Date: Thursday, December 30th 2010 7:09pm CST
Categories: Comic Book News,
Reviews
Posted by: Tigertrack |
Credit(s): tigertracks 24
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Views: 182,226
Reviewing Transformers movie-verse history...
Transformers Sector 7 Issue #4 (of 5)...(in stores Wednesday, December 29th).
For anyone who has been reading Sector 7, and I’m still not sure why I bother with movie-verse related comics, you know what’s been going on. For those who haven’t, I offer you the blurb review below from issue #4.
I have to say, I am not as much of a detail junky as many (like, oh say, the writer in this series). While the series is a
‘somewhat interesting’ step into the past of what is possibly the
‘most interesting’ new part of what came out of the whole movie thing, it is of the movie, and
based on humans, so this series probably did/does not call out to many Transformers fans because...well...
it doesn’t feature many Transformers. No Transforming robot appears until page 15. Mechs in the previous pages though, yes.
No actual named/known Transformer until the 4th to last page.
Not much for a giant sentient robot fan to enjoy there.
And then there are those who will buy anything comics, merchandise, and/or toys with the Transformers name on it. I tend to be that way with comics, mostly because I think I am still looking for that perfect Transformers story. Sector 7 is not that story, but could be of interest to SCI-FI/conspiracy theory/X-Files type fans.
But not so much Transformers fans (minus HARDCORE movie fans, you know who you are).
The writing of the series is not entirely bad. It certainly has not stood out to me to be distracting, or entirely ground-breaking, just the writing is doing a good job doing what writing should do... help to clear up the details in the story that the art work does not make clear, using dialogue, setting narration, etc. Except the German parts in this issue have started to irk me. I now find that piece of the writing to be utterly annoying--
no translations--you can guess some phrases meanings, but many go unknown or unexplained. German dialogue is a large part of many of the last 10-12 pages.
Gutentag herr doktor. Gib mir all deine Transformers Spielzeug ... JETZT!
Anyway, issue #4 continues telling Sector 7 history as family members of its original 7 continue with ‘the family business’ that founding member Walter Simmons started. This time the story is set during 1944. A new Simmons, Bill or Billy, has been asked to carry on in Sector 7 activities and he is none to happy about it. Currently a soldier, he feels he should be in battles fighting the Nazi threat, not participating in “wasting his life like his mother (Margo)”, who we find out in this issue (
Five page preview spoiler alert!!!)
has passed since we last left her.
Reluctantly, Bill agrees, convinced by his grandfather (General Walter Simmons, Margo’s father), to join a group of 6 other operatives (Yo Joe!) to go behind enemy lines and destroy an NBE (non biological entity) that the Nazis have gotten their hands on, and have started reverse engineering tech from (We all know the United States is the only country responsible enough to have reverse engineered tech from the Transformers, right?). Who is the new NBE under NAZI control? Somebody we already knew about and I was surprised to see based on the earlier issues. Surprises are good in stories, so consider that a plus.
What struck me most about this comic, it was a decent read, but violent. As soon as the mission starts it basically falls prey to the Nazi’s new tech (human-piloted, transforming tank mechs), and Barber (writer) and Kang (artist) waste no time in adding in some gross out elements. Limbs here, missing limbs there, it wasn’t as excessive as January’s INFESTATION crossover is sure to bring about, but it just seemed...oddly placed or even unnecessary. You’re welcome IDW, I may have sold a couple more copies for you there.
How does a guy get his hand blown off (yes, it cauterized the wound, but pain!!!), and still continue on his mission looking no worse for wear (minus a hand)?
-I'm Simmons, Bill Simmons. Chuck Norris can lick my boot straps.
It is meant to be a suicide mission and for most of the group it is--thus, the violence, but not before Simmons carries out the group’s task, and destroys a large portion of the base, along with the projects and people (at least one, pretty cold-blooded killing) involved. However, for Simmons, the act was meant to be totally selfless for his country, but as the Transformer the Nazis were using to reverse engineer weapons from awakens, it destroys the Nazi tech and monster, deliberates, decides humanity may be mostly okay based on a few minutes with Simmons, and helps Simmons to finish his mission parameters, then flies them both away into the wild blue yonder sunset. Happy trails soldiers. Oops, dropped the spoiler there.
