Much Ado About Megatron #5 Review (SPOILERS)

[Yaya]

Issue #4 I found to be a winner.

Issue #5 is....another winner!

In place of unbridled mayhem, we are now getting some fleshed-out character development, which IMO, is where the strength in the Transformers license will always lie.

The character moments involving Jazz in particular these past two issues have been the creme-de-la-creme of Jazz moments in TF history. He is for once living up to his billing as a true badass, someone truly worthy of stripping the mantle of second-in-command from Mr. By-The-Book himself. Taking down Springer, a character renowned for his batlle prowess and unflapabble resolve in battle (which is on full display when he saves his crew), further sends us a message about this Jazz. You just don't mess with him.

The human moments will always lack the excitement the bots bring for me. I just haven't found these characters in any way intriguing, and the whole tough guy army routine has worn thin. I was hoping Spike really was dead, just to make things a bit exciting with the humans, but twas not to be.

As effective as the bot moments have been the last few issues, I really hope to see them take more of center stage.

Though I will say the Ratbat moment was a nice touch. Very..eerily batlike, you could say.

The dialogue, though, I have found to be the biggest strength of this series thus far. I've harped on about Simon's dialogue vs. his storytelling, so I won't belabor that point. I will only say it's been like a breath of fresh air in that department with McCarthy.

Pacing is still a tad slow for my taste in the storytelling department, but in the face of good character moments, I can forgive this. It's what was missing the first three issues, and more the reason why those issues just dragged.

Not too keen on seeing the Matrix though. Here's to hoping it does not play the role of 'major plot device' as it has in times past. Maybe it will just get chucked into a 'solar pool'?

All in all, things are looking up. I get the feeling that the payoff is going to be big come series end, particular when read as a trade.

Artwork is, again, excellent.

Nice that Shane made further reference to some -ation stuff regarding the combiners also.

An "A-". Pleased with the last two or three issues.

[stranger]

Isn't the whole "it will work in trade form" wearing a little thin now? 5 Issues in and it's still being wheeled out...

I mean - for me personally - there hasn't been any cliffhanger, or must see plot thread that justifies the singles existence at the moment.

[Best First]

I won't belabor that point

about 86 years too late, surely?

edit, this was my feedback at IDW

That was the most enjoyable issue so far.

Which, sad to say, makes it even more annoying that this sits so ill in the context of the IDW continuity prior to AHM in terms of cast, tone, characterisation etc. I don't think this series is ever going to quite escape the poor editorial decisions that surround its inception and scheduling for me. All IMO naturally.

The Jazz and Springer moment is a great example, it would be cool if the context up to now was not all wrong. I know its possible to come up with a bunch of excuses for this but it doesn't really work for me. Blaster might have been a better choice for Jazz to take out, we know he is hard, but he ain't the leader of the Wreckers.

Agree about the ships design issues and the perspective of those scenes. The shot where the 'bots are ambushed it looks more like the three new cons ships are about to slam into each other while the bots fly past in the background. Otherwise the art is stellar tho.

Oh, and i really don't know how long i can cope with that retarded cigar for. Grim n gritty... with cartoon props! Please.

So most enjoyable so far - far from mind blowing - but far better than the turgid 1-3.

Not encouraged by the introduction of the MacGuffix tho.

and yeah, i know i said i dropped this but my shop c0cked up the cancellation and i can't quite bring myself to return stock as they are vlearly struggling with the credit crunch more than i am.

[Manchester Devil]

This issue just like all the others in this series, empty of anything resembling content, non-existant pacing and the appearance of stuff that only produces a roll of the eyes.

*The Jazz vs Springer & Blurr scene is painfully dreadful, I can accept Jazz knowing kung-fu but to best both the leader of The Wreckers and the fastest Autobot... the phrase "b**ch please" comes to mind.

*The Witwickys as a military family? Do we really need to have anyone with the surname "Witwicky" here? Speaking of the Witwickys, we have a Spike serving under his dad. Yawn.

*The Matrix, why is it here and why is it in the hands of a guy who couldn't care less about mystical stuff?

*Will McCarthy offer an explaination as to why Kup is now sane, leading a group of Autobots and has a metal cigar in his mouth? Computer says... not f**king likely!

*Lack of drama regarding the fate of Spike's unit. Gee, I wonder if anyone other than Spike will sur... oh.

*I suppose the art is nice but the dismissal of a vast section of continuity and reimgained characters are nothing short of a slap in the face.

I'm dropping this after issue 6, this is, quite frankly, appaling and even my LCS has said this is being dragged out. A waste of what will be £17.40 by next month.

[stranger]

I'm dropping this after issue 6, this is, quite frankly, appaling and even my LCS has said this is being dragged out.

My LCS has pretty much given up on transformer content. Not sure if it is this, or the HUGE pile of Animated issue one they cant shift. Certainly not seen AHM for months in there.

I had to track issue 4 down online, which made me feel dirty and cheap, sort of like I'm McCarthys bitch.

[BB Shockwave]

Uh, we are getting Autobot moments and the story is getting worse as we go...

-Why is Jazz in command now? Just because he's special ops doesn't mean he outranks Prowl...

