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IDW Comics Review - The Transformers #40 - Combiner Wars Part 2

Optimus Prime struggles against the Camien perception of him, which threatens to undermine Starscream's political authority. But as he begins to understand more what both sides are expecting of a union between worlds, Optimus begins considering other options. "The Possible Light", Story by Mairghread Scott and John Barber, written by John Barber, and illustrated by Livio Ramondell. Read the full review

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Hook Line and Sinker 2015-04-15 @ 11:19 pm

One thing I really appreciate about this site is the uncompromising attitude of the reviews. Whether it's toys or comic books, if there is something that stinks about the subject matter, this site will let loose with the truth.

For the last 3 years there has been a growing tendency around the net to give Idw a free pass on things which would have caused a truckload of bad reactions during Costa or McCarthy's reign. In fact, a lot of stuff happening now is worse than the types of things McCarthy got slapped around for doing. McCarthy portrayed characters contrary to their pre established personas and/or jettisoned their previous appearances altogether(Reflector). These days characters quite their special teams or even DIE OFF to make room for whatever toy Hasbro has filling their position. And people defend it!

Of course, people will say that Transformers began as a toy commercial and Marvel and Sunbow both killed off characters and retconned things to move new exploits and toys to the fore. But this is Idw, who once upon a time represented Transformers grown up and ready to take its place among the galaxy spanning sic fi epics of the world, vowing to never do things the way they had been done before. And the audience which Sunbow and Marvel reached has also grown up over the last 30 years! We don't need commercials in comic book form to sell us new toys. We either buy them or we don't. And nothing is going to make little Jimmy want to start collecting G1 Transformers when kids today are literally becoming transhuman with their addiction to electronic gadgets.

The other thing is, as with its previous life as RiD, the basic Transformers title under Barber is almost as meandering and decompressed as Costas run. The primary difference is that the potential events which once-RiD threatens to do are waaaaay more interesting than the things which the old ongoing teased. However, these events rarely if ever manifest and when they do they come with built in "take backs", like those which constantly get interjected into Prowl's journey to ensure that he never actually does "go bad".

That Bombshell crap, the decompressed, aesthetic train wreck of Dark Cybertron, and the death of an Aerialbot to make room for Alpha Bravo would have gotten any other writer before Barber lambasted by the fandom. And speaking of Dark Cybertron, I like the three artists who are getting the most page time these days(Alex is my all time fav), but there are indeed a lot of talented individuals who can draw these books and make them look much, much better than the fill inners of the present age. I keep wanting to add the Dark Cybertron trade to my collection but every time I open it and see the art my eyes scream and I close it before I throw up.

With regards to Combiner Wars, a lot of folks are talking about how the story is feeling forced(by Hasbro) but Barber is doing the best he can. Well, if that's the case, why are there already two filler issues and a ton of space wasted on Emo Prime and the type of Robo Politics that failed to entertain in RiD season 1? If you were a writer who received a mandate from Hasbro that read something like, "we need several months of stories about a war between combiners...", do you think that you would have any problem accepting that a total smack down was in order? Would you just have to revisit robo politics and Reluctant Prime yet again, or would you start thinking about all of the awesome action that could happen in spite of the fact that the story itself is completely inorganic to Idw's continuity prior to the Enigma of Combination?

Dear IDW: Sometimes it really, really is okay to give us a lot of action. Even fists, lasers, explosions and bodies flying for more than one issue at a time. And not like the action came across in Rid 13-16 or Dark Cybertron either, where everyone looks like a bunch of LARPERS posing.

Another thing which irks me about Idw these days is the new take on Transformers changing their bodies and appearance. It was once the concept of "reformatting". You got the idea that these were physical entities who manipulated and altered the body they were "born" with. Now they just change bodies like people change clothes. That scene in RiD 14 where Megs walks in holding his old body and it literally looks like a pile of old clothes is so ridiculous. I feel like I am reading a book about brains which just wear suits of weaponized armor which are completely dispensable and don't matter. Starscream even gets to SHOP for his next body. This change makes it so that even when awesome things do happen in battles, they don't matter to me because the body on page is just a suit or vehicle for a little round glowing ball. There is no "true" Starscream, Megatron or Soundwave. They are merely glowing orbs who pick different bodies to wear around.

This was clearly done just to simplify matters when a new Hasbro mandate came down the pike. And it shows. For instance, why on earth should BB return to his old earth body while still on Cybertron in RiD 18? Because his next toy had that same body! Why do the Stunticons have earth bodies in Combiner Wars when they literally go from Cybertron to Caminus? Toys! Starscream is assuming his leader class earth jet form in the books while still on Cybertron with no desire whatsoever to actually go to earth. Why? Toy!!

But even this could have been done with reformatting instead of "clothes".

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