Megatron: Origin #4 Review (SPOILERS)

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 2:34 am

I defy anyone who can find a plot point in this issue that wasn't telegraphed from a mile away? I defy you!

The positive. Let me think real hard. I think the artwork of the first three pages, you know, the one that was posted online, was very nice. After that, it was very obviously back to smiggly schmuck.

Storywise, all I had to really do was read the posts on this and other TF message boards, and I could have saved 4 bucks, because everything we thought was going to happen did happen.

No surprises whatsoever.

Very sad, this Megatron:Origin series. Very, very sad.

Overall, a "D+" series.

Hot Shot · Post by **Hot Shot** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 2:47 am

At least it's over. The only enjoyable part of it was reading the charges against Starscream out loud. I don't think I'll touch those issues for a looong time.

I still find it strange how a large percentage of the online fanbase loved this series. The cashier at my comic shop couldn't understand how I didn't like it. Must be a case of bad taste going around.

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 2:54 am

Hot Shot wrote: I still find it strange how a large percentage of the online fanbase loved this series. The cashier at my comic shop couldn't understand how I didn't like it. Must be a case of bad taste going around.

I know! And sales-wise, it somehow is doing quite well relative to IDW's other titles.

I just don't get it.

Post by **Kaylee** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 7:45 am

Lowest common denominator?

Metal Vendetta · Post by **Metal Vendetta** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 8:52 am

Fanwank, innit?

Here's what I posted over at IDW. I was a bit concerned that I might get censored under their punitive "constructive criticism only" policy so I tried to play up the good parts of this issue - both of them.

---

Well I was critical of the first five pages when they appeared without dialogue because I wasn't convinced that the senate or their security would be stupid enough to allow Starscream up close and personal without frisking him for weapons. I have to say, the dialogue really doesn't help in the slightest. When they read Starscream's charge sheet which includes murder, armed robbery and firing upon a state senator, then it's a bit hard to swallow that they didn't check him for weapons, hidden or not. He doesn't even seem to be wearing an inhibitor claw, which considering he turns into an attack jet, is a terrible oversight.

Then there's the art, where a lot of things seem to be happening off panel. The Straxusque dude with the axe (presumably Kaon council security) just disappears and Soundwave appears right where he was standing a panel later without explanation. Was Soundwave somehow disguised as Straxus? What happened to his axe? I really don't get it at all. This is followed by more dodgy dialogue as Starscream mutters something contemptuous about sticking to the plan and promises to "show that cretin a plan"...then appears to follow the original plan to the letter. Er, well done there Starscream. Very rebellious.

So he breaks the soon-to-be Decepticons from out of their cells. I thought I saw Beastbox at the bottom of p5, but he's with Soundwave, so obviously not - but on p6 we have Rumble and Frenzy being liberated, dashing speculation that they were hidden inside Soundwave during his escape and rendering their "alterations" last issue completely pointless. I mean, why would we need to see (or rather hear about after the event) that they had been converted into tapes if in this issue, they still have no apparent connection with Soundwave?

I do like the bit where Screamer gives Megs his fusion cannon. That was a nice touch. Snappy dialogue and a nice image.

So the Decepticons break out into a flurry of small and crowded panels and start causing havoc on Cybertron. Inferno and Grapple appear to be the local fire service - Inferno I can understand, but Grapple is traditionally an architect. But hey, he looks a bit like Inferno, so why not write them as similar characters? Gah.

I can't make out what's happening on p11 at all.

On p12, Ravage is telling Soundwave about what he's been up to lately - whoops, no I think it's a mis-attibuted speech bubble. It should be Ratbat who's talking. And on p13 he goes on to talk a lot more about how he is responsible for everything we've seen so far, while a three-armed Blot (I think) - er, does something. Again, I can't really tell what's happening - he rips off someone's arm with his third arm (while shooting with his other two) and then there are two explosions. Feh.

On p14 Soundwave finally gets around to betraying Ratbat (didn't see that coming at all) and then turns him into a cassette (didn't see that coming either) apparently by magic. I'm guessing this isn't the same way Rumble and Frenzy were converted off-panel last issue, and of course we'll never know now, but I would have liked to see a bit of the process beyond "Soundwave has a magic glowy hand". Ugh.

Pages 15-17 are well-written and drawn, aside from Megs's dialogue about calling out Sentinel Prime - "Come out, Prime! I know you can hear me!" - er, yeah, he was standing right in front of you in the last panel. But then on p18, there's another big random explosion - I have no idea who or what it is that explodes - and again on p19 I have absolutely no idea what is going on. Megs has got above Prime, and taken out Hound though. Then he throws Hound at Sentinel's Apex armour, which is made of glass or something, because the sheer force of an unconscious Transformer hitting it shatters the domed bit above his head. What an effective piece of battle equipment that must be.

