Forget Spike and Carly - I wanna know when Buster, Jesse, and "O" are going to get some love.
Energon Universe - ongoing Transformers and G.I. Joe comics from Skybound
- Thread starter SHIELD Agent 47
- Start date
I read this earlier in the week. It really reminded me of IDW's Beast Wars ongoing... practically everything is the same, and what's different isn't interesting.
I also get the impression the writers really assume that you've watched MTMTE, so they don't need to explain what Transformers are, who Bumblebee is, what the Ark is, how Teletan 1 is waking robots up (at random?), etc.
Teletran 1 was sure as heck shown to be reassembling transformers from many small parts, so when Starscream shoots that one random robot or that OTHER one random robot who maybe sorta dies at the end... we know they're not really dead, which makes his actions inherently futile.
I hate to say it, but this issue felt MEAN and SLOPPY; like they were so sure of their extended cinematic universe they pulled a Batman V Superman... assumed you knew who the characters were and fast forwarded to the good stuff, "good stuff" here being Starscream squishing a human being?
Ratchet Kicking and Optimus running towards the panel are neat visual nods, but you can't build a universe off of 'memberberries and sloppy writing.
I also get the impression the writers really assume that you've watched MTMTE, so they don't need to explain what Transformers are, who Bumblebee is, what the Ark is, how Teletan 1 is waking robots up (at random?), etc.
Teletran 1 was sure as heck shown to be reassembling transformers from many small parts, so when Starscream shoots that one random robot or that OTHER one random robot who maybe sorta dies at the end... we know they're not really dead, which makes his actions inherently futile.
I hate to say it, but this issue felt MEAN and SLOPPY; like they were so sure of their extended cinematic universe they pulled a Batman V Superman... assumed you knew who the characters were and fast forwarded to the good stuff, "good stuff" here being Starscream squishing a human being?
Ratchet Kicking and Optimus running towards the panel are neat visual nods, but you can't build a universe off of 'memberberries and sloppy writing.
Beast Wars was boring because it took so long to do the setup. But the complaint against this one issue is that you wanted more exposition and dragged-out introductions? There's a spaceship crashed on Earth with two warring factions of deactivated robots on it. A couple bad robots and a couple good robots are reactivated before the computer that rebuilds them is destroyed. And we're clearly shown (not told) which are good and which are bad. (Though apparently depicting the evil robots as *this* evil is controversial.) We don't need to know what the Ark is. (Is it even named?) We don't need to know anything about Teletraan that we weren't already shown. Obviously character introductions/motivations/etc. will be made later to Spike/Carly, et al, I'm assuming with issue 2...
Got my copy, didn't much care for it. The two messages I got from it were, "We're tired of Bumblebee too," and "Remember how the Marvel comics would kill everyone off every year or two so they could introduce new toys? We're not selling toys, but we're zombie comic people, so we're just gonna randomly kill characters right and left."
---Dave
---Dave
According to DWJ, Hasbro was pretty on board with blowing Bumblebee's face off because they felt he was played out as well.. which, like..
Just don't use him? You can just not use him! It's not like when they got tired of Windblade they just started treating her like a Cy-kill cameo from the 2000's... they just stopped using her as much. It was real easy!
It just comes accross as way too edgelordy, hur hur we shot the kid appeal character in the face. Especially when it was done in such a way that it won't seem outlandish when they inevitibly bring him back later.
Like, he was already offline; just make it so Prime can't recover the body and boom, done, he's out of the picture until you change your mind (which someone will do, whether it's DWJ or whoever comes after.)
Between this and RotB it really feels like Hasbro wants to stop doing Bumblebee stuff but also knows he sells so they keep doing it. They want to have their cake and shoot it too.
Just don't use him? You can just not use him! It's not like when they got tired of Windblade they just started treating her like a Cy-kill cameo from the 2000's... they just stopped using her as much. It was real easy!
It just comes accross as way too edgelordy, hur hur we shot the kid appeal character in the face. Especially when it was done in such a way that it won't seem outlandish when they inevitibly bring him back later.
Like, he was already offline; just make it so Prime can't recover the body and boom, done, he's out of the picture until you change your mind (which someone will do, whether it's DWJ or whoever comes after.)
Between this and RotB it really feels like Hasbro wants to stop doing Bumblebee stuff but also knows he sells so they keep doing it. They want to have their cake and shoot it too.
Nah, sorry. I agree with Salt-Man Z. It was an effective way of "show don't tell." Even if you knew NOTHING about Transformers (and statically at least a few people who read this issue wouldn't have) the scene tells you a few things.
1- There are two factions of robots
2- Jetfire is unaware of this because he's been searching for a LONG time
3- The faction Starscream belongs to is evil because they killed a defenceless member of the other faction
We get everything we need.
