RID #10

inflatable dalek · Post by **inflatable dalek** » Wed Oct 10, 2012 7:36 pm

Hmmm, think it'll take the print version coming through the post before I'm completely sure on this one. On the screen of my phone with one panel at a time it was hard to follow all the time jumping, I suspect it'll be easier with the whole page in front of me (or even on a bigger device).

Not remotely bothered about explaining cock ups from AHM nor the tie in to Costa's final issue (but then, it might mean more to anyone who has read it). Hainvg missed the issues that explained how Wheelie got off the planet I felt at a bit of a loss there as well.

On the plus side, Pax was nicely written again, as was Bludgeon. I think this will be a better issue for anyone who followed the dark years and still has investment in long abandoned plotlines.

I don't think Livio's art will sway anyone who doesn't like his style, but I thought it was mostly his best work yet (though there was a few bits where it seemed hard to follow the flow, but at this stage I'm not sure if that's the art or the jumping).

Post by **Kaylee** » Wed Oct 10, 2012 8:13 pm

I just finished it. I couldn't make head or tail of it

Metal Vendetta · Post by **Metal Vendetta** » Thu Oct 11, 2012 8:08 am

Karl wrote:I just finished it. I couldn't make head or tail of it

I've read it twice now, and I was still in the dark, so I went to read the wiki page and a couple of bits are clearer now.

dalek wrote:Hainvg missed the issues that explained how Wheelie got off the planet I felt at a bit of a loss there as well.

Apparently we never found out how Wheelie got off the planet: in Space Opera the first we see of him he's living on LV118, he's known as the "Jangle man", he's got a Quintesque corkscrew ship and he's wearing a necklace of Sharkticon teeth. No mention was made of Varta, but Wheelie was wearing Varta's translator thing around his neck as well.

So here we see that the time-travelling Bludgeon killed Varta and Jhiaxus tried to steal his Quint ship...the monsters in the hold explain another apparent flub from Space Opera where the LV117 monsters turn up on LV118...we still don't know where the ship actually came from but the Quint hieroglyphs in Spotlight: Wheelie and the Quint graffiti on the missile in this issue would presumably hint at some five-faced involvement on LV117 at some point.

But basically, the main thing I took away from this issue was "Shockwave did it."

inflatable dalek · Post by **inflatable dalek** » Thu Oct 11, 2012 8:16 am

I've been assuming that as the default since about 2002.

Not just for Transformers comics, for, like, life.

Glad I'm not the only one that was a bit baffled in places.

Post by **snarl** » Thu Oct 11, 2012 8:35 am

Read Regen then this in FP.

This was a massive ******* mess.

It annoyed me so much I put it back and walked out, forgetting to pick regen back up...

Well, I say forgetting, I thought "[composite word including 'f*ck'] this nonsense, I'm not going to get either. I'll just be a pikey"

Post by **snarl** » Thu Oct 11, 2012 8:43 am

As for the art - colouring = very pretty, if a little bit too much for a comic. I actually have no problem with the background characters being block coloured in dull tones

And I can follow it.

But I just find it pretty dull.

look at that Senior cover for Regen 84.

a) I'm certain its in homage to the Action Force crossover in the UK comic

b) It's ******* awesome. Really dynamic, exciting, eye catching pose.

I'd like to see more of that in RID, which imo seems more interested in staying accurate to the geometry of the imo poor character models than using a bit of artistic license with the models and actually conveying an interesting story with the art

bumblemusprime · Post by **bumblemusprime** » Thu Oct 11, 2012 3:22 pm

inflatable dalek wrote:I've been assuming that as the default since about 2002.

Not just for Transformers comics, for, like, life.

Is Shockwave getting rolled over into General Discussions? He will now be responsible for drunk posts and breakups?

inflatable dalek · Post by **inflatable dalek** » Thu Oct 11, 2012 3:56 pm

bumblemusprime wrote:
inflatable dalek wrote:I've been assuming that as the default since about 2002.

