Focus On Decepticons Review (SPOILER)

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 11:30 pm

Well, this issue is just a promotional piece.

Anyway....

Loved Shane's interview and what he's trying to accomplish.

It's exactly what I felt has been missing from the TF IDW run thus far. Namely, more character focus and the journey these characters will take and how events around them will shape who they become.

Loved the Scrapper/Hook moment. These are the moments that help define the cast and distinguish one bot from the next. Provided they are consistent throughout the story.

A we got deaths! Bloody, bloody deaths! I'm not demented, mind you, but certainly I prefer this kind of tone. Readers of the Transformers are older now, and so, the tone must get darker.

Artwork was nice. A bit balloony in some panels, which we want to stay away from.

So I'm seeing some positives here, some potential.

It's a tricky game, though. What is my cause for concern?

Well, I really hope Shane made his best effort to jive with what Simon has done before (understanding that such jive won't be flawless, particulary when Simon's still telling his tale.) I see no problem with him taking things in a different direction, but it has to make sense with what's come before.

For example, if even one hundred human beings sighted the Transformers, as they likely did in Devestation when the Ark nearly crashed in their city, would we have anyone standing around a year later in the street saying "Hey! Look! Giant robot actors! What movie are they from?" as they did in this preview? Unless the nation underwent a total mindwipe, they would be more likely to go "run for your lives, it's those giant warring robots!!!".

So gotta respect the past. That's very important to the success of this title. If it doesn't, we're going to have a lot of angry, disenchanted fans.

Overall, I'm really stoked about this and can't wait to see how this unfolds. Liking what I'm seeing, cautiously optimistic.

Shanti418 · Post by **Shanti418** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 5:08 am

Yaya wrote:Well, I really hope Shane made his best effort to jive with what Simon has done before (understanding that such jive won't be flawless, particulary when Simon's still telling his tale.) I see no problem with him taking things in a different direction, but it has to make sense with what's come before.

To me, the biggest thing said to that point was Shane stating that All Hail Megatron happens roughly a year past the end of Devastation. This story has to make sense with what's going to come next, which is all the harder. I mean, if in a year Decepticons are going to triumph over the Earth, what's the point of Furman's next arc?

If this was nothing but an out of continuity rompfest, I'd be superpsyched and pumped. I'm still pretty pumped, but finding out this is in continuity and in a years time...'tis odd.

I'd LOVE to see Guido's Zombie Megatron, too.

Ozz · Post by **Ozz** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 7:22 am

Are these 8 pages in this thing taken from AHM #1, or is it something like Infiltration #0?

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 1:40 pm

Shanti418 wrote: To me, the biggest thing said to that point was Shane stating that All Hail Megatron happens roughly a year past the end of Devastation. This story has to make sense with what's going to come next, which is all the harder. I mean, if in a year Decepticons are going to triumph over the Earth, what's the point of Furman's next arc?

Yeah, that's what I mean about it being tricky. He and Simon would have had to sit down long and hard to make this thing jive.

If they didn't.....God help us all.

Are these 8 pages in this thing taken from AHM #1, or is it something like Infiltration #0?

They are taken from AHM #1.

This thing should have been free, like the Secret Invasion promo issue.

I mean, I enjoyed it, but $2.99 worth? No way.

And I skimmed it over again. Those Pat Lee panels really, really bother me.

I hope Guido isn't purposefully doing this. It's not his usual style.

BB Shockwave · Post by **BB Shockwave** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 5:46 pm

Yaya wrote:
Yeah, that's what I mean about it being tricky. He and Simon would have had to sit down long and hard to make this thing jive.

If they didn't.....God help us all.

They didn't. That's what Simon told me on his blog...

BB Shockwave, pretty much all I’m doing is setting things up for Shane to take or leave in All Hail Megatron. It’s very much his series.

This, and stuff from Shane's interview like these:

What we're looking at here is a civil war that has raged for millions of years finally coming to an end. It's over. The good guys lost. After millions of years of struggle, heartache and death it's all come down to this. We're the spoils of war.

(umm, losing earth is not really the end of the Cybertronian civil war)

I'm glad you asked about what changes are in store for our planet with the Decepticons in control (or at least aiming to be). The impact of all of this is a big feature in the book and starts with the inevitable downfall of the US. How will the rest of the world react to the fall of America? What does this mean for us as a species and what chance do we have of fighting back?

(judging from stuff we saw so far just Sixshot could have destroyed Earth in a week. Shane wants to tell us in one year the Cons only conquered the US?!?

The days of Transformers being about Megatron getting all excited over an oil refinery are over. We're playing for keeps here.

