Continuity.... where next?

Post by **Kaylee** » Fri Mar 11, 2005 9:18 pm

ShadowSonic wrote:Why do people want Impactor back? I mean, he was only in two stories, and it's not like his character or role couldn't easily be replaced with a pre-existing character...

Probably because out of X hundred characters he was one of the very few who you actually cared about when he died.

bobaprime85 · Post by **bobaprime85** » Fri Mar 11, 2005 9:36 pm

Stormwolf wrote:
Our debates:

Comic fan #1: Hey cool, they went on from where G2 #12 left off.
Comic fan #2: Cool huh, I wonder how long the G1 Autobot/Decepticon alliance will last though.
Comic fan #1: Yeah, it seems that G2 Megatron might actually join Liege Maximo. But luckily Grimlock suspects something.

Toonie debates:

Cartoon fan #1: What is this crap!? Why is Megatron a tank? And smart Grimlock? And why are the Autobots and Decepticons working together? And strangest of all, I saw them kill other transformers!
Cartoon fan #2: I don't understand it either, but I heard it was part of G2.
Cartoon fan #1: From that G1 CGI cartoon? I never saw anything like that in those.
Cartoon fan #2: No, I think it's from that toyline.
Cartoon fan #1: This sucks, they should have continued from Rebirth, where G1 ended!
Comic fan #1: No they continued it of the G2 COMICS, not that horrible cartoon. The Comics lasted from 1984 to 1994 which is approximately 10 years of stories. But those whopping 3 years the cartoon ran make more than up for it.
Cartoon fan #1: The comic sucks, I once read 2 pages of it.
Cartoon fan #2: Yeah, the cartoon had so many interesting plots which kept you wondering about the outcome. And then there's great characters like Grimlock and his band of merry retards.
Comic fan #1: Yawn

I think that successfully summed up all of Transfandom right there.

Also, Impactor - more complex and compelling than some characters that have had appearance upon appearance. Just compare this guy to some of the 'favorites' like the walking cliche that is Starscream and there's just no contest.

sprunkner · Post by **sprunkner** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 6:59 am

Wow... that debate was so much like what happened when I joined the other boards that I'm sad. Does anyone remember me and my g3 petition? I got the equivalent of weird looks at just about every other site. And only nineteen friggin' people signed it. Of course, that's more than probably bought Micromasters...

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 9:22 am

Okay, thought this topic was worth reviving now that we've got a new continuity and it's well underway.

So far we've had 16 issues of our "ongoing", albeit broken into three minis, supplemented by a series of standalone issues that focus on different characters, but enhance the ongoing plot.

And we've just started a prequel mini where nobody can work out what's going on.

What do we think of what we've had? Is it what we wanted? Would we have preferred something different? What would we like to see changing.

DISCUSS! REFLECT! USE PERSPECTIVE! TALK, DAMMIT!

Post by **spiderfrommars** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 9:42 am

IDW have pretty much nailed it really. A lot of the predictions in this thread have been really interesting.

I wish IDW would release a proper G1 ongoing. I haven't liked being bereft of their main continuity this Summer whilst all this movie business goes on.

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 9:46 am

Perhaps that's been deliberate, as to not confuse people by detracting attention from the Movie continuity.

We've had the prequel and the adaptation about. Though admittedly I've not really bothered with either.

Devastation's about to kick off. I suppose, in theory, we should have had the Megatron mini to have kept us occupied if it hadn't slipped behind schedule (ooh, another DW echo).

Legion · Post by **Legion** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 11:53 am

Yes, i'm really enjoying IDW's take on things, my only gripe is the waiting, it seems to be taking forever! But then, i can be terribly impatient sometimes. But at least an on-going would be a regular dose, waiting between minis is driving me up the wall...

the spotlights help tho.

I still would've loved to have seen a continuation of Marvel's G1/G2, however the market for that would've been even more niche then the Transformers one already is (or was, now that the movie is out... perhaps that'll change).

rusty_herring · Post by **rusty_herring** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 1:30 pm

My own personal preference is always to start again. (Although I'm not too crazy about the movie storyline or lore) I just think it helps to keep things fresh, although DW left off in a bit of a bad spot but once Sunstorm came into the story I dunno wtf they were doing anymore so I was glad to see IDW just start again.
I love the spotlights, if anything I just wish some of them were longer.