-Jazz and Kup bitchin was about as original as the Police and the FBI not liking each other in brainless american action movies. How original, Shane.

-Why the heck are the Bots wired into their ships? They never had to use such methods before to control a ship. And it's a silly idea anyhow...

-And anyhow, why is Kup wasting time chasing a Con ship if the Cons have galaxy-wide defeated the Bots? Shouldn't he be finding HQ instead?

-Umm, the president is dead? Wasn't clear to me, just from a Jumbo Jet being shot down on top of the white house. They have a bunker there you know.

-The Witwicky family was annoying. And knowing Shane, Spike even might succeed in assassinating Megatron...

-Someone tell Kup to spit that metal cigar out, because A: he looks stupid with his mouth constantly open and B: Marvel is gonna sue for him mimicking Nick Fury. Next issue he gets an eyepatch?

-Ratbat was nicely drawn, I admit... but again his redesigned from a PDA to a casette.

-So Devastator killed Prime? Why is Kup so surprised at a Gestalt when he should know about Monstructor (Springer knew about him).

-Don't get me started on the Matrix...

- And apparently, the SWARM is now a bunch of Insecticon clones. Yay. Hope Simon doesn't read this...

Seriously, this issue was HOrri-Bull. And apparently Denton even gave up on answering the letters as he simply cannot defend Shane anymore...

I hope this is cancelled soon and Simon brought back. If they want to erase M:O out of continuity, so can they erase this mess. And they should... for the first time in years, I'm NOT looking forward to new TF comics.... AHM had that effect on me.

[Yaya]

I hope this is cancelled soon and Simon brought back. If they want to erase M:O out of continuity, so can they erase this mess. And they should... for the first time in years, I'm NOT looking forward to new TF comics.... AHM had that effect on me.

I can respect your right to having personal preferences, and maybe it's just me, but I can't recall a positive comment from you about anything that Furman didn't do from IDW or DW.

Not saying you have to like it, but it just seems that whenever there's something not done by Furman, you tend to pick it apart with a fine tooth comb, yet you rarely hold anything Simon does to the same set of standards.

Usually, you can find some good and some bad in everything, with the overall impression being either something is more bad than good (not worth it) or more good than bad (worth it).

With you, it's black and white. White=Furman, black=everything else.

Out of curiosity, what were you're feelings on the Sixshot spotlight?

Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems to me your reviews tend to follow this pattern.

[Manchester Devil]

To be honest with you Yaya, why do you give free rides to the likes of Brad Mick on DW's second 6 issue story and their short-lived ongoing and Shane McCarthy on AHM while giving Simon Furman something of a hard time?
How can you praise such turgid crap like the Sunstorm saga and AHM while turning your nose up at Infiltration? Is it because Furman doesn't do cutesy speeches or behaviour patterns that makes you go "I think this is excellent characterisation!"
It's a bit rich of you to ask BB about his apparant bias for Furman when you're swooning over lines of tech spec and TF:T(A)M the forthmention Mick and McCarthy plagerise!

[Yaya]

To be honest with you Yaya, why do you give free rides to the likes of Brad Mick on DW's second 6 issue story and their short-lived ongoing and Shane McCarthy on AHM while giving Simon Furman something of a hard time?
How can you praise such turgid crap like the Sunstorm saga and AHM while turning your nose up at Infiltration? Is it because Furman doesn't do cutesy speeches or behaviour patterns that makes you go "I think this is excellent characterisation!"
It's a bit rich of you to ask BB about his apparant bias for Furman when you're swooning over lines of tech spec and TF:T(A)M the forthmention Mick and McCarthy plagerise!

No, you have it wrong.

Go back and read my reviews from Infiltration through Devestation, and you'll see I found most of them to be good reads. Read my reviews about the Shockwave and Cyclonus spotlight.

The proof is there, man. Just go read my reviews.

I liked War and Peace and hated Micromasters. Both the same writer.

I liked the last two issues of AHM, thought the first three were average and definitely criticism-worthy. Again, read my review.

Read my review on McCarthy's Blurr spotlight.

I thought M:O was crap.

I try to be fair about the story and art regardless of who's writing it.

I have no problem with someone preferring one writer over the other.

All I'm saying is that if one is going to bring up flaws in story and writing, approach all work with the same critical eye.

[Impactor returns 2.0]

jazz is harder than springer, leader of the wreckers etc... ok..... um , oh I don't know. seriously tho as cool as it is there's no build up so I find it care

[Manchester Devil]

I have but I always get the impression you're writing those reviews through gritted teeth - You thought SL: Blurr might as well be written by Furman such as the use of dialouge and yet you go sing the praises of AHM 4 and 5, which are nothing more than reheated borefests.

Granted M:O wasn't good but you're happy to axe it from countinuity and yet think AHM is building up into something epic.

Can you honestly say you felt anything for the humans in AHM thus far or not think that bit with Jazz kung-fu'ing both Springer and Blurr isn't bloody stupid or even believe McCarthy actually knows what he's actually doing? But then, this is a mainline story so there's bound to be a postive review methinks.

