RID Annual.

inflatable dalek · Post by **inflatable dalek** » Thu Sep 27, 2012 7:16 pm

Yeah, I liked that. Blowing up the Metrotitan when so much effort was put into saving him in MTMTE could have been annoying but him being the catalyst for important plot development (actual movement on the political side of things!) made it feel less of a cop out.

I really hope this almost Armada-ish portrayal of Starscream (one of the few good things about that cartoon) will be followed through on properly and we won't see him just go all Chris Latta in the end. He's in a very interesting place and I still don't know how genuine he's being.

Very nicely done flashback pages as well, everything looked lovely (it does make me wonder why IDW can do this but have mishandled the Reg colouring though by just slapping their normal digital colours on it even though Wildman's art doesn't gel with it). Full of injokes, but not to the point it should be distracting for new readers.

Only three real flaws, two in comparison to the MTMTE Annual:

There's actually no in-story reason for how the flashbacks are presented. In the other book it represents we're seeing Cyclonus' POV of his take on the creation myth. Here's its an omnipresent narrator (and therefore presumably reliable as well) meaning the use of Marvel style can feel a bit indulgent rather than part of the storytelling.

The MTMTE book was also good at giving just about all of the main characters an appropriately sized role. Here, Bumblebee is pretty much absent, which was a shame as what happens here affects him directly.

The non-flashback art was a bit off again as well, not as much as in MTMTE but everyone did seem to have had botox injected into their lips.

For a minor niggle, how did Omega Supreme know the Metrotitan was the one he met before?

All in all though, after a couple of disappointing issues this feels like a massive step in the right direction.

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Fri Sep 28, 2012 3:38 am

Have to agree, for the first time, found this to be on par with a MTMTE issue.

God, how I love the flashback sequences in this. Those first view panels that echo how the Marvel run began are a thing of sweet beauty. I agree with ID above, why couldn't they ink and color Regeneration with the same style and format here? I remember suggesting to Chris Ryall that Regenerations should be released with this dot-style format to recapture that 80's feel, and he said it would be too expensive or something. And yet, here it is.

Loved how this annual shed much needed light on the whole Crystal City/Metrotitan/Dai Atlas history/mystery. Things have really moved forward in a big way in terms of revelation with this. Loved to get some backstory on the crew of the original Ark. Props to Barber for also writing in the 80's style in those flashback scenes, with characters stating their names as a way of introduction. Nice touch.

Omega Supreme was fantastic in this. I got chills when I saw how he was pencilled and colored, ala issue #19 of the US Marvel run. It's almost like these pages were ripped from that issue, the resemblence was so uncanny. Major kudos to the art team in this.

The only thing that didn't fully jive with me was the Metrotitan's revelation that Starscream would be the one to unite the Transformers. I mean, it's a nice idea, but given Barbers past writing nuances, things could end up being very contrived in the end. That would suck.

Give this a solid "A", the best work from the RID series yet. Looking forward to more.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but haven't Omega Supreme and Monstructor fought at some other point in IDW continuity? I seem to vaguely remember that happening. The Optimus Prime spotlight maybe?

Post by **Best First** » Fri Sep 28, 2012 9:56 am

Best RID issue/thing by a country mile - really enjoyed it.

Predabot · Post by **Predabot** » Fri Sep 28, 2012 8:47 pm

Yaya wrote:Have to agree, for the first time, found this to be on par with a MTMTE issue.

God, how I love the flashback sequences in this. Those first view panels that echo how the Marvel run began are a thing of sweet beauty. I agree with ID above, why couldn't they ink and color Regeneration with the same style and format here? I remember suggesting to Chris Ryall that Regenerations should be released with this dot-style format to recapture that 80's feel, and he said it would be too expensive or something. And yet, here it is.

It's not, actually.
I'm not a pro', and I'm pretty sure I could do this. In fact, I KNOW I have done this. I used a similar process and work-method for the fanzine I edit, a 15-pager that included a flashback.

The only reason it wasn't done was probably because they figured this kind of colouring wouldn't really sell, on its own. It's rather easy to see why... it's strictly Nel Yomtov stuff, hardly any depth, and it makes the comic dated-looking.

That's why you only ever see this used in flashbacks and such. I've seen it used as such, in both Marvel and DC books, for instance.

Or well, it could just be that IDW can only afford SO MANY good and curious colourists, and the guy they got for Regeneration wasn't interested in taking the time it takes to find the process, the palette's ( I mainly use Neil Adams 70's DC palette for this stuff), and studying the original work to spot the signature moves.

Could be that as well.

inflatable dalek · Post by **inflatable dalek** » Fri Sep 28, 2012 9:05 pm

Yeah, I can understand IDW not wanting to exactly recreate the Marvel colouring style for either Reg in whole or even a full issue beyond a handful of flashback pages (mainly because Yomtov was inept); but it's nothing to do with time or cost. With modern digital techniques, you could pretty much make any issue look any way you want without that much more effort.

Metal Vendetta · Post by **Metal Vendetta** » Tue Oct 02, 2012 4:48 pm

This was great fun, and I'm loving the revelation that Starscream is "the one". Also nice to hear Metalhawk's point of view once in a while - hopefully these two are moving from Statler and Waldorf to centre stage. The flashback pages were supremely well done, I found myself laughing out loud at the original Ark crew's introdumps. Mostly agree with Besty, this was by far the best RID issue yet and hopefully it'll take this as a jumping-off point to speed things along a little. There's been far too much of the "will they, won't they" about the forthcoming elections so far, and if that's the way it's going then let's have the elections already!