From what I remember when the X-Men craze came out after their first movie, all the old stuff was getting reprinted and revitalized, I'm sure if there's money to be made from the original G1/G2, they'll be back at it and Marvel will be there.

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 2:45 pm

Looking back at all three continuities, I would have to say that I enjoyed all three, and all have had their strengths and weaknesses, but the Marvel one will always have a special place in my heart.

I didn't realize how much I missed the Marvel run until this issue of Timelines #2.

As far as whether I prefer DW or IDW, I think I enjoyed DW more overall so far for two reasons. One, it had been too long since we had a Transformers comic, and I had been hard up for some for years. And two, I think the breaks in the G1 continuity have really hurt the flow of things. I feel that after almost two years, though I have enjoyed the ride, I feel like little has been accomplished and the pace of things with IDW makes drawn out things of the past like the Sunstorm Saga move like a racing hare. Who is the Machination, for example? It's been almost two years, and we still don't know. I consider myself a patient reader, but some things IDW has drawn out waaaaay too long. I don't mind dangling plot threads (I liked DW, which had plenty), but bring some to conclusion at least. I would say this is a minor gripe though in the face of many more positive that IDW has given us.

Shanti418 · Post by **Shanti418** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 4:00 pm

Looking at the releases, I think one thing that sets IDW apart from all three on the creative level is that it has been the least affected by Hasbro.

Marvel US HAD to incorporate new toys, at least for around the first 2/3 of the series. Plus a GI Joe tie in.

DW HAD to write for Armada and Energon, that was the main idea, getting to do G1 was a bonus. Plus TWO GI Joe tie ins.

IDW hasn't had to write to Cybertron nor will it have to for Animated. A New Avengers tie in, but at least that's different. It's had to write for the movie, but a creative adaptation of a movie is different than creating a storyline around huge globs of product placement.

Side Note: Hence why G2 STILL blows everything else out of the water

So that's allowed them a lot more creative leeway, leading to things as meh as Hearts of Steel or as Sweet! as Spotlights.

Still, if you were to measure DW G1 Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 against Infiltration and Escalation, and Stormbringer against War Within 1, it would be close, on account of the fact that Infiltration was sloooow, I have a soft spot for War and Peace, and WW1 was scads better creatively than a Thunderwing boogeyman no matter HOW beatufiully Fig draws 'em.

But both of them are a looong way from what Marvel did.

rusty_herring · Post by **rusty_herring** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 7:18 pm

I kind of wonder about comics today, same as cartoon shows and other media. As a package it's slicker, sexier and at the same time nostalgic.

But are the new comics really giving us anything new? Or are they simply good because they're nostalgic, they bring back things that we already knew...

Sometimes I wonder that, and wonder if that's why they just don't seem to be as good as they once were, publishers or no. I really don't know, but I've always wondered about other opinions on the subject. Sometimes there just seems to be something missing... things seem to be getting more extreme while losing something else valuable.

This is again, just my opinion, but it seems like everyone's always angry with each other... lol... where's the ol' Autobot love?

Hot Shot · Post by **Hot Shot** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 7:34 pm

I agree with Pred's two-year-old post. G2 and DW need closure. I lean towards ending DW's stuff if anything, though. G2 had a plausible ending, yet WWI and DWG1 were left with cliffhangers(I heard DW Energon was never finished, but since I never read it I can't confirm it). Therefore, I find DW's stuff more deserving.

Okay, I said it. Stone me if you wish.

veritech · Post by **veritech** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 3:22 am

rusty_herring wrote:I kind of wonder about comics today, same as cartoon shows and other media. As a package it's slicker, sexier and at the same time nostalgic.

But are the new comics really giving us anything new? Or are they simply good because they're nostalgic, they bring back things that we already knew...