Not just for Transformers comics, for, like, life.
Is Shockwave getting rolled over into General Discussions? He will now be responsible for drunk posts and breakups?

Not only that, Shockwave is your ex.

I think I may have misunderstood this issue more than I thought as it apparently explains how Bludgeon and co went from being brain dead zombies captured by the Autobots at the end of Revelation to being fully sentient once more and foot loose and fancy free in AHM 15. And I've totally missed that. A reread may be in order...

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Thu Oct 11, 2012 9:22 pm

inflatable dalek wrote:I've been assuming that as the default since about 2002.

Not just for Transformers comics, for, like, life.

Somebody bring out the finger puppets.

It almost feels like there is potential of some strange ilk there, but for the life of me can't understand what the hell is going on. Just when I think I'm starting to understand, something is said or happens that baffles me.

All I know is this. Prime is in it. Monstructor, Jhiaxus, Bludgeon, Wheelie, and Turmoil are in it. Time travel is happening. Bludgeon keeps trying to kill Prime for some reason. Jhiaxus throws some kind of sword looking thing at Prime. Monstructor battles some creatures, one of which is strikingly similar in appearance to what a fleshy Quintesson would look like (coincidence?).

Basically, WTF is going on?

Let me try and sort this out. Shockwave seeded some planet with Ore 1. I guess that planet is the one Wheelie was trapped on? If so, what was that planet in the first issue of this storyline, the one that Shockwave visits in the past? Anyhoo, somehow Ore 1 transforms a planet into one that bends time itself? Anyone who approaches it falls into a strange kind of time warp. Turmoil must have somehow at sometime visited this planet and managed to steal a device that would allow time travel and stow it on his ship. This ship goes to Cybertron, where Turmoil gets his ass handed to him by Metalhawk. Shockwave commands Reflector to steal this ship and go out into space in search of ....the same planet? Reflector crashes on that planet, with Prime and company chasing them. Wheelie freaks out, they land. Prime starts going in and out of different times, trying to piece it all together. Bludgeon keeps popping in and out trying to, I don't know, kill Prime? Was Bludgeon sent by Shockwave or by Jhiaxus?

Please feel free to edit the above mishmash to what really happened.

Post by **Best First** » Fri Oct 12, 2012 9:52 am

Shockwave wrote this issue as a cautionary tail on how not to tell a time travel story.

Not a fan of the art - especially on a story like this which could really do with some clarity as there seem to be visual cues as to what and when.

On the flip side i applaud taking a fubar and trying to make a story out if it.

Sunyavadin · Post by **Sunyavadin** » Fri Oct 12, 2012 8:54 pm

#1 best issue of RID - BY FAR.

Excellent storytelling, great teasing and fantastic exposition that not only neatly ties up a bunch of loose plot threads, but also nicely sets up the upcoming big plot arc.

Seriously, this story has everything!

Regenesis continues to deliver!
Bludgeon starts to get a smidgin of character development that he sorely lacked after Spotlight Shockwave->Soundwave->Stormbringer!
Varta's entire plot arc is explained!
As is Turmoil's Time Machine!
Shockwave DID IT!

Just when I thought I was going to cancel RID and stick with MTMTE, they drop something really well paced, with great interspersing of panels designed to assist the reader in contextually comprehending what's going on.

Much better done time travel story than the latest episode of Dr Who. Sure, it's not on a par with say, Primer, but it's got me hooked back into it.
Liked the art, too. That cover was the best one since the one of Tarn in MTMTE. This art beats the arse off the gash we've had in RID so far (If I never have to see that hideous Arcee face again I will be a happy girl) - I honestly would love to see this style continue in RID as a stylistic contrast to Milne's Roche-inspired stuff in MTMTE... I can dream...

Sunyavadin · Post by **Sunyavadin** » Fri Oct 12, 2012 9:05 pm

I honestly think the only people confused by this would be the same sort of people who didn't get the previous two series of Dr Who.