(That's the CARTOON!!! Did Shane even read Infiltration, Escalation, Devastation?)

So... I'm even thinking it's not a coincidence that Sixshot was out of action, the Bots left earth and the Battlechargers died. Get it? The Cons staying on earth are 'good olde' G1 cartoon Season1-2 Cons... Heaven forbid we use obscure comic characters like Bludgeon or Thunderwing, no!

I'm just stating one thing. The moment Shockwave appears and starts acting like in the cartoon, I'm coming down on this comic. Hard.

Anything else would be... but you know the rest.

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 6:57 pm

BB Shockwave wrote:
Yaya wrote:
Yeah, that's what I mean about it being tricky. He and Simon would have had to sit down long and hard to make this thing jive.

If they didn't.....God help us all.

They didn't. That's what Simon told me on his blog...

BB Shockwave, pretty much all I’m doing is setting things up for Shane to take or leave in All Hail Megatron. It’s very much his series.

Yeah, but that doesn't really mean they aren't on the same page. Nor does it mean Simon is bowing out.

Simon is basically saying he's doing his thing, and after that Shane can take it away from there, but only with AHM, not the continuity as a whole.

I think pretty much Simon will be continuing his story thereafter with the next eight issues involving the Bots and Cons in space, leaving Shane to do what he wants with the Decepticons on Earth.

With this strategy, it can all be pulled off quite nicely, actually, because they are dealing with separate storylines that are no longer interconnected in a serious way.

We will be getting Simon for 12 issues concurrently with Shane's 12 issues.

I think it's brilliant on IDW's part. They are essentially trying to capture those fans who have been disenchanted with what Simon has done (read the Newsarama forum posts) whilst preserving Simon's run.

I'm excited by this, actually.

Manchester Devil · Post by **Manchester Devil** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 6:57 pm

Did the Decepticons just waited an entire year before they found out the Autobots were long gone? Did humanity just forgotten about events in Pentacosta? What about the remains of the Reapers and the facsimiles at the heads of governments across the world?

Oh dear. Throw in the appearance of Devastator in the roll call (what about the "Monstructor six"?) and it looks like we're heading into retro town. I think it would be best for Shane to draw in Infiltration, Escalation and Devastation before carrying on because this could Megatron: Origiin BUT THREE TIMES LONGER!

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 8:51 pm

Manchester Devil wrote: I think it would be best for Shane to draw in Infiltration, Escalation and Devastation before carrying on because this could Megatron: Origiin BUT THREE TIMES LONGER!

More importantly, I hope Simon had an opportunity to go over Shane's final work in detail before press.

I've been calling for Simon the Editor, and I hope that's what IDW has made sure happens.

Manchester Devil · Post by **Manchester Devil** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 12:14 am

But surely Shane had the opportunity to go through the Earth arcs, Stormbringer and the majority of the Spotlights released thus far going into writing AHM.

I still can't Pat Lee's "art" had seeped its way into an IDW book - Starscream looks terrible! Kill it all with fire!

BB Shockwave · Post by **BB Shockwave** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 1:39 pm

I think it's brilliant on IDW's part. They are essentially trying to capture those fans who have been disenchanted with what Simon has done (read the Newsarama forum posts) whilst preserving Simon's run.

I read those post... you mean the guys who were saying that Brad Mick's 'Night of the Insecticons' story arc was brilliant?

Btw, surprise surprise, Thundercracker indeed quotes his tech spec in the preview. Talk about originality.

I'm really open about this story, but I'd enjoy it more if it wouldn't be in continuity and didn't mess up two years of Simon's carefully built-up storyline.

Hey, I know! We'll say what Brad Mick said: "It was all Daniel's dream!" Or here, it was Hunter's dream...

Yaya wrote:More importantly, I hope Simon had an opportunity to go over Shane's final work in detail before press.

I've been calling for Simon the Editor, and I hope that's what IDW has made sure happens.

Well that's exactly what I asked Simon, whether he and Shane sat down and talked things over, whom not to kill off, etc... See his answer above.

That's why I'm worried.

Post by **Best First** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 2:30 pm

yeah, i find teh tone ofthe interviews implicitly, if not explicitly, pretty dismissive/derisory/ignorant of what has gone before - the comment about the oil refinery is a great example.

Manchester Devil · Post by **Manchester Devil** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 11:28 pm

Yeah, it's like Shane didn't do his research properly. And by "research properly", I mean read Furman's IDW TF material as opposed to recycling the old cartoon.

