RID 30

[Best First]

Sooo...

Galvatron continues to be a ridiculous thug.

Soundwave has turned into a whiney socialist.

The humans are still stupid and annoying.

Half the dialogue doesn't quite make sense.

Basically save your money and reread 29 as it's basically exactly the same.

This has a Costaesque stink about it - the premises underpinning this don't ring true - Galvy's position, the human alliance - so the whole thing just doesn't work.

[Computron]

I was going to pick this up in the hopes that things turned around, but I think I'll pass now.

I really hope we don't get another "Epic Crossover Event!" in 12 months that forces us to learn what happened in RiD...

[Impactor returns 2.0]

I payed money for this

[inflatable dalek]

I'm not minding this overall, there are some really stupid moments (Prowlestator, natch) but as a bit of a silly romp it's OK. However, I can more than see why so many (at least here and on the other forums I frequent) seem to have given up on it. It's entirely average and certainly not up to the standards of the last two MTMTE's, which is worrying as they weren't anywhere near the best of that series.

I do wonder if it's time for Barber to move on as writer, the last really top notch thing he wrote solo was the Soundwave flashback issue, and that was a bit of an oasis in a sea of meh in the second year of RID. The new direction doesn't seem to be really kicking off into high gear and it just feels as if he's burnt through his good ideas and is as worn out as Furman.

The way the issue opens with more continuity patching of the Headmaster thing (which still doesn't properly match up with Heart of Darkness anyway where the bodies are specifically said to be part of an Autobot/Decepticon battle, making the bringing back of a crap idea from a crap comic just to try and make it fit all the more pointless) certainly feels more like a send up of Barber and his "Let's never let go of anything!" attitude than the real deal.

[snarl]

Just can't get past the dialogue - makes all the characters sound like prats.

That, and the entire premise is ******* idiotic.

[bumblemusprime]

Yeah. So let's name the big problems that should have been vetoed right off the bat (and would have been, if Barber wasn't editing one book while writing another while getting edited by someone else--lesson from Marvel: two books, same franchise, means two writers, one editor).

- Humans, after having genocide committed upon them by identifiable Decepticons, make any kind of deal at all with Decepticons.
- Decepticons, apparently in service of a devious plot, recruit a Genghis Khan type with all the brutality and none of the cunning. If Soundwave is a Decepticon Tywin Lannister, he's recruited the Mountain to be his commander.
- Prime has allowed Prowl to keep his pet Decepticons.

I was at first glad to see some characterization for Galvatron. We haven't gotten much throughout the IDW run even though this is an all-new take on the guy with no "reborn Megatron" baggage. So at first I was all, "first civil war, cool, Galvatronghis Khan, cool..." and then by the end he had descended below stereotype into total parody. Seriously, this Galvatron makes Grimlock look like a well-spoken dude. How many thesauruses did Barber consult for variations on "we should crush them!!!"?

Prowlestator. So Prowl has been unstable from the beginning, but Prime wants him to go to Earth and lets him bring his pet Decepticons. AND. These are the same Decepticons that famously smashed the bridges and tunnels in All Hail Megatron. But hey, let's bring them along. Nothing could go wrong.

As usual, Barber seems to be using some "sleight of hand" to make us realize that Soundwave is playing a long game. But playing a long game only makes sense when you're not hiding something behind your suicidal idiotic tactics and appointing yourself a drooling moron for a leader.

[inflatable dalek]

- Humans, after having genocide committed upon them by identifiable Decepticons, make any kind of deal at all with Decepticons.

This is probably one of my bug bears because there's actually a neat idea in there, and after all there's no shortage of examples in human history of two nations that have done terrible things to one another, even in the recent past, forming alliances. Even if just politically expedient ones.

But it would only work if none of the same Decepticons who committed atrocities were involved. Britain gets along fine with Germany (well, rather we only don't get along with them in the same way we don't get along with the rest of Europe) now, we probably wouldn't if Herman Goering was standing next to Merkel the whole time going "Ja, honest we have changed, ve honestly don't plan to start killing any Jews! Honest".

Especially if Merkel kept randomly shouting "ACTUALLY I WOULD QUITE LIKE TO KILL SOME JEWS!" as he was talking. Soundwave and Astrotrain (and anyone else on Earth invovled in AHM) should really have stayed on the ship.

[Shanti418]

- Humans, after having genocide committed upon them by identifiable Decepticons, make any kind of deal at all with Decepticons.

True. I think with the brain thing in this issue, Barber's trying to intimate that humans do indeed have contingency plans and for some reason see the Deceps as the devil they know. But not clearly stated, and still quite problematic.

- Decepticons, apparently in service of a devious plot, recruit a Genghis Khan type with all the brutality and none of the cunning. If Soundwave is a Decepticon Tywin Lannister, he's recruited the Mountain to be his commander.

And then he gets shot by Frenzy while he's trying to flush his coolant systems! So sad, Soundwave.

As usual, Barber seems to be using some "sleight of hand" to make us realize that Soundwave is playing a long game. But playing a long game only makes sense when you're not hiding something behind your suicidal idiotic tactics and appointing yourself a drooling moron for a leader.

Still though, this is one of the more cool aspects of the arc for me. I like Soundwave as the true believer idealist, seeing Megs as a Stalin-type figure who betrayed the revolution by creating a cult of personality enforced by brutality and losing the point of the matter, saying that if only humans could truly see unvarnished Decepticon ideology they'd all sign up. He's wrong, but it's a cool take.

Are there any Transformers the EDF could be holding that AREN'T Alpha Trion?

[Best First]

I was thinking Scrapper.