Combiner Wars Comics = WTF?!

[banzait...@gmail.com]

ATT,

Given how much I have been enjoying the combiner wars toys, and the lack of cartoon for the toy line, I decided to give the comic a try. Ultimately, I think this was a mistake. It's almost as if they deliberately make the comic impossible for newcomers to join in.
For starters, there is no "Combiner Wars #1". There is an "opening salvo" issue, which is apparently #39 in an ongoing series. I decided to start there. First off, the comic is very well written and illustrated, so that is not my beef at all. They are arguably worth the $3.99 sticker price.
However, a few pages in, I quickly realized I was in WAAAAAY over my head. The "combiner wars" had already started, probably several issues before the "opening salvo". Here are another few things that absolutely hurt my brain, but were all apparently well know facts by this issue: (I assume there are Major spoiler alert, if you care...)

1 Starscream is the ruler of Cybertron
2 There are no longer Decepticon or autobot factions, they are all one "happy" family
3 Optimus Prime obeys Starscreams orders, and recognizes him as the leader
4 Megatron is an Autobot (WTF?!?!?!?!) Also, see 2 above (WTF?!?!?!?!) Guess this explains the random autobot stickers he came with...
5 Windblade is suddenly the second most important character in the transformers franchise. She is now so important, she even has her own comic line (I'll get to this in a moment)

This next part is what really set me off over the edge. I finish the comic, which was excellent, and on the last page it says "Continued in Windblade #1". Huh??? (see 5 above) The next three pages have full cover adverts for the following:

- Combiner Wars Part 1 Transformers Windblade
- Combiner Wars Part 2 Transformers #40 (Remember, I just read #39, but it told me to continue on with WB #1)
- Transformers More than Meets The Eye #39

I am pretty sure the MTMTE #39 is a completely different series? BUt WTF is going on with the other two. Which one should I read, and in what order? Are they parallel series? My head hurts...

-Banzaitron

[Zobovor]

On Saturday, May 30, 2015 at 4:53:52 PM UTC-6, banzait...@gmail.com wrote:

> 1 Starscream is the ruler of Cybertron
> 2 There are no longer Decepticon or autobot factions, they are all
> one "happy" family
> 3 Optimus Prime obeys Starscreams orders, and recognizes him as the leader
> 4 Megatron is an Autobot (WTF?!?!?!?!) Also, see 2 above (WTF?!?!?!?!)
> Guess this explains the random autobot stickers he came with...

Some of these sound like developments from the comic book issues that have been coming packaged with previous Generations toys. So, it seems like Combiner Wars is just a rebranding of an existing comic book, not a new storyline of its own.

I kind of feel like they stopped trying to make comics accessible to newcomers a long time ago.


Zob

[Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats]

On Saturday, May 30, 2015 at 3:53:52 PM UTC-7, banzait...@gmail.com wrote:
> ATT,
>
> Given how much I have been enjoying the combiner wars toys, and the lack of cartoon for the toy line, I decided to give the comic a try. Ultimately, I think this was a mistake. It's almost as if they deliberately make the comic impossible for newcomers to join in.
>

> However, a few pages in, I quickly realized I was in WAAAAAY over my head.
>

> 1 Starscream is the ruler of Cybertron
> 2 There are no longer Decepticon or autobot factions, they are all one "happy" family
> 3 Optimus Prime obeys Starscreams orders, and recognizes him as the leader
> 4 Megatron is an Autobot (WTF?!?!?!?!) Also, see 2 above (WTF?!?!?!?!) Guess this explains the random autobot stickers he came with...
> 5 Windblade is suddenly the second most important character in the transformers franchise. She is now so important, she even has her own comic line (I'll get to this in a moment)

Well, there is a dilemma -- they can either have Autobots vs. Decepticons forever and ever and ever, with the same characters acting out the same roles in slight variations of the same plot (now with different McGuffin!) or they can make things change.

