Comic Review...

Transformers #22

Writer: James Roberts
Artist: Alex Milne
(covers by Alex Milne)

Summary:  'Chaos' really gets under way! Megatron: firebrand, tyrant, psychopath... prisoner? The Decepticons leader had the Autobots at his mercy-and then surrendered. Optimus Prime tries to find out why in a story that spans four million years and features a cast of thousands. Events in this issue will forever change the way you look at the Transformers Universe...

Comments: This was a bit of a departure considering the previous issues. While the Autobots are en route to Cybertron we stop and take the time to examine the dynamic between Optimus Prime and Megatron, even flashing back to the post-Megatron Origin era and seeing Megatron while he was still an idealist. In that sense, the story does a better job then the actual Origin comic ever did in explaining his transition from sorta-decent guy to tyrant (the mini-series failed for me on that level and yet Roberts managed to do it in one issue here). Overall, this issue was a serious improvement over just about anything Mike Costa has done (or at least since his initial issues, anyway). There actually seemed to be a point, for one thing (which is always good when you're telling a story). I'm still not sure, though, after all of it was said and done precisely why Megatron surrendered (other then lazy writing to begin with on Costa's part). Did he want to do some penance for his crimes? To remind Optimus that he helped in a way to make him who he was and he must carry some of the blame? (I think I just answered my own question. :)  One minor quibble--during the Prime/Megatron conversation we see a flashback in a couple of frames where Megatron is trapped in his gun mode. But since this continuity started off with him being a tank that makes no sense (unless he was a gun for some time, then became a tank then a gun again--mirroring real life, actually :).


Verdict: Recommended. 













(Cover "A" by Alex Milne)

Savcon 2012 TF Convention!

(Information courtesy Robo_Rob).

http://savcon.net/

Starting in the Summer of 2012 Savannah, Georgia will be added to the
list of ever growing Unofficial Transformer Conventions.
This Con, SavCon, to be exact, will be the first in Savannah's
history. Savannah is known for its rich civil war history, landmark
buildings and event attractions such as the famous St. Patrick's Day
Parade and music & movie festivals that draws thousands to the area,
it seems fitting that such a convention should take place here, and
every year.
This is a fan run convention and the best possible team has been put
in place so you enjoy your experience to the fullest, As always your
input is very important to us to continue to make this the best
possible experience. I encourage everyone to submit ideas to us on our
forums and if it's possible... It will happen!

--
robo_rob
www.tfradio.net

Comic Review...

(Cover "B" by Guido Guidi)


Transformers #21

Writer: Mike Costa
Artists: Guido Guidi and Brendan Cahill
(covers by Marcelo Matere and Guido Guidi)

Summary: TRANSFORMERS goes bi-weekly! Two stories for the price of one, kicking off the 'CHAOS' event!! In part one, Rodimus makes his triumphant return to Earth, and sets off the major events that will spin off into CHAOS. And in part two, Prowl begins his investigation... of Spike. This storyline will change TRANSFORMERS forever!


Comments: And so it begins... or the prologue to Chaos does anyway. Whatever. Part one takes the tact of setting this up like some legendary or prophetic story. Using captions to explain Hot Rod's legendary return to Earth and how after returning the Matrix to Optimus, he would forever be known as Rodiums, etc. The whole gimmick feels cheesy to me honestly. Part two is Prowl staying behind on Earth with some Autobots to apparently investigate Spike's actions behind their backs (i.e. killing Scrapper back in issue #8). I don't really understand the logic behind this--Spike can't kill a Decepticon in cold blood but it's okay for Jazz to incinerate a human a couple of issues ago seemingly without consequence (it seemed like a perfect "crap hits the fan" moment and they totally brushed it off and forgot about it!)  Anyway, this issue sets up the "final" storylines for Cybertron and Earth (after which, what happens? The comic ends? A reboot? I dunno). So far, I'm not that impressed by what I see and the thought of having to buy this bi-weekly seriously puts me off).

Verdict: Average.

***

Transformers: Heart of Darkness #4 (of 4) 

Writers: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning
Artist: Ulises Farinas
(covers by Ulises Farinas, Casey Coller and Livio Ramondelli)

Summary: THE ROAD TO 'CHAOS' ENDS HERE! With his army assembled, Galvatron is ready to take the Heart of Darkness back to Cybertron. But first, he must now face down the ultimate threat, a force of unimaginable power and overwhelming darkness. Will Galvatron stand strong or will he bend to the will of inescapable evil? HoD leads directly into 'CHAOS'-the first-ever TRANSFORMERS event book from IDW!

