are Flamewar, Shadow Striker and Quake?) in order to get some fanservice in. Specifically, someone slammed Sixshot in just so we can go: "OH HEY SIXSHOT". Can you identify anything in that scene that showcased anything any prior Sixshots are known for or would be expected to do, or anything that could have arisen from him and only him notwithstanding prior characterization? I can't, really.* Yet another issue I'm seeing with this book is how interchangeable everyone is. This is the opening salvo - the first scene with any character should at least give me an idea as to what this character is about in a few seconds. Nothing Sixshot did suggests he was even necessary for the scene. It could have been anyone - Skyquake, Gutcruncher, Clench, it wouldn't have made a lick of difference. At bare minimum they could have had him Transform into a few modes or something. So far, there aren't many characters here that are really nailing down that aspect. Prowl's behaving erratically because apparently this is what all the cool kids think Prowl needs to behave like after IDW. Cyclonus is identifiable because of his accessories moreso than anything else he's actually done or said. Prime is profoundly stodgy. Geomotus is allegedly autistic because of his "shapes", but I didn't even catch that until it was spelled out for me. I just thought he was a weirdo. And that's it, really. Maybe it's coming, but there's nothing jumping out at me just yet. Come back, IDW1 Swerve. All is forgiven. *Okay. One thing. His plodding slowness in the combat scene accurately portrays his lower than average G1 tech specs speed.
Yeah this is a good one. The awesome thing about Transformers as a franchise is that there's so many characters to pick from. You as a writer could say to yourself "Okay, I need a character who's acts like royalty" and there's most likely a guy for that who fits the bill. You don't need Sixshot of all people to be a gangster mook. That's what the vast majority of the literal who Decepticons practically are already. If Brian wants to make him a low ranking gangster then by all means but he better at least have a soft spot for his underlings then, otherwise this really could have been anybody else.
Did anyone besides me find the dialogue in this issue to be ludicrously bad? “Oh, rust!” “Slow-swipe!” Yeesh! I don’t mind mediocre dialogue, but this was outright awful...
Eh. I didn't find terrible. Transformers slang has always been kinda stupid. Heck, the only thing that kept "scrap" from sounding dumb was sumalee montanos performance.
TMNT was no stranger to that either. Remember when they had "What the shell?" At least TF had creative but cheesy car puns.
