Review of IDW Transformers: Shattered Glass #1

Sounds good, but why 3.5/5 or 70% (a grade of C)?

soundwave765 wrote:So do all of the shattered glass figures come with a comic?

yes they do

Story kept this reviewer "engrossed from beginning to end." Was "fun and exciting" "art is phenomenal" "coloring is just superb" "Lore does an excellent job" "great start."

3.5/5

I'm hoping this is just a mistake because otherwise the reviewer is the kind that tanks products online with glowing words and mediocre or terrible ratings.

I understand that the review is only opinion, but if everything is so great, why only out of ?

I'm gonna get into this series, it looks great and the story is intriguing.

Rodimus Prime wrote:I understand that the review is only opinion, but if everything is so great, why only out of ?

I'm gonna get into this series, it looks great and the story is intriguing.

I'm happy to take the blame on the 3.5. He's using a scale I use and encouraged him to use when we brought him on staff. One of its primary objectives is to avoid the bloat caused by the MBAs of the world conditioning everyone for Net Promoter Score. This has roughly been telephone game'd and trickled down to internet reviews for everything from videogames to books to movies where everything below an 8 out of 10 or its equivalent is somehow not good. I find that doesn't reflect the reality of the world very well. There's plenty of enjoyable, recommendable stuff that gets beat up when converted into some quick-hit numerical score when viewed through that kind of lens.

Anyhow, this scale roughly breaks down as follows, but keep in mind these are guidelines and still highly subjective in the end:

Simple Version

• 0 - Total disaster, but a purely theoretical score. Hopefully.
• 0.5 - Everything is very bad - writing, art, all of it.
• 1 - Mostly bad
• 1.5 - Bad
• 2 - Not good
• 2.5 - Acceptable / 'Meh'
• 3 - Average
• 3.5 - Good
• 4 - Very good
• 4.5 - Great
• 5 - Perfection or near to it

Longer Version

• 0 - Reserved for the worst of the worst. Examples: Continuum were that to be released today, or Regeneration One #100's final page - ok so we don't review single pages, but if we did, I give that one a 0.
• 0.5 - A technical disaster, with poor writing, storytelling, art, and mistakes abound, but we can at least find one and probably only one nice thing to say and say it honestly.
• 1 - Not good at all, but has at least a redeeming quality or two.
• 1.5 - A poor effort overall, but serves its purpose and has at least some obvious production effort and only some truly egregious flaws.
• 2 - Not quite good enough. Maybe the art is very bad, maybe there are a lot of plot holes, maybe the characters are completely one dimensional. Something isn't right, but a little more work in one area could make it easily better.
• 2.5 - Border of acceptable from an overall quality standpoint. Has at least one large flaw in production (includes art), plot, or characterization that ticks it below average.
• 3 - Average. Not super bad, not super good, but you might sometimes even just say regular old "good", sometimes. Moves the plot along, has no significant flaws, but stirs indifference in the reader as the primary emotion. Just moving things along.
• 3.5 - Somewhat above average. Basically, an average book with 1-2 great moments. If we're really honest about it, most books we'd consider "good" are probably around here and 4.
• 4 - Very good. Serves its purpose, has several great moments, is of good-to-great production quality, but may have a minor quibble or two holding it back from greatness.
• 4.5 - Great. Only 1-2 points of note holding it back from perfection. Could be fantastic in every way but the reviewer has a hard time with InsertArtistYouDon'tLike's art, or something like that.
• 5 - Best of the best. Should be reserved for only the finest works. No notable, objective problems. Exceptions: sometimes a book may excel in an extreme direction while not necessarily being the "one of the finest works", an example being MTMTE's Revolution one-shot issue where as a work of comedy it became something exceptional, but if regarded as a serious dramatic work it'd get something much lower.

Was a 4 right for this one? That's what I'd have given it personally, but it ultimately comes down to what the reviewer wants to do and how they feel. I'd suggest our site's readers take everything with a +/- half a point leeway in either direction at the bare minimum just to account for personal tastes. It bears repeating that it's all very subjective and even then, what I've put down here are guidelines and not rules. A review from me will have a different feel to it and scoring than one from WilliamJames88 or Mr. Micromaster. That's probably good because all I do is ape Va'al anyhow years after his departure from the site and if everyone else did that, these would get too homogenous to be interesting. Tigertrack doesn't tend to even give scores, and that's fine. Maybe I should follow his wisdom.