We're then treated to the big showdown through a series of cramped and largely indecipherable panels - which is galling, considering the unexplained explosion was given a full page to itself - until Megatron pushes Prime down a hole. The dialogue during the fight isn't bad, but it's pretty standard Megatron ranting, and nothing that gives us a shining insight into his character. The fact that I thought Prime had died - which apparently he hasn't - doesn't bode well for the clarity of the writing or the art.

And then a page's denoument, where Megs celebrates his victory by turning Prime's Apex armour into a chair. Meh.

I'm sorry lads, I really tried with this series, but when I can't tell what's happening half the time, and the dialogue does nothing to explain it then the comic has failed in my eyes. Like the preceding three issues there are certainly moments of greatness here, but as a whole Megatron Origin has been muddy, confusing and reads like a piece of fanfic - high-quality fanfic, like the sort they do for Botcon - but nothing like the sort of quality IDW should be producing at this stage of the game.

Legion · Post by **Legion** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 9:25 am

well, i guess the plus point of this issue is that it's the last one...

sprunkner · Post by **sprunkner** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 11:20 pm

I would like to review these for the site and channel all this vehemence into an eye-bleeding, butt-hurting condemnation. So little time...

Shanti418 · Post by **Shanti418** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 12:43 am

The most shocking thing to me is that, even with little expectation, this mini let me down MUCH MORE than Transformers: The Movie.

This was turgid crap. Artwise, it made Micromasters look like the Sistene Chapel. Scriptwise, it was grammatically correct at best.

Although Yaya, I think Screamer's gift of Fusion Cannon to Megs was something that I didn't see coming. Granted, that's because either A, there WAS no foreshadowing, or B, that foreshadowing happened while I was busy trying to tell what the f*** was going on in the picture.

Agree wtih MV: Those Sound/Straxus, Soundwave and the "tapes" sequences were so discombobulating I don't really know how one would get paid for producing such work.

The ending with Megatron on the Sentinel Prime throne reminded me of a 15 year old kid with a sketch pad who stayed up late watching A Clockwork Orange on acid. I SWEAR I could hear the theme music in the background. "Nothing like a little o' the ultraviolence, eh Prime?"

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 1:47 am

Shanti418 wrote: Although Yaya, I think Screamer's gift of Fusion Cannon to Megs was something that I didn't see coming. Granted, that's because either A, there WAS no foreshadowing, or B, that foreshadowing happened while I was busy trying to tell what the f*** was going on in the picture.

Some people thought that was cool, but to me, it didn't make much sense.

I mean, it was Ratbat and Soundwave who were responsible for arms distribution, and I think it would have been more fitting, and more in tune with Soundwaves ass-kissing nature to have gifted Megatron with his ultimate weapon, don't you think?

This whole series was just so poorly executed. I'm not really sure what "fanwank" really means. War and Peace has been labelled as such, and I loved it. No, it wasn't the fanwankery then, that makes me dislike this series so much.

It's the lack of artistic clarity and lame-brain predictability that really kills this for me.

Manchester Devil · Post by **Manchester Devil** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 4:08 pm

Maybe Starscream paid Soundwave for the cannon with all that pocket money he saved?

Talk about an utter, utter waste of potential...

Post by **Kaylee** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 4:19 pm

Worryingly everyone on TFW2005 seems to love it

Manchester Devil · Post by **Manchester Devil** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 4:46 pm

The idea of anyone liking this series ought to be worrying. All the colourists should be shot at dawn.

If only Furman was over looking this series. And that's before Alex Milne said on IDW's forum that Sentinel Prime may not be dead!

Marcelo Matere's cover for issue 4 was very apt: "DO NOT WANT!!!!!!!!!!" Megatron screamed as he finished reading the script to his own origin story.

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 7:23 pm

Karl Lynch wrote:Worryingly everyone on TFW2005 seems to love it

On the IDW boards as well. It's quite interesting.

On the one hand, I'm glad people support IDW, on the other I'm worried that such support might encourage more of the same. Like I said, it's been selling quite well despite the way we have felt about it here.

It's almost as if most of those posters haven't read Marvel or DW before, and this is the first time they are delving into Transformers comics, and so the experience for them is new and fun.

I just don't see how anyone can like something they have to wrack their brain over to decipher what's going on.

Post by **Best First** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 11:40 pm

total crap.

i genuniely don't value the opinion of anyone who likes this - its just not a good comic full stop, let alone a good transformers comic.

i will rant more tomorrow. yay.