[Yaya]

I have but I always get the impression you're writing those reviews through gritted teeth

Only in terms of the dialogue. As I've said before, that Simon has been able to write good scripts after this long always impresses me, and what he worked with the Sideswipe Spotlight, I have even more respect for him.

Can you honestly say you felt anything for the humans in AHM thus far or not think that bit with Jazz kung-fu'ing both Springer and Blurr isn't bloody stupid or even believe McCarthy actually knows what he's actually doing?

I can honestly say I think the human bit of AHM has been crap, yes. I've said it before. Like I said, I take the good and the bad, and get an overall impression. I didn't see anything really redeeming those first three issues, but these last two are definitely my cup of tea.

And I loved the whole Jazz bit. I have always felt him to be underutilized. The fact that he sucker-punched Springer and Blurr doesn't mean he could take those guys down in a fight anyway. But it does show that he isn't a bot to mess with.

It doesn't really take anything away from Springer either. After all, who was it that saved every bot aboard that ship full of Autobot vets like Kup and top ranked guys like Hotrod? The leader of the Wreckers himself. I thought that was an awesome nod to the guy myself. You didn't?

I wouldn't say I exclusively prefer it to what Simon has done. I like bits in both, though Shane has much more to prove, I agree. Two or three issues does not really prove much. Still, I have hopes based on what I've seen Shane is capable of. He hasn't fully won me over by any stretch, but I think he just might.

What I'm saying is this. If I judged Infiltration thru Revelations by holding onto to my dislike of Verity's annoying behavior, or the Reapers, or Sixshot's strange motivations, I would have trashed those series. But I didn't. I brushed it aside, as I brushed aside Kup's silly cigar, and looked at it as a whole, saw there was more good than bad.

This is my beef with BB Shockwave's reviews. She attacks everything when it's not Furman's, but goes easy on Simon. If she continued to be as analytical and nitpicky with Simon, you'd get the same 'thumbs down' review on just about everything.

Sometimes, you have to let things go. Now I'm not saying let Shane off the hook. But to criticize every little plot point when you don't do that with Simon just isn't fair.

That's all I'm saying. I can fully understand one's exasperation with what's gone down with the way Simon's story has been treated. It's just not fair. It's not fair to him, it's not fair to us. IDW dropped the ball for sure.

[Manchester Devil]

I know you don't like the Furmanisms but writing dialogue that could easily be in the original cartoon is considered great characterisation!?

I can honestly say I think the human bit of AHM has been crap, yes. I've said it before. Like I said, I take the good and the bad, and get an overall impression. I didn't see anything really redeeming those first three issues, but these last two are definitely my cup of tea.

Considering that appears to be a cornerstone in AHM, it's a failure of McCarthy's intention and thus a failure of AHM. The fact McCarthy then introducing Colonel Witwicky's son in yet another bid to make feel sad about humanity isn't worth it.

I miss Verity, Jimmy and Hunter but the chances are they'll all be dead by the end of Maximum Dinobots.

And I loved the whole Jazz bit. I have always felt him to be underutilized. The fact that he sucker-punched Springer and Blurr doesn't mean he could take those guys down in a fight anyway. But it does show that he isn't a bot to mess with.

I'm sorry but Jazz has not shown any martial arts during Escalation where they might have useful against Megatron. But all of a sudden, er I mean a year later, Jazz knows enough Kung-Fu to take down both Springer and Blurr? Really? Considering how bloody massive Roadbuster is under McCarthy's authorship; I'm surprised he didn't just go and sodomise Ninja Jazz with his fist!

As for Springer saving the crew of the Trion (oh goody, another bloody cartoon reference! isn't it too much work to call it Ark-50?) I'm sorry that bit passed me by because AHM has been UNBELIEVABLY F**KING BORING! (not to mention offensive, stupid and riddled with plotholes you can fit Pat Lee's oversized, badly designed wallet through) The ship designs are not that good either.

What I'm saying is this. If I judged Infiltration thru Revelations by holding onto to my dislike of Verity's annoying behavior, or the Reapers, or Sixshot's strange motivations, I would have trashed those series. But I didn't.

Of course you wouldn't because it would've made you look stupid. Bsides, I've given McCarthy a fair chance as a TF writer and he has failed miserably through his "I couldn't care less as long as I get to do what I want to do." attitude and inability to make the reader care. As to why I've bought issue 5 - AHM is now turning into a multi-vehcile pile up with Gary Glitter wanking over the corpses of small children and Josef Fritzl teabagging anybody who resembled his daughter. Issue 6 is where I'll stop as I'm grown sick of McCarthy's growing failures.

[Yaya]

I know you don't like the Furmanisms but writing dialogue that could easily be in the original cartoon is considered great characterisation!?

I watched some of the cartoon. It was ridiculous, geared towards eight year-olds. To compare the current dialogue to the cartoon, I just don't see it. I really don't get that comparison.

I can honestly say I think the human bit of AHM has been crap, yes. I've said it before. Like I said, I take the good and the bad, and get an overall impression. I didn't see anything really redeeming those first three issues, but these last two are definitely my cup of tea.

Considering that appears to be a cornerstone in AHM, it's a failure of McCarthy's intention and thus a failure of AHM. The fact McCarthy then introducing Colonel Witwicky's son in yet another bid to make feel sad about humanity isn't worth it.