Relevant any time I see posts unhappy with reviews (and there are more that most of you can't see because they're waiting mod approval for new user accounts, which is not in my wheelhouse): we're still recruiting new reviewers and comics staff, btw. If anyone's interested please shoot me a DM or use the contact form at the bottom of the site. If you don't like the reviews being posted, this ain't a scary walled garden or bullpen of pro writers or anything like that, it's a fansite, and volunteers are welcome to take a crack at it

My concern wasn't the score itself. It was how the words of the review itself are so glowing as to indicate a Best of the Best. There are no negatives mentioned. Nothing that holds it back or down in the reviewer's opinion. It is all praise with nothing even suggested as room for improvement. That is a five. If there are things that bring the score down thirty percent that should be indicated.

Thanks for the explanation. I didn't have a problem with the review itself, I just couldn't understand why something declared so great in the review would only rate a bit above average from the reviewer.

As I said, I'm looking forward to this, I've been a fan of Guidi's work since Marvel G1, and this writer seems to have started off on the right foot at least.

Mr. MicroMaster here. I’m Sorry I didn’t get around to addressing all those with questions regarding the scoring of this issue. I definitely thought about whether I should give this book a 3.5 or a 4 but when it came down to it I gave it a 3.5 for good rather than a 4 for very good. And I definitely did not mention any negatives this book may or may not have. Which is something I should have addressed in the review and that’s on me.

Edit: I got my Blurr in the mail today so hopefully everyone else has already got theirs or it’s on the way. Unfortunately I’m away at college and Blurr is at home.

I got my comic book Friday night, gave it a read, and I liked it.

Was it spectacular? not really.

did it suck? Not even remotely.

did I enjoy it? Yes.

I like the introduction to this universe. I also like how we see Starscream really is a high value target for a reason, and I like that we saw a nigh invincible nasty Blurr who has more than a few tricks up his sleeve, but also a glaring weakness

Will this be a 4-issue miniseries with the issues being released with the announced figures? Or will it be longer?

Rodimus Prime wrote:Will this be a 4-issue miniseries with the issues being released with the announced figures? Or will it be longer?

5 issue mini series, with each issue coming with one of the 5 exclusives

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:Will this be a 4-issue miniseries with the issues being released with the announced figures? Or will it be longer?

5 issue mini series, with each issue coming with one of the 5 exclusives

I see. Since I won't be getting the figures, hopefully eventually there will be a TPB released, or else ill have to hint down the individual issues. Maybe I should do that now so I don't fall behind...

Rodimus Prime wrote:

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:Will this be a 4-issue miniseries with the issues being released with the announced figures? Or will it be longer?

5 issue mini series, with each issue coming with one of the 5 exclusives

I see. Since I won't be getting the figures, hopefully eventually there will be a TPB released, or else ill have to hint down the individual issues. Maybe I should do that now so I don't fall behind...

Oh, they're releasing the comics in standard form too. It's not exclusive to the figures

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:Will this be a 4-issue miniseries with the issues being released with the announced figures? Or will it be longer?

5 issue mini series, with each issue coming with one of the 5 exclusives

I see. Since I won't be getting the figures, hopefully eventually there will be a TPB released, or else ill have to hint down the individual issues. Maybe I should do that now so I don't fall behind...

Oh, they're releasing the comics in standard form too. It's not exclusive to the figures

Ok, good to know. I really like the art and the story is interesting. I plan on getting the issues.

Good bad guys and bad good guys await in tomorrow's release of Transformers: Shattered Glass #2 from IDW Publishing. Sure, you could wait for Hasbro Pulse to deliver this issue when your SG Megatron figure gets dropped off, but did you see the way they packed Blurr's comic? You'll probably want to buy this from somewhere that knows what bags and boards are. IDW has, as usual, provided a five page preview to further tempt you to do just that for an issue they describe as:

(W) Danny Lore (A) Dan Khanna (CA) Alex Milne
Shattered Glass isn't your average Transformers tale... "Shards" is the story of the ongoing battle between the power-hungry Autobot autocrats and the freedom-fighting Decepticon laborers. Join author Danny Lore (James Bond, King in Black: Captain America, Champions) in exploring this fractured alternate universe just before it shatters.
In issue #2, Megatron is the only bot who can stop the three Autobot warlords from acquiring information that could reignite the war, but can he forgive his past mistakes and take up the mantle of Deception leader again

Check out the preview below and be sure to pick this issue up tomorrow at your local comic shop, through a licensed digital comics retailer, or via the Seibertron.com eBay store.

I think I like IDW SG Prowl's Colors more than Classics SG Prowl. The blue and white looks good.

Is there a reason why Megatron doesn't have the symbol on his chest?

Rodimus Prime wrote:Is there a reason why Megatron doesn't have the symbol on his chest?