Post by **snarl** » Fri Oct 12, 2012 11:24 pm

seriously...

are you ******* with us?

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Sat Oct 13, 2012 3:34 am

I think he's being saracastic. I hope.

I like that the story picks up threads from way back during the Furman-ation days, like the effects of ultra-Energon on different planets, Wheelie's whereabouts, and such.

But seriously, this thing takes "Shockwave did it" to a whole new level. I mean, this master plan of his is way too elaborate even for a genius bot like him. It would not just require smarts, but he'd almost have to be omnipresent to understand all that's happening. His awareness would have to not only span space but time as well. It makes you wonder how the Autobots still exist facing this kind of monocular menace, and as someone mentioned on the IDW boards, makes you wonder just exactly how Megatron could hold the position of numero uno bad guy with Shockwave around.

Shockwave's my man, he's a badass of badassery, but I hope things play out with a little more believabiity and realism in the coming issues.

Sunyavadin · Post by **Sunyavadin** » Sat Oct 13, 2012 1:19 pm

I'm deadly serious. It was a nice, easy to follow time travel story, not quite Primer, but more internally consistent than Back to the Future, which neatly wrapped up a bunch of loose threads, set up the direction of RID (Which is nice because it sure as hell hasn't had one this far and was in danger of falling so far into MTMTE's shadow that some kind of horrific nocturnal creatures which feed soley on RID comics evolved there. possibly with some kind of help from Shockwave), had art by possibly one of my top five favourite TF artists of all time (3-5 fluctuate, but 1+2 remain Geoff and Nick), and finally SHOCKWAVE DID IT.

Seriously, what is not to like?

Shanti418 · Post by **Shanti418** » Sat Oct 13, 2012 2:49 pm

Once this issue got going I realized, "I didn't read any of the Costa/AHM stuff, and I don't care about tying into the continuity, so let's try and enjoy the issue regardless of all that."

And it was still confusing, which is why the writing got so blatant at the end. I guess the moral of the story is "everything can be solved by a planet that can be at any time at any time."

But I DID appreciate the idea. With the time traveling and the "people who know more than our protagonists" and the "people who speak in rhymes," this was like a mixtape of a bunch of Star Trek: TNG cliches, right down to the fact that you could put Optimus Prime's lines in Picard's mouth and they'd sound right at home.

Given the storyline, I think the art was a bad choice. But in a different storyline, this kind of art would have been fine. I REALLY enjoyed the section with Turmoil and Op however: the day setting helped the art, and the way he drew Optimus's head in that section I totally loved.

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Sat Oct 13, 2012 11:08 pm

Shanti418 wrote: and the way he drew Optimus's head in that section I totally loved.

I noted that too! Kind of just paused on those panels, particularly the side view shots. Nice stuff.

Predabot · Post by **Predabot** » Sun Oct 14, 2012 11:19 pm

It was a decent issue.

It had its flaws, but it also used some nice ideas, and at least the writer tried to aim HIGH, instead of keep doing safe stuff.

It's still a ways to go until it reaches the heights of the Annual tho'. Keep at it writer sir...

The art, well, he's talented. He's got some good painting-ability. But his perspective and anatomy sometimes get a bit muddied. He's also obviously been trained as a concept-artist first and foremost. ( you can tell whenever somebody uses tons of blacks and reds)

This makes the panels a bit hard to follow. Usually, when you're only doing one single concept-piece, it's actually simple and standard, to use a lot of darkness and heavy shading, to really get some dramatic mood across. But alas, this principle is utterly useless in sequential work, since it becomes hard to focus on any one SINGLE panel, while reading.

I know this stuff, because I have awesome skills.

Side-note... I just realized Shanti's new title. =) This does beggar the question... DO YOU LISTEN TO THE DIXIE-CHICKS?

Hound · Post by **Hound** » Mon Oct 15, 2012 6:55 am

The art is great, it's the writing that is hard to follow.