Again, I have also found the human stuff painfully cliche, and certainly a big negative in this series.

I miss Verity, Jimmy and Hunter but the chances are they'll all be dead by the end of Maximum Dinobots.

So you're saying the preference for PMS-ing teenage girls over soldier-boy heroes is somehow a step in the right direction?

And I loved the whole Jazz bit. I have always felt him to be underutilized. The fact that he sucker-punched Springer and Blurr doesn't mean he could take those guys down in a fight anyway. But it does show that he isn't a bot to mess with.

I'm sorry but Jazz has not shown any martial arts during Escalation where they might have useful against Megatron. But all of a sudden, er I mean a year later, Jazz knows enough Kung-Fu to take down both Springer and Blurr? Really? Considering how bloody massive Roadbuster is under McCarthy's authorship; I'm surprised he didn't just go and sodomise Ninja Jazz with his fist!

[/quote]

Did Jazz even do anything in IDW's take previous to this? Seriously, I don't remember him even having a line. He was fair game for Shane to develop as far as I'm concerned.

As for Springer saving the crew of the Trion (oh goody, another bloody cartoon reference! isn't it too much work to call it Ark-50?) I'm sorry that bit passed me by because AHM has been UNBELIEVABLY F**KING BORING!

Not sure when Springer did that in the cartoon, but anyway, guess my tastes are a bit different from yours. If you didn't like the Jazz bit, or the last two issues, I agree, you should drop AHM now. For me, they were right up my alley.

What I'm saying is this. If I judged Infiltration thru Revelations by holding onto to my dislike of Verity's annoying behavior, or the Reapers, or Sixshot's strange motivations, I would have trashed those series. But I didn't.

Of course you wouldn't because it would've made you look stupid.

Look stupid? lol: Do you know how many times I've been called stupid before on these boards? It's old hat, man. I could give a flying rats ass how I look.

Bsides, I've given McCarthy a fair chance as a TF writer and he has failed miserably through his "I couldn't care less as long as I get to do what I want to do." attitude and inability to make the reader care. As to why I've bought issue 5 - AHM is now turning into a multi-vehcile pile up with Gary Glitter wanking over the corpses of small children and Josef Fritzl teabagging anybody who resembled his daughter. Issue 6 is where I'll stop as I'm grown sick of McCarthy's growing failures. :

Please do. It's painful even to me to see someone wasting their money on something they really hate that much.

Just to reiterate, I'm not endorsing AHM here as a success. The first three issues, nothing happened. Which was inexcusable.

To stick around if you haven't found anything to like in these last two issues is like, I don't know, self flagulation. Do yourself a favor, man, and save your money for Maximum Dinobots (which I'm eagerly anticipating myself).

[sprunkner]

This is my beef with BB Shockwave's reviews. She attacks everything when it's not Furman's, but goes easy on Simon. If she continued to be as analytical and nitpicky with Simon, you'd get the same 'thumbs down' review on just about everything.

Sometimes, you have to let things go. Now I'm not saying let Shane off the hook. But to criticize every little plot point when you don't do that with Simon just isn't fair.

That's all I'm saying. I can fully understand one's exasperation with what's gone down with the way Simon's story has been treated. It's just not fair. It's not fair to him, it's not fair to us. IDW dropped the ball for sure.

You know what? It hurts like a brass-knuckled punch to the gut, but I have to agree with some of what Yaya's saying. I don't really do much more than scan through AHM (I'll read it more carefully after M: D is out) but thus far I've seen that Shane has a few good points and, as much as I hate to admit it, Simon isn't perfect either. Though I think Simon is better than Shane, Shane is not murdering the franchise quite yet. Well, except for mandating the old 80s forms back.

I think the reason we are all seeing AHM through such blood-red vision is the editorial policy behind its release. It was such a clusterf*ck to the fans who were following Simon's story to see it all shunted aside that I don't think any of us are paying attention to the story.

But at the same time, reading it with that kind of prejudice is actually justified. I think BB Shockwave is perfectly valid in savaging AHM for personal reasons, whether or not Shane writes decently.

A story does not exist in a vacuum. Every reader brings baggage to a story--that's why people target certain audiences. "Just let a story be a story and forget the circumstances"--would you "just let a relationship be a relationship and forget the circumstances under which it started?" If you can, let me know, cuz I want you for my backup in case my marriage ever tanks.

IDW takes this risk when they pull off bullsh*t moves like the cramping of Revelations.

Forgive another metaphor. To expect the fans to really give this story a chance and stay neutral on the story--it's like promising someone their favorite meal of roast beef and potatoes, then cutting it back to potatoes and saying that the beef will be replaced by an egg salad sandwich.

The egg salad sandwich is okay. You know, for an egg salad, it's pretty decent. And maybe now that I think about it, the roast beef wasn't the best in the world... but I am not about to forget that roast beef you f*ckers promised me. You promised roast beef. I want roast beef. Give me my f*cking roast beef and take your egg salad and shove it up your ass.