It looks like a pre-war flashback, before the Decepticon faction had even been conceived in this universe.

The new Shattered Glass series from IDW continues to deliver. This delivers an incredibly enjoyable read with splendid art.

The writing for this series continues to be superb. Lore is especially adept at writing incredibly compelling characters. I found Starscream and Megatron to be both intriguing and compelling characters. The conversation between Starscream who sees Megatron as his noble leader and Megatron who sees himself as nothing less than abject failure and a pathetic excuse for a leader comes across as both a fresh and unique take. Said conversation also allows us to explore Megatron’s beings on cybertron and the war on earth. The dynamic between Megatron and Starscream allows Lore to weave a wonderfully captivating narrative.

You can find full credits for Transformers Shattered Glass #2 in our Vector Sigma Database entry for this issue


The art in this issue is done by Daniel Khanna with colors by John-Paul Bove and lettering done by Neil Uyetake. Khanna’s art in this issue is phenomenal for the most part. There are a couple issues that detract from it. The first panel we see of Megatron pre-war, something is off with it and I am not sure if it is drawn differently or if it is the colors or something else, but it just does not jive with the rest of the book. Besides that, the rest of this book features competent and strong art with incredibly emotive faces. You can see the fear and shock on Prowl’s face when Megs picks him up. The great thing about Bove’s coloring is that it seems to work with any artist no matter how varied or similar in style. Uyetake’s lettering is equally well done. Despite a few hiccups the art in this issue is fantastic.

Overall, this book is a home run of which IDW, and the creative team can be proud of. As long as this book keeps up the pace it just may go down as the best transformers book of 2021. This issue is a definite recommend.


This issue is out today, and you can pick it up at the Seibertron.com eBay store or at your local shop, check here to find the closest shop to you.

Stormshot_Prime wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:Is there a reason why Megatron doesn't have the symbol on his chest?

It looks like a pre-war flashback, before the Decepticon faction had even been conceived in this universe.

Yes, after a 2nd read I figured that as well. The 1st time I rushed through it too fast. And Prowl is green...

Rodimus Prime wrote:

Stormshot_Prime wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:Is there a reason why Megatron doesn't have the symbol on his chest?

It looks like a pre-war flashback, before the Decepticon faction had even been conceived in this universe.

Yes, after a 2nd read I figured that as well. The 1st time I rushed through it too fast. And Prowl is green...

Here’s to hoping that we get this Prowl in toy form! I love the colors and the use of Barricade’s mold

I like that they finally gave that shattered window on Prime a meaning

Many fans have already been able to read the fourth issue of the series thanks to the SG Goldbug toy already shipping out from Hasbro Pulse, but thankfully the missing piece of the series won't be out of reach for long as Transformers: Shattered Glass #3 is out tomorrow. IDW Publishing has provided a five page preview of the new title, which won't ship alongside any toys until SG Starscream goes out, so the opportunity is there to not have to wait to get more of the story.

(W) Danny Lore (A) Guido Guidi (CA) Fico Ossio
Shattered Glass isn't your average Transformers tale... "Shards" is the story of the ongoing battle between the power-hungry Autobot autocrats and the freedom-fighting Decepticon laborers. Join author Danny Lore (James Bond, King in Black: Captain America, Champions) in exploring this fractured alternate universe just before it shatters.

In issue #3, Starscream seeks out more Decepticons to prevent another war that could destroy Cybertron, but memories of the past haunt every step. As the Autobots close in, Starscream must decide between peace for his planet and his former best friend.

Check out the preview below and be sure to pick this issue up tomorrow at your local comic shop, through a licensed digital comics retailer, or via the Seibertron.com eBay store.

Not bad. Although I like the "mature" storyline, it just reminds me of the regular comics. Shouldn't SG be a lot more "grim dark", like the previous SG comics before it, or the "Mirror Universe" episodes in Startrek?

I love alternate universe stuff but the first issue was pretty meh.

This series continues to be a homerun. With new and interesting characterizations and an exciting new take on the Shattered Glass universe. As well as just downright enjoyable art. For me this book continues to be the premier IDW Transformers book.

The story continues at a gradual pace but heats up towards the end. We pick back up with Megs and Starscream in Gold City meeting up with everybody’s favorite decepticon DJ Soundwave to reach out to allies and prepare to wake up Metroplex. We also delve into the past with Jetfire and Starscream and explore their relationship. Unfortunately for Megs and Starscream, Blaster and all his rowdy friends catch up with them. Luckily Starscream manages to escape but only temporarily as Goldbug and his old buddy Jetfire catch up with him.