Boring and repetitive, or completely inaccessible to anyone who remembers the original series... I mean, sure, there is probably some middle ground, but that would make everyone unhappy.

I'm still bitter that they switched mid-stream to the All Hail Megatron series, and killed what had been slowly building.

> This next part is what really set me off over the edge. I finish the comic, which was excellent, and on the last page it says "Continued in Windblade #1". Huh??? (see 5 above) The next three pages have full cover adverts for the following:
>
> - Combiner Wars Part 1 Transformers Windblade
> - Combiner Wars Part 2 Transformers #40 (Remember, I just read #39, but it told me to continue on with WB #1)
> - Transformers More than Meets The Eye #39
>
> I am pretty sure the MTMTE #39 is a completely different series? BUt WTF is going on with the other two. Which one should I read, and in what order? Are they parallel series? My head hurts...

At least they told you what to read next. After Windblade and TF#40, perhaps they will tell you what comes after that. (MTMTE might not cross over...)

[Shin Hibiki]

Zobovor <zm...@aol.com> wrote:

>Some of these sound like developments from the comic book issues that have been coming packaged with previous Generations toys. So, it seems like Combiner Wars is just a rebranding of an existing comic book, not a new storyline of its own.

It's the other way around. The comics with the toys are
rebrandings of existing comics. Combiner Wars is a new storyline;
it's an arc that crosses multiple TF comic series, both ongoing ones
and miniseries. However, it does incorporate developments from
earlier arcs (e.g., the whole Starscream thing). which is why it
sounds familiar to you. (There seems to be a lot of focus on arcs in
IDW comics, which is probably partly because they are thinking about
how they will repackage them as graphic novels later.)

>I kind of feel like they stopped trying to make comics accessible to newcomers a long time ago.

Seems that way. And when they claim they are trying to do
just that ("Perfect jumping-on point!"), it seems like they mostly
succeed in ticking off the existing fanbase without necessarily
picking up that many new readers (see: New 52).

- Shin Hibiki, opinionated

----
The race ain't over yet, baby
It's only just begun
They thought they had it won, baby
But soon we'll have 'em on the run

[Cappeca]

Em sábado, 30 de maio de 2015 19:53:52 UTC-3, banzait...@gmail.com escreveu:
> However, a few pages in, I quickly realized I was in WAAAAAY over my head.

I've read most of the IDW comics so far, and yes, the story jumps around their titles a lot. A few years ago they had to release a "continuum", just so people could tell the exact order in which to read the comics, especially because of the Spotlight series.

Curiously, I find the current comics unreadable. I stopped around MTMTE #20 (and I must say both RiD #1-16 and MTMTE #1-16 are amazing), because I simply lost track of things. As much as I like new stories, some of the new stuff just feel like they jumped the shark. Also, Hasbro's involvement has become obvious, and you start to think if IDW is running towards the same problem Marvel did back in the day, having to come up with uninspired things out of their asses to accommodate Hasbro's demands of showcasing characters. Without them you had the Wreckers fighting Overlord, and a crew of Autobots lost in space (of which there would be decent toy incarnations for a while). Now it's Armada Starscream, Rattrap and Windblade doing whatever together. Feels like a Botcon comic - a bunch of assorted characters in an epically confused storyline that will both decide the fate of the universe and go nowhere at the same time.

[banzait...@gmail.com]

> Now it's Armada Starscream, Rattrap and Windblade doing whatever together. Feels like a Botcon comic - a bunch of assorted characters in an epically confused storyline that will both decide the fate of the universe and go nowhere at the same time.

Man, I think you nailed it. Very well put. Rattrap is so horribly out of place in the comic.
I wouldn't mind the wild and crazy plots, if they were able to be followed without reading 3 different comics lines. As much as I was enjoying the first couple I have read, I don't think I will keep up with it. If I do, it's only because my daughter (9) is hooked on the Jem comics, and I have to log on once a month to order it off IDW's website.

-Banzaitron

[Neo Thunder]

I agree with both of you.

t.k.