Okay I love the original IDW Transformers comics from 2005-2019. Specifically More than Meets the Eye is possibly my favorite comic ever. When I heard about the reboot I immediately knew that it couldn't top the original. The comic immediately rubbed me the wrong way when it killed off a certain character for no real reason. Overall the comic is a mess. The story is pretty uninteresting, and the characters just don't interest me. What really makes me angry is that the comic does not do its own thing. They shove in characters from the original IDW comic for no real reason I can think of besides they were too lazy to create new ones. I liked the new characters like Geomotus and Rubble... but that character goes nowhere. This is all my opinion though I would love to hear your thoughts.

 

Welcome! This board seems pretty evenly divided into people who loved MTMtE/LL, and can't stand the new one, and people who think the new stuff is far superior. I fall into the second group.

 

I'm liking it so far. It has been slow at first. But I think the payoff's gonna be lit.

Hopefully we don't get douches like Spike ever again. And Prowl being the ruthless prick is getting old.

 

IDW1 had literally over a decade to get rolling, started with a bunch of miniseries that had a bunch of good ideas that sadly went nowhere because of AHM coming in and cutting them off, and then it took another few years until someone decided "Hey, let's try ending the Great War and actually sticking to it" to shake stuff up.

IDW2 has like a total of 24 issues and is doing a slow build, with it being less than two years in. Saying that "they're using old IDW characters for no reason" kind of ignores that they're also using Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Megatron, Shockwave...

Those IDW1 characters are established parts of the brand now. A lot of them appear in multiple places. Rung and Nautica both have toys, Windblade is everywhere, no one gave a real crap about Impactor until IDW1 made him a thing again. That's just how the brand rolls.

Not enjoying the tone right now is fine, that's subjective. I just think complaining that they're reusing characters that originated in a recent continuity ignores that Transformers has literally been doing that since its inception.

 

Transformers Galaxies is pretty good so far. The ongoing is a slow burn. Transformers 84 is going to be great!

 

~~if you don't like transformers comics which are below sub-par, you're obviously part of the problem!!

 

It took all of Infiltration before IDW1 got going. Thats seven issues, including #0. Some people may not look back fondly towards Stormbringer, but at the time, it was the start of having properly begun.

IDW2 has still yet to get going after nineteen issues. Not in the way we all want, well - not in the way I want at least. There is no "Stormbringer" type story yet signifying IDW2 having properly begun. Galaxies doesn't live up to Stormbringer.

I swear Ruckley is focusing his efforts on NOT getting the story going properly, and instead dragging the prologue (which is what these nineteen issues have been) out as long as he can.

Time to get going, Ruckley! Either the story gets going, or you should get going - away from IDW.

 

I liked Phase 1. But when the war ended, the charm was gone. It seemed cluttered and just filler. Most modern comics I can read in like five minutes and be done, whereas older comics with less pages can be longer to read and more fulfilling. The first part of MTMTE was like that, but then it got weird. Unicron seemed completely rushed and disgusted me. How did this only happen now? Why didn't we know?

The reboot seems like it came out of nowhere and feels hollow. It isn't helped by the fact that it looks like it wants to sell Siege toys. All in all, it seems the good times of fun, fulfilling, loving comics are behind us. Oh well.

 

To fix transformers comics. A few thoughts.

1. Hasbro should yank the license from IDW and give it to Allegiance Arts, which now sells their comics at Wal Mart ... right next to TF toys.

2. Give James Roberts gobs of money, and enough lead time to craft something good. While I can't forgive the glitch thing, and I disagree with his political statements-- its undeniable he's one hell of a writer, and created a few of my favorite stories.

3. Fling Ruckley from a trebuchet.

4. Simon Furman: series editor.

5. Chain Alex Milne to a desk.

With that, the comics may be good! But get TF away from the sinking ship that is IDW.

 

It’s basically 19 issues about Megatron and his allies stumbling around until they start a war. But at the slowest pace possible.

wish this story went way back and started with the Threefold Spark War. That would be something completely new and different, plus you’d get plenty of action along with the prequel worldbuilding.

 

Agree with yanking the license. AA is charging too much. $5 I think. Alterna might be a better option because it’s more affordable for kids. Bring back the spinner racks!