BB Shockwave · Post by **BB Shockwave** » Sat Oct 27, 2007 7:09 am

Yeah, the colorists are color-blind. They color the whole thing nicely, then overlap it with some weird faint-purpley shade, so everyone looks the same color: purplish. Gah. Granted I haven't read it yet but all the pages Alex Milne put up on devianart had that.

Btw I asked Alex WTF does he draw faces with such weird mouths, namely the lines in the edges of the mouths... Case in point, the page with Grapple and Inferno making faces under an exploding bridge (though with the purple shading, it could easily be Hauler not Grapple)...

Please tell me Soundwave didn't turn Ratbat into a casette with magic. That is sooo... Dreamwave-like. Reminds me of the panel in W&P where Starscream gives Ratbat to Soundwave... without explanation how he got from conniving industrialist into speechless casette. I hope Simon sticks to the old Ratbat portrayal we know and love ignoring Megs Origin. (Was Ratbat in Devastation #2 too?)

BTW - not everyone on IDW boards like it. But they mostly criticise the art, not the writing... IMHO the writing is the more faulty of the two.

sprunkner · Post by **sprunkner** » Sat Oct 27, 2007 2:41 pm

sprunkner wrote:I would like to review these for the site and channel all this vehemence into an eye-bleeding, butt-hurting condemnation. So little time...

Although to be honest, I couldn't write the synopses because I can't tell you what happened in the issues.

Post by **Best First** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 10:47 am

Best First wrote:
i will rant more tomorrow. yay.

Except, i find i can't really be bothered - essentially this is so feeble, so uninspired, just reading it makes me feel lethergic.

agree with most of the above - the writing is definitely the primary culprit IMO, from structure to pacing to charachter insight to the woefull teenager who has listed to too much metal dialogue (with a few exceptions - i liked 'I wanted to see how the other half lived').

I just hope this can essentially be swept under the coninuity carpet as time drifts on.

Metal Vendetta · Post by **Metal Vendetta** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 11:53 am

Well if Milne is right and SP isn't really dead, it's possible that a sequel to this could address most of the more glaring issues...

Looks like Holmes isn't too happy with Shockwav over at IDW

Post by **snarl** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 12:08 pm

Best First wrote:
Best First wrote:
i will rant more tomorrow. yay.
Except, i find i can't really be bothered - essentially this is so feeble, so uninspired, just reading it makes me feel lethergic.

agree with most of the above - the writing is definitely the primary culprit IMO, from structure to pacing to charachter insight to the woefull teenager who has listed to too much metal dialogue (with a few exceptions - i liked 'I wanted to see how the other half lived').

I just hope this can essentially be swept under the coninuity carpet as time drifts on.

Don't say the writing was rubbish.

The writer might come on here and moan that you're a troll and ****.

I really wouldn't mind that, as long as there was also a willingness to address the points MV made.

Looking through the IDW forum, I wouldn't say it has been recieved well by any of the articulate posters there.

There are one or two "That was cool, Megatron punched a hole in him EEK!" replies, but they probably think it's cool to listen to Eamon Holmes and Chris Moyles.

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 1:06 pm

Metal Vendetta wrote:Well if Milne is right and SP isn't really dead, it's possible that a sequel to this could address most of the more glaring issues...

Looks like Holmes isn't too happy with Shockwav over at IDW

Another IDW member after a fan. Poor CS.

One might say I......feel his pain.

Now that that has happened, I don't feel so alone anymore. Wait. Yes I do.

Post by **Best First** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 1:52 pm

Yaya wrote:
Metal Vendetta wrote:Well if Milne is right and SP isn't really dead, it's possible that a sequel to this could address most of the more glaring issues...

Looks like Holmes isn't too happy with Shockwav over at IDW
Another IDW member after a fan. Poor CS.

One might say I......feel his pain.

Now that that has happened, I don't feel so alone anymore. Wait. Yes I do.

****ing hell! The suck up modding in that topic is a disgrace.

Basically you are now not allowed to lay into something you have paid for in case it hurts the feelings of the people you have given money to when you bought the product. I'm not saying people should be needlessly rude but if something is produced that is not up to snuff then the personw ho write it can, frankly, get over it.

I'd rather have no fan interaction than interaction that's contingent on honey coating everything you say.

Notable that Holmes has, for two topics in a row, seized upon a couple of the more narky comments but ignored a chunk of constructive criticisim...