The egg salad is defined by the fact that it is not roast beef. People bring their baggage to relationships, stories, and roast beef. Just accept it, IDW--you f*cked your loyal fans in the ass and you expect us just to "give the story a chance."

[Hound]

I defend Furman's work not out of some crazy biased loyalty, but because it is ten times better than the crap every other writer seems to produce when given a Transformers book to write.

I can accept a few flaws (of which dialogue is not one of them!) when the majority of the work is fantastic. Mcarthy has only managed average, with a few fanwanks thrown in, at best.

[Best First]

A story does not exist in a vacuum. Every reader brings baggage to a story--that's why people target certain audiences. "Just let a story be a story and forget the circumstances"--would you "just let a relationship be a relationship and forget the circumstances under which it started?" If you can, let me know, cuz I want you for my backup in case my marriage ever tanks.

IDW takes this risk when they pull off bullsh*t moves like the cramping of Revelations.

Forgive another metaphor. To expect the fans to really give this story a chance and stay neutral on the story--it's like promising someone their favorite meal of roast beef and potatoes, then cutting it back to potatoes and saying that the beef will be replaced by an egg salad sandwich.

The egg salad sandwich is okay. You know, for an egg salad, it's pretty decent. And maybe now that I think about it, the roast beef wasn't the best in the world... but I am not about to forget that roast beef you f*ckers promised me. You promised roast beef. I want roast beef. Give me my f*cking roast beef and take your egg salad and shove it up your ass.

The egg salad is defined by the fact that it is not roast beef. People bring their baggage to relationships, stories, and roast beef. Just accept it, IDW--you f*cked your loyal fans in the ass and you expect us just to "give the story a chance."

Amazing.

[Manchester Devil]

Just for Yaya's sake, After AHM 1 nearly succeed in boring me to tears, I've bought 2 and 3 in the hope it'll get better: it didn't.
Now I've got 4 and 5 to see how McCarthy defined his take on the Autobot situation, again it was laughable that McCarthy has gone back to the old Autobots can't cope without Prime cliche that Furman has avoided in Escaltion and Revelation.

Hasbro hasn't actually helped matters by insisting with randomly having some characters look like certain toys. Oh, c'mon! This isn't going to be the hands of an indecisve child! This is going to be in the hands of 15 - 30 year olds.

In short; I have grown to hate this story with each coming issue. I have hid my copies of AHM far away from the rest of my IDW TF comics because I cannot bear to look at them.
Not even Megatron: Origin has received such a fate.

Since I'll be dropping this after issue 6, what about those of us who still pick up this story in support of their LCS? I'll leave that to Besty.

To IDW: Can I have a 12 issue Revelation: Director's Cut by Furman with art by EJ Su, Roche and Khanna and colours by Su himself and Kris Carter please?

EDIT: Oh, and Yaya; where did I say that Verity is a step in the right direction?

[Yaya]

it's like promising someone their favorite meal of roast beef and potatoes, then cutting it back to potatoes and saying that the beef will be replaced by an egg salad sandwich.

The egg salad sandwich is okay. You know, for an egg salad, it's pretty decent. And maybe now that I think about it, the roast beef wasn't the best in the world... but I am not about to forget that roast beef you f*ckers promised me. You promised roast beef. I want roast beef. Give me my f*cking roast beef and take your egg salad and shove it up your ass.

That is the best analogy I have heard on the current IDW situation. Awesome.

Sadly, it's absolutely true. When I think about it, I guess one can't check their anger at the door and try to approach things by keeping the kid gloves on.

I think because I found most of IDW's output to date as mostly B-grade material, I was better able to accept the change than others who were loving it. I was actually loving Revelations though, and had also invested in two and a half years of story, so I do feel the pain.

But you guys should know the drill by know. 1) Simon writes a story, markedly improving on what just came before, 2) It gets rave reviews, 3)We can't believe how good we have it, then 4) the axe lands and the series gets forced into a two-issue conclusion.

So next time you get that warm fuzzy feeling that we're on a TF high, be ready for the axe, my friends.

Just for Yaya's sake, After AHM 1 nearly succeed in boring me to tears, I've bought 2 and 3 in the hope it'll get better: it didn't.

Neither for me as well, and I was on the verge of going trade with this. Which I have never done.

EDIT: Oh, and Yaya; where did I say that Verity is a step in the right direction?

Going back to my original point, if Verity held as much weight as those cliche army losers do, we could bash Furman's stuff all the same.

You know what? It hurts like a brass-knuckled punch to the gut, but I have to agree with some of what Yaya's saying.

Not to the nuts? Sweet.

[sprunkner]

uh, apparently I forgot to censor that post when I put it up on IDW.

Meant to. Oops. Whatever.

One angry letter from Chris Ryall, post deleted, and threats of banning.

At least I'm controversial. Like Shane McCarthy.

sigh... I shouldn't care about this as much as I do. I know it was like the greatest thing in the world to get a TF comic once a month in the mailbox when I was a kid and lost in my own private world. I know I was so upset with the state of the comics world when G2 got canceled that I quit collecting comics altogether... it was just so nice to really look forward to TFs for a while. I just want to quit comics collecting. Spider-Man and now Transformers. What the hell. I shouldn't make such a big deal out of getting another Furman space opera

this has been such a piss weekend. spent it all with Chrissy's mom talking about her impending divorce and if she'll even go through with it and just feeling ******... and finals... blah.

