YMMV / Transformers (2019)

• Ass Pull: In Issue 9 of Galaxies, Gauge is forced by Heretech to go to Cybertron's surface and use her skills and crane digger alt mode to find and expose an energon vein. It had been previously established that Gauge had never chosen an alt-mode and there was never any suggestion that she knew how find energon, especially since she had spent most of her life on the Reversionists' ship away from the planet. This happens so that Gauge can be placed in a prominent enough position to stop Heretech's plans.
• Catharsis Factor: Issue 22 lets Bumblebee finally pay Quake back for killing Rubble.
• Character Rerailment: Some characters who had their personalities drastically changed in the 2005 IDW comic have been brought back to their traditional characterization.
  • Arcee was a murderous Blood Knight who was Galvatron's twin sibling. The reboot has seemingly moved her back to her more traditional Cool Big Sis characterization, with her being handpicked to mentor a newly forged Cybertronian.
  • Elita-1 was an autocratic leader of a Cybertronian colony and was aggressive and antagonistic towards everyone. Here, she's gone back to being a kindhearted authority figure and is the nicest member of the Ascenticons shown.
  • Prowl, who in the previous continuity was a manipulative, unpleasant Knight Templar Well-Intentioned Extremist and war criminal, is now just a bureaucratic Jerk with a Heart of Gold similar to his portrayal in the Marvel comics.
  • Sentinel Prime was a xenophobic racist and murderous thug with a fake Matrix, here while short-tempered he's much more in with earlier portrayals of him as Optimus' direct predecessor as Matrix-bearer who goes down fighting heroically.
  • After having both the Guiding Hand and the Knights of Cybertron supplant them in the 2005 IDW continuity as the earliest inhabitants of Cybertron and getting significantly downgraded to self-important dupes of Shockwave, the Thirteen Primes are back in their traditional place as the first Transformers created by Primus.
• Crack Pairing: Cosmos and Blast Off in the Valentines Day special. The two have never interacted in any prior media and their only commonality is they're both spacecrafts.
• Crosses the Line Twice: Devastator slaughtering the Malayx colony? Horrifying. The Insecticons feasting on the resulting corpses? Even more horrifying. The Insecticons using bits of the corpses as makeshift wine glasses? Weirdly funny.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: See here
• Epileptic Trees: That Refraktor is somehow related to Exarchon, as his trademark ability to control three bodies at once is very similar to the powers of the Threefold Spark.
• Esoteric Happy Ending: Galaxies' "Gauging the Truth" arc ends with Gauge, Arcee and Greenlight returning to Cybertron on a hopeful and happy note for their future, even though the planet at the time is on the brink of worldwide war and the three left the planet specifically to escape the escalating danger.
• Fan Nickname: Fans often call the series "IDW2" in order to distinguish it from its predecessor, which has sometimes received the retroactive nickname of "IDW1".
• Narm: Megatron's tank alt-mode is very accurate to his War for Cybertron: Siege figure. Unfortunately, it looks somewhat silly when drawn, with his legs clearly being his treads and his feet being openly visible. What's worse is that Megatron didn't start wearing his fusion cannon until Issue 25, making his weaponless tank mode look even more unimpressive.
• Nausea Fuel: A somewhat...literal case. When Cliffjumper learns that Probat feces becomes a potent energon crystal when it's set on fire he shows one of these crystals to Deathsaurus, who then promptly eats it.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: The Wannabee arc of Transformers Galaxies features Cliffjumper dealing with being mistaken for Bumblebee. The big meta-joke of the arc was how more often than not Bumblebee takes the spotlight away from Cliffjumper. In the very next comic continuity in Transformers (2023), Cliffjumper is the one who takes the spotlight away from Bumblebee after Bumblebee is killed off in Issue #1.
• Slow-Paced Beginning: The main criticism people have had for the book was the slow-burn pacing. Since this is a brand new continuity, much of the first arc is spent establishing the new setting by drip-feeding information about Cybertron's history, environment, and the various creatures that live there. While many agree that this world building is interesting, many also wish the Myth Arc would go ahead and kick in already.
• Ugly Cute: The Probats from Galaxies issues 5 and 6 are a race of bat-like aliens that have many of the features we associate with bats but they manage to be endearing with the Hero Worship they show to Bumblebee and Cliffjumper, especially the young child that Cliffjumper ends up befriending. The end of the sixth issue shows that they even keep pets in the form of scaly jackal-like creatures with giant ears and reptilian tails who are just as strangely cute as their owners.
• Unexpected Character:
  • Froid, a Canon Foreigner created late into the old IDW series and mostly functioned as a minor villain, is introduced in Issue 3. It's even more unexpected as most returning characters have come into the story because they've received new toys while Froid is still a Toyless Toyline Character.
  • Flamewar is almost as unexpected, seeing as she hasn’t had a new toy in years and is a pretty obscure character besides.
  • Shadow Striker's appearance is also most unexpected, given that she's still a relatively new character.
  • Heretech, an IDW original character who had a minor role and died offscreen, returns for this series as a major senator and religious leader.
  • Crasher, a GoBots villain transplanted into the Transformers franchise whose last appearance was in the background of 2007's Megatron Origins, returns in as a member of the expanded Ascenticon Guard.
  • Headlock from Transformers: Robots in Disguise was a surprise, even if he's a fairly minor character in both.
  • Trickdiamond, a Japan-exclusive Unite Warriors Toyline character, also made her Western debut here.
  • It's probably fair to say that no one expected Victory Leo to make an appearance in "Storm Horizon Part 2".
  • Road Rage, who's an obscure character that exists only because of a bit of G1 artwork that had Tracks with a red color scheme instead of his normal blue, has only had a few minor appearances in any Transformers media until now, and has never had a general retail toy.
• Unintentionally Sympathetic: Sentinel Prime's impatience and willingness to use deception and other illicit means in order to denounce the Ascenticons and arrest its various wanted members are used to suggest he has low moral fiber. Except the Ascenticon movement has proven themselves to be dangerous and riotous, they are clearly tied to the terrorist Rise, and they have given sanctuary to criminals warranted for arrest.

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