Post by **spiderfrommars** » Sat Apr 12, 2008 9:44 am

So I can wait till AHM #1 to read this?

sprunkner · Post by **sprunkner** » Sat Apr 12, 2008 4:20 pm

ditto on good and bad things... lots of continuity/Pat Lee art concerns, especially weird coming from Guido, who was able to give us the incomparable Spotlight: Galvatron.

BB Shockwave · Post by **BB Shockwave** » Sun Apr 13, 2008 11:37 am

sprunkner wrote:ditto on good and bad things... lots of continuity/Pat Lee art concerns, especially weird coming from Guido, who was able to give us the incomparable Spotlight: Galvatron.

The weird thing is, Guido himself says in the interview he will use the style from Spotlight Galvatron in AHM, to match its dark story. But the actual art style looks nothing like that...

Maybe IDW hired Pat Lee for inking purposes?

Sunyavadin · Post by **Sunyavadin** » Sun Apr 13, 2008 1:48 pm

So, general feel seems to be what?
A slight incursion of DW Inflatabots into our TF universe in a storyline that Simon's hopefully gonna pull a Dallas on in the next arc? This sounds worrying - I'll see if the first issue's at my local store today before catching my train... But so far you've gotten me worried...

Post by **Best First** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 11:38 am

Hmm. Not really sure what to make of this.

Though the writer interview was very hyperbolic - lost of assertions that it will be amazing but with little insight as to why. Made me sit a bit uneasily. Maybe i just didn't like the fact part of what i had paid for was a sales pitch. I also still feel that the tone of the interview implicitly poo poos what has gone before to some extent. I guess the main thing is there was nothing in the interview that i didn't feel could be said by anyone - "so you, you are writing a new comic, tell us about it", "Yes, i am writing a new comic, it will be spiffing and you will love it because i assert it thusly" "Great talking to you" "No worries".

Guido comes across well as usual in his interview.

There are what i could consider to be some worrying signs (the unimaginative cast list and associated blurbs, the seeming character resets (esp the relationship between Megs and Screamer)) but the strip as a whole didn't manifest them to too great an extent. It didn't blow my socks off but i didn't recoil in horror either - one thing i will say is it felt a bit generic - the pages we saw could fit easily into any number of previous TF continuities in terms of the characters/relationships/actions, i hope this won't be the case with the book overall. I guess one way to describe it was it was all a bit "tech-specy". Similiarly the dialouge was profficient without sparkling IMO.

If nothing else i am intrigued to see why the Decepticons plan involves trashing a city - i'm all for a bit of destruction but i hope there is a solid and explicit reason why there is such a departure from the infiltration ethos (i know they have alrady been exposed but that doesn't neccessite shooting taxis) and Megs previous disregard for humans (gloriously captured by his utter ambivilance to verity in Infiltration).

If i was less well off i guess i would be a bit miffed at paying for this in terms of what it was.

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 1:36 pm

This from Simon's blog:

simon furman Says:
April 12, 2008 at 10:31 am
Hey. just a quick one to reassure everyone that I ain’t going nowhere in terms of IDW’s Transformers comics. I’m busier than ever, knitting together the four Revelation Spotlights, prepping Maximum— oh, hang on, not supposed to mention that yet, and anticipating two further series. Thank goodness Shane’s doing all the legwork on All Hail Megatron, which only going to open up more possibilities down the line.

Phew.

I take that to mean Simon is in the know regarding what Shane is trying?

If i was less well off i guess i would be a bit miffed at paying for this in terms of what it was.

Even if I were the most well off person in the world, I still feel like I bought something cut and pasted from the internet and past TF comics.

Only the fact that I'm helping IDW soothes my concious.

Post by **Best First** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 5:31 pm

There is a difference between in the know and editorial supervision though - i remain a bit skeptical about this after the generally slack (IMO) approach that was taken to this with regard to M:O - where it was again claimed that Simon was 'in the know' and then we got a Megs who didn't bear any thematic resemblance to his modern day incarnation, bots who are all police men and fem bots.

Yeah, agree on reflection that its a bit p*ss poor asking for money for 2 publicity interviews, some reused art and comics pages you will have to rebuy anyway.

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 6:27 pm

Best First wrote:There is a difference between in the know and editorial supervision though - i remain a bit skeptical about this after the generally slack (IMO) approach that was taken to this with regard to M:O - where it was again claimed that Simon was 'in the know' and then we got a Megs who didn't bear any thematic resemblance to his modern day incarnation, bots who are all police men and fem bots.

Please tell me IDW isn't stupid enough to pull another M:O.

Pleeeeeeeaaaassssseeeee!!!!!

Even if it's a lie, somebody, just tell me that, God damn it!