You can find full credits for Transformers Shattered Glass #3 in our Vector Sigma Database entry for this issue

Danny Lore continues to craft an excellent narrative with incredibly interesting characters. After delving into the relationship between Megs and Starscream last issue, this issue we delve into the relationship between Jetfire and Starscream. The latter of which is clearly the dominant partner trying to convince the other that regardless of where the money comes from for their project, they need to accept it because they are running out of backers. Eventually for them, things come to a boiling point leading to betrayal and questioning of loyalties. Starscream continues to be the highlight of these series.



The art this issue is done by Guido Guidi with colors by John-Paul Bove and letters by Neil Uyetake. John-Paul Bove’s colors and Guido Guidi’s artwork work well together. Guidi’s art is fantastic, the splash page with Metroplex’s unearthed head is beautiful. Bove’s colors as with the rest of the series are excellent. Neil Uyetake’s lettering continues to be competent and well done. The art for this continues to be fun, exciting, and never disappoints.


Overall, this book continues to be great. The art and the story suit each other incredibly well. The overarching story is definitely heating up for the final two issues, and I cannot wait to see how this is going to end.



This issue is out today, and you can pick it up at the Seibertron.com eBay store or at your local shop, check here to find the closest shop to you.

Couldn't agree with this review more. It's such a massive shame we're only getting 5 issues of this! THIS is how you market comic-only toy releases, with top notch storytelling.

Any idea if or when the TPB will be released? I didn't get the toys so I don't have the individual issues, and I would rather get a TPB than buy the single issues.

Rodimus Prime wrote:Any idea if or when the TPB will be released? I didn't get the toys so I don't have the individual issues, and I would rather get a TPB than buy the single issues.

Last issue came out last week, so I'd have to guess maybe May of next year?

What did y'all think of the Ultra Magnus comic?

His characterization reminded me of Two-Face because of the lawful, seemingly cowardous Magnus at the start and the ruthless Magnus at the finish. He also reminded me of Walter White, just a politician instead of a chemist.

Impactor looked to be in Toxitron colors? It was nice to see Drift make an appearance. I thought it was strange that Goldbug and Bumblebee were different characters. I love that this version of Magnus commanded his squad of Wreckers though. Was that T30 Sandstorm in their ranks? I also thought it strange that the Wreckers had conflict with Whirl considering Whirl is supposed to be a Wrecker. The senator Shockwave thing was pretty cool, nice little throwback to earlier idw stuff. And I wasn't sure what the crack about sunstreaker also being cordon was supposed to mean, im aware of the gen Selects figure but not sure how it connects

I really enjoyed the Magnus comic, they made him suitably interesting while being a new take on the character but still possessing some components of the original SG Magnus.

Bee and Goldbug are the same character, the comic was going between the pre-war era and the modern era, which is why he shows up as both.

Sunstreaker and Cordon are only differentiated by a lightbar and paint work, so it was a crack like if someone said Starscream looked like Thundercracker for instance.

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:I really enjoyed the Magnus comic, they made him suitably interesting while being a new take on the character but still possessing some components of the original SG Magnus.

Bee and Goldbug are the same character, the comic was going between the pre-war era and the modern era, which is why he shows up as both.

Sunstreaker and Cordon are only differentiated by a lightbar and paint work, so it was a crack like if someone said Starscream looked like Thundercracker for instance.

I haven't read comics of previous versions of SG Magnus so that's cool they changed it up a little

Ah I see, I was able to tell when they switched time periods at the beginning of the comic but clearly I got lost after that haha time for a rereading

Ahhh okay, I guess whirl saying "what is he talking about" threw me off, like if cordon was a previous identity or alter ego or something. That's funny though

Does the new series have variant covers like the previous 5 issues did?

Rodimus Prime wrote:Does the new series have variant covers like the previous 5 issues did?

I believe they do yes

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:Does the new series have variant covers like the previous 5 issues did?

I believe they do yes

I'm mainly interested in versions Guido Guidi may have done. His art style is great. I guess ill have to wait until all the figures are released and see what is available.

Just read the whole miniseries (both parts) all the way through. This was a really fun departure and I really enjoyed it. I wish it had been an ongoing comic series because my only complaint is the stuff they didn't do (Like spend much time with Optimus Prime, have some present conflict between him and Megatron, explore Prowl's territory, etc.)

I love the Shattered Glass concept and would love to see more of it. Obviously, it would never work as a cartoon series (unless it was like a one-off episode like the planned Animated season 4 episode), but comics seem like the perfect place to explore stuff like that.