Spider-man and now Transformers. Arg.

[Yaya]

uh, apparently I forgot to censor that post when I put it up on IDW.

Meant to. Oops. Whatever.

You put that up on the IDW board?

How many mods dropped dead?

[BB Shockwave]

I can respect your right to having personal preferences, and maybe it's just me, but I can't recall a positive comment from you about anything that Furman didn't do from IDW or DW.

Not saying you have to like it, but it just seems that whenever there's something not done by Furman, you tend to pick it apart with a fine tooth comb, yet you rarely hold anything Simon does to the same set of standards.

Usually, you can find some good and some bad in everything, with the overall impression being either something is more bad than good (not worth it) or more good than bad (worth it).

With you, it's black and white. White=Furman, black=everything else.

Out of curiosity, what were you're feelings on the Sixshot spotlight?

Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems to me your reviews tend to follow this pattern.

Not to get personal, but even on th DW boards where we often had these little debates, I have often shown you that I like stuff NOT written by Furman. Just to show a few...

- For starters, I simply LOVE "CRisis of Command" from old Marvel UK - maybe the only other story then Man of Iron that's NOT written by Furman. I really wish the guy who wrote that would get back into comics...

- Again, and we had discussions about this in DW, I am perhaps one of the (very) few people who initially liked Micromasters. (dodges rocks) Sure enough I took apart the art with a fine comb, but the basic characterisation of the Micros was nice, and I especially like the moment where Motorhead, a Con, feels guilt for him killing an Autobot. Of course, then the story went straight downhill from issue #3, but that's that...

-Again, I liked the 3. (or was it 4.?) GI Joe Cross-over from Devil's due, the one with Cobra-La(lalalala) and the pretenders, I thought the idea of the Cons getting their upgrade from a civilization that has perfected organic technology was nice. Granted, Unicron's defeat made his defeat in Armada look like "Edge of Extinction"...

-MTMTE is among my all-time favourites and one of the few comics I actually have in printed format. I couldn't care less for Brad 'puttup' Mick but Adam Patyk had some very refreshing ideas for characters, and most of the Micromaster Profiles he wrote I really enjoyed!

-In IDW, I liked Spotlight: Kup, a real masterpiece... Only thing I'm iffy about is why Springer could not wait for Trailbreaker and send lots of Bots to their death, but I get it this moved the story forward, it just bothers my sense of logic...
-Reign of Starscream was also good. Not great - good. It had some flaws, like killing off characters who just started to become interesting too soon. I'm certain the writer will mature into a really good writer in the future, and I'm looking forward to his ROTF prequels.

And for the record- I AM a Furmanist, I'm not hiding that, but it'd far from the truth to say everything he writes is GOLD. I often expressed that his text stories, simply, are bad. Alignment is no exception. Sometimes I feel as if a different person would have wrote them, the UK Annual stories for example, they are that bad. You can also chalk up the UK Panini Armada comic here, as well as most of the Movie-verse UK comic... the Ironhide story in the desert with Scorponok left me checking the writer's name again to see it was really Furman...

Anyway... it's not that I'm by default, dismissive with other writers who try to wrangle TFs. It's just that when they try to spin their versions of the characters I have known to love under Furman, or give their version of the Cybertronian society/mythology/technology... it simply pales in comparison with Simon's. Furman had around 25 years to perfect this world, these characters... a newcomer like McCarthy or Holmes think they can just do a better version in months. But, it doesn't work that way. And not just in TF - check Shane's retcon of the Riddler... it was very quickly retconned back.

As for your last question, I liked Spotlight Sixshot, even if it was drawn by the artist I think should not be allowed within 2 meters of ANY comic... The whole idea of a living weapon is very interesting, the way he thinks, the way he was built for this. I somewhat agree with others this role could have been better 'played' by Trypticon, but Sixshot works as well. And, I liked the Reapers. The TFs need some credible alien threat. It's a big universe, and we cannot assume all the races will just sit idly and let the Cons conquer them. Being a big Trekkie, I think the TFs need their Romulans, Klingons, Borg... etc.

I just re-read Devastation yesterday, and once again I must say, if EJ Sue would have drawn Sixshot's spotlight, the reactions would have been much more positive. The panels in Devastation where Sixshot is trashing a city in tank mode, or when speeding after Ratchet as a wolf, are amazing.

At any rate, I understand you want 'new blood' brought to TFs. We need someone other the Simon to carry on the torch, I mean he's not getting any younger! But that 'new blood' is definetly NOT Shane. I could name you a lot of comic book writers who could do wonders with a TF comic given to them off the tip of my hat (guys like Greg Weissman, Paul Dini, Neil Gaiman (what I wouldn't give to see HIM write a TF comic about Primus and Unicron!)come to mind.) Shane is a very average comic writer, and his take on the TFs is so cliched and bland, I can already tell you what AHM will be about in issues in advance.

This is my beef with BB Shockwave's reviews. She attacks everything when it's not Furman's, but goes easy on Simon. If she continued to be as analytical and nitpicky with Simon, you'd get the same 'thumbs down' review on just about everything.