Comments: For the most part I liked this series (terrible art aside). However, like most all of IDW's mini-series, it doesn't really end conclusively but instead leads into the main title to be resolved. I prefer the old school, where mini-series actually told a story and had a point in existing in the first place (the Drift mini wasn't that great but at least it followed that formula properly).  I still wonder about the titular Heart of Darkness. It was introduced during Simon Furman's run and seemed at the time to be a anti-matrix/dark matrix. In this mini-series, it has become a force of good apparently and is leading Galvatron to try and stop D-Void from coming into our Universe. I was expecting some kind of story twist--that Galvatron was actually doing D-Void's bidding unknowingly but the mini at least doesn't end on any such note. So, we have this "evil" power source trying to stop the evil from coming here? Why? Is D-Void going to be beaten and then we find the HoD is Unicron's soul or something? Or is that twist I predicted still coming? It just seems strange that the HoD suddenly is good natured and wants to stop evil for no apparent reason. I wish that would be explained...

Verdict: Average.

(Cover "C" by Livio Ramondelli)

Music Review...

Transformers: Dark of the Moon (score)

Composer: Steve Jablonsky


 Available on iTunes for $9.99 (there was supposed to be a physical release originally too. However, the entry on Amazon and other websites is gone now so I'm not clear if that's coming later or this will be an exclusively digital release).






Track Listing:

1. Dark Side of the Moon
2. Sentinel Prime
3. Lost Signal
4. In Time You'll See
5. Impress Me
6. We Were Gods Once
7. Battle
8. There Is No Plan
9. We All Work for the Decepticons
10. The Fight Will Be Your Own
11. Shockwave's Revenge
12. No Prisoners, Only Trophies
13. The World Needs You Now
14. It's Our Fight
15. I'm Just the Messenger
16. I Promise
17. Our Final Hope

Total Running Time:  59:47


I recently purchased the instrumental soundtrack to the recent live action Transformers movie and decided to share my thoughts. Then I realized there were about the same as my review to the original 2007 score Jablonsky did so I mostly re-posted that here.

In case you don't keep up with this stuff, there are two TF soundtracks to the recent movie. The first one is full of pop/rock songs that are in the movie/inspired by the movie. This is the other one with strictly instrumental music on it (and this is a digital release as previously noted while the other version is also out on CD).

In short, the music is grand and orchestral. It befits an epic storyline full of action and excitement. As with Jablonsky's previous efforts, the music doesn't really stand out in my mind. It's not bad by any means--certainly, it's sufficient for any modern action epic. But it doesn't capture my imagination the way some soundtracks of the past have. The original TF movie soundtrack by Vin Dicola is far more distinctive as are soundtracks like James Horner's beautiful Star Trek scores, John William's Star Wars music and Chris Franke's Babylon 5 compositions.  Interestingly, this time around I caught a couple of tracks that sound as if they were borrowing elements from The Dark Knight ("We Were Gods Once" is an example as is "We All Work for the Decepticons"). It's also possible they just both share a few common elements and I'm hearing stuff that isn't there--but that's a bad commentary on the sameness of so many soundtracks these days.

All and all, a good effort. Not outstanding but still a solid release and worth checking out if you like instrumental soundtracks.

Comic Review...

Transformers #19

 Writer: Mike Costa
Artist: Guido Guidi

(covers by Marcelo Matere and Guido Guidi)

Summary:  'CHAOS' PRELUDE! The situation on Earth continues to deteriorate while we shift focus to outer space where RODIMUS was last seen dead! A classic character returns as the things heat up and we begin our descent into 'CHAOS'-THE YEAR'S BIGGEST TRANSFORMERS EVENT! Don't miss 'SPACE OPERA, Part 1!'


Comments: In some ways it was nice to find Hot Rod again and see what he was up to. Having said that, though, the story was pretty by-the-numbers. No real surprises or twists to see. Mostly, it seems Costa was trying to tie up loose ends by bringing Wheelie back (which wasn't really a loose end in my mind). Also, they use the Matrix to power the ship, which makes no sense to me. (I like Guido's cover quite a bit).