And in terms of it being "edgelordy" sheesh. Getting shot in the face was getting off lightly compared to some of the ways IDW1 would torture some of its characters.
Like a fan breakout character of IDW1 was the Commandant of Space Auschwitz who would listen to classical music as he sent his camp's inmates to the ovens. Oh also he later leads a special team of Decepticons who torture and kill deserters in the most horrific ways possible to the point that one of his underlings transforms into a torture chair.
But no. Starscream shooting Bumblebee in the face is "edgelordy." Whatever, man.
You don't need to shoot and disfigure the kid appeal evergreen character to show the Decepticons as bad guys. there's a lot of Ark crew that aren't going to be utilized anytime soon. Shoot Ironhide to homage the '86 film. Shoot a generic. Shoot someone who isn't on such a level that he's 100% guarrenteed to eventually be brought back.
But no, they picked Bumblebee to blow the face off of, and the only reason to do that is for shock value. That's why it's edgelordy. Not because someone dies (which is a silly oversimplification of what I'm saying, also I don't think Bee is dead), but because of the context of who got shot and how.
But no, they picked Bumblebee to blow the face off of, and the only reason to do that is for shock value. That's why it's edgelordy. Not because someone dies (which is a silly oversimplification of what I'm saying, also I don't think Bee is dead), but because of the context of who got shot and how.
If you shoot a generic there's less weight for the people who do know the franchise. Ironhide? You could shoot him, but Bumblebee works because he's that evergreen kid appeal character.
Like Hasbro wanted to use him less because of over-saturation and DWJ wanted to kill someone to set the stakes, it seems like it was a perfect confluence of creativity and corporate mandates where everyone got something they wanted.
I'm not over-simplifying anything. I'm saying that Bumblebee getting shot in the face doesn't even scratch the Top 5 grimdark edgelord crap this comic franchise has done, and that's JUST counting SB and IDW.
I never mentioend grimdark, which is a seperate thing from being edgelordy, though I think we might have different definitions of what being an edgelord is so we may have to agree to disagree here.
Killing a nobody doesn't mean anything. Not just here, but any work for fiction. How many times have you watched a movie where the vilian just kills people to have a body count. It doesn't add to the plot, it doesn't make the villian seem more dangerous. Its just there for spectical and false pretense. Killing Ironhide is a low hanging fruit, a "safe" character that can be killed off becuase no one is particularly attached to him. Its "i want to kill someone, but I don't want to hurt the main cast, or use a nobody." Its basically one step up from a nobody, a nobody with a name.
You want death to actually mean something, its got to be a character people care about. Back in 80's movie, the furvor wasn't over they killed characters; it was they killed /Optimus/ someone kids cared about. Back in the 07 movie, Jazz was chosen to be killed off, becuase the writers felt he was the most likable of the cast. If DOTM had kept the scene on Sentinel killing the twins, no one would care about their deaths, becuase no one cared about them. Killing off some random nobody that no one knows, is never effective. Killing off some background character that people know but don't really care about, isn't as effective as actually killing someone that people really care for. And yeah, Ironhide is one of those character most people don't care about beyond having a complete cast.
Its not about grimdark, its about shock value. If you actually kill off someone people think is actually untouchable becuase they're usually got +20 plot armor, is really going to make readers believe that anyone could potentially die at any time. It actually makes it feel like there are real stakes involved, without the belief that someone's gonna survive because of status quo. Starscream literally shoots status quo right in the face here.
You want death to actually mean something, its got to be a character people care about. Back in 80's movie, the furvor wasn't over they killed characters; it was they killed /Optimus/ someone kids cared about. Back in the 07 movie, Jazz was chosen to be killed off, becuase the writers felt he was the most likable of the cast. If DOTM had kept the scene on Sentinel killing the twins, no one would care about their deaths, becuase no one cared about them. Killing off some random nobody that no one knows, is never effective. Killing off some background character that people know but don't really care about, isn't as effective as actually killing someone that people really care for. And yeah, Ironhide is one of those character most people don't care about beyond having a complete cast.
Its not about grimdark, its about shock value. If you actually kill off someone people think is actually untouchable becuase they're usually got +20 plot armor, is really going to make readers believe that anyone could potentially die at any time. It actually makes it feel like there are real stakes involved, without the belief that someone's gonna survive because of status quo. Starscream literally shoots status quo right in the face here.
And when he does, make it IDW?
Bee was shot in the face, they're low on energon but Ratchet survived, so I'm just assuming he'll save him but won't be able to repair Bee and we'll have Mute-Bee for awhile (ugh).
Or maybe he gets upgrades into Goldbug, who has a face plate. It's been awhile since Bumblebee and Goldbug were the same guy.
DWJ has stated he doesn't like the live action movies, so hopefully they'll avoid that little bit of cross continuity inspiration.
Ah, so it'll be beeping Bee from Prime instead.