Hard no. He started strong but took a hard turn towards pleasing the twitteratti. He can write fanfics for those weirdos all he wants. Just keep him away from mainstream comics.

I don’t think he’s so bad. I would like him to write a book about Transformers. Maybe comics isn’t his medium.

Hard yes. Couldn’t agree more. As long as he keeps the killing of main characters under control.

And pay him a king’s ransom. He’s worth it.

 

I don't think of myself a "twitteratti", but Roberts has produced the best and most enjoyable comics since IDW1 RiD and MTMTE started. I can overlook his flawed issues due to the amount of good issues he writes. I cannot overlook Barber's and Ruckley's flawed issues are there are too many in comparison to their good issues. IDW1 RiD started off very well and deserves its praise. But when it got to the Optimus Prime ongoing series, the quality took a huge drop, and I think of Ruckley's nineteen issues on IDW2 as even worse. MTMTE and Lost Light reminds me of Red Dwarf for it being an adventure through space featuring a dysfunctional cast going on wacky hijinks. Its also the darkest most violent Transformers comics we had. It could go from a touching story about romance or something light-hearted and dumb, to lots of Transformers being killed in visually gruesome ways. It was a whiplash of emotions as it went from one extreme to the other and back again. That's what I like and want more of.

 

You know? That would be amazing.

 

I'd be on board with Simon Furman working on the comic under the condition that he's not allowed to write female characters.

 

Oh God, this again?!

Transformers don't have a sex.

"He" and "she" generic terms when applied to robots.

 

Point 2 is also a Hard No from me as well. I can't stand the midget M.Ambus cosplay/piloting a mech suit concept on my boy UMagnus. It was the main reason I abandoned IDW after that revelation. I want Robert no where near UM or anything that have to with UM. Just keep him far away from any UM comic and I'm happy!

 

I just don't need him to write another origin for female Transformers. Otherwise, he's cool.

 

James Roberts’ More than meets the eye / Lost light is the best transformers story ever told. I’m tempted to pay him out of my own pocket to write us a new transformers comics  

I really hope they get him back at some point.

 

issue #20 is coming out this week

 

Back in early 2019 I binge-read the first few issues of nu-IDW. It was after the first three had been released. I was completely ready to jump into a new continuity and follow it along for the ride from the ground up. I didn't read any of the old IDW comics until 2015, so it was hard to catch up by then. I was excited for a fresh start. At the time I recall enjoying the first three issues of nu-IDW and leaving a pretty positive review here. But then I got busy with college, and had to put reading further issues on the backburner. When I finally went to catch up on the comics...I was just sort of bored with them. From what I recall, I liked the smaller-scale character stuff, but I got bored and gave up when they started getting into the origin of the Civil War and tensions between the various factions and all.

I think I'm mostly just tired of these sort of stories. I've said it before, but the origin of the Autobot/Decepticon war works best (at least for me) as a brief flashback. Heck, I think Cybertron in general is much more exciting and intriguing as a brief flashback in a larger story than it is as a setting for stories to take place in. I don't need or want a detailed, lengthy, and serious political explanation of this fictional war. It's like the Future War in Terminator. Super awesome as a brief flashforward, but if you try to tell a serious story about it...you get Terminator Salvation (which is sort of boring and ruins the intrigue). This comic is like Terminator Salvation to me. Not awful, just sort of boring. It exposes you to Cybertron for so long that it loses the intrigue. The war is really just a backdrop for other stories...it doesn't have to be too serious or detailed. It benefits from being as concise as possible.

At this point I really crave something new and fresh. Not an origin tale for Cybertron, the war, Optimus, Megatron, or anything like that. We've seen Orion Pax and his rivalry with Megatron many times before. It's like Batman's origin. Even if it differs a bit in each continuity...We know the gist of it, and we don't need to keep retreading that same ground. Take some Transformers characters on a completely new and bonkers adventure. While I have mixed feelings on MTMTE...I'll be the first to admit that there's nothing else like that in the brand. Given the choice, I'd take that any day of the week. Last Stand of the Wreckers was also something completely new. I wish we could get that sort of out-of-the-box storytelling again. Although I haven't looked into Galaxies much...maybe they're doing that sort of thing there?