Sometimes I wonder that, and wonder if that's why they just don't seem to be as good as they once were, publishers or no. I really don't know, but I've always wondered about other opinions on the subject. Sometimes there just seems to be something missing... things seem to be getting more extreme while losing something else valuable.

This is again, just my opinion, but it seems like everyone's always angry with each other... lol... where's the ol' Autobot love?

I agree with you! There does seem to be something missing in the new comics . . . but I really can't put my finger on it. I think part of my frustration with the comics industry as a whole is that idea of story decompression. yes, it give more space for cool art, but a comic now takes you a fraction of the time that it used to take to read an comic 20 years ago. Not as much story plus delays in publishing makes it tough to keep my interest.

Or maybe the deficiency lies not with the new comics and their creators, but within us! Maybe we have just matured to the point where the adventures of giant, sentient robots is not as captivating as it used to be.

Post by **Kaylee** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 7:59 am

IMO I think the thing that's missing is being able to read the comics through the eyes of one's 7 year old self. The comics are doing pretty much the same thing as ever imo, and if we could only read them as children we'd probably think they were the best thing ever

Legion · Post by **Legion** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 9:09 am

veritech wrote: I agree with you! There does seem to be something missing in the new comics . . . but I really can't put my finger on it. I think part of my frustration with the comics industry as a whole is that idea of story decompression. yes, it give more space for cool art, but a comic now takes you a fraction of the time that it used to take to read an comic 20 years ago. Not as much story plus delays in publishing makes it tough to keep my interest.

Totally agree with you! So much less seems to happen in an issue thesedays, which makes things seem so much more dragged out.

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 3:25 pm

Karl Lynch wrote:IMO I think the thing that's missing is being able to read the comics through the eyes of one's 7 year old self. The comics are doing pretty much the same thing as ever imo, and if we could only read them as children we'd probably think they were the best thing ever

I think you hit the nail on the head. The comics haven't really changed. We have.

But I also agree with what was said above, that stories are too decompressed so they fit the trade format.

I mean, I read IDW's comics and I enjoy them, but once they are done I find myself saying "not a whole lot really happened". I mean, it's cool at the time, but the feeling doesn't stick. Again, it's probably because we've changed and it takes more to get us going than it used to.

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 3:36 pm

I enjoyed Escalation a lot more than I did Infiltration... because I waited until about a week ago before actually reading Escalation. In one go.

I've had the occasional Spotlight to keep me occupied in the interim, but in the grand scheme of things, not a lot happens and it's too big a gap between things when they do.

Legion · Post by **Legion** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 3:36 pm

Might be interesting to compare a moden comic, panel by panel with an old one to see exactly just how much content there actually is...
to my mind, it seems that roughly 3 issues of todays comics = 1 issue old comic (US style, not UK)... but that's just me.

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 3:39 pm

And they were cheaper back then!

Post by **Kaylee** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 3:43 pm

And young people didn't use curse words

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 3:49 pm

Wagon Wheels were bigger, too.

rusty_herring · Post by **rusty_herring** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 7:07 pm

I just re-read Target: 2006 and when you compare Ironhide digging out Megatron and Soundwave and his dialogue through the issue to how Sideswipe reacts to one of his fellows getting killed, I dunno, there's just no comparison. Maybe it is because things have to get faster now, more intense... the kids don't want to read, they want to see things exploding!
They do seem shorter now too, probably more ads crammed in.

And I had to read it - uphill both ways! In the snow! In my grandfather's pijamas.

As a comic hopeful in my dreams, I like to think about what we love so much about comics so as to maybe regain a little of what we think is lost, and why. Like any form of art, once comics got very mainstreamed I think it dilluted itself without knowing.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 9:49 pm

Brendocon wrote:Wagon Wheels were bigger, too.

Dude, everything was bigger.

Except us.

KingMob · Post by **KingMob** » Thu Aug 02, 2007 2:09 pm

Comics today are better than comics in 1984. MOBTRUFAX.

I mean, no Bernard Manning for a start.