The artwork is pretty well done most of the time. It’s crisp and clear, no cluttery details. All lines have their purpose. The humans are able to emote, without looking like they stepped out of Bugs Bunny. The tech, weapons, and armament are nicely, accurately, and again simply detailed. Overall, an enjoyable presentation. I’m a bigger fan of the detailed work done in ‘Tales of the Fallen’, and ‘Nefarious’, if it has to be movie than make sure to put the details in intended in movie designs, but this is good work.
The colors are more vivid than previously seen in other issues, assuming that this is meant to be a progression through time, and previous art and color were meant to represent the eras they were telling stories about. The colors are still limited though, as most of this takes place in a nighttime operation setting, thus using more muted, dark colors. While aboard the plane we have a lot of red, from the emergency lights. So the colors are effectively used to express the settings.
I do have a problem with both of this issue’s covers though. If you didn’t like the Jazz/Hubcap cover of the last issue, I’m not sure how you can like either of these any better. A pile of scrap shooting something--courtesy of the retail incentive cover--, or a tank with legs chasing some soldiers depicted on the regular cover (meant to connect with the other covers to create a dossier of the NBE/Sector 7 activities). Take your pick. The very realistic and detailed, dirty, painted regular cover is the best of the two, but the tank on legs kind of makes it silly (is there commentary in here?), and ruins the presentation of the rest of a beautiful piece of military art. Probably not going to get many Transformers fans interested in a book with either of those designs.
Something about the mech designs as I flip back through the issue.
The transformation from tank to mech is fudged...a lot, and the mech modes seem to retain nothing of the tank-- minus the treads/tracks and the cannon. They also seem faster and more maneuverable than the tanks they were, which for experimental tech, is quite amazing, as tanks were fairly high-tech devices for quite awhile. Where did the the hisstank (G.I. Joe) like cockpit come from?
Ultimately, this issue is, as I stated, an alright to fairly enjoyable fiction. If you could read the German phrases than maybe it is even more fun, or meaningful, but without knowing what they translate to is frustrating. I find the book to be a decent short war story with a little bit of robots in there.
Not much “Transformers” though.
I have to say, I’m not sure if others enjoy them or not, but I like the final page of the issue, where Agent John Barber (the writer) has his
‘Field Notes’ and explains ideas, relationships, inspirations, and easter eggs along with artist Lou Kang (Mortal Kombat lover here?). I loved this kind of after sharing when WIZARD did it for DC’s Kingdom Come, and then MARVEL did it for their MARVEL’s series. I really like to be made aware of facts, etc., that inspire work, or are hidden in the work that many of us may never even be aware of.
I have read much more exciting issues. I’ve read a lot worse issues and series. This one works as a stand alone story, and as a part of the Sector 7 mini, making it effective for what it is... a book about a group of humans involved with the Transformers and how they evolve over the decades, but
not much of a Transformers comic book.
Ratings (out of 5):
Art- 3
Colors- 4
Writing- 3
Covers- 2
Check out the
five page preview for a little taste of the issue for yourself.
Date: Tuesday, December 28th 2010 6:47am CST
Categories: Toy News,
Reviews
Posted by: DevastaTTor |
Credit(s): Sumsum.com, HK-TF.com
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Views: 107,663
Following in the footsteps of the Transformers Animatied-inspired,
2009 ROTF N.E.S.T. Lockdown, Hasbro is releasing Decepticon thug Lugnut as an all new Reveal the Shield, voyager class figure in 2011. As the release date gets closer, new images of this figure have surfaces on fansite
HK-TF.com posted by Sumsum.com. This gallery give us an even closer look at all the detail on this new figure including its fantastic articulation and somewhat more realistic, drab army green paint scheme, a departure from his signature purple paint that Takara Tomy is using for their pending
United release of the mold. The Reveal the Shield release from Hasbro is expected to be released at the end of this year and should starting showing up in stores in January or February. We've mirrored several of the images from original post. Click
HERE to see the rest of the gallery on HK-TF.com.
