A Transformers Thread

Only fear is that it'll mess with MTME somehow. IF it doesn't, then I don't care. MTME should remain as it is.

I got a bad War Breakdown from them, emailed for a return, and got a refund. Nice people.

As for revolution. I'm mixed. I love the idea that Mayhem, and Colton served together and they new the action man, but after that, I'm hesitant. The Autobot Joe battle is going to have Conflict Ball bullshit just like the EDC Decepticon alliance, which relied on people being stupid. I want to see how the Micronauts and Dire Wraiths mess around with the MTMTE cast.

That said, Previous big event titles haven't been that great, so I don't have too much hope for this one, I hope Blitzwing survives, and Astrotrain comes back, but other than that I feel that we'll need to keep suspending disbelief to make it all work.

Also, I don't follow Gi Joe, but does this mean they got a reboot? Since IDW is trying to weave cobra and Joes into the Earth conflict, so the previous stories got the boot?

They said nothing was being made not canon, so no, but events might have played out a bit differently detail wise.

I want the Robotix in there somewhere.

"WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO ME? I HAVE... BECOME A ROBOTIX! NOOOOOOOOOOOOO"

@Ghilz: Alright then. The only retcon I recall is when Britt split herself up into 4 dimensions back during Infestation 1, meaning that TF and GI universes was separate, but that can be retconned to 2 versions of her went to the same world.

EDIT: Sweet Baltazar did a Tiny Titans cover for this. Nice. Also, I hope ROM get's a TF figure.

edited 11th Aug '16 5:39:21 PM by DrPsyche

Honestly, I kinda hate the idea of humans fighting the autobots

I can kinda get why, but I'll always be a proponent of the Autobot / Human alliance of some sort.

I just think it works best. It always feels like any attempt to play the former against the latter reeks of conflict ball.

One Strip! One Strip!

MTMTE 56.

Oh damn, head-off Red Alert

Read it, it was ok. Sentinel continues to be a mediocre villain, but it was nice to see Outrigger in person along with Cerebros.

Seeing Roberts write Prowl is kind of weird. He's too similar to Rodimus, fast talking, silly, snarky, rapid fire comedy, and cluelessness about what others feel. Prowl is just more amoral.

edited 17th Aug '16 3:33:58 PM by DrPsyche

The Takara Tomy version of Combiner Wars' Victorion has just been revealed, and boy is it a doozy. By which I mean the gestalt's components are all bad fanfiction cliches. I wish I was joking.

Speaking of bad fanfiction, I've recently started a thread for Transformers fan works, for those that are interested.

On the one hand, I love the color schemes, especially the combined mode, that Pink and Black is gorgeous.

On the other, they're just reappoints of Victorion's molds, not unexpected, but I thought they'd get remolding. Though the same product defects will still be there.

As for the bios... oh yowza. Decepticon Waifus. That is so stupid it's awesome.

Transformers #56 preview.

I know I'm supposed to find Sentinel intimidating here, especially in that last panel, but, with the chibi proportions of his Headmaster body, he just looks adorable to me. I almost want to snuggle him.

Hoo boy, I read this preview a few days back.

God, Infinitus/Sentinel is proving to be one hell of an S.O.B.

Like, a serious mashup between Donald Trump, Richard Nixon, and Dio.

I wonder how'd he handle someone calling him a Decepticon, because he sure is acting like one in all but name. (Probably wouldn't take it too kindly...)

Takara Computron review

Also, Combiner Wars's take on Megatron is really great. He radiates such a degree of not giving a shit that it's endearing. His VA being one of the better ones and his lines being some of the better writing help.

edited 30th Aug '16 12:19:00 PM by DrPsyche

Something that may be of interest to those who frequent this thread: what would it take to build real-life Transformers (and keep in mind Mat Pat's only factoring in raw materials and technology that exists in real life, so of course he doesn't bring up energon, protoforms or sparks ).

Pretty much my only complaint with this video: Mat Pat uses Transformers: Robots in Disguise to represent the UK comics. Sure, it's kind of a nitpick, but it nonetheless sticks out in my mind.

My main complain about the video is MatPat is in it.

Who would like to see another incarnation of the series were Starscream and Jetfire are former friends. I read this really good fanfic that explored the idea very well.

T'would be interesting.

Especially if there was something like Jetfire saying that Starscream is one of the most fearsome sky based Transformers in existence, contrasting the letters long established Dirty Coward persona.

It would be a great way to make screamer a Crouching Moron Hidden Bad Ass type.

One Strip! One Strip!

Of course they could just SHOW us Starscream being a badass Air Commander instead of having Jetfire tell us.

edited 1st Sep '16 4:36:39 PM by Ghilz

Oh, rest assured, actually showing it is in the cards as well.

I'm talking Bayformers Starscream leap-frogging from plane to plane, and just flying rings around everyone type shit.

edited 1st Sep '16 4:38:32 PM by HandsomeRob

One Strip! One Strip!

My point being, having another character tell us he's a badass at all is generally pointless. Either show it, and the audience will figure it out so it doesn't need to be said. Or tell us and don't show, which is just bad writing.

Save the screentime for character development rather than character shilling.

@Ghilz: Agreed. It makes me think of how Screamer just went nowhere back in the IDW ongoing when Brawn kicked his ass. Like, what was his point? Even his overthrow Megatron plan was half-hearted.

I think IDW were just bored with him. They sure seem to like him more now that he's got the whole "Ruler of Cybertron" thing going.

