Regeneration One 81 Preview.

[inflatable dalek]

For your consideration:

http://www.seibertron.com/news/view.php?id=25282

Actually reads much better for me than 80.5 did (and perhaps more importantly is drawn better as well). The holodeck stuff is extremely tired feeling and emo head in the sand Prime is uninteresting, but the focus being on the most interesting thing in the freebie- Soundwave- rather than silly narration man means it just works as a promo a lot better.

It also tickles me the death of the Last Autobot is treated as a minor irrelevance, someone clearly didn't like him very much.

I do have to agree with what someone said at the Archive though, all the ideas presented here (Post war Cybertron at peace but with trouble about to break out; Kup and the Wreckers kicking ass and taking names; rigid policeman Ultra Magnus) are things IDW have done in their other books and generally done better. I know RID isn't everyone's Kup (ha ha) of tea, but the set up of the post war Cybertron being a ruin where things are barely being held together is a lot more interesting than the planet of shopping malls we get here.

Still, now I've got a phone I can buy digital comics on for considerably less than the cost of physical copies and postage I may well give at least the first one a go on the grounds it can't possibly be worse that Autocracy 12 (which did such shameless cribbing of the movie script it not only wound up being more faithful to the film than IDW's own adaptation but makes you wonder how the writers justified their fee for just providing a transcript).

Though don't worry, though I'll be going into this with my eyes wide open and not expecting more than something to read and laugh at in five minutes on my break, I do remember that fuss over my 80.5 opinions so won't comment on it here unless I wind up really loving it too avoid any irritability.

One puzzlement about the preview though: OK, they're ignoring the UK and G2 stuff. Whilst that's not what I'd have done that's fair enough in terms of judging each issue on its own merits. But, if as it seems there's been no Decepticon trouble in years, what has Galvatrion done to be one of the three biggest baddest holodeck Decepticons? Anyone who knew anything about him in the American book is either dead or missing. Wouldn't those left on Cybertron just remember him as a stranger who came from no where, attacked a base but then helped inspire the counter-attack against Unicron? You'd thing that'd make him a bit of a hero if anything. Would anyone here even know his name?

[Best First]

also seems to be ignoring all (or a lot) of the UK stuff - most of the Wreckers are dead man. dead.

[Shanti418]

I do have to agree with what someone said at the Archive though, all the ideas presented here are things IDW have done in other books

Still though, doesn't the fact that Furman invented these things so they could BECOME cliches mean he gets some rope to play them out?

Post war Cybertron at peace but with trouble about to break out? Who's the first guy that ended the Autobot-Decepticon war? He built the shopping malls at the end of #80, so it's not like he can go, "Ah, The Last Autobot thought he was rebirthing the planet, but the engine wouldn't turn over."

The Wreckers kicking ass and taking names? Who came up with the Wreckers?

Rigid policeman Ultra Magnus? OK, maybe you can put that one on Ron Friedman. But at least it's not Prowl! [/RID]

things IDW have done in their other books and generally done better.

How is that so? I remember a large batch of Furman written stuff - which I imagine is NOT the stuff you think is better than this - then a bunch of stuff we all agree is crap, then 6 months of goodness that while awesome, needs at the very least time. It's like you're saying "Based on these handful of preview pages, all of this is done poorly, but based upon 6 issues of a couple series, I can safely hand out the Greatest Post War Cybertron award. Man, when Furman writes Ultra Magnus like a policeman, I'm like 'blah, blah, blah," but when ROBERTS writes Ultra Magnus like a policeman, it's f***ing genius!!!"

[Mr_Tigg]

For your consideration:
Still, now I've got a phone I can buy digital comics on for considerably less than the cost of physical copies and postage I may well give at least the first one a go on the grounds it can't possibly be worse that Autocracy 12 (which did such shameless cribbing of the movie script it not only wound up being more faithful to the film than IDW's own adaptation but makes you wonder how the writers justified their fee for just providing a transcript).

So I take it the last issue of Autocracy was dog-muck? I stopped collecting at 10 when the Matrix 're-built' optimus prime (and kinda nullified the whole Chaos Theory story where Prime is rebuilt with a matrix chamber).

It was all a bit too much for me, and left me wondering if the writer is Shameless McCarthy in disguise. The story seems to focus on 'this would look cool in a film' moments rather than actual, decent story telling.

I still can't believe I kept buying them for 10 issues. Man I'm a schmuck.

[Best First]

I'm shmuckier - issue'w 11 and 12 as well. Pretty fwank.

[inflatable dalek]

It's a shame about Autocracy because I thought, as a bit of a quick read throwaway bit of fun, it started fairly well. But as it went on and on it got worse and worse and the movie "homaging" became more and more overt and annoying.

I did really want to enjoy it as I'm currently in love with the idea of digital comics- the (in the UK at least) price difference means comics are now in the price range of disposable purchases again for me. I don't have to feel each purchase needs to be a guaranteed good'un and means that giving things like Regeneration One a go is more likely and not such an annoyance if it's crap.

Plus, unless you're lucky to have something other than a Forbiden Planet nearby, most UK comic shops are the devil's tool and deserve to be crushed by the digital revolution.

I think Autocracy would have been better served by just being set in the cartoon universe, it would have taken a very small amount of rewriting to set it after Pax was rebuilt in War Dawn.

Still though, doesn't the fact that Furman invented these things so they could BECOME cliches mean he gets some rope to play them out?

Oh I didn't say he didn't deserve credit for what he's done in the past, just that this books coming out amidst one doing similar things in a (mostly) very good way. I'm not sure what the selling point is supposed to be for the hyperthetical fans not familiar with the Marvel stuff who are already getting the other two books.

It's like you're saying "Based on these handful of preview pages, all of this is done poorly, but based upon 6 issues of a couple series, I can safely hand out the Greatest Post War Cybertron award. Man, when Furman writes Ultra Magnus like a policeman, I'm like 'blah, blah, blah," but when ROBERTS writes Ultra Magnus like a policeman, it's f***ing genius!!!"

I had a fairly good idea of (what I'd consider to be) the qualities of their first issues from the previews for RID and MTMTE. And found the set up in RID to be the best thing about it right from the get go.

Having read this now... Soudwave great, everything else meh. I'd actually say Soundwave and Ratchet are the two most consistently well written characters across everything Furman has done across all continuities, always interesting and well portrayed without descending into parody like Grimlock or going off the boil like Prowl or Magnus.

What I love about Marvel (and IDW before someone said "Hey, lets write him like the cartoon because basing his personality around how his voice sounds in this printed medium is a good idea!") is that he a smart resourceful guy with his own agendas, but who- at least up until all the other candidates are dead missing or mad or Starscream forces his hand in Earthforce- isn't especially interested in being leader. That's pretty much unique in the self interested Decepticons and always makes him interesting to read. Wjhat he's up too here will actually bring me back next month because it's worth the two quid alone.

One thing I do think hurt the issue though is a recurrence of an old Dreeamwave problem that IDW have been sucesfully avoiding for most of this year, the solictations- and especially the cover- give away too much. The ending would have a lot more impact with some of the careful misdirection that RID and especially MTMTE have used so well.