Date: Tuesday, April 27th 2010 8:49am CDT
Categories: Comic Book News,
Reviews,
Site Articles
Posted by: Tigertrack |
Credit(s): IDW Publishing
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Views: 87,535
“LEAVE NO AUTOBOT UNCRUSHED!!!”
The final issue in the first story arc of IDW’s Transformers Ongoing comic series does pretty much what you would hope it would do. Motivations are revealed, and we have an ultimate climax of situations as we follow up last issue’s cliffhanger of good ol’ Swindle ready to have
Menasor...
CRUSH ALL THE AUTOBOTS!
Credits for this issue's creation go to:
Written by: Mike Costa
Art: Don Figueroa
Colors by: J. Brown with Andrew Dalhouse
Letters by: Chris Mowry
Editor: Andy Schmidt
Associate Editor: Denton J. Tipton
Last Issue:
The stunticons were reunited, Ultra Magnus confronts the Autobot/Decepticon group, and Spike has a heart to heart with Optimus Prime about why the giant robot surrendered to Skywatch.
This Issue:
The relationships and growth of characters that has happened in the IDW books seem to really become evident as recent events in Spotlight Prowl, TRANSFORMERS Bumblebee, and of course, TRANSFORMERS Ongoing have finally come to fruition.
What I liked:
The action is fun. Pure and simple, metal-mashing robots. Lots of gunplay, and some nifty dialogue make this, if nothing else a fun read. If that’s why you like Transformers, pick this issue up to see some ‘SMASHING’ being done.
...But there is more...
Thundercracker makes an important step that I think many will find helps his character to grow even further toward what IDW has set up for him. But does it seem a step too far? Will he be allowed to be a Decepticon anymore? Does he even want to be?
Bumblebee goes Goldbug and grows up...Bumblebee Prime??? The BUMBLEBEE miniseries dragged us through a painful four issue process of Bumblebee becoming more confident, and better able to lead the Autobots. He steps even further into this role thanks to Optimus Prime, Ultra Magnus, and Rodimus, but now seems to embrace it.
Optimus Prime, even though confused himself, still uses his reputation to inspire and build confidence in the other Autobots.
The humans finally wise up. Well, Spike as a leader wises up. I actually like the human element realized in this issue. Spike comes down from his pedestal a moment to reflect upon his actions and how his immaturity has cost others. The idea that not everything is black and white finally hits him, and he also grows from it, realizing that he perhaps has a greater duty than he has been taking responsibility for previously.
And FINALLY they realize that there are good Transformers and bad Transformers, and they might be able to work with good ones to help them in their efforts to stop the BAD ones.
The art was very well rendered and images were excellent in quality and detail. Great movement and emotion shown in the figures in the pages, Don really shows his stuff with fantastic detail.
What I didn’t like:
SPOILER!!!!
Optimus Prime has to save the day SPOILER!!!
(Even though he gets the ideas from another person who gets them from someone else). It seems to come about too easily. But you know, it’s fiction, so things like that can happen. It also seems just too easy of a choice for Spike to make to get Optimus back in the mix.
Rodimus the cry baby. Okay it’s harsh to say that, but of the characters who have grown and changed the most over this story arc, I think his character has taken the biggest step backwards. It seems inconsistent with where he was in TRANSFORMERS SPOTLIGHT HOT ROD, the -ation series, and even in MAX DINOBOTS...what happened? Why ignore the treatment that you had set up for a character to totally change him into another? What purpose do the writers have for him? Some will like how Hot Rod has been written, and others won’t.
Some would also say the same thing for Optimus Prime. His character perhaps has taken a step backwards as to what he started out portrayed as in the IDW-verse. But is it to show just how complicated this new situation is, and just how much it DOES effect even the 'great' leaders? That answer is coming, hopefully.