Shanti418 · Post by **Shanti418** » Wed Oct 17, 2012 10:50 pm

Predabot wrote:Side-note... I just realized Shanti's new title. =) This does beggar the question... DO YOU LISTEN TO THE DIXIE-CHICKS?

I have no idea what this means. There's nothing new about anything on my profile here. However, I HAVE listened to the Dixie Chicks. I was more a fan of their first couple albums.

Which is kind of funny, because outside of music, I certainly loved and respected them more when they went to the mat to call out Bush. But at that point, buying new music was a once in a blue moon kind of thing for me.

Predabot · Post by **Predabot** » Fri Oct 19, 2012 8:10 pm

Shanti418 wrote:
Predabot wrote:Side-note... I just realized Shanti's new title. =) This does beggar the question... DO YOU LISTEN TO THE DIXIE-CHICKS?
I have no idea what this means. There's nothing new about anything on my profile here. However, I HAVE listened to the Dixie Chicks. I was more a fan of their first couple albums.

Which is kind of funny, because outside of music, I certainly loved and respected them more when they went to the mat to call out Bush. But at that point, buying new music was a once in a blue moon kind of thing for me.

The Dixie-chicks are reasonable Texans, yes? For those of us that mostly know about Texas from the Dallas tv-show and George Bust-antics ( which are rather similar, aren't they..?) they were something of a surprisingly vocal, visible, and clear voice of texas-reason.

Naturally, an enlighted Sir like you would listen to their excellent tunes. And yes, their early albums were much better.

bumblemusprime · Post by **bumblemusprime** » Sun Oct 21, 2012 3:03 am

This is the first issue of either of the current series that I put down mid-read.

So... Shockwave? Shockwave. Can we get back to Grimlock?

Tying up threads from Mike Costa--we might as well be revisiting Pat Lee and Mad Brick's GI Joe crossover.

Shanti418 · Post by **Shanti418** » Fri Oct 26, 2012 7:04 pm

Underbase Podcast has got this one up now: it's a 2 hour slog through the thing, but those people seems fanatical enough about Costa/AHM stuff that I'm hoping after I listen to it it won't be so confusing an issue.

A note on that podcast and podcasts in general: It seems that whenever I listen to a geek pop culture podcast (Transformers, Dr. Who, Spider Man, Star Trek, BSG, etc.), there are three main tropes that CONSTANTLY pop up.

1. The snarky, Comic-Book-Guy-esque dude who is generally displeased with things, likes the old and obscure versions, and categorically dislikes X writer/creator. There's also a flip version of this, where the CBGish person totally loves EVERYTHING that is going on right now, makes wild connections and rationalizations to explain plot holes, and would buy the "smeared with poo" variant cover.

2. The girl, who generally speaking knows less about the topic, or at least knows it more superficially, but simply by virtue of her vagina, her good comments are lauded and her dumb comments are overlooked because everyone on the podcast is just happy that it's not a circle jerk.

3. The architect, who is less critical of everything and never has much decent to say, but it is HE/SHE who organized the podcast, who edits the podcast, who does the coordinating, and as such, everyone humors them. They, in turn, are just happy that they've found fellow fans to converse with. (Note: on Underbase, 2&3 are the same person).

bumblemusprime · Post by **bumblemusprime** » Fri Oct 26, 2012 10:55 pm

Tropes = people?

I've always felt like Amy (Aimee? is it a weird spelling?) knows her stuff, but is a little less vocal than the fellas. And that seems more connected to nerd culture in general, and the way nerdy girls are marginalized.

Although tbh, even though they're sexless, the TFs are all "hes" and to some degree, these comics are one giant circle jerk. I suppose we can't even get started on the fact that transgenderism drove Arcee to endless violence...

Sunyavadin · Post by **Sunyavadin** » Sat Oct 27, 2012 2:40 am

bumblemusprime wrote: Tying up threads from Mike Costa--we might as well be revisiting Pat Lee and Mad Brick's GI Joe crossover.