Erm... for the record, I'm a "he". To everyone on the boards, btw, you can call me Benny. (I suppose after being here for years I should at least tell my name).

I must say I'm not so nitpicky with Simon, because... I simply have liked everything he did so far in IDW. The only beef I had were with the Revelations saga, and as we all know, that was not his fault that turned out this way.

Btw, now that had the chance to read his UK Movie comics (they finally started distributing it in HUngary) I must say, most are... below average. There have been a few that were good, some that were nothing special, and some that feel as if Simon wrote them on a piece of paper during a bus ride and gave it to the editors. You never saw me saying anything about these because, (funnily for an UK board) there weren't any threads about the UK comic reviews... (though I must say I'm really anxious to read his Animated comic about the Dinobots, I hear it's hilarious).

Oh and Sprunker? I also want my roast beef... ([Homer Simpson]Mmmm, roast beef...[/Homer Simpson] )

Frankly some of us Hungarian TF fans (and mind you, we mostly grew up on Budiansky and Furman stories) are considering writing a request to Simon to write the Revelations saga in it's original, normal sized format and we'd try to get fan artists to draw it. I know, unlikely, (IDW has the rights to it), but many things there could have been so awesome if given proper place (if Spotlight Hardhead was any indication)---

[sprunkner]

uh, apparently I forgot to censor that post when I put it up on IDW.

Meant to. Oops. Whatever.

You put that up on the IDW board?

How many mods dropped dead?

And it has apparently mandated a response from Ryall himself in the thread.

Wherein he tells us that we should be grateful for the duration of the SF story because it totals about forty issues--yet he seems to miss the point of most that just two more issues of Revelation would have given the story a lot more room to breathe. Forty-two issues instead of forty.

But I'm not going to discuss it with him; he's obviously pissed and since I'm seeking a job as an editor, I don't want to be a pissy fan if I encounter him somewhere in the business.

[edit]

Time to create an alt-ID and remain undercover. I learned that from someone... who was that...

[spiderfrommars]

Sprunk, I completely understand your feelings on this. I don't think I've been particularly outspoken about it... well not as much as I could've been.

I find it hard to talk about this for some reason. Bottom line is I don't collect TF comics anymore - something I've done in the whole of my living memory. It's almost defined me as a person, does that sound silly? My goodwill was lost along the way somehow.

How has this happened? I stuck with Dreamwave through think and thin. Well, mainly thin.

I know I'm holding back. There's more I could say but I'm not interested in causing offence. I must be losing the knack for this message board marlarkey.

[snarl]

Sprunk, I completely understand your feelings on this. I don't think I've been particularly outspoken about it... well not as much as I could've been.

I find it hard to talk about this for some reason. Bottom line is I don't collect TF comics anymore - something I've done in the whole of my living memory. It's almost defined me as a person, does that sound silly? My goodwill was lost along the way somehow.

QFT

I typed out something earlier then just closed the tab with it on. I didn't post it, cause there was no point.

I Like Ryall, I think he's a nice bloke, but I just have no idea what is going on here. I'm all for new writers, but why aren't we looking for the new Brian K Vaughan or Garth Eniss?

Someone with actual talent, not somebody who dropped tomato ketchup on his ****** panini sticker album whilst listening to Rage against the Machine, and then used the influence of the moment to pen a ******* load of garbage.

The way I see it, we've now got a complete **** making a ***** comic for *****.

And I've reached a very firm opinion that... well... ****** tf fans, the most vocal of them, well they're nothing more then complete ******* morons.

Maybe we all should have piped up more with our praise, I'm pretty guilty of just saying "that was good" or "that got me hard" etc...

Poor critical analysis is the thing I find most annoying from the happy clappy, mongs in the AHM threads on the IDW board, which kind of makes me a bit of a hyprocrit doesn't it, but oh well.

Tis a shame. And if I were to have them shot, I'd be the one that got into trouble.

Where's the ******* justice?

Don't really know where I'm gong with this now, so I think I'll just hit send before I start actually mentioning posters who I'd love to see all on fire and falling out of a burning tank going "aaaaaaargh"...

[Yaya]

And for the record- I AM a Furmanist

I really feel there's nothing wrong with that.

I mean, who the hell am I to tell you what you should and should not like and why. If you have a preference for how Simon writes the way he does, more power to you.

My point was that I think you let this loyalty to Simon prevent you from being as critical with him as you are with others, thereby making it more difficult for you to understand why others might like something Furman hasn't done.

Admittedly, IMO, most new writers haven't lived up to Simon, Shane included. What I mean by a chance is, if there's some dumb plot point written by Shane or some other writer, one can find equally dumb plot points in Simon's writing if the same logic is applied.

In the end, we all have acceptable biases for one writer or the other.

Sometimes, I would rather hear someone say "I like what Simon has done more because I just like his writing, it really hits home with me."

Case in point. War and Peace, I enjoyed, but there really is no way I can defend it being of superior quality to other stuff. It has many silly things in it when you think about it. But then, I think of some of Simon's stuff, and if I think hard enough, his writing has loopholes as well.