Thundercracker
seems a bit too goody-goody. Again, is it a change for the better, or worse? Will readers be happy with it, or not?
The art style still has me wondering. It is beautifully rendered most of the time, but the faces still are at times hard to accept, read, or recognize. The humans seem to be to me, the opposite...not very detailed or realistic looking in their features, most of the time.
I also wonder what in the world they are going to do with such a large cast of robots now that the rosters of Bumblebee and Ongoing
have merged. Will the Season 1 robots still tend to take the spotlight as they usually do, or will we see others stepping up and being used and explored more?
Pick this issue up for yourself as it wraps up the first TRANSFORMERS story arc, and sets the table for what will be happening next in the series. Check out the five-page preview
here!
TRANSFORMERS #6 hits comic stores tomorrow!
Date: Sunday, October 7th 2007 5:48pm CDT
Categories: Movie Related News,
Reviews
Posted by: i_amtrunks |
Credit(s): Justin Cleveland from hometheatreforum.com
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Views: 67,383
With only just over a week until the DVD release in the United States, some lucky person has received a early copy of the
Transformers Movie DVD, and has promptly posted a review over at
hometheaterforum.com.
Video:
Perfect. Stunning. Pick your adjective. Colors are gorgeous and vibrant, details are fine, blacks are deep. Even fog, dust, and smoke looks good, a normal limitation of DVD. Shot and presented in 2.35:1, I cannot imagine this set looking any better. That doesn’t mean I’m not going to pick up the HD-DVD; but the DVD is satisfying.
Audio:
Much like the video, expectations were high. The soundscape is amazing, the score is beautiful, and half of the battle is drawn aurally. Thankfully the 5.1 Dolby Digital audio track completely lives up to expectations. Dialogue comes through crystal clear, the bass rumbles and growls.
Extras:
Unsurprisingly the extra features are plentiful on the 2-disc DVD set, commencing with a feature-length commentary from director Michael Bay. Bay is chatty and filled with information, though he does justify a lot of his choices, explaining how fans reacted and why he disregarded their opinions.
Themed as a series of featurettes dealing with various aspects of the story, the second disc goes through everything you would like to know about the construction of the movie. From the initial story to envisioning the look of the true stars to the directing style of Michael Bay, no stone is left unturned. The documentaries do duplicate a lot of the information Bay discusses in the commentary. Broken down by themes, Our World takes on the making of the movie. Their War goes through the history of the Transformers brand, its fans, and how they translated a cheesy cartoon show into a series of badass robots. Each individual character is broken down from concept to completion. Integrated are deleted and extended scenes, though I would have liked to have them separated.
From “Script to Sand” goes through the mapping of the first scene in the film, from scrip to storyboard and animatics to the final product.
After seeing some of the concept art, I want the book that features it all. Gorgeous paintings abound in this series, which plays like a slideshow, scored to the film’s theme.
For more details including the reviewers over-all thoughts of the film and it's extras, please check out the
Full review.
Date: Monday, December 12th 2005 1:06pm CST
Categories: Reviews,
Sightings
Posted by: Big Grim |
Credit(s): Toymachine, Shockwaveuk
Permanent Link
Views: 50,178
Thanks to TFW2005 poster Toymachine, we now know that Transformers Cybertron has hit these shores. He spotted Scourge and Jetfire in his local Co-op in Glenrothes, Fife, Scotland.
As photograph proof he has provided pics of the reciept and box of Scourge.
See his original post
here and & I have mirrored the pictures here.
Receipt
Box
UPDATE: We can now further confirm that these are indeed the six language european releases with the alternative box art and not US overstocks.
alex_kingdom found both Ultras in his local Co-op in Sheffield, South Yorkshire this morning and picked up Cybertron Scourge. He took these photos:
Box Front
Till Receipt
Report your sighting and check availablity pf Transformers in your area
here at the SEIBERTRON.com Sighting Section!
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