Aardvark · Post by **Aardvark** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 2:13 pm

Edit: Actually, here's my "two cents":

I have to say, I really didn't enjoy this series. In fairness to Holmes, it was his first official writing gig -- not that that excuses poor writing (IMO). But a fair bit of the blame should be attributed to whoever thought it would be a good idea to allow an untested, inexperienced, video game designer to write a 4-issue series that was originally pitched as a 6-issue series to a different company who had a completely different style and continuity. Also, the silly cameos are supposedly down to Milne, and Furman deserves a bit of a lashing for not doing a particularly good job at overseeing the project.

Post by **Best First** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 2:57 pm

well, whoever had editorial responsibility - but yeah, i agree. Bad calls all round.

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 3:57 pm

Aardvark wrote:But a fair bit of the blame should be attributed to whoever thought it would be a good idea to allow an untested, inexperienced, video game designer to write a 4-issue series that was originally pitched as a 6-issue series to a different company who had a completely different style and continuity.

That's exactly what I said, placing blame on the editorial staff for allowing this to happen.

I suppose I'm going to hear it from Chris Ryall too now.

I don't think Eric should take these comments personally, its a team effort, and no one person can shoulder the blame (though the colorist should get the biggest portion of it).

****ing hell! The suck up modding in that topic is a disgrace.

Yeah, check out the way that one moderator gets stern with Goodchild, only to realize later that that Goodchild is Eric Holmes, and then proceeds to kiss ass.

Aardvark · Post by **Aardvark** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 4:29 pm

Yaya wrote: That's exactly what I said, placing blame on the editorial staff for allowing this to happen.

Thing is, far as Ryall's concerned, the comic was a success -- he believes that it has been well received (A viewpoint which differs remarkably depending on where you look), and the sales seem to be pretty good.

I don't think Eric should take these comments personally, its a team effort, and no one person can shoulder the blame (though the colorist should get the biggest portion of it).

Nah -- when it comes to Transformers, I generally place story over art. I would have actually gone to the bother of figuring out what in the hell was going on had the writing been solid.

Post by **Best First** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 4:32 pm

i know. At least delete the comments telling him off! Amatuer...

Jesus, i can't believe we live in a world where i have got to the point that i am sticking it to mods who are having a word with yo... that shockwave chap. I love when he gets mod slapped!

Also love that one of the comments is that being critical discourages discussion. er...

I think the colourist is actually the most minor issue to be honest - if the story was mind blowing and the lines great then yes, that would be the issue, as it is it just adds to the general let down.

Metal Vendetta · Post by **Metal Vendetta** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 4:34 pm

Best First wrote:Notable that Holmes has, for two topics in a row, seized upon a couple of the more narky comments but ignored a chunk of constructive criticisim...

I think he's just being overly sensitive - look at how Simon's handled "Scott" over on his blog and compare that with Holmes spitting his dummy over Shockwav's comments.

Post by **Best First** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 4:50 pm

Thing is - i can see why he would be pissed off.

If my first comic got a bit panned and people said they were glad some characters did not appear and implied they would prefer to see another creative team it would be a bit of a kick in the balls.

BUT - it would be my problem, i put my work out there (and got paid for it) so i have to take any associated flak. If CS had said - "the guy who wrote this is an idiot" fine, but he has merely expressed that he does not like his output so far and does not see enough promise in it that he would like to see another attempt by the same guy.

the horror.

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 5:42 pm

THE [composite word including 'f*ck'] WAS THE POINT OF THE STUFF WITH THE MACE????

[EDIT]

Right. I've had time to calm down more.

And by calm I mean "even angrier and actually articulate". Still drowning under utter apathy, but now I have the patience to channel it into this:

- The cliffhanger at the end of #3. The one that was bodged and contained no drama at all? Rendered even more pointless by the fact that it had no relevance. "What did you tell him?" / "Everything." Really? REALLY? HE'S CARRYING OUT YOUR PLAN.

- Speaking of no relevance... the mace. The one that we got huge pages of art blatantly telegraphing in lieu of actual plot progresson. You know the one I mean? Not used. At all. Not even hinted at. A heavy handed set-up that wasn't even referenced. That means it can only be classed as one thing, doesn't it? Fanwank. There's a surprise.

- I've said before (on many occasions) that this series embodies everything I hated about Dreamwave's output. I won't reiterate past greivances, but I will just mention the utter coup de grace. The icing on the cake. The point where it stops pretending and just goes with it. Though it does get points for shying away from Shockwave and opting for another purple Decepticon. The shock senseless revelation that ties everything together... Ratbat did it.

Post by **spiderfrommars** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 7:25 pm

Very disappointed. Not just with the issue, or the series, but the subsequent spin.

Thank goodness for Devastation.