Um, the Reflector stuff would be McCarthy loose ends, not Costa.

Ah, the dark days of McCarthyism...

But I digress.

Also, If we're talking about revisiting Pat Lee era stuff, I'd love to see an IDW Dark Ages reimagining. It was the only thing worth reading in the DW stuff.

Sunyavadin · Post by **Sunyavadin** » Sat Oct 27, 2012 2:45 am

bumblemusprime wrote: I've always felt like Amy (Aimee? is it a weird spelling?) knows her stuff

Agreed.
But I'm kinda biased as we share similar names and are both girls who know our stuff. ;p

bumblemusprime wrote: I suppose we can't even get started on the fact that transgenderism drove Arcee to endless violence...

Though the more we see of everything else Jhiaxus was responsible for, the more it seems an unavoidable side-effect of him messing about with Transformers, not necessarily exclusive to her gender issues. I mean, Monstructor doesn't ask to be called "Mandy", but has similar self-control problems.

bumblemusprime · Post by **bumblemusprime** » Sat Oct 27, 2012 4:19 am

Sunyavadin wrote: Also, If we're talking about revisiting Pat Lee era stuff, I'd love to see an IDW Dark Ages reimagining. It was the only thing worth reading in the DW stuff.

The concept is pretty cool, eh? Megs and Op were both MIA at some point during the formative years of the war and then some mysterious figure appears... yeah, we could have an IDW Fallen; we've pulled off Pretenders and Headmasters.

I mean, Monstructor doesn't ask to be called "Mandy", but has similar self-control problems.

Monstructor... yes you came, and you gave without...

inflatable dalek · Post by **inflatable dalek** » Sat Oct 27, 2012 8:28 am

Shanti418 wrote:Underbase Podcast has got this one up now: it's a 2 hour slog through the thing, but those people seems fanatical enough about Costa/AHM stuff that I'm hoping after I listen to it it won't be so confusing an issue.

I'm quite bad with flu at the moment, so when I put it on I only got about halfway through before I went into a sort of fever dream full of insane hallucinogenic content that was probably more bonkers than anything in the comic.

2. The girl, who generally speaking knows less about the topic, or at least knows it more superficially, but simply by virtue of her vagina, her good comments are lauded and her dumb comments are overlooked because everyone on the podcast is just happy that it's not a circle jerk.

3. The architect, who is less critical of everything and never has much decent to say, but it is HE/SHE who organized the podcast, who edits the podcast, who does the coordinating, and as such, everyone humors them. They, in turn, are just happy that they've found fellow fans to converse with. (Note: on Underbase, 2&3 are the same person).

I think The Girl One (

) does have a valid viewpoint though, being that rarest of things, someone who got into Transformers comics through IDW. So without the quarter century of baggage she can- in theory- look at things without being swayed by injokes or knowing which bits are shamelessly recycled and just judge them on their own merits.

It doesn't always work out like that (usually one of the fans with a longer history will just explain the references first) but it's a good idea in principle.

Sunyavadin · Post by **Sunyavadin** » Sat Oct 27, 2012 12:43 pm

Right now me and my girlfriend fulfil both those roles. The girl who got into it through IDW (My Girlfriend) and me, the girl who got into it through Marvel G1 and remembers comics costing 30p and being weekly, and has the quarter of a century of baggage...

Sunyavadin · Post by **Sunyavadin** » Sat Oct 27, 2012 12:50 pm

bumblemusprime wrote:
Sunyavadin wrote: Also, If we're talking about revisiting Pat Lee era stuff, I'd love to see an IDW Dark Ages reimagining. It was the only thing worth reading in the DW stuff.
The concept is pretty cool, eh? Megs and Op were both MIA at some point during the formative years of the war and then some mysterious figure appears... yeah, we could have an IDW Fallen; we've pulled off Pretenders and Headmasters.

It has worked since Marvel G1...

http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Cybertron:_The_Middle_Years!