Post by **Best First** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 9:17 pm

i'd have more confidence on that front if they had actually acknowledged it was a bit of a boob.

he says, generously.

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 10:21 pm

More pages from AHM. http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=153617

Have to admit, looking at those thumbs, that art is sweet (the buildings and layout of the city are crisp and clean).

That one page though looks quite cluttered, like in the old Marvel days where they had about five different pairs of combatants in one panel, each with a speech bubble describing what their respective weapon will do to their opponent.

Manchester Devil · Post by **Manchester Devil** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 11:11 pm

Can someone please explain why Soundwave, Ironhide, Ratchet, Wheeljack and Bumblebee are in the bottom panel of the first page? And why are Megatron and Prime shuffling up to each other like a pair of drunken boxers?

Quick, someone make Shane read Infiltration, Escalation and Devastation in succession post haste!

Sunyavadin · Post by **Sunyavadin** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 12:46 am

My worrying increases with every extra bit I see and hear about this...

Anyone mind if I just go about my life assuming this is taking place in the Spotlight:Mirage universe? :P

Also - I'm really starting to think a story like this might have been a good excuse to bring in a guest arc from Bob...

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 3:30 am

Manchester Devil wrote:Can someone please explain why Soundwave, Ironhide, Ratchet, Wheeljack and Bumblebee are in the bottom panel of the first page? And why are Megatron and Prime shuffling up to each other like a pair of drunken boxers?

Quick, someone make Shane read Infiltration, Escalation and Devastation in succession post haste!

I think this is meant to be a flashback.

I hope.

Hot Shot · Post by **Hot Shot** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 4:01 am

I picked up the preview and I'm going to skip this series entirely. It looks like Dreamwave for the destruction-loving movie fans. And with "Anyone can jump right in!" being pushed I doubt it will contribute anything positive to the IDWverse.

I've got better things to spend $36+ on.

BB Shockwave · Post by **BB Shockwave** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 8:06 am

Well Shane even popped up at TFW2005 to diawowe the claims that like M:O (which was originally written for the DW continutiy), AHM was written as a stand-alone series and then shoehorned into continuity. Apparently he wrote it from the start as an in-continuity event...

Simon doesn't know much about where AHM is going, I think... same way Eric told us Simon knew all about M:O and then it turns out, Simon learned from me that Clench was introduced and offed in that comic (and expressed he doesn't really has any way to influence Eric).

I think what we can expect from this series is, as BF brilliantly put it, that it's going to be "tech-specy" - thus I don't expect any great surprises here.
And I agree with Manchester Devil, Shane needs to read the previous issues - fast. With Batman, you can write stories that contradict the fact that Batman is running to save Alfred from Zsazs in a city while he should be fighting the OMACs in space at the same time in some other 'world's collide' comic, because - well, he's BATMAN. (He can breathe in space too). Plus, pretty much every second issue is written by a different writer so continuity is only loosely followed. But in a smaller scale comic like TF where there has been only one main writer so far, you need to take more heed of where you're going.

Oh, btw, I think I have my new signature from TFW2005:

Xabungle wrote:Why all the negativity, people?

Oh, yeah. Forgot I was talking to Transfans.

Are we that (in)famous?

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 3:36 pm

From the responses, it seems that most of the fans that are raving about this are DW fans.

I think the decision was made by IDW to mimic DW's art style to some degree to get some of these guys on board.

By the responses, it looks like it's working.

I'm also curious to know what these other TF projects are that Simon has in the pipeline besides what's already know. Anyone heard anything?

Sunyavadin · Post by **Sunyavadin** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 4:07 pm

BB Shockwave wrote:With Batman, you can write stories that contradict the fact that Batman is running to save Alfred from Zsazs in a city while he should be fighting the OMACs in space at the same time in some other 'world's collide' comic, because - well, he's BATMAN.

In other news - Are You Batman???

Manchester Devil · Post by **Manchester Devil** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 5:56 pm

Yaya wrote:From the responses, it seems that most of the fans that are raving about this are DW fans.

I think the decision was made by IDW to mimic DW's art style to some degree to get some of these guys on board.

By the responses, it looks like it's working.

In other words, IDW is trying to pander to losers who don't like new things in Transformers? Magic.

Apparantly, Furman had let slip something called "Maximum..." while responding in his Spotlight: Cyclonus/Revelations part 1 script wrap.

TransFans.co.uk

Focus On Decepticons Review (SPOILER)

Re: Focus On Decepticons Review (SPOILER)

Re: Focus On Decepticons Review (SPOILER)

Re: Focus On Decepticons Review (SPOILER)

Re: Focus On Decepticons Review (SPOILER)