Verdict: Average.

(cover "B" by Guido Guidi)


***
Transformers #20

Writer: Mike Costa
Artist: Guido Guidi

(covers by Marcelo Matere and Guido Guidi)

Summary:  Through a series of misunderstandings, Rodimus and his two strange new partners arrive on a planet we haven't visited in a long time, and meet a few other 'bots everyone thought were lost forever. Those are a lot of vague words, because this issue has a TON of surprises. Check them out in SPACE OPERA Part 2  

Comments:  Basically, Hot Rod, Wheelie and their new alien friend go to Cybertron and encounter Ironhide and Sunstreaker. While there, they discover Galvatron is there too. What is he up to? We never find out (maybe they should've waited until Heart of Darkness #4 is out. This seems like it was released a little too soon). At any rate, the Autobots escape and head for Earth. It was nice to see Galvatron drawn well again after the terrible HoD art.

Verdict:  Average.

(Cover "A" by Marcelo Matere)

***

Transformers: Heart of Darkness #3 (of 4)

Writers:  Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning
Artist:  Ulises Farinas
(covers by Ulises Farinas and Casey Coller)

Summary:  'CHAOS' PRELUDE! We learn new truths about the TRANSFORMERS' ancient history-truths that may lead to their ruin. GAVATRON and company gather arms and recruit major forces. With a raving lunatic leading the DECEPTICON forces-absolute destruction is sure to follow. HoD leads directly into 'CHAOS'-the first-ever TRANSFORMERS event book from IDW!

Comments:  Despite his terrible Transformers art, Farinas alien fishermen here (in the first three or so pages) aren't half bad looking.  I can't quite understand why that is yet his TFs look consistently awful. As for the story, it continues on with Galvatron recruiting more and more previously dead TFs (of which there are a convenient graveyard around a planet he's gone to). One continuity error here: Galvatron resurrects one of the "lost ancient Headmasters" even though they were only invented a couple of years ago in Furman's run (not that continuity seems to matter to anyone at IDW). Also, we find the return of Nemesis Prime at the end of the issue. What does he want? Is he friend or foe? (And why doesn't anyone in this damn story ever actually die?)


Verdict: Average.

(Cover "B" by Casey Coller)

It's here! It's now!

The Spring Issue of Transmasters Magazine is finally up and ready to go!

Check it out here:

http://transmasters.angelfire.com/tmmag/issue10/index1.html


Thanks to all who contributed this issue! :)

(I didn't have time to do my Opening Shots comic this time around and I also abandoned another comic strip I'd planned to do since I was sick on the weekend when I planned to draw it up. Both will be in next issue though.

Questions? Comments? Let me know! :)

Thunder

Fixed!

Just a quick note to let everyone know that the Transmasters Magazine, issue #4 link has been fixed on the site. It had previously linked to a "Freeservers" website but the issue was apparently erased from there (fortunately I backed it up while it was still live. I had a feeling something like that might happen).

The new link is here:
http://transmasters.angelfire.com/tmmag/issue4/index.html

UPDATE: TM Comic, issue #4 link has also been fixed.


http://transmasters.angelfire.com/tmcomic/issue4/index.html

Thunder

Impressions BOTS NL Transformers convention

So I went here with my wife, and since I was too lazy too shoot pictures (actually my phone was near death from using the navigation function) here's a couple pics and movies others made.

pics:
AutobotJazz4's album (Niels Berndsen)

NTF-Archive

Videos:
Yigal

C.O.N.S.

enjoy ! and oh yeah you can find me on these pictures recieving my lottery prize, ROTF Skids !
picture 1

picture 2

-Greetz johan

source: main BOTS website

Spring Time!

The Spring Issue of Transmasters Magazine is in the works! Submissions (art, stories, articles, etc.) are always welcome. The submissions deadline for the Spring issue is May 30th. Send any submissions to me at: tkphoton at hotmail.com


Thunder

Warlog Weekly 2011-05

Warlog continues !

Today is the fight between Soundwave and Hotrider ! Having infiltrated the decepticon base, Hotrider is in trouble now Soundwave has found him !



This will be the last entry for may as I am now starting work on a Powercore combiner story featuring Skids and Mudflap for Transmasters fan Magazine.

Warlog Weekly returns june 2011 !
See you soon and Enjoy !

-Johan/Backbreaker

comments are welcome.