Impactor returns 2.0 · Post by **Impactor returns 2.0** » Thu Aug 02, 2007 2:27 pm

rusty_herring wrote:I just re-read Target: 2006 and when you compare Ironhide digging out Megatron and Soundwave and his dialogue through the issue to how Sideswipe reacts to one of his fellows getting killed, I dunno, there's just no comparison. Maybe it is because things have to get faster now, more intense... the kids don't want to read, they want to see things exploding!
They do seem shorter now too, probably more ads crammed in.

Yeah thats how I feel when I read the new comics, they just seem like a big rush to get to the fight, and no content.

matthew · Post by **matthew** » Mon Aug 06, 2007 4:00 pm

does war within contradict anything in the marvel generation one and two canon? could i feasibly add my trades for www 1 and 2 to my titan collections of varying size? just curious. i'm new to the boards by the way, so, hello, all. also, did i hear a rumor that fans are getting together to color the old uk black and white material? should i hold off on purchasing the manga like collections from titan? okay, i will stop with the fanboy questions for now. thanks inadvance,
till all are one or something like that,
matt-man

matthew · Post by **matthew** » Mon Aug 06, 2007 4:15 pm

i voted to continue the generation one and two continuity BUT i am really enjoying what idw is giving us currently with furman and the gang. i just wish the material would come out at a quicker pace. i suffer from high anxiety. i do buy trades of the current spotlights,infiltration, escalation, stormbringer, etc and love the complex mythology BUT i also love the timelines and mass destruction of the old school transformers that i grew up with. what was it... san francisco where they" dropped the big one "? that was the good stuff. AND is spike dead in that continuity? along with fortress maximus?

Shanti418 · Post by **Shanti418** » Mon Aug 06, 2007 4:18 pm

matthew wrote:does war within contradict anything in the marvel generation one and two canon? could i feasibly add my trades for www 1 and 2 to my titan collections of varying size? just curious. i'm new to the boards by the way, so, hello, all. also, did i hear a rumor that fans are getting together to color the old uk black and white material? should i hold off on purchasing the manga like collections from titan? okay, i will stop with the fanboy questions for now. thanks inadvance,
till all are one or something like that,
matt-man

War Within isn't in Marvel continuity, it's in Dreamwave continuity, so it's not canon in Marvel, although that's certainly no reason to stop you from putting them up on a shelf together and envisioning a continuity where they both work together.

i voted to continue the generation one and two continuity BUT i am really enjoying what idw is giving us currently with furman and the gang. i just wish the material would come out at a quicker pace. i suffer from high anxiety. i do buy trades of the current spotlights,infiltration, escalation, stormbringer, etc and love the complex mythology BUT i also love the timelines and mass destruction of the old school transformers that i grew up with. what was it... san francisco where they" dropped the big one "? that was the good stuff. AND is spike dead in that continuity? along with fortress maximus?

Well, there's at least 2-3 TF issues out a month, I'd bet, between the G1 stories, Spotlights, and the LS's (Stormbringer, Hearts of Steel, Megatron: Origin, all that movie buisness). So waiting for trades with high anxiety is simply you being masochistic. :P

There is PLENTY of timeline action in IDW. I mean, how much were "timelines" involved in Marvel TF by issue number 25 or so? Furman's got lots of pieces in play, we just don't know were anything goes yet.

As far as San Francisco getting nuked, that was Dreamwave as well, and I don't exactly remember what Fort Max/Spike's role was in that continuity, but safe to say, it was small and uninspired.

If you're interested in some small amount of Spike/Fort Max action though, as I tell EVERYONE make sure to check out Marvel G2 if you haven't already.

matthew · Post by **matthew** » Mon Aug 06, 2007 4:22 pm

hey, thanks for the quick reply!
but does anything that you know of in war within contradict early marvel canon? i mean could it work as a prequel to marvel's gen one/two semi-successfully?
again, thanks in advance.
matt

Predabot · Post by **Predabot** » Mon Aug 06, 2007 4:22 pm

They do appear to be dead Matthew... much to my chagrin, since they are some of my favourite TF-characters..

And can a mod please MERGE Matthew's three most recent posts..? Thanks.

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Continuity.... where next?

What continuity direction should new TF comics take?