Erm... for the record, I'm a "he". To everyone on the boards, btw, you can call me Benny. (I suppose after being here for years I should at least tell my name).

I apologize. I could have sworn a year ago someone referred to you in the feminine.

I must say I'm not so nitpicky with Simon, because... I simply have liked everything he did so far in IDW.

True, and I think that's fair and good. But if you wanted to get nitpicky with Simon's stuff, you could. I try not to get too nitpicky cause if I did, I would hate everything.

Sometimes, I just accept small stupid things like that ridiculous Kup cigar so that it doesn't ruin the overall experience for me.

Time to create an alt-ID and remain undercover. I learned that from someone... who was that...

Ha, some wussy coward. How pathetic.

[sprunkner]

Sprunk, I completely understand your feelings on this. I don't think I've been particularly outspoken about it... well not as much as I could've been.

I find it hard to talk about this for some reason. Bottom line is I don't collect TF comics anymore - something I've done in the whole of my living memory. It's almost defined me as a person, does that sound silly? My goodwill was lost along the way somehow.

How has this happened? I stuck with Dreamwave through think and thin. Well, mainly thin.

I know I'm holding back. There's more I could say but I'm not interested in causing offence. I must be losing the knack for this message board marlarkey.

i'm curious what you're holding back... remember that you cannot get banned for saying "idw f*cked us in the ass" in this board like you can in the other one...

man, I ******* cried when Marvel canceled the first series. So shocked. Like losing a part of myself. I was so shocked that End of the Road was just... the end. I mean, now it's so obvious that they were told to wrap things up quick, but at the time I just couldn't understand why it happened that way.

And then I was so disgusted when they canceled G2 that I quit collecting comics altogether for years. Not coincidentally, that was the same time the Clone Saga started.

Dreamwave... I just chalked that one up to "meh, nothing's as good as you remember it."

Then IDW came along and I started to get insanely excited every time a new Furman Spotlight or series came out, like I was a kid again. I didn't think I could feel like that again. It was as good as I remembered it. Escalation #5 nearly made me crap myself with that Prime/Megatron fight.

Then the story that brings it all back gets smooshed for some... what? wanky ******** to "take it in a different direction."

I shouldn't be so affected by this. I got two and a half good years of TF comics from IDW, and Revelation was crammed but still not as much of an abortion as End of the Road.

But... it hurts. You know, we were all ****** by being franchise kids. Every story we fell in love with in the 80s was designed to sell toys, t-shirts, stickers and cereal and so we're taught to think about stories, these precious things that tell the truth about life, as commodities first and meaning second. Everyone learns so much from the stories they choose to read. I learned morals from Prime and Bumblebee and Grimlock and evil from Megatron and Starscream. I absorbed more from "I know goodness will prevail... PRIMUS!" in Edge of Extinction than I did from any church lesson about good and evil.

Every Spider-Man comic I read since I started in 1989 was invalidated earlier this year. Everything about a character I really identified with, whether I wanted to or not, just for some douchebag's idea of what kind of sales he wanted to get.

At least without the TFs and Spidey, I'm not collecting much of anything I care about anymore. Time to cut back the order at the LCS, I guess.

[snarl]

Go and get "The Boys", it's marvellous.

[spiderfrommars]

I typed out something earlier then just closed the tab with it on. I didn't post it, cause there was no point.

Yeah, I've been doing that a lot lately. Rest assured, its a depressing subject, but your posts on it never fail to make me chuckle.

i'm curious what you're holding back... remember that you cannot get banned for saying "idw f*cked us in the ass" in this board like you can in the other one...

man, I ******* cried when Marvel canceled the first series. So shocked. Like losing a part of myself.

I too shed a tear at the end of G1.

At least with G2 I knew it was coming, and it had a more satistafactory ending.

With Dreamwave, I knew it wasn't the end.

This time my enthusiasm was being eroded by the weird release schedules and then BAM! all the Revelations/AHM nonsense.

I'm as hardcore as TF comic fans get. Never been that fanatical about the toys. I know there are others like me, and I just hope AHM has brought in enough new readers to make up for those old timers that they've lost.

The worst part for me is I know I'll be here half as much as I used to be, since TF discussion won't be on my menu for awhile.

[Best First]

Dave - can't you just hang around anyway? Please?

I know what you mean about typing replies and then just not bothering to post, i too have done this.

In fact i just read throught that topic - i think a lot of Ryall's responses swing between poor and patronising and often mischaracterise those who are critcial but i can't be arsed to take task with it.

The way the IDW board works just makes me want to swear at people. Its seemingly ok to be a total c*ck as long as you are pro IDW, the creators are revered as Gods when half the time their reasoning is suspect or couched as reasonable when it isn't... Ryall's comment that it 'amuses' him that people are claiming the story got cut short, so ****ing irritating...

...i'm getting really annoyed as i type this. And then i get annoyed at myself for being annoyed about something as pathetically trivial as a comic based off some old toys that has, realistically, never reached the heights of some other branches of graphic fiction.

Ok, serioulsy, i am not hoping on some agnsty band wagon here but i am going to have to stop typing this as its giving me a headache...