I think the "Starscream wants to be Decepticon Leader" angle is sort of a catch 22. It's for one rather boring, since we know it can't stick. The only way for this to be worthwhile is for Starscream to be more compelling as villain than Megatron is. Which is doubly hard when Starscream lacks the shared hatred Megatron and Optimus have. So Starscream can't win.

And he can't keep trying coz it makes Megatron look like an idiot (Even if it does lead to a funny death montage, Thank you TF Animated).

Starscream's only other character point is that he's ineffectual. Which only furthers how he can't win. You have no reason to be invested. You know he's going to fail. And if he wasn't, him winning and deposing Megatron would be a boon to the Autobots.

Prime Starscream, over three seasons, suffered the most from this. While he's got great bit, the writers were stuck between "Starscream must suck and be a cosmic chewtoy" and "Starscream should be clever". So you end up with this tonal dissonance where you're never sure how seriously the character should be taken. He'll come up with clever plans (Put a tracker in Wheeljack and let him escape), only for them to fail abysmally for reasons outside his control (Wheeljack somehow (And I'd argue almost of our character) figured he should root through his own insides. Find the tracker, use it for an ambush).

The whole thing is played out and boring at this point. Yet since it's the one thing memorable about Starscream (I mean, we even named a trope after it it) it's basically impossible to avoid. He's an ineffectual villain. Especially since there's not that many Decepticons who have struck popular culture (As in, beyond the TF Fandom) the way Starscream has. Go ask a guy on the street to describe Skywarp in any details...

And Starscream falling back in line is boring since you've basically neutered his only personality trait. Just look at Prime Season 3 Starscream. He's a shadow of his former self. His (one sided) jealousy of Shockwave never really gives him depth.

The best Starscreams have all been those where they ditch the "I must replace Megatron" angle for something else. Armada Starscream as an Anti-hero. Prime Starscream (During season 2) (And Animated Starscream) being a neutral agent in for himself. IDW Starscream as King of Cybertron.

---

It's part of why I wish the franchise would stop revisiting the same characters and the same plots. We've heard it. We've had the same plot delivered to us so many times over 30 years. I can only praise IDW for moving past the "Autobots fight Decepticons" angle to a mostly post war setting. And as much as I can give Nu-RID shit for being a complete failure as a sequel to Prime, I respect it coz it's at least trying something new. Putting characters in new roles and giving us new characters and plots.

edited 1st Sep '16 5:38:48 PM by Ghilz

I don't know.

I mean, I can see where you're coming from, but I thought they took Starscream to some interesting places.

He starts off seeming intimidating, killing Cliffjumper, laughing in the face of Arcee when she has a gun to his face, and at the end, he gets his big chance: he's running the show.

He churns out multiple plans to get the job done, but due to his poor luck, they fail. Then Megatron comes back, and he's trying to figure out where he stands and what he wants to do, only to hit...Rock Bottom.

So now he's in a new place. Humbled by failure, and the fact that Megatron chose to spare him (after he went back in when he realized Megs wouldn't be killed by a rock slide), he's ready to tow the party line until Airachnid screws him, so he goes rogue.

Mixed success on that front; he wins, he loses, he wins, he loses, even when his T-cog is removed, he's still finding ways to stay in the game, but only barely. So when he makes the big score, the Omega Keys, he looks at what he has and realizes that it's meaningless since he can't use it.

That's a big thing for Starscream: he recognizes his limits, and this is what brings him to once again return to Megatron, and (after a severe humbling) really be prepared to follow the ideal.

We see the results of this: he comes up with the plan to grab the kids with Soundwave's help, leads the charge in the attack on the base, and stands side by side with Megatron in the Deception's greatest moment of triumph: standing over the ruins of their enemies long hidden lair.

The end of Season two showed us something pretty scary: Starscream and Megatron on the same page, no longer at odds with each other, and how fearsome they are when that happens.

Series three, despite putting him back in the eternal failure spot, also shows that his new found loyalty is not fleeting: choosing to actually save Megatron when their weapon is imploding, actually helping in the fight with Predaking (his well timed Missile saves the day without out a doubt) and basically being a very different Screamer.

I like his development, though I agree that it wouldn't have hurt for the writers to not make him such a Butt-Monkey, but this was a very interesting Starscream to me.

One Strip! One Strip!

Yeah, I prefer the direction IDW takes with Starscream. It's neat to see them juggle Pragmatic Villainy with how evil Screamer should be. Though I can see a bit of a struggle between them making him a Villain with Good Publicity and a canonical Draco in Leather Pants treatment.

Though TFP, was a real mixed bag. Sometimes it had a good dissonance between deadly and buffoon, other times the buffoonery and supposed threat clashed pretty badly. I liked how they consistently portrayed him as grateful, but too many humiliating defeats got repetitive.

I want to see how RID treats him in season 3.

To this day, I still believe Armada Starscream is the best the character has ever been. They gave him a new angle and still made it interesting.

The Armada version of Starscream was probably the most complex incarnation of the character, and it was an interesting way to twist the "betray Megatron" aspect of his character.

I'd say of all the Starscream's I've seen, the Cybertron version is probably the most competent and dangerous. After he betrays Megatron, he becomes a second Big Bad. He becomes one of the most powerful characters in the series after stealing Primus' energy, gives Megatron one of the closest fights in the series, and actually manages to out live Megatron. He's never incompetent at any point of the series and he is considered a serious threat throughout.