YMMV / Revolution (2016)

• Broken Base: A big one, but usually centered around the question of: was a shared IDW universe a good idea?
  • Is it a great new starting point to jump together a number of old 80s-90s series into a Darker and Edgier new shared setting, or do the plots and characters all end up tripping over themselves to fit?
  • The first few meetings involving heavy use of the Conflict Ball and Let's You and Him Fight; a standard use of the trope that comic crossovers always have, or just frustrating cliches to create drama?
  • The heavy implementation of the Transformers in regards to everything else, to the point where much of the new shared universe will revolve around them more than any other franchise. On the one hand, IDW's Transformers is easily the biggest book with a large universe and a big healthy fanbase so it makes sense for them to be the event's "core", so to speak (especially considering the issues the IDW G.I. Joe titles have had). Others view it differently as the Transformers become an almost Spotlight-Stealing Squad to everyone else who had to have their lore twisted and bent just to suit the more popular franchise.
  • The Transformers: Revolution Giant Robot Comix Exclusive Variant cover drew this from Transformers fans. The cover is an homage to the iconic The Transformers: The Movie cover from 1986 but includes Windblade, the fan-created character from 2014. Many have argued she's out of place in such an homage and it's a blatant case of Character Shilling with IDW trying to promote the new fan character and others are miffed at Arcee's exclusion from the cover as she's the iconic first-major female autobot. Others are more forgiving as the homage isn't 1-1 and a loose take on it isn't some kind of heresy. The writer admitted to having put Arcee on a lot of covers and wanted to make a change so he put in Windblade partly to shake things up and partly to promote the new Combiner Wars animated series. The negative reception to that series as well as Windblade's Characterization made that a sore point for some.
• The Scrappy: Scarlett gets it pretty bad here. Many found her Inspector Javert schtick grating and unsympathetic both in a case of Fourth Wall Myopia (the audience knows the Autobots are good and waiting for the characters to catch up is tedious) and general-unprofessionalism. Much of her and the G.I. Joe plot retreads ground from the previous Transformers series and the G.I. Joe characters come off as way too samey. Even her fans dislike the portrayal as they feel she's been pigeonholed into the designated antagonist and is unfairly given the Conflict Ball, Idiot Ball, and Jerkass Ball all for the sake of forwarding the plot.

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